Father's Day 2010

Jeffrey sent me an email way back in January from the Cubs website and the subject of the email was "Father's Day Gift". Subtle Jeff. I took the hint and kept the email saved in my calendar so that once it was getting close, I'd be reminded that I have a gift all set. Score. I knew I'd be just a couple weeks post-partum at that point so I'd surely appreciate the reminder.

The item was called "Newborn Fan Club" with the Cubs and it included a super cute baby beanie-the hat, not the lame stuffed toy, a rookie of the year onesie, a fun birth certificate and the best, most adorable thing...you give them your newborn's birth stats and they put them up on the famous Cubs sign thingy at Wrigley and they take a photo and send it to you. This thing is totally Jeffrey, totally. So a few days after Noah was born I ordered it for him...from the hospital bed. Who's an amazing wife? Oh, that would be me. How cool are these?

When Connor was brand new, for Jeffrey's first Father's Day he'd told me that he'd love cubs stuff for Connor to have. I decided I'd go the same route and got Noah three adorable Cubs onesies that he can wear when he's a bit bigger. Go me.

Also, every year for Father's Day I give Jeffrey a photo book. The book has about 50 pages of photos from the going-ons of Connor (& Noah this year) in the past year. It takes forever and I tend to work on it throughout the year to get it completed, but Jeff looks forward to it every year and I love having them to look back on. We're all so horrible about actually printing photos since they are all digital that I figure this is a great way to have some of our most important photos in hard copy. If you want to see a digital version of the finished product, CLICK HERE. (hope the link works...it's been iffy...) I hope to continue doing this forever because he loves it and for selfish reasons I love it too.

Also, because I love gifts that the kids make we did a cute project for Jeffrey. He had mentioned that he was kinda bummed that Connor wouldn't be in school this summer so he wouldn't be coming home with a cute art project for Father's Day...I figured I could come up with something for him instead. We spent some time the week before Father's Day and the result was pretty great. I dipped Connor's hands and Noah's feet in paint and cut the prints out to make a little wreath. I put a pic of the boys in the center of the wreath and a sappy poem on the back. He loved it and it's already hanging up in his office.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

If you've read this blog at all, or if you've met my son Connor you know that the kid loves sports. All sports, but mainly baseball. He's actually pretty good at it. He's small, but he can throw - hard and accurate. That's what she said. I apologize.

Anyway, we've wanted to get him into baseball for quite some time but he was in swim for the past two years, then we didn't want to get anything started because I was about to have Noah, etc. etc. etc. Now, it's time. We wanted to do something special for Connor so we decided to go for it. We found a league that starts teeball at 3 years old and we're all set! Signups were Monday at a nearby Peter Piper so we went to get him all set up and have some yummy pizza. The season doesn't actually start until October, which is good news because it will be about a million degrees cooler then. The bad news is obvious if you've ever tried to explain something involving delayed gratification to a 3 year old. omg. I swear he thought he'd be playing in a game that night. I still think that a few days later he thinks we're screwing with him. I cannot wait to see him playing baseball for real!! And don't worry...there will be pictures :)

Here are a few from the fun times afterwards

the teeniest merry go round ever i'm sure

cheating at basketball cheating at skeeball

Connor's friend Kaci had her 3rd birthday party at BounceU this weekend and I think both Connor and Aidan had a good time.

i'm pretty sure i haven't worn makeup in 4 weeks. no bueno. lol.

with Gabi playing baseball

One Month Old

Noah turned one month old this Monday and amazingly I remembered to take the photo I'd decided to do every month on his 'birthday'. Yup, the 28th rolled around and I remembered...and by remembered I mean that the calendar reminder on my phone went off to tell me to take the photo and I did as instructed. Lindsay-1, Mommy brain-0.

I think I wrote in a past entry that we were going to take a photo of Noah in the same chair, next to the same adorable owl each month on the 28th so we can track his growth that way. When you're with a kiddo every day you don't easily notice the subtle changes that take place like someone would who only see them occasionally so this seemed like a fun idea. Every month I'll post the pics here.

We had Noah's 1 month appointment Tuesday and it was great that Jeffrey was off this week to come along. Actually, it was really nice that Jeffrey was off because that meant that he didn't need to leave work early or go in late so that he could be there. Jeff is amazing in that he rarely EVER misses a doctor appointment for the boys...or even for me when I was pregnant with either of them. I don't know a lot of husbands who do that so I'm incredibly lucky for this :) Ok, my gushing moment is over.

