My good baby.

"Is he a good baby?" she asked, after oohing and ahhing over his head full of hair and his bitty chubby cheeks.
"Oh, yes!" I proudly replied, cuddling him a little closer.
"Good, so he's sleeping through the night already? That's great!" It wasn't so much of a question, as an assumption. And, before I had a chance to reply, she had hurried away to chat with someone else.
He does not sleep through the night. Ever. And, I don't expect him to do so; he's not even three weeks old yet! But, for some reason, that conversation keeps replaying itself over and over in my mind. Is sleeping through the night at an abnormally young age the only stipulation for being "good" at this age? Of course not. But, I guess some people tend to forget about this age when their own babies are grown. This age is hard. Throw a toddler into the mix, and it's even harder! Not impossible, but darn close.
Nate was one of those perfectly easy babies who slept for the entire first two months of his life. He very rarely cried, and, as a new stay-at-home-mom, I was often bored in those early days. Sleep deprivation? Not a problem when I could "sleep when the baby sleeps" all. day. long. Night feedings were a breeze; he whimpered, he ate, he was asleep again.
Levi is not Nate. Levi is a somewhat colicky baby who sleeps in one hour increments all night long. During the daytime, we may or may not get a little more time. He's tired, and he wants to sleep--but is often woken up with painful gas bubbles in his belly. The gas results in lots of crying (mostly on his part, some on mine!). And, when he is asleep during the day, I have a toddler underfoot who just doesn't want to sleep every time the baby does!
I feel as though I've been walking around in a sleepy fog for days now. As much as I love newborn cuddles, I keep telling myself that this will be over soon. Levi will grow up way too quickly just like his brother. Sooner than later, our bedroom will be baby-free at night, and I'll be checking on two boys in their bedrooms before I go to sleep. A certain [sleep-deprived] part of me can't wait!
But, for now, I have an almost-three-week-old little one. And, he is sweet and adorable and good! I might be exhausted beyond belief tired, but these days are precious. I wouldn't trade either of my babies for the world, and I know that I am blessed more than I could have ever dreamed.

Wordless Wednesday.

Brothers.

When we found out that Baby #2 was a boy, I was immediately most excited for Nathaniel to get a brother. A girl would have been fine, but having two boys so close in age thrills me! I want them to grow up best friends--and stay that way forever. Of course, the first step in that friendship might involve Levi growing big enough to actually play with his brother. I figured it would take a few months at least before my boys would really be able to "play together." Nate proved me wrong...

Mommy of a Two-Year-Old.

My Darling Nathaniel,
You are two years old today. I cannot believe how quickly you are growing up! It seems like just yesterday that you were turning one, and now you've already blown out two candles on another birthday cake. Only just a week ago, you began a new role in your life: big brother. While I was pregnant, a friend warned me that you would seem to grow a foot and age a year while I had the baby. And, you did--sort of. Holding little Levi in my arms makes me notice just how big and grown up you physically are, but it wasn't until today that I watched you and realized that you have changed in another way. You are older, and you're acting like a big boy now, not a little one-year-old.
We went to the zoo this morning as a special birthday treat. We hadn't been there for probably a month beforehand, and you were so different today. You didn't hesitate or wait for Daddy and me to take you by the hand to see the animals. You ran ahead to see what was next, and you couldn't wait to ride the train! You are still so young, but you're not a baby any longer. You're getting more and more independent every day, and I love watching you grow.
You're asleep right now in your very own bed, in your big boy room. Every night, I go into your bedroom while you're sleeping and tuck you in before I go to bed. And, almost every night, I hold back a few tears and resist the urge to crawl into your bed and snuggle you. As much as I wanted you to move into your own bed and out of ours (which you did without any fight whatsoever), I miss you.
Your new independence is a wonderful thing, but it makes me wistful for your babyhood. I know that you still need me, and I'm going to cherish these days of having you as a two-year-old. Someday, you won't be so generous with your kisses or so proud of me that you proclaim that I'm your momma to every stranger who glances at you in the store. Someday, your boo-boos won't be fixed by my kisses, and someday your bedroom won't be close enough for me to peek into. But, for now, someday is a long time away. I'm the mommy of a two-year-old, and I couldn't be more proud of you!
I love you forever and always, my sweet boy,
Mommy

Two Years Old.

Nathaniel is two years old today! We celebrated his birthday by taking a trip to the zoo this morning--our first real outing as a family of four! Later, Nate opened his gifts, and we had cake and ice cream.

It's been a week since Nate stepped into his new role as Big Brother, and he is wonderful at it! He loves Levi, and I love watching them together! Nate is constantly bringing things for Levi (wipes for diaper changes, the binkie, books, bites of his own snacks, etc). He worries when Levi cries, and he get so excited when Levi wakes up. Every morning, he runs to see what the baby is doing, and I can't even begin to describe the look of joy on his face when Levi is awake and looks at his big brother. He's been so sweet to the baby, and is eager to "hold" him every chance that he gets. So far, Nathaniel hasn't displayed any jealousy toward the baby--only love and curiousity.

