jinxed

Yep, totally jinxed a good thing. Talking about getting a good nights sleep was stupid. The night after I posted that, my boy had the worst night. I attribute this to teething cause he had been screaming all day long while gnawing on everything in sight. My poor boy.

He screamed on an off that night, sucking his fingers and crying. We hung out till 1am and then he fell asleep. The day after he was still his tiny screaming self, chewing on iced banana puree and crying when it got too squishy.

On another note, today is his heart murmur appointment. We're going at 2:00. Hopefully all goes well.

mmm the taste of blue

This is what happens when you leave a toddler alone to go do laundry. Hope it tasted good Sadie.

murmur

Yesterday was quite the day, wind storm, rain, all kinds of stuff. I got to brave it all with the kids as we made the trek to Vancouver for Lucas's 6 month checkup.

The kids were so good. Normally car trips = whining and crying from Sadie. I figured out the key is many many snacks and music. Whining happens less when shes got her mouth full of animal crackers or peanut butter sandwiches. I was surprised at how good they both were. No crying, hardly any whining, and this makes for a happy Miranda. So about the appointment. He's in the 90th percentile for height, and 50th for weight. Hes currently 16lb 8oz and 71 cm long. Hes my long boy. He even charmed the doctor with his cutesy smile.

So after she listened to his heart and lungs, she measured his head, and then went back to listen to his heart. I kinda knew at this point that something wasn't quite right. Turns out he may have a heart murmur, a flow murmur she thinks. He's been referred to a pediatrician at surrey memorial hospital to have it checked out. I found out after the appointment (hooray for doctor rating sites) that the doctor there has a reputation for being arrogant and kind of rude....oh joy. Please pray that we don't have issues with this doctor, and that we find out what's going on with my little guys heart. I know that heart murmurs can be no big deal, so thats what I'm hoping for.

The dreaded SPOON!

When I started feeding Lucas solid food, I figured he'd love it. He loves eating and is a big hungry boy. I started him with rice cereal. He gave me the weirdest look and clenched his mouth shut. Not thinking much of it, I tried to get him to take another bite. He looked at me with disgust and pushed himself back into his seat, not wanting anything to do with this. Ok, maybe he doesnt like this stuff. So a few days later we moved on to banana, avacado, then sweet potato, and back to rice cereal. Nope, he was just not going for it. He despised lunch time. Anytime that spoon came near him, he'd have his lips sealed. I tried a softer spoon, nope. Then one desperate day, I put pears on my finger and stuffed it in his tightly clenched mouth and, whaaa??? Success!

He ate a few bites off my finger, but as soon as I picked up his plastic spoon, he threw himself backwards and it was over.

You'd think that with a toddler who loves to chew on anything, be ok with a pliable spoon filled with delicious things. Nope. On and off for weeks now we've been fighting this battle. The spoon was losing, until today. Today I forced that spoon of prunes into his mouth, and you know what? He ate it, no spewing of food, no thrashing. It was strange. He'd need me to force it in his mouth, but he'd eat it, and I think kinda liked it.

Maybe I wore him down all week with trying. I'm just happy hes eating solids. Tomorrow I go to buy a big girl a booster seat for the big table so Lucas can take over her chair.

the (GROSS) things toddlers do...

Now I know that having a toddler means you have to expect them to do disgusting things. I've seen quite a bit, mostly in the way of poop, but last week, Sadie surprised me. She took it to a new level.

It was the afternoon, I was just finished feeding Lucas. Sadie was busy throwing diapers all over the room - typical tornado toddler stuff. I had opened the door to our room to head to the living room when Lucas pooped. So he needed to be changed NOW. I turned around, started changing him, and realized that the door to my bedroom was left open, and Sadie was gone. Normally she hangs out with me, but when an oppertunity arises to get into more trouble, she takes it.

So I start speed changing my little buddy thinking that its way too quiet, shes up to no good. Got my boy changed lightening fast - and took him out to the hallway.

The bathroom door was left open...

This is bad, I thought. My girl, she has this thing about playing with water. So I start down the hall praying "Please oh please keep her out of the toilet".


No such luck. In fact, not only was she standing by the toilet beaming from ear to ear, but she was holding MY TOOTHBRUSH.


