Life Lately

Happy March!  Josh has been going to bed shortly after big brother, so I actually have some free time at night again!  Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with all of my boys, but it is really nice to have some alone time too.  I hope that I finally get back on a better routine with blogging.  I thought I would go through my (hundreds of) pictures from the last month or so and write a little update about what we've been up to.  


In early February, Ben caught a NASTY bug.  It really knocked him down.  There is nothing worse than a sick baby, in my opinion.  I hate seeing him sick.  He is usually the most active little boy and to see him sick is heartbreaking.  

But, being the tough cookie that he is, he fought through it the best he could.  Andy took care of Ben while I was with the baby.  I was PRAYING that Josh wouldn't get sick.  Thankfully, everyone else in our house managed to stay healthy.  My mom, on the other hand, must have given Ben one too many smooches and got sick too.  This mean bug made its way through her house too.  I am so thankful that we are all healthy now!  Hopefully that will be the worst of this winter's illnesses!

He missed school for the first time.  We stayed home and washed our hands about 10 times an hour.

It is so hard to keep Ben from his baby brother, so I am trying my hardest to keep Ben healthy so that Josh stays healthy too.  There is a whole lot of this going on in our house on a daily basis:

How can you break this up?

I was SO thankful for my mom's help when Ben was sick, especially when Andy was gone at school.  She kept Ben overnight so that I wouldn't have to worry about 2 boys.  Lifesaving!  Best mom EVER!

Back to his typical meals!

Once Ben was completely better and after the house was totally sanitized, we made some Valentine's day cookies.  It sure tested my patience!  Ben was not concerned in the least when the hearts did not turn out perfectly.  

But he LOVED making them.

Even more fun than making the cookies was decorating them.  The next day, my college roomie and her girls came over.  Ben now associates Natalie with cookie decorating and he is always asking for both.

Mid February, we decided to take our first road trip and mini getaway as a family of 4.  There is no way I would have done this when Ben was a newborn, and I like to think that I am a little less of a germaphobic overprotected momma the second time around.  Off we go!

First stop: Culver's!  

Second stop: Water park!  This was actually Ben's second trip to the water park, but he was barely 1 year old the first time.  He was a little overwhelmed this time, but once we were in the area for little ones, he was a fish. 

He even mastered the slide. 

Josh and I did go in the water for a bit.  (Well, he went in when I was holding him.)

But most of the time we did this:

There were negative temperatures outside, but we were nice and warm at the water park!

We left the hotel for a bit to go to dinner.  At the restaurant, our food and drinks were delivered on a train.  

Ben LOVED it.

Love my boys.

It wasn't the greatest night of sleep for all of us, and Ben actually fell out of the bed in the middle of the night.  I was glad we only opted to stay one night!  The next morning, we went to breakfast at the hotel. 

Although Ben had fun at the water park, I think he might have had more fun playing the games.

Believe it or not, basketball was his favorite.

Love that he was content being on the rides without putting money in. 

All in all it was a great trip!  It was Valentine's Day the day after we got home.  Ben, Josh, and I went to visit great grandma while Andy got some school work done.   Josh fit nicely into the onesie Ben wore for his first Valentine's Day. 

Josh had many Valentine's!

So sweet.

Both of the boys are so loved!

We had a low-key but fabulous Valentine's Day at home.   My mom had made us some heart-shaped mac and cheese which obviously tasted better than regular noodles!  Andy made some other delicious food and we ordered an on-demand movie.  I didn't make it to the end of the movie, but it was still fun. How perfect are my Valentines???  I'm surprised my heart hasn't BURSTED yet. 

The next day we went to watch the junior ballet company with some of my co-workers and their kids.  Ben was so good!  He wasn't excited to get his picture taken with them, but he sat so nicely the whole time.  So proud of that boy. 

I'm getting tired, so I'm just go to add some random pictures and call it a night!

First time Ben fed his brother.  Priceless!  He was so proud!

Before his first round of shots.

First trip to Build-A-Bear with Auntie Anna.

My mom and I were shopping so we crashed the party. 

I have to mention the story behind the bear's name.  My dad recently got Ben a book about Jackie Robinson.  While the book itself is a good story about his life, it isn't totally appropriate for a 2 year old who asks, "why??" every other sentence.  (They throw rocks at the neighbors, the pool is segregated by skin color, etc.)  We usually end up changing the story every time, but Ben loves it!  Anna texted me and asked if we knew anyone named Jackie, because Ben wanted to name his bear Jackie.  I told her only Jackie Robinson!  And thus, his name is Jackie.  :)

First trip to the dentist.  He was not a fan.

