9 months!

BIG boy we have here... not that we needed numbers to prove it, but it sure backs up our theory that we have a big boy!
Had his 9 month visit with Dr. S yesterday and it was pretty quick and straightforward. I won't say short and sweet though (I'll get to that in a minute).

Stats:
22 pounds 7 ounces (80%)
30 3/4 inches (98%!)
He's been very consistent on the charts.
They did the fingerstick to check iron and lead levels... but the results weren't back yet while we were there and he said there wasn't any point of waiting for them - he'll call if anything is off.

The nurse asked us all her questions... does he wave? "no" does he say mama/dada? "no" (insert strange look from her) does he clap his hands? "no"... at this point she takes her hands and claps them for me (Thank YOU! I didn't know what a clap was!)... she says "he can't do this?" I said ... I'm sure he CAN, but I haven't seen him do it. Ugh. Then she started to ask about feeding him... Is he breast or formula fed? "breastfed" How often? "every 1-2 hours from 5pm-7am and 13-20ish ounces a day at daycare" What's he drink at daycare, formula? "breastmilk" (didn't we already answer that question?) ... her tone was just a tad off with me, I wasn't a fan of this new nurse. Then she asked about table foods... (oy!) She asked how much he's eating and when I replied "he's pretty much not doing any solid foods on a regular basis" ... her eyes popped out like "WHY NOT!?!" She said "no veggies, no fruits, no meats..." I said, he ate an inch or so of asparagus the night before and he likes cheerios. I made sure to tell her it's not for our lack of trying that he's not munching down on tablefoods. Sheesh.

Here's how the conversation went with Dr. S... How's he doing with eating? "Not really interested yet" He chuckled and said "He'll figure it out when he's ready". I really like our doctor :)

What else is happening at 9 months old?

He's trying to stand without holding onto anything... the longest we've seen him do is 4-5 seconds. He'll take steps if someone holds both of his hands. He can cruise along furniture for a short bit, but then drops to the floor to crawl (at an amazing speed!) across the room to get what he wants. He really likes crawling down the hallway and parking himself in front of Laura's toy/book shelf.

He has the most piercing beautiful blue eyes.

He has 4 teeth now. The spikes of the top right and the one next to the bottom left poked through last week. He chomps them together and you can hear them grinding a bit... eek! Hate that sound! He enjoys scooting around the house with a sock in his mouth. I'm not sure if it's the size of it (it's usually his own!) but he'll just tuck it into his mouth and go about playing - not sure if he likes it as a drool catcher or if it feels good on his gums?

At night, he goes down to bed really easily. He typically nurses before bed in the living room and then stays awake and everyone gives good night kisses. I then pop in a pacifier and lay him in his bed and he usually goes right to sleep without a peep. Occasionally he'll make a few squalks but nothing I'd even call crying.

His sleep overnight is getting worse instead of better though. The past week or so, he's been up (it seems) ever 1-2 hours. We're all getting less sleep now than when he was a newborn. I've been putting a baby sized fleece blanket in his crib over him and he does well with it (doesnt' put it over his head) ... but it definitely doesn't stay over him. I've been thinking that maybe part of the reason he's been waking up is because he's getting chilly... his room is so hard to control the temperature in (electric heat!) .... so last night I tested it out - I shoved his really long body into the zip up sleep sack so he'd have that extra layer over him even if he rolled... and he slept pretty good. Up every 3 hours. (10:30, 1:30, 4:30). I think I need to get a pattern (make one?) and make a longer sleep sack for him.

He's ready for his 4th haircut...but we haven't done it yet.

He likes to make noise... growling, sucking in air to make a deep growly sound, babbles. He's still a very mellow tempered baby, but getting louder at daycare too. He's keeping the other babies up during the afternoon :( The other day, Lynne said she was in the kitchen and heard "the boys" being loud in the living room so she told them to quiet down. "They" didn't listen and kept being loud... banging things around and yelling. So, she went into the living room to see why "they" weren't listening to her... and she found Carson standing by the coffee table banging toys on it and happily yelling. He's one of "the boys" now.

Laura is so totally in love and protective of "her baby carson". She is always making sure he's okay and wanting to check on him.

One of Carson's favorite toys right now is the (toy) fridge magnets. My least favorite is that he likes to pull them OFF the fridge and leaves them all over the kitchen floor. Ouch!

Nothing to report on clothing/shoe/diaper sizes... same as last month. I did have to pack away one of his (non footed) onepiece Old Navy rompers though...sized 12-18 months... it stops midway between his knees and ankles. Also, his Carter's fleece zip up pj's (12 mos) are getting really tight. The one he has in 18 months fits so much better.

I touched on food briefly, but there are some things he'll eat... he really enjoyed the sweet potato bean burritos I had the other day... and he also gobbled down on cream cheese, meunster cheese, and tomatoes from ithaca bakery!

Shadow of Uncertainty...

Who are you?

I just realized I can check stats on who is coming to my blog... and I'm not sure who you are... please leave a comment.

8 months old

Still has only the 2 teeth on the bottom. No signs of any others anytime soon.



He's learned how to crawl forward. And he's started to pull up on the chairs and the bar stools, but he can't quite get his feet under him yet. He'll get on his knees with his hands on a bar and then most times fall over.

He doesn't eat much "people" food yet. He totally skipped over anything pureed and sloppy off of a spoon. He pinches his lips shut and won't let me get anything on a spoon past his lips. If I hold a bit of something and put it to his lips though, he'll open for it. IF I am able to get anything mooshy in his mouth that he doesn't care for, he has perfected raspberrying it right out and all over whoever is sitting next to him. His favorite foods are gerber type puffs and cheerios.

A typical day at daycare he'll take 12 -13 ounces of breastmilk.

His eyes still disappear when he grins really big!

