2 Months!

Weight: 12lbs 14oz (64%)

Height: 23in (51%)

Clothes: You are already in 3-6 month clothes! I can't believe how fast you're growing. Although I suppose in perspective your sister was a runt until she was nearly 9 months so maybe I don't have the best comparison! LOL.

Diapers: As soon as we finish the last few size one's floating around we will be upgrading you to larger diapers too!

Feedings: Still EBF, but there were moments this month that I thought about throwing in the towel. Breast feeding is a whole different beast when you're also juggling a toddler. It will get better as we space out the feedings more and get onto more of a schedule...I hope :)

Sleeping: Were making good progress here! We've moved you from the bassinet to the crib just within the last few weeks. You were getting way to big for the bassinet and would hit the sides in your sleep. Since the move to the bigger bed you're starting to stretch out night feedings. More regularly you'll give me one good stretch at night, any where from 5-7 hours, and then go back to 3-4 hours. We've had one fluke 10 hour stretch (which is your record so far) that unfortunately for me started at 3pm. Oh well I still got more sleep that stretch than normal. I'm just glad I didn't wait up for the next feeding instead of going to bed for what I could get! Ha!! 

Milestones: You're almost ably to support your own head. You can do it most of the time on your own, but not consistently enough not to get help when being held. You've also started smiling which is great. I always get a huge smile from you when I go to get you after a nap, even at 3am. Makes it all worth it! You're also cooing up a storm. Especially at your play-gym. You love that thing!!! Always smiles and cooing when you play under there. Although I have yet to catch a smile on camera. Watch out smile- I'll catch you yet!!!

Check-Ups: Your check up went great. Doctors says you're looking good, and there are no concerns. You had your first round of shots that you took like a champ. Only screamed for a few minutes even though you had a student nurse trying to figure out how to go about it.

2 Years!

And thus ends my short rein of two under two! I can't believe how fast this last year went, probably because we were so busy. And I know people always say it goes fast but I feel like this year went even faster than the first.

But anyway enough sap...here's what you've been up to-

The Stats: 

Weight~ 27lbs.

Height~ Sadly I don't remember what they said. I'll have to ask for your records the next time I'm at the docters.

Clothes~ You're currently rocking 2T.

Diapers~ Your still in diapers for now. We're hoping to start potty training in April (when Aaron is 3 months old and I can devote the time to it). So for now you're wearing size 5 diapers.

The fun stuff:

It's so fun to watch you learn and pick things up these days. You're favorite things are still animals and books. And your newest favorite thing is cooking with Daddy. For Christmas I got the family the Learning Tower, which you call your 'Tower". As soon as we pull it out you get super excited and start gabbing about all the different things you can do in the kitchen. Like scooping, and stirring, and whisking, and sprinkling ..there's more but those are your favorite. This is also connected to your favorite book right now which is a toddler cook book I got the Hubs for Fathers Day last year. We're slowly cooking our way through it :)

Tegan and Daddy making Pizza for Tegan's Birthday Dinner

Your favorite phrase these days is "how bout?" which Daddy taught you, and is your way of asking for another choice. You're also becoming such a toddler, climbing on everything, getting into playdough and crayons, you're even starting to make up your own games. You have so many words we find lately that we can't keep up with you, and you're putting together sentences. Usually only 2 word sentences, but you switch it up every now and then with a 3 or more word sentence. And my new favorite thing that you are starting to do is read books to Daddy and me. You'll 'read' your favorite books to us by reciting your favorite parts  in them. So stinking cute.

Speaking of cute...

2~n~2

Wow! If I thought it was hard to find time to blog with one, it's nearly impossible with two!! I'm hoping it will get easier soon when I get to the point when any time I have my hands free my options aren't- get sleep, eat, make sure I'm not living in filth... Yes that's my glamorous life right now. But you know I love it (at least 90% of the time ;))

Anyway...I'm taking my rare moment of computer time to acknowledge that I now have a two year old and a two month old. Both of their recaps are hopefully coming soon. But until then...

Tegan and Aaron sporting "I am 2..." shirts

Tegan pointing out that they are both wearing 2's

1 Month!

Well that went fast, as I suppose it always does!

Weight: ~10lbs according to our horribly inaccurate scale.Ha! But I do kinda agree with the scale this time. You've gotten really big, really fast and I can feel it when I'm holding you. You're definitely growing big boy!

