9 Months in and 9 Months Out

(I found this in draft form tonight.  For some reason, I never posted it.  I originally wrote this post on November 20, 2012).

Today, Joey is 9 months old.  Tonight, I laughed as I said to Jude, "9 months inside and 9 months outside."  It's hard to believe 9 months has passed by so quickly.

In some ways, the first 9 months with Joey have been easier than the first 9 months with J.P.  Mostly, we don't sweat the small stuff as much with Joey as we did with J.P.  I don't worry about Joey as much as I did J.P. in the early days.  There's a little of a "been there, done that" feeling that helps us not to obsess as much about the little things.

In other ways, though, the first 9 months with Joey have been harder than the first 9 months with J.P.  In general, the leap from one child to two children has been a lot more difficult that I thought it would be, mostly because there never seems to be enough time in the day - with two children - to get accomplished what I need to accomplish.  It seems like there is much less down time - less time to squeeze in a run or a beer with friends.  Less time for Jude and me to go to a movie or to dinner.  It's all hands on deck the majority of the time, with Jude handling one child and me handling the other.  I'm not complaining, mind you, it's just more time intensive with two, as opposed to one child.

Joey is one happy baby, which is a blessing.  He is just a happy baby, which was the case with J.P., too.  He smiles all the time.  By all the time, I mean literally, all the time.  And that makes me smile.