Least prolific blogger award

forgot i have a blog.

visited it today - nice to reminisce and see how much has changed over time, and how little has changed.

littlebean sits through meals now but still makes a nightly move to mommy & daddy's bed.  still burrows & cuddles as much as she can.

bean is practically grown up at 7 but we have to keep reminding ourselves that despite her composure, maturity and self-restraint, she's still a kid.  a smart, wise, patient & lovely kid but still a kid nonetheless, membership in the club of childhood still intact.

beanmom now sings in a small touring opera company; will be in her first short film (student production) and her first feature-length indie film is set to shoot this summer.  i'm embroiled in the same boring mental struggle as every actor before me (do i join the union?  now?  wait a bit?  am i ready?  will all the work go away?  is it time to change agents?  stay put?)  

just grateful that everyone is healthy at the moment. we are all finding things to do that we enjoy each day and spending time together every day in some way.  i'm liking who the beans are turning out to be and hoping that these days of wonder last and last and last.

how time flies

so the bean is now sharing her pod with littlebean. the past 6 months have been, in a nutshell: challenging, life-altering, joyous, heart-breaking & taxing. i think that about covers it.

littlebean is a delight - so lovely, sweet-tempered, mesmerizingly beautiful. i would say "easy" except that she's not always. she HATED her infant car seat/bucket thus also the car and doesn't relish being in her own space (i.e., insists on being held 87.5% of the time). she has turned us (somewhat reluctantly) into co-sleeping parents, although now that it's happening i must admit that i do treasure the closeness. she is likely our last baby and i am drinking her in as much as i can and bemoaning her rapid, rapid growth.

bean amazes me with her readiness to love, love, love her sister even though she's a long way off from being a proper playmate. she offers her own baby toys (though not the Melissa & Doug soft tool box from Auntie Jayne - "I'm not done with that yet! I still play with it!"; gives the gentlest of kisses; patiently tolerates (soooo much) crying in the car, even empathizing with littlebean: "I feel sad for" her.

the cliche about life being a balancing act becomes a glaring truth when you have your second child. how do you balance the needs of one with the demands of the other? i've learned that it can only be done with a LOT of patience (often more than one can muster) and forgiving yourself for not being perfect and just allowing yourself to do the best you can in the moment that you have. i thought i had shaken loose of the grip of that evil perfectionism - littlebean has taught me that that is not yet true...

photo credit: photo © Darren Hester for openphoto.net CC:Attribution-NonCommercial