Christmas....finally

Some Christmas highlights....

We made Christmas sugar cookies, but I totally phoned it in this year and bought sugar cookie mix AND ready made frosting. You know how much a little tube of red frosting costs? $2.99! At Wal-Mart! Ridiculous. If I hadn't been completely sleep deprived I would have made my own for around 10 cents, but at the time the thought of doing any sort of extra work beyond changing diapers and nursing made me want to cry.

I summoned up some energy and made these amazing cinnamon rolls as Christmas gifts for friends. Seriously....if you love gooey, buttery, sugary, maple-y, melt in your mouth goodness, then make these. But not if you still have 20 pounds of baby weight to lose. *Ahem* Recipe here.

Christmas day was nice and relaxed. We stayed in our pajamas all day and played with presents. Mimi and Poppy came over and it was nice to spend Christmas with them. Just like last year, Benjamin received 3 presents and a stocking from us, or Santa. Here he is looking at his new book from Grandma and Granddad. Since Christmas morning, no other book has existed in our house except Richard Scarry's "Biggest, Busiest Storybook Ever."

Playing with his new train table and train set. We bought a set from Plan Toys and I LOVE it. Everything is made of non-toxic rubberwood and sized perfectly for chubby toddler/preschool hands. The designs are so clever and it's definitely something we'll be keeping for our grandkids:)
Here he is in his cool Star Wars apron from Uncle Aaron. Now whenever Benjamin helps me cook he feels like he needs to have his apron on or else it's not official.

Abe is absent from these pictures because he slept all morning, so he didn't really participate too much in the festivities. How exciting to think that next Christmas I'll have 2 little boys opening presents!

Maybe we should get up earlier?

We received a package yesterday from Aunt Annie full of delicious homemade Christmas cookies. Coincidentally, a certain little boy decided to make his own breakfast this morning before mommy and daddy were up. He ate several, but thoughtfully decided to leave this one for us.

Um...thanks.

Brothers

Ben is slowly warming up to having a baby around the house. Whenever Abram fusses or cries, Benjamin pats him and says, "It's otay baby Abe. Don't cwy." What a sweet big brother!

Thankful

Ok, I've had these pictures uploaded and saved to blogger for well over a week now but haven't had the time to actually write a post. The transition to two children isn't necessarily stressful, it just leaves little time for anything else.

Anyway...

Abe hopes everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. It may not look like it, but he means it. He really does.

Ben spent his time watching Matt and Meredith host the Macy's parade

And Abe spent a lot of time chillin' in the swing while mommy cooked Thanksgiving dinner.

And....this is a similar pic of Benjamin around 1 month. What do you think? Do they look alike?

Abram Kristopher

I would think that everyone who reads this blog already knows this, but Abram Kristopher was born on November 11 at 3:26 am. He weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and is 20 in. long. That's 1 oz lighter and 1 in. shorter than Benjamin's birth stats. He was at 36 weeks gestation EXACTLY. That was my goal and I made it! Well...barely, but I did it!

Abram spent 2 1/2 days in the NICU for a couple of reasons. He was having a little trouble breathing right after birth, but that resolved itself within 45 minutes. He was also in a frank breech position in the womb, which means he was head down but had his feet up to his ears. This caused him to have hip dysplasia in his right hip, which means it "clicks" if he hyperextends his leg. There's nothing wrong with his joints, and his hip isn't dislocated. He does have to wear a special harness to keep him from extending his leg, but this is temporary. We see a pediatric orthopedist on Wednesday so we'll know more then. He is also a little jaundiced but it's not severe so we were allowed to take him home with special instructions to put him in front of a sunny window and have lots of feedings to help his body expel the jaundice. We had our 2 day pediatric appointment today and our pediatrician recommended having his bilirubin levels checked again. The lab results should be in later today and we're hoping for a good report.

He is sleepy because of the jaundice so I have to wake him for feedings, but he is a GREAT nurser. None of Benjamin's early eating issues, that's for sure. I am also having hard time adjusting from being on bedrest to being a mother of two. I feel like I haven't really been mothering Ben for the past few weeks so we're all trying to cope with the changes. Ben is pretty fussy and is acting out a bit, but I expected that. Yesterday he asked when the baby was going to go back to the baby's house:) He wasn't pleased when I told him the baby was staying with us.

