Checking up and in

We had J's two week check up today, she will be three weeks tomorrow but that is how they scheduled us- the girl is growing leaps and bounds. She gained an entire pound since her check up two weeks ago and is now coming in at 9lbs 2oz. She also grew another half inch, 20.5 inches long and her head grew 1/4 of an inch (14 1/4 circumference). The doctor was happy with everything and says that she is right on track.

If we put her on her tummy she will hold her head up, so strong! and when she is awake she is bright eyed and alert. She is sleeping really pretty well, waking up about 2, maybe 3 times a night to eat and be changed and has even taken a bottle from Daddy-O while I was out and about getting my teeth cleaned and finding jeans that will fit my bootie yesterday.

We are having a great time when O is home with us on the weekends and also on Tuesday and Wednesday each week. Today he is out with Daddy-O swimming (it is oddly hot out for autumn) and last weekend we tried to go on the train ride at a local park but here is what happened....







To say we weren't all a little disappointed that the engine jumped the tracks is an understatement. The ride is closed for the season and so we will have to wait until next summer to try it again. At least there is a playground next door to hang out at and swing and slide to take his mind off of it all.

blue and yellow make...

I have been wanting to get the paints out for MrO. for a very long time now. Since Little girl was sleeping and the weather seemed perfect for just a diaper and some paint, I got out the big sheets of paper and let him loose on the back patio.

The first dip. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to get his hands dirty.

Making his mark on the paper (doesn't it look like he is explaining his work here?)

Moving the paints around the work area, this was almost as much fun as painting for him it seemed.

It was all about the swirls and circles on this piece of work, he also worked only along the edges of the paper. So interesting to watch his process while he painted.

Making a mess and really getting into your art is where it's at.

First Day Of Autumn

What we did on the first day of autumn...

Turned two weeks old and slept-

she loves the K'tan sling and I do too.

 

Already sick of the mama-ratzi??

Fed some geese-

Daddy-O braving the goose bite

Tossing bread

Played at the playground-

We also did some painting,but I will share that in another post.
I'm a couple days late, but...

Happy Autumn Everyone!!!

the first week

Okay, if ever week is going to go by as this first week with the new little miss in the house I am going to need to figure out how to slow down time.  This new little girl is doing wonderful. She is really mellow, squeaks when she is hungry and only really cries if I can't get the milk out fast enough or if I have to changer her clothes. I was a little worried at first that we were going to have nursing problems. She kept spitting me out and not really eating on one side but after our first doctor's visit yesterday my fears were put to rest. She has already gained about 3 oz and grown half an inch! wow. slow down sister.

We are all adjusting a bit here and there. O is doing really well and just loves on her. Checking on her and bringing her little treasures like the flower at the top of her basket in the picture above. We have only had one real melt down and that was because I wouldn't(couldn't) pick him up to go downstairs yesterday morning. He literally climbed up my leg and onto my hip as I walked away from his teary eyed face. It broke my heart, but I really am not ready to pick up all 2ft 10inches and 26lbs of him quite yet. My body needs time to heal. We made up and read "Go Dog, Go" and drank some milk while snuggling on the couch.

I am slowly coming out of the haze, though I get overwhelmed here and there with it all I do feel like this time around is easier some how. Not sure if it is that I feel more confident as a mama or what, but it is nice to not feel like I am in such a 'baby tunnel' like last time.

ballooooons!!!

The weekend after Labor Day weekend is always marked with the Reno Balloon Races. We are lucky enough to have front row seats to this event every year. This year, like others, we watched dawn patrol from our bedroom window, and made trips out into the street to ooh-and-awww at the sight above the house. Sometimes they even wind up landing in the neighborhood. This year our niece was lucky enough to take a ride in one of the balloons that landed in the neighboring cul-de-sac.

Even though they get started so early, this is our favorite summer time event that Reno holds. It brings tears to my eyes watching those giant orbs bob along in the sunrise.

This year was no exception.

The story

I loved reading all the really amazing birth stories out there as I got closer to my due date-(Design Mom has a whole section of her blog dedicated to birth stories). They kept me going (especially as my EDD came and went). There is something about sharing the experience and remembering little parts of the day/night before the new one(s) arrive that is really amazing. So I am going to share how Deuce, aka Little J, came into the world. This is a story about birth so if you get squeamish at this sort of thing then just scroll thru to see the pictures and move along- if you are like me and love to hear the stories then keep reading...

