Juggling

I have absolutely no idea how to juggle (you know, like a clown) but I am becoming quite an expert at juggling my two kiddies. Getting up, diapering, clothing, feeding, showering myself and then usually feeding again the kiddos takes a solid 2 hours... I've done it in 1 1/2 hours but I wasn't looking so hot. Granted, I usually leave something behind but thankfully, it's usually minor and unessential. It makes me feel good that we've got a few successful outings under my belt now. I. CAN. DO. IT!

While I was pregnant, I got so sick of hearing people tell me how hard it was or that I had no idea what I was in for. I'm sure there will be bad days (heck.. there were bad days with just 1 kid) but for now I totally feel like this is manageable.I would actually say, it's more than manageable... it's enjoyable!

Why again did I think infant Parker was hard? Newborns are a BREEZE. They eat, sleep and poop. (unless they have colic... then my heart goes out to you.) I guess it was just that everything was new and it's a big adjustment to go from being selfish with my time to basically giving 100% of it to my child. Granted... they don't require 100% of your time if you actually put them down. I don't think Parker took a nap off my chest for the first 4 months of his life! Little lady gets her fair share of skin to skin and cuddle time but she also naps in her boppy, nap nanny or mamaroo which allows me to get stuff down around the house or have mommy/Parker time.

Speaking of those precious kiddos:

Look how terrified Avery looks! Parker LOVES to hold Avery but he was not being quite as attentive to her as he usually is. The duck part of "Barney, let's go to the farm" was coming up and she was impeding his ability to flap his duck wings.

I found this pink ruffly skirt today and it makes my heart happy. I took this picture for my dad who is sure I don't have any pictures of Avery without a hat or bow.... now I do! :)

BUT.... bowless didn't last long!

Typical Parker before bed.... bobby, smiling with his hand in his hair! (and orange popsicle on his face!)

I was taking a picture of Avery when Little Mister put on his train conductor hat and stood at my feet yelling CHEESE!  Goodness, I love that boy!

A whole lotta nothing

Today is the first day since Avery's been born that we don't have anything scheduled for the day. No visitors. No doctor's appointments...nothing (minus a trip to the post office at SOME point today!) So I broke my streak of showering by 9am. I'm kinda mad at myself for that too since I've been completely unproductive. I've not left the couch for the majority of the morning and I feel like I'm lounging the day away. Granted... I probably should be doing this given the whole "ripping my c-section scar" saga but...I'm a doer...and I'm feeling like I should go, do and conquer. That being said, I am conquering some serious snuggle time with Avery (who has been awake sine 7am... longest awake streak yet!) and mediocre snuggle time with Parker when he'll sit still long enough!

As I sit here, I find myself observing my kids (loving the "s") and learning more about them....then my mind wanders.... here are 10 places my mind has been in the last few minutes:

1. Parker loves Taquitos...breakfast of champions, I know. I fed him cereal but then he ate all but one of my taquitos! We'll call it a mid-morning snack.
2. Avery is either hungry constantly or has an overactive tongue. Is there a such thing as restless tongue syndrome?
3. Now that I have a smart phone, I find my tolerance for email response times to be less.... clearly I have not made any progress on my quest for patience. (but seriously... how long should it take to fix 1 typo on Avery's birth announcement proof!) I'm dying to send them out!
4. I am way behind on thank you cards and its causing me anxiety. Daniel thinks I should send thank you e cards which sounds trashy to me... but so tempting!
5. Am I the only one who thinks its awkward when people you don't know in stores asks "How's breastfeeding going?" I know its natural and good and all that (and the answer is well) ... but at this age (2 weeks old) isn't that the equivalent to asking "Are your nipples cracked and bleeding yet?" I'll talk about my boobs all day long to my girlfriends...heck, I'll show em to you...but random lady in Target.... inappropriate, no?
6. We may need to seek professional help for Parker's duck obsession... there are only so many duck youtube videos one can tolerate.
7. How do people hurt babies? If only you could see this innocent (now sleeping) precious baby face. I want to put up a billboard "Thinking of hurting your baby? Drop them off to (my address) instead." And then like on "To Catch a Predator" a swarm of cops jump on them, knock them to the ground and take them to jail. Then I would snuggle and kiss the babies until some precious family comes to adopt them.
8. I almost never finish my can of Dr. Pepper. I always leave 2 or 3 swigs... it makes Daniel mad. I don't even mean to...it just happens.
9. Avery seems pretty gassy... did she get her dad's gestational make up or is it something I'm eating? hmm...
10. Typing this with one hand has been taxing but an excellent way to fill time so I'm not a) being productive b) getting off the couch c) watching Barney "Hi, I'm Riff."

I know what you're thinking... "what meds is this girl on?" Today... only Ibuprofen...go me. This is my brain off drugs.... I shoulda blogged my thoughts while on my post c section meds... they were even more random!

Quick Catch Up

I promise I'm not a blog abandoner. This little lady:

nurses what feels like 23 out of the 24 hours in a day. She's bound and determined to fit into her summer clothes sooner than later which is just fine with me! These "up to 7lb" and newborn sleepers are driving me nuts! Why can't newborns have cute clothes too? She's an amazing baby. She only cries when she's hungry (which is frequently) but stops the second you pick her up and get her in "position." The mamaroo is a lifesaver. She's not a fan of laying on her back flat so the mamaroo is AWESOME! She loves it. The nap nanny is great but it's a bit big for her right now since she can't hold her head up yet and slumps to the side. Such a peanut! She'll grow and I think she'll like it then. I love to sleep with her on my chest and I get giddy picking out her headbands everyday (fingers crossed her hair grows fast.... her fingernails sure do!). I'm loving having this second (and final) baby and it makes it even better that I've got my boy and girl... just perfect!

