The change is starting to show

Darling Mark is 7 weeks old now, and I feel lucky. Lucky to have him, and E, and Richard, and still be alive. :) Lucky that my mom came to the UAE to be with us during this transition. The timing was so funny, she arrived late the same day that Mark was born, and he came 12 days early. Interestingly enough, Elizabeth also came 12 days early. With Richard having to go right back to working half days, me and Mark having to be admitted to the hospital again for his jaundice, and all us getting bronchitis and Pnuemonia, she really did save us! She was so willing to help us with everything and is great with babies, I'm grateful she came! It really is hard being so far away from family during times like this. Not only because it has been hard on us, but because we want to share our joy with all of them!

Mark smiles now, a little bit. This morning he smiled at me 4 times in a row. We were trying to get him to smile for Richard and we resorted to him holding Mark and mouthing words while I was talking. We thought my voice might trigger the smiling. I felt like we were doing a skit, it was hilarious!

Mark is olive skinned, Elizabeth is pale. Mark hair is fluffy and straight and E's is curly. Mark is an eater and is packing on the weight while Elizabeth has always been a bird. Also, Mark doesn't seem to have colic like E did, and that my friends is kind of a huge deal for us. 

Super toddler, brought to you by Slinky

Elizabeth has been acting out now that she is sharing the attention, especially since grandma left. She has more tantrums, more screaming, and generally enjoys doing everything she knows is naughty. So, we've had to start doing time-outs, more cuddles, and trying to play with her toys in news ways. 

She is a great napper and sleeps through the night, and she eats well, all things that make life a bit easier. She doesn't remember to be soft to Mark, still working on that. We mostly just try to limit their proximity to each other to avoid kicks to the head and such.

Dropping a sick beat while making dinner

 Elizabeth is still surprising us with her learning and language skills. She is almost 22 months old and speaks in sentences and is always cracking me us with what she says.

This is what she said in the last hour...

Oh, sowry. It's a little too hot.

Bubye Daddy, Daddy went work

My want some please

I teeth hurt

This is salt, this is pepper

Change the diaper then watch a movie

Where's sa hand (hiding hand behind back) there's the hand!

All gone cheese

My want some water

NO THANK YOU! (screaming)

Please more apple, dank you Mommy

No no no

Up ya go baby

Cuddles on Mom and Dad's bed

Mark napping next to Grandma Bev