Linnea's Monthly Updates

Now that it is July, I thought I would finally get around to posting some pictures (I did actually start this post back in February).

Here are the photos and pictures from her first few months. It is always fun to see her change over the course of a few months (I will post month three to seven in another post). In the first twelve weeks, we saw her smile, coo, cry, scream in pain, cry some more, and be generally very snuggly. For the first ten weeks, she would not sleep on her own and I held her while sitting up each night. Then for about a week ago, she slept that entire night in the cradle beside our bed. I thought it was a fluke, but she did it the next night and the next night she slept all night long in the pack and play next to our bed. Of course it didn't last very long at all-- those three nights were it! She is for sure a cuddly kid and goes on lots of adventures with big sister Emma. For the record, here are photos of the first few months.

Here a a few that were taken at the hospital: 

Here is her "just born" photo (taken at two weeks old): 

Here is her one month photo: 

Here is her two month photo:

Here is her three month photo:

Here are a few other photos that I love of her in the first few months:  

The Best Big Sister

2 Months and 2 Years

Emma was very excited during this pregnancy to meet Jelly Bean even though I'm not sure she really understood exactly how her life was going to change.  For the longest time, she talked about playing with Jelly Bean so I thought she was expecting another two year old to show up!

This is not the first time Mom "coordinated" our outfits.

Emma is a really great big sister and "loves" Nea (as she calls her). She is always "checking" on Linnea when she cries or even when she is just awake. We explained to Emma that crying was Linnea's way of telling us that she needed something. So whenever Linnea cried we ask Emma what she thinks Linnea needs and for the first two months, she would say something like: "She needs milk from Momma" or "Momma come pick the baby up". Or when she is crying, Emma will go and rescue her. She gets so excited when Linnea is awake and always tells me when she is awake.

Tummy Time!

Emma is also a great tummy time buddy, even though she thinks tummy time is anytime Linnea is on the play "jungle" mat. She will even make crying noises like Linnea does during tummy time. Here is a photo of Emma helping Linnea with tummy time.

Pajama Time

For the first few months whenever Emma woke up from a nap she would say to me to me "Nea's big sister woke up" or "Nea's big sister is awake". Emma talks to Linnea and tells her all about her day or what she doing, eating, playing, etc. The more mobile Linnea gets the more they can "play" together. 

Our Matching Zoo Shirts

Linnea is also extremely amused and entertained by Emma. She watches her when ever they are in the same room. If Emma starts crying, Linnea usually starts in too-- let me me tell you how much fun that is.

I'm sure that there will be plenty of fighting in the years to come, but for now I'm enjoying how much Emma is loving having a little sister an even more how much Linnea LOVES Emma.

Easter 2014

12 Weeks of Craziness

Maternity leave-- a crazy, stressful, tiring, and wonderful twelve weeks. I am very lucky to be able to take the full twelve weeks to spend with the girls, even though our bank account is not liking the unpaid portion of it :). John started working for a new law firm on December 1st, and negotiated 1/2 time during the month of December, so he was able to spend a little extra time with us that month too.

Originally, the plan was to have Emma go over to Grandma and Grandpa's house a few days a week but she freaked out and wouldn't let me out of her sight for the first few weeks after Linnea was born. I think me being in the hospital and having to spend time caring for Linnea really threw her off a little. So I ended up having her with me and Linnea for the bulk of the time. For the first few weeks, it was really tiring and tough to take care of both of them. I will admit that we watched a lot of Curious George those first few weeks. But eventually, we found our rhythm and I got more comfortable taking both of them places by myself.

In January, we got into a routine of going and doing some sort of activity in the morning and being back home in time for lunch and naps in the afternoon. I needed this two hour period in the afternoon to nap myself of snuggle with Linnea, so I made sure that we were home for it on most days. I found quite a few preschool/toddler activities that we tried out. Open Gym for preschoolers, aka "Big Open Gym" as we call it, was a huge hit and the place that we ended up going to the most. We played lots of dolls, puzzles, games, and of course watched a lot of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse too. We also made lots of cookies, muffins, cupcakes over the course of the three months-- both real and pretend ones! Of course, the polar vortex kept us inside for several days during those really cold weeks in January. Let me tell you that it is not fun to keep a very active two year old inside for several days straight!

