KerryAndGabe.com

Something that made me happy this week: Going on a walk this evening before dinner with my family.

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about buying a double stroller. We could have both pushed strollers tonight, and that would have been fine. I’m sure there will be times where one of us will need to stroll both kids, and Maddie is still a bit too young to walk everywhere. I actually walked this evening’s walk with Cullen in the Sleep Wrap. It wasn’t too bad, but I don’t think I could walk around all day at a zoo or park like that.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that Cullen doesn’t get sick again. His temperature is a little elevated this evening (though not a fever at this point), and he’s not quite himself.

Something happening around the house: Ugh. We’re experiencing some “fun” home ownership issues. I guess our house is starting to act its age. The water heater broke yesterday. Gabe walked out with Maddie to go grab some lunch, and he discovered that the garage was full of steaming hot water. Not good. Fortunately, we found someone to come out almost right away and they fixed it yesterday. We have been enjoying our hot water today. We also bought a new kitchen sink and faucet today and plan on having the same guys install it. Our kitchen faucet and sink are falling apart and got worse this morning with the messed up water pressure due to air in the pipes. We are thinking about getting lighting installed in our library, something that we have wanted to do since we moved into the house. What kind of library doesn’t have suitable lighting? We are debating replacing the remainder of our brass light fixtures. I’m not sure we’re ready to do all of that.

Something I’m reading: I finished Flyte! Our book club is sorting out our picks for the next 6 months, so I might have to start reading some of those if I’m ever going to finish any of them.

Something tasty I ate this week: I made my own pizza for the first time! I didn’t make Cindy’s pizza, but she inspired me to give homemade pizza a try. Yum! I will have to make Cindy’s someday. It looks very good.

Something Maddie did this week (24 months old): Poor girl got strep throat for the first time. She seems to be getting all the same kind of illnesses that I had frequently as a child. Maddie felt pretty bad, resulting in some sweet cuddles with her Daddy. I think she’s feeling more like herself now. Not feeling well did contribute to some extra toddler tantrums. She is certainly embracing being a two year old. She continues to say funny things. She often requests socks saying, “her feet are cold” (whether or not that is actually true). This week, she came up with a new one. She said, “Daddy, I need my shoes. My socks are cold.” I love the toddler logic!

Something Cullen did this week (6 weeks old): He rolled over from his front to his back this week, though clearly not intentional. He has done this a few times previously on the bed, which I thought was a little sloped so it didn’t “count.” This time he rolled over on the floor. It certainly wasn’t intentional, but he was happier afterward. Cullen smiles a little each day. He still has a little acne and a lot of cradle cap. He’s holding his head up extremely well. We estimate he’s between 11.5 and 12 pounds.

Something I struggled with this week: Broken water heater, sick child, recovering my iTunes library (the only copy of it was on our iPods and a broken hard drive), dealing with toddler tantrums, realizing that my maternity leave is half over, realizing that Cullen is no longer a newborn, accidentally not refrigerating Maddie’s antibiotic necessitating a new prescription (which is not covered by insurance, by the way), chronic lack of sleep.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’ve been actively gathering suggestions and sending out emails for our book club. This falls under my goal of staying active in at least one book club. I’ve also done a little bit towards my MS fundraising goals and plan to focus some more efforts in that direction soon. I went back and created my 2005 photobook, so I guess that can potentially count as “create yearly photobooks for my family” since some of it has both Gabe and me. Ooh, and I see that “replace the kitchen sink” was one of my goals…we bought the sink and faucet and are replacing it very soon!

Something I learned this week: I learned that I had already scrapbooked 2005….after I finished my 2005 photobook! Hrm, oh well, the old scrapbook was heavy and bulky. The photobook version is a little different, but the important things are well represented.

Something I’m looking forward to next week: A relaxing, stress-free week???

Something random: We’re watching more reality shows than normal this season - Survivor, Amazing Race, and American Idol. We’ve really been enjoying all three! I’m not sure who we want to win Survivor, but I love the Heroes vs. Villains thing. I haven’t watched Survivor in several seasons, but I know a lot of the players this season. The cowboys on Amazing Race make us laugh. We are rooting for Crystal Bowersox on American Idol and also like several others: Alex Lambert, Andrew Garcia, Casey James, Lee Dewyze, and Lilly Scott. Lee Dewyze is probably my second favorite at the moment.

