Diaper Issues!

My beautiful, perfect, little girl has one flaw.  She cannot keep her poop in her diaper.  It doesn't matter what we do, it still comes out.  We tried switching to a bigger size.  That didn't work.  We make sure that we change her as soon as she goes, but that doesn't work either.  I think that she wants to make sure that I have to pull out all of my laundry skills when I wash her clothes.  I can't have Nathan wash her clothes either because he doesn't check for the stains like I do.  We end up with a bucket of clothes everyday.  We need to buy stock in Shout because I use so much of it.



See Mommy, I look so innocent!

Who knew that 10 minutes after Mommy took this picture, I would need a new outfit.

We love you baby girl, even with that one small flaw!

Shopping With 2

Shopping with 2 children is a lot different than with one,  First of all, we now need the big cart, or we have to use 2 carts.

Then Alexander's imagination starts working.  When we have the big cart, he thinks that it is a garbage truck.  When I stop the cart, he jumps off, pretends to pick up trash, throws it in the cart, and then hops back on.  It is really funny to watch and random people usually start laughing when they realize what he is doing.  I wish that I had the imagination of my 3 year old.  Here is Alexander pretending to be on the garbage truck.

Random Thoughts

• We were driving in the car today and I looked at the car next to us and saw 2 kids in the backseat.  Neither child was wearing a seatbelt!  Then I saw the dad smoking a cigarette .  The kids were throwing a dog back and forth in the backseat and jumping around.  How is it possible that people still don't wear seatbelts, especially on their children?  Alexander's belt hasn't been completely latched a couple of times and we pull over immediately to fix it.  It just really irks me when I see children without seatbelts!
• We're having a party for Julia's baptism at the end of the month and I'm trying to figure out who to invite.  I'm really bad at hosting parties because I always worry that the people that I invited won't want to be invited to the party.  It is especially hard for a party like this.  Nathan keeps telling me to invite my friends and they won't be upset about it, but I have a hard time doing this.  I overthink it and worry about it.  I wish that I could be an extrovert who wouldn't worry about silly things like this.
• My hair is totally falling out everywhere.  I think I might be bald by the end of the month.  I find clumps of hair on the floor where I fix it everyday.
• Finding good baby socks is so hard.  About half the socks that I have for Julia fall off of her feet.  Why does it have to be so hard to find socks that fit a baby?
• Julia is really growing too fast.  Her babysitter thinks that she needs size 3 diapers already.  She is only 3 months old!  She is going to have to last a little longer in size 2s.  We need to use up some of the ones that we have.
• I made a dessert that I found on pinterest today.  It was so yummy.  It definitely is not going to help me lose the baby weight.  Here is the link. http://www.theparsleythief.com/2010/05/chocolate-peanut-butter-bars.html
• One more day left in the weekend.  I think weekends should be 4 days long!
• This is how I got some housework done today.  Julia didn't want to be put down, so I wore her.  Can you see her little mohawk hairdo?

• Julia can hold her head up so well that she can sit in the bumbo.  This is her listening to a story in her brother's room. 
  

We Survived!

Nathan went out of town yesterday.  It was the first time that he has gone since Julia was born, which means that it was my first time being alone with both kids at bedtime.  Needless to say, I was extremely nervous about this.  Everything went really well though.  Alexander was a good boy. I bathed both kids and read them books in Alexander's room.  He ended up in bed by 8:00 which never happens.  Then Julia and I played and did laundry all evening. (Our laundry is never done!) She ended up falling asleep while we were playing on the floor and I put her to bed at 10:00.  She slept until 4:30 and we managed to get out the door on time this morning.  That was a big feat because we had to drop Daisy off at the groomer too.  I am very happy that Nathan is home tonight though.  I don't think that I could handle it every night.  I really don't know how single parents manage on their own.

3 Months Old

Julia is 3 months old today.  I can't believe that 3 months have passed already. Time is moving a little too fast for me.  It is really hard to remember what life was like before she arrived.

Here are some stats:
Weght:  My guess is around 15 pounds - she is huge!
Length: As long as the width of the pack n play
Sleep:  She has slept through the night about seven times.

