Where is the time going?!

Time just seems to be flying by! I can't believe Kayleigh will be 2 months old next Wednesday and Ian will turn 3 a week from Sunday!!! I'm trying to cherish every smile and coo from my baby girl and wonder how much Ian is going to change in the upcoming year!

Age 2-3 has been a crazy year with lots of milestones (and tantrums) for Ian. Here is a breakdown of the life of Ian this last year.

We conquered potty training completely in April, he FINALLY counts correctly from 1-10 (no more 1,2,4!), he has just recently been writing a few letters from the alphabet ("I", "T", "A", "V" and "C") and he is awesome at coloring in the lines and drawing things like stick people, spiders, and balloons. His favorite things to do right now are "fix" things like Daddy with random "tools" (For instance, a "crayon" is a screwdriver that he uses to fix the wheels on his quad), PAINTING whatever Mommy will let him paint, singing songs or making up his own and laughing hysterically at himself, pretending to shoot deer with his pretend bow or Nerf gun (Thanks Daddy), and of course playing outdoors whenever possible or playing with friends. His personality is EXTREMELY outgoing (wonder where he gets that from)! We will be at the grocery store and if there is someone within an 8 foot range of us, you will hear, "Hi! What's your name?". If, that person indulges Ian's question they will get a detailed description of what his day has been like, right down to how many bowel movements he may have had... Oh yes, that's always a wonderful moment when the conversation goes from "We bought bananas" to "I had diarrhea this morning". Speaking of conversations, did I mention he is CONSTANTLY talking? Whether he is asking me where the rain comes from or just repeating everything I say in a song, his mouth never closes unless he is asleep. His mind is running a million miles an hour and so is his body! Ian also NEVER sits (or stands) still! Not for more than a minute at a time, I promise. This is what makes him 100% boy! No matter what we are doing, a foot, hand, or head is moving in some way or another. Another joy of parenthood this last few months especially has been dealing with some attitude! I thought back talking started in the pre-teen ages. Oh no, it starts a little before age three. Now, some of this may be due to the fact that he is no longer the only child I give my attention to, but some of it is just his age. I'd love to say I'm the perfect parent with a perfect discipline plan for all of his outbursts, but I'm not... trying to discipline while nursing is always a fun one. There has been a lot of in his room time outs where I let him scream it out and come down when he is fully calm and ready to talk. Not too sure what else to do when I'm immobile and trying my best not to shout at him... Ahhh, well these are my struggles of parenthood and won't go into much more detail here. I love my boy more than words can describe and can't wait to see how God uses his wonderfully strong will and personality for the work of the Kingdom!

Now, granted Kayleigh is only 7 weeks old, but I can totally, TOTALLY, see the differences in her personality versus Ian's. For starters, QUIET... when she is awake and absorbing her surroundings she is SO quiet. I mean, I have forgotten she is still laying on the ottoman after a diaper change 20 minutes later and I come to check on her and she is happily just looking around, completely content! Her volume level is also very quiet! She will be trying to coo at you and you have to not be talking in order to hear her attempts. She is just such a content baby! She never really cries unless she is in pain, REALLY hungry or made about getting dressed after a bath. She gives her little "angry coughs" I like to call them when she is wanting some attention or a not 100% happy. But, if she is in her swing I can let her go and she will either fall asleep or just keep "warning" me until I pick her up. I keep wondering as her personality develops if this is a sign that she will be more shy than her brother. Everything about her at this point is very mellow and I am soaking it in! Ian was the baby you always knew where he was and he wouldn't let you forget it. He needed to be held, rocked or talked to constantly to be content. I never thought of him as a super high maintenance baby until, I had Kayleigh and saw the complete opposite side of the spectrum. :) I am excited to see how God shapes this sweet girl and uses her to reach others.

So far I am loving life as a Mommy of two! It takes a lot more effort and time to get out the door these days, but that's life with kids. Ian and Kayleigh have physicals on the 24th so I will post some growth chart info around the end of the month. Kayleigh weighed 11 1/2 lbs at her 6 week appointment with the midwife! She's my healthy chunky girl! Here is a cute comparison picture of Ian and Kayleigh at the same age!


Kayleigh - 7 weeks old


Ian - 7 weeks 3 days old

Kayleigh's Birth - Nothing Ever Goes As Planned...

