Redemption April 1, 2009

We recently got a flip and I’ve been abusing it like any good mom would.  I thought I would share what Evie’s been doing to try to redeem herself since she read my last post.

She likes peek-a-boo and is getting great at multi-tasking like her mommy (hiccupping and laughing at the same time isn’t easy!).

AND, she rolled over for the first time today! (She had to pause mid-roll to catch one last glimpse of that cute baby in the mirror…)

I take it back! March 26, 2009

So you know that baby I was telling you about here and here?  The one that sleeps and rarely cries?  The one that makes life with two children not that stressful? Well, apparently the baby gods read my posts and didn’t think it was fair for someone to have such a sweet baby.  They came and took her and replaced her with a baby that acts a little too much like this baby did.  To be fair, she does still sleep better than Nate did (most nights) and I’ve been told her cry is “cute” while Nate’s was more like a monkey shrieking for hours on end.  Either way, let’s just pretend I never wrote those nice things about her and go back to the way things were, okay?

I thought maybe she was teething since there have been insane amounts of drool and hand-sucking lately, but so far, no teeth have sprouted on which to blame her meanness on.  She hates her carseat.  She must cry for 20 minutes before falling asleep even though she is fed and dry and tired.  She won’t fall asleep unless you hold her.  She aims for me when she spits up (no, for serious!!). The only time she’s truly happy is the 5 minutes everyday that she discovers her feet (so exciting!). Everytime I go to the grocery store, I have to get her out of her carseat half way through the trip and hold her.  I finally learned to bring the front pack with me so I could have two hands to put groceries in the cart, but half the time, being in the front pack just isn’t close enough to being held and she cries anyways.  The past few times we’ve gone to the mall to let Nate play at the indoor playscape, I’ve had to hold her while pushing around the bus of a double stroller we have because it’s just too awful for her to spend more than 5 minutes in her carseat.  The upside to all of this baby holding is I have biceps of steel (even if the rest of my body is still squishy with post-pregnancy padding).

Now you might ask why I bother going out at all if it’s such a hassle.  When we had Nate and he was super needy and cried all the time, we sat at home for fear that if we went in public, everyone would know what terrible parents we obviously were (why else do babies cry ALL THE TIME?).  We now know babies just cry sometimes, whether you’re terrible parents or not.  And most of the looks people give you when your baby cries in public are not because they are judging you, but because they sympathize with you.  Don’t worry, the people who are judging you probably haven’t had kids yet and the baby gods will smite them when they do (at least I hope they do).  I still venture to the grocery store, to the park, to the mall, to eat lunch with Terry because I HAVE TO.  Otherwise, I will go insane.  Nate is happily occupied inside our house for maybe an hour.  And then it’s whining, and “side” (his way of saying outside), and “up” because he needs to be held all the time if Evie does.

I love those chubby cheeks!

Now I’m not just trying to complain here although it may seem like it.  I knew what I was getting myself into (sort of).  We did this on purpose.  It seemed like a good idea to get these baby years over with all at once so we weren’t changing diapers for FIVE (or more!) years of our lives.  Of course, this idea came before Nate learned to walk, and climb, and open door handles, and run faster than I can even though my legs are 3 times as long as his.  I just want my angel baby back.  I know you’ve hidden her somewhere and I think I’ve more than earned my mommy-of-two badge now, so just give her back already!

At least she’s cute and I have those biceps to be happy about.  And there’s also this.  Nate is turning into an amazing little boy.  He’s talking really well, eating off of plates (without throwing them when he’s done), using utensils, and, wait for it…

SLEEPING IN HIS BIG BOY BED!!

We finally got the rails down from the attic, put them on his twin mattress on the floor, and bought him some new colorful sheets to make his big bed more exciting.  He slept there through the night Friday and hasn’t gone back to the crib since!  We moved the crib into Evie’s room on Sunday so we can finally finish her nursery.  Nate does the cutest thing when he wakes up.  He plays in his bed until you come into his room and he then he asks to get down, even though he has toys in his room, in plain view from his bed.  I kind of want to tell him it’s ok to get out of bed before we come get him, but then he might get upset that his door’s closed instead of playing and I might miss my extra 10 minutes of sleep.  So, I’ll wait for him to figure that one out on his own.

Does a Body (and a Budget) Good March 3, 2009

It all started 6 months ago when Terry decided he wanted to lose weight.  He wanted to be a healthier Dad for Nate and baby #2.  I was about 7 months prego at the time, so I often ate ice cream while he did his nightly workouts.  At lunch one day, the waiter tried to give the huge plate of food to Terry and the lighter portion to me.  I quickly corrected him- a pregnant gal has got to eat!  Terry lost about 15 pounds by the time Evie was born.

About 3 weeks post-partum, I was amazingly back to my pre-pregnancy weight (something that took about 6 months with Nate), although my shape was completely different.  Then, Christmas and New Year’s came and left an extra 8 pounds around my midsection.  A little over 3 weeks ago, I decided it was time to do something about it.  For the first week or so, I half-heartedly tried to drink less Dr. Pepper and stop eating dessert every night.

