Lorelei was baptized today....she was the only baby, just like Anya! It was back in the main church, so the decorations were very similar to Anya's, which was also the weekend after Christmas. Amazingly, we all arrived right on time, but as we were changing the baby into her Christening gown, she starting SCREAMING. Usually, L is a very mellow kid, and when she cries, it's easily quieted with a bottle/boob or eliciting a burp. This crying was very different than ANY cry I've ever had from her. We quickly took her dress and onesie off to see if she was scraped or something, but we couldn't find anything. I think George and I were thinking the same thing...noting the irony of the happiest kid ever pitching the biggest fit of her life (tears included!) the first time she's brought into a church!

Anyway, she eventually did make a tremendous burp and a few farts and was soon back to her happy self. Whew! The service was really nice and the deacon remembered us and didn't really comment on how rarely (never) we attend church. I'm happy that we got it in before L outgrew the gown that Nana bought- it really is beautiful and looked great on her!

Now I've got to start packing up for our trip to Grandma and Pap-Pap's to celebrate with them. These holidays seem to go on and on and on and having a sick kid did not help at all! Thankfully, she's completely recovered and fingers crossed she's the only one to get it!

George's bday

Friday was mostly a recovery day for me....Anya was still sick, which kept her in bed most of the day. She still didn't want to come out to the couch, so I just ran back to her bed when she called to me. This turned out OK because Baz happily played with his new toys throughout the house and Lorelei jsut happily babbled and cooed away no matter where I put her. I had several good photo ops that day, as seen in the kids website.

Besides hanging with the kids (which I really don't get to do that often), I managed to straighten up and work on the MOUNTAIN of laundry that had accumulated.

I suppose I should elaborate on the toys that the kids got this year.....Bolt and Mittens were huge hits....both kids have taken theirs everywhere since they arrived. Baz loves the Claw game, even though he usually scores a candy by reaching his hand up and in! He also LOVES his mini-tool table and tools- they really are cool toys! His other faves are the Screaming Banshee and his motorized digger.

Christmas 2008

I suppose this should be labelled "The Christmas of Puke" since that's what it really was....early in the day on Xmas Eve, I spoke briefly with Ben as he changed Miles who was actively puking and that did it.... while we were at Jerry's house for his yearly Christmas Eve party, Anya complained of her belly hurting. She assured me that she didn't feel sick or like she was going to puke, but she was insistent on going home. I thought she was bored, but we did have a lot to do that night, so we packed up and left.

WHAMMO....halfway home, the barf started flowing. Lovely......now, in addition to wrapping and arranging all of the kids' prezzies and stockings, I have to change and bathe Anya and prepare her bed for a puking kid....I also have to get her puke-covered carseat out of the van to minimize the stench.

Luckily, that was the last barf of that night, but there were still 2+ more days of puke to come....poor kiddo!

Christmas morning was pretty subdued....Baz enjoyed opening all of his prezzies and didn't seem upset that Anya wasn't there to join him. She felt so awful that she didn't even get out of bed and wasn't interested in opening her presents in bed! Once Baz finished opening his gifts, George offered to make up some pancakes, which led us to a lovely discovery.....

The kitchen sink drain was clogged! Not what you want to have when you've got 12 people coming over later!!! So after being covered in puke, we now were covered in dirt, etc as we took apart the pipes under the sink to snake and drano the drain. Thankfully, the plug opened up, but it took some doing!

So after warning everyone that we had a barfing kid and giving them the out (I don't want to make anyone sick or be blamed for such!), we set about cleaning up and getting ready. Talk about 2 tired parents....I have no idea how we managed to do it, but we got our house together and dinner on before everyone arrived (except Maureen and George, who were a big help!).

The celebration was good....Anya did venture out of bed for a bit, although her puking continued...and everyone left by 8. George was asleep ont he couch by 8:15 and I was in bed by 9.

The gym

I'd like to thank Beth for inspiring me to go to the gym when she was here over Thanksgiving. I've actually considered it, but never thought they'd have childcare. In fact, the closest gym has a kickass daycare room and the kids love it. The only problem now is that they start at 6 mos, so i've got a couple of months before I can take L and go more than twice a week.

Since George was off this morning, i bribed the older kids to come with me so he could do some Santa duties. What I didn't do was look closely at the daycare hours...I even called yesterday to make sure they were open today, but assumed that they opened at 8. SO when I showed up for my 8:30 class with 2 kids in tow, I had to figure out what to do. They were agreeable to sitting just outside the classroom, so as I (and the 15 or so other ladies in the room) stepped away, there they were entertaining us. Thankfully, they were super well-behaved and waved to me as soon as the daycare room opened, but it added a new element to my workout!

Christmas Eve!!!

Wow, does time just fly by....I can hardly believe it's Christmas Eve already! Thankfully, I've gotten all of my shopping done and I'm just about done with baking for tomorrow..just have to finish roasting my candied pecans for the salad *drool* I got the pies done yesterday and finished the potatoes and lasagna rolls today so I hardly have anything for tomorrow- yay!!!! Thank goodness for cleaning people prior to them, I'd be rushing to clean and organize the whole house today. Instead, I got to go to the gym this morning, so I can eat with a little less guilt tomorrow..

Lorelei had her followup with the cardio today and he said her echo was just fine. So that's one more kiddo who hopefully never has to see a cardiologist again! On the other hand, I asked about Baz going on rides at Disney and he said that's not a problem, but SVT does sometimes reoccur when the kid hits pubertory. And to prove his point was a young teen girl sitting in the waiting room talking about how long her episodes are lasting. Of course, MOST kids outgrow it and it's really not that serious, but still not something you want to worry about.

I also realized today that for some reason I really hate seeing/listening to my kids' hearts. I think it's just that paranoia that somehow it's going to stop while I'm looking or listening, but I was not loving watching Lorelei's heart pump away on the sono machine.

the baby

Boy, is it hard to believe that Lorelei is 3 months old already.....although the pregnancy seems forever ago, I still feel like she was just born the other day. She's definitely gonna be a talker- she's constantly babbling and smiling away. she's also such an easy baby....she came with me to work the other day and it was sooooo easy....feed her, burp her, interact with her a bit, then put her down and she sleeps. Unfortunately, she's up 3-4 times at night so I can't catch up on my sleep, but besides that she's a gem.

The bear

On the way to Nana and Dada's, there has been a bear statue carved out of a tree trunk that also functions as a mailbox. For the past 6 mos or so, Baz insists that we go that way up the hill so we can see the bear. (He also wants to see the "building", which is a house that was being refinished so it had lots of work truck around it all summer).

Last week, the bear took a dive.....poor little guy spent the week on his side. This week, the bear was gone. Baz's first comment was "he wanted his mommy"...awwwww. I don't really know what Baz thinks happened to the wooden bear, but he seems happy that the bear is now with his mommy.

Baz's latest "issue" is whining....he's still the sweetest little guy and is always eager to share his food or toys, but he's really into the whining. Once we break through and he hears us telling him to stop, he immediately cuts it out, but it does get old quickly.

The best way to enjoy the snow....

without a doubt is in the hot tub!!!! It's been hard for me to get in lately because I've been trying to work out so that's my "free time" activity, so when I get the opportunity, I take it. Well, today both kids asked to go in during our snowstorm. The prep was obviously more than usual- I had to shovel a path to the tub and clear the snow off the cover, but it was so worth it. When we first got in, it was barely snowing but after a few minutes, the big heavy flakes were coming down and it was beautiful! Luckily, I thought to put baseball caps on all of us so our heads stayed warm and dry and the kids had a ball. The only problem was keeping the snowballs they kept making out of the water. Getting out wasn't even that bad- I left the towels in the house to keep them dry and I didn't even get cold carrying both kids to the house.

Once again, I reiterate that I LOVE my hot tub!

Even more tantrums.....

Thank goodness for my mommy friends who have 5 year old daughters or I'd be going insane. After a bit of a break from tantrums, they are back in full force lately. The past 2 nights have been whoppers and over NOTHING!!! I suppose it's just Anya asserting her independence and testing her boundaries (she usually concludes the tantrum with "I don't like your rules" or something to that effect), but it's enough already! Baz's little mini-tantrums have nothing on Anya's.....I'll happily take the "terrible two's" over the f-ing fives!

When she's not tantruming, Anya is a delight, however.....she's still into "wolfland" in the evenings. I'm still not sure where or why this started, but she likes to dress up and act like a wolf and she playacts wolf school and wolf house, etc. Baz happily joins in and when we're not managing tantrums, we're a happy wolf family!

