One Month

ONE MONTH OLD already... SERIOUSLY? I cannot believe it has been a month already!

I am just enjoying my snuggle time with sweet little Nathan. He is still such a good baby and we love every little bit of him! He is starting to respond when you talk to him, and as of the last few days has started smiling! He can still sleep through pretty much anything, which is a blessing since his big brother is pretty loud! Owen definitely demands much more of my attention than Nathan does! He is MUCH bigger than Owen was at this same age. He is wearing sizes that Owen fit into well into 6 months! And he seems so much more filled out than Owen was too. Love it!

We are still mostly staying indoors these days... partly because it seems like everyone is sick and there is a lot of nasty colds/flus going around. And partly because trying to get out the door with TWO kiddos by myself is just too much of a chore! I'm still getting the hang of it! Last week I was really feeling adventurous and decided to join Shad for lunch... and well... it took about an hour and a half to finally get out the door and Nathan practically screamed the whole way. So... outings will take a while to get used to!

Overall I think I am transitioning to two kids pretty well. Its not nearly as hard as I was expecting it to be, BUT its definitely not easy either. The sleeping situation has actually gotten worse... but NOT nearly as bad as it could be. Nathan wakes up around 12 to eat, then again around 4. The worse part is that Owen is going through a 6 AM wake up phase (opposed to his usual 7:30, UGH!). We've also had some feeding problems because both Nathan and I got Thrush, which was both EXTREMELY painful and a big pain to get rid of. I'm still not 100% sure its all gone. It doesn't help that I am already not a fan of breastfeeding, in fact I really do hate it. If formula wasn't so expensive I'm pretty sure I would have given it up by now.

We blessed Nathan on Sunday. It was such a sweet experience. Plus we were lucky enough to have some family in town from both sides. But... That event will get its own separate blog entry... coming soon!!

Its so fun seeing him in the same outfits as Owen!!

This little boy loves to be swaddled! It calms him right down and puts him to sleep almost immediately!
Our little burrito!
Love him!

Nathan's Grand Entrance

(Nathan at 2 Weeks)

Well... It has been two and a half weeks since our Nathan arrived into our lives, and I cannot believe how fast the time has flown! He is just the sweetest little guy. We love him so much. Even though he looks so much like Owen, he is already such a different baby! He is such a good baby. A champion sleeper and eater! Last Friday, at his two week check up he already weighed 8 pounds 8oz... and is already growing out of newborn outfits! It took Owen 6 weeks to grow out of these! He sleeps and sleeps... most nights he just wakes up once between 3-5am, eats, then goes back to sleep until 7 or 8. I know, I'm SPOILED! Owen was never like that! And when he is awake he is just quiet and observes his new crazy family. I love him so much.

Both boys are asleep right now, so I thought I would take these precious few minutes of mommy-time to document the birth experience I had with Nathan.

I went into labor Saturday (1/28) night. I had my eye on going into labor that Saturday all along... it just seemed like a good/convenient (For Shad) day to have a baby. At my doctors appointment on the previous Friday (1/27) when it looked like I was not going to have him anytime soon I decided to use the weekend to "induce" labor myself! I told Shad we were going to eat all kinds of spicy food, walk the mall until I dropped, and re-create the night my water broke with Owen! So that's what we did; We ate Mexican food and walked the mall while I contracted. The night my water broke with Owen we had gone out on a double date with our friends, the Fischers, to Olive Garden and then played games afterwards. An hour after we got home... my water broke unexpectedly! So on Saturday, as a joke, we went out with the Fischers to Olive Garden and then back to their place to play games!! This time, however, I was contracting all through the meal every 9 minutes! They weren't very intense and not close enough together to get me really excited... plus I just assumed it was from all the walking around earlier. We went back to their place and played the SAME games we played two years ago before I had Owen... and then the contractions stopped. **sigh** False alarm. Shad and I came home and put in a movie... and about an HOUR after we got home my contractions came back... FULL BLOWN every 4-7 minutes and HARD! We timed them for about an hour, but I was in serious pain. So at about midnight we started packing our hospital bag... I took a shower to help with the pain and Shad called the hospital. They told us to come in, because it sounded like this was for real! We arrived at the hospital at about 2 AM... about an hour later I was checked into the hospital waiting for a labor/delivery room already dilated to a 5 and contracting every 3-4 minutes!

