Tuesday, July 24, 2012
fun?
This last weekend was Brewster Fun Days. On Saturday, they have food and activities in the park as well as a parade in the afternoon. It was about 130 degrees, humid, and a little rainy. Yuck! My sister and niece came to visit for the weekend, we thought the kids would enjoy the parade together. We walked up to main street in the rain but then parked ourselves right under a big ol' tree in order to stay somewhat dry during the parade. Kaden was a bit terrified at the beginning with the "scary man in the puppy costume" as well as the loud sirens from the fire trucks. It took him some time, but before long he was down picking up candy with the girls.
After the parade we walked to the park to get some lunch, Indian Tacos, YUM! It started raining again, so we huddled ourselves and the strollers under a tree and attempted to eat our tacos. You know how it goes....a styrafoam plate, plastic fork and knife, messy, no table, cutting through your plate, spilling meat down your chin, baby crying, sweat dripping down your back, kids in strollers eating freeze pops dripping juice all over....this is FUN days right??
After the parade we walked to the park to get some lunch, Indian Tacos, YUM! It started raining again, so we huddled ourselves and the strollers under a tree and attempted to eat our tacos. You know how it goes....a styrafoam plate, plastic fork and knife, messy, no table, cutting through your plate, spilling meat down your chin, baby crying, sweat dripping down your back, kids in strollers eating freeze pops dripping juice all over....this is FUN days right??
workin' the potty
I've started encouraging the kids to start thinking about using the big potty. Some days are definitely better than others. Some days all they want to do is sit on the potty and other days we don't even make it into the bathroom once.
I purchased some incentives in hopes that would entice them enough to want to use the potty. This was a bag of suckers that Kaden desperately wanted to get into. I told him he could only have one if he went potty. He sat on that toilet and worked and worked, but never did get the job done. He so badly wanted one of those suckers! poor guy :(
I purchased some incentives in hopes that would entice them enough to want to use the potty. This was a bag of suckers that Kaden desperately wanted to get into. I told him he could only have one if he went potty. He sat on that toilet and worked and worked, but never did get the job done. He so badly wanted one of those suckers! poor guy :(
Thursday, July 19, 2012
our saving grace
Our little pac-man finally has it figured it out. He's such a good little guy. We went through a period where he wasn't content unless he was being held. Thank the Lord he is over that. He is typically happy, only whining when he is poopy, hungry, or tired. And only screaming when his older brother and sister get a little too rough.
It hasn't been without the help of this, though. We invested in the mamaRoo and it has been our saving grace. Paxton loves it!
It hasn't been without the help of this, though. We invested in the mamaRoo and it has been our saving grace. Paxton loves it!
she did it
the other morning
i was laying in bed
and woke up to the sound
of a little girl pounding
on her bedroom door
she did it
she climbed out of her crib
i honestly can't believe neither of them have done it before now
we've been thankful for that
she hasn't done it again on her own
but she waits until i give her the ok
and out she goes
he can't quite get it done
and that's ok
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
back tracking
I feel like I have a million things and updates running through my mind all the time that I want to put into this blog, but it just doesn't seem like I ever time to get it done!
I hope you don't mind the bulleted list of our updates, but that seems to be the easiest way to get it all out.
*at 6 weeks, Paxton really started smiling intentionally and purposefully. He is starting to pay more attention to faces and smiles back at you often, it's soo precious!
*at 7 weeks, not only is he smiling a ton, he is starting to talk a ton too. He loves someone in his face and he just smiles and chats, making my heart melt.
*I had my 6 week post-partum visit last week. Paxton came with me, but he was a little on the fussy side. He was in his seat and the dr. had to rock him with her foot the entire time. The poor guy just wanted to sleep but wasn't ready to give it up. After the twins I had Diastasis Recti, which is basically separated stomach muscles. This often happens to women who are: carrying multiples, have multiple pregnancies, or are carrying large babies. All three were a positive for me. The dr. checked me again at this appointment and was surprised that my stomach muscles were actually doing a nice job of healing. There is still some separation, but it is only mild. She made the comment that there are many, after having twins, whose stomach muscles never do grow back together, so I was glad to hear mine are!
