Family Pic Sept 2015

Family Pic Sept 2015

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Back to Work Blues

Today I went back to work and I survived!  Mostly in tact.  I only broke down once....every hour....just kidding.  Sort of.  :)

When I got in to work my computer password had expired so I couldn't log in and my voicemail was broken so the first thing I got to do was call the help desk!  Great fun.

Then off to Seymour to a meeting.  Got there, had to pump.  Then two hour meeting.  Then back to Columbus and had to pump.  Then lunch.  Then did a few emails.  Then pump.  Then another meeting and a few more emails.  Then pump.  Then it was the end of the day.

Every time I turned around it was time to pump!  There is no way I can keep up with that schedule.  Although I do have to say that each pumping session only took 15 minutes from the time I left my desk until the time I returned to my desk.  Last go round, each session would take 20-25 minutes from start to finish.  So weird how different the babies are....

Hopefully I can develop a better routine with Tyler's daycare so that I don't have to pump that 4th time.  Since I did that pumping at 4:15 and then left work shortly after.  If I can shift things around a little, I can try to work it out so that the fourth feeding of the day I can nurse him instead of pumping cause it's just silly to pump and then go pick up my kid.  Hopefully, we'll fall in to a good routine in the next week or two and in the mean time, I will pump like crazy just in case.

What little work I tried to do today was a bit of a failure.  My brain is still in hibernation.  I couldn't remember anything I was working on before I left much less the status of it or what the next steps should be.  So, when all else fails, schedule a meeting!  Or three or four.  Surely I'll figure out what I am supposed to be doing if I call a few meetings.  Right?

Also, I got TONS of compliments on my new hairdo!  Thanks Mom!  Nothing like a good hair day to make you feel better even if you are down otherwise. (If I didn't already scrub my face and have my hair in a ponytail, I'd take a picture!)

Sorry boring post, with no pictures.  I gotta get back into the habit of taking some shots of the kiddos every once in a while.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Playing Catching Up

It's been way too long since my last post! Whoopsie!

Family Photo from Thanksgiving on the Plateau:


Meme and Papaw with the babes:

Papaw had the hard job of holding Lily who was SICK and TIRED of taking pictures. Poor Papaw!
I got no pictures with my side of the family.  Crap!

What's been going on with Tyler?



Well he started sleeping much better a couple weeks ago. Starting on Saturday11/10 he had a 7+ hour stretch of sleep at night. Since then he's been doing pretty good at night with usually at least 6 hours in a row. I try to feed him around 9:30-10:00 and then go to bed. He's usually back up between 4 & 5 and then goes right back down.  (Except during our Thanksgiving travels, he got a little messed up and was getting up every 3.5 hours - hopefully that gets straightened back out!)

Also right around 2 months old his bowel movements got more regular (once a day) so he got much happier!  Yay!

During our Thanksgiving travels, I forgot to bring Tyler's bouncy seat and I thought we were in for a major problem.  But Tyler seems to like laying on the floor where he previously did not.  Now that we're back home he doesn't really like the bouncy seat at much and practically bucks himself out of it.

We did have a milestone this past Saturday.  Tyler ROLLER OVER!  Yes.  He rolled over at 11.5 weeks old.  Seriously?  Joel, Mom, Katie, Brandon and I were all in the room when he did it and not a one of us saw him do it.  Seriously?  I just looked down and he was on his belly when he had been on his back!  He hasn't done it again, but at daycare yesterday they said he was going halfway.

So that brings me to daycare.  Yesterday was his first day at Kidz First which also meant my first trial day of taking two kids to daycare while getting myself ready for "work."  I got up at 6 and did not drop the kids off until 8!!  Yikes.  Took me longer than I thought to get everthing ready.  Three people dressed, my hair/make-up done, Tyler breastfed, Lily breakfast, three trips to the car with all my junk, the kids' junk, and the kids.  I was tired before I even dropped them off!  Then I got there and was a bit disorganized with dropping two kids off.  Lily followed me around crying.  Today I did better.  I got up at 6 and dropped the kids off at 7:30 and managed no tears from Lily! A pretty big improvement for day 2.  We'll see how good I get at this! It's like a complicated puzzle or game to figure out the best, most efficient way!

Ms Nancy said Tyler did great!

However, I cried.  I can't believe he's already 12 weeks old.  I cried for lots of reasons.  1) He's growing so fast!!  2) I have to go back to work tomorrow and 3) I just hate hate hated how I was dropping him off to be 1 of 7 babies in the room.  There are 2 "teachers" in the room and they seem to be really great and love the kids but still almost a 4:1 ratio.  All I know is I can barely keep up with two and they are keeping up with SEVEN!  I texted Ana and told her I missed her.  She did so good with Lily when she was a little bitty baby and I really miss that super personal care she got.  They are doing a good job with Tyler but it's just not the same.....

