My attempts to do the whole Babywise thing again....with Ellie. It worked like a charm with Luke...I've never, ever had sleeping problems with him, aside from the normal phases that kids go through. But I was beginning to doubt that it was/is going to work as swimmingly the second time around.
But.......
Last night was another great night with Ellie! I had her bathed, pj'd and fed all by 7pm and she slept on through until 12:15am!! That's over 5 hours, people!!!! That's unheard of thus far for her, so I was more than pleased when I heard her crying (softly!) for me at midnight. I mosied to her room, she took a great feeding and I was even well rested at that point, for having gone to bed at 9:30 myself! Not bad....not bad at all. She woke again at 4am (another nearly 4 hour stretch!!!) to eat and then again at 5:30 (not so long, but that's ok) and then we were up for the day at 6:30. I am beyond thrilled!! She's napped great and eaten alright today too. Maybe...just maybe we've come into a routine here. Hoping tonight is as good! I'll let you know!
Short post for me today! Sorry! But hey....I'm just proud of myself for posting two days in a row...aren't you?! hehe!
Oh...and by the way....speaking of sleep....Luke is working on a nearly THREE hour nap as I type! How cool is that! Am I lucky, or what!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Naptime with nuttin' much to do....
How unusual is that!?! Both kiddos are sleepin...Luke up in his bed and Ellie is here next to me at the 'puter, swaddled and snoozing. The house is quiet. Nice! And here I am, for the first time in who knows how long, with nothing urgent on the 'to do' list and no computer work that needs finishing up. I relish this moment...this peacefulness. Its rare these days.
Well.....I think Miss Ellie has been going through a growth spurt this past week. Since I posted last Friday, life seems to be about very little other than feeding my very hungry newborn. And I have now been given a very unpleasant refresher course in sleep deprivation. Argh! This week was the pits! She woke every two hours in the night for several days straight and wore me out! There were a few nights in there where I questioned my resolve to breastfeed! My complete lack of logic and extreme fatigue at 2am lends itself to some pretty irrational and crazy thoughts. Several nights in a row I was ready to burst into tears and give up. Mostly because I was just so, so, SO tired. One night looked like this:
8:30pm Feed Ellie, change her diaper, swaddle and rock.
9:15pm Ellie's down for bed in her crib, and I am off to bed too (with high hopes of a few
consecutive hours!)
10:35pm Ellie's awake, screaming for food!
10:39pm Ellie's done eating after a mere 4 minutes at the breast. I try tickling, talking, changing her diaper, and burping her to rouse her enough to eat on the other side. No luck. I wrap her back up and put her to bed. It is now 11:15.
12:45am Ellie is awake again, having not taken a full feeding and is hungry. :( We repeat the scenario of the 10:30 feeding, except this time I am falling asleep the moment she latches and cannot seem to wake myself enough to rouse her. I attempt to wake her and myself for what seems like hours, but again to no avail. I give in to my exhaustion; wrap her up and put her in bed...this time without changing her diaper. I feel like the most neglectful mommy on the planet as I stumble back to bed. Forget Babywise, I think. It's not working!!! It is somewhere around 1:15.
2:55am Oh will this child EVER sleep????? It would be one thing if she was taking full feedings and still waking to eat, but I'm growing extremely frustrated with her and the fact that she wakes to eat, but then falls asleep without much more than a snack! And there seems to be no waking this child once she is dosing. I try EVERYTHING! Cold washcloths even. Nothing works! She snoozes on. Does my breastmilk have a secret sleep inducer in it, or what???I'm near tears...that is, in between my head bobbing forward from falling asleep myself. I secretly despise the fact that Ty is enjoying the luxury of uninterrupted sleep down the hall. I want to scream and wake him! I wrap Ellie up, put her in bed and throw myself into my own bed with a thud. Ty simply rolls over and begins to snore. Argh!! It's almost 4am...I must've dosed longer than I thought in the glider.
4:30am. Ty's alarm goes off, waking me, but I am so exhausted that I fall immediately back to sleep.
5:15am. Ellie stirs. I hear her through the monitor. Then she cries softly. Then a few moments of silence. Sweet, I think...she's going back to sleep!
5:21am Her cries begin again, but this time with more vigor. I drag myself out of the bed and into her room. I decide to take her back to bed with me, but opt not to try to feed her. I don't think I can handle anymore of that. So I pop the binkie in her mouth, cuddle up with her in my bed and pray for a little more rest. She will have NONE of that though, and fusses on and off. The last time I look at the clock, its 6:10am and its starting to get light outside.
6:20am I must've dosed off, because I am awakened the familiar bang of Luke's baby gate hitting his bedroom door. He's awake and ready asking to go 'down-dares'. Apparently he's hungry too, because he tells me so. Guess there is no rest for the weary. I walk down the hall, with eyes half-shut, repeating my new mantra... "COFFEE.....STRONG COFFEE!!!!"
And so have the days (and nights) been lately. Exhausting. But last night, the cycle seems to have been broken. Ellie ate at 6:30pm, slept until 10:45 (4 hours and 15 minutes!), took a full feeding and I was in bed by 11:15. I slept through until 2:15 (3 1/2 hours between feedings!) when she woke to eat again. She took a good feeding then too, but not quite as well as the first (heck, I'm not complaining though!) and I was back in bed by 2:45, having not even fallen asleep in the rocker! Whoohoo! She didn't wake again until 5:15, when I opted to bring her to my room and put her in the bouncer. Not because I was so exhausted and needed more rest (I actually felt great!), but because I was hoping to hold her hunger off until 6:15 or 6:30, so we could officially start our day then. It worked and we started our new routine for the day at 6:25, with Luke awake and a nice, warm cup of coffee in my hand! :) So today, I have renewed hope that maybe....just maybe, our Babywise routine is working after all and she just might begin to sleep better. We'll see. Today's been good. I just hope it continues.
I think Luke senses that I'm in a good mood and that makes him feel at liberty to be a stinker today. He is just being feisty. Seems like everything is a battle, with whining and 'back talk' to boot. Not sure what this is all about, but I hope its short lived. We had Gym this morning, and while he was great most of the class, he even threw himself on the floor in a tantrum there once too....something he's never done. Hmmm. I'm a little baffled. Things seem to have gotten back to normal the last few weeks with him. We've had some really great days! Maybe he's getting a bug or something. Hope not, but I've been achy and sore in the evenings the last few nights and have had all the feelings of a fever without really having one, so maybe he IS fighting something. Time will tell.
