Three Months with Two Kids.

Wow - these past three months have been BUSY.  We have so much happening right now, I'm grateful for all Myra taught us in her first four months and even more grateful we haven't had the same struggles with Niko.  I'll break it down for you.  This one is a doozy (weird, right?).

Big Sister Stuff
Like most parents (I think), one of my biggest fears when having another child was how it would affect Myra.  In the long run, I knew it would be great for all of us-we were giving her a sibling; however, we had no idea what sort of growing pains we might have to deal with.  I'm pleased to say there has been absolutely zero new baby drama.  The first week after Niko was born, Myra regressed in her potty training a bit, but that was over as quickly as it started.  If he really gets going crying, she will cover her ears and sometimes do this obnoxious screechy cry herself, but I can't blame her.  She absolutely adores Niko and gets bummed when he is sleeping.  She'll ask, or even try, to go get him.  If I have him in a wrap/baby carrier, she often asks to see him (his face).  She loves to talk to him and says adorable things like "there's my smile, buddy!" and "Maybe he does want his Nuk!"  Sometimes she even wakes up crying asking to see him.  She still cites her Big Sister book and talks about helping Niko be "warm and cozy."  She loves to do what I do, she uses a kid sized neck pillow as a Boppy to nurse her baby ("baby needs some milk!") then burps her ("we're burping together! two burpings!").

New Baby Stuff
Niko is great.  He is currently sleeping in a crib in our room and usually sleeps all night (8pm until 530/630am).  Sometimes he will nurse once during the night which is fine because it usually allows me to sleep in a little longer in the morning.  I do, however, have to reach over and shove his pacifier in his mouth quite a few times throughout the night so I am anxiously waiting for him to find his thumb.  He's trying so hard!  Babies are hard, newborns are a-holes, I stand by all that, but there have only been just a couple nights where Trevor and I have given each other the "WHAT DID WE DO?!?!?!?!" look.  Babywearing has been a lifesaver and I have been incredibly intentional about getting him to sleep in his crib.  When Niko first came home, we did a few days of musical where-will-the-baby-sleep-best and landed on "on mommy's chest" which is neither the safest nor most comfortable option.  I slept on the couch for the first 8 weeks (don't be sad for me, our couch is awesome) and gradually worked Niko into sleeping on his crib mattress on the floor.  At 8 weeks, I moved back into my room and brought the crib mattress with me.  Just a few days ago, we put it into a legit crib situation.  These have all been informed decisions that I've felt a decent amount of guilt about because I know the guidelines about infant sleep, but I also know the importance of a well rested family (heck, even semi-rested family).  I've learned you really can't force a newborn to do anything, so I just kept working towards the safest goal.  He also sleeps on his tummy which is not my favorite, but hopefully he learns to roll over himself sooner than later so I can let that go, too.  Myra never slept in our room and I have confirmed I do not enjoy a baby in my room, but it is temporary and it's working-at least he's not in our bed.  I could go on and on about the fussy evenings, crazy gas, refusing to be put down, refusing to be held by anyone but me, loud crying, not wanting to go BACK to sleep during middle of the night wake ups, and all the newborn stuff that makes me bonkers, but we're just creeping out of that stage and I'm not feeling inclined to reminisce. So, hopefully simply mentioning all of those things will suffice.  Today Niko rolled over (from belly to back) for the first time so that was fun -- one of his first milestones!