Well, Kayleigh is now 5 weeks and 2 days old and I am just getting around to blogging her birth story! It's taking some adjusting to life with 2 kids, so blogging isn't always a priority. It's more of a luxury :)

Where to start....? Well, I thought for sure Kayleigh might be a week early since I had been having contractions since 37 weeks. 2 nights before her due date I was having some good contractions that were growing closer together and I thought maybe it was time! But, after an hour or 2 they got kinda sporadic and went away all together... The same thing happened the day of her due date and the next few days follow. I was getting extremely anxious at this point and wondering when she was going to arrive! (fast forward to the 23rd) I tried to keep myself busy, but we had a small snow storm and I felt cooped up inside the house which made time CRAWL by very slowly. So, I took Ian outside and played in the snow and we went sledding down our street! Yup, 3 days past my due date and I was on a sled with my almost 3 year old :)

About midnight that night I was having the "usual" contractions and they were pretty close together, about 3 1/2 min apart. Now, mind you these contractions don't hurt a bit. They just feel like pressure and I can feel my stomach get harder and harder as the contraction grows, but no pain whatsoever. Victor is saying we should call the midwife at this point because with Ian we headed to the hospital at this point. I keep saying "no, they're probably just going to go away like they always do. Besides, they don't hurt at all. This isn't "it"." Victor finally convinced me we should give her a call. The midwife suggested I take a hot shower and if they stay that close together for another 30 minutes to call her back. They didn't budge, so we called her back and she said she was going to head over. I kept thinking, "Is this really it?? It can't be... It doesn't feel like the labor I had with Ian at all!"

Audrey (my midwife) shows up at 2 am with the birthing assistant. They check my vitals, check Kayleigh's heartbeat and check my cervix. My cervix are at 8cm!!!! What?!?! All those "contractions" sure were REALLY doing something!! (I was 3+ cm at my appointment 5 days prior!)The midwife tells me to rock in a few different positions and do the birthing ball to see if we can get her to drop just a smidge. So, I turn on my hypnobabies and get to work!

Fast forward to 8am.

Same old pressure like contractions sitting at 4 min apart, still 8 cm... We now need to get Ian up and have him head over to his Grandpa's. Victor drops him off and picks up his Mom and grabs everybody coffee. My Mom and Grandma couldn't make it down because of the icy roads...

Fast Forward to 10:30 am.

SAME contractions, I've walked the stairs countless times, done the birthing ball... So the midwife checks my cervix again and they're still at 8 cm. The midwife doesn't want to/couldn't leave me at this point because if my water broke at any point Kayleigh could come within minutes! She asked if I would be comfortable with her breaking my water to bring on some stronger contractions and I said "Yes, go for it!!". I was more than ready for things to move forward!! As soon as she broke my water she had me climb into the tub. Within 15 minutes I could tell the contractions were getting stronger! I was so excited! I was smiling and laughing with Victor as he sat by the tub with me. Within 45 minutes the contractions were VERY strong and I was rocking in the tub and laying flat or doing whatever made me feel best. As hard as the contractions were, I was extremely relaxed in between them. I literally felt like I almost dozed off a few times! (thank you hypnobabies!) Which is funny because the contractions were so intense my hands would shake and my face would get tingly during one. I just took every break as my opportunity to relax as much as possible. I was quite vocal during my contractions :) and I totally didn't care. When in the moment, nothing mattered but getting through that contraction and getting closer to holding my baby.




I was not thinking about how quickly the time was passing, but I was concerned about feeling that "urge to push" that everyone talks about when going with no epidural. I was getting impatient actually and decided I needed to lay on my back in the tub... With the very next contraction I got the slightest pushy feeling. I ignored it because it wasn't very strong or the feeling of pushing that I was expecting. On the next contraction I decided to try a small push and all the sudden my body beared down and contracted with my push! I grunted really loud and thought, "Yes!! This is it!". I tried pushing with the next couple contractions, but kept getting a really sharp pain above my pelvic bone. I told the midwife this and she decided to check me. Apparently my cervix were slid forward and blocking Kayleigh's escape route! She attempted to push them out of the way with my next contraction. That hurt. So she told me to try and not push with the next few contractions to see if they would slide out of the way. I waited out 2 contractions and then the urge to push was too much. I started to push with my next contraction and WOAH I felt her slide down!! Now this was definitely it! With all of the following pushes I could feel her moving down! Talk about a crazy and wonderful feeling! Next thing I know she is crowning and after sitting through 1 contraction I slowly push her head out!

My first thoughts:
Her head is so tiny! Much smaller than Ian's! Peach fuzz hair! I'm done!! That was totally worth it!!

I was totally relaxed and relieved at this point... "ahhh, I'm done!". The midwife tells me to push with the next contraction, which my body was already telling me that. So I push, push, pushing... contraction is over and midwife asks me to push again. No urge, but I did it anyway. She tells me again, "I really need you to push Brittany". I push again. "Brittany, I'm going to have to ask you to climb on the bed and get on all fours and push." I immediately knew she was stuck in some way or another. We had talked about this very thing at one of our first appointments. Oddly enough, I was not panicked in any way and immediately stood up and climbed straight from the tub to the bed. (Yes, with her head between my legs!!) I push as soon as I get on the bed. The midwife is telling me "big push, Brittany. Give me a big push." I push and grunt and push with everything I can muster since I have no contraction at the moment. Then, my baby girl was laid on the bed right next to my legs! She is here!!! Relief.

Now, I'm done. :)It's 1:38 pm.

