Friday, April 30, 2010

Where does the time go?

I remember when I was pregnant with Timothy and everyone would tell you things like "Soak up every minute", "Time is going to fly by", "Take lots of pictures"! I believed them, somewhat, d imagine how fast time really does go by until he was born! Once he was born, I took every one's advice and took pictures of EVERYTHING! Even though I thought I was taking in every second of him being so little, I really wasn't. I spend most of my time wishing away his fist year. I would say that I wish he could sit up on his own, then I wish he could just stand up, I wish he could walk, I wish he could talk....and now as I sit here with a little boy who is potty training I wonder where did the time go?


I told myself with Mason that I would try no to do the same thing and really enjoy him being so little. But I still did, not as much though. Instead I found myself wishing he could just sit up so he could interact more with Timothy. Then I wanted him to just be walking so that go places like the park were a little easier! Although he is not potty training, he is my energetic 1 1/2 year old who never sits still! I wonder where the time went with him too?


As soon as I found out I was pregnant with Taylor, I took everything day by day and soaked up everything! She is only 7 weeks old but I already find myself looking at her and wondering how she is ALREADY this big! I try and enjoy the 3 AM feedings, because I know that they will be over before I know it and I will miss it. I try and enjoy all the hours she still sleeps during the day, because I know that before long she will be up running around refusing naps! I try and soak up every inch of her. Her little nose, tiny hands and toes, cute chubby cheeks, all her rolls!! Sometimes I find myself just staring at her while she sleeps. Of course I look forward to seeing her grow and interact with her brother's, I know I can wait! In the mean time I will just take in every little bit of my tiny little girl!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Tummy Time

Taylor is beginning to tolerate tummy time a little better these days!


She is so much more alert, looking around, trying to figure out where her brother's are!


Sometimes she will even get one her brother's to come lay by her and talk to her by batting her eye lashes at them! She has already learned how to get her way with the boys!


The other day I was trying to get her to pose for a picture....she looks less than thrilled with me. Quite annoyed actually!



Most of the time though, she just lays there all relaxed for a good 5-7 minutes!



Then she is DONE and I have to flip her to her back!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

IUD+Potty Training= A LONG Day!

Yesterday was a rather long day for us! In the morning I had to go to the doctor to have another IUD, the Mirena, put in. This is what I had in when I found out I was pregnant with Taylor....that's a whole other post for another day! SO I took the boy's to Tim's aunts house, and then Taylor and I went to my appointment.

Nothing exciting since I had been through this process before. She said that she left the strings a little longer this time so I could try and check it too, but that I still may not be able to feel anything. With my obvious concern about it working this time, I asked her if I needed to come back more often to make sure it was still in place. She said that I can come back in a month to check on things, so I made a one month checkup. Here is the thing that scares me though, the doctor does not believe it was miss placed or even that it moved. She believes I was the 1% it didn't work for!!

Now you know why I am so nervous, right?

Needless to say we will be using another form of birth control with it for a long time! So wish me luck and send me all your positive thoughts because I truly hope it works this time!!


We also spent another day potty training. This was day 3 and it was rather rough. I'm hoping this is like the top of the hill and now all we have to do is go down!! Timothy had one accident at aunt Shari's house, he just decided to pee on the floor instead. Once at home he was fine and only had 2 more accidents, one pee and one poop! I think our struggle is going to be pooping. For some reason he is not going in the potty, instead he will go off in another room and go on the floor.

Despite the accidents he is doing great! He will just go over to the potty and pee when he needs to and then we go dump it in the big potty...he gets super excited!! I have definitely learned that they will start to go potty on their own terms and not to push them. I had tried several times before this to get him to go and he wanted nothing to do with it, then out of the blue he started going! I can't even begin to explain how proud I am of my big guy! Now off we to work on pooping!

I know you are jealous! I lead an exciting life, right?!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Adventures in Potty Training: Day 2

Yesterday was day 2 of Timothy peeing on the potty!! He did fantastic! He pretty much stayed naked the entire day so that it would be easy for him to just run to the potty when he had to go.