Breastfeeding Stuff
Thankfully I don't have too much to say here, but I thought I would give this its own little section.  If you're not interested in breastfeeding stuff, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Niko was a tad sleepy with nursing at first in the hospital.  I wasn't concerned and just kept trying and he caught on really well.  My milk came in, tons of it (very common for the first 6-8 weeks or so), he bounced back up to his birth weight by 7 days old (awesome!), etc.  Then right around the 6 week mark I started having some pain, more on one side than the other.  I decided it was due to a lazy latch in the middle of the night one night and I would try not to let stuff like that slide and hoped it healed quickly because OUCH.  Niko continued to be a bit chompy on that side which was so, so, so painful.  Most women have a lesser producing/slower flow side and that's the side that was painful, so I figured he was annoyed.  I started pumping on that side while he nursed on the other side (and continuing to nurse both sides as well) to increase my milk supply and hopefully even it out.  That was not fun either because my poor nipple never got a break.  I had a crack and occasional bleeding and there was crying and it was awful.  If we hadn't had so many issues with Myra which terrified me to try formula with Niko, I'm pretty sure I would have given up.  I just cried.  I know breastfeeding doesn't always come easily, but to have this much pain start at 6 weeks seemed nuts.  I broke down and made a lactation appointment to make sure his latch looked good, no tongue or lip ties, etc.  Everything looked perfect but the nurse noted that with the amount of redness I had, I should go see my doctor if it didn't improve in a few days.  Well, I'm stubborn and waited a week with no change so I finally made an appointment with whomever could get me in.  As it turns out, I had been dealing with thrush that whole time, not poor latch, which is why nothing was getting better no matter what I did.  By now it's been over 6 weeks of this nonsense.  Things really started improving last week but then the pain came back.  I've been doing all sorts of tricks to try and kick this thrush (yeast) to the curb and today has been better, so hopefully I'm on the mend...again.  I have no evidence Niko has/had it, but with how long I've been battling it I don't see how he could have dodged it.  I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor in a week, so if it makes a comeback again we can figure out a new plan together.  All that said, I'm so glad I didn't quit nursing.  It was so tempting and I was just miserable, but he was gaining weight well, not having any issues like Myra did, and his latch was great, so I didn't want to give up.  I just needed an explanation for the pain and a plan to make it go away -- hopefully we're on our way now.  (Photos: Gentian violet is a very common and generally quite effective thrush treatment.  It's also very messy.)

Two Kids Stuff
I've pretty much covered it all, but I just want to give a couple examples that show how, even though things are going really really well with two kids, ish still gets crazy sometimes.  Last week, Myra woke up in the middle of the night flipping out and I couldn't figure out why or make it stop...which woke Niko up...and I was home alone.  Juggling two crying children in the middle of the night is even more annoying than it sounds.  This has happened at least twice.  (Note: I eventually figured out Myra's seasonal allergies are back and she's been sleeping much better now that she is back on Zyrtec.)  Tonight, Niko and Myra were ready for bed at the exact same time.  I picked the kid who is most self sufficient (Myra) and got her to bed first while Niko was whining off and on during her bedtime routine, how relaxing.  She was messing around in her crib while I was feeding Niko and getting him ready for bed, no big deal.  Just a couple minutes after Niko had fallen asleep in my lap, Myra starts whining and escalates quickly.  I checked our video monitor and she had gotten herself stuck in her crib rails thigh deep.  The only way to get her out of that mess is to shove it back through which results in shrieking and much more crying all while Niko is right next door so I'm in panic mode to just make it stop so I don't have a crying circus on my hands.  I'm sure you've noticed the bruised goose egg on Myra's forehead.  That was the result of letting her entertain herself (run run run run up and down the kitchen) while I was tending to Niko and cooking supper.  Myra launched herself into the corner of a drawer she left open.  I don't get too worked up about injuries ("brush it off!") but I didn't know where she hit and what was injured, just that she was freaking out big time.  Thankfully Myra is a great communicator and was able to show me where she got hurt even while crying so hard she couldn't breathe.  Naturally, Niko wasn't just giggling peacefully by himself through all of this, he got worked up, too.  So, while I love both of these kids and things really are going quite well, there has definitely been some crazy, too.

School Stuff
Myra and Niko are both in ECFE classes this spring.  Myra has so much fun there and her teachers are her heroes.  She loves going to the SibCare room just as much as she loves going to her actual class and she gets excited to "drop him off" at SibCare so we can have some one-on-one time.  Trevor just finished the marathon that was earning his Bachelor's Degree.  Graduation was last weekend and what an accomplishment that was, for all of us!  He spent the last 14 years working towards that goal, taking breaks for three deployments, being put on orders to work full time for the Guard, a marriage, buying a house, a dog, two babies, you get the idea.  Now he has the summer off of school work and will begin dental school in August.  We will miss our local ECFE dearly when we move, but look forward to making friends in a new program near our new home.

