So tiny!

My not so secret addiction...

I have a little problem when it comes to jelly beans.  I have no self control. It only occurs with the Brach's brand.  All others I can turn down, no problem, except these.  Fortunately for me they are only available at Easter time.  I prefer the speckled eggs over the classic ones (lets not even bring up the spiced ones) for one and one reason only.  All of  the jelly beans in the speckled bag are edible where as in the classic bag they have dark purple and black that make up about 1/3 of the bag meaning that I am wasting my money and  not getting all my jelly beans.

I tend to stock up and eat so many of these that buy the time Easter actually gets here I am so sick of them, it takes about a year before I want to eat them again.

Sights, sounds, and smells of a newborn

I forgot how much I loved having a newborn in the house. There are so many little things that they do that fade away too quickly only to be forgotten until the next new little one arrives.

I love how they stare at anything and everything.  It is probably due to their lack of good vision at first but it is still so comforting when they are gazing up at you like this.  A babies super soft, sweet smelling skin is irresistible.  I could sit and smell a baby for hours.  I don't think there is a better smelling thing out there.  Even a newborns poop doesn't smell bad.

Who could forget the startle?  I love the startled baby.  It is so entertaining.  It can happen for any reason at any time.  
Then of course there is the excuse me I am pooping / farting face.  The little grunts and contorted facial expressions provide hours of laughter.  Cole especially finds this part hilarious! 
Rooting.  Who can deny that a little rooting baby isn't the cutest thing you have ever seen?  All they want is something to suck on and they will search until they have found it.  It could even end up being your nose.
I love how they can look so peaceful in any sleeping position.  Everything is comfortable.  Their little arms don't seem to fall asleep  they way an adults would when you sleep with your arms up in the air.  They can also sleep any where at anytime.  Siena sleeps through the washer and dryer, the telephone, the vacuum cleaner, and Cole's high pitched shrieks.
I had forgotten how they get blistered lips in the first few weeks from nursing, yet it does not seem painful to them.  

Ah their little body parts.  I think their feet have to be my most favorite part.  They are so tiny, they haven't had the opportunity to get stinky so you can kiss them without being hit with a smell.  They are ticklish yet so you can touch them with out having them pulled away.  Plus they are just so cute when they are only 3 inches long.
Finally there is the spit up.....I'd post a picture of her spit up if I had one (you all know I would too) except that in her short little 2 weeks of life she has spit up 4 times.  Yup that's right, 4 times.  I am not sure if this is normal or not because we are used to Cole who would spit up 40+ times a day!  The last spit up ended up in her ear....So I will leave you with a picture of Cole in all his glory.

Keeping mom warm

Some where under all the blankets and toys is a baby.  Cole felt the need to assist me in keeping warm and also making sure Siena has some toys to play with.

Someone's using their brain cells

This little guy took my office chair out of the office (it has wheels which he recently discovered) and rolled it out to the kitchen and used it to access the top pantry cabinet to get his "potty" jelly beans.  Sneaky little kid.  Bad thing was that i was standing exactly where I took the picture from with my back turned towards the fireplace.  He rolled the chair behind me and I noticed nothing until I turned around.  I made him sit (he was standing) before I took the picture.  

Day 1 - on my own

Today was Mike's first day back at work which meant it was my first day on my own with 2 children.  My mom came over in the morning to drive me to Siena's doctors appointment because I am still not allowed to drive.  I am surprised at how well the day went.  Cole was his usual self, running around, screaming at the top of his lungs (this is his new way of communication), being a rambunctious little boy.  Siena slept peacefully threw the entire day.  I found it to be easier than I expected to balance my time between the 2 kids.  I know it is easier now with Siena sleeping most of the time so I do expect it to become a little bit more challenging later on.  I feel like I was a more productive and better mom than I have been in a while.  It was refreshing.

