2 month pics

These are a bit late... Our little Man is 2 months old already!! Its crazy really! Blogging time has been hard to come by, but since I currently have 2 children in bed (crying and refusing to sleep) I thought I might take a minute to at least post these!

Its been a really busy month... Aaron and Melissa came up for about a week and a half starting Christmas day. It was the best time!! Mercy surprised us and showed up on our door step Christmas day too! :) Silly me - I totally didn't understand why she was sending me a picture of my front door! Then we went to MI for a week to see Ty and Beth. I feel like this was the most relaxing and fun times I've had with my out of town sibs in a long time. It will all be among my happiest memories.

Sadly, though - there has been a lot of stress as well. Daniel spent 3 blissful weeks sleeping when he was born and its been very difficult since. He isn't quite as hard as Abi, but this time around I also have a 2 year old that wants all my time and attention. He doesn't scream quite as much, but is just a bad a sleeper. And when he's over tired he just screams... That came to a head while we were in MI when he abruptly stopped nursing and then stopped eating and sleeping. There wasn't anything wrong with him - seems that he was just overstimulated, but it made for a stressful end of the trip, sadly. I don't understand why both kids have gotten so overstimulated so quickly - not sure what I'm doing wrong. Even with family around and while traveling we kept his schedule the same!! He's done really well the last few days which is encouraging, but it still seems that if I try to go anywhere in the morning it will ruin the rest of the day! What's a body to do? I can't just stay home all the time! ...though in truth I do - way too much - just because its easier in the long run! And this whole sleeping thing... 45 min cat naps - oh so familiar... Abi was at least sleeping through the night at this point! By the plan he should be sleeping 10hrs at night by now and we JUST started getting 8 last week.

Though it was really sad for me that Daniel quit nursing I've tried to convince myself that it was for the best. He was so bad at it anyway. For some reason gulped a ton of air and was so SO gassy... He seems to do a bit better with the bottle, and burps much easier!! I'm just sad that it ended that way and that I was able to do for him as long as I did for Abi. :( At least its easier to see how much he's eating. Within the last 3 days he has jumped from 4oz a feeding strait to 7-8oz!!!

In the middle of all this we had to take Abi's Nuk away. Oh, dear!!! I took her to the dentist at the end of Dec because I had noticed a dark spot on her tooth. Sure enough it is a cavity. :( For now we are just watching it (and the several other stained spots - incomplete enamel???) in the hopes that it doesn't grow and won't have to be dealt with for a couple years. I can't imagine trying to have her get a cavity filled!! We have to brush her teeth twice a day, floss them and put fluoride treatments on the one tooth. She was great at the Dentist - I was so surprised. I had taken her with me the week before so she could watch me get my teeth cleaned. She was awesome till I tried to get her to let the dentist look in her mouth! So I had to make an appt with the pediatric dentist - she LOVED it and was amazing! Didn't fuss once and held her mouth wide open on her own. Even let them polish her teeth and she hates things that make noise!! Anyway - the dentist took one look in her mouth and said, "she's a pacifier baby isn't she?" ...and then showed me how the thing was messing up Abi's bite. So we waited till after the Holidays and took it away. She cried for 4 days at nap and bed times. Now she doesn't cry. But - I fight her for an hour to fall asleep at nap and then she sleeps about an hour. At night she plays for 1 1/2 hrs and wakes up and hour earlier in the morning! 4.5hrs of sleep less a day is taking its toll! ...on her and me... Today she was a wreck... She fell right to sleep at nap time!! ...and only slept 45 min... :( Humph. Nuks are recommended to help prevent SIDS - then the babe gets hooked on it and finally starts sleeping good - then it ruins her bite (hopefully not permanently???)!! That's just a little bit frustrating. I'm sooooo hoping that we're able to get back to a better sleeping habbit again....

Danny is crying again... I must go....