House Stuff
Putting your house on the market while being the primary caregiver for a toddler and a newborn (and recovering from childbirth yourself) is not my favorite combination of things I've ever done.  I am not meant to be a neat freak and I have taken 4, possibly 5, naps since bringing Niko home from the hospital.  My house has never been cleaner, but I can totally understand why people say to forget the cleaning and just enjoy your kids.  I do the best I can to do both, but as soon as our house sells I will cut back on the cleaning big time.  It's stressful.  We have had an open house and 15 showings so far and I'm exhausted.  Trevor has definitely helped with the big stuff and done the best he can, but a lot of this has fallen on me (which is fine, life has been nuts for him, too).  Again, babywearing has been a life saver.  To everyone who keeps asking us if we've found a new place to live yet -- no.  And actually, that's not really how it works.  Our house hasn't sold yet, so there's that, and rentals are much more short notice for the most part.  We have looked to get an idea of what's out there, but most everything is available immediately or June 1st and we don't really want to move until July at the earliest.

Helping her baby do the "activity"

Keeping busy with most of our toys packed

So.Much.Cleaning.

Killing time during our open house

Work Stuff
Trevor is busy as usual with his Guard stuff.  "One weekend a month and two weeks a year" turns into "four day weekends a month, sometimes more and three+ weeks a year...oh and LOTS of emails and phone calls in between, usually during supper or at bedtime."  I'm not complaining, it is what it is, just trying to point out that it definitely keeps him/US busy.  I went back to work gradually when Niko was 8 weeks old.  I have a beautiful position doing something I love, part time, with the opportunity to completely create my own schedule and even complete some of my duties from home as needed.  I don't really get into the specifics of my job on social media due to the nature of my position.

Food Stuff
We did our last semi-risky food trial for a while in January, before Niko was born - white beans and Myra has done fine on them.  We picked some foods with really high pass rates to do for a while as we adjusted to all the changes happening in our family.  There have been no food issues with any trials lately and we're starting to consider throwing a few riskier foods into the mix.  I even have a little nagging voice in my head telling me she may be outgrowing FPIES, but I don't have the courage for that just yet.  We will start with some generally risky foods in the near future, then foods risky for Myra in specific (three of her scariest incidents involved legumes, so we'd start with a different legume).  If all of that goes well, we'll discuss challenging previous fails.  Many kids outgrow their FPIES by age 3 and she'll be 2.5 in July, so keep your fingers crossed for us!  So far, Niko has really shown no signs of FPIES.  He's a gassy baby, but I expected no less considering the man I married ;)  We're certainly not in the clear, but optimistic.  We were having major issues with Myra at this point.  Today we restarted our tomato trial.  Last week I gave her a cherry tomato and she wasn't so sure, so we switched to ketchup and she was definitely a fan.  Luckily she has already passed onions and corn, both are ingredients in ketchup.

Dog Stuff
Last but not least, Rowdy, our first child.  He is adapting well despite the chaos.  He gets a little antsy and definitely barks more (protective, I assume), but he's such a good boy.  I wish I could explain to him that this time of year is tough, new baby or not (cold, rain, plus the house prep stuff) but I just do the best I can to get him exercise.  Myra loves going for walks, so if it's at all nice outside we take advantage.  He has been going to his favorite place EVER, doggy daycare, a little more often lately until our house sells.  He needs the exercise and attention and we're happy to send him.  A tired dog is a good dog.  :)

Blog Stuff
I really want to do better!  Now that Trevor has started a weekly activity again, I'll get some weekly 'me-time' too.  I have very low standards for this and I usually choose some combination of coffee, nap, book reading, and blogging.  I have a handful of drafts in the works, just need to finish them up!  I also plan to update the photos on my page to include our newest family member.