Clothes: We are currently in that awkward stage of transition. Most of your newborn clothes are too small, but almost all of the 0-3 month clothes are too big. The best combination right now seems to be 0-3 onesie, with nb pants.

Diapers: You are already in size 1 diapers!

Feedings: I'm breast feeding again, and so far you've taken it like a champ. We had a rocky start where you were literally fighting me during feedings. You'd wake up hungry but then refuse to latch, and instead insist on screaming for upwards of 40min. The most frustrating part was once you latched you were fine. We just had to convince you that what you wanted was right in front of your nose (again literally). This lasted a few nights before I called for reinforcements and went to see a lactation consultant. The difference was night and day. We haven't had any problems since, and judging by your weight gain I think it's safe to assume things are going well :)

My view at 11am, 1am, 4am...You get the idea :)

Sleeping: Ugg! I have to remind myself on a regular basis that it will come in time. You're still eating every 2-3 hours around the clock. If I'm really lucky you'll sleep for 4hrs, and your record has been 5 (of coarse the 4-5hr stretches seem to fall during the day instead of at a time I could sleep to. Meh!) You are a super heavy sleeper though. During the day Tegan will be running around screaming and even if it's mere inches from your ear it wont wake you up. Instead when your ready to wake up you go from asleep to screaming in .2 seconds. LOL. There seems to be no in-between for you.

Milestones: Not many milestones for you to hit yet. You do have some short periods of being awake right now. Sometimes you're content enough that we can try some tummy time or play on your play mat, but a lot of the times you're just to fussy to put down when you are awake. You were able to lift your head up right after birth like your sister (I apparently make freakishly strong babies LOL). You still don't have much control yet but you can look around when you so desire.

Check-Ups: We're not having a 1 month check up, we'll go back to the Dr's at 2 months. But we did have a 2 week appointment and since I didn't get a chance to write about it in its own post, I'll include it here. Here are a bunch of numbers and stats coming at ya~ At birth you were 7lbs 13oz. Leaving the hospital you were 7lbs 1oz. At your two week appointment you were 8lbs. 1oz! Hooray! Everything else looked good, no concerns.

Introducing Aaron Ervin

Aaron Ervin R.

Born at 3:10pm on December 27, 2012

7lbs 13oz

19in

Aaron's birth was another planned induction, but there was still a few surprises :). We decided to go the route of induction because I started to show signs of pre-eclampsia again. It didn't get even close to as bad as it did with Tegan, but with the blood pressure creeping up it was enough that when we found out my insurance would need to change come the new year, and the new insurance wouldn't cover the hospital bills we decided to go ahead and induce early.

The plan was to report to the hospital at 8am on Dec 27th. Since I was induced with Tegan, I kinda knew that it might take a while for things to get going so I sent the Hubs to work in hopes that he could get at least a half day in. His PTO was precious, and I wanted as much time with him at home as I could get to help us all adjust.

I used the extra time to
snap one last pregnant pic.
The day I was induced

As it turns out, it was a very good thing I forced the Hubs to work. At 6am that morning I got a call saying the hospital didn't have room for me, but that they would call me when they could safely fit me in. On an amusing note- the 27th happened to be the day before a full moon, take what you will from that LOL. Sooo now que the pacing, and distraction techniques. I finally received the 'go ahead' call at the end of the "Price Is Right" asking me to come in at noon. Off I go! It felt a little weird walking into a labor and delivery unit, gigantically pregnant, by myself, but I am glad I sent the Hubs to work. If both of us had been sitting at home that whole time waiting for the 'go ahead' it would have been even more stressful/frustrating. Plus now he had more than a half day racked up!

By 1pm I'm in my room with the paper work taken care of, and talking to the Midwife about what my options are. WARNING TMI COMING...I was already 4-5cm dilated and 80% effaced so we were hopeful that just breaking my water would do the trick. My nurse (Thankfully!!!) warned me that the second time around labor tends to go quicker and that I might want to call in the reinforcements now. So while I tried to watch an episode of X-files on netflix, I made the call to the Hubs letting him know he should wrap things up and report for duty within the hour.

Adjusting to life with two under two!

