I'm tired. That's just reality. Devyn is not a great baby. She has terrible gas and is crabby quite often. I'm trying to cut dairy out of my diet and that seems to be helping a bit. I feel bad for her because she's uncomfortable so often. Oddly enough nights tend to be better than days. She might go 3-4 hours between feedings the first time around at night..although it depends on the night..and then it's back to every 2 hours. It's still way better than being up with 3 little baby boys at night! :) I took her to the dr. on Monday because she has a rash all over her body that started on her face. We had to see the partner dr. because ours is on vacation. He said it's just really bad excema and that she has extremely sensitive skin. He said to be sure I don't keep her to warm and to bathe her every day. Yuck. I hate giving baths. But I don't want her to be miserable, so I do it. I asked about the constant discomfort and he says it's normal. We're not buying it. I'll talk to the pediatrician more Monday when I take the boys for their 2 year check-up and the allergist Tuesday when I take Noah for his check-up there. Maybe they'll have some ideas of what could be going on.
The boys has an AWESOME 2nd birthday! The weekend of their birthday we took them to a restaurant with trains for breakfast (I can't remember if I posted about that..again, tired). Last weekend we had their party, which was great, and then took them to a splash pad by our house on Sunday after church. They loved it! It was a lot of fun! I really wanted to write a post entitled, "Your kid is a jerk.". There was a really mean older kid who was being mean to the boys and rude to me. I think being tired made it worse. I decided against writing an entire post about it. Parent your kids people or they'll turn out to be jerks as adults. Sorry, rant over. I'm learning how to protect my boys and how to let them deal with mean people. It's a hard balance. I want to knock over every kid that's mean to them, but I know it's not helpful. Ok, I'm really done now.
I've been thinking about lots of different posts, which I still hope to get to, such as: hidden blessings (remembering that when my boys are naughty and plotting together that this is normal development and I should be grateful for that), why I won't be mother of the year (because some days I just stink at my job of being a mom-that's real life!), and things not to say to parents of multiples (I hope you're done!-yes we've heard that MANY times!). Hopefully I get around to writing all these at some point.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
Golden
Today the boys turn 2!! That means today is their golden birthday. I almost can't believe it. I can still see the day they were born so clearly in my head. There were at least 30 people crammed into the operating room and people looking in the window on the door to see them being born. I can also remember being surprised when the dr. said, "Here comes baby A!" and not knowing that they had even started. Suddenly Aiden was filling the room with a loud cry. No surprise there..he's still really loud. :) Then came little Noah, which is ironic because he's by far the biggest now. Finally Reese came and his cry was so quiet we couldn't really hear it. I was so worried about him. He's still the one that makes me worry all the time.
2 years later they're busy playing with trains and having conversations with each other. I can't believe it. My babies aren't really babies any more. Honestly, I'm relieved. I'm not worried that they'll just forget to keep breathing, wondering if they're eating enough and thinking about how terribly long the night is (although..more on that later). It never gets easier to have 3 at once, it just gets different (if that makes sense). Now the hard part is so different..tantrums, potty training and general stubborn behavior. I love every age and right now I love how verbal they are and how much they learn every day.
As for nights. Ms. Devyn is not the easiest baby. I think that's putting it nicely. She has reflux and has a crampy tummy. It makes for fussy days and often uncomfortable nights. Not to mention she wants to eat constantly because it feels good on her reflux. So I have to try to keep her happy without letting her eat all the time. She has some serious rolls starting on her legs! :) It's pretty darn cute to have rolly legs when you're a baby. She is one month old as of last Saturday and smiled at me for the first time. I suppose I shouldn't be so flattered though. I caught her smiling at the ceiling fan last night.
Now I'm off to spend a day with my 3 crazy 2 year old boys. It's raining like crazy and they are all yelling, "It's raining!" out the window. I suppose we'll just have to have fun inside today. Happy Birthday to my 3 favorite little boys. We often wonder what life was like before them and decide it must have been really boring. They bring so much joy and craziness to our life.
2 years later they're busy playing with trains and having conversations with each other. I can't believe it. My babies aren't really babies any more. Honestly, I'm relieved. I'm not worried that they'll just forget to keep breathing, wondering if they're eating enough and thinking about how terribly long the night is (although..more on that later). It never gets easier to have 3 at once, it just gets different (if that makes sense). Now the hard part is so different..tantrums, potty training and general stubborn behavior. I love every age and right now I love how verbal they are and how much they learn every day.