I know the house is a mess, deal with it!

Then every once in a while he wanted to put the underwear on!

He did great with them on, he would just take them off and go to the potty when he had to go. We did have one accident last night. I'm pretty sure he was trying to make it to the potty because he had taken his underwear off, but just didn't make it. He peed on the carpet. I still think 1 accident in 2 days is GREAT!! I am so proud of him.

Where did my little baby boy go??

Monday, April 26, 2010

For Maddie

One of my friends Andrea was talking about a blog she reads. So I decided to check it out because I have a love for reading blogs. It's called The Spohrs Are Multiplying. Once I started reading this blog I couldn't stop. They have two beautiful daughters! Annabel Violet is 3 months old and as cute as can be and seem to bring so much joy to her parent's and family! Annabel has an older sister, Madeline! Madeline was born prematurely and had a very rough start to life. She spent a lot of time in the NICU and once she was home, had many trips back due to illnesses associated with her prematurity. Madeline left this world unexpectedly on April 7th, 2009 after being hospitalized the day before for a severe respiratory infection.

Maddie's infectious smile and big bright eyes captured my heart, and it aches for her and her family! My heart aches for her parent's as I can only imagine how hard it is to loose your child. My heart aches for Maddie, it's not fair what she had to go through, no child should have to go through what she did. My heart aches for her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and the rest of her family. My heart aches for Annabel, she never got the chance to meet her older sister. Although I'm sure they have a bond that only they know about!

I know what you are saying now, "How can I help"? Well I have an answer for you!

You can always donate to the March of Dimes in Maddie's name. Maddie's parents truly believe that the March of Dimes helped save Maddie's life in he NICU and allowed her to be able to make it home! All babies deserve the chance to have he healthiest possible start!

You can also visit Friends of Maddie and make a donation! Here is the Mission statement from their site: Our Mission is to provide support to the families of critically ill babies in an effort to help ease the transition into NICU life and to be an ally until the end of their child’s hospital stay.

And of course you can always visit their website, The Spohrs Are Multiplying, and leave a comment to show your support!!

Adventures in Potty Training

Yesterday morning Timothy asked me to take off his diaper so he could go pee pee on the potty. Now he has done this many times before and would just end up playing on the potty and not actually go. So I figured this was what he was going to do! Well I few minutes later he brought me the potty and was shrieking "I went pee pee"! Sure enough he did, so we began to jump up and down and celebrate! He was so proud of himself and excited to be a big boy. So we took the pee and dumped in the the big potty and he got to flush it himself, this was very exciting for him! Then I gave him a piece of candy.

Even though that was the first time he ever went potty by himself without any prompting from me, I was still a little hesitant that it would actually turn into anything. I let him run around naked and just told him to go to the potty when he had to pee. Sure enough he went pee like a billion times that morning! He was going so much that at one point he sat down and looked at me with a very concerned face " It won't come out, nothing is coming out"! Well of course not you have only been peeing for the past hour and a half! I found it comical!

At around 12:30 I got in the shower so we could head to my mom's house. Timothy sat on the potty in the bathroom with me. He was so excited to go to Grandma's and show her what a big boy he was. I told him he could put on some of his big boy underwear to go to Grandma's since he was doing so well. I of course put a pull up on over the underwear just in case he went in the car. We arrived at Grandma's DRY!!! First thing he did was go pee pee on the potty!! I just could not believe he was actually doing it. The whole time at grandma's, when he had to go he went on his potty!

He even stayed dry on the way home. When he got home he became even more excited to show daddy that he was peeing on the potty! Little does he know that daddy was even more excited to see him peeing on the potty! He continued like this all the way until bedtime. He had NO accidents! He has not went poop on the potty yet, but I'm sure that might happen today! He even threw a fit when it was time for bed because he wanted to stay on the potty! So this is a start, and I am very hopeful that this will be it and he is on his way to being fully potty trained! Wish us luck for an even better day 2!!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Cheese....American Cheese!