~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the story

On Friday the third I had my 40wk doctor's appointment. I had been feeling a bit crampy and just really ready, but when the doctor checked me I was still at 1cm- the same as I had been for the past two weeks. She offered to induce me if I was wanting to be done, but I turned her down- As long as everything was checking out medically I really wanted this birth to start on it's own.( I found out via the Postpartum nurse staff, that Labor Day weekend had been crazy in the hospital, literally -labour day! they had to send home any gals that were there for non-medical inductions and only take they mamas who were coming in on their own- I guess both local hospitals had full beds too-so no overflow that way either!)

Saturday and Sunday were great, my Godparents came by with lunch one day, the neighbours in the cul-de-sac had a pot luck and we ran a few errands and did a few chores while hanging out around the house. I was having off and on mild contractions each night for about an hour straight, but then I would fall back asleep and wake up to nothing. My plug did start to let loose, so I had hopes that things were starting to move and we were getting closer.


Daddy-O photo

On Monday we woke up singing happy birthday to our little guy and spent the day celebrating his 2nd birthday. We spent lots of time playing with O and all of his recently acquired birthday toys (we are in matchbox car heaven over here!)That night we had some friends from down the street and my mom over for dinner and happy cakes. By the end of the day O was singing happy birthday to himself, so stinking cute.

Early in the morning on Sept 7th (around 2:30am) the night time contractions started back up again-just like they had the past few nights. When they kept up into the morning I decided to not go into work that day and just hang out around the house with the boys. I downloaded a 'contraction timer' on Andy's itouch and realized things were staying pretty regular at 6-10 minutes apart. Nothing that would really stop me in my tracks, but definitely knew that there was something going on. We called my mom and asked her if she would mind taking O for the evening, Wednesdays are one of her regular days to have him instead of daycare so it would work out for him to just be at her house. We had all of our stuff packed and ready to go to the hospital and around 6pm dropped off the boy at my mom's. We then realized that we had forgotten a few things, so we went back to our house. Daddy-O went upstairs to grab some stuff and I decided to get the dishes in the washer so I wouldn't come home to a dirty kitchen. About an hour had passed by at that point and I realized that things had just about stopped. What the heck, was tonight not going to be the night?

Andy suggested we take a walk to get things going again. I put on my shoes and we to saddled up the dog for a walk around the neighborhood. My mom and O had actually come back to our house to grab something we forgot to pack for him and I told my mom that we would just drop him off if things started to pick up once more.(we live about 2 minutes away in the car or a 10 minutes by foot) I was frustrated at that point- had the whole day been all in my head?


Daddy-O photo

We got O in his jammies around 7:30ish and he and I were sitting reading "Go Dog Go" when things started to pick back up. I had to get a few random questions in to him when I felt things start up- "what color is that car" as to avoid having to actually read the words on the page. Each time this would happen O would look at me and ask, "Is baby pushing you mama?" (he is so crazy intuitive sometimes.)

Around 8:30pm we decided to head into the hospital as things seemed to be picking up a bit and I felt like I should at least be checked for where I was at and where baby was at. I kept hearing stories about how fast the second one comes and didn't want to be in the car having the baby. ") We were monitored for about 2.5hrs and they said we could go home if we wanted. I was only about 3cm and no change from the time we had arrived to when they said it was okay to leave. I was really hungry all of the sudden and just wanted to eat one of the peaches that I had gotten at the store on Tuesday. I knew the hospital wouldn't let me eat anything once I was there so this was part of my motivation to head back home. (so silly when I think about it!) So we headed back to the house. As soon as we pulled into the driveway we realized that the garage door was not going to open for (the battery in the remote was dead and the keypad outside wasn't cooperating either) and neither of us had a key to the front door of the house. Our housemate was home, but is a champion sleeper and didn't hear us knocking or ringing the doorbell (or Cloe-dog barking her head off!) and so we had to break into our own house. (moment one that I probably won't forget about this birth)

Andy had to get the ladder from the side yard and slipped in thru a second story window (visions of me driving his broken body, while in labor, back to the hospital did flash thru my mind more than once as I watched him on the roof). Once we were in, we tried to settled in bed and got about 2 hours of sleep. Then all of the sudden I felt a punch and a large POP - my waters broke! I found my way into the bathroom and sort of got stuck sitting on the toilet shaking and not sure what to do next. I knew I wanted to get in the shower, but wasn't sure how to navigate myself there. Andy had gotten up long enough to turn the water on and then got back in bed (have I mentioned that he is not easy to rouse when he is tried? um yeah). I found my way into the shower to rinse off, but I was shaking like crazy and was really scared I would slip and fall. I yelled for Andy to come back in and help me out, then said it was time to go back. I asked him to grab a dress for me to pull on and when I picked one out he asked me, "your going to wear THAT?" I don't know if I said, "um, fashion police? really?" but I know I thought it. I just wanted something easy to pull on over my head and the green cotton dress looked so soft and light weight... (moment two that I will probably not forget, or let Daddy-O live down)


