First day of school

Piper and her buddies today

The first roll

Success!

Iver now rolls! And stats

I was just running around like a mad woman doing laundry since Iver and Piper are actually asleep at the same time during the day and realized that so much time and activity has passed that I'm never going to remember it all now, let alone 20 years from now when I'm curious as to when Iver rolled over or when Piper first was trying to tie the ropes up on the boat dock. The one month where they were both 3 (3 months and 3 years) is done. As of yesterday, Iver is 4 months and Piper's preschool started up again today. Insane.

And because I'm sure one or both kids will wake up momentarily, I'm typing as fast as I can and will have to add pictures later. But ...

Iver rolled over yesterday for the first time! On his four month bday, he finally got from his side to his belly. Now that seems to be all that he wants to do today. And the best part was that Piper got to see him do it. She was bummed because she said he would do it while she was at school and she'd miss it, but low and behold, he appeased us and rolled while we were hanging out in the back yard.

And then stats ... first Iver's two month stats (man I am delinquent!!):

Height: 24.25 inches - 85 percentile
Weight: 13 pounds, 72 ounces - 76 percentile
Head circumference: 15.5 inches - 33 percentile

And Piper's three year stats:

Height: 38.5 inches - 80 percentile
Weight: 34 pounds, 9 ounces - 82 percentile

Iver will have more stats next week when he goes in for his four month checkup. All I can say is he feels huge to me, although I think he still has a bit of a peanut head. Really this makes him look proportionate, as if he were older, instead of having the giant baby melon, but I would think he was gorgeous with whatever sized head he had.

And just like that, Iver's awake. He still only taked cat naps. So much more to write, and so many pictures from our summer's adventures ... but those will have to wait.

Iver John!

Two weeks and a day ago (May 9, 2012), we welcomed our beautiful, perfect, amazing little boy - Iver John. He arrived at 1:57 pm, weighing 8 pounds, 1.7 ounces and measuring 20.5". As you can tell from Piper's face in our first family picture, we couldn't have been happier to welcome him into our lives!

 

But to do his birth story justice, first I need to back up a couple of days ...

For the past couple of months, Piper has loved to match me when it comes to clothes, what we're eating, etc. So instead of a traditional 39 week pregnant picture, I cuddled up on the couch with what my husband called the smaller of the ninjas, which by the way, was the only completely matching outfit we could pull together. We do have matching Hanna Andersson jammies, but the tops are different so all black plus slippers was definitely the way to go. 

 

So the day that picture was taken, I had contractions all morning. They became consistent and stronger, so after Piper's swimming lessons, I finally called the doctor's office, where they sent me to the hospital. At this point, the contractions were every 5 minutes and we assumed it was go time. Woo hoo! So we get to the hospital and I'm still 4 cm dilated so they have me walk for 90 minutes to see if that gets things going further. For a while, the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and strong, but by the end of the 90 minutes, they were back to every 5 minutes. When the nurse checked me again, I was still 4 cm, so with the Snuggery being a super busy place, they sent me home. I was very disappointed, but I guess the silver lining is that we had one more good night's sleep and then had a great delivery the next day. It turns out, 8 babies were born at the Hospital that day, and Iver was only one of two the next day. They really were slammed.

So the next day I had my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment. The doc checked me and I was 4-5 cm and very "ready," so she asked if I would want to go to the hospital, have them break my water, and see what happened. Of course I was OK with that - it was what I absolutely wanted! So she stripped my membranes and we headed over to the hospital.

The midwife broke my water at 11:30 am, and then I was up and walking. The contractions came back immediately, and they quickly became very strong. I vacillated about whether or not to get an epidural for a while, and then it was like a switch flipped and all of a sudden the pain was super intense. I had such a good epidural experience with Piper that I decided to get another one, so the doc was called. That was just before 1. About 30 minutes later, I was super comfortable and 6 cm dilated. 30 minutes after that, I was fully dilated, pushed five times, and Iver was born at 1:57 pm. It was such an easy, amazing experience, that I couldn't believe how great I felt. I was rested, didn't throw up at all, and felt super energized. I'm so glad I made the choice to get an epidural because I really feel they allow my body to relax and dilate completely, VERY quickly. The same thing happened with Piper. If I remember correctly, I went from 6 to 10 cm with her 20 minutes after the epidural took effect. I know not everyone is for them, but I've had two great experiences and have absolutely no regrets.

