Wish We'd Thought of it Sooner

As I mentioned last week we were/are having some sleep issues with Elliot.  Thursday night was bad, Friday night was worse, and Saturday night was hell.  No one (besides Andrew) was getting much sleep.  By Sunday we were zombies.  We realized that he was a little congested and I figured that was probably a big part of it.

I headed to Wal-Mart (with Andrew for some one on one time) and we picked up some of the nasal saline so we could try to suck out Elliot's nose.  We tried it out when we got home. To say he wasn't a fan of the process is an understatement. You would think I was trying to suck out his brain.  It seemed to work, though, and he was breathing better.  I was hopeful that we would get some sleep that night.

So Sunday night I put him down and said a silent prayer that he would sleep. I went to bed as soon as I finished pumping and had my fingers crossed that he would sleep more than an hour.  When he woke up after 3.5 hours I was actually happy. That was the longest stretch he'd slept in four nights. After that he had a 3 hour stretch and I was pleased.  Monday night I did the nose sucking again and again hoped for the best.  His first stretch that night was 4.5 hours and then another 3 hours.  I was ridiculously happy with that.

Well, yesterday J happened to be home with me since our water heater crapped out and he was busy trying to replace it.  He suggested that we try the swaddle for Elliot's nap (I had tried swaddling him with his arms in weeks ago and he went nuts so we have just been swaddling him with his arms out).  I was rocking Elliot and he was already sleepy, so I gave it a shot.  He submitted to being swaddled with his arms in and passed out for his nap.  Two hours later he was still sleeping and I had to leave for a dentist appt. I expected he would wake up soon after I left and just hoped that J would hear him since he was busy with the water heater.  An hour later I got home and was shocked that he was still sleeping.  We got a 3.5 hour nap out of him  :)

Yes, he's napping with his boppy pillow.

I was praying that it wasn't an anomaly. That we would be able to swaddle him at night and he would sleep.  After heating some water on the stove for Andrew and Elliot's baths (yeah, we're like freaking Little House on the Prairie over here with no hot water still) Elliot was getting really fussy. I've learned that he is ready for bed by 8:00. So I heated up a small bottle of pumped milk (trying to make sure he's filled up so he'll maybe sleep a little longer) and we headed upstairs.  He was screaming bloody murder because he was tired. I laid him on the swaddle, pinned his arms down and got him wrapped up. Amazingly he calmed down and I was able to get him to drink most of the bottle, but he kept dozing off every time I'd stop to burp him.  I had to unwrap him to change him because he leaked milk all over himself and was soaked, plus I needed to change his diaper. That woke him up a little and this time when I swaddled him back up he fought it a little.  I quickly sat down in the recliner and started nursing him, which calmed him down right away. After nursing for less than 10 mins he was out.  I transferred him to the bassinet and hoped for the best.

By the time I pumped and J and I watched a little tv and hung out Elliot had already been asleep almost two hours.  I went to bed at 10:00 and was thinking "Great, he'll probably be up in an hour.".  Imagine my shock (and joy) when we didn't hear a peep out of him until 3:49.  He had slept 7 hours and 19 minutes! And I got close to 6 hours straight of sleep.  That hasn't happened in over 7 weeks.

Needless to say I am kicking myself for us not doing the swaddle earlier.  Now I know that last night might not be the norm and maybe we just got lucky and tonight will suck.  I'm being optimistic, though, and thinking that maybe, just maybe this will be the new norm.

He's currently in his crib swaddled up and napping. And I'm getting some work done and actually feeling pretty good.  Hmm, maybe we CAN handle two kids after all...

Almost Forgot

I'n not sure if I just blocked it out or what, but I almost forgot about the mind numbing exhaustion that comes with a newborn.

We had been doing pretty well up until last night.  At night I get Elliot down to bed and then pump a bottle so that J can take the second wakeup of the night and feed Elliot while I get a little sleep.  Well, that all got shot to hell last night.

I got him down at 8:45 after his bath and a little nursing. I came back downstairs to start pumping and after only being down 20 mins he was up and crying, so I went back up to nurse him some more.  I pumped a 4 oz bottle and headed to bed at 10:00.  Just a few minutes after climbing into bed he started crying again. J went in to feed him the bottle and get him settled.    At 11:55 he was back up. I nursed him and rocked him and got him back down.  I hadn't even been able to fall back to sleep when he was up and crying again at 1:43.  I tried giving him a bottle (figuring I might be empty) and he just cried and gagged and choked like had never had a bottle before. I ended up nursing him again for 20 minutes and got him back down at 2:02.  At 3:42 he was crying again and still refusing a bottle so I couldn't even kick J out of bed to go feed him.

