Changing Things Up

Eleven weeks ago today, right about this time (11pm-ish), we arrived home with a sweet baby girl in our arms. I've spent the last 11 weeks getting to know her, loving on her and soaking up all the cuddles I could...and today I enjoyed the last of those days. Sophia and I slept in until 8:30 (probably the last time I'll do that for umm....years), and then spent the day playing and snuggling. I am going to miss her face come Monday morning. Here's her sweet self all those weeks ago and today:

 

I've determined that maternity leave is the perfect amount of time to get adjusted to life with a new little person....only for it to come to an end and have to change it up and readjust everything. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to settle into our new normal. We will be in transition phase for a bit though, with the holidays (good timing with going back, since it means I won't be working a full week for a few weeks). We are also blessed that our families are coming in town to love on the little lady  and postpone her daycare start for a few weeks. That will give this momma a little extra peace of mind for a few weeks. I love our daycare...it's the best we could ask for...but I don't know if it ever gets easier to drop off your babe for the first time. (Fortunately, I won't be doing the drop off this time, when it rolls around. I've elected Ryan to be the point person on that, since I only have sad memories of dropping off Aiden for the first time.)

Here's to figuring out how to control the chaos ahead....the never-a-dull-moment-and-totally-worth-it chaos of life with two sweet, fun-loving kiddos.

A little catching up

I have so many smiles stored in my pictures over these last few months so I'm going to try to get a few of them on here so you can share in my smiles.....and so that when I need a little pick-me-up during a long work day, I can steal a peak at these.

Let's start with little Soph and how she's growing like a weed (stop it little girl!). Like her brother, she had a little jaundice after she arrived so we went to the doc for a check up the Monday after she was born, when she was five days old. She was already over her birth weight, and the doctor said that less than 10% of babies gain back their weight so quickly! (Side note: Little miss ended up having breast milk jaundice, which really just meant that it took her liver awhile to be fully functioning. There was nothing we could do but wait it out, which took about 7 weeks.)

By month one she tipped the scales at 8lbs 3oz and was 20 1/8 inches, and when we went for her two month visit (and all those terrible shots) she was at 9lbs 6oz and 22 inches. The doctor's theory is that babes can sleep through the night once they reach 10lbs. Sophia has been sleeping 6 hours stretches for awhile, but she must be pushing that 10lb mark because last night she slept for 8.5 hours! (All you tired mommas, don't turn on me for admitting this....) We went through some sleep regression with Aiden when I started back to work so we will see if Sophia has the same thing in store (especially since her anti-bottle campaign has me thinking she's going to be super hungry and wanting to refuel at night).

I forgot how often babies eyes are crossed in the beginning!

Still struggling with that sitting up thing....

Don't go around thinking I've got things together since I have a sleeping-during-the-night bebe (if it makes you feel any better, she doesn't snooze super well during the day). Just the other day I went to put the toaster away to find this in the toaster's spot.....(pretty sure I remember lots of little incidences like this when Aiden was a wee man).

Bread, toaster...I was just trying to play a little matchmaker.

And what's Aiden been doing during all of this? Oh, just learning to spell his name, trying out Sophia's stuff (like her car seat, headbands and pacifiers) and aspiring to become an astronaut. See why I have so many smiles?

10 WHAT?!?

10 weeks. Ten. TEN. That's how long my little girl has been out and about in this world. (and almost as long as it's been since I had a post...oops!) We've had lots of visitors and took a nice little jaunt of our own to NY for Thanksgiving. Between visitors here and there, almost half of Sophia's life has been spent surrounded with friends and family. With all that, maybe she'll be a social butterfly, like her brother (have I mentioned that at Halloween he walked into the first house we went trick-or-treating at? Yeah....gotta work on that stranger danger thing.). But Sophia shows some signs of being a bit more introverted. You know how most babies will wrap their fingers around yours if you put your finger in the palm of their hand? (ah, one of those sweet little baby things....) Well, Sophia usually opens her palm wide and pushes away. That little girl knows what she wants and having her space invaded is not one of those things.

A rare, sweet, finger-holding moment. Seriously...I took
this picture because this happens so infrequently.

