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Sunday, March 9, 2014

The best day.

Our whole weekend was great, honestly, but today was especially wonderful.  Maybe it's because it's Layla's birthday...


Happy birthday to my sweet firstborn (not by me, obviously), Layla.  You have brought so much joy to our family over the past 6 years and we love you so much, sweet girl!
...or it could be a result of the fact that the weather today was absolutely phenomenal.  Probably it's a combination of both.  Today was just...fantastic.  I probably shouldn't jinx it by putting it in writing on the online, but Craft was only up once overnight (around 4:00 or 4:30) after going to bed around 10:00 for the second night in a row, so I feel a little more rested than I have felt in a while.  Everyone slept in this morning (even with the clocks moving forward an hour), and Meagan and Kinsley had breakfast with us and then we had a fun visit from Jen and Elle.


Kins (10 mos) and Craft (1 month).  She's so little and he's so big!  
After that, it was party time!  We headed to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham to celebrate our sweet friend Winsley turning one.  The party was awesome, and I can't wait for Quinn to blog about it because I know she got some adorable pictures.  We've never been to the museum before but it is really amazing and we had a blast.  Lilly especially loved playing with one of her favorite people in the whole world, Ellington.


Silly girls!









We were having so much fun that we decided to forego L's nap so that we could spend more time at the museum.  I was afraid that between the time change and the lack of nap it would be a long evening for us, but L was surprisingly fine.  We got home around 4:30 and spent some time outside and then enjoyed a short visit from Dan's parents.  

I told Dan that I feel like I am finally adjusting to my new role as mama of two.  That is an entirely different blog post in itself, but today I just felt really happy and optimistic about things.  Maybe I was just in a state of euphoria that we managed to get ourselves out of the house and to a public gathering alive and (mostly) unscathed (who cares if we were half an hour late because the squish needed to eat?), but I felt like today was the first day where I didn't worry with guilt that one child or the other isn't getting enough attention, or that there aren't enough hours in the day, etc. etc.  It probably helped that there were minimal meltdowns and both children were in exceptional moods.  At the same time.  #Winning.

I just put little man down and am heading to bed right behind him in the case that the past two nights have been a fluke.  :-)  I'll leave you with a few more photos of what we were up to the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning, Dan took Lilly on a donut date.  This girl llllooovvveeeessss donuts.  


The Krispy Kreme folks loved that L was still in her jammies so they gave her a donut hole while she waited.



Did I mention that she llooovveeessss donuts?
After breakfast, Dan and L ran some errands.  Craft spent the morning snoozing, so I took the opportunity to wash and sanitize the rest of our baby toys.  I'd already washed all of the cloth ones, so all that was left was the plastics.  I probably need to do a deep clean of the rest of the toys in the playroom at some point, but baby toys were enough for one morning.  Such a glamorous way to spend a free Saturday morning, yes?




Did I mention that our weather this weekend was glorious?!  We spent a lot of time outside.  

C really digs being outside.

L digs being outside, too.  And popcorn.
Meagan snapped this next series of photos of C and I, and I'm glad because I realized I forgot to take a photo of him in his cute overalls.





Hope your weekend was great as well!

Sarah

Friday, March 7, 2014

Craft: One Month Stats

Happy Friday, friends!

The weather here is rainy, cold and disgusting.  We've been promised warmer temperatures starting tomorrow and lasting for a few days, and I am so excited I can't stand it.  I may just set up a tent and camp outside.  Craft and I went to pick L up from preschool earlier today and I am sure I looked like a hot mess and provided other parents some entertainment trying to wrestle myself + an infant in a stroller + a two-year-old with all of her belongings (attitude included) + an enormous umbrella in an attempt to keep us all dry out of daycare and into the car.   By the time I finally got myself into the car (cold and soaking wet,  might I add) I felt the need for a serious drink or four.  Anyway, I digress.

We took Craft to see Dr. V this morning for his official one-month checkup.  

Waiting to see Dr. V.  Look at those arm rolls!!!  And boobies hehehe.
I think it's safe to say that homeboy is the definition of chunk!  Dr. V came in the room and said, "I  mean, really.  We need to have a serious talk about this child's failure to thrive.  What are you, producing straight chocolate milk?"  

Craft's official one-month stats are as follows:  

Height: 22 1/4" (75%)
Weight: 13 lbs 8.5 oz (> 97%)
Head: 15 3/4 (85%)

Did you see that weight?!?!?!  Let me show it to you another way.  These are the growth charts, which they printed for us because they got a kick out of them:

Do you spy the dot that is Craft?

Just LOL.
So, yeah, I think it's safe to say that my sweet, big boy is nursing well.  :-)  Dr. V is not concerned in the least - L was not quite as hefty as Craft is, but I remember that she was gaining pretty quickly at this point as well and she turned out just fine (except for the aforementioned 2-year-old attitude, Lord help us!).  

