August 26, 2017 by Stephanie

George Turns Three

To the boy that made me a momma,

I have loved watching you grow this year., and I can’t believe how much you have changed in just 365 days. I feel like I am taking this birthday harder than I have the last two. It seems as though this time you really have outgrown being my baby. Maybe it is how you talk and play. Maybe it is because we have another baby in the house. Maybe it’s just what happens.

I have loved seeing your personality really develop this year into a sweet charismatic little boy. You are so fun, and you make me laugh every day.

You are so passionate and determined when you play. Your obsession with trucks and trains has only grown over the year. And you want to rescue every animal in sight, which lets me know how caring your heart is.

I see bits of both your dad and I in you.

You are so cautious when you meet new people, but once you get to know them-hold on. You love so hard and are very attached to your people.

Your eyes light up when you are able to work on a project with your daddy. You are very hands on and see the world in a way to build it up again.

You have no time for nonsense, and you want to make the most out of every ounce of the day. You are non-stop from the moment you wake up until the moment you go back to bed.

This is the year you have learned to pray, and I look forward to hearing what your are thankful for every day. (My favorite is that you still say thanks for Henry (Honey) and Arlo even though you haven’t seen these friends in months.) Talking about faith and prayer with you has not only grown me closer to you, but also to God.

While you still have your moments of Mr. Indepedence (aka Defiance), you are getting so much better at helping and being a good listener.

We have seen you learn new things like becoming a puzzle master and heard your vocabulary grow everyday. You are so very smart, and I know big things are in store for you.

You remind me each day to pay attention to the little things and soak up the moments where you ask me to “hold you” or for just one more kiss. I love seeing you get excited when you see train tracks or the fire house to wave to the firemen and say goodnight to the trucks when they aren’t out. I love how you have made a walk to the mailbox as exhilarating as a trip to the moon.

I know some days I am not the most patient with you, but you have taught me more about forgiveness and enduring love when you still want to snuggle even though we may have spent the afternoon both in tantrums.

One of my greatest joys however was watching you become a big brother this year. You are so sweet to your sister, and I can already tell that you are going to have a great bond. I have been so proud of you and how easy you have taken on this new role.

Over the last three years, I have watched you become you. It’s bittersweet for sure. I have watched you go from being a NICU baby to now being taller than every kid your age. It was exciting to see you take your first steps, but now it’s heartbreaking at times to see you run to play on your own. I remember the excitement hearing you gurgle for the first time, now we get to have actual conversations with each other and at times I am so overwhelmed by emotions I almost burst into tears from hearing your little sentences. I miss how little you were, but I am thrilled to see you continue to grow. I know that ultimately my job is to send you out into the world to make it a better place.

I have wanted to be a mommy my whole life, and God knew what he was doing when He gave me you first so we could go on this journey together. You have taught me how to be a mommy, and I am so thankful for every second of playing trains and reading a million books with you.

I pray for your future and I pray for God to give me the strength I need to let you go and grow.

I am so happy to be your mommy, and I have cherished these last three years with you so much. And even thought it’s not just us anymore and we have said goodbye to you being a baby, you will always be my first born and the one who stole my heart as a mommy. So no matter what changes or how crazy this world gets, my favorite thing is watching you become you.

To the one who made me a mommy,

I have been enamored by you since the day you came into this world three years ago. And my love grows bigger right along with you.

Happy Birthday Georgie Man.

Love,

Mommy

August 18, 2017 by Stephanie

Daphne-3 Months

It’s going too fast. How do I have a three month old?

Weight: She is 12 lbs of sweet cheeks.

Health: For the most part she is doing really well. The probiatic drops have been helping her not be so gassy and fussy in the afternoons, which is great! She was diagnosed with torticollis. Basically this means that she has a head tilt to one side, so she will mostly look or lay to that side. In her case, she prefers to rotate and tilt to the right side. I noticed that she was getting a flat spot on the back of her head and the beginnings of a misshapen head. I brought it up to our pediatrician, and she referred us to a physical therapist. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but whatever the reason when they tilt predominately to one side it causes the muscles to only get stronger on one side so it exacerbates the issue. So we have been working on environmental changes like changing the direction that we change her diaper and how she lays in the crib so she will start looking to the left more. We also have some stretches that we do every day again to get those muscles more evenly developed. Both our doctor and physical therapist seem confident that we can remedy it this way and hopefully avoid a helmet later on. She still prefers the right side, but I can see a difference over the past month after being more diligent with the environmental changes and what not.