By 2pm(ish) The hubs is walking through the door. Pretty good timing too since the contractions were starting to get pretty intense by this point. We decide to try and play a game of cards to distract me. We made it through all of one hand before I couldn't concentrate on the game. Our goal for this delivery was to avoid an epidural, since we're pretty sure I had a weird reaction to the one I had with Tegan. And it was about this point that I was starting to think I wouldn't be able to make it without some kind of help.

This is where it gets interesting folks...I remember the Midwife coming in and asking where my pain level was. Having delivered once already I told her it was around a 4 because I knew it was still going to get a lot worse. She then asked if I wanted her to check my progress and I told her no. I hadn't been laboring that long and didn't think I could be all that much different than when I started and REALLY didn't want that assumption confirmed. Nothing better than thinking your current pain is only going to get worse and go on for hours, Hooray! Instead we started asking her what our other options for pain medication were, and what the side effects were. Before she could finish her schpiel I announced that I was feeling the urge to push during contractions now. My Midwife decided it best to check where I was at and low and behold it was indeed time to push already!

Tegan meeting Aaron for the first time.

I don't remember much from this point on. According to the Hubs I only pushed about 6 times! Certainly felt like a lot more to me. I remember thinking I was going to push REALLY hard because I wanted the pain to be over LOL. It certainly worked. The down side to my methods were that I popped the capillaries around my mouth and I looked like I was bruised. The Hubs didn't even tell me about it until the next day when I finally got a chance to look in a mirror. He said he thought it would go away before I noticed. LOL, boys!

Apparently I also freaked out the Hubs when Aaron actually came out! Because of the super fast labor, Aaron's whole face was bruised (we matched!). So imagine a blue/purple faced baby, and the Midwife saying "Hold on, the cord is wrapped around his neck". Oh and also, his hand was right up by his face too. I'm glad I didn't witness this, but I can laugh about it now :)

Aaron did great right after delivery. Unfortunately I did not. I had some clotting issues again and lost a lot of blood. Same thing happened with Tegan's delivery, but I think they handled it a lot better this time. Apparently hemorrhaging after delivery is a 'red head thing'. Go figure! Obviously things worked out okay for me or I wouldn't be typing this. I just have to take some iron supplements for a while until my hemoglobin rebounds.

All in all, this pregnancy and labor went much more smoothly than with Tegan. I was able to avoid the inducing drugs and epidural which were they only things I was hoping for with this delivery. Even though the Hubs almost didn't make it in time (It would have been my fault too if he missed it :/ ) it all worked out.

And Almost a Year Later...

Surprise! I'm still around. Shocking I know :) In my (extremely weak) defense, it's been a busy year.

After Tegan's first birthday, we had our first 'Friends Cruise'. We started planning this vacation before I was even pregnant with Tegan so we were very much looking forward to it! A week long cruise in the Bahama's. It's hard for me to believe this happened this year, it seems so long ago. But it really was a blast! By far our favorite part was climbing Dunn River Falls! The cruise was so much fun that we decided to make it a tradition. Every five years we'll all get together again and take a cruise vacation. Only 4 years to go! Do you think it's to soon to start a countdown :)?

The First Friends Cruise Gang at Dinner

Conquering Dunn Falls- 960 ft Vertical Climb...So worth it!

Next in the years events was my best friends wedding! This took up a lot of my time this year, but I wouldn't change a thing. It was such an honor to be involved in her wedding. I miss having the excuses to get together several times a week!

Then it was time for wedding number two! My Mom and Dad renewed their vows/were remarried. There is a long explanation to this but lets keep it simple :). This year they are celebrating their 30-0 anniversary!

*Sadly I don't have pictures from this one yet

Oh yeah, and between everything else we have been getting ready for another addition to the family. Baby Boy R. Coming soon :)

Last week @ 37 weeks!

Summarizing everything in short little blurbs really makes it seem like not that much, but it really was a crazy year. And as I said in the beginning, my excuse was pretty weak. Perhaps my new year resolution should be to blog more. I wish I was better at keeping a record of what all is happening, because I really enjoy looking back and am definitely jealous of people who do manage to blog regularly. Guess we'll see how things go. Till next time...

A Birthday Party- The Details!

