Merry Christmas!

Mommy's night out

I love weekends. I think the United States needs longer weekends. Two days just isn't enough. Not enough for me, not enough for Dylan, and well Graham doesn't really know much yet. Dylan and I just love having Daddy home. I get some time to myself, and Dylan gets to play with Dada.


This past weekend started out as well as it could have. Girl time and alcohol. Luckily I didn't drive, so to say I was a little drunk was probably an understatement.

The evening started out at Casa Milagro, there were swirls, I swear if you haven't had one, run and get one.They are so good. I was pretty tipsy after just 1, though I did keep asking for water and the waiter wouldn't bring me any! " He lost it" So after two drinks there, we headed back to Courtney's new house. So cute by the way!

A large bottle of wine gone, broken wine glass ( which I still am going to replace) some " sizing up", TMI, party planning, vacation planning and good times had by all. I'm pretty sure I can honestly say, I was not the only one still drunk or hungover the next morning! Can't wait for the next time ladies!

Peek -A- boo

Peek

A

Boo!

I see you!

Totally Addicting

So who doesn't know about Pinterest? This website is the new "hot" thing. I'm not sure why, it's just posting things that people see online, you can pin, and others can as well. The sad thing about this website is that it is sooo addicting. Luckily for me, I've benefited from it.

I've made several recipes I've found, if I had more time to do them, I've found lots of cute crafts. I've found playrooms that I want to create for Dylan and Graham. The website really does have a lot of great things on it.

This is the first time I can remember I've ever given a teacher gift. I think this is a new trend, I don't ever remember giving my teachers gifts in school. But for this year, Dylan has two teachers. Both of which adore him, and tell me all the time they will take him off my hands. For Christmas I decided that instead of baking something for them, I wasn't sure they would eat, I would get them something useful. Gift cards to Barnes and Noble. But giving a gift card is kind of boring ya know? In comes Pinterest. They had this cute idea for make a snow globe with the card inside.

These were a hit with his teachers! I also made his class some M&M treats like I did for his birthday party. I think they all enjoyed them, and they were easy peasy.

Needless to say, I didn't need another website to suck me in like Facebook and Twitter have, but alas, Pinterest has done just that! Are you a member? I need more people to follow! Not a member? Comment and I'll send you an invite!:)

Days like these

If everyday could be as great as yesterday. I would say it was the first day probably since Graham was born that we left the house and I wasn't completely stressed about it.

Graham seems to have turned a corner with his content-ness. Is that a word? He is eating better, sleeping better, though still in the swing, and just all around a happy baby. He will wake up and just be awake, not screaming, just awake. He loves the Christmas tree. We call it the feeding tree. If he is having a hard time finishing his bottle, we'll turn the tree lights on and go sit in front of it. he will polish off his bottle while staring at the lights.

Dylan woke up in a good mood, probably because I told him we were going to pump it up. Since it was the day after school he slept in. I got everyone loaded in the car, and headed to meet Becca, Casey, and Rachel at Pump it Up. Wouldn't you know though, it's closed. Sad day! So we made a quick backup plan to come play at our house. Then I thought about Metroplex Gym that does an open Gym, so we headed there. Dylan and Carson LOVED running down the long trampoline, while Caden was a fan of dancing to the Christmas music they had playing, as well as the small foam pit. I would say, we will be going back. After that we headed to Chic Fil A to eat lunch with Becca and Carson and to play a little more. WE got home at 1:24, by 1:30 Dylan was in bed asleep. Do you know what time he woke up? 5:30. Yes you read that right. a 4 hour nap. Graham went down shortly after and took a 3 hour nap, because he hadn't gotten his long morning nap. Needless to say, I took a 2 hour nap!

All morning Graham was so good. I was so proud of him. I am so happy that he is a content baby, and as long as he is fed, happy to be just looking around his environment. He also rolled over from back to belly last night. I'm pretty sure it was a fluke though because really that isn't a milestone for at LEAST another month or so.