Monday, February 10th is my first day back to work. Most people say that going back after the second kid is easier than the first, but I think this one will be just as hard. I'm really sad to leave Linnea since I haven't been away for more than an hour since she was born (before you think I'm some over worried/crazy mom, let me explain that is is only because I refused to pump breast milk before I needed to. I hate pumping so I avoided it for as long as possible.) but I'm also really sad to leave Emma again. It has been a really fun three months playing with her, going places together, hugging and snuggling with her after nap time, laughing at all of the wonderful things she says, and watching her develop. I feel like while working I miss out on so much, so it was really great to be able to have a second maternity leave with her as well as Linnea.

I am excited to be back to work though because watching two kids is really hard work and I think work will be more relaxing in some ways! But I am really freaked out about getting everything done in a days time, so don't be shocked if I never invite you to my house. It is only because my house is a complete disaster and it will probably only get worse once I go back to work. I have come to the realization that something has to give and in my case cleaning is always last on my list-- besides would you rather spend the day at the zoo with two adorable girls or cleaning bathrooms?    

And She 's Here

Friday, November 15, 2013 Jelly Bean decided it was time to make her appearance. And like I was planning, she arrived at 37 1/2 weeks, just like Emma.

Her birth stats:

Linnea Elizabeth 

Born at 10:46 am on 11/15/13

7 pounds 6 ounces

20 inches 

Now for the best part, her birth story.  

The short version:
5:00 a.m.- Awoke to contractions that were spaced at 50 seconds and five minutes apart.
6:00 a.m.- We got Emma up and ready to go to Grandma's like a normal Friday (we didn't tell her what was going on at this point).
7:00 a.m.- Arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house to drop off Emma and Chloe and then headed to the hospital.
7:45 a.m.- Checked into the hospital and was dilated to 4 centimeters
8:30 a.m.- We moved over to the labor room with contractions that were pretty consistent.
10:15 a.m. The contractions were really strong and painful and I was dilated to 8 centimeters.
10:30 a.m.- Time to push.
10:46 a.m.- Linnea arrived.

The longer version: 

I took Friday the 15th off to finish all of my Christmas shopping, wrap presents, and do last minute things before this kid was born. I knew things were going to get really busy, so I was attempting to be ahead of schedule in an attempt to reduce the stress when she finally decided to show up.  It was a good thing I took it off because we ended up having a baby that day. One great thing was that I didn't have to worry about going into labor at work (which was a huge fear of mine from day one of this pregnancy).  

I woke up a little before 5:00 am with contractions. I started timing them at 5:00 or so and they were already at 50 seconds and five minutes apart. For those who don't know, when your contractions are at this duration and interval for one hour they want you to come in to the hospital. Since, we basically labored the entire time at home and in the car with Emma I wanted to leave right away and get to the hospital to avoid the late arrival that we had with Emma.

Since I don't do well without showering, that was the first thing I did once I figured out what was going on. By now John was awake, and since he knows that I am not a morning person and would not be up showering at 5:00 on my day off, he suspected something was up. He then got ready while I packed that last few items in my bag. I was already more prepared than with Emma-- my bag was 90% packed!

We finally called John's parents to give them the heads up that we would be dropping Emma off extra early today and then proceeded to wake Emma up. We didn't want to worry Emma and since she can't tell time we went on as if it was a normal Friday and she didn't suspect anything. We dropped her and Chloe off at Grandma and Grandpa's at about 7:00 a.m. and then started the trek to the hospital. It is about a 45 minute drive and we weren't sure how traffic was going to be. It was smooth sailing and we arrived at the hospital at about 7:45 a.m. I was still doing fine and was able to walk. With Emma, we arrived so close to the end that I couldn't even walk up to the labor and delivery ward.  At this point, I'm thinking, this is already going more smoothly than with Emma.

We started the check in process and they eventually took us to the labor room after getting all of my vitals and monitoring me for about a half hour or so.  I was already dilated to four centimeters when we checked in. Since our chart noted that I delivered so fast with Emma, they didn't keep us very long in any one place-- they tried to move right along and get everything situated so things would be ready.

We got to our labor room around 8:30 or so. We had a fabulous nurse who was with us the entire time (since it was such a short delivery). She had one heck of a time trying to find this baby's heart beat. though and spent the bulk of the next two hours attempting to position and keep the fetal monitors on me. They would not stay in one place and catch Linnea's heart rate. With this labor, I was able to try a variety of position to help ease the pain-- the balance ball, bathtub, bed, standing, etc. Nothing seemed to be a stellar position and with all of the problems positioning the monitor, we just kept moving around to different positions hoping to find a good one (which I never found).

