TGIF

Normally, I don't really care it's Friday. This whole SAHM gig is great in that I really don't care what day it is! I mean, really, my day doesn't change a whole lot if it is Tuesday or Sunday - I still get up every morning and take care of the little man (now little men) from morning until night. I enjoy our routine together.

Enter the world of an infant. Now, I am thankful it is Friday and Bob is home tomorrow to help out. We have been stuck in the house from the snow and freezing cold temps, and we are all stir crazy. Plus, Bob hasn't been home since Tuesday night because of work, so I've been on my own for three days without help. It's not too bad, except the fact my house looks like it exploded. Toys are everywhere, the dishes are kind of done, but not really, and my counters are filled with random things I haven't gotten around to putting away. I've done some laundry this week, but it's sitting in our room waiting to be put away. So, finally, TGIF, and I finally have another set of hands to help me out either take care of the kids or help clean up this destroyed house! At least you can tell Jacob has had fun with how many toys are all over the house. I went to get a Diet Coke from the kitchen and stepped on Batman, a rattle, and four race cars on the way.

Jacob has now memorized the entire book the Big Road Race. It's not a short book by any means. He doesn't even need prompting on the pages to remember what comes next. He has the big words down, and even the sounds for each car correct. I would LOVE to get him on video doing it, but he only does it whenever he wants to and I never have my camera by me at the time. Bob hasn't even heard him read it yet! He amazes me with his memorization.

He has also decided that he can go to the Kleenex box, get a tissue, wipe his nose, and then...stuff the tissue back in the box. You have been warned, future visitors!

The other morning we were sitting at breakfast and he has been getting the concept of husband/wife lately, so I told him he was my son. He looked at me, smiled, and said, "No, I'm no sun. I'm a cloud. You just kidding!"

Joshua is doing very well. Eating and sleeping like a champ. He stays awake for long periods of time, and is very alert. He is funny though, because he definitely doesn't like to be held as much as Jacob did. And, he grunts like crazy in his sleep, which always makes me think he's awake when he's not. His cry is so quiet that if I don't check on him constantly I could miss it! He's a lot like Jacob was as a baby, and very different at the same time.

I am amazed at how many things you can fit into one morning with little ones in the house. And, I don't mean productive things...I mean how many different activities go into the hours between Jacob's wake-up call this morning of 6:30 and nap time of 1:00. Those hours have been filled with reading a zillion books (today's favorite, "Everyone Poops," which we read probably 14 times), playing cars, chasing each other through the house, eating two rounds of lunch (because one just isn't enough), pretending to cook, playing catch, learning how dominoes work, playing a new Dinosaur Train memory game, and helping me do some laundry and dishes. And by help, that means that Jacob took the piles of clothes I folded and followed me into our bedroom and threw them in the dirty clothes. Of course, I said thank you and waited until he left the room to move them. He likes to help!These days have been very busy, very crazy, and make me long for warm weather so we can burn some energy outside. Jacob desperately wants to take off running all the time. But, with the snow, we had to skip Gymboree today and settle for running laps through the house! Having two kids at home though is so much fun, and even though I'm extremely exhausted and running on four hours of sleep every day for almost a month now, I'm enjoying all of it - even more than I thought I would. I think I was preparing myself for it being so very hard, that it seems easier for me now, if that makes sense. Of course, it's hard...just not as hard as I was preparing myself for!

Poop in the Carpet

Today has been a great, exhausting, and hilarious day rolled into one.

Great, because both boys are so much fun and I love the special moments throughout the day where I get one-on-one time with each of them. I was able to give Josh a bath while Jacob napped, and that's always some great one-on-one time with a little baby. Jacob and I were able to read a ton of books, play cars like crazy, and dance through the house while Josh napped. Also, took my first trip with both of them by myself.

Exhausting because I have been up since 5 a.m., and have had no help at all since Bob works until midnight. Jacob took a monster nap this afternoon, so he didn't go to bed until 9:30, and Josh is still awake at 10:47. Poop.

Speaking of poop...that brings me to my hilarious part of the day. Jacob did take a monster nap, and woke up with a dry diaper. I put him on the potty and he peed. He told me he wanted to wear underpants. Fantastic.