AW, SICK!

This little girl must have been making toilet soup (and was having a marvelous time, might I add), and using MY toothbrush to stir it up, cause there was toilet water all over, and a soother had been plunked in the bowl as well.

Quickly, before she started brushing her teeth (heaven forbid), I plunked my little buddy down on the hallway floor, and ran into the bathroom flinging my toothbrush into the garbage. Kept her hands where I could see them, and scrubbed her down with as much soap and water as I could. I didn't even want to think about if she had brushed her teeth with toilet water, but I didn't really stop her right away when she started to eat soap bubbles.

It will clean her mouth right? My boy then starts to cry, so we shuffle on out. Whew.

That was gross.

Dear Lucas,

I can't believe you're one month old now. You've gotten back up past your birth weight, and love to eat. Some days all  you want to do is eat eat eat!

You are in the 50th percentile for weight and height. You've been thinning out a bit, but not terribly. Everyone tells us that you look just like your daddy. You've got his awesomly spikey hair. I love it. It tickles my chin when I hold you up to burp you.

You are such a strong little boy. Since you were a week or 2 old, you've been very good at holding your head up. You are very good at tummy time, turning your head back and forth, holding it up, and looking about. You are also focusing more on things, and people. You especially love watching your sister play, and looking at the trees outside.

Sleeping is hard for you. You just want to be held. You also can't help the fact that you are sore from all the gas. Poor tummy. When you do sleep though, you snore, and grunt. I call you Lucas "Grunter" Raymond. You are the noisest sleeper. 

You love bath time, although, not the getting in or out parts, just the being in the water parts. You didn't even mind when I spilt water on your face. You just blinked at me. I hope you are a water baby too, cause you and your sister will have a blast together when you're older.

You also really like your bouncy seat. Your sister loves to bounce you in it, but she's not allowed to anymore. She's not gentle enough to bounce lightly.

Happy 1 month little boy!

 It was around the time that I found out I was pregnant with Lucas that I realized that I'd have 2 babies in diapers at the same time. It also hit me that we'd be paying twice the amount for diapers and wipes per month. That did not sit well with me. It was already expensive to buy diapers for one kid, let alone think about the cost for 2.

So I did some research. I figured we'd be moving after Lucas was born, and I figured that we'd probably have our own washer and dryer by then, so I looked into what it costs to use cloth diapers. Poop didn't gross me anymore, so as long as I knew how to take care of these diapers, we'd be in good shape.

Oh man, who knew there'd be so many different types of diapers and things? I spent late nights on bedrest looking up these things, checking different sites, and brands.

The ones that appealed to me the most were the fuzzibunz and bum genius one size fits all diapers. Don't have to buy all kinds of seperate sizes, and they seemed the easiest for me to get used to. I bought one, but realized that in order for me to give this thing a go, I'd need to buy enough for at least a day. Since they were kinda pricey, I hunted for bargins on craigslist. You know, diapers that were given to someone as a gift and were never/hardly used. After a couple weeks, I managed to get 6 diapers.

So yesterday, I put her in only cloth diapers for the day. It wasn't bad. The only thing I made a mistake on was leaving her in one for too long, and oops, her onesie got a little wet. Pretty much just gotta check them every hour or 2. Since these guys already cause a lot of laundry, I'm not opposed to doing diapers as long as I have my own washer and dryer.

The Diaper Pin website was also a really nice thing to show Tony. It calculates the cost of disposables vs cloth diapers. He's more of a fan now than he was before. He doesnt like the smell factor of the diapers. Smell wasn't that bad in my opinion.

http://www.diaperpin.com/calculator/calculator.asp

I'll be really testing these out when I move home. If I can manage one kid, I'll do both. this also means buying more diapers, but thats not bad as long as I do it in small amounts, or find more craigslist scores.

Have any of you used cloth diapers before? 

What were your thoughts on them? 

Did you find a specific brand that worked well? 

Let me know your thoughts on all this.

I'll be making a follow up post on my progress with using cloth diapers.

Meeting Lucas for the first time

Finally, my best friend Larissa got to meet my boy. I was so sad that it didn't happen sooner, but I'm so glad that she met him.