2 Months/ 2 years

This past Friday, the boys and I made a trip to the doctors office. Dylan for his two year check up and Graham for his two month check up. They didn't really want to go, and almost made us miss it. Both of them decided they wanted to sleep in, which meant mommy was sleeping too. My eyes popped open at about 8:30. Their appointment was at 9:10. I got them both up, fed, and dressed and out the door got to the doctor with even a little time to spare.

First up were weight checks. I made Dylan go first, because I knew that if Graham started crying, there was no way on Earth Dylan was going to do it.

Dylan:

23 lbs.

That's right people. He has finally made it to the growth curve. Even if it is like in the 1%ile:)

33.5 Inches

They asked me all the questions that they do, like, Does he drink out of a cup, Walk backwards, say six words, how he was eating, sleeping. He passed all of those with flying colors. Now since he started Mother's Day out, we have been to see Dr. Daniel a few times for infections. Dylan is never very happy about seeing him. But on Friday, he was so good. He let him listen to his heart, check his eyes, he still really dislikes his ears being messed with though. Interestingly enough, he had an ear infection again. The doc seemed to think it was the same cold as the one he had before thanksgiving, and the antibiotic just killed it enough for him to feel better, but then came back, so we are now on a 20 day antibiotic regime. Good thing he likes that stuff! We also got him the Flu mist. I thought that he had to get a shot or something, luckily for him he didn't. Graham on the other hand.

Graham was up next. I stripped him down and took him to the scale. I was really excited to see what he weighed. I knew he was going to be more than Dylan.

Graham:

11 pounds 11 ounces- 41 %ile - (The highest dylan ever got was 25th!)

23 inches- 43th %ile

They didn't tell me what his hear was, but they said it was in the 25 %ile, which is funny, I thought he had a big noggin!

Next up was his check up. I missed most of it because I was having to entertain Dylan, but for the most part it was good. He does have a heart murmur. I have an innocent one, and Dylan had a soft one that went away when he was four months old. Though apparently this one is not soft, so we have been referred to a pediatric cardiologist. But never fear, according to our pedi, " He doesn't have heart disease, he wouldn't be thriving if he did." I never even thought that he would have, our pedi just always jumps to this weird sayings. Like when Dylan was delayed in speech he told me. " I don't think he is autistic, so I don't want you to think that is what I'm saying." Hello, I NEVER would have jumped there. He is an odd man sometimes! Anyway, so I will make an appointment and we will go have his heart checked. I remember going to have mine checked, I must have been 3 or 4. My mom and grandma, Mere, went with me. They told me if I was good, I could get black patent leather shoes from Payless. See, I've always been a shoe girl.

Graham was none to happy about getting 3 shots to the leg. He was a trooper and only cried a little bit, and by the time we made it to the car, he was already asleep. Though when he woke up I could tell his little legs hurt, because when I touched them he made the cutest sad face. Does that make me a bad mom? Saying his sad face is cute?

Monday Menu

We actually made it to the store this weekend. By we, I mean all four of us. Adam got a little taste, of Dylan being a pain in the store. Now maybe he understands why I hate going to the store!:)

Sunday- Braised Chicken Thighs, mashed potatoes, and broccoli

Monday- Smoked Pork BBQ baked Potatoes

Tuesday- Chicken Tikka Masala, Rice, and naan

Wednesday- French Onion Soup, roasted cauliflower

Thursday- Enchiladas with Ground turkey

Friday- Crockpot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili

Saturday- Left-overs if there are any!

Monkey Time

My little monkey turned two. I still can't believe it. So how do you celebrate turning two? With a slightly Curious George themed party. Duh. As I think I have mentioned on here before, Dylan loves "monkey." It has become his lovey. He takes it to school with him, gets very upset if you take it away from him, sleeps with him, cuddles him, well you get the point. He loves the thing. While he also loves Mickey, I decided to go with a curious George theme. Well mainly red, yellow with a splash of blue.