It's nearly 2:15 now and I have my 6 week post-partum checkup with Dr. Hage in about an hour, so I had better get going. Oh! That reminds me....for those of you who know my friend Laura....she had her baby, Madeline Elizabeth, early Tuesday morning (1:50am!). She weighed a tiny 5 lbs 11 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. She was near term....36 weeks and 5 days and as of this morning is doing pretty well, although she might have to stay a night in the NICU for some photo therapy if her billirubin levels continue to rise. But we'll just pray for that not to be the case! Other than that though, everyone is healthy and happy! Praise the Lord! :) Now Ellie has a playmate....just 5 1/2 weeks younger! :)
Okay....I'm off for now. More to come.....
Well.....I think Miss Ellie has been going through a growth spurt this past week. Since I posted last Friday, life seems to be about very little other than feeding my very hungry newborn. And I have now been given a very unpleasant refresher course in sleep deprivation. Argh! This week was the pits! She woke every two hours in the night for several days straight and wore me out! There were a few nights in there where I questioned my resolve to breastfeed! My complete lack of logic and extreme fatigue at 2am lends itself to some pretty irrational and crazy thoughts. Several nights in a row I was ready to burst into tears and give up. Mostly because I was just so, so, SO tired. One night looked like this:
8:30pm Feed Ellie, change her diaper, swaddle and rock.
9:15pm Ellie's down for bed in her crib, and I am off to bed too (with high hopes of a few
consecutive hours!)
10:35pm Ellie's awake, screaming for food!
10:39pm Ellie's done eating after a mere 4 minutes at the breast. I try tickling, talking, changing her diaper, and burping her to rouse her enough to eat on the other side. No luck. I wrap her back up and put her to bed. It is now 11:15.
12:45am Ellie is awake again, having not taken a full feeding and is hungry. :( We repeat the scenario of the 10:30 feeding, except this time I am falling asleep the moment she latches and cannot seem to wake myself enough to rouse her. I attempt to wake her and myself for what seems like hours, but again to no avail. I give in to my exhaustion; wrap her up and put her in bed...this time without changing her diaper. I feel like the most neglectful mommy on the planet as I stumble back to bed. Forget Babywise, I think. It's not working!!! It is somewhere around 1:15.
2:55am Oh will this child EVER sleep????? It would be one thing if she was taking full feedings and still waking to eat, but I'm growing extremely frustrated with her and the fact that she wakes to eat, but then falls asleep without much more than a snack! And there seems to be no waking this child once she is dosing. I try EVERYTHING! Cold washcloths even. Nothing works! She snoozes on. Does my breastmilk have a secret sleep inducer in it, or what???I'm near tears...that is, in between my head bobbing forward from falling asleep myself. I secretly despise the fact that Ty is enjoying the luxury of uninterrupted sleep down the hall. I want to scream and wake him! I wrap Ellie up, put her in bed and throw myself into my own bed with a thud. Ty simply rolls over and begins to snore. Argh!! It's almost 4am...I must've dosed longer than I thought in the glider.
4:30am. Ty's alarm goes off, waking me, but I am so exhausted that I fall immediately back to sleep.
5:15am. Ellie stirs. I hear her through the monitor. Then she cries softly. Then a few moments of silence. Sweet, I think...she's going back to sleep!
5:21am Her cries begin again, but this time with more vigor. I drag myself out of the bed and into her room. I decide to take her back to bed with me, but opt not to try to feed her. I don't think I can handle anymore of that. So I pop the binkie in her mouth, cuddle up with her in my bed and pray for a little more rest. She will have NONE of that though, and fusses on and off. The last time I look at the clock, its 6:10am and its starting to get light outside.
6:20am I must've dosed off, because I am awakened the familiar bang of Luke's baby gate hitting his bedroom door. He's awake and ready asking to go 'down-dares'. Apparently he's hungry too, because he tells me so. Guess there is no rest for the weary. I walk down the hall, with eyes half-shut, repeating my new mantra... "COFFEE.....STRONG COFFEE!!!!"
And so have the days (and nights) been lately. Exhausting. But last night, the cycle seems to have been broken. Ellie ate at 6:30pm, slept until 10:45 (4 hours and 15 minutes!), took a full feeding and I was in bed by 11:15. I slept through until 2:15 (3 1/2 hours between feedings!) when she woke to eat again. She took a good feeding then too, but not quite as well as the first (heck, I'm not complaining though!) and I was back in bed by 2:45, having not even fallen asleep in the rocker! Whoohoo! She didn't wake again until 5:15, when I opted to bring her to my room and put her in the bouncer. Not because I was so exhausted and needed more rest (I actually felt great!), but because I was hoping to hold her hunger off until 6:15 or 6:30, so we could officially start our day then. It worked and we started our new routine for the day at 6:25, with Luke awake and a nice, warm cup of coffee in my hand! :) So today, I have renewed hope that maybe....just maybe, our Babywise routine is working after all and she just might begin to sleep better. We'll see. Today's been good. I just hope it continues.
I think Luke senses that I'm in a good mood and that makes him feel at liberty to be a stinker today. He is just being feisty. Seems like everything is a battle, with whining and 'back talk' to boot. Not sure what this is all about, but I hope its short lived. We had Gym this morning, and while he was great most of the class, he even threw himself on the floor in a tantrum there once too....something he's never done. Hmmm. I'm a little baffled. Things seem to have gotten back to normal the last few weeks with him. We've had some really great days! Maybe he's getting a bug or something. Hope not, but I've been achy and sore in the evenings the last few nights and have had all the feelings of a fever without really having one, so maybe he IS fighting something. Time will tell.
It's nearly 2:15 now and I have my 6 week post-partum checkup with Dr. Hage in about an hour, so I had better get going. Oh! That reminds me....for those of you who know my friend Laura....she had her baby, Madeline Elizabeth, early Tuesday morning (1:50am!). She weighed a tiny 5 lbs 11 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. She was near term....36 weeks and 5 days and as of this morning is doing pretty well, although she might have to stay a night in the NICU for some photo therapy if her billirubin levels continue to rise. But we'll just pray for that not to be the case! Other than that though, everyone is healthy and happy! Praise the Lord! :) Now Ellie has a playmate....just 5 1/2 weeks younger! :)
Okay....I'm off for now. More to come.....