At that point I was getting very frustrated.  He needs to take a bottle, especially when he starts daycare in December. And because I need some help at night and if I have to do all of the feedings all the time I am going to lose it.

I contemplated just lounging in the recliner with him until it was time to get up, but I put him back in the bassinet at 4:30 and crawled back in bed.  At 5:30 he was crying. Again.  This time J did get up and went in to try to give him a bottle.  I finally fell back to sleep at 6:00 and slept until he was crying again at 6:55.

Aaaaahhhhhhh!  What happened to my baby that slept 5.5 hours and then 4 hours the night before? And why is he all of a sudden refusing bottles?

I know there is a 6 week growth spurt but I thought we were past that since he'll be 7 weeks tomorrow. Maybe he's just a little behind.  I'm praying that tonight is a better night because if nights like last night are the norm I am going to be a zombie. Or more of one than I am today.

And I guess the not sleeping has caught up with my little guy because he is currently snoozing away in his car seat sawing logs:

He's in the car seat because I had to drop Andrew off at daycare and since he was passed out when we got back I didn't want to wake him.  I should probably be taking advantage of him sleeping and try to take a nap myself, but I'm supposed to be working.  I think I'll just turn the volume up on my computer so I'll hear if anyone emails me or hits me up on chat.  This mommy needs a nap...

Back Already

Back to work, that is.

Yes, that's right.  Today is my first day back to work after my way too short maternity leave.  I mean seriously - 6 weeks?  Who the hell is ready to go back to work after only 6 weeks?  Not this woman, that's for sure.

Luckily I work for a very flexible company and I am currently working from home (and will be until Elliot starts daycare on December 2nd).   I know to some people that might seem hard - trying to work when you have a squalling newborn to deal with.   Fortunately he is a pretty laid back little dude. This morning he napped on the end of the chaise while I was checking my emails and catching up with my coworkers:

He did a good bit of napping this morning, which worked out well for me.  I know I need to work on getting him to nap in the crib, but I didn't feel like tackling that today.  Plus I wanted to be able to look over and see him since I'm already bummed about being back to work.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I didn't miss all that much when I was out for my 6 weeks. I guess with furloughs and government shutdowns we are running a bit behind. It's nice to not be slammed the instant I got back - I can ease in and take my time getting settled instead of feeling rushed and overwhelmed.

I'm also going to be pumping to build my freezer stash in preparation for having to go back to the office.  So far I only have 20 oz in the freezer, but I figure if I can pump 5 oz/day for the next 8 weeks I'll have over 200 oz in the freezer when I go back.  That way I won't be totally stressed ever single day about getting enough for the next day's bottles like I was with Andrew.  I need to do another test to make sure Elliot will drink the frozen milk (he has once already) before I stock up, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get a stash built up.  We're going to need to make some room in the freezer - I guess it's time to start eating some ice cream  :)

So here I am, almost done with my first day back to work. It's been a pretty easy one so far (minimal emails) and I'm glad that it's over.  Now maybe I can get Elliot ready to watch the Buccos finish up their series and head to the NLCS:

Potty Progress!

This is a post I have been dying to be able to write.

Previously we hadn't been having any success with the potty training.  We had to fight tooth and nail to get Andrew to even sit on the potty without raising hell.  Us even saying "Let's go sit on the potty." would be met with cries of "No!" and many tears would ensue.

We finally made a little progress and could at least get him to sit on the potty, but he still wouldn't do anything.  He'd sit there for 10 minutes looking at his potty books or dinosaur cards, but wouldn't actually go potty.  I would get so frustrated when he would sit there not doing anything and then pee as soon as he got in the bathtub.

Daycare has been sitting him on the potty for months as well with very limited success.  I know he pooped once back on May 17th (I only remember the date because it was my friend's wedding day) and then not again until September 17th. He's been going through pull-ups at a record pace because he would refuse to go on the potty.  My grand plan to have him out of diapers before Elliot arrived was obviously a resounding failure.