No fancy ending here -- I'll try to be better about the posts...again.

How to Write the Best Maid of Honor Speech Ever.

Do it just like this:


It all started at the age of 2..we lived right across the street, I look back after all these years and realize how lucky we are we got the chance to meet.

From flushing towels down toilets to cutting each others hair, we did what we wanted and just didn’t care!

You were my partner in crime and I was the instigator I think, like the time we decided to poop in the sink :)

We fought each other rolling down a hill laughing at the end, we got into our fights but always remained friends.

Then the day came when I had to move away, no doubt we both didn’t want our friendship to end that way.

We lived 3 hours away which to us seemed like forever, but that didn’t stop us from getting together.

We’d write and talk on the phone but it’s our visits that were the best, we’d constantly beg our parents to get us together and wouldn’t give it a rest.

We’d always find entertainment in some sort of way, and usually get in trouble for it at the end of the day :)

Like the time on the white board writing profanity all over it, leaving it for my dad to find-WOW did he throw a fit!! (haha)

We definitely always liked a good party, even if it was in my parents basement drinking their Bacardi!!

We’ve had so many great memories and so much fun, I look forward to all the new memories to come.

When it comes to being a friend Ali you have been nothing but the best, but I would never expect anything less!

You have been there for me every step of the way, and here I am with you on your special day.

I am so happy for the 2 of you-your love is so rare, you compliment each other so well and really make the perfect pair.

Trevor I am really glad you came into Ali’s life, you are going to make her the happiest wife.

Thank you for making her so happy and bringing out the best in her, I know you two will enjoy spending the rest of your lives together.

There’s one last thing I’d like to say before I’m all out of rhymes, then we can all grab a drink have a good time.

Here’s a toast for today, tomorrow always and forever-GIVE IT UP FOR ALI AND TREVOR!!!!! Woooooooo!!


I was definitely speechless.  Well done, Angie, you rock! 

5 years.

Five years ago, I knew a lot of things.  I knew I was about to make a big, life changing decision.  I knew we made the right decision to wait and make sure Michelle could be there.  I knew Trevor would deploy in 12-18 months.  Despite being pretty darn cool, calm, and collected overall, I knew I should have gotten decaf.  I knew I was about to marry the right person and I knew all the great things we had planned for our life together.  As much as I thought I knew it all, there were a few things I didn't know.  (Besides the fact that we figured the five year mark would be a good time to go on a repeat honeymoon to Jamaica...ha!)

I didn't know that five years from that day I would be sitting on my couch alone watching Scandal and writing a blog post and not even able to have a beer or glass of wine.  Just hold your horses, this isn't a whiny depressing post, hang in there.  Despite how crummy that might sound, today was a great five year anniversary.

Trevor left for drill yesterday and will be gone until Sunday.  I actually haven't even talked to him today (standard for drill weekends) other than a quick text this morning.  I woke up to the sound of Myra rolling around in her crib and saying "hi!" to her baby and stuffed bunny.  We got ready and went to Toddler & Me class like we do every Friday morning.  The weather was perfect and we spent the last 15 minutes of class playing outside.

I didn't take photos of the other kids, but there were about 8 of them.  I don't know that they signed up for toddler class to be put on some mom's blog.

 



After class, I stopped by Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Make that a Venti!

 

 

As soon as we got home, it was right back outside to climb, swing, kick (the ball, of course), and play with the leaves!

 

 

Play time was followed by lunch time then nap time.  After nap, we ran a couple errands, came home and read some books.  We ate supper and Myra was rubbing her eyes so she even went to bed 20 minutes early.

 

So, here I sit in the only home we've ever known as a married couple...married to the best man ever who is spending the weekend with his Company...a sweet little girl asleep in her crib...baby number two nudging and poking in my belly...sans beer and wine...and a tired out fur child snoring on his rug.  Since Trevor and I will be celebrating (just us!) on Monday with a Red Lobster dinner courtesy of some gift cards we've been hoarding, I can honestly say this is a fabulous anniversary!

