Sleep? What is that?

*Warning: Long Post*

My baby little girl is almost 2 (YIKES) and still not sleeping through the night. As we have been preparing for Benjamin's arrival we have been working on this little task.

We first have to wean her off of milk in the middle of the night. Now there is a good reason that she has been used to getting milk for so long. She wasn't a good eater and we had to continue to supplement her lack of food during the day by milk when she would wake up for it. This lasted until she began eating better around 15 months. The other part is that she doesn't do this when she stays over night with our parents. She will either sleep through the night or wake and quickly go back to sleep. To be honest she isn't to bad for me when Daddy isn't home either and for the most part will sleep through the night. Daddy just wants his little angel to be happy and can't stand for her to be upset for any reason. (She knows how to play the game, I have to give her that)

So we thought this would be easy and started giving her less and less. After we got down to almost nothing we began to get discouraged because she was still waking up asking for it. Then we thought we got the answer to everything when she got sick about 3 weeks ago. We had to stop milk all together before bed and at night because it was aiding to her coughing (which led to us having to change the sheets every night). In the beginning it wasn't so hard she seemed to understand why we were doing this and would only ask for water. Once she began feeling better she slept through the night a few times and we thought we had done it!

Nope, no time to celebrate yet, she has begun waking up again and not just asking for milk but screaming for it and crying even asking for orange juice (now who gives a child OJ in the middle of the night?). At first it lasted about an hour and I kept my patience for the most part telling her no and offering water. She refused and continued crying. Poor Ben was ready to give in and I just kept telling him that we have to do this for our sake and hers. Some nights she does well and others we are ready to pull our hair out.

Lately I have been reading up on this topic and chatting with friends of children who sleep like a dream. It almost discourages me more, but I know that all children are different and that we are not the only ones who have a child who will not sleep through the night. Yet, I feel like I am failing at this part of parenting because I can't get her to follow the guidelines of society. I can only control so much of this. I can't force her to sleep all night! For now we will continue down this route of getting her to forget the milk at night and see where that leads us. I must for the sanity of having to be up with one child and not two. At least I am used to being up throughout the night and should be ready to go when Benjamin arrives. I also know what I will be doing differently on this second one. I understand why they say you learn from the first child!

Nursery Update #2

As of yesterday here is where my list stands. I am feeling much less stressed over the things that I need to accomplish for his nursery since they all seem much more managable now. I washed all his linens, towels, and most blankets yesterday. I also was able to get 2 loads of his clothes done, wow it was so different to wash clothes wihtout having a ton of pinks. So strange.


These are still the piles that I need to do!

His room is still a disaster of things everywhere, but we were able to get somethings up on the walls, the bedding is on, and I think I have almost all of the little decor items that I wanted.


His little dresser loaded down with clean blankets! His little bath
robe is hung and waiting on him. Everything else still needs to be
organized and placed appropriately.



See what I mean about a complete mess!




I love his bedding, it looks so great in the room, and the colors are perfect. I would feel like I was on a boat somewhere if it weren't for the mess that I was looking at.

34.5 Weeks {Benjamin}

The end is going much faster then I thought it would, thank goodness for a very busy February! I visited Dr. P yesterday and we once again had a very good visit. He checked Benjamin's heart rate and again it was a strong 141 BPM's and he couldn't believe how active he is, he watched him move all over. I also got what is good news even though I don't want to get my hopes up, if I start to show progression I will be induced in the 39th week (reminder: with Olivia I didn't do anything until we went to the hospital at 40 weeks to be induced). Unless things happen naturally on their own sooner, that would be good too. So I am praying to the cervix gods that mine will cooperate and we will meet the little man before his due date.

Baby Benjamin dancing in my belly last night! This is pretty much

what I do each night when I lay down, just watch him. 



Happy Heart Day

February is my favorite month of the year and not just because it's my birthday month! There are always so many fun things to look forward to like Valentine's Day especially since I found the love of my life. The first love of my life and now my 2 babies and 1 fur baby loves.

