Sleep? What's that?!

I'm tired.  Check that, I'm exhausted, dog-tired, flagging, tuckered-out, worn out, and every other imaginable synonym for tired.  (Yes, I looked up tired in the thesaurus.)

Having a newborn waking up for night feedings while still trying to keep up with a 3 year old and 2 year old during the day along with all the rest of the household chores is starting to take a toll.  You never realize how much you are taking on until its too late.  I took on having and raising 3 young children while trying to keep my house looking halfway decent.

What is this mysterious thing called sleep that is constantly alluding Andrew and myself.  If we were just dealing with night feedings with Sawyer, it wouldn't be too bad.  Unfortunately, Cullen decided to start teething his upper molars and is waking up in the middle of the night.  I can't just have a child I can cuddle a little and put right back to bed.  Oh no, I have the child who hates teething with a passion and lets his parents undoubtedly know it.  Case in point, I found Cullen crying on the couch last night around midnight.  We are dealing with Cullen waking us up along with Sawyer's feedings.  It may not sound like a lot, but if you've ever gone through something similar to it, you know how exhausting it becomes after awhile.

I'm hoping God will have mercy on us and let Cullen's teeth break through in the very near future.  And with that, he'll start sleeping through the night again.  We've been going like this for awhile now, as in since Sawyer was born.  Andrew and I have started living off coffee and sheer determination things will get better.  It's the only thing that could possibly keep us motivated.  And coffee is the greatest discovery ever!  (Especially Harry and David coffee)

I'm tired, and I know I look tired.  Do me a favor, just lie and say I look great.  A little white lie never hurt me when I need it most.

If this post makes no sense, now you know why.  I need sleep!  On a good note, I did yoga yesterday to help get back in shape.  Small steps!

And he's just another random picture of Sawyer.

Confession Time

I totally hid my kids' Halloween candy from them and am still eating it.

It's not completely as bad as it sounds.  I was giving them a piece of candy if they finished all of their lunch and dinner.  Then a few days after Halloween, I went into labor and had Sawyer.  After being in the hospital for a couple of days recovering, then bringing home a newborn and adjusting, I completely forgot about the kids' Halloween candy.

About a week ago, I was going to get the boys' lunch boxes off the top of the refrigerator when the bag of Halloween candy fell off and nearly hit me in the head.  I was more surprised than anything.  I had completely forgotten I had put it up there so the boys wouldn't constantly go in the pantry and pull stuff out.  I just started pulling a couple of pieces out a day and munching on them, not really thinking about it.  Andrew saw me last week pull the bag down, rifle through it, and pull a piece out.  He said, "So that's where you've been hiding the candy.  I was wondering where it went."  He then proceeded to have a piece to two a day too.

I hadn't realized until Andrew said something; I really had been hiding the candy even if subconsciously.  I used to only eat two pieces of candy a day when I was a kid in order to stretch it out.  I was never one to dive in and eat it all in a short period of time.  I wanted to savor what I got for an extended about of time.  I guess I decided to do the same thing with my kids' candy even if I accidentally left them out of my plan.

I can say I have started sharing some with them over the past couple of days.  Seeing as they were the ones who walked around the neighborhood to collect it, they do deserve it.  Plus, Jackson caught me eating candy, so I felt he deserved to have a piece.  I did feel a twinge of guilt when I realized I was hording their Halloween candy for myself.  But trust me, the guilt didn't last long, and I'm still eating the candy.

Whack a Head

Andrew was looking for a bouncy ball for Cullen in one of the kitchen drawers.  Because we have so much junk in a couple of our drawers, its amazing what we find when looking for something else.  Andrew happened to find the baby sunglasses we used when we took Cullen to the pool the summer before last.

Seeing the sunglasses, Andrew put them on Cullen, who by the way was super excited to have the sunglasses on.