1 Month Old!!!

Our little man is 1 month old already. I know it went fast with Abi, but I think its going faster this time. The first 3 weeks were quite easy - he slept constantly. Its been a lot more rough this past week. He's having a really hard time getting himself back to sleep. I'm not sure I'm keeping him awake too long and he's getting overtired? In any event its been a trying week as we try to figure things out. I still think that he's a much easier baby than Abi was. He doesn't spend all his time screaming! But when he's really tired and can't sleep we do hear nerve-racking cries. He's REALLY gassy too, so now I'm trying to figure out if that is because of things that I'm eating? Its so hard to tell. That is part of his sleeping trouble - when he has gas it wakes him up and then he can't get back to sleep...

He's not so great at eating... his latch isn't good and he gulps air. I wouldn't say that he's a bad eater, but It seemed easier with Abi for some reason.

We've had a month of health struggles. After having Daniel I got a yeast infection just like last time. Just as that was clearing up we all came down with horrid colds/coughs. Even Daniel got a bit of a cold! I didn't think that could happen when they are that young - esp if they're breast fed?? Before all that cleared up I got my first ever UTI. NOT fun! Spent 5 days on abx, then about 4 healthy days, and then the UTI came right back. I'm really blessed that Dr. Carelle was willing to call in a script for me and I didn't have to go in. I went to Urgent care the first time so he had my records. Hopefully all will be well after this 10 days of Abx!! I'm tired of not being healthy. All that combined with my total lack of sleep is making it hard to have a positive attitude!

...side note...

Its been 2 weeks and I only have 4lbs to go till I reach pre-baby weight! ...and then 22 more lbs to go after that. The wonders of only gaining 20lbs this time as apposed to 40lbs last time!! Now if only I hadn't put on that extra 22 prior to getting pregnant! :)

What?

Not the most flattering picture ever, but I just love his wrinkly little legs! :)
Oh, and just so we're clear on it - he was NOT 19in at birth! ...because five days later (at the pediatrician's) he was 20 3/4 inches long! Now that's some fast growth!

So, get this.... Daniel was born on Friday at 7 lbs 12oz. In the hospital they tell you to feed every 2-3 hours so I did because I was there and kinda had to. We were discharged from the hospital after 36 hours and Daniel was 7lbs 7oz. They like it to be a full 48 hours so the Pediatrician asked us to bring him to the office for a weight check in 2 days... ...I bargained for 3 days because Abi already had an appt for her flu shot. So on Wed Daniel was 7lbs 8oz - doing great. His Dr asked me how much he was eating and I said, "oh, about 20 min every 3 hours." Actually, knowing that it didn't really need to be quite that often I was doing 3hrs during the day and 4hrs at night. Her immediate response was, "Oh, you need to work on that! Feed him every 2 hours during the day and no more than 3hrs at night! And do whatever it takes to get him to feed for longer!" Then asked me to bring him back in a week for another weight check. I was frustrated. I wasn't going to push it - I did that with Abi and it was miserable. I know from experience that a baby will feed better when he's actually hungry and that he was getting PLENTY in just 20 min at a time! But - I'm an OCD rule follower... I didn't change anything - kept doing 3hrs during the day and 4 at night for the next week, but I was anxious all week about it because now it was in my head that I might be wrong. And my poor husband heard about it all week! :( Well, I took Daniel back for his weight check this past Wed. and he was 7lbs 14oz!! The Dr's exact words were, "Wow! He's doing great! He's ahead of schedule!! Keep doing what you're doing!" Haha! I didn't say a word. :)

Totally Different

I hesitate to be too hasty in saying this... ...but so far this is a completely different kind of baby experience! Daniel just... SLEEPS! They say that new borns sleep most of the first 2 weeks and then things change... He isn't 2 weeks old yet, so we'll see if that changes, but I know that Abi was already screaming by this time. I literally have to torture him awake to even eat. Pretty sure he'd sleep through the night now if I didn't set my alarm so he doesn't starve to death in his sleep! :) I feel blessed - this has made transition to two fairly easy so far.