I started both of my deliveries with the intention of not wanting an epidural or any medicine and with both of them I got to the point where all I wanted was some drugs ... but unfortunately the point that I was dying for something was way past the point of no return and they wouldn't give me anything. So this time, like with Emma, I went all natural. I really have no good reason for wanting to go without an epidural other than the selfish reason that I didn't want them sticking a needle in my back and I wanted to be able to move around.  Also, the body is a pretty amazing thing when it comes to pregnancy, labor, delivery, etc so I felt like by letting my body do its thing it would end up being the best for me and the baby.

By about 10:15 or so the contractions were coming really strong and were getting really painful (of course this was the point where I really wanted drugs). So the nurse checked and I was dilated to 8 centimeters. Another fifteen minutes or so and they told me it was time to go.

Comic relief moment: at this point, I asked John to get my iPhone and play Melissa Ethridge's "I Run for Life" song. I hoped it would give me something to focus on instead of the excruciating pain. He found the phone and found the song on my "Here We Go" play list (this was the play list I created for labor), but hit the wrong button and you couldn't hear it even though it was playing. So he just threw the phone down and told me it wasn't working. John is a very tech savvy guy and it made me laugh to think he was so preoccupied that he couldn't figure out a simple thing like iTunes. Afterwards, he figured out that he hit the button to play it on our Apple TV at home-- obviously, that did us no good at the hospital :).

I pushed for about ten minutes total and those ten minutes were pure pain. I screamed and probably swore too, but I can't say for sure. Linnea arrived at 10:46 and thank god it was only ten minutes of pushing!

John was a rock star as my labor partner and was able to watch her actually being delivered which he tells me was pretty awesome. At one point, the doctor who was directing a resident in the delivery said that the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. I could see the look on John's face at this moment and the nurse basically told them to stop talking about it so it wouldn't worry me. It ended up not being a big deal at all, but we laughed afterward because I knew what John was thinking at this point. The nurse needed to be more worried about him than me.

Because of the gestational diabetes, they had to take Linnea's blood sugars right away to make sure that they weren't too low. Of course, they were so we had to give her formula right away to get enough food into her to bring the sugars back up as soon as possible. Luckily, they came up enough so that we didn't need to worry about it after the first twelve hours. But her poor foot had so many pricks on it.

This delivery was almost identical to Emma's in so many ways but was so different at the same time. Fate decided to give me a break after such a long nine months of being pregnant and make it a fairly easy labor, which I was very thankful for. It was great to finally meet her and hold her in my arms.  

Here are a couple photos of her on the first day: 

What a crazy spring and summer!

Since I have been so bad at blogging this year (only one back in February and a few in August), I'm using this post to show off some of the great photos that we have from this past spring and summer and to write some of the memories down before I forget them.

Emma is currently in love with farm animals- cows, horses, pigs, sheep, chickens. We are not exactly sure where this came from as it just came out of the blue one day. For the last month or so all we hear about is cows, horses, and pigs. Her favorite song is Old MacDonald. I'm not sure that you could say it is John and I's favorite song, but it ranks up in the top due to the sheer amount of times we have listened to it in the past month or so. She is still really into vehicles too, so we also hear a lot about trains, planes, trucks and cars.

We took a trip on the light rail this summer to downtown Minneapolis. Emma talked about riding the "blue" train for the next week or so. It was definitely a highlight for her.

She is still attending swimming and gymnastics every week. Her swimming is improving dramatically every class. She can swim around with just her sponge on- no noodle or barbell- for a long time. Dipping in the water, which is the equivelant to going under water and swimming is her favorite thing to do. She has improved so much that she is moving up to the next level without mom and dad in the water!  When we sing the wheels on the bus, the movements are what we do in the pool not what people normally do. We took her to the aquatic center a few times this summer and she loved it! By next summer, she should be swimming like a pro for sure.

We took a trip to Arizona in April, which was Emma's first time on a plane.  She did wonderful!  Even a couple fellow passengers commented on how well she did. Here she is rocking out with her new headphones in the hotel. We were only gone for a long weekend, but with a two hour time difference it was long enough.  It is amazing how many things are not open at 6:00 in the morning, but for us it was 8:00 so we were up and going regardless.  We managed to find a great park for these early mornings!

May was also graduation for Mom ... masters degree check! This might be part of the reason that I had no life this spring. With attempting to finish up my last two grad classes, entertain a toddler, work full time, and deal with the first trimester of being pregnant,  I had very little time or energy for anything other than those things. But I graduated and I'm very excited to be done. Emma is very excited too as you can tell by this photo!


