Mama's Day Away

Let me just start by saying that this post is most definitely mis-labeled. It was not a day away, but it was a few glorious hours away.

This morning, I dropped Emily off at school and then Noah and I came home for a quick nap before getting ready to head over to Nanny and Poppa's house to drop Noah off. All was well except that Noah woke up hungry. And while I was feeding him, he had a blowout. And it got all over my shirt. Not a fun way to start out my day away.

But better than nothing so we'll take it. I dropped Noah off and made it to my hair appointment on time (thankfully).

My hair stylist normally uses a straight iron when she styles my hair. But I asked her to style it without using it this time because I have literally NO time to fix my hair in the mornings. Most mornings, it's all I can do to get Noah fed and Emily to school on time.

She did a good job. When she was done, my hair looked smooth and shiny like she had used the flat iron. I don't know she did it, but I hope I can fix it half as good in the morning. Sorry, no before and after pics of the hair.

After I got out of my appointment, I had to drop back by the house before I went to pick up Noah. It felt great to be out and about by myself. I stopped by Sonic and got a diet coke on my way home. And after my cup was empty, I ate all the ice! And I listened to the radio really loud. And I drove fast - well, within the speed limit but I was on the interstate for a change so it was fast to me.

Here is a picture of Noah sleeping in his bouncer.

And Grandmother requested a picture of Noah when he was awake so I took a picture in his swing this evening. Look at his hair!

It was hard to get a good picture of him in his swing. Every time I would try to take a picture, his eyes would kinda bug out like this picture.

Emily took a picture of herself for you, but it was a shot straight up her nose so I thought I should keep that one to myself. We will try again tomorrow.

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Tidbits

Sorry about the lack of post last night. I was working on the Shirley Sherbert post, but Noah was having a fussy night. I even tried to type one handed, but then my laptop battery died. So I gave up! Ha!

I'm not sure if tonight will be much better. Noah has been eating about every two hours during the day today. He's been drinking bigger bottles and eating more often. I guess that means he's growing.

Tomorrow, I have an appointment to get my hair cut. So Noah gets to spend a little time with Nanny and Poppa. I am sure he will have a lot of fun and it will be nice to do something for myself for a change.

I wanted to share some pictures with you from our lunch on Sunday. I took a picture of Emily and a picture of Noah.

Here's the picture of Emily. She always gives me that fake smile.

Here's the picture of Noah. Check out those little arms!!! He had on a short sleeved shirt, but it looks like a muscle shirt the way it's pulled up to his shoulders.

And here's the picture of me and Noah. Don't see Noah? Me either. :)

Emily picked out this shirt for me to wear because it matched the one she picked out for herself. I think she did a good job matching us.

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Shirley Sherbert

This is Shirley Sherbert. She was a gift to Emily from her little brother on the day that he was born. Shirley is one of Build-A-Bear Workshop's new ice cream bears. If you recall, we took Emily to Build-A-Bear to pick out a pet for Noah before he was born. And he surprised her by picking out something too.

In case you were wondering, Mama and Daddy chose the name Shirley Sherbert.

Emily also got new curtains for her room last week. She had a pair of beige blackout curtains over her window. They were not too pleasing to the eye, but they did block a lot of light. I found these purple blackout curtains at Target last week and knew they would be perfect for Emily's room. During the day, they create sort of a purple glow in her room. But they work well at night. And they look much better than the beige curtains I would say.

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Another Day and Some Updates

Today, Mike was gone to an all day class. So I got to enjoy a day at home all to myself. With two kids, of course. Mike helped me with Noah's 5:30am feeding. Then we put Noah back to bed, Emily woke up and Mike let me sleep in until almost 8am. It was almost like a dream come true. I could have stayed in that bed much longer except that I wanted to get a shower before Mike left for his class.

The kids and I just hung around the house all day. Emily and I watched a little Brady Bunch, did some laundry, colored, and tended to baby. Then after a delicious lunch of peanut butter and jelly (you know, kids eat their food better if the parents are eating the same thing), Emily settled in for her nap. Noah was napping in his swing so I did the only reasonable thing to do - log in to work for a bit. I know - shame on me. But it's hard not knowing how things are going while I'm away.

Mike got home at around 5:15pm and he wanted to take me out to dinner as sort of a thank you for letting him go to the class today. We went to a local BBQ place and had a nice time. I LOVE asking for a table for four. While we were there, Mike's mom called and invited Emily to spend the night and go to Sunday School with them in the morning. But Emily didn't want to go. I think she has been missing spending time with her dad.

New, New, New

I mentioned the other day that Noah has been having some fussy evenings. On Friday, he was fussy between feedings all day and I noticed that he had not pooped that day. So when Mike got home from work, we went into town and picked up a new kind of formula. I had done some research online to find a formula that was lower in lactose and easier for babies to digest. I thought a lower lactose formula might be better because Mike apparently had some sort of milk sensitivity based on how much he sneezes after drinking milk or eating ice cream or cheese.