His sleep patterns are totally wacky... he's awake every 2 hours overnight. I really think he's just gotten used to eating that often and that now it's habit. I keep saying I should let him cry it out so we can all sleep better, but then I don't because I really enjoy the extra little snuggles. I figure it'll only be another 4-5 months or so and he'll (most likely) be weaned, so his sleep should get better then. During the day at Lynne's... he's all over the place with his sleep. Some days he gets a longish morning nap (2ish hours) and then a quick snooze in the afternoon. Some days he gets 2 short snoozes. Bedtime is anywhere from 6:30-8:30... we don't have a set time for him because our evenings are all over the place with getting home and getting dinner. The good thing... he's happy all the time, even when he doesn't sleep good.

His personality is still very mellow and easy going, but he knows how to yell and get attention too! He's really starting to get attached to mommy... if he can see me, he's making a fuss until I get him.

His bed has been lowered to the lowest position since he can sit up now.

He doesn't really have a "lovey" yet... but he loves rubbing the preemie and infant sized burpcloths on his face while he's falling asleep.

Clothing wise, he's still in the same stuff... 12 mos, 18 mos, few 24 mos. Still not wearing shoes yet... but I think he's in a 4. Medium fuzzibunz. Size 4 pampers.



He LOVES his bath. He starts throwing his arms up and down and kicking his legs around when he sees that we're headed into the bathroom for bathtime. He scootches around in the tub and splashes and reaches for all the toys.



He has had 3 haircuts. We like to spike it up, and to keep that style, it has to be short.



The little red birthmark in his belly button continues to get lighter pink with little white spots in it. It may be getting smaller...but it's hard to tell because he's getting bigger.

7 months old.

He's in the same clothes still... 12 months with a few 12-18 and 18-24 months here and there. Size 4 Pampers. Size medium fuzzibunz and the few onesize fuzzibunz.









He's got two teeth. The bottom right popped through at 6.5 months and the bottom left came in about a week later. He didn't fuss at all for these. I hope he teeths as easily for the rest of them!









He's tried some foods, but really has no interest in anything yet. Except pumpkin bread. He loved the pumpkin bread. We've tried - watermelon, blueberries, homemade applesauce, fresh peaches, canary melon, gerber banana puffs, broccoli... He's still spitting everything back out and coughing when something gets back in his throat... so we're going slow with solids.







He's great at rolling over and has started scooting...backwards. He can sit up really well now, but occasionally still falls over if he loses his balance. He's able to push up on his forearms and get up on his knees at the same time into a crawling position...then he rocks back and forth like he's not sure what else to do. He wakes up often in his crib in the same position.







He can sit for upwards of 20 minutes with a tote of toys and be totally entertained. He also really enjoys his exersaucer. He also loves watching the TV when it's on. I think daddy may have another movie buddy!







He sits up in the bathtub these days and loves playing with a cup and putting his hands in the running water. He doesn't mind the water being dumped over his head and on his face at all.







His nap pattern is much the same - 2 good naps on a normal day at home, one is about an hour and the other is about 2-2.5 hours. Naps at Lynne's vary, but most days he gets one good nap (2ish hours) and another catnap or two.







He's eating around 12 ounces a day at Lynne's still. Somedays more, somedays less. I've only had to defrost a total of 3 bags of milk (15ounces) ... the rest has all been freshly pumped for him.







Mama is tired. Very very tired. He has started being up every 2-3 hours overnight... and as of when this is being typed (he's 7.5 months old now) - he's up every 1-2 hours overnight for the past week or so... he's up to eat and goes right back to sleep - so we're not sure why - maybe he's just gotten into the habit of eating that often? Maybe he's trying to learn to crawl (since he usually wakes up in the hands/knees crawling position). I forsee some nights of cry-it-out in his future if something doesn't change soon. Bedtime is typically around 7pm, we have aimed for the 6:30 time, but with getting home from work and getting dinner and baths and everything else, it's just really hard to get him down at 6:30 everynight.

He received his second haircut.

Social Calendar

Since when did Laura's social calendar get busier than mine!?

Tomorrow (Sunday): Her birthday party - complete with dirt, cake, six 3 year olds and hopefully no rain.

Monday: Dance lessons - combo of tap and ballet

Friday: Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner

Saturday: She's going to be a super cute flower girl in her best buddy Jenna's wedding! (Assuming her dress ever arrives!)

Next Monday: She'll turn 3 years old. Dance lessons and a small party with just us here at home.

... I see my job as taxi driver has begun...

6 months old.

Carson Dude at 6 months old...





20 pounds (87%)


29 inches ... off the charts for percentile!





Solidly wearing 12 month clothing. Some 12-18 month clothing is short on him. I bought 18-24 months for the majority of his winter wardrobe. Wearing size 4 pampers (for a few weeks now!). Size medium fuzzibunz. Also have a few "one size" fuzzibunz for him. I don't think those will fit him all the way until potty training because the rise is rather short looking in the back. Don't know his shoe size as he has yet to wear any.





He's still completely breastfed. We've tried bananas, peaches, and canary melon with him... but he's still not sure what to do with it - doesn't even open his mouth when it's given to him... and when he did get some in his mouth, he just pushed it back out and made an "ick" face. So, we'll wait awhile longer and try again. Obviously he's not lacking in calories! He's been taking 12 ounces a day (3 four ounce bottles).





He naps great at home... not so great some days at Lynne's. His routine is that he takes one good/long nap (1.5-2 hours) each day, and then grabs a few 10-20 minute catnaps to get through the rest of the day. Bedtime is like clockwork at 8pm. He gets fussy and so ready for that last feeding and then bed. ***Starting the week of August 23rd though, his new bedtime is 6:30pm and he's doing great with it! - hopefully making up for some of the daysleep he's not getting... he's been going down awake after a feeding and one night even laid there for nearly 45 minutes wide awake just playing with his feet and sucking on his paci before he fell asleep.