I spent way to much money on a cake, but hey, until Dylan can tell me " Mommy, I want a racecar cake" I get to pick what they look like. I like to think of the cake as the center piece of the party. I'm pretty sure this one was, as well as last year.

I limited my crafty this year as well, seeing that I had a little less time to spend. I made a balloon wreath for the door, that will now be a staple for all birthdays in the family. It took me about 2 hours, and about 500 balloons to make, but I was pretty happy with the way it came out.

For favors I did Curious George books for the kiddos, and red and yellow M&M wand things for the adults. We also didn't make all the food this year. I ordered a chicken nugget tray from Chick Fil A, and we made ham and cheese sliders, had some chips and dip and veggies. Even though we purchased stuff this year, my sister and I were still technically "late" to his party. Luckily everyone else was too.

I would say the biggest hit was the balloons. I ordered 2.5 dozen, and since they got to the party late, most of them just ended up on the ceiling in the formal dining room. The kids loved playing with them though. Dylan would take them from the short ceiling and let them go up into the entry way that is two stories, then say " Uh Oh" It's his favorite. Though he hasn't learned that if you do it on purpose, its not an uh oh!

Dylan was spoiled by all the gifts as well. He got some great toys, books clothes, and lots of cars! I need to think about rearranging the playroom and adding more storage so that they all fit. Because we haven't even gotten to Christmas yet!

My picture taking was pretty poor this year. I didn't get any pictures of Dylan with Grandparents, or just me, or my sister or Adam's sister. It was pretty gloomy outside as well, so the lighting stunk. So I used my on board flash, so the quality of the pictures isn't that great either. But I think there were some cute ones.

I will do an official Two year post once we get his stats at the Doctor on Friday!

Graham { Two months}

Another month gone. Everyday we get more into a "routine." As much as he lets us anyway. This month, still has not brought us sleeping through the night, he still has not brought us consistent eating, but it has brought us smiles, coo's and lots of love! Cheesy I know!

It's amazing how different my two babies are. While at this point Dylan was unswaddled, sleeping in his crib, through the night, and on a pretty predictable schedule. Graham is none of those things. Though he still is a pretty laid back baby, he is taking his time. His arms are like helicopters, we can not leave him unswaddled at night. You might remember from his one month post we were not swaddling anymore, well we learned he slept better wrapped up. He refuses to sleep anywhere for longer than an hour or two, except the swing. Yes yes, he is still sleeping in the swing. Though mommy is desperately trying to change that.

He is very impatient. He wants food NOW. Not in the 10 seconds that it takes to make a bottle. While I'm still nursing, we are mostly on formula, and supplementing with breast milk I like to say. I would say I still nurse 3 times a day maybe. Enough that he hasn't gotten sick with his brothers three colds.

He is giving more smiles away, loves to be held, and is getting better at putting himself to sleep. A great quality. He is loved by so many people, and if he is anything like his brother will be spoiled rotten by his aunts, grandparents, and family friends.

Two month highlights:

Weight- I'm going to guess about 10.5-11 lbs. We will find out on Friday.

Not sleeping through the night. One day he gave us a 7 hour stretch, I was hopeful. Fail.

0-3 month onsies

Eating anywhere between 2-4 oz bottles. Frequently.

Still loves bath time

Not a big fan of having snot sucked out of his nose!

Everyday he gets more content, and that makes us happy. A happy baby makes for a much more peaceful, and stress free day.

Beep Beep Beep Beep

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Seriously, where did November go? I'm kind of sad at how fast our lives are going these days. I guess that is what having kids does to you. Thanksgiving was pretty low key this year. No traveling, unless you count a trip to Adam's parents house. They got lots of visitors though. Adam's Grandma and her husband, his aunt and uncle, and a cousin and her boyfriend.