We had Tegan's 1st Birthday party last week, and if I do say so myself, it turned out really well! We even somehow managed to keep Tegan in a good mood despite the fact her schedule got screwed up! Since this was her first birthday I wanted to make it special, but lets be honest here- she's not going to remember it, the party is really for the adults at this stage. So while planning this whole thing I was trying my darnedest to not go overboard which is so easy to do especially with all the great ideas on Pinterest. Oh Pinterest, you will be the death of me! Anyways...I started out with a 'Mad Hatter' theme for the party because for whatever reason Tegan thinks it's hysterical when people are wearing hats, but the end result had nothing to do with the original inspiration. Instead I ended up focusing on colors and textures.

Okay, enough with the boring dribble, here are the highlights of the party...

The decorations:

The dinning room.

The living room...

More living room- These were Tegan's monthly pics all lined up!

And lastly- the Birthday Girls Seat all decked out!

The food, yum...

The buffet line...

We made Tegan's favorite food for the party, sloppy joes, and followed that with blueberries! We also had pretzel chips and gold fish, veggies and hummus, and green and red grapes. I jazzed up the buffet line with the professional pics we had taken a of her when she was first born, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months (we'll be taking her 12 month pictures this weekend!).

And of coarse...

CAKE!

I made Confetti cake with cream cheese frosting. Tegan had her very own cake, and cupcakes for everyone else.

At the last minute, I added some entertainment for the kiddies that were coming...

Azalea demonstrating the ball bit...

And a tunnel and tent! If you look closely you can see cousin Eva hanging out in the tent!

And...There you have it, the details from the party. This got long enough on it's own, so I'll follow up with the guests and birthday girl in the next post. I know you're all waiting on the edge of your seats, so stay tuned :)

12 Months- Happy Birthday!!!

It's official, my little girl is a whole year old! I always hate it when people ask on my birthday how it feels to be a year older, cause come on really?!- Nothings really changed other than the date, and the age on my license.  But as completely irrational as it is, now that Tegan is a full year old I keep expecting something to change in a huge way! And of coarse things will change in little ways, but I'm not really sure what major change I'm expecting to happen,  but I admitted already it was irrational. So moving on...here's what you've been up to these past few months...

At 10 months:
Weight: 16lbs 9oz. After the slight weight problem at your 9 month check up we were happy to find that you had gained 2lbs in two weeks putting you back on the charts! Unfourtunetly, at 11 months you caught Grandpa's stomach bug at the end of our vacation and I'm pretty sure we lost some progress on gaining weight. I suspect at 11 months you were still right around 16-17 lbs.

At 12 Months:
Weight: 18lbs. 15oz. (16%)

Height: 26.5in...Umm, no! We know this is wrong, but it's what they measured so it's what was recorded. If this were accurate then you would have shrunk, and since you're out growing your clothes I know that's not the case. We'll have another unofficial check in later this month, and they use more acurate ways to measure so we'll get a better idea later. Silly nurse, pshaw!
Head Circumference:  18in (69%). As the Hubs put it, you're getting my big head. 

Clothes: We finally have you in 9-12months/12 months clothes. While you can't fit into your 9 month clothes anymore, you also don't really fit your 12 month yet either. We're in that kinda awkward transition stage at the moment. We're making it work...except for the pants. You literally crawl right out of your pants Ha!

Diapers: Still in 3's. We're slowly starting to see signs of you growing out of them. The tabs aren't completely over lapping anymore!

Feeding: I mentioned in a previous post we were going to start weening you. Our plan was to get you used to a sippy cup and transition you that way. You had other plans! The sippy cup was just another toy for the longest time and bottles were an absolute no go. I was getting pretty frustrated that I was never going to be able to ween you. As it turns out, you were really just showing us how stubborn you can be. Around 10 months you had an overnight stay with Grandma G so the Hubs and I could go to a company party. The next morning as Grandma was putting together some oatmeal for you, you started reaching for the bottle of formula. As Grandma put it "I'm not going to argue with a hungry baby at 5am!" You sucked down two full bottles that morning as if having a bottle was something you did all the time! After Grandma tadled on you we started substitution one feeding a day for a bottle. Every two weeks we'd cut out another feeding. 

We're down to just one feeding in the morning because I'm to lazy to get a bottle made when we first get up. But now that you're 1, we'll make the final cut and switch to whole milk. The whole weening process thankfully went really smooth for both of us, we made it a whole year with breastfeeding and we we're both ready to stop.