Re: sleeping, Dr. V said that to be one month old and as big as C is, I should be ecstatic that he's giving us a 4-5 hour stretch every night and that it's still normal for him to want to eat every 2-ish hours for the remainder of the day.  Her actual response when I asked whether we should be concerned about his weight was, "What are you gonna do, not feed him?"  Hilarious.  She asked if I've been famished, which is also hilarious because I just told Dan this morning I feel like a bottomless pit, I eat all of the time.  Dr. V said she bets I am burning at LEAST 600 calories/day just feeding Craft (not including pumping), so that was consistent with her expectations.  We told her how Craft gags when you try to put basically anything in his mouth other than the boob (bottle, finger, paci) and she laughed and said she bets he'll be one of those babies that starts on solids at 4-months but won't eat them because he's so gaggy.  Somehow based on his size and how much he likes to eat, I doubt that.  :-)  But I guess we'll see!

The only other funny thing she told us was in relation to us telling her how noisy Craft is.  Seriously y'all, I've never heard anything like it.  He does this squeaking thing when he nurses, and he squawks all of the time and grunts and just breathes loudly in general - it's pretty funny.  Anyway, Dr. V said she wouldn't have told us this if we were first time parents, but that Craft has what she and another doctor in the practice refer to as "TFTB" aka "too fat to breathe."  It's SO TRUE, he sounds like a little bulldog!  I'll try to get a video of this phenomenon at some point because it's kind of loud cute.

Otherwise, the appointment was pretty uneventful.  She checked him out and confirmed for us that all is well, we had a few questions and then he got a shot.  Sad face.

Thunder thighs!  And shot bandaid.  :-(

Happy that the "shots" part of the day is over.
Not too much else to report here, just wanted to drop in really quickly and give an update for the sake of documentation.  I'll leave you with some sweetness from my babies yesterday:

Lilly: "Mommy, I want Craft to lay with me."  

L looks happier about this situation than C does!
Hope your weekend is wonderful!  We have some exciting things coming up on my little blog, so be sure to stay tuned and I promise to try to get back to posting more consistently.  

Sarah

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Craft: Four Weeks (One Month!) Old

Oh  my gah, y'all.  It is already Thursday.  And by Thursday, I mean it's already March.  And I'm yet again a day late on sweet Craft's update.  Also, the nerd in me thinks it is nifty that Craft's four week birthday fell on March 5, which also happened to be the same as his one month birthday (since he was born February 5).  I assume that's has something to do with leap years, but what do I know?  Anyway, these are always lengthy as is every other thing I've ever written so let's get to it!

Weight/Length:  I have no idea on length, I'll report back after our official one-month-old doctor appointment tomorrow.  I can tell you that when I had to take the little squish to the doctor because we were sick over the weekend, he weighed 12 lbs 11 oz.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Chuuuuuunnnkkk!  Dan and I have decided that he is kind of square-shaped.  Such a sweet little squishy boy, just love him!


Sleep:  Honestly, this changes every day so I'm not sure what to report here, ha.  The most consistent thing Craft has been doing is giving me a 4 or 5-hour stretch starting around 9pm and then getting up to eat literally every 2 hours for the rest of the day (so starting around 2am) but sleeping quite a bit in between.  He has been sleeping a lot during the day (especially in the morning and then again in the late afternoon), but never for 4-5 hours at a time during the day time like Lilly was at this stage.  Today I've been working hard to keep him up for at least an hour after feedings before letting him get back to sleep, so we'll see if that changes anything tonight.  I should also mention that Craft is still sleeping in his room, but he spends part of the night in the mamaroo and part of the night in his crib.  He seems to sleep longer in the mamaroo, and I am digging that one long stretch so I'm letting it happen.  For now.  :-)  And still sleeping sans swaddle and on his side.

Feeding:  Craft has mostly been eating every 2ish hours on the dot except for that one long sleep stretch I mentioned above.  Sometimes it's a little less than two hours, sometimes a little more.  He also wants to cluster feed in the evenings and during the witching hour, but I've been trying to hold him off more and more because I've found that sometimes he doesn't actually want to eat, just suck, but he'll eat anyway and then have an upset tummy and then be difficult.  No bueno.  He will take the paci occasionally but for the most part he hates it so that's not really a good alternative for us.