Friday, September 21, 2007
Well-baby check-up....
Ellie had an appointment with Dr. Mailander yesterday morning. I was really looking forward to this appointment simply because I wanted to know just how much weight she has gained and, in turn, to evaluate how breastfeeding is really going. Oftentimes, I'm left wondering how this child even grows because she STILL seems to be hardly taking anything in at many feedings. She is either very drowsy or just likes to sit there and dawdle. She certainly doesn't take after her momma when it comes to enjoying eating, that's for sure! :) So yesterday, I was very surprised to learn that my little sweetie weighs in at a whopping NINE pounds! And she has gained another 2 1/4 inches in height, putting her at 21 1/2 inches. That's the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height! Whoohooo! :) That means that she has gained almost 2 1/2 pounds and 2 1/4 inches in just one month! The average weight gain for breastfed babies is about a pound per month....she's doubled that! When I told Mary (Dr. Mailander) how shocked I was to see that kind of growth, she commented that I must be making pretty high-calorie milk. Guess so. And then she went on to commend me for doing such a good job breastfeeding my kiddos. That was nice to hear. We talked awhile about how much I had to struggle to continue to breastfeed Lukey and she told me how proud she was of me to have kept going for as long as I did. That made me feel good! I love our pediatrician! Even more so after the whole mix-up with the pedi's right after Ellie was born! And I love the fact that she knows us so well! (For those of you who didn't know, I grew up 3 houses down the street from Dr. Mailander, I used to babysit her kids and even spent 2 weeks nannying for them on a trip to New Jersey when I was 13. She's was my pediatrician too. She's known our family a long time!)Anyway.....all the breastfeeding struggles I had with Luke were well worth it in the end...all the Reglan, fenugreek, pumping and tears. But I am SOOOOOO glad that it is so different this time around. I'm not sure I could do all that again!
I looked back at Luke's baby book, just to see how old he was when he finally hit 9 lbs. It turns out that he was 9 lbs, 1 oz and 21 1/2 inches long (almost precisely Ellie's measurements yesterday) at his 3 month checkup, which, when you account for his prematurity and adjust for his age, he was 1 month old developmentally. The same as Ellie. Interesting. The only difference was that at that stage of the game, Luke hadn't even come close to making it on the growth charts (and wouldn't until he was 10 months old!) and now Ellie is firmly on the curve...just where she should be! :) I love how normal all this is!!!!
We had a big milestone moment last night with her too....she slept in her crib for the first time. I wasn't sure that I was ready to make the move...and I'm still not, but in trying to get more sound sleep AND get her on more of a solidified schedule, sleeping in her own room is kind-of necessity. So, the night before last, she spent half the night there and last night she started off from the get-go in her crib. I have to admit that the quietness in our room is nice! :) And the darkness! We've had a night light blazing all night long in there since she was born. I didn't realize how I missed the darkness! Wish I could have enjoyed sleeping in it more than I did last night though! Ellie woke up to eat at 1:15am and I fed her (or at-least tried to...she only wanted one side and then nibbled on the other for about 15 seconds). After my failed attempts to rouse her to eat on the other side, I resigned to swaddling her back up and putting her back in bed to sleep. Apparently, she had other things in mind, because she fussed and fussed and fussed on and off for the next hour and a half! VERY odd for her. But seriously, every time I would soothe her to sleep, crawl into bed and get comfortable, she would begin to cry again and I'd have to drag myself across the hallway to her room AGAIN! I was growing more and more frustrated as I neared the two hour mark of being awake and Ty graciously heard my sighs and got up with her at one point. That did the trick for a whopping 15 minutes and then she fussed again, so I decided she must still be hungry....little stinker. She was, and after a quick feeding (like 4 minutes!) she fell fast asleep until 5:36am. (It was about 3:30 when she ate). She fussed,moaned and groaned from 5:30 until about 6:10, when she finally felt asleep again, and I did too. That is, until Luke decided it was time to start his day 10 minutes later at 6:20. Argh! Needless to say, I was a grouchy momma at first light! I have some caffeine on board now, so I'm doing much better! Thank goodness for coffee!!!!! I'm still not sure what her deal was last night. Its never that bad! Hope tonight is better!
As for our day and our weekend ahead, there isn't much planned. This morning we will just hang around in our pj's and I'll probably put together the new little storage shelf-thingy that I bought for Luke's playroom yesterday at Lowes. We'll probably re-organize the playroom too after that. Ty won't be home until later this afternoon, so with no plans and nowhere to go, it will be a nice, lazy morning at home. I'm not sure that we'll be doing much in the yard this weekend, since it's forecasted to rain this afternoon and tomorrow. I know this much....I won't be there helping much either way. I had that mole on the bottom of my foot removed and biopsied again on Tuesday and now have several stitches there. Its quite sore. No shoveling or digging for me, I'm afraid. I'll know in about a week if it turned out to be cancer or not. The first biopsy came back as 'highly a-typical cells' but the sample wasn't deep enough to determine if it was cancerous, which is why my dermatologist wanted to cut the whole thing out. Not fun to have a hole cut from the very bottom of your foot, let me tell you! Ouch!
Well...seeing that its getting late and we haven't had any breakfast yet, I should get going. Here are a few quickie little snapshots I took this morning in an attempt to capture Ellie's little smile. They are not the greatest, but oh well.
Ok....I'm off to get ourselves some breakfast! Hope ya'll have a nice weekend!
I looked back at Luke's baby book, just to see how old he was when he finally hit 9 lbs. It turns out that he was 9 lbs, 1 oz and 21 1/2 inches long (almost precisely Ellie's measurements yesterday) at his 3 month checkup, which, when you account for his prematurity and adjust for his age, he was 1 month old developmentally. The same as Ellie. Interesting. The only difference was that at that stage of the game, Luke hadn't even come close to making it on the growth charts (and wouldn't until he was 10 months old!) and now Ellie is firmly on the curve...just where she should be! :) I love how normal all this is!!!!