The weekend started off with a beep on Wednesday night. Adam and I were waiting for his sister and cousin, Erica, to arrive at our house. It was probably 9:30 or so ( way past my bedtime) when we hear Dylan's carbon monoxide detector going off. Right. By. his. head. That thing is really freaking loud and I'm not kidding you when I say it was about 4 inches from his ear. Amazingly, he slept right through it. So we were kind of freaked out, Adam took Dylan out of his room until we could assess the situation. I on the other hand was like, oh it's probably just a battery going dead, the thing is 2 years old. I know I know, we are bad about changing batteries. So once we figure out that the beep that was going on was a dead battery beep and not the " four quick beeps with a 5 second pause" we felt we could sleep better.

Erica and Laura get to our house and we tell them about it, then we hear four beeps. all of us get kinda of freaked, we considered calling the fire department just to be safe, but we didn't. It wasn't a continuous beep like the instructions said it would be. We were fine. We changed the battery and plugged it back in, all was good. We all chatted for an hour or so, mean while the damn detector would beep randomly freaking us all out. I think we stayed up so late because we were afraid to go to sleep. We joked about leaving a note that it was beeping, just in case! Morbid I know.

Finally, we were all upstairs and the thing beeped four times again. But it wasn't as loud as I thought that it should have been. I had the idea to go and rewind the TV to see if that beep had been on there. Sure as shit, it was. It was Top Chef the whole time. They were being timed on a challenge and the timer would go off, beeping four times. So every time the carbon monoxide beeped, it was just the stupid TV. Other than the first time of course, that luckily didn't damage our child's hearing.

That is the long story sorry. The rest of Thanksgiving was great. WE went to Adam's parents house for turkey, stayed and watched too much football. Friday all the "kids" went to the Stars game. It was fun. We pimped the Mini of course. I knew it would come in handy!:)

Two.

one million, fiftey one thousand two hundred minutes. seventeen thousand five hundred and twenty hours. seven hundred thirty days. one hundred and four weeks. two years.

Sophisticated Palate

Well just like I said Dylan would be a shoe salesman, because of his love of shoes. I'm pretty sure Graham will be a food critic. Now as most of you know, no matter how many Fenugreek pills I take , currently 9 a day, no matter how much I pump, currently at least 15 min after every feeding, no matter how great his latch is my body does not produce enough milk to keep my little boy happy. We like to think it's my payback for having great pregnancy's. No morning sickness? Well, no milk either! So from about day 5 we have been supplementing with formula.

We started out with Similac Advance, because I got a huge sample in the mail, then we switched to Enfamil Newborn becuase I got 8 cans from my pediatrician. After about 3 cans of that, we switched to Similac Sensitive because I had a can of that, the enfamil was making him really gassy. My plan was to switch to Enfamil Gentlease after the Sensitive was gone, because well, that's what Dylan used, and you can get a generic super cheap at Sam's. Sunday evening we ran out of the Similac. We made the switch. Well, lets just say, at 9:30 PM, I was in the car on my way to Walmart to get some Similac. The child flipped out. He refused to drink it, and screamed bloody murder once it was in his mouth.

Last night Adam made him a bottle, he ate a little then refused it again. Daddy was getting his feelings hurt because he wouldn't eat from him. A few minuets later Adam realized that he had made the Enfamil. Graham has a picky palate. He also already has expensive taste!!

Graham- {ONE MONTH}

My My My how quickly a month goes by. I can't believe my baby is already over a month old, I'm a little late as usual. I asked Adam the other day if this was as fast as time was going to go for the rest of our lives. My boys will be getting married before I know it. Yes, I will cry. I am that mom.

Having two kids under the age of two is hard. Anyone who says that it is peaches and rainbows is a liar. Dylan is a great kid. He plays independently, he is sweet, rarely throws tantrums, and listens as well as a two year old does, but he is still hard to manage while dealing with Graham. luckily, we've gotten into kind of a rhythm. My key is to just keep Dylan entertained. That sometimes includes letting Dylan, "help" with Graham.

