A lot has happened in the last few weeks

It’s been so hard to think about, but I’m ready now. Tipsy was hit by a car last week (the 21st) and was injured terribly so we had to put her down. We left the house to go purchase the couch for the basement and we got a call from our neighbors explaining the situation. Apparently she had snuck out, since it was a semi-warm winter night. To spare all of the terrible details (and my heartache again) basically our neighbors rushed her to the after hours animal clinic. When we got there ourselves, it was obvious the best decision was to put her to sleep.

That is such a horrible situation; I would never wish upon anyone. A week later and it sucks more than ever. Now it’s finally sinking in she isn’t here.

So Athena now is 4 weeks old today! Which also means that she is more wakeful too….making life a little bit harder juggling the two little ones. Especially because she is so needy! She wants to be held and cuddled ALL the time. She doesn’t really care for the swing or bouncer. I just wish I could hold her all the time, because she is soooo cuddly :)

We’ve gotten a few smiles already! (okay, maybe they’re gas) Brad is keeping count and I’m losing. He’s 6 and I’m 2….daddy’s girl already…

 

That’s okay because here is my little guy. He has Hershey chocolate all over his face thanks to his Aunt Steefie and Uncle George’s Christmas gift to him. (Seriously…he is addicted to it now). Do you see my feeble attempt to give him an apple instead?   :)

So I started this blog around 3 and now it’s 10….way past my bed time, but I just wanted to document a few things and let whoever know that I am surviving (barely, some days).

Here are some more photos….

first bath!

here is the first documented “smile” – to her daddy of course.

One of his new Christmas toys. his “tchoo tchoo”

We had an awesome Christmas with our families. I’m getting used to the family-of-4 thing! Oh, Athena is ALWAYS doing some kind of kung fu…that’s what she is doing there…and Elijah….well he is probably looking for more Hershey chocolate to lick off of his fingers.

Nana got these three their own mooses. They are so stinking cute!

Look at my dimply-doo-kung-fu girl!! fyi – my hair is not cut, but probably should be.

Evan turned 1 on the 26th! He had the best Luau party!

So I guess you’re pretty caught up with what’s happening around here. For New Year’s we are going to visit my grandma who isn’t doing so well. I can’t wait for her to meet Athena and have all of her grandkids and great grandkids to welcome 2011 with her.

Have a safe New Year everyone!

It’s been two weeks now…

and it’s been hell.

Seriously.

Not because I think Athena will be a bad baby, but because we are all sick and irritable. Elijah was sick with a virus first. Athena got a cold next (luckily it wasn’t what Elijah had). It really sucked having to take her in to the doctor only 8 days old…She was just really nasally and coughing.

Myself, I had my first ear ache…and still have it. I never knew how HORRIBLE they are. I went last Wednesday to my doctor and she said I somehow got water in my ear that turned into swimmer’s ear….basically an ear infection. Unfortunately the antibiotics and pain med she gave me have done absolutely nothing. – Actually, let me take that back. The pain medicine has my whole right side of my face broken out and itching like crazy. Yeeaaaa….so much for the new computer systems at the doctor’s offices. It didn’t seem to catch that I am allergic to benzocaine….

As of today, I am still suffering. Athena is better but demands to be held at her every waking moment and Elijah is fully recovered.

As if things weren’t crazy enough around here, I had to take Elijah to the ER yesterday. As I was nursing Athena in my bedroom Elijah slipped away and as playing with his toys in the kitchen and family room. Well, it started to get too quiet and I didn’t hear familiar sounds of toys that he would normally play with.

When I got up to find out what the silence was all about, I realized there wasn’t any silence at all. Elijah was crunching on something…crunching loud. I discovered that he had knocked down a glass ornament that didn’t get taken down from the tree when I made the switch to shatter proof bulbs and he was eating the broken shards. EATING GLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously. I had no idea what to do. He refused to spit out what was left in his mouth…he wouldn’t even open his mouth actually. So I wanted to make sure he didn’t swallow glass without a buffer. I gave him a banana to eat and a drink of water. – I don’t know if that was the wrong thing or not, but it made sense to me at the time.

To make matters worse, I don’t have a car because Brad has lost the Mercedes key so he has been driving our family car. Luckily Becky and Jon came over and Becky was able to watch Athena while Jon and I rushed Elijah to St. Joseph’s in St. Charles.

Brad met us there and we had to get his tummy x-rayed. Sure enough, he had like 8 or so teeny pieces of glass ornament in his belly. The doctor was very assuring that since he wasn’t bleeding in his mouth or acting like he was in pain, the glass should pass from his body with no harm. We just have to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t vomit or poop blood.

Yea…I feel like a crappy mom. I’ve only had 2 kids for 2 weeks and one already had to go to the ER. Life will get better (maybe even easier?) soon…hopefully starting with getting rid of this ear ache.

