Another Arm and Another Lap

Yesterday was the start of our new routine, which means I have Lucas 4 days of the week here with Nathan and I. About half way thorugh the day I was wishing our new baby included and extra arm, leg and lap for mommy. Quickly Nathan I have become pros at the nursing. At about 8am I was feeding the baby and Lucas was crying from his room. I picked the little one up and we walked upstairs to be sure Lucas was okay (which of course he was). Later that day while we were spending the gift money from Grammie at Toys'R'Us I needed to feed Nathan. They had a very nice rocking chair in the bathroom and as Lucas explored around the bathroom he accidentally walked under the sensor for the very loud hand drier. This scared him to no end and there he was again on my lap, while I'm trying to feed the youngest. Afterwards we came home and although he really needed a nap he didn't want to have one. So Nathan and I napped on the couch while I put on a movie for Lucas. Of course 3 minutes into the movie Lucas wanted to nap on the couch with us. He fell asleep quickly and I didn't have the remote, so I had one arm that didn't really have a place and a loud movie.

Luckily after a little bit of sleep we were all in good moods. So there didn't need to be so much cuddling on one mommy's lap.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Why I Buy White Shirts

This past weekend I was happy to shop and shop. My very good friend carried Nathan around and I tried on clothes and bought jeans and shirts galore. It's great I fit into my old clothes. Plus I haven't been shopping in AGES!. The best part was I still got great deals. Didn't pay full price for anything! Today I chose this beautiful white blouse, for 8 dollars, it has been a god sent as my shoulders have been wet for most of the day. I have "eau de spit up" on. =)



Till Tomorrow, and another new outfit.

Jenn

3 Weeks

A quick update on life here now that Nathan is 3 weeks old. Mostly he still feel very new and very out of place here in our home. That being said I love him so dearly already. I forgot how soft babies are. They have that soft baby hair all over them, which makes them really cuddly. Nathan is really hot as well, especially when he sleeps.

For the moment Darryl and I have a night time routine which is working pretty well, although it will have to change soon as we miss sleeping in the same bed together. Nursing is going well, I can do it in public.

I went out with a bunch of other new mommies last Friday to an indoor play place for our 2 year olds. I found out that most of them have been leaving their kids in their dayhomes while the new babies were around. This made me feel much less guilty about Darryl and my descion to have Lucas still go to Lesley's one day a week.

Lucas continues to do really well with having his new brother around. We are slowly breaking the habit of staying upstairs while he falls asleep, which was no big deal when it was just him.

Nathan is gassy, we are trying Ovol and massage, which seem to be temporary solutions. I think things with Nathan have been a little bit easier becuase I know the bad things will go away, like the gassyiness and the not being able to tell us what's wrong.

Must run, baby needs me.

Jenn

/Lucas's Room

One of the things I accomplished pre Nathan but having some time off work was the mural in Lucas's room. Although I enjoyed it, the painting still took lots of work. The best part is Lucas LOVES it. Anyone who comes over he asks if they want to see his room. Plus we often pretend to be on a WestJet, or that we are firemen. I do love his imagination. Here are some pictures to show it off.





Till Tommorrow

Jenn

Brothers Part 2

So it's been a crazy couple of days. Yesterday was my first day with both boys. All went well with them although a crazy lady was yelling at me off her balcony. We were out for a walk and I didn't see Emma poop for the second time in our walk. This lady starts yelling of her balcony and threatening to call the bylaw officer, yelled about what her and her kids have to go through when people don't pick up there dog poop. Yada Yada.... I thanked her for pointing out the poop to me and picked it up as well as another dogs poop. Then I went home and cried. It's horrible when someone yells at you, never the less when I'm feeling post partum blues and yells at you in front of your kids. For making a mistake. I just wish that before people pass judgement that they would think twice.

Other then that things have been quite good. Nathan is entering his "gassy" time of life. I expect this to go on for the next month or so. If anyone has any brilliant solutions on what to do with gassy babies I'd love to hear it.

Today I headed into work, which was fun, but makes me realize how different life and my priorities are. Life can change so quickly. How my days use to be measured by how many people careers I help to launch to now my success is measured by how many poopy bums Nathan has. I don't notice it as much this time as I did with Lucas. But I there are days I feel a tinge of jealously when Darryl gets to walk out the door and have half and hour in the car all by himself. Not that I would change things, but a new mothers life changes so much.