Interesting Facts:  She loves to suck her thumb.  She is trying really hard to roll over.  She loves to eat. She is the happiest baby that I have ever seen! She loves her brother the most!

Three Year Olds

The age of three can be quite challenging for us parents. The three year old child doesn't want to listen and wants his own way all the time. However, the three year old can also be really funny and innocent. Those are the times that I want to remember. We had two instances of that today with Alexander and his friend. The first moment happened this morning. We have been trying to train Alexander to lift the seat on the toilet as well as the lid before he goes to the bathroom. This morning, I walked into the bathroom and found him sitting on the toilet with the lid and seat lifted. I calmly told him that this wasn't a good idea and that he needs to lift the lid when he goes pee pee, but not for poop. He then asked me why and I said that he could fall in the toilet. He asked what would happen then and proceeded to say, "Are there bugs in there?" I told him no that there weren't bugs in the toilet, so he asked why again. This time he followed his why with, "Is it because I don't know how to swim?" That's when I cracked up and I heard Nathan laughing in the other room. I live for those moments.

The other pure three year old moment happened this afternoon at our friends house. Alexander and his friend were playing and they started playing on the steps. Nathan calmly told them both to stop playing on the steps. It took a while to convince then with us telling them that they could get hurt and that we didn't want that to happen. Then Alexander's friend said to us, "But we don't want to stop. We're having too much fun!" We lost it again. He made a lot of sense and it was really funny.

So for all of us with three year old drama all the time, I hope you have some of these moments where you can stop and think about how funny and sweet your three year old is, because we really need to do it here.

Saturday in Pictures

The kids watched Daddy cut the grass.

Then Alexander helped Daddy put lime on the yard.

I put Julia in the pack n play and realized that she is as long as the width of it. She is getting so big!

I hope that you had a good Saturday too.

Our New Car

Yesterday we bought a new car. That wasn't our plan for yesterday. Our plan was to go to the Toyota dealer to drive the Sienna van. Then we were going to talk about the price and leave. Obviously, that isn't what happened. We knew that we wanted to get a van and it had to be a Honda or Toyota. Both of our cars are paid off and we wanted to trade in the Jeep to get the van. We just didn't plan to do it so soon. Having the new van is amazing! With the Jeep, I couldn't fit the stroller in the back with anything else. In the van, I can stand the stroller up and fit a lot of other stuff in the trunk. We also have eight seats in the van, so when our families come to visit us, we can all ride in the same car. We can also travel to visit our families now. We couldn't do that before because we couldn't fit everything that we needed for a three year old, a baby, and a dog in the trunk of the car. So we entered the minivan world and I have to say, I am loving it! The new van drives so smoothly and quietly. It has so much space. Alexander can't kick the driver's seat anymore because he can't reach it. It has a back up camera, which I think is really cool. I am just so excited. We ended up spending 3 1/2 hours at the car dealership with both kids last night. We didn't get home until 10:15 and they were both still awake. This is what they looked like this the morning. Yes, Alexander ended up in our bed. He is never allowed to sleep in our bed, but Nathan told me that I let him in at 4:30am. I don't remember this. I must have said it in my sleep because I woke up and he was there.

In other news, Julia slept through the night four different days this week. I hope she keeps that up, but it still freaks me out when she doesn't get up. However, her brother feels that he needs to take her place now that we haven't been getting up with Julia. He has been up three nights this week in the middle of the night. Then on the nights that neither child got up, Daisy, the dog, got up instead. I don't know what is going on here. I hope everyone figures out how to sleep again.

I hope the everyone has a great weekend!

Refreshed

Have you ever felt like you were getting closer and closer to the edge, just about to fall overboard? That is how I have been feeling for the past couple of weeks, very stressed and close to the brink of my sanity. I started noticing it at work and at home. I started snapping at my family and my kids at school. My husband told me that I'm grumpy all the time. That's not the way that I want to treat people, especially my family. Then today happened. We had a break today at work. We finally got our planning day that we've been trying to have for weeks. I got to spend the day with my team, an adult day. We really worked hard too, but it was nice to get a chance to talk to adults. I start every day with a 3 year old and 12 week old. Then go to work and spend all day with 9 year olds. I don't even really get to talk to adults at lunch anymore because I have to pump. Then I go home to my 3 year old and 12 week old again until I go to sleep. I haven't had any time to just talk to friends and enjoy myself and I think I really needed it. I love my children more than anything and I love being with my students, but that planning day today really helped me to feel refreshed. I'm hoping that when I go back to work tomorrow, I can be a kinder teacher who is much more understanding instead of the teacher who yells all the time. It really helps to get that break in routine. I feel like a new person tonight.

