floundering in sickness

I have a cold...

Miles has a cold...

Lacey has a cold...and a yeast infection...and 3 teeth coming through at once...

Yesterday was the first day, as a mom of two, when I really felt like I couldn't do my job. So far it's gotten more difficult the older Miles gets. Sure he's sleeping better, and he is far more predictable, but gone are the days of wrapping him tightly to me and going about my business. He wants attention, he wants to look around, he wants to interact.

And so comes the days of entertaining one child or another from 7 am to 8 pm. I am on the go constantly and need someone to tell me that it really DOES get better. Hopefully soon.

Off to get Lacey up from her nap before she wakes up Miles...

Annie

absence

I've been busy!

I'm still not sure how other mom's with more than one child find the time to browse the internet, but I am certainly failing miserably.

the good news is....MILES IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! About 2 weeks ago he started sleeping about 10 hours a night. The past two nights we've hit 12 hours. Lacey is 19 months old (today!) and I still can't get her to sleep 12 hours.

Here are some pics of the kiddos. Miles is 12 weeks today and Lacey is 19 months.

some random musings

i have my blue nose sucky things labeled with an 'L' and an 'M' respectfully. I was told by sharing these things you could spread infection. apparently i don't care much because i grab whichever one i can find at the moment.

i went running yesterday, no stroller. it was a good thing too because i am sure i looked like a pathetic wannabe runner. pushing 60 pounds wouldn't have been good. all in good time tell myself.

sometimes lacey won't eat anything except for 'beans.' which are really jelly beans, but have come to be anything that is sweet and sugary. usually fruit snacks. sometimes i let her get away with only eating these at a meal, because i am too busy/laxy/preoccupied to find anything else that she will actually eat. today i called peas 'beans.' it worked.

it took me 2 hours to put miles to bed last night. i was having a grouchy mom moment. doesn't he know that I have homework to get done and rocking, walking, and hushing him for 2 HOURS doesn't help me finish it.

we put in an offer on a house in s. minneapolis. i love the house but doubt we'll get it. we low balled them (the bank). not sure when we find out, but the offer was 120K less than what the house was last purchased for. that would be nice. the house has no a/c because its old so i might be complaining all summer long.

annie

Growing and Growing

Miles had his 2 month appointment last monday and Lacey had her 18 month appointment as well. I was pretty impressed with myself that I planned it out to happen that way ; )

1) Miles

He weighed 11 pounds 3 oz and was a whopping 24 inches long. I think his weight to length ratio was somewhere around the 3rd percentile. Poor kid, long and skinny!

He is sleeping 6-8 hours at night. Usually more around the 6 hour mark, but we occasionally get an 8 hour stretch in there.

He is a tummy sleeper, like I previously mentioned, and I surprisingly didn't get much grief about this from the doctor.

He got his DTaP and Rotavirus shots. We'll go back next month for a shot only visit where he will get the other 2.

He is pretty much in all 3-6 months clothes, thanks to his length.

Miles is a GROUCH when he wakes up in the morning (or from anything). He won't open his eyes and just screams. I am already looking forward to getting him up and ready for school.

He is finally starting to be more content for longer than 3 minutes at a time and wow are my arms happy! I am truly amazed of everything you can do one-handed.

2) Lacey

Lacy weighed in at just over 23 pounds and was 32 inches tall. Pretty much right smack in the middle of the charts of everything.

We read a lot of books, her favorites are rhyming books or picture books. She is starting to put 2-3 words together and repeat things we say, which is adorable, but a little scary.

We get to experience temper tantrums now. Usually when we are coming in from outside, going in the stroller when she wants to walk, or going down for a nap. Thankfully they usually don't last long.

She has a cold right now and is teething so she has been a handful last week.

She loves fruit and veggies and hates meat. Same as its always been, even when I was pregnant.

3) Me

I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight and in all my old clothes : )

I'm ready to start running again. Do you know how much work it is pushing an 18month old and a 2 month old while walking? Running should be interesting and I will let you know how it goes!

Today has been better

I decided a few things after yesterday's post.

1) It REALLY bothers me when Lacey doesn't nap. She still needs a nap and I still need a break.

2) We often put her PBK chair up next to her bed to discourage her from climbing out. This suddenly is making her very upset. So today I didn't even bother putting it there.

