The Big 4

 Oh Jacob. I wish I knew where the last four years have gone. I know they have been awesome, mostly because of you. You are still a very emotional boy, and while it drives me crazy sometimes about the things that make you cry, it's also nice that you still need someone to comfort you.

 I like that I can make your birthday cake for you, with Cars, as requested and all you remember about it is that it was carrot cake. Which you didn't even eat!

 You started Pre-School just two days before your party and there were no tears over me leaving you. You went and played with the trains, amid all the kids in your class, after kissing me goodbye.

You still have an adorable speech impediment, saying "w" for your "l" sounds and I know eventually that will fade away. You like to tell stories about silly things and play with your millions and millions of tiny cars.

You have a new bed, a bunk bed, that I'm only about 80% sure you are going to sleep in all night long so we have to turn on your "tiny lights" in case you decide to climb out in the middle of the night, all fumbling and bleary eyed.

You have become the best big brother, although as I write this, you tried to pull Elise from her crib and make her cry.  You like to make her laugh, even when you can't keep your face far enough from her eyes so she can actually see you.  You share your blankets with her, even though you want me to give you the old, broken trash can that I am using to hold her dirty diapers because you think it's yours. I have no idea why, because it's old, cracked, and smells like ammonia.

You came in and told me your first joke the other day, when you tried to convince me that Hunter had eaten the bottle of slime you bought at the zoo. I had to ask you several times if Hunter really had eaten it, before you cracked a huge smile and admitted you were joking. 

You are the very best, Jacob, and I love you so much. Even when I have to tell you for the hundredth time to stop yelling because your sister is sleeping. 

Bonus shot of Elise: She really likes boobs, OBVIOUSLY!

2 months!

 I don't know why she looks freaked out here, but she was being a happy and smiley girl until I brought out the camera.

 No need to be shy, honey. No one else in the family is!

This baby girl, oh, she is so sweet. Maybe a bit of a mama's girl but only because mama has the milk. She likes to go to sleep in her crib, alone and she sleeps almost all night long. She'll smile at Jacob, and likes to coo at the Fox in the painting above her changing table.

She can finally focus on the little stuffed animals on her bouncer and will spend 20 minutes there, talking to them and trying to grab them. She likes baths in her bucket tub and oddly tries to put one foot up out of the water every time.

It's so much work to have her and at the same time, it's really nothing at all. I can't believe 2 months have gone by and I want it to slow down and speed up all at the same time!

7 Weeks

 Jacob and baby Yoda! Her ear is not really that big, I promise.

 Something compels Jacob to pose whenever I try to take a picture of her.

So. Things are moving right along.

My maternity leave ended and I started back in July. It was mostly self imposed, as I could have taken up to 10 weeks, I believe.  But working from home isn't really that bad and we'd probably be home anyways while she napped! I'm only back 3 hours a day, instead of the 4 I intended but I'm planning on adding an extra hour in during the mornings. If I can only get up before 9!

Elise is growing like crazy and I believe she weighs about 13 pounds now. She's started to smile at us and it pretty much kills me dead every time. Gummy baby smiles are like crack. This is why people have more than 2 kids!!

I don't think I'm going to have more than this though. It's a lot of work and I am not getting any younger. 

Jacob has adjusted to having her around and he's now into asking to hold her a lot. She doesn't seem to mind for the most part, but it's only for a minute or two.  I think Jacob gets bored if she doesn't try to suck on some part of his arm or face.

We're all sleeping well and I'm eating like crazy, darn nursing hunger, as well as getting out of the house more. Jacob is in a sports camp for a couple of days the next few weeks and he's certainly enjoying it.I tried to get him into a preschool, but it turns out that if you aren't poverty level poor, you have an education, you weren't 18 when you had him, and he's too smart? They don't let you go to pre-school early. I feel horrible because I thought we would be accepted, no problem and Jacob desperately wants to go to school. We are on a waiting list, so we'll see. Maybe there is a chance!

"Camping"

 We went camping for the 4th of July.  I say "camping" because we stay in a fully furnished little cabin with running water so it's not quite camping. I don't really do camping, even sans 2.5 week old babies.  We drove up to Gunnison, which is a couple hours away and about 20 degrees cooler.  I'm now considering summering in the mountains, just to get away from the relentless heat we've been dealing with the last few weeks. 