We had a big milestone moment last night with her too....she slept in her crib for the first time. I wasn't sure that I was ready to make the move...and I'm still not, but in trying to get more sound sleep AND get her on more of a solidified schedule, sleeping in her own room is kind-of necessity. So, the night before last, she spent half the night there and last night she started off from the get-go in her crib. I have to admit that the quietness in our room is nice! :) And the darkness! We've had a night light blazing all night long in there since she was born. I didn't realize how I missed the darkness! Wish I could have enjoyed sleeping in it more than I did last night though! Ellie woke up to eat at 1:15am and I fed her (or at-least tried to...she only wanted one side and then nibbled on the other for about 15 seconds). After my failed attempts to rouse her to eat on the other side, I resigned to swaddling her back up and putting her back in bed to sleep. Apparently, she had other things in mind, because she fussed and fussed and fussed on and off for the next hour and a half! VERY odd for her. But seriously, every time I would soothe her to sleep, crawl into bed and get comfortable, she would begin to cry again and I'd have to drag myself across the hallway to her room AGAIN! I was growing more and more frustrated as I neared the two hour mark of being awake and Ty graciously heard my sighs and got up with her at one point. That did the trick for a whopping 15 minutes and then she fussed again, so I decided she must still be hungry....little stinker. She was, and after a quick feeding (like 4 minutes!) she fell fast asleep until 5:36am. (It was about 3:30 when she ate). She fussed,moaned and groaned from 5:30 until about 6:10, when she finally felt asleep again, and I did too. That is, until Luke decided it was time to start his day 10 minutes later at 6:20. Argh! Needless to say, I was a grouchy momma at first light! I have some caffeine on board now, so I'm doing much better! Thank goodness for coffee!!!!! I'm still not sure what her deal was last night. Its never that bad! Hope tonight is better!
As for our day and our weekend ahead, there isn't much planned. This morning we will just hang around in our pj's and I'll probably put together the new little storage shelf-thingy that I bought for Luke's playroom yesterday at Lowes. We'll probably re-organize the playroom too after that. Ty won't be home until later this afternoon, so with no plans and nowhere to go, it will be a nice, lazy morning at home. I'm not sure that we'll be doing much in the yard this weekend, since it's forecasted to rain this afternoon and tomorrow. I know this much....I won't be there helping much either way. I had that mole on the bottom of my foot removed and biopsied again on Tuesday and now have several stitches there. Its quite sore. No shoveling or digging for me, I'm afraid. I'll know in about a week if it turned out to be cancer or not. The first biopsy came back as 'highly a-typical cells' but the sample wasn't deep enough to determine if it was cancerous, which is why my dermatologist wanted to cut the whole thing out. Not fun to have a hole cut from the very bottom of your foot, let me tell you! Ouch!
Well...seeing that its getting late and we haven't had any breakfast yet, I should get going. Here are a few quickie little snapshots I took this morning in an attempt to capture Ellie's little smile. They are not the greatest, but oh well.
Ok....I'm off to get ourselves some breakfast! Hope ya'll have a nice weekend!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Its been a month....
...since little Miss Ellie Belly made her debut. Happy one month birthday, my sweet pea! I can't believe that an entire month has already past! It certainly doesn't seem that long! It feels like a week or two. Crazy. I just hope that all the months don't go by this quickly, but I'm afraid that they probably will. :( Can't we just press pause on the dvd player of life for awhile??? Wouldn't that be wonderful?! She's so cuddly and sweet....I adore my moments of snuggling her close and taking in her sweet smells as I nuzzle her. I wish I could bottle up her scent for a time to come when I can no longer recall it. I wish I could somehow capture and save our moments together, just her and I. She is so, so, so precious. I just love her to the depths of the sea! Yesterday, while she was in the first little outfit that I purchased for her before she was born (she finally fits into it now, and was wearing it for our special bbq lunch with all my family) I decided that I needed to take a few pictures of her to commemorate her 1st month. I plan on doing this each month, just as I did for my belly shots, so that at the end of the year I can put one of these together for her, just as I did for Luke. Remember this?
Don't you think Ellie kind of looks like Luke in his third month (March) picture? They are starting to resemble one another in their baby photos. And I think its official....she's gonna be keeping those blue eyes of hers. They are growing bluer by the day! Right now they are a beautiful shade of cobalt blue....deep and dark! Love 'em! Here are a couple shots from yesterday...
She's getting to be a little chunky monkey! :) hehe. My favorite part (and the only reason I know that she is packing on the ounces) :) is that she's got those adorable little rolls and folds on her thighs! I LOVE those! Luke NEVER had rolls and folds...he had wrinkles! He never got to be a chubby little guy, so I'm secretly hoping that Ellie kinda becomes a chunker. :) For a little while, anyway! :) We'll see how much she's gained at her one month well baby checkup on Thursday.
And I couldn't post pictures of Ellie without having at-least one of my bubba-loo....
Would you get a load of those lashes!!!!!!!!!
I swear that the kids lashes grow as fast, if not faster than the hair on his head! They are to DIE for! They're beautiful! I'm not sure that the picture does them justice. They are incredible! The envy of any woman, that's for sure!
Seeing that Ty is now back at shoveling more dirt in the backyard, and I'm feeling a little guilty for not helping, I'm going to get going. We've been at the dirt-moving again today and we're almost done. Many hands makes for light work, so I think I'll go help him finish up. We took a break for lunch and to get Luke down for a nap, but it's time to get back to work. :) After today, our next step will be renting a trencher to dig for the sprinklers and then its SOD TIME!!!! They days of a dirt pile for a backyard are nearing their end! Hooray!
Ok...'nough blogging...it's back to digging for me. Just wanted to share Ellie's pics and celebrate her 'birthday'. Hope you're all having a great Sunday!
Don't you think Ellie kind of looks like Luke in his third month (March) picture? They are starting to resemble one another in their baby photos. And I think its official....she's gonna be keeping those blue eyes of hers. They are growing bluer by the day! Right now they are a beautiful shade of cobalt blue....deep and dark! Love 'em! Here are a couple shots from yesterday...
She's getting to be a little chunky monkey! :) hehe. My favorite part (and the only reason I know that she is packing on the ounces) :) is that she's got those adorable little rolls and folds on her thighs! I LOVE those! Luke NEVER had rolls and folds...he had wrinkles! He never got to be a chubby little guy, so I'm secretly hoping that Ellie kinda becomes a chunker. :) For a little while, anyway! :) We'll see how much she's gained at her one month well baby checkup on Thursday.
And I couldn't post pictures of Ellie without having at-least one of my bubba-loo....
