Special Child?

Here I thought we would only have one "special" child. Little Mr. Fussy Pants in the above pictures has been diagnosed with a milk protein allergy/ intolerance. He is now on expensive Nutramegen formula for that and Prevacid for reflux (like his big sister). After a little over a week of this combo he is a much happier man...except for the dreaded 7pm slot. Ugh. I think all of the entertainment of the day gets him then and he is just hard to calm and get to sleep. He is starting to do better at night when we are sleeping and is stretching his bottle feedings to 3 hours finally. Yay! He also has started to smile. I can't always get him to do it but, wow, what a cutie he is going to be!

 

Rachel has seriously grown up before my eyes. Having Charlie has made me see what a big girl she truly is. She looks so grown to me and is so much heavier than I remember when ever I pick her up. I think I forgot to mention that she is finally on a straw cup and off bottles. She switched a couple months ago. I love watching her drink from it. It just amazes me to see this little normal toddler activity that she worked so hard to do. My favorite part of the day is when she sits in her little chair to watch Baby Einstein with her afternoon snack and water. She just lounges in the chair eating corn puffs and laughing at the screen. I want to remember things like this forever.

Surviving

Ah, it's been tough here these last couple of days. Charlie is not a happy boy. He hasn't been the easiest baby since he's been born but his fussiness has reached new levels. He will not lay down at night to sleep. He will only sleep in our arms or in the boppy pillow on our bed between us. I am thinking it is reflux related but the meds the doctor has given us are not helping. He is also dealing with some horrible gas issues and seems to work really hard to poo. We have also been watching his temperature. It's been 99. 6 or so since Friday night. Tomorrow, I will be at the pediatricians again (The forth time in 2 weeks) and hopefully the doctor will be able to help us out. Stephen and I are exhausted and poor Rachel girl isn't getting the attention she needs these days on top of having ear infections of her own.

What? I'm not supposed to sit in this?

Rachel and I did have a nice mom and daughter morning on Saturday. We went and got her haircut, to the park and then to Babies R Us for some shopping. I love spending time with just my girl and I know she loves it too. Today, she went grocery shopping with her dada and spread her charm at Target. She just loves to sit in the shopping cart and smile at everyone. I never leave Target without at least one comment about how cute she is.

The serious face...the one we usually get

hum...think they have the same profile??

Overall, I think we are both overwhelmed right now. I keep waiting for things to turn...for Charlie to stop crying as much, for him to sleep more than a couple hours at a time, for some kind of routine, for Rachel to get more attention...but right now, I'm not seeing the end of the tunnel.

Random Thoughts

1. I forgot to mention that when Charlie was born and they brought him over to me for the first time, he quieted when he heard the sound of my voice. Neatest. Thing. Ever.

2. Rachel masted the straw cup a couple weeks ago. Well, she could always do it but didn't want to. I finally bit the bullet and took away all her bottles and just gave her the straw cups. Surprise, she hasn't missed them.

Yes, I'm still in PJ's...but the kids are dressed!

3. Rachel had her annual eye exam last week which required me to get myself and the two kids to the doctors office by 8am. ACK! But, we made it and Rachel doesn't need glasses (for now). We won't have to worry about going back for another 18 months unless something comes up!

4. We have had a cold circling through our home. It started with Rachel, went to Charlie, then Stephen and now I have it. Fun. It's still summer! Where did we get this?

5. WVU football season has begun!

6. Rachel no longer cries when Charlie cries!! This is HUGE!! She still seems unsure but is quick to bounce back when he stops. YAY!

7. Rachel has outgrown a lot of her 12 month clothes. Looks like we'll be entering fall and winter in brand new 18 month big girl clothes to go along with her now "giant" size 4 shoes. Whoot! The little man is going to be towering over her pretty quickly, I'm afraid.

First Days

Yesterday was my first day ALONE with both kids. Needless to say, I was really nervous. But, surprisingly, things went really well. Today was a little more shaky though. Rachel woke up in a whiny mood and it pretty much lasted all day. Because it's just me here, she felt the brunt of having to share her mama with this new crying thing that has entered her life. I get a little emotional when I look at things from her perspective. Everyone keeps telling me it's going to get better. I really hope so. It's hard to see my little girl not her smiley self.

