So I'm Just Plain Exhausted

(Car on your butt -- you can only get away with that look when you're a baby!)

Why did I ever think that having 1 child was hard? That was just silly. Having 2 is hard - wonderful - but hard. The new baby adrenaline I had going finally tapered off a few days ago and not I'm just worn out. And when I think about what I've actually done in the last several days it really isn't much to write home about. But I'm freakin exhausted!!!!

Sleep is here and there depending on the night. Wesley is starting to be somewhat of a night owl and didn't get the memo that this family likes to go to bed early. I'm getting anywhere from 4-7 hours of sleep a night (broken of course). I'd be getting more, but I have Xavier to balance as well and they are on somewhat different schedules (i say this as if Wesley is on a schedule already...um, no). Oh, and did I mention Xavier has a cold? Poor kiddo can't breathe real well and that's causing some sleep issues for him as well. I swear, how much you and your children sleep can really make or break your day. Like when Xavier got up at 4:45am yesterday it really BROKE my day!

I've mentioned that Wesley is a good eater. But that means I spend A LOT of my day nursing. And that's just time consuming with a newborn. While one might consider that time as somewhat of a rest, it's really not when you are trying to read, get out stickers, or draw a puppy for a toddler at the same time. And it never fails that Wesley will wake up screaming to eat just as I'm trying to fix a meal for Xavier or put him down for a nap.

The laundry around here lately is comical as well. I had forgotten how much laundry newborns create. I kid you not - Wesley went through 5 sets of jammies in 2 hours last night. He kept doing major spitups, or, my favorite one -- peeing out his jammies and all over my shirt as I held him! This was all in addition to the 3 outfits that he'd gone through during the day. And since it's winter you've got multiple layers per outfit. Then of course there is the laundry for the rest of the family. Yes, I'm a slave to the washing machine these days.

In my efforts to get as much sleep as I can I pretty much do nothing else but take care of children, then sleep when I can. I did manage to paint my toenails recently, but it took 4 days to actually make it happen. It's interesting how the other day I referred to having "alone time" as only having 1 of the kids awake. Um, how is that alone????

I need to figure out how to go places with 2 kids too. I went to Target the other day and realized that once I had 2 kids in the cart there was pretty much no room for anything else. Bummer! (And no, I didn't have my sling or Mei Tai with me or I could have used that for Wesley) I ended up balancing a pack of toilet paper on the sunshade of the infant seat, carrying things in 1 arm, and pushing the cart with the other arm. Oh yeah, I was lookin good!

I say this all with a smile though (well, kinda) because I know how fortunate I am to have 2 healthy and happy children to take care of. This crazy time will pass.....it WILL pass, right??!!!!!

Funny Things

X has a magnadoodle that he loves. He likes to bring it to you and asks you to draw things. Lately he has two very specific requests. They go like this....

"Draw puppy, draw cookie, two cookies, draw 2, 5, 3, 6, two sixes, how bout 8, 4, 7, 9, 0"

or

"Draw kitty meow, draw house, garage, draw tree, sun, draw tree"

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I look out from the shower this morning and see X wearing my tennis shoes and cleaning the bath tub. He'd gone in the kitchen and gotten 2 sponges and a scrub brush, then came back to the bathroom and proceeded to "scrub" the tub.

Growing Boys

Every day my boys are getting bigger.

Wesley is an eating and sleeping machine. As of a week ago he had surpassed his birth weight and was 8lbs 6oz (birth weight was 7lbs 13oz). I'm guessing he's in the upper 8's this week. It's amazing to me that he's growing so well just by nursing. It didn't go nearly this well with Xavier at the beginning so I'm so thankful to see Wesley thriving!

I tried to get a cute brothers shot the other day but just ended up getting an annoyed blank stare from both of them. Oh well, they are related! And it's funny how they are posed very similar!

Xavier knows that a growing toddler needs his sleep too. Check out that nap hair!

Wesley is already starting to get some decent head control. We've been working on the famous "tummy time" with him. He's pretty good, lasting for several minutes at a time. But then he's done, he's sure to let you know about it.

This would be his pissed off look right after I rolled him back over.

Another milestone for Xavier is that he's transitioning out of his high chair. We probably should have done this sooner, but, well, it's nice to have him contained for meals! The other night though we put him at the table in a booster seat for dinner. He thought he was hot stuff and did very well.

And this morning he sat at the counter to eat his waffles for breakfast. Why does he look sooooo grown up to me in these pics? (well, minus the fact that he wears feet pajamas!)

Happy Wednesday!

Oh Elmo

X received a singing Elmo doll for his birthday from Gpa Walter. And, oh my, is he in love! X first learned about Elmo from his diapers and a tub toy. We also have a couple of books with Elmo in them. But X had never seen an Elmo "in person". The look on his face as he opened this present was priceless. It was as if he was thinking "Oh Elmo, you are REAL....and you are HERE..... and you are for ME!" I couldn't get Elmo out of the box fast enough for him. X started hugging on Elmo and rubbing his face on Elmo's big ol eyes.






