Photo Shoot!

So last week I had the pleasure of my sister-in-law's friend coming and doing a photo shoot with the kids. It only took about 30 minutes and Tatum was awake the entire time. It was really cool. She doesn't some awesome work! Her website is at Cardas Photography. You should check it out! Anyway, so far, she hasn't shown me all the photos yet, these are what we've got...
Anyway, I'm so glad they turned out. She does amazing fabulous work. Not that hard when my babies are so darn cute though! ;)

At least it's a good picture of Tatum...

I survived!

Well that wasn't so bad! Yesterday was my very first day on my own with 2 kids and no help. Tatum sleeps all the time, and only gets upset when she's hungry so I was able to focus most of my attention on Spencer. We only had one melt down that resulted in a time out & massive screaming (on Spencer's part, not mine). :)

We also went to Tatum's 2 week check up appointment. I know they say they want your baby to get back up to birth weight at 2 weeks, but my Tatum did that & then some. She was 9.4 at birth and yesterday she was 10.5! And she'd grown an inch! This is going by far too fast! And I feel like I'm missing out on it a little since she doesn't demand too much from me and I'm not sitting on the couch staring at her noticing every little change like I did when Spencer was born. :(

By the end of the day I was exhausted! But mostly because Tatum & Spencer didn't nap at the same time during the day and therefore I didn't get a nap. Not to mention my grunter of a baby is pretty loud all night and I don't get adequate sleep at night either. I'm working on it though. At least I don't feel like a total zombie like I did with Spencer. 2 is not so bad. In fact, I'm already thinking of adding another one... but not until Tatum is through the terrible two's phase!

What am I going to do?

So Tony has taken the week off to help me adjust to mommyhood and I cannot be more grateful. Spencer has gotten tons of Daddy time that he deserved & needed. And I've gotten a chance to really bond with my new baby girl. I am getting a little nervous for next week though. Going from having an extra set of hands to just me is nerve-wracking. I love my kiddos to death, but Spencer has been demanding a ton of attention and I'm really afraid I won't be able to give him all the attention he needs. Any ideas would be fantastic!


In true random fashion, here's a pic of us after a very long Mother's Day...

What was I thinking?

So it's funny how you wonder how you're going to do it with 2 kids... I was so worried how I'd be able to juggle having 2 kids. But now that Tatum is here, I wonder how I'm going to juggle Spencer! Tatum is so mellow, so quiet, so relaxed. But Spencer has taken Tatum's arrival as his free pass to get away with anything & everything. He loves his baby sister. He is constantly wanting to kiss her and hold her. But then he thinks that means he doesn't have to take a nap anymore. Or that he doesn't have to listen to what we say. He keeps trying to tell us what to do and when to do it. Now that I have baby number 2, how am I going to deal with baby number one? On a more positive note... check out how beautiful my baby is!

The Details...

I promised the details... so here they are...

I came into the hospital yesterday morning at 7am. I was hooked up and ready and received my dose of the devil around 8:30am. Contractions remained steady and strong all day. However, my body did not progress as much as I was hoping. By 1:15pm I was only to 3 cm. But my doctor gave the okay to get my epidural so she could break my water. Finally, at 3:30pm the doc broke my water. She checked me again at 6pm before heading home for dinner and I was only at 5 cm. I was so disappointed! It seemed like the process was taking forever!

But by 7pm I was starting to feel a ton of pressure and despite the epidural I was in pain! So my lovely nurse, Paula, decided to check & I had progressed to 7 cm. Not what I was hoping, but close. Within 20 minutes I found myself in tears from the pain of trying to hold the baby in. She checked & sure enough I was 9 1/2 cm. Paula called the doc, who lives only 7 minutes away... But the pain was absolutely terrible.

The nurses started talking about bringing the ER doc up in case mine didn't make it. But my amazing doctor knew that I was ready to push, so she hurried over here, and instead of waiting for the elevator, she ran up the stairs. Out of breathe she sat down & I was finally allowed to push. Four minutes later, yes you read that right, 4 minutes later, out came Tatum.

She seemed so much smaller than Spencer! But after cleaning her up, measuring & weighing her... She was 21 inches long (same as Spence) and 9 pounds 4 ounces! Smaller, but only by a pound. Not bad for being a week early! Good thing I got induced, or I would have given birth to another kindergartener! I don't know what my deal is. I guess I just like big babies. ;)

Tatum is beautiful though. She looks just like her big brother did when he was born, but she's my delicate flower. So far she is a very mellow baby. She nursed for over an hour and just sat & stared at me afterwards without crying. Last night she slept from 10-3 am and woke up without a peep. I didn't even realize she was awake until I turned the light on to find her eyes were open. She nursed another hour & a half and went back to sleep without fuss. The only reason I'm blogging right now is because she's still asleep but snoring! Not to mention I'm starving & the food service doesn't open until 7am! I can't wait for Spencer to wake up & get her to meet his brand new baby sister! I'll add more pictures of her later when she wakes up...

