Tulsa State Fair.....and some other stuff.

Well Hello readers!  Fall time has finally arrived on the calendar but I’m still waiting on that Fall weather to catch up with it.  Yes, it’s cooler in the mornings and yes, it’s not 100 degrees outside but I can’t really get excited about the Fall and holiday season until a jacket is needed for the whole day.  This in-between weather makes it hard to pick out work clothes and school clothes.  First I think I’m dressing Evelyn too cool then I think about her during the day and hope she isn’t sweating out on the playground.  I need some consistency mother nature!!

So, I think when we left off Evelyn was just getting ready to start school and I was the panicking mother holding back her tears.  Well, rest assured she is L.O.V.I.N.G school.  Like, can’t wait to get back to school and I am so unbelievably thankful for that.  What a relief to not have that strain and worry on my brain all day and not a day goes by that I don’t thank the Lord for this blessing. I would just be miserable all day if I thought she was having a hard time at school and there was nothing I could do to make it better.  These little blessings mean so much and I don’t want to take them for granted.  Another blessing I don’t want to take for granted…..a baby boy who sleeps through the night….I’m talking 12 hours of sleep.  
 #zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Time has gone by so fast with Oliver! He is 10 months old today AND he has already started walking and pretty much is running now.  He started almost a month ago and all he’s done is picked up some speed.  Evelyn didn’t walk until a week after her first birthday so now I feel like I’ve been robbed of his baby time.  I needed 3 more months of crawling and cuddles and him being a baby.  Now that he can just about keep up with sister that’s exactly what he wants to do.  He only wants me now when he’s getting sleepy and even then he most of the time gets too wiggly to rock him to sleep so I just put him in the crib and he puts himself to sleep.  Which by the way is the oddest thing I have ever seen.  He pretty much slams his face into his mattress and there is nothing I can do to stop it.  I asked the doctor about it and I googled it and what I have found out is that this is kind of a common thing, mostly in boys, that happens for self-soothing to go to sleep.  Weird right? I’m telling you, the first time I saw it on the monitor I didn’t know what to do cause he wasn’t awake and it freaked me out.  So now we just let it happen and are no longer puzzled as to why his nose is so red in the morning.

With Fall among us you know it’s time for the Tulsa State Fair.  We definitely don’t “Fair” the way we used to.  Instead of getting all cute for Saturday night and hoping you run into people you know and staying until it closed we were there on Saturday morning as soon as the gates opened and walked around the buildings looking at all the grown up stuff with 2 strollers leading the way.  And I wouldn’t change it for the world.  Getting to see Evelyn’s face as she rides the rides is priceless and I want to start building these kinds of memories in her head and giving her a childhood to look back on and remember it being awesome.

Sometimes you cry at the fair. 

One giant shoe please! 

My loves! 

Making daddy go through the fun house. 

Riding the bees! This little kid ride went way faster than I expected. My scared face is half real. 

My beautiful butterfly. 

Well, enjoy your week wherever you are and get out and make some memories!!

-April

'Gotta go back, back, back to school again’…..

(and if you didn’t just sing that and know what movie it’s from I don’t think we can be friends anymore)

Holy Pre-K Batman! Well folks, it’s finally here.  The day my momma heart has been thinking about since the day my baby girl was born.  SCHOOL!!!! Oh yes, good ol’ public school is about to enter our lives.  I have to admit I’m not as nervous as I thought I would be with school being one week away.  (Ask me again next Thursday about 8:00 a.m.)  But I can’t say the same for Zach.  His daddy heart can’t even really talk about it.  I think he might be doing the crying next week instead of Evelyn or me.  

It has a cape.  A CAPE!

We’ve never left Evelyn with anyone she doesn’t know besides at dance class and that was for 1 hour a week and we were in the next room.  I have a lot of confidence that she is going to do great and really love school.  I think once we get past the first couple of days MY anxiety will be lowered and we can all get used to our new routine. I went ahead and took the first 2 days of school off because, you know, I won’t be able to focus on anything the whole day.  Not sure what our plans are because Zach is off too.  We might just sit and stare at each other waiting to go pick her up.   I wonder how long we can sit in the parking lot and watch the playground before they kick us out??  I kid, I kid…..