Overworked Mommy

Sometimes I wish that I had endless time to get things done. Then maybe I wouldn't get short with Alexander. I get upset with him when he takes forever to fall asleep because it means that I'll be up later trying to wash dishes or get bottles ready for tomorrow. I don't know how working mothers get it all done and stay sane. By the time I make dinner and we eat it, it is after 6:00. Then we spend time together and it is already 7:30. Then bedtime can take up to an hour, so by that time it is 8:30 or later and I still have to nurse Julia one or two times before bed. That leaves very little time to get anything done if I'm going to get to bed at a decent hour. Usually I can get the dishes done. I have to get the pump stuff cleaned every night and I usually wash them by hand because the dishwasher leaves them too wet. Then I have to get bottles ready for Julia to take to daycare. By the time I get all of that done, I'm ready for bed. I never have time to check papers in the evening anymore and I definitely can't get any other housework done. Then I feel like I can't have anyone over to my house because they're going to judge me on my housekeeping ability. Grr! I'm feeling a little behind tonight and tired, so this may be a venting post. I really want to just enjoy my children without worrying about all of the other stuff. Feel free to comment if you have a suggestion.

Weekend Review

We had a fun weekend. We started out with a trip to the mall on Friday night because the pants that I bought 4 weeks after having Julia are now too big. That makes me really happy because it means that I'm losing the baby weight. However, I still cannot fit into the pants that I wore before I got pregnant, so I need new ones. The store I wanted to buy them from did not have the pants in my size though. They had every other size, so I will be spending another week in pants that fall down and look really baggy. While we were at the mall, Alexander got to sit on a tractor. That is one of his favorite things to do and it is free entertainment.

Grammy and Pup Pup came to visit on Saturday and everyone was so excited. They helped us clean up the house and they took care of Alexander while Nathan, Julia, and I went to look at new cars. We travel too much and can't fit everything that we need in the car that we have. I have to say that I really HATE car shopping. I hope that we don't have to do it for long.

I think Alexander and Julia got worn out from visiting with their grandparents. I took them to the store this afternoon to get Alexander's school supplies. We were not in the store 2 minutes and Alexander fell asleep in the cart. I had to take a picture because this never happens.

Then after dinner, when everyone was awake, we took a trip to the park to see the geese. We even got to see some baby geese. They were so cute!

It was a really great weekend! Now I have to get ready for work tomorrow. That, I am not looking forward to. I can't wait for summer.

Funny Alexander Quotes

Alexander is a very verbal three year old. He is always saying something that is really funny and usually makes a lot of sense. I felt like recording some of his quotes tonight.

1. When we rode in the ambulance to the hospital, he said when the paramedics were getting ready to leave, "Are we going to walk home?" I hadn't even thought of how we would get home.

2. At the grocery store, he went through the checkout with Nathan while I took Julia to the car to feed her. The clerk asked him where his sister was and he told her that she was in the car eating. The clerk asked what she was eating and Nathan chuckled. Alexander answered, "Mommy's boob."

3. Everytime we pass his doctor's office, he says, "That's where Dr. C lives!"

4. At swimming when he finished with his new teacher he said, "That's the teacher that I really wanted."

5. Passing the restaurant where the women wear very little clothing (I know you know what I'm talking about.) He said, "I want to eat there. The girls are naked!"

6. Getting dressed in the morning, he says, "I can't wear my monster shirt because G, a girl at daycare, doesn't like it." He is already bossed around by the ladies.

7. Nathan is planting a small flower garden in front of our house. Alexander told him, "We have to get purple flowers because Mommy likes purple." He's so sweet too!

8. This is a sweet one too. He sings to Julia when she cries and it usually calms her down.

He is funny, sweet, and kind with a little bit of the devil in him too. I wouldn't trade him for anything. He is the best son!