Daddy-O photo

We then headed back to the hospital (I should mention here we are only about 3 minutes away, so these back and forth trips aren't really that big of a deal). It was about 2am by this point and still shaking like mad,  not only with each toe curling wave, but between each one as well. I kept trying to breathe deep and keep my face 'soft' but... I was having a hard time. I couldn't find a position that made things any more comfortable. Andy rolled out the biggest wheel chair I had ever seen from the ER area and piled all of our stuff in the seat next to me. He got me about two steps and I made him stop because I was having another surge and the movement of the chair was making me motion sick. We finally made it up the elevator and to the L&D-

The nurse checked me again and I had progressed to about 5cm by that point. They got me set up with an iv and drew blood. I would have really liked to do this all natural but I decided to opt for an epidural. I just couldn't calm my body down from shaking and I was getting freaked out with the intensity of things. (This is where I bow down to all you ladies who did this birthing work w/o medication, I am awe). I kept thinking if this is what 5cm is like I am not sure if I can take 10cm.

We got back to sleep once the epidural set in for another 1.5 to 2 hrs. But around 4:30ish I just couldn't stop feeling like I needed to bare down and push. Plus my entire left side was asleep and I was really uncomfortable. (they had put me on that side in order to get a better reading on the baby's heart beat. I guess as soon as I was on my right they would loose the ability to monitor her correctly or her heart rate would just dip because of the position I was/she was in)


Daddy-O photo

I woke up Andy and told him I though I needed to push and/or just be moved so he went and got the nurse. About an hour later (with about half an hour/twenty minutes of pushing) Little J came flying (almost literally) out with a gush of fluid behind her at 5:33am. She made a little squeak and one of the nurses said, "It's a......GIRL" I looked up at Andy in total disbelief! They had to take her over and get a bunch of the fluid she had swallowed out and finally they put her on my chest. Once they finally handed her over to me (I had to ask a million times), she took to the breast right away and nursed and nursed. I love that part of those first moments.

She weighed in at 7lbs 15oz and was 19.5 inches long. Healthy and beautiful! Our pediatrician does his hospital rounds really early so he was in to see here by 6am (at only half an hour old!) and confirmed that she looked great.

We had a short list of names and one, that had just in the past few days, popped up that we really liked but weren't sure of. So she was just known as baby girl for the first 24hrs she was around. I love that the name we picked was the one that came last minute to us. I had been feeling like the names we had were wonderful, but not fitting some how or another.

photo by jojo

I am really happy with the way the birth went. It was SO much shorter (O. took forever to come into this world, I had been induced and it was just not how I had pictured things to work out). I am also glad I let my body do the starting work on it's own despite the multiple times I had been asked if I wanted an induction. Four days late isn't too bad, I knew I was close! Even though I didn't go 'totally natural' and had an epidural I am okay with that. Each birth is exactly as it should be and this one was so much closer to how I had imagined things to go.

She's here and awesome. Over the past few days she has been pooping, eating and sleeping really well. When she is awake she is bright eyed and checking out things all around here. She makes the sweetest little squeaks and coos. So far she only really cries when I'm not moving fast enough to get her dressed/diapered or when I haven't gotten the boob out fast enough for her to eat. MrO is adjusting well and has been so sweet with here so far. "Where my sister at?" and this morning he brought over a blanket and said, "I bring her special blankie, mama". He pats her really gently and says, "she's cute".  I am sure we will have our moments, but so far so good and that is all that matters. I feel so much more at ease this time around- not sure if it is her or me(us), but I am definitely have a much more relaxed feeling.

I think she likes it here so far, don't you?

It's a....

I'm on a baby-high, be back soon!!!

photo by jojo

cinnamony good

If you know me, you know that I have a little thing for cinnamon rolls. There right up there with an apple fritter or a slice of pie or cake in the morning with my coffee when I am feeling the sweet tooth call.

ooh-ee, goo-ee, yum.

A while back when Michelle, aka Glitzy Purse Girl posted pictures of 'easy' cinnamon rolls on her Flickr stream and then Shona Leah did the same thing I had to make them. I woke up early Saturday morning because I was feeling just a little bit antsy waiting for this baby to show up (Saturday was the estimated due date) and made them. the dough comes together really easily, but they take a bit of time since it has to rise for about 2hrs before you can roll it out and add the cinnamon and sugar goodness. Here is the recipe. Thanks again to Michelle and Shona Leah for the early morning sweet tooth and for sharing their recipes with me!