I talk to my baby girl and the midwife says I can pick her up and put her skin to skin. My precious girl is finally in my arms and she is perfectly healthy! She nursed and laid on me for the first hour at least, it was so great! After that, we got her stats! 8 lbs 11 oz, 21.75 inches, 13 1/2 head circumference. She had super chubby cheeks (courtesy of Mom), LONG legs, LONG toes (also courtesy of me), LONG fingers (me again!) and some thunder thighs!! She was so perfect. We could tell right that day she had a very mellow temperament (unlike her brother). Victor and I fell in love all over again. We are the proud parents of two beautiful children!!

So much for my water birth! But, I always said I never cared about "where" she was born as long as I was doing what helped me or her the most. Obviously I had to switch positions to get her shoulder loose from my pelvic bone. Ian also got "stuck" on my pelvic bone when he was born, but it took much longer to even get his head out!

I loved my home birth and if I had the choice of hospital birth or home birth again, it would be a home birth hands down! The differences between the two, you ask?

-I had no stitches this time, which was WONDERFUL when it came to the healing process! I felt tip top in no time and took no pain meds! I only had 2 stitches with Ian, which was great and I healed pretty quick with him, but having no stitches was even better!
-Feeling when to push vs being told when to push... I pushed for 3 hours with Ian and 11 minutes with Kayleigh. That is self explanatory lol
-Recovering in my own home with no interruptions from 10 different staff members, priceless!! Victor and I both felt way more rested after Kayleigh's birth than with Ian's. I went into labor about the same time too and we actually had less sleep with Kayleigh than we did with Ian.
-The gentle care Kayleigh got from the midwife after she was born vs the crazy rub down and pricks and pokes Ian got from the hospital staff.


Okay, this was way more than I planned on typing up... oh well. This is the story of my baby girl's birth! Hope you enjoyed it!

Come on Kayleigh!

Okay, I'm 38 weeks and 2 days into the pregnancy and let's just say I'm SO ready to deliver this little girl!! Her pregnancy hasn't been that hard, but it's definitely been different and harder than Ian's was. Ian was high the entire pregnancy and most of my labor, Kayleigh on the other hand has been much lower from the get go. She's great at giving my cervix the ol' one, two jab! Because she's so much lower it's much more difficult to get in comfortable positions here at the end of the pregnancy. Sleeping, has honestly not been that bad (minus the bathroom trips twice a night). But, everyday that passes at this point is getting more and more uncomfortable and making me want to deliver more and more! Not to mention I'm in that "butterfinger" stage of pregnancy and I am dropping EVERYTHING! From laundry, keys and trash to a fresh cooked meal straight out of the oven! YES, I dropped an entire dinner last night as I was trying to get it out of the oven... UGH. All I can say is, "Come on Kayleigh! Mommy is ready to meet you!!".

Fall 2010!

I've been such a slacker on updating the blog this summer and fall, I know and I'm sorry! But here are some pictures I took the other day in our neighborhood of Ian and they came out great! He's growing up so fast!

I unfortunately ran out of online storage in my picasa account, so I'll have to get another account to start adding his trick or treat photos.

Fall 2010

It's August already?!

Wow, "Summer" is flying by... I put that in quotations because we have not had much of a Summer up here in Washington. In fact, it rained all afternoon yesterday. Not at all what you would expect in august, this is usually our hottest month of the year.

I can't believe I'm 25 weeks pregnant already! Kayleigh is pretty active, a lot like Ian was. Her dresser and closet is stuffed full of clothes already! It makes me so excited to have her here soon! Ian came up to my belly the other day and shook it and said, "Kayleigh, wake up!". I think I inadvertantly tought him that. He seems pretty excited about the idea of having a little sister, but I'm sure he's going to have a lot of jealousy when she gets here. He's already had a lot of regression and accidents with potty training in the last 2 weeks for some reason. It'll be interesting to see what happens when she gets here!

Victor has been working hard on his days off here at home again. He painted our room and bathroom the other day and yesterday he finished grouting the kitchen countertops and floor! As soon as he gets his tile cutter back, he'll finish the backsplash and grouting it and then the kitchen will be complete! It already looks amazing, he's done a great job on this house! After he does the kitchen he plans to paint Kayleigh's room, finish out the rest of the garage loft and set up the lower living room with his surround sound system! I wish I was of more use, but all I can do is clean really.

Anyways, there's a little update for now! Here's a picture of Ian having fun with me making bubble suds in the tub the other day.

$1.50 Cheescake Factory Slice on 7/29!

This is an "oh so yummy" deal! Head on over HERE and "like" the cheesecake factor on facebook and you'll be able to print a coupon good for $1.50 slice of cheesecake on July 29th! ALSO, in celebration of national cheesecake day on July 30th they will be offering 1/2 off ANY cheesecake slice all day!

$3 off Huggies!

Over HERE there's a coupon good for $3/1 huggies snug & dry diapers 60 count or higher! I'd print it soon! I intend to use mine at walmart this week!