Dinosaur underpants went on.

Dinosaur underpants were peed in. Jacob kind of had a look like he understood what was going on. I asked if he wanted a diaper or underpants (yes, we call them underpants. Not sure why not underwear, but whatever Jacob wants to call them is fine). He told me he wanted underpants.

Striped underpants went on. I started cooking dinner with Jacob running around in the kitchen. He went on the other side of our island. I noticed he was kind of quiet. He then ran past me and into the pantry.

Me: Jacob, what are you doing?
Jacob: Just peeing in the kitchen.
Me: What? Where did you pee?
He walks over to the other side of the island and points at the floor, where there is a small puddle. He turns and smiles at me.
Me: Let's go change your underpants.
Jacob: No, it's fine.
Me: You're wet though. You can't have wet underpants on.
Jacob: It's fine.

He clearly does not care about being wet. He had pee down his leg and on his sock, and he seriously did not care one bit. Just wanted to go in the pantry and look for some food. Thank goodness he told me he peed, otherwise who knows how long that little puddle would be there.

He again chose to wear underpants instead of a diaper. I figured, sure, why not?!

Blue underpants go on.

Dinner is ready and I go to put him in his seat. He smells like poop.

Me: Jacob, did you poop?
Jacob: Yeah. I'm all done.
Me: Let's go change your underpants.
Jacob: No. I'm all done.

Clearly doesn't care about the poop in his pants. Didn't give him an option this time. I grabbed a diaper.

Now, there's no real easy way to get poopy underwear off of a 2-year-old. And, it wasn't solid poop. So, I tried the best I could. Poop fell on the carpet. Jacob stepped in the poop.

Oops. Now time to clean the carpet and Jacob.

Thankfully it was one of those days where this was entertaining and funny to me instead of driving me up the wall that I'm cleaning up pee and poop non-stop for the evening.

Potty training is definitely not in our near future. Just waiting until he's ready!

Day 1

So, Bob has been off from work for a while. Since Josh was born while he was on Christmas break anyway, we had a bonus week and a half off together. Then, he took two weeks off when school was back in session, so we had been home since school let out for last semester. Tuesday, he went back to school. He went back to his second job last week, but that doesn't impact our day as much, and it was only like 2 days last week anyway. Tuesday was my first day back as a stay at home mom, and first time with both boys all day long without any help. (Today is actually my first day REALLY back, where Bob is also working at night and I am on my own from the time the kids get up to the time they go to bed. Unfortunately, some days Bob doesn't get to see the boys, but it's only temporary!)

I wanted to write down how my day was today, and compare it to a day as Josh gets older and see how things change and how easier it probably will get (or harder, depending on what these boys get themselves into).

7 a.m. Jacob up. Change his clothes because he peed through (we are a long way off from him being potty trained at night, I'm sure). Get him milk and powdered donuts (our treat for our first day back to a regular schedule). Started the dryer. Gave Jacob medicine since he has a double ear infection.

7:30 a.m. Joshua up. Make bottle and feed him. Jacob plays, eats and talks with Josh and me.

8:30 a.m. Josh asleep. Jacob and I build a train track, play trains. I wash bottles. We play cars.

9:30 a.m. Josh wakes up. We play cars in Josh's room. Get Josh dressed for the day. Josh has tummy time.

10:30 a.m. Josh has a bottle. Read "The Big Road Race" four times during bottle. Jacob eats a granola bar. Spits out said granola bar because he has a cold sore. goes and gets crackers. Walks around eating them, dropping them, and leaving a giant trail of crumbs. I clean up said mess. Play time as a family. We play blocks, which are transformed into Mater's junkyard.

11:45 a.m. Lunch. Jacob carries everything he can from fridge to table while I make lunch. He claims he is cooking just like Remy from "Ratatouille." We eat, and Josh falls asleep around noon.

12:20 p.m. Clean up lunch, put Josh in bed. Play junkyard with Jacob. Get him into bed. Read "The Big Road Race" again.

