Life with two kids

I have heard that the transition from 1 child to 2 is not too bad and I have to agree. It has its challenges but it has not been a total nightmare. If you had asked me 5 years ago where I would be right now, I'm not sure I could have imagined being a mother of two. Life is crazy with children but I'm getting used to it. The hardest challenges come when I need to take care of something and I have to find a sitter to do it. I do have some help from family and friends. I just wish I had an automatic nanny to be there every time I need a break or to take care of things.

I am a slight control freak and I need to have a routine to my days. Luckily I have found a way to establish a slight one so far. I am feeling almost back to normal since Wesley was born so I'm going right back into being as active as I can be. I have been taking morning walks with both kids in the double stroller, plus I go to the gym twice a week now. Wesley's feedings have taken on a schedule of sorts, so I try to plan around them. Sometimes the house gets cleaned and dinner gets made. I feel bad for Xander. He really requires a lot of attention and he really wants to be played with. He will play on his own but he gets bored doing that all day. Wesley is only 3 weeks old, so I'm still waiting for him to be a little older before I start taking him out more. I'm slowly figuring out how to do things. I just wish I could give Xander more of my time.

I can't wait to get Wesley on a regular bedtime so that Jerry and I can get a little evening break to ourselves. I love having Xander's bedtime at 7:30pm and it has been that way since he was a baby. I hope Wesley will fit into that schedule soon. I also can't wait to get out more. I like spending time at home, but I get restless. I think I'm doing the best I can for a person who has never truly been a "kid" person. As long as I don't leave any mental scars for my children and they survive their childhood I can die happy. Being a mom is crazy!

Wesley is here!

Our baby is finally here and I started to think he would never come. Wesley Jacob was born July 22nd 2010 at 8:26pm. He weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 20 in long. He was born one day before his due date and we are so happy he is here. I had given in and decided to schedule an induction for Friday the 23rd. I was scared because I was hoping to go natural like I did with Xander and I know it's very hard to do with inductions. Wesley had plans of his own. I was starting to feel worse as this week dragged on, having cramping and pain. On Thursday when I was actually in labor it was hard to believe because I had been dealing with the same pain all week. I woke up that morning, played with Xander and went to the gym. I did a full 60 minute workout and started feeling a few cramps towards the end of my workout. I cleaned and straightened up the house as much as I could since I knew we would be trying to have Wesley that weekend. The cramping started getting worse while I vacuumed. They started getting worse around noon, but I still thought it was false labor.

Jerry called me around 1pm from a break at work. I told him about my pain and he made the smart decision to just come home. He works 50 miles away so I'm very grateful he showed up. The pain was manageable so I decided to wait until my 4:30 appointment with my midwife to determine if I should go to the hospital. We packed all our bags just in case. We took Xander with us because we didn't have a sitter available.

I told the front desk at the clinic that I might be in labor. The nurse told me just to go to the hospital. I asked if there was anyway my midwife could just check me first. I was already almost 7cm dilated! We went straight to the hospital to get admitted. We were panicking trying to find somebody to take Xander. My parents were out of town and my sister was at work in SLC. We were up at Ogden Regional Hospital. Things were a little crazy for a while. I started getting more regular contractions and Jeremiah was chasing Xander around the hospital room. My sister finally made it to Ogden around 6:30pm and took Xander to our house. It was a relief because I needed my coach (Jerry) to get through the pain ahead. The pain this time around was a lot tougher. This labor was a lot different because my water didn't break beforehand. I took a bath in the jetted tub to ease the pain but it got really bad. I got out at 7:50pm and the rest is a little blur because the pain was intense. I got in the bed and was ready to push even before my midwife could get there. They tried to make me wait but I needed to get that baby out! My midwife did arrive at the end and Wesley was born at 8:26pm after two contractions. It was painful but quick.

Wesley is the sweetest and cutest baby. Xander wasn't too bad when he was born but Wesley is so calm compared to him. He hardly cries unless he is hungry. He is so easy to love and I'm so glad I was blessed to be his mom. I know I still wish for a daughter really badly someday but I do really feel blessed to have my two healthy adorable boys. I hope that we can make the transition to a family of four as smooth as possible. I'm still recovering from the birth but we are all home and doing well right now.

Xander is 2!

New tricycle, I hope he likes it more as he gets older

Toy Story, Xander's favorite!

Checking out the presents

Opening Presents

Xander turned 2 on July 13th but we had a last minute birthday party for him on Saturday the 10th. It was last minute because I have been worried about this baby coming at any time. Xander was 3 weeks early, originally not due until August, so I kind of expected this baby already. Right now I'm looking at 9 days left and no baby yet. I really hope it's soon. I'm getting way to anxious and I really don't want to work anymore.

