Stay-At-Home-Moms

I've ALWAYS told my SAHM moms that I admire them. There will always be a debate about if working or staying at home is 'harder', but I know their job is. They don't get a break from whining. And they don't get to pee during the day without a kid staring at them. Sure they don't have deadlines or annual assessments to stress over, but they have to stress about their children all day and to me, that's much harder.

I was invited on Friday to spend the morning with some of my SAHM friends. I debated about keeping Drew home from school and ultimately decided it would be fun to have him there and have a nice 'stay at home day with mommy'. I figured it would be stressful juggling both kids at a park and then at a splash pad, but if moms across America can handle multiple kids every day, then I can too.

And really, it wasn't too bad. Ady doesn't even count yet seeing as she slept the entire time with the exception of a quick nursing session. And chatting with friends is wayyyy more fun than having Drew in daycare and cleaning the house while Ady sleeps. But it did give me even more admiration for SAHM's. To haul only 2 kids to 2 different places was a bit stressful and these moms do it daily, and sometimes have 3+ kids. (Why couldn't women have been born with 4 arms instead of 2?)

So here's to you SAHM's, or 'Domestic Engineers' as my friend Desiree would call you. Whatever term you use, they are all still friggin saints.

Now, everyone smile for the camera....

... or not.

Drew Lately

One of the common questions I get asked lately is about Drew and how he's adjusting to having a little sister. My answer has always been two parts.

Part 1 - Drew with Ady
Drew absolutely adores this child. See this post.

Part 2 - Drew with Us
Trying. That's the only word that could describe these first 2-3 weeks after Ady came home. I know it's a normal phase for a 3.5 year old, and especially one with a new sibling, but it was rough. There were some evenings and weekends where it was nonstop whining, crying or throwing a tantrum. We blamed some of it on grandparents being in town and spoiling him for a total of 3 weeks but lately it has gotten back to 'normal' (aka: bad behavior only about 30-50% of the time). We worked on him with constant praise, yet discussing why he needs to act a certain way or why he can't have something his way and it's helped tons. Drew is still a daddy's boy and it breaks my heart that he prefers him but I know it's because I have to be with Ady so much. Either way, he is still my sweet little man and the moments like those above are worth all the anguish.

Every kid will have their moments, right?

Ady // 1 Month Old

Wait? Wasn't I just in the hospital having a nurse change my sexy meshies? How is it that we've already had you in our lives for an entire month? Before the tears come streaming and I can't see the screen to write this post, let me start off with some general tidbits I never want to forget.

Stats:
Weight: 10 pounds 3 ounces-ish (we don't go back to the docs until 2 months but you get weighed every Monday at the breastfeeding support group and have been putting on exactly an ounce a day)
Height: Probably around 20 inches?!

Sleep: Angel baby. Seriously. I've had to wake you up for every feeding during the night except for two times. We woke you every 3 hours the first week and a half and then went to every 4 hours for a couple weeks and now we put you down around 10:30 and I wake you around 4:00am for a quick nurse and then I get you up again at 7am to nurse one time before taking Drew to school. I actually forgot to set my alarm the other night and you went from 10:30 until 5am. I thank my lucky stars daily.

Eat: You are an amazing latcher. It's so odd having such a good nurser after dealing with Drew and his tongue tie issue. You still eat about every 2 hours during the day but if you're napping, I'm not waking you until closer to 3 hours. Either way, you had formula for the first week because you lost so much weight at the hospital, but since then you're 100% on breastmilk and gaining weight beautifully!

Clothes: You're mostly wearing 0-3 or 3-6 outfits depending on the brand.

Diapers: Size 1. I'm waiting a bit longer to start our cloth diaper journey as you fill every diaper with little poop, much unlike your brother who held it all and dumped a couple times a day. TMI?

Talk: I know they say babies this early can't coo, but you do. For realz. Not for me and not for anyone else, but for your ceiling fans. You absolutely adore them and have coo'd on several different occasions to them! My heart literally explodes when you make those sweet sounds. Oh, and grunting? You are an Olympic Gold Medalist at it. When we wake you up or you are waking from a nap, you grunt like crazy. It's super adorable and I never want to forget those sounds.


I love you so much my angel and based on this past month, you have defied the saying that 'you only get one good one'. Thus far we have two wonderful sleepers and eaters and I couldn't ask for anything else!

