Similarities and Differences

As a mother of 2 children under the age of two, it is hard to NOT compare Bethany and Owen already. I found myself several times in his short life thinking..."Wow, Bethany did this... She looked like that... Owen does this instead...etc." I am trying to nip that in the bud, but before I do...I figured I'd share some of the similarities and differences that I have noticed so far...
(FYI...the pictures are mostly random & may or may not have anything to do w/ the comparisons)

Difference 1: Feeding Owen has been much easier than feedings with Bethany. Owen know exactly how to latch on without any issues. Bethany took a good week to figure it all out! It was a major relief when Owen knew what to do to in order to obtain food! ;o)

Similarity 1: They both took (take) forever to eat. Owen likes to fall asleep during feedings, which is resulting in hour long feeding sessions. I am questioning whether or not a nuclear blast would wake our lil' man from his slumber. Bethany was just a slow poke & didn't mind feeding slowly....what was the hurry? Good thing I don't have anything better to do!

Difference 2: Bethany had to stay in the Special Care Nursery during her extended hospital stay. Owen got to stay in the regular nursery and was allowed to my room during the normal-length hospital stay. It was so nice to have him in the room with me when I wanted him. Of course he spent sometime in the nursery. I am no dummy and I realized that I should take advantage of the nurses when I had them available! :)

Similarity 2: There birth weight was 100% exact. 7 lbs, 10 oz. Bet I couldn't do that a third time. (Not saying that a third time is coming any time soon! Good Grief, People!)

Difference 3: When Bethany got home from the hospital. Cory gave her the grand tour of the house, explaining the purpose of each room. Then we laid her down on a blanket and looked at each other asking, "Now what?" When Owen got home from the hospital...he was bombarded with loving from his big Sister! She wants to hug on him and kiss him all the time. She even tried to feed him pizza and give him some drink from her sippy. And she couldn't resist playing "tickle, tickle" with his little toes.

Similarity 3: They both came home in the same outfit. They look so alike. What cuties!

Owen Richard Milles

Bethany Catherine Milles

The Most Major Difference: Owen is a rather mellow baby. Perhaps, I am speaking too soon & he is still in his lil' honeymoon phase. But I am enjoying the fact that he likes to eat, sleep and occasionally he'll let us take a peek at his pretty blue eyes. But he is nothing like his screaming big sister was...I am just hoping he stays this way and I am not jinxing us all! He is the perfect fit to our family.

The Most Major Similarity: The one thing I am noticing that is the most similar for both my babies is the over-whelming amount of love I feel for them. During my whole pregnancy with Owen, I'd look at Bethany and think of how much love I have for her. I couldn't fathom how I could love another child as much as I love her. I actually felt a little guilty for the fact that I would just have more love for Bethany. After all, I felt it was physically impossible for me to Love this second child as much as I love Bethany. She is the prettiest and smartest lil' girl I know. Plus, she is amazingly sweet and caring for others.

How could anybody else ever compare to her?

Well, I guess that along with all of the labor postpartum pains an additional side effect of labor and delivery emerged: a larger heart. It is amazing how much love you can have for someone you have known only for a few short days..but my love for both my children is overwhelming at times. I just feel it exploding out of my chest & it is hard to contain. I am certainly blessed to have both these lil' guys in my life. They are totally worth all the physical pain and discomfort that came with creating their lives. They are totally worth the lack of a social life that comes with having young children. They are totally worth getting up every 3 hours for the next several weeks to ensure that Owen is getting enough eat. My one hope for them is that I want them to realize one day how much they mean to us and how we would give the world for them.

Overall, I continue praise God for letting us have children and for blessing us with the 2 sweetest, prettiest, most perfect children in the entire world. I hope we are raising these children in a way that praises and honors Him and I hope that they learn to love Him they way he unconditionally loves them.