Last night he was a little cranky but I think he was sleepy.  He took several 20 minute naps at the daycare but didn't really get any good stretches of sleep.  Today he did the same thing so we'll see how he is tonight.

Pumping went ok yesterday and today.  I have been really worried because I've been having trouble pumping.  My milk wouldn't let down very good when I pumped so I wasn't getting that much.  However, if I would pump one side at the same time that I nursed on the other, I would get plenty of milk - telling me that nothing is wrong with the pump.  Tyler's eating 4 ounces every 2.5 hours at daycare.  And they've told me that they've really had to stretch it to get to 2.5 hours - apparently he wants to eat every 2 hours!  At this rate, I'm going to have to pump FOUR times a day at work.  I don't know if I can keep up with that.  We'll have to see.  Frankly, I think that he's probably actually tired and needs to sleep when they think he's fussy and ready to eat. 

Lily has been doing great.  She's got a bit of a cold right now and is obsessed with getting "mecidine."  "Want mecidine Mommy!"



She's been singing a LOT.  She does this montage of a bunch of songs she's knows:

"GO tell it on the mountain.
Jesus Christ is born.
E - I - E - I - O.
Farmer had a dog and Bingo was his NAME-O!
B
I
ngo (the N G O is sang really fast)
B
I
ngo
B
I
ngo.
Twinkle star itsy spider."

The other day she sang:  "Christmas morning had a dog and Bingo was his name-o!"  If she thinks she's getting a dog for Christmas, she can think again!!  Haha!

She loves to do "If you're happy and you know it."  She sings:  "Happy know it clap his hands!"  During the part where you sing "and you're face'll surely show it" she puts her fingers to her dimples and smiles really big.  It's so stinkin' cute!!

She's watching me type right now and she's keeps telling me:  "ABCs on it Mommy!  ABCs on it!"  And then she tells me she wants to "watcha Dora movie on there, Mommy?"

I'll try not to wait so long between posts!  I was making the most of the last few weeks of my maternity leave!  More on that later....

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Two Months Old!

Yesterday was Tyler's two month birthday!!


He's growing like a weed.  He had his 2 month check up today and here are his stats:

Height:  25 inches (93rd percentile)
Weight:  14.35 lbs (85th percentile)

So still a big baby!!  We've moved up to size 2 diapers already.  We only went through one box of size 1 (and we never had newborn except what the hospital supplied).  Take note that the shirt sleeves in the above picture are too short.  Likely the first of MANY MANY MANY times where his clothes will not fit right because he's too tall (just like his Daddy).

Eating habits:  8 times per day.  I introduced a bottle about a week ago because I had heard that putting Karo syrup in with his milk might help his move his bowels along a little better. The good news is that he took to the bottle with no problem.  The bad news is that the Karo syrup didn't really help (unless there's a 4 day delayed response time).  However, Tyler's on some kind of streak right now and has had a poopy diaper for 5 days in a row!!  Now, I mention this because the days that Tyler doesn't poop, he is crabby and fussy and no fun. But the past several days, he's been so much happier.  I haven't been giving him the Karo and I haven't changed my eating habits so who knows why he's doing better but I hope it keeps up.

Sleeping habits:  Oy.  This kid is all over the map.  Last night, he ate every 3 hours.  Boo.  But a couple nights ago, he went 6 hours between one set of feedings.  I never know at night how long he's going to go.  Lily slept through the night on her two month birthday.  Tyler - up every 3 hours.  It must be that trick where people say if they had their second kid first, there wouldn't have been a second kid!  But the good news is that at night, he's doing much, much better at going down on the first or second try at the ~9 or 10pm feeding.  As far as naps, he's still a light napper when we're at home.   But if I've taken him somewhere in the car seat, he'll sleep forever. 

Awake time:  as I mentioned, the last 5 days have been pretty good, even in the evenings, with his awake time because he hasn't been as fussy (but still somewhat fussy).  He's smiling and cooing and oohing and ahhing a lot more now.  The smiling will about melt your heart - he's so stinkin' precious!



Here's a side by side comparison of Lily and Tyler at 2 months.  I think you can tell they are siblings but they definitely have some distint differences.  I think Lily has more Basham/Freels in her face and Tyler has more Fonner.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happy Halloween!

We had so much fun with Lily on Halloween this year!!  At daycare, they celebrated "Fall Harvest Day" and were supposed to wear their clothes inside out and have crazy hair.   I thought she looked just like a "Who" from Dr Seuss and when I dropped her off at daycare Ms Christina thought the same thing!




I was hoping all day long that she would be in a good mood when we picked her up from daycare so that things wouldn't be a battle for trick or treating.  She was a perfect angel!

