Things to Remember

I went back through my blog posts I wrote when Josie was the age Audrey is now and was disappointed with the lack of detail I had. To avoid this, I'm just going to list a bunch of things here. I'm all about the random lists these days (to match my random thoughts I guess).

1. Audrey sleeps amazing. We thought that Josie was a good sleeper but in comparison she was terrible. Okay she wasn't terrible at all, but Audrey is a champ. She goes to bed for real at around 11:00 and doesn't get up until 5:30. I feed her a tiny bit, never a full meal, and she sleeps until 8:30 or when I wake her up. She does eat more in the morning to make up for it, but then will take a great 3 hour nap in the morning, have some wake time in the afternoon, and naps again for most of the rest of the day. 

2. Audrey is super hard to wake up. I can spend up to an hour trying to wake her and it does nothing. I give up trying to wake her to feed her! She has set her own schedule and there's nothing I can do about it. My body will just have to adjust to it, even though it is fighting to produce more milk than necessary and at the wrong times. Eventually I know it will get better.

3. She's almost three weeks old and still fitting in newborn clothing. Josie didn't ever really fit in newborn clothes so it's a little strange for me to see all of the 0-3 month clothes waiting to be worn and ignore them for now. She's so small to us.

4. She hardly ever cries. At bath time, she wakes up, looks around, makes a few small peeps, and goes with the flow. She really only loses it when I can't get there right away. Otherwise, she just makes a few "warning peeps" that she's awake and hungry and if I'm able to get there within 5 minutes (which is most of the time) she never cries at all.

5. Audrey has a bit of digestion issues. I can tell she's gassy based on her movements. She squirms a lot and grunts while sleeping, so I bought PediaCare Gas Relief drops and it seems to be helping. This being said, she never spits up. In fact, the one time she has, we both were surprised by it and I didn't even remember what to do! She had this look on her face like "what was that?!" and hasn't done it since. I'm sure this will change, but it has caught me off guard. 

6. She has had some terrible baby acne (way more than Josie did). It started on her forehead and moved it's way down her whole face. It's clearing up a bunch, but she looks so splotchy right now. It comes out a lot more when the flash goes off in pictures and in the natural sunlight, but otherwise you hardly notice it. She's still super cute. :)

7. She can be held constantly (loves to cuddle) or set down for long periods of time and doesn't fuss about it. Amazing. Enough said.

8. She's such a blessing to us. She's used to her sister screaming and doesn't even react when there is chaos around her. Josie likes to look at her and sometimes will give her kisses. I can't wait to watch their relationship grow.

9. At her two week appointment, we learned that she hasn't grown in length much but now weights 8 lbs 15 oz (was 8 lb 6 oz at birth). You can definitely tell by looking at her that she has grown a lot! No more squishy face and she doesn't look like a fragile newborn. 

10. Girlfriend has long skinny feet. They are just like her daddy's and look so different than mine and Jo's. I could just stare at her hands and feet all day... so sweet.

That's enough for now. I'll probably do another post like this with more details later.

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Catch Up

It's too much to have a thought out well written post, so here's my brain dump.

1. So far parenting two has been both awesome and terrifying. I have managed to juggle them both outside of the house, but haven't ventured out to any real places that doesn't include assistance from grandparents, auntie or hubby.

2. Audrey's blessed me with great sleeping habits at night so far. She only wakes once around 5-6:30 and then goes back to sleep until 8:30 or so. It's awesome but I'm not getting too comfortable with it because I know how quickly sleeping patterns can change!

3. This week I am giving lessons again after a two week break. I'm only doing it this week and next before having our holiday break, but it's crazy how much having to bring the girls over to grandma's a couple of days a week makes me feel so busy and scatter brained. It'll definitely take a while to get used to a normal schedule again. 

4. When bringing the girls to grandma's, Audrey's been awesome. She has slept the whole time and I was able to feed her enough that she doesn't wake up hungry without her food source. I hope that is the norm.

5. I have no idea when to shower. I suppose the answer would be at night after they are sleeping, but I have no motivation to get up and do it after I sit down in the evening. 

6. I did Pilates during their nap time the other day and remembered why I loved it when pregnant. Hopefully I can do it a couple of times a week. It's just hard to remember that awesome "after" feeling before starting...