Diet: She is still breastmilk only. She is doing much better on taking bottles, and so far I haven’t noticed an issue when she nurses with the transition. She isn’t comfort feeding as much now, which is a relief. You can tell by her cheeks she is doing just fine getting what she needs. I also have to brag on myself, because I have been much more easy going about our breastfeeding experience this time around. I have fed her in public on several occasions which is something I never did with George. I think a lot of it has to do with the thought of normalizing breastfeeding and not wanting to stop living our lives due to her feeding schedule. But I also have the best nursing cover that is so easy to use and makes me feel comfortable and covered in public. My goal is always to just make it to the next month, so here is to month 4!

Clothes: She is fitting perfectly into 0-3 month clothes. Most 3 month things are still way too roomy for her. She is in a size 1 diaper. I was able to put on her first pair of shoes last week! Get ready girl.

Sleeping: Those probiatic drops have helped so much with her sleep during the day. She takes several hearty naps, usually at least three a day. Then we put her to bed at 7:30 pm and she does not wake up until 6:30 am. PRAISE! I don’t know how we got so lucky with two really good sleepers. So good, and I will ride this out as long as we can!

Likes: Eating. Riding in the car. Kick and Play. Mornings-She has the biggest smiles for me when I sing to wake her up. I love singing “Good Morning” from Singing in the Rain, and she loves it too. She also likes her head to be rubbed, and she has the best peach fuzz to do so.

Dislikes: She does not like a dirty diaper. She hates the hours between 5-7pm. Dinner is always interesting, and I spend a lot of time eating standing up because she knows when you are sitting while holding her. She is not a big fan of her swing.

Milestones: Started rolling from tummy to back. Being away from me for more than 4 hours. She went to her first baseball game! We may have lost but I think she still enjoyed herself.

Nicknames: Sister Friend, Doodlebug, Sweet Cheeks, DC, Daphie, Daph, and Daphne June. Most of the time it is Sister.

Quirks: She is very empathetic already. She can read people’s emotions well, and she plays off that. She is ridiculously strong. She is trying to sit up already. She has the best pouty lip.

We parents are: doing alright. We are on opposite shifts, which is always hard because Tom misses out on a lot with the kids. We also are still trying to get some things done around the house, so our days off are filled to the brim. If you aren’t following me on Instagram-we knocked out several walls in our living room this week. I went back to work this month, so that has been a transition for everyone. The house is a little less clean and I’m a little more tired, but all in all it’s been a smooth move back into work.

George is: a great big brother. For the most part he had been ignoring her, but we have seen a dramatic change in his demeanor towards her once she started going to the sitter’s with him. We were really worried because Brenda’s is his place so I wasn’t sure how he would react. He had been telling me that Sister needed to stay in the car when I would talk about her coming with him. But the last two weeks he has been so wonderful about the transition. He is overly protective of her, and won’t let other kids near her saying, “She’s my sister.” He lets adults know when Sister is crying, and is persistent about the information until you deal with it. He tries to console her now too which is so sweet. Sometimes he is sweet and says, “It’s ok Sister.” Other times he sings to her. Other times he likes to shake her play yard toys over her head (kind of aggressively) and says, “You calm down now.” When he is fed up with me, he uses Sister as an excuse to get rid of me-“You need to go feed Sister.” He does not know how to say her actual name; he thinks we are saying Daddy. So her name is Sister.

The dogs are: doing their thing. Grace stalks Daphne when she is on the floor to lick up spit up. Crosby does seem to protect her and will lay at my feet when I am feeding her.

Here is George at 3 months.

This girl looks like a perfect little doll here. We make pretty Gerber babies.

July 19, 2017 by Stephanie

Daphne-2 Months

Weight: She is 10 lbs 13 oz (36%), 22 inches long (28%), and her head is 38 inches (42%).

Health: She is a pretty gassy lady. She only poops every two or three days, so it seems like she is backed up with extra gas. Even though our doctor and chiropractor both say that this poop schedule is perfectly normal, we can tell that she is in pain with passing gas. She is still projectile vomiting. Our doctor recommended giving her some probiotic drops to help her digestion a little more. I tried giving up dairy for two weeks (I eat soooo much cheese so this was a hard two weeks!) to see if that helped, but her behaviors didn’t change at all. So we’ll see how these drops go!

