Month 1

This post is less about Tiegan turning 1 month and more about life during her first month of life, because a whole month is more exciting than a 1 day "milestone."  I'm sitting here writing this as I look at my almost 7 week old baby and reflecting on that first month... allllmost tearing up because it's just incredible how fast time as gone.  I know she's still so little but I'm already sad to be past the teeny tiny sleepy newborn, wrinkly hands and feet, mixed up days and nights stage.

For example, the above pic makes me sad because she doesn't fit into that sleeper anymore!

She really is the most popular person in our household.  These two adore her and are always concerned about where she is, what she's doing, why she's crying, etc.

I snuck away with just Tiegan on New Years Eve for her 2 week check up.  She well surpassed birth weight, was much less jaundiced and looked just perfect

Both of my big kids love her so well but Wyatt is sweet on her in a totally precious, he still seems like my baby loving another baby sort of way.  When he talks to her, his voice totally changes and gets softer and high pitched as he says hello to his baby Tiegan, which sounds like baby chicken.

I loved this picture because I laid her there wide awake and she passed out hard a few minutes later.  Wyatt used to do that ALL of the time.

She's still calm as a cucumber during bath time!

This may have been the case with or without the addition of Tiegan, but one thing I've observed this past month is how much closer these two have gotten.  Wyatt's vocabulary is exploding and he and Lainey are communicating so much better, which lends to more conversations during play time.  To watch them share, pretend and play together is so fun.  There's such great opportunity to learn so many of life's lessons about getting along with others with siblings close in age.  I've even been asked if they're twins multiple times when out and about -- usually at Sam's Club, maybe because they sit in the cart right next to each other... or maybe Sam's patrons are just extra conversational, I'm not sure.  

This picture was from our first day on our own here at home.  3 on 1!  That day in particular went really well.  The next night and day didn't so much... and it's been kind of an on/off pattern ever since. I'm learning/remembering that we are going to have good days and hard but good in their own way days.  My attitude makes the biggest difference in which kind of day we are going to have, regardless of who is crying, how many gross diapers I have to change, how many spills or messes I clean up, etc.  We've been working with Lainey on Philippians 2:14 which says "Do everything without complaining or arguing," but really, it's been more of a help and reminder for my own heart.

Lainey and I do a lot of sitting together and feeding our babes.

Wyatt takes care of babies too!

I really love a big pile of kids and I really love babies in footie pjs so basically, this picture is my dream come true.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Tiegan hates the car seat buuut she doesn't love it.  On this particular day someone at Kohl's called her a "he" ... while wearing pink.  She doesn't look to pleased.

This was one of the first days I put Tiegan in real clothes other than jams.  Hooray for getting dressed!

This is some wild post bath hair.  It's the best.

Ahhh... everyone's favorite time of the day!

These are from Tiegan's actual 1 month birthday.

She has the most intense eyes.  We think they remind us of Lainey's as a baby.

She's all belly and cheeks/chins.  Yes, chinS.

We're so in love with our sweet baby T.

Mom Milestones

I'm blogging about this for my own memory and maybe for Wyatt too since this is my ongoing baby/family book...

Monday night I got to experience one of those "mom milestones" ... one of those events you know is most likely coming eventually some day but you're never quite prepared for.  In almost 3 years of being a mom, I'm INCREDIBLY thankful that our kids have been relatively healthy.  A few colds, ear infections, etc. but nothing serious.  

Monday night I put Wyatt to bed around 8:30 and almost 11 I heard a really funny (what I assumed to be) cry coming from his room.  He's usually a really sound sleeper so after listening for a few moments, I thought it sounded odd so I went up to check on him.  I went in to pick him up and he was extremely upset and between the crying, I could hear a sharp, barking cough and he was having a hard time inhaling to breathe.  I knew right away that this was not good, it's extremely frightening when your child can't breathe.  I brought him downstairs and pretty much immediately we decided I needed to take him to the ER (hence the mom milestone).  

I drove as safely and quickly as I could, trying to keep an eye on him in the back seat.  He settled down quite a bit in the car but I could still tell his breathing was labored when he'd try to make noise, the sharp barking sound would come out again.  We got checked in and seen really quickly.  Both the nurse and the doctor were confident right away that Wyatt had croup.  

Sweet boy.  I didn't even put shoes or socks on the poor kid, we just left the house so quickly!

I got nervous at first because when I had croup when I was young, I was hospitalized for a few days.  They gave him an oral steroid which seemed to help so they let us go home relatively soon after and told me some things to watch for over the next few days.  What was so crazy to me was that he was just FINE all day Monday.  Totally fine.  No symptoms, nothing!  It hit the poor guy so quickly.

I could NOT keep him contained in that exam room for very long.

After being out and about until after 1 AM, my little sleepy head slept in until 10:30 the next morning.  We've spent the past few days hanging out at home while he gets better.

Lainey had all kinds of sweet snuggles, hugs and kisses for her brother.  

"Lay off Sis, let me watch Frozen in peace!"

I want to also add that I felt like we were really taken care of at the Mercy ER.  The pediatric ER department even called me a few days later to see how Wyatt was doing.  I'm sure this is standard protocol, but I thought that was really above and beyond their job!

Wyatt has been recovering well and he's feeling much better  I'm thankful God was really protecting him and that it wasn't something more serious!  As "pleasant" as our visit to the ER was, I am hoping I won't need to make another trip there any time soon!