He brought his own sunglasses because he saw them wearing sunglasses in the video on their website.

First double date brother playdate.  Ben and Jack are 8 months apart and Josh and Ryan are about 2 weeks apart.  

We went to visit some more friends!

Josh's first Mexican restaurant.

First wheelchair basketball game. 

And lots and lots of your daily cuteness.

Andy and I ended February with a date night!!  My mom watched both boys so we could have a night out.  We went and had a drink and then went to dinner and a movie.  (50 Shades of Gray…dumb!)  We were going to go play games at a wine bar after the movie, but we were too tired, so we were home by 10:00!!  It was great to get out though!  Thanks, Mom!  XOXO

While I am excited for March and (hopefully) warmer weather, it also means I will be going back to work soon!  It's tiring but I love spending 24/7 with my boys!  They are seriously the sweetest little guys.  So thankful for the last 10+ weeks at home!

2 Months (2/18/2015)

Happy 2 months, sweet baby boy!  I blinked and it has already been a month since I last posted.  With Andy studying most nights, I am usually hanging out with the sweetest little babe and he likes my whole attention! (Kinda like his big brother!) It has been another fabulous month and I truly love being home with my boys.  Especially lately since there have been negative temps outside lately!  Josh had his 2 month check up today and the pediatrician used the word "perfect" several times.  I'll take it and agree.

Alright, you woke up so I'm holding you again, but hopefully you'll go back to sleep!

And now it has been another 45 minutes since I wrote that last sentence.  See what I mean??  :)  Let's try again!

GENERAL: Josh, you continue to be the perfect addition to our family.  Your brother simply adores you and with all the sicknesses he has been picking up lately, we have to try REALLY hard to keep him away from you.  He loves to kiss you!  He also loves to make you smile, which you are quite good at these days.  You weighed in at 9# 10oz today and you were 21.75 inches, which is around the 5th percentile for both!

SLEEP:  Your sleep has gotten a lot better this past month, especially over the last few nights.  (Hopefully I didn't just jinx things.)  Your naps still aren't the greatest and you definitely prefer to be held, but once and awhile you'll nap in either our bed or your bassinet for awhile.  You fall asleep almost instantly in the Solly Wrap but I would still prefer a bed. :)  At night, you are typically nursing around 8 or 9 and then you'll sleep usually until around 1:00 or 2:00AM.  You'll nurse and then go back to sleep until around 5:00AM or so.  You have not been staying awake for those long stretches in the early morning hours like you had been.  Again, please don't let this be jinxing things.  You still prefer your tummy to sleep so we let you do that on occasion when nothing else seems to be working.  I'm a stomach sleeper too so I can't blame you!  I'll feel better about it after you start rolling.

EATING:  Nursing continues to go well.  I've said it before and I'll say it again---Nursing is a MILLION times easier than pumping and feeding!  Seriously.  I have started pumping a bit.  Partly because my supply was down for some reason, and partly because I need to build up a stash for when I go back to work.  (Tears!)  We have tried a bottle a few times and you took it like a champ from the first time on.  You've taken anywhere from 2.5-4 ounces at a time.  (Which the pediatrician confirmed is just right.) During the day, you are nursing about every 3 hours, give or take an hour. You also take your vitamin D oh so nicely.  I hope you continue being such a good eater!  You definitely look chubbier in your 2 month pictures compared to your 1 month pictures.  I love it!

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION: You are cooing all the time!  It is the sweetest noise.  We have little conversations all the time and it really seems like you know what I'm talking about. ;)  (Which is usually me rambling about how you're the best little baby!)  You love lights.  You definitely track nicely.  And those smiles!  I can't get enough of them!  It is so fun to get you to smile.  I feel like you definitely respond to my voice and it makes me happy.  Ben doesn't like to miss a good smile either, so thankfully you like to show him your smiles too.

FINE/GROSS MOTOR:  You are getting stronger by the day!  The pediatrician was totally impressed by your super muscles today.  You have good head control and you love bearing weight through though cute little legs.  When you're on your tummy, you kick those little legs until you move forward, and you can really move!  You must have rolled over once too, but I missed it!  I'm sure it won't be long before you're rolling both ways.

