Chaos x 2

Well it's the morning of day 4 of life with two kids.
I have been up since 8:15, it is now 10 and I've only managed a mug of coffee - and that is thanks to Trevor. There are toys and clothes and baby stuff everywhere, the kitchen is a mess, there is clean laundry in the baskets that has been waiting to be put away for a week, and I just realized that I haven't showered in three days. Eew.
Ah life with two kids.
This is so not how we like to live it's actually kind of funny. But with a newborn, and an out-of-sorts-attention-demanding two and a half year old who is the reason for a good portion of the mess and a mom who isn't moving with great pep I guess this is to be expected.
Emotionally I'm doing quite well - caffeine and pain medication are great! I know the choas will improve and although the mess is driving me up the wall it's not irritating me into a crazed, "put her in an institution" state. We'll see how next week goes when Trevor goes back to work full time!

Oh Boy!

February 23 at 12:51 P.M.

Sawyer Henry joined our family.
He weighed 7 pound 5 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long.
He's perfect and healthy and very mellow and we are in love.
I am tired but doing well.
More details to follow.

8 O'Clock And All's Well!

Still pregnant.

I taught Sierra an interesting little trick a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd share with you.

She's always been a fabulous sleeper - straight through the night from about six weeks old and on. On the very rare occasion she woke us up we didn't know what to do with ourselves. She was also not ever an early riser, waking at 8:30 or 9 or even later. Sierra still has a two hour nap every day too. Yeah, as my Oma repeatedly tells me, we're spoiled royally in this department.
These last couple of months she has begun waking up earlier in the morning, between 7 and 8. She knocks very loudly on her door when she's awake to wake us/me up. (Her bedroom door sticks a little when the nob is turned one way and that happens to be the way she turns it so she can't open her door herself) Eight in the morning I am more than okay with, 7 is pushing it on the early side. Especially with my tired, lazy pregnant self. At first we could tell her to wait until it was light outside but with the days getting increasingly longer that ceased to work very quickly.
So here's what I did. I bought a cheap digital clock and showed her that she couldn't knock on her bedroom door in the morning until the first number said 8.
She has done that ever since!
I have such a smart kid.

Everyone thought I was crazy for even thinking up such an idea, who's laughing now?

Update

No baby.
Today is D-Day and I see the doctor this afternoon. We'll see what he says because I have felt like less is happening than two weeks ago!

It's been a rough week for me:
I got a cold on Sunday and it's been plaguing me since then. As if my energy level and emotions weren't suffering enough from my enormous belly!

My husband's 94 year old grandma finally passed away. She'd been declining for years and wanted nothing more than to meet her Saviour and she got her wish on Tuesday. While we are not particularly sad because of her age and all Trevor is very disappointed at the timing. He really, really, really wants to attend the funeral which is on Sunday and 7 hours drive away. With a baby possibly arriving any day, sadly, he won't be able to make the trip.

A dear friend from another city only 2 hours away had her mom (whom we knew as well) pass away late yesterday. That is another funeral we would love to be able to attend but unless this baby comes today and comes smoothly and is a dream baby that won't happen either.

My stubborn daughter refuses to poop in the potty and when I tried to battle it out yesterday she became the whiniest, most miserable little *&^% around. She managed to dirty three Pull-Ups since bed-time last night and then says to me "Mommy like changing poopy diapers." I emphatically deny this. It's totally a head thing for her that we have to carefully work with. She's a thinker and needs time to process things so my mom's suggestion was to take a stack of 10 or so Pull-Ups and explain to her that when they are gone they are gone and she can only have underwear so she'll have to poop in the potty or....it could get messy and ugly and who knows what else but we have to try something.

I literally have NO shirts that fit my round, now-dropped belly. I am down to three pairs of pants two of which are simply comfy, stretchy pants. I was wearing a shirt of Trevor's but it's a hoody and too warm much of the time. Maybe I'll do some more raiding. All in all, I have no desire to go out or see people as a result.

All these things are soooooo frustrating!

I did manage to squeeze in a hair cut two days ago which felt good, and have coffee with a couple of friends so there were definitely good spots to my week.

It's just hard these days.

About Sierra

No baby yet.

Unfortunately.
Technically I still have nine more days until my due date but I would be fine with delivering any minute now. Someone commented to me today - in a kind way - that I look ready to be done with this.
I so am.