Lainey's First Trip to the Dentist

There are so many firsts to keep track of in the lives of your children.  First smiles, steps, words, experiences, etc.  Most of those are exciting and thrilling to observe as parents.  Then there are the firsts that make you a little apprehensive.  I knew I needed to schedule Lainey's first dentist appointment but I put it off for a little while.  Now, I've never had a cavity (knock on wood) but I will admit that I do not love going to the dentist.  You would think I'd have a reason, but I really don't (except for the time I chipped my front tooth when I was in like 2nd grade and when I went in to get it fixed they had to sand it so it was smooth and that really scared me and I ran out of the room to my mom in the waiting room! ha!)  I would rather go to any other kind of doctor than go to the dentist.  

Not only was I nervous because of my own fear, but anyone who knows Lainey knows she is a bit, what we like to call, particular.  I need to start a list of all of her (ridiculous) preferences but I'll just say that she can be a little difficult to coerce or convince sometimes.  

Luckily, I knew that I would be putting Lainey in great hands when I chose to make an appointment at Des Moines Children's Dentistry.  Thanks to Facebook, I knew about this practice which was started by a friend of mine from college and her husband.  I called and made Lainey's appointment and I had about a week to prep her and get her excited!

If you check out their website, you will see what a great space they have created there.  It did not take Lainey very long to warm up to her surroundings.  We got an office tour and went back to a private exam room (since she's still pretty young and it was our first visit).

I had specifically prayed that Lainey would be calm and collected during her appointment and that she wouldn't be scared (IE hysterical or clinging to me or...etc.).  She did AWESOME.  We practiced opening her mouth nice and wide a lot before in the past week which you can see above.

Dr. Rachael looked over her teeth, counted and cleaned them all while keeping Lainey in the loop about what she was doing and holding a conversation with me about some do's and don't's for caring for my kid's teeth.  All of that literally took less than 10 minutes!

They had a plethora of prize boxes to choose from and Lainey made a bee line for these cool shades.  This is her cheesy, I'm so excited smile.  I wish you could see her eyes because when she pulls this smile out, her eyes drift off away from the camera and it's so funny to me.  This picture says a lot about how wonderful Dr. Rachael is because Lainey does NOT warm up to strangers very quickly, especially if we aren't in our own home.  We are excited for Lainey's next appointment in July,

She was beyond thrilled with her new toothbrush, toothpaste and floss picks.  We have been doing A LOT of brushing!

My big girl chose Chik-Fil-A for our lunch date, which I happily agreed to.  I was so stinking proud of her I would have taken her for steak and seafood if she had asked (she wouldn't, I'm just saying... she did so well, I was so proud!).  I will say that I'm not quite as confident that Wyatt will be as wonderful of a patient as Lainey was and I know that inevitably, there may or may not be some traumatic dental or orthodontic visits in my future with our kids but for now, this really excited me!  Hooray for clean, healthy teeth!

Celebrating Wy Guy

We had SUCH a fun couple of days celebrating Wyatt's first birthday this past week.

I took this picture the night before his birthday.  Maybe I'm the only sentimental one out there, but I was really kind of sad putting him down for the last time as a baby!  I started to reflect on the year and think about the past 365 nights (yes, I'm almost positive I've put him to sleep every single night since he was born).  365 sounds like a big number but wow... those days and nights went quickly.  I've heard it said, when it comes to all things mom or parenting related, the days are long but the years are short.  How true.  Time could slow down one of these days...!

The night before his birthday I took Lainey to the store to pick out a balloon for her brother.  She waited patiently (or not...) for the birthday boy to wake up the next morning so she could bring him his balloon!

Loving it!

 Daddy made some waffle batter before he left for work so we could have a yummy birthday breakfast!

Num num!

His first birthday gift!  A total hit.  We love Melissa & Doug toys!

This balloon was an even bigger hit.  They've been playing with it constantly!

Took the birthday boy to HyVee for some grocery shopping and a cookie.  He loved showing everyone his pointer finger to say, "HEY I'M ONE!"

We didn't really plan on doing much in the way of celebrating the night of his actual birthday, we thought we'd save the partying for Saturday but Daddy came home with this adorable little cake.  What a great dad!

Let's just say, Wyatt really, really enjoyed it.

Sugar!!!

DELICIOUS!

Thanks to HyVee for the greenest green frosting that was ever created.  It required a long, long bath to get all clean!

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little difficult to get this dude to bed that night after a huge sugar crash from all of that cake and frosting.  Worth it?  Yes!

The next morning we had Wyatt's 1 year well check...

23 lbs, 6 oz (54th percentile) and 31.3 (96th percentile) inches of pure perfection!

He actually only gained about a pound in the last 3 months but grew about 2 inches. Big guy is slimmin down. We got the go ahead to try a bunch of new foods.  He is not weaned yet but we will try introducing some whole milk and see how it goes!

We planned a football themed party for our active little dude for Saturday!

I will never, ever win any awards for cake decorating. But I try. 

Sneaking some snacks :)

Wyatt's cousins from Cedar Rapids were able to come to the party!  So much fun having so many little ones so close in age!

Love singing "Happy Birthday" to my sweet baby!  He was obviously too enthralled by that cupcake instead of enjoying his serenade.

Another delicious mess!

Our family and friends were so generous with gifts for our big guy.  I have a lot to learn about boy toys... from tractors to big rigs and front end loaders...

He had lots of helpers trying out his new toys and new books :)

So much fun!

What can I say that I haven't already said when it comes to our boy, Wyatt.  What a blessing this little surprise was.  I had so many fears and worries about having another baby so soon but Wyatt has made it easy on us.  I know I gush about his sweet demeanor, his joyful smile, his contagious laugh often enough.  He is a joy, plain and simple.  My prayer is that he would become kind and compassionate, generous and gracious, strong and wise.  I know God has great things in store for him and I am blessed to walk alongside him and by God's grace, guide him, teach him and love him as his mom.

Happy birthday to our Wyatt!