better

pumpkin seems to have turned the corner- hopefully! she has been eating solid food again & only occasionally saying her mouth hurts. which i think is now due to 3 year molars coming in since all sores are gone. no fever & her spirits are great! she's been sleeping all night too so i think the pain has really subsided. we got the ok from her doc to send her back to school today so i hope it's a good day. the weather here is really being annoying- rain one minute & sunny & beautiful the next. very hard to plan a walk or outdoor time with the pumpkin & the little bear. who is doing fantastically well! we had 2 rough nights- sunday & monday & by rough i only mean he was back on a 'normal' 2 week old schedule of up every 2-1/2 hours. i think it was a growth spurt since then during the day he wanted to eat every hour & a half! last night though he went down at 10:45 & was up at 3 & again at 6. it was pretty heavenly! our ped. has no problems with him sleeping as much as he wants at night since he is obviously gaining weight just fine on his on demand schedule.

yesterday we took the kiddos to the aquarium & the pumpkin had the time of her life. i can't wait to bring her to the children's museum too- but since the aquarium was insanely pricey ($70 for 3 people for an hour & a half?!) we are waiting for the $2 night next month- which is also my last full week of leave. i will be sad to go back to work and leave my little family for the day, but being so close that the hub could bring the kids for lunch makes it a little easier. he is of course freaking out that the little bear is going to scream all day long for him, but i know they'll be just fine. we'll all just have an adjustment period.

and since it's now almost 10 am i suppose i should attempt putting on some real clothes today- if i am allowed to run upstairs before the bear wakes up & demands more food, haha!

what now???

it appears the pumpkin is not just teething, we thought she had bit her lip but it now appears on further research & investigation that she has hand, foot & mouth disease. not terrible- more annoying than anything else, but i don't want 2.0 getting sick. of course- considering how much we were trying to encourage her love of her brother- the baby kisses she was giving him have me slightly concerned. she has had the sores in her mouth for 2- maybe 3- days now & i just noticed the small flat red marks on her feet. nothing on her hands & a low grade (100.1) fever. i am just hoping that my breastfeeding 2.0 has given him some protection. since he was just at the docs today & has a blissfully boring normal temp i am pretty sure he is fine for the moment, and if he was to catch it he probably would have already as it is most contagious the first week (and symptoms like the sores and rash take a few days to appear) but we are obviously being very cautious now that we've noticed it. lots of hand washing, no touching or holding or kissing the baby. lots of fluids & rest and some tylenol for the fever & pain. poor pumpkin can't/won't eat any solid food. for 2 days she's had popsicles & applesauce, some milk & 1 milkshake. she can't even eat her favorite pb&j or cookies. it's heartbreaking & nervewracking & i know kids in daycare get sick all the time & this is an extremely common illness, but it seems that she hasn't had more than a month of being 'healthy' since she started in november. poor 2.0 isn't even in daycare & is going to be getting everything she brings home- i can see it now. 2 miserable sick kids all the time & a very tired & cranky mommy who still has to get up for work every day (in a month) trying to cope with it all. two kids are hard. it's a shame that i am so much more relaxed about the infant stage this time around when i could have really enjoyed this time with pumpkin more knowing what i do now!

2.0 continues to be amazing. i have had to wake him up twice today to eat- he had a good 2+ hours of being awake around his doc appointment this morning & another 2 hour stretch this evening. my sister is en route to visit now & it would be great if she got a little bit of happy alert baby!

wish me luck in dealing with the sick toddler & the newborn- at least we are getting another pair of hands to help tonight!

whining

no- i am not going to whine... our little bear (testing it out for 2.0) is doing fabulously. still giving me at least 2.5 hour clips of sleep at night, sometimes up to 3 hours of sleep for mom!!! He goes back down pretty well at night- we just need to start going to bed earlier so I can enjoy a little more of his sleepy-time which usually starts around 9-9:30 at night & lasts until around 6 or 7 am. (he doesn't sleep this whole time, he just goes back to sleep easily after eating and getting changed)

the whining is coming from miss pumpkin. i thought we were doing really well with the terrible 2's until now- she has started whining about 75% of the time she speaks. everything is dramatic & she cries for seemingly no reason at the drop of a hat. i know she is trying to process a big change in her life & it's tough, but we are getting increasingly frustrated as newborn parents with little sleep. the hub especially does not keep his patience easily with interrupted sleep. it's actually been harder because she's been getting up every night with a bad dream. i don't think it's night terrors, but she needs someone to go in, hand her a sip of water & a cuddle before she goes back to sleep. i usually have a babe attached to my boob at that moment, so the hub has been doing it. i can't even imagine doing this without him though- at least now when one of us gets too close to our snap point we can tag team & deal with the situation. i imagine a whole lot more yelling going on if it was just me. i only hope that he can learn to keep his patience better with her (or the whining subsides some) in a month when i go back to work. he has 3 mornings a week when she is in school, but it will still be very hard. i thought the hardest part would be not getting sleep and dealing with all the newborn things again- this newborn is the easy part! it's the willful, independent, cranky, clingy, teething, scrape & boo-boo prone wonderful toddler who is presenting the most challenges to settling into a family of four. she does love her brother though. she can't wait to run into our room in the morning & see her baby & give him kisses. she got to hold him yesterday (greatly supervised of course!) for a picture for the grandpa's & she loved it! she really is a good big sister, we just are trying everything wee can to cut down the whining for all our sakes!