Well, this past weekend we had a major breakthrough.  On Friday we sent him to daycare wearing training pants with the plastic pants over them.  No more pull-up that feels like a diaper. I was hoping that would help him realize he wasn't supposed to pee in his pants.  I didn't hear anything out of Andrea until 1:00 when she called because Andrew was sick and we needed to go get him. J picked him up and he said that Andrea told him that Andrew had peed on the potty twice.  Unfortunately he had a stomach virus so there would be no trying the potty that night.  Thankfully the virus was short lived for him and he was much better the next morning.  We went to the park and while we were there J took him to the bathroom and he actually went. I was shocked.  He went two more times on the potty that day, too. It wasn't much any time he went, but it was something.

My big boy playing at the park

Sunday I was good about asking him constantly if he needed to go sit on the potty and we had great success.  His record for that day was 13 times in the potty and 2 in his pants.  I know that seems like a lot of times to go to the bathroom, but like I said, I was taking him every 30 mins and he wasn't going that much each time.  He would get this excited look on his face every time he went and then he'd stand up and say "Look at that!".  He's been going on the little blue potty, not the big toilet with the potty seat. I guess he feels more secure being able to have his feet on the floor.  So every time he pees he loves to take the insert and pour it into the big toilet and then he says "Now we flush!" and flushes the toilet.  I love how excited he is about it and I keep telling him how proud we are of him.

Yesterday we sucked about being on top of him going to the potty, but I was dealing with the stomach virus that he had on Friday and felt like I was going to die. Daycare was closed because Andrea had it, too, so both kids were here. Thank god J took the day off and stayed home with us - I wouldn't have made it.

This morning when I got him up his diaper was dry. I didn't put him on the potty right away because he was cranky. I figured he'd pee during breakfast, but I'm still recovering from the bug and wasn't too concerned.  Imagine my surprise when he held it during breakfast and waited until he was done. I asked, "Do you need to go potty?" and he said "Ok." and ran for the bathroom.  He peed a LOT.  He sat there looking at me and said "I'm peeing!". I thought he was going to overflow the potty because he went so much.  I was so freaking proud of him.

I know we have a long way to go - he still hasn't pooped on the potty for us - but I am so excited about the progress he is making. It's crazy how much progress he made in such a short span of time.  I guess it's true that they will let you know when they are ready.

He's turning into such a big kid and I couldn't be more proud of him.  Love that little munchkin!

Some Comparisons

I know you aren't supposed to, but I also know I won't be able to help comparing my two boys as they grow.  Right now there isn't much to go on since Elliot is only one month old (and Andrew is 2.5 as of today - where has the time gone?!?), but I'm already seeing some similarities and differences between the two.

Andrew at 1 day old and Elliot at 5 days old

They were similar in size when born - Andrew was 7 lbs 5 oz and 20.75 inches and Elliot was 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches.  According to the measurement they had the same size head, but Andrew's looked a lot bigger. I think it's because Elliot's face is kind of compact.  Andrew had/has long and thick eyelashes and Elliot's are almost non-existent.  Andrew had a thin tuft of light hair on the top of his head and Elliot has a mass of dark hair on the back of his, but not much on top.  Andrew has blue eyes and it's looking like Elliot's are going to be brown.  They both have the little pouty lips and so far they have similar noses.

As far as temperament it's hard to tell just yet.  From what I remember I think Andrew was a little fussier.  Elliot is pretty laid back so far.  He fusses, but there's always a reason. He's either tired, hungry or needs changed.  Andrew loved being swaddled but Elliot raises hell if we try to confine him and pin his arms.  Andrew loved the swing and slept in it a lot in the first month or so but Elliot doesn't enjoy it that much. He'll sit in it some, but he'd rather be elsewhere.

They both LOVE sleeping on the boppy pillow

 They are also both very snuggly and cuddly.  Andrew's favorite place to nap seemed to be on our chests and Elliot is following suit:

You can see the difference in their hair here, too,

As Elliot grows I am interested to see in what other ways they are alike and different.  All I know is they are both super sweet and I love them to death.  J and I have two adorable little boys and I feel beyond blessed to be able to call myself their mom.

One Month

Holy moly - Elliot is already one month old. How did that happen??

The time is already flying by.  It probably went even faster because we had help for the first almost 4 weeks so we weren't in a sleepless haze (like we are now).  Either way, it seems crazy that we have already been a family of four for a whole month.