We began today by joining little Brinkley who with the help of her Mommy threw a wonderful Valentine's Party for 10 her friends. Unfortunately I could only stay for a bit so Ben was a sport and hung out with all the Mom's, we didn't want Olivia to miss it. It took her a little while to want to let go of Daddy but she did and had a great time with everyone. Here is a picture of all the Little's together. Fallon even made a cute sign for the babies who are on the way!

Olivia got a Valentine's Day balloon from her Daddy and I got flowers hand delivered to my work followed by lunch. Once I got out of work we spent a quiet evening at home and enjoyed some quality family time. Grandpa and Uncle James joined us as well, all in all it was a perfect night.

Hives

I sure learned a lot this weekend, I found out that there is something called Post Infection Hives. Saturday morning Olivia woke up and while I was giving her a bath I noticed that she had hives all over the back of her thighs. I didn't give it much thought since she hadn't eaten anything and they didn't seem to be bothering her. Once she was cleaned they went away.

As we were leaving our shower that afternoon I noticed that she had another hive that came up on her knee. Gigi checked it out and figured no big deal. So we got home and she took a good long nap. When she woke up we had a snack and as she was sitting on our friends lap I noticed her legs had hives all over them, so I checked out the rest of her and she had them everywhere but her head and under her diaper. Ok this time I freaked out a little and called my mom (I never knew how much having a pediatric nurse so close would come in so handy until I had Olivia). She told me to make sure she was breathing fine (she was), check in her mouth, and then put her in the bath and let her play. While she played we face timed so she could see everything. Below is what I was looking at.

After bath time they went away again and so it was time for dinner and obviously an early night for us. Get ready for Ground Hogs Day because when we woke up Sunday morning and went to check her out she was just beginning to show the hives again! What in the world is going on with my poor baby? I called her pediatrician right away and spoke with a nurse who put me at ease. Since she wasn't having problems breathing and she wasn't scratching at them all we could do is wait it out.

We decided to head to Babies R Us to pick up the dresser and order the glider. Guess who we ran into as I was signing the papers? Dr. P her pediatrician! It could not have happened at a better time. We chatted with him and his wife and he gave her a free check in the furniture department. Apparently you can get post infection hives after being pretty sick. So we just need to wait them out!

Wow after 2 weeks of sickness and hives maybe things will calm down a little before the baby gets here!

Little Man Shower

With the up coming arrival of a second child many people are not lucky enough to have a second baby shower. However I have amazing family and friends, my sister and best friend threw a wonderful shower for us on Saturday. To say the least I was honored! 

The Hostess'

There were bow ties, neck ties, and mustaches galore, oh and a photo booth! The decorations were beautiful and the food was delicious.

Photo Fun

I think I want a photo booth at every event, because it was so much fun.

There were also the unconventional baby shower games, like get the Oreo from your forehead to your mouth with no hands, and build a "baby" ruth a cradle.

Benjamin was showered with so many wonderful things, he will have a closet and shoe collection to rival his sister's, fluffy blankets, new toys, and all the other necessities. Maybe my mind will rest now.

Thank you to everyone who came and made this day so special for us. We truly are blessed with the people who surround us! We love all of you!

Control Freak In High Gear

I have been told that I need to let my Control Freak go for a while, because she is causing me much unneeded stress and anxiety. In the past week or so I have been reminded what this stress and anxiety can do on an already over worked pregnant body. Braxton Hicks, cramping, and heart palpitations, needless to say I have talked to my Dr. a lot. No worries, so far so good!

Not only am I in full on nesting mode with a husband at home who would rather make the mess, we are going on 2 weeks of being sick in my house (which means down time in poor use), and I am also worrying about all those other little things that I need to prepare for Benjamin's arrival.

Such as my desperate search for certain items for my hospital bag because I have this fear that he is going to come early and I will not have this thing packed. I think I am going to have to break down and order online. I can't even say that this is an irrational fear because, of all the things going on with my body, I feel that he may very well come early! Yikes. Is it sad that the only pj's I have to take to the hospital are some of Ben's shirts that I have been wearing?

I guess I need to add gift for Olivia from Benjamin to my list as well! Ahh see it growing before your very eyes. 

Ok it may be a little sad that I have a typed up hospital packing list, but I live my life on lists. If you saw how many lists I have right now you would laugh.

