Devan’s post the other day got me thinking that I hadn’t done a comparison post in quite some time. And really, I haven’t! So lets take a look, shall we, at my children when they were all around Liv’s current age of 22(ish) months.
Bud:
Lucy:
Liv:
It’s pretty amazing how even still, Bud and Liv are clones of each other. I can see the resemblance to them in Lucy’s face though—can you?
In all the chaos of the last few weeks, I neglected to mention that my Liv, celebrated her 1st birthday on July 29th. A year! Can you even believe it? The time has gone so fast, and yet, it seems like she’s been with us forever. Indeed, she was a good addition to our family.
She is a little spitfire too. She, who was smaller than my other children at birth, is now a 23lb tyrant. She is a big girl, and she thinks she is even bigger, since she follows her older siblings around everywhere. She runs, not walks, everywhere, and is insistent to climb everything, including our gate. She adores her big brother, and well, she tolerates her big sister. She makes her opinions known whether you are listening or not; there is no question as to what she wants at any given time.
And the talking, my God, the talking. When she was about 6 months old, she started saying kitty cat (teee tat!!) over and over again. We thought that it might be the only word she ever spoke. Slowly, more words came. Eddie, Daddy, Caitlyn. Mama……but only when she is very upset. Now she speaks too many words to count. She loves to say “Hi!” and will usually say “Hi kitty!” or “Hi Daddy!” The latest is “kitty cat moooooow” (kitty cat meow) and boy does she love to say “uh oh!!”. My favorite though, might be “night night”….or maybe “cheese” (seeeeessse) when she sees the camera.
The look on her face last week, when we all sang happy birthday, was priceless. She loves singing regardless, but when she realized we were all singing, only to her, it was pretty great.
And for all she’s accomplished, she has not learned to sleep. Nope. There is too much going on! Too much to do! She wakes up shrieking in the middle of the night, only to settle right back down as soon as she can burrow in to my shoulder. This is bad; I know. I should leave her alone. But she is my baby girl. Maybe my last.
On Saturday, she’ll have her very first birthday party, shared with her big sister, who’ll be 4 next week. She’ll be the life of the party, I’m sure. She always is.
Happy Birthday, baby. Mommy loves you to the moon!
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you are likely aware that the baby has begun crawling and pulling her self up, and straight up standing within the last week or so. It has opened up an entire new world to her, for obvious reasons, but has also opened the dialogue between Hub and me as to whether she truly will be our final baby. (short answer—yes)
When you think of babies, you think of the snuggly little newborn who is on a sleep/eat/poop continuum. Teeny babies in footie pajamas, content to sleep on your shoulder or in the crook of your arm, content to be left in one spot for any period of time. You don’t think about the baby who refuses to sleep in her own bed, or finds rocks and rubber bands and pieces of random crap to shove in her mouth regardless of how vigilant you are about vacuuming and keeping your floors clean. You don’t think about baby proofing, or strategically closing off a part of your living room, or making sure the toilet is closed. You don’t remember worrying about whether she will stand up in her crib (should she choose to sleep there) and figure out a way to catapult herself out, because that is just the kind of baby she is.
We are in hell with Liv right now, a kind of hell that we never experienced with Bud and Lucy. She’s in to EVERYTHING and is constantly getting her fingers stuck in things and going after the cats and she wants what she wants when she wants it and you better comply or deal with her wrath. When you tell her no, she laughs and shakes her head no right back at you…and then blows you a kiss and moves on her merry way. She doesn’t know she is a tyrant; she thinks she is funny. And really, she is a perfectly happy baby. She is loud and exuberant a 22lb jolly sweetheart—unless you try and get in her way.
I know this is normal, I do. But I wasn’t prepared!! You don’t think about this stuff when you decide to have a baby! You think –it will be all snuggly fun!! It is not all snuggly fun.
Remind me of this when I get all swoony for one last baby, ok? Remind me that it is hard. And that eventually they’ll turn in to weirdo 5-year-olds, which is a whole new ball game.
I set the alarm for 5:30 this morning, but the baby started fussing at about 5:12. I shoved the pacifier in her mouth, holding her over until 5:23, when I plucked her, screaming and hungry from her bed. She ate lazily, as always, and barely woke up when I changed her diaper, but did latch back on and eat a bit more before I put her in the swing so I could shower. By the time I was out, the clock was nearing 7:30 and it was time to get the big kids up and fed. They were cooperative enough, and we only got out of here about 5 minutes after I had planned.