We brought Lily home around 4:30 and started getting ready.  She had been given candy at daycare and was bound and determined to eat every single piece.  She was afraid we were going to eat it!  MINES CANDY!!



I was nervous that all that candy would make her crabby and she wouldn't want to put on the wig (a.k.a. Dora Hat) I made.  But as long as we let her hold all her candy and played Dora on TV, she was willing to do what we asked. : )

We bought the costume online and that consisted of the pants/shirt combo, backpack and shoe covers.  I made the wig (out of yarn and a pair of tights), the bracelet and the map.  A girl needs the right accessories!




Once we got her all dressed up, we subjected poor Tyler to his first Halloween costume.  Cause how can you have Dora and not have Boots?!  The costume was a bit ridiculous in it's sizing.  It was supposed to be for 0-6 months.  I put it on Tyler and it barely fits him from the neck to the crotch and then the legs went like 10 inches past his feet.  Whoever this costume was modeled after must have freakishly long legs!  But since Tyler can't walk yet, it didn't matter!  Haha!  The best part of Tyler's costume was that it was WARM so I didn't feel too bad about taking an 8 week old baby out in to the chilly air.  Between the "Boots head" hat and the full body fleece costume, he was nice and toasty.




Dora and Boots together at last!!


Boots was getting p*ssed off!



Then we take the kiddos outside and Lily has a minor meltdown because she wants to ride in the stroller.  "Lily stroller!  Not Tyler!"  So we had to carry her for the first little bit.

All while getting ready and walking to the first house with lights on, we kept encouraging Lily to say "Trick or Treat" and she would say it a bunch of times.  But when she actually got up to the houses, she always got cold feet and wouldn't say it.  After the first couple houses, she did at least get up the courage to say "Thank you" after she was given candy.  What a polite little girl we are raising!

I carried Lily up to the first house.  She wouldn't say a word.  Not trick or treat.  Not thank you.  Not nothin'!  They gave her two pieces of candy and she didn't want to put it in her bucket.  She wanted to "hold it!"


At the second house, Joel walked her up there and stood right next to her.




But then after the first two houses, Lily saw that if she walked up there, she was going to get candy and she got pretty brave to walk up to the houses on her own (Daddy and/or Mama were always right behind). 





At this point she started getting really good at saying thank you!!  I'm so proud of her!

Here's a few shots of walking to the houses.  By this time, her wig started getting a little cattywompus.  It was pretty windy so it was getting out of control.  One lady thought it was dreadlocks.  Her daughter promptly corrected and said, "Mom!  That's Dora!"





We were out for about an hour and poor Lily's hands were ice cold and her little nose was bright red.  Time to call it quits. 

We got home and Lily immediately started digging through her candy and checking out her loot!


Mama, open it?



I thought ahead a little and bought this little $1 Dora Halloween activity coloring book with stickers.  So I told Lily she was getting a present and gave that to her.  While she was distracted, I hid all the candy!  : )

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

8 Weeks Old!

Today is Tyler's 8 week birthday!



Eating Habits:  no changes here to report.  Still eating 8 times per day.  The early part of the day, he typically goes up to 4 hours between feedings and then in the afternoons/evenings he often goes every 2-2.5 hours between feedings.  Night time feedings are all over the map.

Sleeping Habits:  we don't seem to be settling in to a consistent sleeping pattern yet at night.  Tyler will have a few nights were he goes four hours between feedings and I can time it so that I only have to get up once with him in the night.  And then he'll switch back to wanting to eat every 3 hours at night.  We occasionally get a 5 hour stretch but that's really rare.  As for naps, Tyler sleeps great if I take him somewhere and he's in the car seat.  He's out like a light and I end up waking him up if it's been 4 hours since his last feeding, just so I can prevent him from sleepting all day and staying up all night!  However, if I don't go anywhere such that he's not lulled to sleep by the car, he mostly just cat naps 15 - 20 minutes here and there.  Not really having any luck getting him to sleep for any real length of time.

Awake Time:  Tyler is starting to babble and coo more during his awake time - when he's not fussing, that is.  We still have a lot of fussing during awake time.  Could be tied to his bowels or could be that he just wants to fuss. 

He's also getting a little more head control but still not quite ready for the Bumbo seat. 

Hard not to love this face!!!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Put on my big girl panties....

This morning was an interesting morning with miss Liliana!  She woke up a little whiny this morning and throwing a mild tantrum.  She didn't want to take off her jammies and didn't want her pull up changed. 

During this fit, her brud-her woke up so I abandoned trying to convince Lily that she really didn't want to keep wearing 4 pounds of pee-pee to attend to him.  I got him up and changed and starting feeding him and then Lily decided her new fit would be that she wanted me to "hold you."  Now, it's a pretty interesting game of Twister to try to sit in the rocking chair to breastfeed Tyler while he's on the boppy pillow on my lap AND to try to hold Lily.  I have a big lap but it ain't THAT big.  But we managed a sort of "hold"which was enough to keep her settled down for a few minutes.

