New Look

Thought it was time to update the blog look and address. The old one was hard for people to remember and really only had meaning to me. This new address should be easier to remember!

If you don't have kids...

I love reading other blogs, especially ones that get quoted by a major news outlet in an article. The other day I came across a blog I enjoyed and I read 4 pages worth of the writings. Until I came to an entry bashing parents who don't control their children or keep them quiet. This blog author was most likely late 20s by the nature of his writing and obviously not a parent. His blog focused on the restaurant industry.

Now that I've set up the back story, here's what offended me. He's pissed off about people who can't control their children: in restaurants, on airplanes, at the store, in public in general. I understand getting annoyed with unruly children and parents who are doing nothing to stop it, that I get. What this blog author failed to understand is that there is a difference between parents who don't attempt to create order with their children, and times when despite best efforts there's nothing that can be done. If our children get too much to handle at a restaurant, we leave. If they act out in the middle of a shopping trip, we leave. We do something about it whenever we can. I'm not about to let my children run around without supervision or some modicum of control.

But...as in every situation, there is another side...there are times when children don't listen and there's nothing as a parent you can do about it. It's inevitable that as a parent you will someday find yourself in a situation where there is nothing you can do to calm or comfort you child and they throw some sort of fit. For example, our recent trip home from Arizona on the plane. We tried to plan flight times so that Evie and Lex slept a majority of the flight and didn't bother anyone, but the plan back fired on us. Evie was so far past when she should have napped that she screamed inconsolably for 15 mins on the plane before we even took off. It's not like Shaun or I did nothing to try to sooth and quite her, and we couldn't have just gotten up and off the plane for the sake of not subjegating the other passangers to her screams. Is it right to sit and judge a parent in that position? How about being a compassionate passanger and offering to help when you see a parent struggle? The flight attendants on this trip were amazingly helpful and understanding, but I wonder how many other passangers were judging us as this blog author apparently does?

There are other situations where I would also cut the parent of an unruly child some slack as well. Next time you see a screaming, tantrum throwing child in a store with one parent try to consider that perhaps they have limited access to go grocery shopping and this is it. If they took their child and left without finishing the shopping they'd be without food until the next trip to the store. Those kinds of trips to the store happen to me when Shaun is out of town and I'm hauling two kids under 16 months old around with me. Thankfully I haven't had to deal with melt downs during them, but I would need to keep shopping if it happened. It's hard being outside of the situation to really know what's going on. So, what I guess I'm getting at is - unless you've been there, don't judge.

(disclaimer: this does not include parents who do nothing to stop their kids from running around, knocking stuff of shelves, bumping into other people, eating unpaid for food at the grocery store, etc. It's about the parents who do try but are in situations that can't be controlled).

I'm stuck

I was all ready to post video from Christmas for my next entry but we left the video camera at my dad's yesterday. Bummer. So you're stuck with a written post from me :)

Evie's newest word is "stuck". This simple word has become enormously helpful as the screeching noise she made whenever she got stuck was...annoying...to put it nicely. Now she'll push around her new baby stroller until she gets tangled up in a blanket, or caught on Lex's swing, and simply say that she's stuck. It's her way of asking us to help her move without the screeching noise resembling nails on a chalkboard.

Christmas was a hectic, but fun holiday this year. Evie learned how to open presents on her own and was more interested in the festivities then last year. It was exciting to see her run around with her cousins (second cousins or first cousins once removed - how does that naming of cousins work?). I think the kids' toys have officially outgrown our house. Don't know how we're going to stock toys if we're stilling living here when their birthdays come around!

We had originally planned to head up north today for some fun in the snow, but everyone in the house is sick in some form or another. Anything from runny noses to throwing up. Maybe if we're feeling better tomorrow we can find a local hill to go sledding!

Merry Christmas

What the title says :)

It has been a busy, busy fun week so far. I will update more when we have a lull in the running around. Evie is finally getting the hang of this opening presents thing and loves it!

Wordless Wednesday: Pigtails and presents

Head holdin

In my attempt to get a photo of Lex and Evie together I managed to find out Lex can push his upper body up with his head and hold it for a good 2 minutes or more.

