Tuesday, May 29, 2012

odds and ends!

we had a busy week last week...I have to say, I'm learning that life before two kids was busy...but I use that term loosely prior to Owen...because now, busy takes on a whole new meaning! Whew! Its not too often that the house is completely quiet. It is right now- and Im taking a little time to sit and relax. This is a random post about a bunch of random odds and ends. Earlier this week our counter tops went in. I cant tell you how excited that made me!!! For the past 8 weeks our garage has been used to build them and sand them...but on Wednesday with the help of two wonderful friends they were finally installed! They look amazing! I think I love them more everyday. I also love that I have a new sink and faucet. That sink was so gross I cant believe I made it since March with that sink. But now I have a beautiful new sink that I actually dont mind using :) Watching 3 guys carry in the biggest piece of concrete was a little scary. I kept thinking how expensive it would be to replace the hardwood if they were to drop it. But they did it and I was in awe that they could carry it in like that! Im not sure we will ever get new counter tops again....if we do, the big piece will have to come out in several pieces!
Above is the kitchen before....

and after!! LOVE IT!!
this was before Jeremy put the sink in...they just have such a neat look!

We also ventured out to Jeremy's softball game on Tuesday night. I will say- I find that we are trying to get out of the house alot more with two kids than I thought we would. It seems that Hannah needs a change of scenery alot!! Once she stays in one place for too long she gets very restless! Thankfully my dad came too and was a big help in wrangling Hannah! I know Im driving Jeremy crazy (Im very thankful for his patience) because Im always dying to get out of the house. This could be because Im at home right now but with Hannah it just feels good to get out and do something. I know Jeremy gets off work and probably wants to sit around and rest but he's a great sport!
 Our big tank of a stroller! Its huge! But so glad to have it. We enjoy taking family walks with it at night!

I was also a little crafty this week. I saw this tutorial on Pinterest and loved the idea. Especially for winter and rainy days. But Ive noticed that the sun is usually right in his eyes so I thought it would be nice for summer too. I made my own version of this but thought it turned out pretty cute! and SOOO easy! Seriously- if I can do it- anyone can! I want to start making this as gifts for friends who have babies- its cute and clever!
 I just used a lightweight receiving blanket, found some ribbon to match and sewed it on then tied it to the handle bar. And of course I put his name on it :) And there you go!! So easy!

My next craft was something I saw on VeryJane. This is the picture from VeryJane but at $12.99 each and I need 3- I thought it would be worth trying myself. The wood plaques at Hobby Lobby are around $2.50 each, mason jars are about $1.50 each and the paint is about $1.00. We need to get dryer clamps at Lowes and they should be ready!! Ill post my after pictures once they are done.

We are enjoying the long weekend with our little family and a few cookouts. Saturday night we had to go to a wedding reception and so we took Owen and left Hannah with my parents. We figured he was the easier of the two! It was nice getting dressed up for the first time in a while!!
We also took Hannah to the Splash Park and she was quiet uninterested in the cold water. I think she'll be more of a pool girl! Sunday we enjoyed dinner with my whole family at my parents house. It felt so good to just sit around and laugh and laugh and laugh. Just what we all needed. Hannah enjoyed her little baby pool and looking for icky bugs (that is an entire post in itself!)
 a little snack at the splash park!
 
Monday we took Hannah and Owen to the pool in my parents neighborhood and I knew Hannah would love it. She did! And she looked adorable in her little green suit. She gets more beautiful everyday :) But Im biased! Owen snoozed in his carseat but it was a little warm. We didnt stay too long but it just felt so good to sit at a pool for a little while. I have a feeling Im going to spend alot of time there this summer and I CANNOT WAIT! I also cannot wait for our trip to the beach. Hannah has so much fun with my family and she just loves Lindsay and Matt. I will also have several babysitters to help out :) It will be perfect!


I hope everyone had a great long weekend and a great week ahead! Here are a few more random pics of my favorite people :)



I love when his little eyes are open!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

the labor of love (for the second time!)

