6 Weeks - Feeling like me

Today Clara turns 6 weeks old and all of a sudden I feel a lot more like me.  This morning Clara woke up at 6 something to nurse.  I nursed her and put her back down, I then showered, dried my hair (that is a big deal), and even put on some cover stick to try to cover the lovely dark circles under my eyes.  I then had some me time to check email and whatnot before Gray woke up.  I am pretty sure I am at the point where I don't really remember what it was like to only have 1 child.  Of course, I do remember being able to get places easier and things like that, but I don't really remember what it felt like.  To further explain my difficulty getting places let me tell you about this morning.  When Gray woke up I made him breakfast and while he was eating and Clara was still asleep I decided I would get dressed, brush my teeth, etc to get myself ready to go to our playdate.  I was all dressed when Clara woke up.  Gray was still eating breakfast (he is a REALLY slow eater) so I got Clara up and was getting her changed for the day and she decided to spit up all over herself and my leg.  While I was trying to get her spit up clothes off of her she spit up again, this time on my shirt.  So much for me getting myself dressed ahead of time.  By this time Gray is wanting to get out of his high chair, I have Clara mostly undressed and am walking around with spit up on my leg and my shoulder.  Once I had Clara where I could lay her down to find her new clothes I decided to go ahead and get Gray out of his high chair and dressed and my clothes changed.  I then went back to Clara to finish getting her dressed.  At this point Gray grabbed his big bag of blocks.  I told him we were about to leave and so not to pour those out, of course he immediately poured them out.  This lead to 30 minutes of me telling him we were not going until he picked up the blocks because he needed to listen to mama when she said not to pour them out.  Eventually he picked them up and we went to our play date.  We got there close to 10 when I had planned to get there closer to 9, but at least we made it :). 

How each of the little loves is doing:
Clara - She had her 2nd orthopedic doctor appointment Wednesday, December 15.  The doctor seemed to think that her hip was improving nicely.  He said we needed to continue to keep her brace on her 23 out of 24 hours a day until the first of the year.  At that point we can slowly start weaning her off of it.  She should be completely out of it by mid February when we have another doctor appointment with him.  At that point, if he likes how she is doing she will be done with the brace.  He will most likely still have to see her at about 6 months and 1 year, but only to check her hip.  I pray that in February everything will be fixed.  I really don't like her having to wear that brace, but I know it is best since it should keep her from having to have surgery. 
Clara has grown a good bit already.  She is now wearing 0-3 month clothes.  This makes me kinda sad because she has a lot of really cute newborn clothes that she barely wore.  I guess we will have to have another girl so she can get some use out of them :) hehe
Clara is also becoming less and less gassy.  This is an answer to several prayers.  She seems to only been complaining about her belly hurting in the evenings now.  And if I undo her brace for her hour of free time then she is able to wiggle her legs around enough to work the gas out.  I haven't even had to give her any gas medicine in the last several days.  I sure hope that continues.

Gray - He is really an adorable little boy and I love him dearly, but he is also very stubborn sometimes (I have no idea where he gets that from ...hehe).  If he doesn't fall asleep soon then this will be the 3rd day in a row where he fought sleep for more than 2 hours before falling asleep.  This is NOT because he is not tired, it is because he will do whatever it takes to not fall asleep.  Two days ago I go in there when he starts screaming like he is in pain and he has flipped his shirt over his head or something and it is now wrapped tightly around his arm.  Another day he bit (yes I said bit) his own finger to stay awake.  Most of the time he just sings/ wiggles/ yells to stay awake, but the ones that cause him pain are just ridiculous. 
He is now 24 1/2 pounds.  This amazes me.  I am not sure when he got to be so big.  I think it must have been when I was in the hospital having Clara.  He just had his hair cut for the 5th or 6th time since his 1st birthday (less than 11 months ago). 
As always, Gray has been constantly learning new things.  He can count to 11 pretty reliably.  He can identify numbers 0-9.  He can identify some of his capital letters.  He just started being able to spell his name, but this is by no means something he does every time I ask. (Remember he is stubborn).  He has also continued to learn sign language.  His signing vocabulary is huge at this point.  I keep meaning to get a count of how many words he can sign, but so far haven't.  I will do my best to get that soon though.  I hope to start a very Gray friendly version of school in January.  I am tailoring it to his abilities and his attention span.  We will see how that goes.  We are going to be working on things like letters, writing (he is getting some big pencils in his stocking), numbers 1-20, reviewing colors, and shapes.  We will be doing a good many fine motor and art activities.  We will also be working on pre-reading skills.  This includes things like same/different, smaller/bigger, long/short, belongs/does not belong, up/down, etc.  I will be posting about how that is going as we get into it.  Oh and I hope to get a hold of the Muzzy Spanish set.  This is a highly rated language teaching program for children.  I really really want it for him.  So if anyone wants to buy it for him then by all means do :) hehehe.  I wish I had thought of this before everyone had decided what they were getting him for Christmas. 


