With major amounts of joy and acceptable sleep, we happily announce the arrival of our second child, Griffin Lott.  Born 12:35am on Nov. 3, 2011, this boy is already a very different, very special little guy than his incredibly wonderful big brother, Graham.  In fact, Griffin’s 9lb 5oz bod eclipsed Graham’s first weigh-in by nearly 2 pounds.  He is very different in many ways, from size to hair to sleeping… oh thank sweet-swinging Willie for the sleeping… God forbid we speak ill of our children, our PERFECT, SMART, INTUITIVE, LONG-DIVISION PROBLEM-SOLVING TODDLERS!….
but… Graham wasn’t a sleeper.  That kid was constantly awake.  His first 8 months go down as “The Dark Days,” where it seemed the only sleep we got was in the day when his exhaustion overcame his will to stare and bleat at us while we were nodding off.  So this is obviously different.  6 straight hours felt like emerging from a divine womb.  It sucked hard.  It sucked hard and long.

Parents with multiple kids have mostly said the 2nd one is “easier.”  We’re not dancing the New Parent Jitterbug, obsessing over every detail from room temperature to warming the post-bath lotion.  We’re more relaxed so Griffin’s more relaxed, and that seems to have had an effect on Graham, too.  So maybe WE are easier.  Graham is as affable, outgoing, and sweet a kid as I could hope for without having some freako nerdload trying to hug everybody and endlessly doffiing his cap at the passers-by.  But that’s from consistency in our discipline and steering, and as much loving rebuke as we can muster when needed.  We have a better idea of how to handle almost everything, so I think the process, not the baby, is easier, and that makes us more at-ease, and holy shit do I want to catch a buzz.

So now I’m balancing work, 2 kids, searching for a new home, stand-up comedy, and recovering mommy the best I can.  In other words, I’m a cornforesaken GROWN UP and nobody told me it would happen now.  I’ve tried to delay it, but you can’t fight what’s inside.  Learned that about Life from a wilted spinach salad.  But that’s what has made this next chapter of life different and special.  We’ve had a LOT of help from family (including sMother-in-Laws, Nana’s, Mimi’s, Gamma, Poppa, Poppa Don, Titi, Wywee, Gwaydy, Jepfi, and other characters), and my respect for single parents grows exponentially each day. I don’t need a medal, just a little more sleep.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY FOR BIG BROTHERS!