Thankful on Thursday

• I am thankful I am here to console my very upset baby. She had her 2 month shots today and she was NOT happy.
• I am also thankful that I finally managed to get her to sleep and she’s currently snuggled up on my shoulder.
• Logan has had a bizarre cough only at night. Last night it seemed better, so hopefully that will continue.
• So thankful we got to see Peter’s parents last weekend!
• Oddly I’m also thankful I got a chance to clean the house. It looked pretty good for a few days!
• Really thankful I backed up my blog…
• So thankful that more babies are coming! Wahoo!
• A chance to see some family we haven’t gotten to see in a while this weekend.

All right, I’m trying so hard not to move too much to keep my sad little girl asleep! Happy almost Friday, her 2 month post comes soon!

Wednesday Warning...

So, this morning I was feeding Aubrey at 4am and decided to check the blog, to see if any of the blogs I read had been updated.  Occasionally I surf the net while I'm feeding her at night because otherwise I'll fall asleep and I'm not a sleep while nursing person, at least not on purpose.  I clicked my bookmark and nearly had a heart attack. It said, "This blog has been removed." OH.MY.WORD.

Most of you know this blog is my baby scrapbook, my journal, uh, our life. To say I panicked would be very, very mild. Well, I tried to login to my google account and couldn't do that either. It said it had been compromised, enter a verification code, etc. I finally figured out how to do all that and got my gmail back up and running, which got my blog back up. THANK GOODNESS. And it doesn't look like any spam or anything got sent from my account, so who knows what the "account compromised" was about.

Right now, go back up your blog! I hadn't and I think I would have cried for several days if I hadn't been able to get it back. If you're on blogger you just have to go to settings, other, export blog, and it will save it to your hard drive.

All right, PSA over.

Smiles!

I worked hard for these. But they are happening more and more.

Not sure why one of her eyes is partly closed, but hey, I guess that’s her cute smile. Love, love it. And she is looking right at the camera! She looks really big, but that’s because I’m so close up and those adorable chin rolls. She’s right at about 11lbs 5oz.

This one smiles too…I don’t have to work quite as hard for it though!

Just so you know, he was preparing to feed monkey in this picture. We know what we do a lot of at our house apparently.

I find it really strange that babies aren’t programmed to smile until they’re 2 months old or so. I mean, it is hard doing a job with no feedback or positive praise! On early sleepless nights it might be easier if they flashed a smile and it meant more than gas. But hey, it’s all worth it when it happens – and before that too!

Duds

So I really hate doing blog posts without pictures. Mostly because I know the grandparents come here for pictures, and I like to keep those wonderful people happy! But, having pictures for each blog post does make me look like the paparazzi. Because it often takes quite a few pictures to have some decent ones for the blog. Tonight, a look at some of  the ones that didn’t quite make the cut from the past week.

 

Clearly there is a reason I had children in the digital age. I would have wasted way too much film otherwise!

Weekend Round Up

I do realize there is one more day left in the long weekend, but that’s for house chores and not a lot of fun, so I’m doing the recap today, in pictures.

Grandma and Pa Pa K came to see us! Logan and Aubrey had a great time with them.

They watched the kiddos while Peter and I went to Jenelle and Luke’s wedding. It was a fabulous time to celebrate a great couple!

Um, WOW, I love this picture of Peter and I!

Then this afternoon we had a little party in our cul-de-sac. The kind of stuff we used to dream of for our neighbors. It was so much fun! We were outside all afternoon and Logan was in heaven. I also made the prettiest fruit platter I’ve ever made, so I had to take a picture of that too!

The weekend also included really cute outfits,

Fabulous early morning snuggles,

and the biggest smiles, although this is the closest I’ve come to getting a picture of them.

Whew, it was a whirlwind! Glad we have a day to slow down a little tomorrow. Hope you’re having a great one!

Happy Birthday Bestie!

A break from leftovers this week to highlight one of the Top Ten people in my life…and she’s pretty high on the list!

That’s us at her baby shower, where she is sporting the cutest baby bump ever. She is going to have that baby any day. Literally!

There really aren’t words to explain to you how incredible she is. Well, there are, but it ends up sounding like a Matron of Honor speech, and I did that already! What I didn’t get to say then is what a great mom she is going to be. I know she’s nervous, as all first (and second, and third) time moms are, but I also know she is going to be a natural. She has so much love to give and is so patient and understanding. She’s a teenage daughter’s dream! Plus, she is one of the very few people I would trust with my own children, which means, clearly, she’s awesome (or, as paranoid as I am…).