Lorain County Fair

I felt really proud on Saturday upon arriving home from our outing to a fair about 40 minutes away. It was our first big outing as a family of 4 and it actually went better than expected. It was a hot morning and we felt dirty 29 seconds after entering the fair, but overall it went well. A) it was cheap and B) there were TONS of animals for Drew to see and pet. Ady slept like a champ, except for when I nursed her, and we beat the crowds by going early!

Oh and I had to get my favorite kettle corn. 

... and some beef jerky for the turkey.

First 4 Weeks

Wow sweet girl, your one month post is just a few days away. Crazy how much you've already changed and I love watching you grow. So glad you are a part of our family and I could not thank the Lord more that he has given me two good babies.

Love you my squirmy wormy.

Recap of Mimi and Gramps Visit

As I've mentioned before, we have the only grandkids on both sides. Both Derek and I are the oldest and our siblings are all years away from having kids. This means that Drew has been spoiled to the max the last 3.5 years of his life and I'm excited for Ady to be a part of the fun now also. 

Since my recovery was super fast this pregnancy, I felt comfortable getting out and about while Mimi and Grandpa were in town and we hit up a few spots around town as well as restaurants. 

We ventured to a butterfly park and then rode the train at a local outdoor shopping area before grabbing dinner at Brio. (Which, might I just add gave me anxiety from hell. We were placed at a low table with only a short wall separating our table and another. Had Ady woken up and I had to nurse her, the lady on the other side of the wall would have been given a nice boob shot along with others in the restaurant. I'm comfortable nursing in public, but not in the middle of restaurants just yet! Thankfully, she slept the entire time!)

Really, though, this is what they did the majority of the week they were here. Hold Ady and play with Drew.

Miss you already Mims and Gramps! 

Back to Reality

It's currently day 3 of being at home with Ady by myself. Once the stress of getting Drew up and to school with Ady in tow is over each morning, I'm enjoying spending my days with her. When she's sleeping, I get editing, blogging, cleaning or baby album updating done, but when she's awake we're enjoying time just staring at each other. Babies don't keep and therefore I'm sniffing her head, nibbling her cheeks and making faces at her as much as I can.

Last week was wonderful having Derek's parents in town! We got to get groceries by ourselves, get some extra snoozes in with Ady and enjoyed some yummy meals from Derek's mom all in addition to the Drew supervision they provided. It was a great week!

I'll get to more pictures from their visit soon, but for now, enjoy these ones I snapped on their last day...

Week 2 family of 4 picture!

3 Generations...

Ady's Newborn Pictures

Here are a few of my favorites! 

To see more, be sure to like my photography Facebook page here! 

(Adorable ruffle butt and matching bow in last picture from Alexandria Victoria Boutique!)

What's In A Name (part deux)

You can find the post about Drew's name here.

Settling on a girls name was much harder than Drew's. We had loved Andrew for a boy for years before even conceiving the kid and despite exploring tons of other names, we kept coming back to it. For Deuce, we literally had lists and lists of girls names. Derek and I would text a new name almost daily and really didn't finalize Adalyn as the name until about a month before she was born.

Reasons why we love this name for her:
     - It can be shortened to a nickname just like Andrew. She will go by Ady.
     - It begins with A. Although we weren't only looking at names starting with A's, we think it's adorable.
     - It's somewhat of a classic and elegant sounding name to us just like Andrew.
 
We are also somewhat big on the meaning behind names. Adalyn means 'noble and kind' which we hope she'll be someday. Andrew means 'strong and manly' so they even kinda go together.

Now for the hard part; the middle name.

Derek always wanted our first born son to carry his father's name and because we're both traditional, that happened. If our second child was a boy, I was dead set on the middle name being Lawrence after my father. But then we found out she was a girl. {cue the misery of months of internal debating... seriously months}

Here's what cycled in my head daily.

In order to honor my father since I've always been a daddy's girl and Derek's dad got Drew, I was going to go with Adalyn Lawren (pronounced Lah-wren, not Lor-ren, with the emphasis on wren) which I loved. But then, if it was about who I was closest to in our family, and who she would be closest to in the long run, that would be my brother. So then I wanted Adalyn Ryan (Ryan is his middle name). Super cute right? But then I thought my mom would be crushed if I went with a boy name instead of just going with one of her names. For a while, I was then set on Adalyn Marie. Marie is my middle name, but also my mother's first name (Mary) in French, which she studied for years. So in a way, it would be a piece of both my mother and myself. But then I was back to the fact that I was a daddy's girl meaning I was back at the start of this paragraph. #superstressful

If you asked me on any particular week which one I was set on, it would change often. I struggled and struggled with it, but ultimately chose to go with Lawren. This was partly because I'll always be a daddy's girl, but also because everyone who ever comes in contact with my father ends up loving him. He is always making others laugh and doesn't have a mean bone in his body. It would make me so proud to see Ady grow up a people pleaser and always happy just like my father.