We just had a small party with some family and friends. Xander was spoiled and got plenty of new toys. He had so many toys that we had to put some away. I can't believe how many toys we have accumulated since he was born. I'm sure he will have plenty of toys to share with his new sibling. I wish I could make Xander understand that there will be a baby around, but I still feel like there is a language barrier. He only says a few words and doesn't even use them regularly. We are doing speech therapy and I hope we can get him talking soon. I'm sure he will catch on someday.

It feels like we just celebrated Xander's 1st birthday and now he is already 2 years old. I think the second year of his life went by faster then the first year. I'm praying and hoping the next blog entry will be a birth announcement, and in a few days time!

Almost ready for baby

Cars blanket for Xander

Baby blanket

My huge stomach

Crochet baby blanket

We are looking at less then 4 weeks until this baby is due. If history repeats itself we have a lot less time then that. Xander was 3 weeks early so I'm feeling more and more anxious. I hope I'm ready for all of this. I hope I don't go into labor and have to have the baby in a car, or some other crazy situation. I have done this before so I know that labor is not really a fun or comfortable experience. You just never know what to expect. I'm trying not to worry about everything.

To occupy myself and get excited I have been doing a few projects. I decorated a nursery, but I also wanted to acquire some new talents. I decided to try crocheting. It was really tough at first. I was so frustrated because I couldn't even make a simple chain. I got a little bit of help from two of my coworkers who crochet and I was able to get some projects started. I have been working on hats and my biggest one was a baby blanket. I don't know how many hours that took me, but I finally have it finished. I can't do anything difficult and patterns just confuse me, so I have had to do my projects from scratch. Maybe I can take a class someday and patterns will make sense. I work at a cancer hospital, so it would be neat to crochet some hats for the patients undergoing chemo.

Through the help of one of Jeremiah's aunts I learned how to make tie blankets. They are very simple and fun to make, plus I think the end product is pretty cute. For a baby blanket you only need a little more then a yard of two fabrics. For a child blanket you need about 1.5 yards, and about 2 yards for an adult. You put the two fabrics together and cut them until they are about the same size. You then find a perfect square that's probably about 4x4 inches. You put it on each corner and cut around it. You have a square missing from each corner. You then cut out strips from all the sides that are even and start tying your two fleece fabrics together. If my explanation doesn't make sense, I know there are a lot of places on the internet you can turn to, to find a good pattern. They are really very simple though.

California Trip

Xander and great-grandma

In San Francisco

On Alcatraz

A smile captured on camera!

We decided we needed to go on a trip before we are busy parents of two kids and changing tons of diapers all day. We decided to drive out to California in mid-May. It was our first real trip with Xander. It was kind of tough like I expected it to be, especially being in my third trimester of pregnancy, but we still managed to have some fun. We drove all the way across Nevada and stayed in Reno for the night. We then finished our trip the next day arriving at my Grandma's house. We spent a day in San Francisco and visited China town and Alcatraz. The next day we went to Six Flags in Vallejo. The toughest parts of the trip were keeping Xander happy because he was totally of schedule. I think he really needs that schedule which is bedtime at 7:30pm and a long mid day nap. We just kind of had to throw it out the window for our trip. He managed to take a short nap everyday. You would think that he would sleep on the long car rides, but he had a hard time being comfortable. The thing that saved us was buying a portable DVD player for the car rides and letting him watch cartoons. It was tough being pregnant on the trip because there was a lot of walking and my feet are starting to swell. We survived and we managed to have some fun. Plus we got to visit my grandma who I usually only see a couple times a year.

Enjoying the spring weather

Easter weekend was cold and wintry, but this last off week from work was just the opposite. It has been warm and gorgeous, but it is Utah, so things could turn back to snow any day now. We finally got started on yard work. I will try to make the flower beds look as nice as I can until this baby decides to arrive. With warm weather comes..swelling. I feel my rings getting tight and I definitely don't want them to be cut off. I do have some fake rings I can try to wear soon. I would just feel naked without my wedding ring.
Jerry took the day off on Thursday to get some yard work done and so we could take Xander to the zoo. I think his favorite animal is the monkey for now. They are the most interactive out of all the animals. I think he had a good time, especially when he had his first ice cream cone.

Easter Time

We didn't do anything exciting for Easter, but at least we got to spend time as a family. The biggest problem was the lousy weather. We had some beautiful days in March, but it has been snowing, hailing and raining lately. It must be spring time for Utah. We took Xander to his first Easter Egg hunt, but didn't get to do any egg hunting. I guess there were so many people who went that it was done and over with in a few minutes. I'm sure he will get more out of the holidays next year anyway. He was probably just wondering why we were dragging him to a cold place. I probably should enjoy the comfort of this weather right now. I was pregnant two years ago and almost as far along as I am now, and I remember how I felt when it got hot outside. I couldn't wear my wedding rings or find comfortable shoes. I hope it's not as rough as it was last time I did this. The due date is still July 23rd, so I have plenty of time to suffer through the heat.