She's here!

Baby Tatum is here... But seeing as it's 11:47pm and I've been up since 5am... I'll be going to sleep now & you'll all just have to wait for pictures & details til tomorrow!

Epidurals are awesome.

I can't believe I went through natural childbirth when I could have done this. No but seriously everyone should go through childbirth naturally at least once... after that consider the epidural because it is lovely.

Anyway, just hanging out waiting for my waters to be broken.

I'm in labor.

This is weird. Pitocin is running through my veins, I'm having contractions, and hanging out in a hospital bed. It's not so bad thusfar. Not much happening. Thinking about taking a walk to maybe try & speed things along... Pain is not unbearable. But I'll check back in a few hours, since that is going to change!

Is this really happening?

Wow, it's been quite a while hasn't it? I've been on sort of a blogging hiatus. Lots has happened since last I posted... I suppose that is why a friend of mine suggested I start blogging again. I've got a lot on my mind right now and no outlet!

Tomorrow I will be going into the hospital to be induced. That's right, I'll be giving birth within the next 24 hours... And I'm freaking out!

A. This will be the very first time I will be away from my little man all day. Spencer has been my baby for 2 years, 6 months, 2 weeks & 2 days. I have never even left him over night! I know, sort of pathetic, but I've had no reason to leave him. And when I spend the night in the hospital, even though I KNOW he'll be fine, I won't be.

B. Have you ever given birth? If so, you know what awaits me. The pain, the agony, the head ripping through your you know what! It's lovely, really. And seeing as this time my doctor ahs chosen to induce (to avoid another 10+ pounder) there will be the devil there with me... His name, Pitocin! But alas, this time, hopefullly, there will be someone there to help... a nice guy named Epidural. Had I know I was going to have a crazy big baby, I would have invited him to my first birthing experience. But I've learned and he received an invitation months ago.

So anyway, please be praying & thinking of me tomorrow, as I bring another being into this world. And to all my friends & family, thank you for your support & love... Next time I see you, you'll be able to see little Tatum Eliza as well. Unless she comes out with a penis. Then you'll be meeting someone else entirely. ;)

Wow, has it really been nearly a year? And in that year my life has been flipped upside down and back around again. The next few blogs are going to just be catching up on lost time... We'll start from where we left off and see how far we get...

After surgery, it went very well by the way, we decided to start trying for another baby. That very first try we hit the nail on the head. We found out March 16th we were expecting! I was so excited I made Spencer a little "big brother" shirt. The very next day we told our parents and the very next day after that our world came crashing down. I had started to miscarry.

Spencer was such a healthy baby with absolutely no complications in our pregnancy that I had no idea this could happen. I was 24, healthy... it was a fluke. It must have been. Assuming this was just a one time occurrence, we decided we would probably need a bigger house for this soon to be bigger family. In May we put our house on the market and soon realized that we had gotten ourselves into an awful second loan on our mortgage. It was interest only and if we sold our house before 5 years we would have massive charges. So after picking out another house, putting money down on it, and falling in love with it, we decided to stay where we were.

That being decided, we started making plans for home improvement. We were going to tile the kitchen countertops & backsplash as well as rip out almost all of our flooring & put in laminate wood flooring.

Meanwhile, we found out June 17th that we were expecting yet again. Assuming the last time was a fluke, we were expecting a healthy pregnancy this time around. Wrong. Two weeks later, I started to spot & once again, my heart was breaking... That day was July 4th. I don't think I'll ever be able to celebrate that day in the same way again.

So, tomorrow I go under the knife for sinus surgery... Tbe last time I went "under" I was in the 8th grade and they were removing a giant growth from under my tongue. Yeah, that's a great visual isn't it? I remember waking up thinking I was still dreaming. And finding out years later that what I was feeling was something I would feel if I were drunk & hungover at the same time. At the time I didn't know that considering I was 13 and never had a drink before. So that part does not seem so appealing to me. Not to mention how worried I am about being out of it and my baby boy not understand why I can't play with him for a couple of days. And I am so afraid he's going to smack me in the nose and I'll start bleeding profusely.

Other than those small fears, I'm not too worried. I also feel bad that my husband has to sit there for 4 hours waiting. That probably won't be too fun.

Create Your Own!

Here it is, the long awaited mini-story of who I am:


Create Your Own!

Has your baby every been sick? I mean, REALLY sick? For those that answered yes, it's a weird experience. Growing up, I had terrible asthma. I was sick, a LOT. I never knew how my mom felt every night when she'd sleep with me in my bed for fear I would stop breathing in the middle of the night. I think I may have taken her for granted. Who, other than your mother would sleep in your little twin bed with you when you're horribly sick? Now I understand.

