Baby J is 1 Month!

Baby J celebrated her one month on Christmas. In some ways, it feels like the month flew by, and in other ways, it's difficult to remember what life was like without her here. I can tell you on thing, it is MUCH busier at my house now. It's hard to find time to get things done, and even simple tasks take a lot longer (in order to get ready in the morning, I have a newborn and toddler with me in the bathroom. Baby J in her swing, and Little A in the shower with me. It's rare that I can get us all clean and dressed in under an hour.) There are many days I think it looks like a toy (and blanket) store exploded in my living room.

Baby J has been such an easy going baby for the most part this month. It seems to me that as she's added awake time, that awake time seems to be when Little A is sleeping. I think they have a pact to keep Mommy and Daddy busy all the time. At night, Baby J doesn't like to go to sleep until after midnight, and sometimes much later. When she does sleep, her preferred place to sleep is on Mommy. Which means I'm not getting the best rest, but I do love the baby snuggles. Little A was the same way for awhile, so I think she'll grow out of it soon. I think it will help if we can figure out how to get her spitting up under control. It seems like Baby J has filled out a lot in the past week or so. It's time to pack up all the newborn clothes again, because Baby J is too big. She wears a lot of 0-3 month outfits, and even fits well into a lot of 3 month size outfits. Mommy and Daddy are worried that she's going to grow up fast, just like her big sister did, so we're getting in all of the baby snuggles we can while she'll let us!Because Baby J's 1 month birthday fell on Christmas, E had to bake Baby J's birthday cake. What a sweet Daddy!

3 Weeks

Considering Baby J is approaching 4 weeks (tomorrow) I thought I should get a 3 week update up.

Baby J is still a sleepy girl, but she has more awake time during the day. At night she only wakes up to eat, and then it's right back to sleep. Baby J has been easy to take pretty much anywhere. She sleeps while I run to the grocery store, Target or at dinner with friends. Friday night we went to the Holidazzle parade, and had dinner at the Newsroom with friends- 6 adults and 4 kids. Luckily, we were placed in a room with one big table, and a little extra room for the little ones to run around before the food came, and to put the stroller so Baby J could snooze through dinner. She was by far the quietest of the 4 kids. For the most part Baby J seems to be a really easy going baby. The only problem we're having is that she spits up so much. It seems like she's growing (she's moved out of most of the newborn clothes, and on to 0-3 and 3 month sizes), but I hate to see so much milk bubble out after she eats. We try to keep her propped up after she eats, and that seems to help. I read some suggestions online to limit my dairy, which also seems to help, but I'm from Wisconsin, I just can't completely cut out milk and cheese! Thankfully, the spitting up doesn't seem to bother Baby J.

Baby J at 2 Weeks

At 2 weeks old, Baby J is still quite a sleepy little lady. She does wake up when I change her diaper and clothes, so I grabbed a quick shot of those wide open eyes on her changing table. This is also one of my favorite little baby outfits from Little A. The elephant pajamas are a 0-3 month size which makes me a little sad for two reasons. One, it looking at all of these little clothes that used to fit Little A makes me sad that she's gotten so big. And two, my tiny baby is outgrowing her newborn clothes already and moving up in size (not that I expected her to last long in the newborn clothes with how big she was when she was born).

She's sleeping pretty well at night for just 2 weeks old. She starts the night upstairs in E and my room, and when she gets up to eat for the first time, I take her downstairs and we sleep on the couch for the rest of the night.

We went in for a nurse visit on Friday to make sure Baby J had gotten back up to her birth weight, and she had. Actually, she was an ounce over her birth weight at an even 9 pounds. Baby J spits up a lot after she eats, so I was (am) a little worried about her gaining. The nurse said she was doing a good job gaining though, so I feel a little better. I just wish she was keeping more in!

Baby J is also a very sneezy baby. When she sneezes, it's often four or five sneezes in a row. Little A likes to say, "bless you baby," after Baby J sneezes, which is pretty adorable.

This week we also introduced the bottle. Actually, right at 1 week. I know it's a lot earlier than many people do, but our pediatrician with Little A encouraged us to start early so that E and Little A could have some bonding time, so we wanted him to have that time with Baby J too. Plus, Baby J is going to have to start day care pretty early (2 months old) so we really need her to take a bottle. She takes the night time bottle really well, but it seems to wake her up (we had hoped it would make her extra sleepy).

1 Week Old

I thought I would start Baby J's pictures in the green chair a little earlier than with Little A to show just how drastic the changes are in the first year. So here she is at just 1 week old.

