Homeward Bound

We left for Minnesota on Wednesday, March, 18th. The night before was a little hectic to say the least. The previous day, Dan was unsure if he was going to be coming along for the trip home and it was decided that if he came with then we would leave on Wed., if he didn't come with I was going to leave with both kids on Thursday morning. Tuesday was a crazy day, I had a feeling that Dan was going to come with, so I was doing laundry like a mad woman and trying to get lists of what we needed. Tuesday night I also had a HOA board meeting and was trying to prepare for that as well, this would also be the first night that Dan would be left home alone with both kids and right at Katelynn's bedtime, it was definitely going to test Dad's patience! Dan came home from work and decided that, yes, he was going to go and so the packing started, the house was slightly chaotic and then I left for the HOA meeting. Thank goodness the meeting was only an hour long because when I got home my house was a disaster, Dan was trying to put Katelynn to bed and Junior was screaming - this was exactly what I thought I would be coming home to. I got Katelynn to bed and packed the rest of the suitcases, washed bottles and packed diaper bags and then had a beer before I went to bed - whew. We ended up being so tired that we got a late start in the morning - 8am. Prepared for the 16 hour drive, we left, with a lot of excitement, but could not have imagined what was in store for us.

Dan driving home.

Katelynn at Perkins.
Me (jeez, I look a little tired, huh?) feeding Junior.

Dan, after taking Katelynn to the restroom and then taking Junior to change his diaper so that I could eat my lunch. Only 8 more hours to go!

Random Thoughts

Another week has come and gone. The time is going by so fast this time and I am actually enjoying my time at home and really haven't missed work to intensely. I am wondering if part of the difference is all of the venues on the Internet that keep me somewhat attached to other people and their days, the main one being Facebook. This week I went to my six week check up and was approved to resume all regular activities, but was also told that I again need to have my thyroid checked. So off to my other Dr. on Friday to have blood drawn and then next week I will have another ultrasound on my thyroid to see if the nodule that Katelynn left me with after I had her has grown at all. If it has grown my thoughts are - thank goodness I am done having kids or I would have to start wearing scarves around my neck every day in order to hide this huge lump that looks like an adams apple on my throat, or I think of the Seinfeld episode wear the lady had a goiter the size of a football sticking out of her neck, wouldn't that be attractive. Anyway - Junior is doing pretty well, we had a slight set back on changing from breast milk to formula. He got completed constipated and the poor guy was crying in pain and started spitting up a lot because the milk had nowhere to go, and this was with only 2 bottles of formula a day. I have went back to all breast milk for a couple of days and then we are going to try the Good Start formula that is supposedly easier to digest and go from there. He has started to have some crabby time which is at night when he is the most awake, which is hard on Dan because it's the time right now that he sees him and when I need a break. It's also hard on him because it usually starts right around Katelynn's bedtime, so he has to deal with it while I put her to bed. Today I bought an exercise ball, this is what I used with Katelynn during her first few months, we would sit and bounce for hours on that ball to keep her content, so tonight we started with him and he seemed to like it as long as he could look around the room and stare at who knows what.
Katelynn is into the stage of playing out everything that she watches. A couple of weeks ago we watched "Dumbo" for movie night and now we play Dumbo and she calls me Mrs. Jumbo. Last night we watched Pinocchio and then we had to play that our today. Dan is starting to catch on to this little game of playing house, at first he really did not understand it at all and just couldn't comprehend what was going on. Katelynn would be talking to one of us in character and Dan would try to talk to her about something else, she would get so mad at him or just ignore him and I would tell him - "we are playing house" - so strange to think that someone doesn't know how to play house, but I guess growing up with only brothers they probably didn't play house too often. Another obsession that Katelynn has that has probably been going on for 4 months or more and is starting to drive me nuts is "toe jam". I mentioned to her one time when she was taking off her socks about toe jam and ever since it is a daily and nightly thing that she does. She takes off her socks and will not get pj's on or doing anything. She says, "wait, I have to check my toe jam" and will check in between every toe. My poor child, I need to watch what I tell her I guess.

Oh How Time Flies

It has been almost 6 weeks now since Junior was born, the time has been flying by. This morning I looked up at the clock and it was already 11am - how can that be? All I had done so far was feed him, get Katelynn ready and dropped off at daycare and then had some floor time with Junior (and probably a little cleaning - oh yeah, it was laundry). I will be going back to work on April 1st, the first week back I will probably do part-time to get back into the swing of things and then full time after that so I can put my energy into training for my new job, I am a little nervous about really go full boar at the position, but am hoping for good results?!