Cinnamon-y Good

1 cup warm milk

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

4 cups flour

1 t salt

2 1/4 t yeast

Melt the butter in the milk while it warms then add it to 1/2 the flour and sugar in a bowl, then mix in the eggs and salt, then the yeast and remaining flour, usually comes together and seems too wet, but only add enough flour to get it out of the bowl and knead it about 5 minutes on a floured towel, wipe the bowl with the butter wrapper and then form the dough into a ball and coat it in the bowl and let it rest in a warm space about 2 hours covered with that floury towel.

Punch it down and roll it out into about 12" x 20" rectangle

coat it with

1/3 cup butter (room temp)

1 cup brown sugar

2 t cinnamon

1/3 cup flour (helps keep filling in place)

Roll the rectangle into a normal roll or for hearts each side to the center, and slice into 8-15 rolls, depends on how thick you like them I tend to like em thin

Wipe butter wrappers on a baking pan to coat and then sprinkle the with whatever cinnamon/sugar flour fell out during cutting, place the rolls with room to swell while they bake and before putting into a 375 degree oven

Optional: pour 1/4 cup whipping cream in the spaces of the rolls and i brush the tops with egg

Bake for about 20 minutes rotating pan halfway through,

Icing recipe

1/4 cup cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 t salt

1/2 cup butter (softened) room temp!

Whip the icing up and ice rolls when they are warm and let it drip into the crevices

two

How do you even begin to talk about 2 years of a little person's life. The past year has been so full of amazing changes and growth.

first moments

Not that the first year wasn't, but it was physical growth mostly, becoming upright and mobile. But this past year, it has all been about growth into a little person. A boy who not just walks and talks but says the funniest things and declare details about the world around him that he makes me stop to notice and look and wonder. There is hopping and galloping, jumping and rolling. Feisty moments of independence and whining moments of need. There are bumps and bruises to be kissed better and 'shaken off'. We get nights of complete rest and then others haunted with visits at our bedside.

first birthday

The business of being a two year old is spontaneous, and clearly in the moment. Emotions jump from our little boy like popcorn kernels in a hot pan. He is loud (as always) and silly. And is testing limits and boundaries, yet follows rules and routines like we have sent him off to military school. He is sweet and caring with other kids and often asks about his friends and cousins when we haven't seen them in a few days or weeks. Even though he loves to see his buddies, he often sits on the sidelines- observing, taking it in, learning. I love seeing how his mind works and wondering how much of this will be who he always is and was meant to be. I used to laugh when moms or dads would describe their little's with the titles 'my little engineer", my 'nurse/doctor', our 'little teacher'. But it seems to be true- seeing them at a young age you can quickly imagine who or what they might gravitate towards as adults. One thing I know is that our little man learns so much just by observation and listening.

second birthday

A few favorite things these days, Matchbox cars, shooting hoops, and asking questions like "whhhhhheeeeeeeeeeere ARE you Mama", "arrrre YOU coming?", and "what's THAT?".  He amazes us every day not just with the words that come out of his mouth, but by how much he truly understands and gets. Things he remembers and knows.

We sang happy birthday to him this morning first thing, he got really shy and quite. His cousins called and sang to him again and he was shaking with joy. Tonight we will have a few people over for dinner and Happy Cakes.

I am so excited to watch this little boy grow. What a wonderful and amazing two years it has been

September, September

I happened to glance out the bathroom window this morning as I was brushing my teeth and noticed the next door neighbor's tree (pictured above, a photo from last year) was starting to turn that fiery red color that I so love. As I was getting dressed I heard the 'shhhh-shhhhhhhh' of a hot air balloon. Looking out the bedroom window I spotted a blue and yellow orb bobbing it's way northwest from our neighborhood. I got a little teary eyed. If you were reading this blog when O was born you will know that I watched the balloons rise for two mornings while in the hospital in labor with him. The balloon races start next week, will this second baby also wait for the same view or will he/she get to see the amazing sky full of color with its own eyes?

I am ready for September, I love all the changes- not just in the season but in the rhythm of the world. Kids and college students head back to the classroom, days become shorter, mornings and evenings cooler. We are deep into birthday season, so there is cake almost.every.weekend from here until Christmas. I love watching the change in the trees and plants (actually this blog's title is from an Alburt Camus quote, Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. And it is true, the world is just as colorful in the coming months as it was in the ones we just finishing).

I am trying to quite my mind, send my energy downward-outward and enjoy these last few moments with just my two boys. Our Septembers won't be the same once Deuce enters the world. So much celebration to be had, so much love, so much newness.
It is wonderful.