One Month Evaluation

So Fin crossed the one month mark yesterday. It is absolutely insane how fast the time goes. It seems like just yesterday that Jack was a baby. Two days ago Spencer was.

When I found out I was pregnant with Fin, I was really unhappy. Jack was only 10 months old and super, super needy. He nursed all day and all night. He was up at least every two hours on a good night and hourly on a bad one. He hated people, screaming at everyone from the checker at the grocery store to the ladies I work with, and wouldn't take a bottle so I couldn't leave him easily. When the second line came up on that pregnancy test, all I could see was my future with a bigger version of that Jack and a baby that had the same temperament that Jack had as an infant. I was already sleep deprived with a husband bunking on the couch, so the thought of having two super needy kids just made me want to jump off the nearest cliff.

Thank the good baby Jesus that that future never came to fruition (I seriously prayed for it not to).

Jack, while still not 100% over his hatred of people (just ask the photographer from today's MDO pictures), he is 85% better. The last two Tuesdays that I've dropped him off at MDO so I could have a break, there was nary a tear. And he'll actually let a stranger talk to him without screaming as if they are pulling his fingernails off one at a time. He's not hit his big temper tantrum throwing stage yet either, so things are pretty positive on the Jack front.

Fin, so far, is pretty mellow. He can (although he doesn't always) lay down and fall asleep without nursing. He likes to eat, but will take a passie for his sucking needs instead of insisting on a breast. At this point, he doesn't scream in the car (but I know that can absolutely change in the next few months); our first trip to Little Rock last weekend went pretty well. He'll hang out in the bouncer and the swing for short periods of time. He's gaining weight well (13 pounds when my sister weighed him last weekend), sleeping decently for his age (up 2-3 times a night to eat), and, unfortunately, losing his hair (which is standard for my babies; they have hair at birth and are bald by the time they are 3 months old).

It has not been nearly as bad having two so close together as I feared it would be. That's not to say there aren't times that are difficult. Sometimes Jack needs me and I'm nursing Fin so I can't go to him in a timely manner. Sometimes Jack whacks Fin on the head with a shoe. Sometimes Jake has drill so I have to deal with two kids who wake at night (yes, Jack still doesn't sleep through).

But sometimes Jack points at Fin, makes a smacking noise, and leans down to give him a kiss.

I'd say things are going well.

(And he's started smiling already. Awesome. :-D )

3 Across

I wish that I was asking advice on a crossword puzzle, but alas, I am not.

I'm talking about this:


That is what two very wild boys and one very little boy look like when scrunched three across in the back of my Honda Accord.

Let me go ahead and profess my embarrassment that Jack is forward facing already. All the new research shows that kids are 500% safer when kept rear facing to the weight limit on their seats and the American Academy of Pediatrics is about to come out with a recommendation to keep kids rear facing to age two, or so I hear anyway. But I literally could not drive with his seat rear facing and I'm a shorty. One day, if I ever get a bigger vehicle, I'll turn him back around.

When we found out Fin was coming, I was pretty convinced we'd be getting a new vehicle. Then we paid my car off and Jake insisted that we keep it and put them across the back seat.

In order to accomplish this, the first thing we had to do was get Jack a new seat. The seat he had (and that had been Spencer's) was really wide, so we traded that one for a Sunshine Kids Radian, which is super duper narrow but still one of the best on the market. We'd have even more room if we also put Spencer in one, but a) Spencer freaks out at any little change (we got the seat he is in now last summer and it took 6 months for him to stop whining about it), b) they are $250 and c) the cup holder on his current seat rocks my world. No telling how many spills that thing has saved me.

However, as you can see in the picture, Spencer's seat bumps up against Fin's and makes it tilt to the side. It is still safe (the base is tightly secured and the seat is firmly snapped into the base), but Fin's poor little head topples to the right when he is riding in the car. I hate that.

Another problem that we are having with them wedged in there so tightly is that Jack can not only reach Fin, but can reach him well enough to smack him in the face and steal his passie. Ask me how I know. :-/

I'm hoping I can convince Jake to upgrade us in the spring. All the traveling we'll be doing during Thanksgiving and Christmas may do the convincing for me.