Last night we had a bit of a scare. Spencer's been sick for a couple of weeks, but it's mostly been a snotty nose and a cough. But last night he spike a fever of 103.7. We gave him a bath to try and cool him down after giving him a dose of tylenol. Besides, if nothing else, he LOVES his baths. So after a little while he started to cough as if he was going to throw up. Sure enough, he vomitted, and kept on vomitting. He was so scared. It was so hard to watch. We took him to the ER.

After the MOST horrifying x-ray possible... (they set the baby upright with his legs straddling a seat, raise him arms up and lock him in with a plastic tube wrapped around his body. I'd never seen him actually really scared. It was so hard to watch)... Turns out he has pneumonia. Too bad the doctor didn't try and diagnose it when we went in to the doctor early last week.

Anyway, my baby is still asleep and all I can do is pray he is healed. Not to mention the fact that today is his birthday party. What a bummer, huh?

A year ago today I pushed a 10 pound, 4 ounce baby out of my vagina.

It's my son's first birthday today and all I can think about is how much pain I was in exactly a year ago. So I'm sorry, but I'm going to "reminisce" for a moment. Like many of you new mommies out there, when I was in labor I fell victim to what some might call the "devil." In other words, pitocin. After 8 hours of walking and 14 hours of labor I had dilated from 3 to 4 cm. So inevitibally the devil was pushed into my system. And me, thinking I could handle it without medication... Sure... I shaked uncontrollably from the horrific pain. I mean HORRIFIC. If you haven't given birth naturally, I encourage you to do it! You'll never be the same. Ever since my son was born, I've never looked at pain the same. You could probably cut my finger off and I'd be totally fine because all I would have to do is remember the pain of child birth and it puts everything into perspective.

So anyway, back to birth... One episotome, 3 tears, a face full of broken blood vessels, (as you can see above) and 22 minutes later, out came my little man. Well, not SO little. But littler than say, uh, a baby elephant. I was aghast to find out that my 7-8 pound baby that was promised to me by my doctor turned out to be 10 pounds and 4 ounces. It's not even like he was in there too long. He was only one day late. And at my 5'6" 140 pound stature, that's a pretty HUGE baby. Maybe it was all the protein shakes and extra vitamins I took whilst pregnant.

I have to say though, the coolest part about childbirth was after his head was out. It was the neatest feeling when the rest of his body came out. I could feel each of his arms and legs inside of me as the passed through. It was absolutely amazing. It's kind of like when you're pregnant and the baby kicks you or puts his arm or butt somewhere you don't want it to be. But when that happens, you can't REALLY tell what body part it is. But as he was coming out of me, I could tell exactly what body part was where. It was wicked cool.

Afterwards the doctor stitched me up while I held my new baby boy. There is one thing I would definitely change about the whole hospital experience... well, the stuff that was sort of in my control. After I was all stitched up and the nurses were cleaning Spencer, the family rushed in. My mom, my dad, my husband's mom and dad. That's the one thing I would have like to have changed. As soon as he was clean and weighed, they gave him to the grandparents. I really wished I could have had more time with just me, my husband and our new son. I wanted more time to bond immdediately after. I mean, I had plenty of time later, but it's that first hour I really wish I could have back. I guess there's always next time.

So lately I've been reminiscing about last year at this time and what it felt like to be unbearably uncomfortably 9 months pregnant. You know what I'm talking about. You can be in the most comfortable position you thougth possible and still feel absolutely horrible. No matter what you do that baby is going to find a way to shove it's foot/arm/head/butt somewhere you don't want it to be. And I don't know about you, but I had the worst heartburn. It was brutal. We put cinder blocks under the head of the bead so we could sleep at more of an angle, which definitely helped... that and about 5-8 tums each night.

Sidenote: I've been really wanting to have another baby lately. But as I'm sitting here reading what I'm writing, I'm having second thoughts. ;)

It's funny how the whole time I was pregnant all I could think about was that there was this amazing creature inside of me that looked a little like me and a little like my husband (turns out a LOT like my husband and nearly nothing like me). And then out of no where, this rush of panic came over me about a week before Spencer was born. HOW THE HELL IS THIS GOING TO COME OUT OF ME?!?!!

I've been pooped on. More than once. The very first time my baby boy, Spencer, who will be ONE on Thursday, was only a couple weeks old. Everytime we'd lay him down to sleep, he'd wake up and one whole side of him would be soaking wet. My husband and I thought he was hot and sweating through his clothes. We decided to take his temperature to make sure he wasn't sick. The easiest way to do this is in the butt. So we stripped him down and I held him as my husband put the thermometer you know where. Within seconds Spencer projectile pooped all over us. Fortunately it was back in the day before his poop stank. But it was the first of many pooped on experiences.

Turned out later that he was just peeing out the top of his diaper...