He is still waking up to eat every 3-4 hours overnight. Most nights he's up somewhere around 12-1 and then again around 4-5ish. Waking up right around 6-6:30 in the mornings. I'm tired from being up a lot overnight, but I just have to be thankful that he's only up long enough to suck down a meal and I'm usually back in bed within 11 minutes or so.





His little strawberry birthmark in his belly button is starting to turn white and get a little less red and a little more pink. It should start to get smaller and eventually go away.


He plays with his tongue and blows raspberries and giggles and coos. He grabs for anything he can - necklaces, hair, glasses, food off our plates...





He rolls over both ways freely and doesn't totally mind tummy time now. He can tripod sit very well and can sit for a few seconds upright on his own. He likes to hold onto some of his toys and look at them.





His favorite lovey/toy is a burpcloth. The preemie size cloths are perfect size for him to hold - he likes to suck on them... and at night, I let him hold one as he's falling asleep. He does not like any hard/plastic type teether toys. He has no teeth yet.





Daddy smooches give him the giggles (from the facial fuzz!).





He's starting to give great little hugs when he gets picked up - throws his arms around the neck and holds on tight. He even started giving "kisses". He'll make a popping sound with his lips that kinda-sorta resembles a kiss.





His eyes are the most gorgeous color blue. Just like big sister Laura's are.





He got his first hair cut. Chopped off the top wispy layer of thin/dark newborn softness. The hair underneath is totally blonde and a bit thick/coarse. He looks just stunning and so grown up with his new do. Mommy likes to spike it up!





His temperment is still very easy going... but his cries are starting to get quite a bit more forceful when he doesn't get attention at the first whimper.

MilkShare

I had a problem a few weeks ago... My freezer was full. Before I had Carson, it was packed full of meals - yummy meals that we ate up while I was home on maternity leave. Then slowly I realized my freezer wasn't getting any emptier because as I took out meals, I added bags and bags of frozen milk. Carson was taking nowhere near as much milk as I was pumping and by the time he was 4 months old, I had a freezer full of milk... sitting... unused. At the high point, I was adding about 50 ounces a week (in addition to what he was drinking during daycare). I wanted my freezer back, but I didn't want to stop pumping because I want my supply to stay up... so, I looked into my options.

• Rotate fresh/frozen... could do, but costs a lot buying lots of new bags for freezing.


• Toss it... No, not even a viable option.


• Donate it... Bingo!

I had heard of milkshare but never used it before. It's a free website forum where you can post ads saying you either want to get milk, or that you are offering milk. I put up a post in the NY section and for a couple weeks didn't get any responses. Then I got a message. A message from a mama to (then) 7 week old Declan. They live in California. They were traveling to NY for a family vacation... and she wanted to meet up. After a few emails and a couple phone calls we'd arranged a meet up at our house. After a 4 hour (one way) drive, they arrived and I packed her cooler bags full, and then grabbed one of my cooler bags and packed that full for her too. I wish I'd taken pictures of how much I sent - it was a lot! She later said it was enough standing all the bags up to fill the door of an upright freezer.

I felt so good giving my milk to a baby who would really benefit from it! I did have some initial feelings of "oh my, what did I just do!?!" as I drove back to work - thinking some awful thoughts like if I were to die while Carson is still breastfeeding, that Richie would have to give him formula since "the stash" is gone... but those thoughts were fleeting and now I feel so good about what I was able to do!

I later asked the mama if she could take a quick tally of about how much milk I'd sent her... ~600 ounces. Wow. Rough guess was that this amount would last Declan about a month.

I'm back up to 210 ounces in the freezer now (just a few weeks later) - but I'm not sure I'll be able to donate anymore - Carson is taking more now at daycare, and my supply isn't as much as it once was. Still plenty for one baby, but maybe not enough for 2 anymore. ...we'll see though!

4 months old.

Carson is now 4 months old. WHERE has the time gone? I'm sure all parents think and say the following that it's overused, but I truely can't believe our baby boy is getting so big and changing so much so fast!

He wants to sit up all the time now. He curls into a "C" shape if he's lying down and wants to sit up - kind of like he's constantly doing a crunch! He enjoys his swing and will sit quite content there for awhile either looking at his hands or at the animals above him. At Lynne's house, he loves watching all the kids around him. They'll prop him on the couch or put him in the swing or in the highchair and he is so content to just watch everything going on around him.

He has not rolled over ... yet... he looks like he could anyday though.

He weighed in this month at 18pounds12ounces (according to the Wii at exactly 4 months), so he did slow down a bit! He is bald on the back of his head, and the hair on the top is long and he sometimes looks like an old man with his little combover. The long wispy stuff is falling out though, I'm sure he'll be baldish in another 2 months or so. He's eating typically 2 four ounce bottles a day at daycare. I have yet to give him a drop of anything I have frozen... seriously thinking of donating most of it (all of it?) if I could find someone local who could use it...

He's out of 6 month Carter's clothes - onto the 9 month stuff. A few 6-12 month and 9-12 month outfits fit perfectly. I've given up on buying too much ahead of season for him at this point as I have NO idea how big he'll be come fall/winter. Huggies size 3 and fuzzibunz mediums fitting perfectly. This time we're using cloth wipes (at home) too and it's amazing how much less sposie wipes we're wasting money on! :)

Carson looks so much like Laura did at this age - really scary when I look at two pictures side by side! No mistaking they're siblings!

He is "talking" all the time... Richie says he sounds like a cat when he gets going. He'll just open his mouth really wide and smile and jabber away. He's got a super cute smile that just melts my heart everytime I see it.

