The difference between people with kids and without

On Monday the Golden Corral chain was honoring the veterans and active duty members by offering a free meal to them. Side note: Thank you to those of you who have served and are serving our country!!! The hubby and I decided to venture out into the madness because hey, it was a free meal. We understood that we live in a military town and that it would likely be packed but we decided to give it a try anyway. Well, we pulled into the parking lot to notice that the line was all the way out into the parking lot. Um, yeah two kids....not going to happen. If we didn't have kids we would have been right there waiting with the rest of the crowd, who incidentally for the most part did not have children. So, we turned around and drove back to our town and picked up chinese. As we walked into the house we heard a strange sound. After looking around for about five seconds we realized the fish tank was leaking all over the carpet. At that point I was thankful that we didn't stay at the feeding frenzy because we had lost about 1/3 of the water while we were gone and it would have really been a mess if we didn't arrive home when we did. However, the food was hot and Hannah was cranky so we ate are chinese before messing with the darn fish (I did however throw some towels under the tank to absorb up some of the water). Since we had just driven from our neighboring town that has actually has stores where you can buy fish tanks, we decided to wait and just put the fish in a Rubbermaid tub for the night. Which Hannah thought was the funniest thing!
Coincidentally, I also had my 6 week check-up on Monday. Unfortunately, even though Tony told me to schedule it for that day because he would be able to watch the kiddos, he couldn't get off. So, I dropped Hannah off at a friends and to Mr. Man with me. He did fine until I got into the exam room. So the nurse rocked his seat while I got examined...which I hate at this office. Instead of changing into a gown they give you this paper sheet to cover up with and you leave your shirt on. The problem with the paper sheet is that it is not very big. I don't consider myself to be a big person and I can barely fit it around my butt. So as you're sitting on the table waiting for the doctor you feel like your crack is hanging out for all to see. Regardless, after the doctor leaves I throw on my clothes and meet him in his office. When I walk in he kind of chuckles and says "This is how you can tell the difference between women who have kids and those that don't. The ones with kids get dressed in under 30 seconds because they know that is about all the time they have." That right there is the story of my life!

Loveable

Although he is quite the cutie, he is also quite a handful. Just today I was telling the hubs that Alex is the type of baby that makes you wonder if you're really cut out to be a parent. But really he's not that bad I've just been spoiled. You see I had the easiest/happiest baby in the world when I had Hannah. Either that or I had some mad parenting skills....go ahead laugh. I'm sure that's what God was doing when he heard me think that! Sure she was jaundice and I had to feed her with a medicine dropper because she wouldn't latch on, but she was easy. At least I remember her as being easy. She was sleeping in her crib (after she got out from under that "light") and would go right back to sleep after eating. At least I remember her going right back to sleep, but honestly I'm picturing us in our house on Loblolly, so she was already two months old. She didn't cry whenever you put her down and she did not spit up that much! Maybe it's just the added stress of having a two year old, but this one is the exact opposite. I am having the hardest time with breastfeeding this one. It seems like he eats non-stop and he's not that good at it. He has a hard time latching on correctly. He roots and roots rubbing the oobie, which in turn gets the milk flowing and he's still not latched on! Then we have milk spraying out, a mad baby and a toddler jumping on my lap wanting to watch monkey movie right now. Only hello, mommy has her hands full right now could you please be patient? "Yeah, Hannah patient" is her response, only five seconds later she is demanding to watch the movie again. Not to mention once he's finally latched on he has to burp like five seconds later and starts arching his back and we all know how wonderful that feels! Then there's the whole wailing whenever put down thing. Seriously, if he's not sound asleep do not even think about putting him down for longer then two minutes. Tack that on top of not getting any sleep and not getting out much and it's enough to make me wonder how much it would cost to ship him to grandma's house...at least until he's sleeping through the night. Of course when calculating the price I also have to add in the cost of overnighting milk so he can be fed. Hmmm, I wonder what I would have to pack it in? Of course then I look his adorable little face and kiss his little feet and realize that this won't last much longer. In fact all too soon he will be the two year old demanding my attention and not wanting to be held or snuggled. I have to beg Hannah for a kiss or hug. Occasionally she'll give me one on her own and she doesn't sit still long enough to snuggle. So all together it is worth the lack of sleep and zombie like state because I realize how precious these first few months are....even if my oobies are really sore from the poor latch on techniques!

