Week 2 in Pics

Week 2 included Hannah's first time in her crib (just for a quick nap), her first ride in the stroller, her first bath, her first time to hang out in the bouncer, some hang out time with Grandma and Grandpa J., getting to know Maggie a bit better and adjusting to being a family of 4.

Christmas X 3

We celebrated Christmas a day late for Luke's sake. We pretended that Christmas Day was actually Christmas Eve and so on. We wanted to have the "waking up in the morning and it's Christmas" feel to it which wouldn't have been possible actually on Christmas since we brought Hannah home from the hospital that morning. The morning of the 26th we got up hoping to have Christmas only we were concerned I had a blood clot. So Luke opened his stocking and played with the gifts Santa brought him and a few others and then my mom took Hannah and I back to the hospital to make sure I was okay (I was). We finished celebrating with Grammy, PawPaw, Sarah and Barbara later in the day. I have to say that for me it never really felt much like Christmas which was quite unfortunate. Luke really had a good time opening his presents though and that's what really matters.

We celebrated Christmas with Troy's parents on the morning of the 27th. Hannah and I were present although I don't have any pictures of it (I'm sure Lowell and Sherre have some). Again Luke really enjoyed opening his gifts.

Our final Christmas celebration was with Grandpa and Grandma H., Kristi, Wesley and Sarah on the night of the 27th. This was also the first time Kristi and Wesley got to meet Hannah. Luke had tons of fun playing with Wesley and again opening gifts. He was especially excited about the dinosaur sleeping bag and tent that Kristi and Wesley gave him. Troy and I were there but again not in any of the pictures.

1st Week in Pics

Enjoy all the cuteness!!!

Timeline

This is basically a post for me to remember what happened when but you might enjoy reading the short tidbits I put with each event.

December

22: Hannah is born!

23: Hannah meets Luke, Grammy, Grandpa and Grandma H. and Ashley. I passed out about 11 am because I was given the wrong pain meds on top of my epidural. It's a much longer story that deserves it's own post.

24: Hannah meets Aunt Sarah, PawPaw, Aunt Barbara and Susannah. Luke holds Hannah for the first time.

25: We bring Hannah home from the hospital. For Luke's sake, we pretended that this was Christmas Eve.

26: We attempted to celebrate as if it were Christmas but my mom took Hannah and I back to the hospital because we were concerned that I may have had a blood clot. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing and we were back home about 3 hours later. Hannah meets Grandma and Grandpa J.,Uncle Todd and Aunt Georgia. We finish celebrating Christmas with Grammy, PawPaw, Sarah and Barbara later in the day.

27: Grammy, PawPaw and Aunt Barbara head home. We celebrated Christmas with Troy's parents. Hannah meets Aunt Kristi and Cousin Wesley and we celebrate Christmas with them, Sarah and Grandma and Grandpa H.

28: Sarah watches Luke while Troy and I take Hannah for her first doctor's appointment. She weighed 7 pounds 4.5 ounces. The doctor was hugely surprised that she had already started gaining weight (she actually gained weight in the hospital). Because she was growing so well we didn't have to schedule a 2 week appointment. Sarah heads home. We are home as just a family of 4.

29: Again it's just the 4 of us adjusting to being 4 of us. We pretty much were in our pj's all day.

30: More adjusting and chilling out. Troy and Luke have a camp out in the family room in Luke's new dinosaur tent (another post to follow on this hopefully).

31: It was a pretty warm day so we took Hannah on her first walk in the stroller. Luke enjoyed playing at the neighborhood playground for a bit too. Grandma and Grandpa H. come over about 4 and we ordered Mexican for dinner. Then the guys played MarioKart and we all went to bed well before midnight :)

January

1: Hannah has her first bath--it was really more of a sponge bath but she did pretty well and only cried through part of it. Luke was most excited to help us with this and kept telling Hannah that she was doing a good job.