Graham has been a great addition to this family. His brother loves him, but of course has shown some jealousy. Mostly when I'm nursing and he needs something that I can't get up to give him. But he is full of kisses and hugs for Graham. He will bring me his paci, and hand me his bottle. He is a great little helper. I know he wants to know why he won't play with him, and just sleeps all the time.


One Month Highlights:
-Probably weighs around 9 lbs.
-Size 1 Diapers
-Newborn sleepers and onesies
-Has been hit in the head with a "D" sized battery( Might have been an accident), a tennis ball( Accident) and Dylan's hand numerous times. He is going to be one tough kid. Though Dylan better watch out, chances are Graham is going to be bulkier than him!
-Eats all. the. time. He will give us one long stretch at night, like 7:30- 1:30, but then is up again at 3, 5 and 7. It's really annoying. I know it's just because he doesn't finish his bottle because he falls asleep.
-He is no longer swaddled. We stopped a few nights ago and it's been going well.
-LOVES baths.
-Is so gassy. We are trying everything. Poor guy, I hope it gets better for him soon.
-Actually like tummy time.
-Have incredible head strength already. Love to stand on our laps, you will be walking before I know it.
- Fountain pee-er. Like the comical, over his head, in his mouth pee-er.

Need more Graham?

Busy Bodies

This past Sunday was a very busy one for us. Luckily, everyone was healthy again in this house. We really probably booked ourselves for too much, seeing as it was the first day of the time change. First off, we started with the newest addition to our family getting Baptised. When Dylan was baptized, he cried ,screamed really, through the whole thing. Granted it was at like 7 PM because it was an Easter service. We knew we needed to make sure that Graham was younger, and that the service wasn't late at night. Sunday it was. Unfortunately, I had already booked us for our family pictures in the afternoon. I even had to turn down a birthday party because I knew I needed Dylan to take a good nap in order to be in a good mood for pictures.

The service went well, Graham was pretty good, anytime he got upset we just fed him, because of course, we had to wake him up to get him there. The only problem was me. I really have a hard time packing a diaper bag for two kids. I get to church and realize that I didn't bring a burp cloth. Luckily, Graham's Godmother, Becca came to the rescue. She didn't have a burp cloth either, but she had a blanket. The next was diaper changes. Graham is a pooper. Like his big brother. So we get to church and before it even starts, he stinks. We go change him. We come back, not ten minuets later, he pooped again. Problem- I had already used the diaper I had! Becca to the rescue again. Thank goodness for another new mom!

Of course, when planning all these events I didn't really think about the time change when I was agreeing to do all of these things. Dylan was not in a good mood by the end of church, mainly because to him, it was already 1 pm. Nap time is usually between noon and 1. Now, I'm going to say, on days that he doesn't get a nap, he usually doesn't act like a pill, but those days he doesn't wake up at 7:20. So he just wasn't in a picture taking mood after the service.

He fell asleep in the car, ALWAYS bad. So when we got home and he had time for a two and half hour nap, well he probably only got 45- 60 minuet nap. Needless to say, I'm not sure you all will be seeing a smiling Dylan, or Graham for that matter, in our Christmas card photo this year.

Trunk or Treat

I'm a little behind, but please, cut me some slack, it was a rough week last week. I'm taking you all the way back to October. Can you believe we are already a week into November? I can't.

This was the first Halloween for Dylan. Alright, not the first, but the first he got to participate in. He couldn't walk last year, and I think taking kids Trick or treating that can't walk is like teenagers not in costumes coming to my door. He went as a giraffe. Now you see I'm pretty frugal ( or cheap whatever) and I didn't want to buy him a costume that he would wear once, but luckily Becca had a costume that was too little for her guy, so we got to use it. As It turned out, he got to wear it twice too, once to school for the pumpkin patch, and once to trunk or treat.