Something captured: Poor sick little girl wanted to snuggle with Daddy and read books.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that made me happy this week: Maddie seems to be coming back around to Mommy. Since Cullen was born, she has been very clingy to Daddy and hasn’t wanted to have much to do with anyone else. This week, she paid more equal attention to us both (though still leans towards Daddy).

Something I’m thinking: I really need to do my taxes soon. I did a preliminary run weeks ago, but I haven’t had time to make sure all the numbers are right.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping we’ll all be healthy this week. I thought that Cullen was over his cold, but he’s not quite well. He still has a little congestion that is making it hard for him to breathe. Poor thing.

Something happening around the house: Maddie and I made cupcakes today. I even made them pink, like in her new favorite book, Pinkalicious.

Something I’m reading: I think I read another chapter of Flyte. Otherwise, I read a lot of Pinkalicious and some of Maddie’s board books. I’m even way behind on my RSS feeds.

Something tasty I ate this week: Friends brought us tasty dinners this week!

Something Maddie did this week (24 months old): Maddie had her 2-year check up this week. She weighs 24 pounds, 6 ounces which puts her in the 20th percentile. The doctor was very impressed with Maddie’s communication skills and claimed Maddie was talking like a 3 year old. We were very proud.

Something Cullen did this week (5 weeks old): He graced us with his first social smiles this week! So far, he has mostly smiled at Mommy (but has smiled a time or two in Daddy’s direction). I’m sure the smiles will get bigger and more frequent soon! He’s been alert more and more each day. His acne is starting to clear up, but now he’s cursed with cradle cap.

Something I struggled with this week: I’ve been trying to ignore the fact that I’ve been sick. I feel mostly ok, and I think I might be mostly better now. That’s what I keep telling myself, and so far that seems to be working!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: Nothing in particular this week.

Something I learned this week: I learned it takes more food coloring than you might think to make cupcake batter pink. Plus, I needed to make it a bit more pink so that it wasn’t so subtle when the cupcakes were baked.

Something I’m looking forward to next week: Quality time spent with my newborn son.

Something random: Cullen has nursed over 750 times and has had almost 400 diaper changes.

Something captured:

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Maddie was just out of Daddy’s sight, and he asked, “Maddie, what are you doing?” Maddie replied, “I’m doing the Maddie dance.” I don’t know where she comes up with this stuff. A little while later, I was curious about what she might do when asked to demonstrate the Maddie dance. Gabe and I were surprised and amused that she really did have a specific dance in mind. She demanded that we do the Maddie dance as well. The video shows Maddie showcasing her moves. Click on the post to see the embedded video.

Not too long after this video, she got into the princess “bucket,” put the lid on her head, and said, “Maddie’s in the bucket!” Followed shortly by, “I’m too big for the bucket. I not fit.”

I didn’t start Maddie’s letters until she was 4 months old. We were quite overwhelmed in those first few months. It would be interesting to see some of what I might have said in those letters. I thought I might as well start Cullen’s monthly letters from his first month. (more…)

Something that made me happy this week: I think Cullen and Maddie are mostly over their colds now, thank goodness.

Something I’m thinking: It’s my sister’s birthday. Happy birthday, Kristin!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping Cullen’s baby acne clears up soon. I don’t think it bothers him too much, but it sure looks awful!

Something happening around the house: We had Maddie’s best buddies over for cake to celebrate her 2nd birthday yesterday!

Something I’m reading: Today I read Big Red Barn and PInkalicious, both of them multiple times. Oh! And I actually read two chapters of Flyte, the Septimus Heap book that I was reading before Cullen was born. I don’t anticipate getting time to read generally. I have too many other things that I need to do with my “free” time, like sleep.

Something tasty I ate this week: Cake!! We ate birthday cake for Maddie yesterday and birthday cake for my sister today. Both were very yummy. We have a good amount of cake leftover from Maddie’s cake, so I guess we might be enjoying that for a few days.