Where do I begin with my brain dump of all the things I've tried to savor over these last ten weeks. There's the fact that I'm pretty sure she laid on her right side in my belly with her left arm and hand moving freely, a lot like this:

 

I make the left hand comment because she does not let us swaddle that arm at all. I've had friends whose babies didn't like their arms to be swaddled and I always wondered how they knew that. (Aiden loved to be burritoed for the first 4 months of his little life.) Well, now I know. We best not tie down that left arm or there will be fussing until it's free! I think with this baby God decided to answer many of the questions I still had about babies since Aiden wasn't like that. Pacifier? No way. Drinking from a bottle? Hahah, funny joke mom. (Except not that funny since she'll be spending her days with the bottle in less than two weeks...we are working on this like crazy!) Looks like she may be the opposite of her 2 1/2 year old brother who still over uses his sense of taste....

Before I wondered if babies actually knew they were dirty and cried, since a dirty bum never bothered Aiden. Now I know...there are babies who really dislike a dirty bum. Why would you let a baby nap on their belly, when everyone says "back is best"? Because you want them to sleep, that's why! (and baby wants sleep to...just has a hard time staying asleep on her back)

Remember how I said I was nervous that these kids were going to be completely different, and Aiden had been such a good baby that I couldn't imagine what trouble this kid had in store? Well, their baby days are pretty different but it's really not bad just......different. Little miss has basically taught herself to sleep through the night. She's more emotional than her brother, which means fusses over more little things, like being held the "wrong" way or experiencing an unexpected brush against her (Ryan and I have different opinions on which baby fussed more...), but it also means more sweet smiles and coos....that I am really going to miss in a few weeks. I'll try to flood the blog with posts before that going back to work thing happens...

 

Sibling Love

Aiden (and everyone else in our house) has had to do a little adjusting these last 3 1/2 weeks, but every week gets better - and sweeter - with him and Sophia. He knew to be gentle with her from the beginning, but he just gets more and more lovey toward her....and I love it. Every morning he asks, "where's my sister at?" and oftentimes when he's looking for her he will say, "where's my Sophia?" Melts my heart. When you ask him his sister's name he tells you her entire name - "Sophia Raye Schweizer." And just tonight I was listening to him name his family and he was sure to include Sophia ("Mommy, Daddy, Sophia, Aiden").

I love him more (how is that even possible?!?) watching him grow into this big brother role. It's still hard to believe that my baby is now my big boy. Not gonna lie...I've cried over this a few times. From snuggling with him and thinking about how he hardly fits in my arms anymore (much less snuggled against my chest like his little sister) to working through dividing my time between two little ones instead of being able to focus all my attention on one....it makes me a little emotional but it's so worth all of it as we grow into this family of four.

Meeting Sophia for the first time

 

Welcoming Sophia home!

Sharing his toys with Sophia (we actually had
to create an overflow chair because he shared so well...)

 

Holding "my Sophia," like he does every evening

 

Rockin' Mickey and Minnie...perhaps the beginning of
matching outfits....

Morning snuggles with sis

 

Helping Daddy carry Sophia to the car

Meet Miss Sophia Raye!

Remember how in my last update I was going to start doing daily updates? And then, two days later Sophia Raye decided to hastily enter the world. So no daily updates needed. :) Baby is here and we are enamored with our one week old little girl.

When I say hastily, I mean it. Her birth story can be written out in few paragraphs because she came that fast! (Warning, if you don't want to read birth story details, scroll on the down for the cute part of the post - pics.) :)

I went to work Wednesday morning, setting my sights on a Oct. 13th arrival. That would put baby 8 days past due, like her brother, and it would be after all the grandparents' visits were over. So I had 13 days to go. At 10:07 I sent Ryan this email: I am definitely having contractions but I am pretty sure they are Braxton Hicks, which means nothing. Also, they are slightly painful….and I forgot how much of a bummer contractions are. So I kept on working with my "Braxton Hicks" contractions. I was heading to the chiropractor over lunch, and my mom was picking me up for the appointment because we'd dropped my car at the dealership for some work. The "Braxton Hicks" got a little stronger so I decided to organize my desk a bit, just in case I didn't come back that afternoon. My mom showed up at noon, and I swung by my manger's office to let her know I was heading to my appointment and also that I felt like I was having some minor contractions but didn't think they were anything major so I planned on being back. Oh, funny, funny.

