Rolling over

My sweet little girl rolled over for the first time today! How is this possible? Why does she think this is okay behavior?

Wyatt was 6 weeks the first he did and here she is just 4 weeks old acting all big and bad. Slow down baby girl, you're only a baby for a little while.

Keeping up with Claire: Week 4

 

I love her sweet little feet.

And this precious little profile.

Oh, and Miss Priss can rock a bow in her beautiful hair.

 

Claire 1 month

Claire is 1 month old!

 

 

 

-You weigh close to 10lbs

-You are wearing 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diaper

-You are eating 3-4oz every 3 hours with a little Karo syrup in your bottle

-You are waking up once during the night for a feeding

-We do a dream feed about 10 or 11 and you will go 5 hours before needing to be fed again

-I'm looking forward to you sleeping through the night, but I am so thankful that you only wake once before you wake for the day

-Your wake time is getting longer!

-You are a Babywise baby just like your brother, the only difference is he was already making it all the way through the night by now. Your time will come!

-You take a paci, but spit it out as soon as you're asleep

-You love to be swaddled

-You are sleeping in your room in your swing since you are a little congested.

Never too big

He'll always be my baby... No matter how big he gets. I'll always want to rock him to sleep. To cuddle with him.

One day I will look back and wish I'd held him a little longer, just because I can.

Rare moments like this do still occur and I am so very thankful for them.

Two week checkup

You had your first doctors visit this past Friday. It was your "2 week" check up but occurred a week later.

You weighed 9lbs 6ozs and were 21 inches long. That puts you in the 75th percentile.

Your head measures in the 93%. That will be monitored, but chances are big heads run in the family. It just means me, you, and Wyatt have big brains!

Keeping up with Claire: Week 3

Such a girl.

By that I mean she is already doing a kissy-face.

 

And I caught her first real smiles!!

The Nitty Gritty

No, not Dirt Band and Fishin' in the Dark even though I'd like to be...

I'm all about honesty, especially when it comes to the ole blog. I want to remember these first few weeks of what having two babies is like, no matter how hard they have been...

This week has been the real deal when it comes to how tough having two under two really is. At times, I have it completely together. Wyatt is in a good mood and Claire is staying awake longer and eating/sleeping well. Laundry is getting done and my teeth are getting brushed. At other times, I feel like my world has been turned upside down.

It's tough. Plain and simple.

And since we are being honest, there are days when I want to run away. Don't get all judgey on me either. Unless you've done the two under two yourself, in that case judge away friends. Judge away. But Sarah, you chose this you're thinking. Yes, I did. But, like with your first born, no one can truly express how it's going to be until you are personally experiencing it. Now back to running like Forrest. This doesn't happen on Saturday or Sunday because I have an extra set of hands. But the days I am alone I cry more than a teenage girl who has been broken up with for the first time. Ugly cries. Okay, so it's not ugly cries, but they do make me feel ugly. They are the "movie" cries. Yes, that's more accurate. And it seems to only be when I have two crying babies next to me. One is hungry and one just wants me to do something with him. That's the hard part... Not getting to do something with Wyatt. I hate telling him just a minute baby or can you wait just a second? I want to be able to drop everything and help him put in a cd when he can't quite get it to snap in there. I want to be able to let him do his laundry as soon as the dryer starts beeping at us, but a lot of the the time I cannot and crying ensues. Oh the crying. His fits didn't bother me before Claire, but now? My word they infuriate me and crush me at the same time. I tell him I'm sorry a lot.  He clearly doesn't understand though, but I desperatly wish that he did. I want him to know I'm sorry I'm busy. Sorry I have to put his needs on a back burner temporarily. Tough stuff I'm telling you! There are times I want to immediately pick up my sweet little newborn when she's crying ready for a bottle, but I also want to enjoy the time that I get to rock Wyatt to sleep for his nap since it only happens once a day. (He prefers his daddy at night.) She has cried more than Wyatt ever did as a newborn due to me fixing Wyatt lunch or changing his diaper. I know she will never know a difference, but it still hurts my heart.

Spreading my love between two kids is easy. Spreading my time between two is a little more challenging.