Honestly, I’m ready for this next chapter in our lives.  She can’t be a baby forever and I’m excited to see her mature and be in new environments.  It’ll be good for me too.  I want to be involved as much as I can.  I want Evelyn and Oliver to know that their parents were there and supportive.  Can’t believe I’m about to reference Brett Favre but in his Hall of Fame speech the other night he mentioned about how his parents were there for him and that’s what he remembers and I want my kids to grow up having that feeling knowing they are important.  Whatever they are involved in Zach and I will be there.  Even if it’s in 100 degree weather I will sit myself out in the sun with a big bottle of water and a BIG bottle of sunscreen with a big smile on my face and support them and be there.

From Brett Favre's Hall of Fame speech

Cheers to a new school year for everyone and hugs to all the momma's and daddy’s and anyone who has to let their child go just a little bit and start becoming their own person.  We can do it!!

What’s new with Oliver?  Well, he can no longer be left alone because this boy is a crawling machine. He was going backwards for about a week or so and then one day he just decided he was going to get it out of reverse.  And oh boy is he on the go!  He’s doing really good at balancing on his own for about 5-7 seconds.  I think he might be walking before his first birthday.  We even had to lower the crib because he started pulling himself up.  #babyproofitall

He LOVES his sister!

Sitting big in his highchair.

Just hanging with momma.

He’s not really saying any words yet, just a bunch of babble but in that babble we have heard a couple of “dadas” and “mommas” but nothing to write in the baby book about.  Soon though.  Oliver will be 8 months next week and I finally hung up the pumping gear.  This momma is FREE!!!!  I’m glad I did it and I said before if we had another baby I would do it all again but it’s a lot of work.  Like, a part time job work.  I have a deep freezer full of milk but I’m surprised at how fast I am going through it already.  I put in so many hours and lost sleep for that supply so I’m hoping it at least gets me through the next couple of months.  I did introduce him to formula last week because I know at some point I’m going to run out of milk before he’s one and he did very well with it.  Liked it and didn’t have any reactions. I was concerned.  And you know what?  That precious little boy slept for 12 hours 3 times last week.  I don’t know if it was because of the formula or if he is just getting better sleeping habits but I will take it.

Happy thought:  Fall is just around the corner!!!!

-April

Ps – It’s from Grease 2 – learn it, love it, sing it loud in your car!

It's My Daughter's Party and I'll Cry if I Want To

Happy day to you all, Happy Birthday America and a Happy 4^th Birthday to my little best friend.  This past weekend was Evelyn’s 4^th birthday!  It wasn’t a big party or anything.  Just a few pizzas and some cake and ice cream with some family.  Nothing like I’ve had in the past where I sent out homemade invitations, rented a room at the community center and made my own decorations and thoughtful homemade goody bags.  I’ve just kept it low key last year and this year.  I figure I can break out the big parties again when she gets in school and starts making friends.  Then momma will break out the big guns (Cricut machine) and do it up big.

For a while there she really wanted a Doc McStuffins party, which I thought was odd because she watches the show but really only when her favorites aren’t on.  Oh well, if that’s what she wanted then that’s what it was gonna be.  Then a couple of weeks later she decided she wanted a My Little Pony party.  Done.  I see those decorations all the time, no big deal.  THEN she made her final decision that she wanted a Barbie party.  Barbie party?  Okay!  And Barbie was high on her list of wants so I figured it would be no big deal tracking down some Barbie décor for the party.  Well, let me tell ya, besides the actual dolls themselves, it is next to impossible to find anything Barbie.  You can forget just running to Wal*Mart and picking up a shirt or pajamas or ANYTHING with Barbie on it.  Disney has a lockdown on all that sorts of stuff.  -Hey Mattel, where do you sell your junk??- So I tried Target and Party City and Toys ‘R’ Us.  Nothing.  I was lucky to find some actual Barbie party decorations at Party City.  The employee there told me they didn’t have any shirts with Barbie on it but I could buy a Halloween costume.  Stop it.  So I bought what decorations they had and made my way out of the store with $70 less in my pocket.  You would think Barbie is like an American staple and would be popping up in every store on every aisle.  No.  Not so much.