2: Hannah hangs out in the bouncer for the first time.

3: We all had to go to my 2 week follow-up appointment with my midwife. We were only 5 minutes late leaving the house (pretty good for our 1st time out).

4-6: Grandma and Grandpa J. come to visit and help out for a few days.

5: Hannah is 2 weeks old already!

8: Luke comes down with an unexplainable temperature of 104. We were very concerned about him and also quite worried that Hannah would get sick. A nurse-on-call told me it was probably just the start of a bad cold--turns out she was right.

9: Troy goes back to work. I was anxious about my first day alone with a newborn and a sick toddler with a high fever. We made it through the day just fine though. It was probably a blessing in disguise that Luke was feeling rotten because he was pretty much a blob on the couch all day which made it easy for me. I realized that I was getting a plugged milk duct.

10: I called the doctor because my plugged duct was pretty painful and wanted suggestions on how to make things better. They told me if their solutions had not improved things by the next day to call back.

11: I managed to get Luke to MDO by myself before heading to the doctor because things had definitely not improved. The short story of this day is that I had to have the abcess on my breast drained. I am incredibly grateful that Troy was able to take off work to be with me at the doctor from 10 until 4 and that Ashley was able to take care of Luke for us after MDO. I hope to get another post written about the entire experience.

12: Luke goes to MDO again and Hannah and I veg out at home trying to recover from Wednesday.

13: This was the best day all week. I was feeling better and Hannah had a good night so I had some decent sleep. We didn't go anywhere but I felt like I could have conquered anything.

14: Troy and I are worried that Hannah may be developing acid reflux because she'd been having some huge spit ups all week and she had several throughout the day today. I had also been having to sleep on the couch with her most of the week because she wouldn't sleep lying flat on her back. These were all symptoms Luke had before he was diagnosed with acid reflux.

15: Aunt Sarah comes down to stay with us for a few days. Luke starts complaining that his ear hurt and his nose was running constantly.

16: I made dr appointments for both kids and I'm really glad Sarah was here to go with me. Luke had an ear infection and Hannah was diagnosed with acid reflux. This week Hannah started to find her hands and she also started "talking" to us :)

17: We just hung out with Sarah--it was really nice to have the extra hands because the previous few nights I was only getting about 3-4 hrs of sleep. I had a follow up appointment for my abcess and learned that it was much more serious than I originally thought--antibiotics for a month and another 2 week follow up appointment. I took Hannah to my monthly neighborhood Bunco group.

18: Luke goes to MDO and Sarah, Hannah and I go to Sam's Club and the grocery store. We also managed to go out to lunch at my favorite spot, Cafe 501. Sarah and my dad drove back to KC after Luke got home from MDO.

20: I took Luke and Hannah up to Chesapeake to have lunch with Troy and also so Troy could show off Hannah.

21: We all went out to run errands together as a family and then we had lunch out too. It was a successful first family outing. Hannah is starting to smile :)

22: We all went to the airport to pick up my mom. She stayed with us until the 27th. On our way home we went out to lunch again--I had been feeling a bit closed off from the world since I hadn't been getting out much so it was nice that everyone indulged my desire to eat out again.

23: I had a very rough night and Mom let me nap all afternoon :) Mom also insisted that Troy and I go out for a date since it's been quite a while. So we had a nice dinner out and enjoyed talking uninterrupted for about 2 hours. This is also the night that Hannah finally let me sleep in bed half the night rather than on the couch with her all night.

24: Luke and Grammy decorated sugar cookies--Luke had a blast! Mom helped me a ton around the house doing lots of odd jobs that I haven't been able to get done--thank you Mom!!! I slept in bed all night :) (well from 12:30 until 7 with one feeding).

25: I dropped Luke off at MDO and then Mom, Hannah and I went on our first girls shopping trip. It was great to get out and try on normal clothes. We also went out to lunch at Cafe 501.