We're starting to really progress on the reading front, although when we push harder, the tantrums start. She's good at recognizing her "star words" and tries to guess words using context a lot. However, she can sound out words and is starting to do that more.

Disney or bust!!!

Disney or bust!!!

We just watched this and it definitely got us in the Disney spirit!!!!

Baz slept all night!!!

Of course, he woke up coughing and hacking (he's been relatively healthy for the past week), so who knows if it was the cough coming on, but I don't care. Lorelei was still up multiple times, but I still got a better nights' sleep than I have in a while- yay!!!

Here's hoping for a repeat tonight......

Anya's giggle

Somewhere along the way, Anya has picked up a little giggle that she adds after most comments. I assume one of her friends at school does the same thing.....wonder how long it'll last?

Anya, like most 5 year olds (I assume) has recently taken on a fascination with teenagers. So far, it's limited to girls (that she wants to model herself after). The other day she was wearing a sweater with a camisole underneath it. When she came home from school, she was "burning up", so she took off the sweater and I noticed that the cami was riding up on her belly. When I attempted to fix it, she pushed it back up and informed me "no, mommy, I'm dressing like a teenager". AAARGH!!

Our little man

Despite being in the throes of the terrible twos, Baz has remained sweet and giving. He's excelling in the fine art of whining and now fights back when Anya gets physical with him, but he's always willing to share with anyone (well, except maybe Anya :) ). He loves getting thing (food, for instance) when he knows somebody likes it. He loves giving Pap pap his oreos or Dada his special cookies (what is it about grandpas and their cookies?).

He has been known to throw a whopper of a tantrum, but unlike Anya's, his end fairly quickly. In fact, he almost runs to time out when told and stops crying in a heartbeat.

Our latest issue with Sebastian has been doorlocks. A few months ago, he locked himself in his room while home with my parents. Pap-Pap was quick to break out the screwdriver and remove the handle then and wisely turned the lock around so the door locked from the outside. Unfortunately, he couldn't foresee the events of last week. One night, we were having storytime and all 5 of us were in the big kids' bedroom. George was reading a story to Anya while Baz played around the room. He decided then to go over to the door, turn the lock (which was now on the outside of the door) and close it. Yep, we were all trapped. Nothing worked in the hole in the handle on our side, so George started working on taking the door off the hinges as I began to climb out the window. I hesitated because I was barefoot and I couldn't quite remember what was on the ground below me and I knew I'd have to drop at least a foot or two. George jumped in and offered to go and so he did. Needless to say, that door and now the bathroom door are sans handles and locks!

Kindergarten issues

This is a little one, but worth jotting down since I know I won't remember this in the long run. This week Anya had her first "I don't want to go to school" tantrum, which was closely followed by her first time being dropped off after missing the bus.

This tantrum happened because of her friend Olivia. Olivia sits at Anya's table and they usually are great friends. This week, they had silly hat day because they were working ont he letter "h". Anya's hat was decorated with pompoms and pipe cleaners. At the end of the day, Anya was in her "bus room" which is shared with the bus that Olivia rides. According to Anya, Olivia deliberately pulled some of the decorations off of Anya's hat which hurt Anya's feelings so she told the teacher.

This prompted Anya to tell the teacher on her, so Olivia told her she wouldn't be her friend anymore. What I don't get is why Anya had no problem being friends with someone who broke her hat, but Olivia didn't want to be friends after being told on. I suppose it just shows how forgiving Anya is.

Anya

So my first baby is now 5- how did that happen? It feels like just yesterday that I took that HPT and saw the second line pop up immediately. Of course, I can't imagine life without her, and I can almost remember life before her. As I look at Lorelei, it's just so amazing to remember all the phases that Anya has gone through since she was that small.

Her friend party was on the weekend of thanksgiving and was lots of fun! It was at a plaster painting place so all the kids picked out a piece to paint first. Anya loved being the center of attention and seemed to enjoy being surrounded by her friends from Colleen's, school and home! Baz joined in as well and painted about half of his cement truck.

After that, the party moved to the back where the kids ate pizza, danced the hokey pokey and limbo, and did facepainting and tattoos. Anya stuck with a butterfly this year, avoiding her fiasco of the skeleton face from last year.

Because these parties are so short, the kids take the prezzies home to open them and what a sight that is! It's like Christmas morning, but only one kids gets the gifts. Anya was quite gracious and allowed Baz and Isabella to help her. I had the hard job in writing down what each kid gave her so we could do thank you notes.

Infant cold

We've been dealing with colds in the big kids (and grownups) for the past several weeks- they get worse, then better, then worse, etc, but so far Lorelei has escaped them. Until this week :( She started coughing early in the week, but it was a dry cough that usually didn't last too long. 2 days ago, her cough turned wet. On one hand, I was happy because I hoped that meant it was breaking, but the past 2 nights have been rough for her. Her head is super-congested so at times she can barely breathe. I've been running the humidifier all night and sucking her snot like crazy....hopefully it passes soon- such a small baby shouldn't have to deal with feeling crappy!

Oh, and FTR, even as she's coughing and hacking and puking up her lunch, she still smiling!

10 weeks old

So Lorelei had her 2 month checkup this week. Technically she was 10 weeks old. She weighed in at 13lbs, 2 oz and was 24 inches long, putting her in the 90th percentile for both measurements. Wowsers! I don't think Anya or Baz ever topped the 50th percentile E.V.E.R

She's doing great with development, too....laughing and cooing all the time. I even think she was trying to grab the toys hanging down from her playgym today. She really is such an easy baby...other than the constant spitting up, she eats, sleeps, and smiles. There is no need to constantly hold or rock her- anyone can put her down on her mat or in the swing and she happily starts looking around. She adores her brother and sister and breaks out in huge grins for them.

I'm a little worried about how squirmy she is already- I hope that doesn't mean she'll crawl and walk early. Often when I prop her in her boppy pillow, I turn my back to come and find her lying on the floor!

On the sleep front, she's getting into a fairly good nighttime pattern- she's down in her crib around 8 or 9 and she'll stay asleep until at least 12, sometimes as long as 2! It takes about an hour to feed her (nurse, then bottle if she wants it), change her, and get her back down, but she'll then sleep for 2-3 more hours. if I could jut get Baz to sleep all night, I could so live with that schedule!

Ahhhh, behind again

So it seems that I'm back in the sleep deprivation game lately.....Baz was OK for the past 2 nights, but OK means that he was up once during the night and then up for good at 5:30 am. Prior to that, he was up multiple times each night and still up for good at 5:30 (at the latest). Factor in that Lorelei is up at least twice each night and is up for close to an hour each time and you've got one tired momma! My blogging is suffering because once we get the kids down in the evening, I've got about a half hour to sit and try to watch tv before I crash to get my only 3-4 hour stretch of sleep I'm going to get.

I've got a zillion things I'd like to get down, but I'm going to just try to get some of them down!

Thanksgiving Eve

So here I sit at 5:45am the day before turkey day. I absolutely love having everyone at our house for holidays, but it makes the day before quite busy. I know that this is probably the last time I'll sit down today and I'm hoping to get a little hot tub time later. I like getting most of the preparations done the day before so on thanksgiving, all I have to worry about is getting the turkey in and out of the oven and warming up the rest of the food.

The complicating factor today is that Anya is sick....she finally picked up the cough/cold that Baz (and subsequently George, Lorelei, and I) has had for the past few weeks. She only coughed for the first half of the night, but when I checked her in the middle of the night, she felt a little warm. I'm waiting to see how she feels this morning to see if she can go to school. It's only a half day, but having one less kid to contend with would make my day a little easier. I also hope she feels better because I know how crappy this cold feels! Fingers crossed that Baz stays better!

It's going to be a fun time here this week with Beth, Ben, Isabella and Miles staying with us! We'll have Don and my parents to help, but it could make for some crazy times! We're going to attempt a photo session and Sears too- god help us! I'll just be happy if we get one shot with all 5 kids- asking for 5 smiles is probably just too much. Wish us luck!

2 months already

It's so hard to believe that our ladybug is 2 months old already. I suppose it's easy when you're looking at her- she looks more like a baby than a scrawny newborn and she's really becoming more interactive. She looks you right in the eye and starts trying to sound out her coos. There are some videos on the kids' website of that. Her smiles light up her whole face and melt your heart.