We’ve known each other for almost 21 years! She’s having a girl too and we can’t wait for them to be friends. It’s going to be so exciting to go through all of this baby stuff together. If you had told me we’d be doing this together when we were 16 and hopping over pool fences (shhh, don’t tell!) I would have laughed so hard. But it is absolutely the best.

All of us here at the Z house love her. She keeps me sane, which helps everybody else in the house tremendously! She has always been there for me at every moment. She really is like a sister to me and I can’t imagine what my life would be like without her.

Happy Birthday Bestie! You really are the BEST!

Thankful on Thursday

• Bestie’s birthday is tomorrow! Maybe it will turn into a double birthday!?!?
• A playdate with friends.
• Aubrey smiles!
• A few new clothes to help my in between body feel better.
• Logan’s love of books.
• We are going to a wedding this weekend. It makes me feel all lovey.
• Speaking of, I’m thankful for my hubby who has dealt with a very tough Logan in the middle of the night the past few nights.
• Grandma and Grandpa K are coming this weekend!
• 2 more weeks of maternity leave, 1 week of work, then 9 weeks of summer!

Happy Almost Friday!

Wordless Wednesday

These are the adorable faces Logan makes when he “smashes” the play dough. He’s quite determined!

0 to 60

Let me tell you what I’ve discovered about Miss Aubrey. The girl needs her sleep. When she naps well, she is a happy, content baby. When she doesn’t? WATCH OUT. And any fears I have about her sleeping too much during the day I should just forget. She sleeps just fine at night when she sleeps a lot during the day too. She really needs to only be awake for about 60 – 70 minutes at a time, then nap.

But evenings when she doesn’t sleep well are rough. She seriously moves from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5 seconds. You change her diaper and leave her in the pack n play for 2 seconds to throw it away and WOAH. She loses it and is so hard to calm down. Plus she starts doing these little cat naps of 2 – 5 minutes here and there and that’s rough too. Hmmm, how well do you know Peter and I – someone who likes/needs her sleep, who does she take after?

This, this is 0 to 60.

“Ahem, you put me here to get a new outfit. Fine. For now. But I’m giving you the side eye.”

“Ho hum, this is no fun. I’m bored.”

"What the heck? You’ve been gone for 30 seconds! Get me out of here!”

The challenge now is to get her sleeping in her crib for good naps. She sleeps great on me in a calm setting, but that’s pretty impossible when it’s not just the two of us enjoying our maternity leave days! She also naps really well in the Moby, which is how I cooked dinner last night. So, fingers crossed for crib nap success!

Um, then again her morning naps = a little nap for me too, with what is likely my last little baby snuggled up on me. Maybe we can ease into it…

Splish Splash

Way back at Easter Grandma and Pa Pa F got a water table for Logan. At the time it was too cold to play with it, and it waited patiently in the basement.

Thursday afternoon I let Logan play in the sink with measuring cups and he was in heaven. We figured it was time to bust out the water table and he had SO much fun.

The biggest issue is that we don’t really know where to put it. Our front yard is really sunny, therefore really hot. The back gets good sun, but we don’t have our deck yet and there are a TON of frogs in the grass that freak me out (I am strange). So, we put it right outside of the garage. It does have a little umbrella so Logan had some shade, and then Aubrey and I could sit in the shade of the garage and watch him. Win-win!

Oops…I almost just put a picture on with our license plate showing. I suppose that might be bad on the big ole internet.

This is very serious business.

This one? She likes to supervise.

Do you see those cheeks? That chin? Nom nom nom. Logan, my skinny minny baby never had any baby rolls so it is so different! And the eyes, oh those eyes!

No water table today, rain, rain, rain. LOTS of frogs though. I mean, an insane amount. Like, 50 frogs on our driveway. I do not like it one bit. The hopping, oh the hopping. It is just too much. Ick!

And, in fabulous news, a wonderful friend found out she is having a baby girl in October! YAY! Girl-a-palooza! So excited!

Eyes Wide Open

Someone has a hard time sleeping during the day. She might miss something, ya know?

Like, a football player  popping up.

Who knew football players wore capes?

Or, she might miss a dance party.

So, she’ll just stay awake, thank you very much.

