Adorableness {BIG photo dump}

I love my babies!

His "cheese" face

He loves to read his sister stories.

He insisted on wearing his hat to breakfast.

I love her smiles.

Happy girl!

I love these two so much.

 

She Rolled Over!

My 6 week old just rolled over from back to front. My mind is absolutely blown right now. Slow down baby girl, slow down!


 

Becoming a Big Boy

C.orben is growing and changing everyday. I love watching him learn new things and sometimes he just shocks me with the things he has figured out. 

Yesterday he wanted some graham crackers, so I got him the box out of the pantry and he took an entire package of graham crackers out. I put the box back on the counter. After awhile when he was done eating he came in the kitchen and put the package of crackers back in the box. I was distracted at the time and later when I went to put the box of graham crackers back in the pantry they were missing. I looked all over and couldn't find them. I didn't worry about it, figuring I would see them around soon and went about my business. An hour later I still hadn't found them and so I finally thought to just ask Corbe.n where the crackers were. He toddled in the kitchen, opened the fridge and handed me the box of crackers!

I'm amazed for several reasons: that he knew to put the package back in the box when he was done eating, that he thought to put the box of crackers away (okay maybe the fridge isn't the right spot, but that doesn't matter), and that an hour later he still remembered where he put them! This is amazing to me!

Earlier that day we were getting ready to leave the house and C.orben asked if we were going "bye bye". I told him we were, but I had to get ready first. He brought me my clothes and tried dressing me himself. Haha! I can't believe he understood what I told him! He's so cool!

Oh and for record purposes... Quinn started making the sweetest cooing noises. It completely melts my heart. She's also wearing 3 month clothes now. Slow down sweet girl.


 

{Quinn} 1 Month Old

My precious baby girl is 1 month old today! I'm so proud of myself for actually posting on time. Life with two kids is busy and tiring. I could be getting a lot more done than I am, but I'm tired and it's hard to get motivated. Plus I've been struggling with lupus symptoms, so that adds another hurdle to jump. But hey, this post is not about me. On to my precious Quinnster.

Quinn is (so far) such a sweet and content little girl. She's mellow and as long as she's fed and dry she's as happy as can be. Occasionally she'll squawk to let us know it's time for some cuddles, which I'm oh so happy to oblige. 

She still sleeps a lot with her largest awake times being for an hour or so at 11am and 11pm. That works out well since I usually don't go to bed until midnight anyways. She does tend to get fussy and just wants to be held around the time that I'm getting C.orben ready and down for bed. This has been a bit of a challenge and is by far the most stressful time of the day (the husband is still at work during this time), but I'm learning to work with it and hopefully we'll get a routine down soon that works for all of us. At night she sleeps really well, just waking up to eat every 3-4 hours (every now and again we get a 5 hour stretch... I love those!).... unless she's hitting a growth spurt and then she wants to eat every hour or two. That's pretty dang tough. 

I'm not sure how much she weighs right now, but she's outgrown her newborn clothes, but the 3 month clothes are pretty baggy on her. Is there a scientific formula that will tell you her weight from that information, haha!

Corbe.n is still absolutely head over heels in love with Quinn. It's the greatest feeling in the world to see my two babies together and to watch C.orben's face light up when he's loving on his sister. 

Here are a few pictures. I'll post some more once I'm done uploading and editing. I have some pretty cute pictures of both kids. We also had an awesome trip to a wildlife safari in our area that was awesome and I can't wait to post about it. 

 

Adventures in Nipple Cream

"Babe, you're leaking breast milk."

"No I'm not. Those are just nipple cream stains."

That's a conversation I never thought I would have. I don't know why they don't put a big fat warning on the tube, but I learned the hard way that Lanolin leaves greasy stains on your clothes if you don't protect them. Oh and by the way these stains are a pain to get out. I, of course, didn't know any of this and several of my pajamas were sporting big circular grease stains. So sexy. Instead of doing the smart thing and researching how to best get the stains out, I naively assumed they would come out in the wash. Wrong! And apparently drying Lanolin stains is the worst thing you can do. 

