A Week in Review

Avery is 4 weeks old now... time sure does fly!  I am a little sad because that means I only have one more month of maternity leave before having to leave her a few days a week. She enjoys her tummy time more than Parker did, thank goodness.  I'm sure a 50% noggin helps.  

Parker decided that he likes school this week, which is a blessing, except when that means that he screams and cries when it is time to leave.  After open house on Tuesday he decided that he wanted to stay with Ms. Martha and not come home with us.  It was pretty pitiful.  He toddled right into the room on Thursday without a single tear shed.  This was a pleasant change from the guilt trips of last week where he cried... Don't leave me momma!  After I dropped him off at school, Avery and I enjoyed a trip down memory lane (for me anyway).  We went to the Thunderbird skating rink where I had gone for many birthday parties as a child and went stroller skating with some of my mommy friends from work.  It was a blast and a serious butt workout that I needed.  

Then, on Friday we went to a birthday party for one of Parker's friends from school.  Thought this was a good idea... Parker was excited.  Then we arrived and had our first full blown terrible two year old meltdown!  He cried and cried "Don't leave me Momma!"  He did not listen to me explaining that I was staying to play, he just bawled his eyes out, which made me want to do the same.  All the parents were so sweet but I know they secretly thought... "Thank God that's not me!"  I was mortified.  He played well for about 10 minutes and then we had to leave because it was so awful.  

I think Parker just wants to be the baby sometimes that crawls into my lap and gets cuddled.  He acts like he enjoys being a big brother, but I think it is hard to process sometimes for him that he has to share Mommy.  

Please pray for more sleep and less tantrums next week!

Pretty Princess

I may be biased... but I think she is the prettiest little girl ever born.  Too sweet in her tutu from Aunt Cathy!

Our first family picture... Parker was not feeling very cooperative.

Avery is growing quite well!  She has returned to her birth weight and is in the 25% in weight (7

lbs 9 oz), 50%  in height (20 cm) and 50% in head circumference.

Parker is really starting to enjoy her.  He calls her a pretty princess and rubs her head or pats her back.  He also likes helping mommy a lot... I have to get creative thinking of ways he can help since he wants to do everything!

We have been going a lot.  We took Parker to the library one day, to get ice cream another day, to school. to the Octoberfest in Addison, and walking around the neighborhood to help mommy get back in shape.  We went to my parents house for my sister's birthday where Avery got to meet her great-grandmother for the first time.  

Hijacking

Hi All, 

It's Jared and I'm going to hijack Heather's blog tonight so please indulge me as I put down a few words to say what a special two weeks I've had with my family. Normally I don't stray too far away from work and the problems that arise but for the past week and a half I have been 100% disconnected. I've not checked email or voicemail and in the process have been able to spend some serious quality time with Heather, Parker, and Avery (although I'm a little disappointed in Avery's level of playfulness at this point!)

I had a tough time watching my little man go to school for the first time today. It seems like a month ago he was just getting here and now he's growing up quickly. I look at his face and see the innocence in his eyes and I don't want him to hurt or to be sad, and I will do anything I can to prevent that. But today I was helpless. I had to look through a 4 inch wide piece of glass and see my best buddy taking giant breaths after having a big cry because he was having tough time trying to process why he was there, what was going on, and where did mom and dad go. I wanted to open the door and give him a hug to let him know everything was going to be ok, but like I said I was helpless. I was helpless because I had to let go a little bit today. I had to put just a little bit of trust in others with my most precious gift from God and in the process learned that I need that little man probably more than he needs me. 

 

So after 5 hours of worrying about Parker with several updates from "Nana" that he was doing just fine without me, we got to go home and resume our normal goofiness as evidenced by the wearing of the pants on the head above. Parker did great today and I'm so proud of him....hopefully Dad will do better on Thursday.

So in closing I would like to take just a few more words to tell Heather, Parker and Avery how much I love them and how I never saw it coming that I would become a big cry baby when it comes to them! 