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling bad....

Here are a few of our favorite things:

Alex absolutely loves his sling! He is as content as can be when I put him in there. Usually it's because he's cranky and I need to get something done around the house. Since I'm able to hold him and be hands free it makes me love it.
Another favorite is his swing. We finally broke out the batteries so he could use it and he seems to enjoy it quite a bit as you can tell from the content look on his face:)

As you can tell from the outfit she picked out Dora is a favorite for Tater. She has on a Dora shirt, pajama bottoms and to complete the look her Dora bathing suit. She found it when I was sorting through her drawers the other day and since has wanted to wear it every time she sees it!!!

I don't have a picture of my favorite thing, which is sleep. If only I could get more of it. With Alex spitting up so much he does not sleep good at night. We have him sleeping in his Baby Papasan, (inside of the Pack'n Play) but after he eats he just doesn't fall back to sleep right away. He's usually agitated and a little gassy until he finally gets out a good burp which may or may not soak me in spit up. Anyway, it's not as easy to get the extra sleep when you have to stay conscious to look after the two year old who is wreaking havoc on the house.

Changing

I can't believe that Alexander is already one month old!! He has done quite a bit of growing in the past month. Here are his one month stats:

Weight: 10 lbs 11 3/4 oz

Height: 22 inches

Rubber Ducky....You're the one

You make bathtime so much fun!! Alex took his first real bath on Saturday. Surprisingly he did really well, no fussing or crying at all. He just looked around with those big blue eyes of his like he was trying to figure out what was going on. Such a cutie!!!

Big sister on the other hand took two baths. The first being her normal bath and the second to remove the Vaseline from her body. That is right, Hannah found the Vaseline this weekend. She has been doing really good about playing in her room lately. We put her CD player on the floor and she listens to music and dances. Normally I make sure that all of the baby supplies are out of her grasp, however I didn't think about it on Saturday evening. I was nursing Alex and hubs was watching a movie when Hannah walked out looking like this:

While he attempted to clean her off I went to survey the damage. When I first walked into her room I didn't see anything but a small glob on the carpet and a little on the bottom of the changing table. Not bad, but when I turned to leave this is what I saw:

We would like to thank her grandparents for sending her Curious George. You see, in the movie George gets into some paints and puts hand prints on the walls. No doubt that was what the tots was doing don't you think? Now if somebody could please tell me how to get Vaseline off my wall I would greatly appreciate it!

It's a.......BOY!!!

In my previous post about Alexander's birth into the world, I forgot to mention a bit about the doctor. It seems that he forgot that we did not know the sex of our baby. So after finally yanking the baby out we hear a small cry and everybody continues to go about their business. The nurse up by my head says something along the lines of "Sex?" but doesn't get a response. Finally the doctor says "A big guy just like daddy." Hubby and I both respond "GUY?!" To which we receive an "Oh, you didn't know the sex? It's a boy!"

Such a sweet picture! 

Big Sister

So far the transition from only child to Big Sister Hannah has not been too bad. She seems to like Alex well enough and only requests that we put him in his seat (the Baby Papasan) a couple of times a day. Yes, she shows signs of jealousy and yes she throws more tantrums, but it is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact during the day she is really good. It is not until Daddy gets home that things start to get ugly. I'm hoping that this just means that she's clinging to Daddy since Mommy has to take care of the baby.