Elise did pretty good on the drive up, although she hates the carseat as much as Jacob did. Jacob did much better in his brand new big kid car seat. However, when he falls asleep in the new seat, his head flops over and I worry he is going to choke himself on the seatbelt. I resorted to stuffing pillows on his lap, which is was quite delighted with when he woke up.  

We did a whole lot of nothing while we were up there, although we ventured out a few times to visit a hatchery, do a little fishing on Papa's boat, and drove up to Crested Butte for an afternoon.  It was nice to get away, since I don't have many opportunities to do so.  

I have to admit that I am already dreading going back to work. It's so nice to just be at home with the kids and have no obligations. I do love my job but life without one is pretty great. We'll make it work though.

Two Kids

Chris came home from work one morning to find all of us in bed. Just like this. Life with two kids is peachy, ya'll. Even though there is a bit more yelling at the older one to stop messing around and trying to figure out how to make the smaller one stop crying without sticking a boob in her mouth. 

But then the two of them cuddle up next to me and everything will be just fine. 

Birthin' Baby: the 2nd Go-Round

I have always said I would like to have a natural birth with no inducing and no drugs. Sort of a life list goal, if you will.  My doctor for Jacob thought he was going to be a huge baby and really felt like inducing around my due date would be best for all.  This time, I was very excited that my doctor would let me go over 41 weeks before inducing. But then my due date came and went and I thought that getting the baby out sounded like a grand plan.  But I also heard that 95% of babies are born within 3 days of their due dates and Elise came right on time!

4 AM: I wake up and notice that my normal Braxton Hicks contractions are feeling a bit different.  I can't see the clock to time them but they are coming and going, slowly.

7 AM: I decide that they are definitely contractions and get out of bed to tell Chris.  He'd just gotten out of the shower and we sat in the living room for a while before he told me I should go take a shower and we'd head to the hospital.  I had to convince him that it was much too soon to go to the hospital, and assure him that he wouldn't have to deliver the baby himself.

9 AM: I decide to pit a bag of cherries and put them in the freezer, just in case I really am in labor. I don't want to waste any of my precious sour cherries from the backyard! 

10 AM: We go down the street to tell Chris's mom that we may need someone to watch Jacob later, then we start walking around the block.  Jacob and Chris are riding their bikes while I follow with Hunter. We only go for two rounds before we head inside so I can shower and sit down to work.

12:30 PM: I eat some lunch and sit down to rest before I am supposed to sign in for work.  I nap for about 15 minutes and then head to my desk.

1:00 PM: I realize my contractions are now coming every 10 minutes or so and lasting for about 30 seconds.
2:00 PM: My co-worker takes over the phones and chats and tells me to do whatever I want. I work on some neglected logs and browse the internet for distractions.

3:30 PM: I decide that I should probably sign out of work and go do something active to progress labor. Contractions are still every 10 minutes and less than a minute long.  But nothing painful, just a tightening that passes.

4:00 PM: I break out the exercise ball and sit on that in front of the TV. I'm watching Guy Fieri's Diner's, Drive In's, and Dives, which makes no sense but it does make me hungry.  Chris takes Jacob to his parent's house.

5:00 PM: Chris goes to get dinner for himself.  I'm not really hungry but I tell him to get me something.  He comes back with a street taco from Carl's Jr. and I can't eat it.  The last thing I want is something spicy and oniony, apparently. Perhaps this baby is not a burrito baby, after all.  Instead I eat a bunch of his french fries and wish I had some chicken strips.

5:30 PM: Chris goes out to water the garden and I finish packing up our stuff.  Contractions are now about 5 minutes apart and lasting a minute and they are getting a lot stronger.  Moving around makes them worse but I take that as a good sign.

6:00 PM: We get in the car and head to the hospital.  Chris takes me one yet another route but this time he's trying to go a less bumpy route.

6:40 PM: We arrive at the hospital and park. Walking toward the ER is no longer possible to do without holding on to Chris's arm and hobbling but we get there. I give my information to the ER nurse and another gets me a wheelchair.  He and Chris recognize each other from previous trips and they start talking about AMR and paramedic classes.  I'm just happy I don't have to walk to Labor and Delivery.

