Adalyn's the winner

The winner of what you may ask?  Well, she was the first one to make Elli cry. We knew it would happen some time.  We just didn't know when or who would be the culprit.  Thankfully, it wasn't anything malicious and it was a pure accident. 

Elli was actually laying in my lap on Monday night when Addi went running past me with a soccer ball.  It simply fell out of her hands and bopped Elli on the head from about 3-4 inches away.  I think it scared her more than anything else because she was just starting to drift off to sleep.  Poor Addi felt so bad.  Her demeanor changed and she became very, very sad.  We just explained to her that accidents happen and that we just need to be careful around the baby.  But for the rest of the night, she really wasn't in a playful mood. 

Miss Elliana had her two week appointment on Monday as well.  She has officially surpassed her birth weight.  She was 8lbs 8oz two days ago and they measured her to be 22 inches!!  Hmmm.  She was measured at 20 1/2 inches at birth.  Something tells me that she didn't grow an inch and a half in two weeks!  I actually think she's somewhere in between simply based on how her sleepers fit.  Oh well, measuring an infant is such an inexact science - lay them on a table and try to force their leg straight.  Not easy to do.

We're still here, I promise

We're still doing well.  The girls have adjusted quite nicely to having Elli around.  I'm hoping we might bypass any jealousy issues because the big girls are used to sharing time with us.  They've never had us all to themselves...all they've ever known is that there was another diaper to change, another mouth to feed, another child to play with, etc.  So hopefully they'll continue to be very understanding that Elli has needs that need to be met as well.

Today was my due date.  I can say with 100% certainty that the past two weeks flew by.  Now on the other hand, if I would've still been pregnant, they would've dragged by at snail's pace.  My back was quickly failing me and I had such a hard time even doing the simple things for the girls...changing their diapers, feeding them, etc.  Nevermind actually trying to play with them!  And I'm so incredibly glad that Elliana decided not to "bake" much longer.  They say that babies gain about 1/2 a pound a week in the last few weeks.  So if she had stayed put, she definitely would've been well over 9 pounds!  No thanks.

The big girls make me laugh so much.  They absolutely love watching themselves on video.  I think they would do it for hours if we let them!  Anytime I take out the video camera to catch them doing something or to videotape Elli, they have to immediately see what was filmed.  Then I have to go back to previous videos so that they can watch more.  And boy do they laugh!  It's honestly so cute!

Addi just got done giving me "the look"

Livi was running from daddy when it was time for a diaper change!

Elli doesn't exactly like to be burped.

Mommy spiked my hair after my bath!

Elli's foot next to Addi's.

And Elli's next to Livi's.

 

Has it been a week already?!

At this pace, Elli is going to be as big as the girls in no time at all!  I can't believe my newest baby is a week old already.  I say "newest baby" because I have a hard time letting go of the fact that the older girls are no longer babies...they're toddlers.  They still seemed pretty small to me until I brought Elli home from the hospital.  All of a sudden, I realized just how BIG their hands and feet are.  They're definitely not babies anymore. 

Miss Elliana had her follow-up weight check today.  She gained 3 ounces in the last 3 days.  So she's back to 8 pounds even, which was the weight she was discharged from the hospital at.  The nurse said that she's still looking a bit yellow.  But since she's now gaining weight, they decided not to redraw her bilirubin levels.  And I was so thankful!  Who wants to see their newborn get poked in the heel with a needle?  I'm still waiting on some sun in this neck of the woods.  I think her jaundice would probably be gone by now if we hadn't had a week straight of clouds and rain.  All she needs is a little sun!!!

We go back to the doctor in 1 week for her first official well baby visit.

Sleeping in her carseat.  It's a safe place to put her so she doesn't get stepped on!

With Uncle Jason.

And with Aunt Chelsea.

What a precious little girl.  So peaceful.

Elli's first bath.  She wasn't exactly fond of it!

We got a brand new washer and dryer.  The girls like the box!