He's still sleeping through the night... so much so that I glanced at the lonely rocker in his room the other day and couldn't recall the last time it was used. With Laura, it was used numerous times each day until she was 2!

Carson's 4 month well visit stats: (June 30th) (so really 4.5 months)

19pounds2ounces! (96th%)
27.75inches (98th%) ... time to get a new carseat soon!

**Written up the week he turned 4 months old**

5 months old.

Our little moose, our little Carson Dude is now 5 months old. I know, I know... hard to believe he's getting so big so fast... where is the time going, all moms say/think this, but it is SO true. So hard to believe that just a year ago he was a tiny little blip not even big enough to make my belly big yet... and here he is all smiley and cute!


He's stretching out of the 6-9 month summer outfits so he's mainly living in his 9-12 month onsies. He's never worn a shoe, so I don't know what size he'd fit into! He's snug in a size 3 diaper. He's fitting well into his medium fuzzibunz. I am not a huge fan of pastel colors on him - something about the dark rich colors that just make him really look like a boy - reds, browns, dark blues, dark greens - love them on him!



His hair is getting very blonde at the roots. I'd like to take him in for his first haircut soon ... it's all whispy and long on top - time for a big boy hair cut!



His belly button still has his little strawberry red birthmark - it's about the size of a small pea and hasn't grown now in a good 2 months. The doctor says that it'll stay the same for a few years and then shrink and go away. I'm just glad it's in his belly button and not on his face!



Within the past week, he rolled over each way. Once each way.



He went through about 2 weeks of not wanting to eat - not wanting food fresh from the source or from the bottle. There were a few days where he ate only 2 ounces the whole time he was at Lynne's house - and there were a few times I was really close to wanting to call the doctor for him being dehydrated - but then he'd take a great feeding and we'd wait it out. He's doing wonderful now and yesterday he took the most he's ever taken at daycare - 15 ounces!!!



He loves a soothie pacifier now. Never cared for one for 4 months - but then during his nursing strike he started wanting it a lot!



Did I jinx myself earlier by saying what a good sleeper he was? Well, he WAS a good sleeper... now, he's up 2 times a night, sometimes only once. He started doing this when he was on his nursing strike - not eating during the day, but tanking overnight... I wondered for a bit if he was reverse cycling (Technical term for breastfed babies eating less when they're away from mom and then tanking up in the evening/overnight). We thought maybe the tough time was teeth... we thought maybe a growth spurt... we thought maybe it was the 90-100 degree weather - we'll never know. The one saving grace though, is that he is just like Laura was at this age - eats very efficiently and goes right back to sleep (I'm not jinxing myself again, am I!?!) ... Most nights I'm out of bed - got him fed - burped - back in the crib and I'm back in my bed in under 10 minutes.



He giggles. A lot. He is very ticklish. His ribs and the bottoms of his feet are sure to get a giggle.



He's going to sleep around 9-10 and besides being up once or twice, he wakes up between 6-7 most mornings. He naps okay - not fussy usually to go down for a nap - usually gets one good nap (over an hour, sometimes 3 hours) - and then does a few 20-30 minute naps the rest of the day. On daycare days, he usually gets a nap in the evening too when we get home... recharges for the evening.



For the past week, Carson has been waking up in a totally different spot in his crib than he was placed. He turns circles and some mornings wakes up with his feet where his head belong.



He can sort-of tripod sit... and then he topples over. He loves to lap stand and loves to sit upright. If he's lying on his back, most of the time he'll be doing a constant crunch - curling up into a "C" shape as if trying to sit up. He must have the best 6pack of abs under all those rolls of chubby baby fat!



He's started to use a jumperoo and his exercauser - mostly so he has a place to be upright if someone can't be holding him at the time. He doesn't really play with the toys on either yet, but maybe in another few weeks he will.

3 months old

Yep, this post is a (few) months late... whoops! Been busy... ( I Know, I always say that, don't I?)

He started daycare on May 11th... my first day back to work. He fit in really well and hasn't been trouble for Lynne and Jenna at all. His easy going mellow personality must be a nice addition to the busy group of kids that are currently there! Laura had more trouble adjusting to the changes than Carson did... she was very protective of him whenever any kids went near him. She'd whine and say "miiiine Carson!"... she whined when he went for his nap upstairs and she was supposed to go downstairs. She insisted on having him in her sight while she was eating lunch. She's done better now that she's used to him being there though.

He doesn't like the bottle - at all. We started him on some cheap-o Gerber bottles, but switched him to a Nuk bottle after about a week. Can't say he does much better with those, he just prefers his 24 hour mommy buffet instead. He took only 5 ounces each day the first week or so he was at daycare. Since then though, he's typically taking 8 ounces a day. That first week, he was so hungry/missing mommy in the evenings that there were a few days he ate pretty much straight through the evening - a couple evenings eating for over an hour at a time.

My fear was that since he reverse cycled his feedings, that he'd be up all night to make up from missing some during the day, but that is not the case. He sleeps through the night from about 9:30/10-6:30ish.

He wears 6-9 month clothing. He's solidly into the medium fuzzibunz now and in size 3 huggies. He's a big boy...weighing in at 17pounds14ounces! We call him our Moose. He has the best rolls on his arms and legs, pudgy little feet, chubby cheeks and the best smile.

As mentioned above - he's still really mellow. Fusses only when he's got a burp or has to fart... other than that he's quiet. He's just starting to make a few little giggles when you interact with him or tickle him in the ribs.

He's discovered his hands and will sit for the longest time with his hands together in front of his face just watching them.

He is just the perfect addition to our family. Laura loves him so much and each night makes sure she gives him a hug and a kiss before she goes off to bed. She can't wait for him to "get bigger" because then he can do all sorts of fun things with her. She keeps asking if Carson can do this or do that... and our answer is always "When he's bigger"... and her response typically is "he bigger now?"