After two nearly sleepless nights in the hospital, we came home! It was a beautiful day so Piper and Reid got to take Iver for his first walk around the neighborhood. Piper was very proud to push the stroller ...

 

Since then, we've had many ups and downs, particularly when it comes to the emotional health of our toddler. Luckily, the emotional roller coaster seems to be waning and she's adjusting to life as a Big Sister with a little brother who has peed on her, wakes her up at night with his crying, doesn't give her "baby hugs" on demand, and in general, doesn't give her a lot back when she puts in a ton. But she loves her little brother and someday hopefully they'll be great buddies.

And very quickly, Iver had his two week check up yesterday so we have some stats on the big guy, who is growing very quickly ...

Height: 22 inches - 89 percentile
Weight: 8 pounds, 7 ounces - 29 percentile (he was 7 pounds, 11 ounces when we were discharged)
Head circumference: 14.5 inches - 29 percentile

There's so much more to write, but that will have to wait until later. This took enough of my limited "free" time (when both kids are sleeping) and dinner has to be made!

38 weeks!

I love to laugh, and the fact that my husband makes me laugh every day is high up on the list of reasons of why he's my husband. With that in mind, I've been debating as to whether I should share my false alarm/funny diagnosis story from a few days ago ... while embarrassing to me, it is pretty funny, so if I can bring some laughter to random blog readers on an otherwise boring Monday, then why not? So here's the deal ...

When I was putting on Piper's shoes last Friday morning before school, I felt a bunch of liquid come out of me. So I sat on the toilet, peed, and more liquid came out after that. Well, I thought my water was leaking! So I called the doc, who told me to go to the hospital and get checked out. So Reid brings Piper to school to buy us a couple of hours for her, I set up her pickup with a neighbor, finish packing our bag, and then we head to the hospital, thinking we're going to have a baby. Pretty exciting, right? Yeah, not so fast.

I get there and I'm having zero contractions, which I think is weird, and apparently so does the nurse. They monitor me for a bit - baby looks great, still no contractions, so they do amniotic fluid tests to make sure it was actually a leaking water situation. Those tests are negative, which means the only logical diagnosis is incontinence.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, my diagnosis was peeing my pants.  Awesome.

The exciting news is I'm 4 cm dilated and the head is right there so I'm hoping it won't be too much longer. Of course that being said, this little peanut has been quiet as a church mouse the last couple of days. I've gone from having several contractions a day to pretty much nothing. I guess it's the calm before the storm, but I'm ready to get this show on the road! And so is Piper. The poor thing left for school on Friday thinking she was going to see us next at the hospital, when she met her new little brother or sister, and here it is 3 days later and there's still no little person to meet. She was definitely confused on Friday and I can tell she's trying to process this whole change, but she has no idea what she's processing. She'll know soon, but in the meantime, Big Baby (what she's named her favorite baby doll) has been trying out all the baby gear that is now cluttering our house, like the swing, pack and play, etc. Based on the pushes Big Baby was getting in the swing this morning, this next kid is going to have to be one tough nut - and will likely go on to design roller coasters.

Interestingly, the nurse at the hospital was convinced that we're having a girl. She's one of the very few to make that prediction, but I would put her into the classification of "expert" so time will tell. As an FYI, her basis for this prediction was the way I'm carrying.
Happy Monday!

36 weeks!

Although there's an annoying shadow on this picture because it's dark outside, I feel like this picture is starting to do justice for just how LARGE my stomach is (at 36 weeks and 2 days). And as you can see, it hasn't come even close to dropping yet so we are well on track to make it to 37 weeks (full term) and probably then some. Woo hoo!