One of the biggest questions everyone asks is how Lucas is doing with Nathan. He is doing amazing. Sometimes I think he is adjusting to having a brother better then I am adjusting to having two kids. Today I was going to have a shower and told Lucas so and said I would take Nathan upstairs and put him in the bassinette. Lucas asked if Nathan could stay downstairs with him. I said sure as long as he didn't pick him up. Lucas is learning to be gentle with him and loves to get in Nathan's face. Here are some pictures and a video in the post below.






Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Brothers Part 1

My Dad Will Be Very Disapointed.....

Earlier this week I went to a specialty baby store and picked up a few new fang-dangled things. You know those stores where you can get cool stuff, but it's always so expensive. One of the new fang-dangled breast feeding things is a nursing cover with a "rabbit hole" as Lucas likes to call it. Basically it has a peice of metal in the top so you can watch the baby latch and eat, rather then having to peak under a blanket. The only problem with it is the name. A Hooter Hider.... My whole life I've never liked the term Hooter. As a child I remember being disgusted with men who would wear Hooter's shirts and my father making fun of it. Now here I am, endorsing a word I hate. The problem is this thing is genius and beautiful.



Sorry Dad, I just had to have it....

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Batting .500

Well it's 11 days in and I am quickly adapting to having this new one in the house.

• Nursing has definitely taken a turn for the better. The football hold has really helped and Nathan is getting so good at latching that things are going much better.
• He is still eating every two hours and I'm looking forward to that increasing. I'm hoping at his 2 week growth spurt he'll start to go for longer.......
• He gives gassy smiles all the time, way more then Lucas did

• He also pees on me way more then Lucas did. The other night I was batting .500 every other bum change I got soaked with pee.
  
• I've found it easier to get attached to this baby. Maybe becuase I know more so what to expect, or maybe because labor was easier, but I remember after having Lucas wanting to hide under the covers wonder what was this alien doing in my house.
  

• Bum rash is kind of coming and going. I have tried Penaten, Arbonne baby cream, cornstarch, lanolin cream. The thing that helps it the most is just hanging out naked. Which is fine with me (although it means catching more pee). I get to look at the soft hair that covers a newborn and the pudginess of him.
  
• His hair is so so soft. It makes me sad we ever cut Lucas's hair. His hair use to be that soft too.
  

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Monthly Newsletter- Month Thirty Two

Dear Lucas,

I kind of feel like we should do something special for your thirty second month birthday. Life here has been more about the baby then about you. Although your dad is been around a lot in the last couple of weeks so you have so enjoyed his company. Plus you have spent lots of time with Grandma and Pop and I think they quite enjoy your entertaining nature. Well that and you love to run with them, so they get lots of exercise. You have so enjoyed having your dad around. You learn alot from him and he is willing to play all the boy things with you, including your new favorite thing - Hot Wheels. You have gone from being my boy to liking both dad and I, which makes me both a little happy and a little sad. It's one of those things that you don't appricaite until it's gone. I wish I would have spent more time enjoying just having one child. I didn't know how much it would change adding a new person into our lives.



It funny because life continues to be great with you. Some months I think this is the best and then the next month gets even better. You get smarter and smarter and most of the time I can't believe it. You can idenify at random all of your alphabet. You know your right and left. Although have no interest in potty training. Sometimes you call yourself a big boy and other times you tell me you are not a big boy.



You love to pretend now. You'll say lets go for a drive, I tell you we can't for some reason, and you say lets pretend. So we pretend to sit in a car and drive. Sometimes I'm the driver and sometimes you are. Sometimes we play out scenes that we have just done in life, like going grocery shopping and other times we are firemen going to put out a fire. Sometimes I'm the boy and you are the dad, other times I'm the dad. All of this thrills me. Anyone who has ever seen me play with kids, knows about my imagination and I'm glad to see it has worn off on you.



Along with pretending we also make up stories. Again my crazy imaginiation started this. I made up stories about Torin and beef soup. Then it led to the famous story about Darryl and the chocolate milk. The other one we often tell is about Petey my bird when I was a kid. You have started to tell stories as well. About castles and motorcycles. They usually involve someone you know and they kind of make sense, but I love the start and ending. Once upon a time and the end.