(This picture was taken during Alexander's first trip to the beach last week. Hannah had such a good time running around playing in the water and digging in the sand all the while Alex just slept.) Anyway, while the grandparents were here she got spoiled to the core. She received so many presents, treats and extra attention that we were afraid how she would respond after they left. The truth is, she actually got better. Not as many fits were thrown and she was back to her semi-normal self. I guess she knows who is wrapped around her little finger!

Chillin' 

Painting with Daddy 

Changing

Here is Alexander, 16 days old next to Teddy. I'm going to copy Stephanie and take a picture of him by it every month to see how much he has grown and changed! Unfortunately, the bear is in better focus than Alex is, I'll have to work on that for next time.

Patience must not be a virtue

At least not in my family. As most of you already know, Alexander Jay made his appearance on October 2 at 12:43 am. He was 7lbs 14oz and 21.5 inches long. He wasn't scheduled to arrive until Wednesday of this week, but he had his own schedule. On Saturday of last week I started having contractions. Throughout the day they got progressively worse so we drove to the hospital. After three hours of being monitored they sent us home because nothing was happening. Well, the contractions never stopped. Sunday we went about our normal activities all the while the pain was getting worse. Finally at 9 that night I begged hubby to take me to the hospital. He really didn't think anything was going to happen, but agreed to take me.

Well we got there and I was about 4 cm dilated and 100 percent effaced. So, they said they would call surgery and get us there as soon as possible. They finally wheeled me down to surgery around midnight so who knows how dilated I was by then! Mr. Alex had worked his way down the canal by then and they had a really hard time getting him out. His little head was stuck so they pushed and pushed on me to try to get him out before finally using the vacuum on him. Unfortunately that bruised up his little face, but he was fine.
I think that you'll agree with me when I say that I see a lot of my husband in him. Hubby was a little more filled out, but their faces look alike! Anyway, since my c-section was scheduled for Wednesday, I took one more class that just finished tonight. I have been so stressed out worrying about finishing that class, praise God it is over!!
Here are a few pictures of Alex and Daddy for comparison. My next post will feature Big Sister Hannah and how she is adjusting to the life with a new baby! All I have to say is thank God for grandparents! They have truly been a lifesaver.

Prayers

Just wanted to ask everybody to keep my brother in your prayers. He left Sunday night for Iraq and will be there for the next seven months. Thanks!

One word....teething

I remember a few months ago at the Taters 24 month check-up the PA talking about her getting her two year molars. He said something along the lines of us knowing she was teething because she will suddenly transform into the spawn of satan. Well internet it has happened. It started last week and I was really quite annoyed with her sudden change in disposition. VERY cranky and not eating anything. At first I just thought it was the "terrible twos" taking over and was rather disappointed that my little angel would act like that....especially in public! Then after a couple days of cranky toddler vs cranky mommy (do to not sleeping at night) it hit me, she's teething. Sure enough, upon examination of the mouth there were two giant teeth trying to poke through. Now that I know the problem, I am much more sympathetic and much more eager to drug her up and she is doing much better. Of course we still have our meltdowns, but they are quickly solved with "Do your teeth hurt? Do you need some medicine?" After that it is pure bliss.
On the baby front, I am getting increasingly anxious (and large). I can't wait to have this little guy/gal and find out who we have. Not to mention the fact that I am getting more and more uncomfortable and having a hard time sleeping at night. I swear I toss and turn all night, and when I'm not tossing or turning I am peeing or having heart burn. Finally I fall asleep only to wake up to sore hips!!! I am at weekly visits now and only have TWO left!!! I just want to know one thing, who in their right mind makes a gigantic prego pee in a cup? Hello, I can't see what is down there, how am I supposed to hit the cup? Thankfully I must have pretty good aim because I haven't missed yet, but I am just waiting for the day that I pee on my hand. Really, that will be a great time.

Don't look too close....you'll see the stretch marks!! 

Belly shot 

STOP, THIEF!!!