As for nights. Ms. Devyn is not the easiest baby. I think that's putting it nicely. She has reflux and has a crampy tummy. It makes for fussy days and often uncomfortable nights. Not to mention she wants to eat constantly because it feels good on her reflux. So I have to try to keep her happy without letting her eat all the time. She has some serious rolls starting on her legs! :) It's pretty darn cute to have rolly legs when you're a baby. She is one month old as of last Saturday and smiled at me for the first time. I suppose I shouldn't be so flattered though. I caught her smiling at the ceiling fan last night.
Now I'm off to spend a day with my 3 crazy 2 year old boys. It's raining like crazy and they are all yelling, "It's raining!" out the window. I suppose we'll just have to have fun inside today. Happy Birthday to my 3 favorite little boys. We often wonder what life was like before them and decide it must have been really boring. They bring so much joy and craziness to our life.
Monday, July 22, 2013
It's love
After 3 weeks of craziness I'm finally sitting down to update what has been going on around our house. Nothing too exciting, just lots of adjusting to normal life, Dr. appts., etc.
3 little boys are in love with their little sister. Good luck to any boy who ever tries to get near our little girl. :) We won't have to worry because they are all over her. In the morning they go into our room and peek into her bassinet and say, "Hi Devyn! Morning." Then they all kiss her. They just think she's great (breathing a sigh of relief). They like to help with things like getting her dressed, giving her a pacifier when she cries, etc. They still go about their business most of the day and leave her alone. It's great!
We have also had a lot of Dr. appts. Devyn had 3 blood tests and 2 Dr. appts for her billirubin levels. Thankfully the jaundice cleared up, she's gaining weight and we got her started on reflux medicine. The one we have her one doesn't seem to be helping. It actually seems like she's a little worse..we'll have to see.
We took all 3 boys to the eye Dr. 2 weeks ago. They all got an eye exam to try to qualify them for a study for kids who are far-sighted. Noah's eyes were fine. Aiden was on the border of qualifying and Reese did qualify. There was a 50/50 chance of him getting glasses. Of course he got picked for glasses. Poor guy. We tried bribing him with cookies to wear them, but in the end the threat of time-out was the only way to keep them on his face. He's the cutest thing on earth with them on.
So now things have slowed down for a couple weeks before the madness of August begins (birthday, lots of check-ups, etc). I'm going to enjoy some time getting life somewhat back to normal now that we are a family of 6(!)
*I tried adding pictures to this post, but it wasn't working. I'll try again later!
3 little boys are in love with their little sister. Good luck to any boy who ever tries to get near our little girl. :) We won't have to worry because they are all over her. In the morning they go into our room and peek into her bassinet and say, "Hi Devyn! Morning." Then they all kiss her. They just think she's great (breathing a sigh of relief). They like to help with things like getting her dressed, giving her a pacifier when she cries, etc. They still go about their business most of the day and leave her alone. It's great!
We have also had a lot of Dr. appts. Devyn had 3 blood tests and 2 Dr. appts for her billirubin levels. Thankfully the jaundice cleared up, she's gaining weight and we got her started on reflux medicine. The one we have her one doesn't seem to be helping. It actually seems like she's a little worse..we'll have to see.
We took all 3 boys to the eye Dr. 2 weeks ago. They all got an eye exam to try to qualify them for a study for kids who are far-sighted. Noah's eyes were fine. Aiden was on the border of qualifying and Reese did qualify. There was a 50/50 chance of him getting glasses. Of course he got picked for glasses. Poor guy. We tried bribing him with cookies to wear them, but in the end the threat of time-out was the only way to keep them on his face. He's the cutest thing on earth with them on.
So now things have slowed down for a couple weeks before the madness of August begins (birthday, lots of check-ups, etc). I'm going to enjoy some time getting life somewhat back to normal now that we are a family of 6(!)
*I tried adding pictures to this post, but it wasn't working. I'll try again later!
Monday, July 1, 2013
Isn't She Lovely
Last Thursday, June 27, we welcomed our beautiful little girl into our family. Devyn Marie was born at 10:37 am. She weighed 8lbs. 11oz. and was 21 1/4 in long. She is beautiful and healthy and we are so happy to finally have her here. Here's how she decided to make her grand entrance (don't worry, no gory details included).