Today was Olivia’s first day at daycare.
You wouldn’t think that there would be a ton of anxiety, considering she is my third child, but it was no easier for me than it ever was. She has been with me every waking moment since her conception last November, save for a few runs to the store or to take the kids to school. And today, I was to hand her over to someone else. And come home, no less, since we had to start her this week or forfiet her spot and I don’t go back to work Monday.
“It will be great!”, I thought, “I can get used to leaving her without the pressures of work.” It wasn’t great. I kept it together though and didn’t cry as I went through th instructions with her caregiver, who is the mother of one of Lucy’s classmates, and her assistant, Lupe, who seemed nice enough–but I’m not so sure she speaks much english.
I was fine. I stopped and got a coffee and came home to work on some paperwork for Hub, pump, and take a nap.
I was fine.
Until I realized that in all of my explaining, I didn’t kiss the baby goodbye. I handed her off, talked a bunch, and left. So here I am typing, in tears, fighting every urge to go back up there just to kiss my baby girl goodbye. She wasn’t going to realize I was gone anyway, but how could I forget?
So much for thinking that this would be easier. It actually kind of sucks. A lot.
She, Lucy and I are spending tomorrow with my best girlfriend, her 3-year old daughter and her 4-month old daughter. It will be a nice break until I take her back on Friday. And tonight, I don’t plan on putting her down. I need my fill of her soft baby face and smell. I feel like I need to suck it all in; that she might somehow lose it while I’m not with her.
It’s funny, isn’t it, that a few short months ago I was wondering what she would do to our lives? Our dynamic? How we would love her as much as Bud and Lucy? And now, away from her for the first time, those feelings are foreign. It’s like she has always been here and we’ve always loved her.
In any case, I sure do miss her. And I’m glad I can pipe in and watch her all day on the computer. It’s clear that I am getting no work done today, right?
If you do nothing else today, watch Bud’s video at the bottom. You will die from the cute.
Here. we try and get the baby to smile:
Here we prove that you can dress Lucy as a princess, but a princess it does not make her:
And here is Bud. For your reference he says:
“I will develop myself in a positive manner and avoid anything that will reduce my mental health or physical growth.”
Lucy’s party on Saturday was great. Hub and I were up at 6am to do all of the cooking, and we had time to spare. We are getting a reputation for being party throwers and had over 50 people at the park including kids. Lucy spent most of the day conning various relatives in to pushing her on the swing. Here she is with my Uncle Ed:
And while I did order cupcakes, we got her a small cake as well, which she just loved.
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Here she is with my dad, “Papa”:
And this one is for Shelly:
I ended up having to return one of the pairs of jeans she got from my mother, as they were size 24 months and instead of a gift receipt, she gave me the actual receipt. She spent over $120 on Lucy’s gifts, as well as making macaroni salad, a veggie tray and buying the cupcakes. I feel like this is WAY too much, but I don’t know what to do about it. Don’t get me wrong, I deeply appreciate it, but I feel like I need to repay her somehow. She spent double what Hu and I spent on Lucy’s gifts. And I know that’s what grammas are for and yadda yadda, but GAH!
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In other news, Olivia turned 4 weeks old yesterday. I can’t believe how fast time flies, and what a personality she has already. Even in the darkness of the middle of the night, her dark blue eyes sparkle up at me when she wakes me to be fed; mischievous. She is amazing. I never thought that the third time around would be just as super as the first 2. My heart hurts sometimes; I love these three kids so much.
One Week Old
Trying to capture that her shirt says “Little Sister”
Sleeping with her blankie from Swistle
Preparing for bath
Bath…which she really liked
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After Bath
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With Lucy
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My Current fave of her…..2-weeks old
1. Sleeping flat on my back and being able to breathe
2. No more Acid Reflux
3. Ankles as opposed to kankles.
4. Playing “name that tune” with the songs on the swing. One of them is “What Child is this”, my favorite Christmas hymn… Needless to say I have been walking around belting “This this is Christ the king….” in the middle of August.