Siena's appointment went well.  She gained almost half a pound in 6 days!  That takes her up to 5# 5 1/2 oz.  She has a little cough which is not surprising since we all have had colds the past 2 weeks.  We did find out in the pathology report that the umbilical cord was not 1 foot long, it was actually 8 1/2 cm long and 1 cm thick!  I am surprised she was getting any nutrients at all!  Crazy stuff!

Tonight Mike and I are approaching an on going battle with Cole with new ideas.  We did him a huge disservice out of connivance to us, by allowing him to sleep in our bed when he woke up in the middle of the night.  Since Siena has been home, we have not allowed him to come into our bed at night.  He does not understand this.  I feel so bad for him but we have to break the cycle.  So unfortunately that means poor Mike has to do the enforcement since I am taking care of Siena at night.  Last night they were up from 1 am to 3:30 am with Cole screaming bloody murder for half that time.  It is so draining on everyone.  So tonight is a new day in the quest to get Cole to stay in bed.  Obviously what we were doing wasn't working so the pediatrician gave us some new approaches to take with Cole.  Hopefully something will work out.

Bargaining

There has been a lot of bargaining going on in the Fredy house lately.  Cole is discovering new ways to try and get what he wants.

He is all finished with lunch.  I turn off the t.v. and tell him it is nap time.  He watches toons during lunch.  He runs back to his table, sits down and shoves blueberries in his mouth and points to the t.v. Please.

It was nap time.  Cole and I are sitting on the couch.  I tell him "Cole it is time to take a nap"  He shakes his head and points to his toe nails and then points to the bathroom.  I ask him, "Cole do you want me to cut your nails?"  "Oh ya ya" he replies.  So I get the nail clipper and he holds up each foot for me and then gives me his hands.  I put him down for a nap after that little bargaining episode.  He was pretty upset and hit his door a few times.  About 45 minutes later I peeked into the room and he was sound asleep in his bed with the blankets pulled up over him.

Birth Announcement in the making

These are the choices for the birth announcement.  We are undecided at this point whether it will be one or three that go on the card.  It was a long a picture taking day, but we are so happy with the results!

Most pictures have a color version and a "bronzed god" version.  I am a sucker for black and white pictures.

And of course some big brother - little sister hugging!

On being a big brother

Cole has really taken to being a BIG brother.  Every morning he has to come in to our bedroom and get up on our bed to see Siena.  He leans in over her and stares at her face for a moment and then gives her a big good morning kiss, some times it is a lick.  If he wants to hold her he gets up on the couch, puts his legs out in front of him and then pats his lap and says "uh uh".  He holds her, not very well, but then he gets her taken away when he starts poking her eyes or nose.  The only problem is that when we take her away he tries to hit us and he gets VERY upset.  I some times wonder if he thinks we brought her home for him.  

Some of Cole's favorite things about his sister are her farts and poops.  He cracks up every time she makes some sort of farting noise.  When she cries (which is rare) he gets very excited and say "Ohhhhhh" in a very loud voice.  He also likes playing with her fingers.

Cole has not shown much interest in the crib until now, since she goes in it.  I just caught him in the crib earlier with two pacifiers in his mouth.  He found the ones from the hospital and opened them up.  He is one silly kid!  Cole also gets very concerned if he finds Sienas' pink blanket and she is not with it.  He brings it to me and makes me wrap her in it.

Nursing and pumping with a toddler in the house

When it is your first baby it is so easy to nurse, do what you need to do and not worry about anything else for the moment.  When you have a toddler in the house, you can nurse (which is all you feel like you are doing 24/7) but you also have to figure out how to get that toddler off of the kitchen table, out of the bathroom, or keep him from unlocking the front door and escaping, all while not dropping the hungry one attached to your boob or exposing your self to the neighbors as you run after the toddler.

Pumping is also a totally different experience.  I have to hide now when I need to pump which is almost every time I nurse because less than 5 pound babies don't eat a lot at once and I have enough milk for 3 5 pound babies at this point.  The reason I have to hide is because Cole is obsessed with the pump.  At first it was just that he wanted the pump.  It resembles a squirt bottle so I can see why it is appealing.  But now he follows me around or searches me out and then once he finds me he holds up his shirt and points to his belly button.  I made the mistake of one time "pumping" his belly button and now he won't forget about it.....