As an update to our bottle drama, C still doesn't like it one bit and fights us pretty hard, but after a little screaming bloody murder coercing Dan has been able to get him to take the Comotomo for the past two nights now (forget me even trying to give him a bottle, he will not have it if I am close).  The doctor we saw on Sunday for C's sick visit said that we need to keep trying every day because the longer C goes refusing the bottle, the harder it is going to be to get him to take it, and that's not good for anyone.  He also said that if C gets hungry enough, he'll take it, so not to feel bad about letting him cry a little bit (easier said than done for sure).  With that said, we're still trying to get him to take a small bottle (I have been giving him a half an ounce or an ounce - just enough to get him used to it but not enough so that I'll have to pump because I'm lazy) once/day.  I've had several people recommend the Lansinoh mOmma bottle so I ordered one of those and we'll try it tonight.  Fingers crossed he'll get the hang of it by next week, when he's staying with a sitter for the first time!

Firsts This Week:  First sick visit to the doctor due to first illness (stomach bug, ugh!).  Sad panda.  Luckily everyone is feeling better, though!

Developments:  Craft seems to just be honing the skills he's been working on for the past month.  He's still working on that head control and getting stronger seemingly by the day.  He lifts it all the way up off of the ground during tummy time!  He finds his hands/fingers often and sucks on them - it remains to be seen whether I'll have another thumb sucker. 

Found that thumb again! 
He is awake for longer periods of time and will make eye contact.  He seems to be trying to figure out what the purpose of is tongue is, he makes the silliest faces!  

Silly face.  Probably pooping.
Whether accidental or not, C is also batting the toys on his play mat quite a bit, and tries to roll onto his side from his back.

Likes:  More of the same here: sleeping. eating. having a clean diaper.  bath, particularly hair washing. piano play mat.  bouncy seat. swing. mamaroo. pooping. changing activities frequently so he isn't bored. being outside (the one day this week when the weather was nice). watching big sister do her thing. watching layla. watching the action in general. snuggling. music.  and more eating.

Dislikes:  Again, more of the same: cold. hungry. hiccups. burping (seriously if you can get this kid to burp in less than 23984723894 minutes I'd like to know how). I'll leave off "the process of diaper changing" this week because he actually doesn't seem to mind it...unless he's hungry.

What I'm Thankful For:  My parents!  They were real life savers over the weekend when C and I were sick.  I got some sort of vomiting stomach thing on Saturday and was miserable.  I assumed it was something I ate, because I literally had no other symptoms.  Mom and Dad were in town for a visit, and Dan and Lilly left on Saturday to go to Concord for my niece's birthday party (they spent the night).  Mom and Dad took care of Craft for me so that I could sleep - I would wake up to feed him and then go back upstairs to sleep until the next feeding - and it was so nice to try to take care of myself and not worry that I was neglecting the poor babe.  I was hoping it would prevent C from getting sick - unfortunately we weren't so lucky there - but I honestly don't know what I would have done if Mom and Dad hadn't been here, especially since Dan and Lilly were gone!  I am also so, SO thankful that Mom doesn't appear to have gotten what I had.  We don't need any delays in chemo!  And finally, I'm thankful for our pediatrician's office for being wonderful in general and also for having weekend sick hours so that Craft could be seen on Sunday.

What I'm Looking Forward To:  My "little brother" Jason is marrying Rebecca next weekend, and we're so excited to make the trip to Charlotte!  Craft will get to meet a lot of family and friends, so that will also be fun.  AND the glorious weather we are supposed to have this weekend and into next week.  Bring on spring!  Peace out winter weather, snow and ice!

Next Pediatrician Appointment:  Tomorrow morning - Friday, March 7 at 9:55a.  Can't wait for the report card!

How Mommy's Doing:  Pretty good!  Within 2 lbs of my pre-pregnancy weight, which made me feel good until I tried to squeeze into some pre-pregnancy jeans.  I must be a glutton for punishment because I just read that I did the same thing around this time after L was born as well.  There were lots of curse words.  And tears.  And I'll be sticking with maternity jeans until I can get to the store to buy some fat jeans.  Ha!  There have still been some moments where I've felt overwhelmed this week, but I seem to be having less of them - I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things a little bit.  I've had a TON of help from Dan, whom I cannot say enough nice things about during this whole process.  My next goal is to try to cook dinner a few nights a week.  Baby steps!

Without further ado, photos from the past week:

Big sis L asked baby bro C if he wanted to play "Memory" with her and she even gave him her favorite card!

Loves a bath!

Morning snuggles.  Love this pic.

Sweet dreamin'
I just love this outfit!



Mimi and her babies
  




And here are some photos I snapped with my iPhone of C wearing his "one month" onesie, courtesy of Mae Mae (thank you!!!):







As you can see, the photo shoot did not amuse him for long.  I'll be back tomorrow if I get a few minutes with an update from the doctor.  Booooo shots!

Sarah

Monday, March 3, 2014

Recovering

Just dropping in to say we're still here!  Baby C and Mommy have both unfortunately been sick.  We've been spending a lot of time like this...


...and it's been kind of glorious. Luckily we're both on the mend now!  Back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly. 

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Sarah

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