The final touch to her nursery below thanks to TweetHeartWallArt on etsy. Sunny is the owner of this shop and she's super sweet to work with and has some awesome decals. Go check her out!

Fishing with Poppa

I completely forgot to post some of these pictures from when my parents were here of our fishing trip. Time has been a bit limited cause, you know, baby.

I just love watching my dad in his element with Drew. And can I just say how awesome my kid is that he held the worms?

Too bad we didn't catch anything.

Drew & Ady

"Sibling relationships...outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship. They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust."

                                                                         - Erica E. Goode

A First For Each & Family Pictures

In case you haven't noticed by now, my posts will be Ady-heavy for a while! #sorrynotsorry

First Bath For Ady
We gave Ady her first bath at home when she was 5 days old. She cried like all babies, but didn't really scream and we're hoping she doesn't mind baths like Drew!

First Bike for Drew
Drew's Gramma and Poppa gave him his first bike while they were here and he loves it. It was crazy to see how well he did on that thing and we now have a nightly ritual of a cul-de-sac bike ride!

Family Pictures

My immediate family: (miss them all!!)

3 generations:

 Adalyn napping on one of my baby blankets:

Adalyn's Birth Story

Just like with Drew, I wanted to post Adalyn's birth story here as a way to document the event forever! Warning: it's long!

As much as I had hoped to go natural with Ady, she had to be induced like Drew. Both of my kids ended up being induced at 40wks6days at the same amazing hospital here in Cleveland. Ady's was set for 10am on Monday, July 28th and I slept like a baby the night before. We woke up around 7, showered and headed to Dunkin Donuts with Drew, Gramma, Poppa and Uncle Bean. After enjoying sprinkle donuts with our little guy, Derek and I took him to school for the last time as a family of 3. We then head to the hospital to get checked in and get the show on the road.

Our induction was scheduled for 10am, but due to some other births, my IV wasn't placed until noon with pitocin not being introduced until 12:25pm. At that time I was around 3.5cm dilated and 50% effaced. Soon after, at 12:50pm, my water was broken and my membranes stripped by the hospitalist that's part of my OB's practice. I had hoped to have my wonderful OB again (Dr. Jean Reinhold), but figured Ady would come during the day, meaning we would get the hospitalist. Unlike Drew's induction, the contractions came quickly as I started feeling them at 1:20pm. Only 40 minutes later, at 2pm, they were unbearable and I was at 6cm. Worried that Ady would come quickly, I requested an epidural and within 30 minutes they were at my room.

The Cleveland Clinic hospital system is a teaching program and I had no issues with residents being in the room hands-on during my delivery. That being said, I get so nervous with epidurals (and husbands aren't allowed in the room) that I wanted the attending only to place the needles. I could tell something went wrong during the epi placement as my right leg at one point was in excruciating pain. Fortunately they were able to stop that quickly, but we then found out that the epidural was intrathecal. Apparently this happens a lot and we were reassured everything would go as planned. I should have known better.

Over the next hour, my contractions were much more manageable, but by 3:45pm, they once again became painful. I was given a different dose of epi, but at 4pm my heart rate decelerated to 37bpm. I wasn't aware of this until after the fact as I was a bit drowsy and managing my pain, but at one point there was about 7 people rushing around my room. I focused on Derek's face as much as I could and he calmly told me everything was going to be ok. Within 15 minutes, they were able to get my heart rate back up and Ady was trucking along as usual.

At 5pm, I was checked again and was at 9cm, almost ready to go. They let me labor a bit longer so that Ady could work her way down but around 5:30 I got a surprise visit from my OB. She was on call that evening and I could have cried. She knew how much I wanted to have her again for the birth and came directly to my room upon arrival to the hospital. After another 30 minutes of laboring, it was 6pm and time to push. My OB and her resident got in position and I mentally shifted into 'go time'. It might be odd, but I really wanted a mirror this time to see the experience. I loved being able to see the top of Ady's head come down the birthing canal as I pushed for a bit. 21 minutes later and probably a total of 8-10 pushes, there she was.