I'm still waiting for her to fall into a napping routine.....she usually sleeps for a good portion of the morning, but the actual timing of that sleep varies from day to day. And forget nighttime sleep- she'll go down for a few hours at the beginning of the night, but once midnight comes around, she's up every couple of hours (or every hour like last night). I'm so looking forward to a good routine, even if it means boot camp...been there, done that, got the t-shirt!

The kitty cats

The cats are Baz's current fascination...well, besides monsters and nightmares that are going to come out of his closet! I think it started when I told him that I had to get up from putting him to bed so I could clean up the kitchen before the cats ate our dinner. Since then, he tries to rescue everything "so the kitty cats don't get it" The other day I had to rescue George's Ipod from his grip since the cats were after it! he means well, but it doesn't always work out well!

He's still great at sharing- particularly food....he's never refused to share when asked and he usually offers what he's eating, even if it's "his favorite".

Baz has really taken to Colleen's. I used to have to peel him off my body and rush away as he cried for me.....now he barely remembers to give me a hug and a kiss before he goes to play with his friends. It's not as nice as it was for Anya since she had a small crew of friends all her age there. He's got a couple of kids kinda close to his age, but not as close as she did. I was thinking today that I may look for a 3-year old program at Anya's preschool next year so he can make some friends his own age. The nice thing about the preschool is that the price is reasonable (about the same as I end up paying Colleen) and she would transport him.

18....

Is how old Anya will be when she finally gives up having tantrums. That's what she told me tonight after she finally settled down from her 2hour+ long tantrum. It started with dinner- she didn't want to eat what was on her plate, but she didn't want the consequences of not eating (her dog Gray would remain in time out, no stories, no lay-downs). Once we finally got past that one (she did eventually eat her dinner BTW), she wanted a candy which led into another tantrum (she didn't like the one I gave her and wanted another, which she didn't get either). After battling the tub with 2 kids (Baz and Rory) as Anya continued to sulk and cry, she finally got in the tub too. Yet another tantrum ensued when she wanted to wipe her eyes off before the shampoo was out of her hair. ACK!!!!!

Thankfully, all 3 kiddoes are quietly sleeping at this moment and I am thoroughly enjoying my Sam Adams and cookie dough.

I truly hope she's wrong with that age estimate, too....it came up because I told her that most 5 year olds don't have tantrums anymore, but she really didnt care about that.

Roller Skating!!!!

So yesterday George discovered a roller rink that has survived the 80's and 90' and still runs on a regular schedule. He recruited Aunt Meri and off we went. Of course, we had to travel almost an hour to get there, but it was worth it!

I was a bit anxious about going skating with 3 kids in tow- obviously Lorelei would not be participating, so one adult would have to stay with her and each of the other kids would need assistance as well. It turned out that George didn't have a ton of skating experience either, so it made for some fun times!


As we sat down and started putting on our skates, the kids got more and more excited. You can see it on Anya's face here:



Sebastian soon decided that skating was not for him and resorted to his usual climbing activities:



I soon realized that my anxieties were sorta well-founded as both kids realized how hard skating is. Factor in that Meri arrived a few minutes after we did and until she arrived, it was a bit nerve-wracking until she came in.

George entered the rink with one kid holding each hand and they made it halfway around the rink before he took both of them to the tables. Anya was in full-blown tears because she was so scared of falling. Baz wasn't crying, but he was not happy to be sitting at a table instead of the driving games in the arcade area. Thanks to Aunt Meri, we were then able to go skate a little bit (sans kids of course- big eyeroll!) and eventually cool Aunt Meri convinced Anya to try skating a bit.


You can see them in the above picture. Of course, I had visions of Anya falling on her right arm (which is still healing), so I reinforced that she should try to fall on her bottom. Luckily, she did't fall at all and actually has an interest in returning!


Baz, on the other hand, was eager to take his skates off and enjoy a lollipop:
Lorelei wasn't a huge fan either, but I think that had more to do with the gigantic burp that was brewing!


All in all, it was a fun day and I loved getting back into skates- it's been wayyyyy too long! I'm hoping that we can go someday without the kids and really get skating!

5 years old!!!

It's so amazing that Anya is 5 years old already.....she surprised us with her entrance 3 weeks early and she continues to surprise us each day. She got her dream of waking up with "gray", the stuffed dog she has wanted from IKEA. She opened a few presents in the morning with my parents before school and had a fun morning.

Her class had a party the day before for all the November birthdays, so she was already in a birthday mood. Baz, Lorelei and I joined her class for that party and it was fun- Baz joined right in with her classmates and she loved showing him off.

She's had 2 birthday dinners already- last night at Friday's with my parents and tonight at El Dorado with Nana. There's still tons more birthday fun to come- t-day dinner and her friend party!

Free sleep!

I didn't even have to buy it- I got it for free!!!! When my parents arrived Wed, I had to run out to my doc appt, but when I came home from that, it was nappy time for mommy! Usually, I'm too wound up to calm down enough to take a nap, but I was so tired that day that as soon as my head hit to pillow. I was out. I came to 2 hours later and felt wonderful! That night I got some good sleep as well since Grandma got up with Lorelei and stayed with her for a while so I was only up with her briefly. Ahhhhh- I felt like a new person Thursday! It's truly amazing how important sleep is and how fantastic I feel when I get some!

Sleep....

Where can I buy some???? Actually, last night wasn't too bad- my coughing kept me up the most. This is quite different than 2 night ago.......for some reason that evening, I was able to stay awake until almost 11. Big mistake- big! I left Lorelei in her swing and carried her back to the room with me and she slept until about 1....not too shabby, but 2 hours of sleep is not enough for momma! From 1-2:30 I fed her, burped her, changed her and tried to get her back to sleep. Once she finally went down, my coughing and hacking started. After a while, I felt badly that I was probably keeping George up, so I moved out to the cough. By 3:30, I finally stopped coughing and fell asleep. A mere half hour later, george arrives with Lorelei. Not a huge deal- I set up the boppy like I did when I first came home with her and prepared to nurse as I slept a little. But not for long- out cames Baz and he's ready for the day! He wants to watch Mickey Mouse (OK because I can turn it on and then snooze) and play pbskids- NOT OK because I have to help him do much of it.

Last night, only lorelei was up during the night and I was able to feed her and put her down- yay!!! often, she won't settle down so I end up nursing her in bed and then I wake up sore and still really tired. I just wish she didn't spend so much of the night coughing with me!

Parenthood

We had another moment of "fun" later last evening...the kind that you just have to laugh about....

We'd just put down our computers so we could enjoy watching The Office and 30 Rock together- 2 of the few entertaining shows on TV nowadays, so you know SOMETHING has to happen. Lorelei had been snoozing in her swing and started fussing...no biggie since she usually has a bottle of formula before going down "for the night" since my supply is squat in the evening and she hadn't had it. So George picked her up to feed her and asked "Why is she all wet?"

Not being a psychic, I had to investigate further to answer him, but it soon became clear....poop. Ahhhhh, George's favorite! Not that anyone loves poo, but he is really bothered by it, so holding a baby who has had an explosion that leaked through the diaper, onesie, and nightgown was NOT fun for him! Lucky for him, I was in a good mood, so we both went back to the nursery to change Lorelei.

As we begin the fun task of removing clothing over her head while protecting her squirmy body and trying not to get poop on her head, she starts with the spitting up. Wow- she literally had poop up to her armpits and now puke down to her bellybutton!!!! Being experienced parents, George and I took it in stride and started laughing. George had to take a break and sit on the floor and happened to look out the nursery door. This is what he saw:




OMG- we were howling! Poor kiddo was so tired and sick (he's still recovering from a cold) he just couldn't make it to our bed and laid down on the floor. I remembered hearing him cry earlier "I need my momma!!!" a few times, but he stopped so I assumed he just fell back asleep- poor little muffin!

Anyway, we finally did manage to get Lorelei cleaned up and changed and Baz back in his bed and watch our show. As a matter of fact, L slept in her crib for a few hours and Baz stayed in his bed most of the night, so George and I actually got to sleep "alone" in our bed for a few hours! if only ER hadn't been about dying children, I might have gotten a couple of restful hours of sleep instead of checking on my own kids 15 times!

Quiet

Yesterday afternoon, just before dinner, I realized something.....for just about 5 consecutive minute, I had 3 awake children who were playing independently and quietly!!! I immediately picked up the phone to tell George about it and his response was "yeah, so?" Ha ha, did he jinx himself! He was just about home and the SECOND the kids heard the garage door opening, chaos ensued!!!

