Brothers!!

And then there were two!!! Here's the "quick" update:

We had another baby boy, Zachary! He weighed in at 7lbs, 7oz and was 20.5 inches long!! He's sweet, smart, and handsome…just like his big brother!! He's two months old now and sleeps A LOT!! Nicholas and Zachary are already best buds!! They're so great together!! Nicholas loves to cuddle up to Zachary! Nicholas carefully approaches Zachary (usually) while very quietly saying, "Oh, ho ho!! It's Zachary! He's so little!! You love your brother!!" (Nicholas usually refers to himself as "You.") Then he gently grabs a hold of a Zachary appendage while jamming the thumb of his other hand straight into his mouth. Meanwhile, Zachary either gazes curiously at his silly big brother or furrows his brow in concern for his immediate well being.
Zachary is such a wonderful baby!! He is already sleeping through the night!!! :o) Nicholas didn't pull off that feat until he was 7 months old!!! As a matter of fact, Nicholas started screaming at 1am last night (he either had a horrible dream about bugs or there really was a bug attacking him in his crib) while sweet little Zachary slept so peacefully. But don't worry, there never was and never will be any shortage of love and attention for Nicholas!! Zachary also had to deal with the dreaded baby acne!! He looked like a little baby teenager for about a month, but his skin is now recovering!! He's getting pale and soft like a good little baby!!

At 2 months, his stats were: 13lbs, 15oz and 24 inches long! At 2 months, Nicholas was: 11lbs, 4oz and 22.75 inches long! Looks like Zachary will have a better chance at being my basketball star!!

Nicholas is also doing very well!! This month, he started preschool at our church. He goes twice a week for about 4 hours. He really seems to enjoy almost all of it!! He's not a huge fan of Mommy dropping him off in the morning and leaving for "boring places"!! I can't blame him…I wouldn't want to leave me, either!! (Just kidding!) His teachers really seem to get a kick out of him!! At drop-off time, he likes to yell, "Don't want Mommy to leave you to go to boring places!! No!!!" The teachers have given me rave reviews about his speaking abilities. He's the youngest in the class, but he's also the best speaker!! Today, his teacher praised him saying, "Nicholas is so smart!!! We say the blessing before eating our lunch. But today, instead of saying the blessing, Nicholas just broke into the Our Father all by himself! I've never had a 2 year old that could recite the Our Father in my class." :o) Proud? You bet I am!! I'm always so happy driving my sweet little boy home from preschool!! He really does make me so proud!!! And he's also quite proud of himself! When I come into the classroom to pick him up, he greets me happily and then grabs whatever craft he's made for the day. He runs around with it just beaming and says, "Look what you made!!"
Poor Nicholas had a run-in (literally) with a wall corner in our house about a month ago. He ended up with a large, 1 inch laceration that had to be glued together in the ER. He now has a lovely scar to show for it. Le sigh. My precious boy is now scarred for life…(again, literally.) But, our optimistic neighbor says, "Chicks dig scars!" So, maybe Nicholas won't fare too badly in the end. Ha!
Well, what's left?! Mommy absolutely loves her two boys and their little brotherly dynamic. Add in Daddy and the two horses….Mommy is completely surrounded by boys!! It took about a month and a half to really get into a groove, but now I feel completely at ease taking care of the boys. The horses are getting a little bit of the shaft at the moment, but hopefully that won't last too long!! They're troopers as well and I suppose that it's not the end of the world if I don't see them everyday! :o/ Daddy is also slowly getting used to the groove, but he's a little more frustrated with the lack of sleep and free time than Mommy. I must also mention that the first month with Zachary would have been absolutely crazy if it wasn't for the amazing grandparent assistance!!! THANK YOU!!! :o) Part of the difficulty for Mommy and Daddy is that we basically live for our boys. We want them to have mental stimulation and play and learning experiences all day long!! I really do feel guilty anytime the TV has been on longer than 2 hours in a day!! (God bless those first 2 hours!! Nicholas is very likely to kill himself running around the house while Zachary eats if he isn't glued to the TV! Nothing else will keep him still…nothing. Yes, we've tried. Plus, I grew up watching plenty of TV and I'm only a half-zombie!)
I suppose this short novella is enough of an update for now!! Stay tuned for the next update in another 2-3 months!! :o)