Our goal was for Noah to be back up to his birth weight of 8lbs 4oz at his appointment and he blew way past it! He was 9lbs 11oz and 22.5 inches long. That put him in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height...and 50th for head if anyone tracks that. We don't. At this point, Connor was 8lbs 6oz and 20 inches at 1 month so Noah is still...um, winning? :) lol.

Everything else at the appointment went great. We got the instructions to do tummy time with Noah which is good because at least for now, he enjoys being on his tummy. The doctor said that at this point babies are typically eating 2-3oz every 2-3 hours. Noah eats every 3 hours and is never under 4oz. He's still sleeping most of the day and will sometimes go 4 or even 5 hours in between feedings at night which is good for getting a bit of sleep for mom and dad.

He got one shot today which was sad, but he stopped crying relatively quickly once it was done. We made his two month appointment which we're dreading because he gets four shots. Four. Poor baby.

Noah showing off his bandaid from his one month shot :(

Connor is still being a great big brother. We've been trying to get out of the house to help out with Connor's cabin fever and it's been helpful. He just gets so bored being stuck in the house all day...even though I'm constantly letting him play wii to keep him occupied while I take care of Noah or take a nap here and there. He can thank me later for helping him become an amazing wii bowler and golfer. Seriously, he's pretty great. His potty training is still holding firm. We had about a week a couple weeks ago where all hell broke loose. Not only was he peeing his pants a couple times a day but he also apparently forgot how to "point it down" and covered his bathroom in pee at least once a day. Holy crap. Fortunately, it stopped as quickly as it started and he's back on track now. I panicked though I'll be honest. He never had accidents once he was in underpants and went 4 weeks without a single mess...then all of a sudden we were back to square one. I was so happy once that week passed and he was back in action. :) He's awesome.

It's been a good first month, which of course flew by way too fast. Even though this newborn time is exhausting and extremely difficult typically, it's our last time doing it so we are trying to enjoy it all. :)

Thanks for checking in on us...check back tomorrow for Nearly Wordless Wednesday :)

Mother's Day 2010

this is a better late than never Mother's Day post since I forgot about posting Mother's Day pics until I went to post Father's Day ones and realized I was missing something. It's funny to think that Mother's Day was pre-Noah and Father's Day was post-Noah. Father's Day pics are next...stay tuned!

I hope all the mom's out there had a great Mother's Day. Ours was good, but odd. Kinda anti-climactic I guess...we were just been waiting for the unexpected with Noah I guess. I kept seeing myself in the hospital on Mother's Day. Glad that didn't happen!

Sunday for Mother's Day my mom and dad came over for lunch. I planned a little craft project for Connor to do with my mom and I so that he could make us little gifts for Mom's day. It turned out great and was super cheap and easy. I just bought some wood frames at Michaels and my dad spray painted them white. On Mother's Day, Connor stuck these little pre-cut foam pieces to the frames however he wanted for each of us. I had a few different pics printed out to choose from and that was all. Here's the finished products--I love mine, it's already displayed in my office!

I let Connor pick out his outfit and he choose his “baby Noah shirt” which made me happy because I found it fitting for the day and I also realized that I never got a photo of the three of us with him wearing his shirt. None of the pics of the three of us were really good, but this was the least horrible one.

Connor-Noah Comparrison Pics - more

Here are a couple more comparrison pics of the boys. I love looking at these!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

we decided that at 3 weeks of age it was time for Noah's first Dbacks game! Crazy? perhaps. He did amazing though...probably because he was wrapped up all tight in the sling. It was a Yankees series so it was really, really noisy (and equally obnoxious!) but Noah hardly noticed. I'm pretty sure we lost. I hate baseball.

connor loves playing in the Sandlot area. he was pretty upset because finally after a ton of games, he realized there is a little batting cage nearby but he's just too young to participate...maybe next season!

rockin the baby sling. thanks keiko!

Lucas and Noah napping-one of my bffs ashley had their 2nd kiddo Lucas a few weeks before Noah arrived so she brought him over to visit last week. it's nice having other "unemployed" friends during this time!!

is this blurry? my eyes are honestly too tired to tell :)

Connor-Noah Comparrison Pics

So, most people who have been around for both of the boys lives are shocked by how much they look alike. I think it really sunk in when we saw Noah's newborn pic-that horrible one that they take at the hospital. they have that same jet black hair--and lots of it. Shocking, since Connor's hair now is so blonde. they both also have that crotchety old man expression on their face when they are annoyed :) Love that.