Anya started begging him to play with her. Baz's new "trick" is to pull on ANY part of your body or clothing he can get with all of his might (which is a hard force to reckon with), so he started \pulling on daddy and all the commotion startled Lorelei, who began screaming.

I just sat back and reminisced about those 5 minutes....

Anya

Wow- Anya's 5th birthday is rapidly approaching....how on EARTH did that happen????? She's doing well at school (at least as far as we know)....no more notes from the teacher about hitting boys, etc and her schoolwork seems good. The only issue she's having now is when she plays with the other girls. She never seems really upset and talks about most of the kids in her class happily, but there are 2 girls who border on bullying her around. They aren't MEAN, but because she's smaller than they are, they won't ever let her play mommy when they play house. She has to be the little sister or baby and she doesn't like that. I feel so bad for her, even though it's not enough to make her cry- she just complains about it each day, but I don't know how to solve it. George and I both tell her to just stand up for herself and tell those girls that she'll be the mommy today or to have more than one mommy, but that doesn't happen. Oh, the joys of parenthood!

Anya is definitely becoming more fun to hang out with (except when she's reverting to her toddler tantrums, that is). She LOVES doing projects, where she draws and cuts out pieces of paper and glues them together. She really is quite the artist and LOVES doing it.

She's also our "hostess with the mostest" lately. We rarely have guests, so the fact that we had a family visit on Sunday and my friend visit yesterday was exciting for her. At first, she was disappointed when the boys only wanted to play with Baz's huge cars collection. She asked me why nobody was playing with her, so she and I had a little "girls'" party with Lorelei. When the kids mommy joined us after she finished work, Anya immediately invited her to play Mary Poppins! And when my friend Dawn showed up, she was directed to Anya's retaurant, followed by Anya's drawing game! She definitely knows how to entertain mommies!

Baz

Poor Sebastian is suffering with round 2 of a cold...the first part wasn't so bad and was just about (or maybe completely) gone when I took him in for his flumist. I don't know if they're connected or just coincidental (maybe his immune system was still a bit compromised by the cold plus the vax), but this part is really hitting him hard. Poor little muffin is oozing from his eyes and nose and coughing and sneezing nonstop. I THINK he's getting better each day, but he's definitely slower than usual!

We had a playdate on Sunday with an old friend of George's and his 2 boys and Baz was so beat that he fell asleep on the floor while the kids were still here. In fact, I put him in his bed and later found the 3 other kids in his room playing with his cars with the light on and he was O-U-T!!! I just hope it passes before it sets into his ears- last winter he had the neverending ear infection and I'd like to skip that this year. Thankfully, he's been pretty good about doing a nebulizer or 2 each day, so that should help!

He's turned into quite the chatty cathy lately, but speaking VERY softly. I have to ask him to turn up the volume all the time! The new thing is to be afraid of the "nightmare" in his room. I have to reassure him that there is nothing to be afraid of!

He's also taken an interest in the computer. I've always shown him kneebouncers.com, but usually I have to move the cursor around, so I started teaching him how to do it. Being the mechanical genius that he is, he now can maneuver through several websites on his own! Kneebouncers is a piece of cake and he's pretty good at pbskids and noggin as well! I have to monitor youtube with both of them because they'll start out with funny cats clips and the suggestions on the side keep getting weirder and weirder until they're things I don't want the kids to see.

Lorelei

So it's clear that being the mommy of 3 has impacted my blogging abilities, so I'm going to try to make up some today. I had the wonderful cleaning people today, so my household chores are mostly done- the usual kitchen upkeep, laundry, and meals (2 of which are done- yay!!!!)

At 7 weeks old, Lorelei is becoming more and more like a "real baby" rather than the squirmy lump that newborns are. She's got a terrific smile that just melts your heart when you see it. She is also trying to form sounds- you can see her moving her lips around to manipulate the sound until a "coo" comes out. I haven't yet caught it on video, but I'm gonna try- maybe today.

Since birth, she's been a strong one- holding her head up well in the first 2 weeks and always moving around. Kinda scary when I look at Baz and see all the crazy things he does- she'll surely learn all of his moves- ack! She's also still a spitter- I've learned her pattern- eat, then burp and the first eruption comes. But it doesn't end there- I usually have at least 2 more aftershocks that fill up the burp cloth before she's done. Even with all of that, she typically spits even more afterward, so if she's sitting in her swing or laying down, her face and head are covered in puke. Poor kiddo! The good thing is that she doen't appear uncomfortable when this happens, so it doesn't look like reflux.

At this point, she's still up several times during the night (big surprise there!) but she sleeps great during the day...several 2-3 hour naps! I'm trying to get up the courage to put her in her crib one of these nights. It's hard when I know she'll sleep for 3-5 hours in the evening in her swing- will it be shorter in the crib? And when she's in the PNP next to the bed and I'm tired from feeding her, I just pop her into bed with me and I can get SOME sleep while she's nursing (not as good as sleeping by myself, but better than nothing). I do know that in the long run, we'll both be better if she sleeps in the crib for long stretches, but I'm not ready to CIO yet...oh, decisions, decisions!

As for growth, L looks to be doing great....at her checkup last week, she measured 23 inches and weighed 10 lbs,8 oz, which puts her in the 75th percentile for weight and almost 90 for length! What a change from my other peanuts! I think a large part of it is that I'm just not stressing about nursing this time. I've done just about everything in my power to try to exclusively nurse and it clearly isn't going to happen, so if she needs formula, she'll get formula. Clearly it didn't adversely affect the other two, so she'll be fine as well!

Tantrums

So at almost 5 years old, Anya still has (and uses) the capacity to throw a whopper of a tantrum. Last night, it was over taking medicine for her painful leg. Just before it started, I made the mistake of thinking how nice it was to have an easy bedtime for all 3 kids (well, really the bigger ones). Shortly after that, I heard Anya crying and George speaking sternly to her. OK- not my problem yet, so I tuned it out. But it kept going....and going.....and going.... George finally joined me in the family room and told me that she insisted that her leg really did hurt, but she refused to take the grape tylenol- she only wanted the "orange medicine"- ibuprofen. SHe's made a number of requests for this med lately,so we're not sure if it's a ploy to get something that tastes like candy, so George told her she could only have tylenol and if her legs *really* hurt, she should be happy to take anything that will make her feel better.

45 minutes later, I finally convinced her to swallw the grape meds (with a water chaser) and she survived!!! She still insisted that she hates that taste, though! Anyway, during our postmortem (which I do after most major tantrums), she acknowledged that once again, she didn't get her way. And now she felt crappy from crying and screaming....why can't she learn????

Busy week

Because of Halloween this week has been super hectic....it started with last weekend- work Sat morning, followed by a Halloween festival at a local college, then home and bed.

Sunday was going to be a nice casual day at home, but we found out about another Halloween event at a local Amusement park, so we went there instead- lots of walking and pretty tiring day (at least for a momma who's still recovering from surgery!)

Monday was Anya's follow up with the orthopod, so I had to take her to Colleen's and the smaller kids to Nana and Dada's, then take her to her visit and we all went out to dinner for my bday. Not physically hard, but a looooong day.

Tuesday was the first day that all 3 kids had to go to different places and Anya's Marvelous Me box was due and we didnt' quite finish it up. So that morning was crazy- I think I ran back into the house about 15 times to get things I had forgotten, but eventually we were off. I distinctly remember thinking that morning about what a sense of accomplishment I feel each morning as I pull into the office. I've fed, dressed, packed up, and dropped of 2-3 kids (with the help of my wonderful DH, of course) and by 9 (or 8), I'm ready for work. The rest of that day was pretty uneventful, I think!

Wednesday should have been a break since the cleaning people were coming, but I always try to have the clutter cleared up so they can clean everything and I like to get ahead of the laundry then. As a result, I worked harder that I do my "work" days! But I did have a fabulously clean house and mostly clean clothes to show for it!

Thursday is my long day at work so I have a lot of packing and planning to do, but since the office was slow, it turned out to be a nice day for me. Once Anya got off the bus, I packed the kiddoes up to go to the high school for trick or treat street. It went quite smoothly, except for the fact that it cost $5/kid and I had no cash! I checked the school's website before we went specifically for that reason and there was no mention of any cost- ack! Thankfully, the kids working there let me write a check and all was good. Anya was a pro by now and went up to each station and said "trick or treat!' Baz was pretty confused, but he managed to follow his sister around and make out with some good candy.