After feeding Tyler, I tried again to get Lily to change her clothes.  She took her jammies off but then decided she DID NOT want to wear a pull up today.  She wants to wear "underwears."  NO WAY, NO HOW was she going to wear that pull up.  I'm practically sitting on her trying to get it on.  She wants UNDERWEARS!!!!  I'd get one leg in a hole and then before I'd get the second leg in, she'd have the first leg pulled out.  All the while, she's screaming her head off.  It was so fun.

NOT.

I can't let her go sans pull up just yet because I still needed to shower and such before taking her to daycare and I didn't want her to go that long "unsupervised" with no pull up on.  She's never worn just underwear before.

So I decided to abandon her again because I thought if I stayed, I was going to pull out all my hair and/or give her a whoopin'.  I went off to the kitchen to get her some cereal and milk thinking I could calm her down with breakfast.  When I get back to her room, she has taken her clothes for the day and her pull up and her underwears to Tyler's room and is lying on his floor crying into her clothes. 

I show her I have cereal and milk and she calms down and lets me put on the pull up with the underwears over the top.

So while I'm showering, I decide that today is going to be the day that we try underwear at school.  Since she was SO determined to wear them, she must be ready.  So I pack up a bunch of underwear and extra pants to take to daycare.

Ms Christina is very excited to try the underwear thing with Lily and says they'd try the morning with no pull up on.  Well apparently she did great all morning and didn't wet her underwear!  Of course for nap they put her back in a pull up and were going to leave her in that for the afternoon (the kids rotate teachers in the afternoons every 20 minutes so it's too hard for the afternoon teachers to deal with the newly underweared kid).  But whoever got Lily after her nap and did her pottying ended up putting her back in underwear and she did great all afternoon. 

That baby came HOME in the SAME clothes she went to daycare in on her first day of UNDERWEAR!!

YES!  My little pee-pee prodigy.

So as soon as she gets home, I take her to the potty and she goes.  EXCELLENT!  We are on a roll!

I kept her in her underwear.  Bet you can guess where this story is going......

About 20 minutes later, Joel and I are in the kitchen and Lily comes in. 

Mama!  I poopy!

DOH!

That baby girl had peed down her leg and had a huge ol' mess o'turds in her underwears.  Watching her walk to the bathroom was HILARIOUS (but I was a good Mama and only laughed on the inside).  She was not a fan of that poop in her drawers.  Hopefully, she'll remember that and choose to go in the potty next time.  Right?

Anyway, I'm still super proud of her first day in underwear, but I hope that the number of times that I have to clean up turds out of underwears is limited.  Like, once is totally enough. 


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

7 weeks old!

It seems cliche to say that time is flying but it totally is!  Tyler is 7 weeks old today - unbelievable.



Eating Habits:  we're still having the bowel issues which I believe leads to funny eating habits.  Tyler eats about 8 times per day still but he tends to space his day time feeds out to ~4 hours and then his afternoon/evening feeds are 2 hours apart.  Sometimes, I feel like all I'm doing in the evenings is nursing.

Sleeping habits:  we were doing really good there for several days in a row of having 4+ hours between night time feeds and I was really convinced we were starting a new trend.  There was even a 5.5 hours span last Friday night!  It was heaven (until he didn't go back to sleep after the 3:30 feeding until 5am).  But the last couple nights, we moved back to eating every 3 hours during the night.  Sigh.  I'm starting to feel mild panic set in over the thought of only getting 4-5 hours of sleep (spread over several intervals) when I go back to work.  I'm holding on the fact that I have 5 more weeks before going back to work and a lot can and will change in 5 weeks.  It will.  It really will.  Right????

Awake time:  well this is tough.  During the day, Tyler's awake time is often limited.  He tends to sleep a lot in his car seat because any time I go anywhere, he falls asleep.  But if he is awake during the day, he's usually only happy for a short interval and then he gets fussy.  And typically, from about 4pm onward, he stays awake most of the evening with short little 15 cat naps.  And when he's not having a cat nap, he's crying.  I really thought it was tied to his bowels but he's even doing this on the days where he has a ginormous poopy diaper and in theory should be feeling great.  It's tiring when your baby is crying and you can't seem to figure out what's wrong.  Sigh.  I keep trying to remember if Lily did this (and I think she did to a certain extent) so that I can have hope to hang on to that it doesn't really last that long.  I don't remember this much fighting with her after I went back to work so maybe it won't last that much longer with Tyler.  It sucks when your only tool is TIME.  Makes you feel helpless.