6:45 PM: We check into L&D and the nurses hook me up to the monitors and check me. I'm only at a three but since they can feel the bag of waters, and I'm in active labor, they admit me.  I have to stay in the bed for about 20 minutes to get an idea of how the baby is before I can get up and use the ball or get in the tub.  Chris goes to get the bags and let my mom know she can head to the hospital now.

7:00 PM: Chris is back and I am waiting for the nurses to come in and unhook me.  I don't realize that it's shift change so it's taking a lot longer than I would like. The ball is over in the corner, taunting me.

7:30: The new nurses come in and let me off the monitors after another batch of questions.  Chris gets me the ball and I sit on that for a while but I keep shaking during contractions and I am now freezing.  I decide that the bath sounds like a good idea so he starts filling the tub.

8:00 PM: I've kind of lost track of time at this point, but I believe I got into the tub around then. It warms me up but the shaking from contractions still continues. My contractions are still about 30 seconds long and every couple of minutes.  My mom gets to the hospital. I like the tub but it's not really big enough to do anything but lay on my back. I think a big round tub would be genius instead.

9:00 PM: The nurses come in to check me and monitor baby's heart rate.  I'm at a 5 or so, bag of waters still intact. They have trouble getting the baby's heart rate but when they do it is high, around 200, so they need me to get out of the water and cool down while hooked to the monitor.  This time, at least, they let me be on my side instead of my back.  Chris moves a chair over to rub my back and my mom gives me water and chapstick.  I shunned the hospital provided tube for my favorite orange kind.

10:00 PM: I get up to go to the bathroom and while I'm waiting for the nurse to bring in a cup for me to pee into so they can test me for keytones (I think) I discuss with Chris about how I think I am ready to have an epidural. Laying in bed is not too bad but I imagine it's going to get worse soon. And, like I said to him, it's kind of insane to not get the drugs.

10:05 PM: After I emerge from the bathroom, I find the on call doctor in my room. She wants to check me and break my water.  I ask her if I can get the epidural after she does that and she says yes, so I agree to let her.

10:10 PM: She breaks my water and I feel a lot of warm fluid all over my bed. There is a lot of water, which explains part of the reason why I am so huge.

10:12 PM: First contraction post water breaking and it is overwhelmingly painful.  I tell Chris that I need Fentanyl and he gets the nurse to order that while I'm waiting for the anesthesiologist.

10:12 to 10:45 PM: I am more or less a wriggling body on the bed. The contractions are so very painful, I cannot get my body to relax and I keep forgetting to breathe through my nose and out of my mouth.  Chris and my mom are taking turns rubbing my forehead to remind me to relax and breathe. I recall saying that it hurts at one point, while the logical side of my brain is saying "YES, OF COURSE IT DOES" but that doesn't make a difference.  There isn't much pain in between contractions, which is really fascinating but the amount of time between is pretty short.

10:45 PM: The Dr. comes back and tell me that there isn't enough time for the epidural now, they are going to prep the bed for me to start pushing.  Chris asks her again for Fentanyl but she says that at this point, it won't help me and will go straight to the baby. She does offer to numb me and I agree.  I don't remember much of anything at this point, besides contractions coming and I had my eyes closed for most of the time.

10:50: I start pushing, but I'm doing it all wrong and Chris and the nurses are trying to coach me into holding my breath, pushing down, and not making any noise but that's just too much for my brain to process.

10:55 PM: I open my eyes and ask the Dr. what I am supposed to do at the next contraction.  They tell me again, and as the contraction starts, I do it all wrong. 

10:57 PM: I hold my breath, and the baby's head is out.  Then I feel the rest of the body come out and suddenly there is a baby.  I look down and see it's a girl just as my mom leans over and tells me it's a girl.  They lay her on my stomach and we all agree that she looks just like Jacob.  They are rubbing her body off as Chris cuts the cord.    

11:00 PM: They take her over to the warming table and do all the little things they do: APGAR, footprints, weight, etc. The Dr. is taking out the placenta which is a very strange sensation and I'm anxiously asking if I'm going to need stitches. Lucky me, I do not! I feel amazing, actually, now that the pain is gone and I have a real live baby girl across the room from me.

