Postpartum Status Update

If you follow me on social media, you'll have to excuse the recycled taken on my iPhone, weren't that great to begin with pictures. But recycled pictures are better than no pictures, right? Sure. On to the quick takes.

~ 1 ~ 

My days have pretty much been filled with this: 

and this:

~ 2 ~

I attempted to go for a walk with the boys and Lucy, and I made it just around the corner before feeling lousy and had to return to my bed. Lucy thoroughly enjoyed her first outing in the Ergo carrier snuggled up to Daddy. Daddy didn't mind either :)

 

~ 3 ~

Things have been going pretty smoothly recovery-wise, but last night I lost a lot of blood and started feeling really lousy. After a somewhat frantic call to my midwives, I was told that I was too active too soon and I overdid it, and to go back to bed for several days. Which everyone knows is hard to do, especially with a three year old running around. Prayers appreciated.

~ 4 ~

So, even though my days weren't much more than adventures out to the living room, attempted walks, and laundry mountains, for now, my days are back to looking like this:

Which really isn't so bad.

~ 5 ~ 

Now that the grandparents are gone and birthday excitement is over, we think Matthan has taken more notice of my absence in his daily routine. His excitement over Lucy has waned a bit, and he has been acting out. Again, prayers appreciated as The Hubs returns to work next week.

~ 6 ~

We've had a few visitors this week (some who brought food, yum!!) including (almost) 4 month old Cousin Avonlea. Lucy doesn't look so sure about her cousin.

~ 7 ~

Lucy is sweet as can be. She has been really stuffed up since day 3 though, and we've tried a few things for that. She's a good eater, but the nasal congestion makes it complicated sometimes. She is a REALLY LOUD sleeper, and she currently sleeps in our room so we are getting use to her noises which often times sound like a congested puppy or an old man snoring and occasionally a seal pup (according to The Hubs). She loves the swaddle, but will sleep without it especially if she's on my chest. And she seems to sleep better with big brother acting crazy around her, which he does willingly without being asked. Her days are still spent mostly like this.

Happy Friday everyone! Now go see Kelly for more quick takes, and tips on traveling with kids.

~ 7.5 ~

Update: Since some of you have asked about The Hubs. He's good, slightly sleep deprived but thoroughly enjoying his time with the munchkins. I think he's going to have a hard time going back to work. Because he's not a sitter, he's a doer, he's tackled several house projects while wearing out the 3-yr-old with long bike rides and trips to the park. He's also keeping me sane and in good humor while I try not to go crazy at the thought of all of the laundry piling up. I'll leave you with this latest gem:

Me: (referring to the milk life commercials) " The commercials with milk spewing out of people are so weird."

The Hubs: "Hitting to close to home right now?" 

Me: ............maybe

Baby Blankets - I Know Just Enough To Get Myself Into Trouble

This post is brought to you by my iPhone from my couch.

I asked my grandmother for her fish chowder recipe a while back and I got the quintessential "Grandma recipe" that read something like "I put this and this in with a handful of this and sometimes I put this in it if I have it in the cabinet. Boil it until it's just right. Then I taste it and I might add this. Then I say the magical words and stir the pot twice and it comes out amazing."...yeah...mine tasted nothing like hers. I did bug her for more details through about 6 more e-mails, but I'm still convinced that the secret ingredient is you have to be a grandma. 

Anyway, my grandma asked me about the baby blankets I made and funny enough I have only slightly more detail than a "grandma recipe" to offer. I know how to knit and crochet (theoretically, anyway), but I know just enough to get myself into trouble. When I made Matthan's blanket, which is when I taught myself how to crochet, I think I threw it across the room several times due to it (unintentionally) taking the shape of a triangle. There may have been curse words uttered. 

Both times, I made a boy blanket and a girl blanket since we didn't know which we were having, but this time I actually used a pattern. Well, sort of. 

For the boy blanket, I used this pattern, except I altered the row colors to add an extra row in order to make it a bit bigger...because I can't be bothered with things like gauging. 

For the girl blanket (modeled by our sweet Lucy) I used this pattern, more or less. I crocheted strips until I was happy with their length, then determined 5 strips was adequate, and crocheted them together. I made up some way to connect them (single crochets?), but it created ridges on the underside (pictured below) which I'm not thrilled with. I would have put more thought into how I connected them, but I was under a time crunch (read very pregnant and grumpy). And then Lucy showed up a day shy of 42 weeks so the joke was on me. The border is one row of single crochets, one row of double crochets, and a row of picot stitches (which I picked out of a book at the last minute). 