When I got to my mom's car a few minutes later the contractions were stronger and a bit more painful so I had her drive us because it hurt to sit up straight. I timed them on the way down....4-5 minutes apart. We got to the chiropractor and I let them know that I thought I was in early labor and asked if I could still get adjusted. They told me I could and said on rare occasions, they'd actually had people's water break because of the adjustments during labor and also that babies often showed up 2-3 hours after their adjustments. I just thought to myself, riiiight......do you know how long my first labor was (21ish hours, if you are wondering)? So I got adjusted and we left. The contractions were getting stronger, though, so I called Ryan right after the chiro to let him know I thought we might have a baby on the way so he was headed down. My mom wanted to go ahead and take my to the hospital, and my compliant self said I did not want to go and sit in that bed for unending hours. So instead we went to a park and walked around, where my contractions went to 1-2 minutes apart.  Oh - did I mention that I contemplated having my mom take me back home after the chiro so I could get my last minute items packed up? Yeah, I debated that. We ended up at the park instead.

Once we realized the contractions were so close, I think I made Mom a little frantic. It was 1:21pm. She called my doc who told me to come in so he could check me. (Everything - chiro, doc, hospital - are within about 2 minutes of each other.) So to the doc we went. I could hardly sit on the ride over or to get checked, I was just super uncomfortable (I mean, besides the obvious pains of contractions) if I wasn't standing. My check revealed I was 8cm and in transition.

Poor Ryan was driving around between the hospital and doctor's office, getting a little lost since we don't spend much (read: any) time in that neck of the woods. Based on the call log in my phone, I think he made it to the doctor's office at 1:59pm. Off to the hospital we went...again, Ryan was a little lost and confused on how to get there. As calmly as a laboring lady in transition can, I told him I needed him to figure it out. I'd guess we were at the hospital by 2:10. Doc Gunby had called ahead to let them know I was on my way so they were ready and waiting. We hooked up to various monitors and they begin admitting procedures. I still could not sit down...it was just entirely too much pressure. At 2:51 my water broke and they told me I had to get in bed so they could check me. I went to get in bed and realized baby was not staying in much longer. (Maybe TMI....but Ryan said he could see baby's head as I was getting in bed.) I told the nurses I HAD to push...seriously, it was not an option. Ryan said the place was like a movie - everyone yelling for a doctor or a resident or someone to get in there. The nurse with one glove on, getting ready to do her check. And then I pushed 2 more times (first push was when I was getting into the bed) and nurse Reyna caught the baby. Things were still a bit frantic with a resident scurrying in and the nurses calling for time of birth, but no one had a clock. Ryan said it was 2:55 so we took off a minute and made delivery time be 2:54. Somewhere in there, Ryan asked if it was a boy or girl....and nurse Reyna told us we had a little girl. I'm smiling just writing this....such a sweet moment in my life.

It took us a few hours to decide on her name. We had this name board at home but nothing we'd put up there seemed right. And then, what I swore wouldn't happen happened - I just looked at her and knew. I'd stressed over this naming thing for months and was certain there was no way I'd be able to just know when she was born - it was totally not me and my personality. But I did just know. So Ryan and I chatted about it and he was on board so we had ourselves a little Sophia Raye - born 10/01/14, 2:54pm, 6lbs 11oz, 19 1/4 inches - completely loved and adored. 

 

 

 

 

39 Weeks

At this point with Aiden, I think I'd gone to daily updates....which I am considering doing again....if I can get myself on here every day.

Went to the doc today....found out baby is holding steady at pretty much the exact same place as last week (2cm, 50% effaced). Sooo, yeah. I think I am just too good of a landlord and make my belly a good place for those babies to stay. Not sure how it's really comfortable anymore - movements are definitely slowing down, which must mean it's getting tight in there. But, movements are still happening, which I guess means it can't be too miserable yet.

We have a definite autumn baby, which I like. My babes have been born in my favorite seasons (spring and fall!) so that's kinda fun. I like that they've both bordered  months too. With Aiden, I didn't even consider that I would have an April baby....with this one I had some wishful thinking that I might have a September baby. But, unless little one wants to show up tomorrow, we will have an October kiddo.

