Two Months.

Here he is at two months, my boy.

I find myself studying pictures of my girl from the same age, to compare the two of them.  I'm not sure why, exactly.  I'm looking for a resemblance, I suppose.  Looking for the traits that link them together and to me. 

It's a hungry feeling, poring over the pictures of my girl. My first baby. I organized them by month, you know.  Each month, the changes are recorded there.  Looking at the curve of her cheeks, the toothless grins, it's almost like I wasn't there with her, like I never saw her at those ages.  I imagine that mothers of adopted children might feel the same way when seeing pictures of their babies before they had them in arms.  But as she grows and changes, hair half-way down her back, lengthened limbs and thinned out face replacing all the bald, chubby, round cheekiness, what I'm left with is my Swiss Cheese Memory.  And those pictures.

And now I have another one.  I'm doing it all again but unlike the first time, I have a built in appreciation for how fast it goes and how easy it is to forget things like drooly chins, neck cheese, tiny fists full of fuzz and shirts covered in spit up.

So, I look at the pictures of The Boy to see how alike (or different) he is from the only other experience of mothering that I know.  To see, feature by feature, what makes this little stranger part of our pack.

 

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The biggest difference with two kids is this: I can no longer organize the pictures by months.  Because the pictures (just like this post) feature BOTH kids. The curse of The Second-Born. So, the filing system no longer works (without a degree of fussiness to which I could only aspire--if I aspired to such things.)  Which, turns out, is a pain in my ass, seeing as I won't be able to go back to find pictures of my boy at two months without doing [a Google search for this post] fucking math.

The Double-Cute eases the pain, though.

In almost every case.

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(Isn't this picture just BEGGING for a caption?)

Comments

[Forgotten]

That last picture. I have your caption. Him saying, "I just silent farted. Hehehe." And her face is the look she got right as she caught a wiff...

They are freaking adorable! If they get much cuter, I'm going to be a diabetic from the sweetness.

You absolutely HAVE to post pics from the Christmas photo shoot.

[The Domestic Goddess]

Dood, the first one got Hollywood treatment. I made a freaking memory book and everything. Kept a pregnancy journal. The second one?

I intend to take pictures. Some day.

[amy]

I actually went totally anal-retentive with the second-born and always got pictures in duplicate. One for his album (based on age), and the other set for her album. :D Then I got a digital camera and don't have paper copies of any of the pictures for the last six years. Am a horrible mother...

[Backpacking Dad]

"And then, I replaced his normal brain with an IGOR brain!!!!! I am the maddest mad scientist ever!!!!"

The filing system thing! Yes! Wow, I went from folders within folders of "6-12 months, Erin goes to X" to everything hanging out alphabetically in the My Documents folder. The only thing that preserves chronology for me now is Picasa. It's a nightmare. I was so anal about organizing those photos when it was just Erin.

[Meredith]

I'm giggling because for a few months after my second was born I gave myself FITS over the organization of the digital photos. I finally settled on filing by month of each year and that works for me.

Oh yeah, also, those kids? GORGEOUS.

[Amelia Sprout]

Adorable.

I have this pro picture of M at 6 months in the living room, and when she's being all cranky about her pigtails, and I'm tired and I'm late for work, I wonder how I ever got from there to here.

Also, meta data. You should be able to add notes to pictures using software. Standard type software.

You breed good, so happy for you.

[Motherhood Uncensored]

Dude. The turkey bib!

And yeah, I'll be #478 to say he looks like TLNG in the Draft Pick shirt.

Either way, cuter than hell.

Also, I have like 4 alone pics of Drew. FOUR.

[Tracy]

I think you could still organize them like that...just keep folders of your little boy's age and do the same with TLNG, then if the picture has both of them in it, put a copy in each of their folders for that month =] Just sayin'...you know, I'm always looking for ways to avoid the math too.

[J from Ireland]

They are so cute and I think they look very alike.
I think The Boy's smirk is hilarious like, "Ha I totally ruined her only-child buzz". While her face is saying, "WHAT the fuck happened, I have to even share the pictures with HIM"
Best wishes.

[Renée]

What a couple of cuties! And it amazes me how much they look alike.
Maybe it's just a coincidence, but it looks like your little boy has his head tilted to the left in all of his pictures and it reminded me of my friend's baby who had torticollis. Granted, my medical degree is entirely imaginary/from Hollywood Upstairs Medical College, but just wanted to mention it as I love reading your blog and seeing your little ones grow.
<3

[mamatulip]

I see so much of TLNG in that first pic, too! In fact, I'll be honest - at first I thought it was a picture of her. ;)

[Brenna]

It never stops. In a few years when you look at pictures of TLNG now, you'll be astounded by how much of a baby she still was back then (now). Because you think of her as a big girl, how can you not when you see her next to a BABYbaby. But she'll seem so little when you look at these pictures in a few years.

It's never ending.

[shriek house]

My response to that first picture, before I even started reading, was "OMG he looks so much like TLNG!!" They are both so unbelieveably cute.

I know what you mean about the swiss cheese memory... it's almost like my baby memories of my first have been replaced by the 2nd, even though they were (and are) SUCH different kids.

Last pic looks like they were either doing armpit farts or some variation of pull my finger?

[Manic Mommy]

I definitely see TLNG in the Daddy's Draft Pick shirt.

I organize my pics by month/year. It works pretty well with only minor math involved. I also write names, dates, and ages on the backs of actual picture prints. In case, you know, I'm dead later.

[MissM]

Oh! They are SO cute!

[Erica]

Oh. Em. Gee. You are KILLING me with these kids! TLNG is so damn cute! And The Boy looks just like her when he smiles. You have the most gorgeous family, babe. You know, except for mine, of course.

[Shelly]

SO cute! I wish I was feeling clever enough to caption that last photo. It's definitely asking for it.