Life with Levi & happy 2 1/2 to Kaylee!

Well, Levi's almost a 4 weeks old now and we've gotten much more used to having a baby in the house again. It's odd how having a first child gives you these preconceived notions of what your second will be like. It's helpful, because in some ways things are easier because you don't have to relearn lessons already learned the first time around, but harder because you have to get used to a totally new baby - different personality, behaviors and abilities. Obviously I knew they wouldn't be the same as each other, but ... what can I say - there's an adjustment. Levi's a delight; Both kids are an absolute delight!

Also, I had forgotten how hard it is to take care of a newborn. It has been 30 months after all. (happy 2 1/2 Kaylee sweetie!) Memory fades and time goes quickly, also this stage doesn't last forever. Thank goodness. It's the hardest, messiest (poop, pee, breast milk everywhere!) time there is.

Anyways, what's Levi like? He's so cute! I've already taken to calling him "little guy" even t hough he's a big baby, this is what I call him all the time. My "little guy Levi". Two days ago he smiled back while being played with for the first time. I've seen sleeping smiles and gassy smiles before then. The smile lights up his face. I'm looking forward so much to being able to interact more and more with him and seeing that wonderful personality come through. He's got about 1-2 hours a day where he is in the frame of mind he's able to be "played" with. This would be time we can sing, read or talk with him. Otherwise his general pattern is still eat, sleep, poop. He does have lots of trouble getting to sleep. There's quite a lot of crying that happens before he will nod off. He will shake himself awake, that is very much like his big sister. He does sleep a lot still - maybe around 16 hours a day. In order to get him to stop crying it feels like a game of hot or cold. Pick up, nurse, CRY. Stand up, walk/bounce - am I getting warmer? CRY. Add a shush - am I hot now? Bingo - soothed! It's a long process with moving target. Eric and I are getting good at the soothing. It becomes much more complicated with screaming baby when a toddler is trying to get involved as well. So we are getting used to dividing our forces - Eric with her, me with him .... and switch... and switch again. Levi is very sensitive - what newborn isn't - he needs a calm environment which our house sometimes is not despite our best efforts. Also I recollect with Kaylee that there's a period of time where there's sort of a "witching hour" with a newborn in the evening where almost nothing will soothe them and you sort of resign yourself to the cry - soothe, cry - soothe pattern. So! Despite the crying jags there's still either sleeping or quiet periods where he's soothed where we manage to fit in some art, game playing, puzzles or bath for Kaylee. We try to make good use out of the free moments to give her some fun in the evenings as well so that she doesn't turn out to regret the new addition. She still responds very nicely at all times to Levi. She still is mostly interested in how can I hold, touch, kiss and hug my "little brother." She's always asking "Can I see my brother?" At times the answer needs to be no, no she can't touch him while nursing or sleeping.

Anyways, suffice it to say, our house is busy and in the middle of a big change! It's been really nice having Kaylee in daycare during the day so that she can keep her morning routine and I can bond with Levi, give him all my attention and while he's sleeping - get things done around the house. She has lots more she gets to do at daycare like go to the playground, do projects, have a structured day. I do miss her though and honestly wonder if she should be with me. I may keep her home on Fridays soon just so that I can be with her more. Things will need to calm down with Levi a bit more though.

Levi rolled over from back to stomach already! It was on our bed, so it was a soft surface but I can't believe he can already do that! I will need to keep a close eye on him now! Of course he was in search of a feeding so I was right there to witness it. He's so strong. He canalmost lift his head by himself, will crawl up me to get a feeding and now...rolling over! I weighed him today an dit looks like he weighs about 12 pounds now. I am washing all his 3-6 mo clothes. Some of his clotehs are looking too tight already! I can't believe how fast he's growing!

I am doing great. My incision is healing very well. I am regaining some feeling back in my right foot where I had lost sensation. So the nerve damage is slowly repairing itself. Energy levels are as good as can be expected...my fitness level still needs to improve quite a lot after being pregnant. I'm making good headway though - I have only 15 pounds left to lose.