One thing I realized just yesterday - this kid has never had hiccups! It took Aiden a long while to have them, but he most definitely did. This kid doesn't move as much in general (I choose more movement if I get to pick...but I don't). It's crazy how different I already feel like these kids will be (and yes I am making a huge generalization partly off a lack of hiccups.....). :) Can't wait to really find out!

Great Wolf Lodge!

We took a little family "staycation" last weekend and went to Great Wolf Lodge for a night. Ryan and I both took a day/half day off work, and we picked up Aiden right after nap time and headed over to Grapevine. The place was already hopping when we got there to check in! A few minutes in line, off to our room to change and then some time at the water park. Aiden was good to spend about an hour there and then he was done. But he was happy to run around the arcade for probably just as long, just pushing buttons and climbing in and out of the little cars his size. We also went to the evening story time, but found it much more interesting to climb multiple flights of stairs than listen to a story.

He crashed quickly and Ryan and I spent some time sitting on our little patio just chatting about life. Poor Aiden woke up in a state of confusion in the middle of the night so we threw him in bed with us and soaked up all the Aiden cuddles we could get.

The next morning we took in the Wolf Walk around the hotel (which I thought was a pretty big bummer) and ended up at the staircase again. Some more time in the water park and of course the arcade (such good free entertainment for a 2.5 year old....I had no idea!). We took some pics with the characters there....which Aiden wasn't too sure able (take a look below....). We were home shortly after nap time and little man crashed again.

It was a perfect little family weekend....I really couldn't have pictured it going much better. (Ryan and I did have the start of bummer colds but nothing too miserable that it ruined our fun.) I am so grateful to have this memory and time to look back on as we grow from a family of 3 to a family of 4!

Waiting on baby

I started going to the chiro on Tuesday....who told me my hips were not quite aligned so she proceeded to align them....and as she did, she told me she was pretty sure baby dropped. The doctor confirmed that a little bit later when he said, "this baby is low!" and gave me stats of 2cm, 50% effaced and baby hanging out at -1. That's actually farther along than I was with Aiden at 40 weeks, which makes me think little one is coming in the next week. Some things you probably don't care to hear about started happening today that made me think baby may be coming in the next 48-ish hours...but watch me be sitting here typing out an update next week, baby still curled up in my belly. Any which way is good by me. I am ready to meet little one, but now that baby has dropped and chiro has aligned my hips, I'm a lot more comfortable. I am also getting over a bit of a cold that Aiden had last week and passed along to me so I wouldn't be upset to have the time to get better before baby gets here.

Last week both my work and Ryan's work were very sweet and did showers for us. Mine was completely unexpected - we had a group lunch at Chuy's and there were a few extra people waiting there that I did not expect. I love a good surprise, and I was SO surprised so that was really fun. They are the sweetest co-workers and friends and gave baby plenty of diapers and wipes, along with a changing pad, some books, blankets and other helpful items. One of the gals wrapped her gift in butcher paper and she'd written James 1:17 on it in chalk in beautiful handwriting. It was the perfect wrapping paper for our little one....I should have taken a picture of it all laid out before I trimmed it up to frame a few of the words...and it was very thoughtful of her to put so much time into it. I loved it enough I used some of the paper and one of the bows she made to make pics for baby's side of the room.

Ryan's work shower was supposed to be a surprise for him....but Ryan is a bummer at surprises and investigates until he figures things out so he knew what was up, but it was still very thoughtful of them and it was fun to meet lots of his co-workers. They gave us a very helpful gift card to Target, and also played a fun game of letting everyone guess baby's arrival date, time, length, weight and gender. The scales are tipped slightly toward a little lady. :)  Everyone's guess is good with me...at this point I feel pretty clueless. I was totally team girl in the beginning...but then I had a dream it was a little boy and looked him in the face and called him Jude. But my linea nigra hardly showed up this time and just barely on the bottom half of my belly....nothing like the dark, mismatched line I had for Aiden....which, according to old wives, means it's a gal. So, we will see...one of these days, very soon.

Nine Months!