Then he laid down on the couch and just started saying "Oh Elmo, Oh Elmo".



Elmo sings the ABC's when you squeeze his hand and says 3 different phrases when you squeeze the E pillow attached to his shirt. Let's just say we've heard the ABC's quite a bit recently. Elmo quickly became X's new sidekick and had to go everywhere with us. Thankfully Elmo does have an off button in the back or it would have been a bad sight trying to rip Elmo from X to go into church on Christmas morning. I don't think the congregation would have appreciated continuous renditions of ABC's during the service.

X likes to pull Elmo in his wagon and show him things. This morning as X was unloading the dishwasher with me he starts saying "Show Elmo" and takes a cup over and puts it right up to Elmo's head. And at random points throughout the day X will realize that Elmo is not by his side. So he'll stop what he's doing, say "Oh Elmo" and go on a search through the house until he finds him.

I think these guys are going to be buddies for quite awhile!

Maiden Voyage

When we heard last week that it was going to snow Walter and I decided to take the fam and get out for a bit before we were stuck at home. We opted for a stroll around the mall and an opportunity to let X run around on the play yard there.

So, this was the maiden voyage for our double stroller that I bought off Craigslist. Oh my, we totally felt like suburban parents pushing this thing around. But, it comes in handy, ya know! X loved being front and center for all the action and enjoyed his build in snack cup that I filled with Cheezits for him. Wesley, well, he just slept in his car seat, but I think he liked it as well.

Once the snow fell it was time for X to take out his new sled for its maiden voyage as well. Unfortunately the snow was really powdery and the wind was blowing so he only lasted about 20 minutes. But I'm sure there will be many more sledding opportunities in his future!

Wesley's First Week - Pictures!!

Can't believe that as of yesterday Wesley is already a week old. It's been a wonderful week at home as a family of four. Wesley is a pretty mellow baby. It's amazing how some of his personality is already coming out. He likes to be snuggled, but is content for certain periods of time in the swing or bouncy seat. Wesley loves a good nap, but when he's awake he is very alert. He appears to have his days and nights figured out and will sleep for a good stretch before getting up to eat. Wesley has picked up the nursing thing pretty quickly and despite being a somewhat sleepy eater, it is going very well.

Xavier has taken to Wesley better than we expected for the most part. I'm prepared for that to change at any moment though! He calls him "baby wes-e-wey" and loves to snuggle on him. For the most part X has been patient and not jealous of us holding Wesley. We've been trying of course to give X extra love and attention when Wesley is sleeping.

So here's a look at what's been going on this week. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What a Combo

With Wesley getting a lot of the spotlight the past week, I can't forget about my other little boy now can I??


Walter snapped this photo our first night home with Wesley. Xavier had on his shirt from earlier in the day, his jammie pants from nap, and 2 of my pairs of fluffy socks. For some reason he really likes to wear these socks on his hands. Oh, and I think he was in mid sneeze at this moment too.

Guess this is another one to file away for blackmail when he starts dating!

46 1/2 Hours

Throughout my pregnancy with Wesley I prayed for a successful VBAC. I got it. But, it took 46 1/2 hours of labor first. That's a long time! So here's the abridged version of what happened.

The due date was 12/25. That came and went. My contractions started Wed 12/30 around 10pm. They were mild and were about 20 minutes apart. Throughout the night they went down to about 10 minutes apart, then spaced out again in the morning to as far as 30 minutes apart. My doctors office said to wait it out to see if they picked up again. I continued having contractions the entire day of New Years Eve ranging anywhere from 10-30 minutes apart. Overnight the intensity picked up and they got to a pretty steady 10 minutes apart. By this point I was miserable. I hadn't slept more than a 15 minute stretch in 2 nights, I was in pain (my contractions were mostly in my back), and frustrated.

At 5:30am (30 hours into all this!) on New Years Day I called the doctor and asked if I should just go to the hospital anyway because I was starting to get concerned whether the baby was handling all this ok. He agreed that I should go in and be evaluated. We arrived at the hospital around 7:30am and I was admitted. We quickly found out I was 7 cm. I got an epidural (praise the Lord!) and finally was able to relax a bit. It took the rest of the day to make it the other 3cm and then after 1 hour 15 minutes of pushing we met our newest son, just after 8:30pm.

Possibly the longest 2 days of my life, but soooo worth it. I'm very thankful that I was able to have this experience. I'm beyond thrilled that it all worked out and I avoided surgery. The hospital was great, our nurses were WONDERFUL, and we have the sweetest new addition to our family.

Baby D Has Arrived!

We have another little BOY!

Wesley Joseph was born on

Jan 1, 2010 at 8:34pm.

He weighs 7lb 13oz and is 21 inches long.

Wesley has a bunch of dark hair and old man wrinkly feet! He is doing great. Xavier will be coming to meet his new little brother today!

This makes 4 generations of holiday birthdays on my side - Wow!

Welcome to our family Wesley. We are so excited you are here!