Last few days of maternity leave...

One week left. That went really, really fast. Besides cleaning, cooking, and running errands to be sure things are as stress-free as possible when we both returned to work, we were soaking up the last few days as a stay-at-home-family. Seth returned to work a few days ago, Carter started daycare full-time again, and Addison starts next Tuesday.

 

What we've been up to...

 

 

 

Rolling in the grass,

 

 

Chalk art,

 

 

Masking tape roads,

 

 

Loving on a smiley little girl.

 

It was a good summer.

A day in the life {maternity leave version}

I saw this on another blog and thought it would be a good idea to write down what life is like at this stage of our life so when things get crazier (because I know they will), I can look back and say "Eh, that wasn't so bad."

Disclaimers: Carter started back to daycare full-time this week, so during the day, it's just Seth (who is still home for summer break from teaching until tomorrow), Addison and I. I really should have done this when Carter was home because THAT was chaos, but oh well... :)

12:00 a.m. - Hearing cries from the nursery, Seth runs in as fast as humanly possible (to avoid waking Carter, who has begun to sleep lightly) to begin changing Addison's diaper while I go to the bathroom and get a drink. I nurse her for about 20 minutes, swaddle her, rock her, and get her back into her crib. She is a chronic "grunter" and my mind cannot settle until I know she is fully asleep, so I plop back in the rocker for some Pinterest surfing while she works out the 10 or so minutes of grunting.

12:35 a.m. - Finally back in bed. Lay there with my mind racing for what feels like an eternity, though I'm guessing it's only around 15 minutes.

3:07 a.m. - Crying from the little girl. Here we go again. She has hiccups and is breaking out of her swaddle. I run in, fix the swaddle, and attempt to nurse her. She eats, albeit not well, and we begin the "get her back to sleep" routine. It is usually not hard, but tonight, she wants to give me a run for my money. Thirty-five minutes in and she is still restless.

4:00 a.m. - Finally back in our room, and I clonk out quickly.

4:30 a.m. - Crying from Addison. Hmm, not a typical night. She rarely ever cries out in between feeds. Seth goes in and gives her a paci.

4:45 a.m. - Paci fell out. In my exhaustion, I tell Seth to just put her in the swing (our God-send). He does and comes back to bed.

6:00 something a.m. - Our door flies open, slamming into our closet door, and Carter comes in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I pull him up into bed with us, but it's not a settle back down kind of day.

6:30 a.m. - After a brief you-get-up, no-you-get-up, Seth heads to the living room with him, which is a task in and of itself since A is in there sleeping in the swing.

6:42 a.m. - A is crying, C is whining for milk and snacks. Up and at 'em--so much for "sleeping in." Dress Carter for school, pack his breakfast and lunch in his lunchbox, and Seth heads out to drop Carter off. I inhale--and I do mean inhale--some cereal before A is truly awake for the day. When I'm done eating, she's shockingly still sleeping, so I speed shower, trying my hardest not to slice my leg off as I shave as fast as I possibly can. Get out, dry and straighten my hair and apply make-up. I pump and then quick! Feed the dog while there's a second!

7:30 a.m. - Change her and nurse her, though it's not a good one. She's such a grazer and would be content with sips throughout the day. Her first and last feeds of the day are a mess, but we push through. Play time for A, cleaning up, emptying dishwasher, doing laundry, etc. for us. After a while, A is getting fussy, but I'm keeping her awake so she falls asleep in the car while we run errands (she HATES the carseat so this is the way to avoid crying).

9:40 a.m. - Off to run errands - we go to the bank and to Babies R Us for supplies for daycare, which she starts in two weeks.

10:47 a.m. - FINALLY out of BRU. What kind of baby store doesn't carry girl versions of the bottles they sell?!?! We spent way too much time mulling over swaddlers, but found two when all was said and done. We're STARVING already, so we head home for lunch.

11:05 a.m. -  Nurse a very tired baby, who didn't sleep much in the car. Eat lunch. Yes, this early, but we eat when there is peace. More play time and tummy time for A. Diaper change, swaddle, rock, rock, rock. Into the swing for a nap around noon.

12:30 p.m. - I (Danielle) am BEAT so I'm going to lay on the couch for a nap while Seth ran out to visit with a friend at Messiah.