...Can you tell he's a breastfed baby?


**Written the week he turned 3 months old**

2 months old

Carson is a sturdy little guy.

He's strong and can hold his head up really well.

He enjoys being on his belly... but only for sleeping during naps, not for actual "tummy time".

He started smiling when he turned 8 weeks old. He's got such big cheeks, his eyes disappear when he smiles or cries... (It's so true Aunt Les!)

2 month stats: 15pounds7ounces (over 95%!) 24 inches long

Did well with 2 month shots - cried during them but stopped as soon as I picked him back up.

Wearing size small Fuzzibunz. Started wearing size 3 huggies at 7 weeks!

He fits very well into Carter's 6 month outfits. A few 3-6 month clothing lines also still fit, but most are getting snug.

He sleeps really well overnight - eats around 9ish and then falls to sleep, typically wakes up just once overnight (anywhere from 3:30-5:30) and then will go back to sleep until around 7 or so. He'll be up for an hour or 2 and then take a morning nap - then up for a few hours and then sleep for a good nap in the afternoon/early evening. There have been a few days where he's stayed awake for a 5-6 hour stretch at a time.

He is such a mellow baby. He only cries when something is wrong - but doesn't just cry to cry (like Laura did!) If he's fussing- he's either hungry, gotta burp, gotta fart or wants to rock in the chair a little to fall asleep.

Overnight, he makes little grunty noises when he wakes up to eat. It's just loud enough for me to hear him, but not loud enough to wake Laura or Richie. I'm typically out of bed with him for just 15-20 minutes (sometimes less!) and then back to bed.

I'm sad to say that I think time seems to be going by faster with baby #2... I think because we're so busy with 2 kids now.

*** Photos and information all from the week he was 2 months (8 weeks) old***

10

10 weeks old...(nearly) 10 hours of solid sleep.

Sweet!

Dreams.

Setting: Laura wakes from her slumber at 11:38pm.

Laura: "Mommy ... Moooommmmy..."

Me entering the room: "What's the matter sweetie?"

Laura whimpering: "Big bug on leg."

Me (realizing she's been dreaming so I lift the blanket): "Oh, a bug under here?"

Laura raising her hands in the air in wonderment: "All gone! No Mess!"

I then explained to Laura what a dream was. She said "oh" and turned over and went back to sleep. So sweet when she said "All gone. No mess."

I think she dreamt about the bugs because she had spent over 3 hours outside that day playing on her new playset that her daddy put up for her. There were some bugs on her slide... and she doesn't not particularly care for bugs. She'd rather get them in a tissue and put them in the garbage... or flush them down the potty.

Still sick.

Ugh. In case ya'll are wondering where I am.... still sick. I thought I was getting better last week until Sunday I woke up with a sinus headache and here it is Thursday afternoon - and it's still here. I went to the doctor on Monday and got an antibiotic so at least now I can breathe better, but the headache just won't go away yet. 2 boxes of tissues and 1 roll of toilet paper (for blowing noses) this week down!

Laura's nose is still runny and she has an awesome deep loose cough. She acts fine, eats fine, sleeps fine - so we're just waiting it out... hoping again that it doesn't turn into an ear infection.

Rich ... feels fine now :) Although this morning he did say his throat hurts again... hope he's not getting this yuck back.

Carson ... his poor little nose is still all stuffy - going on 2 weeks for him. No fever, no real trouble breathing, eating and sleeping (flat) fine... so we're doing saline drops in his nose a few times a day and waiting that one out too...

Off to take a nap and hopefully kill this headache at least for a little while... and then outside to play later since it's like summer out there on this beautiful April Fools Day... oh, and no, this post is no foolin'...yes, we're still all feeling crummy.

Sick Days.

Sorry for not keeping up with daily posts with pictures... we've been sick here - and so far, not on the mend yet.
Laura was fine Wednesday and then woke up a lot overnight that night- saying her ear hurt. Same thing in the morning - left ear hurt and now, with the added joy of snot rockets streaked with dark yellow. Mmm. Made her an appintment with the peds office to get her ear checked early - since it seems when we go a few days into her cold, it's already past the point of "annoying ear infection" and has entered into the nasty territory of "Rupture". What was their verdict? She's perfectly fine. Bring her back if she still complains in a few days. The rest of Thursday was fussy and whiney - saying her ear and her cheeks (teeth?) hurt... kept her hopped up on Ibuprofen and she was tollerable to be around. Boxes of tissues and prefolds/diapers/burp clothes scattered about the house were our friends!
Friday - kind of similar to Thursday - still saying cheeks hurt - still shootin' rockets, but no mention of her ear.
Saturday - Rich and I woke up not feeling 100%... both with sore throats. Laura - feeling a bit better and after a few morning clean out sneezes, was back to her normal self (with a clear runny nose).
Sunday (today) - ugh. Laura is ready and runnin' ready to go! Rich - congested/headache/sluggish. Me? Felt okay other than a mild sore throat and stuffy nose overnight... actually got up and went to kohl's, walmart, and aldi's this morning... took a nap at 2:30-4... and woke up shivering. Ugh. Fever... and now I kinda feel like poo. Carson? Well, he slept sitting up in his carseat last night and is really stuffy in the nose today. Hopefully his doesn't get any worse :( If I remember correctly, Laura had her first little cold before she was 2 months old too. He's still eating peeing and waking up okay and looks perky when he is awake.

So - I'll be back when we're all mended up here!

Numbers.

134: The weight I started at.
195: The weight I topped out at.
Total gain = 61 pounds
Today ... 1 month after delivery
168 pounds.

Lost 27.

Still have 34 to go to get back to 134.

Laura loves her John Deere!