We actually didn't even go trick or treating. We went trunk or treating.
Now many are probably thinking, what is Trunk or treating. Well it was a thing that Becca's parents church put on. Cars lined up, with their trunks decorated in variouss themes and handed out candy. It was really a great idea. Dylan was a little shy at first, probably because he can't say trick or treat, but he quickly got the hang of it and would lift his basket for people to put candy in. He was even being environmentally friendly and picking candy and empty wrappers off the ground and putting them in his basket!

Overall, I would say he was successful in his first Halloween. He doesn't even seem to be afraid of the "scary decor" that comes with the holiday. The one bad thing about it though, is that he can't really eat many of the different types of candy, you know, snickers and things. So what does that mean? Mom has too!:)

The Great Outdoors

Remember when I said that Dylan could live outside? I wasn't kidding. He will wake up and point to his feet and say "shoes" He will bring Adam and I our shoes from the closet, in hopes that we put them on to go out. He has become quiet the soccer player, and ball thrower because of the great outdoors. Though, Daddy has taught him some things I wish he wouldn't, like throwing and kicking the ball against the garage, and the wall ( as well as inside the house). I guess the wall isn't too bad, but there are windows.

I can't wait to get him into soccer, though we will have to work on him not picking the ball up with his hands.

Monday Menu

I don't have much of a menu this week, but I thought that I would post anyway.

Sunday- Get yo' Man chicken, Cesar salad, Garlic Bread

Monday- Chicken Sandwich's, sweet potato fries

Tuesday- No clue.

Wednesday- Laura gets in from Australia, so we are going to Adam's parents for dinner.

Thursday- Chili and Corn bread

Friday- Maybe out, maybe something from the freezer

With my addiction to Pinterest, I'm hoping to try out some new recipes soon.

{Three}

Three weeks have passed since Graham entered our little family. I feel like it's been a really long three weeks, but then other times, I'm like "oh my, he's almost a whole month old?" He and Dylan are very different babies, that's for sure.

I took Graham for his 2 week checkup. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 2 oz. So right there that is a difference. He is gaining weight. Adam and I wised up, and when he would still be screaming after nursing, we figured out that my supply was once again, not there. So supplementing with formula it was. Dylan wasn't 8 lbs until at least a month old. Graham eats all the time. I feel like he eats, sleeps and of course poos. We have had two blow outs this week. I can't even remember Dylan having one.

Graham needs to be swaddled. All. the. time. I have very few pictures of him where he isn't a burrito. If he breaks a foot out, or hand, he goes ballistic. Therefore this week we started doing the double swaddle. It seems to have worked, he hasn't gotten his arms out yet. I know, you would think if he is getting his hands out, maybe he doesn't want to be swaddled. Trust me, he still wants it. I hope he gets over that soon.


He also sounds a little like a pug. The kid didn't stand a chance in this house to not get a cold. Dylan was sick, then Adam got a bad cold for a week, I got a sore throat and runny nose for a few days. Luckily, he isn't that bad, but you can tell he has some stuff in his nose, I can't get it out with the bulb though, so that's no good. Poor little guy.

I can't believe next week he will be a month old. It's going to be a busy second month. He is getting baptized, his aunt Laura is coming in for a few months from Australia, and his first family photos, so we are sure to be busy! Hopefully, I'll be able to stay up to date with photo's because I know there will be many.

Big Brother

One of the many things that I was concerned with , with bringing a new baby into the house was how Dylan would react. I was worried he would think we didn't love him anymore, and I was worried there was no way that I could love Graham as much as I love Dylan. He is my little monkey, my first born, and my wild child. Boy was I incorrect.