Nate's favorite things right now are cars, cars, and more cars! He loves to watch cars on the roads, play with toy cars, and look at books about cars! Our living room is overrun with Matchbox cars on a daily basis. He has several bigger toy cars/trucks, but the Matchbox set is his favorite. Other favorite toys include his Magna-doodle, his new grill, the ball popper, his sandbox, riding toys, and, of course, the dog!

One of my favorite things about Nathaniel right now is his sense of humor. He's a goofy kid who loves to laugh--and loves to make other people laugh. If we laugh at something and Nate doesn't know what we're laughing about, he'll pause, then throw his head back and fake laugh very loudly--hilarious!

Nate's language development has really taken off recently--but he won't let you know about it! He still has a handful of words that he uses consistantly. He also has about a hundred words that he's used maybe once or twice (when he really needed to get his point across), but he will not repeat them. Ever. I don't know if he's being stubborn or shy, but I'm glad that I know it's one of them! So, while he's not a man of many words yet, he is a little man who can get what he wants--but you'd better be listening the first time!

Nathaniel sleeps in his big boy bed in his very own bedroom now. Since he'd been in our bedroom since birth, I had been very worried about transitioning him to his own room before the baby arrived. I put it off all summer long until about 3 weeks ago when I realized that it had to be done! We made a big deal about the big boy room, bought a new bedspread, decorated the walls with car decals, and crossed our fingers! Nate moved to his own room without any tears, and has slept in there every naps and bedtime since! Why do I even waste my time worrying?! Obviously, he was ready! (I, on the other hand, cried like a baby the first night I went to bed without him!)

Although he's gone through a few "picky" phases, Nathaniel is a really good eater. He eats everything that we eat, and very rarely doesn't like foods. His favorites are pizza, spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwiches, blackberries, yogurt, and almond milk. He drinks whole milk with all three of his meals, and usually eats a midafternoon snack. He is obsessed with "ieshhhhhh" (ice) in his water cup, and must be reloaded on ice cubes multiple times daily.

9/12/12 - Nathaniel is 36 inches tall, and 30 pounds--in the 75th percentile for his age! He is growing and thriving, and the pediatrician says that he's perfect...of course, Mommy and Daddy already knew that!

Levi's Birth Story.