*I've still been rather emotional. I seem to cry about every little thing and my anxiety usually gets the best of me when my head finally hits the pillow at night. My dr. could sense that my personality was a little off when comparing me to previous visits and when I started crying in the office, she thought maybe we should address it. She put me on a low dose of some "happy pills" and hopefully this will only be a short term thing until my hormones settle down a bit. I think I'm more emotional than I expected to be and things are harder than I expected them. I am not the mom nor the wife I want to be and it's breaking my heart. My dr. said sometimes we don't realize how bad we feel until we feel really good. And she wants me to feel really good. So here's to being HAPPY!!
*Paxton seems to be doing better with the Zantac. Sometimes feedings can still be difficult, but he seems a lot less uncomfortable than he had been. He still has some issues with settling himself and putting himself to sleep, but it's getting better.
*This little guy has been having some awesome nights. He's basically sleeping through the night, sleeping around 9-10 hours at a stretch. I know this could change at any moment, but for now, I'm all about it!
*Paxton is eating around 5oz. and during the day he eats every 2-4 hours.
*I'm still pumping and Paxton continues to only get breast milk, but I'm getting tired of it. Like, really tired of it! The time in between pumpings seems to get longer and longer and I'm noticing my supply is decreasing. I don't want to give it up yet, but it's just soo darn time consuming!
*We have been very busy this summer! It seems like we are always on the road and are never home. The kids and I have spent a lot of time in Brandon just hanging out. It's usually a last moment decision, sometimes not even having extra clothing and needing a quick trip to target to get extra diapers... but it's been fun :)
*We went camping over the 4th of July. It was HOT HOT HOT!!! I'll try to post pictures.
*In less than two weeks the twins are going to be 2!! I cannot even believe it. It just doesn't seem possible :(
*I say this every year, but the month of July has a lot of meaning and brings out a lot of emotions.
Memorable days in July:
July 4th: one of our most favorite holidays, spent with amazing friends and family!
July 7th: 7 years ago, Cody was diagnosed with a brain tumor
July 8th: we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary :)
July 22nd: 7 years ago marks Cody's brain surgery
2 years ago will mark the twins coming into this world
July 25th: Cody diagnosed with brain cancer, given a prognosis of 3-5 years
July 30th: Cody will celebrate his 31st birthday!
We have been so incredibly blessed over the years!
I hope you don't mind the bulleted list of our updates, but that seems to be the easiest way to get it all out.
*at 6 weeks, Paxton really started smiling intentionally and purposefully. He is starting to pay more attention to faces and smiles back at you often, it's soo precious!
*at 7 weeks, not only is he smiling a ton, he is starting to talk a ton too. He loves someone in his face and he just smiles and chats, making my heart melt.
*I had my 6 week post-partum visit last week. Paxton came with me, but he was a little on the fussy side. He was in his seat and the dr. had to rock him with her foot the entire time. The poor guy just wanted to sleep but wasn't ready to give it up. After the twins I had Diastasis Recti, which is basically separated stomach muscles. This often happens to women who are: carrying multiples, have multiple pregnancies, or are carrying large babies. All three were a positive for me. The dr. checked me again at this appointment and was surprised that my stomach muscles were actually doing a nice job of healing. There is still some separation, but it is only mild. She made the comment that there are many, after having twins, whose stomach muscles never do grow back together, so I was glad to hear mine are!