Once the staff leaves the room, and I get to hold her, we are all amazing how pink she is and she makes herself heard with all sorts of baby coos and grunts.  I let her nurse and realize that she has a little barracuda latch.  I am lucky she is not my first baby!  My mom pulls out the blanket I made her and we wrap her up and everyone gets to hold her.  Just like that, we have a baby girl. 

Elise Bonnie Slattery. June 15th 2012 at 10:57 PM. 8 pounds, 8 ounces, 21 inches long. 

Elise the Police

Elise Bonnie Slattery
Born June 15th, 2012 at 10:57 pm
8 lbs. 9 oz. and 21.5 inches long

We are heading home in abut and I can't wait to share her birth story. Certainly the hardest thing I've ever done!

40 Weeks, 1 Day

June 12th has come and gone!

Obviously, no baby.

If I had any faith in all the "remedies" that you can torture yourself with to get the baby out, I'd try them. But I'm pretty sure none of them will work.  If spicy food didn't give me heartburn, it would be much more fun to do that over castor oil.

I have a halfway packed hospital bag though! But the Pack and Play is still at my mom's and the changing table is still in storage, so we aren't even ready for the baby. Not like that will change anything! Besides, Chris is much more productive under pressure, so he can get that all worked out before we come home from the hospital. 

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you probably saw the terrible photo of my sunburnt legs from Sunday.  The lobster look is mostly gone, but left in it's place is the most unflattering tan with a half moon shaped white patch from my belly. That's going to take some time to fix. But luckily, we will be able to be outside in the afternoons post baby. 

As excited as I am to have this baby, I am equally excited to have some time off! And mojitos. I have a lot of mint growing in the garden. Need to use it somehow!

7 Days

Oh friends. I'm sorry. No baby yet!!

Just my huge, itchy belly and some swollen feet to go with it. 

I'm actually at an "almost 2" so that is much more progress than my barely at a 1 with Jacob at 40 weeks, so that is good news.  I'm in some crazy nesting mode, but only partially because I need the changing table in from storage before I can arrange all the baskets holding the baby clothes, baby diapers, blankets, etc. Currently, they are stacked nicely on my ironing board.

I was actually very productive this weekend and finished up some things for a friend having a baby this August.  She requested a nursing cover, baby quilt, and a car seat cover, and I have somehow finished it all except the ties to secure the car seat cover. I'm worried her car seat isn't going to work with the design I have, but if it doesn't, I suppose she can mail them back to me and I can adjust!  I'll try to get some photos up. 

I have made one baby blanket for *my* baby and I'm putting the quilt on the back burner until I have some time to finish it. I don't think a baby needs a large quilt in June, right?  The little Jersey/flannel one I threw together should be just right. 

I also attempted my first dye job this weekend, as well.  I used Rit dye and I chose Orange and Dark Blue for the white baby items I had on hand that needed some attention.  The orange turned out perfect, even and bright! The Dark Blue? Everything turned purple. Which will be perfect if I have a girl, less so if it's a boy.

Which I hope we know if SEVEN DAYS or SOONER!!

Baby Baking

We had our first of the last OB appointments yesterday. Only four weeks left, which is an awful lot of time to get even.more.pregnant. But not a lot of time to get everything ready before this kid comes. 

I got the lovely test for Group B Strep out of the way, praying for the results to be negative so I don't have to have any antibiotics during labor. She went ahead and checked me and it's at a big fat ZERO so I think my hopes for a 37 week baby are out the window. 

Jacob had a good time, as she let him help her find the heartbeat with the doppler, right after he took Chris's blood pressure. I think she has a soft spot for Jacob as he once told her she looked so beautiful when she came in to the room a few months ago. He is kind of charming. 

I suppose I should make an appointment to go to the hospital and register, although I really wish I could just type in my information on the website and be done with it. I don't really care to see the rooms before hand, or watch any videos on the epidural, etc. This ain't my first rodeo, you know? I am not going to care one bit if the rooms are remodeled. As long as I have my own room, it's all good!