Anyway, I thought I'd take these last hours/days of life with just one child to focus on her a little and what she's doing.
Sierra is truly a happy girl and nearly always in a cheery mood. Her pretty little smile is always present and she is the sunshine of my days.



She loves to play and fool around and have a good time. She definitely has a mind of her own and a strong little personality. She loves to help and be a part of everything we do. Not long after she was born Trevor and I both said that we didn't know it was possible to love and enjoy a child as much as we did Sierra - that hasn't changed.

She is also my greatest source of aggravation, but that is pretty much par for the course when it comes to being a parent. When we tell her "no" to something she rarely accepts that as the answer. Her response is "but I want it/to!" or "Yes, yes yes!" One example is that she loves to help "wash" dishes. She actually just plays with measuring cups in the water but I'm okay with that, water is harmless. Since water always ends up everywhere she has taken to participating in this activity in the buff so she doesn't get her clothes wet. Every time she does dishes, without fail, she wants a bath when she's done. Besides the fact that she loves baths, she gets a bit cold when she washes dishes with no clothes on and a bath warms her up, to try and convince her otherwise is a lost cause. I tried once to be firm, and she just looked at me with tears welling up and said "but I put the mat down and got my stool!" (she uses a little stool to get in and out) I gave in.



We can't give in to every whim of hers of course, so there are some battle times that's for sure. It's a matter of picking which battles to fight.
A recent challenge that has developed is that Sierra has decided it's "too hard" to poop in the potty. She will hold it and be completely miserable until she has a Pull-Up on, which has been only a night time thing. She's had trouble with constipation and that might be the reason, or it could be a reaction to the soon-arriving baby, but I don't know how to combat this one. Physically she is fully able to do her business in a toilet but mentally she can't/won't. I don't like the idea of her holding it and not just because she turns into a bear. I'm not sure it's something worth warring over even though she clearly has control by holding it. I suppose we could withhold the Pull-Up completely (she still wets quite heavily at night) but something doesn't sit right for me with that option. At this point I think we'll make it a non-issue for a week or two and provide her with the requested Pull-Up when she has to go. We'll talk to her about it and hopefully she'll decide on her own to use the potty for pooping again. I'm a little discouraged because my goal of having her more-or-less trained by the time baby arrives may not be quite met.

A really amusing thing about Sierra lately is her idea about what she wants to wear. I no longer get to dress her in trendy cute, matching outfits, I'm luck if I can a) get her out of her pj's and b)if the outfit somewhat goes together. The other day she pulled out a purple, somewhat patterned shirt and a pair of pink poke-a-dotted pair of shorts and was going to go to church like that. When she was told that it was way to cold for shorts she promptly when and got some pink leggings and red socks and then put on her heavy pink winter boots. Can we say hilarious?!!!


Trevor did manage to get her into a pair of jeans.

Anyway, I could go on and on. The long and short of things is that we love Sierra-bear (as we affectionately call her) dearly.

The Waiting Game

A mere 16 days away from my official due date. There are times when it feels as though it's an eternity away and other times when I am quite happy with the way things are. Most of the time my sentiments are more along the lines of the first thought.
We are technically ready for the baby. We name a girls name and a boys name after much searching. The room is set up and equipped but unfortunately I still don't have the bedding set because it was on back order, it should arrive next week. My grandma made a nice quilt and I already had a crib sheet so the set is primarily for decoration purposes but it will make the room. The Wayne Gretzky and U2 pictures also need to come off the wall. Not so 'baby' themed eh? I'll post pictures when everything is done - you know, a year or so! Kidding.
I am physically and mentally done with being pregnant. It is awkward and getting painful to move. With a two year old around it's not like I can park myself on the couch and watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy or anything either (I did that as I awaiting Sierra's arrival). I have to give her a bath twice a day (don't ask!) sit on the floor, sit on little chairs, bend over to pick things up repeatedly...and so on. I dread night because I wake up every time I move - at least once an hour - and don't sleep soundly when I do sleep. I know my sleep quantity won't improve with arrival of the baby but the quality should.
Now, grumbling and wretching aside we are excited and anticipate meeting our new little person. The prepping time is over let's get on with things! While I know there will be a major adjustment that takes place our lives will also be enriched at the same time.
Come on baby!