As I mentioned before, life with my boys is the BEST.  I know I haven't been blogging much, but that is because we have been busy.  We haven't been going out a ton because of the weather, but we still have had playdates, we went to see the Paddington Bear movie (first movie for both you and Ben), we went to your first Marquette game (I put cotton in your ears and nursed you in the first aid station), we went to see The Very Hungry Caterpillar (a fancy puppet show, essentially), we've gone to the library, and we've visited great grandma too.  Now that I write all these things, I guess we have gone out a bit, but I still feel like we try and stay away from the germs!

Only 3 weeks left of my maternity leave!  It totally flew by, yet at the same time I can hardly remember what life was like without Josh!  I love my baby boys SO VERY MUCH!

1 Month (1/18/2015)

Happy 1 month birthday to my sweet little love!  It has been longer than I anticipated since I last blogged, but it is hard to type and snuggle at the same time.  Life has been so good over here.  I truly love being at home with my boys and they love it too.  (Well Ben at least tells me that he does!)  I'm going to do my best to write these monthly posts again!  I think I made it (almost) to 18 months with Ben so I have to be sure to do that this time around, to be fair, of course.

I had so much fun doing the 1 month photo shoot--- so many good ones to choose from!  Although I'm not really missing work at the moment, I'll use my work note format to write these monthly posts.  ;)

GENERAL: Josh, you are the sweetest little guy.  You are so content most of the time and even when you get upset, you calm pretty easily.  You prefer to be held, but you are typically happy for at least a little while when you're put down.  You love baths, being talked or sung to, and being with your big brother who, for the record, continues to ADORE you.  You had your 1 month check up today and you weigh 8# 5.3oz and you are 20.25 inches.  You've grown a lot in a month!  You are perfection!

SLEEP: Your sleep has been pretty good, but we are still struggling to find a good, safe place for you to sleep.  You love sleeping on your tummy, but this scares me because of the whole SIDS thing.  You also like to be in our bed, which again is a safe sleep no-no.  You also love to be held to sleep, and we try to prop you up at least a little bit.  You usually will sleep for about 3-4 hours at a time at night, sometimes a little longer.  When you wake up you will eat and then you usually go right back to sleep.  You have a fussier time around 4:00AM or so where you seem to want to be awake, but then you will fall asleep again.  You don't like to be swaddled so we have to figure out how you like to sleep that isn't on your tummy until you're able to roll!

EATING: You are a great eater!  You seemed to have slight reflux initially, but that is a lot better and now you rarely spit up.  You are currently nursing about every 2-3 hours around the clock, maybe a little less often at night.  You will eat for about 5 minutes on one side and then you're done.  I'd be a little concerned about the quantity but you're gaining weight so nicely that you must just be efficient!  You have yet to try a bottle but the pediatrician suggested that we start trying this, as it is a good time to introduce the bottle without too much resistance.  I have about 10 bags of milked stored up thus far, but I know I'll need a lot more when I go back to work!  I have to mention that it is approximately a million times easier to nurse than it is to pump and then bottle feed.  This helps so much with the sleep deprivation!

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION: You have become so much more alert!  The pediatrician was so impressed and loved how responsive and expressive you were.  You are cooing and it seems like you may even be smiling purposefully.  You are tracking and you love lights and windows.  You also LOVE your big brother, which is great because he loves you too.  This might be one of my favorite pictures of all time.  Melts my heart every time I look at it.

FINE/GROSS MOTOR:  You are such a strong little babe!  I am pretty sure you were born with head control.  I'd call it fair head control, by my scale. ;)  You like being on your tummy and can turn your head both ways and you are even starting to lift it up a little bit.  You definitely inch around when you are in our bed and there have been a few times where I was afraid you were going to roll over.  We have to keep our eyes on you!

I can't say it enough, we love you SO much!  You are the perfect addition to our little family and I love that I get to hang out with you 24/7.  I am so excited to watch you grow and become best buddies with Benji.  Thanks to you, he now likes to be photographed again, that little stinker. ;)

Happy New Year!

Happy 2015!  We rang in the new year with Andy making us a nice dinner before we went to bed around 10:00PM.  :)  It worked for me!  I could (and probably should) write a whole blog post about how awesome Andy has been!  I'm so sad he has to go back to work on Monday.  Can't we just all hang out and do fun things 24/7/365?!?

We had big plans to play board games on NYE but sleep was much more appealing.  Actually, we can't complain about lack of sleep.  Mr. Josh is a pretty great sleeper.  Additionally, nursing is surprisingly going MUCH better this time around.  With Ben, I was pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock.  By the time I would finish pumping, I would still have to feed him, and no sooner would I get in to bed to try and sleep and it would be time to do it all over again.  I did that for a solid 6 weeks straight and I was (we were) SO tired!  After that I was able to pump a little less, but it was still a ridiculous amount of time.  I think I added up the total amount of time I spent pumping that year and it was like weeks!  To say the least, it is amazing to just be able to nurse.