Something Maddie did this week: She turned TWO and had a birthday party! She also tattled on Nana and Papa. Cullen spit up a little on the couch earlier this week, and I asked Gabe to get a wet cloth to wipe it. Maddie then started saying over and over (while pointing at a spot on the couch), “Papa washed it. It’s clean. Papa washed it. It’s clean.” I talked to my mom and asked whether there had been any mishaps with the couch when they were here while Cullen was in the hospital (at the time OVER three weeks ago). Sure enough, Abby had drooled on the couch and my dad cleaned it up. We were all amazed that she remembered this and communicated it to us!

Something Cullen did this week: He was a bit fussier than usual this week and had a few bad nights as far as sleep was concerned. He spent most of the week recovering from his cold, poor thing. He seems to be back to his “usual” laid back self, for the most part. Oh, and he’s growing like crazy. When we had his follow up appointment the day after being discharged from the hospital (over a week ago on Saturday), he hadn’t gained any weight since the previous Tuesday. We had an appointment on Thursday and found out that he had gained almost another pound, weighing in at 10 pounds, 7 ounces! Big boy!

Something I struggled with this week: We had a couple of days this week where Maddie absolutely would have nothing to do with anyone except her Daddy. This has been exhausting for Gabe, but it’s also hard not to get my feelings hurt when she won’t let me read a book (though I can’t say I’m heartbroken when she refuses to let me change her diaper).

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I set up Cullen’s college savings account which is the first step in paying for his education. It’s my goal to pay for Maddie and Cullen’s education so that they don’t have to start their adult lives with a ton of debt.

Something I learned this week: I remember thinking of something earlier this week that I learned, but I guess it didn’t stick. I did learn how to throw a party without investing a huge amount of time in preparation. I did not make a single food item for the party…not my best party offering, but I didn’t really have time to spend on making stuff. The toddlers didn’t seem to mind!

Something I’m looking forward to next week: Looks like we have some tasty dinners headed our way this week! I’m also looking forward to Maddie’s 2-year check up. I’m curious to know how much she weighs now.

Something random: I received an interesting comment this week on my post about the Emmaljunga prams. A representative from the Cirque du Soleil show, Mystere, in Las Vegas contacted me to see if we still had the pram for sale. We do still have one of them, but unfortunately it’s a smaller model. They were interested in the one pictured on the post for use in the show. I was excited for a day or so that we might be able to contribute to the production. How cool would that have been?

Something captured: The birthday girl with her crayon box birthday cake.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Wow! I can’t believe that I’m officially the mother of a two year old. Time really flies in our crazy life. It’s time for another letter to Maddie. (more…)

When we arrived home from the hospital after Cullen’s birth, Cullen came bearing a gift for his big sister Maddie. Consider it a sort of peace offering. His gift to Maddie was a brand new school bus tent. Maddie loves it! We quickly discovered the “short bus” configuration, which we use often to save a little space. The tent is great as it collapses completely flat, so we can stow it away when not in use.

Oops, the steering wheel is on the outside!

She loves getting in the bus with Daddy:

The bus has a nice sunroof.

Aunt Kristin played in the tent with Maddie. Who enjoyed it more?

And Maddie discovered that she could walk around the house in the bus. Click on the post to see the embedded video.

The labor with Cullen was very different from the labor with Maddie. I can’t get over how different that the two experiences were!

With Maddie, I was induced a few days before my due date due to high blood pressure issues. We showed up at 6am at the hospital, and they started the induction pretty soon after arrival. It wasn’t long before I determined that I did indeed want an epidural. The epidural didn’t take fully for a while, but I had plenty of time for it to kick in. I was in some pain before that, especially since I had back labor with her. By early afternoon, I was pretty comfortable. Progress was steady, though it seemed to take forever having never gone through it before. I was officially in labor for 10 hours, and Maddie was born after pushing for over two hours. I was exhausted and unsure why I had to wait forever in order to hold my daughter. It was a confusing and emotional experience, but I finally was able to hold my little girl in my arms.

Since I didn’t spontaneously go into labor with Maddie, I still had no real idea of what it is like to go into labor. I wondered when it would happen and how. I experienced many more contractions this time in the last few months of the pregnancy. Several times, I timed the contractions to see if they were regular. Sometimes the contractions were a little painful or uncomfortable.