7. Today during nap time, I tried to wrap presents. I got two done before hearing both girls awake on the monitor. That's not much progress. I hope to have them all wrapped by Christmas...?

8. People from our church have been bringing us meals every other day to help out (which is so awesome by the way) and it has given me some new ideas for meals. So not only have they been super helpful with the meals in general, they've been providing me with some fresh ideas in the kitchen. Can't beat that!

9. I fit into my "fat" jeans that aren't maternity. In fact, they are a little loose and I need a belt (that I don't have... my belts don't fit yet unfortunately). I even got into the size smaller that was a little too tight when I got pregnant. They are still super tight, but hey - I got them zipped. That's a victory! I still have a lot of baby weight to lose and then some, but I love the motivation I get from the little things like that.

10. I haven't cut my hair in 9 months. It's getting ridiculously long. I need a trim and am debating getting bangs, but then I remember all of the work it takes to keep them looking good. Thoughts?

Pictures of the last couple of days:

She thinks she's so funny sitting in Audrey's bassinet.

This girl is so hard to photograph accurately. I swear most of the time she's not making weird bug-eyed faces but the light from the camera must make her react... most pictures make me laugh! She's so cute... wish the pictures did her true justice!

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Rough Start

It's been quiet over here, don't you think? There's a reason. Along with adapting to this new life, I've been fighting off Mastitis. Let me tell you, it's not fun.

Yesterday afternoon, I got that achy feeling you get when the flu is about to hit you hard. My whole body was over sensitive and I knew that something was coming. Eventually it turned into a fever and I started getting chills. The chills were so strong and awful, not like normal chills when having a fever.

I've been having a hard time with breast feeding this time around just because of the sores I have from when she first latched incorrectly. It seems like every time they are almost healed, they get ripped back open again (sorry if that seems graphic). On top of that, my milk supply has been insane, which has caused engorgement, so I wasn't surprised when I had every single symptom of Mastitis. 

But seriously, it's awful. I spent a large portion of yesterday afternoon and evening crying (sometimes sobbing dramatically, hormones you know) and my poor girl Jo didn't even know what was going on.

It's important to continue breast feeding when this happens because it helps flush out the clogged milk duct. It hurts oh so much but is worth it. 

So today, Jo went to Grandma's (seriously what would I do without her) and I stayed home with Audrey and fed her all.day.long. I noticed how red my right side was, so I called the doctor and got in for an afternoon appointment. My doctor confirmed my self-diagnosis and got me the antibiotics and now hopefully I can recover quickly and get past this awful start to what I hope to be a long road of breast feeding.

She's cute, so that helps. 

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Thanksgiving with the Family

Thanksgiving weekend couldn't have fallen on a better week. I had so much help with both girls the week that Audrey was born, and it really helped me relax and enjoy the sweet smells and moments with a newborn. I also got to give Josie plenty of love since there were always willing hands to take the babe.

We spent it at my parents' lake with family and enjoyed the food while bundled up inside since the weather was very...wintery.

Family got to meet the baby.

My aunt Shary

Hubby was the official turkey cutter. He didn't think he did so great, but the turkey looked and tasted great so I'm not complaining!

My mom took on the task of making the whole meal. I was impressed because it seemed effortless and tasted wonderful.

Our dream came true with one long table. It was so fun to sit with everyone (kids included) and not have to be separated in different rooms. Praise the Lord for the home that allowed room for that.

Josie did awesome entertaining and playing by herself when everyone was visiting before and after the meal. I was so impressed with her!

My grandpa getting to hold his 4th great grand child. So thankful for him (and my grandma seated behind him).

My uncle Jeff who shares a birthday with miss Audrey

Perfect weekend for dozing with the (almost always) sleeping baby. We all took turns in this position.

Those pants. Too cute. They are too long so we rolled them up, but they looked so cute!! How is my baby girl already wearing 2T clothing??

We did venture outside a little on Friday to enjoy the colder weather. Jo loved being pulled on the sled all around the yard.

The house is on the top of a small hill so we can sled down on any side. My mom took her down one side and Buckley thought that it was a game he was playing too. He was all over the place and his excitement was pretty contagious.

It was a great weekend. We love it out there, even in the winter!


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