Wordless Wednesday

Someone (aka Chloe) thinks stickers (aka shooting targets) belong on the dog.  This is how I found Izzy after looking for Chloe when she was being too quiet the other day.

The Monday Snapshot - Scrub a Dub x 2 Edition

We had not bathed the kids together just yet and really I didn't have any plans to change that in the near future.  Today they both needed it and he was a bit fussy so I decided a bath might help and to put them both in together.  I filled both tubs, stripped them both down to bare bottoms, put her in and then him.  He cried at first, but as soon as I covered him with the warm washcloth he stopped.  Chloe helped me wash him and they both got the biggest kick out of taking a bath together.  It's crazy but sometimes when he is crying she is the only one that can calm him down.  How is that possible?  Sibling bond I guess.  This is the first time he's actually cracked a smile in the tub too.  Maybe there will be more double baths in our future if this is the outcome - two clean, happy kids!

 Hope he doesn't hate us for all the pink!

This is part of a weekly feature over at PAIL called The Monday Snapshot.

2 Months - Drake

Here we are, another month down.  The days are just flying by as I only have a little over three weeks left of maternity leave before I head back to work.  I can't believe it's so close already!  You have been having good and bad days lately.  Your awake times are much longer, especially in the evenings, and usually those are the nights where all you want to do is be held...while we are standing.  Sitting while holding you is not good enough, and heaven forbid we sit down for a second, all hell breaks loose.  We had one of those last night, which is why this post is a day late, because you were not having any part of letting me work on it.  We think you get like that for one of two reasons, 1) you are gassy, 2) you are overtired.  What doesn't make sense about the gas part though is that yes, you'll scream once you fart, but when we are up walking around with you, you're fine.  If it were truly gas, I'd think you'd cry all the time.  But what do I know?  A few things I don't want to forget are that for now your nickname is "turtle."  Pretty fitting for this family, but it's mainly because you sometimes look like a turtle.  Especially when you are waking up from a nap and stretch your neck real big and move your head from side to side.  Plus the fact that you have beautiful big (blue-ish) eyes and hardly ever blink!  Also, I didn't know when to expect this as Chloe had blocked tear ducts as a baby, but you already have tears and have had for weeks.  For some reason it's easier on my when you are screaming and there are no tears.  Well, now there are tears and it's just so sad.  And lastly, when you really get to screaming, you squeak.  At first I thought it was cute/funny, but it sounds like it hurts your throat so bad that I don't like it anymore.  Luckily you are outgrowing that and don't do it very often now.  You hated diaper changes at first, but now you don't seem to mind them.  You prefer to be held upright over one shoulder than in the cradle position.  You also LOVE looking at yourself in the mirror already!  I think it was a smart choice putting a mirror over your changing table because every time we are done changing you, we stand you up and let you look at yourself - you get the biggest smile!

Sleep: Your awake times are becoming longer and more frequent this month.  It still varies day to day though.  It seems like if one day you stay up for 5+ hours at a time in the evening, you will sleep most of the next day.  You still spend most of the morning sleeping and then are more awake in the afternoon/evening time.  You are still doing great going to bed when we are ready and you go your longest stretch during the night at first, then are waking up about every two hours after that for an average of three feeds a night.  We could cut back on one of those any day now little man.

Daily Routine:  There is no such thing with you just yet.  You wake sometime between 7 and 10 usually.  If it’s the earlier time, I get up with you and either put you straight in the swing if you seem sleepy, or play with you a bit and then try and put you down in the swing a little longer. It’s nice because most days your nap overlaps with your sister’s so it’s a bit of a break for daddy and I.  Then it seems like some days you stay up the rest of the day until bedtime and those are certainly tiring days.  Other days you take another shorter, cat nap.  I don’t know if your naps are getting shorter because you don’t need as much sleep, or because you are still napping in the swing in the living room and are surrounded by noise.  But rather than sleeping for 2+ hours at a time, sometimes your naps are as short as 30 minutes, just long enough for a meal to be eaten by one of us usually.

Feed: If I had to guess I’d say you are eating about 7 or 8 times a day.  Usually ever 2-3 hours during the day, then the first stretch at night you can go up to 5 hours, then you are back to every 2-3 after that.  During the day you nurse off of both sides, but at night it’s usually just one.  You are still exclusively breastfed.  Yay!