A Week of Firsts

We have had a wonderful first week at home, for the most part.  Avery is very good natured.  She is content most of the day and only fusses about having her diaper changed and being hungry.  The only hard part is that she wants to nurse at least every 2 hours, if not more often.  She is trying to catch up to her birth weight, I guess, so I am trying not to complain too much.  I am hoping this is a phase that will pass once she gains a little weight.  

Not a big fan of her first bath with Nana and Momma.

Her first nap in her big crib.  She looks so tiny in that giant crib!  She sleeps in a cradle in our room at night but likes her crib during the day.  

Parker's first time to share toys with his baby sister.  I don't think she really appreciated the gesture since she slept through it all.  

Parker seems to be adjusting to Avery pretty well.  It is hard to truly tell what he thinks because he is preoccupied with his leg injury.  (he slipped and fell 2 days before I was induced and got a bad sprain)  He has been very hesitant to walk and we are having to trick him into weight-bearing.  It is rough carting around a 32 pound two year old and a one week old.  So I hope he'll be up and running again soon.  In the meantime he has gotten very good at puzzles and playing with his new train set. 

Jared has really enjoyed being at home with us.  He said he'd like to still get paid and not have to work.... anyone know of a job like that?  Sign me up too.  I am really nervous about when he goes back to work next week.  Hope I can handle it on my own!  My mom is coming over a few days so I can have a little more help. 

Avery's first football game with Daddy.  She stayed up with Dad and watched college football while mom got some much needed sleep.  Too sweet!

I am hoping we can remember to get someone to take a picture of us all together soon so we can post a family picture.  We keep forgetting.  

Ode to the Epidural

Ok, so both kids are sleeping... maybe I can get a quick update on the blog without interruption.

Avery is just a perfect little girl!  She is a little confused about when she should sleep soundly.  She sleeps like an angel after every feeding throughout the day and turns into a wild woman at night. But that's okay because she's so darn cute I don't mind staring at her at 4:00 am.  

So here's our birth story.  It was soooo different from my first experience.  I arrived at the hospital at 6 am on Friday and got all checked in.  The doctor checked and said I was already 4 cm dilated so she would just break my water and see how things went.  I started having good contractions around 7:00 and just listened to music from about 7-9.  Then she said they weren't strong enough, so she wanted to add pitocin to intensify the contractions and speed things along.  So at this point I have progressed to 5 cm.  I was still doing good, just relaxing as much as I could and then the pitocin did it's job.  I had about two five minute long contractions that had me in tears begging for the epidural, which was put in immediately with no pain whatsoever.  The pain in front was too much to notice the giant needle in my back.  The epidural did its job and I was comfortable by about 10:30.  So I asked Jared to run to the gift shop and get me some gum and a t-shirt for Parker.  While he's out they put me on oxygen because the baby's heart rate was dipping.  He came back at 11:00 with lunch in hand and goodies to find out that the baby's head was right there and I was ready to push.  He managed to scarf down his lunch while the doctor got me ready.  I was still feeling nothing below the waist!  Six pushes later Avery arrived at 11:41.  I just kept telling the doctor I couldn't believe I had delivered her so quickly and with no pain!  All the myths about epidurals seem to be false.... she nursed for an hour after delivery so she wasn't tired, I could not feel a thing but still managed to push effectively, and my feeling returned in about 2 hours.  If there are women who deliver naturally with pitocin on board they are soooo much tougher than me!  You guys deserve serious medals.    

Jared was wonderful through the whole thing. I think I scared him a bit when he came back and saw me on oxygen and nurses getting us ready.  He had a much easier job this time than with my 17 hour labor with Parker.

The only negative about having an epidural is having 3 bags of fluid pumped into you so that all your after birth photos make you look like the stay puff marshmallow man!  See evidence below!  That is my wonderful OB- Dr. Hays!

We feel so blessed!