2:00 p.m. - Time to prep dinner! Tonight, it's beef brisket, so I get it all started and tidy up the house. Not much time to prep dinner and a little girl is up ready to play (and eat). Annnnd I pump again, storing up for going back to work in 2 weeks. Seth childproofs our snack cabinet, finishes off the bathroom "remodel," and we do some other odds and ends.

4:00 p.m. - Pick up Carter from school, meet Addison's new teacher, and come home to prep more dinner. Addison is BEAT, so we swaddle her and get her down, but she cries every 5 or so minutes for about 30 minutes until she is finally asleep. I'm prepping dinner, Carter is playing/screaming with joy in the garage, playing with his new Little Tykes house. Seth is back and forth between shushing Addison and playing with Carter.

5:00 p.m. - Dinner time. - beef brisket, corn, and pasta with cheese. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. As always, we inhale, knowing A might be up at any time. But, alas, we make it through dinner interruption-free. I clean up from a very messy dinner, pack Carter's breakfast and lunch for tomorrow, and Seth goes right out to mow the lawn while A is still sleeping. Carter, thankfully, plays outside while I get stuff done.

5:20 p.m. - Just kidding. Carter's freaking because the mower is too loud, so I'm on a hunt for noise-canceling headphones in the garage and holding a screaming child on the deck.

6:22 p.m. - A is still sleeping so it's time to wake a sleeping baby! Gotta get a feed into her to stuff her full before bed. :) Carter is now, for real, happily playing with Seth out back now that the mowing is done. Then, lots of playing in the garage again while Seth and I clean it up and Addison coos in her bouncer.

7:30 p.m. - Bathtime and wind-down time.

8:00 p.m. - Bottle for Addison (who has been refusing to nurse at the before-bed feed for a week now - no idea what that's about?!?), I pump again, and then bedtime for Carter. Forty-five minutes later, Carter is still not asleep, but Addison is and it's time for relaxing time for me (that is, after I clean up the kitchen and living room).

9:30 p.m. - BEDTIME for me. I realize that's early but in just 2.5 hours, it'll be time to do it all again!

Addison's Sprinkle

On Saturday, my sister hosted a "sprinkle" forAddison and I, and to give a chance for some of my aunts, cousins, and friends to meet Addison for the first time and snuggle her! The weather was great and her, my mom, and grandma made everything and they had it set up on her wrap-around porch. It was super cute!



 My princess and I

 The "A" is now in her nursery!



 The invitation

The table set up. The little bags of green/yellow were the favor which were sprinkles. So cute!!

The brunch menu was really good - my grandma's homemade cheesey potato soup with a toppings bar, fresh fruit salad, blueberry muffins, and individual egg casseroles. Oh, and cake of course! :)

 The REALLY good cake - chocolate/vanilla with a marshmallow icing!

Peanut wasn't doing so well being passed around, so she passed out instead!

My best friends since kindergarten. Tennille (far left) just had a baby, Rowan, a few weeks after me, then Liz, and Megan, who is pregnant with twins, due in a few weeks!!

Myself, Addison, McKenna, Michelle, and my mom



My mom, grandma, and lots of aunts and a cousin!

We were very blessed by the sprinkle and had a great time mingling with everyone. A few of the gifts we got were many diapers (always a good thing!!), lots of clothing, Ugg boots, toys, wipes, socks, money, gift cards, and more.

Thank you, Michelle, for hosting, and to mom and grandma for helping throw the sprinkle as well! 

Hugs from Princess Addison :)

Date Night

I love, love, love date nights. It's such a good time to spend time together in peace and forget about some of the stresses of parenthood, even for a few hours. My parents watched the kids, so we headed up to their house. Since they would be in bed when we got home (and Addison is nursing), we decided to just do our date night up there and sleep over.

We started the night by going out for dinner--we took our time and did not touch a crayon the entire meal. :)

After dinner, we headed down to the river. We were just going to walk around but the ferry was loading up and getting ready for one of their last trips of the night so we decided to hop on and do a round-trip at sunset.

I haven't been on the ferry for many years, but we had a good time...again, relaxing (notice the theme?).