3) She is also determined to read books before naptime.

Read books.

Alone.

In her bed.

So rather than putting her to bed and then having her determined to get out of bed and go sit on the floor and read books, today I put some in her bed with her.

10 minutes of reading and she was asleep.

I'm just trying to roll with the punches (and I am secretly, or not so secretly, thrilled that she loves to read).

Annie

are you serious....ugh!

Just when we started to get Miles sleeping okay (well its only been 3 days, but you know it seems like forever), Lacey decided that she is "so over" naps. In fact it is great fun to sit in her bed and giggle, or crawl out of her bed and play with toys.

this is not good and I am going to rip my hair out!

Annie

are we winning this battle?

Miles has had a hard time sleeping from about 3 weeks on. Mike and I have been in survival mode because this kid won't sleep. He has reflux, and I don't have a clue of what to do for him. We've been using Gripe water and that seems to help some, but nights usually go like this....work, work, work, to get him to fall asleep. Then he will sleep for one good 4-5 hour stretch. After that, its a crap shoot. He's probably up for a good 3 hours before falling into a light sleep again. The whole time he is up we are walking, rocking, bouncing, and doing our best to keep him from screaming.

Then yesterday I put him on his tummy and he slept for 3 hours in his crib in the afternoon. I wasn't getting excited because this poor boy was so overtired. I figured he may have just finally given into sleep. So then last night I put him on his stomach. He slept for 5.5 hours. Woke up, ate, fell right back to sleep and then slept for another 3 hours. Woke up, ate, fell right back to sleep and slept another 2.5 hours!!

So far today he has taken 2 naps in his crib, putting himself to sleep, on his tummy.

I think it works. And its a good thing he isn't my first baby because there is no way I would ignore the advice of never letting a baby sleep on his tummy. At this point we are doing what works, and this REALLY seems to be working.

I also have the angel care monitor and that helps some : )

Annie

good article.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200904/case-against-breastfeeding

don't hate.

it's just nice to get a break from the "bad mother" comments now and again.

some things

some things i wish i'd known.

2 kids are MORE than twice the work. try about 10 times the work. i have a feeling that adding a third might actually be easier than adding a second, but i am not going to go there ever.

it is a luxury to have both hands free to do anything.

i could not live without a wrap of some sort. could. not. live.

pregnancy brain was a piece of cake compared to the logistics i've got to figure out now.

start getting ready 35 minutes before I need to get out the door. that way I will only be 10 minutes late to where i am going.

get outside everyday if it is nice because it really does make the day better.

drink lots of coffee.

early bedtimes. not just for the kids.

do not talk on the phone without an ear piece. it will drive you crazy.

buy a good double stroller (like the BOB Revolution Duallie)!

Finally, just know that you will be the person who takes eons to get loaded in your car and those who insist on waiting for your parking spot need to get a life, or just circle the lot 3 times.

Annie

I think he heard me complaining.

I think that Miles heard me complaining yesterday about the lack of sleep I was getting. Last night he fell asleep at 9:30 and slept all the way until 5:30 this morning before eating.

Here was the breakdown:

9:30 pm- Eat and fell asleep.
2:15 am- making noise, I tried to feed him but couldn't wake him up enough to eat. Put him back in the crib.
4:00 am- making noise again, but he must have fallen back asleep before I got the motivation to get out of bed.
5:30 am- making noise again, this time he was ready to eat.
8:00 am- up for the day

It was great. I'd love a repeat performance but I am not crossing my fingers.

Annie

One Month

Hi! I'm Miles and I am one month old today!

I've already been on my first plane ride when I was 11 days old. We moved to Minnesota where its very cold, but I think I like it better than Washington. At least I know my mom does.

I am growing so fast. Mommy doesn't know what I weigh but she thinks I am around 9 or 9.5 pounds already.

Mommy bought me size one diapers but they are way to big for me, she said she didn't want to waste newborn diapers so I am just going to have to deal with baggy diapers until I get a little more pudge.

I am very tall. My 0-3 month pants and long sleeve shirts are too short for me, but mommy says I have to wear them because they are still baggy everywhere else. She said its cute.