*I've still been rather emotional. I seem to cry about every little thing and my anxiety usually gets the best of me when my head finally hits the pillow at night. My dr. could sense that my personality was a little off when comparing me to previous visits and when I started crying in the office, she thought maybe we should address it. She put me on a low dose of some "happy pills" and hopefully this will only be a short term thing until my hormones settle down a bit. I think I'm more emotional than I expected to be and things are harder than I expected them. I am not the mom nor the wife I want to be and it's breaking my heart. My dr. said sometimes we don't realize how bad we feel until we feel really good. And she wants me to feel really good. So here's to being HAPPY!!
*Paxton seems to be doing better with the Zantac. Sometimes feedings can still be difficult, but he seems a lot less uncomfortable than he had been. He still has some issues with settling himself and putting himself to sleep, but it's getting better.
*This little guy has been having some awesome nights. He's basically sleeping through the night, sleeping around 9-10 hours at a stretch. I know this could change at any moment, but for now, I'm all about it!
*Paxton is eating around 5oz. and during the day he eats every 2-4 hours.
*I'm still pumping and Paxton continues to only get breast milk, but I'm getting tired of it. Like, really tired of it! The time in between pumpings seems to get longer and longer and I'm noticing my supply is decreasing. I don't want to give it up yet, but it's just soo darn time consuming!
*We have been very busy this summer! It seems like we are always on the road and are never home. The kids and I have spent a lot of time in Brandon just hanging out. It's usually a last moment decision, sometimes not even having extra clothing and needing a quick trip to target to get extra diapers... but it's been fun :)
*We went camping over the 4th of July. It was HOT HOT HOT!!! I'll try to post pictures.
*In less than two weeks the twins are going to be 2!! I cannot even believe it. It just doesn't seem possible :(
*I say this every year, but the month of July has a lot of meaning and brings out a lot of emotions.
Memorable days in July:
July 4th: one of our most favorite holidays, spent with amazing friends and family!
July 7th: 7 years ago, Cody was diagnosed with a brain tumor
July 8th: we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary :)
July 22nd: 7 years ago marks Cody's brain surgery
2 years ago will mark the twins coming into this world
July 25th: Cody diagnosed with brain cancer, given a prognosis of 3-5 years
July 30th: Cody will celebrate his 31st birthday!
We have been so incredibly blessed over the years!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
staying busy
*At 3 weeks, Paxton finally had his first bath. It was time for a bottle, so he pretty much screamed through the entire thing!
*At 4 weeks old, Paxton is our newest little camper. It's certainly not easy to camp with an infant, but we made it work the best we could. The kids had an awesome time. They ran themselves to exhaustion...our nights were awesome because of it too! Everyone slept amazingly :)
*This last week I had my follow-up appointment with the Urologist regarding my kidney stones. I went in for a CT scan and met with the dr. the same day. When I was last admitted to the hospital, the ultrasound showed a stone measuring at 9mm in my right kidney. The CT scan that I had done on Tuesday was showing the stone only measuring 3mm. This is exactly why they like to do a CT scan, because it is much more accurate and they can get a clearer image. So this was great news for me, no surgery! The stone is not anywhere where it should be causing problems, it might stay there for years or I might pass it on my own at some point...but for now we are just going to leave it alone.
*Paxton has been having some issues regarding feeding lately and has just seemed soo uncomfortable. I brought him into the doctor on Thursday and he's showing all the classic symptoms of acid reflux. The dr. put him on zantac, so we'll see how it goes. It's hard to see your baby seem so in pain :( At 5 weeks he weighs in at 12lbs. 15oz.
*Our summer is going by way too fast! We have every weekend booked up until I start back to school in August. It's making me very emotional (oh yeah, did I mention that I'm still pretty emotional regarding every.single.little.thing!)