Diet: She is still breastfeeding. She does really well, but she still likes to comfort feed in the afternoon/evening time. She will eat every 3-6 hours overnight and in the morning, but once lunch hits she wants to feed every hour, and of course she barfs it back up so it is a constant battle. She’ll scream until she is nursed. Our doctor says that since it is the same time every day and this drastic change is predictable, there is nothing to worry about. She said that Daphne is still trying to figure things out, but with me going back to work we need to work on her just working things out without being comforted by nursing and also starting to pump again to get her used to the bottle. Wish us luck!

Clothes: She went up to size one diapers. I just moved her up to 0-3 month clothes this past weekend, but she has a couple newborn clothes she can still fit into. She still can’t fit into any of her shoes.

Sleeping: She is still a great sleeper at night, so it is hard to complain about her afternoons. She goes down for the night around 8pm. I wake her up sometime between 11 and midnight before I go to bed to have her eat again. Then she doesn’t wake up until about 6am!! The mornings aren’t consistent, but she will fully sleep 2-3 hours between feedings. Once lunch time hits though, all bets are off. She will do small cat naps between the comfort feeding screaming, and she has to be held all afternoon and evening. Over-night/morning she is now sleeping in her crib! The move to her room just happened this last week.

Likes: Nursing. Me. Riding in the car is mesmerizing for her. She loves it. She doesn’t necessarily love these things, but I want to note how different she is from George because he hated getting lotion on, having a bath, and tummy time. She tolerates them and doesn’t cry the way he did.

Dislikes: She does not like pacifiers. We keep trying to make it happen, but she only keeps them in for 10 seconds before she spits it out. I just think of Gretchen Weiners trying to make “fetch” work in Mean Girls. It’s not going to happen. She hates the hours between 12-8pm. Lunch to bedtime is a struggle in our house right now. Yesterday she screamed for a solid hour while I was showering and getting other stuff done, and Tom holding her just wasn’t working. She also does not like her swing.

Nicknames: Sister Friend, Girlfriend, Sweet Cheeks, DC, Daphie, Daph, and Daphne June. Mostly though we call her Sister. George can’t say Daphne (it comes out Daddy), so we stick with Sister.

Milestones: She has started smiling and gurgling a little bit. She is holding her head up really well. When she is on our chest, it is like she is doing the cobra pose when she holds her head up. When you hold her in a standing position, she is putting her weight on her legs really well.

Quirks: This girl has no shoulders. It is hard to keep the seatbelt on her in the carseat because of it. They are constantly falling off.

We parents are: We have been surviving Tom going back to work. I also have started working out, and I am feeling more like I have my body back. We are feeling really confident about being a parent of two, but we’ll see if that feeling remains when I go back to work in 3 weeks.

George is: doing amazing. I haven’t mentioned it, but we have put him in pull-ups for when he is sleeping. He is doing awesome during the day with going to the bathroom, but night time is still a little rough. With his new room, he doesn’t come out of his room until we come to get him. I don’t know if he thinks he will be in trouble or what, but he won’t leave and will just sit/sleep in pee. So we decided that we couldn’t do that to him or us for that matter right now. So while he sleeps he gets the “night time” underwear. He has been doing great otherwise. Now that we have been doing tummy time with her, he likes to lay next to her and giggle at her. He does try to steal her pacy. We have been slowly throwing away his stash, and we hope to be done with them by the end of this summer.

The dogs are: doing alright. Crosby still has stitches from his surgery, which has been interesting to keep him from messing with them. For the most part, they ignore Daphne. Crosby does join me when I nurse her in her room, and he lays behind he rocker. Grace is still the diva that she always has been. She does try to lick Daphne’s face when we are doing tummy time though. She knows there’s some food there somewhere.

I am trying not to count down the days until I go back to work. I am loving this time we are having together this summer. So here’s to making the most of the next few weeks with my sweet girl!

Here is George at two months.

June 18, 2017 by Stephanie

Daphne-1 Month

Weight: She is 9 lbs. She is gaining weight much faster than her brother.

Health: We had some issues with her digestion these past couple weeks. She has had some projectile vomit. So much that I am not sure how she was gaining weight. She also was constipated and wasn’t pooping for a couple days. She has some serious gas, and she looks like she is in pain when she is trying to pass it. I am not convinced that she is allergic to something I am eating. I don’t have the same diet every day, and her symptoms are not consistent with similar food items. We took her to our chiropractor before calling our pediatrician to see if an adjustment would help clear her out. I wasn’t sure if there was anything our ped could give her since she was so little, so I figured we would try this non-med way first. I am not even joking when I say it was less than 5 seconds after she was adjusted that she let out a huge poop. She also gave us some stretches that we can do with her to keep her immune system up, so I was thankful that we went this route.