Since our shower is tomorrow and the dresser is ready to be picked up I can then spend Sunday doing his laundry. This way at least he will have clean clothes to come home too. His room won't be done and his closet may still be full of storage items but clothes he must have.

His Nursery Checklist is super slowly being checked off. But not quick enough to calm my nerves.
 
My goal for the next few weeks is to calm myself down, try to relax, and just enjoy the end of this pregnancy. Because let's face it I only have just my little Princess for a few more weeks. I am soaking up all my Olivia time that I can right now.

Maternity/Family Pics

Pictures mean so much to me and I am thrilled at how our Maternity/Family session with Katie turned out. At 32 weeks we meet her at Baldwin Park and the photos below are some of the beautiful images she took.

Sick Duckling

Our past 5 days have been full of dirty tissues, bubble baths, dirty sheets, and whinning. My poor sweet baby has come down with a cold that has now turned into a worse cold, with double pink eye. I know parenting isn't easy but I think that the sick child part tops the list of what is the hardest part. It breaks my heart to see her feel so bad.



Bubble Baths make everything better.



Having a popsicle to help her throat.



Olivia will fight through anything and no matter how sick she has been in the past it has been hard to look at her and say she is sick. We have gone through a stomach virus, strep throat, several colds, but so far nothing like this. And this time is totally different, it's written all over her face.

This morning Ben and Papa C. took her to the Dr. since I am booked with meetings from 8am till 1pm. She was weighed with all of her clothes on and came in at 19.6 lbs. which is a weight loss for her and we kind of figured there would be since she really hasn't much in the past 4 days and if she has not much has ramined down. Dr. P checked her ears, eyes, throat, and nose. He said that she just has a bad cold, and it has drained down to her stomach (we knew this, we have changed our sheets every night for the past 4 nights) and confirmed that she does in deed have pink eye in both eyes. I found out not long ago that you can give yourself pink eye by rubbing your nose or mouth when you are sick and rubbing your eyes. Interesting!

So she is will be getting eye drops starting today and in 24 hours we will no longer be contagious. Giving a 20 month old eye drops should be a new adventure for us. Let's see how this goes.

It's All About OLIVIA

How is it possible that we are going to have 2 children in less then 2 months? Wow, my little Princess is going to be a big sister very soon! I can't believe it and so I have come to the conclusion that we need to spend as much time in these last weeks as a family of 3 before we become 4. I will chase rainbows and unicorns! I want to shower Olivia with as much Mommy and Daddy time as she can stand. There is so much I want to do with her and be able to give her our full attention.

Things like:
-A little Olivia photo shoot
-Trip to the Zoo
-Ice Cream and because I don't know what you call it...the big joint bike ride out at the Boardwalk at Disney
-Take more walks together
-Visit the playground more often
-Get back to Sea World
-Go to the beach

She loves her little brother already and is constantly kissing my belly, rubbing him, and yes jumping on him. What can I say I have a daredevil. Here is a video that I love from many weeks back. I know that she is going to be amazing with him, not that I don't think we will have our moments where she will smack, kick, poke, and prod at him. We will deal with those as they come. For now I will relish the amazing relationship I hope that they share.



She lifted my shirt so she could sleep with her brother!

 I have not really worried much about how I am going to do this, parent-2-kids-at-once thing. But as we get closer it seeps from the back of my mind to the front. I find myself thinking so much more about it, not worrying that I can't do it, just how I am going to do it. Like, how am I going to nurse or feed Benjamin and deal with Olivia if I am alone? (I'm a planner folks it may not work out like I think in my head but I feel better if I have a plan.) So I think, can you just get up and move while you have an infant attached to you? How am I going to work out bed time routines when Ben is at the bar? Can I grow an extra pair of arms by March or even better clone myself? Silly maybe, but the thoughts still remain. I just remind myself all is going to work out just the way it's planned, because God would never give us more then He knows we can handle. That and I have so many family and friends that I can rely on if I need the help.

32 Weeks {Benjamin}

A little preview of our maternity/family photo session done at 32 Weeks.