I am just happy to be feeling good these days!  I had a rough several days with a horrible rash.  I'll spare the details but I was absolutely MISERABLE!  I saw the doctor twice and also took a trip to the ER, but thankfully I finally was able to see my actual OB who thinks I had an allergic reaction to one of the medications I received in the OR.  We will probably never know which med it was, but after a course of oral steroids, I feel like a new girl.

I probably won't be writing weekend posts over my maternity leave since I imagine my weeks and weekends will run together, but I'm still going to try and post regularly to at least include some pictures.

I think I mentioned this in the last post, but based on recommendations from the pediatrician and our own common senses, we decided to keep Josh away from visitors for his first few weeks.  There is so much going around and it just wasn't worth risking him getting sick.  Besides, I was feeling pretty crummy too.  Although I was sad to not be able to hang out as a family, Ben and Andy were total party animals and went to 5 different celebrations!  Ben loved it.  He is seriously always up for a party!  On 12/23, they went to Andy's parents for the annual "Eve of the Eve" party.  On Christmas Eve, they went over to my mom's during the afternoon to see our cousins.  We did all hang out together on Christmas Eve in the evening and my mom and John came over to provide me with a little social interaction and FOOD! :)  Clearly we didn't dress up for the occasion.



Actually, Josh did dress up, but then he spit up all over himself about 3 minutes later.

Christmas morning was fun watching Ben open presents.  He loved everything and wanted to open and  play with every present immediately after he opened them.

After we did our family Christmas thing, Andy and Ben were off to my cousin's house for the next celebration.  Again, Ben was in heaven.  Especially since he had Hannah and Emmy to play with.   They ended their night at Andy's parents' house.  I'm pretty sure Ben got close to a million presents this Christmas.

Meanwhile, Josh and I had fun at home.  He was such a good sport about letting me dress him like a little doll.  

Although I don't have many pictures to prove it, Josh and I finally got to participate in a Christmas celebration!  On the Sunday after Christmas, we went to my mom's to do Christmas with her.  It was only my immediate family plus Auntie Gail, so I wasn't as concerned about germs. This was also the day I went to the ER so I wasn't feeling the greatest, but it was still nice to get out!

My mom's festiveness never disappoints!

We are all sad that Christmas is over.  I hate to say it, but it didn't really even feel like Christmas this year.  It finally snowed this weekend and I feel like we should put our Christmas music back on!  Instead, we spent the day taking down our Christmas decor.  (Much to Ben's disappointment and questioning, "why?") We have managed to take a few more outings, but mostly we are just trying to stay home and healthy!  Here is a little bit of what we've been up to:

Auntie Anna took Ben to the pool.  She is much more fun than me!  He had a blast!







And then the next day, it was snowman time!  He finally got to put all of his winter gear to good use!

I got in lots of quality time with this guy!  I cannot get enough of this sweet boy!

Ben is totally in love with his "baby bruver" and it is pretty much the sweetest thing ever.  He also loves when "daddy-o holds both boys."  He misses me carrying him around, but he totally understands that I have a "big owie" on my tummy and he will actually remind me that I can't carry/lift him just yet.  Sweetie pie.

We made it out for lunch on New Years Day!  For the record, Ben was blowing Andy and me away with everything he was eating, including a soft pretzel.  Ahh, the little things.

We HAD to take Josh to our favorite restaurant too since it wasn't opened on New Year's Day.  I'm pretty sure he loved it.

In between our outings, Ben has been busy breaking in each and every Christmas present.

He is also getting in lots of snuggles with his "bruver."  He has done so well with his transition to the big brother role.  It was probably harder for me than it was for him.  He gets a tad bit jealous here and there and he definitely seems to be trying to get more attention than usual, but he is still an angel 99% of the time.  He loves helping by getting diapers and letting me know when the baby cries, and then telling me he needs "mommy milk."  (Which he informed me Andy cannot provide because daddy-o does not have boobies…only nipples.  Hahah!)  I am just so proud of this big boy!

Last but not least, we had some of our first visitors today.  

Ben was showing off a bit, but he was one happy boy with his Hannah and Emmy!

Miraculously, both boys are sleeping at the moment so I am savoring some quiet time!  I am so excited to have the next 10 weeks to spend with my boys, but I'm also so scared for Andy to go back to work!  And with that, Ben is UP and ready to play.