I can not think of anything else to add at this time.  Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

My beautiful little girl!

Jax loves her

Too busy to look at the camera

Kisses!

Saying cheese

More cheesing

His introduction to Nutella

All swaddled up

With Aunt Jenny

Wearing her hat from Amy

Pretty sure Gray is going to be a builder when he grows up!

My little ham

With her Daddy

Mr. Jealous needed his picture taken also

Starting to understand my life as a mother of 2

I am about a month into being a mother of 2.  Time is going by so quickly!  I am learning that getting anywhere in a timely manner is almost impossible.  Gray is usually running away from me when I am trying to get his diaper changed and him dressed.  Clara is currently having to wear a brace that goes from her shoulders to her toes and that makes changing her diaper and getting her dressed take longer.  Also Clara is not on a feeding schedule at all yet and tends to be hungry when I need to be putting her in the car. 
I am also learning that sleep is not really a necessity, but instead a luxury.  Clara is finally doing better, but there have been nights where she would wake up every 3rd hour to eat and then take 2 hours to get back to sleep.  Gray has also been having a hard time sleeping lately and so I have had been woken up by him during the night as well.  I am very proud to say that last night Clara was asleep at 10 something and slept until about 2:30.  I then fed her and she went back to sleep by a little after 3.  She then slept until 7:30 or so this morning.  I fed her and she went back to sleep for a while longer.  This is a HUGE improvement over just a couple days ago.  I am really hoping we have turned the corner.
I have learned that lunch time may not be until 3pm.  Today I woke up for the day at 7 something.  I ate a little bit for breakfast and got busy with my day.  Time was flying all morning and I was in a made run getting out the door to get Jenny (my sister-in-law) to the airport.  We then went straight from the airport to Clara's 1 month doctor appointment.  Once there the waiting began.  Her appointment was at 11:30 and we didn't even get called back to a room until a good bit after 12.  This was very annoying because I had Gray with me and he was acting out and making waiting all that much harder.  Of course, he was hungry and tired and that is just not the best combination for good behavior.  We left the doctor's office at almost 1 at which point we had to run by Chris's work to pick something up and then drop something off at a friend's house.  When we finally made it home I made Gray lunch, fed Clara, got Gray in the bed, and then started finally working on lunch for me.  The crazy thing is I was so busy that I really wasn't that hungry.
I am sure that there are many other things I have learned in the last month, but at the moment I am far too tired to think of them.

On a totally unrelated note, I decided that having a toddler and newborn wasn't enough to keep me busy so I have also started my own business.  I am now a Tastefully Simple Independent Consultant!  I am LOVING this!  I had my very first taste-testing party last night and did pretty well with it.  I love the products and think that the company is amazing.  I actually became a consultant in late October, but was taking things very slowly due to being so late in my pregnancy.  Now that Clara is here and getting to be an easier baby all the time I am hoping to really kick this business up a notch!  If anyone is interested in hosting a party and earning really really great food that is extremely easy to make please let me know!  Also if you are interested in learning about working for a company that is completely debt free and allows you to get paid to party then let me know that as well.  

Thanksgiving -
I almost forgot to mention Thanksgiving.  Since Clara was born 2 weeks before Thanksgiving we planned to just stay at home for the holiday.  My mom starting November 11th.  Then on Friday, November 19th my dad, sister, nephew, and 2 nieces came up.  On Saturday, we had an early Thanksgiving that my mom mostly cooked.  They all then left on Sunday, November 21st.  Here are some pictures of all my parents grandchildren.