Weight: 10 lbs, 14 oz.

Length: 22 1/4 in.

Diaper Size: After we ran out of our one and only package of newborn diapers we went ahead and bumped you up to size 1.  I don’t think you necessarily needed it at first, but it’s what we had on hand.  You have had several blowouts in the last month, more than your sister.  And it’s not that the diaper can’t handle the poop, it must just be the way you are sitting and it either goes out the side or up the back.  And whoever said breastfed poop doesn’t stain, lied.  Your “lil bro” shirt got ruined from a poop stain up the back.

Clothes Size: You are wearing a mix of newborn clothes and 0-3 months.  There are a couple newborn onesies that are now too small for you which really makes me sad because I know we’ll never have a little one to dress in those clothes.  I will probably say the same thing about each new milestone we come to.

Hair Color:

At birth: reddish-blonde

8 weeks: I've been trying to hold onto the "blonde" when describing your hair color, but right now there really is none.  So red it is!  You have a little cul-de-sac going on the top left side of your head though where your hair is pretty thin

Eye color:

At birth: blue/gray

8 weeks: blue-er still

 

Funniest moment: Just like your sister, I’d say your farts and poopy diapers are some of the funnier moments from the past month.  You can put most adults to shame with the noises that you can push out.  It’s not so funny when it’s obvious you are in pain though and scream with each fart you eek out.

Milestone: Smiles!  You smiled quite a bit sooner, and more regularly than your sister did.  We noticed your first ones at 5 weeks old.  I was out running errands and got a text from your daddy: "Little guy just cracked the biggest smile at me :)).  So cute!  The oohs and ahhs have started too and boy are they cute!  They are usually associated with a smile.  You are also tracking people and voices more now. 

Your favorite toy: The swing is still your favorite followed by the bouncy seat.  We’ll set you in it outside if we are doing something and put you in the shade. And just yesterday we put you on the play mat with the toys attached and you seemed to be interested in that too.

Firsts:

First real bath

First oohs and aahs

First smile

So cute and comfy

 I see you...

 It's so hard to capture a smile on camera just yet

 Big eyes!

 There's another little smile

 Sibling love

Being a Mom to Two - Questions and Answers

Back in May, a couple bloggers I follow did a series on having two kids - Beth Ann and Natalie along with another blogger Rachel.  It was perfect timing seeing as how I was about to bring our second child into this world.  I really appreciated the questions that were addressed and their answers.  Some of them as simple as “who do you get in/out of the car first?”  Hmm, I had to think about that for a second before I had two kids.  Now, it’s an afterthought.  I wanted to share my two cents with many of the questions they brought up now that I’m two months in.  I’m sure these answers may change over time, hell they may change day to day.  But today…here are my responses.

What is your favorite thing about having two kids? 

I still don’t feel like I’m a mom to two.  I felt like I was just getting comfortable being called a mom period, but now a mom of two?  That will take some getting used to.  My favorite thing is seeing the two of them together and picturing them growing up close.  I think I forget that Drake is more than a son; he’s also a brother. 

What has been the hardest thing about having 2 kids so far? 

We often wondered what we did with our time before one kid, and now we say the same thing about two.  The hardest for me is feeling stuck at home when it’s just me alone with the kids (more on that later).

Are you doing anything different with your second child than with your first?

Yes; the main things are this time I am breastfeeding and because of that we are co-sleeping.  I never thought we would be a co-sleeping family, but so far it’s working for us.  I also think I have less anxiety this time around about the crying.  He is fussier, but most of the time I think I handle it better than I did with Chloe. And lastly, I’m just doing what feels right with him.  Many people say to only give the breast if you are nursing.  Well, we started Drake on bottles early on and gave him a pacifier.  Many people say don’t let them sleep with blankets.  Well, Drake sleeps with a blanket.  I’m not nearly as worried about things in general this time as I was with Chloe.

Do you feel like you are 'better' at having a baby since you already had one? 