I do have to admit that it was kind of funny the ER nurses saying “Oh, we have our first ornament eater this season!”. If I would have heard that I would have ridiculed any mother that would have allowed that to happen…ugh…now I’m that mom….I guess it just really makes me mad that I try VERY hard to have everything baby proofed and super tidy, and even though I work my ass off I still failed. It’s very disappointing. It sucks to fail your kids. I’ll get over it I’m sure and realize that I am a fantastic mom and mistakes just happen to everyone. For now though, I’m still really upset and have an excuse to eat this pile of oreo cookies in front of me.

So now that I’ve shared what’s been happening, take a look at my sweet kids!! Oh, I just finished my last paper for school today! Woo hoo….that’s why I get to blog right now. The babies are asleep and I don’t have to think about ecology or philosophy for once!

His shirt says “small but dangerous” – he should have worn that when he had an appetite for blue ornaments.

We have a hard time getting a picture of her making a pretty face :)

I had to put this “mistake” picture to show that his eye lashes are SOOO long. A lady told him he could mop the floor with those things.

 

He thinks he owns the aisles of Target (probably because it’s like a second home to him). People get the biggest kick out of him pushing that little truck through the store.

You probably think we never put socks on her…but we do. ALL the time actually. She is just really good at removing them and making funny photos. I have better pictures of her feet than of her  face!

Two weeks old here….it’s flying by so fast already. I just want to get well so I can enjoy this as much as possible!

 

She is a much better nurser than Elijah was. Look at those neck rolls in the making! Even sweeter, look at those little lips! I can’t help but kiss them all the time (especially when she’s rooting because it’s hilarious).

Awe…I’m glad I posted these. It’s helped me to become less angry and self pitying and more grateful and loving. An ear ache will pass, toddlers will still do stupid things but I need to remember to love these fleeting moments as they exist now, because they go so fast.

----Okay, I gotta peek in on these trouble makers now and give them a kiss . Funny how I wish for moments of silence and peace, and now that I have it, I miss the little stinkers :)

Both kids are asleep :)

Sounds so funny to say that…

What’s even better is that I got up from a nap myself. Brad took Elijah out for a bit, while Athena and I “watched” food network in bed.

So far so good. She is awesome compared to Elijah’s newborn habits. Up until last night she was cluster feeding a lot at night, and sleeping during the day. Now it seems she’s evened out to about nursing every 3-4 hours. And she is a pro. The nurses and lactation consultants at the hospital commented her skills :)

It has been wild around here though. The day she was born Elijah had come down with a fever and has had one consistently up until yesterday. That’s 5 days. It was torture on me even though I wasn’t there. – Because that was just it, I wasn’t there. The only time I had to ever be away from him he is sick…the worst part was hearing him through the phone call my name.

So, it’s been a bummer trying to keep the two away, even though Elijah isn’t too interested. I’m pretty confident Athena will stay well. She hasn’t shown any signs of anything but sleeping, eating and pooping. – Literally, this girl sleeps like I used too.

The timing of her birth was great. We came home on a Thursday, Brad had to work that next day but my mom and sister were here with us Friday. I’ve had Brad here the weekend….but, dum dum duuumm…..I’m nervous about being alone with both of them tomorrow. I hope I can juggle and manage both of their needs, because I don’t do well with crying babies. Never have…and hope I never will. –yea right….

It’s good that I am probably the luckiest postpartum woman in area. I’m not really sore down there at all, and my bleeding has minimized to using the thin pads. I’m probably most sore in my shoulders and back from pushing!

Anyway, it’s time to feed Athena, and I’m gonna take advantage of Elijah’s naptime to do so. Just thought I’d pop in for a quick update. I still have to do those school assignments, so who knows when blogging will reach my priority list.

But here are some pics….

I think he will love her :)

Look at that big ‘ol dimple!

I love my babies!!

Isn’t she sweet!!

This is my favorite pic so far….I don’t think she will want to be swaddled for 6 months like her brother. Those are some big feet Athena!

Athena is here!

 

Wow...I have been meaning to update the blog BEFORE she got here, but it is true when they say the second labor is faster (did anyone ever tell me that it's harder though??)!

For starters, I knew something was up when I lost my mucus plug at 4:11am on the 29th. Contractions were sporadic throughout the day (which was Emma's and Natalie's birthday!). So I tried to get my mind off of things and did some running around at Target to get some last minute things.

