Takin' the Cake at Two Months

Rachel has grown so much since birth, she's hardly the same baby.  She's 14lb 3oz, a pound heavier than Benjamin at two months and she's 24 inches, both measurements in the 90th percentile. Her chub is adorable!  She's a great nurser and a fabulous sleeper, going to bed about 7:30 and sleeping anywhere from 10-11 hours straight, then eats and sleeps another 1-2 hours. In fact, I frequently have to pump a couple of hours after she goes to bed and wake her up to eat at 5:00 because I'm about to explode! She sleeps better than Ben, who goes to bed also about 7:30, wakes up once in the middle of the night and is up and at 'em at 6:30. She is making it easy on me now. I'm getting more sleep and not feeling so much like a zombie who hates her job. She can really put on a smile and it is so cute, but she can look so serious the rest of the time. She no longer will take a pacifier, she prefers her hands, and she has successfully taken a bottle from dad a couple of times while I'm at the gym. I love to hear her cooing, she's great in the car, and she usually doesn't fuss much.  Ben has taken a liking to her, although we still have to watch out that he doesn't jump on, step on, or kick her (by accident). Olivia loves to be the big sister and help change the first morning diaper and help watch her while mom cooks dinner or showers. She blows out her diaper every time she poops, which is once about every 24-36 hours. My other babies rarely blew out and usually pooped ten times a day, but not her, she saves it for one time. On top of that, she does it so silently that I don't know it has happened until I go to pick her up. I'm going through a lot of oxi-clean. She has her father's brow and flat behind, but I'm hoping she's going to keep those blue eyes from my side of the family. We are truly in love with this girl and are excited to have her blessed next month.

YUCKY!

Christmas Photos

We took some Mom/Dad pics after church last Sunday since it is nearly impossible to do them as a family. For those of you who got our Christmas card it may look like that was easy going but we were sweating to death trying to wrangle Benji in for a shot. The shoot lasted less than five minutes and miraculously there were two good pictures out of the dozens the photographer snapped.  I think our own pics turned out cute too. Plus I added a few from Christmas day.  Hope you all had a wonderful day!

 

Ready for Christmas, almost

 This is our brand new fake tree!  It is pre-lit, the needles don't fall off and no rotting pine scent as the tree starts to decay.  Love it!  I put up a few meager Christmas decorations. I'm not much of a decorator since I've always rented and hate toting around stuff.  I am hoping to get a few nice pieces to put up for the holidays now that we are staying put. I love the Willow Tree nativity scene and am hoping to add to the scene as the years go by. All the shopping was done online this year, just a couple of stocking stuffers to go.  While I have preferred staying out of traffic and crowded stores the song Silver Bells doesn't really mean much to me anymore.  It's strange.

Another Thanksgiving

We spent another great Thanksgiving with Adam's family in the bay area again. We took Olivia down there the Sunday before and she stayed with her Nana two nights and her cousin Boston's two nights. She had a blast being spoiled and playing and getting away from the craziness at our house. His mother graciously put us up for the night in the hotel where we have dinner. We arrived the night before. The morning of Thanksgiving I went out of the hotel for a quick little run. It was cool and a little foggy and I ran by a little lagoon. I missed the area just a little bit after that.  Our family dinner was fabulous, but exhausting keeping track of kids in a hotel.  We drove home that evening and ate some split pea soup I had made for my maternity leave. I like that we keep it simple sometimes.

 Wiggly kids, notice the spit up on Rachel's face and I couldn't find her bow.

Flood!

OK, maybe a little dramatic but after four days of severe wind and rain the creek crested just as the sun finally came out.  It was an exciting drive home from church.  Luckily no damage at home but a lot of water pooled in our backyard where our drains haven't been sunk yet.  We are working on our backyard.  The grass and fruit trees have survived, but there is so much mud the garden is going to have to wait for drier days.

Laura Ingalls

The third grade class at Olivia's school this year is learning about early pioneers and ways of life. Her class went to a hands on museum that teaches kids about their daily lives. They got to dress up and participate in activities like washing laundry by hand and cleaning and baking, etc. We borrowed this great outfit from a friend and talented seamstress. Olivia's favorite part of the museum was making a rag doll and doing the laundry. She wishes we still did laundry by hand because she would help do it everyday.  I hate doing laundry with modern conveniences, I can't imagine doing it by hand?! Her class is also going to read some of the Laura Ingalls books. I actually found a complete cherry set of paperback books at a used a bookstore. We have been reading them together since the summer. It brings back memories from when I read them as a child. It has been a really fun thing for her and I to do together.

