Dispatches from Madtown: False start

Well, it has been almost a year since I tried to start this blog and although a wrote a couple of posts last summer, I never made it public. So now I'm starting again and this time I'm actually going to send out the link to people, hoping that will motivate me to keep it up. So check back soon and hopefully this will not be another false start.

A lot has changed since last summer. The biggest change, of course is that we are now a family of 4 instead of 3 since Zora came along last November. As many of you know, I found the infant phase to be quite a challenge. Now there were definitely parts of Owen's first year that I loved, but let's just say that as he got older, I found it easier to enjoy him. Well, having an infant again has been a gift in many ways. Having gone through this before and made it out the other side has given me the perspective to relax a little more and enjoy this time instead of worrying so much if it will ever get easier, if I'm the only one that finds this so incredibly challenging, if we will ever sleep again (which by the way, we still aren't), etc., etc. It has also broughtback memories of Owen as an infant and allowed me to see that time with new eyes. And watching Owen enjoy Zora and get so excited with all of her new devolpments - from teeth to pulling herself up - has also been a gift. Of course this is not to say that there aren't plenty of times I'm still struggling, frustrated and exhausted with Zora like I was with Owen. But knowing that it gets easier, that these challenges are temporary (and new challenges will come along) has made all of the difference.