I want to soak up every minute of Claire's newborn stage and enjoy the last two months of Wyatt being a 1 year old, but at times I don't know how.

I think I have absolutely terrified Ryan a few times when he has come home and all three of us were crying. He has even asked me if I needed to go see my doctor. He's not the best at "talking" about emotions and what have you, but he does know what makes me happy. Presents! He brought me these home yesterday:

 and asked if I liked them if I liked them. Of course I did, but I said yah, but where am I supposed to wear them. Ha, I'm such a turd. He loves me still though I guess. He probably thinks I have PPD. I think I have the baby blues. I didn't have them with Wyatt. With Wyatt I was simply overwhelmed and cried when he was leaving to go back to work. How dare he leave me alone with a newborn! This time though I think I crave adult interaction even more. Someone to just sit with me. Someone to entertain my other child. I know the days will get easier, but my word right now I'd love to go back to work. Yep, I said it. Don't get me wrong I love my babies and being home with them, but right now I feel run ragged even though I'm getting way more sleep that I did in those first few weeks with Wyatt.

I know a day will come when the clouds will part, birds will sing, and life will be easy again.

I'm ready for that. I truly am. But I'm also not ready to wish away some of the best days of my life. The days where I do have two in diapers and I get to capture sweet moments like this...

 

 

Being a mom to one was easy, but not near as fulfilling as being a mom to two. (For me.)

7 away

I'm 20 days post-partum. I'm 7 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. It's apparent the weight isn't going to come off anymore on its own.

With Wyatt, I was back to my pre-baby weight 15 days after delivery. I didn't lift a finger trying to lose it either. It was magical.

Of course, I hoped for the same result this go around but I knew it wasn't happening deep down. I blame the fact that I've aged a tiny bit. Ha!

I've got 7 pounds to lose and a tummy to firm up. I have high hopes to look like this again:

I was actually 2 weeks pregnant with Claire unbeknownst to me.

I plan to run and dig out my P90X videos.

I probably need a running partner to make it easier on myself so if you want to join me, come on. I'm positive it will be a little bit harder to find the time to workout with two kids, but I'm determined to make it work.

Here's to working out.

Yah, I'm just as disgusted as you are.

So fresh and so clean

Dear Claire...Don't take it personally that you have Oreo in your hair. It's what all the cool cats are doing now days.

Oh who am I kidding? You just have a big brother that likes Oreos as much as his Daddy and likes to eat them while hovering over you.

 

It's all good though. Your belly button fell off (finally) yesterday so tonight you got a real bath. I feel like you are "really" clean now! And your belly button is mighty cute. I think your real bath wore you out though.

This is how I feel after my nightly shower too little love.

First outing with 2

First, I should note that the days of getting up an hour before I have to be anywhere are long gone. Realistically, I'm looking at waking up 2 hours before we have to be out the door. This saddens me more than anything I believe.

Do you see the fear? And thank goodness for self portraits or I would never have noticed my collar.

I had to take Wyatt to school on my own. Ryan's done it the past few times and I've thoroughly enjoyed it, but today I had to step up and be a big girl. I mean mom. We surprisingly did very well! No kids were lost, injured, or crying! I feel like I may be able to survive this mother of two thing. I believe it will get easier with time. I just had to get my feet wet.

After we dropped Wyatt off at school Claire and I went to see Daddy at work and then went to get my tires rotated since Ryan was threatening leaving me if I didn't get it done. We then visited Aunt Kylie and then headed to get Claire's newborn pictures done. She was a little toot at first and didn't want to fall asleep. Once she did I believe we got lots of good pictures of her!

We then grabbed some lunch and headed to get brother. Then...then I conquered Wal Mart with two kids. I didn't have a mental breakdown, but I did only leave with about 5 things. Milk, diapers, formula, a toy, and some fruit/veggie pouches. My cart was filled to the max! Someone please explain to me how you seriously grocery shop with two kids? If I'm doing real shopping you best believe it will only be with one kiddo.

Anyway, I survived the day and it felt sooo good to be outside of the house. We have a birthday party tomorrow. We are truly settling into our roles of parents of two. Woo! 

Keeping Up with Claire: Week 2

This sweet baby is pretty in pink!