Last Sunday marked the start of 9 months....and yesterday was 37 weeks so really baby could show up at any point now. Crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone by! The doc did "the check" at my appointment last week and said I was 1cm and 25% effaced....which could really just amount to a whole lot more waiting. With Aiden I started showing some signs by 37 weeks....and he came at 41 weeks.

I've never been a gal that completely loved pregnancy, but there are some definite perks to growing this belly. Like people are extremely nice. And I can eat pretty much whatever and not feel (too) judged. I also think it's fun to have my own personal table in the form of a belly so when I sit down somewhere but don't have a place for my cup, plate, etc., I just use what the baby gave me.

One of my favorite things for both my pregnancies has been pregnancy hair, though. Yup. My hair. Normally if I try to skip a day of hair washing, it is pretty obvious by the end of day two. With pregnancy hair? I can go four days and people still think I washed it that morning. It may be true that fixing my hair is in my top ten of things I like to do least. So, yeah, pregnancy hair is awesome. Probably not tempting enough to have a third pregnancy....but worth considering. :)

If life goes like we've planned (I know, typing those words alone is dangerous...), this will be my last pregnancy. Lots of reasons....maybe for another post. But, the thought that this is it makes me love these last few weeks, even if my back is sore, I have strange pain in my shoulder, I am pretty sure the baby is messing with my sciatic nerve, and I wake up entirely too many times at night for bathroom breaks that I struggle to get out of bed for. This growing a baby business is not comfortable, but it's pretty awesome and I am so grateful for the blessing of my pregnancy experiences.

With Aiden, I was so nervous about delivery, I didn't mind how late he came. With this bebe, I'm ready any time he/she wants to come, but I'm going to love on this belly for as many days as I'm blessed to have it.

Will there by a 40 week picture?  We shall see.....

Shake Your Riding Mower Booty

Aiden decided to create a toddler version of the riding mower (this is the best pic I could get as he was rounding the corner)...

And I decided to teach him a (potentially inappropriate?) song, based on the breakfast we had one morning....

Where do acorns go?

On the ground, that's where acorns go. We recently had this discussion with Aiden. Why, you ask? Well, he went to daycare a few Mondays ago. I'd made a Tuesday doctor's appointment for him because he kept telling me he had water in his ears. I considered just getting some of the swimmers ear stuff, but I also am a little overly cautious with his ears because of the tubes. It was the first time he'd told me something was bothering him so I thought it was nice he could communicate that at least.

So, off to daycare he goes on Monday, with the water in his ears. And this is the email I get a few hours later:
Aiden had a runny nose and Jessie wanted to wipe his nose.  She asked him to blow and he did and then started trying to put his finger in his nose because something was in there.  Jessie saw something black and she pulled it out and it was a little acorn!!!

So, yeah. Pretty sure it had been up there for two days because we'd spent a lot of Saturday outside and because I saw similar looking acorns in our yard so I think (hope) that's where it came from. (The other explanation would be that he'd put it up there a week and a half before when we'd been on vacation....surely it wasn't up there that long!)

Amazingly, that night there was no more water in his ears. When we asked him where acorns went, he pointed to his nose multiple times, but he finally started answering that they belonged on the ground. I've always known to watch what he puts in his mouth, since he puts everything in his mouth, but his dang nose wasn't even on my radar! I took a picture of the little thing he stuck up his nose...I'm saving it for some future embarrassing moment. Turns out, it's the size of the body of a thumb tack!

Mow Lawn?

That's a question Aiden asks now on a regular basis. We used to watch Daddy mow the lawn from the living room, looking out from the open blinds. Then we'd move to the kitchen, sit in the window seats, and watch him do the backyard. But a few weeks ago we followed Daddy outside.....and now every time Daddy mows, Aiden mows too.

It's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen, not only because Aiden is mimicking his daddy, but also because Aiden intentionally looks for Ryan's approval. Ryan will give Aiden a thumbs up when they are headed in the same direction with their mowers, signaling that he's doing a good job. Aiden hasn't quite coordinated his finger mobility yet so he tries for the thumbs up and either ends up with an "L" or just a pointer finger up. But he does it almost every time he makes a turn....he searches for his dad and gives a "thumbs up". It makes me smile and melts my heart all at the same time. Ryan loves it too, which makes it that much better.

Looking for a thumbs up!

Time to put the mowers away.