Thomas the Train - The puzzle

A certain 23 month old little boy can put this puzzle together all by himself.  He always starts out the same way - with the face and then he fills in the spaces from there.  He cheers for himself and waits for high 5's!  

Cloth diapering a newborn

Any suggestions on how to cloth diaper a less than 5 pound baby????  This is on the smallest setting.  She'd better make it to 7 pounds soon!

The difference between moms and dads

This is what dad considers to be an OK activity for an almost 2 year old.....

Mom does not....

Birth Story

This is  long one.  Mainly for documentation purposes.  

We had to be at the hospital at 9:45 am Thursday morning.  At least I was able to get a good night sleep and not worry about over sleeping and not making it to the hospital on time.  But the bad thing was that the surgery was not until 12:15 pm and I was not allowed to eat or drink past midnight!  How can they expect a pregnant woman to not eat or drink for 12 hours?????  At 9:15 we had the car loaded up and we were ready to go, just had to get Cole next door.  I went to start the car and nothing happened!  I could not believe that I had left the lights on (again) and drained the battery.  Granted the day before was a busy one, full of lots of stress and anxiety but still not what we needed a half hour before we had to be at the hospital.  

So we had to unload the car, load the truck, and then get Cole to grandma and grandpa's house.  I took a few last minute photos and we were off to the hospital.  I got a couple of great hugs and kisses from Cole but it was really bitter sweet.  I still felt guilty for Cole not knowing or understanding what was about to happen.  We left Cole playing in the snow - happy as a clam.  I don't even think he noticed we had left.

I got checked into the hospital after a short wait.  Good thing I preregistered two days before!  Once we were in the Family Birthing Center I got hooked up to the monitors, got to wear the ever so attractive hospital gown and waited nervously watching the clock.  Thank goodness I had friends and family there to keep me sane.  :-)

The nurses for the day came in to get me prepped for surgery.  I gave them my birthing plan (yes I had a birthing plan for a scheduled c-section), there were some things that happened during Cole's c-section that I did not want happening again.

The two nurses too THREE attempts at getting an IV in my arm.  THREE!!!, with no luck, blowing each spot they entered.  

Next step was to call in the CRNA that would be doing my spinal to get the IV in.  She was my saving grace!  First thing she asked for was lidocaine!  Woo Hoo!  I don't think I could have been poked a 4th time and not vomited.  I discussed my concern with having morphine so we opted for no pain control until after the surgery was over.  Yes, I had a c-section with no pain meds until 2 1/2 hours after the surgery.  I am stubborn and I had no interest in itching for 3 days again like I did last time after I was given morphine.

Once I was prepped and ready to go I walked down to surgery.  Got in and up on to the table.  I sat on the edge and leaned on to the nurses' shoulders.  The first poke was the lidocaine (the bee sting).  As the instant warmth and numbness filled my back the spinal block was injected in.  All most instantly I felt my legs go numb.  They laid me down and began preparation.  I laid there as my body went numb and tingled.  It moved slowly up from my toes to just below my armpits.  I did my best to not move my body because that is all I could think about doing.  The feeling of your body becoming paralyzed is not something I would wish on anyone.  It is a very strange feeling.

After I was numb Mike came in to hold my hand.  It is amazing to me just how quickly a c-section goes by.  I was on the table at 12:20 pm, the incision was made at 12:29 pm and Siena was out at 12:38 pm.  The feeling of a baby being pulled out of your abdomen is really quite unique.  I did my best not to vomit (I was getting pretty good at holding it in at this point).  The only reason I did not is because I was able to convience myself that if I did vomit it would end up on my face because I had no way of rolling over to have it hit the floor.

When Siena was pulled out she was crying, like all babies do, but her cry sounded like a cat.  Seriously!  I think we were all laughing.  Besides the cry the only thing I heard was the nurse say "watch out, she's peeing everywhere!"  I had to laugh because every time I had an ultrasound done she had a HUGE bladder.  I was wondering where all that pee was going to go.