We Should Have Named Her "Destructo"

Last January, we got a puppy. She was so cute and did that cute puppy romp. We were in love.

After we brought her home, she didn't have much of an opportunity to do much. She slept a lot at first and we crate trained her (poorly *sigh*), so she spent most of her time either outside or in her crate.


As she's gotten older, it is almost as if her bad habits have gotten worse. Her chewing has gotten out.of.control.

To date, these are the things I can think of that Cara has chewed up:

-too many dirty diapers to count
-sippy cups
-all of Jake's flip flops
-all of Spencer's flip flops
-all but one pair of Jack's flip flops
-all but one pair of my flip flops
-2 pair of my tennis shoes
-numerous toys, blocks being the toy of choice
-water bottles
-any plastic storage containers left on the floor by the kids

I'm sure this is just a partial list and I've forgotten a ton of stuff. I'm guarding the remaining flip flops in this house with my life.

Welcome, Fin!

I think pretty much everyone who reads this blog is my friend on Facebook, so this isn't an announcement for you, obviously. *laugh*

Finnegan Howard

September 26, 2010

1:25 pm

9 lbs, 8 oz

21 1/8 inches

Sweet as sugar.

Lazy

The lazy has invaded me. I have less than zero energy.

As of right now, there are about 5 big things that need to be done around here before Fin comes. And it isn't like they can just be left undone. When you have your babies at home, home needs to be ready to handle L&D. Mainly, it needs to be clean.

I find it impossible to maintain any sense of order or cleanliness in this house. Jake and I worked for hours in a row two weekends ago and the house was chaos within a few days (although the windows have stayed pretty clean). I know that a lot of it just goes with having two young kids. They are going to drag the toys out and leave them in places they don't go. I'm not one to mind having a bit of toys scattered throughout the living room, bonus room and, of course, in the boys' room, but they drive me crazy when they make it into the kitchen or my bedroom. And, naturally, Jack is too little to do any major picking up and Spencer, much like his mother, can be oblivious to the mess. I can say, "Spencer, pick up that pencil at your feet" and he'll look all around and not be able to see that it is right between his feet.

Their nutrition has greatly suffered at the hands of my late pregnancy laziness. Spencer has pretty much learned how to get his own food out of the fridge and gets Jack some too (but part of that is b/c Jack is all up in Spencer's business if he doesn't have some as well). Their go-to snack these days is squeezable yogurt and bread. Yes, bread, right out of the bag. I have managed to keep us stocked in milk, but it has been an effort.

I know that some of this is late pregnancy fatigue. It certainly doesn't help that I have slept through the night maybe 10 days in the last 18 months and that is hard on a person. Jack gets me up between 6 and 7 in the mornings and I am ready to have a nap by 11. I slept with Jack for 2 hours this afternoon. My eyes have been more than ready to close by 9:30 every night for the last week.

It makes me worry about how I'm going to handle another labor. I went into labor last time pretty well rested and I was exhausted by the end. There is no real napping to be had during a natural childbirth.

I'm going to get up now and attempt to clean a bit. Wish me luck that I make it through more than one room before falling asleep on my feet.

Hold On, Baby!

38.5 weeks


I hope I have some time left. Tomorrow I will be at the same point, gestationally (is that even a word? I have no clue...), that I went into labor with Jack. Jake left for his training in Austin today.

I need this baby to hold on. Just hold on for one more week!

The Ramifications of Nursing

Jack weaned, with a push from me, back in late March. He was a year old and not really ready to give it up, but pregnancy can zap the best of milk supplies (which mine was) and I could tell he was growing frustrated with it. He was nursing, easily, twice as much as he had been and acting kind of angry about it. I just didn't have a good supply, if any, left.

One of the ramifications, in my opinion, of pushing them to wean before their ready is what I've started calling the "comfort boob."

Exhibit A:


Is he just hanging out? Bored?

Hand in the cleavage.

Upset? Hurt?

Hand in the cleavage.

Post temper tantrum?

Hand in the cleavage.

You get the drift.

Good thing I don't mind.