Would you get a load of those lashes!!!!!!!!!
I swear that the kids lashes grow as fast, if not faster than the hair on his head! They are to DIE for! They're beautiful! I'm not sure that the picture does them justice. They are incredible! The envy of any woman, that's for sure!
Seeing that Ty is now back at shoveling more dirt in the backyard, and I'm feeling a little guilty for not helping, I'm going to get going. We've been at the dirt-moving again today and we're almost done. Many hands makes for light work, so I think I'll go help him finish up. We took a break for lunch and to get Luke down for a nap, but it's time to get back to work. :) After today, our next step will be renting a trencher to dig for the sprinklers and then its SOD TIME!!!! They days of a dirt pile for a backyard are nearing their end! Hooray!
Ok...'nough blogging...it's back to digging for me. Just wanted to share Ellie's pics and celebrate her 'birthday'. Hope you're all having a great Sunday!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
I guess it's a weekly thing now....
...my blogging, I mean. Hate that! It leaves a lot to be desired when there is such a long span between my posts....I end up having to leave out a bunch of the good stuff...mostly because I can't recall all the details over the course of the week. Maybe I'll have to resort to list-making!
Anyway......what's new, you ask? Wait.....are you even still there? Or have I lost my audience to my lack of posts???? Hope not. Let's see......last week...last week....
Oh yes!! Diana was here Tuesday through Friday morning! What a blessing she was! It was SOOOOO nice to have to here; not only for the great company and companionship during the day, but also because she was so great with Luke and Ellie...it was as if she was just an extension of myself; picking up where I left off when my hands were full with other things. Soooooo nice! I really had a tough time saying goodbye to her on Friday...it was a tearful day for me. I think the emotionality of it all (is emotionality even a word??? It is today, I guess) was a combination of not being sure when I will see her again, and the sense that there really isn't anything else super exciting or out of the ordinary to look forward to in the next several months. Now don't get me wrong here....Ellie and Luke are pure joy for me and I always look forward to my time with them, (and I am certainly kept busy enough with the day to day things) but what I mean is that there is no longer anything else I am gearing up for. I've spent the last several months (dare I say year) preparing for and anticipating Ellie's birth. Everything we did revolved around that one thing...whether is be cramming in as much solo time with Luke as I could, purchasing things we needed, preparing meals or just getting all my ducks in a row for the hospitalization....everything was geared toward one specific goal. And I think now that that phase is over and we have all adjusted to her birth, there is a strange kind of emptiness that lingers. Almost like I'm left wondering "Ok...now what?" Its now time to settle ourselves into a new normal....a routine. Its time to just live life now. And while that still feels a little underwhelming and empty (maybe that is still my post-partum hormonal feelings talking), its also exciting and refreshing too. So, instead of allowing that empty "what now?" feeling to take over, I'm going to focus on getting the kids and I back into a nice routine; making sure to have plenty of play dates and time for Luke to be active (something he hasn't been able to do much of since I was too preggo to move around much and it was WAY too hot to be outdoors!) and getting this body of mine back into some sort of shape. I for see lots of walking with and without friends, as much time as we can afford at My Gym, getting back into our Circle Time at the library and more cooking for me! :) All good things. All positive things. A new normal.....I'm looking forward to it!
As for the weekend, Ty and I worked out in the backyard (he worked WAY more than I did!) shoveling dirt off the slope that remained from the retaining wall being built and using it to grade the rest of the yard in preparation for sprinklers and sod. And yes...I actually did quite a bit of shoveling...all pain-free of-course! Ty was worried about me over-doing it, but I promised not to continue if I had ANY pain. That was our agreement. Surprisingly, I was able to work for a couple of hours (in between nursing and keeping track of Luke) loading the wheel barrel with dirt and grading the piles we made. I can't begin to tell you how good it felt to do some physical exertion!!!! It's been so many months since I've been able to do anything like that! It felt GREAT! After we were done, I had that 'dirty on the outside but clean and refreshed on the inside' feeling that comes with hard exercise! Love that! I've been waiting a LONG time to be outdoors! It was awesome! Combine that with the satisfaction of seeing all the progress we made, and it all made for a great weekend! I'm sure our next few weekends will be much of the same, with the exception of this Saturday when my grandparents, parents, sister Jenn and the girls will be here for a bbq.
And what about Lukey, you ask. He's doing great! Almost 100% back to his normal, pre-Ellie self. Well...almost. He still has his moments, but nothing terrible and abnormal for a two and a half year old! He LOVES to hold his sister and is asking us multiple times a day to "hold Baby Ellie, please?" He still is ending up in front of the TV a little too much, as it has become our 'mommy-needs-to-nurse" activity to keep him occupied. Guess that's just the way it's gonna be for a while. But we're getting outside much more often now that the weather has cooled. Thank goodness!!!! He still love, love, LOVES his starry ceiling and the anticipation of seeing the stars glowing up above every night has made his bedtime routine a breeze! Can't complain about that! In the area of potty training, he's still keeping up well! This week, he's actually added a new skill......'pee-peeing standing up, jus' like Daddy." He thinks he's really cool when he stands up and does the deed....apparently it's a big-boy thing to do. Cute.
And that leaves us with Miss Ellie. Oh my sweet, sweet Ellie Belly. She's doing great too....I can see lots of chubbiness forming on her tiny body, so I'm assuming she is getting enough milk, although sometimes, I'm still not sure how. Oftentimes, it's still two sucks to snoring for her and waking her to continue with the feeding isn't always easy. She had a great week last week with Diana here.....nursing well every 2 1/2 hours during the day and taking longer 3-4 hour stretches at night. But this week, she's a little more sleepy again and not eating quite as well. Maybe she's doing the growing that she prepared for last week???? Who knows. But she tends to go in cycles, so I'm expecting the next few days to be better. And despite how incredibly frustrating her sleepiness at the night feedings is, she makes up for it as I lay her down in her bassinet and I curl up under the covers right next to her. For its like clockwork each night that I lay down facing her, that she invariably offers me the sweetest, most precious little eyes-closed baby smiles that I have ever seen! I know that she is still too young to be smiling socially, but she IS smiling a lot in her sleep and each night after nursing, I'm blessed to fall asleep (if only for a short time) with the image of her little face all lit up in one of those adorable smiles. It makes the sleep deprivation and exhaustion well worth it!