I can still remember writing Hannah's delivery story like it was yesterday. You can find that story here. It might be boring for most but I loved reliving every detail of that day. Obviously the birth of your child is one of the greatest events of your life and I like to have all those details here- for when I eventually print this blog one day! Owen's was a little different as it was a c-section and scheduled. Nothing like showing up to have a baby! I will say that was probably the best part- as there arent too many pros I can think of to a c-section. But on to the details of May 8th!
Jeremy and I arrived at 5:30 and quickly we got a room and they started IV's and asking what felt like 8 million questions. Overall it was a pretty quick process...they explained that they would take me back first for the spinal and operation prep and Jeremy would come in right before they were ready to cut. That made me a little nervous- I hated that he didnt get to be back there with me but there were plenty of nurses. The first thing they did after I walked into the operating room (which was almost a little creepy....it was so cold, sterile and there were tools everywhere!) but they got me ready for my spinal. I was SO nervous about this and have been since we chose to do this. They numbed the area first which was just a needle prick (not too bad and I hate needles) then they did the spinal. It was just an awkward feeling. Not painful just very weird. Nothing Id like to do on a daily basis. Then I started going numb and they were almost ready to operate. I thought the hard part was over. Then I kept having this urge to move my legs and body. Well when you cant move your legs and your awake its a very weird sensation. So weird that I kind of freaked out. I started crying because I felt so trapped. Ive tried to explain it to everyone and its just such a weird thing. I just kept saying that I felt trapped. Nothing I can really put into words but NOT FUN! The anestesiologist gave me some oxygen which I think made it worse. Cause then I had this mask over my face and I felt even more trapped. Finally Jeremy came in and they started to operate to get this handsome boy out! I had calmed down and felt better as they started to operate but then in an instant I felt this HORRIBLE feeling come over me. I felt like my blood pressure dropped and that I was about to pass out. I felt dizzy, weak and light headed. I looked over at Jeremy and said, Something is wrong. I said I cant see, Im dizzy...and then I heard the anesthesiologist say that he gave me morphine in my IV. I have no clue if had an allergic reaction or what, but it was so awful. I couldnt come around, I just couldnt shake this awful feeling.  My dr was giving us the play by play when his head was out, shoulders and everything else...of course I couldnt see a thing so all I remember asking Jeremy was, is he ok??? They finally showed me my sweet man and my heart melted all over again!! I kept saying, he has no hair!! And he actually does have hair- just not as much as Hannah did. There are times I think he looks like Hannah but then not really. He is cute as ever though. And what about him weighing LESS than Hannah! What a little peanut. I think Hannah was a bit overcooked...ha ha! He feels so tiny to me. I know it was two years ago but I feel like he is this itty bitty thing compared to her!
Jeremy was able to walk with two nurses to the waiting room to show our families our new addition and they worked to stitch me back up. They wheeled me into recovery and he was in there waiting for me. I got to hold Owen the whole time and feed him and just squeeze on another tiny newborn. I loved it! I felt absolutely awful and really was in a huge fog but loving on him made it so much better! We were in recovery for a while because I couldnt get any feeling back in my legs. They wanted me to be able to move my legs and that was near impossible. They were monitoring Owen and his temperature kept dropping so they went ahead and took him to the nursery. After about two hours and my legs still being very numb (guess I had a really good spinal) we headed to our room. I loved getting to go past the nursery to see him but I barely remember it as everything was so hazy. We finally got to be with our little guy and it was WONDERFUL! Everyone was there to see him and us and we got to enjoy our new addition! I spent the rest of the day reacting from the side effects of the medicine. I was throwing up crackers and itching TERRIBLY from the anesthesia. I seriously could have scratched my face off. I itched for days. They had some bendaryl and phenergen for me but I was so against having anything else that would make me drowsier than I already was. I was already so exhausted. Later that night Jeremy talked me into some benadryl because I swear my face was swollen. No more morphine for me!! Anyways....LONG story short I finally felt like a new person the next day and they took all the needles out of me and those darn circulation boots off. I hated those. They inflated and deflated every single 10 seconds. Just a totally different experience than Hannah. Not that I am against repeating it to get to the end result but it was NOT what I had imagined. I was so concerned with the pain after the surgery that I never once thought how I would feel from the actual medicine. Overall Im healing well from the incision. As long as I take my pain meds then I can get around pretty well. Overall the most pain is from coughing, sneezing or getting up from a chair- the stairs really havent bothered me. We are settling in very well and Hannah LOVES her little brother. I have to say how impressed I am with her. She has been a big help and loves holding him. Im very proud of her!!
We feel so full now that Owen has arrived- he has made our hearts so complete!! I will have more pictures once things calm down but for now just a few pictures. I feel like he already has the second child syndrome- I barely took any pictures in the hospital. Its just funny how different things are with a second! We arent relaxing as much with him- time is spent acclimating everyone to a brand new baby and all the things that come with!! Owen let us know he was here from about 11:45 pm to 3:30 am on the first night we were home! Talk about tired :) I thought we might be in for alot of sleepless nights! Now that we are at 2 weeks old Im very impressed with his nightly sleeping habits. He only wakes one or two times a night. The othernight he had a little trouble falling asleep but once he crashed at 11 he didnt wake back up until 3 and then again at 6 this morning. Thats a pretty good night sleep to me!

here is his sweet hospital picture!


 she loves touching his soft head!
 sweet big sister!
 little favors for hospital visitors- bags of swedish fish :)
 sweet baby boy!
she loves this guy!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

2 weeks old!