I really wanted to find her and I matching Barbie shirts so I got online (a little too late) and looked around.  There was some stuff but really not a lot to choose from especially since now I had waited too long.  Target.comdid have a nice bright pink shirt with the Barbie logo on it……….for a man.  Really???  I gave up and decided just to find us something pink and tell everyone to wear some pink too.  I ended up finding her a sweet little romper and a matching t-shirt for me.  Yay! We were gonna look sooooo cute!  I even tried to find Oliver something pink but had no luck. 

Now fast forward to day of the party.  I woke up with a little dull headache so I took some ibuprofen and went about my day.  Noon time rolls around and this headache is still hanging on.  Time for some more ibuprofen.  I went to Wal*Mart and picked up the cake and bought a few little extras and headed home. As soon as I got home the top of my head just started pounding and it hurt so bad!  I get headaches all the time but this one was rare because I usually don’t have the kind that press on the top of your head and smash in your forehead.  I laid down on the floor on a cornbag which usually helps me but this time it was giving me zero comfort.  I decided maybe I needed to eat something since the last thing I ate was a couple of peanut butter crackers around noon.  I got me a string cheese stick and some grapes, you know, trying to be healthy since pizza and cake were on the menu for that evening :) I took one bite of the grape and just broke down bawling.  It instantly made me sick to my stomach and I was so upset that I wasn’t feeling any better, that I was feeling worse, and I so didn’t want to miss Evelyn’s party.

Zach walked me to the bed and had me lay down and gave me some more medicine.  This was about 5:00ish.  So for the next 2 ½ to 3 hours I laid in bed crying from the pain, crying cause I was missing the party but I could hear it all and moving around like I was possessed because it was the only way to keep me from feeling nauseous.  It was a bad deal.  Zach asked me a couple of times if I wanted to go to the ER and I declined because I was A) trying to tough it out and B) I didn’t want to pay the hospital bill.  I finally caved around 7:30 or 8:00 because the pain was so bad I just couldn’t go on like that the rest of the night.  So my mom took me to the ER while Zach stayed and maintained the guests.  I was glad to get there before the idiots of the world started blowing their fingers off with fireworks.  I told them about my history of headaches/neckaches so they did a CT scan and everything came back normal.  Thankful for that.  And then they gave me an IV with lots of fun stuff in it that as soon as it hit my body I felt like I was floating.  It was nice.  About 40 minutes later I got to go home and had some pretty relaxing sleep.  Definitely the best since having a baby. 

I told Evelyn the next day I was so sorry I had to miss her party and she told me “Well, you didn’t miss the whole thing.  I still have some presents I didn’t open.  Well, I opened them but I didn’t take them out of the box yet.”  Such a thoughtful sweet FOUR year old we have :) My sister said she did take some presents and set them aside saying she was waiting on me to open them.  #precious

Long story short, I missed the party because I was in the ER with a terrible migraine but all is well now.  Evelyn had a great time and that is all that matters.  Thank you to everyone who checked on me, took care of Evelyn and Oliver, took pictures and made Evelyn feel special.

Big Girl Biking It!

                   

My little emoji baby!!

               

Oh, and by the way, the school supply aisles are up.  And another thing, I get to shop from them this year. Look out Pre-K, here we come!!!

-April

She's Dancing!

Look out dance moms of the world, here I come!  Dance season is finally over for Evelyn and I have to say I’m a little sad about it.  She had her recital last Friday and I was a little sad on the last group number they did. I didn’t get to see much of the show because I signed up to be a backstage volunteer.  Didn’t really have plans to do that but when I was told that once the kids go backstage you can’t see them again until the show is over I had no choice.  I didn’t really make friends with any of the other moms until, well, at the recital so I didn’t feel comfortable with Evelyn being gone from me that long without knowing what was going on and if she needed to go to the bathroom or if she was scared.  So I sucked it up and gave up my evenings on Thursday and Friday to make sure Evelyn had a great experience.  Let me tell ya, that backstage business ain’t no joke.  I was sweating so bad on Thursday at rehearsal and put some miles on these feet.  When signing up it was made clear that you are not to just help your child but every child.  In the back of my mind I thought I would just focus on my kid and that was that.  Oh no, when it came down to it I was busy changing the other girls and helping them to the bathroom and lining them up and helping them offstage and holding girls who were crying and missing their mommas.  I thought, if this were Evelyn scared and needing help I would want someone to give her 100% of attention and not leave her out.  I did, however, pretend to comb a girls hair because I just couldn’t share a brush with a child I had no idea who they were or where their hair has been.  When she politely asked me to brush it I combed the air around her hair, patted her on the head and told her she looked beautiful.  And it’s not like she needed it combed.  It looked pretty hairsprayed to death to me and her mom was just hanging out in the room so I don’t feel bad about what I did.  #nojudging