All the grandchildren

The girls

The boys

With Meme and Pa

After my side of the family left we had a couple days with no company and then Chris's mom, dad, and brother arrived on the night of Tuesday, November 23rd.  They were here until Friday morning so we had a 2nd Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving day with them.  This time Bernice did most of the cooking.  It is very strange to have 2 Thanksgivings in your home and not do much of the cooking for either of them.  At the same time, I was very appreciative that I could take it easy this year.  

Clara with her Grandpa

Clara with her Grandma

 

 

 

 

Here are some random pictures of my loves!

Chris is now home from work and wondering what is for dinner so I guess I should go figure that out :)  I will try to go back to my post from when Clara was 1 week old and post pictures with it asap.

She is here!

So last Thursday (1 week ago today ) I woke up a little after 3 in the morning.  I was having pains and was fairly annoyed with them.  By 3:57 I thought I should start timing them just in case.  They were coming every 10 minutes.  I have had pains a lot during this pregnancy so I figured it was no big deal and since they were 10 minutes apart I tried my best to not get excited about them.  After a little while they actually became less regular and I figured I had been right to not get excited.  They started back again and I started timing again, still about 10 minutes apart.  By this time it was about 6 in the morning.  I went to the restroom and noticed that I had a little bit of pink on the toilet paper.  This made me get excited!  I then went and woke Chris up (he had slept through everything up to this point) and then called the doctor on call.  He said I should go to labor and delivery and get checked out.  This was easier said then done.  I did not know if they were going to keep me or not, but I wasn't going to take the chance of going in not ready to stay.  I took a shower, as did Chris, made arrangements for Gray, and finished the last minute packing of our bags.  We then headed to the hospital only to realize my gas light was on.  After putting just enough gas in the tank to make sure we didn't have to worry about walking to the hospital we head out again.  By this time morning traffic was at its peak.  I was beginning to think I would never get to the hospital!  I went into the emergency room (that is our hospital's policy) and got checked in.  This didn't take all that long and while we were waiting on them to bring down a wheel chair the contractions got stronger.  Once we got upstairs they got me all hooked up and whatnot and checked me.  I was 2 cm and not effaced at all.  What a let down!  The nurse did verify that I had a little bit of blood leaking or something though.  After what felt like forever the nurse came back in and said that Dr. Hannah said, "We were having this baby today!"  I then called my mom who was in transit to NW Arkansas to be here for my scheduled c-section the next day.  She was surprised and a little let down, but I think she handled it pretty well.  The doctor then came in and made sure I was okay with having Clara Thursday instead of Friday, pointing out that it was safer since I was already contracting and bleeding and had had a c-section in the past.  I had gotten past the hardest part of telling my mom that she was going to miss it and so easily agreed to move the c-section up a day. 
The next hour or so went by very slowly.  Dr. Hannah had to do a hysterectomy before he could do my c-section.  When it was finally time, they rolled me to the operating room and had Chris go put on his special clothes.  They put in my spinal which went in easily.  Unfortunately, they now think I need more medicine then the average person because the spinal didn't work as well as it should.  I remember being in pain at the time, but I honestly do not remember the pain now.  In fact later that day I already didn't remember it.  I think even if I could remember it then I would still be able to say it was all worth it!  At 11:39 am my most amazing little girl was born!  As I type this I realize that it is only a few minutes away from that time now.  What a week this has been! 
Once she was cleaned up and wrapped up they brought her to me.  I was still being worked on, but I wasn't even noticing that.  She was beautiful, and perfect, and all ours!  I had often worried during the pregnancy that I wouldn't love her as much as I loved Gray.  I love him so much, there seemed to be no way I could possibly love her that much as well.  I no longer had that fear.  She won her place in my heart from the first moment I saw her, and nothing will ever change that.  After a what felt like not nearly any time they took her to the nursery to weigh her and finish getting her cleaned up and whatnot.  They then finished getting me sewn up and moved me to recovery.  The best part was that they have changed the way they do things and recovery is now on the same floor as surgery and they let Clara and Chris come back to recovery with me!  I was able to nurse her, stare at her, love on her.  After a little while our friend Amy got to the hospital with Gray and so Chris went out there to help keep up with him.  So then it was just me and my precious new baby.  I was so ready to get out of recovery and have all 4 of us together.  Our perfect family.  I have no idea if we will have more children or not, but I can honestly say that either way our family will be perfect. 