Diet: She is exclusively breastfed. She does really well, but she does like to comfort feed in the afternoon/evening time. So that makes it really hard because she will just cry until I give her the boob. She is a little better these past couple days after getting her poop clear, but it’s still every hour or two hours during the day. She will eat for 15-30 minutes each time, so you can imagine how my day goes when she wants to comfort feed.

Clothes: She is in newborn clothes and diapers. She can’t fit into any of her shoes right now.

Sleeping: I really cannot complain about our days of comfort feeding because she is an awesome newborn sleeper at night. She will sleep anywhere between 4-7 hours over night. I know, I know, we are super lucky. During the day she won’t nap for more than 45 minutes at a time, unless I have her in the wrap carrier. I do wonder if she just sleeps better flat because she is in the pack and play in our room at night and the rock and play during the day which is at an incline.

Likes: Feeding. The wrap carrier. Riding in the car.

Dislikes: She does not like pacifiers. We tried to get this to work so I wasn’t feeding her constantly, but to no avail she has not taken to it. She hates the hours between 5-10pm. Dinner to bedtime is a struggle in our house right now.

Nicknames: Sister Friend, Girlfriend, Sweet Cheeks, DC, Daphie, Daph, and Daphne June.

Quirks: She looks at you with only one eye open. She has started squeaking/humming in her sleep. It is super cute.

We parents are: doing pretty good. I have my check-up this week, so I hope I get the go ahead to exercise fully again. I am getting antsy. I have been walking a lot with Daphne, but I want to start adding some weight workouts to build my strength up again. Working out really helps me feel more like myself. I am back in my pre-pregnancy pants, but I still have some stuff I would like to lose around the middle to feel more comfortable. Tom went back to work this week. I know he was so ready to get back at it, but it has been really nice to have him home this past month. I have successfully taken the two of them out solo to and from our sitter, but I have yet to try a place where we all have to get out of the car as a threesome where it wasn’t someone else’s house. I was going to attempt church today on my own with them, but it was down-pouring and that shook my confidence. Baby steps. Our house is just about done. We just have a few minor things left from the contractor, but we are fully living in the new wing. I want to do tours of the rooms here on the blog as soon we get all the decor up on the walls. It has been a huge stress relief to get settled into the new part of the house.

George is: doing amazing. I have been so proud of him this past month. He has had minimal issues with our newest addition. We have had to work on being gentle and not so crazy around her. He just has so much energy sometimes and has a hard time containing it when he is near her.

The dogs are: doing ok. They are actually the two that have had the hardest adjustment this past month. Between the house changes, having strangers in our house daily, and Daphne coming home, it has been a lot for the dogs. We have had some behavior issues, but it is getting better with lots of outside time. Our vet also found a cancerous tumor on Crosby’s hip this week, so he will be having surgery here soon.

Here is George at one month.

We love you so much girlie! We can’t wait to see the person you become, but for now I will enjoy all these newborn struggles.

June 15, 2017 by Stephanie

The Kind of Dad

Tom went back to work today after four weeks at home with our baby girl.

(Also how was this four weeks ago?)

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My first day completely alone with the kids makes me really grateful for the partner I have in life. It has been really nice to both be home for this past month, and I am so thankful he had the opportunity and support to take that much time off. Many fathers do not, so I count this past month as a blessing (in more ways than one).

And as another Father’s Day approaches, I am so happy to watch Tom as a dad.

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He is the kind of dad who drives the lawn mower to the mailbox just so his son can pick up the mail.

He is the kind of dad who makes wood replicas of his power tools so George can feel involved when they are in the shop.

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He is the kind of dad who spends hours outside playing in the dirt and doing special projects with George.

He is the kind of dad who builds forts and make believe caves.

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He is the kind of dad who drives to the back of our house so George can wave to Daddy from his window when he is on the night shift.

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He is the kind of dad who puts on a red headlamp in the middle of the night to check on the kids…like every hour.

He is the kind of dad who teaches George things all kinds of things and doesn’t stray away from a subject just because he is two years old. Hence why George knows how to build a fire…

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Most people know Tom as the tough guy, and very few people get to see the gentle side of him. Our kids get that side every day, and I love that I get to witness these moments with them.

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He is definitely a fun dad, and has more patience than I do most days. He reminds me to not be so structured and enjoy every day moments with our kids. I have had many proud moments as Tom’s wife, but seeing him as a dad is probably one of my favorites.