My fears of Andrew being jealous and hating his little brother have been eased.  It took him a little while, but he has adjusted very well and loves his baby brother.  When I get him up for breakfast in the morning if Elliot isn't down here he asks "Where's baby brother?".  The other morning after he had breakfast we heard Elliot start to fuss upstairs. Andrew grabbed a bottle of pumped milk that was sitting on the counter, exclaimed "Baby's milk" and took off up the stairs to find him to give it to him:

Last night when Elliot was in the car seat when I got home from picking Andrew up from daycare he looked at him, said "That's my baby brother!" and went and put a blanket on him.  And Sunday morning when I had Elliot on the boppy on the chaise Andrew hopped up there to sit next to him. He loves to say "Baby's soft!" and rub his little head.  Seeing him sitting (willingly) with his baby brother melts my heart:

Elliot is doing well, too.  He's not sleeping through the night by any means, but we can get one almost 5 hour stretch out of him for the first part of the night.  He's eating like a champ, but I'm a little concerned about how fussy he gets when he is eating sometimes. I hope it's not reflux, and since it's not every time he eats I don't think it is.  He isn't a fussy baby, but if he's hungry, tired or needs changed he'll make some noise.  He loves to cuddle, makes the sweetest and cutest little grunts and sighs and looks like an angel when he's sleeping.  It appears his eyes are going to be brown and he has a mass of dark hair on the back of his head, so apparently he and his brother are going to look very different from each other.

I'm taking Andrew in for his 30 month well check next week and I'm hoping I can plop Elliot on the scale to see how much he weighs now.  We've moved him up to size one diapers but he's still fitting in his newborn clothes.  He's still a scrawny little guy, but he's starting to fill out.

Oh, and my fear that I couldn't possibly love another baby like I love Andrew was unfounded.  I'm like the Grinch and my heart has grown a few sizes since Elliot arrived. I love both of my boys more than life and can't imagine life without them.  I'm looking forward to watching the two of them grow up together and watching them become the best of friends.  I just don't want it to come too quickly - I want Elliot to remain my little baby for a while longer.

On Our Own

This morning J's mom left to go back home to Charlotte. She had been here for the past three weeks helping out with Elliot.  I know a lot of people have tense relationships with in-laws, and it's true that mine can sometimes drive me absolutely crazy, but I really cannot sing her praises enough in this instance.  Her help, especially at night, has been invaluable.  I actually feel like a human being because I've been able to get a decent amount of sleep the last few nights.  I'm pretty sure all of that will be coming to an end.

I'm not sure if that is why I've been such an emotional mess this morning or not.  All I know is when I was talking to her this morning as she was packing up her stuff I kept tearing up. And once they left I was a bawling mess.

I think it's because I am now terrified about handling all of this on my own.  I know I've done it before and we made it through this period with Andrew.  I'm not sure why I'm so scared this time.  Probably because I also have to handle Andrew - a two and a half year old ball of energy that demands attention almost constantly.  It's not like I'm doing it alone or anything. J is a wonderful father and we are in this together.  We just need to get ourselves into a routine and get settled.

I have two weeks left of maternity leave (yeah, that's it and it SUCKS), but I still have 10 weeks until I will be going back to the office.  Hopefully that gives me plenty of time to get a morning routine down so that when I DO have to get both kids out the door it won't be such a mess.

But I don't want to think about that right now, because it stresses me out.  Instead I just want to enjoy the time I have left when I can just sit and watch this precious baby and not have to worry about work:

How We're Doing

I know I haven't been posting much lately, but that can't be all that surprising considering the whole new baby in the house thing.  It's not that I don't have any time since Elliot still loves to sleep, but I have had the attention span of a gnat due to my interrupted sleep so I haven't been able to put together a coherent thought lately.  Things are improving, though, so I thought I'd update.

First off, Andrew is adjusting well.  When he doesn't see Elliot he'll ask "Where's the baby?".  Or if Elliot is crying he'll ask "Why's the baby crying?".  A couple times he has wanted up in the recliner with me while I've been feeding Elliot and when I've told him he needs to wait a few minutes he has gotten upset.  The first time it happened I teared up. I don't want him feeling like I don't have time for him or that he's been replaced.  He hasn't done it lately, though, so it's getting better.  And a couple times while I've been feeding the baby he's walked up with a burp cloth and started rubbing Elliot's head and saying "Wash baby's head!".  I love that he's trying to "help".