Today (Friday) is working out well, but it has been busy....after getting Anya on the bus, I packed up the little kids and went to BJ's. Our poor cats have been hungry for 2 days now since their food ran out, but they are now fed! Baz was disappointed that the butler was gone, but it wasn't a huge deal. After a short stop at home, we went to Anya's school to read her favorite book to the class (Knuffle Bunny) and listen to her answer questions about herself from her classmates. Baz was thrilled to be in her classroom and couldn't decide if he wanted to sit next to Anya in front of the class or on the floor with her friends! He definitely couldn't get enough of watching the fish! After that, I took Baz and Lorelei to Wendy's for lunch (and to kill some time) before we went back to Anya's school for their Halloween parade. Baz went right up to the playground, which thankfully was close enough to the parade that he could play. I snapped a few shots of our "vampire" girl and we were on our way! Tonight will just be trick or treating (I think), then bed.

Saturday will be another looooong day.....work early, so we all have to be up and out by 7am. George and the kids have to then go to the masonic temple to set up for the party later, then we have to take Anya to a bday party that afternoon. In the evening, we have Dada's party and ceremony that starts at 8pm- definitely gonna be a late night!

I'm really hoping that Sunday is a nice, quiet day!!!

Girly girl

Sebastian is still completely in love with Lorelei. The first thing he always does when he's been apart from her is to kiss her forehead...when I pick him up at Colleen's, he asks right away if we can go see Dada and pick up his "girly girl". Awwwwww- so sweet!

Both kids have also learned to identify Styx's Lorelei in about 2 notes. And it's not like we play it often- actually, pretty rarely. Sebastian has asked for it several times this week- "Can I hear Lorelei's song?" For those interested, here's a link:


I think Lorelei is happy to see her sibs, too. This morning, Anya held L on the boppy and almost as soon as she was placed in her sister's arms, L started grinning from ear to ear. Love it!

Mommy treats

So yesterday I had a very nice treat- a trip to the mall SOLO!!!! The office is super slow lately and I had to return the extra Halloween costume I bought for Lorelei to the Disney store by that night, so I asked my office to just call me if anyone needed to come in and I was off.... I less than 2 hours w/k (without kids), I:
-went to the bank
-went to the post office
-returned the costume (actually, exchanged for some LMQ jammies)
-had a venti pumpkin latte (with skim, but still yumm-o!)- thanks Beth!
-bought some new undies from VS (thanks to a bday freebie they sent me!)
-picked up a free lotion from Bath &Body Works (thanks to a bday freebie!)
-bought some clothes for the kids from Macy's (thanks to some gift cards from one of George's patients!)

Yes, I did run around quite a bit, but it was so nice to only have to get myself in and out of the car, not break up fights, and accomplish soooo many things that needed doing!

Some Halloween pics

Today we went to Trick or Treating at Adventureland and the kids had a BLAST!! They were eager to wear their costumes and get some more candy and maybe ride some rides. Anya was excited to wear her Wednesday costume....she didn't want to wear it to school in case she scared her classmates. Today, she was thrilled that some of the grownups at the park recognized her costume and commented on how cool it was. The biggest surprise was that the Addams Family Theme song came on several times- boy, did her face light up!!!

Our NASCAR driver (sans his Wii steering wheel that he conveniently forgot in the car):
Our ladybug (actually sucking on a binky for more than 10 seconds!!!):
Wednesday Addams:
Racecar driver and vampire girl at Anya's school:
It's so cool that Halloween is on a Friday this year- we're almost a week away and we already got a whole weekend of Halloween activities!!! Yesterday George took the big kids to a street festival in their costumes and after I met up, we all went to a local college for a Halloween event. Today was Adventureland, then a trick or treat street at the high school on Thurs and real T or T-ing on Friday.

For more pics, see the kids website- I'll put more on there!

Little Miss Independence

We've known that Anya is very independent for quite some time now, but it usually was directed towards us (mom and dad). I've noticed lately how far her independence goes....for instance, as soon as she heard she could buy her lunch at school, that's what she wanted to do. It doesn't matter that most of the other kids bring their lunch- she wants to buy hers and that's what she does. We went to a magic show at her school the other evening and most of the kids were sitting on the floor in front of the stage. She had seen several of her classmates, but none that she was particularly friendly with. As a result, she plopped herself down on the floor in front of the stage and THAT was where she was going to sit. Didn't care one bit that none of her friends were around her and she insisted that George and Baz come sit in the back with me- and there she stayed for the entire show.

I just wish she could stand up a little more to the girls she plays house with in school.....because she's shorter and smaller than the rest of them, they always make her play "little sister" and she wants to be "mommy". I have a feeling that if they were boys, this wouldn't be an argument at all- she's smack them until they let her play whatever she wanted.

I suppose I should be happy that she only hits boys- saves us a little in discipline!

Life is good!

Lorelei turns one month old tomorrow- how on earth did that happen? I've got to say that although she blended in pretty easily, it feels now like things are settling into our new normal.... I ventured into the hot tub with Anya and Baz yesterday and today and it was HEAVEN! I knew that the time I wouldn't be able to go in would be tough (it really wasn't as bad as I expected- I was too busy worrying about everything else), but what a treat to get back in.

I absolutely love this newborn phase (so many moms say they just want to "get through it" so they can enjoy the more fun babies that can interact more), but it is tiring because you're just about tied to your little person all the time. Now that she's nursing better and taking bottles pretty well, I've gained a little freedom and it feels great. To leave her inside with daddy while I play with the others in our little piece of heaven makes me feel so great!

Work is going well, too....I was stressed about her being fussy and needy as I see patients, but she's been doing fine. She fights the bottle a little bit, but once she eats, she either sits in her swing and just watches whats going on or she sleeps. It makes for a nice day for me since I can easily go about working without being concerned about her.

Back to L's first week...

Day 6- Monday
This one was definitely a hectic day. Rather than sit quietly on the couch and let my belly heal, I had to get out to a few doctor's appts.....first I dropped Baz with Nana and Dada...no way could I chase him in addition to getting everyone in and out of the car! Then, Anya and I headed to the ped to weigh Lorelei.... this wasn't so bad, but getting in and out of the van and taking the stroller and baby carrier in and out were a bit tough. As we were finishing up there, Anya had to rush to the bathroom because she had diarrhea- ack! Now my day got a little more complicated!

Next was the xray place for Anya's arm....thankfully the waiting room was mostly empty since L was ready to eat (of course, she was only 6 days old- she ate ALL.DAY.LONG). Luckily, my nursing in public skills have gotten pretty good, so it wasn't even that hard to nurse a newborn in the waiting room. EXCEPT for the diarrhea....another emergency visit to the bathroom (and a few deep breaths for mommy who just couldn't hold Anya's little bum over the seat so she had to sit directly on it) and that trip was fairly easy.

Now we had a little time before the ortho visit, so we stopped at Target for a few necessities and some lunch. Yeah, besides the in and out of the van, walking around Target is good for healing, right? The ortho visit was good- she was healing fine, had her cast padded a bit, and we were on our way....

A little visit with Nana and Dada while L nursed yet again and we headed home. It was a long day and definitely required some pain meds after, but I really didn't feel so bad afterward.

Day 7- one week old!!!!
I don't remember many (any?) details of this day anymore, but I'm pretty sure this is the day that I sent Baz to Colleen's so I could finally get some rest. Because of my hospital stay, he was a bit clingy and even though he had talked happily about going to Colleen's to play with the kids, as soon as we pulled up, the tears/screaming started. So what happens to sore, tired, sleep deprived mommy who already feels guilty about dropping off her baby boy when he starts crying "don't go mommy"? You guessed it....mommy starts crying too. Now I've got an infant in her stroller and I KNOW I can't pick up a thrashing toddler and carry him in...... Luckily, Colleen spotted this happening and came to my rescue. I told her I was really OK, just couldn't control my stupid hormones, so she grabbed him and ran. I found out later that (as I suspected), he stopped crying shortly after I left and played happily the rest of the day. In fact, when George went to pick him up that afternoon, he didn't want to leave.

I was able to spend much of that day just sitting on the couch and sleeping- much needed!

About Lorelei

The first thing everyone tries to determine when looking at her is who she looks like. Hmmmmm...that one is hard this time! Anya was definitely my DD and looked like me almost from birth (poor kid!). Baz was the same, except that he was (and is) the spitting image of George. Lorelei is a mix of everyone and still unique. Her face is like Baz and her eyes are like Anya's, but after that, she'sher own person. Her dark hair seems to be staying put so far- boy, will she be striking if she keeps the dark hair and bright blue eyes! It's so interesting to see how much babies change every day!

