Oliver

Well, I'm back from a long absence. You see, I had been quite busy building a little person. Here he is, his name is Oliver. He is quite a handful but he's worth every bit of trouble. Azalea is thrilled to have a little playmate to "read" her books to, sing songs to and to (sometimes) share her toys with.

Having two children 19 months apart is not for the faint of heart. People always tell me "Oh, I wish I had done it that way, it would have been so much easier!". Well, I may agree in a few years, once this period of severe sleep deprivation is over. I'll never forget the irony of pleading with a child to take a nap when I would give my right arm to crawl into that crib myself for just an hour of sleep. Also, pregnancy is hard enough without running around after a toddler. Parenting is very, very difficult no matter how you slice it. I just knew that every time we made it through a big challenge with Azalea, the harder it was to think about starting all over with a new baby. We had to do it soon or we might have chickened out and deprived Azalea of a wonderful thing: a sibling. That person you share your childhood with, the one who truly understands who you are on a level that no one else can. Your best friend and nemesis wrapped up in the same person.