Becky spent the morning with me because I was a little nervous about how'd I feel while having Elijah running like a mad man and me contracting. We did okay, after we came home from Target, Elijah took a great nap while I tried to scramble and get Athena's room halfway organized - hung up curtains, clothes, placed teddy bears, etc. I could tell that my activeness was only encouraging contractions. I settled down and wrapped Emma's birthday present (she's 5) because we were headed to Becky's house that evening for pizza and ice cream cake. Brad met us there and we had a nice time. Emma loved her veterinary Barbie we got her :)

We got home around 7 and started getting Elijah ready for bed and after struggling with that (he's been stubborn and trying to move his 8pm bed time to 9pm for some reason...) I started finishing up what I could for Athena's room. At this point - I guess 9:30 or so I could tell it was time to try and take it easy. Contractions were really getting strong, but still pretty sporadic (but that's how it was with Elijah too). I think by 11pm Brad and I decided to start timing them with an app he downloaded on his iphone. About midnight they were pretty regular at 5 minutes apart and about one minute in duration. I'll tell you though, they were really painful - and to my dismay, the exercise ball didn't help like it helped with Elijah. About 12:30 I was really debating on going to the hospital, but I didn't want to be that mom who goes for only a 'false alarm'. Especially for a second pregnancy!

By 1:00 we decided to go. The contractions were so painful, I was SO tired (having no sleep mind you) I was ready to get some kind of progress report. Luckily my dad was able to stay with Elijah and Brad and I had a de-ja-vu moment driving in the little kompressor to MOBAP. Contractions were 5 minutes apart still, and the worst yet in the car. good grief people....I'm telling you they were bad. Even thinking about it I can feel my uterus contracting right now.

We checked in around 1:45ish into triage room 3 and had to get asked one million questions. I was disappointed to find out that I was only dilated to a 4-5 when we got there. Well, I should say, happy that it wasn't 'false labor', but disappointed I was such a 'weeny' that I couldn't handle the pain as well as I did with Elijah (because I arrived at the hospital at 6-7 cm with him).

Either way, I was an emotional wreck. I had problems relaxing. The ball didn't help me labor I was feeling SO defeated that I wanted some pain relief. Thanks to Brad, he encouraged me, supported me and had faith in me. He was able to steer me clear of those thoughts because he knew I could do it.

We were admitted into labor room 1 and the 'fun' started :)

Brad called everyone to let them know that this was it. Athena was going to make her debut!

My mom, Becky, Stephanie and Christie (Brad's mom) all arrived and it was awesome. It was so comforting and felt great having them there. Athena's arrival wouldn't not have been as successful as it was if any of them were missing.

The contractions were not really regular to me, but to be honest, they were so painful (especially in my back) I'm having a hard time even remembering their frequency. I do remember the duration and intensity getting stronger though! It took me a while to find my comfortable laboring spot, and it wasn't that ball!

Yep, a scalding HOT shower worked for me. It was the only relief. Everyone pretty much rotated holding the shower nozzle over my back while I contracted. I knew a lot of it was the dreaded back labor you've heard about. I would not wish that on any laboring woman. Lucky for me though, I was in the shower and felt Athena rotate down. I mean it was a weird feeling. Really weird and scary but it felt right. Thank goodness she did because I don't know how much of that back pain I could have handled.

By 4 am I was at 8 cm. I labored a little bit more in the shower and by 5 am I was pretty much ready to go! Dr. Chen was already at the hospital because of another birth so he examined me at 5:00 and helped me push past a little bit of cervix I had left (same happened with Elijah). After that he broke my bag of water and I really started to feel the pressure!

---I'm gonna be honest, I was pretty nervous about pushing because for some reason I went to Taco Bell for lunch and ate a bean burrito. Yea, I know...no one reminded me to think about what I may poop on her :)

Taco Bell quickly left my thoughts as soon as I felt that urge to push. Wow, I never got that strong feeling with Elijah. Maybe that's why it took me 45 minutes to push him out and only 3 pushes (about 4 minutes) with Athena! Woo hoo!

It was cool that Brad got to deliver her. It's funny that he was nervous about pulling her out and I had to scream 'just get her out!' -- it's not pleasant having a human hanging out of your bits - okay?  :)

After all that I managed to not tear or require an episiotomy! Lucky for me!

She was born at 5:17am, weighed 7 pounds 11 oz, and was 19.25 inches long (her head measuring 13.5). She had a full head of dark, dark hair and scored 9 and 9 on her Apgars. You won't believe it until you see her. She really is perfect. She has Brad's ears and fingers. She has my toes and crooked, right nostril. Beautiful eyelashes and probably my most favorite of all, is the biggest, sweetest dimples from her daddy. Oh my goodness people, she is SO sweet. She is my "dimply doo" - you know I've gotta nick name her :)

I'm sitting in the hospital room just looking at this perfect baby. I wish my heart was 100% elated but it's not because my first baby is home with virus (with fever). It literally breaks my heart to not be there with him, especially when I can hear him when I talk to Brad saying 'mamma, mamma'.

We're going to have to keep the new siblings separated for a bit. We're going home tomorrow, so maybe you could say a prayer that Elijah recovers quickly so we can truly enjoy being a new family of 4.

My heart is so full of love and thanks. I am so grateful for the blessings in my life. I can't even begin to describe!