Friday, July 30, 2010

Infant Obesity?

I received a shock today. Seeley weighs 11 pounds. 11 POUNDS. What? Two weeks ago he was still shy of 9 lbs. According to the pediatrician he's not in danger of infant obesity (whew! Too much Oprah for me folks.) he's just a "good eater". I guess this explains why he can already wear some of his three month clothes (at 5 weeks old) and still insists on getting fed every three hours. Mommy is introducing rice cereal into his bottle tonight cause that's how I roll. Chunky butt is hungry-he's gonna get enough to fill his belly and hopefully let me get more than 3 hours of sleep at night. Wish I'd known five weeks ago I was birthing a future Razorback lineman.

I started working part-time from home this week and it has been a little bit of a challenge. For instance, the other day I was on a conference call and Emma comes up and screams "Mommy! I've got to go poo-poo and you need to come wipe my butt." Luckily the guys on the other end had a sense of humor. I officially go back full time in 3 weeks. It was super hard on me to return to work after Emma and this time is really no different. The only exception is that now I know the people who will be looking after my 8 week old child, and I know he'll be in good hands.

I'm going to start sorting through my clothes this week to see what I can wear for work. Ugh. I'm definitely not looking forward to that. I've lost 12 pounds since having Seeley but I've still got a ways to go before I can fit back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I've decided to resume my love/hate relationship with Jillian Michaels next week-start praying for me now. And I think I'm going to look into re-joining a gym once I go back to work. Mainly because once I get home in the evenings it is super hard to fit in any exercise time. If I join a gym I can just swing by on my lunch break, get all good and sweaty/stinky, and then go back to work. I don't really want to add another monthly bill to our household budget but I figure since I'll be at the gym I won't be eating fast food for lunch so voila! I'll probably wind up saving money by joining the gym!

I've also started working on ideas for Emma's birthday party. I know her big day isn't until November, but I'm a little anal about starting months in advance. This year she has asked for a Mickey Mouse party and I'm thinking about having it somewhere other than at our house. There's enough work involved in throwing a party without having to worry about my house being spotless as well. Yes, spotlessness is a necessity in my book.
And finally, proof that my little man is not going to be little much longer . . .
He's already trying to stand up by himself. Yeah.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Boys vs. Girls

My friend Mollie asked me the other day if it was weird having a boy since I have been completely immersed in pink girliness with Emma for the past 2 1/2 years. My answer- besides having to lift his junk to wipe during diaper changes, and getting peed on at random, not really. He's still such a newborn that he doesn't have boy traits yet. Poop, pee, eat, sleep. That's about it. I'm anxious for the boy stuff to begin though. And, I have gotten glimpses of what I think his personality will be like.

For example, Emma was a very high maintenance baby. She seemed to cry for the sheer heck of it. All.The.Time. Seeley is a lot more easy going. He will occasionally cry when he feels that attention is needed, but for the most part if he's crying its because he needs something-new diaper, food, burp, etc. The rest of the time he's content. Which equals peace and quiet from at least one child. Aaaah.

Emma also had lots of trouble keeping her days and nights straight. So far, Seeley will sleep well at night. And he's usually not much trouble to put back to sleep after a feeding. I'm still only averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night, but with Emma it was only around 2. And that lasted until she was 6 months old.

And believe it or not, I seem to be able to function better with two kids than I did when it was just Emma and I when she was a newborn. I'm not quite sure why. But in the past three weeks I can count on one hand the number of days I have not put on at least some makeup to hide my deathly pallor. And I've only had one day where I never made it out of my pajamas-we won't even discuss that day. It was too horrific. My hair is still normally in a ponytail but I don't consider that a failure. At least it's getting washed on a daily basis! And praise the Lord I have a hair appointment this week so maybe that will motivate me to actually DO something with my hair, we'll see.

Starting next week I'll have to spend some time each day on work related items. Part of my deal with my job is that I'll begin working part time from home during week 5 of my maternity leave. This helps me make some money and it also helps them because I have a lot of areas that fall under my responsibility that are being divided up among two other people right now and its not easy on them. So, with this looming deadline approaching I decided on Saturday to right two of my mommy wrongs. One for each kid. Emma has always been terrible about going to sleep on her own when at home. I have to lay down beside her in order for her to go to bed or take a nap. This hour long process is just not really feasible anymore since it never fails that Seeley demands food during that hour. This bad habit developed when she was a baby. Due to her severe asthma I could never let her cry it out and just put her down and force her to go to sleep on her own. So, on Saturday she had I fought it out for over two hours. There were about 15 swats on the butt involved. She told me I was mean and then proceeded to yell after me as I left the room for the millionth time "Mommy, don't leave me. I love you so much!" Absolutely broke my heart and made me feel like the worst mommy in the world. I finally admitted defeat and let her skip her nap. I just could not force myself to spank her one more time and I didn't trust myself to remain calm and patient any longer. End result= Emma 1, Mommy 0+ a migraine.