We had an ultrasound two days ago to make sure the peanut had flipped to head down, and it has. It's also facing down so in a good position for delivery, but a terrible position for pictures because you can't really see anything with it laying this way. No cute face profiles, no clear limbs ... but if it makes things easier later on then I'm all for it. It's the pics of this kid after it comes out that I'm the most looking forward to chronicling anyway.

Multiple times a day, Piper hugs and kisses my belly and talks about how much she loves her little brother or sister ... it's super cute and we just hope the excitement continues. She helped pack our hospital bag, which now sits in our bedroom waiting for go-time, and was excited to for the nursery to start to come together and to help pick out which sheet to put on the crib, which changing pad cover to use, etc. I had a friend with two kids tell me that having the first child make a lot of what would seem to us like meaningless decisions could actually be really important for her because it makes her feel like she's a help so I'm trying hard to include her whenever possible. Now if only she would all of a sudden become a napper so that I could take a snooze in the afternoon ... not too likely, but you can't blame me for being a dreamer! But since she is the energizer bunny, I'm headed to bed even though it's only 9pm. I may as well try and get some sleep while that's still in the cards because I fully realize that any night I go to sleep at this point could be my last as a parent of one child. Insane!

Easter 2012

I've been off bedrest for a week now, and at 35 weeks, I'm so excited that the baby hasn't tried to arrive again and that we've made it this far without too much increased stress. My house may not be as neat and tidy as I would like because I do have to take it very easily right now, but that's ok. With a newborn coming soon, it's not going to be perfect for a while anyway. Might as well get used to it now!

Easter was this past weekend, and all I can think about from the weekend is what a fun age Piper is at right now. We were in North Creek on Saturday to celebrate, where Piper fell in love with a giant bunny cake, and more specifically, red licorice ...

And then Sunday, before she was pretty much angelic in church, she had the best time exploring her Easter basket and finding eggs that the bunny had hidden around our house. She kept talking about the "silly bunny" and running back and forth to her Easter basket with chocolate filled eggs. Reid and I were laughing and enjoying every minute because she was in absolute heaven. So cute!

I can't get over how much of a little kid she is now. The baby fat has melted off, she talks and talks and talks, using ridiculous vocabulary and sentence construction, and simply put, she's always thinking about something. We never can predict what question is going to come out of her mouth at any random point in time. I think this is why she has a hard time just sitting and watching a TV show and why she doesn't love to be read to unless it's quiet time or bed time. She's so busy, so inquisitive, and I can't believe we're about to start all over with a teeny tiny one again in a matter of weeks. Looking back a year ago, she has changed so much ... last year, she couldn't say chocolate so she called it "choc-choc." Although many of her curls are now gone, and her mouse (Madison) has all but been replaced by Big Baby, her love of choc-choc remains. Here's a peak back at Piper and Easter 2011 ...

33 weeks!

Piper asked me last night why I was wearing all black. My response: "because it's slimming." Not that there's any real point in trying to appear 'slim' at this point, but most of the maternity shirts I do own are black, and let's be honest, I'm wearing yoga pants almost full time now because why bother wearing anything else when I spend most of the time on the couch with my feet up. Comfort is king!

So for today's photo session, it was another pair of yoga pants paired with yet another black maternity tank. I feel much bigger than I look in these pictures and I can't figure out what sort of magical illusion is happening with my camera, but I'll take it!

Standard belly shot ...

Uncovered belly!

And full frontal ... I wish I had 33 week pics from being pregnant with Piper, but it looks like the closest we have is from almost 35 weeks so give me a couple more weeks and the comparison will be more accurate, but I do think this belly sticks out more than with Piper.

Pink or blue? Old wives' tails revisited

When I was pregnant with Piper, we didn't know what she was until she arrived so I blogged about many of the old wive's tails I had been told throughout my pregnancy. As it turns out, many were true and we ended up with a bouncing baby girl with lots of hair.