This little fella:

is an amazing big brother! He's not really shown any signs of jealousy (yet) and loves his baby sister! He calls her "baby" and will get her blanket or paci for her when she cries. It's adorable. Lately he's been VERY into jumping and counting. He climbs on something and yells "2, go!" He usually looks at me to fill in the "1 and 3." He talks constantly, although I don't catch the majority of it. Parker seems so big to me now. Laying the kids side by side makes Parker look like a giant. Changing his clothes and diapers are so different now. It's like he grew into a big boy overnight! I'm so smitten with my little family!

Obviously, blogging has taken a bit of a back seat to snuggles, family naps, laundry, diaper changing and nursing but we'll figure it all out soon enough! The good news, I've managed to get a shower every morning since Avery was born. This is a huge accomplishment for those of you who don't have kids! I've got one week to figure this whole mom of 2 thing out before Daniel heads back full time to work where he can't rescue me from his office upstairs. I know I can do it. My only setback is my own healing. I ripped open part of my c-section scar and am on some pain meds and antibiotics for that. I really need to get off the pain meds to parent/drive full time without the need for naps (these drugs make me SLEEPY). Hopefully, this week I can slowly work my way off of them and onto Tylenol or something like that. My only post pregnancy complaint is these crazy hormonal temperature changes. I got from hot to cold in seconds and S-U-F-F-E-R from night sweats! Holy Cow! I weigh myself in the morning and at night to see how much water weight I'm loosing and on average it's 3-4lbs per night. It's gross and the minute I'm done nursing 1st thing in the morning, I'm in the shower! The only good thing about these crazy night sweats is that I only have 4 more lbs to drop before being at my pre-pregnancy weight. The pre-pregnancy body; however, is nowhere to be seen! Looks like I may actually have to work to get that back.

Off to nurse... again!!!!

Follow the Baby Blog for Avery's Birth Updates!

For those of you who don't follow the baby blog, I've been posting our updates from the hospital/Avery's birth there. Feel free to follow along at: http://for-this-child-i-prayed.blogspot.com/

Weekend Recap/Excitng Week Ahead!

I have been a VERY bad blogger! ALTHOUGH my reasons are well justified! Baby Avery will be here Wednesday! AHHH!!!!!!! So exciting! You know how you THINK you're prepared and then it hits you that, no, in fact you are not. That was me this week. Things like: Parker has diapers but he would run out about the day we'd be coming home from the hospital... Daniel's only pair of sandals he owns ripped and who wants to sandal shop with a 2 year old and 2 day old.... Avery has bows but no hats and hospitals like hats (even though I'm anti hats on newborn girls... ugly!) So I've been busy doing "those last minute things!" My parents also come over and forced me to nest (aka... clean my house and do yard work) so that was a huge help and definitely a big weight off my shoulders.

Avery must really be content inside of me because I loaded 2 Adirondack chairs into my chair by myself, threw them over my head into a dumpster and... nothing... not even a contraction. I did yard work/housework from 10am-7pm... nothing! Took a bumpy boat ride....nothing. I've walked miles at a fast pace, eaten spicy food.... yes done "that" too.... nothing. I think she'd go 42 weeks if the doctor's would let her! Girls.... she's being a diva from the beginning. She will learn quickly in the Wise household, WE ARE NOT LATE so she better get on board with that once she arrives!

Our last weekend as a family of 3 was nothing short of wonderful! We went on a nice relaxing boat ride on Saturday and Parker slept on my chest while the breeze blew through my hair..... it was heaven. We ate at the soda shop in Davidson and made a stop at Carolina Cones for some "ice cream choo choo!" Ice cream+train+playground = Parker's heaven. On Sunday (today), I declared that "my mother's day" since Avery will be 4 days old and my idea of a great mother's day starts with sleeping in. We all know that won't be happening for quite some time so I took advantage of that today! I slept until 9, ate powered doughnuts for breakfast, made Daniel try on every clothing item he owns and donate everything that didn't fit or that I deemed unwearable, shopped (alone!) to fill the holes in Daniel's wardrobe (SO FUN!) and snuck to my favorite consignment store for more things Parker and Avery didn't need. We capped the day off by returning/exchanging all but 1 of the things I bought Daniel for different colors/sizes (it's so much easier if they just go with you the 1st time around!) AND we treated ourselves to TCBY! YUMMY!

Tomorrow we have a super fun mega play date planned, then I want to clean the car, spread my last 2 bags of mulch and monogram 1 or 2 more things.... I hope I'll be able to fit it all in because TUESDAY WE HEAD TO THE HOSPITAL! WOO HOO! The plan is to start the induction Tuesday night and she should be here sometime Wednesday if all goes as planned! YIPPEE!! I can't wait! Suddenly, I think she's going to be a red head. Here's my guess.... 6lbs 7oz red hair blue eyes. Any other guesses? Either way, I'm in love... with her AND this little man!

Taken Monday at Discovery Place

Sorry for the super long, boring recap post but I needed to document my weekend/inform everyone of our exciting countdown! WOO HOO!!!