 

I tried to hang back a little and watch Evelyn as she used her social skills and not be a hovering mother that I know I am.  ( And I’m NOT sorry about it!)  It was cool to see her not afraid to interact with kids she didn’t know and to not be shy when one of the mothers was leading the kids in songs backstage.  She totally rocked her confidence and that is so important to me for my kids.  I want them to feel like they are the most important person in the room without acting like it.  I don’t want snotty stuck up kids but I want them to be the opposite of me growing up.  I would just freeze and be scared to do anything in case someone was looking and all of a sudden I became the center of attention.  Nope, nobody look at me!  And I want Evelyn and Oliver to ooze with confidence while being kind and a friend to kids like me.  She’s going to be starting school in August and I can’t stress  enough to her when she sees someone by themselves that she needs to go up to them and introduce herself and be a friend to them.  

We were totally surprised with this award.! Only girl from her class to get this. Super proud of her! 

 

I haven’t decided if we are going to return to dance next year.  As of right now she wants to but then she also wants to do soccer and gymnastics and I want her to try out some theater to see if that’s her thing.  It’s kind of putting a little bit of pressure on me.  I mean, what if she is destined to be the next best thing in the dancing world or the It girl actress.  It’s just a lot to think about when exposing her to these activities.  Maybe she won’t want to do any of these things? Maybe I just need to let her be little and worry about these things another day :) But I’m hanging on to all her dance stuff in case I need to put it in a museum some day ;)

 

Oh, and also….. Oliver is sitting up…..on his own!  Oh boy, that means crawling is just around the corner and then walking and then driving and then graduating high school and then….. I better stop! :)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

-April

Changes All Around

Cribs, cereal, rolling over.  Discuss…..

 

I can’t even believe the time is already here for all these changes with Oliver.  Those newborn days seem forever long in the beginning and then by the time 5 months goes by it seems like you didn’t get enough time with them in their “I just want to eat, sleep and cry” phase.  In just a few weeks Oliver is already going to be 6 months old.  (Is it too early to plan a birthday party?)  Oh wait, I guess I better plan Evelyn’s FOUR YEAR OLD party first.    FOUR!!!  Anyways, we have had some big changes these past couple of weeks.  Two weeks ago we finally moved him out of the basinet and into his crib.  It was long overdue.  When he is hanging his foot over the side I think that’s a sign that he’s too big for it.  I wasn’t sure how he would do overnight away from us.  Okay, let me be honest, I wasn’t sure how I would do overnight with him away from us.  I’m not good with change.  At all.  It takes me a few days to get used to new routines in my life and I was used to him being right there where I could hear every little scratch and movement.  It’s what needed to be done for some time now and now that a couple of weeks has passed by everyone has adjusted well.  I’m getting a little more sleep now.  Just a little.  And thank you to my husband who held me while I had a teeny tiny break down his first night away from us.

 

Another new thing going on with Oliver this week…..rolling over!  I’m not sure if babies are supposed to roll from back to belly first or belly to back but he has decided to start with back to belly.  He rolled over once on Mother’s Day but I didn’t see it happen.  I was out of the room no longer than 5 seconds to put something away in Evelyn’s room and when I returned there he was, flopped over and holding his head high like he knew he did something special.  So of course I called in Zach, flopped Oliver over and waited for the glorious moment to see it again and again.  Nothing.  That’s right, 16 videos later of me trying to capture the next roll and I got nothing.  Well, I got 16 videos of him just lying on his back looking around.  Then last week he did the same trick on my mom when she was watching him.  As soon as she walked into the kitchen he made his move but never tried again.  I knew it was only a matter of time before he would strike again with his little trick.