Finally, after what felt like hours and hours of contractions I had my epidural in around 4:30... and tried to get some sleep. (Shad had NO problem catching some Zz's on the couch!) The doctor came in at some point and broke my water to help me progress faster. And that seemed to do the trick... by 7 AM I was fully dilated and ready to push! We woke up Shad and told him baby is on the way and the nurse left to find the doctor. Unfortunately there were 3 other women who were ready to push and have a baby... so I was last in line!! After waiting about 45 minutes... trying NOT to push (And Shad slightly panicking that he MIGHT have to catch this baby! haha!) the doctor came (Poor lady... she had a busy morning!!). Luckily, Nathan came out less then 10 minutes later at 7:55AM! Completely perfect, healthy, and looking EXACTLY like Owen! He weighed in at 7 pounds 5 oz, 20 inches long, and LOTS and LOTS of luscious dark hair!

The doctor and commotion was all over within about 20 minutes and Shad, Nathan, and I were able to have some quiet family time together, just the three of us. Shad and I couldn't help but laugh about the irony that yes, the combination of Olive Garden and games worked again! Apparently that is the perfect recipe to induce labor for me! We discussed, debated, and re-hashed all the names we had been talking about for the last 6 months... and FINALLY decided on Nathan Samuli. Which, ended up being the perfect name for him. It was still a little weird, because I kept wanting to call him Owen... it really is crazy how much they look alike! We, of course, had my parents and BIG brother Owen come visit us. And were able to go home the next day with a clean bill of health!!

Overall the whole birthing experience was MUCH faster and quite a bit smoother than with Owen. It was quieter, the last time I was the only patient in the birthing center... so I had every doctor and nurse in the room swirling around me. This time it was much less chaotic. Also, the healing process has also gone a lot smoother, I pretty much am feeling back to my normal self... with the exception of the few extra pounds on my belly! :)

We are so blessed and extremely grateful to have such a sweet, perfectly healthy little boy. He is perfect. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mother to two of the sweetest best little boys around. We are so lucky!

Owen Turns 2!!

My baby turned 2 yesterday! I cannot believe it. He has grown SO much over this last year and we have come to know and love his BIG fun personality! We love him more and more everyday. He is so much fun, and like always I am praying for a way to FREEZE time with him. Shad and I cherish every moment of him and love watching him grow into such a fun little boy.

We actually had a little party for Owen about two weeks ago, because I wasn't sure when I was going to have Nathan... so we decided to do it early. Which ended up being a good idea since Nathan came a week after the party! We just had us, my parents, Shad's sister Heidi, and our friends the Fischers come over for dinner, cake, and ice cream. Owen loved being the center of attention. He loves his cousins, and those girls are so good with him! He also loves his best friends Harrison and Mason. He had so much fun opening all his gifts and then getting to eat cake! It was a great party!

Here he is with his cousins (He INSISTED on wearing his new Thomas PJ top for the party! haha!):

This is his new excited face!

Opening presents!


The cake. I just googled "Car Cakes" and found this on someone's blog... very easy... very cute...very Owen!
The cake got Owen's approval! Ready to dig in!

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Finally... getting to eat cake!

But he asked for a napkin and a fork after the first bite!! Classic Owen.

Owen with his best buddy, Harrison.

Yesterday, Monday, was his actual birthday. My mom has taken off a couple of weeks from work to help me adjust to having two babies at home! (I know, I have the BEST mom!) Her birthday was actually on Saturday, so she took Owen out yesterday for a grandma/Owen birthday outing! He LOVED it! They had so much fun. She took him to the toy store, let him pick out a toy, he of course, picked a Thomas train. Then she took him to the supermall, which is one of his favorite places, let him play in the play area, ride the carousel, and then topped it off with hot dog, fries, and ice cream for lunch! What a lucky boy! Plus it gave me some mommy time at home with baby Nathan! Grandma's are the BEST!

Then when Shad came home from work we gave him some MORE presents from mommy and daddy... play doh! He immediately wanted to open it and play with daddy!

It was number play doh and because of his obsession with letters and numbers, he LOVES it! :)

Happy Birthday, little man! We love you!