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.

Baby Boy's Room

Transformed Laura's old room into a more boyish room by taking out the pink accents and replacing with chocolate brown and using white drawer knobs. The blank space above the crib will have his name up there with brown letters... once we figure out what it is! I'd also like to get a couple of pictures to put up on the wall next to the mirror - maybe deer? or moose? or ... not sure.

Baskets are:

Top left - wash cloths, cloth wipes

Top right - random stuff

Big one in the middle - tons more prefold diapers all dyed in pretty colors

Bottom left - xs fuzzi bunz, newborn bummis covers

Bottom right - xs all in one bumgenius

The shelf is what Richie built when Laura was a couple of months old. He'll be building another one for her new big girl room (when we have time!) ...have the supplies already.

The wooden box is one I built when I was in highschool. It will hold all my supplies while I'm spending hours in the chair - a drink, the phone, pacifiers etc... and eventually I'm sure it'll be a resting place for a humidifier.

Can you see the new curtain? My mom made that... love it! Plain and simple yet boyish :) The lamp is one that my dad made for his mom for Christmas 1982. The base is made from remington gun stocks. Laura has the other matching one in her room and she has the jewelry box that goes with the set. Maybe too much information... but this little guy we're waiting to meet was conceived the month my grandmother passed away.

And just because these are so pretty... prefolds all ready to go! Prepped and dyed in boy colors. All of the pink and purple ones have moved into Laura's new room. Sadly, the colors in this picture look a little washed out - but they're really bright and pretty in person :)

Speaking of Laura's new room... eventually we'll get pictures of that... still working on some finishing touches and it's a mess right now!

2:30am

So.... I guess I really don't need to tell ya'll why I'm up at 2:30am, huh?


(Oh, maybe I do!) I'm NOT in labor - no worries or congrats yet! I'm just wide awake staring at the walls again... and eating... again.