We settled on Enfamil Gentlease. It's supposed to have 1/5th the lactose of their regular formula. And it's formulated to be gentler on baby's tummy and help with gas and fussiness. I mixed a bottle for Noah last night when we got home and I immediately noticed that I had to shake it pretty vigorously to get the formula to mix well and not form clumps in the bottle. Even with the hard shaking, the bottle didn't get the foamy bubbles in it like the regular formula does. The bubbles just sort of dissolved.

During the night last night, Noah had two big poops. And today, he had about 5 large poops within one hour. It was a fun day on that front, but Noah does seem to be feeling much better. I have my happy, easy going baby back.

I also wanted to try a new pacifier. Noah does not normally take a pacifier very well and I was wondering if he didn't like the ones we had since they were not the same shape as the nipples he's accustomed to. So I bought a package of those Soothies pacifiers - the big round blue-green ones. He does seem to like those better, but he still does not seem to need a pacifier to be satisfied.

Mike also did some research and found a new kind of gas medicine. It's called Colic Care. It's supposed to be all natural, FDA regulated and taste great to babies. The package said that it helps with gas and fussiness in babies. It even helps cure hiccups. We did not end up using the Colic Care last night since the new formula seemed to be helping so much.

But this afternoon when Noah had he hiccups for the 4th time today, I thought I would try a little bit to see it if helped. So I opened the bottle and it was this thin black liquid. The directions said to use a dropper and put the medicine between baby's cheek and gums very slowly. I did this and the black liquid immediately came back out of his mouth and all over him. So I squeezed a tiny bit more. And again it came back out. And even though Noah swallowed virtually none of it, his hiccups immediately disappeared. Ha!

More Milk

On Thursday, I received my order of Motherlove More Milk herbal product that the lactation consultant recommended to increase my milk supply. I immediately went into the kitchen to take the first dose. I opened the bottle and poured the dose into a medicine cup and the smell was just horrible. The liquid was a dark brown, sorta like a cola color. And it smelled like funky maple syrup. So I drank it and GAG ME!!!!!! It was SO bad. I made Mike smell it later and he said it smelled like licorice. Yep, maple syrup and licorice and herbs. I have figured out that it's not so bad if I add some Pepsi (which I don't like) to it. At least it's a little fizzy going down.

And the verdict? So far, I have noticed no increase in my milk supply. Bummer. As bad as it tastes, I was hoping it would at least work. And if you happen to run into me and think I reek of maple syrup and licorice, then I apologize in advance. I guess it could be worse. I guess. If I don't see an increase by next week, I'll call my ob/gyn and see if she can call in a prescription for me - something that really works. And doesn't make me smell funny.

Perfect Lips And a Dimpled Chin?

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Three Then Four

Five years ago, we were very fortunate to become a family of three. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember being anxious about how things were going to go. I remember feeling sick and disoriented (thanks to some of the drugs I was given during my induction). I remember being so scared when they said I would have an emergency cesarean section. I remember feeling so emotional (and crying) and excited and blessed when Miss Emily was born. I remember the doctor saying "She's so tiny!" and being surprised by this.

Here's a picture of our family of three from five years ago. Mike put this very picture on our refrigerator a couple years ago and it's still there today. Even though the picture is terrible (actually, the picture is fine - I just really looked like that), I still love my family.

And this year we grew to be a family of four. Even though Noah was born a short three weeks ago, I also remember this day like it was yesterday. I remember being SO nervous although I pretty much knew how things would go. I remember feeling emotional the entire time I was at the hospital before my surgery and worrying about being strong for Emily so that she would not be scared. I remember willing myself not to cry as they were wheeling me down the hall to the operating room.

I remember the trouble with the spinal anesthesia (ouch!). I remember crying as soon as I saw Mike in the operating room. And crying when Noah was born and the doctor said "He's so little!" I remember seeing the look on Emily's face when she first saw her brother when the nurses stopped my bed beside the family on the way back to the recovery room. I remember feeling so thrilled and blessed and thankful when I finally had my family of four that I had been praying for so long.

And here's our first picture as a family of four.

We ARE blessed.

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My Sanity Savers

Tomorrow marks three weeks since Noah's birth. I think we are doing well and adapting to our new normal. We are all working together to make things work.

But there are a few things that have been real sanity savers for me. Here are a few of them:

1. Lots of bottles - Right now, I'm almost exclusively pumping breastmilk for Noah and supplementing with formula when necessary. At many feedings, I fix two separate bottles so that I can make sure Noah gets all the breastmilk that I have and then anything else he needs is formula. I think we have 8 or 10 bottles that I rotate throughout the day. (I use the Playtex bottles with the disposable liners.)