 

However, I think we will need to really focus our efforts on Jamaica for our 10 year anniversary...





Summer 2014.

Well, this is embarrassing: one post about our entire summer.  Once I get out of the blogging groove, it can be hard to get back in it.  So, here goes nothing!  (Also, this will be long so I highly doubt I will go back and look for typos...hope it makes sense!)

If you don't care why I haven't posted all summer, you can skip this paragraph.  If you're nosey, read on.  I went back to find my last real post (not counting my Causes posts, which are definitely real, but you know what I mean) and it seems I was a bit of a blog failure this spring, too.  When I sat down to write this, I didn't intend to start out with this big explanation, but here it is.  I found out the day after Easter that I was pregnant.  I had some weird tests (really light, slightly darker, light again, darker, etc.) for a week and finally went in for blood work a week after my first positive test.  My HCG and progesterone were low (HCG 34 and progesterone almost 0) which was definitely not a good sign for a pregnancy.  I went back 48 hours later for a repeat; ideally, HCG would have at least doubled in that time and HCG was 1.  So, no baby (a very early miscarriage, or might even call it a chemical pregnancy).  Because of the weird tests, neither of us totally got our hopes up and definitely never had a "woo! we're having a baby!" moment.  My body didn't care and I still felt pregnant that whole time (sick, tired, blah).  Luckily, I got pregnant again a few weeks later and I'm now 17 weeks and feeling baby kicks every day.  Because of my history (two losses), my doctor ordered an ultrasound and blood work at my 8 week appointment.  Baby looked good but my progesterone was low.  I never had it checked with Myra and she was totally fine, but my doctor wanted to put me on progesterone just to help support the pregnancy until I hit 12 weeks.  So, I got two rounds of two shots in the butt followed by a month of suppositories and all was well.  ANYWAY, what that all really means is I've been tired and sick then extra tired and extra sick (progesterone side effects) for most of the summer.  It's only been the last few weeks I have been feeling pretty darn good, but I still love naps.  Again, I didn't exactly mean to get into the specifics of all that, but there it is-my legitimate excuse for failing at the blog.  I believe I had a similar lapse when I was pregnant with Myra.

17 weeks with Baby 2, a bit bigger than 17 weeks with Myra! (Also, not in Hawaii this time, sad face)

Trevor just started his final year of undergrad (Biology-Biomedical Science/Pre-Dentistry) and is busy, busy, busy studying for the DAT, filling out dental school applications, shadowing, etc., on top of being a student, husband, dad, First Sergeant...  That all leaves us both pretty busy.  We somehow make time for him to play softball/bowl (depending on season), so we agreed we need to make time for me to go do something on my own, too.  Until I come up with a better idea, I will be spending my Sunday mornings at a coffee shop while blogging and/or wasting time. 

I helped run a booth for my babywearing group at a Baby Expo...and Myra got to meet a couple of the Vikings Cheerleaders.

Myra and I survived without Trevor for two and a half weeks in June while he was at Camp Ripley playing GI Joe (normally these 2-3 weeks are no big deal, but early pregnancy made it suuuuuper fun).  I felt like crap and slept every second I could, but survival was the goal.  Trevor was gone for Father's Day, but Myra and I went to my great-aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party then to my dad's for a cookout. 

Myra and I went to the Minnesota Zoo with Grandma Christy and my nephews.  I was curious if she would turn into a zoo animal herself without a nap, but she found a way to squeeze one in. 

 

Our niece graduated high school this spring and we got to attend her commencement as well as her open house party.  We also attended a few weddings this summer and they ALL had photo booths.  We've got quite the collection of photo booth strips now. 

Thunder of Drums is an annual Drum Corps International competition Trevor and his family attend every year.  It's actually where I met half his family for the very first time many years ago.  This year was Myra's first time and she did very well!

Most of Trevor's softball games were late games this summer, but we did get to watch him play at least once!

