i hate thinking of blog titles.

I have been avoiding posting a blog because I have so many little things to write about. None of them important enough for a post of their own, but put together into one would make it so long no one would read it! So here are a few pictures and little updates on the kiddos to go with them.

Cohen loves bath time. It honestly is probably his favorite time of day. He is still sleeping good at night. He can go 6-9 hours at night between feedings. I guess my love of sleep must get passed onto my boys! I can hardly believe he is already a month old!


Cohen seems to think his big brother is pretty cool already. This morning they spent some quality brother time. I wish the picture was clearer because Cohen's smile was so cute.


Judah seems like such a big boy now that we have little Cohen. His newest words are cheese, ooh-ooh ah-ah (a monkey), oink-oink, neigh, and ribbit. He is good at the animal noises! He can also now point out his knee and his bum! :) Look at all the new teeth he has!


I am sure my kids will have feelings of hate for me at some point because of all the goofy hats I make them wear. Maybe they will just be thankful that I enjoyed taking pictures of them. :)

our christmas

Opening stockings on Christmas Eve.

Cohen in the stocking. We have similar pictures of Judah in the stocking from last year!


Judah got some "choo-choo" underwear in his stocking. We're not quite ready for big boy underwear yet, but it is fun to wear over a diaper!

Christmas morning smiles.

Playing in the snow with grandma.


Christmas was good this year. We all got more than we could ever need! A few minutes ago Justin said that Christmas is tiring with 2 boys. I agree. But really what isn't tiring with 2 boys these days? :)

my matching big boys

dang my kids are cute! :)

cohen has chosen his one and only stuffed creature pal. thanks julia!


this one reminds me of "newsies".


this one is the ever famous "Blue Steel".
cohen seems to have mastered this look in his early weeks!

bumps and bruises

This past week Judah has:
fallen from standing on the arm of the couch
fallen down the stairs at my grandparents (it's only 1 stair)
he has a mystery bruise on his rib
and another mystery bruise on his forehead (different from the one he got falling down the stairs)

I thought I had longer before I had to deal with all the bumps. I know it is part of the package of having a boy...but I'm not ready!


3 week old boy!

Today on the way home from the store Cohen was crying (he doesn't appreciate car rides yet) and Judah looked over at him and said, "no, no, no!". I like my boys. :)

Firsts

We had some "firsts" over the last few days.

First day just me and the 2 boys.
First trip to the grocery store with both boys.
First "cooing" noises from Cohen.
First cloth diaper for Cohen. (Sara thank you for the covers!)
First bath for Cohen.

Judah is having a tough time sleeping through the night. It's frustrating. During the day he also gets all (he has 5 or 6) his Larry's and his lovey out of his crib and carries them around. I think he is trying to comfort himself. :( Makes me sad. Big changes for him...guess this is how he is dealing with it.

Cohen is doing great. He is sleeping great at night. Justin feeds him before he comes to bed and then Cohen sleeps in bed with us until he wakes up to eat at 2 or 3, then he goes to sleep in his bassinet (lots of patting and head rubbing to get him to sleep in there!). Then he sleeps until 5 or 6 and comes back into bed with me and sleeps until 7 or 8, when he eats again. So really I am only getting up to feed him once a night.

I got to go to the gym tonight and walk on the treadmill. It was nice.

happy 2 weeks

I can't believe Cohen is 2 weeks old, it really has gone by fast. Justin went back to work yesterday. His mom is here with us right now, and I am glad! I am still adjusting to having 2 kids to take care of!

Judah is doing really well. He loves to give Cohen kisses on the head, even without us asking him to he will sometimes walk over and give him a kiss. He is adjusting better than I could have ever hoped. I think it will be good for him once it is just me and the boys at home so we can get into some type of "normalcy". But for now he is having fun being spoiled by both grandmas and dad. Last night bedtime was pretty rough. Justin and his mom were both at youth church, so it was just me and the boys. Judah would not go to sleep. He cried and cried. I usually don't let him cry (we never did the whole cry it out thing), but I knew he was just tired. I let him cry for 10 minutes at a time and then would go get him and calm him back down and then put him back to bed. He got so angry at me the last time I went and got him out of bed that he kept trying to hit me. He NEVER acts like that. It was really frustrating to me because there was nothing I could do for him. Thankfully Grandma Cindy got back from youth church followed shortly by Justin, and they took over with him. I think he eventually got to bed around 9. It was very unusual behavior for him. Too much excitement lately maybe? He is still coughing, so maybe he wasn't feeling well? I don't know.