Then, I decided I should try to track my calories.  If you’re cool and have an iPhone, you can use this program called Lose It!  If you’re me, you can use this awesome website- The Daily Plate, part of the Livestrong.com website.  I tracked my calories, went over my goal most days, and of course, didn’t lose any weight.  Then, I got more serious when I entered into one of the many dares the website gives its users.  For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been tracking calories and coming in at or under my goal.  Subsequently, I’ve lost about 5 pounds. (yay, me!)

(insert clever segue here)

Terry and I have often lament that we should stop eating out so much.  It takes its toll on our bank account and our bellies.  We finally decided to get serious and try to not eat out for an entire month.  Of course, everyone we told was skeptical that we could do it. Our friends, the Meezys, were so skeptical that they placed a friendly wager on it.  You can see the terms in Terry’s post here.

Here’s our plan of attack for winning the bet:

1. We ate out as much as we could at the end of February. I mean, like, every meal, every day, for the last week.  I was hoping to make the thought of eating out gross.  So far, it’s working, but it’s only been 3 days.
2. We usually go downtown to have lunch with Terry once or twice a week.  Luckily, Terry works right next to Zilker Park and the weather has been beautiful recently, so we’re planning on having a picnic lunch instead of our usual lunch date.
3. We’re planning meals that we love.  I always plan the week’s meals before grocery shopping – it just makes sense.  But I’d usually have one or two nights a week planned that weren’t dishes we both loved where we could easily be talked into going out instead.  We’re having some sort of steak every week this month. Yum.
4. We’re also planning meals that sound exciting to make.  We both love cooking (when it’s the right meal) and actually wanting to cook every night makes us less likely to want to go out.
5. We really don’t like losing.

But, even if we do lose in some capacity, we still win at life because they money goes to charity.  Wish us luck!

Wonder Baby February 19, 2009

I’ve mentioned before how great Evie is.  She sleeps.  She’s mostly content (except with Terry, but that’s another story for another time).  But, seriously, we have a super hero for a baby.

Wonder Moment #1:

Evie during her EKG, almost 3 months old.

Evie has a small hole in her heart (a VSD for you medical types).  When she was 3 days old (1 day out of the hospital) we had to take her to a pediatric cardiologist for testing.  They stripped Evie down to her diaper and put a bunch of stickers all over her chest and abdomen and hooked up wires to them for an EKG.  It took a while to get the measurements to come out right since she was so little and feisty.  Then, the doctor came in and decided she also needed an ultrasound of Evie’s heart.  So we went to another room and a tech slathered her chest up with lube and took a million pictures of her chambers and whatnot.

Not only did Evie not cry once during the whole appointment, but she actually fell asleep during the ultrasound.  I can assure you that Nate would have screamed the entire time because he was cold and people were touching him and he’s starving because you haven’t fed him in the last 5 minutes you terrible, terrible parents.

We took Evie back to the cardiologist today for a check-up.  I was slightly worried she wouldn’t do as well this time since she is older.  Newborns sleep a lot more than 3 month olds.  We went through the whole routine again, EKG and ultrasound.  Evie was great again.  She didn’t go to sleep this time, but she hardly made a peep the entire appointment.  She was happy and smiling for all but a few minutes when she got hungry.

(Evie’s VSD is small and should heal on it’s own in the next few years, in case you were worried.)

    Wonder Moment #2:

A few weeks ago, Evie developed a cough.  Nate had a cold and ear infection the week before and, like good big brothers do, he shared with his sister.  We took her to the doctor on Tuesday and it was just a cold.  By Thursday,

Evie sleeping with her oxygen tube thingy, 2 months old.

she sounded like she was wheezing and having trouble breathing.  We took her back to the doctor on Friday and were told her cold had developed into bronchiolitis, which is particularly bad for a tiny baby.  They tried a breathing treatment in the office to see if her lungs would clear.  I had to hold an oxygen mask over her face while a machine pumped albuterol into her lungs (it probably works way different than that, but that’s how I understood it).  The nurse warned me that most kids cry the whole time because of the loud noise, but not to worry because she’s not being hurt.  So we got the mask strap over her head and she fussed a little.  The nurse left and I held the mask.  It turns out Evie isn’t “most kids”.  She didn’t cry.  In fact, she fell asleep!  The breathing treatment didn’t help, so the pediatrician sent us to Dell Children’s Hospital to be admitted.

After sitting in the ER waiting room for an hour or so, we were triaged by a nurse and taken back to a room.  All of Evie’s vitals looked ok, includng her oxygen levels.  By the time another nurse checked on us in the room, she took another set of vitals and was concerned that her oxygen levels might be lower now.  She hooked up a monitor to Evie’s foot and her oxygen level was below 90.  The nurse hooked Evie up to one of those tubes they stick in your nose to give you oxygen (again, sorry I’m not all technical/medical and have no clue what it’s called).  The only time Evie fussed was when they had to take the tape off her face to reposition the tube in her nose and then re-tape it.  I think I would have cried, too.  That’s some sticky tape they use.