This photo melted my heart

We met for a Starbucks date and Lucas was as good as gold while we were out. Maybe sometime soon, she can babysit the both of them. That would be interesting :)

alone with 2 kids, yikes!

Wednesday was the first day I was home alone with both kids. Aria had her big nursing exam in vancouver, and Mik was in school. So Mik woke me up before she left for school by plunking Sadie in my bed. Sadie was just waking up as well, so we groggily watched cartoons on the iphone (I mostly dozed) until Lucas woke up.

Lucas seemed to be in a better mood that day, he was pretty peaceful, and stared at me or the trees that were blowing in the wind. He loves watching the trees outside.

Naptime was a challenge for Sadie though. That day, Sadie was going to nap in my bed because its low to the ground, and she can crawl right on up. I attempted to put her to bed a couple times, while Lucas was sleeping, but she wouldnt. Around 12, she was so tired, that when we laid in the big bed, I realized that if I paid attention to her, she'd try and stay up, so I grabbed my phone and browsed Pinterest and then 5 minutes later, I peeked at her, and there she was:

Out cold with her bum in the air.

Just as she fell asleep, Lucas woke up, almost waking her up. I whisked him outta there and fed him in the living room and then we watched crappy day time tv. At least TLC has crappy wedding shows on. 

There was a point in time when I had both children whining/screaming at me, and it surprised me that it didn't drive me crazy. I'm sure that once I'm fully alone with them both, they'll break me, but for now, I think I did ok. The hardest part was keeping Sadie out of trouble while feeding Lucas. She was mostly after the diaper garbage in my room when we were in there. yuck. 

My mom came home around 2:30, and we all headed to the Lucas' appointment for the doctor. But that's for another post.

Lucas' Birth Story

Its taken a while for me to get this all out, but its done now.

I still cant believe that Lucas went to full term. After the scare of preterm labor, going through a cerclage with the thoughts of still ending up in preterm labor it finally hit that we made it. I remember laying awake in bed the night before thinking, "we've made it baby". We've made it indeed. I laid there in bed thinking about how wonderful my parents have been, taking care of Sadie while I was on bedrest, taking care of me. I was so grateful to God for taking care of everything, even though I stressed and stressed about everything. I shouldnt have stressed so much.

The morning of my scheduled c-section, I was surprisingly calm. I've never felt calm like that going into any hospital situation. Had to have been God. We woke up super super early, around 5:00am. Yuck. Tony took a couple gravol, and woke up all kind of gross from taking the pills. This made for an interesting start to the day. He was grumpy, and I was trying not to argue back with him, but it didn't work. I don't remember what it was about, but we ended up being all snippy at each other. Ya, way to start out the day.

Still both grouchy now, we arrived at the hospital. It wasnt long until they gave me my sexy backless dress and shower cap, and had me wait in bed until the anesthesiologists arrived. Tony was off getting a quick dose of caffeine and a muffin so he wouldn't be miserable throughout the entire thing. While Tony was out, I met with my anesthesiologists, a handsome young aussie guy and his resident. He was super friendly and asked me all standard questions. They had to start an IV, so while the resident was getting that started, I told him that the worst part of this whole experience for me is thinking of the spinal being done. I told him how nervous I was about that, and he told me the most wonderful thing. The needle he was using in the IV would be the biggest needle used. Thank you God! My fears were almost put to ease. I remembered the epidural needle, and it was a big sucker. 

Tony appeared again, feeling better after drinking some coffee and eating a muffin. I was glad he didn't eat near me, I was starving from fasting for 12 hours.  

Once Tony was gowned and ready, they whisked me away to get the spinal done. I sat down on the small operating table, and a nice older nurse came over and explained what was about to happen. She was totally my hero. She stood in front of me, and while I scrunched over into a "C" shape, she calmly  made sure I knew what the heck they were doing to my back. After painting my back with hot pink iodine (I swear, after this whole thing, I was a hot pink mess- covered all over my torso), the resident anesthesiologist grabbed my sides and dug his thumbs into my sides and back. I think that was the most painful part of the whole procedure. Looking back, it makes me laugh that I was afraid of the needle, when really, I should have feared the crazy thumbs in my sides. So, after the numbing needle- which startled me, but that was ok, the fancy spinal needle went in, and I didn't feel a thing - well except for a lot of pressure in my legs before they went numb. Go crazy thumbs resident!