26: Luke went to MDO again and the girls ran some errands and did a little more shopping. We also relaxed a bit because we were tired.

27: We spent part of the morning organizing all of Hannah's clothes (there are WAY too many of them). We had to take Grammy back to the airport about 4 and then we had a relaxing evening at home.

28-29: Another relaxing weekend at home just the 4 of us. Grandma and Grandpa H. came over for dinner on Saturday night and Uncle Todd and Aunt Georgia stopped in for a quick hello on their way home to Dallas on Sunday. We all took an awesome nap on Sunday afternoon that was much enjoyed :)

So, now we're up to date. Hannah has slept well all week. She's going to bed about 12ish and usually wakes up around 4 to eat then goes quickly back to sleep and wakes up again between 7 and 8. I'm considering this great progress after the previous 2 weeks and my only wish is that she would go to bed a bit earlier. She likes to eat about every hour to hour and a half from about 9 until 12 otherwise I would go to sleep when Luke went to bed. However, I'm definitely not complaining because knock on wood she's got a schedule going somewhat at 5 1/2 weeks old :)

We're starting this week out with all of us healthy and relatively well rested. Here's to keeping it that way!!! And maybe, just maybe I'll get another few blog posts written. It only took me a week and a half to write this one (no joke!).

Luke and Hannah Meet

As Hannah was born at 10:22 pm, we didn't see family or friends until the next day. In fact we didn't make it out of the labor and delivery room and into the postpardem room until 3 am so there wasn't much sleep to be had that night--maybe 2 hours. The high of Hannah's arrival hadn't worn off yet for me so it was okay.

Of course, our first visitors were Luke and my mom, Grammy. Troy met Luke out in the hall and he came in first to meet his baby sister. He walked into the room with a huge smile on his face but he wouldn't say a word. I was holding Hannah in bed so he climbed up in my bed and stared at her for a bit before giving her a kiss. He got down off the bed rather quickly after that. I'm pretty sure he was completely overwhelmed; in fact, my mom said Luke had hardly talked all morning long. That's not typical Luke behavior. You can see most of that play out in the video below.

Blog List

There are so many blog posts floating around in my head. I didn't really think that I would have a hard time getting posts on here because I figured I could do it while nursing or resting on the couch. Apparently, I was wrong although this past week was difficult and full of "real" life (that's just one post I need to do) so maybe I should cut myself some slack.

The list of posts I would like to do:

*Video of Luke meeting Hannah

*Rest of our stay in the hospital

*Coming home from the hospital

*Celebrating Christmas with all our family

*Troy's time at home

*Video of Luke singing to Hannah

*Adjustment period for Luke

*Luke and Troy camping out in the family room

*Cute pictures

*First day alone with 2 kids

*Mastitis and an ordeal I don't want to repeat ever again

*Love and well wishes

It's probably not realistic to think I'll get these all written and do everything else I need to do but maybe just having the above list will be enough of a reminder for me down the road. I'll make it my goal this week to get 3 of the above done.

3 1/2

My first baby is officially 3 1/2 today. As I've said so many times, where does the time go? Having spent the last two and a half weeks with a newborn has reminded me of so many of those first moments with Luke. They are such wonderful memories and it has been awesome to relive them.

Here is a list of Luke's life right now:

*Luke loves to go to MDO two days a week. He is a major chatter box when I pick him up and I love that he tells me about his friends and what they did throughout the day.

*Luke is starting to recognize numerous letters and loves for us to spell things out for him. He can count to 30 (he only skips 13). He is also starting to look at clocks and tell us the numbers (digital clock) and what numbers the "hands" are on for a regular clock.

*Games have become big around here too. He loves to play Hungry, Hungry Hippos; Hi Ho Cherry-O; Let's go Fishing; Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land. We don't quite have all the rules down for all of these but it's so fun to play with him.