One of your other favorite things to do is play the rhyming game. I saw it on a Sesame Street commercial and so we started to play it. You say a word and we then say a word that rhymes with it. You know your alphabet so well that I thought this would be a good next step. Usually it's Daddy or I who are doing the rhyming and you laughing at our silliness, but you are starting to do the rhyming as well. You love to laugh at whatever we come up with whether it's a real word or a made up one.

This month has also included a lot of family time. Every night for the past week you have asked if we can talk to Grammie on the computer. Everytime we pretend that we are going on a WestJet we are flying to see Aunt Lori. I gave you a new pair of shoes the other day and you claimed they were from Auntie Lexie. Auntie Karen came over to meet the new baby and you played with her for hours and hours. For days afterwards you talked about her coming over again. We had lots of family here for Easter weekend and you really enjoyed all of the attention from everyone.



Having Nathan around has really changed things for us. I miss you and I look forward to him becoming a little more independant so we can both play with you more. You have been really good with him. I can tell you love him already and you don't complain if we have to go home to feed Nathan or if I have to stop playing something so I can feed Nathan. As I go through this hard time of having a newborn I go into your room everynight to make sure you are covered and give you a kiss. I usually shed a few tears, becuase I know that this hard newborn time with your brother will be all worth it. You are my light at the end of the tunnel. I know that everything will be good, you've shown me that.



love mommy.

Healthy Food

On Sunday Lucas asked for a snack. I brought him a bowl of marshmellows, one of his favorite things.

Lucas: Mom, he says handing the bowl back, I'd like something more healthy

Me: Oh really, what were you thinking?

Lucas: Cake

Obviously he has no idea what healthy means.....

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

More Pictures

So sweet, although I love the dab of breast milk on his nose.


Gotta love gassy smiles

We had 20 degree weather this weekend, so we cracked open the sandbox. Yeah, playing outside.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Since I Have Both Hands To Type, here's a post

So this blog may be a little boring for some of you for the next month. There will be nothing insightful or anything to make you ponder life. It will mostly be a recording of what I do and how I feel in this first month. It's all a blur from when Lucas was born so I'd like to do a better job of recording it this time. Also I'm sure as I go back and read this I will be able to tell my emotions are all over the map.

So far in this first week the mornings have been good. It's amazing how I can have a different perspective after getting some sleep. Evenings are the worst. I have gone into Lucas's room once he's sleeping and tears have fallen down my cheeks thinking about how much easier it is to have a 2 year old compared to a newborn.

Breastfeeding is going well now, but in the first couple of days it was really hard. I wasn't latching him properly and my nipples were all cracked. But I went to see a lactation consultant who was excellent. It is going much better now, for anyone who reads this who may be having trouble nursing I would recommend trying the football hold. It has really helped me to bring Nathan to me rather then me to him.

Darryl and I have also found a sleeping routine that seems to be working for us. Darryl takes the first "shift". We are sleeping with him in his nursery/guest room. The bed there is up against the wall so to put him, between us and the bed I feel safe about. We can also have a good chair for nursing up there. I am able to do the rest of the night, with Nathan eating every 2 hours and then we are able to sleep for an hour and a half before doing it all again.

We were at the doctors today worried about his umbilical cord, but everything is a-okay. It's not infected. He also has quite the bum rash. If anyone has any good advice about bum rashes I'd love to hear it. We had been using Penaten cream, but that didn't seem to be helping, so someone suggested cornstarch, which does seem to have dried it up a bit. We are heading to the doctor again tomorrow morning for our one week check up so I'm hoping the doctor will have some insight for us.

My milk came in much quicker this time. I remember last time it seemed to take forever. The thing that I forgot about is how my breast react to different things. If Nathan is crying they start leaking or even if I feel really upset or happy about something they starting leaking. The other day mom had made us dinner and at some point both of my parents looked at Nathan with love in their eyes and my breast start leaking. Breast pads have become my good friends. =).