I love when she gets a bath and has fluffy hair!

Valentine's Day

We had big plans for Valentine's Day this year. A big romantic dinner, tons of flowers, and a movie.

 

Oh, that was just a fantasy, right?

 

We actually planned to go eat breakfast this morning. Ryan was taking his Valentine and his two babies out to a lovely breakfast and it was going to be great.

 

Key word there: Was.

 

Claire was very congested last night. It was pitiful. We both felt so bad for her. We would hear her sneezing and just trying harder than what she should to be breathing clearly. It sucked, frankly.

 

We woke up way later than what we had intended. Read: not enough time to get myself and two babies ready for breakfast on time and Ryan to work at a reasonable hour.

 

I threw myself a pity-party.

 

Oh well...that's real life. Ryan's promised me (us) a breakfast date on Saturday morning and I've pretty much vetoed it. He is so lucky to be married to me, no?

 

As Ryan left me in tears, literally, to go to work I regrouped and decided it really was going to be okay.

 

I gave the babies their presents. Wyatt got some clothes, a watch, and some new shades. He is such a cool cat. Claire got some more clothes too, because that's just what she needed.

 

I should throw in there that we do still have a dog...one that got sick this morning...by sick I mean as Wyatt and I did laundry I came back into the living room only to see 4 puddles of puke and a sad little puppy sitting by the door. Poor guy. I know he was trying to get outside. He got extra lovin's today and not because it was Valentine's Day.

My little congested girl...I had her sleeping right under the humidifier and it helped her a ton. I even snuck in a nap right beside her. Don't tell Ryan.

CHEESE!

We played with our CD player alllll day today.

And my tiny love with her festive bow. We've got newborn pictures tomorrow. Hoping it goes well!

 

So there was our Valentine's Day. We enjoyed dinner being brought to us and it was good. I'm going to miss getting dinner from church members. That ends next week...then we may try enlisting some grandparents. Ha!

 

Hope your day was filled with lots of love!

22 months old

-weigh 34ish lbs
-34.5 inches tall
-size 6 diaper
-size 2/3T shirts and 24mo bottoms and size 9 shoes
-are completely obsessed with Daddy. you love to scream DADDY when he isn't in sight. you also cry when he leaves.
-love laundry and doing dishes
-sleep 12 at night a take one 2-3 hour nap a day
-learning new words everyday
-became more attached to your paci.
- you love Scout even more than you used to
-favorite food is red beans and rice with sausage
- the biggest thing, is your new baby sister! you have taken to her so well and you love to hold her. We are so, so proud of you and how easily you adjusted to her!

I wish I was a little bit taller

I think, on average, most men wouldn't care to be a little bit taller than what they already are. Even just a few inches in height would make such a difference. Yah, I don't get it either. Strangely enough, this starts at a very early age. Did you know that? My almost 22 month old is already sharing his desire to be taller than what he is.

We were at Mimi and Pawpaw's house when we decided to see how tall Wyatt was. My dad cannot wait for him to be 3 ft tall by age 2 because you know he'll be at least 6 feet tall. (See above paragraph.) I put him against the wall that already has a little mark where he has been mearsured before. As soon as I got him straight against the wall and made a little mark he immediately started inching up on his tip-toes. See!

We all got a good laugh about it. I guess my little man wants to be 6'4" like his Pawpaw!

My new normal starts tomorrow

This week my "real" life starts. I will be staying at home with two kids. Two babies. To say that I'm nervous would probably be an understatement.

I've had it pretty easy the past week. Ryan has been home with me and has been a huge help around the house. He started out with a bang early in the week when we arrived home with Claire and has actually began to slowly taper off in the "chores'' he has been doing. I can't say that I blame him. House work sucks. Picking up after a nearly 2 year old sucks. Running on just a little bit of sleep sucks. We've even been wanting to punch each other in the face here and there simply because that's what happens when you have been together for 11 days straight. Or at least it is us. Not to mention the lack of normal amount of sleep doesn't help at all. I don't want to wish away Claire's newborn stage. At all. I guess I have Wyatt to thank for making me patient over the last 22 months because I know that this time I have a whole lot more than I did when he was an  itty bitty baby.