2. A dishpan full of soapy water - I'm constantly washing baby dishes including bottles, nipples, and pump parts. I just pile all these dishes in the soapy water and wash them in batches throughout the day.

3. Hand Lotion - Seriously, dishpan hands. And I have several bottles of lotion all around the house that I can use as needed.

4. A full water bottle - I use the 32 oz mug that I got in the hospital. I fill it up with ice and water at the beginning of the day and drink as much as I can all day.

5. My washer and dryer - Babies create a lot of laundry. I probably do a load of Noah's laundry every other day or so. I also use stain remover to immediately spray down clothes, bibs, and anything else that gets spit up or formula on it. Sadly, the timer on my dryer is messed up right now and so I have to be very attentive to the dryer and make sure I don't dry anything to a crisp.

6. Dry Erase Board - When I first got home from the hospital, we used the dry erase board to keep track of when Noah ate last and when I last took my medication. This was my mom's idea, but it worked great. I was having a hard time keeping up with everything.

7. A fully stocked pantry and freezer - I cooked and froze a few things during the last several weeks of my pregnancy. My mom brought a few things she had fixed and frozen for us. And then she stocked our pantry with quick and easy dinners. I have been fixing things from the freezer and pantry for dinner since we got home. And eating leftovers for lunch.

8. My Cell Phone - I like to read on my cell phone while I'm feeding Noah - especially at night, it helps me stay awake. I read several blogs, Facebook and a lot of news sites. Really, I'll read almost anything that changes frequently.

Noah has been having some fussy time in the evenings this week. From about 5pm until around 9pm, he fusses and acts like he wants to eat every hour or so. Sometimes he'll go to sleep for a little bit, but then wakes back up again and wants to eat. I can't imagine he's really that hungry. I mean he eats all day. Maybe he's having gas or other tummy issues?

My back has been hurting. I think my abdominal muscles are still fairly weak from my surgery. With all the bending and moving that I do during the day and night, it's just sore by the end of the day.

Sorry for the lack of pics tonight. I wanted to put up a couple pics, but I could not find one of the ones I wanted. Mom, Heather - Do one of you have the picture of us as a family of four that was taken in the hospital? If so, can you email it to me?? Love ya'll very much.

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Cupcakes

Today at school, Emily was the line leader for her class. The class pets (frogs) also came to stay today. She said their names were Frogger and Beatrice. She also said their names were Mayo and Mustard. I'm not sure which is true.

After school, Emily and I made some cupcakes. I wanted to do something special with her because we just don't get to do many things by ourselves right now.

So we made 24 devils food cupcakes. Some had buttercreme icing and some of them had chocolate icing. But I didn't get any pictures of them after they came out of the oven and got iced. But they sure were tasty!

And while we baked, Noah helped. From his comfy carseat.

Isn't he just adorable? Of course, he didn't sleep for long. He's been waking up every hour or so and screaming for more milk. Maybe another growth spurt? Or maybe just one of those days?

After supper and after Emily cleaned up her room, we went outside to play for a few minutes. It has been so much cooler the last couple days that I thought it would be a fun time. But Noah didn't really agree. I don't know if he was too cool or what, but he was a bit fussy while we were out there.

So back inside we went where Emily watched another episode of the Brady Bunch before bed.

It was a busy afternoon, but we always have a good time together. Now if I could just get some more rest tonight, I would be in good shape. Noah has been waking up at around midnight and again around 3am. I'm up for about an hour each time so that does not leave much time for sleep at night.

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Rain and Cooler Temps

This morning brought rain and cooler temps to our area. Unfortunately, it brought A LOT of rain and heavy rain at that. I was really concerned about how to get Emily into school while keeping her and Noah as dry as possible.

When I told Emily that it was raining, she went and put on her jacket and a pair of black gloves with pearls on them. And she grabbed a bath towel, her baby doll plus some extra clothes for her and several other things. All that along with her backpack and lunchbox was almost more than she could carry. I told her that she was not going to be able to carry all that out to the car with her.

When we got ready to go out to the car, I put a blanket over Noah's carseat and grabbed his diaper bag. Emily wore her jacket and took her backpack and lunchbox and her doll. But she didn't want to go out into the rain. I was trying to carry all my stuff and close the door and every time I turned around I kept bumping into her. Argh! By the time we made it to the car, I was soaking wet.

The rain had let up a little bit by the time we got to the school. Today was supposed to be Emily's snack day, show 'n tell and line leader day. But the teacher said that they had a new student and a birthday so the days got switched. Emily got to do her show 'n tell today since she brought it, but her snack day and line leader day will be tomorrow.

When Noah and I got home, we ate breakfast and then took a long morning nap. We went to sleep around 9am and woke up at about noon. That was a good nap and much needed by both Mama and Noah. I'd say that was the highlight of our day.

Here are a few pictures of Emily and Noah from yesterday. This is before we left for school.