*Having 3 kids, ages 2 and under, is definitely not a walk in the park. I wish I could blog more often, but my hands are pretty full, literally! I can't believe I have 3 kids! There was a day my heart was aching wondering if we would ever even be able to have any kids, now we have been blessed with three of the most beautiful children in the whole world. But I am definitely still adjusting! I often feel like I shouldn't be struggling so badly with only 3 kids. I mean, come on, everyone has 3 kids right? But I keep having to remind myself that they are all under the age of 2 and that's not an easy task! I guess that helps justify it for me, when I keep wondering why I feel like I'm running a circus around here! But I do feel like we're starting to get into a groove. Not every day is easy, but there seem to be more parts of the day that are getting easier. I wake up in the morning with a list of things I hope to get accomplished that day. But more often than not I don't accomplish a lot more than caring for the basic needs of my kids. Once again, I need to remind myself that it's a big accomplishment to simply keep my kids fed, diapers changed, bathed, safe, and rested! :) Above all (even if there are 4 loads of unfolded laundry and dirty dishes in the sink) I pray that at the end of the day our kids feel loved and secure.
*At 4 weeks old, Paxton is our newest little camper. It's certainly not easy to camp with an infant, but we made it work the best we could. The kids had an awesome time. They ran themselves to exhaustion...our nights were awesome because of it too! Everyone slept amazingly :)
*This last week I had my follow-up appointment with the Urologist regarding my kidney stones. I went in for a CT scan and met with the dr. the same day. When I was last admitted to the hospital, the ultrasound showed a stone measuring at 9mm in my right kidney. The CT scan that I had done on Tuesday was showing the stone only measuring 3mm. This is exactly why they like to do a CT scan, because it is much more accurate and they can get a clearer image. So this was great news for me, no surgery! The stone is not anywhere where it should be causing problems, it might stay there for years or I might pass it on my own at some point...but for now we are just going to leave it alone.
*Paxton has been having some issues regarding feeding lately and has just seemed soo uncomfortable. I brought him into the doctor on Thursday and he's showing all the classic symptoms of acid reflux. The dr. put him on zantac, so we'll see how it goes. It's hard to see your baby seem so in pain :( At 5 weeks he weighs in at 12lbs. 15oz.
*Our summer is going by way too fast! We have every weekend booked up until I start back to school in August. It's making me very emotional (oh yeah, did I mention that I'm still pretty emotional regarding every.single.little.thing!)
*Having 3 kids, ages 2 and under, is definitely not a walk in the park. I wish I could blog more often, but my hands are pretty full, literally! I can't believe I have 3 kids! There was a day my heart was aching wondering if we would ever even be able to have any kids, now we have been blessed with three of the most beautiful children in the whole world. But I am definitely still adjusting! I often feel like I shouldn't be struggling so badly with only 3 kids. I mean, come on, everyone has 3 kids right? But I keep having to remind myself that they are all under the age of 2 and that's not an easy task! I guess that helps justify it for me, when I keep wondering why I feel like I'm running a circus around here! But I do feel like we're starting to get into a groove. Not every day is easy, but there seem to be more parts of the day that are getting easier. I wake up in the morning with a list of things I hope to get accomplished that day. But more often than not I don't accomplish a lot more than caring for the basic needs of my kids. Once again, I need to remind myself that it's a big accomplishment to simply keep my kids fed, diapers changed, bathed, safe, and rested! :) Above all (even if there are 4 loads of unfolded laundry and dirty dishes in the sink) I pray that at the end of the day our kids feel loved and secure.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
total random-ness
Wow, I'm tired!
A friend of mine, well actually a friend of a friend, once described her life raising twins with...everything looking great and put-together on the outside, but on the inside it was pure hell! Now there have definitely been some days where I can't even make the outside look anything but pure hell :( I know things will get better, it's just taking me some time to adjust.
our little pac-man
*I have been soo emotional thinking about the fact that this will be our last baby. I can't believe how unbelievably sad that makes me (along with everything else under the sun that makes me cry)! I want to take in every moment of this little guy, knowing he will grow up way too fast and I'll never get these seconds back. oh dear, here we go again, bring on the tissues :(
A friend of mine, well actually a friend of a friend, once described her life raising twins with...everything looking great and put-together on the outside, but on the inside it was pure hell! Now there have definitely been some days where I can't even make the outside look anything but pure hell :( I know things will get better, it's just taking me some time to adjust.