She'll stand in the snow...but she has snown no interest in actually playing in it or making a snowman or anything like that... so helping daddy on the tractor is about as much snow play as she's had this winter. Maybe next year she'll build a snowman...

Tractor rides. This girl is all about tractor rides... and big trucks and diggers and telephone poles and... anything else big and exciting outside.
(More about the diggers and big trucks and poles in another post another day...)

"OOooh! Scoopin' Snow!"
The week after Carson was born, we got hit with the biggest 2 snowstorms of the year (the only snowstorms of the year?)

Both kids were due for visits back to the pediatrician's - Carson for a weight recheck and Laura for an ear recheck... but the office closed on that Friday due to the big snow storm. We were up early enough to attempt to brave the weather but Rich had to go out and plow the driveway so we could get the van out of the garage. Would have just taken the truck and tramped through the show with it, but being a family of 4 now, we don't all fit in the truck... So, he headed out early and plowed - by the time he had the driveway almost all cleaned up was when the office called and cancelled. Oh well, had to be done anyways. These pictures were actually from a different storm the same week.

Diapers diapers and more diapers!

I had a lot of people question my sanity a few years ago when I mentioned I wanted to cloth diaper. We did it with Laura and it was successful... and now we get to reap the benefits (financially) by using them on our second kidlet too!

We used newborn sposies while in the hospital. Used that size for a day when we got home and we realized they were way too snug on our (big) boy. Went to size 1's. Used up a whole jumbo pack in 4 days and he was still having meconium poos... but man, I didn't want to go buy another pack of sposies! (I didn't want to start cloth yet though because the meconium can be hard to get out)... So, I went to Rite Aid and used a freebie coupon and picked up one more package of size 1's... those lasted us about another week because as soon as the blackish poos were gone, he went into cloth by day (but still sposies by night and for outings). After that pack was gone, I didn't have anymore size 1's in my stash - so I decided to try a size 2... fit like a dream. What's that? My 2.5 week old wears size 2 diapers already? Yep. He does.
The green diaper he's wearing (at not quite 2 weeks old) is an XS bumgenius all in one... and I snapped that picture quick before he never wore them again. Waste of money for me to get these since I grow toddlers, not tiny newborns... I'll be reselling these and getting my money back on them ASAP.

The itty bitty white diaper he's wearing above is an XS fuzzibunz. Boy do we love our fuzzibunz!!! We didn't have these when we had Laura, but I wished we did! I'll hold onto these once he grows out of them... just in case we need them in the future one more time :) These still fit him at (almost) 1 month old and (almost) 11 pounds...but I've got the smalls pulled out and will wash them in the next couple days. I'm sure they're very close to fitting him.

We also use newborn bummis super whisper wrap covers with a trifolded preemie prefold inside them... they're not really cute, but they do the job and they're really affordable. He'll be out of this size in the next couple weeks I'm sure. Once he grows out of these, he'll be in fuzzibunz by day until he's potty trained... *unless the few tkcuddlers I have in size medium end up fitting him well*

So in love with these two kids!!! Laura is a great helper... she retrieves pacifiers - she helps get washcloths wet at diaper changes (and she's learned that standing right at the end of the "changer" is NOT a good idea!). And she is always giving him lots of hugs and "sisses"! She's been caught a time or two trying to feed him cheerios and craisins, but we've told her he can't eat them until he's bigger.

Her: "He eat boobie?"

Me:"Yes honey, he eats boobie"

Her: "oh"

Pause.

Her: "bigger?"

Me: "Yes honey, he'll eat cheerios and craisins when he's bigger"

Her: "bigger now?"

Me: "No, he's not bigger yet"

Isn't this quilt the most beautiful thing!?! The colors are so bright and the ABC of animals are just adorable. I have to say that my boss Cathe is one really talented lady! We have the quilt lying in the bassinet (covering up the flowery print!) and Carson sleeps in this every night just like this...

And yes, he sleeps in his own room every night. The only exception was that first night.

I just think this is too funny! The paci looks as big as his head almost!

Daddy's in love with these two kids too!

First days home...

We came home on February 18th - a Thursday. On dishcharge, Carson weighed 8#9oz. Our first night home was a little rough... my milk hadn't come in yet and all Carson wanted to do was eat... I tried getting him to eat, but it wasn't satisfying for him. He would take a pacifier, but he kept spitting it out since it wans't what he really wanted. He started the night in his room in the bassinet, but I was in there probably 4-5 times before midnight and finally I was so exhausted, I told Richie that I was going to bring Carson into bed with me so I could sleep next to him (don't worry - he was in his snuggle nest so no worries that I'd roll onto him!) and just pop the pacifier in or feed him easily without having to get up out of bed so often. Richie went and crashed in bed with Laura so that at least one of us was getting a good night of sleep. I think I was up every 20 minutes or so doing a pacifier pop or attempting to feed... and finally at 3:30am, I was SO tired... I took Carson out to the living room where my mom was sleeping and asked her to be "on call" for the next few hours so I could try to get some sleep... those next 3 hours were the most heavenly sleep I'd felt in a long time!

We had his first visit with the peds office the next morning. He weighed in at 8#2oz (56%) that morning and was measured at 21.75 inches (95%)

Friday evening, Richie's parents came to visit. Laura was kind of fussy on and off that evening and mentioned that her ear hurt her. She broke down into hysterics just as grandma and grandpa were leaving and we though for sure she was just over tired and that we'd get her in bed and she'd crash for the night. We couldn't have been more wrong... Got her into bed around 9pm and she kept crying - in between sobs we heard "ear hurts" and "mouth hurts"... She had been fighting a cough and green/yellow runny nose for the previous week, so it was at that time we started thinking we were headed for another ruptured ear drum... Gave her some tylenol - that did nothing. She bawled for 2 hours straight. That is the worst feeling as a parent - to know your child is in pain and there is absolutely nothing you can do for them. After about an hour of her crying, I gave her ibuprofen on top of the tylenol. She never had a fever. She kept wanting mommy and then daddy and then mommy and then daddy... and she wouldn't let us sit with her for very long - she wanted us up walking with her. Luckily, she let me rock with her a few times as I was not able to yet carry her around. At 11pm, she was lying with her daddy on the couch just bawling... and then she jumped... and then it was quiet. She passed out and slept for the rest of the night. The pressure had relieved itself and she felt much better. We never heard another word about her ear hurting. I did take her into the peds office the next morning (hey, weren't we just there 24 hours earlier with Carson?) They put her on a 10 day course of amoxicillin.