I have learned that baby books do not mean a whole lot when it comes to my children, they are the complete opposite of whatever they have written.
Bed time for example: people or the book say the more that is in their tummy's before bedtime the longer they should sleep. I remember when Katelynn was at this early age this was not the case at all, it was very strange. If she drank down 4 oz. before bed then she always woke up in the middle of the night for more, but if she drank only 1 oz. before bed then she slept through the night. This pattern continued for quite some time, the less she had before bed the longer she slept. The other opposite for her - you would think if your child stayed up way past their bedtime then they would sleep in a little longer. Nope, not with Katelynn - if she stayed up late then she was early to rise, but if we put her to bed earlier than her normal bedtime than she slept in later. Here's the first with Junior, most kids would fall asleep while drinking their milk and blissfully go to sleep - this is not the case in our home. I will feed him about an hour and half before I want him to go to bed because as soon as he is done drinking - bam - the eyes are wide open and he wants to walk around and look at everything in the house and when he's had enough then I will nurse him for a few minutes and lay him down to sleep, which for about the last week has been successful and he's slept for about 6 hours afterwards, if he would only drift right back to sleep at 4am instead of wanting to be awake for a little while - my hope will have to be that he starts to sleep through the night (is that wishful thinking this early?) We did weigh Junior last night and he is now about a half an ounce from being 11 lbs. already (we have Dan's magic HVAC scales to get exact weights, comes in pretty handy). At his one month Dr. appt. they said that he is fine to sleep through the night once he hits 11 lbs. - now I need to think how I can make this happen - wish me luck.

I am still loving my new car and Katelynn is even understanding the "New Rules" of no eating and only having water in a cup in the car, how long this will last I am not sure, but the car has stayed clean so far. This morning there was snow and ice on the road so I was finally able to get out and see what the AWD really is like and I have to say I was pretty impressed with it, I didn't slide on the road at all and could see other people sliding around at stops and such. I made my first car payment today and yesterday I called the company that cleans our house twice a month and let them know that I would not be needing them anymore and I had to put my money towards my car and another child in daycare, I am pretty bummed about that and am hoping that my lovely husband will help pick up some of the slack, again wish me luck with that.

A trip to Minnesota? We are still debating back and forth on whether we are going to go home or not. Fargo has gotten so much snow that it is a little unsettling and with the frigid cold there I am not sure that it's really the place for us to be traveling right now. It will also depend on Dan and his work if we can go, if something comes in for him then we have to stay here and he needs to work while there is work available. I am a little hopeful though that we will be able to go home for a visit, it has been over a year since I have been home and would really like my family to meet my son and see how much Katelynn has grown and what a fun little girl she is (when she is behaving). I also know that if we don't go now I don't know when I will have vacation time saved up again for us to be able to go and with the new job training and projects if I will be able to go. I am hoping by the end of the week that we will know if we are going or not.

My Little Monsters

Movie Night

On Friday nights for about a month and half I have been trying to do a "Family Movie Night" with a Disney Movie and Popcorn. I thought it would be a nice way to end the week and jump start the weekend. It usually ends up being just me and Katelynn (and now Junior too). Here are a couple of pictures from when my mom was here. The movie for the night "Dumbo".

Grandma and Katelynn intently watching the movie.

Junior - not so much into it yet.

Junior is now 1 month old and he has been such a great baby. The things that we know already is that he does not like to be wet - at all. He is a hungry little guy. He loves to be talked to, but he also likes to lay around and look at things and is content on his own. He has been waking up about twice a night, but last night he only woke up once, I am definitely hoping that trend continues.
He had his one month Dr. appointment today and here are his stats:

Weight: 10lbs. 3 oz. (I guess we can say that he has been eating really heartily). 90th Percentile
Height: 21 Inches (this is the same as he was born). 50th Percentile
Head: He was also in the 50th percentile.

There were no shots today, but we'll go back in a month for another appointment and shots.

Sleep, No Sleep, Sleep?!