See how nice and neat Emily looks before school?

She looks nothing like that when she gets home. I wish I had an "after" picture.

But she is still a beautiful girl. She just plays really hard at school.

And here's a picture of little man today when he was swinging in his swing. He's using Emily's old swing. I'm glad we saved it!

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Water, Water Everywhere

Last week, we had a plumber come out to check out a leak that was causing water to accumulate outside our house. We thought this leak was coming from the kids bathroom, most likely the bathtub.

The plumber checked it out and found out that the water accumulating outside the house was actually from the air conditioner unit. He dug around and found a condensation pipe that was the source of the water.

So, help! What do we do to get rid of all this water? How do we keep it from coming back? He said something about getting a can for it to drain into, but I don't know.

The white pipe in the middle of the screen is what I'm talking about.

Do you see the frog under the water on the left side of this picture? And I have no idea what that thing is right beside the white pipe. Maybe a dead mouse????

So tell me what you think. Plumbing and heat & air is SO not my thing!

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Lactation Consultation

This morning after I dropped Emily off at school, Noah and I went to the hospital for our lactation consultation. Noah weighed 6lbs 9oz today. That means he's gained 5 ounces since we were at the doctor's office last week. This is perfect!

After watching Noah nurse, she said that he was doing a great job. He just has a hard time controlling his tongue (just like his big sister?) Sometimes his tongue pushes things out of his mouth when he doesn't want it to. It's just something that will get easier for him as he gets older and his muscles get stronger. The doctor mentioned this a couple weeks ago too in relation to his pacifier. By the time he's about 6 weeks old, he'll be a lot better at controlling his pacifier.

As far as my milk supply goes, she said that it's true that he has been eating more than I'm producing but it's not really too bad at this point. She said it could be because he's taking so long to eat that my milk does not have enough time to build back up between feedings. She gave me some information on an herbal supplement that I can try to increase my milk supply.

I tried a fenugreek supplement when Emily was a baby, but I didn't think it helped much. I'm hopeful that this new formula will work better, but I don't want to get my hopes up. If it does not work, I may be able to get a prescription for Reglan from my doctor. That did work with Emily, but I only took it for about a week.

Either way, I'll give Noah as much milk as I have. Every little bit will help him grow.

Other than our appointment today, we did not do much else. Noah and I got home at about 1:30pm and then had to pick up Emily from school between 2:45 and 2:55pm. I didn't get to talk to Emily's teacher this afternoon, but I hope to be able to tomorrow. I like to be able to speak with her whenever I can and see how things are running in Emily's class. This is a special time while I'm off work and able to do this so I really want to make the most of it.

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By The Numbers

I'm sorry my blog posts have been so wordy lately. After I put up a new post, I always let Mike know so that he can read it. I am always amazed that it takes me so long to write it, but it takes him only a minute or two to read it. And I usually think of a thing or three that I forget to say every time I post.

Tonight I thought I would attempt to be brief (for my sake and yours!)

So, By the Numbers ...

Sleeping

6 - Noah slept over 6 hours straight last night, from 9:30pm to 4:00am. When Mike woke up at 7:30am, he woke me up and asked if Noah ever woke up during the night. This reminds me to never leave my kids with Mike at night if he's planning to be asleep at all.

2 - Newly purchased swaddle blankets to match the swaddle blanket that I used last night and may have contributed to Noah's longer sleep time.

Feeding

2 - Ounces of breastmilk + 1 ounce of formula = 3 hours on average between feedings.

3 - Ounces of formula + 0 ounces of breastmilk = a huge spitup for Noah. Not a good idea.

Entertainment

71 - Brady Bunch re-runs that Emily likes to watch = Lots of Laughter at our house.

2 - Brady Bunch songs on CD in the car, repeat repeatedly.

6 or 7 - George Strait songs, for the kids of course.

School

20 - Snacks for the Kindergarten class on Tuesday.

1 - Show and Tell Item for Tuesday (possibly, a pink laptop computer).

1 - Line leader for the day named Emily, also Tuesday.

1 - B.E.E notebook (Bring Everything Everyday) that will contain daily papers and notes from the teacher.

1 - Pair of new Skecher shoes for school.

5 - New fall outfits, Thank you Nanny!

Mama

16 - Days Postpartum.

5 - Pounds below pre-pregnancy weight, and still dropping.

1 - Sore incision line, especially first thing in the morning and at the end of each day.

1 - Ring finger that started hurting on Friday. Still swollen yesterday, but back to normal today. Still no idea what caused it to hurt.

1 - Blessed lady. So thankful for my sweet family.

Family Day

4 - Wonderful family members.

10 - People met us for lunch at Outback Steakhouse today.

2 - Kids to Nanny's house while Mom and Dad tackled Wal-mart. Thanks, Nanny!

100 - Dollars spent although we only had a few things on our list. Why does this always happen?