Tomorrow, my extra set of hands return to work. Someone has to bring home the bacon...That leaves me with two little mouths to feeds and two little bottoms to wipe. I'm nervous how I'm going to handle not being able to ask for help at any second. I'm nervous how I'm going to handle two crying babies. I know it can be done because mommies do it everyday. It's normal to be slightly terrified right? Somebody please tell me yes. I will so desperately look forward to lunch time when Ryan will come home. This is my new normal though. I am so fortunate to be able to be home while my babies are in fact babies. I just ask though, that if you read this, you take a little minute to say a tiny prayer for me. Please?

I've got lots of this coming ahead...can't possibly complain!

Should we tell her?

It would be only right to tell Claire that she will likely be spending an unnecessary amount of time in the laundry room while her big brother does his chores. Am I correct? Poor thing. If she is obsessed with laundry like he is we are going to get rid of it and pay for it to be done because it's smooth wearing us all out.

She's already thinking, seriously??

Keeping up with Claire: Week 1

I did a weekly post with Wyatt..."Weekly Wyatt" if you'll remember. I'm so happy I did that because I LOVE to look back from week to week. I've naturally decided to do the same with Claire for the first year, along with her monthly updates.

Well, sweet baby Claire is 1 week old. (If you can think of a catchy title let me know. My brain is mush.)

At 1 week old she is doing the normal newborn stuff: eating, sleeping, and filling up diapers. Mostly sleeping though. I forgot how much newborns slept and am currently trying to figure out how in the heck I didn't feel well rested with Wyatt. Then I remember I stared at him nonstop. Fearful something would happen to him. Second babies are sooo much easier. I kid you not. But, that's a whole post in itself.

I vow, now, to not let each weekly picture be an iPhone pic!

Big brother and little sister

Wyatt had been with my mom since our appointment. I think it killed her that she wasn't at the hospital while her baby was having baby, but because she had Wyatt I think it made it less painful for her.

I truly wanted Wyatt to be the first one to meet his little sister and that's exactly what happened. I am so happy that everything went so smoothly and he arrived shortly after Claire had.

Mom brought him in and we introduced him. She was crying when he got there and he just looked at her confused. I think he also realized that there was a lot going on around him and being in a new place just wanted to explore a little. We got him to give her sugar.

I guess we couldn't really expect much from him considering he is still very much a baby himself, but I was so proud of him when he would give sissy sugar.

We tried to get him to hold her on his own. We set him in the chair and went to hand her to him and he immediately pushed her away. It was one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed him do and I honestly wish I had it on video. They set him in bed with me and handed us Claire and I think that's when he really took to her. He was so curious about her and all her little features. She got lots of pokes to the eyes and nose!

It was so sweet seeing them together. My heart was so full at that moment and I couldn't help but feel so proud of my big boy and my little girl.

The next day, Wyatt really took to Claire. He avoided her for about the first 15 minutes and actually cut eyes at Mimi twice while she was holding her. Once Nana got Claire he began to pay a little bit of attention and before we knew it was all about some Claire. He wanted to be a big boy and hold her all by himself. Sweetest thing EVER! I tried to take her away a couple of times but he would cry and say "mine!" I'm telling you nothing could have made me happier.

Once we got home that evening mom, dad, and Jason brought Wyatt over along with some dinner. Wyatt was still all about his sister. We had her in the bouncy seat and he would not quit giving her kisses and trying to lay with her. It made both of us so proud.

Last night was our first night home with both of our babies. We put Claire in the swing and Wyatt found her a present. I turned around and he had given her one of her firetrucks. I wanted to die right then. Then, this morning we got Wyatt out of bed and the first thing he did was come to our room, say hi to "bebe" (as she is so lovingly dubbed by him), gave her one of her stuffed animal, gave her Scout, and then started to swing her. He is such a great big brother already! We are so proud of him!!

Claire's birth story

Thursday I had a normal doctor's appointment. It was at 9:30 that morning so luckily we didn't have to wait long to see if I have progressed anymore. I was secretly hoping that I would be at least a 5. I was also hoping that if I was a 5 he would just send me to the hospital because things were starting to get even more painful than what they were downstairs.