This time around has been no different. Everyone asks what we're having, and since we don't know, they have an opinion. While with Piper the vast majority of people thought it was a girl (myself not included), this time around, most people are seeing blue in our not too distant future. So let's recap ...

• Fetal heartbeat: Fast heartbeat = girl; slower heartbeat = boy. What's fast and what's slow? I'm honestly not entirely sure, but I will say that this time around is very similar to last time. While Piper tended to be right around 155, this one was 155 multiple appointments in a row, with the lowest I've seen being 145, and our last appointment was 150. I guess that's fast? Not quite sure, but I will say that this is one ACTIVE baby in my belly and the little girl or boy is working up a faster heartbeat with all of the acrobatics it's doing.
• Linea negra - theory #1: Line on your belly? High estrogen, which means a girl. No line, better paint the nursery blue. No line this time, which would mean a boy.
• Linea negra - theory #2: If the line only goes from your pubic bone to your belly button, then it's a girl; if it goes up past your belly button up to your sternum, then it's a boy. Since I don't have a line, I guess I automatically default to theory #1, but then again, the two linea negra predictions seem totally oppposite to me so your guess is as good as mine ... Last time I had a line up to my belly button, so this time is different. Pointing at blue again?
• How you're carrying the baby - theory #1: This is kind of like the heartbeat where what denotes "fast", but apparently if you're carrying evenly across your front, onto your sides, it's a girl. Carrying what looks like a basketball on your front, with it ALL out front, it's a boy. I look entirely different this time around than with Piper. Even though I've gained about the same amount of weight this pregnancy, I can say that I carried Piper EVERYWHERE on my body. My hips, butt, face, arms. You name it, she was crammed in there somewhere. This time around, of course everything is a little bigger, but it's totally different and I'm mostly belly. Now I did start out weighing less in general with this pregnancy ... but I guess I'd put us into the boy category again, and that's what everyone tells me when they see me.
• How you're carrying the baby - theory #2: There's also the high (girl) versus low (boy)conundrum, which I didn't cover with Piper, but again is totally subjective and I would think would have a lot to do with whether or not someone is long waisted or short waisted. I will say that I carried Piper way higher than I'm carrying this one so I guess that puts us into the boy category.
• Baby's level of activity: Got a quiet baby in there? Girl. Growing a kick boxer? Boy. Piper was a super active baby and hasn't slowed down since she entered the real world. This one is also a crazy fool, but I'm going to put that on genetics and not gender. Either way, my guess is this child will be a bit wild and super active, just like his/her older sister.
• Penny and the wall: There's something about a penny and the wall and whether it sticks. We ended up doing this with Piper at my mother in law's insistence and I don't remember whether it stuck or not, but I know the verdict was boy and obviously that wasn't the case. She hasn't asked me to do it this time, and frankly I would refuse, having just had the walls painted while we were on vacation in January. No since in ruining a paint job over nothing!
• You just are ...: And then there's my final favorite - "I can just tell." I don't think a single person has told me this time around they think it's a girl.
• The ultrasound technician calls it a "he": Lastly, at our 20 week ultrasound, the technician knew we didn't want to find out the sex, but after 45 minutes of looking at the baby, she called it a he. When I asked her whether she just gave the sex away, she quickly said she calls them all "hes" when they don't know ... was she just covering? I have heard of this happening before, but I personally think she slipped.

And just to be clear, I would love to know what we're having this time around, but am giving my husband the opportunity to have one last surprise because he absolutely loves that we don't know. But part of my wanting to know has to do with the name ... we have a girl's name that we love. First, middle, everything. Boy name? Not even close. We have nothing. We don't like the name that Piper would have been so thank God she was a girl, but we're so far away from a boy's name this time that if it is a girl, I would love to just throw the whole name discussion in the trash and never look back. And if it is a boy, then we better get cracking and fall in love with something soon or else Piper's going to name the boy Peewee like she says she wants and we won't have any other good options so the poor kid will be screwed with a lifetime of heckling.