The hospital we are using offers a "complementary" take home meal to their patients for the first night home, which is really sweet, but I'm also thinking that it's not really free! But it is a Catholic hospital, so I suppose it could be in a sense.  All I'm hoping for is the chance to use the tub and a quick, get out of jail free pass after one night. No extended stay for us! I'm only taking a month off of work, I want as much time off as possible!

5 Weeks Left

So. Tomorrow I am officially 5 weeks out from my due date. 

I also have a TON of things left to do.

Official List of Things That Should Be Done Before I Pop Out Another Kid:
Retrieve changing table and Pack n Play from storage
Clean out area downstairs for changing table space
Wash newborn clothes
Buy a dresser for clothes/Steal the one from my old bedroom at my mom's
Order diapers
Register at the hospital
Request cord blood donation package to take with us.
Wash car seat cover, swing cover, bouncy chair cover
Order new seat belt so I can put the car seat in the middle of the car.
Finish baby quilt
Make changing pad cover
Decide on a diaper bag
Make Moses basket bedding
Purchase gauzy fabric for swaddle blankets and dye them
Install a top loading washer for diapers/clothes, etc. because we will need to do laundry more than once a week and that's not an option at the moment.


I'm sure there is more. I'm also sure only half this list might be complete before the baby comes. But at least we really only need the pack and play and the infant seat to really be prepared. Oh, and diapers, but you know my awesome job has that covered. :)

Jacobism

Today, Jacob ran into my room with something stuffed under his shirt.

"Look, Mom! I have a baby in my tummy!"

Minutes later, he came back with something else stuffed in there.

"Look, Mom! I have TWO babies in my tummy!"

I'd tell you their names, but it's very long and confusing and mostly just vowel sounds.

Obviously, I'm getting much larger if he's having to add things to make his belly big AND he thinks he has more than one baby in his tummy.

Only 5 weeks left!

Kitchen Aid!

 

The past weekend, I attended a paper piecing retreat in Fort Collins. We were taught by the lovely Penny and it's incredible how much I learned. I had zero knowledge of how to even attempt paper piecing and while I am not anywhere near a pro, I was super excited to be able to paper piece a little fox for the baby's quilt. Assuming I can get around to finishing that before June. 

The block I made it the Kitchen Aid mixer with the bright blue background and we thought I should include my belly in almost every photo I took. It's kind of taking over everything. 

We didn't stay the night at the Inn, but next time I am totally spending the night in the yellow room here. It has the most amazing bathtub, although I don't think I can get in and out of it safely at the moment. I also had the best food EVER, all made by Tara and she is absolutely hilarious. I can't even re-create the conversations we had in her car as we drove around FoCo on Saturday afternoon. 

So, just another reason why I think moving to Fort Collins would be a stellar idea. We just need AMR to transfer Chris and we are all set.  

I also got the chance to go out to dinner with one of my co-workers and one of my bosses. It's great to work at home, but I would love to be able to work around everyone at the warehouse!  They also gifted me with an amazing maternity leave package and I can't tell you how blessed I was to have that security from them. 

Baby Update

We had another ultrasound this morning after my Monday morning appointment revealed that I am measuring 34 cm while only being 31 weeks. My doctor isn't worried, but she does like to have a reason to schedule an ultrasound if she can. So off we went this morning.

Everything looks good, and baby was actually head down and I'm almost positive that was not the case earlier that morning. I felt like I was a punching bag on the drive to the Dr. Based on the measurements, baby is about 3 lbs. and 14 oz. which places it right in the middle of the spectrum. I have a lot of fluid in there though, about double the amount that they want to see, although it's not a bad thing to have more. At least, I don't think so! I'm not sure if there is anything they can do to take away from the amount of fluid. Or why they would need to do that.

The tech also made us look away as she found out the sex and I am almost positive that she slipped up and said "she" right after looking. She then told us she was going to check the legs and then the sex, but I think it was a cover-up. Chris refuses to play along with me, and I maintain that he knows we are having a girl. Especially since he keeps saying that he got his boy...

Plus, how cruel would it be to have a boy and not Elise the Police, as Jacob will not be able to wrap his mind around that one come June. Baby boy really wants his baby sister!

Coozie

The other day, Chris got his grill set up at our house and the boys went to work on making some dinner.