Never fear though if you happen to be as moronic as me. I have the solution on how to get the stains out. Get some original blue Dawn dishwashing soap and apply it to the stain, rub it in really well, and then allow it to sit for a few days (the first time I did this I only let it sit for 12 hours and it improved the stain, but didn't completely remove it). Then wash and dry as usual, repeat if necessary. You're welcome. If you happen to be reading this pre-nipple cream application... nursing pads are your friend; use them.

 

2 Weeks Old

Quinn is 2 weeks old already! However, it seems like she's always been here. Even though I'm exhausted, and taking care of two kids at once can be stressful at times, I'm so unbelievably happy.

At least things are improving in the sleep department. I was so scared when she was first born because, I kid you not, her first two nights she did not sleep at all. I'm not exaggerating either. Once we got home things got a little better, but not much. She constantly wanted to suck on something and since I wanted to wait until at least 2 weeks before introducing a pacifier for fear of messing up anything while we were establishing breastfeeding, that made me her human pacifier. Minutes after I would take her off she would wake up and cry again. I was exhausted. The husband was exhausted. I discussed it with her doctor during her 1st pedi appointment and her doctor said that because my milk had already come in it was fine to give Quinn a paci now. I'm not sure how that logic makes any sort of sense, but I enthusiastically went with it. I needed some sleep and my nipples needed a break from the constant assault. We now have ourselves a much happier baby on a much better sleep schedule. Of course we still have the occasional night where she wants to eat every hour, but that's to be expected and at least she's going back to sleep after she eats.

She had her 2nd pedi appointment today and Quinn got nothing but good marks. She was born at 7 lbs 2 oz, left the hospital at 6 lbs 11 oz, was 6 lbs 13 oz at 4 days old, and today was 7 lbs 6 oz. She's also grown 1/2 inch in length. It feels so good to know that she's thriving and growing with my breast milk. After my breastfeeding struggle with Corbe.n and all of the guilt and feelings of failure I had with him, I went into this pregnancy with a lot of anxiety over if I would be able to succeed at breastfeeding Quinn. I'm so happy that things are going well. Quinn is just such a great nurser. She latched right on when she was born and hasn't looked back since. I don't know all of the answers as to why things are different this time, but I definitely think that me being able to nurse her within the first 30 minutes of birth made a huge difference. With C.orben I didn't get to until he was a few hours old. They told me that he was so hungry as soon as he was born. I wish in recognizing this they would have brought him to me. Okay, okay... enough wallowing in regret.

Quinn is such a sweet and mellow baby. So far she only cries when she's hungry or wants to be picked up, just like how Cor.ben was. However, I think I may finally have my snuggler because she loves to be held. Not in a bad way... she'll let you put her down, but is so happy and content when you're loving on her. I know you may be thinking "umm duh, isn't that all babies?", but my husband and I joke that C.orben would cry to be set down. He did not like being held. I hate comparing the two all the time, but I guess you can't really avoid that. It's fun seeing their similarities and differences. I look forward to seeing what things Quinn is into and how her sense of humor is compared to C's. He is a funny little boy!

Speaking of C.orben, he is absolutely obsessed with his sister. He loves to kiss her and hold her. He loves to get her diapers for me or to try to put her paci in her mouth. She isn't safe unsupervised around him. He will reach in her crib to try to pull her out! When he doesn't know where she is he says "baby? baby?". It's so sweet! I'm happy that he's reacted so positively to having a new sister.

So that's life right now. It's busy. It's crazy. I'm in love!

 

Quinn's Birth Story

Well I'll just come right out and say that having two kids is a lot different than having one. It's absolutely wonderful being a family of four, but it's a lot more time consuming. This is coming from my old and wise 10 days of experience. So now that I'm attempting to catch up, let's start from the beginning. 