*Luke is still into cars and his trains. Santa brought an air craft carrier for Christmas so airplanes and helicopters are big now too. He also got a bunch of John Deere farm equipment for Christmas that he is loving. Dinosaurs seem to have taken a back seat for the time being but I have no doubt they will cycle back in.

*Other top activities: playing on his Leap Frog computer; puzzles; play-doh; painting; reading stories and of course being outside if it's nice enough. I can't forget to add "bonking" with Dad after dinner is probably one of his highlights of every day. Luke also loves to "read" stories on Dad's iPad.

*I am happy to report that potty training is officially over although Luke still wears a diaper during nap time and at night. We still have the occassional issue going #2 but it's getting much better. I credit MDO for really giving Luke the big push he needed on this.

*Luke is a terrific big brother. He loves Hannah so much and shows concern for her constantly. He loves to tell us what she needs when she's crying or if she waking up or still asleep. One of my favorites things is that he always has to give her a good morning hug and kiss--such a sweet boy!

*Eating is still sometimes a challenge especially when it comes to foods that are all mixed together. Thankfully vegetables are slowly becoming less and less of an issue although I would like for him to expand his horizons a bit more. I would say his favorite foods are fruit snacks (if that's a food), apples and noodles with cheese (parmesan cheese). He also really likes spicy pizza (pepperoni) and having "picnics" on the family room floor.

*Pretend play and Luke's imagination are off the charts these days. He is constantly talking to his toys and telling them what to do or how to act. Luke is also coming up with different stories to share with us. They seem to typically revolve around monsters, dinosaurs and trains.

*A few challenges Luke is currently facing include listening and following directions and whining. We work on them every day and some days are much better than others but I'm pretty sure that's just the life of a 3 1/2 year old.

*Luke's favorite TV shows still include Dinosaur Train and Thomas. He also really likes to watch "animal" shows on the Discovery Channel or National Geographic and we have also started watching other shows on PBS especially since Hannah has made her appearance. We are probably watching too much TV right now but that's just how life is right now.

I wish you could each experience daily the joy that Luke brings to our family. What a truly amazing blessing he is for us!!!

2 Weeks Old

Hannah is already 2 weeks old! Time sure does go by fast. She has changed in 2 weeks too which is good but it reminds me how fast this newborn phase will be over. Her face has filled out a bit more and she is more alert. Numerous people have commented on how expressive she is and we do enjoy all of her faces. Hannah has had her first trip to the doctor and because she was already so far above her birth weight, she weighed 7 lbs, 4.5 oz, we didn't have to go back for a 2 week check-up. Hannah has also had her first walk in the neighborhood; first lunch out with Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa J. at Panera; first bath which went very well with minimal crying; and newborn pictures taken (still waiting to get those back). Luke loves to give us updates on how she's doing and also give her lots of hugs and kisses.

I try to make a point of telling new parents to always treasure each and every moment--even the really tough ones. This has been my motto the last few days because we've definitely had some tough times the last few days. Hannah's schedule is non-existent. She is cluster feeding which means she eats about every 20 minutes for a long period of time and then goes a long period of time without eating. This isn't good for either of us especially in the middle of the night. I am hoping to get this figured out over the weekend because Troy goes back to work on Monday.

Hannah's Name

Many people have asked us how we came up with Hannah's name. It was a long process for us and even after we had decided we still discussed other options. We had an easier time coming up with a girls name actually than a boys name. When my friend Ashley was pregnant and they were trying to name their son she introduced me to the website swistlebabynames.blogspot.com. It's a blog site this lady writes about name suggestions for people who e-mail her with their questions about what to name their children. Not everyone who e-mails her gets a blog post response. I figured I would e-mail her just to see if we could get some suggestions. I was really surprised that she selected me and did a post about it.

I didn't post anything about it when I got her response in August because we weren't sharing our name possibilities with anyone. Click here to read my e-mail and Swistle's response and also other peoples comments about both. I hope you find it interesting. I was thrilled that Swistle chose my e-mail to respond to.