I really felt sad for Laura - she was dealing with a nasty ear infection on top of trying to figure out how to adjust to having her whole world turned upside down with this new being we refer to as "baby brother"... she had quite a few evenings of being fussy - not sure if it has to do with those two things - or just the normal fact that she's a 2 year old, but I'm glad to say that the past 2 nights have been really good here - less fussyness, eating better, happy girl - and even going to bed without crying :)

Carson and daddy watching the olympics!

Super quick update on the kids...

Carson had his "not quite 1 month well visit" today. He's up to 10#13oz and 22.25inches long!

Laura's newest and biggest news is that she wears panties all the time now! She daytime trained between Thanksgiving and Christmas and then only a few short weeks after that started waking up from naps dry. She still didn't like the idea of doing #2 in the potty, but about a month ago she decided that's the way to go so there have been no #1 or #2 accidents here recently. Then, 6 nights ago she started waking up dry in the mornings... last night was her second night wearing panties to bed instead of huggies overnight size 5 diapers. Two of those 6 nights, she woke up in the night yelling "Go Pee!"... and she made it to the potty each time... so, shall I hold onto those 6 unopened packages of huggies overnights that I JUST stocked up on in the last 2 months when Rite Aid was running their super great sales on them? :P I don't care... she's POTTY TRAINED! WOoo!

Meeting big sister Laura and going home...

Awww! Kisses for baby brother!

In the next one ... you'll have to excuse Laura's silly "cheese" face - she's doing this for all pictures now, really hamming it up!

All ready to come home!

1 day old pictures

Happy Birthday Carson Russell!

February 16th. Carson Russell was welcomed into our family. I know I know... It's already been 3 weeks and I'm finally getting around to posting this, but it takes time to adjust to having a newborn in the house and well, blogging just wasn't top on my list. I had lots of snuggling to do with our itty bitty and lots of hugging and snuggling with our lil' new big sister too!

So, to start with - I'll give you the quick rundown of how his birth went... if anyone wants the full extended birth story (complete with all the gory details!) let me know and I can forward it to you, but I don't want to post it all here in case there are some people who may not want to read it...

Went into the hospital around 7am. Cervidil was placed at a little after 8am and we all expected it to work quickly just as it had for when I had Laura. I was 3cm dilated at the time. The nurse and midwife were convinced the baby would be out by late afternoon at the latest.
Contractions started at around 11am, but they felt like braxton hicks - not painful. At noon, they immediately went to 2-3-5 minutes apart, but again, not painful. My water broke at 12:45. Cervidil came out shortly after that... and then contractions stopped. At around 2pm, I got up and started walking the halls to try to get the contractions going again ... I walked and walked and walked. Contractions came back to around every 2-3 minutes, but still not painful. At 4:20, not much had changed... so my midwife checked me again and I was 6ish cm dilated, but there was more "water" to be broken - so she did that. I walked the halls after that again and contractions picked up pretty good. I ended up using the birthing ball for about an hour and then got into the jacuzzi tub later in the evening. After being in the tub, I went back to the room and kept waiting for that "have to push" feeling, but it was an elusive feeling... and not feeling it was very discouraging! There was a "lip" of cervix left in the way and once that was out of the way, things started going better. I ended up getting up to use the bathroom at around 9:05pm and immediately after that, I felt the urge to push that baby out! About 5-6 pushes later at 9:22pm, Carson Russell was born.

He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces and was 21inches long.
(On remeasure, he was really 21 3/4 inches!)

The morning of...

Well, it's 5:20am. I can't exactly say I'm well rested for the day, but I can say I tried. I went to bed around 10:30 (which is when I've been going)... and fell asleep by 11 or so... fighting headaches and heartburn all night. Up at 1:15 ... and couldn't fall back to sleep until around 4ish... the last time I clock checked was 3:46... and then my eyes shot wide open at 5:10 in a cold sweat with a fierce headache again. Alarm set for 5:30 - so I just got up. I did check my BP in the middle of the night, but it was totally okay ... 135/72.

Going for a shower... then scrambled eggs for breakfast... then to take Laura to Lynnes... then to the hospital and hopefully by this evening (this afternoon???) we'll be holding our son!

Week long recap

So last Monday is explained in the last entry... and from there, this is how our week went...

Tuesday... I woke up feeling a bit better. Definitely better enough to try going into work (you know, so all my sick time wasn't burned up before actually going on maternity leave!) ... about 2 hours into the day, I thought I should turn around and go home, but I didn't ... I stuck it out and worked the full day.

Wednesday morning... woke up and felt horrible! Even worse than Monday if I recall. I had no voice. After breathing through my mouth all night from being so congested, I stayed home again on Wednesday. I remember I ended up taking 3 naps for a total of 5 hours of daytime sleep. I felt really good in the evening when Richie and Laura got home.