I also love to spit all the time, which mommy and daddy think is getting a little old. They said my older sister Lacey never spit up, so why do I? I think I just like changing clothes 5 times a day. I get fussy in wet clothes. Mom says I will always be long and skinny unless I start keeping my food down.

My favorite place to sleep is on mom. I don't like the pack and play or my crib. I usually sleep in 4 hours stretches at night. I think mom is ready for me to sleep a little longer.

I also like to sit in the bouncer. Don't tell anyone that its pink. But I don't like the swing much, it makes me puke.

3 weeks

LOVE THEM.

Good Friends

Tomorrow I get to see my good friend Seanna. I haven't seen her since I was pregnant with Lacey! She moved to Sweden and I moved to Seattle, then she moved back to the midwest, and I moved back, and now she will be in Minneapolis tomorrow!

I am really excited, she gets to meet both babies, and I get to hear all about her wedding plans.

There is noting like reconnecting with good friends.

PS. She is going to take pics of my babies : )

the logistics of shopping

Baby Bunching realization #1.

A simple Target trip will never be the same again. Two kids in one cart is not the easiest thing. I either can put Lacey in the seat and the whole carseat in the basket, or I can put the carseat up front and Lacey in the basket. Either way I don't have room for groceries, and I am going to have a child trying to climb out of the cart (or at the very least throw things out of the cart). I just can't bring myself to use one of those huge carts with the built in seats quite yet. I think she would try to get out of it anyway.

I'd wear Miles on me, if it wasn't so cold out, but right now I just can't take him out of the seat before getting inside.

Any suggestions?

This So Called Life

I haven't quite figured out how to juggle 2 kiddos yet.

I haven't blogged since Miles was born. Coincidence? I think so.

We've had a crazy past 2 weeks. I'll start with his birth.

I was induced on February 13th. It was elective and I was only 39 weeks. But we were moving on the 24th, so my OB knew I was antsy to get this baby out! I checked into the hospital at 12:30 pm. I was already 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. I told the nurse that I would want an epidural (pitocin is terrible), so get the fluids into me! My OB broke my water and started me on a low dose of pitocin. I had the epidural placed before I was feeling any contractions. They checked me about 30 minutes after I had the epidural and I was 8 cm. They checked me again about 20 minutes later and I was fully dilated. I practiced pushed with the nurse for about 25 minutes. They called the OB and Miles was out on the first push! No tears!

He was born at 3:42 pm.
7 pounds 3.6 ounces

We went home a mere 24 hours later. It was a bit strange going home so quickly but nice to be out of the hospital, since there is NOTHING to do there.

Sunday was interesting, Mike worked a 14 hour day, leaving me at home with both kids less than 48 hours after having him. It went pretty well other than the fact that Lacey was going crazy being inside all day. I surprisingly was running around the house chasing her. I had no pain whatsoever. I was taking about 400mg of ibprofen every 4-6 hours but that was it. I credit that speedy recovery to my 3000mg of EPO that I took daily those last weeks!

Lacey likes her brother. She is great at giving him kisses and giving him the paci when he spits it out. Other than that she pretty much ignores him! She tried handing him some toys today and couldn't really figure out why he wouldn't take them from her...

When Miles was 11 days old, we moved from Seattle back to Minneapolis. I was a nervous wreck taking him on a plane but he slept in the moby wrap on me the entire time. The pressure didn't bother him at all. Lacey slept about half the flight as well, which was a welcomed surprise.

The midwest is COLD. I certainly am not taking my baby boy out in this anytime soon. I am actually a bit scared to take them both out at once. Not in any hurry to do that.

I'm trying to figure out how mom's with more than one kid find time to do something other than tend to their kids. Naptime isn't "me time" anymore. Guilt has set in. I feel like I am always holding or feeding Miles and Lacey is getting the short end of the stick. At one point I didn't even get online for a week. Its a constant day of feeding, diapers, playing, napping, etc. If Miles sleeps in, I don't because Lacey is up no matter what. Coffee has been my good friend.

But all in all I am loving having both the kids. Life feels so complete now and we feel like a "real" family. I am actually enjoying getting up with Miles in the middle of the night, I'm sad to see how fast he is already growing. Babies just grow up too fast.

I really have been blessed with 2 great and beautiful kids.

Annie