"Junior" has been here now for a little more than a few weeks and is growing, growing, growing. We have gotten over the - I don't fit anything and therefore, I pee everywhere phase. His sleep patterns have been fairly the same if we can keep him up during the day then he has been waking up only twice at night to eat - this I could handle. Now, with the next Grandma in town everything has changed. How fast little one's learn - Grandma was hear for a day and half and of course she wants to hold her new little grandson, so I don't think anything of it and she holds him and holds him and holds. Well, that night was a NIGHTMARE! When I went to put him down, he fussed until I picked him up and then he'd crash, put him down and he fussed - AHHH. Poor guy - I was getting really irritated and told Dan, I'm going downstairs for the night, I have to break him of this now. So, downstairs we went and into his pack n play and I let him scream it out for awhile and I finally did get a little bit of sleep that night, but he woke up every couple of hours to eat and fuss when I put him down. The next day there were new rules in the Davids household - no holding the baby after he falls asleep, into bed he goes. Last night was a much better night, he went to bed around 9:30pm and woke up at 1am to eat and then a diaper change at 3am and to eat at 5am and then at 8am.
He was been a really happy little guy - we have only had one major problem - Diaper Rash and it ain't pretty. He is on his second round of really horrible diaper rash where his poor little bum is completely raw and we have to let him lay around naked to really dry it out. It must be something with his digestive system because he is one runny mess. I have been breastfeeding only, but today with the diaper rash thing and runs happening again deciding it's time to start transition to both breast milk and formula and see what happens. I was going to start the next week anyways so that it's a month long process before I head back to work. I have been feeding and pumping and have a little supply in the freezer and today he got 2 oz of formula as well, I am hoping over the next couple of days that this will somehow help the butt rash and such and we can move on from this ordeal.
"Junior" has his one month check-up on Monday and I'll show some stats after the appt.

Grandma Davids Visits

Dan's mom was here for 2 weeks to help out with everything, she cooked, she cleaned, she helped with the kids and attempted to keep her son in line. I now know what it would feel like to have a live in nanny that is at your beck and call - wow, no wonder the rich have them on staff 24/7, it sure makes raising kids easy and you get to spend some time alone here and there with your spouse even when your kids are awake. She was a great help and we really enjoyed having her here, although all good things must come to an end and I was happy to get my house back to myself for a few days as well and do some of my own laundry and cooking, surprisingly I missed cleaning my own house a little bit.

Dan and his mom

Katelynn and Grandma making a hot dish.

My New Ride

I finally have got the car that I want and not something that Dan has picked out and paid for. After waiting for over 2 months for the price on this car to continue to drop, it is finally mine. I love, I love it, I love it. I even thin that Dan likes this car, although he still didn't want me to spend the money, oh well. Katelynn is loving the car as well because it has a built in DVD player, even though I am completely against using them to keep kiddos quiet or entertained on short rides, I do like it for a long road trip, like when we drive to Minnesota. I am loving the navigation system as well and the car drives so nice. I'm sure I will also be loving the AWD at our next snowfall.

Here are some pictures of my 2006 Subaru Tribeca, 7 Passenger Limited Car !

Breastfeeding 101

Little Junior has been home with us now for 2 weeks and a day and surprisingly the breastfeeding is going well and I will probably keep with it until I get closer to going back to work. A couple of things things that Dan and I have learned:

1 - When you bring home a new baby and have a 3 year old they assume you will feed the baby with a bottle and are amazed when you start feeding them with your boobs. They will ask you a ton of questions. They will then go to daycare and let all the other little girls know that this is how you "really" feed a baby and then all the little girls will practice this breastfeeding technique with the babies. My 3 year old also decided that if I can't feed the baby from the bottle and I want to feed the baby then I should just go ahead and grab mommies boob and pull it towards the baby. (Sorry Katelynn, but it doesn't work that way either sweety!)

2 - When waking up in the middle of the night and you are breastfeeding the husband should not reach across your chest for anything, especially when you are burping the baby and baby is not attached to the boob - you are bound to get some milk on your arm. (Dan only had to experience this once and freaked out!)

3 - It is not a myth that when a baby cries you will leak if you are full and not only out of the boob you want to feed out of, but both - be more prepared, they make those bra inserts for a reason!

These are some of things that the Davids' family has learned in the last 2 weeks with the new baby being home. Can't wait to see what else is in store for us.