As far as her behavior, she's still pretty mellow....of course, she cries when she's hungry and sometimes when she's tired, but she spends a lot of time just "hanging out" in her swing and looking around. I had her with me yesterday at work and I think most of her day was spent either sleeping in her swing or just watching people go by! Yes, I know this can still change, but I'm hoping for a calm and happy baby (and toddler, too!)

Baz's convos

I really have to break out the video camera more often to document Baz's speaking. He's got this raspy kinda deep (for a toddler) voice and puts on a sweet singsong tone to it. He also comes out with the most adorable things to say- often about something that happened long ago and describes it in detail.

Yesterday he was helping me make pancakes and my first batch came out perfectly. I asked them- "what do you think about those?" And his response was "that's excellent!" Awwwww, melted my heart!!!!

He's also taken to talking like the soup nazi from Seinfeld. If I wanted some pancakes, he'd respond "no pancakes for you mommy". I'm not sure where this came from, but coming from a 2-year old, it's pretty funny!

3 weeks old!

So today Lorelei is 3 weeks old- how can that possibly be??? On one hand, I feel like she's always been part of the family, but on the other I can't believe that 3 weeks has passed since she arrived! Wowsers.... I took her for a weight check since she still isn't back up to her birth weight and she still has a couple of ounces to go, but she did gain 4 oz in 3 days- woohoo!!! She's now 8lbs, 9 oz- go team!!!! It's really REALLY hard to believe that I was carrying around more weight than she is now- that's crazy. Anyway, I know that the gain is from the supplementing and I don't feel any change in my milk production yet, but it's only been a few days on the meds, so here's hoping!

Today was my first day back at work and it went very well. It wasn't too tough getting Baz and Lorelei packed up and out the door and she even cooperated by nursing early enough- yay! She did fine in the office, too...a little fussy, but nothing too major AND she seems to be taking to the bottle as well!

Both big kids are still super into their sister- as soon as they see her, they can't get enough kisses plastered on her face. They also fight over who gets to hold her hand- so sweet!

L had her first real bath today too since her umbilical stump fell off this morning. Baz missed out since he refused to touch dinner and his punishment was no tub, but Anya delighted in helping to wash her baby sister. L seemed to enjoy the water too- who doesn't love a nice warm bath?

A cast-free house!

So Anya's cast came off today- yippee!!!!! She's all smiles and eager to show her friends at school her bare arm! Don't worry- it doesn't look so misshapen in person!

Anya's first book

Why is this book here? Because it's the first whole book that Anya can (and does) read entirely on her own!!!! Granted, some of it is context, but she's still recognizing the words! It's so amazing to see her learn how to read! Where did my baby go????

Day 4- Saturday
Yep, I've already forgotten much of this time.....but I think that's because nothing really exciting happened this day....George was off from work so we spent the morning just hanging out as a family. Later that afternoon, Maureen and George came over with dinner and Meri (and Ollie) and Phil also came to visit us and meet L. It was a bit chaotic, but fun nonetheless. I was happy to have a little quiet time with Anya to color in her room- I felt like I hadn't really spent much time with her and that was nice.

Day 5- Sunday
By now, I was starting to feel a little better so we decided to venture out to the pumpkin patch. It wasn't nearly as hard to pack up 3 kids and I expected and we all had a nice time. The big kids had fun picking out their pumpkins and looking around at the halloween decorations. Lucky for us, it was a rainy day, so the corn maze and the hay rides were shut down- I started feeling tired and sore and needed to get back to the car.

We made a quick stop to Walmart and a Halloween store before heading home- our first family outing!

Recovery timeline

Just because I know I'm going to forget this time in my life (I probably already have), I want to write what the first 2-3 weeks of Lorelei's life were like.

Days 1-3- hospital
This time was borrrrring and painful.....unlike my other deliveries where I felt INCREDIBLE from the beginning, every movement was hard to do and painful, so I was not able to enjoy my hospital time at all. I did still feel well enough on day 3 to go home (that, and the hospital bed was KILLING my back), but I was definitely not great

Day 3- Friday- discharge day
George and I made it home without any problems. It was kinda funny watching the other new parents being discharged and getting into their cars......dad got in the driver's seat and mom got in back with baby. Haha...here I was with kiddo #3 and after I was discharged, daddy went back into the hospital to see a patient while I waited in the front seat. It seems that once you have more than one kid, there's no room for mom or dad to sit next to the new one unless you can cram your adult-sized bottom into a carseat!

Anyway, when we got home, my parents were still there- cleaning frantically (thanks mom and dad!) and George was at Anya's school for her applesauce party. He had a blast playing with her class and she was thrilled to have daddy there AND get a ride home with him. Just before my parents left, Maureen came over so I could shower and change (thanks Maureen!!!). She entertained Baz and hung out so I didn't have to chase him and manage L (and my incision). The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful....we had leftovers for dinner and got through bath/bedtime as usual, just with a baby on my boob.

The first night started out with me sleeping in bed, but it didn't last too long. My hopes of having L sleep in the crib from day 1 dissipated once the c/s incision was made, but even getting her in and out of the PNP next to the bed was hard and painful. I also couldn't sleep comfortably on my side, so nursing her in bed wasn't an option either. Factor in big brother who missed mommy and wanted to sleep on top of me and the whole bed sitch was BAD.

I migrated to the couch (see the pic below) and the sleep solution was found. I could sleep comfortably for me and hold L safely so she could nurse through the night. There was even room for Baz to sleep between my legs with his head on the boppy so we could all get some rest- yay! We were able to sleep like this for several days and I'm so glad I figured it out right away!

The big kids

There are so many things I've been wanting to post about so I don't forget them and I just never get time to have 2 hands free AND the computer. Here goes nothing:

Both kids have been over the moon in love with Lorelei since birth. They both had minor episodes of "I want/need momma" while I was in the hospital and shortly after when they had to be apart from me, but never anything directed at L. In fact, the second she starts rooting or fussing, they come and get me and let me know "ladybug wants some booby mommy". And if I don't immediately run to her aid, they keep after me! She's going to be one sheltered kid- between George and I AND her big bro and sis!

They also like to help in her feeding....Anya always asks if she can "plug the boob in her mouth". OMG- why she thought of it as being plugged in is beyond me, but hilarious!

Baz loves to just come over and rub her head. He calls her "girly girl" in his sweet little boy talk and it melts my heart!

Yay for boobies!

You know it's a good day when your (and the baby's) doc recommends beer (especially dark beer) as a treatment! Actually, I knew that dark beer is supposed to help with breastmilk production, but it's still nice to hear. I'm also pleased (kinda) to find out that my milk hormone is out of whack, which is probably why I've never been able to make enough milk to feed my babies. It's good because I can take a medication to increase that hormone and indirectly my milk production. It's bad because I wish I had found out with Anya and saved myself a lot of mommy angst. Oh well- neither she nor Baz seem to be lacking in the "smarts" department, so I'm not going to dwell on it.

On a side note, as a result of my appt today with the LC, I had a couple of hours to be home mostly alone (Lorelei has been sleeping since we got home). In that time, I cleaned and organized more than I have for the past two weeks! This recovery has been so different than the others- the things I had planned on doing 2 weeks ago are just getting done now and I'm going back to work this week. So much for "enjoying" my time off, but at least I'm getting back to my usual self.

Laughter is the best medicine!

Lately both kids have been into watching silly cat videos on youtube. This is a quick clip of their giggling as they watch. Don't worry if you can't see it- just listen to them- it's contagious!

Feeling better

I'm happy to report that in the past 2 days I've started feeling more and more like myself. Of course, I'm completely sleep-deprived, but that's nothing new or uncharted. My belly is feeling better and better and my incision is healing- yay!

2 week check

So Lorelei went in today for a 2 week check since her weight last week wasn't fantastic. She was born weighing 8lbs, 11 oz and discharged from the hospital on day 3 at 7lbs, 15 oz and then up a few ounces to 8lbs, 1oz at 13 days old. As a result, we made an appt for today (2 weeks) to make sure she regained to her birth weight....nope, no such luck. She gained a measly 2 ounces to 8lbs, 3oz, which is not enough. I'm bummed because I really thought that she was nursing well- I can feel a letdown, there's always milk in her mouth when she pulls off, and I can clearly hear and see her sucking and swallowing. I've even been able to pump an ounce several times, which is not bad for under 2 weeks.