Baby J's first week went so fast! I know they all will, but this week seemed especially quick. We were in the hospital for two days, and we came home on Sunday. Nana stayed until Wednesday which was a HUGE help! We were all sad to see her leave, especially Little A (she kept asking, "Where Nana is? Where Khloe (Nana's dog) is? after they headed home).

Baby J spent most of the week sleeping. I forgot just how much newborns sleep. Like her big sister, Baby J doesn't like to sleep laying flat. So she sleeps the first few hours of the night in her swing, and the rest of the night she sleeps on Mommy. When she is awake, she's eating. I feel like she's a good eater, but she spits up a lot after she eats. She's also a little "tongue tied," so we are going to take her in again at 2 weeks old to make sure she's gaining weight okay.

Overall, the first week was great! We're all in love with the new addition to our family!

39 to 40 Weeks

At 39 weeks I was big. I felt big and uncomfortable. During the last few appointments with my doctor, we had been discussing a possible induction before my due date because baby girl seemed big, I was progressing well and we were worried about what to do with Little A when it was time to go to the hospital. At my 39 week appointment, we decided to schedule the induction for 7am on Friday.
I felt good about the plan. We had friends to watch Little A in the morning, and then Nana would pick her up and stay with her while we were in the hospital. Little A, E and I had a low key Thanksgiving at home. We made dinner together, went for a long walk around the lake and did a little cleaning and organizing for baby. We definitely had a lot to be thankful for this year. One sweet little girl here, and another to come the next day! I went to bed feeling like I was as ready as I was going to get for baby's arrival (although we still hadn't decided on a name).

Then came 3am, and I woke up having a contraction. At first I thought it was just a fluke, but when they continued, I figured I was probably in labor. The contractions were 9-10 minutes apart though, so I tried to relax and get a little more rest. My contractions moved pretty quickly to being only 4-5 minutes apart, so I got out of bed and moved to the couch, hoping E could sleep a little more, and I would be more comfortable. I was thinking that I would be able to stay at home, and just go in when I was scheduled. But the contractions picked up, so I got in the shower. (Side note: I had downloaded a free contraction timer app a few weeks earlier, and it was really helpful to keep track of how far apart my contractions were. However, after 10 contractions, the app wouldn't work any more. I was very frustrated when trying to find my credit card to buy the full app while having contractions. Not cool app creators, not cool.) When I got out I called the hospital, and the doctor said to go ahead and come in.

E called his friend who was going to watch Little A (who only lives a few blocks away), and had him come over so she could keep sleeping for a bit. We packed up a few last minute things, and when M got here, we headed to the hospital. When we got there, I think there was a little confusion. Several times people who came in to my room made comments like, "Oh, it looks like you're already in labor." Apparently it wasn't communicated very well that I did not need to be induced.

After what seemed like a really long time to me, probably an hour or so, the nurse finally checked to see where I was at, and told me I was already at 6-7. I let her know that I was going to want an epidural, so she started me on fluids. I think this was right around 7am, because after that new nurses came in. After getting some fluids, my new nurses called for the epidural, but it took 3 tries before the anesthesiologist responded. He finally came to my room, and got the epidural started around 8:30am. The nurses left for a little while then to give me some time to relax. One nurse told me she thought I was probably ready to go, but to take some time to relax. I tried to relax, and it was nice to have a little quiet time, but right around 9am my water broke. Such a strange feeling! I had E try to find someone after that because I was really feeling like it was time to push. My doctor and nurses came back, and at about 9:10am I started pushing, and at 9:29am baby girl made her entrance into the world!

My doctor and nurses got everything cleaned up, and gave us some time with baby girl. We got out our name lists, and quickly decided on a name for our new little girl. Later, one of the nurses came back to measure her, and we found out how big Baby J was. E and I were very surprised to hear she was bigger than Little A. Baby J seemed so small! (And when Nana brought Little A to visit later, we were surprised again by how big our first baby suddenly seemed!)

Overall, things went about as well as I could have imagined. It was nice that we already had plans in place for Friday, but I was so thankful that I went into labor naturally. And I was relieved that everything went so quickly after a much longer labor with Little A.

Introducing Josephine Janeen

Josephine Janeen was born at 9:29am on Friday, November 25th. She was 8 lbs, 15 oz and 22.5 inches long. We're all home and spending lots of time snuggling our new addition!

Leaves!