I've been doing what I can to make sure I have one on one time with Andrew.  This past weekend I took him to the park for almost two hours so J and my MIL could clean the house.  We took the golf cart and hit two different parks (the big one a mile from our house and the smaller one behind the school next to us).  It's important to me that we have some time together because he's my first baby and I don't want him to feel like he is less important now.

We did have a little stomach bug issue on Monday and I had to go get him from daycare.  He was a miserable little munchkin that day and night, but he's doing much better now. Thankfully on Monday when he was sick he was relatively content enough to lay on the couch with us while I fed the baby:

As for Elliot, he's doing well.  As of last Wednesday he was back up to birth weight, so it only took him to 11 days to get there (Andrew took almost 3 weeks).  He is eating very well and is a hungry little bugger.  There is clearly no problem with his kidneys or bowels based on the sheer number of diapers we go through.  We've had a few incidents with shooting poo (clear across the room and onto the curtains. I'm not kidding) and I've been peed on and spit up on simultaneously, but he's doing great.

He is still very sleepy during the day, but we're working on it.  He's also been waking up an hour after eating in the middle of the night and my MIL has been having to give him a small bottle, so last night I pumped before bed and when I came down four hours later to feed him I gave him that 3.5 ounces first and then nursed him to make sure he was getting enough.  For the first time in over a week he was still asleep when I came down the next time to feed him. So I pumped one side, got Andrew's breakfast all ready, and then went and woke up Elliot and nursed him on the other side.  So last night was the first night since she'd been here that my MIL didn't get up to soothe him at all overnight.

Way too alert for the middle of the night!

Speaking of which, having her here again to help out has been a godsend. She gets up with him if he's just fussy overnight and soothes him if she can. If not I come feed him. And she has watched him for me some mornings for an hour or two so I can lay back down and try to catch a quick nap.  I'm not sure how much longer she's staying (she's been here for two weeks), but I am grateful for the help as long as we have it.

I can't believe I only have three weeks left of maternity leave (this country blows for maternity coverage).  Fortunately I will be working from home with Elliot for another 8 weeks so he won't start daycare until December 1st.  Hopefully by then we have a routine going because right now I am dreading how to handle getting the two of them (and me) ready to get out the door in the mornings.

Anyway, things are going well. I'm tired, of course, but I'm also so in love with my guys. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful healthy children and I want to enjoy every second with them.  Life is good  :)

Oh, and here I am at 20 days postpartum.  I still have 18 lbs to go to get back to pre-pregnancy weight and I can't wait to get the all clear to get back to the gym.

I'm wearing non-maternity shorts for one of the first times since Elliot was born.  My belly is still really doughy and I need to get back to lifting to tone up my arms again. I feel like most of the weight is in my legs and butt so I'll have my work cut out for me.  Oh well, it was all for a very good cause:

Wordless Wednesday ~ My Three Loves

Newborn Photos

On Thursday I took Elliot to get his newborn pictures done at 5 days old.  I also took Andrew with us in hopes of getting some sweet pictures of the two of them.  He wasn't overly cooperative (he cried when we asked him to lay on the blanket and would roll away every time we put the baby next to him), but with the bribe of fruit snacks and watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Selena's phone we were able to get a couple cute ones:

I was also tickling his legs which is how we got a smile out of him.

This one cracks me up with Elliot's facial expression  :)

Once we got a few of the two of them I called J to see if he could come get Andrew. I knew we still had a while to go and there was no way my little 2.5 year old was going to last.  He hadn't napped and he was getting fussy.  Thankfully J's conference call was over and he was able to head our way.  Once they were gone we got started on Elliot.

I'm in love with this one and his little grin.

He peed all over the blanket during this one.

Trying to get him to keep his little legs folded up to cover the goods for this one wasn't easy.  She would get him all settled and as soon as she grabbed the camera he would kick his legs out. My little exhibitionist.

Another little smirk  :)

My sweet little peanut

I had to stop and nurse him three times throughout the photo shoot, but I think we were pretty successful.  I regret not doing real newborn pictures for Andrew and had I known this photographer then I would have. This is the third time she's done photos for us and I have never been disappointed with the results.

At the end she asked if I wanted some of me with him and even though I wasn't feeling overly photogenic on only a couple hours of sleep I couldn't pass up getting some pics with my little guy:

I love this one.

I can't wait to get the rest of them. Selena will send them to me on a USB, but considering it's a holiday today there won't be any mail. Really hoping to get it tomorrow so I can see what other adorable pictures she captured.