I'm realizing that it's much easier to take pictures of a sleeping newborn than two active toddlers!  I feel bad posting so many pictures of Elli and not a whole lot of Addi and Livi.  But if they would sit still for just two minutes, I could snap a few pictures of their lovely faces!  I simply don't have the energy to chase them down right now.  

Elli update

Bottom line is...she's wonderful.  She's such a good baby.  She eats well.  She sleeps well.  And well, that's about all she does at this point.  But she's a content little one.  The girls were chaos from the time we brought them home.  They didn't eat.  Therefore, they didn't sleep because their little bellies were talking to them all the time.  Honestly, it was downright miserable.  But little Miss Elli is a dream. 

I had a lactation appointment yesterday.  Before I was discharged from the hospital, the nurse was going over my discharge instructions.  She told me the date and time of the appointment and followed it with "please bring your baby with you to this appt."  I had to interrupt her and ask if she seriously had to tell me that.  Do women actually show up to a lactation appointment without their baby?!  Hmmm.

Anyway.  Elliana nurses like a champ.  Which is such a far cry from the girls.  We were lucky enough to keep them awake for a full two minutes to eat before they zonked out.  In all honesty, they probably could've cared less if I didn't feed them for a week.  But Elli is a great little eater.  She'll stay awake long enough to actually fill her belly...usually anywhere between 20 to 45 minutes.  Her weight did drop a bit more, but she's still in the good range.  She was 8lbs 7oz when she was born.  When we were discharged, she was an even 8lbs.  And yesterday she was 7lbs 13oz.  They expect babies to lose between 5-10% of their body weight and right now she's at about 7%.  So she's doing just fine.  We'll actually head back to the clinic on Monday just for another weight check.  By then, she'll probably have started the upward swing.

The nurse did notice that she was looking a bit yellow at the appointment.  So afterwards, she ordered a bilirubin lab draw just to make sure she wasn't too jaundice.  Her level came back on the high end of normal for a 4 day old.  Dr K just told us to keep an eye on her over the weekend and if she started to look a bit more yellow I needed to call the on call physician.  Now if only we could get some sun around here, I'd be laying her by the patio window!  But all it wants to do is rain and/or be overcast.

The waiting game ended!

On September 13th, we welcomed another little baby girl into this world!  Little Elliana Jo made her appearance at 7:25am weighing 8lbs 7oz and 20 1/2 inches long.  She's just the sweetest little girl.  And she has so much hair!!

We came home yesterday and the girls have been absolutely awesome with her.  I just hope it lasts!  When she cries, they both try to give her a nuk.  They already know which blanket belongs to her and are constantly giving it to me or Nate if we're holding her and she's not wrapped up in it.  They "pet" her nicely.  They've just been so great.

Here are some quick pictures of the newest little munchkin.  All of the girls are currently sleeping, so I should probably get some sleep myself.  We're still settling in to a routine.  After that happens, I'll have to share the story about Elli's birth and the amazing similarities it had with the girls' birth!!

Just 5 minutes old.

Fresh outta the bath.

Look at those long toes!!

So comfy.

Starting to be more alert.

But still likes to sleep too!

Just arrived home and the girls are showing some interest!

Addi trying to give Elli a nuk.

Livi giving Elli a hug.

Food coma.

The waiting game begins

I'm officially done with work until after my maternity leave.  My last day was on Thursday.  So now the waiting game begins.  I'm hoping Baby J decides to make his entrance sooner rather than later just because I don't want to waste several weeks being off of work with no baby!

I purchased one package of newborn diapers.  I didn't want to buy too many because I'm still thinking that I'm going to have a gigantic baby and won't even really need newborn diapers.  But I wanted a few on hand just in case.  And ummm, I'm not sure how we're going to diaper this baby without breaking him!!  They seem sooooo tiny!  I know we did it with the girls and everything.  And they were actually in newborn size for over 6 weeks I think.  But man!  I just don't know how we're going to diaper that little butt!

The newborn diaper compared to the girls' size 4.

I also bought three newborn outfits for little boys and two for little girls.  Nate and I just have to decide which outfit we like the best for the baby to come home in.  If the baby is a boy, we *might* keep the other outfits (depending on how big he is).  But if the baby is a girl, she really won't need anymore clothes since we have so many outfits and sleepers from when the girls were newborns.