Cohen is such a easy baby! I guess we lucked out again. I was a little worried because Judah was so easy and who gets lucky enough to have 2 easy babies? He is finally sleeping a longer stretch at night, usually at least one 4 hour stretch and then maybe another 3-4 hour stretch. During the day he still eats every 2 hours...I am thankful he didn't keep up the every 2 hours at night! We are doing a combination of breastfeeding and formula feeding. It seems to be working great for all of us. He is sleeping in his bassinet. I still have him right next to the bed in it. With Judah the bassinet was right next to the bed for 1 week, then it moved a few feet so it was next to the wall for a week, then it moved to the foot of the bed for a week, then he moved to his own room. I am definitely not ready for Cohen to make the move to his own room...or out of my arms reach yet! I really just want him in bed with me, but that puts Justin on the couch, and I definitely don't want a child that will only sleep with us. But I just want to keep him close to me for now. I'm settling for the bassinet. I think we all sleep better that way anyways!

I am finally beginning to feel like "myself" again. The first few weeks with a new baby are just crazy and overwhelming. I think as moms we go into some kind of survival mode. I don't know what I did the past 2 weeks besides take care of my kids. I definitely haven't been good about blogging, e-mailing, or keeping in touch with friends. (sorry guys...I'm hoping to be better about all of those things) It is all just a blur to me. Last night I got a good nights sleep. Justin fed Cohen before he went to bed, so I just had to get up to feed him at 3, then he ate again at 6 and 8 and we slept until 10. It's amazing what a little sleep will do for a person! :)






Yep, thats a poop face. :)

Our "big" boy!

christmas cookies

Christmas cookies and a sleepy boy! :)

crazy talk

Had to share this one. :)

Cohen refused to sleep in the bassinet, so he has been sleeping with me. This put Justin on the couch. Tonight we decided it was time for Justin to come back to bed and for Cohen to sleep in his bassinet. After both of us trying to get him to sleep on his own, Justin gave up and went to the couch again. I decided to give it one last try. I had noticed that when Cohen was sleeping in bed with me he was more on his side than his back, so decided to see if he would sleep on his side in the bassinet. Sure enough, right to sleep he went and has been sleeping ever since. (Does anyone have any good info on the safety of side sleeping? I found a lot of articles online that said back or side sleeping is best. But I also found one that said side sleeping isn't recommended anymore because they could roll onto their tummies. Opinions anyone???)
So I went to tell Justin he could come to bed. And we had this conversation:

Me: You can come to bed now, Cohen is sleeping in his bassinet.
Justin: What?
Me: I repeat what I said before.
Justin: Where is he?
Me: In his bassinet.
Justin: I know, but where is he?
Me: I just told you, in his bassinet.
Justin: (in a stern voice) Kristi. I understand that. But where is he? You aren't listening to my question.
Me: Ummm...okay. He's in the bassinet, next to the bed.
Justin: But where is he?
Me: You're not making any sense, I'm going back to bed. Are you just going to stay here?
Justin: I guess so.

I know in the morning it will be my fault because I didn't wake him up. :) It really makes me smile when we have conversations like that.


At least I get the whole bed to myself tonight!

o christmas tree

We went and got our christmas tree this afternoon at Grandma Cindy's property. I think Judah was more interested in the land clearing that was going on!

a good day

Last night Judah had a rough evening. I hadn't spent much time with him so when I finally spent a little time with him I realized he wasn't feeling well. He had been a bit more "high maintenance" lately but I thought it was just because of all the changes going on. So it was off to the doctor for Judah and I this morning. Sinus infection for the little boy and his first prescription to be filled, it's a big day for him! :)

I have to say I really enjoyed taking him to the doctor. I know that sounds strange, but it was the first me and him time we've had. I'm hoping to get more little dates (hopefully not to the doctors!) with him in the next few weeks when Justin is home to watch Cohen.

Justin went to help Ryan push his car. (Read Ryan's blog for a explanation.) So I am now home with both boys for the first time ever! And you might ask how I am writing a blog??? Because I have the 2 best boys ever! :) Judah is taking a nap and Cohen is hanging out in the bouncy chair. I even got some laundry and other cleaning done! I've been feeling very overwhelmed with the idea of Justin going back to work and leaving me alone with them. Today gives me hope that I can do it.

Pictures

I know that Justin posted some of these on his blog, but I had to be a proud mom too!

Cohen's Story

I like reading about other peoples births, so I thought I would share mine. If birth stories aren't for you...go ahead and give this post a skip. :)

On Tuesday night around 7:30 I was sitting in the t.v. room watching some stupid nightly gossip show. We never watch t.v. at that time, so maybe this should have been the first indicator that something was up! I felt a little trickle of fluid, people always say they feel like they peed themselves a little and I was confident I hadn't peed myself, but wasn't sure that it was my water breaking. I think I was a little in denial about it, I was so sure that I was never going to go into labor. I had pretty much accepted that I was going to be induced. I had a couple of small contractions after that and was leaking fluid with each contraction, so figured this must be the real thing. Justin called my mom so she could head over to watch Judah, we finished packing bags and I got a quick shower.