Seeley decided on his first night home that he would only sleep in his swing. Can't say I blame him, it does look comfy. But was becoming quite the burden. Amazingly enough, he transitioned quite well and we're now going on five full nights in his crib. I do believe that he is going to be my easy going child; a piece of cake and an absolute blessing. Emma is going to be no less of a blessing, but I think she's going to be more of a whirlwind. One minute I'll want to laugh at her and the next her stubborn nature will make me want to pull my hair out. It's pretty annoying to realize that while I find my stubborness endearing, it's a nightmare in others. She is just so dramatic and endearing that I cannot imagine her any other way. So, I'll take the migraines along with the hugs and kisses and laughs. It's all worth it!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Seeley Alan

How did my little man get to be almost two weeks old? Where did the past 12 days go? Things have been a little hectic around the Johnson household so let me try and get you up to speed . . .
Thursday 24th- My last day of work, yay! I had planned on getting some last minute cleaning done and then just relaxing the rest of the night. And going to bed early since we had to be at the hospital the next morning at 5:30. Instead, my sis-in-law went into labor and we were at the hospital until 9pm! Seeley's cousin Parker was born around 6pm that evening and we were so thrilled to meet him. I mean, what are the odds right? So, we didn't get into bed until around 1am and then I was up again at 3:30 to finish packing and cleaning. (OCD tendencies remember?)

Friday 25th-
5:30am- Arrive at hospital and nurses recognize us from the night before. A full explanation is necessary.

7:00- Doc breaks my water. Supposedly.

9:00- Doc realizes labor is going so slow because water did not break all the way. Sigh. Only dilated to a 3 and I came in at a 2.

Noon- Go ahead and get epidural even though pain is not bad. The nurse didn't want me to wait any longer just in case contractions got really strong and couldn't get anesthesiologist down quick enough. Dilated to 4.

1:30- Page nurse because feeling lots of pain and pressure. This is not supposed to happen with an epidural folks. I didn't feel A THING with Emma. Dilated to a 6.

1:45- Anesthesiologist has already given me 3 booster shots (meant to be fast acting to help with actual delivery). I know the epidural is there because I'm shaking uncontrollably from the high level of medicine, but STILL feeling everything. Dilated to a 9 so there's not anything more that can be done, I'm going to feel every bit of this delivery.

2:05- Seeley arrives.

That's right folks. I felt everything. And since I felt everything, I can safely say that anyone who chooses to deliver natural is crazy. When I realized that I was going to feel this delivery I said a quick prayer that God would give me the strength to pull this off since I was completely unprepared and that Seeley would be healthy. Luckily, He answered both prayers. I only had to push through a total of 4 contractions and Seeley came out a healthy 8lbs, 6oz. Of course he would weigh more than Emma since I'm feeling all this lovely pain, right?

Everyone always tells you that no two babies and no two deliveries are alike. I now completely believe them, when in the past I've always been skeptical. With Emma, the epidural worked beautifully and it was like I didn't even do a thing. I had to work hard for every inch of Seeley! And, Emma was a very high maintenance baby. So far, Seeley is pretty easy going. It also helps though that I have not gotten any of those post baby blues that hit me so hard with Emma.

Looking back there were also a few moments of levity during labor. The first came when I heard that the epidural was just not keeping up with how quick I was progressing and that I would be feeling the delivery. I was in pain, trying to breathe through contractions, shaking from the medicine that wasn't working on the pain, and crying. Jeremy calmly gets up from the chair where he's been dozing all morning and goes to the bathroom. When he comes out he stands by the head of the bed and I look at him, hoping to get some words of encouragement as I tell him "I think I'm going to feel this one." No sooner do the words get out of my mouth than I see him try to take a bite out of a piece of candy without me noticing it. MY CANDY. That his dad had brought to me, along with flowers. I'm panicking and in crisis mode and he's eating my f-ing candy! I only say one word- "really". But apparently I say it exorcist style because the nurse starts looking scared. I reign in my temper and tell him to stay the hell out of my candy because I'm going to need it. Wonderful hubby and father- not so swift on the compassion and words of encouragement.

Then, after the baby was born I'm trying to get a peek at him and all I can make out are chubby cheeks and a penis. The nurse calls out "14 05" and I freak out because I thought that was his weight. (At the time it felt like I had just delivered a 14 pound baby). They quickly assure me that it's the time of birth before I completely lose it. Damn military time almost gave me a heart attack!

It's been a full twelve days since we've had him, and already I don't remember what life was like before him. He is such a sweetie and Emma adores him. She has been such a good big sister. I try very hard to give her some special time each day when he's asleep so she doesn't feel neglected. And Jeremy has really pitched in to help out; surprisingly Emma has adjusted well to the fact that mommy can't do everything for her anymore. She's been really good to let Jeremy do things for and with her whereas before Seeley she wouldn't. We've had a few minor blips since Jeremy went back to work yesterday (Emma has decided to assert her independence and exercise her selective hearing skills), but all in all life is good.

Here's some pics of my newest sweetie pea!
Correction-here's A picture of my sweetie pea. I've been trying to write this post since last Friday and my computer, along with the majority of my pics, is down. So, this is the best you get until my laptop gets fixed. Trust me though-he's gorgeous.