Monday, March 28, 2011

It's me again

So I totally haven't had time to update my blog. Probably because if I sit at the computer I usually have 1 kid on my lap, and one kid trying to climb on me, and that makes it difficult to type!

I've been busy-ish with trying to get back into the swing of things. I cooked my first dinner as a mom of 2 today. I think that was the only thing I hadn't tackled yet since Xander was born. So I guess that means I'm back to normal.... but let's see how it goes when I return to work :-(

Other than kid stuff I've been busy fantasizing about all the things I want to do to our house, and all the things I want to buy, and what paint colors I should choose. It's going to be a slow, very long process of getting the house the way I want it to be. But, if we can just get new floors in the downstairs before we move in I will be happy :-)

And I think my baby boy gets more and more handsome every day... unfortunately I never have my camera close by when I need it, so we have a serious lack of pics going on!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

One week in

Xander was officially a week old last night at 9:54pm. I have to say, this week has been a lot easier than I had been expecting. Yes, there was a lot of pain, a lot of tears and emotions, and a lot of frustration, but not as bad as I thought.

Thank God for my mom! She has been so great about jumping in and helping out with Ryleigh, cooking meals, cleaning up, and driving me to the places I need to go. She has made this week so much easier. I'm so nervous about when she leaves on Monday!!

Ryan has been wonderful too. It's nice that he's more confident with taking care of a baby this time around. He had no qualms about changing diapers, getting Xander dressed, or whatever else needs to be done.

And thankfully Xander has been good. Aside from one sleepless night he has been doing really well. He wakes up to eat about 2 times in the night, and then usually goes back to sleep. I can honestly say that I do not feel sleep deprived! I can't believe it. I expected to be a walking zombie for a few weeks.

Starting tomorrow people from church will start bringing us some meals, and I am so thankful for that! It will be so nice not to have to worry about dinner next week as I adjust to life with two kids, and without my mom here to help!

In other news, this week we finally signed the contract on our house and signed some loan papers for our mortgage. Next step, inspection on Monday!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Xander's story

Ryleigh and Alexander were both born in the same hospital room. And that is where the similarities of their births end. The second time around was completely different. And since people like to know these things I will share the story of Xander's birth.

I woke up Friday morning feeling like it would be THE DAY. I had contractions off and on, but nothing else except my gut feeling. I called Ryan around 8am to put him on standby so he could be prepared to rush home from work if need be.
I ran a bunch of errands that morning, and then had a doctor's appointment that afternoon. My doctor looked at me and said, "I'm guessing you have this baby tonight"... and then she sent me home. After my 20 minute drive home the contractions started in earnest. I started making the phone calls to Ryan, my mom, and his mom. After about an hour of making calls, and finally getting ahold of his mom to come take me to the hospital I finally arrived. Ryan got dropped off at the hospital and I met him there soon after.

We checked in around 4:30, talked with the doctor, and ordered my epidural. What a horrible experience that was! I was so looking forward to the sweet relief of the epidural. But it didn't work completely. My left leg went numb, and that was about it. No relief on my entire right side, and no relief in any of the important places! I spent 2 hours in excruciating pain (as is just so happened to coincide with the transition phase between 7-10cm).  The anesthesiologist couldn't figure out what went wrong. He spent his time jiggling things around and having me lay on my right side to try and get the numbness to go that way. Finally he decided to re-do the epidural. Thank God the second time around it worked fine.

After that came blissful numbness, and then it was time to push. 20 minutes later my little boy was born! All in all my labor lasted about 7 and a half hours. I'd say that was nicer than the 12 I had with Ryleigh, but it wasn't. I'd rather have 12 hours of numb labor, than 7 and a half hours of labor with no epidural!

The sad part was my mom didn't make it on time for the birth. She showed up about 20 minutes too late :-( But at least Ryan made it, my biggest fear was that he wouldn't make it from work on time.

Thankfully the physical recovery with this second baby is soooo much easier than it was with Ryleigh. I'm nearly pain free 4 days later. With Ryleigh it lasted weeks.And it's crazy cause Xander was 2 lbs bigger than she was!

The adjustment to having 2 kids has been a challenge, but thank God my mom has been here to help out. Next week, when she goes home will be the real challenge!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Please don't throw these out

With our impending move I spend much of my time thinking about all the things we'll be doing to our house, and all the extra space we'll have. I'm excited about the space, and yet a little intimidated because I'm realizing there's so much stuff we'll "need" to fill it. A couple of people have already asked me about various items they have, that we may want. So I figured I'll come up with a list. If anyone has any of these items we would so appreciate them!!

1. Beds. Ryleigh is in need of a big girl bed since Xander will be claiming the crib/toddler bed once we move. We also would like a bed for a guest room. Twins are fine, fulls could work too... anything bigger and we probably won't get it up our spirally staircase, although Ryan could always try :-)
2. Dressers. Xander needs one since plastic drawers from Walmart don't hold up for very long. Plus a dresser for our guestroom would be an added bonus.
3. A couch. We would love to have a couch for the kids playroom
4. A small tv, again, for the playroom
5. Any yard equipment. We don't even own a rake, so anything, big or little would be appreciated.
6. Patio furniture.

That's all I can think of right now. But if anyone is going to throw anything away that we might possibly need or want we would totally appreciate it!! Just keep in mind that we're not moving till June 1st, so we would not be able to actually accept any items until then.