Of course, grilling means beer for Chris and I let Jacob pick out a Grape soda when we went to the store for the meat. Chris has a collection of Bass Pro Coozies that he unearthed from our storage unit at some point, so they decided that they needed to be used.

Grilling is serious guys business, I guess. I'm not sure, I spent most of the time, barefoot and pregnant in front of the stove.


Cheers!

Hoppy Easter!

So, I spend the majority of Easter weekend at church. Being on the worship team is great fun and a wonderful way I can serve, but it can be a bit consuming over a holiday!

I didn't get to see Jacob dye eggs or have an Easter egg hunt, but I know he got to do all those things multiple times with various members of the family.

I also took my camera with me quite a few times, as well, but only got to take 2 shots of the boy. He spend most of last week sick with a cough and a low fever, so those two days of non-stop action with the family was rough on him. He finally crashed at 4:15 on Sunday afternoon as we drove to my in-laws. He took a good nap and then stayed up half the night.



Lucky for me, everything is mostly back to normal now!

PS. I am super excited about the huge basket of candy he brought home from all the egg hunts. More chocolate for mama!

Block Swap

I thought I'd share a few blocks I've done for the Modern Quilt Guild, mostly because it's the ONLY crafting I've been doing and I finish them all really late as it is!


The block above is a Snail Trail block and the tutorial looked super easy at first but I had the hardest time wrapping my head around it. Luckily, the Flickr group was a huge help for me as I could see other blocks and get some idea of where to put each piece!

This was a wonky 9 patch and it was fun to put together but kind of tricky! Mostly because I have a hard time "wasting" fabric and true wonkiness is best achieved by not worrying about that kind of thing.

I should take some photos of the great blocks I am getting back from everyone else! If I keep at this until November, I will have 12 blocks to make into a quilt!

Still a Baby

We had our ultrasound this morning to do a size check on the baby. Everything is measuring perfectly, which is lovely, but really just points to me gaining a lot of weight rapidly!

Good job self, those cookies don't eat themselves.

According to the fancy measuring they do, baby is weighing around 2 pounds 3 ounces and has a lot of fluid to swim around in!

Side note: Did you know that amniotic fluid is BABY PEE?

You're welcome!! The human body is really gross.

We have quite a wiggly baby, or ultrasounds just make it angry, because as soon as the tech starts with the wand, baby does not stop moving. And now I can really feel those little kicks.

I'm going for a maternity photo shoot tomorrow morning, which will be really fun! We haven't done any pictures since Jacob was a little baby. But this time I'll make sure Chris doesn't have hat lines in his hair and Jacob only has one scratch on his face. Lucky for me, I don't have major purple acne yet, so I'll be looking good!

Baby's First Photo Shoot

I've had a huge roll of ultrasound photos for weeks (months) now and I never remembered to take photos of them to post. I wish all OB's would hand out a CD of the images, along with the paper copies, but I guess no one around here works like that. Chris did request an image of the baby using the 4-D equipment so you can see the baby's skinny arm and first curled around the face above. The images were kind of hard to see since the machine is much slower and the baby would not stop moving.

The regular black and white were pretty good though.

I feel the foot quite often. And I think it is sometimes lodged in my ribcage which gives me the sensation that I am not breathing normally. Fun times!

Another 4-D shot. The nose is so teeny tiny and I am almost thinking that this baby is not going to look like Chris and will look more like I did as a baby.

We have another ultrasound tomorrow, but I don't think it will be quite as long as the last one. We just have to get in and out without finding out the sex. Might be tricky at 27 weeks!

For the Boy

Chris put in his two week notice at his part time job last month and this week was his first week off. We know that the pay cut is going to make things a little rougher on things for a while, until Chris gets his finances straightened out, but life should be a little more normal now.

Before, Chris was working 5-5 on the weekends, including Friday and every other Thursday, as well as Monday and Tuesday nights. So we saw him a little bit on Monday and maybe a little more on Wednesday. He was just gone/sleeping for most of the time.

Yesterday, he had time and the weather was amazing, so he tilled up the garden to get it ready for planting.

Today, he took Jacob to the Children's Museum in Pueblo.

I think these things are more important than a free for all shopping trip to Target, you know?