DoubleShot

Dan and I had brought our new little bundle of joy home and our family was now complete. Katelynn took on the role as a great big sister in stride!
Night 2 in the Davids household was something else. Who knew there was such a difference between a boy baby and a girl baby and the changing of the diapers. It was around 10pm and Dan and was at the foot of the bed and I was at the head of the bed and Junior was laying in between us. We were getting ready to attempt to go to bed and Dan was doing a diaper change. Little Juniors system was still working out the kinks out being on the outside and had some pretty runny stools and hadn't really been peeing all that much, so diaper clean up was not so fun. Dan took off Juniors diaper and started to wipe his little bottom off and Junior must have had a little bit of gas and a little bit of poo left over and all of the sudden it Shot Out of his little butt hitting Dan right in the stomach. I think that I got out one little chuckle at Dan's expense and then realized that I was in return getting peed on by the little guy. One diaper change and 2 parents get hit, I can tell you for certain that Katelynn was not able to do this.
Chalk one up for the little man. Zero for the parents.

Dan Jr.

Labor and Delivery

As Saturday rolled around and the month of January came and went I was still pregnant. You could say I was beginning to lose my mind ever so slowly, what had my Dr. told me - you will be having a January baby, I don't think you will make it to your next appt. - none of these things which came to be true. As the last weekend rolled around I was starting to lose hope that this baby was ever going to come out. I had tried walking, rocking, drinking the red rasberry tea, eating spicy food, everything I could think of or had heard of to get labor into action with no luck. Sunday I actually felt that nothing was happening with my body, no contractions, nothing - even little junior didn't seem to be as strong in his movements, which I can imagine he didn't have much room left. I was actually feeling like I had when I was 7 months pregnant instead of 8 1/2 months. I decided on Sunday night that I would call my dr. on Monday morning and try to get into an appt. by saying the baby wasn't moving as much and just something seemed very off (which in reality was the truth, I was just make it seem a little more extreme than it was). Monday morning rolled around and I got up and ready for work, dropped Katelynn off and phoned the dr.'s office, their answering service picked up and stated they didn't start taking phone calls until 8:30am so it was off to work for me. All I could think of was not wanting to listen to people say "You are still pregnant", "You are still at work?" - Yes, I am still here. I called back a little before 9am and talked to one of the nurses at the clinic and she let me know that all the dr.'s schedule their surgeries on Monday mornings and no one was available, she made some suggestions for me and I was a little demanding that I see someone so she decided to send me to Labor and Delivery at the hospital to be hooked up to the machines to monitor little guy and his movements to make sure everything was as it should be. Oops, I didn't mean to push it to that extreme and waste people's time and money, but it was too late at the point so off I went to the hospital and up to Labor and Delivery and of course I hadn't had much breakfast to eat yet at that point and didn't have time to stop and grab something quick. I got to the hospital and was hooked up to the machines in triage and was answering questions from the intake nurse and then she said "You just had a contraction, did you feel that?" - Nope, I felt nothing, then she said I had another one, still I didn't feel anything. As we were talking and she was completing paperwork she heard my Dr. outside the door and went and grabbed her to see me quick. In came my dr. and she said something about me being in there and we chatted and of course I made something comment about still being pregnant even though she didn't think I would be, I can't remember exactly what I said, but I know that she gave me a look! She asked me then if I wanted her to check me and I said "yes" and the nurse let her know that I was having some contractions. She checked me and I was at 5 cm already and she said that I was definitely in the early signs of labor and to go ahead and admit me and we'd be having a baby today. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I was not completely prepared for that response. Dan had went to work, all my bags were at home and I wasn't going to be able to go and get them and pack the bathroom supplies that I wanted and I hadn't eaten enough for breakfast (and knowing from having Katelynn, they were not going to let me eat now). Phone calls were made and I told Dan to high tale it home and get my bag and get back to the hospital because it was 10am and at around noon the dr. was going to come in and break my water and the nurse was thinking it wasn't going to take long for little junior to make his appearance into the world. Our neighbors were on-call for Katelynn so that was all taken care of and went pretty smoothly. Dan got to the hospital at about 11:50am and the Dr. came in right at noon and said I was already at 6cm and went ahead and broke my water and advised me that if I was going to get the epidural then I probably needed to do it now because things were going to progress so quickly. So the lady was called in and we let her know that last time I had this done I had a panic attack and was hoping for different results this time around. Everything did go pretty smoothly, one side was more numb than the other, but all was working well. I did have a couple small problems with my blood pressure dropping to low and not feeling so well and having to be shifted around and needed extra oxygen, but it all worked itself out. (I always wonder afterwards what it was like to be Dan in that room watching me turn white and kind of going in and out of it and having people work on me, he hasn't really ever said too much about it, but I'm sure he had some thoughts running through his mind). At a little after 3pm the pressure was really starting to get intense and I just figured that the epidural wasn't working so well on the one side and I was just feeling the contractions, but when the nurse came back in and saw that I was clutching the bedside and checked me, I was at 10cm and it was definitely time to start pushing. She told me "Do not Push" I need to call the Dr. and get her over here. Thank goodness my Dr.'s office is attached to the hospital and here she came running down the hallway after they called her and then everything went really quickly. Once it was time to push, I had 3 contractions and pushed for a total of 6 minutes and out he came. This was definitely a different experience than Katelynn, there was no "Ring of Fire" with him and I really never even felt that I was pushing (probably the epidural), but I do remember the immense relief that my body felt after he came out. So there he was and everything was good and I can't believe that I went to work that morning and had a baby later that day and now it has only been a week and it feels that he has been here for months.