Wednesday I went to my weekly Dr. appointment. Nate happened to be home early, so he came with me. I had made a tiny bit of progress. The Dr. was still optimistic that she could come before a c-section was necessary. He gave us 3 options. The first was to schedule a c-section just in case she decided not to come on time. The 2nd was to come back Monday (today) if she hadn't been born and make a decision on what day to have a c-section if it still didn't look like she was coming. The 3rd was to go to labor and delivery Thusrday morning and he would break my water in hopes of encouraging my contractions to speed up. I had been having contractions for a couple weeks that would be 10 minutes apart and then stop. We chose the last option and planned to be at the hospital at 5:00 the next morning. We left the boys with my parents that night so we could just get up and go in the morning.
In true Devyn fashion she decided that she didn't want to be told what to do. At 1:30 I woke up feeling uncomfortable and my water started to break. We quickly finished getting our stuff together and rushed to the hospital. The dr. had wanted me to come when they were 5 minutes apart, but they were immediately 4 minutes apart. After 9 hours and one heavenly epidural (which I desperately tried to avoid) Devyn was born. It was amazing. It was so incredibly different than the boys birth. I just posted about having trouble bonding with them. I bonded with her immediately. I was able to hold her for an hour and a half after she was born. It was everything I had hoped for.
Now we're home and recovering. Devyn is having some bloodwork done because she is jaundice. Tomorrow we'll see the pediatrician as well. I am so thankful to have brought home a baby with me. That was so important to me after leaving the boys. I have prayed many prayers of thanks for that and many prayers in awe of the human body's ability to carry, deliver and nourish a baby.
Before she was born I joked with Nate that when Devyn was born I wanted the song, "Isn't She Lovely" to be playing in the background. :) She is lovely. See for yourself...
Wednesday I went to my weekly Dr. appointment. Nate happened to be home early, so he came with me. I had made a tiny bit of progress. The Dr. was still optimistic that she could come before a c-section was necessary. He gave us 3 options. The first was to schedule a c-section just in case she decided not to come on time. The 2nd was to come back Monday (today) if she hadn't been born and make a decision on what day to have a c-section if it still didn't look like she was coming. The 3rd was to go to labor and delivery Thusrday morning and he would break my water in hopes of encouraging my contractions to speed up. I had been having contractions for a couple weeks that would be 10 minutes apart and then stop. We chose the last option and planned to be at the hospital at 5:00 the next morning. We left the boys with my parents that night so we could just get up and go in the morning.
In true Devyn fashion she decided that she didn't want to be told what to do. At 1:30 I woke up feeling uncomfortable and my water started to break. We quickly finished getting our stuff together and rushed to the hospital. The dr. had wanted me to come when they were 5 minutes apart, but they were immediately 4 minutes apart. After 9 hours and one heavenly epidural (which I desperately tried to avoid) Devyn was born. It was amazing. It was so incredibly different than the boys birth. I just posted about having trouble bonding with them. I bonded with her immediately. I was able to hold her for an hour and a half after she was born. It was everything I had hoped for.
Now we're home and recovering. Devyn is having some bloodwork done because she is jaundice. Tomorrow we'll see the pediatrician as well. I am so thankful to have brought home a baby with me. That was so important to me after leaving the boys. I have prayed many prayers of thanks for that and many prayers in awe of the human body's ability to carry, deliver and nourish a baby.
Before she was born I joked with Nate that when Devyn was born I wanted the song, "Isn't She Lovely" to be playing in the background. :) She is lovely. See for yourself...
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Things no one tells you before you have kids..
There are a number of things I have learned over the past 2 years that I'm sure no one ever told me before I had kids. Here are a few..
*Your children WILL annoy you. I felt like the worst mom on the planet the first time I felt annoyed by the boys. I mean what kind of mother feels annoyed by her children? Let me tell you. Every mother! When your child has screamed, "All done!" for the 478th time in 2 minutes you can't help but be annoyed. You are human and the little humans you love so much will annoy you to no end some days.
*You may not bond with your baby (or babies in our case) right away. I can still remember holding Aiden for the first time and feeling absolutely nothing. For all I knew I was holding someone else's baby. At the time I didn't give credit to the fact that it was a long, exhausting day and that sometimes it just takes time to bond with a baby. Of course now I would go mama bear on anyone who tried to hurt my babies, it just took time to feel that bond. It's not some instant magical feeling the way I expected.