Late evening on June 12th I headed to the hospital to check in for my foley bulb induction. Unfortunately L&D had some emergency situations going on and I had to wait 2 hours before I was admitted to my room. Thankfully everything turned out just fine with those ladies and their babies. I had the foley bulb inserted and it was no where near as uncomfortable as the type I had with C.orben. This was a new type that uses two balloons and therefore doesn't require being strapped to your leg and tugged on every few hours. It did cause a night of painful contractions, but they gave me a sleeping pill and I was able to rest. My husband had to work, but was able to stop by for a short visit and my mom stayed the night with me. 

My doctor came in at 8 am and I was 3 cm and 70% effaced. Rather than wait for the foley bulb to fall out, he took it out and then broke my water. I was afraid that it would cause instant horrendous contractions as I had experienced with Corb.en, but that wasn't the case. A few hours later I was 5 cm and my contractions picked up over the course of the day and worked themselves up to 2-3 minutes apart. They were totally manageable though and I was able to carry on conversation with my husband and mom. Then all of a sudden the contractions completely stopped. We waited until my 12 hour deadline and with no other interventions left to try it was c-section time. Initially I was really distraught because I was told that with a vaginal delivery you get an hour of uninterrupted time with your baby, but with a c-section they take your baby to the nursery right away for 2 hours. I cried at the thought of being separated from my baby for that long and not getting to breastfeed right away. I talked to my OB and he was completely supportive of me getting the time with her that I needed and they talked to the nursery and got everything straightened out. Then getting prepped and waiting to go to the OR was such a scary time. I can't describe the feeling I felt, but I didn't feel like myself. I was terrified and I just wanted to pick up and run out of there. 

Once I was in the OR and they administered the spinal block my anxieties increased. Not being able to feel or move my legs was so strange and then I felt like it was hard to breath and my hands went a little numb. I felt really vulnerable laying there unable to do anything for myself. Once my husband and OB came in I felt a lot better. Familiarity is a wonderful thing. The surgery started quickly and my husband talked to me the whole time, making things so much better. I didn't feel any of the tugging or pain that I did with my previous c-section. Thank God! However, it did take him a little longer because of scar tissue and Quinn's shoulders being hard to get out. Once I heard that beautiful sound of her crying nothing else mattered.
 

 They brought her over and showed her to us before doing their initial once over. After that she went to the nursery to get things started there while they finished up with me. 

I was wheeled to the recovery area and I felt instant pain, but luckily the nurse was on hand with some pain medication and it didn't take too long for me to get some relief. Quinn was immediately brought to me and I was able to breastfeed. Let me tell you now that my breastfeeding experience this time has been like night and day to Cor.ben. Those of you that have been around awhile may remember that I had quite the challenging breastfeeding journey with my little man. Quinn latched right on and has been nursing like a champ ever since. My girl loves to eat! {more on this later}.

As soon as my room was ready I was taken there. I couldn't wait to get up and walk around. I absolutely HATE hospital beds and I'm never able to get comfortable in them. 7 hours after my surgery they finally let me get up and walk around and it felt so good! My recovery went so well that I was able to leave the hospital a day early. I was so ready to get out of there! We were in the hospital for 39 hours to be exact. 

So that's the tale of Quinn's birth. WOW that was long! As far as having to have a c-section, I wasn't upset when I was told that was what had to happen (and I'm still not) because I knew we tried everything we possibly could, from the ECV to the foley bulb and AROM, to make my VBAC dream happen. My doctor theorizes that because both of my labor experiences ended in failure to progress that it's very likely that my pelvis is just too small or there is something to where my babies can't descend. So with that, and the fact that my uterus is thin, if I have another baby it will automatically have to be a c-section delivery. I'm sad that I'll never get to experience a vaginal delivery and all of the wonderful moments that come with that, but it is what it is.

Next I'll get to the mushy, cute, and wonderfulness.... QUINN!