Speaking of the girls.  With the change in weather we've had, I had to do some clothes shopping for them.  With all this shopping I've been doing, you'd think I actually like it...yeah, I don't.  But the girls needed some fall clothes.  We tried putting their spring clothes on them since their birthday is just a month away and they'll probably get more clothes then.  But their pants looked like high water pants and their shirts showed off their little bellies.  Everything is simply too small.  What's frustrating is that they're wearing 2T in some things and 3T in others!  And THAT is why I don't like shopping.  It wouldn't be such a painful experience for me if all sizes were the same across the board...no matter the brand.  So I have several returns I have to make.  Blech.  But the good news is that the girls are now outfitted for the cooler weather that made its entrance.

I'm way behind

So I'll update about my last OB appointment first.  I saw Dr L on Friday (yes, three full days ago).  Everything is going well with both me and the baby.  My blood pressure was excellent and I was measuring at 36 weeks which was right on track.  The baby's heartrate was 162bpm.  Dr L checked to see if I've made any progress toward having this baby and I found out that I'm about 3cm dilated.  I'm trying not to get too excited about that because with the girls, I stayed stuck at 3cm for quite a long time.  In fact, I even had a 72 hour stretch where I contracted every 3 minutes quite painfully and it wasn't until my water broke that I progressed any further.  So yes, 3cm is progress, but this baby could still be a couple weeks away!  Bummer.

Dr L and I discussed the possible size of this baby.  I think the baby has the potential of being fairly large because he was measuring quite big at my 28 week ultrasound and ummmm...I love sugar.  Dr L doesn't think that he's going to be *that* large because I'm measuring right on track for my dates.  If he was going to be quite large, she would expect me to be measuring a couple weeks ahead and I'm not.  So we'll see.  I just worry because at just over 37 weeks when the girls were born, Alivia weighed 6#15oz.  If this baby is following her growth curve and I actually make it close to the due date, I could really be looking at a 9 pound or more baby!  And actually, this baby was measuring a 1/2 pound bigger than Livi at the 28 week ultrasound.  So yeah.  I just don't want to "miss" my tiny little newborn.  I'll take a nice little 7 1/2 to 8 pound baby.  *smiles*

We're definitely nearing the end.  In fact, I only have 3 days left of work and then I'm done until after maternity leave.  Only THREE days!  Wow.  Actually, I wish I could skip the last few days.  I'm getting so sick of answering so many questions to all the ER patients checking in.  I feel like I want to hang a sign around my neck that says "I'm due in xxx weeks.  No, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl.  No, it's not my first, it's my third.  No, I don't have one of each at home, I have two girls.  No, just because I have two girls doesn't mean we are hoping that this baby is a boy."  I mean come on people.  I don't know you.  YOU are the patient checking in.  Let's not discuss my obstetrical history.  I feel like wearing a mumu dress for my last few days to somewhat conceal the belly.

But speaking of a gender preference for the baby...

I set up an online baby poll for some family and friends to participate in.  And I find it quite interesting that out of the 10 current guesses (myself included), only ONE person guessed that the baby would be a girl!!!  So my question is...is it just wishful thinking that this baby is going to be a boy?  Or do they honestly think that the baby is a boy?

I guess we'll find out in hopefully no more than 3 weeks if the majority vote is right!!

Just some pictures!

Eating chips at their brand new picnic table.  Don't worry, they're baked lays!!  I only give them healthy chips! Ha.

The couch is apparently not big enough for both of them.

Livi watching the animals at the zoo.

Addi pointing at the tigers (or lions as she calls them).

Alivia doing her crazy dance.

I asked her to smile - instead, she breathed in real deeply and said "pee-eww!"

Looked away at the very last second.

Addi had to get face to face with the tiger.  If you look closely, you can see the tiger and they're staring each other down.  The girl has no fear!

Walking with daddy.

To-Do List

I feel like my list isn't getting any shorter.  This baby is going to be here soon, and we have so much to get done yet!!