Finally, at 3 weeks, his belly-button-stump fell off. I'm looking forward to giving him real baths now. There is nothing better than a freshly bathed babe!
*Paxton is exclusively getting breastmilk. With the twins I was never able to make enough so we always had to supplement several bottles a day with formula. But this time, my freezer is already starting to fill up, this is awesome!
*At 3 weeks now, we just bumped Paxton up to 4oz. of breastmilk. He just didn't seem to be happy after 3oz. and he was wanting to eat so often. He typically goes between 3 and 4 hours, however at night he is sleeping up to 7 hours at a stretch!!
*We've already had to bump him up to size 1 diapers. Newborn diapers never really did fit him that well, but it did work better around his belly button. So we finished off the newborn diapers that we had and at 2 weeks he was into size 1. Wow, my big Kenley girl didn't hit size 1 diapers until 5 weeks and I thought that was soon!
our little pac-man
*I have been soo emotional thinking about the fact that this will be our last baby. I can't believe how unbelievably sad that makes me (along with everything else under the sun that makes me cry)! I want to take in every moment of this little guy, knowing he will grow up way too fast and I'll never get these seconds back. oh dear, here we go again, bring on the tissues :(
*Because Paxton is only getting up once during the night, both Cody and I get up with him. I pump while Cody feeds. This is working out great!
*My "perfect" newborn is starting to develop some not-so-perfect "issues." The biggest difference I've noticed so far between him and the twins is his sleeping patterns. The twins would just lay on the floor and play until they fell asleep. They have always been awesome sleepers. This little guy, not so much! He typically doesn't put himself to sleep. He likes to be held to be put to sleep. And once he does go to sleep in your arms, he usually wakes up the second you put him down (unless you've gotten him into a nice deep sleep, which often takes a long time). Now I don't seem to be getting much done when all I'm doing is holding a sleeping baby. And at night....he's awful! He goes down really well at bedtime, but after his feeding he does not want to be put back into his crib! It takes a lot of work to get him back to sleep. Now here is where I'm thankful we're only messing with it once a night!
*Since working on our house/yard, we had to unhook our air conditioner and pull it away from the house. Well, we Cody hasn't gotten it hooked back up yet! Now, I know some of you like the heat, but I am not one of you. I am an air conditioner kind of girl and chasing after 3 kids is making me one hot, crabby, mama!
This is one of their favorite things to do!
I made my own home-made laundry detergent the other day. From what I've read, this is going to hopefully save us some money on detergent since we seem to be going through tons of it lately.
While mixing everything, the smell throughout my house was totally worth it!! I haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know what I think :)
Saturday, June 2, 2012
just a little excited!
My sister is moving back home this weekend and I'm beyond excited!!
Everybody left early this morning to head to Des Moines to finish packing them and load everything up.
I, and the three kids, stayed back in Brandon. Because who wants to travel and move with three kids?
But I honestly can't even tell you how excited we are to have them so close.
Let the summer fun begin :)
Thursday, May 31, 2012
goodbye inhalers
This morning the kids had their appointment with the Pulmonologist. They've been doing very well in the "lung department." They only had a few colds this winter, which they tolerated nicely. Kaden only had one episode of wheezing, but other than that their lungs have been in good shape. The dr. felt confident today that we could stop their inhalers all together and see how things go once we enter fall and winter. OK!! I certainly didn't have a problem with that!!
As you've heard me mention before, Kenley dealt with her horrible diaper rash for 4 months before her pediatrician thought about the possibility of it coming from her inhaler. The pulmonologist said it was unlikely that her inhaler caused it, but things can certainly happen. I on the other hand, don't just think it was coincidence that we couldn't find a single thing to fix this rash for 4 months, and then when I take her off of her inhaler she clears up in a week! Just call me Dr. Holli :)
Cody is already out of sick days so any time he takes off he has to take unpaid. I haven't been brave enough (up to this point) to take both kids to appointments by myself. But we talked it over and thought I should give it a try. I only had a couple of times where both kids were having a tantrum at the same time, or running the halls in opposite directions...but for the most part they did awesome!