Our yard is not especially big, but we do have a lot of trees. So a couple of weekends ago we headed out to rake and play in the leaves before it got too cold. Little A didn't really like being in the leaves too much unless someone was in the leaves with her, but she was happy to "help" (E and I think it's really cute that when she needs help, she says, "help you.") She didn't like that the rake kept getting "stuck."When Daddy jumped in the leaves, Little A wanted to know, "What's Daddy doing?" Also, that hat, she's obsessed. It worked so well for her Halloween costume, and she wears it every chance she gets. If she can, her mits and boots now too.

38 Weeks

38 weeks means (hopefully) less than 2 weeks to go now! I'm very ready to meet the little lady (and shed some of this tummy). The past week I've had a cold, so my nose has been really stuffed up. That along with baby girl crowding me has made it really hard to breath, especially at night.

As you can see from the pictures, my belly is HUGE (I think this dress makes it look extra big). Little A is having more and more trouble sitting by me now. There's just not enough room on my lap with the belly now. I feel kind of bad for her when she keeps sliding off the couch as we try to read together. Plus, I know one of these days we're going to put Little A to bed at night, and the next day her whole world is going to get rocked.

Besides picking a name for baby girl, I think we're ready for her arrival (I'm starting to worry that we'll be stuck at the hospital forever because she won't have a name). I have all of our newborn stuff washed, organized and ready for a baby girl to use it!

Hoo Hoo

Here's my little owly on her way out trick-or-treating last night. Once she figured out that she got "treats" at each new house, she thought it was a lot of fun. She would act so shy at the door, but between houses she was chatting up a storm. Such a silly girl (who ended up with lots of candy for Mommy and Daddy)!

36 Weeks

We headed to a Halloween party on Saturday night, so E and I had to come up with some quick costumes. I ended up going as an 8 ball, and E as a pool cue. I don't have any pictures from the party, but I did put my 8 back on for my 36 week pictures because it was Halloween, and I've reached the 8 month mark in my pregnancy. I can't believe I (hopefully) have less than a month to go!
I feel extra big right now. I move slowly, especially when I need to get off the couch. Little A thinks it's fun because she can get away much more easily now. I'm also having some trouble sleeping, but my biggest complaint right now is the near constant heartburn. I have Tums with me 24/7. Not kidding, I sleep with a bottle right next to the bed because I wake up many nights with terrible heartburn. No fun when I'm already not sleeping very well.I had an eventful 34 week check up a little over a week ago. I mentioned to my doctor that I had fallen down a few steps one morning, so she said I needed a stress test (and to call right away if I fall again). For the stress test, I had to sit in a recliner with monitors strapped to me for 20 minutes. Sounds pretty relaxing until you factor in the toddler who was with for my appointment. I had to stay sitting down, which Little A thought was really fun. Especially after filling herself up with graham crackers and apple juice from the nurse. Pretty sure stickers are covering the recliner in the room now (another treat from the nurse). Everything checked out fine with the stress test, so Little A and I packed up to head out. Unfortunately, about that time my tummy got very upset. So I took Little A and headed to the bathroom, where I got sick. Little A thought that looked like a lot of fun, so after I was done, she had to go pretend she was sick too. She is such a little mimic these days!

Photo Shoot

I had off of work last Thursday and Friday, so I took Little A out for a little photo shoot near the Mississippi River. Some of my favorites are on some old stairs, the same place where E and I took some of our engagement pictures.

I may be a little biased, but I think she's the cutest!

Walking with Daddy

Little A loves her daddy.
Daddy takes her exploring.
Daddy lets her wake up slow in the mornings.
Daddy plays rough, and tosses her high.
Daddy shares tasty treats.

Naptime

Last week Little A started napping in her big girl bed. I tried to sneek in at the end of her first nap to snap a couple pictures of her sleeping, but she was already awake, just resting in her new bed.

18 Months

At 18 months Little A has quite the personality. She's stubborn (E says like her mommy). My sweet little baby girl has turned in to a toddler. I have been trying to get a few pictures of her in the green chair for a couple of weeks since Little A officially hit the 18 month mark. This is what happened the first day I tried this week.

We tried again a few later, with a little better results. Little A still had to be bribed with a few extra toys to stay put. The teapot is one of her favorite toys. She likes to have little tea parties, dance to the teapot's music and eat her "cake." She also likes to put things on her arm like a purse and tell us, "bye bye," and talk on her phone. At day care last week they made paper phones, and Little A carried it around saying, "hello" (which sounds more like "hewow" when she says it).