4 - More episodes of Brady Bunch.

3 - Loads of laundry.

1 - Delicious dinner.

1 - Easy bedtime for Emily (We love to see that improvement!)

1 - Early morning tomorrow and a busy day.

Good Night!

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Rewards

After our difficult day at home last Monday, Mike told Emily that he would buy her a whole banana split all to herself if she would listen to Mama and be a good helper the rest of the week.

On a side note - You might remember that we have our behavior chart on a dry erase board in the kitchen. Someone came to visit us this week and commented on all the red X's that Emily had beside her name on Monday. It was really a hard day.

Since school started on Thursday, she also had to follow the rules at school and not get her color moved in order to claim her reward. They use a "light" discipline system in her class this year. If she stays on green, then she is displaying good behavior. If she gets moved to yellow or red, then she's not following the rules and doing the right thing. They used a similar system last year in Pre-K and she never got moved off of green. We are expecting the same thing this year.

And true to form, Emily was much better the rest of the week. She earned her allowance every day this week besides Monday and she didn't get moved off green at school.

So this evening, we took Emily to Braums for her banana split. I fully intended to take pictures of the dish before she started eating it, but it was already starting to melt and make a mess so I just let her dig in.

Her Dad had a great idea and gave her a straw to use to drink up some of the melted stuff. That worked a lot better than the spoon. And she eventually found the banana at the bottom of the dish. She enjoyed her banana split very much. You can tell because she has chocolate all over her face! She even shared a bit with Mama and Daddy.

Tonight, Emily is spending the night with Nanny and Poppa so that she can go to Sunday School with them in the morning. We had been talking this up all week in hopes that she would agree to spend the night. And this morning, she confirmed that she would. But she made sure I knew that "she would come home tomorrow." And she kept telling me that she would miss me. I miss her too!

And you know this little cutie misses her too. He was napping in his pack 'n play this afternoon and I caught him sleeping with his hand behind his head. When I nap in my recliner, I sometimes put my hand behind my head like that too.

He wore a dinosaur onesie with some navy pants this afternoon. He looked like such a big boy wearing a shirt and pants instead of a stretchie/sleeper. He's been wearing a knit hat when he sleeps at night and I think that's so cute too. He's pretty good at leaving it on his head. Now if we could just get him to leave his socks on ...

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Twos

Two Weeks

This morning, Mike and I took Noah to his two-week doctor's appointment. Noah weighed 6lbs 4oz and was 19 inches long. His weight, height and head circumference were all in the 5-10th percentile on the growth chart.

I told Dr. K that my milk supply has not been able to keep up with Noah's needs in the last few days and I asked him if he thought it would benefit us to spend some time with a lactation consultant. He said he thought it would be worth our time because any breast milk that Noah gets is better than none. If he gets 30% breast milk, then that's 30% benefit.

When the hospital called to schedule our appointment, I tried to get one with the lactation consultant that we saw in the hospital but she only works on the weekends and the weekend ladies only see in-patients. I hope whoever we see next week is as good as the one who helped us in the hospital.

Two Days

Today was also Emily's second day of Kindergarten. When I dropped her off this morning, she gave her teacher another hug. She came home this afternoon and said that she had a good day. She brought home two pictures that she had drawn and they were both pictures of Emily, Noah, Mama and Daddy. And they both said LOVE. I guess she does think about us during the day.

This evening, I noticed that Emily's lunch box already has a rip in the back of it. I have no idea how that happened within the first two days of school. I guess these companies just don't make quality products any more. How sad.

We'll have to figure out our morning schedule for next week when Mike is back at work. Newborns can have such unpredictable schedules. It will be hard to make sure Noah is satisfied before we have to leave for school. He can be such a slow eater. This could be a problem if we're pressed for time.

Two Wonderful Children

And look at those perfectly kissable cheeks!

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Kindergarten Begins

So today was Emily's first day of Kindergarten. It's hard to believe that I have a child old enough to be in Kindergarten now.

We prepared as much as we could last night before we went to bed. Emily picked her first day outfit (with a bit of guidance from Mom) and we discussed options for our lunch box. We did anything we could think of to help the first morning go smoothly.

Thankfully, Daddy was home to help us this morning. He fixed breakfast for Emily and helped her with her clothes.

Even though Noah's schedule was not the best, we were able to make it to school on time. Emily was a bit hesitant when we got to her classroom. I was a little worried about her, but then she went up to her teacher and gave her a big hug. Mrs. B said "Thank you, that's just what I needed this morning!" And I knew the would be fast friends.

I think it was just a bit of first day jitters combined with the fact that she really enjoys staying home with mom and baby brother. When we were getting ready to leave, her dad gave her the I Love You sign and she made sort of a sad face. But when we went to pick her up, she said "Mama, I love Kindergarten."