As you've heard me mention before, Kenley dealt with her horrible diaper rash for 4 months before her pediatrician thought about the possibility of it coming from her inhaler. The pulmonologist said it was unlikely that her inhaler caused it, but things can certainly happen. I on the other hand, don't just think it was coincidence that we couldn't find a single thing to fix this rash for 4 months, and then when I take her off of her inhaler she clears up in a week! Just call me Dr. Holli :)
Cody is already out of sick days so any time he takes off he has to take unpaid. I haven't been brave enough (up to this point) to take both kids to appointments by myself. But we talked it over and thought I should give it a try. I only had a couple of times where both kids were having a tantrum at the same time, or running the halls in opposite directions...but for the most part they did awesome!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
I'm surviving!
It's naptime and so far we've all survived the first half of the day!
Cody started his new "summer hours" this morning. He is starting an hour earlier and getting home an hour earlier (which I think I'm going to love). So he left the house about 6:30 this morning.
The rest of us slept until about 7:40, when I heard Kaden whining around in his crib. I threw myself out of bed, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, sat out a bottle for Paxton (since it was getting close to the time he would need to eat again too), and pumped. The kids were now just chatting in their room, so I just needed the baby to keep sleeping and everyone would be good! After pumping, I grabbed the kids out of their bed and changed their diapers, just as Paxton started to scream. I changed his diaper and gave him a bottle, just as the kids were hanging on their highchairs wanting to "eat." The succession of things were working out well :)
Paxton has been going through this thing where he just doesn't seem happy after he eats a bottle. He can't decide if he wants to be awake or asleep, swaddled or unswaddled, held or laying out, paci or no paci. It's been taking him a while to get settled and hopefully we'll all figure it out shortly.
Daddy came home for lunch and gave me a chance to get into the shower. Other than that I've been busy with dishes (seriously this breast pump really should come with multiple sets of parts...washing everything every.single.time is getting very old!), laundry, bills, making and rescheduling appointments, and pumping. Now the kids are taking a nap and I'm waiting for Paxton to get up and eat.
Ahh...it's soo quiet in here!!
I'll leave you with this picture, just because I can't get enough of it. It melts my heart every time I look at it :)
Cody started his new "summer hours" this morning. He is starting an hour earlier and getting home an hour earlier (which I think I'm going to love). So he left the house about 6:30 this morning.
The rest of us slept until about 7:40, when I heard Kaden whining around in his crib. I threw myself out of bed, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, sat out a bottle for Paxton (since it was getting close to the time he would need to eat again too), and pumped. The kids were now just chatting in their room, so I just needed the baby to keep sleeping and everyone would be good! After pumping, I grabbed the kids out of their bed and changed their diapers, just as Paxton started to scream. I changed his diaper and gave him a bottle, just as the kids were hanging on their highchairs wanting to "eat." The succession of things were working out well :)
Paxton has been going through this thing where he just doesn't seem happy after he eats a bottle. He can't decide if he wants to be awake or asleep, swaddled or unswaddled, held or laying out, paci or no paci. It's been taking him a while to get settled and hopefully we'll all figure it out shortly.
Daddy came home for lunch and gave me a chance to get into the shower. Other than that I've been busy with dishes (seriously this breast pump really should come with multiple sets of parts...washing everything every.single.time is getting very old!), laundry, bills, making and rescheduling appointments, and pumping. Now the kids are taking a nap and I'm waiting for Paxton to get up and eat.
Ahh...it's soo quiet in here!!
I'll leave you with this picture, just because I can't get enough of it. It melts my heart every time I look at it :)
(I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of his newborn pictures. I love this little guy!!)
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