I was feeding Sawyer in the living room while this was all going on in the kitchen.  Andrew tells Cullen to go show Mommy.  I hear Cullen start running, then hear a really loud whack reverberated up against the kitchen cabinet.  The loud whack was soon followed by a child crying.

As soon as I heard it, I knew exactly what happened.  Cullen, excited and running to show me his sunglasses, ran straight into a kitchen cabinet head first.  Not only did he run into a cabinet, Andrew witnessed him running straight into the knob of the kitchen cabinet.

Of course being the good parents that we are, we are busting up laughing.  Andrew said, "He had a good foot and half clearance to go around the cabinet, but he ran straight into it!"

The funniest part is Cullen can see just fine with the sunglasses on.  We asked him to go pick up a small toy on the other side of the room to test this theory, and he did it.  So my son can see a small toy 10 feet away, but a large kitchen cabinet with knob that has been stationary from the day he was born, he runs right into!

Memorable Thanksgivings

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, a time to be thankful for all we have.  And in my opinion, it was the kickoff to the holiday seasons.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, ours was pretty low key.  I made jamabalaya Wednesday and let it soak up all the extra flavor over night.  Andrew barbequed our turkey on the grill, and it turned out to be excellent and easy.  We might be doing that more often for the holidays.  I made homemade mac and cheese, but it was fancy with three cheeses and baked.  I also made homemade apple pie Thursday morning.  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning and took the boys bike riding in the afternoon.  Nothing too spectacular happened which is exactly the way I like it.

Andrew and I have also decided the holiday season was way more fun when we were kids.  We didn't have to worry about stuff like cooking, cleaning, traditions, taking care of children, and generally the huge stresses that holidays bring.

We started talking about memorable Thanksgivings we had as kids.  I'll share two of my more memorable Thanksgivings.

The first was when I woke up Thanksgiving morning to a white Thanksgiving.  We lived in Maryland, and it snowed 4-6 inches the night before and the entire area was completely covered in snow.  It was my own Winter Wonderland.  I remember looking out the window of my bedroom on the second floor to see the completely undisturbed snow and remembering how beautiful it looked.  I can to this day bring up that picture in my mind at any time.  I must have taken a mental picture that day and remember every single detail to how big the trees were in the front yard to how the branches were covered in snow, and seeing the blanket of snow over our cul de sac and all the driveways.  Gorgeous and peaceful are the best words to describe it.

My second most memborable is when we had my Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, and Granny up from Florida for Thanksgiving.  My brother and cousin had the wonderful idea of putting on a Thanksgiving play.  Unfortunately, it was immortalized on video and we have yet to be able to live it down.  Especially, my brother who stole one of my five lines in the play.  Then my Granny fell asleep in the house while we were all outside riding bikes and the turkey was cooking.  I think it was the fire alarm that had at least my mom or dad running in the house to find out the oven was smoking and had almost caught on fire.  Granny didn't notice and the alarm didn't wake her up, so we almost burned down the house that Thanksgiving.  Then there was the Thanksgiving song my Uncle decided to sing at the dinner table.  "Happy Thanksgiving to Us!" is now officially immortalized on video as well including my cousin almost hitting him with a turkey leg for continuing to sing it and make my brother laugh.  Ah! Family!  Gotta love 'em!  And that's just a small branch on my huge tree of extended family!

Those will always be two Thanksgivings I will remember.  I'm hoping my boys will have a couple of memorable Thanksgivings like I did.  And hopefully none of them will entail almost burning the house down.

Dressed and Ready for Bed (kinda)

Last week, we were all getting ready for bed after bath time.  Andrew was doing something in the kitchen, so I was getting the boys dressed for bed.  I was in Cullen's room putting his diaper and pajamas on when I shouted to Jackson to pick out a pair of underwear.

I go about continuing to wrestle Cullen down on the floor in order to get him dressed.  Next thing I know Jackson walks in the room and announces he dressed and ready for bed.  I'm elated!  He got himself dressed and ready for bed completely by himself.  Yes, I think, progress!

