When I found out I was pregnant with Tenley, it was the biggest shock of my life. Even more of a shock than finding out I was pregnant with Kamryn. The only thing I can equate that to is that I was too naive at 22 to understand the GIANT responsibility headed my way. But when I took that pregnancy test and walked downstairs to see my little Kensington...my 7 month old baby sitting in her high chair being spoon fed baby food by her auntie, I was so freaked out. I couldn't for the life of me understand how life was going to be with two babies. And two big kids too. How would I show all my kids equal attention? I was beyond worried about Kensington. Kamryn and Logan have each other and they both adjusted so well when Kensington was born that I knew they would be okay. But Kensington was only going to be 16 months old when the new baby was born and I really REALLY worried about that. Which is funny in itself because if you asked me before I had kids what I wanted, I would've told you to have my kids super close in age. Yet here I was...PETRIFIED.
Here I am, SUPER pregnant, at Kensington's 1st birthday party
I can say now with 100% confidence that having those babies close together is the best thing we've ever done. Kensington and Tenley are the BEST of friends.
Kensington and Tenley are 16 months and 11 days apart. From the moment we brought Tenley home everything just felt right. Truthfully all the times I've felt overwhelmed since Tenley was born was due to my older kids, not the babies. Like today for example: I have a 3 row SUV. Kamryn and Logan sit in the 3rd row and Kensington and Tenley in the 2nd. Kamryn and Logan fussed and fought the whole ride to and from the store while Kensington and Tenley sat like absolute angels. I turned around to tell Kam and Logan to cut it out and just see these two toddlers smiling ear to ear at me. Truthfully, they are like that every single day. I know someday they too will be driving my crazy like their brother and sister but as for today, I'm enjoying their pure sweetness.
Kensington would not leave Tenley's side
Routine. Routine. Routine.
Since I brought Tenley home I was DETERMINED to get her and Kensington on the same schedule. When Kamryn was a baby our routine was always about sleep. But when she turned 4 months old and started eating solid food I was having a really hard time incorporating eating in with our sleeping schedule. It was then my cousin Caitlin told me about the schedule she used for her daughter that was 5 months older than Kamryn. That is when I decided I could NEVER EVER live without a predictable routine again as a mom! Literally I know every minute of the day what's going to happen next and it makes the days go by so fast and smoothly. I continued that same routine Caitlin told me about, with all my kids and it helps so much. Little did I know back when it was just Kamryn that I'd have 4 kids and REALLY need that routine.
Always watching over her
I remember always worrying about bringing two babies out of the house at the same time. You see, Kensington was a late walker and didn't full on walk until she was almost 18 months old. So that made things really tricky! I had really hoped she would be walking by the time Tenley was born because then I would be able to just hold her hand and have her walk beside me while I held the infant carrier. Well, that wasn't an option. Kensington just did NOT want to walk. So, I did one of two things. I either carried both of them....which was HILARIOUS or I did it in shifts. I just had to. It definitely wasn't easy when I had to go into a store and truthfully, more often than not I saved the errands for when I could go alone or just bring one BUT when I had to do it, I made it work. Always laughing at how ridiculous it was. I learned that really early on, laughter is key. It helped me not be crazy stressed all the time.
The sweetest
I get asked a lot if Kensington was jealous of Tenley. At first, no not at all. I don't know if it's because Kensington is really easy or because Tenley was such a good baby or because she was our fourth. But the transition from three to four was definitely our easiest. Honestly, Kensington is more jealous now at 2.5 years old than she ever was as a 16 month old, but not in a bratty way. Kensington is extremely patient. Which is AWESOME in this situation that we're in. So, if she see's you carrying Tenley up to bed, Kensington isn't going to follow you, she's going to wait until you come back downstairs and get you to carry her up too. She'll do that when we go out too. She won't walk out with you, she's going to make you take two trips. If Tenley gets a snack, Kensington get's a snack. If Tenley get's milk, Kensington get's milk. It's actually quite comical. But it works.
milk time
Here is where it get's tough to explain. You see me, I'm pretty optimistic. I can look at pretty much any situation and see the good. If I get overwhelmed...I laugh. I just don't see the point in living my life as a stressed out mess. Babies are babies. Babies cry, they fuss, they mess diapers, they spit up, they don't sleep sometimes, they need to be held a lot, etc etc. But THAT is all temporary. Babies don't keep. Now I don't want to say Mike is pessimistic, but Mike definitely lets things get to him a little easier than I do. So to me, these 15 months have been amazing. To Mike they've been, at times, overwhelming. I get it, it can be stressful. We all have our moments, even me BUT stressing out isn't going to change anything. It's like the saying "Stress is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you no where." So I just tried my darndest to enjoy it! All of it. (Says the girl who currently has shingles due to stress....A'hem!)
matching christmas pjs
Kamryn and Logan are really close but it took us awhile to get there. Kamryn is 2.5 years older than Logan so when he came along she loved having a baby in the house but he didn't do anything so, to her, he was boring. It took us well over 2 years for them to actually REALLY play together. With Kensington and Tenley it was almost INSTANT. Kensington is 2 and a half and Tenley is only 15 months old and there is constant giggles from these two. Constant tickles, constant kisses, hugs, wrestling, sharing. They just LOVE each other. I can feel it soon they will be causing trouble together, too!
sunny days sleepy nights
Having babies close together is so special. I know there are people who have them even closer than I did, all the time. I will say it's not easy on your body. My pregnancy with Tenley wasn't exactly smooth sailing and the doctors weren't thrilled I got pregnant so quickly but thank God everything turned out okay!
I always say to Mike how I can't imagine not having these two babies toddlers in our life. As most of you know, we named Tenley in the hospital when she was 24 hours old. The name Tenley was not on either or our radars during my entire pregnancy. She was actually going to be named Finley but when we saw her it just didn't fit. We almost named her Tinsley but again, it just didn't feel right. All of the sudden I said "Mike, what do you think of Tenley?" Tenley opened her eyes for a split second as if she was saying "That's me!" We just knew she was our Tenley James. But at the time we never even thought about how we now had a Ken and Ten. It's so cheesy but we love it and it cracks us up!
Our Ken & Ten!
We never ever call them just Ken or Ten but together it's Ken and Ten
It's really a crazy thing. I was SO worried about having these babies close together. My entire pregnancy it was in the back of my mind just how badly this might go. When in reality it turned out to be one of the biggest blessings of my life. Kensington and Tenley are so small and so young yet they already teach me so much. The biggest thing they've taught me is patience. They are SO patient with each other and I have learned to be patient with myself when it comes to my parenting. Just watching them together reminds me to trust Gods timing. If I had it my way I wouldn't of gotten pregnant so quickly after Kensington. But God knew. He knew we needed this bond in our family, he knew we needed this blessing of a lesson and he knew we needed Tenley.
I am forever grateful for these girls, their closeness and this blessing that I didn't know I so desperately needed.
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