We celebrated Owen being 2 weeks old by me being able to drive! Ha ha! I feel like I have been on lockdown! Im not one who can just sit around and do nothing- although there are some days that I will do nothing but when you cant drive, it just makes me want to run errands that much more! So that is exactly what we did. First we had to run Ruby to the groomer, then we had a weight check appointment for Owen, then we went to Target...my favorite place :) and I grabbed some take out for lunch. Ive pretty much had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the last two weeks so I wanted to treat myself to something yummy! Owen's appt went great- despite all his spitting up he is up to 9 pds 1.7 oz. in 6 days. We did get a prescription for Prevacid which I am so happy about because I know he has some reflux going on and it worked wonders for Hannah. Hoping it works for this little guy too! Here are some pictures of Owen's second week! And a few of our sweet Hannah too!
 she's so pretty! surprised I got any pictures out of her that day- look at that face!
 a little quality time with H!
 sweet boy!
 she loved the little pool- cant wait to take her to the big pool!
 love his little mouth :)
 doing what he does best!
snoozing at Target!
 love this face!!


Saturday, May 19, 2012

figuring things out!

we are slowly figuring out life with two....challenging at times, rewarding and sweet most of the time but again...a little challenging. We've had alot of help from my mom and brother lately- which has been HUGE! Since I cant drive, Alex has been coming over in the morning to help me while I get two kids out of the house and he drives me to Hannah's school. My mom usually brings us dinner or just helps with Hannah while we figure out the schedule of a newborn. Owen has been incredibly good and I hope Im not speaking too soon. He is so calm and quiet. The only times he gets fussy is if he is hungry or if we are changing his diaper or clothes. He really hates his diaper being changed. He has had a little reflux lately and is spitting up alot. Poor little guy. Sometimes its so much it requires lots of laundry to be done. I think Ive done about 4 loads just today. But Im still absolutely loving having a baby around. I just look at his tiny features and kiss him most of the day. I know its way too soon to even begin to think about having 3 kids but I go back and forth on if I could even handle three and then I start to get a little sad thinking that he could be our last. It kinda breaks my heart. But we are only 11 days into his life so I need to stop thinking so far ahead!!
Hannah has figured out that Owen is staying and her behavior is reflecting that. I know this too shall pass but she has been a little more demanding than usual. Or maybe she is acting the exact same way before he was born and it just takes on a whole new meaning when we are tied up with a baby. There are times my heart breaks for her. I can just see it in her eyes that she feels left out but then she can do something super sassy and I dont know how we are ever going to convince her that Owen is a GOOD thing around here! She'll come around I know, its just a little challenging right now. Overall she does love him and loves helping with him. I dont mean to make it sound like things are not going well around here because overall things are REALLY good. Owen really has completed our family and I just look at him and cant believe he is finally here. I feel so lucky and Im just so thankful. Jeremy is the biggest help of course and I dont know what Id do without such a great dad to our kids. Im the lucky one!!
We are also figuring out how to get out of the house with two kids...two sets of everything it seems like! I really need to figure out how to go from 2 diaper bags down to one but we just always take so much stuff with us. Hannah requires ALOT of stuff. We cant leave the house with just diapers for her. Its a whole bag of stuff...you never quite know what kind of mood she'll be in! Always keeping us on our toes! It definitely takes twice as long and requires hard work from both of us but Im up for the challenge :) Ask me on Monday when I attempt to take Hannah to daycare by myself...Im nervous just thinking about it!
Last night we had our first night out of the house...we had to drop off something for a friend and we thought we'd try dinner out. Thankfully Owen slept through the whole thing and Hannah did pretty good too! It was fun being out as a family of 4- hard to believe less than two weeks ago it was just the three of us.
Overall we are figuring things out and learning how to wrangle two!! But actually I think the dog is having the hardest time with it. She has really been acting strange. Im sure she knows there is a new little one around and just wants to be more involved. She just stands on the deck and watches all that is going on inside. She'll get used to things too!
I was able to get a few pictures of Hannah holding Owen today...it didnt last to long before she let go of his head and I almost dropped my camera trying to catch it! I also got some sweet ones of her. She's just so grown up and beautiful. I love these two little kids!!!

this one is my favorite! 

poor owen looks a little uncomfortable!!



