It has been such an incredible month.. a month full of sweet memories!
We are praising God for helping us adjust to life with a newborn! It's crazy how much you remember from your first and how much easier it all is the second time around. Of course, Ezra has been such a trooper and Luke is incredibly helpful so that makes it all easier and sweeter as well. I have been trying to cherish each day of these first few months because I know they go by so fast and newborns have this unique preciousness about them.
I am still on cloud nine that I actually have a daughter.. a sweet little future best friend that I get to dress up with bows and frills every day. I love my Ezra but oh the joy of bows.. :)
It's very hot in India in May so we have spent a lot of time in the house. We like to watch our favorite old Disney movies with Ezra, like Toy Story, but we watch it in Hindi. It doesn't seem to make a difference to him and it's good practice for us.
When we go to the market, I put Madelyn in my Ktan Breeze and people don't even realize I'm carrying a baby, which is good because culturally we aren't supposed to be outside the house until Madelyn is 40 days old.
Ezra liked my carrier so he put his favorite lil sheep in his shirt to be like Mommy.. haha!
The first couple of weeks we rode in taxis but now that Madelyn's a bit bigger we are back to our fun auto rides. Mostly because Ezra sleeps in autos and climbs all over the place in taxis. There are no carseats here.. he's going to have a culture shock when we go back to America some day.
We also started back to Hindi classes! I love learning Hindi. It's so fun to discover new ways of expressing yourself and sharing truth. We are genuinely bilingual now which, for an American, is unique and really fun. Especially since the kids will probably be bilingual too so we all have a special language we can speak in around family.. hehe.
God has really helped us get right back in to the normal swing of things.. sometimes it means you're holding the baby while chugging coffee and trying to finish reports while the baby is still happy.. haha.
Ezra has taken on the role of "big brother" really well. I think the fact that he goes to playgroup in the morning has really helped. He has a routine that hasn't been changed by the baby and an outlet for fun. For Mother's Day his school put on a brunch so we got to go on a sweet little date that included games, food, and photo taking.
I think I have become more of an extrovert this past year because I can't stay in the house for long without going crazy. A Wendy's opened up about 45 minutes from our home so we traveled out for a family date.. it was definitely worth it!
Ezra's newest favorite sport is bowling- which is a God-send because there is a little bowling alley at our local mall. This mall is has great A/C, a good food court and a wonderful grocery store down stairs. It's been the perfect family date night location so we usually go a couple times a week.
Ezra was also excited when we finally went back to our favorite donut shop. We used to have hindi class here everyday so the workers have gotten to know us well and were very excited to meet Madelyn.
I just love this photo of our sweet little girl. She's getting chubby which makes her even cuter!
For Memorial Day this year we made a big family dinner with all kinds of awesome sides. Please note Ezra.. who happily snatched the entire bowl of mac-and-cheese for his dinner.. haha. Toddlers.
Our sweet Madelyn is starting to smile too. It is just precious to hold her and have her look into your eyes and grin really big.
My other favorite is rocking her for her afternoon nap after my Hindi class.
My mom came to India at the end of May and will be staying through mid-June. It has been so great to share our lives here, and have an extra pair of hands to love on babies.
She brought Ezra letter/number magnets that stick to our metal front door. He is learning the alphabet at school so it's been cute to have him excitedly recognize letters.
He also loves to play with play dough. He is growing in to such a smart handsome little guy and aside from the emotional roller coasters that two-year olds will have, I really love this season with him.
It's crazy to think that it has already been a month since Madelyn was born and yet we've done so much that it seems like it's been longer. I'm so incredibly thankful for God's help this month. He has given us strength and grace to care for two babies, recover from delivery, bear through those awful baby blues, function on less sleep, start Hindi again, take our big Hindi test and adjust to our new norm. It's been a lot to take on but he sure does take care of us!