On Friday evening, Eric suggested that we go out for dinner on a little "family date" because it might be our last chance as a family of three. Honestly, I wasn't convinced that the baby was coming any time soon (I was 39 weeks pregnant, and had made absolutely no progress toward labor as of 3 days beforehand at my doctor's appointment), but the prospect of not having to cook dinner sounded good to me! We went to Applebee's, where I had my usual Fiesta Lime Chicken (Seriously, how many times have I eaten that dish during this pregnancy?!). After supper, we took Nate to visit to kitties at the pet store, then stopped into the book store. Afterwards, I felt a little guilty about skipping our evening walk, so we took a stroll around the shopping plaza for a while. I had a few contractions during the walk, but nothing painful (and nothing that hadn't been happening during walks for weeks). As soon as I sat down in the car, the contractions stopped.
We came home, got Nathaniel into bed, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing on the couch. We watched a movie and stayed up later than we meant to, eventually climbing into bed a little after midnight. While I was laying there, the baby was squirming around in my belly like mad--way more than he had been recently (In fact, he'd been relatively quiet all day long). Just as I started to doze off, I felt a pop inside of me. I wasn't sure, but immediately wondered if my water had broken. For some reason, I had a brief moment of panic and lay perfectly still--just waiting. Nothing happened. I convinced myself that it had been my imagination, and I rolled over. The movement confirmed my suspicions, and my water gushed all over the bed.
"Eric?"
"Huh?" came the sleepy reply.
"I think my water just broke....?"
"WHAT? Are you serious?? Really?!" That woke him up! I wasn't having any contractions at all, so I didn't really feel like I knew what to do. Since we were both wide awake, we decided to finish up whatever needed to be done. Eric worked on lesson plans for his substitute, and I spent a good 30 minutes googling what to do if your water breaks without contractions. (Answer: Nothing, just wait for the contractions to start.)
Within the hour, I started having contractions that were 10 minutes apart. An hour after that, I was still having contractions that were 10 minutes apart--and it was 2am. I decided to try and sleep because I knew that I would need to rest. Have you ever tried to go to sleep when you know that you're in labor? Easier said than done! Eventually, I fell asleep for a little while. The contractions were getting closer together and more intense--I spent a couple of hours fitfully resting between contractions that I tried to time, but forgot how long it had been by the time the next one started.
By 6am, I was in enough pain that I couldn't lay in bed any longer. I got up and paced through the darkened house; dawn was just starting to peek over the hillside in the back yard. I'm not really sure that it had hit me quite yet that I was actually going to be having a baby today! I ate a banana, and decided to get into the shower to see if it would help ease the pain. The heat from the shower felt wonderful, and I stayed in there for almost an hour. When I got out, I decided that it was probably time to call my mom to come stay with Nate while we headed to the hospital. I called her at 7:30am, and asked her to come over in about an hour.
Meanwhile, I straightened up the house and tossed a few last things into my hospital bag. Despite my previous belief that I was not going to go into labor on my own, I had everything ready! For some reason, it was almost as if I'd "known" that it was going to happen then; I'd been working all week to get everything done. And, it was. We'd cleaned the entire house, done the grocery shopping, stocked the freezer full of meals, and finished the laundry--as of Friday night, we were ready for the baby. And, it was a good thing, because he was coming!
By the time my mom arrived, my contractions were coming 3 to 4 minutes apart, but only lasting about 30 seconds. According to my doctor, I was supposed to come into Labor & Delivery when they were 5 minutes apart, and one minute in length. I tried to distract myself by getting Nathaniel up and dressed for the day in his "I'm going to be a big brother" shirt one last time! We had breakfast (during which I managed to force down a small bowl of cereal as fast as I could in between contractions). By 9am, I knew it was time to go to the hospital. I hugged and kissed Nathaniel goodbye, and we left. What a weird feeling to leave your only child, knowing that the next time you see him, he won't be your only child!
When we arrived at the hospital, I was ushered quickly into a room. Since there was nobody else in Labor & Delivery at all, I had the full attention of all of the nurses! The resident doctor checked me, and I was already dilated 6 centimeters--a huge relief to me, as I'd been worried that I wouldn't be very far along! The nurses told me that my OB was on call that weekend, and that she was already on her way in to see me. My only fear about going into labor on my own had been that I might go during the night/weekend and have another doctor whom I'd never met before deliver my baby, so I was very relieved to hear that Dr C was on call.
When she arrived, Dr C checked me and said that I was still at 6, but pushing 7 centimeters. She wanted to give me a very low dose of Pitocin to push my contractions a little closer together, and told me that if I wanted a epidural that I needed to request it soon or I'd miss my chance! I wasn't set one way or the other about getting an epidural yet, but decided to go ahead and get one if they started the Pitocin because the contractions would get stronger AND I'd be confined to the bed for monitoring. I asked for my epidural, and was told that the anisthesiologist wasn't there (hey, weekend!), but would be called in. He arrived within probably a half an hour, but it was one of the longest half hours of my life! The contractions were still coming a couple of minutes apart, but they were much, much more intense! Finally, at 11:30am, the anisthesiologist arrived and administered my epidural. Sitting perfectly still for those few minutes while he inserted it through my contractions was horrible! After the epidural was in place, I was able to relax a little bit. My contractions didn't feel nearly as intense, but I started shaking and couldn't stop. According to the nurses, the shaking was simply a reaction to the hormones and was not uncommon (I remember doing the same thing while in labor with Nathaniel). I felt frustrated that I was so far along, feeling comfortable enough to rest, but unable to do so because my body was shaking!
At 12:10pm, Dr C checked me again, and told me that I was dilated to 9 centimeters. It was almost baby time! Within about 20 minutes, I was at 10 centimeters, but the baby's head was still at 0 station. Since my epidural was working, they decided to let me continue contracting for a few more minutes before I started pushing to get the baby to lower a little more on his own. Through my epidural, I began feeling the most intense pressure that I'd ever felt. The baby was most definitely moving down!
At 12:55pm, my nurse had me do a "practice push". Afterward, she immediately called the doctor into the room, and we were ready to have a baby! Only five pushes later, Levi Alexander was born at 1:03pm. The umbilical cord was around his neck, and Dr C gently removed it. Levi was immediately placed on my chest, and I couldn't believe that our precious little boy had arrived to quickly/easily! He had a head full of dark hair, and was absolutely perfect in every way. Within 20 minutes of delivery, I attempted to nurse him, and he latched right on perfectly. We were able to keep him in the room with us for about an hour before they took him to be weighed/measured. Levi weighed in at 7 pounds, 1.5 ounces (9.5 oz heavier than Nate was), and he was 20 inches long (exact same length as Nate).
What a different experience from Nathaniel's birth story! Not only did I avoid an induction this time around, I had a short labor, 5 pushes (vs. 2 hours!), no episiotomy/tearing/stitches, no baby in distress; it was amazing! When they say that the second delivery is easier than the first, it was absolutely true in my case! I still cannot believe how easy Levi's birth was, and how great I felt afterwards! Welcome to the world, sweet little boy!!

Wait, is this really working...?

Look! Lookee here, I'm typing AND it's showing up in my blog!! About 3 months ago, we updated our computer with several new programs, and, for some unknown reason, I wasn't able to type into Blogger afterwards. I tried on multiple occasions, but nada, zip, zilch! I've missed blogging, but I've been [half-heartedly] keeping up with several blogs that I follow. I guess it's a little late to plan to update you on our entire summer, but I might try to add a few pictures soon--provided that I'm not having a baby! (I'm 38 weeks today!!)