She does spit up frequently.....with almost each feeding she spits fresh milk and regardless of whether she burps or not, she spits up old milk afterward. The ped is a little concerned about some sort of blockage or reflux, although her symptoms don't exactly coincide with either of those. First we're ruling out an issue with my supply and I've called 2 LC's and can hopefully be seen today or tomorrow. One is a pediatrician who also does lactation consulting- how cool is that?

Otherwise, she seems fine- she had her Hep B shot today and handled it very well- go Ladybug!

Oh, and here's a pic of little Lorelei:

So this is what my life has been for the past two weeks :) My intents of having L sleep in the crib from day 1 were tanked by the searing pain in my belly every time I tried to move. Luckily, I was able to situate on the couch like this for the first 12 days of her life and be able to nurse her all night and be comfortable- yay!!! Of course, Baz couldn't spend a night away from Mama (the 2 that I was in the hospital were bad enough), so he inevitably found his spot at my feet with the boppy as his pillow and everyone was happy! Now that my belly is feeling better and the shoulder pain has subsided, I've relocated into our bed, but that's bringing its own issues. L only has one good spell where she sleeps for 2-3 hours and that's typically ending around midnight, so after that she's up and down nursing for the rest of the night. Factor in Baz (or Anya sometimes) coming into our bed and I can't just lie on my side and nurse L. I'm really hoping one of these days Baz realizes that sleep at night is GOOD and just stays in his bed all night long!

The big kids

It's so amazing to see all 3 kids interact now. Both Anya and Baz are so in love with Lorelei- not an iota of jealousy to be seen! I love this pic of Anya as she enters the room to meet L for the first time:

And here where she meets her little sister...you can see the excitement in her eyes!

She's maintained that excitement still and asks to hold L every chance she gets. She loves just looking at her face and hands and feet.

Baz keeps repeating "mine baby" over and over. He announces every time she opens her eyes or burps, etc very proudly. He isn't as into holding her, but loves to pat her head or touch her toes.

It really warms my heart to see how happy they all are.

C-section thoughts

I really have to hand it to c-section mommies....of course, I knew it wasn't easy, but holy cow is this hard!! I'm sure a bit of it is that I know what a vag delivery is and was prepared for that so this is a huge curveball. During the pregnancy, I was able to get through the last few weeks by reminding myself how good it feels to push that kid out and feel great immediately. Had I been prepared to spend some time recovering from just giving birth, this may have felt a little better. I certainly don't get why anyone would CHOOSE a section over a vag birth- this is hardly more convenient and most definitely much more painful. Anyway, I am happy that Lorelei is here safe and sound and my delivery and recovery have been uneventful.

I am very glad that I pushed and pushed to make sure I was given Toradol immediately postop (I had to ask so many nurses whether I had or not that I felt like a pest). It turns out that I wasn't given it, so if I hadn't asked, I would have been much worse off that night! I also found a little miracle cure for some temporary relief- ice packs.....the PP nurse looked at me like I had 6 heads when I asked for an ice-pack pad that's intended to cool your hoo-ha after a vag delivery. Boy howdy, did that ice soothe my belly, though! Even now, I feel so good when I sit down with a bag of ice on my lap- it really works! I also find that maintaining my NSAIDS makes a huge difference- I missed a dose of Motrin while in the hospital and felt so much worse until I got my next dose. Maybe now my patients will listen to me when I tell them to take their meds regularly if they want to feel better!

I have a feeling this post is going to come in several installments....I don't get much time to just sit and type right now!

First I want to comment on what a joy Lorelei is.....of course, she's only 4 days old, but so far she's been a breeze (once she came out, that is!). Eats and sleeps and only the occasional cry here and there. Yes, I have BTDT, so I know that this could very well be her adjusting to her new environment and she could be very different in a few days or weeks, but for now I'm enjoying it.

Lorelei's birth:

Early on Sept 23rd (Tues), George and headed to the hospital for my induction. L had already hung in there for 2-3 weeks longer than her sibs and I easily dilated to 3 in the office, so it was reasonable that I would have an easy induction. Add to it that I was huge and uncomfortable and practically unable to sleep in any position at that point. We did the usual routine- check in at admitting, head over to L&D, get hooked up to the monitors, etc, etc. Dr. T came in right away and broke my water and started he pit- game on!!!

At first, it was easy- peasy.....mild contrax but nothing I couldn't handle. George and I broke out the cards and played a game of 500 rummy (which I won, despite the contrax- go me!!!!). W had a laugh over the fact that the last time we played cards was when in labor with Baz, and I think the time before that it was waiting for Anya! After a little more time, the contrax became more and more painful, so I asked for my epidural.

In the meantime.....Maureen had a nice time with the big kids and got Anya ready and off to school with no problem. She then headed over to the mall with Baz, who directed her to the projection game in the middle of the mall- his fave! He also scored a "Nemo" animated screen for their room. I was just pleased that Anya didn't argue going to school and fight Nana with getting dressed, etc.

Epidural time......it went in fine, but shortly afterward, my BP crashed and the ever-present puke monster showed back up. Thankfully, Dr. C was right there to give me some epinephrine to fight off the puke and bring my BP back and we were good again. However, this is where my uterus and cervix stopped cooperating. Afterward, we found out that L's head was down, but turned to the side. As a result, she couldn't make her way into the birth canal and despite being on the max dosage of Pit, my contrax never became strong and I couldn't dialate past 5-6cms. George and I could hear the OB consulting with her partner and trying to come up with other options, but when the terms "bleeding out" and "hysterectomy" came into play, we knew it was time for a section. (I didn't hear most of this, but I could tell from her face that I was headed for a section.)

Once the decision was made, I was hustled off to the OR, puking all the time. I also knew the situation was a bit more complicated because Dr. B came over to assist, despite an office of patients. Once I managed to get onto the OR table (again, stopping every few seconds to puke), Lorelei made a quick appearance and clearly was happy and healthy. Thankfully, my uterus cooperated from then on and the rest of the procedure went smoothly!

George went off with L to see her getting bathed and share the news with everyone. The big sibs were over the moon at this point. They both wore their big sis and bro shirts (you can see the pics on their site) and couldn't wait to meet their new sis. They were able to see her in the nursery and Anya was allowed to come see me for a few minutes. After a bit, they went off to have dinner and go to bed since I wasn't going to my room for a while and Lorelei needed to be in the nursery for a bit.

I was in recovery for an hour or two (pretty groggy at this point, so I had no concept of time) and was able to rest a bit. I had no pain then, but couldn't stop shivering for anything. The only bad thing at this point was that my epidural was so good that it numbed my arms, so when Lorelei was brought over to me, I couldn't even hold her. George helped out by holding her up to me, but it was so strange to not be able to hold my baby.

I think I was back to my room by 8 or so and very pleased to see that the other bed was empty (it turns out Maureen helped me out with that- thanks Maureen!). By then, my arms were back to life so I could transfer to my bed and start my recovery. My epi was still in, but I was able to make it through the night with just the maintenance dose.

A few hours later, the nursery brough Lorelei to me and I could finally hold my babe. She latched right on and nursed like a champ and I finally felt like I was back on track. The morning was a little rough as I learned what recovering from belly surgery is. The epi came out, but my BP was still a bit low, so I had a lovely bout of puking after taking a bit of my breakfast. THAT is not fun- barfing only a few hours after your gut has been cut open- owie!!! Luckily, it was just once and I was able to eat by lunch, which was a huge relief.

So those are the main highlights of Lorelei's birth- definitely not what I expected, but the end result was- a beautiful and healthy baby.

1st PP shower - heaven!

1st PP shower - heaven!

Lorelei Dawn

So here's our newest addition: 8 lbs, 11 oz., 20 inches:




And here's some video of her chattering away at one minute old:

Epi in ...5 cm ...waiting...

Epi in ...5 cm ...waiting...

Water is broken ...pit started

Water is broken ...pit started ... waiting now ...

12 hours to go.......

So here I sit feeling this creature squirming and poking inside me and wonder what she'll look like. Of course, every pregnancy has to end someday, but knowing exactly when it's coming is kinda weird. Very helpful when it comes to planning and childcare, etc, but still weird. It's a little bittersweet, too....barring any sort of BC failure, this will be our last pregnancy so this is my last night to be pg ever. Granted, I'm more excited now to meet our new babe and have my body back, but I do know that they day will come that I will actually miss being pregnant. For right now, I'm just going to worry about getting through labor and delivery tomorrow! And getting my DH back....for the past month, he's been on pins and needles expecting the kid to come any second. I'll be so happy when he can just calm down and relax a bit!