This is a hard one to answer.  I want to say yes because I’ve been through it before.  But each kid is their own person and has their own likes and dislikes.  Chloe didn’t like the swing; Drake does.  Chloe wasn’t fussy and we could take her out anywhere and not worry; Drake is fussy so it makes us not want to leave the house too often, especially alone with both kids.

When do you have special alone time with your first? Do you even get alone time with your first that much anymore?

This is something we knew was very important and I’ve touched on in other posts.  We started Chloe in gymnastics and I’m always the one to take her, or if we all go, I’m the one to help her through the activities.  I try and sit with her at the table for all of her meals, but sometimes the baby is in my arms.  When she gets up for the day and Drake is taking his morning nap, she and I will go outside and play.  We also plan to have someone come watch Drake one day soon and take Chloe to the children’s museum. 

Do you ever feel like your first isn't getting near the attention anymore?

Absolutely, and it makes me sad.  Drake is a needy baby and likes to be held.  Since I’m nursing, it seems like those are the times Chloe wants something and I have to tell her to hold on a minute or no.  I love when he happens to be sleeping when Chloe is getting ready for bed, and I get to go in with JJ and wind down with her at the end of the day like we used to.  We all just play in her room and I can tell she loves that time when it’s just the three of us.

Are there jealousy issues?

I don’t think there are jealousy issues so much with me, but I’ve seen it with JJ.  He doesn’t hold the baby that often, but there have been a few times when he’s had him and Chloe has actually started crying.  She’ll also crawl into his co-sleeper, or sit in his bouncy seat…is that jealousy?

Is it even possible to get them both to nap at the same time?

Yes, and this actually happens most days.  It’s nothing that I’m doing on purpose other than the fact that Drake sleeps a lot.  It’s not too hard for the two naps to overlap.  And boy is it heavenly when they do!! J

If the toddler doesn't nap when the baby naps, how do you follow the old 'sleep when the baby sleeps' advice?

There have only been a few days that Chloe hasn’t slept and it’s because we’ve been out doing something.  We’ve been known to put her down for a nap around 6 pm just to get a little one in, but remember she doesn’t go to bed till 10 pm…or later lately.

Do you think baby #2 just has to be more go with the flow or do you really try to stick to a schedule like you did/if you did with baby #1?

So far there isn’t a schedule with him.  We probably need to start working on that a little more now as I prepare to go back to work.  I would say he is not as go with the flow just because we are a little nervous to take him out places for fear of him crying.

How do you deal with scheduling around both of their naps? Does the younger one just nap whenever, wherever?

As I’ve mentioned before, we don’t go too many places with both kids.  If one of us has to go somewhere, we go alone and leave the other one at home with both kids or at least Drake.  He’s just too unpredictable at this point.  He doesn’t take a bottle well so JJ can’t really do it alone and I’m not too comfortable nursing in public just yet, although I could always go out to the car and I have done that a few times.

Where do you put them in the grocery cart?

We’ve done it a couple different ways.  One time Drake was in the top part in his seat and JJ had Chloe.  If we don’t need the basket part, I put Drake there in his seat and Chloe in the top part like normal.  She does like to rock him though and usually (hopefully) he’s sleeping and her rocking does not help keep him asleep!

Who do you get in the car first/out of the car first?

Depends where we are, and if I’m alone.  Usually at home I will take Chloe out to the car first, then put the baby in.  If we are out somewhere, I will put Chloe in the car first, then the baby.  When getting out of the car, I get the baby first, then Chloe.  Confused yet? Ha!

What do you do when they're both crying at the same time?

I hate these times.  I really do.  This is the one instance that will wear on my patience the fastest.  Every once in a while, Chloe will climb up on the couch and try and climb onto me when I’m either nursing Drake or trying to settle him down from a screaming fit.  I hate to admit that this can be when I yell at Chloe because I feel like I’m not getting through to her any other way.  Or I’ll turn on a cartoon or movie to occupy her until I can get the baby calmed down.  And then I ask Chloe for a kiss…because I feel bad.   

What does your older child do while you are nursing?

It’s been surprising how interested she is in me nursing or pumping.  Sometimes she will just watch, or she’s even said “oww” before.  If I’m pumping, she likes to help and hold the tubes.  For the most part though she goes about her business, playing and occupying herself or watching TV, except the few times she gets too close as I mentioned in the previous question.