 

When I picked the kids up Friday from my mother-in-laws there he was, lying on the floor and giving me the show I’ve been trying to see for almost 2 weeks.  And it was the most precious thing.  These little milestones may not seem like much to some people but in my world it’s time to buy a cake and celebrate and text everyone you know the news and smack it right on your Instagram for everyone to see.  So needless to say he has been rolling all weekend and even started rolling over while he sleeps.  That first imagine on the baby monitor caught me off guard and made me do a double check on his breathing.  Now, let’s move on to crawling :)

We've noticed he really likes sleeping on his side.

 

Also, this past weekend we pulled out the spoons and bowls and gave Oliver his first taste of cereal.  Exciting, right? Well it is to a momma who knows this is one step closer to the end of her pumping days.  Bring on the solid foods!!

 

New seasons are coming and I am truly grateful for this life the Lord has given me!

Can't leave her out :) Can't wait to see her shake her little bunny tail at her recital in a couple of weeks. 

 

Have a wonderful week and go Thunder!!

 

-April

Thirty-Five and Four Months

Guess who turned 35 last week and doesn’t feel a day over 25?  This momma right here!  Well, sort of.  I used to think 40 was so old and so far away when I was a teen and even into my 20’s and now it’s just a short 5 years away.  Gasp!  It really makes me start to wonder what have I not done with my life that I still want to do?  Is it too late to follow my dreams?  Is it too late to switch up where I work? Have I hit the age where I shouldn’t listen to the newest pop songs?  Am I too old to listen to Justin Bieber?  You know, the important questions in life.  Not that I am creeping on retirement but as I get older and start hitting those key ages it makes me look at things a little differently.  At this point in my life my children are taking front stage and I’m working on being the best mom I can to them and make them proud to have me as their mom.  I want to be that mom that my children know they can come to with anything and know that I will love them and support them.

She's never too far from her brother.

Now that we are talking about children can I just say how cool I think my kids are.  Evelyn absolutely lights up my whole family.  She has got such a funny personality and sometimes I forget she is only 3 years old with the way she talks and interacts with us.  I can only imagine how grown she will be a year from now after having a year of school under her little preschool belt.  Like,  she will be going ALL DAY in public schools.  When we go back-to-school shopping I better pick up some of those 3 pack Kleenex boxes…..for her daddy and I.  She is going to love school and I’m excited to start on this journey in her life.

When you match the cat on your shirt you are cool!

I LOVE this headband on her.

So grown up looking.

At least you still have a baby at home, you say? That’s true.  But he doesn’t seem like a baby anymore.  He is growing so fast that I feel like I didn’t get to experience the newborn stage with him.  Maybe it’s because it wasn’t new to me this time so I wasn’t letting every moment sink in the way I did with Evelyn.  And with moving into our new house and it being Christmas time I think there were other distractions that kept me busy and just trying to get through each day.  I’m trying to do better about that.  I don’t want the days to pass me by and I look back and didn’t document milestones or take the gazillion pictures like I took of Evelyn.  I’m just so tired and there is always some kind of chore that needs to be done that I’m not taking the time to just stop and watch.  Even when it comes to Evelyn I have noticed me putting her on hold for a little bit and again I need to remember that she is just 3 and she doesn’t understand why I can’t always put her needs first or play with her when she says “I’m so lonely in my room.”  I know I give her excuses of why I can’t play in her room and to be honest I sometimes just want to sit on the couch and not do anything.  That lasts about 3 minutes and then it’s on to the next task.  It really does give me some mommy guilt and I know when I stop pumping and as Oliver gets older and can sit up and play that I will have some more freedom.  I guess for right now I just need to enjoy the moments where Oliver just wants to be held because this stage is only for a little bit and before I know it he is going to be a grown man who’s probably going to tower over me.  Oh man, I’ve got to stop.  Gonna get all teary eyed over here.

We have finally found our toes!!

So precious!

Just a swingin'

More toes!!

Okay, moving on :) Let’s talk about Amy Schumer.  My husband took me on a nice little birthday date last weekend and we went and saw Amy Schumer at the BOK.  Haven’t seen any of her stand up before so I didn’t really know what to expect.  I’ve only seen her on Comedy Central’s roasts.  She seemed funny.  I don’t really like nasty comedy and she was a little much at times but all in all she was okay.  I just think you can be funny without being gross.  Yes, I laughed at  some of her “I would be so embarrassed if I heard this in front of my parents” jokes but some of it just left me staring at her wishing I didn’t have a headache and maybe it would be funnier.  So I guess on a scale of 1-10 I give her a 7.  That’s good, right?