Well my friends...I sense that my blog time is just about up....Ellie is fussing here on my chest in my trusty Moby wrap and Luke is due to wake any time. Here's some photos to tide you over until the next time.......
Before a morning bath while Diana was here....
Not liking being chilly.....
Happy girl.....
What are you lookin' at, Mom?
Luke's first ride on a the ponies at Market Night. We were so proud of him! He rode all by himself, without even needing Ty to walk beside him! That's a big deal for Luke, since the first time we attempted to ride these ponies, he got on and immediately started crying. He never finished that ride. Remember that, Sarah?
Cuddling sister.....
Ellie's first official tummy-time.....
Ok, folks.....that's it for now. More to come.....
Anyway......what's new, you ask? Wait.....are you even still there? Or have I lost my audience to my lack of posts???? Hope not. Let's see......last week...last week....
Oh yes!! Diana was here Tuesday through Friday morning! What a blessing she was! It was SOOOOO nice to have to here; not only for the great company and companionship during the day, but also because she was so great with Luke and Ellie...it was as if she was just an extension of myself; picking up where I left off when my hands were full with other things. Soooooo nice! I really had a tough time saying goodbye to her on Friday...it was a tearful day for me. I think the emotionality of it all (is emotionality even a word??? It is today, I guess) was a combination of not being sure when I will see her again, and the sense that there really isn't anything else super exciting or out of the ordinary to look forward to in the next several months. Now don't get me wrong here....Ellie and Luke are pure joy for me and I always look forward to my time with them, (and I am certainly kept busy enough with the day to day things) but what I mean is that there is no longer anything else I am gearing up for. I've spent the last several months (dare I say year) preparing for and anticipating Ellie's birth. Everything we did revolved around that one thing...whether is be cramming in as much solo time with Luke as I could, purchasing things we needed, preparing meals or just getting all my ducks in a row for the hospitalization....everything was geared toward one specific goal. And I think now that that phase is over and we have all adjusted to her birth, there is a strange kind of emptiness that lingers. Almost like I'm left wondering "Ok...now what?" Its now time to settle ourselves into a new normal....a routine. Its time to just live life now. And while that still feels a little underwhelming and empty (maybe that is still my post-partum hormonal feelings talking), its also exciting and refreshing too. So, instead of allowing that empty "what now?" feeling to take over, I'm going to focus on getting the kids and I back into a nice routine; making sure to have plenty of play dates and time for Luke to be active (something he hasn't been able to do much of since I was too preggo to move around much and it was WAY too hot to be outdoors!) and getting this body of mine back into some sort of shape. I for see lots of walking with and without friends, as much time as we can afford at My Gym, getting back into our Circle Time at the library and more cooking for me! :) All good things. All positive things. A new normal.....I'm looking forward to it!
As for the weekend, Ty and I worked out in the backyard (he worked WAY more than I did!) shoveling dirt off the slope that remained from the retaining wall being built and using it to grade the rest of the yard in preparation for sprinklers and sod. And yes...I actually did quite a bit of shoveling...all pain-free of-course! Ty was worried about me over-doing it, but I promised not to continue if I had ANY pain. That was our agreement. Surprisingly, I was able to work for a couple of hours (in between nursing and keeping track of Luke) loading the wheel barrel with dirt and grading the piles we made. I can't begin to tell you how good it felt to do some physical exertion!!!! It's been so many months since I've been able to do anything like that! It felt GREAT! After we were done, I had that 'dirty on the outside but clean and refreshed on the inside' feeling that comes with hard exercise! Love that! I've been waiting a LONG time to be outdoors! It was awesome! Combine that with the satisfaction of seeing all the progress we made, and it all made for a great weekend! I'm sure our next few weekends will be much of the same, with the exception of this Saturday when my grandparents, parents, sister Jenn and the girls will be here for a bbq.
And what about Lukey, you ask. He's doing great! Almost 100% back to his normal, pre-Ellie self. Well...almost. He still has his moments, but nothing terrible and abnormal for a two and a half year old! He LOVES to hold his sister and is asking us multiple times a day to "hold Baby Ellie, please?" He still is ending up in front of the TV a little too much, as it has become our 'mommy-needs-to-nurse" activity to keep him occupied. Guess that's just the way it's gonna be for a while. But we're getting outside much more often now that the weather has cooled. Thank goodness!!!! He still love, love, LOVES his starry ceiling and the anticipation of seeing the stars glowing up above every night has made his bedtime routine a breeze! Can't complain about that! In the area of potty training, he's still keeping up well! This week, he's actually added a new skill......'pee-peeing standing up, jus' like Daddy." He thinks he's really cool when he stands up and does the deed....apparently it's a big-boy thing to do. Cute.
And that leaves us with Miss Ellie. Oh my sweet, sweet Ellie Belly. She's doing great too....I can see lots of chubbiness forming on her tiny body, so I'm assuming she is getting enough milk, although sometimes, I'm still not sure how. Oftentimes, it's still two sucks to snoring for her and waking her to continue with the feeding isn't always easy. She had a great week last week with Diana here.....nursing well every 2 1/2 hours during the day and taking longer 3-4 hour stretches at night. But this week, she's a little more sleepy again and not eating quite as well. Maybe she's doing the growing that she prepared for last week???? Who knows. But she tends to go in cycles, so I'm expecting the next few days to be better. And despite how incredibly frustrating her sleepiness at the night feedings is, she makes up for it as I lay her down in her bassinet and I curl up under the covers right next to her. For its like clockwork each night that I lay down facing her, that she invariably offers me the sweetest, most precious little eyes-closed baby smiles that I have ever seen! I know that she is still too young to be smiling socially, but she IS smiling a lot in her sleep and each night after nursing, I'm blessed to fall asleep (if only for a short time) with the image of her little face all lit up in one of those adorable smiles. It makes the sleep deprivation and exhaustion well worth it!
Well my friends...I sense that my blog time is just about up....Ellie is fussing here on my chest in my trusty Moby wrap and Luke is due to wake any time. Here's some photos to tide you over until the next time.......
Before a morning bath while Diana was here....
Not liking being chilly.....
Happy girl.....
What are you lookin' at, Mom?
Luke's first ride on a the ponies at Market Night. We were so proud of him! He rode all by himself, without even needing Ty to walk beside him! That's a big deal for Luke, since the first time we attempted to ride these ponies, he got on and immediately started crying. He never finished that ride. Remember that, Sarah?