I wonder when it is exactly that we go from fighting sleep to praying for more sleep?

I don’t suppose it’s about 7.5 weeks of age, huh?

There is certainly a reason they are made to be so cute!

Friday Night Leftovers

• I think I type 50% of my blogs one handed now. You thought I had typos before, that was nothing!
• This happens because I can nurse with no hands once she latches on the left side, but not the right, I need at least one hand there.  I’m strange.
• Peter and I went out on a child-free date tonight! Dinner and ice cream. My parents watched the kiddos and all was great!
• Aubrey just tooted for 15 seconds straight.
• Oh good grief, I said tooted. I feel like I can’t type the “f” word, mostly because first graders call it the “f” word which makes me feel like it’s a bad word.
• I have stopped the past 2 books I’ve been reading in the middle. I never do that. I finally just found the new Diane Chamberlain, I think I’ll get through this one.
• Aubrey has some CRAZY hair on the back of her ears. I’m hoping it falls out like the hair on baby’s heads does sometimes. Or, well, we’ll love it and think it’s cute if it doesn’t.
• I think my milk has excess lipase again. Really hoping Aubrey will just take it like Logan did. It’s only an issue when you have to store it and it just makes it taste funny, it’s not bad or anything.
• Could nursing make me any thirstier?
• I am in love with my new shampoo. I forgot how much I love Moroccan Oil.
• Danifred already shared it, but since I have a thing with being terrified of crib bumpers too, I thought I’d pass this link along. Yes, I am paranoid. We use breathable bumpers with Logan, but after just now doing a little researching we may not even use those with Aubrey. Just not worth it. Ahem, off of soapbox now.

Want more leftovers? Visit Danifred!

Thankful on Thursday

• Logan did not freak out in the middle of the night last night. I think Tuesday night he actually may have had a night terror. I was a little worried about a repeat, I’m glad we avoided it.
• I’m thankful teaching has taught me to watch my language. In the car. Today Logan said, “That truck driver does not know how to drive!” I’m glad that’s the worst he’s learned from me!
• McDonalds Sweet Tea. Yum.
• Aubrey smiles! They aren’t constant yet but we have gotten a few and it is SO great!
• Pinterest. I may never buy a cookbook again.
• Morning naps with Aubrey. I’m really going to miss those!
• My dad helping to make sure we’re always safe when driving.
• We’ve made it to 6 weeks breastfeeding! Small goals help me a lot. Next goal, 3 months.

Hope you have lots to be thankful for today!

Aubrey’s Birth Story

Um, oops…I kind of missed the boat on this one! But, I wanted to make sure I wrote down the events of Aubrey’s birth, 6 weeks later.

Thursday night, March 29, we had a big event at school. I was on my feet a lot, and got home around 8pm. We had Five Guys and ice cream…YUM! It was a great “last pregnant” meal (but I didn’t know it at the time!).

I went to sleep and around 1am woke up with some stomach pain. I really thought my stomach hurt for about 5 minutes, then realized oh crap, these are contractions. I started watching the clock a little but figured this wasn’t really it.

Around 2:30 I finally woke up Peter. I said, “I think I’m having contractions, but I don’t really think this is it.” He looked at me like I was crazy, turned on the lights, and told me to call my parents so they could stay with Logan. I thought he was crazy, but started timing my contractions a little more seriously. At that point they weren’t really that painful, but they were about 5 – 6 minutes apart. We called my mom and they were on their way.

Once they got here we grabbed all of our bags and I said, “I’m sure this isn’t it, I’m so sorry you’re going to have wasted your time, but we’ll see you in a little bit.”

I called the doctor as we were leaving the house and told her I was sorry to call her at 3:30am, but we were headed to the hospital. She said no problem, she’d meet us there.

On the ride there (about 35 minutes) the contractions started getting more intense. I started thinking um, oops, I might be wrong. This might be it. We finally got to the hospital and had to go through the ER entrance since it was 4am. It was really quiet, we were the only ones in there. They took us up to L&D and I still thought we were going home.

My doctor came in, we chatted a bit, then she checked me. I was 4cm, so she said yep, you’re staying, time to have a baby. They really wanted to get my antibiotics for the Strep B in me before she arrived, so they started those in an IV right away. I decided to labor for a while without the epidural and see where we got. It was 5am at this point.