Then it was go time. Everyone was getting ready for cutting me open. Tony came back to hide behind the sheet with me, and we waited for my doctor to start. Crazy thumbs and Aussie doctor were talking and cracking jokes with us, and then it started. The whole thing seemed tons quicker than with Sadie. Before we knew it, they were getting to the good part, the part where they could yank this kid outta me. I was getting all tearyl as they were trying to get him out. The doctors were explaining that it was tough to get him out, so he must be a big boy. I told them my guess was 9 lbs. With the last push on my stomach to get him out, my doctor exclaimed "He's gotta be 10lbs!" She was close alright.

He was out, I was bawling, and Tony was a proud daddy again. 

He came out looking like Sadie with his brown hair, and his cry was nothing like hers. Hers was kitten like. His was loud and boyish. Poor little boy.

They handed him over to Tony and I, and I got my first look at my son. I remember thinking "hello stranger". I mean, I love him, but I don't know him at all. What a weird feeling. The stranger part melted away after a few days, but it did take a bit. I tried breastfeeding, but Lucas had a lot of gunk in his airways and was grunting every few seconds to try to get it out. They took him back to suck it out again, and then he was fine.

Lucky for us, I got to recover from surgery in the maternity ward in a special room instead of in the recovery section. Normally I would be seperated from Tony and baby in the recovery section, but I was able to stay in the c-section recovery room with Lucas and Tony, and it was the best.

So that was it. Planned c-section was not as terrifying as I figured. I was blessed with wonderful doctors and nurses this time, and although breastfeeding was initially really hard, I've come to like it now. More on that later.

what happened in the past week

Last week was nice and hot out, it was almost like regular summer weather. We packed up the little ones and headed to my moms work to swim in the pool. She works at a summer camp, and since camp is over, we got to enjoy the pool all to ourselves. On the drive up, the kidlets got tired, and fell asleep, both slouching their heads to the left. Even propped up with blankets, they still managed to slouch.

Since we wanted to get to camp before dinner time, we cut Sadie's nap short. Needless to say, she was not a happy camper. Just trying to get her in a swim suit was tough, let alone sunscreened and life jacketed. Once she settled down and was ready to go, we let her head out to the pool. She tripped, and then hitting her forehead on the pavement. That had to have hurt. Poor girl.  She wailed, I panicked a bit, cause its her head, on the non forgiving pavement. She got a red/purple bruise on her forehead, and after a couple mintues, she was fine, and ready to swim. The family swam and had a good time with Sadie, and I enjoyed the beautiful view of Cultus Lake and tanned while Lucas slept in the shade.

This week I also got to enjoy a really delicious treat, hummus. I normally dont eat this stuff because Tony despises it. He hates the texture and the fact that you are cursed with garlic breath for the rest of the day. This hummus was store bought roasted pinenut hummus. Oh sweet wonderful stuff, how good it tasted with naan.

I also am catching up on Mad Men. I feed Lucas in my bedroom, and its nice and quiet, and I dont have to worry about flashing my family boobs. I havent watched it in a year or so. Good golly, that show makes me want to smoke, and I'm totally against smoking. Smoking has never looked that cool as it does in that show. I also really want to wear all the dresses that Joan and Betty wear. Gorgeous!

Enough about Mad Men though. Sadie is pretty much used to her brother and his crying. Now when he cries, she comes over and loves him. She leans over and puts her head on him, or pats his hair, or kisses him. Her kisses are licks, and she likes to try and lick his eye. Its gross but cute. She's such a sensitive little being - just like me.

So thats the past week, and now I'm going to try and catch up on blogging. I think having the notebook in my bedroom at night might help me stay awake while I'm feeding the little boy

I'm baaack!

Even though there are blog posts up, they've all been scheduled. Its been a nice break, but I've missed blogging on here.

Lately all I've been doing is feeding/sleeping/zoning out in front of the tv. I've also been lurking all the blogs I read. They keep me awake while I feed Lucas. I haven't commented on things like I used to, cause when I do, its usually some strange sleep deprived thing that doesnt really make sense. You might start seeing midnight comments from me soon though :) Sleep is getting better- kind of. Lucas wakes up every 3-3.5 hours on the dot, and then at 6 am and 7am. This means that mornings are extra fun. Its during those times that I sit there on the bed and pray that I don't fall asleep, and then fall off the bed.