1) Name the baby!!  If Baby J is a girl, I think we *might* have the name finalized.  But if Baby J is a boy, then we have a problem.  We're really struggling there.

2)  Pack my hospital bag!  With all the preterm labor I had last time, it was packed and in the car 3 months before I was due.  This time, not so much.  I really better get on that.

3)  Do some car seat jockeying in the baby bus.  Both of the girls' seats need to be moved to different locations and the baby seat needs to be installed.

4)  Finish cleaning out the nursery.  There are still a few things that need to go - a TV, a box of CDs and a couple other miscellaneous things.

5)  Unbox (is that even a word?) some of the gender neutral baby clothes we have and wash them.  I will probably wash a couple of the pink outfits we have too just in case.

6)  Sterilize the new bottles we bought for the baby as well as all the bottles and parts for the pump.  I'm hoping not to have to pump as much as I did with the girls, so hopefully we won't even need the bottles right away (or for quite a while), but I better have them ready just in case.

7)  Bring the baby swing, bouncy seat and one of the carseats upstairs.  And then wash the linings on all three things.  After sitting in the basement for over a year, I want to make sure they smell really fresh for the new baby. 

8)  Find the missing Tigger from the mobile.  At some point, we removed a couple of the little Winnie the Pooh animals from the girls' mobiles and let them play with them.  Well, we are now missing one Pooh and both Tiggers.  Hmmm.  We have two Eeyores, two Piglets, and one Pooh.  The others are MIA.  The mobile just won't be complete without Tigger!!

I'm sure there's more, but I'm already overwhelmed.

35 weeks

I'm 35 weeks today.  I had another OB appointment a couple days ago.  I passed inspection right away.  However, the baby didn't.  When Dr L listened to him with the doppler, his heartrate was beating far too fast at about 185bpm.  It's supposed to be under 160.  Dr L just said that sometimes she catches the baby right after he was moving around for a bit and that that would account for the increased pace.  Immediately after saying that, the baby stuck its little butt high in the air at her...and then continued to move around for the next 5 minutes.  Finally, he started to calm down and his heartrate came down nicely with the slowed movements - right to about the 140s to 150s.  What a stinker!

I'm really trying to enjoy these final weeks of this pregnancy.  But it's been sooo incredibly difficult.  In addition to the back pain, I have pretty bad sciatica running down my right leg.  Yeah, I don't look very attractive as I'm dragging my right leg down the hallway at work.  Sometimes if I pivot the wrong way, my whole leg almost gives out on me and I almost hit the floor.  Dr L actually prescribed some Tylenol #3 which I'm so up in the air about taking.  This baby already gets enough Zantac as is.  I don't really want to be giving him anything else!  She also said that we could talk about/schedule an induction for 39 weeks.  I told her that I really don't want to do that because I would rather this baby just be ready to come on his own, whenever that may be.  The only way I may consider an induction is if the pain gets so bad that I'm unable to move at all or interact with the girls.  If it gets to the point that I'm really struggling to feed them or play with them, then I'll seriously have to think about the induction.

In slightly funnier news, try convincing the lady answering the phone at a Chinese restaurant that you would like an order of chicken and broccoli - without the chicken.  Nate and I ordered Chinese last night.  And when he made the order, the lady on the phone with her little accent replied with "haha, is this a joke?"  Nate told her that his wife is pregnant and right away she said "ahhhhhh.  Well, we have mixed vegetable."  When Nate asked if it was made with the same type of sauce she replied with "we'll make you chicken and broccoli, no chicken."  Apparently it's not a very popular order!  Ha!

3rd and final pregnant survey

How far along? over 34 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: More than I had hoped!  I'm up about 26 pounds.  I only gained 33 with the girls, so I was hoping to maybe only gain about 25 by the end of this pregnancy.  However, I love my sweets much more during this pregnancy than I did with the last.  And the fact that my girls are terrible eaters hasn't helped one bit.  I'm one of those people who has a hard time throwing things away.  So if my girls don't eat it, guess who does?!  Half a sandwich here, a piece of pizza there, some scrambled eggs that weren't even touched, etc.  It all adds up.  Oops.