The contractions got a lot more intense very quickly. It was much faster progress than with Logan. I was gripping Peter’s hand pretty hard and they felt like they were lasting forever. I got checked and was between 6 and 7 centimeters, and decided to get the epidural. They came in to do it and I reminded everybody about my blood pressure drop with Logan.They made sure I was loaded up with fluid and then gave me the epidural. Once again, just like Logan, I had a contraction right in the middle and couldn’t move since they were putting the needle in. UGH. Pain.

Anyway, no blood pressure drop this time, and her heart rate stayed steady. I noticed pretty quickly that the epidural seemed to be working really well on my left side, but not on the right. It was a pretty strange feeling! But, I didn’t really want more, so I just decided to go with it. The good part was that it wasn’t as strong as it was with Logan, so I could actually feel some things. This time I knew right away when it was almost time to push. My doctor came in to check and asked how I was doing, and I said I thought I needed to push. She checked me and said yep, we were ready.

Apparently she thought Aubrey looked really ready, and moved quick to get things prepped. No need to worry, Aubrey wasn’t quite that quick. I pushed for about 20 minutes, and at 10:21 Aubrey arrived! SO much different from 2 hours of pushing with Logan! She went right on my chest, just like Logan did, and she didn’t cry a ton at first. She did have a little more fluid in her lungs, apparently when you don’t have to push a ton that happens sometimes because they don’t have as much time in the birth canal for it to get pushed out (or something like that). But with a little encouragement her cries got stronger and that helped clear her out. They weighed her, got her cleaned up, and we nursed for the first time.

We got moved to the post-partum wing and started our stay at the hospital. We had a tiny room because they were very full. We also thought it was funny that they didn’t check on us nearly as much as they did with Logan – I guess we seemed a little less terrified this time!

Long, but I had to get it all down! That’s how it all began…and it just keeps getting better!

“I’m Scared”

We’ve had a lot of that from Logan lately. For some reason there are pirates in closets and even turtles and frogs are scary (that last one might be my fault). So, when the sky started getting dark around 6:45 tonight, I was pretty sure we were in trouble. Bedtime is 7:30, and I was sure thunder would make it on the “I’m scared” list now.

I was right. We were doing our usual reading and rocking when it started. First it was just rain, and we talked through that. Then by the time I put him in his bed it was thundering. He right away said, “I’m scared.” And I settled down, thinking ugh, this is going to take a while, as I sat down beside his bed. Because there was no way I was leaving him to be upset when he was scared of thunder. Valid fear.

So I was thinking of all the things I needed to do, the show I wanted to watch, Aubrey needing to nurse. But then I put my head up next to his and looked at his little eyes looking at me, and I thought, “Thank you thunder.” Thank you for giving me the chance to get some extra snuggles. To feel those arms hugging my neck for dear life. To make my little guy feel a little bit better and protected.

Thank you thunder, for the reminder to stop and take a moment to savor each moment. Because they are always moving way too fast, that I know for sure.

Time to Celebrate!

Our good friend, B, finished his MBA! We are so proud of him. He’s spent lots of time in classes and I know M is glad to have him back around the house at decent hours of the night too. All that studying and hard work paid off and we were so glad to join them for a celebration on Saturday night.

Logan loves them so much and they are always so excited to see him. One of his favorite things to do is talk to them on the phone, because of how animated they are with him. Aubrey is beyond special because B held her when she was only 8 days old…breaking his rule of waiting until they are a little older and not as delicate. But, of course, he was great. I even joke that he’s the Baby Whisperer because that’s when we were having major weight gain issues and after he held her she woke up and ate a great meal!

Here are a few shots from the night:

M is one of those people kids love because she acts so genuinely interested in everything they are doing and gets right into everything with them.

Sampling some cake from B’s favorite bakery! Logan can’t wait until he gets to go to a baseball game with B and M (um, there have already been fights over who he will cheer for…)!  

Yep, they love them!  

Thanks for inviting us to the celebration guys! We had a great time!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Sometimes I wonder how this happened.

How these two wonderful little people came into my life and changed it completely. The sleepless nights, the worries, the whining, the messes…they are so far outweighed by the hugs, smiles, snuggles, and watching their personalities come out.

I often question whether I’m a good mom. Do I do enough? Do they know how much I love them? My house is messy, I don’t cook fabulous meals, I am so not crafty and I pin a lot on Pinterest that results in, well, nothing.