Okay, so I get some of these rules but some just seem a little extreme.

My handsome date!

Oliver had his 4 month check-up last week and he was just about as perfect as he can be :) He weighed in at a whopping 17.2 pounds and has 2 little bottom teeth poking their way through.  This explains all that lovely drool and wonderful crying out of nowhere :)  #blesshisheart .  He has started laughing out loud, or should I say LOLing, and it’s so adorable.  For the most part he is a happy baby and I just love to see his grin.  It will capture your heart every time!  My cousin is due with her baby girl in just about 6 weeks and I can’t wait to see how big he looks compared to her.  He’s going to be a giant! He already is wearing his 6-6/9 month clothes.  Bye bye 3-6 months.  Those didn’t last long.

And finally, I was very sad to hear about the passing of Prince this week.  His music is absolutely a part of my life soundtrack and I will sing along to his songs a little bit louder now.

Thank you for reading and have a very blessed week!

-April

Guess who’s back? Back again…..

Well, the time has come folks. I can’t believe it’s happening already…..I’ve returned to work!  I remember walking out of my office in December thinking ‘alright, I’ve got the next 3 months off and it’s going to be such a long time’.  And now here I am with maternity leave becoming such a blur.  Honestly, I’m glad to be back at work and I think it will be a good thing to be around some adults and actually put on make-up and do my hair for a change.  I do miss my babies like crazy but it is a nice little break to be concerned with only myself instead going in several directions trying to please all the kiddies of the household. (This includes the dog :))  Let me tell ya, I love on them babies hard when I get home.

The work week wasn't too bad.  It kind of feels like I never left.  Trying to get back into the groove of things.  It was nice to come back and feel like people actually missed me and were glad to have me back.  The worst part so far has been the traffic though.  Ugh!  At least it’s been spring break and less cars and buses have been out.  But still.

I guess I should confess and say that I didn’t even work a full work week this week but it wasn’t the plan.  Oliver had a doctor’s appointment to check on something on his little butt and it turned into something the doctor wanted us to see a surgeon for.  So they set us up for an appointment the next morning and said he needed to have his last feeding at 7pm, could only have Pedialyte from 7pm-4am and then nothing after 4am in case the doctor wanted to do anything.  So I’m thinking what does that even mean?  What are they going to do to him because it sounds like they are prepping him for surgery. Made me nervous.  One, because my baby is probably going to have to have surgery and secondly, I have to withhold food from a 3 month old baby who eats every 2 hours and has a weight to prove it.  (I love my little chunky monkey)  So this mommy was trying to hold it together and not have a melt down from instantly feeling overwhelmed.  Keep in mind I had already gotten up the past 2 days at 3 in the morning just to make it out the door by 7 to be at work by 8.  #mommymeltdown #workingmommy

He woke up around 3 to eat so we gave him some Pedialyte and he kind of went back to sleep.  Long enough for me to put my makeup on but then he was ready to roar again cause he was getting hangry!  I skipped doing my hair and just threw it in a ponytail so once I got him a little sleepy again I put him in his swing and curled up in the recliner.  I so badly wanted to recline but we have a push back recliner that is not exactly easy to recline in.  I literally have to throw my whole body back against the back of the chair to make it work.  I wasn’t about to cause that kind of racket so I just curled myself up and tried to get a little bit of sleep.  That lasted about 20 minutes until the next cry episode began.  I scooped him up and just spread out on the couch with him on my chest hoping he would just be cool.  It was one of those moments where I was praying “please Lord, just let me have 30 minutes of quietness” then all of a sudden there was a knock at the door.  Now, I had told my mom to be at my house at 6:30 and it wasn’t even 6:00 yet when I heard the knock and then the doorbell rang.  For whatever reason there is no peep hole in our door and I couldn’t see my mom’s car in the driveway so I stood at the door holding Oliver asking “Mom, is that you?” I mean I knew it was her because who is going to rob me by knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell first.  You never know. So she answered back and me being a little nutty sleepy opened the door and set the alarm off.  Goodness, what a morning it had been so far.  