Anyway, I'll try to mobile blog tomorrow- if I can't use my laptop, I'll be able to post a pic or two and short updates from my phone. Stay tuned!!!

music (aka senic)

George has long been working at teaching Anya about his taste in music. This kinda backfired when he tried to incorporate her love for NBX with his love for Alice Cooper and played her "Sick Things". He thought she's be bored and hate it, but she LOVED it. Yeah, great....here's our beautiful little 3 year old girl trying to sing about sick things a la Alice...... Well, we finally moved on past that and now he's got another musical taste to entice. We've also had a little more "family time" in the van lately to try to save gas when we can so the kids can enjoy daddy's ipod. As a result, Baz is rapidly becoming a Rush fan. I can definitely live with that and it's soooooo cute to hear him ask "Play Rush please Daddy". He's also taken a liking to Kiss, but I'm not sure where that came from....George has some Kiss, but never was a big fan...I think it's just because they look funny. Oh, and Baz also asks for Alice Cooper as well, but I don't think he knows any songs in particular....yet.

At least he asks me for Baby Beluga over and over and over......tedious, but I can sing along with that!

Baz blew his nose!

Before I forget, I just want to add that Baz asked to blow his nose tonight and actually followed through!!!! He's been walking around lately with a finger buried deep in his nose- yuck! Both he and Anya are coming down with colds ( just what you want as you're about to bring home a newborn), but as I was putting him down tonight I noticed that he was trying to blow his nose (sans tissue of course). So I got up and grabbed a tissue and sure enough- he blew like a champ!!! That makes life so much better- I hate it when they are struggling to breathe and I know that the nose sucker is going to be a battle. One less thing I have to do for him- yay!!!!

Anya's cast

Anya has been doing fantastic with her cast- it really doesn't seem to slow her down one bit. She's the cool kid in class since nobody else has had a cast (yeah, lovely.....) and they all lined up to sign it. She gets to use sidewalk chalk at recess and it sounds like most of the kids want to draw with her rather than play on the playground. She's also gotten special jobs during gym class, so she hasn't complained about missing anything yet.

Her school had their "back to school picnic" yesterday and the kids had a BLAST. Carter now has some competition....she hooked up with a little boy who rides her bus almost as soon as we arrived and they spent the entire time there running around holding hands. She did play with other kids, but her new BF was always by her side. He seems to be cute and sweet just like Carter, so I do have to applaud her choice in friends!

Baz is still insisting that Anya (and all of the other kids at kindergarten) have taken his turn on the bus and at school- lol! He doesn't get too upset about it, but it really is funny to hear him say it! I do enjoy the time he and I have while Anya is at school- he's such a cute and sweet little boy. He often just comes up to me and gives me a big hug and kiss- melts my heart! I really hope this next babe is fairly easygoing so I can split my time between them and give him as much attention as possible. His favorite phrase now is "wanna play wif me?" and I want to say "sure" as much as I possibly can!

Preparation

Of course, as my EDD has been approaching, we've been physically prepping for a baby around the house, but as the reality of her arrival/eviction approaches, I'm focusing more on the person that's going to be joining our family soon. I think pregnancy makes me feel so crappy that I forget about the end result and jsut work on making it through each day. Now that I know that I have a little over 2 more days to be pregnant, it's so much more tolerable..... As I sit here watching my belly jump and twist as this kid wiggles around, I'm trying to imagine what our little "Ladybug" will look and act like. I'm also trying to imprint what our family is like now since I know that after she comes, it'll be practically impossible to remember what life was like before her birth. She's beenby FAR the most active baby in utero- so much so that she actually hurts me when she moves and kicks. (Right now I'm hoping she can kick in the right place and break my water, but that's another story and it hasn't happened yet, so I'm not counting on that!). I'm not sure what sort of personality that will translate to since Anya was the next active and Baz the least and now he's the most crazy. Anya was definitely a tougher infant, so that doesn't bode well, but I'm just not going to worry about it.

The kids seems eager to meet and greet their new sibling....except that Baz keeps insisting that the baby is a boy- over and over and over. I'm sure he'll adjust eventually, though! We rearranged the carseats today.....after the first failed attempt to install Anya's seat in the 3rd row (she puked the entire ride home from NJ when I picked her up from my parents), I tried to put Baz's seat there yesterday. Due to the stupid setup of the seats in our van, I can't get the seat in properly, so that won't work. After a bit of discussion, we put Anya's seat in the back and for now they will take turns sitting in each seat- luckily, they're close enough in torso length that they can switch- yay!!! So far, Anya hasn't gotten sick, but we've only taken a couple fairly short trips and haven't turned on the DVD player either. Here's hoping it works!

I've been feeling some more early labor signs today, which is encouraging....loss of MP all day and stronger contrax. We walked around the mall quite a bit and that definitely got things going, but since we've been home it's calmed down. I also have an increase in the lower back pain, which is very similar to how I felt before my water broke with Anya, but who knows where that will go too. I have no idea if anything will happen between now and Tues, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did (or doesn't). Tues would be nice so we can plan everything and because it's the start of Libra (oh, how I'd love a libra kid), but tonight, Sun, or Mon would be nice so I can be done and she can be here! Looks like we just have to wait and see!

5 days or less!!!!

So I had my 39 week appt today and was diagnosed with "3rd baby symdrome". Not really a syndrome, but just a stubborn kiddo. Anyway, my cervix made no change on its own, but the doc stretched it to 3 cm- wahoo!!! Even better was that I didn't feel a thing! The doc seems to think I'll go into labor on my own over the weekend (why I don't know and I'm not putting money on it), but if I don't, I'm scheduled for an eviction on Tuesday. Although I'm a little nervous about it since my body clearly isn't warming itself up for labor, so there's a chance that I'll end up with a section, it is sooooooo relieving to KNOW when the pg will end. I can start blocking out my office time and just planning the upcoming weeks a little, which has been hard so far. If only I knew whether she'll come over the weekend.......

Now the waiting continues......

So there I am a day before 39 weeks....a milestone for me!!! At this point with Anya, I was just about back to work already and this kiddo is still cooking! No progress to report, which of course means nothing. My water could break any second or I could have an induction at 41 weeks. I've got an appt tomorrow so maybe I'll have more info then, but I'm not counting on it. If I'm still just a fingertip dialated, it'll be the same story. I'm not sure when these docs start scheduling inductions, so maybe I'll find out tomorrow. I sure am hoping that labor would just start so I can get this show on the road!

Another sleep trial

Last night Baz slept at Nana and Dada's house and did fantastic....only a couple of quick wake-ups to say "mommy" and then back to sleep. Of course, he was up late, had a very short nap in the car, and had a super-busy day, so there was a good setup. However, he did seem thrilled with Anya's blowup bed, so we're having a go at letting him sleep in that tonight. Here's hoping it works and I'll only have the kid inside me keeping me up tonight!

Made it through the night!

Other than being awakened at 5:30 because the cast was too tight, Anya did great her first night in a cast. And since Baz had a sleepover at Nana and Dada's, mommy got 7 hours of uninterrupted
sleep- yahoo!!! (Actually, there were a couple of potty breaks for me, but what do you expect for 9 months preggo?) Thankfully, the tight cast issue was easily resolved with ice, elevation, and Motrin- whaddayaknow, it really works!!!! Stupid mommy for not putting ice on while she was sleeping, but I really wanted to take advantage of sleeping for once. She's in good spirits this morning- happily watching The Hobbit on the couch with an ice pack on her arm and eager to go to school so her friends can sign her cast.

I know she hasn't thought about the hot tub yet, so I'm hoping that doesn't become an issue for her, but I'm planning on buying a cast protector, so if we can get a good one, MAYBE she can go in....I certainly can't miss 6 weeks of hot tub (at least not before baby girl makes her entrance).

I also noticed today that my countdown box is down to single digits- wowsers!!!! I might actually have to endure an entire pregnancy this time-ack! Actually, besides the excitement with Anya, I felt pretty good yesterday (which doesn't usually happen). If I felt like that for the rest of the pg, I could manage another week if I have to, although I'd certainly prefer sooner rather than later. I think there's supposed to be a full moon tonight and there's an old wives' tale about babies being born during full moons......who knows??????