Joel and I are thankful for many things. We are thankful that our baby isn't in the hospital. I didn't realized how much our experience with Benjamin had weighed on us until Abram was born. Our first night home Joel turned to me and said he was so happy and that being at home with the baby and helping each other is how it's supposed to be. I'm a bit of a mess when I think about the differences between the two experiences, but I guess I should have expected that. We are also thankful for the amazing NICU staff. The doctors and nurses we interacted with were very pro parent, and our experience with Benjamin was exactly the opposite.

Sorry for the dry post. I am very tired but working on the birth story and should have it up soon.

In the NICU a few hours after birth

Tired mama

Abe comes home

Sunning himself next to our front door

35 Weeks

I made it! I'm now 3 days past the point when Benjamin was born. Every day this baby is in utero is a day he wouldn't have to spend in the hospital. Of course I know that 35 week babies are delivered with no complications all the time, but I don't want to take my chances. I know that if Ben was born at 37, or maybe even 36 weeks, he wouldn't have had a hospital stay.

The midwives are all impressed I've made it this far and they've all let me know how excited they are. It was a small battle to get my midwives to accept me as a patient since I'm high risk, so the closer I get to a full term delivery makes it a better situation for them.

Now I have to get real and tell you how I REALLY feel. This is best done in bullet points.

• I can barely walk. This baby is so low (and has been for weeks) that I'm waddling all the time. He alternates between pressing down on my bladder and my perineum. Sorry if that's TMI, but it's my reality and it hurts.
• I'm in constant pain. My pelvic joints hurt and that also contributes to the whole not being able to walk thing. My leg muscles ache because they're not being used. I have contractions and general uterine irritation most of the time.
• Sometimes I feel like the baby is just going to fall out of me. When I told one of my midwives that she said she hears it all the time from women who are pregnant for the second or third time. She assured me the baby will not fall out but sometimes I wonder:)
• I am very worried about labor. I had a non-medicated birth with Ben and I plan on having another, but being on bedrest for 8 weeks complicates things. It's very difficult to go from no exercise to running a marathon.
• I'm nesting and can't act on my natural urges. I want to clean every single switch plate and doorknob with rubbing alcohol. I want to get on my hands and knees and scrub my kitchen floor. Not that I would be able to get up afterwards:) I want to vacuum all the dirt and dead bugs between my screen and window. I want to clean out closets. And guess what? I'm well aware that after the baby is born I won't want to do ANY of these things because I'll be too exhausted. I'm completely missing my window of opportunity.
• And as long as I'm being honest, I'm scared of the pain. I don't really remember being afraid when I was pregnant with Ben, but now I know what it feels like and I'm not looking forward to it. The thing is, I definitely don't want an epidural either. The idea of an epidural makes me feel sick to my stomach. I just think I would rather skip the whole thing and have the stork bring my baby. I know. It's a terrible attitude. I took the Bradley method and I read Mothering magazine, and I get how beautiful labor is, and blah blah blah. BUT I DON'T FEEL LIKE DOING IT! I know what will happen though. Labor will start and it won't be enjoyable but I'll do it because I have to. And I'll say no to the epidural because I know labor is pain with a purpose. And also because the thought of someone sticking a huge needle in my back makes me want to pass out. The only bright spot is that supposedly second labors are supposed to be shorter. And I also know that I have absolutely no regrets about having a natural birth with Benjamin, and I think it was the strongest thing I've ever done in my life. But it still hurts.

Trick or Treat

Ben was a fireman, or actually a "fireboy" for Halloween. I outsourced his costume since making one seemed a little ambitious this year. He looks very solemn in all these pictures so I can only assume he took his role pretty seriously.

With our neighbors, Elmer and Marilou and friend Owen.

He was very interested in Owen's bucket.

Ready to go!

He got lots of candy and pretty much forgot about it by the next day. Good thing, since I've eaten half of it already. Well....only the chocolate pieces:)