Then I turn around and see how he's dressed.  He has his fleece winter hat and gloves on.  That's it.  Completely buck naked, but his hands and head will be warm.

Right then, Andrew walks into Cullen's room and sees this as well.  We just both bust up laughing.  Andrew asked if he picked out his outfit, and Jackson proudly says, "Yes!"  It was too funny of a sight not to laugh especially when we've had lack of sleep from bringing Sawyer home.

It seems like not matter what, at least one of our children will provide comic relief in our lives.  I'd rather laugh than cry any day!

Alone with 3!

Yesterday was my first day alone with all three boys.  Luckily, I had a slight reprieve because Jackson and Cullen had preschool in the morning.

Getting out of the house was another matter all together.  I got up early which didn't seem to make a difference at all.  I still never would have gotten Jackson and Cullen fed, dressed, cleaned up, and overall looking presentable and gotten lunches ready if not for Andrew going into work late.  I decided I need to readjust my routine on preschool mornings with the boys.  Adding Sawyer's morning feeding, diaper change, and wake time threw a major kink into the normal morning routine.  I'll get it figured out eventually.  It just might take awhile.

After finally getting the boys off to school (on time too!), Sawyer and I went to the grocery store.  I am a complete klutz especially when I'm tired.  I was almost done shopping when I ran right into another person's cart while walking through the store.  Luckily, the person was not anywhere around and minimal people actually saw it.  I decided then and there I must be more tired then I thought.  I finished up my shopping quickly and headed out the store.

The afternoon went surprisingly smooth.  We played, ate snack, and the kids generally were well behaved.  Sawyer was wide awake for the majority of the afternoon.  I don't blame him.  After being almost trampled and hit with several toys, I would be on the lookout too.

Now onto several more days and years raising three boys.  I'm hoping to survive it!

Pictures of Sawyer



For some reason, my blog site would let me load pictures correctly for a few days.  They got all twisted around with not way to rotate them back.  I'm not sure what got fixed because all that matters is it got fixed.  Here are some pictures of all the boys.

 

 

All of our sons

Although Jackson may not look happy, he loves holding Sawyer.

Breakfast the other day at the house.

Sawyer right after his first bath. His hair is standing staight up and still is. Looks like he inherited Andrew's hair.

Adjusting to a New Baby

If you've ever brought a new baby home, you are well aware of the adjustment period the entire household goes through.  Our household is no different.  Andrew and I are trying to keep Jackson and Cullen's schedule as normal as possible while still taking care of Sawyer.

Jackson has been great with Sawyer.  He loves sitting with him on the floor and sharing his toys.  He knows to be gentle.  Its nice because when Cullen was born Jackson could have cared less.  Its good to see the evidence he has grown up some.

Cullen, on the other hand, is a typical two year old.  He constantly calls Sawyer 'the baby' and always tells me where the baby is.  Unfortunately, he's also given me a run for my money the past few days.  I found him twice in the crib with Sawyer after he had crawled in.  I about had a heart attack.  I walked away from Cullen for 30 seconds which was all it took for him to run into the bedroom and climb into the crib.  And lifting Cullen out of the crib just four days postpartum takes a lot more effort than you can imagine.  Cullen also likes to get up close and personal with Sawyer, and we keep reminding him to be gentle and no poking!

Life as we know is constantly changing, and we are trying to just go with the flow.

 

 

I'm trying to post a picture of Sawyer close up, but for some reason its not downloading properly.  I'll keep trying.

Touch a Truck and Sawyer was Born!

We had a lot going on this weekend if you couldn't have guessed from the title of this post. Saturday morning, Andrew and I took the boys to Touch a Truck.  Touch a Truck is a special event put on by the City where a bunch of trucks are out for kids to climb into the trucks, honk horns, and generally have fun.  Jackson and Cullen had blast.  They were able to climb into just about all the trucks.  It was definitely a hit.

