Hanging in There

Two weeks old and we are hanging in there. Harrison is sleeping so well that I asked my pediatrician if it was okay. By well, I get at least one three and a half hour stretch (well, minus feeding so about a three hour stretch) and he is only awakeish from 3:30 am until around 5:00 am at night. He doesn't fuss and scream at night that much. I have never, ever had a baby that slept even for two hours at a time.  I am tired, but totally functional which is something I don't quite understand how happened.  My husband who snores through 95% of my wakeful night does make up for it by making the whole house breakfast and getting up with the boys so I can get an extra hour or so of sleep with the baby. He has also changed his work hours from 9-4 and gotten a nanny to help me during the day. I got diamonds when I had Alden and Spencer, and I guess it is two weeks of nanny this time around. For now, they are almost equal in value. I feel like we won the lottery or something! I am going to have a rude awakening in a couple of weeks when life gets back to the new normal and Mommy is left alone with regular Daddy work hours.  I am going to missed being spoiled.
                                             
Everyone is still in love with the baby. Alden has been suffering, once again, from the croup. Spencer has been suffering, once again, from a stuffy nose. Please let me ask why these boys have been healthy for months and months and months and have been nothing but sick since two days before a newborn enters the house? Our only problem is that these sweet little germ transports only want to touch the tiny man's face, hands, and head with kisses and hands that seem to be quicker than, "Did you wash your hands??" can come out of my mouth.  I have basically quarantined the brand-new immune system upstairs in the master bedroom but, nonetheless, he has a stuffy nose.  Luckily, it seems to be mild and the doctor was none too worried about it. However, Alden is unbelievably upset about our, "You can't hold the baby until your cough is better rule." There may have been a few tantrums over that. Good to know that he loves the baby enough to throw a tantrum about not being with him.

We have a new addition to our family yet again! As if the new baby wasn't enough, we added Dorothy the Beta Fish.  Our deal with Alden was that if he got five smiley faces a day from his sitters while we were at the hospital for being "caught being good" he could have the fish he had been asking for. We took a screaming newborn, Spencer, and a very excited Alden to the pet store this week in a thunderstorm to bring home Dorothy. Dorothy lives in her Dragon themed box aquarium and has already had a near death experience from death by soap poisoning when Alden decided to clean the water without taking her out first. "Emergency! Emergency! Dorothy needs to go to the vet!" That is what I heard that day.  Apparently, the motive was that he enjoyed watching Daddy pick up Dorothy with the net and wanted to see it again. Daddy's punishment was that Alden could not watch Joey clean the aquarium after all. 

Alden has started calling Joey Boppy. I am assuming like the Boppy pillow that is around my waste a thousand hours a day. He will not call him Daddy, but this is one step up from Joey which is what he was calling him. It is sort of funny because Joey has always taunted his own mother by calling her Libby instead of Mom. She got as equally annoyed and mad as Joey did about being called Joey by his four year old. What goes around comes around is the lesson for us all.

We have been having wonderful and magnificent dinners brought to our house every night. I have not even been to the grocery store since the Tuesday before the baby was born. One night, someone was supposed to bring dinner and it didn't arrive. We decided at a certain time point just to go ahead and feed the kids. Now, I had to dig way deep in the pantry to even find something to cook and came up with Annie's box mac and cheese and left over mashed potatoes from the night before. I am standing in the kitchen laboring over this very nutritious meal when Alden asks where the man was that was supposed to bring dinner. Joey tells him that he must have forgotten. Alden says, "But Mommy, your tummy hurts! You CAN'T just stand here and COOK!" Bless him. My boys will take very good care of me.  

                                      

Big Brother number two is working on his own milestones. Spencer is sitting in his high chair one night eating his popsicle when he starts crying. We are all wide-eyed wondering where this cam from. He says, "That seat. No more high chair! It's baby's turn!" I can't believe it. We finally have to say good-bye to Baby Spencer and pass the torch.  He was so excited about his promotion at the dinner table. The good news is that we don't have to worry about the high chair tray or listening to Spencer tell us he is "stuck" when we sit down to eat. The bad news is that Spencer does not have the tray to make him stuck in his seat! Since he thinks everything we feed him is "yucky," he can now just get out of his straps and just plain leave. Spencer may be on a new diet. Weight loss by freedom from the high chair.