Last night, after lots and lots of fussing, Levi slept 7 hours! At about 5 in he woke up and needed a diaper change, but he looked tired so I just wrapped him back up snug and shut the light off and we got 2 more hours of sleep! There's nothing like uninterrupted sleep to recuperate you. After many months of waking up while pregnant and now with a newborn, it's really easy to get worn down. It's not always easy to remember to "sleep when the baby sleeps" because you're always thinking - oh I can get this or that done around the house. But that's one thing that I think I remember to do more than I did first time around - or the fact that he's sleeping more gives me more opportunity...

Anyways, life with Levi is treating us fairly well. It's work but very rewarding and we're glad to do it.

New things with Kaylee: She's potty training really well! She goes on the potty almost every time including #2. She doesn't usually need a tattoo as a reward but gets one now and then. Like my MIL says, intermittent reinforcement is the best. She sits on the big potty with her sesame street lid. She likes to flush the toilet herself and wants to wipe herself. We let her wipe after we've got her cleaned up. She doesn't like the washing hands afterwards part as much and we usually have to work to get her to do that, but it's not too bad. At daycare, she's been using pull ups and has to be dry for 2 weeks and then she can start to wear underwear. I think she's had some accidents at nap so I'm not sure where that leaves her on the 2 weeks thing but we are very pround of her! It might be slightly harder than having her wear diapers but it is so worthwhile working our way towards being potty-trained!

photos - scroll down to see 2 week a ppt info posted today!

Levi's 2 week appointment

Today Levi had his 2 week appointment. He ended up not needing his 3-5 day after hospital discharge appointment, the pediatrician at the hospital had said that visit would have been to check for jaundice and for weight - both of which appeared to him to be just fine. So I appreciated being able to cut out one doctor's appointment. We saw Kaylee's doctor. It was good to see her again, it's amazing to me that kids see the doctor soooooooo many times their first 2 years then all of the sudden - they don't need to go between ages 2-3 and an entire year passes. It's a relief for parents though I'll tell you.

Anyways, at his appointment he weighed an utterly amazing 11 lb 3 oz. His birth weight was 9 lb 13.5 oz. That means that in 2 weeks he's gained 1 lb 5.5 oz. That is more than an ounce a day! My sister and I had measured Levi's weight about 4 days ago coming up with that amount of weight gain, we were shocked and said "Nah, let's wait and see what it is at the doctor's appointment - that doesn't seem possible!" Suffice it to say, she was happy with his weight and said he was "thriving" and had no concerns about him. On the charts his weight comes in at the 98%. The doctor said there should be no monitoring of too much weight gain at this stage. She examined his eyes, ears, startle symmetry, heartbeat/lungs with stethoscope. Saying all was well. She said he was already starting to try to track with his eyes. She said he is very strong - which we had already noticed with him already trying to lift his head, his ability to sort of crawl on his tummy in forward movement and his very strong sucking/nursing ability. They measured his height at 21.75" (at birth he was 21.25"). Eric says that actually he thought there was a mistake - because on the scale he thought Levi measured 23".

It's kind of strange to hear your newborn's name publicly for the first time. We checked in and they asked for the patient's name, it felt weird to say "Levi." Then to hear them call it out in the waiting room was surreal. It just seems like so little time has gone by since it was just a name in our minds.

I have my 2 week appointment after cesarean today. They'll do an incision check. We'll see how they say I am doing next...much less exciting than the newborn report I'll admit.

Levi's name and Kaylee's adjustment

Our little boy's name is Levi Quentin. The way we chose that name was bouncing ideas off each other for months - each one of us turning down choices left and right. We only found a few that were acceptable to the both of us. They were Jordan, Anthony ("Tony"), and Levi. I found the name Levi in a baby book name search, generic I know - but true, I thought that name would sound really cute with Kaylee, easy to spell and pronounce, and unusual to go with our last name but not too unusual to be out of the ordinary. Eric was lukewarm on the name - but since I loved it so much he said he could get on board. We chose the middle name Quentin since that is what Eric's grandfather's name is, and we've been using family names for middle names. Kaylee's middle name is one of my sister's names. Later on, much later after we'd named him, my grandma let us know that she was so happy with the name. She said that it was her grandfather's name, whom she loved very much. That made the name so much more special. She sent us a photo and story of her grandfather, which we will treasure very much. Also, we liked the fact that Levi, even though not an everyday name, is a traditional old name and that it is a biblical name.