How do you shower...ever?!

I have to admit, this has taken a backseat.  Since we can go days without leaving the house, that has given me a (poor) excuse not to shower.  I just showered today for the first time in…a couple days.  This has to change!  I only do it when JJ is home.

What do you do if you want to take the older one to something the second one can't do? Like zoo, circus, etc.

We all go.  So far (knock on wood) when we have gone somewhere, Drake sleeps through the whole thing, or right up until the very end.  We’ve gone to the petting zoo for Chloe and took Drake, but nothing bigger than that.  I’d like to be able to take him places assuming JJ is with me, but we also want to give Chloe some alone time with us.

How difficult is it to go anywhere with just you and the kids?

Of all places, I’ve gone to the pool and the Social Security Office alone with both kids.  The pool was great, Drake did awesome and we had a really good time.  Then after the pool, I had to run to the pediatrician’s office to get a letter and then headed to the SS office.  I didn’t expect it to be like the DMV where you have to take a number and wait.  The room was full and I almost left, but I had just woken Chloe up from a nap in the car (she never naps in the car anymore) so I wanted to try and stick it out.  Drake slept until the end and then cried the whole time I was dealing with the worker, but at least it only lasted a few minutes.  We just bought a double stroller, so I’m hoping to take them both out on my own more now.  Before, I would have him in the car seat and either let Chloe walk or I’d carry her in my other arm.

Do you give them baths at the same time?

No; although it might save time, I’m afraid that she will splash him and it will turn ugly fast.  Once he gets older though I plan to give baths together. 

Do your children share rooms and if so how does that work or are you planning to share rooms?

No; they each have their own room.  Drake has yet to spend a night in his yet though.

How do you manage your home and take care of two babes?? Where do you get all the energy from?

Actually, my house is staying cleaner now that I’m home all the time and not working.  It isn’t too hard to find the time to keep it clean as long as JJ is around to watch whoever isn’t sleeping. I realized for the last 3+ months, I have only been getting sleep in increments of about 2-3 hours.  I was sleeping horribly during the last part of my pregnancy, and ever since Drake has been here, I've been getting up with him to nurse.  Believe it or not, I'm doing better than I thought with little sleep, but there are some days it hits me and I just get exhausted about halfway through.  I'm also ready for bed every night as soon as Chloe is asleep - not too many late night movies for JJ and I these days.

Were you ever scared you couldn't love another child as much as the first one? 

I was.  I even wrote a post about it here.  And I’m happy to report that fear went out the window as soon as Drake was placed on my chest.  There are even days when he is my “favorite” because he likes to cuddle, and can’t run away from me and act out.  It’s hard to describe, but for me it was like what everyone else said – there is totally room in my heart to love both of my kids immensely.

How are you and your spouse able to keep the spark (not sex) going when you are busy with both kids? 

This is something that is hard.  JJ is not a morning person, and on the days that the baby gets up early, I get up with him alone.  On the days we all sleep in, we usually all get up at the same time.  JJ usually uses Chloe’s nap time to go to the lake or I use it to run errands.  And then Chloe stays up so late at night that by the time she goes to bed, I am exhausted and wanting my head to hit the pillow as soon as her door closes.  We have gone on a couple dates which have been great.  I just wish we had more time at home alone together, like if Chloe were to go to bed earlier and we had each night to just lounge on the couch.

How do you and your hubby split the work? Does he mostly take over the older kid duties when he's home and on the weekends?

Yes, JJ mostly has Chloe duty and I have Drake duty, simply because he’s nursing.  JJ doesn’t work much, although he did get called into work for about two weeks straight which sucked because we had no warning and I was thrown into being home alone with both kids. 

I’d be interested to hear your answers to these questions if you have more than one child.  Are there other questions you have that I didn’t touch on?

Pool Fun

One of the Chloe-only-activities we've done this summer is pool time.  I so wish we had a neighborhood pool, but we don't. :(  Her first experience this summer in a pool was to our local one, and it's the typical summer hang out for all the teenagers.  We went around 7:00 at night thinking it would be less busy, but I was wrong.  The place was still packed.  Chloe and I started out in the baby pool which was fine and all, but I wanted to see how she would do with her floaties and not being able to reach the bottom.  We went over to the bigger pool and as long as I held on to her she was fine.  We were there for about an hour and had a good time, but realized it's not worth buying a family pass, at least not this summer yet.