Here are some pictures of Emily on her first day of Kindergarten. I don't know why I didn't think to have her put on her backpack. That would have been perfect.

And, seriously, I did not know her hair looked this bad close up. I swear I had my contact lenses in when I fixed her hair this morning. She is still a beautiful girl though! (Aunt Heather, check out her shoe choice! We need to go shoe shopping this weekend so that we won't get the silver sparkle shoes messed up at school.)

This afternoon, we had a visit from Aunt Charlene, Kim, Brynlee and Sarah. They stopped by to love on baby Noah a little bit. Kim, it was great to see you! It was nice to be able to chat with someone who's been in a similar situation. Can't wait until the next time you come to visit.

Tomorrow is the second day of Kindergarten and Noah has his two-week doctor's appointment in the morning. It's going to make our schedule even more difficult, but we'll make it work somehow. I am very glad that Mike is going to be home with us again tomorrow. It just makes things run so much smoother when he's here.

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Last Day Before School Starts

Today was the last day at home before school starts for the year. Emily and I had some things to do to get ready for school. We had to fill out all the forms that we picked up at Meet the Teacher Night and we had to write her name on all her school supplies. I am STILL working on sharpening all the pencils. To tell you the truth, I'm lucky I could even find a pencil sharpener! Too bad it still doesn't work very well.

Noah has had a good day today. He has been eating allll day long though. I have figured out that he'll be happy if I feed him enough. I just hope I can keep up with him!

This morning, I wanted to take Emily's picture with Noah.

And she wanted to take my picture with Noah. 'Scuse the face. I did get my shower before this, but that was about it.

And then she wanted to take a bunch of pictures of Noah while I pumped. And I do mean a bunch. She took about 35 pictures today I think.

She wanted to make sure she got a picture of his feet. I think she did a pretty good job all things considered.

So tomorrow we'll have to get up bright and early and be ready to go to school by 8am. I don't know how that's going to work with Noah's unpredictable schedule. We'll just have to do the best we can.

Thankfully, Mike has taken off work tomorrow for the first day of school and on Friday for Noah's two-week doctor's appointment. It will be very nice to have some reinforcements around the house during the day. Maybe I will actually get a nap! Wouldn't that be nice?

Hmmm ... that's a wonderful thought.

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Baby Blue

Today was the second day home alone with two kiddos. Thankfully, the night went better last night. It started out rough and I ended up being up with Noah for about an hour and a half, but then he slept for about 4 hours.

Emily was up before 7am again today, but I convinced her to lay in my bed until about 7:45am. She said "get up" at least 150 times, but I didn't move. My strategy is to lay with my back to her so as not to encourage conversation.

Noah woke up while Emily and I were having breakfast. He was fussy and hard to settle most of the day. He took two decent naps, but fussed most of the rest of the day unless he was nursing. I'm thinking maybe he is going through a growth spurt right now? I don't know. Babies are hard to figure out sometimes.

My shower even got interrupted this morning. Noah had been asleep in his pack and play for about 15 minutes and I told Emily to come get me if he woke up. Sure enough, as soon as I lathered up my hair she came in there and told me that he was crying. *sigh* Better luck next time.

As I mentioned last night, we had Meet the Teacher Night at school tonight. We went and found Emily's classroom and her teacher will be Mrs. "B". Emily was excited to find out that her friend Jayden is going to be in her class again this year. And their kindergarten class is going to have a pet frog. Emily was not-so-thrilled about that one. Emily wouldn't tell Mrs. B her name either. She was being shy tonight and squeezing my hand really hard as we were talking to the teacher.

Noah did good while we were at the school. We put his carseat in the stroller and he just wheeled around like he owned the place. He slept most of the time. Emily's teacher didn't say anything about him, but the principal and the school secretary ooh'd and ahh'd over him and I heard a couple people comment that "he's so little" as we walked by.

When we got home, Noah woke up and wanted to eat (again). After he ate, it was time for his nightly "Daddy Time." Mike likes to sing to Noah. He often sings "Baby Blue" by George Strait.

This is a picture of Mike and Noah rocking and singing. My two handsome men!

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Daddy's Home!

And I could not be more thankful. The kids and I had a good day at home, but it was long and tiring.

It started with a long night last night. Mike made the comment this morning before he left for work that he thought I was up with Noah every hour during the night. I blew it off at the time, but the more I thought about it the more I think it was true. The only hour I am not sure about is the 3am hour.

If it was not one thing during the night, it was another. He ate twice during the night, had several diaper changes (but none involving an entire outfit change, thankfully), one false alarm with the Angelcare monitor (more on this later!!!), and several pacifier emergencies. All that added up to be a very long night for Mama.

Noah last ate from 4:45am to 5:30am, Mike left for work at about 6:15am, and Emily woke up and came into my room at about 6:30am. I convinced her to lay down in my bed so that I could doze until about 7:30am. Then Noah started crying because he had a dirty diaper, but after that he went back to sleep until about 9:15am.