Kaylee's been having an excellent week with potty training. our daycare provider decided to take the lead on the potty-training efforts. She got Kaylee to go 2 days every time in the potty (for tattoos)! At home we were able to get her to go quite a few times as well. She has had an excellent couple of days - it seems like potty training's just around the corner! That would be so excellent if she would - just one kid in diapers ahhhhh! She loves the tattoos - and will scrub them all off once she has a lot in the bathtub to make room for more.

Kaylee's verbal skills continue to progress at a steady rate. She for the past month has been saying long and correct sentences. Just now to Eric she said, "Thank you for getting me more cereal Daddy." Eric encouraged her to be polite and to try to fill out her sentences. I have to admit I thought he was a bit overdoing it with her, but it's worked out great. Because she's so articulate and easy to tolerate, tantrums and discipline haven't been as (but we still do time-outs now and then) necessary. It's more pleasant to hear no from you toddler with an explanation and even though you might say no back, for her to be able to understand the reason (she may not like it) for the no.

Kaylee has also been just in the last week, experimenting with using the words "yesterday," "today," and "tomorrow" in her sentences. She's also just beginning to understand the concept of weekends (at home with Mom and Dad.)

This week at daycare they went to the Minnesota zoo. She didn't say much about it but it the photos were amazing - looks like a good experience.

Last night my family came over for a visit - Kaylee enjoyed showing off her little brother. She says to us now, "It's OK for Levi to live in my house. "It's OK for Levi to nurse in our house."

" i love you Levi"

Today Levi's umbilical cord stump fell off. I can't believe it happened so fast - Kaylee's took 3 weeks. Levi doesn't really fit too well
already in his newborn clothes -0-3 mo fit much better. I've spent his first week putting all my fav nb clothes on him quick. Also I think in baby caps he'd wear a 3-6 mo size. I can't believe how big my baby is...that's a real question in my mind after this birth. How can I have a 7 lb 9oz baby girl and then 2 1/2 years later have a 9lb13oz baby boy? That's a 2.5 lb difference!

I asked this question to many different drs in the hospital as they made their rounds. One doctor said that it depends on genetics, he asked how tall I am and how tall Eric is -I told him 5'2" and 6'2" respectively. He said simply, "so your daughter got your height genes and your son got his height genes." simple. I aked drs also how come they didn't know how big my baby was going to be so we couldve done something about it without having me go through all the laboring and pushing I ended up doing to no avail. They said the only reason they'd investigate size is a previous history of large babies (which I didn't have, but now I do!), gestational diabetes, an extremely overdue baby, and ultrasound sizing (which disconcertingly can vary 1 lb in either direction!), or a too large physical measurement (which I always measured perfectly). So you can tell from this post that I wish they would have been more on top of that. All I can say is I'm glad I was in a hospital where ob gyns were available for help. I will never try natural labor (2 times w back labor and going all the way to 10 cm this time turned me away from that for next time, which I hope there will be but do not know) again and I will have an obgyn next time too. All's well that ends well -I'm doing great and Levi is thriving.

Levi's eyes have been more open the last couple days. He sometimes cries very hard because he can't go to sleep, nursing while laying down and swaddling have helped. Also walking works a little -nothing mechanical so far like the swing or vibrating bouncer/bassinet - but I can't do that for long wo feeling it in my back. He's a good boy -it's fun to see him awake more. I read books to him each day and sing to him. Eric sings to him too, though I guess he wouldn't admit to that...

When kaylee first gets home from daycare she loves to see Levi. She spends a lot of time looking at him, talking to him and touching him. She says , "I love you Levi." music to my ears !

Home with baby

It was really great to return home after the hospital stay. The hospital stay was nice though, I was so relieved to finally have our baby and to not be pregnant anymore - I was incredibly uncomfortable. Now I can bend over, slide off chairs easily and take a short walk. I still have numbness in my right ball of my foot and toes, they say related to nerve pressure possibly is the cause and if it lasts longer than three weeks they'll look into it more. That makes walking a bit difficult - now I sort of know how Eric feels every day.