Why is he minus pants in a few photos? We are back into full potty training mode. He was doing such a nice job on the regular potty before Harrison, and then since Harrison, well, I plum forgot.  I decided that maybe if I pulled out the little blue baby potty and put it in the living room I would remember to remind him to go. Sad that I thought of this tactic and sad that I am still not good at reminding him to go. I feel better though because I told the Nanny to help me work on this while she was here. She, too, gets distracted by the more demanding two kids and forgets as much as me. Spencer, however, likes a cleanly home and does remember.  I had put the potty at the bottom of the stairs and he discovered it before I had time to do my explanation speech. He just took off his pants and sat down and went. This was followed of course by a huge celebration, he got to do his favorite thing which is flush the toilet, and he got and M & M which shocked him.  He wanted another M & M and I told him he would have to go potty to get one. So, he says, "I'll go do it again," and goes right back to his potty seat. For encouragement, we all spent an entire afternoon decorating it with Thomas the Train stickers and watching Elmo's Potty Time DVD. Does anyone else ever stop and laugh at how you find yourself spending your time when you have kids??

 And then there is this little guy. I love this. Even in the middle of the night I love this. I have to put him down, but I would hold him 24 hours a day if I could. With all the boys, I sort of liked doing the night feedings alone. It is the only time when he is completely mine again and the rest of the house is quiet and still with no interruptions.

Harrison has ended up with two newborn photo sessions. I cannot believe that we pulled one off on the first day home from the hospital and one at 8:30 am with a whole family of 5 up and dressed in appropriate attire. That is encouraging news.  I had just fed him and laid him on the bed to put on his little outfit. I put him on his tummy to button the back of the bubble and this happened. He stayed just like this until we tried to take photos of all three boys together. Just try and imagine that and you won't wonder why the itty bitty one we kept putting between the bigger people started to scream.  Lets hope for at least one shot that turned out!

We are starting to have more views of the little peepers and a few more moments of awake time. Harrison is a big fan of tummy time and being bounced and walked around the house. I am pretty proud of myself when I remember to give him tummy time. It is the small victories these days.
                                               
He has recently discovered it can be a great feeling to stretch out when  Mom releases you from the swaddling straight jacket.

The other baby. Not what I was supposed to see in the Spiderman sheets on the baby monitor.  More importantly, why am I so jealous?!

And Then There Were Three...

 Our baby boy is one week old. Sure, there have been moments of transition, sleeplessness, and mass chaos, but I have to say that I could not have asked for a better week. I am a little more weepy than normal, Spencer has reverted to constant pacifier usage, and Alden has decided that he doesn't want to be anywhere that the baby is not also with him ("He can't be here without his big brother!")  But, hey, those are pretty minor set-backs.  We have two amazing big brothers that have been more than accepting, dare I say super pumped and excited, about the new little guy. They can't believe that we get to keep him here and they are never far from him.  No one has even stepped foot in the playroom now that we have a new toy.  I have found that Mommy not being home for four days was way more traumatic for them than baby coming home with her. Loved, I am:)

                              

First things first: They had no idea how much we would make them wash their hands. Poor Alden has a cough, and so he has to wash his hands anytime he touches him all day long.  The other night he said, "Man, not again!"  But now, he is so used to it that he stops himself and says,"Wait, I have to wash my hands!" With the pediatrician's blessing that the respiratory virus and croup were no longer contagious, the boys came to meet baby brother for the first time...

                                           

You know how they say that you shouldn't be holding the baby when the older kids go to the hospital because they will be jealous?  We had the biggest room in creation and Joey was really nervous about the meeting. So, he literally rolls the baby out of sight around the corner of the room before they got there. We thought that we would need a family of four reunion, but as you can see, they could have cared less about us.  All they said was, "Where is the baby?"  They were off to find him immediately. 

                              

Spencer is kind of a big Mamma's boy. Joey was so worried that he would be the one that would come apart at the seems that he was no longer the baby.  I had faith in my Doodlebug.  Joey turned the corner with "Baby Harry" and those arms reached right out to hold him. Not even Mommy was a distraction from his new buddy. At home, Spencer has been a trouper.  He has formed a habit of cuddling in Mommy's bed before bed time to watch Thomas the Train and has learned to crawl into my lap since I can't lift him. I even had to eat dinner the other night with Spencer in my lap instead of the high chair because he wanted Mommy. I think he is a little afraid that I am leaving again.  But, only one time has he said, "It's Spencer's turn. No baby," when I was feeding Harrison. He still reaches up those little arms to hold him and just stares and stares sitting as still as a mouse. He is always concerned that Harrison has his paci. I think that is big love in Spencer's world. If anyone wonders if this makes us happy, go back and read the blogs from March of 2010 and see what happened when we brought Baby Spencer home to a two year old!