Julia's Birth Story - 11 Weeks Late

I finally have the time to tell the story of Julia's birth and I want to record it. Julia's due date was January 29. Nathan and I really wanted to schedule her birth so that we could have family in town to take care of Alexander and because we wanted the doctor who delivered Alexander to deliver her too. We talked to that doctor and she had no problem with a scheduled induction, so we set the date for January 24. When I hit 36 weeks, they started checking me for progress. I was 1 1/2 cm at that appointment. Then I hit 37 weeks. At that appointment, I measured at 3 cm and the doctor told me that he didn't think I was going to make it to the scheduled induction. That evening, I started feeling really strong contractions. They were regular and I thought it was the real thing. I called and they told me to come in to the hospital. Labor with Alexander went very quickly, so they didn't want to take any chances with this baby. We went to the hospital and the doctor saw some progress and told me that I would probably be staying to have the baby. We got really excited. Then everything slowed down and they told me to walk. We probably walked about 3 miles that night, back and forth, in the labor and delivery unit. It isn't very big. After all that walking, they sent us home the next day. We were so disappointed. So we went home and waited. That weekend was Alexander's birthday and he was having his party, so we were hoping that Julia wouldn't decide to come out then. Wouldn't you know, that the night before his party, I started having contractions again. I called and they told me to come in again. I got to the hospital and they told me to walk again. We were getting a little bit tired of the walking. Then we noticed that all of the other patients had the little beds for the babies outside of their rooms and we didn't. That was when we figured that we would be going home again. After that trip, I figured out that I am really not good at determining when I am in labor. I decided that I was going to make it to the induction date. I did my best to ignore the contractions that I felt constantly and I managed to make it to January 24. That morning we got to the hospital at 5:30. They checked us in and started the Pitocin drip at around 7:30. They kept increasing the drip and the contractions got stronger, but I didn't make a lot of progress. I was about 4 cm when the doctor checked me at 11:30. She came back in about an hour and broke my water. That's when the contractions really picked up. My plan had been to see how long I could live without the epidural and I wanted to be checked before I received the epidural because when I had Alexander I got the epidural and was ready to push 20 minutes later. At around 1:00, the pain was really bad and I told them that if I wasn't 8 or 9 cm that I wanted the epidural. The doctor checked and told me that I was 6 cm, so they sent the anesthesiologist to my room. He didn't come until around 1:30. I sat up and got the incredibly painful epidural. He was finished and I laid back down at around 2:00. As I laid back down, I started to feel like I needed to push. the nurse asked if I still felt the pain and I told her that it felt like I needed to push. She checked and told me that I was fully dilated. I could not believe that I spent half an hour getting that horribly painful epidural just to be ready to push at the end of it. The doctor came in and I started pushing at around 2:30. She thought that I would be able to push the baby out easily, but Julia had other ideas. It took a long time and I even asked the doctor if she thought that this baby was bigger than Alexander. She didn't think so. It turned out that I was right though. Julia was born at around 3:15 pm and weighed in at 8 pounds, 11 ounces, a whole pound bigger than her brother was. She was 21 inches long and was just perfect. We can't believe how lucky we are to have her and Alexander.

Easter Sunday

We had a wonderful first Easter as a family of four. We usually travel to visit family, but were unable to this year because I have to work on Monday. We decided to stay at home and celebrate the holiday here. The Easter Bunny came and left treats for the kids. Alexander was very happy with his candy and other gifts and Julia got a lot of things that she needed in her basket. Alexander was up at 5:40 ready to see what the Easter Bunny brought. He was so excited and cute. He was thrilled to see his basket. Then he found out that the Easter Bunny had left him a note too. The note sent him on a search for 12 eggs. He loved finding his eggs. Julia woke up and joined us after the egg hunt and we all got ready to go to church. We managed to get to the 7:30 mass with just minutes to spare. When church was finished, the rest of the day was ours. We cooked breakfast and ate together. Later that morning, Alexander and I dyed the Easter eggs. I know, we were a little behind on that one, but it didn't matter. Alexander can't eat them anyway, so it was just for fun for him. Then we all went to the park. Ms. K came over for dinner and we had a great time visiting with her. Julia was quite fussy this evening, but overall it was a great day. Now it is back to work for me tomorrow. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids in the Easter outfits. Please disregard Alexander's outfit. It is the only thing that he would wear today that even seemed a little bit appropriate for church on Easter. He only wants to wear soft pants and t-shirts right now. He is holding his favorite toy from the Easter Bunny though. I hope that you all had a great day.