I got checked and he said I was a 4-5! Yay for me! He asked if we had our bags packed already and we said packed, but not with us. He then asked if I wanted to have a baby today. Even better! I immediately said yes and he said to get dressed, go get our bags, and he'd call labor and delivery.

We were so excited. We got to the house and finished up our bags and got lovin's from Wyatt. I think this was when the wave of emotions hit me. My sweet baby was going to be a big brother. I shed some tears, but I knew everything was going to be okay.

We said goodbye to Wyatt and Mimi and headed to the hospital. We arrived at 11 and started the paperwork. We got to know our nurse and the Tech student who was helping out.

At 1:00 they started pitocin on me. I started feeling my contractions a little more, but it wasn't anything terrible. At 1:30 the doctor came in an broke my water and not 10 minutes later I was getting prepped to get my epidural.

I guess I had just completely forgotten all about then feeling of an epi, or maybe my first one was a lot smoother. The shot hurt, the electrical shock I felt in my left leg was strange, and all around just a different experience than the first one.

I got checked at 2:00 and was a 6 and an hour later they turned up my pitocin. It was seriously just a very long, boring afternon of watching tv. I told Ryan a couple of times how much I didn't like this part of it. I'm not one for patience. At 4:15 she checked me and I was a 9. She said she would be back in 45 minutes because she figured I would be ready to push by then.

I guess it was about 4:35 or so I started feeling my contractions.

I should back up and say that before she checked me and I was a 9 I noticed I had a ton of control of my legs and could feel me touching my lady parts, stomach, anything. I about started to freak out that I was going to feel everything. Then she checked me and I didn't feel that so I was feeling 100% about the actually delivery!

The strange thing about feeling my contractions was it was only on my left side and the top of my left pubic bone. Those suckers were starting to hurt. My dad and brother had come to check on me and were just hanging out. I was zero fun, mostly just a bia because I was hurting that bad. Finally, I told them they had to leave because I had to call the nurse. I had been watching the clock like a hawk and it was a couple of minutes after 5. Once I kicked them out, I called the nurse's station and told them I needed her to check me. She said she's be "right there." Big lie. It took her about 10 minutes to get into my room and during this waiting period I was shedding a few tears, saying some unlady like words, and just wishing my epidural had worked like Wyatt's.

When she finally got into the room, she apologized profusely and said they had an emergency right as soon as I called. (Which was later verified by my dad who saw her running down the hall as soon as he heard me call into the nurse's station.) She checked me and said the next time I felt a contraction to push and so I did. I pushed that one time and she told me to stop because it wasn't going to take long at all and Claire would be here. As soon as I finished my push the doctor came in and asked if it was time and the nurse said yes so they started prepping him. Then, the burse asked if I cared if the Tech students could watch. I said no, thinking it would be my Tech student from earlier and maybe another one. Wrong. It was my student, one I had seen earlier, the instructor, and 4-5 other students pouring into my room...all while I up in the stirrups. This is when I exclaimed I felt like a freak show. At least they all got a good laugh out it. They said they'd been waiting for a vaginal delivery all day, not c-sections like they had been having. I was their lucky patient. Ha! They gotta learn somehow.

Well, Ryan was to call my mom, his mom, and his dad when I started pushing. Remember I pushed for 2 hours with Wyatt so no one was getting too excited. Well by the time Ryan hung up the phone  I pushed a couple more time and she was here. Yep, a total of 4 pushes in less than 10 minutes.

It was awesome.

I could feel the contractions, the release of pressure during the pushes, everything. I loved it. I even said, I feel her down there and Dr. Escue goes well she's hanging out of you. Literally I looked down and saw he coming out.

The first thing he said was "Look at those cheeks!" The exact same thing he first said when he saw Wyatt. Too funny.

He then said hello to Claire and said we must mean eclaire. He's got jokes.

Ryan and I were both in shock with how much hair she had. We never expected her to have that much. Ever.

They cleaned her up and she weigh a big 8lb 5 oz and was 20 inches long. Our hearts were about to burst. It was such an amazing experience!! Now it was time to introduce big brother to her!