32 weeks!

I would be remiss to not account for the three whole days of winter fun we had this year. While it was cold at times, we didn't get any real snow until we had our one storm on March 1st, and I'm pretty sure we were all outside by 7:15 in the morning. Reid snow blowed the driveway while Piper checked out the white stuff that she had been asking for all winter long. We spent the morning playing with friends - building snow men, making a fort, getting pulled around in a sled, and in general, making up for the months of bare lawn that we had all winter. The next day was sledding with friends and then the weekend was upon us so Daddy was able to get in on the fun. By this time, it was back to almost 50 degrees out so it was sledding on a couple inches of snow in sweatshirts. As you can tell by the smiles though, it couldn't have been more fun!

So now here we are at 32 weeks! I tried to take a self-portrait yesterday, and while the lighting isn't great, you can see that the baby has definitely grown. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and I'm definitely on bed rest for the next two weeks, but if I can get through these weeks without any additional signs of preterm labor, then they'll take me off bed rest at 34 weeks. So fingers and toes are crossed for a very uneventful two weeks so I can get back on my feet and back to work around here. Piper is doing great and has been such a trooper in terms of adjusting. Right now, since summer seems to have arrived 3 months early, she's at a playground with one of her favorite sitters and I'm sure she's having a blast. She's thrown a few mini tantrums about me not putting her to bed or up for quiet time, but other than that, she's been surrounded by people who she loves and who love her and is a happy camper. And with the incredibly generous help of our family and friends, our laundry is caught up, our house is clean, and we've been eating great, healthy meals. In the whole scheme of life, we are so lucky and blessed.

Next up - gender old wive's tales revisited ...

29 week bump

I'm 32 weeks tomorrow, but trying to catch up. The quality isn't great from my phone so the next one will have to be from my real camera.

We should have known it was coming ... bed rest!

I have to start by saying that I'm jealous of Piper and Reid right now because they're at our favorite diner having breakfast, which is one of our favorite things to do on Saturday/Sunday. But it's all for a good reason because a healthy baby and healthy mama are this moment's (and the next month's) top priorities. After a trip to the hospital two days ago to confirm that I was having preterm labor, I'm on bed rest. Yuck.

When I was pregnant with Piper, bed rest wasn't a huge deal. It was boring, and looking back, I'm not really sure what I did for almost four weeks, but this time around is completely different. With a super active toddler, the whole game has changed. I now have two super important goals: 1. keep the baby in, 2. keep Piper happy. Let's just say her adjustment period to this new baby is well underway. I think the plan is to keep her days filled with people she loves, while factoring in some cuddle time with me on the couch. We thought about getting a nanny for the next month, but it would have to be someone she didn't know and that's just one more big adjustment I'd rather not put her through ... I think we're asking enough of her at this point! And admittedly, I'm trying to minimize my guilt too. This is my last time to have just for Piper, and it's getting taken away to a certain extent. Pregnant with Piper, it drove me nuts that I never got to nest. This time around, my last bit of special time with Piper is getting taken away. I know what people would say: before we know it, both kids will be in college and we'll never remember this part anyway. Well, there's probably some truth to that.

There's one thing I'm sure of, though, I do not have a good baby making body! Although we've talked about the potential of bed rest and knew it was a possibility (apparently the biggest risk factor is having had it before), there was still a lot of me that was in denial about having to actually be on bed rest. Well, no denying it now. But now, I have absolutely no excuse but to blog! So while Piper's at school more of the time and hanging out with people she loves, I'll be catching up on pictures, catching up on her "baby book", and please for the sake of this next child, actually take another bump picture or two. More to come!

Fun in the sun

We just returned from an amazing vacation in the sun where we had the opportunity to see great friends, play in the sand and swim every day, and get enough fresh air and sun shine to hold us over until the weather gets nice again here. The above pic is Baby #2 at 24.5 weeks, growing like a weed. Well, either that, or the increased belly size is due to all of the great food we ate last week. For one reason or another, my belly seems to have grown quite a bit in the past couple of weeks and I notice it getting in the way more and more. And yet I know, there is so much more "largeness" to come ...