Maternity clothes? Uhhhh...yeah.

Stretch marks? No new ones that I've been able to identify.  Not that I'm really looking or would really even be able to tell anyway.

Sleep: Still on the couch most nights.  But otherwise, sleep in general is really lacking.  If baby is not moving, he's got the hiccups.  I tried to go to bed at 9pm last night and finally got to sleep at 11:30pm.  And of course up just an hour later to go to the bathroom.

Best moment this week:  The girls kissing my belly.  I don't think they really understand what's going on, but I think they definitely know that this big old protruding belly is not normal for mommy!!

Movement: This baby continues to be very, very active.  In fact, I've concluded that the baby still has major movements when he's sleeping.  It's almost around the clock that there's some tapping or bouncing going on.

Food cravings:  Okay, so I'll admit it.  I'm a Jelly Belly addict.  I hide them and I don't tell the full truth about my consumption of them.  I'm plain old addicted.

Gender: Still a surprise!!!

Labor Signs: Contractions are picking up a bit.  Most continue to be relatively painless.  But I think my body is gearing up.

Belly Button in or out? Does half and half count?  Depending on baby's movement, he can push it out for a bit.

What I miss:  Sleep.  Foods that taste normal.  Sleep.  Not having back pain.  Did I mention sleep?

What I'm looking forward to: I'm finally getting excited to meet this baby.  Not that I wasn't excited to meet this baby before.  But it was too early to meet him.  I mean, it's still a bit early, but we're really close to the end!  So knowing that we're approaching the "safe" time to have him, the excitement is starting to build!

Weekly Wisdom: Pregnant brain (and probably a whole lot of sleep deprivation!) have struck in full force once again, and therefore, I have no wisdom...again.

Milestones: Now that I'm over 34 weeks, I can deliver in our local hospital.

Me at exactly 34 weeks.

And just for comparison's sake.  34 weeks with the girls.  So even though I feel huge, I am MUCH smaller than I was at this point last time.  Heck, I was falling out of my shirt!!

I know I've been slacking

I've just been so stinking tired.  I have absolutely no motivation at all.  So I apologize.  My back has been killing me the past couple of weeks (which I know will only get worse), so sitting at the computer has not been easy.  Heck, sitting anywhere hasn't been easy!

Anyway.  We took the girls downtown today to Summerfest.  They each received a balloon right when we got there.  Adalyn successfully popped hers within seconds.  And Alivia let hers fly away shortly after that.  So we migrated over to the petting zoo.  The girls were really excited to see the animals, but not quite as excited to touch them!  Alivia actually did much better than I thought she would and Adalyn was a bit more hesitant which really shocked me.

By the time the ponies were ready to ride, it had gotten way too hot and we were quickly approaching the girls' nap time.  So we had to leave.  But maybe next year they'll get to ride their first pony!!

Livi trying to touch the guinea pigs.

And also admiring the big turtle.

Addi taking a peek at the tiny chickens.

Both girls watching the chickens.

Addi had just touched the goat.

Empty Nest

I've had the house to myself all weekend and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it.  Nate took the girls to his parents' house yesterday, so today is my second night at home alone.  I've had to work all weekend, but when I come home at 5:30, there's no one here.  In ways, I'm enjoying it.  For example, yesterday I came home, laid down on the couch right away and fell asleep for about 20 minutes while watching the news.  But in other ways, this is too strange for me.  It's eerily quiet.  I find that I'm shutting the bathroom door behind me out of pure habit and I'm actually sitting on the couch right now blogging instead of at the table.  It's all just odd.

So yes, the rest and relaxation has been nice.  I'm definitely at the point in the pregnancy where I'm coming home from work pretty exhausted and being able to lie down on the couch without any toddlers jumping on me is great.  But I also miss my girls.  However, I'll be headed to work tomorrow morning and when I get home tomorrow night they'll be here waiting for me.  Then I'll probably wish I had just one more day to myself!!

