Not a First Time Parent... But Kinda

McKinley's first busted lip (ignore the snot.. we are cutting teeth)

 You have your first child, and you have NO idea what to expect.  NONE.  Your friends that have gone before you in the world of parenthood can kind of give you a heads up.  But since every child is different, you can take what they say with a grain of salt.. really.

Well Jackson came into the world and we were thrilled, but we had no clue what we were doing.  I remember having such a perfect delivery, that I only wanted to stay in the hospital 24 hours.  My thought process was that I was already paying my mortgage on my house, there was no need for us to stay an extra night in the hospital if we were all healthy.  Dumb decision.  We got home, my milk hadnt come in, Jackson was starving and SCREAMING.  Craig and I looked at eachother with the same expression, of "what have we done???"

Just finished dinner, its best to eat naked these days.

Needless to say, everything clearly got easier.  And although, as soon as we thought we had Jackson figured out, he would change.. things have gone pretty smoothly.  You always hear that changing diapers with boys can be quite the adventure, sure we had a couple of pee shower experiences, but for the most part he could wait til the diaper was put back on.  Jackson has always had a bigger head, so he has been a bit top heavy, combine that with his need to constantly be on the move.. we have been blessed beyond measure that he hasnt gotten REALLY hurt.  I dont do blood... so this is a good thing.

Jackson wanted to be apart of the picture time

Well then we got pregnant with McKinley, and we were a bit more confident this time around.  I had been pregnant before, so I knew what to expect.  That was a silly assumption as well, considering my pregnancies were COMPLETELY different.  And then, we dont even need to go into all of her medical beginnings in this blog.. but needless to say her birth, my recovery could not be more polar opposite from Jackson's.  We finally got to bring her home, and I am not even joking, we had more pee and flying poop episodes with her than we could have even imagined with Jackson.  I remember one day changing her diaper and stuff FLYING across the room.. I told her she was a dainty little girl and that her tough brother had not even done that disgustingness. Then, you may remember my "Mother of the Year" post when McKinley was crawling towards me, rolled over and was getting red because she was choking on a piece of plastic from her brother's fruit snacks.  Ugh... I never thought I would have to put into practice baby CPR with her brother.  (Side note, now she knows she gets a reaction for making choking noises and makes them often.. dramatic.. maybe)  And now, with injuries.  I dont know if its just because she is trying SO hard to keep up with her brother, or if she is just more accident prone.. but this child has more slips and spills.  So much so, that yesterday we had our first blood coming from the mouth episode.  I was on the phone with my mom sitting on the couch.  Jackson and McKinley were playing around the coffee table (which is truly not in fact a coffee table, it is a cushion ottoman type piece of furniture that we use as a coffee table to minimize injuries), I noticed McKinley was reaching for something from Jackson and fell forward, and then the cry came.  I quickly got of the phone with Mom and picked her up.. I noticed blood had already gotten on her arm.  Surprisingly I stayed very calm, maybe this is when your motherly instincts just kick in.. but we got her all cleaned up and she ended up with a puffy lip.

This baby girl is going to keep me on my toes!