As for solid foods- you have a pretty regular 3 meals a day. Around 11 months (right after Christmas) you started refusing anything that we would have to feed you with utensils. Instead everything has to be finger foods you can feed yourself! Now that you've taken charge of feeding yourself, the Hubs and I have been able to eat our own food again. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to eat the food in front of me when it was ready. Although now you want a piece of anything we're eating. It's been a long time since I've been able to finish my own banana around you. Ha!

Sleeping: Still no problems sleeping through the night. You consistently provide a wake up call between 6-7am, and take two naps a day at about 2hrs a piece. For all the above mentioned, I thank you ;)

Baths: You've graduated to the big girl bath-i.e.the tub, and our bathroom is starting to be taken over by bath toys. Doesn't matter though, you still hate baths. Sigh...

Milestones:
Crawling: Check. Been there, done that.

Walking: You're not walking yet, not even pulling yourself up yet. But you're showing interest in things above you and if we help you up you'll support yourself for the most part while you investigate. The Hubs and I always kinda suspected you might be slow to walking, since it's hard in our house to offer you the surfaces to learn to pull yourself up to.

Teething: You've finally added another tooth. You have a grad total of 5 now! Although there are some that you have been working on for months now!

Talking: The Hubs and are were recently talking about how to decide when a baby says a word instead of just sounds that sound like a word. The verdict was it needed to be said while pointing or some other obvious motion to make it completely clear that a baby meant to say that word. No sooner had we laid out the guidelines, you were putting them to use. You looked at the kitty, looked at me, pointed to the kitty, and then said your first word "kitty"! Since then we have decided that you are indeed saying "Mama", "Dada" and "dog" too.

Check Ups: Your 12 month check up was this week. All is very well. The Dr. was very happy with your size, impressed by your cognitive growth, and unconcerned about your delayed motor skills when it comes to walking and pulling yourself up.

Recap 3- Baby's First Christmas, Vacation, and New Year!

Christmas was at our place again this year and it was a full house. All the cousins made it which was the biggest change since last year. We went from two kids last Christmas to five this Christmas! I love that all the cousins are going to be so close in age though, I hope they're all friends as they grow up. With so many little ones running around it gave me a whole new appreciation for how my Grandma hosted so many holidays with me and all my cousins. It was also super chaotic, but in a good way. We decided this year not to do a gift exchange for everyone, but instead just buy for the kids. It worked out great, and I think we'll be doing it this way from now on.

As I mentioned before, I made all my gifts this year. I'd definitely do this again, but just start earlier than one month before Christmas. Oofta. But I pulled off most of it. After all was done I made a doll for all the girls, a button/crinkle/tag toy thing for the little ones, a diaper clutch for the mama's, and homemade finger paints for everyone. I meant to get a picture of everything, but because I went right up to the last minute getting things ready, I simply forgot to take one. Oh well.

Cousin Sophie's gifts

Cousin Ethan, Eva, and Everette's gifts

Opening presents!

Aftermath and BOWS!

Tegan opening her stocking on Christmas morning!

My Dad's side of the family spent Christmas up at our cabin/time share, Breezy Point, and had reserved the cabins through New Years. So the Monday after Christmas we made the drive up to Brainard for our first family vacation of sorts. The Hubs was only able to take a few days off work so he came up for the first part of the week and then had to go back to the cities. The plan from there was suppose to be me coming back with Tegan on Friday for MIL's birthday, but we did a little switching up at the last minute. My Dad got sick the day we left for the cabin, and did a roller coaster of feeling better than worse the rest of the week. My parents were ready to call an end to their trip and just get my Dad home, so I ended up staying at the cabin and having the Hubs and MIL come back up instead for MIL's Birthday. It worked out really well until Tegan and I got whatever my Dad had and spent the MIL's birthday, and New Year's Eve in bed. Oh well, it was still a great trip. We had a full week with family, spent some time out of the house, and even went swimming, it was a great break from the norm even if it did end in being sick.

Tegan & Great Grandpa G.

Tegan's closet/room at Breezy Point!

Making our self's at home, and playing with Grandma G.

Playing in the kiddy pool

Hanging with Grandpa G.

Reading with Grandma Jane

Recap 2- December told by Pictures

Baby's First  Christmas Ornaments

"That guy is around here somewhere..."

"I don't like this guy!!!"