Words and Communication

I've been amazed with how much Evie talks. It's wonderful and I really feel she's starting to communicate. She'll come over to me and tell me when she's hungry by saying and signing 'eat'. She lets me know when she wants more, is all done, wants up or down, etc. Less and less guess work is involved in meeting her needs. I decided to put together a list of her frequently used words. I've included animal noises too. There are other words she has said too, but they're infrequent or used inappropriately. I think there are more that I'm forgetting at the moment too. Some of the words random strangers probably wouldn't understand her saying because she butchers the word a bit, but they're all said effectively enough for me, Shaun and those who are around her often to understand.

1 Me
2 Daddy
3 Mama
4 Lex
5 Nana
6 Papa
7 Up
8 Down
9 No (her favorite word :)
10 Eat (with sign)
11 Ta da
12 Touch down (Daddy's influence at work here)
13 Bear
14 Ball
15 Book
16 Baby
17 Hi
18 Bye
19 Hello
20 Duck
21 Meow
22 Woof
23 Cluck
24 Neigh
25 Puppy
26 Baa
27 Night
28 Toodles (a character on MM Clubhouse)
29 Mickey
30 All done (with sign)
31 Elmo
32 Box (more frequent with wrapped Christmas gifts sitting out)
33 Please (lots of spit with this one, lol)
34 Eye
35 Ear
36 Nose
37 Wow
38 Pretty
39 John (how could I forget this one?)
40 Ho ho ho
41 Bonk
42 Stuck

*I keep adding more as I remember them.

Wordless Wednesday: Santa

A holiday tradition

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Well visit updates

That many shots for two children is rough. Between the two of them there were 7 shots (and one liquid) for 12 different vaccines! Evie also had to get her blood drawn for hemoglobin and lead count. Evie only cried a little (even when the nurse missed her vein and had to dig for it) and Lex cried the hardest he ever has :-( Now they're all up to date, though, and Evie doesn't have to go back until 2 years and Lex goes back at 4 months.

Stats -
Evie: 30.3 inches (42%), 22.75 lbs (47%), 18.25 in head circ (62%)
Lex: 23 inches (54%), 12.75 lbs (76%), 15.75 in head circ (51%)

For those of you who were interested, Evie wasn't Lex's size until 4 months old!

How's life with two babies

Absolutely wonderful for the most part, especially when Shaun is around. It's really taxing when he's out of town, but I'm sure it will get easier as the kids get older.

So it's finally time for some updates. Evie is standing on her own frequently now. She's also taking 5-6 steps at a time and could take more/walk full time with a little more confidence. Sometimes it seems as though she's learning a new word everyday. That kid just talks and talks. We've been going to a lot of play dates lately and it's really fun to see her interact with the other kids her age.

We're starting to transition her to a toddler bed so that we don't need another crib when Lex is ready to sleep in one. Tonight is only night two that she's successfully fallen asleep in it. Some nights she seems terrified when I turn off the lights and close the door. Tonight I left the door open and she stayed in bed until she fell asleep. Maybe she's just scared with the door closed.

Lex is a typical little 2 month old. He's smiling now, which is fun. I like when babies start to interact more. He's also finding his voice and giving me coo's every so often. Earlier this week he went 7 hours between feeds. Would have been amazing if he slept that whole time, but he was awake for 3 hours. He's doing about 3-4 hour stretches at night right now.

Seeing Evie and Lex together is cute. She takes his pacifier or trys to shove it in his mouth, depending on her own pacifier status. Evie loves to give him kisses, pat his head, and point out/name all his facial features (nose, eye, ear, etc). Just the other day I caught her 'reading' him a book. Eh, she also hit him over the head with it a couple of times...but mostly she was nice to him.

Everything Evie had previously outgrown and is now Lex's she has to try out again on a daily basis, like the swing.

Next week we have Evie's 15 month and Lex's 2 month appointments. I'll update with their stats then.

Wordless Wednesday: Smiles

Wordless Wednesday: Sibling love (and Halloween)

Wordless Wednesday: Pics from the week

Highs and Lows

Today was a tough day. Evie was super cranky and Lex didn't want to sleep much. I think we're starting to get toddler tantrums from Evie. Oy! Not something I want to start seeing.

On the other hand, good things happened today too. Last night (well, early this morning) Lex went 6 hours between feedings. Yes! Sleep! Though I was freaked out when I woke up thinking that something was wrong.

Then, later in the day, Evie started standing without holding onto things! When we saw her doing this we'd clap and cheer for her. She'd stand and wobble and giggle, all proud of herself. Hopefully walking is soon to follow!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Beautiful children :-)

Few and far between

Things seem so crazy busy around here that I'm not really updating much. Sorry! Some day, when things settle down, I'll at least get back to the once a week posts.