12:50 p.m. Jacob asleep...on his own. Miracle. (We have had to lay with Jacob every nap and bedtime to get him to sleep. But, since we have brought Josh home he is fine with going to bed on his own and doesn't even protest or cry or anything. Just falls asleep. It's like a whole new world!) Pick up empty cups and bottles. Check Facebook. Brag about getting an hour to myself before Josh would need a bottle. Josh wakes up at 12:50 because he had to poop. change diaper and hold Josh until he wanted a bottle at 1:45. Fed Josh, changed diaper. Wouldn't burp and was very gassy so held him until 2:40. Read blogs while he slept on me. Put him down at 2:40.

2:44 p.m. Jacob wakes up. Four minutes to myself. My own fault though. I didn't even pee yet! Got Jacob from his room (since he never gets out of bed on his own) and set him up on the couch with a drink and a popsicle while I folded laundry. Watched some Dora. Josh woke up screaming - he had spit up a little and it was caught in his nose and throat. Took care of Josh and then played junkyard again with Jacob.

3:45 p.m. Bob gets home from work. Catch up on our days really quick. Give Bob 600 instructions on how to take care of two kids while both are awake at the same time because I'm paranoid about leaving them while I take a shower.

4:15 p.m. Take a shower. And by that, I mean I ran through the water with a little soap and could have sworn I heard a baby crying the entire time even though both boys were fine.

4:30 Start to get dinner ready. Jacob wants to help cook. Insists on wearing his chef hat and apron he got for Christmas. We get him ready and I move his little table into the kitchen. We make some Shake N Bake together. We had a great time - he helped set the table and everything.

5:30 p.m. Dinner time.

The rest of the night was family time, picking up, bath time and everything else, but wasn't my day at home alone. I must say, Day 2 has started out much rockier. Josh woke up at 5 a.m. for his bottle. It was my turn, so I got up with him and put him down at 5:45 a.m. Jacob woke up for the day at 5:50 a.m. But, it's been a good day at we even went out together for the first time just the kids and me. We ran to Meijer to mail some pictures and get some milk. Josh slept the whole time, but it is such a process to get them both in and out of the car and through the store! I think I was more tired than normal just because I'm technically still not suppose to be lifting them, but I needed to get out!

Thank you, little man

I have been terrible at blogging since Joshua's arrival, and still need to load pictures and go through things before posting anything fun to look at!

However, I wanted to always remember how thankful I am during this time that I have Jacob. This little guy is unbelievable. He had a few hard days when we got home from the hospital (and by hard, I mean he just kept saying he was sad). He was upset about me not being able to pick him up, and missing me while I was in the hospital. Other than that, he's been a champ.

Jacob adores his brother. He hands us his pacifier all the time, and tells us to check on Josh. He talks to Josh in the backseat of the car, and gives him hugs and kisses every day without us asking him to.

Jacob thinks Josh is hilarious. When Josh stretches his arms out about his head, Jacob calls him Superman and laughs. He loves when Josh burps when we are feeding him, and is always saying "hello, little cutie." He hates to hear Josh cry, and tells us to give him a bottle as soon as he hears a whimper. He tickles Josh's toes and says "little tiny feet," and laughs. I think it's adorable, because Jacob is enjoying Josh in his own way without us pushing anything on him. He goes up to Josh at least once a day and says, "Want to come play with my toys?" He even gives him cars and trains to play with. Jacob will be in heaven when Josh is mobile! Even though we've been home for a few weeks now, Jacob will grab Josh's hand and say, "welcome home, Josh."

Jacob, thank you for making this time so easy. You are an unbelievable little boy, and we love you so much. I was afraid of not being able to give you enough attention when we brought the baby home, but you make everything so easy. You love your brother, and I know you will grow up to be best friends just like I am with my brother. I can't wait to hear you laughing in the other room, or to see you two run around outside together. You are the best big brother, and the best little boy. We love you so much and are so proud of you during such a big transition in your life. You have so much to offer the world, and so much to show your little brother. It is such a joy watching you grow up, and you are still so young. I know there are some great things waiting for you. But, for now, please slow down and enjoy being a little guy. You are still a baby to me, and I love seeing you be a two-year-old. Don't grow up too fast! Thanks for reminding us how important family is, how wonderful it is to have a sibling, and how funny each and every moment can be. I love you, little man, and am so very proud of you each and every day.

