1 Month...Already?!?!

Well I guess time flies when you are having fun.  Monday Dean turned 1 month old.  Hard to believe.

1 month fun facts:

• Weighs 11 lbs
• Likes include bath time, food and being held constantly
• Dislikes include napping in his crib and the hours of 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Monday through Sunday
• Current projects he is working on include firming up a nap schedule and working towards sleeping through the night

In other news, Kaci starts swim lessons Monday.  I guess that is all I have this week.  

Bye for now!

 

Days or Daze?

I am sitting in my room attempting to write.  It reminds me of Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in The City.  Except I am not smoking, I am not wearing an adorable, tiny, expensive outfit, I am not waiting for Big to pick me up in his town car and I am not alone.  No...I am never alone anymore.  So I guess the only similarity is that I am typing on a laptop the commentary that is playing out in my head.  Whatever.

So lets talk about babies.  First, I should say that the second baby is soooooo much easier than the first one.  Why?  The major reason is that both me and Kevin kind of have an idea what a baby does.  Yes, they cry...a lot.  Why?  We don't know.  Now Kevin realizes that this happens and NEVER asks the question "Why is he crying?"  That question makes me want to rip my hair out.  Also, I think it helps not being alone all day long.  Maternity leave is lonely when you are used to going to work every day.  That baby does not talk to you...they only scream at you when they need something.  Having Kaci  home with us makes a big difference.  On the days she is at school she really is missed.  Third - and maybe this has just came with age - I don't give two shits what other people think.  Don't get me wrong - I have a lot of questions about what the hell I am doing.  My sister, my mom, my friends - I go to them and value all of the information they give me.  Unsolicited advice goes in one ear and out the other.  I used to take it all as criticism...not this time.

With that said...babies still uncover my OCD.  From day one I start thinking about what my routine will look like.  Even while still in the hospital I am watching that clock to monitor feeding times.  I wake the baby to feed during the day - and fight the nurses about waking him so much during the night to feed.  Gasp - she starves her baby at night even while in the hospital?  NO!  But if he wants to sleep a bit longer I say let him.  We will wake him at the next feeding.  Today Dean is 4 weeks old, and I can say that his routine is pretty well established.  Big sigh of relief!

I still have my challenges...here we go:

• Mornings - Kaci goes to school 2 days a week.  I aim to have her there at 9:00 a.m.  We get up at 7:00 - 2 whole hours to get ready.  Should be easy right?  No.  These mornings are chaos...rush, rush, rush.  I don't want to even think about what time I will have to get up when I go back to work!  
• Evenings - Dean can be a tyrant between the hours of 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.  (I bet you $100.00 that my Mom just said out loud "Oh not my little Dean!").  Of course this is during the nightly dinner, bath time, bed time routine.  I find that my patience wears very thin every single night during this time.  I have to make a concious effort to make sure that my frustration with Dean's drama is not taken out on Kaci.  
• Introducing a bottle to Dean - he hates it.  We keep working on this by giving him a bottle for one feeding a day.  He is getting better with it - but he still tries to fight it.

Whine, whine, whine I know.  The positives will always outweigh these challenges though.  Oh and wine helps deal with the whine.

Positive things:

• Nights - Dean only wakes up 1 time to eat!
• Breast feeding is going GREAT!  Can we say FREE FOOD!!!
• These two kids of mine are adorable.  

Some snap shots:

Big sister feeding little brother

Kaci's fashion find.  Wow was all I could say when she picked out this thing...

Kaci has been such a big help we decided to go ahead and buy her a car.  It is so nice having a designated driver anytime we need one.

Is That Love Or Germs In The Air?

Happy Valentine's Day All!  Here are my two mini-valentines:

3 weeks old today!  Love his little lips.

The big Valentine named Kevin is at work so no snapshot of him to post.  Sorry!

So what exquisite plans await us tonight you may ask?  Well, we are lucky enough to be spending our evening with GERMS.  Everyone has come down with a nasty cold.  Kevin's started yesterday (and is apparently a much worse strain than ours???) and I woke up with the beginnings of one this morning.  As for Kaci - well she has had a cold ever since she started pre-school on December 1st.  Dean seems to have avoided it so far.  Fingers crossed that continues.

Things started out pretty good this morning.  Kaci was as chipper as ever even with her runny nose, so we bundled up and headed to the park.  Pretty mild temperature.  A short walk, some swinging and sliding, then we headed home.  Nothing too crazy.

Between the park and home, things took a turn for the worse in regards to Kaci.  She now complains that her ears hurt (oh hell!) and that she can't get warm.  And I just noticed that she fell asleep on the couch in the middle of Curious George.  Yep - she is sick.  Kaci is not one to miss an episode of Curious George.