I can't believe how time is just flying by now. Each day that passes is one day closer to meeting this little man and I am more then ready. I feel like this kid has no more room in there, how is he supposed to make it another 8 weeks? Things are pretty uncomfortable around here, it's getting heavy...my belly that is, sitting for too long or standing for too long is not pleasant, doing anything at the kitchen counter is a new challenge because I have to stand so far away or sideways...neither of which feels good, and I am ready to sleep on my belly again.

This morning I headed to my 32 week check up and as always everything is going great. Dr. P is happy with my weight gain, the baby's BPM is a strong 142, it was a good check all around. I go back in 2 weeks for the last time and after that I am back every week. I am schedule at 36 (February 29) weeks for an ultrasound to do all the measurements and weight guestamate. Since I have been so lovingly told by lots of people most of which are complete strangers (and I am sure that they are all qualified OB's) how giant I am, that I will be giving birth in the next week or so, and that my doctor is wrong that indeed I must be having twins, I asked Dr. P his thoughts. He has assured me that there is only 1 child in there, that my belly growth is right on track for week 32, and that he is fairly certain that I will get very close to the 40 week mark but that if I go early it won't be anytime soon.

Side note: People I am only 5'1 (yup that is right, I'm pretty tiny) and there is only so much room that I can allow this baby to exist in. Please realize this before you let your mouth beat your brain to the finish line.

Mommy's out there you will understand my next 2 issues. How does one get stretch marks the 2nd time around? I thought my body knew its job here and did enough stretching the first time? Over the past week before my morning shower I have been checking out these pink lines just under my belly button. I kept thinking they were lines from my pj's since I can't get a clear view of them. But since they haven't gone away and are in the same spot I know they are the nasty things I didn't want. With Olivia I got a couple on my behind (easily covered) but they have since disappeared, now I have them in a place where people will see them if I ever dare to put on a bikini again! The other thing is I am about sick of seeing so much of the bathroom, no fear it's just to pee. But what a waste of my time it has become, I have to go all the time. However there isn't much that comes out. Fun stuff around here people!

We have done our hospital tour since we didn't do it the first time. Yes, even though we have been through it once it is always nice to have a refresh, plus we were induced the first time so it was a bit different then the tour. I learned a bit and got to see where Olivia was born again! Ahh memories!

Sunday we headed out in the morning to meet Katie at Baldwin Park to have our Family/Maternity pictures done. We braved the chilly air for an hour and had a great time. Olivia just held onto her Pooh Bear and Minnie Mouse as she checked everything out. I have seen a little preview and they look amazing. KMH Fotografie
The To-Do-List
-Clear out his room
-Paint the walls and baseboards (hopefully done in the next week)
-Order the furniture (which will be done by Feb. 1, its all picked out: crib, dresser, and glider)
-Find a nightstand/small table for beside the glider.
-Order the rest of the bedding
-Make 2 small pillow covers
-Make curtains
-Make a whale mobile
-Ben is going to build a bookshelf

This one to be exact...I love the bead board on the back. We are just going to modify the top so we don't have pointy edges. Seriously I love Pinterest!
















-Finish the burp cloths
-Make a blanket (I did this for Olivia)
-Bought more material to make more blankets (Olivia included I can't leave her out).

New Material

-Get our room set up for him (partialy done)
-Reorganize the kitchen cabinet to add bottles and things back in
-Find a diaper bag big enough for 2 kids (Yikes any suggestions???)
-Buy a lamp and shade x2
-Need to buy baskets for organizing
-Find wall shelves
-Still need to get him a baby book (thankfully I have been keeping a Shutterfly album updated)
-Make yarn letter (I have had the stuff to do it for 4 months now)
-Pack Hospital Bags

Sneak Peak {Nursery}

Here is a little sneak peak at the mess that is the nursery. It has been painted and that is all.

Ben cleaned out the room yesterday, YEA! SO it looks very bare but I did not take new photos. He also ordered and picked up the crib. Now he just needs to put that together.












Below is the sham that I ordered (I have a pillow for it but I haven't washed it yet) I still need to order the matching bedding. I have loved this set, Jackson Nursery from Pottery Barn, forever now. I am so happy that I can finally have it for my own little boy. I am sure that he will love the ocean as much as his Daddy does. His nursery will have a nautical, somewhat ocean feel to it. Something we both love.

Bedding! This is the theme of the nursery!