One Month Already

Rachel is one month already. I'm already starting to forget what it was like a few weeks ago. The delivery seems like such a blur now and I have to read my story to remember it. I'm glad I wrote it as soon as I did because the details are fuzzy now.  Rachel seems to fit into our family nicely, although she has disrupted the daily flow a little bit. We love her dearly and are glad she is ours.  She is such a pretty baby but her hair is falling out rapidly. The sides of her head are completely smooth and she's getting a bald spot in the back. I think we are just going to buzz the rest off and let it all grow back together.  She is sleeping in a 5-3-3 hour pattern at night, usually going back to sleep after each feeding, and snoozing as needed during the day. She's mostly happy and enjoys just hanging out the floor watching everyone. Only sometimes during the evening does she fuss a little, wanting to be held.  She sometimes takes a pacifier when fussing and we tried a bottle of pumped milk today. I won't be going back to work for two more months but I figure we might as well introduce a bottle sooner than later. Olivia is a cute big sister and is always concerned about when the last time Rachel ate. Benji is always concerned when Rachel fusses and tells us "Rachel fussies". He tries to steal her pacifiers and gets in her baby swing and bouncer all the time and steals my breast pads when I set them down while nursing. Adam and I are slowly getting used to being outnumbered. I feel very fortunate and I'm sure he is too, that neither of us has to do this completely on our own so soon after her birth. These few months before I go back to work will allow us to bond with Rachel as well as allow us to develop a routine. I'm lacking is sleep (surprise, surprise), but I'm not completely exhausted. My pants are all fitting, but I have a muffin top I didn't have before (not being negative, just stating fact) and hoping it will diminish as I increase my exercise. I have other things to blog on but haven't gotten around to it, maybe after the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!

Have You Seen This Ear?

Rachel has a unique right ear(it is pointed, like an elf, and flat on the edge), but not so unique that I hadn't seen it before.  My brother Jake has it and according to my dad his Grandpa White had it.  I'm curious to know if anyone else on the Jensen side of the family has this ear too.

Time flies

I feel like there is so much to post but I'm going to try to just keep it to a minimum. That's about all I can handle right now.  So Adam's mom, June, came up the day Rachel was born and helped out by entertaining and spoiling my kids, feeding us and keeping me company and of course snuggling the sweet baby.  

Then we had three days to ourselves with meals from the ward and then my parents came for a week.  We were a little naive in thinking that Adam and my dad could dig our sprinkler system in the back yard and lay sod, but since Rachel came sooner than we thought there was no time to get all the equipment ready and prepped.  Instead my mom and dad showed Olivia and Benjamin a great time by taking them to the zoo and pumpkin patch and ward Halloween party(we all went to that). My mom did fun crafts with Olivia. I hate crafts, except crocheting but will occasionally do them with Olivia because she loves them. They played with Benji for hours and he loved it and he cried when they left.  My mom was sad to miss another birth, but glad she got to see the baby this time.  I tried to relax and get extra rest but I'm like my mom, I suck at laying around.  My mom cooked yummy goodies and meals. I think she wishes she could have been more help to me, but she forgets I have a talented and wonderful husband who already keeps our house clean and laundry done. I just enjoyed having her to myself and not having to share her with my brothers or sister and her family.  My dad and Adam played loads of cribbage and got to bond while I went to bed early. We are now on our own and our house feels a little empty although it is fuller than before.  

Rachel is a sweet baby. She nurses like a champ and is now 10lb. She is sleeping at night but only in 2-3 hour increments. I think she looks like Ben at birth minus the thick long lashes and eyebrows.  I'm sure there may be some tough days with the baby, but she's easy so far.

We have been struggling with Benjamin more than anything. It started right before she was born and has gotten worse since bringing her home.  Naps have always been a struggle and he's even worse without them. He throws tantrums and flops on the floor and acts out. He cries in the car now and that is driving me insane because he never did that before. He changes his mind every ten minutes and if he is having a fit and I'm holding Rachel he says "Rachel, no want it."  Poor guy.  For me this is the hardest. He has been the easiest baby and kid. He's adorable and sweet and loves to give Rachel huggies and kisses when he's happy, but this behavior change makes me cringe. How can my sweet angel turn into the devil overnight?  I don't think I've ever gotten angry at him until now and it makes me sad.  I hope I can keep it together. 

Olivia is very happy to have a sister and paid lots of attention to her when she first came home, but then Gramma and Papa came and kept her busy and now she hasn't shown too much interest as before.  She is willing to be helpful and hold the baby when needed but doesn't have a lot of endurance.  I guess I couldn't expect her to just mature overnight.  When does that happen, by the way?  Adam seems to be doing good, he just says he loves the craziness but I think he says that to make me feel better.  I have started walking and I'm healing well. I'm not too tired despite my lack of sleep. I hope to take advantage of the time off and get more home projects done. 

Olivia was a rock star for Halloween with a nose ring and fake tattoo and colored hair and Benji was a pirate.  He loved trick-or-treating.  We had a fire on our driveway so we could sit out and meet our neighbors. It was fun. Well, this didn't end up being short. Here's ten billion pictures.

 Nana and Rachel

 Benji and Mom

 Papa and Gramma and Olivia and Ben

 Train ride. He was so attached to that dollar.

 The ward Halloween party.  Can you see Adam's Foo Manchu. My costume is post partum. Maybe I shouldn't have smiled.