Abi has done remarkably well so far with all the transition. She's madly in love with her baby brother - a couple days ago she informed me that he was her best friend! She's precious with him - constantly wanting to kiss him and telling him how cute he is. :) Today we had a bit of a rough day... as well as she really IS doing, it doesn't change the fact that she's not at all good at entertaining herself and is very demanding of attention. Before Daniel was born we had gotten to the place where I could get her to play with toys in her room by herself for about 20 min to half an hour during the day. I think its going to take a while to get back to that. Abi loves Daniel to death, but struggles with the fact he sometimes needs my time and that means she can't have it - she's a little clingy right now! All in all I think the transition is going quite smoothly.

We got to get out of the house to MOM's group this morning. It was great for me, and I was happy to find that I could actually get us all out of the house by 9am. :) Abi was just happy to go "play with her friends!" Our little lady loves her social time - its been hard for her being home most of the last 3 weeks!!!

New Baby :)

Daniel James Milo

11/5/10 6:33pm

7lbs. 12oz. 19in.

He is precious :)

Kids rooms are done at last!

This is Abi's new "big-girl" room...
No - it doesn't say "arm." Those are her initials...
I'm no interior designer, but I'm happy with the results!

I did her silhouette for the frame - I love it!!

The tree was all Kris' idea and I love it - best idea ever!

Little man's room is all ready too!Small, but its a perfect nursery :)

Very manly bedding for the "little man!"

The time has come - and I'm ready!! ...or at least I'm ready when the time really does come! Hopefully any day now "little man" will be ready to join us in person! There is nothing left to prepare! Its been a busy last 5 months!

Landscaping finished in the front yard - check!

Rooms ready - check!

Abi adjusted to new room and bed - check!

Abi potty-trained like a champ - check!

Car cleaned and car seat in - check!

House cleaned (though if he doesn't come quick it will need it again!) - check!

12 meals in the freezer - check!

Baby clothes washed, sorted, folded and put away - check!

Diaper bag packed - check!

...can't think of anything else.... Oh - baby afghan half done... Better work on that!

I seem to have pulled a couple muscles in my back a couple days ago and could hardly walk for the last 2 days. Thankfully its on the mend today. I'm kinda surprised it never happened before this, but very glad too!! I'm scheduled to work Fri, but that should be my last day before maternity leave - its getting to be too much... Hopefully won't waist much time before he comes though!

Laying the smack-down!

Yesterday - at my OB appointment - Little Man was was given the word... Helen (my Nurse Practitioner/midwife) says he has to come early...! ...she's leaving for Ireland on Nov 14Th. You heard that Little Man!! We're ready for you whenever you want to come :)

Sleep - or lack there of...

I really don't remember having so much trouble sleeping when I was pregnant with Abi. I know its common, but ever so frustrating. I'm exhausted, but when I lay down I just can't sleep. Last night I finally fell asleep around 2am. I think I might get more sleep after the baby comes!! So - by all means come early, Little Man!

Reaching for new heights!

This afternoon I was standing at the kitchen sink doing a few dishes with my head in the clouds (as seems to be my usual state recently!) and suddenly realized the kitchen light was turning on, off, on, off, on, off... My little lady just realized that she can reach her first light switch!! And let me tell you - she is VERY pleased! :) My little lady is growing up all too quickly! Gosh, I love her so!

PS... I thought all light switches would be placed at a standard height? Apparently not - there are only a few she can reach right at the moment.

I should also mention that yesterday I cleaned the car - scrubbed every inch - and installed the infant car seat. So glad to have that done! I feel more ready now. This morning I took Abi and we went to MOM's group. I was wondering what Abi would say when she saw the seat in the car. She took one look and said, "Oh, Mamma! Its so cute! That's for my baby brother!!! He's going to talk to me!!" Such a little sweet-heart. She's very excited to have her baby brother! :)