Every summer I/we go visit my aunt/uncle/cousins in Wisconsin.  For the last several years, they have lived in the Madison area, but since our last visit they moved to Green Bay.  It was fun to visit their new home and see some new places with them.  We went to Bay Beach Amusement Park and took Myra on a couple rides.  Trevor got to go on the doozies on behalf of our family.  As he was boarding the scrambler he sent me a text, "I am not looking forward to this." haha, what a good sport! 

A week after our return from Green Bay, we went to the North Shore for a long weekend mini vacation.  I spent a week every summer "up north" with my grandparents and cousins, but I haven't been back in about 14 years.  It was fun to see the area again and share that with Trevor.  He lived in Duluth for a while, but never made it up that far (crazy, I know!).  Myra LOVED the rock beach in Grand Marais; she would have been content to just play there the whole trip.

We spent over 30 hours in the car in July and Myra was a total champ.  Zero crying and less than 5 minutes of whining total.  Before we even got out of town on the first trip, she said, "out! out!" and we were pretty nervous about how it would go, but she was fine.  I probably whined more than she did (I was feeling okay-ish, but not wonderful, in July).

In August, my dad and I saw Paul McCartney live at Target Field.  Never in a million years did I think I'd get to see one of The Beatles live, and wow he still sounds amazing!  He played for three hours straight.  I can cross that off my bucket list now.

Myra and Rowdy have become quite the buddies this summer.  She loves to throw the ball for him, go on walks with him, pat him and say, "buh boyyyyyyy (good boy)!"  We recently got a dog park in town and I can't tell who has the most fun there, Myra or Rowdy.  She loves just running around, petting the dogs, throwing the ball, playing in dirt, all of it.  The first time we went, we saw a Great Dane and she kept pointing at him and saying, "horse!"

Our county fair was great this year.  Trevor was gone for it last year and I was dairy-free, so that was kind of a bust.  Myra really liked checking out the animals, people, and tractors.  We briefly went through the tractors the first time we went.  The next morning I told Myra we were going to the fair again and she kept saying what I thought was "doctor."  When we parked at the fair, I realized she had been saying, "tractor!"

Myra has gotten to be so much fun--lots of talking, walking, running, doing.  This child is OBSESSED with bubbles.  She loves playing with real bubbles and will make anything around the house into "bubbles" (a toy drum stick and a cup is pretend bubbles to her).  Grandpa spoils her with his mission to find the best bubbles on the planet and recently bought a pretty fabulous bubble gun for her to use. 

 

Food trials are going well, we have taken a couple breaks due to me feeling like garbage, Myra being sick (she had Hand, Foot, and Mouth last month), that sort of thing.  We usually take a break any time she has something going on that might cause confusing symptoms.  Our last "pass" was corn which has been huge!  Corn syrup is in so many things, plus she can now have Kix, Corn Chex, Fritos, Quinoa/Corn pasta, corn on the cob...  Sometime in the last month, we dropped her morning nap so she just takes one in the afternoon now.  It's not always super long (always at least an hour), but planning things around just one nap has made life much easier.  She doesn't really have a clue what's going on as far as my pregnancy/future big sister, but the other day she did pat my belly and say, "ball!"  At my 12 week appointment, it took the doctor a little bit to find baby's heartbeat, but as soon as we heard it Myra said, "HI!"  But really, I think she's pretty clueless.

That, in a nutshell, was our summer!  We got to spend time with friends (some we hardly see--two even moved back to town!), lots of trips to the waterpark and different parks in town.  Myra could spend all day playing with sand, swinging, and sliding.  She is also a fan of bike rides.  She climbs into the Burley and puts on her helmet. 

I promise to write a little more regularly now--if for no other reason than for us to read in the future.  Writing it publicly means I have no excuse, right?  Also, the Causes posts have been slacking because July was a tough month (not much for awareness stuff that I could find, and no one to write on the topics I could find) and the two I had for August fell through (life happens, it's all good!).  So, hopefully, no more blog crickets, okay? OK!

And well, who doesn't love a random photo of a sleeping toddler?