Weekend.

Friday nights are my flyball class night, which means that I'm out training until 10 pm, so Ben is in charge and dinner, bathes and getting the kids to bed. He does a great job and it's a much needed break for me. Finley and I and our friend Carrie went ice skating at a local rink on Saturday. It was super fun. It was Finley's second time and she did great. Her balance is getting better. I'd like  to sign her up for skating lessons and dance lessons, but there isn't enough time! I don't know how other people do it. I am not working much right now other than dog training and some nutrition work, but our schedule is jam packed everyday. We are NEVER bored! On Saturday night Ben's friends from school came over for dinner. I met them for the first time now that he's been in school for 1.5 years. I made Fettuccine Alfredo with Shrimp, Eggplant Gratin and Lemon Walnut Green beans. It was NOT on the low carb diet, but so good! On Sunday I took the dogs for a hike and got stuff done around the house. My need to catch up on sleep really cuts into the day! We had flyball practice as usual on Sunday night and then a team meeting until 11 pm. Finley was amazing. Our meeting started at 9:30. Finley ate with the team and then went into the playroom and played quietly for several hours. She didn't come out until she heard the word ice cream! We ate dessert, she watched a TV show and then we all went to bed! Fin slept until 10. Lucky girl. Training Rowan to sleep is just like training a dog. I try different things and see what works. I think I finally figured something out. The past two nights have been pretty good with minimal wake ups and willing to sleep past 7. Oh we decided to sign Finley up for 5 full days of Montessori preschool next year. I think she will handle it with no problem. That kid loves to learn.  Speaking of not having enough time in a day..I need to get back to work! 

Blur

Ben picked up a dog at the airport last night and Ben got pulled over and stuck in traffic on the way home, so didn't get home until very late.  We didn't get to bed until 1 am and Rowan wakes us up at 6 am every morning. Ugh! And she woke up a bunch of times between then too, so we did not get enough sleep at all. So....today was mostly a blur. Ben took Finley to school and I slept a bit during Rowan's morning nap. I dragged myself to yoga, which was awesome and felt really good. Rowan didn't quite make it in the childcare at the YMCA for the whole hour though. I trained dogs and did some stuff around the house until Ben got home. One of those days that I'm happy I didn't fall asleep sitting up. Tonight I went to Finley's parent/teacher conference at Montessori. They said all good things about her. She listens, loves to learn, kind to others, and is working on remembering to put stuff away. She's agreeable and is willing to try anything. I already knew all that, but fun to talk to her teacher about her. Finny had gym tonight. She loves it, so we keep going. We take turns because neither of us usually wants to go. In April she will be in class that doesn't require parents. We are looking forward to that! I'm too tired to write anything more interesting! Tomorrow I have a nutritionist meeting at the YMCA and flyball class at night. GOING. TO. BED.

Small accomplishments

Another busy day today. I found my keys and got Finley to school, so that's better than yesterday. Rowan didn't get good naps today, so was pretty fussy all day. Which limits my ability to get a lot done. Ben got home at 3:30 and I immediately went out for a hike with Spy, Indy and Pax. Came home, cleaned up a bit and made a very boring dinner of homemade chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries and roasted broccoli. Ben went out to pick up a dog at the airport (long story for another time).
I have a huge list of things to do and have been trouble getting things crossed off. When I finally have time to do stuff I'm either too tired or just want to do nothing! Lots going on tomorrow too. Yoga at the YMCA in the morning (and by morning I mean 11 am). Ben is taking the dogs to the vet. I have a parent conference at Finley's school and then gymnastics. I'm looking forward to another weekend at home. I'll need it to catch up. I think when I get a real part-time job, I'll feel less overwhelmed. I'm looking forward to that!

Everyday

I am going to try to start posting every week day. This is going to be really hard because I'm a terrible blogger. One of my goals for this year is more blogging and taking real photos, less facebook and iphone photos.

So...I haven't posted since June! A lot has happened since then. Ben just started back up with school and we are getting into a routine. The routine should be working pretty well, but its not because of Rowan's sleeping schedule and my needs for sleeping. She goes to bed at 8:30 and wants to wake up at 6:30. For awhile this also included several episodes of crying during the night. We tried weaning her off the pacifier because when it falls out she wakes up crying. But that made everyone miserable, so we decided to put that off for awhile. Last night was OK. She woke up once, Ben helped her find her pacifier and she went back to sleep. Still woke up at 6 am. Thats not going to work for me. Finley sleeps until 9 am. I guess having two kids that sleep well was too much to ask for.

Aside from the sleeping issue Rowan is doing well. She's been really whiny in the past month or so when she isn't being held. In the past few days this has gotten much better because she started crawling! And then I was shocked yesterday to see her pull herself up to standing! The problem is that she's not strong enough to stay there so she falls. I need to watch her very closely because she is a danger to herself at this point. I'm guessing she will be an early walker.

She's been eating well. We pretty much stopped giving her baby food and just break up whatever we are eating into small pieces for her. Or we try to find regular foods that are soft like yogurt, refried beans, hummus, guacamole, apple sauce. She isn't as interested in nursing, which is alright as long as she is getting enough. I'm not ready to wean her onto cow's milk, she she has a few months before that can happen! I try to nurse her before giving her solid food when she's hungry.

More about Finley and other stuff that is going on tomorrow! Also hopefully some new photos!

Adjusting

We have really been getting out a lot this week and adjusting pretty quickly to life with 2 kids. It was definitely easier when Gran was here to watch Fin and take her do fun activities, but it's getting easier everyday and it helps that both Ben and I are home. I'm still having trouble when I'm watching both kids, especially when I'm feeding Rowan and Finley needs my attention.