Poor sick girl.

Well got to go.  Both kids are now asleep - which means I must work on my home work assignment given to me by my sister.  Oh don't worry about me.  I just have to watch Breaking Bad.  I am on season two and officially addicted.

Life Lately

A little glimpse into what things are looking like at our house lately.

Though Kaci is a very proud big sister and a good helper - she still finds time for her old shenanigans.  Example - creating a mess with breast pads!

She is always very excited to show off her little brother.  Here she is with her cousin Hudson.

Little toes!

I welcomed this big guy back into my life.

A lot more sitting on the couch holding my new babe.  What else to do aside from snap pictures of my kiddos?

Even among the craziness, Kaci still finds the time to test out new make-up techniques.

Things are going well in the Erickson household.  Of course we are still working on adjusting to life with 2 kids, but we are enjoying every minute of it.  It's crazy how much more relaxed Kevin and I both are with Dean.  It also helps quite a bit that he is a good sleeper.

That's it for now!

D Day

One of my favorite kind of posts to read on the other blogs I follow are the birth story posts.  So for your reading pleasure, here is Dean's birth story.  Kind of lengthy...Sorry.

Thursday, January 23rd, 2014
It was just another Thursday.  Work, home, dinner.  The only exception being that both my calf muscles were sore...Jessica at work had cracked the whip the day prior by having me walk the stairs repeatedly in an effort to start labor.  It should be said that she also forced me  encouraged me to sit on a yoga ball instead of my desk chair, which I did.  Maybe her little bag of tricks worked.

At 8:45 p.m. I was laying on the couch and began to notice some regularity to my contractions.  Not strong - about the same strength that I had been feeling all week.

At 10:00 p.m. I got ready for bed - and then realized that the strength and frequency of the contractions had picked up a bit.  "Oh Shit" is what ran through my mind.  I was tired and didn't really want to dive into the lengthy process called labor at that moment in time.  But I knew that sleep was not in my cards.  I sent Kevin to bed and I headed back to the couch to start timing.

I called labor and delivery at 11:00 p.m. for advice as to when to head to hospital.  I was timing contractions at 6 1/2 minutes apart then.  They recommended I wait until they were 5 minutes apart or I risk getting sent home.  So I tried to sleep a little, but it didn't work.  The strength started picking up.  So basically I rolled around in pain until 2.  FINALLY!  Close to 5 minutes apart.  I woke Kevin up and he jumped in the shower.  I then called his Dad to come over and stay with Kaci.  2:30 a.m. we headed to the hospital.  I figured it was all downhill from here.  Epidural, rest, then baby!  WRONG.

Friday, January 24th, 2014
We arrived at the hospital a few minutes before 3.  I was not a happy camper at this time.  We were given a room and a nurse began her assessment to see if they were going to admit us or not.  She checked me (dilated to a 4), strapped the necessary monitors on my belly and then the OBGYN came in with his ultrasound machine to confirm that Dean was head down.  It should be noted that I told EVERYONE I came into contact with that I did indeed want an epidural.

It was about 3:30 a.m. now and by this time my contractions were coming very strong and fast...I didn't feel like I was getting much of a break between them at all.  The doc had just finished his ultrasound and was heading out of the room when he stopped and looked at the monitor.  At this time I looked at the nurses face and she was staring at the monitor as well with a puzzled look on her face.  Doc rushed back over...and then shit hit the fan.  Dean's heart rate had dropped.  More people ran in - literally.  Within 1 minute this group of about 8 people were pushing me in my hospital bed down the hallway to the OR.  C-section time!  Poor Kevin was left behind.

Once in the ER his heart rate had stabilized a bit.  They still were not happy with it though and we proceeded with the C-section.  It did allow them a bit of time to do a spinal block instead of putting me completely under, as well as get Kevin brought up to speed and dressed so he could come in to the operating room.

Dean was born at 4:44 a.m. and all was well.  He immediately started crying - thank God!  What a relief it was to finally hold him.  Well watch Kevin hold him.  I was still strapped to the table waiting for them to finish messing with my insides.  It was determined that I had a placental abrubtion.  My placenta had separated from the uterus which caused me to bleed and reduced his oxygen supply.  I think that is how they explained it.  In addition, the umbilical cord was wrapped around Dean's neck and arm.  Dean Bean is now called Drama Dean.

It is crazy to think how quickly things can go bad. We are very thankful for the care we received at the hospital and very grateful for our healthy little man.

And now I feel guilty as I never wrote a birth story for Kaci.  Though it should be noted that I did not have a blog at that time.

Father and Son!

Proud Sister!

Why no picture of me and Dean in the hospital?  Because in all of the pictures I look like I had been drained by a vampire.