Other than the lack of blogging, things are going good. Not much sleep happening but both kids seem happy. Evie has actually been sleeping a little better, as in sleeping until 6 am. Lex is up at least every 3 hours for an hour each time so I'm one tired momma, but it gets better soon, right? Much thanks to my mom for coming over to help last night. I actually got 5 hours of sleep at once! We're definitely thinking that when Shaun gets home he can do a bottle of pumped milk every other, maybe every, night so I can get some sleep.

Headed to Arizona on Wednesday for Jane and Phil's wedding. First flying trip as a family. Should be interesting. Lots of photos will be taken and posted when we get home.

2 week well visit

Happy to announce that Lex gained 1.5 lbs since we left the hospital! He was down to 7 lbs before we left and now weighs in at 8 lbs 8oz. Falls into the 40th percentile for height and weight. Evie and I both also got the flu shot today. Our Dr strongly thinks the flu we had about a month ago was H1N1 so he thinks we can skip getting that vaccine when it comes out. Otherwise, we're all healthy.

Wordless Wednesday: Some randoms

Happy Birthday!

To my wonderful husband, Happy Birthday! I love you Shaun!!

Alexander Thomas, 7lbs 10oz

On Tuesday (38w1d) I made a trip into the midwife’s office for a membrane sweep. While there she informed me that I was already 4 cm dilated and she offered to break my water that day and see how things progressed. Unfortunately, Shaun was in Duluth and it would take him 2.5 hours to get home. I didn’t feel comfortable getting things started with him gone and work wouldn’t let him come home unless things were already under way. So I went to visit my mom instead.

All the rest of the day I contracted every 5-10 mins inconsistently. No pattern ever emerged and they mostly went away when I went to bed. On Wednesday I barely had any contractions at all, much to my disappointment, but on Thursday (38w3d) Shaun and I dropped Evie off at his mom’s and headed back to the midwife (Fern) for another sweep. We fully expected she would offer to break my water again and we intended to take her up on it.

We were seen by Fern at 7:30 am. She attempted to do another sweep but it hurt so much I asked her to stop. Turns out I was still 4 cm dilated but she could stretch me to a good 6/7 cm. We decided to head over to the hospital, which is connected to the clinic, to get admitted and break my water.

Once there I was hooked up to the monitors for a while. I knew I wasn’t really having good contractions yet so I worried the hospital staff would want to send me home, but I was surprised to see the contractions were actually coming every 6 mins or so. My mom showed up while we were going through the admission process and let me know that the contractions were registering at the same level as when I was admitted with Evie. I was handling them so much better this time around, they were still so easy! Shaun was a big ball of excess energy and tried cracking jokes with the nurses. We must have gotten the nurses with the least sense of humor because they never laughed, once, and I was a bit worried that this would be a long day.

After some monitoring I was disconnected and allowed to wander the halls. I managed to start getting about 3 contractions per round of the maternity halls. They all seemed too light to me, and still irregular. I was worried about the decision to break my water. What if the baby wasn’t ready to come and that’s why my contractions weren’t establishing themselves? Was I making the wrong decision to induce this labor even if it was considered a ‘natural’ method of induction? Was I going to end up on pitocin to further help get labor going?

It was around this time that Shaun decided he had to run home to grab a couple of things, even though we had brought the hospital bags we had packed. Turns out he wanted to make a run to the store to get a gift for me and the baby. While he was gone Fern showed up to break my water. Not going to lie, I was terrified. I was worried about making the wrong choice and afraid of how the pain was going to change. We still did it anyways. Fern broke my water at 9:10 am and I was 6 cm dilated.

I was back on the monitors. My contractions didn’t start right away. While we were waiting around, a flurry of nurses hurried into the room. Apparently my admitting nurse put I was at 9 cm dilated rather than 6. The nurses that rushed in were worried that nothing was set up for birth. We let them know I was only at a 6 and things quickly calmed down. It was a bit of amusement for my mom and me. After a bit the contractions started up again right where they left off – very manageable.

Sometime while I was on the monitor Shaun came back with his gifts. I still can’t believe that he felt the need to go shopping as I was being admitted into L&D. I got off the monitors and walked around the room or sat on the stools. Still no regular pattern to the contractions but they were slightly stronger. I was stopping during the contractions and whispering to myself “relax.”