Rowan is a little bit easier baby than Finley was. She cries, but not as much as Fin did and it's usually pretty obvious what she wants. Also she doesn't spit up at all, which is really surprising...Fin spit up very frequently. Rowan still isn't on a good schedule at night and is very awake sometimes most of the night. Same as Finley, but we think Rowan is having some gas pain and that might be why she is having trouble sleeping. It's been pretty easy to take Rowan along for family activities. She sleeps well in the car and is a good nurser. If she has a full belly and clean diaper, she tends to be pretty happy. 

This week we've been out to eat a few times and have done some errands including taking the dogs to the Chiropractor. Today was the longest outing so far. We went to a little kids carnival and farmers market in Brimfield. Fin got to do a pony ride and bounce house and then we took 3 dogs on a hike in Sturbridge. It worked well for Ben to carry Rowan in the Ergo carrier and I pushed the BOB stroller with Finley in it when she wasn't stomping in the giant puddles from the massive amount of rain we've been having.

We still have a lot of adjusting to do before things feel normal, but we are getting there faster than I expected.

Birth Story and first few days at home.

We got home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. Much better experience than when I had Finley. I got there at 10 am on Wednesday morning and they started an IV (ouch! more painful than the spinal injection) with fluids and spent some time monitoring the baby with a non-stress test. We answered tons of questions about medical history. Got the results of my labs and then we waited a bit for anesthesia to get there. The anesthesiologist didn't want to do the c-section because I had a cold and was worried about respiratory issues. Luckily my Ob wasn't too worried about doing it. It's not the kind of surgery you can put off for a week or two. By around 12:30 they took me into the Operating Room and gave me the spinal block. It was just a minute or two before I was totally numb. They do a test to make sure I can't feel anything and then they start working on getting the baby out. Our baby was completely unengaged and way up high, facing up. I heard the Dr say that she wouldn't have come out vaginally, so that made me feel better about having the c-section. She was so unengaged that the Dr needed to use a vacuum to get her out. I was nauseated in the same way I was with Finley, but they were able to give me Zofran in my IV and stop me from vomiting. Other than nausea I had very little discomfort during the surgery.

Rowan Iris was born at 12:58 pm, 6 lbs 13 oz, 21" long and perfectly healthy. They took us all back to our room. We were there for a short time and I was able to hold Rowan for the first time and start breastfeeding her right away. Then we went to the recovery room, where we spent the next few days. It took several hours before I could move my legs again. We were up most of the night, mainly because we were excited and well rested. My only issue on the first day was that the Morphine PCA they gave me did absolutely nothing for my pain and I was really hungry. I was allowed to eat that night and got my catheter and IV out the next day or was it the following morning? I don't remember. Once we got a sleeping, pain medicine and eating schedule worked out....we were doing pretty well. Rowan was sleeping in the nursery all night for 3 hour chunks of time while Ben and I slept. I got up for meds and nursing and went right back to sleep. My milk came in after just 2 days and now I have way too much. I haven't started pumping yet because I despise pumping!

We were a little bit worried about Rowan having a bit of jaundice, but her bilirubin levels never went high enough to be a concern for phototherapy. We were both discharged in very good condition.

Now that we are home, we are having an adjustment period and it's tough. Rowan isn't as good of a sleeper as she was at the hospital. Or I should say, not as good at night. She is wide awake at night! An excellent sleeper during the day. We haven't worked out a schedule yet for sleeping, so we've both been getting just a few hours of sleep every night. Between watching Finley, the dogs and keeping up with the house...we haven't been able to find much time to nap.

Just got back to finish this post..It's one day later and Rowan slept last night! It was awesome. I was just up to feed her and then back to bed. Three hours at a time!

Moved to Sturbridge!

Another 3 months since I last posted and so much has happened! We moved into our new house in Sturbridge and have been in a mad rush to get the house all set up. Aside from an awkward layout, we love the house. The entry way is huge and we just changed the flooring from carpet to tile. With a backdoor leading to the fenced backyard, it couldn't be more perfect as a dog room/mud room. It also has a beautiful sunroom that we use for relaxing and for a playroom. Finley's room, the baby's room and our bedroom are mostly finished. We still need some furniture and painting, but that is going to have to wait until later this summer. We have a small living room and are waiting for a new couch to be delivered in a few weeks, so that room has been storage for all our paintings and decorations. The office has been a temporary guest room and storage for books, but we just got carpet and tile put in the walk-out basement and will be setting that up as a guest room/mother-in-law.

It's all been quite overwhelming with the time pressure of the baby coming! I worked part-time up until last week and have been trying to relax, but it's very hard with Ben still in school and taking care of Finley. We did keep Fin in daycare up until this past week, which was a huge help for me. At the moment she is in NJ with my parents and will be there until Sunday when we get home from the hospital. Hard to believe I'm going in for my csection on Wednesday. I've been cooking and freezing food like crazy. I made sausage and spinach lasagna, 4 meatloaves, macaroni and cheese, white chicken enchilada casserole, banana bread, eggplant parmesan, steel cut oats and lots of other little things like shredded chicken and easy to prepare frozen foods.

What else is going on? Finley turned 3 and is fully potty trained. She loves to do art projects and play outside. She has just recently started talking to her pretend friends and really enjoys playing with other kids. She is all set to start Montessori preschool in the fall..we just need to find a daycare for the days that we will both be working. I have no idea how long I'll be home with the baby, but I do plan to breastfeed and and I do very much hate pumping breast milk...so I'll be trying to stay home as long as possible or working short hours.  Speaking of the baby...the pregnancy has gone much better than my last. I've been totally healthy with no major body pain or medical issues. I'm just easily tired, sore and sleeping isn't easy. Oh and heartburn is pretty bad too.

I'll try to post photos and updates more this summer! I need to get back to work...lots of cleaning and preparing still to do and maybe get some rest to get rid of this cold in the next few days.