So there you have it, my only slightly better than a grandma recipe details about the baby blankets I made. I think I'm better at making cute babies ;)

Matthan Turns 3!

Can you believe that this boy is three today?? Where has the time gone? 

I can't even begin to express the joy that our Little Man has brought us. I could gush and gush, but instead, I'll give you the highlights from today.

Matthan sat on the couch and waited for Daddy to bring out his present. When he saw it he made his surprised face and gasped "A bike? For me?" and put his hand over his mouth in disbelief.

Then the boys "rode" around the neighborhood for the next couple hours while Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, and Lucy watched from the driveway. Periodically Matthan would yell: 

"Mommy do you see me?"

"Mommy I want big hugs!!" (Gets off bike, runs to hug me, continues bike ride, rinse and repeat x300)

"Mommy I want three big hugs!!"

"I'm riding!!!"

He talked the WHOLE time, non stop. Clearly there is a birthday word quota that I wasn't aware of, and he was trying to hit it before lunch. I think he was a little bit excited. ;)

Baby Lucy considerately napped so that Mommy could watch all the fun. 

Then Grandpa Jim got here with a train set, which they played with. During which, Matthan refused to take his helmet off. 

He only took it off when Grandma Mary and Grandpa Peter gave him his next present - a tent - and the helmet hindered "playing sleep" (my kind of game). Matthan requested Grandpa Jim to join him in the tent, to which Grandpa lovingly obliged by squeezing his over-six-feet frame into the tent.

For the last few months Matthan has been requesting chocolate cake for his birthday so Grandma made his wish come true. I added the detail on top to match his train set. He approved. 

He sang Happy Birthday to himself along with us and blew out his candles like a champ (I tried to teach him how to blow out candles in preparation for his second birthday and he burned his lip #parentingfail). 

He's been asking for help with eating his meals but he determined he was capable of eating his huge piece of cake all by himself.

The birthday boy is now taking a birthday nap in preparation of more birthday fun later today, which might include pool time or more bike riding (and nap time for Mommy and Baby Lucy. :)

And in case you missed them (because I just posted them), here are two other posts:
It's A Girl!! and Baby Lucy.

Baby Lucy (7QT's)

It's Seven Quick Takes time over at This Ain't The Lyceum. Go say hi to Kelly and check out the other Seven Quick Takes posts.

~ 1 ~

Baby Lucy arrived on Tuesday. 

~ 2 ~

The old wives' tales got it right.

 ~ 3 ~

We got to bring her home to her big brother on Wednesday.

~ 4 ~

I never thought I'd have a need for pink in my life, but we had a girl and suddenly the yellow and green "gender neutral" stuff we had the first time around just wasn't going to cut it. The grandparents came to the rescue and went shopping.

~ 5 ~

Just a few things about Lucy: 

If she doesn't want to eat, she doesn't. The whole "unwrap the baby, rub her hands and feet, etc" method does not work on this girl.

She has strawberry hair.

Doesn't flinch at the sound of the NutriBullet blender. She's my crunchy green smoothie baby, and apparently got use to the sound of it in utero.

~ 6 ~

Matthan got to meet Lucy when we brought her home. It was pretty hard to compete with Finding Nemo and pretzels, but I think she captured his attention for a minute. :)



Matthan has treated Lucy as if she's always been here. The first night he said "Baby Lucy, come watch Finding Nemo with me." He thinks it's funny when she squirms and says "Bless you Baby Lucy" when she sneezes. He checks on her throughout the day and gives her kisses.

Big brother watching over Baby Lucy.

See? In serious need of some pink around here.

Matthan taking pictures of Lucy on his camera.

Sweet big brother wanted to hold Baby Lucy.

~ 7 ~

We made the trip to the pediatrician today. She was weighed, measured, prodded, and deemed perfect in every way.  

Finally got a bow on this girl.

She slept on the way there, and on the way home. So Daddy put her down for a nap in her bed when we got home. :)

It's a Girl!

IT'S A GIRL!

The Old Wives' Tales called it! 