5. Not feeling guilty about sitting around all day. I just have to pick up the baby. Nobody else can feed her!
6. Playing “name that grunt!” Poop? Pee? Hunger? Just angry baby???
7. Typing and driving with no belly in the way!!
8. Even though I still have a long way to go, I feel so THIN!!
9. Seeing Bud and Lucy take an active interest in the baby.
10. I didn’t leave the house for 10 days!!
11. Contemplating what to do with my hair (I’m pretty sure I’ll be cutting it all off and donating it. I hope they don’t mind if it smells like spit-up)
12. Reading everyone’s posts via phone and only feeling mildly guilty about not commenting.
13. Actually looking forward to going to work.
14. PRESENTS!!
15. Reliving Lucy’s babyhood through her clothes.
16. Nick at Night during late night feedings. (But when did Nick at Night become the “all Fresh Prince all the time channel???)
17. Able to smell baby’s head any time I want.
18. Breastfeeding Metabolism. YEAH!!!
19. Actually peeing instead of that annoying trickle when I was sure I had to go SO BAD!!
20. Of course, the baby herself.
I actually feel kind of bad, in that Olivia doesn’t so much have a birth story. The induction was scheduled and we knew when she was coming, so there was no frantic rush to the hospital or drama like my water breaking in the driveway. It was all very calm and laid back and, well, it just happened.
I slept pretty well the night before, despite my worries that I would get no sleep and be exhausted by the time labor set in. I was up by about 5:15 AM and woke Hub and FIL up as I was getting dressed and ready. I had done almost everything the night before, so it really was just a matter of walking out the door.
We made it to the hospital a few minutes after 6 and got checked in, an IV started and all of that jazz. After around an hour, my good friend Pitocin was introduced. I had a really bad experience with the Pitocin during Bud’s birth, so I was really nervous, but they started me off slow; 2 drips per hour. I was contracting regularly without it anyway. I must have just needed a tiny push, because after about 1/2 hour things were in full swing, and before I knew it, a midwife and Doogie Howser Resident were in to break my water.
HOLD UP.
I had been clear about wanting my epidural prior to the water being broken, so my nurse sent them away. I was starting to get uncomfortable anyway, so it was time.
And now for the drama…..
The epidural was placed and I waited. And waited some more…..and then again. It never kicked in. It had felt weird going in, like nothing I’d ever felt. The nurse called and the gal came back to redo it, and she had the nerve to say “yeah, it felt kind of shallow for someone of your size…..” WTF is that supposed to mean exactly?
Anyway, this one worked well on the right side, but had some trouble working over to the left, so I had to turn on my side to let gravity help. After 20 minutes or so they did break my water, and as before, I had immediate pressure.
I went from 6 centimeters to 9 in about 30 minutes. When the doctor left me at 9cm I knew it would only be a matter of minutes, and it was. The nurse had me do a practice push to see if I really was ready, and also to see how well I could push. She paged the doctor immediately—Olivia was coming!!
The doctor came in and had me push once, and out came the head. The most excruciating part was lying there, while she manipulated the shoulders to avoid me tearing. Afterward I told Hub it was the longest 5 minutes of my life, and he laughed and told me that it was probably less than 30 seconds, before she had me push again. Two pushes, and there she was, our new baby girl!
Hub had not cut the cord during my previous births and once again declined, but the doctor asked me if I would like to, and I did. I thought it was a neat way to make her birth a little bit different.
We were surprised when they put her on the scale and she only weighed 8 lbs 10 oz. She was the smallest of all of our babies, and the shortest as well, at 20 inches. The very best thing though was that her sugar levels were perfect. It was my biggest fear during the pregnancy, that she’d be taken away like Lucy was, but she was perfectly fine.
As soon as she was cleaned up, and I held her, she nursed right away. As far as birthing experiences go, this one was probably the best.
She was born at 12:10 PM and they took her upstairs around 1:30 or so to be cleaned and checked out etc. My epidural was not wearing off on the right side, so I was stuck in labor and delivery forever. Finally, when my nurse had a meeting, I convinced the replacement nurse that I was ok to get up, and I got in the shower. I was finally in my room at about 4:30.
The rest of the hospital stay was uneventful. The baby nursed every 3 hours, and all of my visitors came that 1st night (Hub and the kids came again the 2nd). I was home by lunchtime on Thursday.
I’m actually amazed at how easy the transition from 2-3 has been so far. Granted, I haven’t taken all 3 of them out or anything, but things are going really well. She is an excellent baby, who sleeps for 3-4 hours at a time and she doesn’t cry or fuss. The horrible pregnancy was worth it; she was definitely worth the wait.
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Bud.jpg)
Lucy.jpg)
Olivia
Incubation Nation 