Lucas is a pretty happy baby. Every day he gets the hiccups, sometimes 2-3 times a day. He's also christened Tony and I, but Tony's story is one for another day. He also started having more awake time this morning. He was alert, and wide eyed, and very content to watch the trees out the window. Sadie is getting used to him more and more. This morning she wanted to share her blocks with him. She toddled over with her bag of blocks in hand, smiled at me, and then dropped them on his head. Thankfully, I caught them before they really hurt him. It didnt phase him, so that was good.

We've got our first doctors appointment today. I'm really hoping that hes getting enough to eat, and is gaining weight. In the hospital, he went from 9.9lbs to 8.14lbs - which is less than 10% lost, but still concerns me. I'm taking drugs to increase supply, and am going to see about  getting some fenugreek stuff to see about boosting it more. I've also been drinking a ton of liquids, and I'm not a hardcore liquid drinker, so I'm proud of the fact that I've been downing 2 cups of water every feeding, and then some more inbetween.

As far as I go, I'm doing way better than last time, although if I forget to take my pills, I'm achy and sore and then miserable when I have to sit up and feed the little guy. Since I'm so forgetful, I've set 6 alarms for all my pills so that I don't forget. Oh, iPhone, what would I do without you?

So there will be more things to come, I've got photos of the kids to post, just on the hunt for my card reader...its MIA at the moment :P

Good morning! Its Baby Day!

This little one is away on a sleepover and we're on our way to the hospital right now.

Please pray that everything goes smoothly.

We'll update you when he arrives.

The Hospital Survival Kit for my husband

Its the day before "the big day". I'm a big crazy mess. Hardly slept last night. Woke up every couple hours from the same scary hospital dream, and then tried to get it out of my brain by watching a show on the iphone. That didn't work. I just ended up more frustrated and more tired. 5:50 am rolled around, and I was up before my 6am alarm. Grumpily, I had a shower, and as its been raining, I attempted to put on socks and shoes. Lets just say that shoes are not my style right now, and with that, I put on flip flops and braved the rain.

I was early to my appointment, so I did a little crocheting, chatted with the nurse. They asked me a million questions about my medical history, and then we did the fun part. Got hooked up to the heart rate monitors and listened to babys heart rate. I got to click the button every time he moved, and boy did he move. He impressed the nurse who was there asking me questions. Funny boy. Blood was taken, and then I was set free until tomorrow.

When I got home, I figured I'd pack up my version of a Hospital Survival Kit. Its for Tony, but hes required to share some of the treats I packed. 

This is what I packed:

Wired Magazine - geek type magazine for Tony (I like it too)
2 Dairy Milk chocolate bars for my chocoholic husband
Starbucks Frappachino Drinks cause if I couldnt sleep last night, I wont be able to sleep tonight
Starbucks Via iced something or other
Fibre 1 bars (for me)
Fruit and Veggie bars
Twizzlers

With all the coffee, he should be set for staying up with me at night...maybe.

Dear Sadie

You are growing up so fast little girl! 14 months old, and almost a big sister.

You walk everywhere, and when you get excited and run, you look a little like a drunken sailor. Its adorable.When we go outside, you are still hesitant about walking on the grass, but you love touching flowers, and eating rocks and sand.

You love to mimmick noises, but you still refuse to mimmick words. You say Dada, Guy guy guy and mama. Once you said Cat Cat Kitty! You will try and tweet at the bird. You now point at the things you want instead of screeching at me for things.

I love watching you read books. I'll find you quietly reading in a corner with a pile of books. I've even found you after a nap quietly reading the small books in your bed.

You are still working on being gentle. I'm sure it will take time, but hopefully your brother wont get loved too hard by you. You show love by putting your head against your daddy's or my head, and then you rub it against our heads.Your kisses are still a little vampiric, you tend to use your teeth to gnaw a little on our faces.

Sadie girl, you've been testing my patience. If you're told not to touch something, you will touch it with your head instead of your trouble making hands. You love to try and climb things, couches, chairs, and collapsed strollers. It results in many bruises and tears. You've survived the falls, and bumps though, and I'm sure there will be so many more.