Little A's vocabulary is growing so quickly. I think she adds at least a word every day. When we read books she is constantly pointing at the pictures and naming the things she sees. She doesn't know a lot of animal names yet, but she's good with animal sounds. She knows moo (cow), baa (sheep), arf (puppy), meow (kitty), neigh (horse), hoo (owl), hiss (snake), buzz (bee), oh oh oh (monkey- she wiggles back and forth when she does that one, Daddy's favorite!), and if you ask what a mouse says, she'll tell you, "cheese." She also makes a cute little fishy face. Mommy and Daddy LOVE the animal noises, they're so cute!

As Little A's vocabulary has grown , there have also been fewer temper tantrums. Last week Little A started saying, "need help." I think it was her favorite phrase last week. This week she's big on counting. She counts, "two, four, five, six, eight."
She absolutely loves books. She is constantly bringing E and I books to read to her. She especially loves, I'm a Big Sister, right now. She loves to point out the baby, and points the mommy folding clothes and says, "help." She's still a tall girl for her age. At her 18 month check up she was 34.25 inches tall, which puts her in the 98th percentile. She weighed 24 lbs, 14 oz, which puts her at the 59th percentile (but is a lot for me to carry around some days with this big belly).

32 & 33 Weeks

The last few weeks have been very busy around here. We've been busy visiting family, and BGS #2 has been busy growing (along with Mommy). I can tell it's getting tight in my belly because BGS #2's movements are very dramatic. No small kicks and punches, but big movements that make it appear there is an alien in my belly.

Back pain, heartburn and braxton hicks contractions are a part of most days now, making it increasingly difficult to sleep at night. We recently got a new sectional for our living room, and there are many nights I've considered coming downstairs to sleep. I'm sure I'll have to do it sometime in the next 7 weeks before baby girl arrives.

We've got Little A's room done, so now it's time to get the nursery updated for BGS #2. Most of the room will stay the same, but we want to personalize it a little, which would be easier if we could decide on a name!

The Look

On Saturday we met up with Grandpa D for lunch. When I took Little A's mooks (milk) away because she was making a mess, here's the look she gave me.

This may or may not be the same look Mommy gives her when she's doing something she's not suposed to. I'm sure I'll see this look many more times in the years to come.

Bath Time

Little A LOVES bath time. Every time she goes in the bathroom, she says "bath, bath" followed by "duck" (after all, she needs her toys if she's going to take a bath). Needless to say, she's a happy girl when it really is bath time.

E laughs that she looks like a different girl during bath time because her hair is so straight. But it doesn't take long for those curls to come back. The next pictures were taken less than 10 minutes after she got out of the tub.

29 Weeks

I always think of the year in trimesters because of my school's calendar. It has worked out with both babies that my pregnancy trimesters match up pretty closely to the school trimesters. I'm due with BGS #2 just a few days before the end of our first trimester at school. The end of the first trimester of school seems far away, but baby's due date seems so close! It's funny how my sense of time changes depending on the situation.

I'm feeling a lot bigger these days. My very coworkers have been kind, and have told me I have a little belly, and I look good for being over six months along now, but the students... that's another story. I was rushing down the hall to get my picture taken and I heard a student who I don't know say, "holy pregnant!" That just made me laugh. Middle school kids don't hide their thoughts very well.

I think part of the reason I'm feeling bigger is because I'm having more trouble sleeping at night. When I'm not preggo, I am a deep sleeper, and it's E who is up several times. Now we're both up several times. I'm even up most mornings before my alarm, which is VERY unlike me.

While Little A doesn't really understand that there's a baby coming, she knows there is something going on with Mommy's growing belly. A few times in the past week she's come to snuggle with me, and curled herself up on my belly. It's pretty cute to see her cuddling with her little sister, even if she doesn't know that's what she's doing.

Fair Time!

The Minnesota State Fair is huge. And considering we live less than 2 miles away, we usually try to go. We skipped last year because Little A was still pretty little, and it's always right before Labor Day, which last year meant it started right when I went back to work. This year we decided it would be fun to take Little A and head out to the fair.
She got to work on the farm, just like Daddy when he was little :)
The Miracle of Life building combined two of Little A's favorite things, babies and farm animals. She walked around all of the animal buildings making animal noises. It was very cute!
And no trip is complete without a bucket of Sweet Martha's cookies, and a trip to the all you can drink milk station. Little A thought the cookies were very, very tasty!