How To Keep A Big Brother Busy

Ayden is at his best when he is deeply engaged in his environment.  The only problem is that he gets bored with his environment pretty quickly if we don't change things up regularly.  When he is bored, he misbehaves.  We can see this as becoming a possible "issue" when he gets to school.  His teachers are going to have their work cut out for them...  

Knowing that I would be spending a lot of time nursing Logan, I stocked up on things I can pull out when things get crazy:

Audio books.
I had quite the library already from teaching but our public library has a great selection as well.

His big brother gift.
Play food and "stove/oven" container.
We do not have room for an actual toy kitchen so I purchased a PDF burner printable for $2 from Etsy.
Printed it onto sticker paper, cut it out, stuck it to the lid and viola!

Getting him outside!

We've been taking 2-3 walks a day.

Keeping him involved and letting him snuggle/hold Logan as much as he wants. 

Change of scenery always helps him too!  My mom took Ayden to story time today and while they were away I took a few more newborn photos:

The best natural light in the cottage is in the bathroom.
I made it work...

Logan and I also got LOTS of snuggle time today!  It's nice to get some help with Ayden so that I can really focus on and bond with our new little man. 

They say that you don't take as many pictures with subsequent children but I don't think I'm having an issue with that quite yet...  How could I not take tons of photos of this sweetness??

Seriously the BEST!
I had forgotten just how warm and fuzzy newborn snuggles feel.

Logan is also staying awake for longer and longer stretches during the day. 

My favorite thing to do with Ayden was to prop him up on my knees with him facing me and just talk to him about anything and everything. Sometimes letting him look at high contrast books or pictures. It seems as though it's my favorite thing this time around too! The best is just letting Logan take me in while I do the same with him. 

"Oh hello there, Mommy!"

I think tomorrow will be my first full day alone with both kids and I am not feeling nervous at all. Ayden has been doing great (as long as I keep things exciting) and Logan is so easy going that, for now, I feel like I've got this whole mom of two thing!  We might even venture out and go eat lunch with David at work. I need a little change of scenary and Ayden always does great when we break up our day a bit. 

What are/were your life savers for keeping your older child busy while your little one nurses/nursed the day away?

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Amazing Autumn"

And two years ago today: "Fall Is Here!"