We ended up staying overnight in the hospital while they monitored Evie’s oxygen levels.  They couldn’t do much for her besides give her oxygen since bronchiolitis is caused by a virus, probably RSV. Evie went through two more breathing treatments, had her nose suctioned 4 or 5 times, and was constantly messed with/woken up to check her blood pressure, pulse, and whatever else is important when an infant is in the hospital.  They even made me wake her up in the middle of the night to feed her so they could check her weight.  (Is that really necessary at 4 am?  I tried to tell them she normally sleeps through the night, but they didn’t care.)

Because you can never have too many pictures of a happy baby.

We left her in her diaper throughout the visit because it was easier for the nurses and doctors to check her that way.  She absolutely LOVED being a naked baby (as long as it wasn’t cold, of course).  In the morning, they were able to turn the oxygen off to see how she was breathing on her own.  After 7 hours of acceptable oxygen levels, they decided it was safe to let us go home.  Evie was a trooper the whole time.  During the last doctor’s examination, she was cooing and smiling at him.  I think I heard from 12 different people how they wanted to take her home because she was such a sweet baby.  They were probably just sweet talking me to get me to buy them presents, but they were right.  She is a sweet baby.  A wonder baby.

Hopefully, I didn’t just jinx myself by saying this out loud (sort of).  We moved our wonder baby into her own room a week ago.  I can’t believe she’s almost 3 months old.  I can’t believe how much she’s gone through in her short little life.  I can’t believe how undeniably amazing and resilient she is for coming out of it all grinning.

My Bloody Valentine February 15, 2009

Terry and I tried to go out for Valentine’s in college, waited 2.5 hours at Cagle’s, and vowed to never go out on V-Day again without a reservation. Since then, we usually just don’t go out, especially since having kids. We try to go out for a fancy dinner to celebrate my birthday and Valentine’s in the week between the two (Although that still hasn’t happened yet this year. It seems like this having kids thing changes a lot of things).

Ahh, VD. Not the gross kind.

Terry has been bugging me to donate blood with him, because, you know, we’re good people and it saves lives and stuff.  I had planned for us to go on Thursday afternoon, after picking him up from the car dealer and dropping off the bottles, but it turns out they are closed Thursdays and Fridays.  That was a great day…  So we decided to go on Saturday- Valentine’s Day.  I know, it’s super romantic!!

I’ve never given blood before and Terry had only given once during college.  I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.  I mostly wanted to go to see if I was still anemic post-pregnancy.  (It turns out I’m not, so I have nothing to blame my constant exhaustion on other than our two crazy kids.)  We packed up the kids and headed to our local blood bank.  After Terry was done, he took the kids and it was my turn.  This lady took me into a room and asked about 40 questions about my experiences with prostitutes, HIV, and homosexuality. I guess I passed the test, because they still let me give blood. (I was worried about it for a second there…)

I gave up my pint of blood and the nurse (are they nurses?) started rambling off instructions of what to do and what not to do for the next several hours/days: “Eat a well-balanced, hearty meal; No physical activity (I was soooo disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to work out); No caffeine or alcohol the rest of the day; Don’t take off the arm wrap for at least 4 hours.”  Wait, What?!? Go back a second there.  Did you say NO caffeine?  If you know me, and I assume you do since you are reading this and strangers probably don’t care what I did on Valentine’s, you know that I LOVE and NEED Dr. Pepper.  And I hadn’t had one yet that day because I was planning to have one with lunch. Oh well, surely I can go ONE DAY without one.  I did make it a whopping 10 days while pregnant.

So we go home to eat lunch and put Nate down for his nap.  I’m feeling weak, dizzy, headachey, you know, overall AWESOME.  I took some advil and lay down for a nap.  I woke up with an even worse headache and took some more advil.  Terry convinced me to drink caffeine.  He had already done it and hadn’t died yet, so I figured it would probably be ok.  I finally started feeling better in time to help make dinner- delicious bacon-wrapped shrimp (even Nate liked them!) and homemade chicken fettucine alfredo.  That’s what I call a hearty meal!  It turns out you burn 650 calories donating a pint of blood so we could pretty much eat anything we wanted yesterday. This is especially great since we weren’t allowed any physical activity (again, I was completely bummed about the no-working-out thing) and are both trying to lose weight (some of us are trying harder than others).

In celebration of eat-whatever-we-want day, I mean, Valentine’s Day, Terry decided we should all go out for ice cream after dinner.  After some arm-twisting, we went to Marble Slab.  Nate was adorable taking alternating bites from each of our massive ice cream bowls (insert picture we should have taken to show you how cute he is ).  This will definitely become a new Valentine’s tradition for us (going to get ice cream, not donating blood and feeling crappy), at least until the kids are older and we remember to get reservations more than a day in advance.