off to the little man's 2 week appointment- i think he's grown a half inch at least & is well over 9 pounds by now... i'll be back to pop in an update after for my own posterity.

any words of wisdom for the whining? how did you deal with it? we are trying to keep the approach as 'mommy & daddy don't understand whining/crying, calm down & tell me what you want', but there's a couple of time-outs thrown in as we get frustrated. i think they are more for our benefit than hers...

***update*** this little man is going to be huge! at birth: 8lb4oz & 20". 5 days old: 8lb8oz still 20". at 15 days old: (drum roll please) 9lb13oz & 21-3/4"!!!! 80th% for weight & 90-95% for length! holy cow. went from right around 50th % for both to that in 2 weeks? go superboobs! of course- i have to look back, but i think pumpkin had a similar weight growth spike, although she's always been on the short(est) side of the spectrum.

1 week down

this little man is seriously amazing. our roughest night was last night where he was up at 12:45, 4 & 7. he had wet clear through his diaper, nightgown & one blanket (our ac is on thanks to record sweltering heat wave the past few days) and was less than happy. he hates getting clothes changed and is most vocal if he isn't fed promptly. he has a much louder little voice than pumpkin did at that age. but he uses it far less. we've really only heard him cry a handful of times- he is pretty obvious about when he is hungry & if he's not eating or sleeping he is a happy alert little thing. until he gets a full wet diaper.

we are also much more relaxed this time around. it comes far easier and more naturally, i am not stressed about 'how long since he ate', 'what does that little noise/movement/face mean?' or any of the thousand of other things a first time mom obsessives over. it's also harder to be constantly holding and cuddling him with pumpkin to tend to also. she is very very good with him so far. she wakes up and asks where 'baby' is and last night on our way home from some errands as he was melting down since we were 5 minutes late with dinner- she looks over from her carseat and repeats 'it's ok buddy, home soon' at which my heart melted with the sweetness of my first-born angel comforting my second little miracle.

i have been feeling pretty good this time around. seem to be healing a little faster, but mainly my energy is much better. then again- i didn't have to get out of bed and start my day by 7am last time around either. it should hopefully make the transition back to work in 5 weeks (! so soon!!) a little easier. the first day back is going to be the longest day though. pumpkin has a field trip so i can't even get updates on her. i also have summer hours so it's a 9-1/2 hour day to make friday that much shorter. which at least i come back to having part days on fridays- that will help a lot. but it will still be very hard.

i made the mistake of trying on real clothes yesterday. my biggest pair of jeans does fit- but barely. i was looking for some shorts since this heat wave has me realizing i really only have a few pairs of yoga pants to wear!!! i know it's only been a week & i didn't even have ankles again by this point last time, but the scale says i am 9 pounds away from pre-pregnancy weight. which makes me think i should be almost back to wearing what i wore back then (hahaha! of course i know better- but the numbers trick my subconscious) eventually i will get there- i just hope i don't have to wear a ton of maternity clothes back to work! (obviously i am not dieting or exercising- all my weight loss is from delivery & breastfeeding & the minimal amount of exercise had in a normal day of a mom of 2)

Welcome

Started labor yesterday morning around 3 am with mildly uncomfortable twinge//contractions that progressed to 7-8 minutes by 2pm. Left work, walked miles in the unseasonable 94 degree heat. Put pumpkin to bed & got to hospital by 10. Where I was told was still only 3cm & to walk the halls for an hour to see if things get moving. Then told to go home, rest, relax & eat & come back when 'more intense'. Proceed to feel even more frustrated like my body's failing me yet again with a weeks worth of false starts. Go home, try to sleep for 2 hours & wake up to very intense contractions 1 minute long every 3-4 minutes.
Wake up hub after making coffers, b-i-l shows up to watch pumpkin & we're back at hospital by 6:30 am where I measure in at a 6. Start iv for epidural, but apparently zip through active labor & transition by 8:30 when epi is in. Very comfy for delivery. Start pushing 9:20 & 2.0 arrives at 10:02 am weighing in at a very healthy 8 lbs 4oz & 20 inches long. He is healthy & perfect & will have follow up u/s on kidneys to see about fluid. He's already a nursing champ & just so sweet & snuggly!
I am amazed at how different this labor was. I only felt truly in pain at the last half hour waiting for the epi... which I am guessing was transition! My body seems to have redeemed itself today. The hub is going back home to take care of pumpkin. We are debating whether it'd be better for her to come back with him & see us tonight, or wait til I am home.
Introducing our chubby monkey! Still figuring out his nicknames. :)