Kids Say the Darndest

Last night as we were putting Matty to bed I was talking to him about how big Jocelyn is getting. I said, "Can you believe she used to fit in my tummy? How did she fit in there?" It was more of a rhetorical question, but he jumped right back with, "Because your tummy was really fat!" He really had me laughing.

Portraits

As I mentioned in my last post, we just got the kids' portraits done on Saturday. Matty was overdue for his 3-year picture and I wanted one done of Jocelyn as a newborn before she changed too much. Matty is normally so well-behaved, but that day he was just awful! He was so disobedient and would not listen to us or the photographer. No amount of bribes or threats worked. It's amazing we got any good pictures of him!

Jocelyn was waking up from a nap and starving when it was time for her pictures. Not good. We had to play the game where you give her a binky to calm her down and then yank it out when the photographer counts to 3. It led to some interesting fish-faces as I'll show in a second. Once again, I was just happy we got any good ones.

We love her quizzical look in this one.

Getting a picture of them together was the real challenge. Between her fussing and Matty's rebelliousness, a good shot just wasn't going to happen. This was the best one. I don't like the face she's making (due to a binky being yanked out), but we didn't have any other decent choice.
This one would have been sooo cute if it weren't for that binky fish-face.

Thankful Thursday

Another Thursday, another list.

1. My mattress. Turns out it is comfortable after all! Pregnancy just had me fooled.
2. Flowers from Costco. I had a rough day last Friday, so Dan left work early and went to Costco. He brought home a beautiful bouquet of irises and lilies for me. What a sweetheart.
3. Gas drops. It's not a miracle cure, but it does help a baby's tummy.
4. We finally got the kids' pictures done. It was such a nightmare getting them done with the mood Matty was in, but at least they're done! I'm big into getting professional pictures every once in a while. My mom did this for all of her kids, and I love looking through the albums.
5. Fireside with Emily Freeman. That was our Enrichment this week. I loved her talk on coming closer to Christ. It was amazing.
6. My mom visiting. She came over Tuesday and played with Matty all day. It was nice to have someone help entertain him and keep me company. She's only about an hour's drive away, but I really wish it was closer.
6. Naptime
7. Naptime
8. Naptime

First Swing and Other News

Jocelyn got to try out her travel swing for the first time today. I never really had a swing with Matty so I'm excited to have one this time. It took a few minutes for her to take to it, but she's fine in it now (as long as she can have her binky along for the ride.) She loves listening to the music. Matty wanted to watch her swinging. He's really such a caring big brother.

I've had several people ask me how I'm doing. It really just depends on the day. I felt pretty well Monday and part of Tuesday, but last night wasn't doing well at all. Today I'm doing good so far. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. I try to give Matty lots of attention and love during the times that I am feeling good. Poor kid really needs it right now. He's not jealous of the attention we give Jocelyn at all, but I think it's been really hard for him to not have me play with him like usual since I don't often feel well or have the energy.

Thanks to everyone who voted for Jocelyn's nickname. I had no idea at least 24 people even read this blog. (I should do a giveaway sometime just to bring the lurkers out ;) ) We still haven't decided which spelling we're going to use, but we both agree that Jossy is less confusing to pronounce, so maybe we'll just do that. I'll post our decision when we make it.

Since the #1 question everyone asks when you have a baby is "How is she sleeping for you?" I might as well post about that, too. The hardest thing for us is that she can be difficult to get to go to sleep and STAY asleep. She likes to take 10 minute catnaps and then startles awake and has a hard time falling back asleep. Then she'll eventually go back to sleep and do it all over again. She doesn't do this all the time thankfully. She also gets such terrible frequent tummy aches when she has gas or needs to poo, and that will wake her up out of a sound sleep and really upset her. (We had the same issue with Matty.) She also spits up a lot in her sleep, so that wakes her up, too. I keep reminding myself that eventually we'll get some good sleep again and in the meantime I feel grateful for a husband who will get up with her in the night and let me try to sleep.

Buy a Friend for 25 Cents

We took Jocelyn into Dan's office today to show her off. We had to add her to our insurance and the women in HR really wanted to see her. Of course everyone loved how cute she is. It was fun to hear so many people say how much she looks like me because I think it's harder to see it when it's yourself. Here she is waking up once we got home: (This doesn't really look like her for some reason.)
Despite the attention Jocelyn attracted, the real hit of the office was Matty. Everyone wanted to talk to him and kept saying how cute he was. One women from HR was ribbing Matty just for fun and it really started bugging him. She felt bad so she gave him candy and a little plastic piggy bank. Then she gave him a quarter to put in it. After that, they could be friends. Matty was shaking his bank as we went to other departments to show off Jocelyn, so more people started giving him money for his bank! I think he made about a dollar in change. We decided we need to bring him at least once a week so that he can earn enough for college. ;)

Thankful Thursday

1. Lorna Doone Cookies. A favorite of mine. It's one thing I look forward to when I have a hospital stay (since they always offer them.)