*You will never go to the bathroom alone. Ever. There will be pounding at the door and if they get in they will tear the bathroom apart and cheer for you when you pee in the potty. After all we cheer when they pee in the potty.
*You will be stalked like prey. They will find you wherever you are. It sounds endearing and I know I should feel flattered that they care enough to want to know where I am, but sometimes I just wish I could sneak around without them finding me. I want to put away a basket of laundry in peace. Nope. Not happening. Again..banging on the door, tearing apart of the room...you get the picture.
*You will sing roughly 50% of your day. (50% being conservative)
*You will love these little people like you've never loved anyone in your life. They will gross you out, bug you, make you angrier than you knew possible. At the end of the day you would do anything for them.
They are the most amazing gift in the world. I find myself not so patiently waiting for this little girl to make her arrival. I have to constantly remind myself that at the end of this is a gift like none other. Until then I'll spend my days enjoying my 3 little gifts who follow me around and repeat my every word.
*Your children WILL annoy you. I felt like the worst mom on the planet the first time I felt annoyed by the boys. I mean what kind of mother feels annoyed by her children? Let me tell you. Every mother! When your child has screamed, "All done!" for the 478th time in 2 minutes you can't help but be annoyed. You are human and the little humans you love so much will annoy you to no end some days.
*You may not bond with your baby (or babies in our case) right away. I can still remember holding Aiden for the first time and feeling absolutely nothing. For all I knew I was holding someone else's baby. At the time I didn't give credit to the fact that it was a long, exhausting day and that sometimes it just takes time to bond with a baby. Of course now I would go mama bear on anyone who tried to hurt my babies, it just took time to feel that bond. It's not some instant magical feeling the way I expected.
*You will never go to the bathroom alone. Ever. There will be pounding at the door and if they get in they will tear the bathroom apart and cheer for you when you pee in the potty. After all we cheer when they pee in the potty.
*You will be stalked like prey. They will find you wherever you are. It sounds endearing and I know I should feel flattered that they care enough to want to know where I am, but sometimes I just wish I could sneak around without them finding me. I want to put away a basket of laundry in peace. Nope. Not happening. Again..banging on the door, tearing apart of the room...you get the picture.
*You will sing roughly 50% of your day. (50% being conservative)
*You will love these little people like you've never loved anyone in your life. They will gross you out, bug you, make you angrier than you knew possible. At the end of the day you would do anything for them.
They are the most amazing gift in the world. I find myself not so patiently waiting for this little girl to make her arrival. I have to constantly remind myself that at the end of this is a gift like none other. Until then I'll spend my days enjoying my 3 little gifts who follow me around and repeat my every word.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Why our kids are weird
Nate and I often joke about how strange our kids are. Seriously, they are total oddballs. Here are a few things that make our kids weird...
1. They LOVE getting their teeth brushed. They excitedly line up and wait for their turn. Noah just finished crying about the fact that I took his toothbrush and told him to go play.
2. They line up to get their nails clipped and ears cleaned and will even ask for me to do either of those things.
3. They love bedtime. We tell them it's time for bed and to go find their Elmo (they all have a stuffed Elmo in bed) and up the stairs they go. They jump in bed for a few minutes and then lay down and go to sleep. It's rare that someone cries at bedtime. It's usually because they're really tired.
4. They love sitting on the potty. We have little potty's that are a big hit. Everyone wants to try to go on the potty.
5. They really don't watch t.v. I wish sometimes that they did. I turned on Thomas this morning for them so I could take a shower. When I came back down they have ripped apart my filing cabinet. Awesome. I really wanted to reorganize all my files this morning (note: read that with heavy sarcasm).
6. They would rather eat sauteed peppers and onions than macaroni and cheese. Reese asks for sausage of some sort at every meal, Aiden loves plain lettuce, Noah loves cucumbers and avacado. Don't get me wrong I'm very glad that they like healthy foods, it's just not what I expected. We always expose them to a wide variety of food in hopes that they find a lot of healthy food they like. I guess starting to feed them these foods early helped. Peer pressure helps too. If they see their brother eating it they can't be outdone.
7. They "help" with laundry. Yesterday I put a basket in the living room and they collected the laundry from the hamper and the laundry they had scattered around the room. I know that will end, but it's nice that they like to help!