We got to the hospital around 9ish and we got checked in. The nurse checked to see how dilated I was and my water broke completely while she was checking. (think huge gush!) There was meconium in my water which means that Cohen had already pooed in there. I was a little worried about this, but the nurse said it isn't "as big" of a deal for a full term baby. It is more common for them to poo because their body is starting to work in all the ways it is supposed to. The concern is when they are born they shouldn't take a big breath of air and breathe in the meconium that is in their nose and mouth.

I was dilated to a 3-4 at that point which I was thrilled about, I was only a 1 at my dr. appointment. Since I went into labor naturally I was really hoping to avoid pitosin, my contractions started up on their own and I was dilating from them, so I was able to avoid it. I was really excited about that.

My first blood pressure reading was pretty high, 150 over something. I never have blood pressure issues, so they were concerned about it. They started an i.v. at that point, I'm not really sure why...I think the nurse said as a precaution?

I labored until around 1 (i think) when my contractions started to get really uncomfortable. I decided to ask for my intrathecal. It was such a different experience from my first birth where I was induced. The pitosin the first time made the contractions really strong and really close together. And that had me begging for the intrathecal. This time the contractions were better spaced out so I could talk myself out of wanting the intrathecal in between each one. But I finally decided I was uncomfortable and it was only going to get worse so I asked for it. She checked to see how far dilated I was and I was up to a 6-7.

I got my intrathecal sometime after that. 2ish maybe? It provided some relief, but by that time he was starting to really descend, and intrathecals only block pain from the contractions in the uterus. I could still feel a lot of pressure during the contractions, but it did take the edge off of it and made me a lot more comfortable in between the contractions.

My blood pressure readings were still high, so they decided I needed to have magnesium sulfate. I was less than thrilled about this. I had read of people having really bad side effects to it and I really didn't want to deal with any of that. I didn't have any side effects until after I had given birth, but I'll share more on that later. I'm glad they decided to error on the safe side, but I wish I hadn't needed it.

I started to feel a lot of pressure not too long after that and she checked me and I was complete. I had told her I pushed for a long time with Judah (2 1/2 hours) but I never felt the urge to push, I was only pushing because I was told to. I was hoping to avoid doing that this time and letting him descend as low as possible before pushing. Sometime around 3 they called Dr. Gold to come on over. (When I heard he was the one on call I wasn't sure how to feel about it. I hadn't really liked the other doctor at the clinic, but wasn't sure how I would feel about a male delivering the baby. I had always thought it would be really awkward. It turned out to be just fine.)

I started pushing not long after 3:00. I would push through some contractions and for a couple of them I didn't want to push and told them I wasn't going to push. The nurse and Dr. Gold were very accommodating to this. Dr. Gold stood outside the door for most of it, he only came in when his head was coming out. It really put me at ease to be able to push when I wanted and to not feel the pressure of hurrying to get him out.

Cohen was born at 4 a.m. exactly. Once I had his head out they had me stop pushing. (I am pretty sure I was still pushing...not sure I had any control over my body at that point!) I knew they were going to do this because they needed to suction his nose and mouth really good because of the meconium. What we didn't know is that he had his cord wrapped around his neck 3 times! He was also born with his hand up by his head. I was really impressed because Dr. Gold still let Justin cut the cord. The nurses later said that most doctors would not have let anyone else cut the cord at that point. After the cord was cut the rest of Cohen was born. Justin told me to look down and see him because he was all the way out. It was kinda scary because he was really blue and not crying. I remember asking why he wasn't crying. They took him away (not really away, but over to the warmer) and got him crying. It was a relief to hear. We got to hold him for a minute after that, but then they took him to the nursery to make sure everything was okay. Everything was completely fine with him, he hasn't had any problems from the meconium or from having his cord around his neck.

I had to stay on the magnesium sulfate for 24 hours after I gave birth. I HATED it. It meant I had to stay hooked up to a i.v. for that whole time, which is really annoying! Plus it made me sick the whole time I was on it. It really put a damper on our hospital stay. We didn't call people to come and see Cohen because I was throwing up the whole time. I really enjoyed people coming to see us last time, and feel like we didn't get to experience that as much this time. A few people did come see us late afternoon/evening, but nowhere near what we had last time.

I felt great after the birth and the recovery has been so much easier this time. I think it has a lot to do with the amount of time I was pushing and following my bodies cues for when to push. I am really thankful that I had a nurse and doctor that were supportive of that because I know a lot of people just want to hurry you along.

We got to come home on thursday, and it has been really nice being home. Cohen is doing great. He seems to be a laid back and easy baby just like Judah was. Hope it continues! I think Judah is adjusting pretty well. I haven't got much time with him because I am so consumed by Cohen. I think that has been harder on me than it has been on him. I'm thankful that Justin gets 2 weeks off, there is no way I can make it through these first few weeks on my own!





Justin has been posting a bunch of blogs, some of them have picture of the boys and talk about things I would have posted on. It took me several tries to get this one done...so you should be sure to read his, I may not be consistent about blogging for a bit. :)


I stepped on the scale today and I've lost 25 pounds already!!!