2. Air Conditioning. I'm sure this has been on my list before but OH MY GOODNESS am I grateful for it!

3. My sister Ardice. She made us dinner on Monday and then took Matty all day Tuesday and I was able to get 2 naps that day! I'm so thankful for her willingness to help when her life is so busy. (And Matty has a great time with her and his cousin Emi!)

4. Google Reader. Saves so much time! I don't have to personally visit 50 blogs to see if they're updated. Reader does it for me! Are you using a reader yet?

5. Both kids napping at the same time. Wahoo!

6. Binkies. I refuse to be a human pacifier.

7. Insurance. This, too, has been on my list before, but I'm feeling a renewed gratitude for it after seeing the hospital bills.

8. Good customer service. It seems to be a rarity these days and is something I really appreciate when I'm lucky enough to get it.

9. The lists of others. I love reading other people's Thankful Thursday lists. It reminds me how much more I have to be grateful for. So thanks to everyone who plays!

10. Sleep. Oh, how I miss thee! (Not that I really got any while pregnant either.)


So. . . .where's your list?

Survival Mode

I have several friends who recover quickly from childbirth. They're up and about their normal activities just days later. I am just NOT one of those people. I'll have one day when I'm not feeling too bad (like today), and then the next day will be horrible. I've got so many extra pains and problems right now that probably aren't related to childbirth that are just making my recovery more complicated. It's killing me not to be up and out doing things I thought I'd be doing by the time she was 2 weeks. I'm learning to just let things slide and take care of myself. Good thing I have an amazing husband who constantly encourages that.

I'm not searching out for sympathy. I just want to beg forgiveness for being a crappy friend right now to so many of you. I ask for understanding for a few more weeks while my body tries to get back to its old self. I want to be a good friend, but right now I'm more concerned about just surviving each day.

Thanks for understanding.

Bath Time

Jocelyn had her first real bath tonight! Unfortunately, you would've thought we were killing her for all her screaming! Seriously, in all my life, I have never heard a baby cry like that! I'm pretty sure I didn't even get all of her cleaned, I just wanted to get her out so the poor girl would stop screaming. Matty kept commenting on how she had "changed to red." I'm honestly a little nervous for the next time because it was like we were completely torturing her! Thankfully, she calmed down after she was diapered and cuddled. She's pretty much zonked out now from all the trauma. (Maybe she'll sleep good tonight??? We can hope, but I'm not holding my breath.)

We tried a binky for a while to calm her...

...Obviously, it didn't last

In need of a cuddle afterwards (that's my shirt sleeve in the way)

The Best Daddy

We are so blessed to have Dan as the Daddy in this house. He is such a wonderful father. I really could not ask for better. Even though he didn't get much of a day off today since I'm not much good to anyone right now, he never complained. We chose to give him his gift last night so that I wouldn't have to try to conceal it. He really didn't care that he wasn't getting it on Father's day. I really appreciate his easy-going attitude right now.

I love how much he loves our kids. Watching him and Matty play and laugh together is one of my favorite things in life. I joked with him the other day saying how funny it was to watch him dress this tiny baby girl like a doll. I told him it probably wasn't very manly. He said dressing a doll isn't, but dressing your baby girl is very manly. He's right. My kids could not have a better example.

Happy Father's Day Honey!

2 Week Appointment

So Jocelyn isn't two weeks until Monday, but we had to have her appointment today to get into the doctor we wanted. She's doing great! I was worried that she's only been nursing every 3.5-4 hours (not 2-3 like the "experts" say she should be) and takes only 10 minutes to eat. I even have to wake her at times so she doesn't go any longer than that between feeds during the day. My fears were relieved when I learned how much she weighs. They want babies to be back to their birth weight by 2 weeks (which she's not quite yet) and she's well over that! She was 7 lb 2 oz when born, 6 lbs 8 oz when we left the hospital, and is now 7 lbs 13 oz! So that means she's definitely getting plenty to eat. The doctor even joked that I must be producing straight cream. LOL We asked a bunch of questions and had lots of concerns alleviated. I had no idea how much I would feel like a first-time parent again with our second baby!

Content after her first sponge bath at home

What's in a Name???

A lot, actually.