Finally, we made it to his appointment where the doctor only looked at his spot for no more than 5 seconds and suggested surgery…..that day.  (Gulp)  Trust me, I know how blessed we are with healthy children and there are a lot worse things that could be going on with my baby boy but to be told your baby is going to have to have surgery that day makes a mommas heart a little weak.  We agreed to do the surgery and before we knew it we were taking the long walk across the hospital to one-day surgery.  Thank goodness they were kind enough to bump us up in line since he is a baby and he hadn’t eaten since 7 the night before.  Everything happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to think about much and certainly no time to Google anything.  That’s a good thing!  I knew everything was going to be just fine but I was nervous about him having to be put under anesthesia and having a little shot put in his back that they compared to an epidural. 

Snuggling with daddy at the hospital.

At home feeling better.  Hospital shirt was too small. #gusgus 

To sum it all up he did excellent during surgery and the healing seems to be going well.  Hasn’t been too cranky and I can tell he hasn’t been as fussy about things like he was. The surgeon said it has probably been pretty painful for him so hopefully he will be a happier baby and not be uncomfortable.  

I’m thankful that it’s over with and that I have my first week of work out of the way.  It’s always the hardest.

Thanks to everyone who texted and commented on Facebook about Oliver.  It’s nice to have a great group of people who truly care about you and your family.

Here’s to a great 2^nd week of work!!

-April

Rowell, Party of Four

Well, okay, it's been awhile since my last post and I am taking some time out today (which I really have none to spare) to update you all.

Last we talked I told you about being pregnant and waiting for our house to be built.  Now it's about 2 plus months later and I am now the owner of a new baby and a new house.  Let's talk about my sweet Oliver first.....

Oliver is 6 weeks old TODAY!  I can't even believe it's been 6 weeks already.  Which means I'm half way through my maternity leave :(  I think it's going to be harder to return to work this time around because I have spent so much time with Evelyn.  She's not going to want to leave me and I'm not going to want to leave her. #workingmom  Even though I will be sad to leave my kids (it's still weird to say "kids")  I will be ready to get back to a daily routine and actually get dressed and put on makeup.

So here he is.....Oliver Louis Rowell

Born December 16, 2015 at 11:11 a.m.

9 lbs 6 inches

21 inches long

Just stretching it out

Can't believe this guy was so big. No wonder I was completely uncomfortable the last couple of months and everyone kept telling me how big I looked.  Thanks friends ;)

Didn't take long to fall in love with this face!

Sister getting to hold him. It's amazing how her maturity level went up from the time she first saw him.  She has been an awesome big sister and wants to make sure he is taken care of.  Only a couple of times has she told me "Just put him down" when she needs something :)

Love those chunky cheeks!

6 weeks later.....

He has lost some of his hair and is around 11 pounds.  Big Boy! During the day he eats about every 2 hours and has been going 5-6 hours at night between feedings so that's been nice.  Of course that doesn't mean I get that much sleep.  I still have to get up and pump in the middle of the night.

I had some struggles with breast feeding so I had to go straight to pumping while in the hospital since he lost 13% of his weight.  I've attempted to breast feed a couple of times since but it's still a little painful and I find comfort in knowing how many ounces he's getting with each feeding and I've been able to start a good supply of frozen milk.

Oliver has pretty much stolen everyone's heart around here.  Obviously he has his times of screaming like a crazy person but he's a baby.  They cry.  Over all he is a good baby and LOVES to be held and loves to eat.  Maybe he won't be as picky as an eater as his sister :|

Now to the house.  Not a lot to say on it right now.  We have only been in it for a week and a half so it's not together AT ALL.  I knew I had a lot of stuff while packing the house but now that we are unpacking it I'm a little overwhelmed.   I still feel like it's a strange place but I know before too long it will feel like home after pictures and such are hung up and things are organized.  Right now I'm just shoving things in cabinets just to get the boxes unpacked.  Probably not the best plan but when you have two kids needing your attention and you have to take the time out to pump and make sure the dog is getting some love too, you just do it.  I'm very thankful for a husband who likes to cook and take care of kids after he's had a long day at work.  

So there it is, the first blog of the year and your first look at my precious new baby boy.  I can't say it enough, I am beyond blessed!

Happy New Year to you all!

-April