You can find belly buttons, noses, and eyes, but will you do it on command? Not on your life. Only when you feel like it. You do the running over song, and try itsy bitsy spider.

The other day on our way home from the store, you waved at everyone on the way out. You waved just like the queen would. It was adorable.

I love you Sadie-pie, soon to be big sister

New Toy - Fail

Months ago, I found this little fisher price popper toy at the thrift store for a dollar. It was probably there for a dollar because some parent didn't want to be tortured by its noise anymore.
I didn't mind the noise, so I bought it for when she started walking. I figured she'd love it.

Boy, was I wrong. Apparently a new toy after a nap is no fun, no fun at all. She loved it when I pushed it on the floor, but when I let her try, she would pick up the entire thing and run with it, and then when it didnt pop, she would get very frustrated and bawl. I showed her how its done, but each time I tried to get her to push the handle, she would pick it up by the base, and run towards me crying, and then drop it near me. I would push it, she would smile.

We've even left it a couple days just lying around, and she will bring it to me, but never push it herself. Sigh. I guess this one will take some time getting used to.

[baby update] 38 weeks + a game!

38 weeks pregnant

Today was my very last doctors appointment before the big day. I'm relieved that we are at the end, but at the same time, I'm so nervous about the last part. I'll be nervous up until he's out safely. Even though I've been through this all before.

I dont remember if I had any crazy dreams when I was pregnant with Sadie, but I sure had a doozy last night. This was my dream:

It was the morning of my c-section, and I was getting ready. I went to hop into the tub, and realized it was full of spaghetti sauce. That didn't stop me from getting in, and getting covered in red meat sauce. In my dream, I thought "hopefully the doctors dont mind the smell of garlic". I rinsed off, and headed out the door with Tony.
Tony had persuaded me to take the bus with him to the hospital, and when we got to the stop, he said "oh, butter girl isnt here". He then went on to explain that he could tell if the bus had already left because "butter girl" was not at the stop when we got there. (have no idea what she looked like, or why she was butter girl)  Then we ended up walking to the hospital. We got there, and I told Tony that I bought myself a treat for going through all this, and whipped out the beautiful heart of the ocean necklace from titanic. I told him that I put it on my credit card, and he said "ok, thats cool". Then I put on a lead vest (the ones you put on for an x-ray at the dentist) and then thats when I woke up.

Haven't had a dream like that in a long time.

So my doctors appointment went well. Everything is good to go. Unless this guy decides to arrive in the next 6 days, we are gonna be having a baby on August 23rd in the morning. I haven't had any crazy contractions, just a couple at night last night, but nothing to set the timer for.

So now, lets play a game:

Since we all know its a boy, and the date he's supposed to arrive, the only thing left to guess is how big this boy is gonna be.

Things I'm looking forward to:

-sleeping on my tummy
-seeing my feet
-being able to paint my own toenails
-eating more fish
-eating hotdogs
-consuming alcohol (a fancy drink would be nice)
-exercising
-shopping for clothes that fit
-looking sexy again 
-wearing baby in the moby wrap
-tiny fingers and toes

(unpainted toes)

Dear little boy

I got a phone call today about doing bloodwork and paper work for your upcoming birth. Thats happening the day before your birthday. I just realized today that in exactly 2 weeks, you will be out! I also realized that I will not be getting any sleep those last few nights. I'll be too excited to see you, well also maybe a little nervous.

I cant wait to see you. I'll get to count all your fingers and toes. I'll get to see what you look like. I still picture you as being a bald little guy. I pictured the same for your sister, and look what happened. Maybe I'm just crazy and you'll have a wack of hair like her.

I've bought you cute little sleepers, and onesies. I even got you an ugly doll. Your sister may have claimed that as her own though.

So my spunky little boy, we shall meet very soon. You hang tight, and try not to push your bum up in my ribs, ok?

37 week photo

There's my beachball...ahem, I mean baby.

I've got an ultrasound booked for this thursday at the hospital here in Vancouver. They'll be checking amniotic fluid levels to see if they're still measuring a little lower than normal  Praying that everything is ok.