After she was cleaned up, cord cut, and wrapped up the nurse brought her over to me so I could get a peek at my little girl.  All I could do was give her kisses.   I did not want to stop.  Siena, Mike, and the nurse left the surgery room to go to the nursery.  She passed her apgar testing with an 8 and a 9.  While they were gone I was getting stitched and stapled up.  The nurses continued to talk and joke with me, helping to keep my mind off the numbness and to keep the oxygen flowing.

I was wheeled out and taken to my room to recover.  I passed by the nursery where everyone was waiting a watching.

I got set up in my room and then the nurse waited with me while I recovered.  She could not leave until I was able to move my legs on my own.  My dad would pop in occasionally with the camera to show me pictures of what was going on out there and also to snap some unflattering ones of me.  I think it took about an hour for my legs to start moving again.

Around 2:30 pm I got my first dose of pain meds.  Neither of them lasted more than about 1 1/2 hours so we had to go to the stronger stuff.  That first day was pretty painful.  I can see why they like to give you the morphine, however I was unwilling to let them give it to me.
Later that afternoon I started to get the full story about what exactly happened during the c-section and we found out why she was unable to grow adequately inside of me.  



After I was fully recovered, Mike's parents brought Cole down to meet his little sister.  We had Siena in the bassinet when Cole came in.  He saw me and gave me a huge smile.  He was holding a pink teddy bear.  We put the bassinet by the chair and told Cole he had a baby sister to meet.  Cole got up in the chair and peered in.  He looked up and smiled and then looked back at Siena and pointed to her and asked us "What's that?"  We both could not stop laughing.  Cole is so predictable.  We knew that is exactly what he was going to say.  We told him that was Siena, your baby sister.  He smiled again and then had his pink bear give her a kiss.  Then he tried to put the bear in her blanket.  Seeing that just lifted a huge weight off my chest.  He gave her a ton of hugs and kisses.




Siena met all of her grandparents and her great grandpa.  It was a busy day and I was looking forward to it quiteting down.  Mike and Cole stayed for awhile and then I was on my own for the night, except for help from the nurses.  I had to call for help every time she needed a diaper change.  She spent all night in my arms, except for when she had to get her glucose testing which was every 4 hours.

Friday the 13th:

Siena and I woke up to snow outside out window.  It was beautiful to see.  My room had a garden view which was great!  Mike and Cole spent the morning playing in the snow at our place.  They built snowmen, went sledding, and got very cold!

Siena is nursing well.  She only cries when some ones cold hands touch her, she has gas, or needs to burp.  She is still having glucose testing done.  Her weight dropped 1 oz - down to 4 # 12 1/2 oz.  She also passed her hearing test. My urinary catheter was taken out so then I was able to get up and walk around.  It was so nice to be out of the bed!

Everyone is calling her peanut, including the nurses.

Cole recognizes who his sister is.  If you ask him where Siena is, he will point to her.  Today he climbed into the bed with me and then patted my belly and looked at Mike.  He wanted Siena to be by him. 


Happy Valentines Day!

Mike and Cole brought Siena and I jelly beans and peanut m&m's.  Yum!!!  Cole also brought his sister and stuffed toy rose.  He kept setting it on her.  I had a few visitors today which was nice.s  Aimee from work and Nicole.  I was not as sleepy today so I was finally able to start Breaking Dawn!  I was so excited.  I had been saving it for the long 3 days stay at the hospital.  Later in the evening Mike came back to keep me company and of course to see his daughter.  I am moving around even better today which shocked Mike!  Siena dropped a little bit more in weight - down to 4# 9 1/2 oz.

Sunday the 15th - Going home day!!!!

Woke up early, probably excited to be going home.  We both fell asleep again right after breakfast.  Today was a lot of waiting around.  Both Siena and I had to get the ok's from the doctors before we could leave.  Siena is back up on her weight to 4# 13 oz.

Let our new life as a family of 4 begin!