Yes, Dylan is a wanting a little more attention. His new favorite thing is to carry around his shoes, saying " Dooes" ( Sounds a little like Jews), and pointing at the front door, the child could live outside if we let him. He is also a little more hitty, if you will. If he doesn't get what he wants, he starts flapping his hands around hitting whatever comes his way. Including, his new baby brother's head. Now of course this is unacceptable, so he goes to timeout. I'll be honest though, when you have one child attached to a boob, and one that is being bad, it's a little hard to get up and put him in timeout. Off subject, but I never thought timeout would work for my kid. You mean, tell him to sit in one spot and "think" about what he did? I will tell you though, it works, he will sit there, and stay, and if I keep getting onto him, saying " We do not hit" he gets this big tears in his eyes. I think I hurt his feelings. I'm just surprised he will stay in one place.

Dylan's saving grace for being a naughty little monkey, is that he is super sweet with his brother. He will hug him and kiss him. Without me even saying to. He will just sit and watch him. He will rock him in his chair. He will pat his belly if he is crying, and he pet's his head. He will try to give him back a pacifier if it fell out. He just melts my heart. I knew he would be sweet, but I never guessed that he would be as good with him as he has. Now as our pediatrician told us, that will probably all change once Graham is mobile and stealing Dylan's toys!

So to say the least, Dylan is a great big brother, and we are surviving, and possibly even thriving as a family of four. Everyday we get a little more adventurous. This weekend, we went to dinner with Adam's parents. Saturday, we went over to Becca's parents house to watch the Rangers game. We stayed until after 10. Dylan was great. Graham screamed the entire way home. He was starving. The kid has Dylan and Adam's metabolism I think. He can eat until the cows come home. Though he still has frog legs! He does have him some cheeks though!

The first two.

Can you believe it? Graham is two whole weeks old. Time sure does fly. As I had assumed, he doesn't have nearly as many pictures taken of him, he gets put in some kind of baby contraption as soon as he falls asleep, and overall, has much less stressed parents.

Having a newborn in the house again has been an adjustment. There are many things Adam and I had forgotten about having a newborn, like, did you know they don't hold their own heads up? That's something we forgot. I hate to admit it, but his head has almost fallen off a few times from forgetting this little bit of information. Did you know they cry for no reason? How about they don't sleep through the night? Though I can't really complain about this. Adam and I have a pretty good system going. I get up for the first feeding, then Adam handles the second. We are getting 4-5 hour stretches because well, we like sleep, I know he is gaining weight, and well "don't wake a sleeping baby!"

Graham has been a great addition to our family, Dylan loves him, most of the time. The only time he has shown real jealousy is when I am nursing him. Dylan has become very interested in my boobs, as well as pacifiers and bottles. As long as I'm not nursing, Dylan loves his brother, he will lay next to him, kiss him, give him hugs, and say " uh oh" when he is crying. He loves to rock him in his chair, as well as the swing. Sadly, Dylan also thinks that because "baby brother" can play in these items so can he. Luckily, he doesn't exceed the weight limit on the swing yet, because if he breaks that, he is a dead kid. ( only kidding of course, we would just buy a new one.)


I'm adjusting to having two kiddo's pretty well I think. This week, I managed to get to the grocery store, while Dylan was in school of course, I even took both boys to story time at the library, and I would have been on time if I could have found my phone. After that we ventured out to lunch with our friends Becca and Carson. Graham slept the whole time, so that makes it easier. It will be much harder to do anything I think once Graham is awake more and requires more attention. But for now, I will savor his sleepiness.
Graham has gone on walks in the neighborhood, had his first "real" bath, which he loved, and gone to one of Daddy's soccer games. He has been a busy boy in his first two weeks. I can't imagine what the next two hold for us in this house.