Only one picture as we were leaving since I was by myself with her

Then my friend invited us over to her apartment pool.  It has a zero depth entry which is great for Chloe.  And we met up with Chloe's sitter who watched her up until she was about a year, along with her three kids.  It was the first time I had met her baby girl (who isn't even a baby anymore, she's nine months old already).  If you remember, the reason she quit watching Chloe was because she was due to have that little girl last fall.  The kids had a good time together and us ladies had a good time chatting too.  Drake went on that trip and he was so good!  He stayed in the shade in his car seat until he got hungry, then I attempted to give him a bottle but that didn't work, so I nursed him (in public...big step for me) but no one was there but us so it doesn't really count.  After two hours of fun in the sun, we headed home and both kids passed out in the car. 

This is the life

 Aren't those chairs great??  That's the sitter and her daughter.

 He looks so big next to her.  This is the sitter's son who she would spend her days with.

Today Chloe and I met up with Rachel and Ava.  Their neighborhood pool also had the zero depth entry. I knew Ava was a pro at swimming already, jumping into the deep end by herself, so I was hoping she'd show Chloe how it's done.  Chloe still prefers to be able to touch the bottom, ha!  She doesn't know to kick her legs when she can't touch, so her floatie forces her onto her back and she doesn't like that.  Ava started jumping off the ledge so I asked Chloe if she wanted to do it also.  That part she loved!  We had a great time with those ladies today and the weather was perfect.

1...2...3...Jump!!

 Ha, I don't know what they were looking at.

  Checking each other out

 Friends helping friends

When we aren't able to meet up with others who have an actual pool, Chloe likes to hang out in her little mini pool we have set up in the front yard.  She would play in that thing all day long if she could.  If only I had a chair I could set in the pool for myself and not worry about puncturing it, I could stay out there all day too (as long as Drake slept). 

Silly girl

 Really silly girl, and oh those bangs...

My New Favorite Thing

After Chloe was born I started looking at mother's rings and pendants.  I was scouring Et.sy and other websites looking for the perfect piece I could proudly wear showing off my daughter's birthstone and/or her name.  But I just couldn't find that perfect piece.  Plus I also had in the back in my mind the possibility that we might be blessed with another child, and what then?  Would I be able to add on to the original piece or would I have to get a new one?

I put the search on hold, and then when I found out I was pregnant with Drake I was excited to once again look for jewelry that would showcase both of my kids.  Chloe's birthstone is Peridot and Drake's is Emerald.  JJ wanted to get me a piece of jewelry for Mother's Day but since there was a chance Drake could have gone past his due date and been a June baby, we held off until after he was here.

JJ told me a few weeks ago that he had a surprise for me, and that he wanted to keep it that way, but also wanted to be sure I liked it.  We went to the jewelry store that made my wedding rings and he showed me the setting and idea they had for my mother's pendant.  I fell in love with the idea and gave mad props to JJ for picking such a great piece that he knew I would love.

He hoped it would be done in time for our anniversary last week, but they had some issues with the stones so they called us just yesterday to let us know it was ready.  We were both excited to go pick it up just in time for my birthday (today...yay!) and the jeweler did not disappoint.  The idea he and JJ came up with was to make the center stone half Peridot and half Emerald.  The greens ended up looking really good together.  It's hard to get a good picture of it, so you'll just have to take my word for it.  I never would have picked such an extravagant piece for myself, but I'm really glad JJ thought it was important enough to do it for me (and not show me the price tag). 

23 Months

My little girl...you are one short month away from being two.  TWO!!  Thinking about that makes me realize how fast these days are flying by.  But you will always be my little girl.  Who I've had the pleasure of having as my daughter for the last 23 months and who made me a mother for the first time.  I have really been thinking a lot lately about being pregnant with you, bringing you into this world and meeting you for the first time, our first days and weeks at home together, getting to know each other, and then of course watching you grow each month into the wonderful, spunky toddler you are today. 

