Monday, December 20, 2010

Life with a toddler make the holidays crazy!

I'm beginning to learn it is alot more difficult to get anything done with my son around now that he is older (19 months). It doesn't help matters that he is a very tall kid and with the help of chairs, he pretty much gets into everything. He has been opening doors for a while and now he can almost reach the light switches.

With the holidays, he's been extra curious with all the decorations, tree, presents, and everything else that has been around. He's already ruined a few ornaments, goes crazy with the tree at times, loves all the lights, and now he yanked his stocking off the mantle and got hit in the face with the stocking holder. I also just realized that he stabbed our kitchen table with a fork and there are fork prong marks imbedded in the table now. He is a strong little fellow and very curious. Even though he has had many time outs regarding the tree and ornaments, he keeps going there. Maybe I'm not doing a very good job though.

I haven't even attempted present wrapping around him cause I know he would be all over me. I actually just put the first presents under the tree last night and today he was trying to stomp on them. I don't know why but he has this thing right now that is trying to stand on everything (including other people) to be taller. Mark and I also made christmas cookies and did the bulk of the work when Lucas was sleeping. He was ok with the the actual baking process but anything else would have been too difficult. I still have a ton of presents to wrap too. It doesn't help matters that my little guy is sick right now also. We are all doing the best we can though.

Happy holidays to everyone!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Home, work, home.. it's all work!

This is kind of a vent post, so I just want to put a warning in advance!

It's been a long day. Get up after 7am to get the kid and take care of him for a few hours before leaving for work at noon. Then I have a crazy day at work and finally get home after 10pm and guess what I got to come home too? My crazy little guy running around, still awake. His dad was gone and the person we had watching Lucas didn't like hearing him cry so instead, he had been playing since he dad left. After a really tiring and stressful day at work, this is pretty much the last thing I wanted to deal with when I got home. My son was a sweetie like always but I needed to feed him a snack and then wind him down again. Of course he ended up conking out since he had been awake for more than 6 hours.

I know it is the same way for stay at home moms but it is kind of amazing how the work is never done. I am lucky that I do have some help with the housework but it really is never ending. Lucas is constantly making a mess somehow. We are working on teaching him how to put stuff away but it is pretty much a constant battle.

One of these days it's going to get easier right? We can all hope anyways!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Where has the time gone...

It's hard to believe my little baby that could barely crawl a year ago is now a crazy 18 month old toddler. My son is a total boy. He barely sits still, is rough and tumble, and I really wish he knew his own strength! The fact that he is over 27 pounds and 35 inches doesn't help me either. What the heck happened to my little baby?!?

We had our first snowfall of the year this last week and it was Lucas' first real experience in it. He had so much fun, and unlike his mommy, he loves the cold and being outside in it. He gets that from his dad. He could really care less about holidays at this point (since it was Thanksgiving on Thursday) but he's almost always a good sport with all the family and faces around. I'm interested in seeing how he is going to handle seeing Santa this year. Who knows if I will actually be able to get him to sit in Santa's lap or not.

So I am the first to admit it... my kid is pretty spoiled. He lays on the floor freaking out when he doesn't get what he wants which is usually a pacifier or a cookie, or something like that. I don't know if it's normal for toddlers to just crumple down to the floor cause they are angry or if it's just a thing Lucas has learned to do. Better than banging his forehead on the floor though. I've learned not to sweat some of the small stuff though. I used to NEVER give Lucas any juice, sweets, candy, etc. Well, I've pretty much given up on that. If I eat it, he can eat a little of it too, right? It's really my fault for having the bad foods around in the first place.

No one ever tells you how busy you will be when you are a mom, especially if you are also working too. I don't know how mom's that work full time do it all. I am really blessed that I am able to work 24 hours a week and because I am gone from 12-9, Lucas is with us more than not. There's just always so much to do and I'm the first to say I hate doing all the housework. I was not meant to be a stay at home mom, and for everyone that can do it, good for you. I just hate cleaning.. everything else I'm ok with, but I don't want to clean. Especially after being on my feet all day for 8 hours. But I find crumbs need to be sweep, laundry needs to be done, but then again, it's not going anywhere. It will always be there the next day. Lucas seems to like watching when I'm doing any cleaning so it works out. Although he just dumps laundry out so I have to do that when he's sleeping.

I'd still love to be able to go to bed at 1am and sleep in til 9am but that's probably never going to happen again. I am truly blessed with my family and perfect little boy, but a girl can dream, right? :)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Do I need any more cloth diapers?

I have been using cloth diapers on my son pretty much exclusively for about 9 months now. While I was pregnant, I purchased 6 Fuzzibunz OS diapers and loved them when I got them but was too overwhelmed with life to actually use them so since we were sent home from the hospital with Pampers, that's what we used for ages.

I'm not really sure what made me take the leap into cloth diaper full steam ahead but through facebook, one of my friends lead me to an online cloth diapering store that would sells everything you need. Cloth diapering takes some learning... the types of diapers, what accessories you need, wipes, washing supplies (detergent which is extremely important). I knew a little but not a ton and am definitely doing things differently now that I have doing this for so much longer.

I could post about this forever but now I have to say that I really LOVE using my cloth diapers and really try to limit the number of disposables even in the house cause I just don't like them anymore. I totally understand that cloth is not for everyone but feel that for the good of the environment and their children, everyone should try using cloth at least part time for a couple of week. I love seeing my son with his fluffy butt. I probably have about 40 plus diapers and I still find a new ones that I would love to get. It really can become an addiction though! I also find that I love sharing information about modern cloth diapers too. If you haven't tried or seen new cloth diapers, you should totally check them out!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Lucas' birth story

One of my friend's recently posted her child's birth story and I thought it was a great idea. I don't think I've actually written down how Lucas' birth day was so here I go.