After his "breakfast", I sat him in his boppy seat for a few minutes and Emily laid down beside him to show him how to play her Nintendo.

At first, he looked a little scared ...

But then I think he was really getting into the lesson ...

And then maybe a little bit back to confused ...

But the two of them sat on the floor like this for probably about 15 minutes without much fussing at all.

Noah seems to have a hard time sleeping after lunch time. It seems like he wants to sleep, but he just keeps waking up. I tried to keep him awake for a while after he ate, but that did not seem to work very well.

Emily did not take a nap today which means I didn't take a nap today either. She came out of her room at least 5 times during naptime. I was really really hoping she would cooperate with naptime today. I prepared her ahead of time for what was going to happen. Noah and I played in her room with her before it was time to take her nap and did a countdown until naptime. But still, she chose to disobey. *sigh*

But even with the disobedience, this day was not a total loss. I managed to get a shower, do some laundry, and have dinner in the oven by the time Daddy got home from work. Dinner was some spaghetti pizza that Emily and I had pre-made and frozen. All I had to do was heat it up and brown it in the oven. But it was good! And even better, we have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow night.

Tomorrow night we have "Meet the Teacher" night at Emily's school. This is going to be a little difficult for me because I will have to get Emily and myself dressed by the time Mike gets home and somehow manage to have Noah's feeding schedule match our schedule for the night. Good luck with that, right? My only saving grace is that Meet the Teacher night is open for a two-hour time period. So we'll plan to get there when the doors open, but it's okay if we're up to two hours late. Ha!

So that's how my first day at home with two kids went. Despite the frustration, I would call the day a success. Now if I can just get some sleep tonight, we'll be on path for a good day tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

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Huggies, what is your deal?

While we were in the hospital, they provided us with Pampers newborn diapers. These were fine, but they came up a little high near his umbilical cord stump and we were constantly having to fold them down on the top.

I always used Pampers when Emily was a baby and I liked the way they performed very well. But I had heard some bad stories about the new formulation of the Pampers diapers. I heard that it caused a lot of diaper rash and irritation in some infants. This weighed heavily on my mind because nobody wants their infant to have any type of discomfort if it can be prevented.



When we got home, we switched to Huggies newborn diapers. Within the first few days of being home, we noticed that the diapers often leaked. They leaked urine out the sides and they leaked poop out the top and around the legs.



This leakage happened multiple time a day and I think just about every night since we've been home. The other night, Noah woke up with a wet bed three different times. I'd had ENOUGH. Noah hates having his diaper changed and it's worse when we have to change all his clothes and the bed at the same time.

And on top of that, Noah has had diaper rash since we have been home. We had been using Desitin on it, but our pediatrician recommended Aquaphor ointment. Both creams helped a little, but neither cleared up the rash completely.

So last night when we went to the store, we bought a big box of Pampers newborn diapers. We started using them immediately when we got home. Noah had NO LEAKS during the night last night. He had one huge poop today that went all the way to the edge of the leg openings, but didn't come out of the diaper at all.

It's still too early to tell about the diaper rash situation, but I hope the new diapers help clear that up as well.

See you later, Huggies. I don't know what your deal is. Are your diapers not made to fit a 6lb 8oz baby?

Regardless, we're sticking with Pampers for now.

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First Visit to Nanny and Poppa's House

Noah made his first visit to Nanny and Poppa's house. We more or less worked all afternoon to get out of the house and finally left home at around 5:30pm. Yeah, we'll have to get quicker with that. But it was a good day - I showered, fixed my hair AND put on some makeup.

Nanny and Poppa watched Emily and Noah while Mike and I went to Walmart. We had to get some new diapers (more about this tomorrow) and a few other things. We were going to take Emily with us, but she said she wanted to go with her little brother. Aww, melt mama's heart.

This is Noah getting buckled into his carseat for the trip.

He did really well in the car and slept the whole way. He was good at Nanny and Poppa's house too. He didn't fuss except when he had his poopy diaper. Emily was good too. She kept hugging and kissing on her brother.

We made it all the way home before Noah had to have his dinner. I hope he continues to like riding in the car.

Tomorrow is my first day at home alone with two kiddos. Please pray for me! I know I can do it, but I am sure it will take some juggling. Emily always seems to need something as soon as I start feeding Noah. She's going to have to learn to be patient and wait until I'm done. Overall, she is a good helper though.

Mike said that if I need him to come home and help me, all I have to do is give him a call. I hope I can make it through the day without having to resort to that though. The weather is supposed to be cooler tomorrow so we might be able to go outside and play for a little bit if we need a change of scenery.

I'll try to update tomorrow to let you know how it went.