"I'm not sure about his noises."

One of the things that hasn't happened, that I thought would, was a change in her sleeping habits. Normally when something new happens that takes her out of her routine, she has a hard time falling asleep and it can mess with her naps and even bedtime. That has not happened and she is providing me with a 1.5 to 3 hour break during the day. It gives me a chance to clean up around the house, take a nap while snuggling with Charlie and eat lunch. I am VERY thankful for that. I have found that most of the time that Rachel is awake it requires me to make sure she isn't going to hurt Charlie. She can be nice when she wants but sometimes she'll just smack at him. I think she does it because she knows it will get my attention. I try to really verbally reward her when she is nice though.

Pout face...right before the tears start

As far as Charlie goes, he's growing right before my eyes. Each day he's different and becoming more aware of things around him. He's staying awake more and just seems so interested in anything I have to say to him. Because Rachel is our first and only child, I keep thinking that he'll follow the same path as her as far as development goes. I keep thinking it will be a couple months before he smiles, over a year before he's done with bottles, over a year before he walks. But then I have to remind myself that he is going to move along much faster. That I really do need to stop and watch him grow because I won't have the luxury of time with him.

A Birth, Guilt and Breastfeeding Blues

Charlie came into this world just as my pregnancy was with him...completely uneventful. The C-section went smooth and he was pulled out into this world screaming what I think would have been swear words if he could talk.

He's yawning here...not screaming :)

We are now a little over one week into having our baby boy home and the emotions I have had towards this change have been overwhelming at times. When people as me how we are doing, I kind of get the feeling they expect me to say "great!" when it's the exact opposite a lot of the time. Charlie is a good baby as far as one week old's go. He cries when he's hungry, when he's wet, when he wants to be held. If we only had Charlie, and not Rachel, I would be fine that he has his days and nights mixed up. Things would be pretty relaxed. But having Rachel too. That is the hard part. I can tell now that she is starting to not like having him around. She is seeing that we can't always be right there for her when she wants us and that kills me. It's always just been me and her since Stephen works. She's my girl. Not being able to spend the time with her that I want to hurts my heart.

I've also been breastfeeding. Charlie picked up on it right away. There were no latch issues or suck issues. But he isn't speedy. It can take up to two hours for him to finish. That is not something I can deal with, especially when I am on my own next week. I've been battling these last couple days on what to do. I feel tremendous guilt thinking about stopping but at the same time, I can't be out of commission for two hours. That only takes away more time from Rachel and it isn't fair.  So, I've decided to stop. Well, at least mostly stop. I think I will try and hang on to one or two feedings a day but the rest will be formula. I have to say it was nice to be able to have Stephen feed him while I finished dinner and we were all able to sit around the table and eat as a family again. Sometimes you have to choose what is best for your family even if everything you read tells you that you are giving up the "best" thing.

Our Little Boy

was born August 12, 2011 at 7:36 a.m.. He was 8 pounds, 20 inches and just perfect. We've only been home 2 days now and it's been chaotic but I wanted to share him with you. Our son, Charlie.

First Ponytail!

5 Days

Yep, in 5 days we will meet our little boy. Everything has taken much longer as far as planning for him, decorating the room and even naming him. But, I think we are finally ready. Well, as ready as you can be when you are expecting a baby! Here are pictures of his room. While he won't be spending much time in there the first month or so, it's nice to know it's completed and I won't have to find the time, with two kids, to finish it. Who needs that stress?! :)

We bought this rocker for $30 on craigslist. Stephen refinished it and painted it black and a lady from our local Ds group recovered the cushions for it!

Here are a couple pictures of Rachel's mini room makeover. It includes a new rug, a new pillow and the decals on the walls.

It's hard to see but there are pistachio colored spirals too....

And of course, I have to leave you with some cute pics of our girl. She makes my heart smile.