Sasha is now six months and on the downhill side to her first birthday - so hard to believe! The Sasha we brought home from the hospital in December is quite different from the one we have living with us today. Sasha has really come into her own, particularly in just the past couple weeks. She can do so many things now and is suddenly in her baby prime - rolling over, sitting up, sleeping better at night and at naps, reaching for anything she can get her hands on (often her sister's hair), preferring to stand up when we hold her, and being much more social towards new people. In fact, she is a pretty smiley kid now instead of the studious and/or bawling baby she was a few months back. I was beginning to wonder if that was just her personality.... And this girl is big! She is quite a bit longer than Morgan was at the same age and is already wearing size 12 month clothes! 
I love seeing her watch and laugh at things Morgan does. Morgan is having more fun for sure, and loves to give her raspberries on her tummy, tickle her, and use her like a puppet - waving her arms around and pretending to talk in a funny Sasha voice. Even when Morgan gets carried away and is too rough, Sasha never cries, so it's a little hard to teach Morgan about being more gentle with her sister. The other day the girls were laying on a blanket in the back yard and Sasha gabbed a handful of Morgan's hair. Morgan screamed and started crying as if she had broken her arm and Sasha seemed quite entertained by the drama. I found it a bit amusing that little Sasha could cause such a scene, but it made me realize that we are just around the corner from this little one wreaking havoc on her big sister's "stuff." Not looking forward to babyproofing, mediating, and chasing after a curious mobile baby. While Sasha is growing and doing so many new things, there are still quite a few things she is NOT doing. She still refuses to take a bottle - from anyone but me. Go figure. That is making going out without kids a big challenge. Looking back I should have given her a bottle much more early on - one of the down sides of being a nursing, stay at home mom. But as the time passes so quickly, I am trying to look at it not as a house-arrest situation, but as a fleeting blip in my life - probably something I will never have to or get to do again. I think I can hang in there for another six months or so. Sasha is also not sleeping through the night. I was so lucky with Morgan, who basically put herself on a schedule and was sleeping through the night at three months. But after many tearful nights (for both of us) in the past couple weeks, Sasha can now fall asleep by herself with minimal crying and without being swaddled. And she is (knock on wood) sleeping well at night and only getting up once to eat. So I will take stretches of 4-5 hours of sleep instead of 2-3!
These past six months have taught me a lot about her as an individual, but also about being a mother. These months have been the most challenging of motherhood yet, and it makes me realize not only how much more I can accomplish in a single day with two kids, but also how much more of myself I have to give to keep everyone happy. And I only have two... what about my friends with three kids or twins or more! Throughout the past few years of motherhood, all those clichés about parenthood keep running through my head, but the one that I hear most often and ringing most loudly and driving me crazy is: "Every kid is different." Duh. That is nothing new and definitely not rocket science, but I really didn't think or choose to believe that until I met Sasha. I get it now!!!
Most of all these months have been very humbling. “You have not lived a perfect day, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” (Ruth Smeltzer) Being a parent of two has taught me that this is even less about ME, a lesson we all need to keep learning over and over and over throughout our lives, whether we have children or not. I absolutely love raising these two beautiful daughters though. Our family seems so much fuller and complete now that Sasha is here. I look at my two girls and know how lucky I am and how precious this time with them is. But I better get going.... laundry to do and a baby who will be waking me up in a couple hours. The job never ends!