Until the morning of Friday, January 22nd, every time I had timed the contractions, they were not at all regular or getting closer together. That morning, I went to work as usual and noticed that I was having somewhat frequent contractions. I took out my practice iPhone (my iPod Touch that was intended to placate me until we are out of our cell phone contract), and I started timing the contractions with one of the pregnancy apps that I had downloaded a while back. I started to think that maybe I might be heading towards labor when I discovered that the contractions were very regular and around 9 minutes apart when I started timing them. This was around 10:30am. I emailed Gabe just to let him know that maybe he should gather the hospital bag, but I wasn’t too concerned just yet. The doctors’ office didn’t want me to call until the contractions were less than 5 minutes apart for an hour.

By the time I went to lunch on campus with a friend, The contractions were around 6 minutes apart. We had to stand in a long line since they were giving out free lunch (I didn’t want to miss that!). I kept updating my friend with my status and carried the iPod so that I could continue to time them. They were definitely getting more frequent and a little bit more painful…but they really weren’t painful. By the end of lunch, I decided it was time to call the doctor. After a consult with them, they sent me to the hospital. My friend went to get her car, and we had to decide what to do. I felt like I could drive, but friends don’t let friends in labor drive - go figure! We decided that she would drive our van, and we would go by and pick up Gabe and our hospital bags. I didn’t feel like we were in a hurry at this time, though the contractions were definitely frequent. They still weren’t painful, and everyone says that you shouldn’t be able to talk through the contractions. I could still talk through them.

By the time we got to the hospital, checked in, and had my labor signs checked, it was about 2:30pm. I was disappointed to find that no progress had been made since my appointment two days ago (still at 4cm, 50%). I was thinking that things were going to progress quickly, but now I thought it might take forever. Since I had not made progress since my appointment on Wednesday, I was now considered a “watch patient.” The nurse suggested that I walk around to see if that helps progress. She wouldn’t say one way or another, but it seemed like it was even possible that they might send me home. At this point, I really didn’t want to be sent home!

So, we walked around the maternity ward. My contractions were getting more painful at this point. We made some phone calls, and I was no longer able to talk through the contractions. I really, really wanted my epidural already, but they wouldn’t even start an IV with fluids until I was officially “in labor.” I ran into the doctor at some point and let her know that my contractions were painful, and I was looking forward to my epidural. I told her it was starting to get uncomfortable to walk. She said that I didn’t have to walk around if I wasn’t comfortable and that if I was going to be in labor, it would happen whether I walked or not. At this point, I was thinking, um, *if* I go into labor? I’m pretty sure I’m in labor, woman! But officially, I wasn’t in labor yet.

Finally, the nurse comes back to check me. I had made progress! Now I was at 5-6cm and 80% effaced. Woohoo! She got the IV set up a little bit afterward, and now it was around 3:30pm. The doctor came by and assured me that we were going to run the fluids (that part takes 45 minutes to an hour), they would start the epidural, I could take a nap, and then I would wake up and push and voila! Baby! That plan sounded good to me.

The pain had gotten pretty bad by the time they started the fluids. I had to breath through the contractions and started to feel like I wasn’t getting much of a break in between them. We had called my parents to let them know they should go ahead and start the journey to our house, but we decided to wait until after I got the epidural to make other phone calls. I was quite uncomfortable! About 30 minutes into the fluids, my water broke during one of the very painful contractions. Wow. That was crazy. I told Gabe, “um, my water just broke.” His response was, “are you sure?” Ha! Um, yeah. I’m quite sure.

The nurse came by not too long after my water broke. She started to get the epidural ready but said that she needed to check my signs. I think she had a good idea that I had progressed too far and warned me that I might not be able to get the epidural. I really, really did not want to hear that! When she let me know that I was at 9.5cm, definitely past the time that they could give me the epidural (especially considering the fluids weren’t even done yet), I was scared! I hadn’t prepared to do this naturally, and now they were saying I couldn’t have any drugs. Yikes! I didn’t know how long I would have to push. After pushing for 2 hours with Maddie, I didn’t know how I was going to be able to handle anything near that long.