As I was cleaning out our disgusting fish tank today, the girl was happily playing in her toyroom (which is off the kitchen). I couldn't see her because I was in the bathroom scraping build-up off of the tank, but I could hear her playing so all was well. Pretty soon I heard her walking through the kitchen, she came to me said a few things then went back to play. Or so I thought. I went to the kitchen to get more paper towels and found rifling in my purse. Leave Mommies purse alone!, I told her and she did. Moved the purse, went back to scraping. A few minutes passed and I went to put tank back together. Walked into the kitchen to get something and saw her in the playroom with the tin of icebreakers sour mints. She held them up and said "Mommy, nummy?" (Yummy) Anyway, she loves these mints so I told her to bring it to mommy and I would get her some. So, she brought me the empty container. She managed to eat an entire container of mints in less than five minutes!!!! Thank goodness they are sugar-free!

Shooey!!

One of my favorite things about Hannah right now is her ability to learn just about anything in such a short period of time. Like people say, she is literally a sponge absorbing everything she can. Over the past few days whenever I change a stinky diaper I say "Shooey!" in a really high pitched voice. My daughter now sings shooey, over and over again (in a high pitched voice) while I change her stinky diapers. It is quite amusing. It makes me think that if I would put some effort into it, she would be potty trained in a matter of days. I just can't motivate myself and frankly I wonder if she is actually ready. She has also picked up the word "ewww". I don't think she knows what it means because she will say it in random sentences that don't make any sense. Like earlier today she said: "Mommy, daddy ewww!" Of course maybe she's onto something with that one....
We have also visited her doctors in the past week. Last Tuesday we saw her orthopedic doctor, because of her "condition" the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that she be seen every six months. Well, we saw them and they said she looks good. Basically a waste of time, but something that we have to do. I was relieved because there are some people that comment on her legs and if she'll need braces. They seemed to think that she does not need braces and will not because braces alone will not do anything. This Tuesday we saw her endocrinologist, another three hour drive, for a five minute appointment. I am happy to report that she has continued to grow at a steady pace, however she did not catch up to the normal growth range at all this time. They did move her dosage up a little bit this time, so maybe that will give her the boost that she needs.
On the belly front, other than the fact that it is getting extremely large, one of my good friends keeps pestering me to put up a picture since I am so far away. So to make her happy I will:) Just as soon as hubby gets home....so stay tuned.

Water Baby

Our girl is definitely a water baby! Every time we visit the beach, she loves to go out into the water and swim. I'm talking out in the deep water with Daddy. Now this tends to make me a little nervous because hello, it's the ocean! If she goes under what if we can't find her? Anyway, on this day it was really calm, so it didn't make me quite as nervous. In fact I joined in on the fun.
However, usually she wants her daddy. Daddy swim, mommy!!! Daddy swim! So, I don't feel too guilty about not playing with her out there. This past weekend while we were swimming there were a ton of fish. More fish than either of us have ever seen in the water. There was an entire school of them just out a few feet past where we were swimming. We don't know if it was because it was raining off and on or what. You could only see them as the waves would start to roll up or when they were jumping out of the water! Hannah loved watching them. She did not want to get out of the water because she could see the fish.
We always have a hard time getting her out, but it was extra hard this weekend. Daddy finally told her that the fish went to sleep in order to get the pruny-purple little girl out of the water and into her towel! We realize that we only have a couple more trips to the beach left in this season, so we try to enjoy it as much as possible.

Mark your calendars!

Save the date, mark your calendars....Thing 2 will be making his/her grand appearance on Wednesday October 11 at 11! Our surgery was scheduled for us yesterday and I'm a little bummed because it would work out better for our parents if it was a Friday. Now we're not sure who will be here and when, so we don't know if we'll have somebody to watch Hannah or if we need to try and find someone. Anyway, just wanted to let everybody know what we would be doing on the 11th of October!!!! So keep us in your prayers on that day.