I'm happy to say that your vocabulary continues to improve each month.  I think you are finally hitting the stage where you are likely to repeat things we say, at least one word at a time.  Our favorite, or the funniest, new word you've learned is chalk.  The neighbor boy next door who is five doesn't pronounce the "h" in chalk (say it out loud) and we thought it was pretty funny...until we heard you say it for the first time and realize you say chalk the same way.  For now it's still funny, but we need to work on the "h" sound for sure. :)  I haven't kept a running list of all your words, but your daddy and I find ourselves looking at each other more often saying "she just said this" or "did she just say that?" so I know the number of words you can say is increasing...slowly, but surely.  I've finally relaxed a little with this since we are seeing signs of improvement and have realized you will add new words in your own time. 

We started gymnastics last month and it's been so fun to see how much more comfortable you have become in the last five weeks.  The first class you held my hand for the first 15 minutes and barely left my side and were very cautious with each activity.  Now you run onto the floor when we get there and can follow directions pretty well.  It's almost getting more difficult to keep you close to me because you just want to explore from one thing to the next.  

We have been working on colors and shapes lately.  I'd still like to get some flashcards to help with this, but right now we are just using books you already have and your etch e sketch.  I'm also determined to get you to say please and thank you before I go back to work, and I think you are starting to say thank you, but boy are you stubborn on this one!  You just want what you want, when you want it, and if I keep it from you while asking you to say please, you start to get a little sassy.

There have definitely been a number of outbursts or tears this month.  I think part of it is your age and still having a small vocabulary, but I also think part of it is having a new person in the house.  Overall I'd say you are doing really well with him.  But then out of nowhere you'll do something that makes us wonder what in the world made you think to do that?  Like if your brother is sleeping in his swing, you'll take his blanket off of him and hit him with it.  Or if we are getting ready to go somewhere and he is in his car seat on the floor, you'll come up behind him and pull it backwards.  We have quickly learned that we canNOT leave you alone with the baby because even though 95% of the time you are good and/or leave him alone, it only takes a second for you to do the wrong thing when we aren't right there. 

You are starting to show signs that you might be interested in starting to potty train soon, so one of these days here shortly we plan to go get you your own little chair and start letting you get used to it.  We won't push it just yet, but I'm curious to see what you will think of it initially and how quickly you take to it.

You continue to be a daddy's girl, but you have really been into giving hugs and kisses lately.  You'll just randomly run up and give us the biggest, tightest hug and we love it.  You always hug and kiss people goodbye and wave continuously which is really cute.  I've enjoyed the extra one on one time we've had since I've been off work.

I've just decided (as in today) to go ahead and have a party for your second birthday, so now I have to get my act together and get the invitations out.  I might shed a little tear over the fact that we are already here, planning your second birthday.  But then I look at that sweet smile of yours, or here your goofy fake laugh, and it perks me right back up.  It's amazing how you have the power to turn a frown upside down in an instant.  We love you sweetheart!

The Monday Snapshot - All Smiles Edition

Even though Drake seems to be fussier than Chloe in general at this age, he started smiling sooner than she did.  In the last week or so, he's been flashing us smiles pretty regularly and there is just nothing sweeter than your baby looking up at you and smiling so big.  Great way to start my day for sure!

 This is part of a weekly feature over at PAIL called The Monday Snapshot

How I Lost My Independence on Independence Day

I married this guy five years ago.

 Happy anniversary baby!  I love you so much for what you've given me over the years and can't wait to see what the future has in store for us!

Wordless Wednesday

(That's Chloe on the computer screen and Drake in my lap. No doubt they are related!)

The Monday Snapshot - Then and Now Edition

As I was going through our new family photos this past weekend, one stood out to me as soon as I came across it.  This first picture was taken back in 2010 and has been one of my favorites ever since.  It's the one picture we've had on display in our house for quite a while.  Whenever we would have professional pictures taken we'd include our dogs...

...And now our dogs have been replaced in the pictures by our kids.

Maybe one of these days we will try a family picture that includes the dogs again.  That sounds like such a challenge though!  Chloe is enough to try and get to sit still these days.

This is part of a weekly feature over at PAIL called The Monday Snapshot