Every time I get out the camera now Mason always gets the biggest cheesiest smile on his face and promptly says "Cheese"! I just LOVE it!!

Timothy on the other hand is a little harder to get a smile out of! He will sometimes run from me, or give me a quick smile that I couldn't catch with the camera. Such a little snot. His favorite thing to do at the moment is take the pictures, he is becoming quite the little photographer!

The other day I got the camera out to take some pictures of the kids and of course on cue Mason said "Cheese", with his big smile. Then Timothy followed that with "Not just cheese, American cheese"! Where do they come up with this stuff!




Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Spring Weather, Park Playdates, and New A New Baby

I live for spring/summer so we can have park play dates!! The kids LOVE going to the park to play with friends! Today we meet a few friends at the park since the weather was gorgeous. Taylor had such a cute little outfit on today, but of course she decided that the park would be a good place to have a major blowout diaper. You know the ones that are all the way up the back coming out of every part of the diaper. GROSS! So of course we had to change her clothes, and of course the backup outfit is never as cute...
but she pulled it off like a true diva!

Day's like these are the exact reason I love being a stay at home mommy. I love spending beautiful days at the park with friends, watching them interact and learn. It's the best!
Maddie sliding down on her belly

Mason enjoying the slide

Timothy sliding

Maddie is obsessed with the swings (so are my boys)

Krista and her son Mason

Mason up to no good I'm sure


My boys swinging

Our friend Rebbecca who I met through the playgroup just had a new baby girl too! She was born on April 8th, one day shy of being exactly one month younger than Taylor! What's even more crazy is that my son Mason and her son Carter are about a month apart too!!
Welcome to the world Nora Elizabeth

Rebbecca and big brother Carter

6 weeks already...

Tuesday I had my 6 weeks post pardem check-up. Fun...NOT! Everything went pretty good, I am all healed up, thank you body for not tearing. I think this was the easiest birth to recover from since I had no tearing, I barely had any pain! I am still on the blood pressure medicine I was put on during the pregnancy, so that was also checked. It wasn't the greatest, but not bad for me so she is going to try and slowly wean me from the medicine and see what happens!!

Then we had to have the talk about what to do for birth control. Since the boy's were both born when I was on the pill (my fault for not taking them right), and Taylor was born with the Mirena IUD in...I was at a loss for what to do next. Right now getting my tubes ties or Tim getting a vasectomy is not an option. I just don't think I am ready to make such a permanent decision being so young. Call me crazy, but deep down I would like to have one more child. Even though I know Tim is done, and I am happy with my three beautiful kids, I can't help but be sad to think about making that permanent. The doctor agrees with me. She also believes that the Mirena IUD is as effective as getting my tubes ties so in her opinion that is my best option. Even though it didn't work the first time, I will cross my fingers that is works this time! Maybe you all should cross your fingers for me too!! We will probably double up on BC for awhile!

So I have to go back next Tuesday to have the IUD put in and to have my blood pressure checked again. It is so crazy to think that Taylor is already 6 weeks old, she is growing way to fast for me!




Saturday, April 17, 2010

What us momma's do for breastmilk!

Breastfeeding has never come easy for me, I have always envied the mommas who make it look so effortless. But despite the struggles it has been one of the most rewarding things for me!

With my first son, Timothy, I breastfed him in the hospital,we struggled with the latch but with some help from the lactation consultant I thought we were doing alright. Once we came home that all changed and within that first day and night, both Timothy and I shared MANY tears. It seamed as though he forgot how to suck and I forgot all the things the LC thought me. With all the problems and the lack of knowledge and support, I ended our breastfeeding relationship.

Timothy was on formula. Though it wasn't the end of the world, I couldn't' help but feel as though I was letting my son down. That I was somehow being a bad mom. What was I doing wrong? This breastfeeding thing is suppose to come naturally! Timothy is now a healthy and happy 3 year old and is as smart as can be!


