Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Oslo Ryan is here.

We welcomed Oslo Ryan ten days ago; he came at 3:58 AM on 5/20, weighing in at 8lbs 4oz [the same as Cohen at birth] and was 21 inches long [half an inch longer than Cohen was]. It seems crazy! He was just in my belly and here we are ten days later, settled into a nice routine, exhausted but overjoyed. Cohen was confused at first; he cried when he heard Oslo cry. But he's already adjusted really well, and aside from him not understanding that some things have to wait until Mama finishes feeding the baby, his days haven't been too different.

It was so wonderful laboring and delivering at my midwife's birth center. Such a better experience than the hospital with Cohen. It was a quick labor and delivery [I will post my birth story soon] and we got to be home not 3 hours later after having him. It was nice to get settled in at home and catch up on some sleep. 

Darren spent the first week at home with us [aside from a few half days during the week, when GMaw & Aunt Mandee came to help out]. With the three day weekend that gave us 9 days with Darren at home. Cohen was thrilled. He got to spend so much quality time with his Dad that week, he loved every minute of it. Yesterday was my first day alone with the boys, and it wasn't bad at all. It's already 2 o'clock here and today hasn't been too shabby either. The nice weather helps--we spend a lot of time in the yard, even with Oslo on my boob, lol. 

Os nurses much better than Cohen did at this age. His sleep is as expected: 2-3 hour stretches in between feedings. I'm not worried about it, I know he'll sleep long some day :] For now I'm enjoying our quiet time in the middle of the night, since we don't get many private nursing sessions during the day. It's nice to snuggle him and talk to him in the quiet of the night. 

He's due to eat any minute, so I'll leave with a few photos and post my birth story in the next few days.

A few hours old.

4 days old.

Cohen wanting to pick him his baby brother.

Daddy trying to give Oslo a binky. No dice, he doesn't like them.



Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A day in the life with one baby.

I'm 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant now. Plankton is ready to come out, and I'm ready for him to be here. I had an appt with my midwife last night. Baby is very very low (I'm sitting on his head all day; it's uncomfortable). I'm 50% effaced, and 3 CM dilated. My cervix "is mush. It's very favorable" ... hm, alright. This is definitely happening soon. I have contractions all the time, hopefully they are helping me progress slowly so the day of labor isn't so bad. Cohen's labor was so quick so as soon as the contractions are feeling time-able I am jumping in my car and heading to her house. We are all set up and ready for Plank; his room is ready, the Rock n Play is next to my bed, ready for him to move in. My bag is packed, the freezer is stocked full of meals, and we're down to the countdown of 12 days (or less).

This has me thinking. I'm kind of freaking out. I have some long exhausting days with Cohen; what will life be like with TWO babies?! I wanted to post what a normal day is like for us, so that one day I can look back and read it, all while laughing my ass off at how hard I thought it was with just Cohen; I'll probably be crying on my keyboard because it will be way more difficult (and more amazing if possible) with two!

So this morning looked like this: Cohen woke up at 7. I'm not sure what he's doing these last few days, because he used to wake up at 8. I think we need to try keeping him up a big later. Anyway, Cohen was up and changed, the coffee and milk were poured, and I started on breakfast. C was impatient while I cooked (not abnormal for him) so I had to hold him half the time so I didn't hear him whine. He loves to watch me cook. I need to get him a learning tower. Anyway, I got him in his high chair with bfast while I finished up mine. We ate, he threw food, he threw his silveware, he signed "all done", but he didn't want to get up, he ate some more, threw some more food, and finally signed "all done" and got out. I cleaned up from breakfast while he played in his playroom. This doesn't usually last all that long, but some mornings he surprises me with his independent play. I reheated my coffee for the 4th time that morning and joined him in the playroom. We built some megablocks, read some books, sorted shapes, practiced animal sounds, played with his cars, read some more books, stirred imaginary food in his play pots and pans, and he rolled around with the dogs on the bed while I browsed Facebook on my phone.

 Doesn't that sound like a nice hour or two in the playroom? No, it was only 25 minutes at most. Cohen will not spend more than 5 minutes doing one activity. He's nuts. So we did it all again; basically just kept him entertained with music and toys and books for maybe an hour total. I made him his daily smoothie (he's obsessed. Fine with me; a handful of spinach and fruit blended with milk is a tasty treat to him). Then we went upstairs so we could get ready to play outside. I don't know what we're going to do when it's raining; we spend at least 2 hours a day outside. More like 4 or 5. It kills so much time, burns so much energy, and Cohen is in such a good mood. Anyway, we were upstairs for about 45 minutes--he played with the dogs and the toys in his room while I got ready. He watched a 15 minutes Baby Einstein clip while I cleaned the bathroom and sorted through some of his old clothes to pack away. I got him dressed and we went outside.

Swinging, running around, kicking soccer balls, shoveling, pushing around his tractor, more swinging, water table, and more running around. We spent about 45 minutes outside, took a quick trip to the store (he loves the ladies at the store, and they love him), had a snack, went back outside, checked the mail (his current favorite task), enjoyed more swinging and more running around kicking soccer balls. Finally it was lunch time; he was being a fuss bucket as he was tired, so it was a task to get lunch heated while he threw his fit about God knows what. But finally he gobbled lunch, we had a dance party in the living room, went back outside for a small session of YOU GUESSED IT-swinging. He was getting sleepy in the swing so we came inside, read some books, and I put him down for his nap. That was at 12:45. I was exhausted and now had the decision of what to do during naptime; I always get dinner at least prepped so cooking isn't so stressful later. So I did that, finished some cake ball truffles I made the day before, and ate lunch. Here I am now. It's 2:10 and I'm praying to get another 45 minutes at least. I'd love to do some yoga and fold the laundry in the dryer. Some days Cohen naps 3 hours--being outside exhausts him. Others, like yesterday, he only gives me an hour and half. You just never know how the ole nap is going to be.

I'm exhausted just thinking about the day we've had so far. Only 4 more hours until Darren gets home! Yikes! I'm out of here to get some yoga in before he wakes up. In a couple weeks I can write a post about a day in the life with my two babies--if I can keep my eyes open long enough to post! Ha!

Me at 9 months knocked up. 38weeks1day.

My bear on Mothers Day <3 Love him.