The nurse wanted me to let her know if I needed to push, and at that point I didn’t know if I needed to push or not. A few contractions later, I knew that it was time. Unfortunately, the doctor that was supposed to deliver Cullen was in an emergency c-section. So, they were trying to get me to wait until another doctor could arrive. The contractions were quite painful and frequent and I really wanted to push at this point. The nurse was great, but I was wondering, “don’t you deliver the babies sometimes? Get over there and catch, woman!” I didn’t say that out loud, of course. I did ask if she could snag ANY doctor out of the hallway, though. I hadn’t even met the doctor who was on the way to deliver Cullen.

Finally, after holding me off for over 20 minutes, the doctor showed up and I told him I was going to push now. They were pretty quick to get things ready at that point, and after 3 pushes, Cullen was born at 4:54pm. Officially, I had been in labor for less than an hour and a half (unofficially, it was at least 2-3 hours).

The recovery without the drugs was so much better than the recovery for Maddie. Of course, the pain was worse, but it was for a shorter period of time, thankfully. It helped that I didn’t miss a meal, and that I didn’t have to push for over two hours!! I just felt so much better overall. I was relieved that I could hold my son right away - with Maddie, it felt like forever before I was able to hold her. I was even able to walk myself from the delivery room to the postpartum room!

Something that made me happy this week: I was happy when we found out at Cullen’s 2-week appointment that not only had he regained his birth weight, he gained an extra pound and an ounce. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 11 ounces on Tuesday. He was 21.5 inches long, putting him in the 71st percentile. Quite different from his peanut of a big sister.

Something I’m thinking: I thought I was tired last week at this time. Wow, I had no idea.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to have a boring week and a healthy family.

Something happening around the house: Snow, again. This kind of snow was much better. It was pretty, it didn’t cause problems on the roads, and it is melting away quickly.

Something I’m reading: Board books to Maddie. That’s about it.

Something tasty I ate this week: Several friends delivered real food to the hospital while we were there with Cullen. This was very much appreciated!

Something Maddie did this week: Maddie continues to be a chatterbox and cracks us up all the time. Last Sunday evening, she blamed her brother for the first time. She tore the wrapper off the crayon, and Gabe asked her, “why did you tear the paper off the crayon?” Maddie’s reply was, “Cullen did it.” Wow, I can’t believe how early that behavior starts! She’s not even 2! And then a couple days ago, Gabe was taking her downstairs from her crib in the morning and she passed some gas. Gabe asked, “Maddie, did you toot?” and Maddie’s reply this time was, “Bunny tooted.” I guess since Cullen wasn’t at home (he was at the hospital with me), she had to resort to blaming her stuffed animals. Hilarious.

Something Cullen did this week: Cullen seems to have his first illness which, due to his age, meant an ER visit for us and a two day stay in the hospital. He vomited several times and had a fever on Wednesday night. They take fevers in newborns very seriously and subjected him to a number of tests including a spinal tap and several equally unpleasant tests. It was a difficult couple of days, and we’re not quite recovered from it. We have been home from the hospital since Friday night.

Something I struggled with this week: Obviously taking my newborn to the ER and having him admitted to the hospital was a struggle. I encountered my first situation where I had to prioritize my children and give attention to the one who needs it most. Maddie was very upset when we left her on Wednesday night to take Cullen to the hospital. It was heartbreaking, but we had to focus on what was going on with Cullen at the moment. I knew that we would have times like these with multiple children, but it was still difficult.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We watched another episode or two of Dead Like Me.

Something I learned this week: I learned a little more than I wanted about the ER and pediatric ward of the hospital. Fortunately, Cullen’s visit was a precautionary one, standard protocol for newborns with a fever. Thank goodness it wasn’t more serious.

Something I’m looking forward to next week: Maddie’s birthday! I can’t believe that she will be TWO at the end of this week.

Something random: I’m excited about seeing the rest of Cullen’s photo session with Catherine Keene Photography. This should happen tomorrow!

Something captured: My little guy in the smallest hospital gown ever, hooked up to an IV and various monitors. This was taken while we were still in the ER (where we stayed for about 8 hours).

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Cullen had his newborn session with Catherine Keene Photography when he was 11 and 12 days old. Catherine has shared two photos from the session so far. More to come soon!