Choosing a name for you baby is something I always thought would be fun when I was a younger. But I've since realized how hard it can be! I just thought I'd share how we chose our kids' names. (I'm still getting used to saying "kids," as in plural!)

With Matty, we really wanted James as a middle name, so we tried to find something that went with that. Within a few days of learning we were having a boy, Matthew came to mind for both Dan and I separately. I'm big into what the meaning of the name is, so I looked it up and found out it meant "gift of God." That felt so perfect for our little boy who we had tried so hard to get pregnant with. We didn't tell anyone his name until after he was born because people like to pick apart your choices if you haven't really named the baby that yet. So we waited and made sure he was a Matthew. We always knew we'd probably end up calling him Matty.

Jocelyn was a ton harder to pick. We had 3 boys names all ready even though we really thought she was a girl before the ultrasound. Jocelyn was one I had put on a list of girls' names early on, but it got bumped off for a while. I had been looking at the SS baby name website and saw it there. I remembered 2 people I knew were named that. I loved how feminine it sounded, yet strong. Looking up the meaning, I found it means things like "cheerful, playful, joyful." I really liked that. Matty had wanted her to be named Abby and would freak out if we tried asking him about any other name. He'd say, "No! Her name's Abby! Don't change it!" So we finally decided he could have Abigail (means "father's joy" or "source of joy") as the middle name and if just he wanted to call her Abby, fine. But we wanted to choose her first name. After a lot of tears on my part (because I just wanted a name picked already!) we decided to pray to find the right first name for her. Jocelyn was back on the list at this point. On the same night, we both said we'd been thinking of Jocelyn Abigail. That was the first time we'd both had the same #1 on our list at the same time. Shocking! I got chills and that pretty much became it. We almost switched it a few times, but always went back to Jocelyn. I wanted to spell it differently, but I gave Dan the spelling he wanted (which is spelled the most common way) and I got the pronunciation (Joss-lin instead of Joss-uh-lin.) We still haven't decided how to spell her nickname which is why I've never written it down yet.

I always wanted my kids to be able to find their names on little souvenir license plates since I was never able to. Jocelyn may not be able to find hers, but you never know. Her name moved from something like #74 on the list last year to #50 this year. I like that it's a little different since she won't always have our last name to help her stand out, unlike Matty.

So that's how my two beautiful kids got their names.

Thankful Thursday

Doing this every week really makes me see how fast the weeks go by. It's been a very rough week in our house since recovery hasn't been going well at all. But here's a list of thinks I'm thankful for anyway:

1. My peribottle. While I hate that I have to have it with me to use the potty, it really becomes your best friend, doesn't it? (If you haven't had a baby or don't know what that is, it's like a travel bidet. Here's a pic.)

2. Tampons. Nothing like being forced to use pads to make you appreciate a tampon.

3. Matty home. He's been at Grandma's for a week since things haven't been going well for me. We just brought him home yesterday. While he's a ball of energy and definitely a challenge at times, I'm so happy to have our funny, sweet boy home.

4. Immodium AD and Colace. No explanation.

5. The Baby Whisperer. Love this book. It's not all perfect, but it's one we really like. I just take what I want from it and leave the rest.

6. A hardy fish. We can forget to feed him a few days and he survives. Thank goodness.

7. My family safe. We were stuck in traffic last night as all 5 lanes on the freeway were shut down because of an accident. It took an hour to go 4 miles, all with an overtired baby in the back seat. Annoying to go so slow? You bet!! But I always just feel so grateful that it wasn't my family in the accident that the time it takes to move just doesn't seem to matter. (That is unless someone needs to use the potty!)

8. Ocean Wonders Aquarium. This was a life saver when it came to getting Matty to sleep on his own. So worth the $35 we paid for it. Lets hope it has the same magic for Jocelyn!

Are you feeling thankful for something today? Please share!!

Update On Us

I just thought I'd post a quick update. We've been home 2 days now. Matty was so excited to have us back. Unfortunately, we were so sleep deprived that we just didn't have the energy to take care of him so he's gone to Grandma's for a few days. I really miss my boy, but hopefully when he comes home, we'll all be feeling a bit better.

Jocelyn has her days and nights mixed up (just like when she was in my tummy) so we're working hard just to get her to be awake part of the day. She's a much more touchy baby than Matty was so that's been an adjustment, too. She has the cutest smile, though, (she smiles frequently in her sleep.) We love seeing her smile!

I'm doing okay. Just not enough sleep and still in pain. Typical stuff.

Here are a few more pictures for those who'd like to see them.

Big brother Matty visits again

Do I have to wake up???