I am feeling like not a very good mother to Lucas. So much of my time is now being taken with feedings of Nathan that I'm not about to spend as much time with Lucas and when we do spend time together it's limited by having to go feed. I know this will get better as feeds are bigger and further between. And when I can feed and do something else at the same time. But for the moment I've lost time with my little boy. He has moved from a mommy's boy to a daddy's boy. When he does ask for mommy to do something it makes my heart jump a little. When he tells me to go back inside or back upstairs it makes my heart sink a little. I know none of this is on purpose to help or hurt my feelings, just a boy being a boy. But I do miss the relationship we had.

I hope you are all doing well. I'm keeping up with everyone's blogs, although probably not commenting because of the one handed typing.

Till Tomorrow, or the next opportunity.

Jenn

Day 5

Well things continue to go fairly well on the home front. I have become an expert at typing with one hand. =) Our feeding is improving although I don't have the latch perfect, but the rest of the feed is going well. My body is also starting to resemble Dolly Parton's, as my milk came in yesterday. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking......

Brothers

See I'm not always sleeping or eating

Working on his surprise face

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

A Few Observations....

I'm heading for a nap, as they say you should nap when your baby does, but I wanted to record a couple of observations from the last couple of days:

• Doing things with a newborn is very different then doing things with a two year old. Diapers are much easier to change on a 2 year old then a newborn.
  
• Breastfeeding is much harder then I remember. I'm sure it will get easier as we get better at it
• My bladder can get so full now. I never feel like I have to go pee, becuase there is so much more room in there then it's use to
• Newborns are beautiful, they have the cutest expressions, it has been great to fall in love with a new little person again. There is an attachment to pregnancy but I do really love this person now that he's out.
  
• Lucas is adjusting fairly well to the new baby. But he is having his growing pains like all of us. We are scolding him more for being gentle with the baby, but maybe more attention from Daddy is making up for it.
  
• Wine tastes much better then I remember
• Thank god for help. To Tammy, Darryl, Lesley and my mom your help has been amazing. I am so grateful for all that you do

I think that is all for now. Heading up for my nap.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

He's Here....

I'm sure as many of you can guess with no posts for days, the bambino has arrived. We are all save and sound. The labour was the exact opposite of Lucas. They sent me back home at 3cm, so we hung out here till I couldn't stand it any longer and went back in. I was 7cm!!! Took almost 2 more cm for the epidural to kick in. The good part of it all was that I pushed once and he came out. I'll be sure to document more in the days to come.

Nathan was born 5:56 on Monday morning. I haven't checked who won, but heard it was Goofball who could frame the gift certificate as she can't use it.

Hope everyone is doing well and I'm looking forward to catching up.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

More Ballon Fun

Thanks everyone for playing along with the when's the baby coming game. Enjoy this little video of Lucas and Darryl. Dad you should be proud of me, I even used imovie. =)

Have a good weekend.

Jenn

A Game

Well as we wait for this baby to come we might as well play a game. When is Jenn going to have that baby??

In the comments Guess the 1) date 2) am or pm and 3)how much the baby will weigh.

Whoever is the closest will win a 10$ Starbucks gift certificate.

One guess per person.

Good Luck!

Jenn

Still Waiting

Well today is the day they predicted the baby would come, I never believed it for one minute. Babies seems to love my belly. Lucas took the full extra 10 days before he decided to come out, so hopefully this one will come out in the next week. I also hope this one doesn't get as big while hanging out in my belly.

So while I waiting I am enjoying sleeping through the night, having normal breasts and spending lots of time with Lucas. I know that it will be a lot more work once that bambino comes.

One of the questions I have for all the new moms out there is what is the coolest new "thing" that is out there for babies? I would like to get a sling this time, is there one you recommend? I've also heard of this nursing cover, is it good? Any other great baby stuff out there I should know about?

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Pity Party

For those of you who are checking, no baby yet. Although I have been very very sick for the last couple of days. Thank god I have a good support system and lots of people have been chipping in. Today we even went to the hospital to check and make sure everything was a-okay because I have thrown up 7 times today. Even as I type this I feel a little nauseous. They told I was dehydrated and so I'm now drinking some Gatorade to try and rehydrated. Baby is still good. Contractions every night and even while I was there, but they go away. All this makes me cry because I hate being sick and know I'm going to have a newborn around soon and that I'm going to feel crappy again.

Thank you for attending my pity party. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Jenn