I was actually due with Lucas on May 20th, but I figured I would deliver earlier (thankfully) because the week before my due date I was already dilated to 5 cm. Working full time and standing on my feet all day, probably helped with this. I was also very lucky because I had a very easy pregnancy. I never had any morning sickness but like most women had some horrible heartburn the last couple months and also had a lot of difficulty sleeping which unfortunately was nothing new to me. I also ended up swelling up a little the last month so I had to borrow shoes then and also had this odd pregnancy induced rash. I think it is related up PUPPS since I was already prone to hives but both my dermatologist and OBGYN were unsure. Through out my pregnancy, I was thankful that I had some what of a medical background so I understand almost everything. My blood pressure stayed really low so I stayed cold like I always am and gained a ton of weight the last two trimesters (over 40 lbs in total).

I actually really liked my OB and the office but now that I have been through it all, I am definitely going to use a midwife the next time around. I am very low risk (thankfully)and I feel like they will give me a little more personal care. My OB was always late and since I was healthy during my pregnancy, it felt like a huge waste of my time. Whenever I saw a midwife, I'd be in and out of the office quickly which is important to me. Plus, everyone that I have talked to that used a midwife has been really happy with them.

So I stopped working on Thursday and had made some plans for my last free weekend. On Friday I just relaxed and on Saturday morning I woke up early (around 7am) and just felt off. Up to this point I had not had any contractions at all, just some tightness here and there so I knew something was happening. I decided to take a shower since I knew I wouldn't get to again for after we went to the hospital, and then I ate. Around 9:30am I called my OB's office because I was GBS positive, I need to get to the hospital at least a couple hours before I delivered Lucas so I could get antibiotics pumped into to me.

We checked into the hospital and they checked me and told me I was at about 6 cm and in active labor and it was probably after 10am at this point. They told me that if I wanted an epidural I needed to let them know now because they thought I'd progress quickly. Originally I thought, well, I'll try for a natural birth and if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. On our way to the hospital (which wasn't that far), the contractions were stronger and I was starting to feel quite uncomfortable, so I did not hesitate to say YES to the epidural, and I am so glad I did.

The rest of the day went by quickly and is kind of hard to remember. I had a great epidural, still felt contractions and could feel my legs but the pain was less (but definitely not gone). I have no idea what time it was but they decided to break my water and eventually gave me a little pitocin to help me along. I think around 4pm they had me start pushing and I was probably pushing for about 2 hours at that time. Eventually they stopped and told me that Lucas was sunny side up and making it difficult to pass through the birth canal, so they gave me the option of a c-section or trying to external rotate Lucas. Of course I decided to try to for external rotation. So for the next couple hours, every 30 mins I had to change positions to get Lucas to rotate. I swear fighting the contractions was worse than pushing though so at this point, I was so glad I had the epidural. So probably around 7 or 8 pm they had me try pushing again. Thankfully Lucas was never under any stress and doing fine. So they I was pushing again for hours.. I tried squatting on my feet, changing positions, and nothing was working. They kept saying there was some band of muscle that his head could not get pass. Eventually, the doctor told me the options were an episiotomy with suction used, or a c-section. I was still with it enough to want to refuse a c-section as long as possible because I did NOT want one. I was in active labor long enough that they had to hang a second bag of the epidural medication and I had to bolus myself a couple times cause the contractions were so strong and I was still in alot of pain. I was fine the whole time, never screaming or freaking out in any way. So the OB on call told me I had to get Lucas out in so many pushes or else, C-section. Eventually with all my will and might I pushed that 7 pound 14 oz boy out and I was so incredibly exhausted and overwhelmed with feeling at the time time. The stitching up was not fun cause I could feel too much and needed to request that they numb me up a bit. Poor Lucas had a total cone head from being pushed for so long and having suction used on him but otherwise, he was perfect. They put him on my chest as soon as he was born which was wonderful, and Mark cut his cord. The whole thing was pretty amazing. The next day the nurse told me that I must have been in good shape to finally push Lucas out, but it was totally shear will power cause I would not allow myself to have a c-section.

We left the next day at around 7 pm and I was so glad to get home. My healing was a little slow but I was able to sit down without too much discomfort the 2nd day after discharge. Unfortunately, Lucas was really jaundiced to due all the head bruising but that's another story.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Here I am again

So here I am again finally. I have honestly been posting most of my updates on shutterfly as I originally planned this site for the videos of Lucas. Of course, then now have video capabilities which is why I rarely post anything here.

Lucas is now almost a year old and the time has flown by. I can't believe that last year at this time, he was still just in my belly. He has grown by leaps and bounds and is keeping our lives full. Although he isn't walking, he is definitely on the move and has been since February when he figured out how to cruise.

My new thing right now is cloth diapering with him. A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to exclusively cloth him. This isn't really easy for me since I have so many people that watch Lucas and because I work, so I'm not at home all the time. I pretty much allow the people that watch him to do whatever they prefer. Mark, surprisingly, will use cloth pretty much all the time except for nights. He even helps with the laundry, even though I screamed at him the first time (because you need to run specific cycles and use a different detergent). There is definitely a learning curve with cloth diapering. The nanny also uses cloth most of the time, but my sister who watches him once a week, does not like cloth.

So far it's been working out great! Will post more when I get a chance on what I use and how I like it!