On July 29th we welcomed Bennett Hughes Gwaltney to the clan. I got a rare solo visit to Alabama to meet him and hang with the rest of the family.
He’s a precious “little punchy guy” as his older brother likes to call him, though truth be told he was not very punchy while I was around. My sister has been blessed with another baby who actually sleeps. Go figure.
I also enjoyed unprecedented one-on-one time with the Grahamster. Even made him a little video montage on the plane ride home. Great way to kill time on a long plane ride…and pretty fun when your audience is three years old. You can slap on all the cheesy affects and know they will love it even more!
Abby came into this world with very little fuss. Her temperament was calm and she proved resourceful from the get go–no problems nursing, no problems sleeping; she was content to join our family, accepting her place as daughter and little sister. Though prepared for newborn “battle,” we found the first few weeks with this little girl practically a vacation.
I can’t believe it has been a year. Much like my pregnancy, Abby’s first year has been a whirlwind. Throughout my pregnancy with Jack and for practically his entire first year, I wasn’t working and, of course as the first child, he did not have a pesky sibling with whom he had to vie for attention. For better or for worse, he got my undivided attention for a solid two and a half years. And for better or for worse, Abby is left with my attempts at undivided attention, attempts that are so often interrupted with the rest of life.
And yet, in many ways I am much more aware of every stage of her development because I know just how fleeting the moments are….In spite of my will to slow it all down, she weaned herself, she rolled over, she crawled across the floor, pulled herself up, took her first steps, and hasn’t stopped walking since. Throughout it all, she has cooed, smiled, laughed, and now babbles with a twinkle in her eye.
She adores her brother and seems fairly keen on her parents. I know this won’t last forever, so I’ll drink in the adoration now. She is a social butterfly with a smile and “hi” for anyone and everyone she passes. With all that said, she is no push over. She has joined the chaos of our lives and is a full fledged contributing member.
Her first birthday came and went. We celebrated, but it was a low key affair with what appears to be relatively little documentation. This blog, of course, continues to fall by the wayside. It would seem technology doesn’t make up for the second child getting the shaft in the baby book department, even if it is virtual. Today is Easter…much later this year, as I distinctly remember celebrating with Jack the day after we returned home from the hospital with Abby. I was once again struck by how fleeting time is and how much happens in this first year. And so…
Says Happy Birthday to Dylan! We’re a couple of days late, but will be heading to the party later today, so we’re not that late! Oh, and the video is really dark, plus it takes him a while to get to the good stuff. Forgive me; it was early and I was not caffeinated.
Photo of the two of them on a recent adventure at the Zoo!
BTW, not two minutes before, Jack was yuckin it up with a hearty rendition of Happy Birthday, but this was the best I could capture on film. (When he sees the camera, he just wants to watch himself, the little narcisist. He hasn’t quite figured out that filming comes first.)
My mother is obsessed with fairness right down to making sure we had an equal number of fries on our plates as kids. I suppose that could have been about cirumventing whining, but to this day she still counts the number of Christmas gifts she’s giving us and if one of us comes up short, she will let us know that it’s because the monetary values are equal when added up.
It seems that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…ever since I posted the video of Abby, I’ve felt remiss in my motherly duties since I did not put one up of Jack. And after all, he is the more animated of the two right now! So here ya go! Sorry for the horizontal image; I’m still getting the hang of things.