Wednesday night - I had a breakdown. I laid on the couch to try to sleep and immediately felt right back to how horrible I had in the morning - congested to the point where I was sobbing to Richie "I can't breathe"... it wasn't pretty. I think I scared him too (poor guy!) ... I'm sure he has not had fun trying to figure out his emotional fat pregnant hormonal wife's mood swings these past few weeks. I had thoughts running through my head at that point to call the midwives and beg them to either shoot me or induce me. Seriously. I was miserable. I ended up taking 3 cough drops to try to clear my nose enough to breathe - and then proceeded to sleep absolutely upright in the recliner all night long.

Thursday - wow, something changed - I felt better! Went to work and made it through the day okay. Didn't feel like coming up with dinner plans, so stopped at the newest pizza place in town and brought home their "famous" $6 large pizza. A little more acidic on the sauce than I care for, but hey, it was $6 and I didn't have to cook!!!

Friday - went to work again... turns out my last day of work until sometime in the middle of May! Woooo! Bad news of the day... Laura started getting sick... Started with a cough and has now progressed to projectile green from her nose - so, unless she's feeling better significantly in the next few days, she unfortunately won't be allowed to come to the hospital at all :(

Saturday and Sunday we had no plans... Saturday I ended up baking 4 batches of banana bread. Split it all into mini loaves (4 from each batch) and we now have 14 loaves of that in the freezer. Had to get out of the house in the evening and headed to the local grocery store just to pick up bread, milk, potatoes, and a few other things. Sunday we got out of the house in the late morning and headed to Staples and Walmart... picked out Laura's Christmas present (from her great grandpa!) (A HUGE tonka truck that she'll love playing with in the yard this summer!) and then at Staples we bought a new printer (a small laser one) - figure I can print all the coupons I want and not have to burn through so much ink in our Epson printer. Also picked up a new external hard drive... I'll get another one in another couple months so I can have backup this time! Home after that and worked on 2 batches of pumpkin bread... would have done more, but I ran out of ground cloves. So there's 6 loaves of that in the freezer now. Went to Richie's parents for the evening after Laura's nap - had a good evening visiting and then headed home around 8:45... my legs hurt so bad when we got up to leave... I seriously felt like they were going to give out from under me... so swollen that my crocs didn't fit me.

This morning I woke up with a headache... checked my blood pressure... 147/93 - uh-oh... see where this is going? Got to my appointment with Kate at 9:20am and stepped on the scale...
196# <--- wait! Did you see that? That's 8 pounds in one week!!! (Now, I'm going to say it was really only 6 pounds and I'm topping out this pregnancy at 194# because I had a huge sweatshirt on and my keys in my pocket!) ... but still, 6 pounds in one week is huge!
BP was 140/82 in the office.
I no sooner walked into the room to see Kate and she asked how I was doing. My answer "Miserable". Her answer... "Well, with a blood pressure creeping up like that, we can help you if you're feeling done"... hmmmmmm... sounded very appealing!
So she checked me and found a full 2cm dilated and very very soft still. She did a membrane sweep... or 2 or 3... and then we decided that tomorrow morning at 7:30, we'll be going to the hospital to work on getting this little (?) guy out!
Molly is on call tomorrow... and for that I am really happy! She is the midwife I've seen the most this pregnancy.

Laura and I headed to the mall today after the appointment. We were there for 2 hours mostly walking, some browsing... All I ended up buying was socks for Richie (Which we had planned on anyways). I resisted all of the president's day sales!
We had some good time looking at the fish, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, and turtles at the pet store... stopped in the SPCA "store" and saw the kitty cats... got a big pretzel and a strawberry lemonade to split... and just had a good time walking the mall. Laura passed out on the way home at around noon - and once she was snuggled in here at home, she ended up sleeping until 3:30. She's been snotty and sneezy all day - and I really hope she makes an upswing in the next day or so.

This afternoon a random BP check at home was 158/92.
After dinner, another random BP check was 152/83. Those are both higher than I ever had with Laura.

Tomorrow, we'll be taking Laura to Lynne's house at 7am and reporting to the hospital at 7:30am. We won't have internet access until we're home - but maybe I can get someone to log on and post something (probalby to facebook!)

A day off.

I don't recall that I called in sick at all during this pregnancy...but here I am sitting at home today - out sick. 39 weeks and I'm out sick... head cold. I am absolutely miserable. My head is congested, I'm short of breath - since I'm congested. I did get some sleep last night thanks to a dose of benadryl (why didn't I think of that a week ago!?!?) ... but I woke up this morning in a fog - not sure if it's a sick fog or a benadryl hang over... I got ready and dropped Laura off at Lynne's and then went to my 8am appointment.

Saw Molly.
I'm up another 2 pounds - total is 188 pounds for a gain of 54 pounds since the start. I fee like I look like Princess Fiona... after she's morphed into the Ogre... will be so glad when (my face) looks like ME again.

BP was fine... 120's/60's.

Baby's heart rate consistently in the 140's and he moved while she was listening and it jumped up to 160's then right back down to 140's.

Belly is measuring 37 weeks (again).
I feel like he dropped last night though... more groin pain and to me my belly looks (a little) lower. I just feel different... maybe just hopeful that something is happening though.

I did have her check me this time since it's been 2 weeks... "Stretchy 1cm, almost 2cm, but definitely a solid 1cm and very very soft"... so while it's not tremendous progress, it is better than the "nearly fingertip and soft" report from 2 weeks ago.

She told me she wants me to sleep and rest as much as I can... um... okay... cause that is working out really welll - when I have the hours to sleep, my body can't. When I feel the need to pass out - I'm either driving my car or chasing Laura... I'll try the benadryl again tonight and see how I feel in the morning.

Came home after my appointment today and attempted a nap. Slept for an hour - then the phone rang. I only answered it thinking it was maybe Richie checking in on me. I was not happy to find out it was work... ugh. Calling out means don't call me. I feel like poo. Went back to sleep for another hour... and now the couch is calling for me again...

Pictures of a big belly.

These were taken between 38-39 weeks.