But I love them. I love the changes they have made in my life, the changes they have made in me. I love the hard moments and the tears. I feel so blessed and lucky to be their mommy.

And my mom? She’s pretty fabulous too.

We have been through so much and she does so much for us. See? Blessed and lucky again.

We got to talk to Grandma K today too and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day! We are some very, very lucky people.

Did I mention I got to take a nap today too? See? Truly blessed!

Friday Night Leftovers

• Oh good grief, Time Magazine. I could care less about the extended breast feeding thing, to each their own. But, really, that headline? “Are You Mom Enough?” I mean really, I think most moms ask themselves that everyday and struggle enough with it, must we see it as a headline screaming at us in the grocery store checkout line too?
• Logan continues to not sleep well at night. He’s still a little stuffy and I think that’s part of it. We’re also going through a “I’m scared” phase, and I do not like it one bit.
• Aubrey sleeps like…well, a 6 week old. I really hate that people think babies should sleep great and always ask about it. Yes, she wakes up every 2 – 3 hours, or more often. Guess what? That’s NORMAL. Oh, I ranted about this when Logan was little too. Clearly it annoys me.
• I need to go to the eye doc so badly…I am sure my prescription has changed. I am going blind, for sure.
• I never told you how the grocery store with 2 kids went…great! I put Aubrey in the Moby, Logan in the front part of the cart, and it was great. I’m too terrified to put the car seat in the front part because of all the stories of them tipping over, so I needed a different plan, and it worked! Ha, this time…we’ll see about next time!
• My throat hurts. Shhh, if we don’t talk about it it will go away.
• We have a really, really full and fun weekend planned. I’m way excited…hopefully good pics will follow of our adventures!

For more leftovers, visit Danifred!

Thankful on Thursday

• There is a baby sleeping on my chest. She wakes up every 2 – 3 hours at night, but she has the biggest eyes that just make me melt. So thankful.
• I am beyond thankful that Logan’s temp was only 98.2 this morning.
• Also thankful that he wanted to go to school. I was afraid after 3 days away he would put up a fight. But he was SO excited.
• Thankful for his wonderful teacher, who was so sweet when she saw him this morning. She just hugged him, was so excited and he was so happy. We are truly blessed to have found her.
• A colleague at work for making something a little easier for me to accomplish today, and keeping the germs away (ahem. ridiculousness!).
• The weather – it is gorgeous!
• Moby wrap! I had a Moby with Logan but I didn’t like it. I think I was too nervous to use it. I gave it to KJ to borrow with her youngest, and she brought it back to me this weekend, and helped me use it. Her help plus some YouTube videos = wonderful. I love it!
• My parents for a grocery trip on Sunday and Monday. And a meal!
• M for making goodies for Bestie’s shower. SO delicious!
• 2 of our good friends had birthdays this week – on the same day! B and E, hope you had great days!
• Hubby for his help!

Happy Almost Friday!

Maybe? Please? I’m Begging!

Um, I think Logan’s fever might be gone. He hasn’t had motrin for 24 hours and hasn’t been above 100 for the whole day. I cannot even tell you how much I hated seeing 104.6 on the thermometer. So.Not.Cool. My baby! He is on fire! He is going to have a seizure! AHHHH! Pediatrician, why do you not care until 105? He’ll be in flames by then!

So yes, now I am hoping he is really better. We are in trouble though, because we have some habits to break that have developed over the past 4 days. I mean, have you ever tried saying no to a child when their fever is 104.6? Believe me, it’s impossible. There have been snacks eaten on the couch, WAY too much tv watched, and juice and milk like nobody’s business (we try to avoid juice and push water,  but um, hello, hydrate people, hydrate!). So now we have to detox him, slowly.

I finally let him go outside some today, because he was dying being cooped up! He was so nice to volunteer to mow the lawn, after all we’ve done for him the past few days.

And then he did some other work outside.

And Aubrey? She wasn’t phased.

She would however, like to know why those owls never leave her alone when she’s in her swing. Why won’t they stop flying around already?

Thank you for all of your good thoughts and concern over the past few days! We are really, really hoping that we are done being sick now. May has been a rough month for us every year that Logan’s been here, sickness wise. It’s like we think we’ve made it through winter fairly well and then BAM! Ha! The germs have fooled you!

Um, PS, if anybody else in this house gets sick in the next month? I’m going to need tranquilizers.