At 19.5 inches long and 8lbs 15.4oz with a full head of black hair, Adalyn Lawren came out, screamed once and Derek and I balled like babies. Since Derek didn't get to cut the cord with Drew, he chose not to cut the cord for Ady due to his superstitions. After a quick check by the ped due to some meconium in my water, they placed Ady on my chest and I was in love. Derek and I stared deep into her dark slate blue eyes and couldn't believe how perfect she was.

But that's where my recovery nightmare began.

Around 7:15pm after some bonding and swooning time, my right upper back and neck became very painful. What I thought was a pinched nerve only worsened over the next 3 hours. I was only able to lay flat on my back and had to nurse Ady for the first time laying on my side. It was terrible that I could barely move my head, therefore I couldn't even look at my daughter. After tons of tears shed from pain as well as a couple upchucks, I was given zophram, an ear patch, tylenol, caffeine and perkaset. Nothing worked and the anesthesiologists said I was suffering from a 'spinal headache'. Let me just tell you that it was NOT just like an ordinary headache and only 1-2% of those getting an epidural suffer through this. I could barely get to the bathroom  to the extent that I chose to just go into a bedpan while laying down and I ended up throwing up a couple of times as well. It was debilitating, excruciating and I would give anything to go back and have given natural birth without the epidural.

By around 11pm that night, I realized that I was supposed to be in the recovery room cooing over my new bundle of joy when, instead, I'm laying on my back with my baby up in the nursery and barely able to move from terrible pain. The nurses all had such depressing and helpless faces on as there was essentially nothing they could do to ease the physical or emotional pain. Eventually I was rolled in my bed up to the recovery room (as opposed to wheelchaired up with my baby in my arms) and situated in my room. The doctors explained that I might need a blood patch to fix the hole in the spinal fluid column but that couldn't be done for 24 hours.

Super swelled thanks to nonstop fluids being pumped into my IV

Throughout that night and into the next day, I continue nursing without being able to look down at my daughter and tried my best to lay extremely still. I was being pumped with fluids but the task of getting out of bed to urinate was so painful, the nurses had me just go in a bed pan a couple times. Lovely, right? Eventually it was just before 2pm and I was to get the blood patch shortly, when another anesthesiologist came in and said technically you are supposed to wait 48 hours and it would not be done that day.

Devastation.

I had essentially already missed the first 20 hours of my child's life and now I was going to have to suffer through the pain for another whole day? They did, however, say they would pull out my spinal catheter shortly and that I was supposed to keep chugging fluids as much as I could. It was around 5pm when the anesthesiologist came in to remove the catheter. It was a quick process of just turning on my side and them simply pulling it out. I didn't feel a thing and went back to bonding with Ady laying on my side.

My parents and brother brought Drew up around 8pm to meet Ady and I was able to lift my bed up a bit for him to see her better. Worried that he would notice I was in pain, I did everything I could to act like mommy was A-ok and everything was fine and dandy. Everyone took another turn holding her and then it was time to get Drew home and into bed. He kissed her cheek and said he loved her before heading out of the room.

After more bonding time, it was around 10pm that I needed my 385th bathroom break of the day. The nurse came in to help and as I sat on the side of the bed I realized the pain wasn't rushing in as usual. Thinking it was a fluke, I walked to the bathroom, did my thing and walked back to the bed only to well up and explain to Derek that the pain was tremendously less. It was to the point where I could sit up in bed and look at Adalyn while I nursed. Over the next couple of hours, I was actually starting to feel back to normal. It was absolutely amazing and none of the doctors or the nurses could explain why. Normally a spinal catheter removal doesn't do anything for spinal headaches, but for me it did. I can't explain how happy I was to actually start my recovery with my beautiful baby girl. And on top of that, Ady was passing all of the standardized testing with flying colors and the nurses all commented about how she was one of the best babies they'd had in their care.

Drew's adorable shirt from Zoey's Attic on Etsy!

We stayed about 4 hours past normal discharge just to make sure I was well enough to go home and finally on the evening of July 30th, we were out of there. I dressed Adalyn in the homecoming outfit I wore home from the hospital and made our way home as a family of 4.

Sidenote: we realized her straps were too high before we got in the car.

For the past 9 days she's been a champion eater and sleeper and is putting on plenty of weight. Unlike with Drew, I was fully recovered around a week after birth and am feeling awesome. Overall, I'm so thankful the hospital pain was on my end. As parents we always say we'd rather be in pain than our children and I'm so glad Ady didn't have a single issue while there.

Happy Birthday again sweet girl. Can't wait to start our journey as a family of 4!