I want to put some comparrison pics together, but have only managed to do one so far so here it is...it's a pic of each of the boys heading home from the hospital in their carseat. Same carseat :)

So, what do you think?

i promise to do more of these...right now my picture focus is on getting caught up posting pics here and on FB...and wrapping up Noah's birth announcements!

Getting out of the house!

We've been getting out of the house this week and last which has been amazing--Connor and I both have a tendency to go completely stir crazy if kept inside for more than half a day or so.

Last week we met up with some friends at bounce jungle for a couple hours and then headed to lunch so the kids could continue to play. This was my first outing by myself with two kiddos and it went really well. It was also the first time I nursed in public, but I'll probably talk more about that later. The friends we got to meet up with are Samantha and Aidan and I'm so glad we're able to spend some time together this summer since Connor won't be at school with them in the fall. Hopefully we'll be fortunate enough to make more great friends at the boys' new school when they start in August. Today we met up with them at the library for storytime and I'm sure we'll fit in several other playdates before I go back to work. I took a ton of pics this day we went to bounce jungle and these were the only okay ones.

connor and aidan at the very top of this huge, huge slide

not surprisingly, connor found a bouncer that had basketball hoops and spent the majority of the two hours we were there shooting baskets--in his polo. i don't know why i picked this out for him to wear. didn't even occur to me until now.

Aidan, Connor and Samantha

Jeffrey and I noticed that Connor's behavior has changed a bit which is probably due to Noah's arrival. I also think it's just pent up energy that isn't getting expelled since he's accostomed to being at school surrounded by kids and activity and he's currently been stuck at home with mom who is still recovering and not much fun. when he's out and about or at a playdate at somenoe elses house, he's perfect. We decided that for his sake, and for our own, we needed to make sure we got him out of the house and did some things just the three of us.

He loves Toy Story 1 and 2 so a few months ago we decided that Toy Story 2 would be his first movie theater experience. He's been looking forward to it and was talking about it so much...large part due to the crazy, intense marketing for this freakin movie. my god. i can't remember the last movie that had so much hype. seriously.

So, this past weekend Grammy Barnes came over to watch Noah and the three of us headed to the movies! Connor did amazing. We limited his fluids that morning so that we wouldn't have to sneak out for him to pee 4x during the movie. Well planned...never left the theater once! He watched the movie the entire time and we made it through the whole thing...which i've been told is a miracle for this age. I have no idea, but I'm glad. :) The movie was great, but just as an FYI to parents out there...there were actually a few scary, dark, kinda intense parts. Oh, and I cried. A lot. Whatev.

the sun was super bright, but i refused to leave before at least trying to take a pic of him standing by the movie poster! he's holding up his woody and buzz guys :)

Playing catch up...again.

wow. i am not good at this anymore, right? ugh. all day i swear things happen and i think, oh i should blog about that...but then i don't. and then i forget. so now I have nothing clever to tell you but because i still feel the need to post something here you go. my advice? keep the expectations low my peeps.

the last 3 1/2 weeks have just flown by over here at the barnes residence.

I got a new car a week or so ago. since i wasn't cleared to drive, jeffrey test drove it and even drove it home. let me tell you how anti-climactic it is to get a brand new, shiny toy and not be able to play with it. lame. i finally did drive it though and I loooove it. we traded my 07 CRV that I really loved for a 2011 honda pilot. upgrade. it's a tank folks. seriously. a tank. before connor arrived, i drove a civic. great gas, all the space we really needed and it was only a couple years old. after cramming the infant car seat in there a few times and then attempting to shove the huge stroller in the trunk i was done. i swear, there was a process to getting the stroller to fit in the trunk. i'd put it in halfway, then adjust the wheels...push it in a bit more, adjust the handle thing...push it in the rest of the way and pray that the trunk would close. it was horrible. We got the CRV when connor was a couple months old and have used it ever since. this time around we didn't especially need a new car, but it would be so much easier to have that extra space. with two carseats in back, my car suddenly became a two seater. Add the double stroller and there's barely room for a trip to costco--and we love us some costco. We got to thinking about when we'd want to take a nephew alone with us somewhere...or one of the boys' friends and there literally wouldn't be a seat for them. Solution? Third row. Anyway, this is boring. (remember? lowered expectations) In summary, got a loverly new, big truck. I don't have a pic of mine and it's too damn hot to go outside and take one so here you go:)

unfortunately, they didn't have one with the sweet, oh-so subtle flames, so i got this one...