Lucy June was born at 7:42am, 

weighing 7 lbs 6.5 oz, 

and measuring 19 inches long.

7 Things That Have Made This Pregnancy Better

I'm over at my other blog discussing fun topics like vitamins and bladder control!

It's A Girl!! According to Some Old Wives, Anyway

I had to get an extra ultrasound because there was concern that baby wasn't growing properly. According to the ultrasound, baby's measurements are just fine. I did ALMOST cave and ask about the gender...ALMOST. I was very excited to have a picture of Baby so close to our due date, but alas, Baby wasn't having it and had his/her arm up over the face. So here is a terrible, blobby picture. 

I love to hear peoples' predictions about whether Baby is a boy or girl. So I decided to put a list together of "Old Wives' Tests" and see what was predicted. I narrowed it down to 21, because some of the tests were...um...subjects I would only discuss with my husband or doctor...and some were gross (ok, ok, I may have considered peeing on some cabbage just because it made me laugh, but that would have required me to go to the store and get cabbage).

The first option is girl (red), the second is boy (blue), and the answer is turned to that color.

1. Chinese Gender Calendar     GIRL or BOY

2. Cravings                              SWEET or SALTY

Baby really likes pop tarts and ice-cream. Or at least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

3. Baby's Heartbeat                   HIGH or LOW

Baby's heartbeat has been in the middle of the range every single time. Baby is just going to keep us guessing.

4. Daddy's Weight              GAINING or MAINTAINING

Although he has been "sympathy eating", since I've had all kinds of extra food around.

5. Morning Sickness                    YES or NO

Yep, but for the record, I had morning sickness with Little Man too.

6. Skin                                         SOFT or DRY

My skin is pretty much the best when I'm pregnant. Incentive to have more kids, right?

7. Headaches                                  NO or YES

This one was new to me. I had a period of horrible pregnancy migraines - didn't know that was a thing til this pregnancy - but luckily they subsided in the usual amount of time, but yikes was that not fun. The only thing that touched them was tylenol + caffeine, so The Hubs learned to make white chocolate mochas for me.

8. Nose getting wider or bigger    NO or YES

9.  Sleep with your pillow to the North NO or YES 

I had to think way to hard about this.

10. Sleeping side                      RIGHT or LEFT

I have slept equally on both sides. So maybe I'm having a puppy.

11. Feet colder than usual STAYS THE SAME or YES

Actually, I feel like my feet have been hotter, so make of that what you will.

12. Dry hands                                 NO or YES

13. Acne                                         YES or NO

14. Mayan Tale: Mothers age at conception + year of conception  

                                                     EVEN or ODD

15. If your legs stay in shape        YES or NO

I mean, my legs are still the shape of legs...just a bit larger and not toned. I just call the extra "chunk" "baby food"

16. If you eat the ends of bread     NO or YES

17. Dreaming of gender?            GIRL or BOY

The only dreams I've had where Baby had a gender, it was a boy.

18. Cravings                              FRUIT or PROTEIN

I almost deemed this question inconclusive because I could eat fruit and protein my whole pregnancy, but since I could put down two flats of strawberries a week early in my pregnancy, I went with fruit. However, I did the same with Little Man.

19. Belly                    WATERMELON  or BASKETBALL

The Hubs says watermelon.

20.                                      GRACEFUL or CLUMSY

Um, I don't know that I'm ever graceful. And is there a pregnant woman who isn't a bit clumsy? Never mind, if so, don't tell me.

21. If you can only think of girl names then you're having a girl or vice versa. 

                                                      GIRL  or BOY

We have name choices for both boy and girl, and some days I like them, and some days I'm like "I don't like any of our name choices". We're still discussing names, and open to suggestions.

BONUS: It should be noted, that two weeks prior to finding out I was pregnant, Little Man came up to me and said "I want a little brother", to which I stared open-mouthed because we had never discussed that with him. And throughout the pregnancy, if you asked him if he wanted a little brother or little sister, 95% of the time he replied "little brother". I'm very interested to see if he is correct. Also, The Hubs and I are both think it's a boy. Also, I was correct with Little Man's gender.  But, enough talking...

AND THE RESULTS ARE???

GIRL = 11      BOY = 7   Inconclusive = 3

Old Wives Predict = GIRL

Leave your predictions in the comments!