Cuddling sister.....
Ellie's first official tummy-time.....
Ok, folks.....that's it for now. More to come.....
Monday, September 3, 2007
Finally able to blog....
Phew! I've been hoping to get a chance to sit and blog ALL day....it's now 9:15pm and I finally have a few free minutes to sit at the 'puter. Sheesh! I miss my blog-time. :( I miss feeling like I'm connected to you guys. My blogging (and your comments) always helped me to feel 'plugged in' . It was my way of being able to reach out to those of you who I can't talk to on a regular basis. Just knowing that you are out there reading (even if I don't always here from you in the comment section) made me feel like I was a part of something. But now that my days are so much busier and computer time is at a premium, I'm feeling a sense of loneliness and isolation of sorts. Its a little ironic to think that sitting at a computer, typing endlessly to people I can't even talk to somehow fills a little bit of that social void, but it does. And having that time taken away right now conversely makes me feel alone. Strange how that works.
Anyway....speaking of isolation......last week was a rough one for me. I kinda felt like I was imprisoned in my house, with still not being able to drive, Ty being back at work and friends still feeling a little leery of intruding. I was started to develop a serious case of cabin fever. Wednesday was my first time driving and getting out of the house. I had my two week post-op checkup with Dr. Hage and let me just say that getting out of the house, even for an hour, was a HUGE deal to me. Freedom! Fresh air!! People!! I made the most of the time and took the long was home...driving as slowly as the people around me would allow. Ha! :) It did wonders for my spirits. I'm wasn't technically supposed to start driving until this week, but when you have appointments you have to get to and no one else to drive you, that's how it goes. I'm feeling pretty well....nearly healed anyways, so driving wasn't a challenge. I just made sure to be really careful, since I know that it's my ability to react quickly (i.e. stomp of the break in the event of an accident) that is inhibited...hence the suggested waiting time of three to four weeks to drive again after abdominal surgery. It takes awhile for all those nerves to heal.
Anyhow...I digressed. Back to my prison. After getting out on Wednesday and the 'fresh air' high that followed, I soon realized that I wasn't as free was I thought. For now, I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate grocery stores, Target or any other stores with a newborn and a toddler. Since Ellie is so tiny, she has to ride in the car seat (covered with a blanket, of-course, to ward off any unsolicited, grimy stranger-hands) which makes it necessary for Luke to either ride in the back of the cart (preferably) or walk beside me. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of having Luke walk. It's just too much of a headache trying to keep the curious hands of a two and a half year old off all those goodies! But having him ride in the back of the cart wherever we go (providing the store even has carts) makes it rather tough to purchase much of anything. So here is my dilemma of last week. I did attempt Target one day...just to get out of the house again, and it went pretty well, but poor Luke was nearly buried alive in the cart with all our loot piled on top of him. :) LOL! Anywhere else I was interested in going either didn't have carts or their carts were too small to hold Luke AND Ellie. Hmph. So I resorted to driving around a lot.....I made a special trip all the way out to Costco just to fill my gas tank, and then drove up through Oak Glen just to get a change of scenery. It was still so stinkin' hot too, that even the thought of leaving the air conditioning made me cringe. But over the weekend, Sarah brought me the Moby wrap that I had ordered, and along with it, a new level of freedom! I love that thing!!! Now I can wear Ellie all snug as a bug and still have my hands free to grocery shop, do chores around the house, or push Luke in the shopping carts just as I always have. Hooray! I've been wearing her around the house to get used to it and we ventured out to Trader Joes, Bed, Bath and Beyond and a few other stores this weekend so that I could practice my baby-wearing. I'll tell you what....I sure got a crazy amount of looks from people as they tried to figure out what I was wearing and then the stare usually transformed into a little bit of surprise and a sweet smile or gush over the little bundle they saw curled next to my chest! People sure love to see tiny babes. But with the wrap holding Ellie so close to my body, it makes it pretty darn impossible for strangers to feel comfortable reaching out to touch. She's pretty much under lock-down in that thing! :) LOL! That's the way I like it too! No germs for my newbie!
So.....I'm feeling a little more hopeful now about my ability to get out and about as I used to. Hopefully, I'll be able to ward off that loneliness and isolation!
This week will make that task eay for me. Diana, my best friend from college, is flying in tomorrow morning to stay for a few days, so I'll have company and adult conversation during the week. She'll be staying until Friday morning. I'm so excited to see her! She's 20 weeks pregnant with a little girl too, so it will be fun to hand down some of my maternity clothes and maybe do a little baby shopping too. Luke is looking forward to meeting his "Aunt Dianana" too. He was too young to remember the last time he saw her, which was when he was a mere 9 months old. It should be a fun week!
Speaking of Luke.....our little man seems to be doing much better this week. He's still a little tougher to handle that usual, but each day we see glimpses of our old Luke returning. We went to Olive Garden for lunch yesterday and he was an absolute angel the entire time! He ate well, behaved well and was overall just a joy to have around. No tantrums or trouble! It was so nice! Ty laughed at me from across the table when I welcomed the old Luke back and asked him where he'd been hiding for the last week and a half. :) Luke didn't understand what I was talking about of-course, but Ty and I got a good giggle out of it! Our sweet son is slowly being returned to us! :)
As a special treat for him, we put up some of those glow in the dark stars on his ceiling today. Ty said that he always wanted to have those in his room as a kid, so we picked up some for Luke. Geez......I've never seen him so eager to get to bed and turn out the lights before!! :) He was in awe of the stars as we left the room tonight and kept asking us if they were going to have to leave or if they would keep glowing all night long. Cute kiddo. I love how the simplest thing light him up!
Well....looking at the clock I see that it is now nearly 10pm and I know that if I don't get to bed soon, I will be hurting come the middle of the night from a lack of sleep. Ellie is still having a tough time waking to feed in night, but it's slowly getting better as she gets a little bigger. She's roughly on a three hour cycle (with nursing sessions taking about 35-45 minutes) so I'm getting hour and a half spurts of sleep in between. It's not quite as bad as I remember it being with Luke, but I'm still having trouble keeping my eyes open and HER AWAKE in those wee hours of the morning. Blegh. I'll be glad when she can go longer in between feedings.