At the beginning of June, John and I celebrated our 10 year college reunion.  Holy, I can't not believe that we have been out of school for that long. Once I stopped to think about it, I really started to feel old!  Here Emma and I are enjoying the lawn at St. Olaf. 

At Special Olympics, one of my main responsibilities was running the Summer Camp. A few years ago, we added a Young Athletes day camp to our regular Summer Camp. Young Athletes is a program for children ages 2-7 with and without disabilities to teach them the basics of sports-- kicking, throwing, hitting, etc. Since Emma turned two this summer and I'm no longer working the Summer Camp, I took her to the day camp part of it.  It was a beautiful day and always fun to see Emma trying new things.


Here are few other photos worth sharing from the spring/summer:

Emma and Dad hanging out in the hammock (with Stella the baby doll) at the lake this summer. 

Emma and the Easter Bunny. 

We got to spend the weekend at Montevideo in June celebrating my cousin Melea's wedding. It was a great weekend and we are super excited for them (and their newest addition as of October).  Here is Emma dancing away at the reception. We had to drag her away from the party she was having so much fun!!

Things have been so crazy around our house these past nine months. As I look back on these photos, I can't believe how fast the year has gone. We have had even more adventures this fall, but I will leave that for another post.

 

Ramblings of an 8 1/2 Month Prego

I started this post three days before Linnea was born, but didn't get a chance to post it. I thought I would still post it to give you an idea of how this pregnancy went ....

Written on November 12:

I'm officially at 37 weeks-- three more to go. I've been planning for an early delivery so that I wasn't caught off guard like with Emma (who arrived at 37 1/2 weeks). But I've started to think now that this kid is going to torture me as long as possible and we will have a December kid yet!

This pregnancy has been horrible for many reasons and if you were to ask me about pregnancy I would definitely give you an earful.

- I don't glow, but instead look ragged and exhausted all the time.

- Wait, I am actually ragged and exhausted all the time. 

- I haven't slept for months. I wake up every two hours (some nights more often than that) because my hips hurt so bad. I end up sleeping sitting up for at least half the night because my hips are hurting so much.

- I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and have been on a strict carb diet and am checking blood sugars four times a day. Can I tell you how much I want a cup of orange juice?

- I had morning sickness for about 8 of the 9 months and have still periodically felt sick during this last month.

- Walking for more about five minutes is more than my back and body can handle. So basically I can't move.

- Did I mention the heartburn?

- I have been at the doctors office more in the past month than I have in the last five years.

But in spite of how awful it has been, it could have been so much worse. So far the baby is fine and healthy (at least that is what we can tell so far from all of our doctor's visits), which is the most important thing. I am so thankful and relieved that the baby is doing great! So even though pregnancy is not my cup of tea, I'm so very excited to meet little jelly bean whenever she decides to make an appearance (I just hope it's sooner than later)! 

Emma's Biggest Adventure Yet Is Coming Soon

Emma's next big adventure will be happening at some point in December. A sibling!

As many of you already know, but we are expecting kid two in December. For those who are curious, this will be kid two and the final kid. We are stopping at two!  It was actually a pretty big decision for us to have kid two since we were not sure that we wanted to disrupt the new family dynamics that have evolved over the past two years. Also, this whole parenting thing is a lot of work-- more so than I ever expected. But in the end, we decided that Emma needed a sibling and heck two can't be that much more work than one, right? 

Jelly Bean (as we have decided to call it) is due December 3rd, but I'm hoping for a delivery before Thanksgiving. Mostly because I want to stay as far away from Christmas as possible and because I'm ready to be done being pregnant already. We are 26 weeks-- 2 weeks away from the third trimester already. Thank god!

I did not enjoy pregnancy the first time around and this time is just as bad. It is so much harder being pregnant with a two year old running around too. All I want to do is run around with Emma at the park or the pool, but I don't have energy, stamina, and I have too much pain for much of anything. I had morning sickness with Emma but it ended as the second trimester started. This time around it is going on six months. It has finally eased up a little this past week, but I'm sure that is just a fluke and will return in full force soon. My back pain is back, which means that I can't do much walking, lifting, bending, etc. I hate it because it means that I can't play as easily with Emma, so I leave that part to John. I don't think Emma notices, but I still feel bad about it and can't wait until December.

We had our ultrasound in July and everything looked normal and perfect at this point. They didn't give us digital photos at this one (just old school print outs), so the photos below are from our 13 week ultrasound. I'm going to post them because in reality both sets of photos look the same and I haven't had time to scan in the print outs. Also, the kid was not the most cooperative at the ultrasound in July, so the 13 week ones are actually better shots.