  

When we got back, we walked up and down along the river and then went for ice cream. It was a great time together and I hope we can always make time for date nights throughout our marriage. Thanks to gramma and pa for watching the kids!

**As an added bonus, Miss Addison slept eight straight hours the night of our date night. Woo hoo!!

Addison: Two Months

Addison,

At two months old, you:

- Are 11 pounds, 2 ounces (60th percentile)
- Are 22.5 inches long (58th percentile)
- Have a big head like your brother :) (83rd percentile)
- Still have dark blue eyes that are super pretty!
- Wear size 1 diapers and size newborn, 0-3 months, or 3 month clothing (the 3 month is still a little baggy but I think we need to start wearing some of the summer outfits anyway while the weather is still warm!)
- Are awake more during the day now. You are awake about an hour and a half in between naps before you want to eat and go back to sleep. We try to keep you up from about 6:30-8:30 p.m.
- Still don't like your carseat but are getting a little better. You at least don't scream from point A to point B anymore...just part of the trip. :) 
- Use a Nuk paci now rather than the big soothie ones you were using last month. The thing was just too big and you couldn't seem to keep it in.  
- Eat SO MUCH faster now - usually 15-20 minutes vs. the 45-60 we were once doing.
- Eat about every 2.5-3 hours during the day and are still exclusively breastfed. It's going better this month than last, thank God.
- Eat once or twice a night. Most of the time, your first stretch is 4-6 hours, but then you don't last very long after that one until you want to eat again.
- Slept EIGHT STRAIGHT HOURS on August 11. Mommy and daddy were super happy. :)
- Stayed with gramma and pa while mommy and daddy went on a date night.
- Still don't really love tummy time, but are getting more used to it.
- Rolled over from belly to back!
- Still love to nap in your swing, while swaddled.
- Still love to be swaddled at night and most of the time, stop fussing when we swaddle you.
- Are still a rare cryer, usually only doing so when hungry or tired or when you have a nasty burp.
- Just got over your first bout of pink eye. (Rant: this is where I call bluff on this whole "breastfed babies don't get blah blah blah" Cheaper? Yes. Miracle infection preventer? No. End rant.) :)
- Made your first trip to Roxbury camp and were a little trooper! You didn't love the excessive heat but neither did we and cousin Aimee was HAPPY to snuggle you inside in the A/C.
- Smile all the time now, and it is seriously the cutest thing ever.
- Nicknames this month: Peanut, pretty girl, sweet pea, Addison E-lib-a-bit (from big brother).
- Speaking of brother, he LOVES to "hold you," give you tons of kisses, and has now begun crying whenever you do saying [in a whiny voice] "Stoooop crying, Addison." ha! :)

You are such a sweet little girl and mommy seriously thinks she gives you a thousand kisses a day (and that might be underestimating). Your smile is the most precious thing and we can't get enough of you! We love you, Addison!

Thankful...

Without a doubt, the last seven weeks have been tough. Not that anything is wrong--just that new parent stuff! Addison is SUCH a sweetheart and bless her heart, is trying so hard to sleep better and better. :) And Carter is working on his obedience (whether he wants to or not!!!) ha! I've said it before--in some ways, going from one kid to two was easier because we knew what to expect, been there/done that. On the other hand, it was WAY harder because it seems like they both need our attention at one time and our time is just cut in HALF.

I obviously feel stressed some days--usually the ones where Seth is at work or I got no sleep. But, I've come to realize how much of an awesome "other half" Seth has been not only the last few weeks, but since we've been married. We aren't always SUPER good at expressing our gratitude or concerns, but we're working on it. We've read The Five Love Languages and are working hard to make sure we each feel special and loved despite the hardships of parenting. I read yesterday that NINETY-ONE PERCENT of married couples say their marriage took a dive when they had kids. So sad...and I never want that to be us.

I know he thrives on being appreciated and by words of affirmation, and I don't do well enough with that. But I AM thankful for him and what he does to provide for our family, all he does to help me out (which is apparent as we're both home all summer), little things he does to make me feel special, how he plays with Carter, and loves on his baby girl. He is, without a doubt, my support on a crappy day and the love of my life, and I can't imagine not letting him know that better than I've been doing.

I'm a lucky, lucky woman. And Carter and Addison are lucky, lucky kids.

We love you.