I'm sure there are other things I left out, but those are a few of the most notable. I love my little weirdos. My favorite things are the things that make them so unique.
1. They LOVE getting their teeth brushed. They excitedly line up and wait for their turn. Noah just finished crying about the fact that I took his toothbrush and told him to go play.
2. They line up to get their nails clipped and ears cleaned and will even ask for me to do either of those things.
3. They love bedtime. We tell them it's time for bed and to go find their Elmo (they all have a stuffed Elmo in bed) and up the stairs they go. They jump in bed for a few minutes and then lay down and go to sleep. It's rare that someone cries at bedtime. It's usually because they're really tired.
4. They love sitting on the potty. We have little potty's that are a big hit. Everyone wants to try to go on the potty.
5. They really don't watch t.v. I wish sometimes that they did. I turned on Thomas this morning for them so I could take a shower. When I came back down they have ripped apart my filing cabinet. Awesome. I really wanted to reorganize all my files this morning (note: read that with heavy sarcasm).
6. They would rather eat sauteed peppers and onions than macaroni and cheese. Reese asks for sausage of some sort at every meal, Aiden loves plain lettuce, Noah loves cucumbers and avacado. Don't get me wrong I'm very glad that they like healthy foods, it's just not what I expected. We always expose them to a wide variety of food in hopes that they find a lot of healthy food they like. I guess starting to feed them these foods early helped. Peer pressure helps too. If they see their brother eating it they can't be outdone.
7. They "help" with laundry. Yesterday I put a basket in the living room and they collected the laundry from the hamper and the laundry they had scattered around the room. I know that will end, but it's nice that they like to help!
I'm sure there are other things I left out, but those are a few of the most notable. I love my little weirdos. My favorite things are the things that make them so unique.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Now we wait
Life has been quiet, but busy, at our house lately. We're attempting to get things done and ready for this baby. I finally packed a hospital bag, got the car seat out and started packing a bag for the boys. We're slowly emptying out the baby's room. No, there is no room set up for the baby yet. Whatever. She'll sleep by me for now. It's fine. We'll put her in our room until she's a little bigger whether her room is done or not. No, she doesn't have a name yet. We still haven't made it through the name book. We have 1 or 2 possibilities. I'm not really worried. It's not really like me to not be concerned that we aren't totally prepared. I think I'm too tired to care. :) I haven't been sleeping well so getting things done takes a back seat to a nap many days.
Nate also was working some nights the past week so that really threw a wrench in our plans. I had to take the boys outside or to my parents' house just so Nate could sleep during the day. Keeping them quiet so he could sleep is merely impossible. So I didn't get much done and he didn't get much done because his sleep schedule was so messed up. Oh well. He's back to days now and hopefully we'll get back on track and get ready for the baby.
It seems as though we have some time though. I was shocked at my dr. appointment yesterday when he said I have made no progress towards labor. With the way things went with the boys I thought for sure this baby would be early. That baby is positioned with the head down, which is good, but there is no progress yet. I was a little disappointed, but I'm very excited that as of Sunday (37 weeks) the baby will be full term. I talk about this with my dr. and his staff a lot. When you've had preemies having a full term baby is an amazing feeling. I'm getting very anxious to meet this little one! Hopefully next week I'll have made some progress towards meeting this baby. I guess I'll have to find the energy to go for a lot of walks to get things going. I'm sure the boys will be more than happy to go for a lot of walks.
Nate also was working some nights the past week so that really threw a wrench in our plans. I had to take the boys outside or to my parents' house just so Nate could sleep during the day. Keeping them quiet so he could sleep is merely impossible. So I didn't get much done and he didn't get much done because his sleep schedule was so messed up. Oh well. He's back to days now and hopefully we'll get back on track and get ready for the baby.
It seems as though we have some time though. I was shocked at my dr. appointment yesterday when he said I have made no progress towards labor. With the way things went with the boys I thought for sure this baby would be early. That baby is positioned with the head down, which is good, but there is no progress yet. I was a little disappointed, but I'm very excited that as of Sunday (37 weeks) the baby will be full term. I talk about this with my dr. and his staff a lot. When you've had preemies having a full term baby is an amazing feeling. I'm getting very anxious to meet this little one! Hopefully next week I'll have made some progress towards meeting this baby. I guess I'll have to find the energy to go for a lot of walks to get things going. I'm sure the boys will be more than happy to go for a lot of walks.
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