Grahams Arrival {part two}

Friday morning, my Dr. came in around 9 AM, and had the nurses start the dreaded Pitocin. He wouldn't start it until I had gotten the epidural though, so that was what took so long. I love epidurals!:) So they started me on a drip and also put an internal monitor on Graham. He was moving around so much, they were having a hard time keeping a monitor on his heart rate. At this time, I had gone from 2 to 4 cm, just on the meds they gave me before. My cervix was still very unfavorable. I wasn't happy to hear that needless to say. After about 45 min on the pitocin, I was contracting well so they came and checked me, 5 cm. I also didn't know at this time that they were going to turn off the pitocin. Graham was having some heart rate issues. So for the next 2 and a half hours I was just contracting and dilating on my own. Then when I got to an 8, they turned it back on to finish it out. My Dr. thought that I would have delivered already, so he wanted to get me complete. My epidural started to wear off on my left side, so I felt a ton of pressure. I called the nurse to tell her. She said that I was close but not ready. About 5 min later I called again, my nurse had gone to lunch, this is what the other nurse said.

Me- I'm feeling LOTS of pressure.

Her- Megan went to lunch, can you wait 20 min for her to come back?

Me- I guess.

2 min later she comes into the room. " Dr. Chester called and wants me to check you. Oh yeah you are complete. I'll call Megan and Dr. Chester"

Megan comes in and since Graham had been really high and not dropping, wanting to try some practice pushes, to get him to come down a little. The first push, she stops me halfway through telling me he is RIGHT there, and that I don't need to "practice." Dr. Chester took about another 5 min to get there, I was really afraid Graham was going to just fall out. After one and a half pushes he was here. My first thought was that he looked a lot like Dylan.

I know many people are wary of inductions, but other than a few hiccups, I had a very successful induction. Less than 4 hours from pitocin to delivery. They said why the other stuff sent my body into fits was that it was just way to strong. So aside from that, I would be induced again. It was kind of nice knowing when it was happening and having a plan for Dylan. But of course I wouldn't do it until I was 40 weeks.

We are surviving as a family of four. I won't lie, it's hard. Dealing with a newborn and a toddler who wants attention. Dylan loves his baby brother, and hopefully my next post will be on how he is adjusting:)

Graham's Arrival- {Part One}

I am writing this mainly for me, so I don't forget anything. It was semi eventful. I'll do two parts because it's kinda long.

They say every baby is different. Graham has been different since his arrival. "They" say, the second baby comes earlier, and faster. Well, "they " are not always right. With this tid bit of information, I expected to have a September babe. When October rolled around, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad that I was still pregnant. Now, even though my husband will always remind me of how much complaining I did at the end, I still enjoyed being pregnant, I was just "done." So when I went to my 39 week appointment, and was told I hadn't made much progress and that my blood pressure was going up, come on people, I was STILL pregnant, it took all I had not to cry in the Dr. office. He wanted me back the next week to check my blood pressure, if it was high, he was going to induce me that night. Fast forward to that Monday. Dylan woke up sick with a fever, so my plans of dropping him off at Becca's were off, but he wasn't going to help my blood pressure. I made Adam meet me at the Dr. yes, it was an appointment that took 5 min, but I knew my pressure would be high with a sick, crying baby with me! After the check, my Dr. asked me if I wanted to get on the induction schedule for the end of the week. I would be 40 weeks, he wouldn't let me go further than Saturday. We were to be at the hospital at 10 PM on Thursday night to start the process, IF I didn't go before then. I didn't.

We get to the hospital, and after all the paperwork, and IV's and set up, I don't get my meds until about midnight, by then I was exhausted, and ready for bed. They offered me an Ambien, I denied, but after about an hour of just laying there, went ahead and asked for it. When she brought it in, she asked me if I could feel all of the contractions that I was having. I could not. My blood pressure was pretty high, of course, so she had me flip onto my side, and try to get some sleep.

About an hour or two later, I can't remember, Ambien, remember? I woke up with about 6 people standing around me. One was putting an oxygen mask on, one was adjusting the contraction monitor, one adjusting Graham's heart rate monitor, one jabbing me in the arm with something to stop my contractions, and one telling me that I was contracting constantly, and they needed to give my uterus a break, and Graham's heart rate had dipped significantly. It was a good time. Shortly after, all was good, and we would reconvene around 9 to discuss the next step.