I was now at the point where I couldn’t get comfortable during contractions. We played around with different positions and ended up with me on the yoga ball and Shaun sitting in front of me so I could lean into his back. During contractions I had to run my hands over Shaun’s back to remind myself to stay loose and relaxed. The contractions were definitely stronger even if they weren’t forming a pattern. I finally got to the point that I couldn’t concentrate through them on my own and stay relaxed at around 11:45 am and requested to get into the water. I was in the water by noon.

Two contractions in the water later and I felt the urge to push. Shaun was standing by the room’s door and my mom was sitting behind me near the bed. All I could manage to say was “bearing down.” Shaun gave me a look like I was speaking Russian and my mom said “I think it’s time to get the nurse.” Shaun still looked at me perplexed so I managed to utter “pushing” and my mom said “now.” Shaun opened the door to get the nurse’s attention.

The nurse, I really wish I could remember her name, came in and started getting things set up. She checked me and thought I was fully dilated. A few minutes later Fern came in completely out of breath. We think she ran all the way from the clinic. All through this I was feeling like pushing during each contraction. Fern assured me that I could do whatever felt right. I started saying all the typical things the books say you utter during transition – is it too late for the epidural, I’m done, I don’t want to do this anymore, etc. I knew it was too late to change anything and that the only way out was to push the baby out, but I was very terrified of the new pain level. Surprisingly, my mom says I only uttered the F-word once, and I whispered it.

After a couple ineffective pushes Fern checked me and said that I had a bit of a lip on my cervix. She asked me to change positions and breathe through the next contraction. This was the last thing I wanted to do but I rolled onto my left side and tried not to push during the next contraction.

During all this time Shaun was amazing. He was leaning over the tub behind me holding me up in the water under my arms so I wouldn’t slip under water during pushes. He kept reminding me that screaming was ineffective (also damaging to his ear drums, lol) and to keep my head down (also to protect his head, which I banged a few times). I know he was tired and sore but he did exactly what I needed to keep going. He did learn his lesson that he shouldn’t do an upper body workout the day before his wife gives birth.

After breathing through the one contraction I was back to pushing during the contractions. I have to admit that I kept holding back because of the urge to poop during the contractions (a good sign, the baby causes that feeling). Logically I knew I was being ineffective but I was having a hard time changing the way I was pushing. Fern said that if we weren’t seeing any progress within 15 mins she was going to have me get out of the water and try sitting on the toilet. There was no way I was moving from where I was so I redoubled my efforts at pushing. I had finally mentally said “F--- it! I need to do whatever I need to do to get this baby out!”

During the next push I felt something pop, like he was slipping past my cervix. I was suddenly grunting and groaning during and between the contractions and pushes. The noises were definitely an involuntary reflex, I didn’t decide to make those noises, it was just natural. Not long after I felt the ‘ring of fire’ towards the end of a contraction. I didn’t have enough umph left to push longer but I was glad for the feeling. Fern was trying to reassure me that the burning was painful but ok. What she didn’t know was that I was mentally welcoming the pain. I knew it was almost done. I was determined to push my baby out within the next few contractions.

I was pushing with all I had at this point. The contractions felt one on top of the other and the ‘ring of fire’ came back with a vengeance. For the first time since labor started I felt a sense of ‘I am woman, hear me roar’ because of my determination. The entire rest of the pushing stage I felt so ineffective and unproductive. I pushed past the pain and his head was finally out! I paused at Fern’s request, mentally knowing why – physically hating the wait, and then got the go ahead to push him out the rest of the way.

Fern helped pull him up onto my chest. All I could do was stare at him and think about how amazing it was that the pain was gone. I feel a bit guilty about that now. Instead of being amazed by my baby I was thankful that the pain was over. I just looked my baby over and felt stunned. Pictures were taken, his cord was cut and he was taken to the warmer (the water was cold by this point) while I was helped out of the tub by Shaun and Fern.

On the bed I delivered the placenta and received 3 stitches for a very minor tear. The baby was then brought back to me and placed on my chest again. Shaun and I looked at him, still trying to decide on a name. It was about an hour before we chose his name and he was checked for height and weight.

On September 24th, 2009, Alexander Thomas was born at 12:50 pm, 3 hours and 40 mins after my water broke, via water birth weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz and 21 in long.