I had another OB appt a few days ago.  Everything continues to look good.  I measured 33 weeks - which is great since I'm going to be exactly 33 weeks tomorrow.  The baby's heartrate was about 160bpm.  I saw the resident first and he thought that Baby J might be head down, which I was pretty excited about.  When Dr L came in, she wasn't entirely sure that the baby was head down.  She thought he might be, but she said she couldn't be positive.  And because the resident had already ventured a guess and because she wanted to confirm his assessment, she pulled the ultrasound machine in...sure enough, Baby J is indeed head down!  Yay!  So hopefully he stays that way now!!

My contractions have been picking up quite a bit lately.  In fact, one night within the past week I was contracting every 4 minutes for about 2-3 hours.  They ended up decreasing in frequency, so I tried not to worry about it too much.  I ran it past Dr L at my appt and she decided to check me really quick.  I'm about 1cm dilated, but she's not really concerned because she said it can be normal in women who've already had a baby.  So I'll just have my regularly scheduled appt in 2 weeks.  By then I'll be just shy of 35 weeks and winding down to the end!!!

Dog days of summer

We went to the park but didn't last long - it was way too hot.

So we went home and had popcicles instead!

Adalyn preferred to lick hers...

Alivia thought biting it was a better technique.

Sleep and Sign Language

We're over a week into the girls' new night time routine.  With the new baby on the way, we had to make a change to how we got the girls to bed at night.  The old routine essentially entailed two adults being in the house (we could do it with one, but it wasn't pleasant) so that both of the girls could simultaneously be cuddled and rocked until they were sufficiently sleepy to be put in their cribs.  We generally put Alivia in her crib first since she was the better sleeper and more likely to drift off faster.  And then Adalyn would follow about 15 minutes later.  This routine often took at least half an hour to complete and upwards of an hour and a half if one or both of the girls were really fighting sleepy time.

So.  The new routine pretty much mirrors nap time and it only takes one adult to be here!!  We start winding down, diapers get changed, they get their pajamas on, etc.  Eventually we just say "okay girls, time for night-night" and we walk down the hall to their room.  Sometimes they follow and sometimes we have to go find where they're hiding!  The first couple of nights, they went down without a fuss at all.  I think they were confused and honestly thought that it was just nap time...anyone can survive 2 hours of sleep, right?  By night three, they caught on that it was a little darker in their room than at nap time and that the humidifier was running instead of their lullaby music.  So we had quite the protest.  And the protests continued for the next few nights.

Tonight is night nine.  And although I had to go find Adalyn hiding behind the couch and Alivia hiding behind the snackbar stool, they went down without a fight.  They just giggled when I finally caught them.  Stinkers.  It's been a blessing to have transitioned to this new routine, not only because the new baby will be here shortly and it would be hard to cuddle both toddlers if the baby needed to be fed.  But it has freed up the other adult to get stuff done...be it yardwork, the grocery shopping (what Nate is actually doing right now), or other miscellaneous chores.  Personally, I do miss my cuddle time with the girls, so I try to get a little bit more of it during the day when I'm home...sometimes they're willing participants and sometimes they're not!

But in regards to sign language, the girls surprised us today.  We took both of them to Target to do some shopping.  When they ride in the car, they're typically watching Baby Einstein or something similar on the DVD player.  I was driving while Nate was sitting in the back with them.  And wouldn't ya know it, but they both signed chair, table and cup!!  Okay, so some parents of toddlers wouldn't think that's a big deal because their toddlers have been doing it for a long time and know plenty of words or whatever.  But sign language is not something Nate and I have EVER worked on with the girls.  EVER.  They simply watch their videos in the car while we're bumming around town and that's it.  And if both of us are in the car with them, we point out the objects that the videos are showing, such as ball, car, dog, fence, sidewalk, refrigerator, you name it.  We focus on annunciating the given object correctly and repeat it a few times to them.  Never once have we ever made the associated arm and hand motions that the little lady on the video does.  But the girls have picked up on it anyway!  We were pretty impressed.  It's still not something we will purposefully teach them, but if they pick up some sign language along the way, then that's absolutely fine!