Ready to go home from the hospital

Asleep in her bed for the first time. Matty thought she needed her bear so he put it there.

I swear we didn't pierce her ears, but doesn't it look like it?? They're both this way. Isn't that funny?!

Cuddle time with Daddy

Thankful Thursday

Many, many things to be grateful for right now. Of course, these all have do to with the events of this past week.

1. Jocelyn. Having her finally here and healthy is such a blessing to our family.
2. Hospitals. I'm so grateful to have a baby in this age and not back in pioneer days. Much more comfortable!
3. Good nurses. We had some bad experiences with the nurses in the hospital when Matty was born, but this time was so much better. I really liked most of them.
4. An epidural. Thank heavens!
5. Drugs. Recovering from childbirth is not a pain-free experience. Good drugs are a necessity!
6. Matty loves his sister. It's so cute to see how excited he gets when her eyes are open and she's looking at him. He loves to check on her like every 2 minutes when she's sleeping. He's a great brother.
7. This blog. I'm so glad we can share pictures with family members who can't be here to see Jocelyn in person.
8. A quiet toilet. While we were in the hospital, the maintenance guy fixed our leaky, noisy toilet that we've just dealt with for years.
9. Compassionate Service. Having 3 meals brought in this week is a big help. I don't even care if someone would just bring us cereal! Just to not to have to think about or deal with dinner is a huge blessing!
10. A boppy. Sure makes nursing easier.

The BIrth Story

I absolutely love to hear or read other's birth stories. So for those of you who are like me, here's Jocelyn's. Sorry it's so long, but you know you don't have to read it. ;)

I started getting contractions about 8-10 minutes apart around midnight Sunday night/Monday morning. They were totally going into my back, just like labor with Matty. I was feeling really, really nervous and sick to my stomach which also made me think it was the real thing. My only reason to doubt was that I hadn't had any bloody show. Around 1:30, I finally got that and knew this was for real. I was amazed I was finally going into labor on my own just one day before our due date and induction. At this point contractions were 5 minutes apart and AWFUL! I called my visiting teacher to come stay with Matty until we knew for sure we would be admitted, at which point we'd call my sister 50 minutes away to come stay with him. We left for the hospital around 2:00 AM and contractions were just 3 minutes apart.

At 2:15 I was 4.5-5 cm and 90% effaced. I was admitted. The epidural guy took what felt like forever to finally get to me (around 3 AM). By now my contractions were 2 minutes apart and had me in tears. I felt like I could barely breath! He wasn't very fast at getting things set up and in me, so the next 20 minutes were terrible. My contractions were strong and close, the needles in my back were really painful, and my BP was dropping quickly so I felt like I was going to throw up or pass out. Once the epidural was in, they gave me Zofran which then made my heart pound. Eventually, things got all worked out and I was feeling better.

At 4:20 the doctor broke my water and said I was still only 5 cm but 100% effaced. I couldn't believe all those terrible and close contractions hadn't made me dialate any more!! The doctor also said I wasn't even contracting any more so he put in an IUPD to monitor things better. Still no contractions. So at 4:35 I was given Pitocin to restart things. By 5:10 I upped my epidural because the contractions were getting strong. When the nurse came to check me at 5:30 I told her I was feeling the pressure that you feel when it's time to push. She checked me and I was 9 cm. She went to get the doctor. In those 20 minutes it took to get him and get things set up, I KNEW I was fully dialated and told them she was so low that she could crawl out on her own if they waited long enough. I was 10 cm and she was at +3 station. She was practically crowning already. At 5:50 I started pushing. I pushed twice during the contraction then my doctor said to only give a half a push next time. I thought "What's a half push?" I barely pushed when he said to stop. Her head was out and he was suctioning things out. I looked at her and saw that she was super, super blue. I didn't have to push any more after that. He just turned her and pulled her shoulders out himself. I had a 2nd degree tear and needed a few stitches. She cried for a few seconds but then became a really mellow baby, just stretching out and looking at everything. I nursed her before they took her down to the nursery. It was nice to have that hour with her after delivery. I didn't get that with Matty because they wanted him in the nursery for observation on some breathing noises.

So that's our story. :)

Guess who's here!

I guess someone couldn't wait til their scheduled induction tomorrow. :)


Jocelyn Abigail was born at 5:51 AM this morning. She's 7 lbs 2 oz and 19 inches long. We're both doing fine, but extremely exhausted. I would love to post more details, but it's going to have to wait til tomorrow. I need some rest! I just wanted to get a few pictures up for the out-of-town family members we promised would be able to see pictures of her today.
I'll post more details and pictures soon. :)