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Being Real

My mom has been staying with us for the past week. She came up the night before we went into the hospital for Noah's birth and has been staying with us since then. She has helped us with everything - cooking, cleaning, laundry, baby care, mommy care, girlie playmate, expert advice giver and the list goes on.

Today was the day she had to go home and we already miss her. I will admit that I have cried a lot this afternoon and evening. It was time for her to go home and I am fine with that. I will definitely miss having her around. But I also know that things will be more difficult here at home for the next few days as we try to figure out how to live together as a family of four.

Thank you, Mom for everything you have done for us in the last week. We really appreciate everything you have done to make this transition easier on us. We had a lot of fun and we can't wait until next time you come to visit.

I wanted to share a few pictures with you that Mom and I took this morning before she left. We wanted to get some pictures of Emily too, but she wasn't ready to have her picture taken yet. We'll have to work on that another day.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. For now, we're off to bed. Midnight will come too quickly.

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Noah - One Week Old

It's hard to believe that Noah is already one week old. He is such a good baby. He eats about every 4 hours and sleeps much of the time in between. He has a few periods of wakefulness during the day and loves to look around and listen to people talk to him.

He likes having his bottom patted, but he hates the hiccups and having his diaper changed. Anything to do with his diaper is just the worst thing ever in his little world! He is a good eater, but he's slow. He will get faster as he grows bigger, but right now I will just enjoy this special time with him.

In the evenings, he usually has Daddy time where he will curl up on Daddy's chest and listen to Daddy talk or sing to him. I love watching them together. It is so sweet.

Sometimes Daddy even does double duty where he'll hold both kids and talk to them. Isn't he just a rock star???

On Wednesday, we had to take Noah to the doctor for his newborn checkup. I was worried about having to walk so far to the doctor's office, but Mike helped me with everything I needed. He got the stroller out of the car, got Noah out of the car and handled everything for me.

The doctor said that Noah was looking good. He weighed 5lbs, 14oz which was 1oz smaller than when we left the hospital. Dr K thinks this is the bottom of the plateau and his weight should start coming back up now that my milk is coming in.

Noah has a couple spots of baby rash that we can treat with Neosporin ointment. Other than that, he's doing great. He's eating right on schedule and having plenty of wet and dirty diapers every day.

After we got out of the doctor's office, we went back home to feed Noah. Then Mama and Daddy went out for a little lunch date. We went to Mazzio's pizza for the lunch buffet. Here, again, Mike took care of everything I needed. He got my pizza for me and refilled my drink. Then we went over to Best Buy to find something for Emily for being such a good helper. While we were in the store, I noticed that I was beginning to walk slower and slower. My pain medicine had pretty much worn out and it was hard to get around.

Speaking of my pain medicine, one of the prescriptions that I take makes me very drowsy. I have been blessed to have my mom here for the past week so I have been getting some extra rest during the day. But I was realizing today that I will be home alone caring for two small children next week and I will have no room in my schedule for extra naps. So I am going to have to somehow wean myself off the heavy pain medication before Monday. I am sure I will need all my resources to make it through the first few days.

I am going to try to do better with updating my blog. I want to do a better job updating, but it is hard to choose computer time over sleep time. And I am sure that part will just get harder as we move into the next few weeks.

So ya'll just pray for me and I'll continue to do the best that I can.

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Emily's Little Brother

Well, we've been home from the hospital with Noah for a couple days now. We got to go home on Sunday evening. Nanny and Pops brought us some fajitas for supper and some pain medicine for me. Both were much appreciated!

Noah has done well at home. He's eating and sleeping well. Right now, he usually goes between 3.5 and 4 hours between meals. We go to the doctor in the morning for our newborn checkup so we'll see if he's gaining well or if we will need to start waking him up to eat. He got down to 5lbs, 15oz in the hospital before we went home. That's well within the normal range, but we want him to grow!

Emily has done well since we got home too. She is SO excited to see Noah when she wakes up in the morning and likes looking at him in his crib. She helps with diaper changes and feedings and any other way she can think of. At diaper changes she holds his hand and gives him his paci and says "it's okay baby Noah, it's okay". Soooo sweet.

The first time Emily saw Noah was when they wheeled us by on the bed after surgery. Pops held her up and she looked really unsure about the whole thing. My mom said she seemed to be surprised at how small he was.

This is a picture of Emily holding Noah right after we got to our hospital room. He was maybe an hour or two old in this picture. I think it is just adorable how she is holding him so tight and snuggling him with her cheek.

It looks to me like whatever reservations she had about him were long gone by this point.

This afternoon, Emily helped with Noah's first sponge bath at home. Of course, she wanted to put every kind of baby product on him imaginable - baby oil, baby lotion, baby powder. She did a good job helping and talking to him during his bath.

He was not really excited about taking his first bath at home, but he did really well. He smelled so sweet and clean when we were done.

He must have felt really good because he took a long nap in Daddy's arms after that.

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