Fall/Thanksgiving/November Sensory Tub

I have been meaning to make Gray a sensory tub, but hadn't gotten it done.  Then last weekend my friend helped me find something to put into one for this month.  I finally finished it up yesterday and so far Gray has loved it.  In fact, last night he threw a complete fit because we had to clean it up to go to bed.  Today we had a friend over for the day and the two of them played nicely in it.  I have some ways I want to improve it, but for the first one I have made I think it is pretty good.

Here are some random pictures from today.  The little girl is named Katelynn, but Gray calls her Kate.  He seems to have a little crush on her. :)  It is sweet how he asks to see pictures of her and also likes to hug on her when she is around. 

Halloween

This year we took Gray Trick or Treating for the first time.  Our friends Christina and Alaina joined us.  The kids had a great time.  Gray was a lion and Alaina was a strawberry!  Gray started out pretty strong, wanting to run off and leave the rest of us, but before too long I was carrying his pumpkin and Chris was carrying him.  Also his costume was really hot and so we kept taking his mane off so he could cool off a little.  Overall though it was a fun night and I am very pleased at how well it went.

These pictures are a jumbled mess, sorry about that.  I tried for a long time to move them into an order that made sense, and every time I would try to move one down it would pop back up to the top.  In order to not go insane I decided to just move away from the computer!

37 weeks!

I made it to 37 weeks on Friday.  Here are some pictures of me on Saturday (37weeks 1day). 

Quick update on Clara

I had my 36 week doctor appointment on Monday.  I saw the nurse practitioner this time.  She said I was 1cm and had not started thinning at all.  I have another appointment on Tuesday, November 2.  Then my last pre-baby appointment will be Monday, November 8.  I then go for my pre-op at the hospital on November 11.  We have to be at the hospital on November 12 at 5am and should head back for the c-section at 7:00am.  That means in  less than 15 days I will be holding my sweet baby girl! 

More creativity!

So I don't know if maybe Clara is going to be a very creative person and some of her creativity is wearing off on me while she is in utero or what, but I have been more creative than ever lately.  My latest project came because I was wanting to find ways for Gray to work on his fine motor skills.  I looked online and one suggestion was lacing cards.  I liked this idea, but then decided to take it a step farther and make them number lacing cards so he could work on number recognition at the same time. :)  These were pretty inexpensive to make and I made them basically from start to finish during one of Gray's naps.

Last night I had printed out numbers to use as templates, but had not cut them out or anything like that.  Today the first thing I did was pick out 10 different colors of craft foam.  Gray and I bought these this morning at Wal-Mart.  The entire pack (50 of them) cost about $5.

I then cut out the number templates I had printed and placed them on the craft foam.  I traced around these numbers with a pencil.  The pencil leaves a slight indention which is nice, especially when it came to the black foam.

After I traced all the numbers onto the foam, I cut out the foam numbers.

I then went around the edge of the numbers with a hole punch and made holes all the way around.  I knew that sometimes kids thread the yarn in loops instead of a straight line from one hole to the next so I chose to do it this way knowing it was the way that would need the longest yarn.  I looped the yarn through all the holes and then cut off the extra yarn and tied it to a hole near the bottom of each number.

This is Gray's first attempt at lacing one of his new numbers.

 This is a picture of Gray this morning playing with rice while waiting on breakfast.  I had him dump it out on his tray and pick up each grain and put back in the bowl.  He loved the dumping it out part, the picking it back up part lost some of the fun once he realized he was hungry.

Creative things :)

I have had a little bit of a creative bug lately, well creative for me. 
Last week I made Gray some fabric numbers that I stole the idea for from several other blogs, including Counting Coconuts and Happy Together.  Gray really likes to nap with them.  Two of the numbers (5 and 7) were in the room with a sleeping Gray when I took the picture so don't think I just don't know my numbers. :)

Another project was making Gray new crayons.  I took old broken crayons and removed all the paper.  I then put them into a silicon muffin pan.  I picked out square molds. 

I then baked them in the oven at 200 degrees until they were as melted as they seemed to want to get.  I then took them out and let them cool completely.

After they were completely cool I popped them out of the silicon muffin pan.  As soon as I gave them to Gray he figured out they make great blocks and started stacking them.

Here is a picture of one of them up close.