Hello, Joshua!

I haven't downloaded pictures yet, and am too lazy to do that now, but I wanted to get this written before some of the details slip my mind. (the pics above are from Jenny Wiley when she visited...glad she sent them along for me while I'm hoarding my own pics, haha)

I went in for my normal 37 week OB appointment on Thursday, December 23. My blood pressure was still horrible, my eyesight had gotten much worse, and I had a headache. They sent me over to labor and delivery to be evaluated for a while. They decided around 4:30 that Joshua was ready to make his entrance. Unfortunately, they had already let me have one cup of apple juice (no food since 7:30 a.m. though!) which would prevent the necessary c-section. So, we scheduled it for 9:30 the next morning...Christmas Eve morning!

They had to start me on medicine to prevent seizures because of the preeclampsia, but I handled the medicine well enough that I was able to still get up and go to the bathroom on my own and not be in bed all night long. So, we had some dinner and tried to get some sleep, which was difficult knowing surgery was in the morning and that nurses were in every hour to check my blood pressure and all that.

The next morning we got a call from my parents that Jacob had thrown up, so unfortunately we weren't able to see him on the 24th at all, just in case. Turns out he had a double ear infection, but we wanted to be safe with little Joshua and not have two sick kids!

They took me for the surgery, and Bob got dressed for the procedure while they gave me my spinal. Everything went well, and Bob came in just in time for me to throw up a few times, haha. About 20 minutes later, Joshua Ryan Lewis was here! He was born at 10:08 a.m., weighing 7 pounds 15 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. Even though 37 weeks is a full term baby, they were worried about him possibly needing to be monitored in the NICU, but those nurses were out of there within minutes, and we knew we had one healthy baby on our hands! He actually came out peeing, and then cried, haha. He was extremely healthy, and everything went very well.

I still had to be on the medicine to prevent seizures for 24 hours after Joshua's birth, so we had to stay on the labor and delivery floor for another day before being taken up to recovery. Everything went fine, and they came in on Christmas to get me off the medicine and out of bed. I was able to take a shower and get cleaned up a little before going up to the recovery floor. After that, everything went really well. I think recovering from my c-section has been 100 times easier than recovering from my labor and vaginal delivery with Jacob because of how sick I was with him. Right now I'm having more muscle pain around my incision, but I think I've just been doing too much the past few days.

Joshua has been an unbelievable baby. He actually stays awake for a long time, which is nice. He definitely doesn't sleep as much as other infants, and has some really long stretches of being awake, but he still does sleep a lot of the day away! Jacob is such a wonderful big brother, and after a few days of being a little thrown off and whining plenty, he's getting back to normal. He likes being home with his toys and having Josh here. He asks to hold Josh, likes to go look at him, give him kisses, and he tells him everything we are doing. He loves having him in the backseat, and tells him where we are going. It is just so adorable to have two little boys at home and know they are going to be such buddies for years to come. I love that I've been able to enjoy these days with the boys, since with Jacob I was still so sick afterwards that I had so much pain medicine I can't remember all the little moments.

Josh will go to the doctor for the first time on the 10th. Since he's on formula, they don't need to see him as quickly because you can measure how much they are eating and most likely won't lose as much weight. He only lost an ounce while in the hospital...the boy likes to eat!

Bob is home for 2 more weeks...taking leave from school. So happy to have the family together. Now, just trying to find time to pack up the Christmas decorations and get our house back to the normal. We haven't even put up Josh's crib yet! But, things are great and everyone is healthy, and what more can you ask for?!

Because Josh was born on Christmas Eve, we went ahead and celebrated Christmas morning when we got home. We were sent home on Monday, December 27 and treated that as Christmas Eve and then did Christmas morning on the 28th. We lucked out because Jacob is old enough to understand the Santa and presents concept, but not old enough to know he celebrated on a different day. We wanted him home to open presents...that was more important to us than celebrating on a specific day. Plus, Josh got presents from Santa as well (thanks, Mom, for doing some shopping for us!).