When I found out I was pregnant again, with another boy, I vowed to not let history repeat itself and do everything in my power to give him the best start in life. He WOULD be breastfed! Once he was born as suspected we had a little trouble with the latch, but I came prepared with knowledge and I wasn't going to let that get in the way. Once home we continued to experience problems and I became quite sore. Enough that I at one point would dread Mason waking up, knowing that I would have to feed him! So a few weeks after he came home I began pumping and giving him bottles because my breasts were so sore I just needed a break but I was NOT going to give him formula, even if that meant being attached to a pump every second of the day!

That is exactly how it went for the next 4 months. I exclusively pumped..a billion times a day while keeping an eye on a 1 year old, but it was worth it because Mason never saw a drop of formula. I was making so much milk that I even had over 500oz stored in the freezer.


When Mason was around 4 months though, just for my own curiosity, I attempted to latch Mason on to my breast. Mind you he had nothing but bottles up until this point. Guess what....HE LATCHED ON! And from that moment on Mason nursed and never took a bottle again! I was ecstatic, but mostly I was so proud of myself and Mason for sticking to it. He weaned himself at 14 months old when I became pregnant with Taylor.


There was no question in my mind how I would feed Taylor, she would be breastfed of course! The moment she arrived the first thing I did was nurse her and she did it like a champ. She nursed effortlesslythe whole time in the hospital. Could this actually be happening, was I really breastfeeding with no problems? Then on the last day in the hospital she decided she was just not going to latch on at all and refused to eat. The lactation consultant tried everything, but she was just not having it. I was sent home with a nipple shield.

At home she did great with the nipple shield, once I finally could get her awake. She was a a very sleepy newborn. I began to panic thinking I would never be able to get her of the shield. But after about 2 weeks she was nursing perfectly WITHOUT the shield, and has been ever since. Taylor has been my easiest nursing baby! She is now 1 month old and we have a great nursing relationship! I don't want to jinx it, but for once breastfeeding is effortless for me! I deserve it, Taylor deserves it!


Yes Timothy did just fine with formula and no it did not kill him! But I can't help but feel a little sad that I did not get these incredibly special moments with him. That I did not fight a little harder to give him the best thing there is, I do regret giving up! I am blessed to have had those special moments with Mason, and get to experience them again with Taylor. There is just something about those milk induced smiles, the milk induced sleepy eyes, the way breastfeeding makes you feel on the inside. I love looking down at my child eating so peacefully. I almost can't explain the feeling. It truly is a one of a kind bond when you breastfeed. I am privileged to experience it!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Happy 1 month Taylor

I should know after having two kids already, a three year old and one year old, that time really flies by. But boy does it REALLY fly by! It just doesn't seem possible that a month has already went by, but it did!

Taylor is doing great, and is such a sweet girl! She has been a blessing to our family and we ALL are in love with her.

Here is what Taylor is doing at 1 month old:
* Nurses every 2-4 hours
* Wakes up at least twice at night
* Still sleeps a lot, but is staying awake in longer stretches(2 hours)
* Loves bath time
* Loves to be held and cuddled
* Prefers to sleep in the hammock vs. the bassinet
* Great in the car
* Starting to really try and focus on you




Friday, April 9, 2010

Our new puppy

So as if we didn't have enough going on with Taylor and the boys, Tim decided we needed a new puppy!! My Uncle Terry had Min. Pincher puppies, full blood for free. So on Easter we came home with one, we named him Duke! I forgot how a puppy is just like having a newborn mixed with a toddler.

He is a sweet little guy but a lot of work, and I'm not sure now was the best time for him. Timothy loves him but Mason does not. He is a little aggressive and likes to bite. The weird thing is he only really attacks Mason, and he has no idea what to do but stand there and cry :( He also jumps on Taylor which I have been trying to stop. Plus I'm dealing with the chewing, trying to house train, and dealing with him whining and barking all night in the cage.

Actually now that I think about it, Taylor is better than the puppy :) There are times when he is so sweet and cuddles with you but then there are those times when I'm like what were we thinking. I hope things get better and he adjusts, otherwise we might have to take him back. It's all a little overwhelming right now!

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