Okay...I really am going to go now. Thanks for staying tuned into my ramblings. And thanks for still checking in, despite my lack of frequent blogging. It really does me a lot to me that you stop by to check in on us! I'll leave you with a few more pictures from Ellie's newbie photo shoot before I go. Night, friends!
Daddy's little girl...
Big brother.....I think this is the only other one of the two of them that came out...kinda!
And a rare moment of wakefulness!
A few cute shots of silly Luke...
And lastly......I snapped this on Saturday afternoon during a little catnap....had to laugh at their identical sleeping positions!
Anyway....speaking of isolation......last week was a rough one for me. I kinda felt like I was imprisoned in my house, with still not being able to drive, Ty being back at work and friends still feeling a little leery of intruding. I was started to develop a serious case of cabin fever. Wednesday was my first time driving and getting out of the house. I had my two week post-op checkup with Dr. Hage and let me just say that getting out of the house, even for an hour, was a HUGE deal to me. Freedom! Fresh air!! People!! I made the most of the time and took the long was home...driving as slowly as the people around me would allow. Ha! :) It did wonders for my spirits. I'm wasn't technically supposed to start driving until this week, but when you have appointments you have to get to and no one else to drive you, that's how it goes. I'm feeling pretty well....nearly healed anyways, so driving wasn't a challenge. I just made sure to be really careful, since I know that it's my ability to react quickly (i.e. stomp of the break in the event of an accident) that is inhibited...hence the suggested waiting time of three to four weeks to drive again after abdominal surgery. It takes awhile for all those nerves to heal.
Anyhow...I digressed. Back to my prison. After getting out on Wednesday and the 'fresh air' high that followed, I soon realized that I wasn't as free was I thought. For now, I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate grocery stores, Target or any other stores with a newborn and a toddler. Since Ellie is so tiny, she has to ride in the car seat (covered with a blanket, of-course, to ward off any unsolicited, grimy stranger-hands) which makes it necessary for Luke to either ride in the back of the cart (preferably) or walk beside me. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of having Luke walk. It's just too much of a headache trying to keep the curious hands of a two and a half year old off all those goodies! But having him ride in the back of the cart wherever we go (providing the store even has carts) makes it rather tough to purchase much of anything. So here is my dilemma of last week. I did attempt Target one day...just to get out of the house again, and it went pretty well, but poor Luke was nearly buried alive in the cart with all our loot piled on top of him. :) LOL! Anywhere else I was interested in going either didn't have carts or their carts were too small to hold Luke AND Ellie. Hmph. So I resorted to driving around a lot.....I made a special trip all the way out to Costco just to fill my gas tank, and then drove up through Oak Glen just to get a change of scenery. It was still so stinkin' hot too, that even the thought of leaving the air conditioning made me cringe. But over the weekend, Sarah brought me the Moby wrap that I had ordered, and along with it, a new level of freedom! I love that thing!!! Now I can wear Ellie all snug as a bug and still have my hands free to grocery shop, do chores around the house, or push Luke in the shopping carts just as I always have. Hooray! I've been wearing her around the house to get used to it and we ventured out to Trader Joes, Bed, Bath and Beyond and a few other stores this weekend so that I could practice my baby-wearing. I'll tell you what....I sure got a crazy amount of looks from people as they tried to figure out what I was wearing and then the stare usually transformed into a little bit of surprise and a sweet smile or gush over the little bundle they saw curled next to my chest! People sure love to see tiny babes. But with the wrap holding Ellie so close to my body, it makes it pretty darn impossible for strangers to feel comfortable reaching out to touch. She's pretty much under lock-down in that thing! :) LOL! That's the way I like it too! No germs for my newbie!
So.....I'm feeling a little more hopeful now about my ability to get out and about as I used to. Hopefully, I'll be able to ward off that loneliness and isolation!
This week will make that task eay for me. Diana, my best friend from college, is flying in tomorrow morning to stay for a few days, so I'll have company and adult conversation during the week. She'll be staying until Friday morning. I'm so excited to see her! She's 20 weeks pregnant with a little girl too, so it will be fun to hand down some of my maternity clothes and maybe do a little baby shopping too. Luke is looking forward to meeting his "Aunt Dianana" too. He was too young to remember the last time he saw her, which was when he was a mere 9 months old. It should be a fun week!
Speaking of Luke.....our little man seems to be doing much better this week. He's still a little tougher to handle that usual, but each day we see glimpses of our old Luke returning. We went to Olive Garden for lunch yesterday and he was an absolute angel the entire time! He ate well, behaved well and was overall just a joy to have around. No tantrums or trouble! It was so nice! Ty laughed at me from across the table when I welcomed the old Luke back and asked him where he'd been hiding for the last week and a half. :) Luke didn't understand what I was talking about of-course, but Ty and I got a good giggle out of it! Our sweet son is slowly being returned to us! :)
As a special treat for him, we put up some of those glow in the dark stars on his ceiling today. Ty said that he always wanted to have those in his room as a kid, so we picked up some for Luke. Geez......I've never seen him so eager to get to bed and turn out the lights before!! :) He was in awe of the stars as we left the room tonight and kept asking us if they were going to have to leave or if they would keep glowing all night long. Cute kiddo. I love how the simplest thing light him up!
Well....looking at the clock I see that it is now nearly 10pm and I know that if I don't get to bed soon, I will be hurting come the middle of the night from a lack of sleep. Ellie is still having a tough time waking to feed in night, but it's slowly getting better as she gets a little bigger. She's roughly on a three hour cycle (with nursing sessions taking about 35-45 minutes) so I'm getting hour and a half spurts of sleep in between. It's not quite as bad as I remember it being with Luke, but I'm still having trouble keeping my eyes open and HER AWAKE in those wee hours of the morning. Blegh. I'll be glad when she can go longer in between feedings.
Okay...I really am going to go now. Thanks for staying tuned into my ramblings. And thanks for still checking in, despite my lack of frequent blogging. It really does me a lot to me that you stop by to check in on us! I'll leave you with a few more pictures from Ellie's newbie photo shoot before I go. Night, friends!
Daddy's little girl...
Big brother.....I think this is the only other one of the two of them that came out...kinda!
And a rare moment of wakefulness!
A few cute shots of silly Luke...
And lastly......I snapped this on Saturday afternoon during a little catnap....had to laugh at their identical sleeping positions!
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