Fun Friday

Today, we had a fun day. We spent the morning running errands. Then we went to the city for the afternoon. It was a wonderful trip. Alexander loved the ride on the train and it was Julia's first time riding the train. She didn't really care about the train.Once we got there, we went to the Air and Space Museum. Nathan thought that Alexander would love looking at the airplanes, but Alexander asked to leave after 20 minutes. So we left and walked to our favorite pizza restaurant for dinner. Then we rode the train again to the airport. Whoever knew that the airport was so much fun and it is free! Alexander wanted to see all of the planes take off, or blast off, as he said. Julia really didn't care about the airplanes at all. We spent about a half hour there. Then we got back on the train and went home. It was a great day!

Swimming Lessons

We started swimming lessons for Alexander 2 weeks ago. I decided that I can't take him to the pool this summer unless he has some swimming skills because it will be two hard with two children. We signed him up with Swim Kids because of the class sizes and the ability for him to level up as he mastered the skills. He had his first class 3 weeks ago and I couldn't be there for it. He did not enjoy it. He cried the whole time and didn't want to go back. Last week, when it was time for swimming to start, he almost started crying again. It broke my heart, but it really important for him to learn how to swim, so we made him stay. Wouldn't you know, as soon as he got in the water, he was smiling and doing all of the activities. He actually did them better than the other kids in his group.

He got promoted to level 2 at that class. We were so proud of him! He got to stand on the ladder at the end of class and ring the bell so that everyone in the pool could see him. Then he got to pick a prize. He was so happy! We took him to get ice to celebrate. He couldn't wait to go back this week. The only skill that he had to master before moving up to level 3 was opening his eyes under the water, so he practiced in the bathtub last week. When he went to his lesson this week, he did everything that he needed to do and got promoted to level 3. I think that is pretty good to move up 2 levels in 3 weeks. We were really proud of him and he was proud of himself. Here are some pictures from swimming and from celebrating afterwards.

ER Visit

Well, we couldn't have an easy Spring Break with fun activities. Today, my first day with both kids alone on Spring Break, we ended up in the ER. Our day started out fine. We went to Alexander's allergist appointment at 9. We got great news there. His scratch test was negative for milk and almost negative for egg. That means that he has to do a milk challenge this summer. We left the allergist's office very excited. I told Alexander that we could go to the park this afternoon to celebrate.

When we got home, I needed to clean up the house and make lunch. The house was a total mess because I have been working late and we were busy all weekend. I put Julia in her swing, that I could see from the kitchen, and started cleaning up the kitchen. As I finished wiping down the counters, I looked away for a second and in that moment, heard Julia start screaming this awful, horrible pain scream. I immediately ran to her and saw Alexander nearby. I asked him what he did to his sister because I knew that he was involved. He started screaming, "I didn't do anything!" which usually means that he did something and Julia wouldn't stop screaming. She was also gasping as she screamed. I put Alexander in time out and finally he told me that he took one of my spatulas, stuck it down her throat, and choked her. I almost freaked out, but I managed to call the pediatrician's office. The nurse that I talked to heard Julia screaming and told me to call 911. I hung up with her and called them. They send an ambulance to our house withing 5 minutes and we got to ride to the hospital in an ambulance.

Alexander was very upset about what happened to Julia and I think he was afraid, but he was funny when the paramedics came to the door. I opened the door and he looked at the paramedic and said, "I love you." Then he told them that I had told him that they were going to be mad at him. Then he was excited about the ambulance ride. I wasn't too happy that he was excited about that. We don't want him to repeat this in order to get another ride in the ambulance.

Once we got to the hospital, they checked Julia and observed her for about 3 hours. She had settled down and was able to eat, so they sent us home. It was quite a day! I hope that I don't have to repeat it. Here is a picture of Julia in the hospital.