Just one of many I have of Jackson and Cullen around the trucks.

We got home around lunch time, and I wasn't feeling great.  I was uncomfortable and just wanted to sit down and rest.  After sitting and resting for awhile, I started noticing I was having irregular contractions.  I just chalked it up to Braxton Hicks.  After about an hour, my contractions got more regular and closer together.  Around 2pm, I called my friend Jessica to see if she would be available to watch the boys in case I had to go to the hospital.  I knew I was going labor.  Luckily, Jess said she could watch the kids and just to let her know.

About an hour later, my contractions were coming consistently 3-4 minutes apart.  Andrew and I knew I needed to go to the hospital.  I finished packing up my bag (and yet I still forgot things, so typical) and Jessica came over.  Andrew and I were off to the hospital about 3:30pm.  I was observed for about an hour before I was officially admitted.

After being admitted, I had to wait to get my epidural because the nurses wanted to pump me full of an IV bag worth of fluids first.  This was after it took three attempts to get an IV line in me (I now have a series of bruises to attest to the previous attempts).

I finally received my epidural about 7pm.  Unfortunately, I had a reaction to the epidural this time around.  My blood pressure plummeted, got the shakes, and my fingers went numb due to my low blood pressure.  Although completely within the normal range of reactions for an epidural, it was the first time I had a reaction.  I was told it was because the anesthesiologist must have pumped me full a good dose of medicine.  I also learned later I was dehydrated which didn't help with my low blood pressure.

After I was stabilized, the nurses checked me.  I was 5cm, and they decided to break my water.  This was about 9:25pm.  From here, everything flew by.  I was fully dilated a little after 10pm.  I was pushing around 10:15 or 10:20pm.  The nurses asked how long it had taken to push out my other two kids.  With Jackson, it took 40 minutes.  With Cullen, it took 10 seconds or 1 push.

I only remember pushing about 5 or 6 times.  The nurses were trying to find my doctor and telling me not to push anymore.  I had two saying just breathe through, don't push.  I answered, "I'm not pushing. I promise."  Apparently, Sawyer didn't care if the doctor was there and I wasn't pushing.  He was going to come out regardless.  I was told by Andrew, by the time my doctor came in, Sawyer's head was completely out.  I didn't even have to push again.  My doctor manipulated his shoulders out.

Our newest little baby boy, Sawyer Matthew Ingalls, was born Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 10:32pm.  He weighed 6lbs 10oz and 19 inches long.

I was discharged from the hospital Monday morning, and we have been adjusting to our newest addition.  I'm sure I'll be posting on all our nuances in the near future.  For now here are some more pictures.

Andrew feeding Sawyer on Sunday.

 

Jackson insisted on holding Sawyer at the hospital.

Both boys are fascinated with their baby brother.

 

Halloween

It's November!  Only 20 more days until my due date.  Yea!

Yesterday was, obviously, Halloween.  The boys both had parties in their respective classes at preschool, then went trick or treating at night.  Andrew took the boys trick or treating while I stayed home to pass at candy.

Is one parent going with the kids and the other staying home to pass out candy a foreign concept to anyone but us?  Seriously, I couldn't tell you how many times I saw both parents out with their kids.  Andrew even said a bunch of houses weren't passing out candy because both parents were gone with their kids.  That is how it always was when I was a kid.  My dad would take my brother and I trick or treating and mom would stay home.  And what is up with taking kids that can't walk yet or are still on a bottle trick or treating?  I understand dressing them up in costumes, but it's not like the kids are going to be eating the candy they get (yes, I'm on to you people who think they are so slick).  We didn't let either boy start trick or treating until they were 2.  Maybe this is my foreign concept of parenting.

Let me get off my bandwagon, and just get to the pictures.

Cullen enjoying his Hi-C and cupcake at preschool.

Jackson playing a game at his preschool party.

About to get started trick or treating with Dad!