Noah is doing great. People who have seen him a couple times swear that he's getting bigger but i think that may just be something you say. i guess we'll see on tuesday at his one month appointment. Our goal is for him to be back up to his birth weight at that time. He was 7lbs 14.5 oz at two weeks so it's certainly possible. He's eating very well and we're still doing about 6 feedings of breastmilk (bottle or nursing) a day and 1 or 2 of formula. Nursing is going well and he's starting to latch without me having to do anything at all. Since that never happened with Connor, it's a bit of a victory. Pumping is such a huge pain in the ass though. I really wanted to have a stockpile of milk for when nursing isn't convenient and when I'm back to work but I just can't seem to make it happen. I have a good milk supply so that's not the issue, so how do people do it? I know what I need to do to be honest...I just can't seem to force myself to pump that many times during the day to have enough to store it for future use. By the time he's done eating, the last thing I want to do is sit still for another 20-25 minutes to pump. I have a great pump, but you still have to sit there and not do anything for the entire time. Since that doesn't appeal to me, I have a tough time getting more than a day or two ahead. Suggestions? Besides breast milk being free, this is the last time I'll be getting use out of the rediculously expensive pump so I want to go out with a bang and have plenty of supply...plus Noah never, ever spits up breast milk so that alone is a huge draw for us!

Sleeping is going pretty good too, although I laughed out loud yesterday when a friend asked me if he was sleeping through the night yet? Um, no. :) He does most of his great sleeping work in his swing or in his glider though...not so much in the basinette. He's doing good though, still waking at night every 3-5 hours to eat. He usually goes right back to sleep after ruining a couple diapers so I am thankful. I swear though, it doesn't matter how many naps you take during the day...if you don't get that overnight sleep something happens to your internal clock...for me anyway. Connor is still a two hour napper during the day so that's a blessing. I should use that time wisely to nap, pump, clean the bottles that somehow pile up or do the laundry that manages to accumulate at an alarming rate. Instead, I'm blogging while he sleeps. Dumb.

That's it for now, but I'm working on a few other posts so hopefully those will be done in the next day or so...lots of pics of course!

Happy 30th Birthday Jeffrey!

Jeffrey turned the big 3-0 on May 31st, just a few days after Noah was born. It was tough...I wanted to be sure that his birthday wasn't lost in the shuffle because he's amazing, super supportive and the best dad and husband. But...come on...his birthday was the day we brought Noah home from the hospital and slightly overwhelming.

Thanks to my incredibly helpful family, we were able to pull off a surprise birthday party for him at our house. I figured that family would be pouring into the house that evening anyway, so it was perfect. I needed the food and drink to be simple so I decided to do a completely random, hodge-podge of Jeff's favorite things. Dr. Pepper, Pacifico, brownie bites, costco's bean dip, his mom's veggie pizza and her seafood salad, my meatloaf, golden oreos and cake. I think there may have been more, but you get the point, right? Totally random food, but all of Jeff's favorite things. Jeff's mom decorated the house and I think he was really surprised.

Happy 30th birthday honey. I love you and hope you had an amazing day :)

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

How is it that I have an easier time blogging consistently when I'm working full time and then coming home and being wife and mommy? seriously...I don't think I've even touched the computer in the past two weeks...fortunately, I access email and FB from my phone or I'd really be a lost soul. :)

Super long post, written over several sittings:

The first two weeks with Noah have really been great - overall. I say overall because no matter how wonderfully behaved a newborn is, there is the exhaustion factor. I gots it. There is really no accounting for waking up every 2-3 hours overnight to feed a newborn and then pray that there's no spitting up. Honestly, those 30 minutes or so after they eat are so frightening. There is just nothing like watching a poor little baby spew milk from their mouth and nose at 3am. Nothing. Clean them, clean yourself, new clothes, new bedding, etc. Oh, and then if they are really new like Noah you can't just suds them up because they have a angry looking circumcision to be incredibly careful around and a cord stump to work around until that blessed day when both are healed and a distant memory. Ahhh.