The one thing that I hope doesn't come is preterm labor. I noticed some minor cramping and some contractions while we were on vacation and brought them up at my doctor's appointment on Monday. At 25 weeks, it's early to be having any of that, and after having preterm labor and bedrest with Piper, I definitely need to take it easy and be careful. I'm no longer allowed to exercise (even slow, long walks) and am taking Piper's nap time to put my feet up or take a nap myself. The thought of going on bedrest with a toddler running around absolutely terrifies me! But the one part that bums me out is explaining to Piper why I can't carry her down the stairs or pick her up and carry her around like I would like to. She's had a virus the last couple of days and just wants some extra cuddle time, so we get it on the couch together, but I do feel a bit badly. But then again, I guess there are worse things than her having to start adjusting to not being the only little one in the house starting now. She's not going to have all my time/attention/anything in a few short months and maybe this is a good time to start adjusting to her future reality!

22 weeks!

It isn't getting any easier to take a self-portrait, but one thing is true, the little munchkin is growing like crazy and I'm starting to feel like a real pregnant lady. In the 18 week pic, I was wearing a normal shirt ... but those days are done. I finally put all of my regular shirts away and will see them again sometime this summer. Over the past four weeks, the little one is settling into a bit of a movement routine. If I sit still after eating, it moves around like crazy, but its favorite time to go wild is right as I lay down to go to sleep. The flips and wiggles are peak at about 10 pm, or whenever it is I get to bed, and since I never fall asleep right away anyway, I enjoy every minute of the acrobatics. I know that will change with time (when it's 3 am and I can't get back to sleep because of the crazy internal soccer moves), but for now, I'm just going to enjoy it.

So a very wise friend of mine passed on this link this week, http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/04/2011-lesson-2-dont-carpe-diem, and I swear it changed my whole outlook on life as a stay at home mom. I think a lot of my growing frustration had to do with the 3 or so months of Piper not napping, being cranky, me being cranky and losing patience as a result, but quite honestly, I was feeling rather strained about motherhood. And I couldn't put my finger on why, but when I read this very well-written and honest blog, I knew what my problem was. I was too busy feeling annoyed/guilty that I wasn't happy all the time that I was missing the really incredible moments. Once I realized what I was doing, it's like a giant light bulb has gone off and I feel refreshed and rejuvenated about parenting. I'm finding it much easier to ignore most of the small stuff, and really cherish what matters. For example, the other day after a shower, Piper and I were in my room putting on lotion (one of her favorite activities). She was doing her thing, I was doing mine, and then she walked over, put a hand on my shoulder and said in an incredibly sincere and beautiful manner, "I love you, Mama." I can't tell you what else happened that day, but that's what I'm going to remember. It was awesome. And because parenthood is super hard, I'm going to choose to focus on those moments and not the ones that make me want to pull my hair out and scream, because there are enough of those too.

And maybe part of my rejuvenation comes from the fact that Piper IS napping again, and I think we've finally figured out a schedule that works well for her. Gone are the days of 1pm quiet time. If we wait until around 3, she almost always falls asleep and then will be a wonderfully behaved and pleasant 2 year old until she goes to bed at 8. This seems to be working well, and thank God, because the no naps and crankiness was a nightmare. And having her drop naps just when I became pregnant again was super crappy timing! Our house is now pleasant again in the afternoon/evening and everyone is so much better off for it. These kids aren't easy to figure out ... and I'm sure the next one will be completely different (and if that means a wonderful napper, then woo hoo!!!).

Here's a recent pic that's one of my favorites. While the smiles are pretty awesome on their own, it's made even more special by the fact that the jumper Piper is wearing was made by my Nana (my mom's mom) and I used to wear it 28 years ago. I'm sure my Nana was smiling down when she saw this too ...