Tuesday, May 15, 2012

one week old!

Owen is one week old today! Amazing how fast it has already gone. I already do not want him to grow up!! I am LOVING having a sweet little baby in the house. Its exhausting and tiring but man how I could just hold and squeeze him all day! Since we've been home from the hospital we've had visitors, doctors appointments and newborn pictures (which will be amazing! He did pretty good and stayed asleep most of the time. I was proud of my little guy!). On Monday my mom had the day off and it was just a peek into what the summer will be like! I cant drive for another week so I have needed lots of help getting around. Its nice to have a chauffeur but Im ready to be able to drive myself. She helped me get Hannah to school- which was quite a task. Im a little (ALOT) nervous about getting out of the house with both of them next week but maybe it wont be so bad. We went to Owen's first doctor appointment, grabbed some lunch and then to Target- I had been away too long! His doctor appointment went great. He is eating so well (all the time!) and growing just like he should. When we left the hospital on Friday he gotten down to a tiny 8 pounds but when we went on Monday he was right back at exactly his birth weight! She said they usually give them 2 weeks to do that. Not my hungry boy!! We do have to go to Kosair next week to get an ultrasound on his hips. The first doctor who saw him in the hospital felt that his hips were loose and wanted to just make sure they are growing ok. The doctors who saw him after that didnt feel anything was wrong but they all agreed it would be good to double check. Basically if the hips are out of socket and its not fixed early on he could need hip replacements. But he looks awesome and is sweet as ever. I just kiss him all day long!! I forgot how much I loved this stage. Of course its only been a week and we are all still in the honeymoon phase :) I know it gets alot more tiring but its the most rewarding thing I will ever do. There are so many great things about all the phases of our sweet children...and hard parts too.
Overall we are all hanging in there! We have so much support and people who love our children just like their own. We are so lucky. Thank you everyone for all the messages, texts, phone calls and sweet gifts! We appreciate everything! It definitely takes a village...there is no way I could ever do any of this on my own. Im off to bed....I need every hour I can get!!



I have yet to get any real pictures uploaded of him. The end of this week we finally slow down and I hope to get some & a post on his birthday. I definitely dont have as much time on my hands as I did with Hannah!!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

the best mothers day gift!

this little guy right here!!


 and his AWESOME BIG sister! She has been so awesome, I am truly surprised and SO glad! I know the newness will wear off at some point but for now she wants to help with everything and loves kissing and holding him. She always wants to make sure he is wrapped up in a blanket and is afraid that he gets too cold. She loves sharing her toys with him and reading to him- I can only hope this lasts :)


This mothers day will be much of a relaxing one as Im still pretty sore and need to take it easy but as long as Im surrounded by the two kids who call me mom then I dont really care what we are doing! I was surprised this morning with a gift certificate to a spa for a "moms day out" package and I will be using that as soon as Im healed! Im so thankful for my husband who makes me a better mother. Not quite sure what Id do without him either :)

I cant end this post without mentioning the person who sets the best example for me to be the best mom that I can. I have absolutely no idea what I would do without my mom. She does more for us than I can ever thank her for in words. She puts everyone before herself and couldnt be more of a supportive and loving person. I'm so lucky she is my best friend and so lucky she lives a mile and a half away! What on earth would I do if she wasn't right down the street?!

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there. Its the hardest job you'll ever love and the most rewarding job Ill ever have!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Our little man is here!

Our sweet little Owen has arrived and he is as sweet as ever! We are so thankful & blessed with such a healthy little guy!! I don't think he has been awake for more than 10 minutes since he was born. I shouldn't complain because that always changes once you get home! He is eating & sleeping well & we are having fun getting to know him :)
He weighed in at 8 pounds 8 oz & was 19 3/4 in long. He feels like a tiny peanut compared to Hannah!
The surgery was something else. I sure wasn't prepared for the way it made me feel & spent the entire day yesterday throwing up, itching from pain medicine & was in a complete fog. I hated it! But that's for another post...I feel like a new person today and so thankful for that!
Hannah met Owen yesterday & did awesome. I'm sure the baby doll & animal crackers helped :) I was so proud of her!! She loved his little feet & looked like such a big girl walking into our room. Seeing him so little made her look so big! Time sure flies!!
We are all settling in well & recovering from yesterday. I'm so glad he is finally here- we are so thankful for our precious children. God is SO good!!
Here's the last 24 hours in iPhone pictures!!

39 weeks & on our way to have this baby!

Ready for surgery!

Love him!!!

Checking out her new little bro!! She did awesome!

Hannah doesn't quite understand why baby O has to come home with us!!

I love his squishy face!!