But he sleeps all the time and that's great because it really allows me to get some much needed rest. The difficulty here...Connor. He just doesn't really get it that I get to be home with him all day long, but I'm jumping into bed every chance I get. I'm about 80% healed from the surgery at this point but there's nothing quite like catching 30-45 minutes of sleep here and there. Noah is still more of less eating every three hours, but will sometimes stretch it to 4, 5 or even 6 once or twice if he's enjoying a really great nap. I live for those long stretches. :)

If you cringe at nursing stuff (talking to you Patricia), turn away here. I'm not talking about anything gross, but I know it's just not everyone's thing. We're doing a combo as far as feeding Noah goes. He's a great nurser but really only off one side which is beyond complicated. He's really easy in that he'll take a bottle gladly as well...whether there's pumped breastmilk in there or formula. Gotta love that since Jeff gets to do feeding times as well. I'm glad I can nurse Noah since it didn't work out with Connor. Now, I'm not someone who was disappointed when Connor didn't breastfeed--I just don't understand that thinking. To me, if it happened, it happened. Since I had to have surgery a couple weeks after Connor was born it was just way too difficult since I was in the hospital and my newborn was home with family. Also, Connor like Noah was a ravenous eater and would not patiently wait the couple seconds for the milk to letdown so he'd flip out like a crazy when the goods didn't come instantly. I pumped for about 4-5 months with Connor so that he had plenty of breastmilk supplemented with formula, but it just got way too difficult when starting a new job. Like most things in parenting, there's always a huge debate over who fares the best...kids who breastfeed or kids who don't. Seriously? Who cares? Formula is so wonderful now that it certainly surpasses what I'm kicking out :) I'm 99% sure that the hot pockets I eat daily aren't able to compete with all the goodness in formula! Anyway, Noah is nursed a couple times a day, bottlefed breastmilk a couple times a day and gets formula during the overnight feedings just in case the hype is true and it will keep his belly full for longer stretches :) We're not convinced that it does, but we are willing to give it a shot.

So far, Noah has been to the pediatrician twice. The first appointment was just a few days after we came home from the hospital so he was a week old. Because I'm nursing and because he wasn't up to his birth weight yet, we went back after another week. The second appointment was just to do a weight check pretty much. He was weighing 7lbs 14.5oz at that second appointment so he's gaining weight well and almost there. His cord came off at his appointment so I'm thrilled to be done with that--now he can take real baths and we don't have to fold the damn diaper over to avoid the cord. So far the belly button is cute :)

I had my two week postpartum appointment last week and all is well. Because I had a section, I had this appointment so they could check my incision and make sure everything was as it should be. I'll go back in four more weeks and be checked out to have all restrictions lifted. I am still having some pain and bleeding at the incision but it's absolutely nothing compared to what it was so I'm happy for that.

He's so alert when he's awake now and it's so fun to watch him follow me around with his eyes. He can lift his head when he feels like it but is still all flimsy and bobble-headed most of the time. He's strong. Really strong. Sometimes I have difficulty during diaper changes because his legs are honestly so freakin strong and he just won't let you do what you need to do. Oh, he hates having his diaper changed. Hates it. Screams and screams. But he's a sweet baby. Loves cuddling and being held. He will cuddle anyone and everyone and I think his favorite spot is laying on the chest. Awww, babies. He likes laying on his side and has even flipped himself over a couple times which means we're really going to have to keep an eye on him!

Lots and lots of info there...sorry for the information dump but there it is. :) Here are pics from the past couple of weeks.

We took Connor to Build a Bear and let him make Noah an animal all by himself. He made him a hockey playing tiger.

i'm not sure how well you can see this, but boys are dangerous with their pee :) only when they are really little, but still. if you look behind Noah in this pic, there is an obvious sprinkle trail up onto the bed. you can also see a pile of sheets and a mattress pad to the left...those were fresh out of the washer/dryer from when he'd done it earlier that day. we'll never learn apparently!

warning: maternity leave doesn't always shower

love

Not really a real bath since his cord was still in tact so it was just a sponge bath. He didn't love it.

lol. like the censorship? This is Noah's first REAL bath.

Connor got a Toy Story 3 book from Tashi and wanted to read it to Noah. I love how amazing he is with his little brother.

Connor has been rewarded with lots and lots of wii over the last two weeks. High Score in bowling...190. Seriously. 190.