Kaylee has responded very well to her brother. She's very excited to ride in the car next to him, exclaiming that she will ride with him and he has his own carseat. She tells us if he's sleeping or awake -we try to give her little jobs like that to keep her involved. I bathed him in his bathtub while she took hers -she barely played she was so interested. She likes to sit right next to him whenever possible. She tells him "it's ok Levi." in a very soothing voice when he cries. She pats his hand and strokes the side of his head gently. She's been a bit frustrated that I haven't been doing bedtime routine with her. I read her a couple stories as I'm able and then Eric finishes putting her to bed. She cries for me for 5-10minutes. We still make time for art each day together, eat dinners all together ( and now I have time to prepare them -yay for maternity leave and a sleepy baby this time around!) and I try to make sure to listen to her and include her. Erics been working on more insistence that she try more food on her plate, he wants us not to have to make special toddler menu items at each meal. We'll see how it goes, he got her to eat 2carrots yesterday before she gets more noodles.

I do wish we had her potty trained. It's been hard changing two kids especially with the volume of diapers levi's been using. But I'm glad he's already fitting into his xs cloth diapers then it's not such a waste and not as expensive.

Levi continues to be a sleepy,easy baby and a very good nurser. He's already lifting his own head a bit and exercises during tummy time. He's very strong and committed while nursing -it's great. Today Levi has some matter in his left eye. I called the nurse line about it and a dr called me back sa yin it's normal and common due to a clogged milk duct. Kaylee had that too but it only led to a watery eye so...we're supposed to watch for redness or swelling.

Eric said to kaylee that almost all babies do is eat, sleep and poop. Kaylee said "that sounds like fun!"

(p.s. We got an iPad which is awesomely easy to use while caring for a baby sleeping in your lap, but it's the reason my typing is not so good hopefully I'll improve soon!) everybody take care it's a beautiful day today!

Baby Levi born!

Well telling levi's birth story could take awhile...on sat night/Sunday am I started real contractions . I had been having what they call false contractions all week. I knew these were real because they continued when I'd stand up. So we took Kaylee to my parents and around midnight they told us we should come in. When we arrived I was checked at 5cm that's halfway and I was really excited. By 5am I was 10cm which is considered complete and ready to push, I had done all that naturally and I was that woman screaming in the next room you wish you could shut up. They had me try to push but we were all troubled that I wasn't having the appropriate urge to push. They examined me for his positioning to try to figure out the problem...he turned out to be face-up and at a slight angle. At the same time my back labor pains intensified and contractions got so close there was almost no rest in between. It hurt so bad I was saying 'somebody help, ,somebody get me out of here, I then said ,somebody get the anesthesiologist in here!' I shockingly even said I either want epidural or a c-section right now!'he's

A whole painful hellish hour passed with my only relief being Eric,s counter pressure on my back. I had been pushing for two hours at 10cm with no results, in all sorts of painful positions to try to turn baby. They also tried rather often to turn him manually. So I finally got the epi and we rested but I was still tense and couldn't sleep. The labor nurse began to try to rotate him again and she believed that she was maki g progress. So she had me start to push again. She said he was at a lower position. Now I did want to push and pushed with all my might for 2hours. They could see his headful of hair. But to me I was getting too exhausted to continue. They had mentioned the head ob on staff had expertise with forceps and I said 'bring her in!' she brought all these students and residents with her. She pulled as I pushed with four tries each time with a little shake 'no' of her head. Meanwhile all the rest of the room was yelling 'go Jenny go you can do it we see him!'

She then reported the bad news that c-section was our next only option. I cried I was so scared. But the surgery turned out to be the easiest thing I'd done that day.when Levi came out someone in the room exclaimed that he was a 10lb baby!I couldn't believe my ears!

Turns out he is 9lb13 oz and 21.25in long. He has dark black hair already smiles and tries to hold his head on his own. He's really cute and already showing us his sweet demeanor -when he does cry which isnt often it doesn't take much work to soothe him. He has taken to nursing like a champ -he's already strong and determined. The pees dr said that usually it takes about 5-6 days for infants after loosing initially after birth, to start to gain again. Today he started to gain again a couple days earlier than most. So he will maintain his heavyweight title for a bit here at least.:) we are already in love with our sweet little boy, kaylee is absolutely taken with him. She loves to wrap and unwrap his blankets. She,s learning to be gentle with his head and my stomach. She looks forward to seeing him but calls him a she fairly often. She likes to offer him his bear and bring him his nukie. She loves to say his name and look at his tiny fingers and toes.