Welcome Home Daniel Douglas Davids Jr.

Daniel Douglas Davids Jr.

Born: 2/2/09 (Groundhog's Day and also his Grandma Davids B-day)

Time: 3:31pm

Weight: 7.2 lbs

Length: 21 Inches

Welcome to our family "Junior".

The Days Drag On and On

So here I am still sitting at home waiting, waiting, and more waiting. I have been unsuccessful at concentrating at work in fear and in hopes that I will go into labor (fear that my water will break and I am not at an appropriate place) with nothing happening. I guess I shouldn't say "nothing" I have been having contractions here and there and was almost convinced yesterday that it was time, but as soon as I got home they stopped pretty much for the rest of the day. I am starting to give up hope, I will be forever 40 lbs heavier and have a large belly that moves around on it's own free will.
As I started to think last night that my due date is fast approaching and Dan's mom will be flying in on the 6th of February (so now less than a week) I started to feel a little sad. I think some of the pressure I have been putting on myself to get this baby out into the world may be the desire to have at least a couple of days of just me, Dan, Katelynn and our new addition. I am hoping that I will still be able to have this and if I start to relax a little more than maybe this will become a reality? The bags are packed and we are all ready to go. Katelynn even said the other morning on the way to daycare that she no longer wants that baby in my tummy, well sweetheart, I couldn't agree with you more.
Katelynn has really been great these last couple of weeks and growing into a little girl. She has started to entertain and play by herself a little more and it is so fun to watch her interact with whatever or whoever she is playing. Because I have been getting a little lazy on the cooking scene we have been going out to eat a little more, which scares the hell out of Dan and I due to PTSD of Katelynn's bad behavior in restaurants, but surprisingly she has turned a new leaf on this and has been really good the last few times we have went out. This week we even went to Red Lobster and she ate snow crab legs, popcorn shrimp and some of Dad's fish. One thing that Katelynn has recently had on her mind is being competitive with any other 3 year old girl. At daycare it is now a competition between her and the 4 year old girl, Sam, on who can get to the house first and bring the daycare provider her newspaper from outside, which one of them has the softest blanket, who is the prettiest in girl in town. Katelynn has even started to bring in her other friends and if she has outgrown an article of clothing then we can give it to one of them because she is bigger and has grown up more than they have. I haven't figured out where this has come from yet, but am trying to curtail it and say the correct things as a mother should.

The car scene has not changed either. I have now started to call my Caliber "The Shoebox". This infuriates Dan, but that's alright with me, so do a lot of other things. Dan is still sticking to waiting another month or two on purchasing a car and so far even with today being the last day of the month nobody has called to try and negotiate with me to sell a car. I have noticed the place where I originally looked at the Tribeca now has 4 used 2006 Tribeca's on their lot and I am hoping that they will eventually want to push one of these out and possibly move it my way. The 2 new cars have lower miles and are under warranty still and are priced at $1000 more, but they do not have the Navigation system or DVD player, I may have to give up on those 2 items and go with something that I can talk Dan into - lower miles, but still the car that I have my heart set on, we'll see what unfolds in the near future.
Well, time to get off of here, Katelynn and I have some Blueberry Muffins to make for breakfast.