                               

                               

                               

No one is more smitten with the new little guy than Alden. Big brother extraordinaire. He literally follows the baby around everywhere and cannot keep his hands off of him (especially kissing his head).  I never knew how awesome it would be to have a four year old when you have a new baby! You know those times when you forgot the outfit upstairs or need wipes and you already have the baby stranded up on the changing table?  Alden is my man! He fetches, he holds the baby when Spencer wants me in my lap, he brings me my water when I am nursing, and other endless little errands.  He has even started to hold Spencer's hand when we cross a parking lot to help me keep up with both little boys.  His ultimate expression of love? Whereas Spencer shares paci, Alden shares Wolfie to "make him feel better" when he cries. Super A!

I decided to take my doctor's offer of one more night in the hospital to rest and stayed one extra day. Wouldn't you know it that Harrison decided to be jaundice.  I started to panic slightly when his bilirubin levels went up for the second day and threatened to break out of the hospital early to get him home. I was not about to have another baby held hostage in NICU at St. Vincent's under lamps.  Amazingly enough, our own pediatrician had weekend rounds. Amen! She was not at all worried like her younger associates had been and said that she would just be willing to treat him at home if they didn't come down.  Thank you, Dr. Linda!  No worries, healthy baby, went down the next morning in time to go home. Alden and Spencer did feel like they had to supervise the exam, however. 

                                      
Dr. Alden

Two very excited boys taking brother for a walk around the halls of the hospital. Good call on Dad's part to get rid of some energy and let the boys show off their Big Brother shirts. 

                                     

                                                

Well, we made it. An uneventful hospital stay. Healthy Mommy, healthy baby, lots of visitors, and a big brother party.  We even got a few extra packs of diapers to sweeten the deal. My doctor said, "See? This is how most people do this. I am glad you got to find out." Amen to that!  Daddy got to put our third boy in that same Chicco car seat ready to go.  

                                           

                                           

                                           

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig! A picture perfect welcome.

                                           

                                           

Before Harrison was born, Joey and I took the boys shopping to get a gift for the baby. Alden knew right away that he wanted to get him a dinosaur blanket. 

                                               

Harrison also had Mommy take him shopping for a gift for his big brothers.  Alden thought he did a pretty good job with bathtub monsters. 

                                              

Spencer chose to give Harrison a giraffe paci.  His two favorite things combined: the giraffe, the only stuffed animal he sleeps with every night, and his beloved pacifier which we may never get rid of now. 

                                             

Harrison got on Spencer's good side with a new Chuggington train. His name? What else..."Harrison!" Spencer makes sure we know the difference by referring to the train as "Harrison train" and the baby as "Baby Harry."

                                  

Nothing won them over more than Harrison's gift of Spiderman and Thomas the Train fruit snacks. Coveted prizes that Mommy does not allow at home very often. The new little brother gets cooler and cooler. 

                                 

Harrison's Birthday Party.  I remembered to order the cake, but forgot the hats. Alden does not party without a party hat. Kudos to Daddy for figuring out a quick party hat in a pinch.  Gotta admit that I was super impressed with the creativity. 

                                 

Guess who has bonded over this new experience? I left two brothers at home when I left for the hospital. I came home to best buddies. I always knew it would be fun when they started talking together, but I never knew how special it would be to hear them call each other's names. Heart. is. full.

                                 

                                 

Not that we are all perfection around here.... Survival in week one meant the return of the iPad and iPhone privileges so that Mommy can nurse a baby for 45 minutes. I cannot tell you the number of apps I have downloaded (Pinterest suggestions strike again). Most of the trains, monster, and Elmo related. Spencer is ridiculously proficient and can outdo the neurosurgeon's wife next door on computer skills now. It is the only thing they fight over. I lost control of my iPhone because one had to have the iPad and the other wanted the phone with the same apps. So, we got out my old iPhone and loaded it up with kid apps only. Sort of worked. The truly unfortunate thing is that by the end of the week, we have purchased a kid-friendly iPad cover to go along with the new iPad we went and purchased. Yep, two iPad family. Joey says we are going to have a Mommy/Daddy iPad and a kid iPad.  I'll let him stay alone with three kids next week and see how fast we have two kid iPads that Mommy and Daddy get to use when they go to sleep. 

                                

My boys are a little overexcited and a little cooped up in this house. Their usually organized, scheduled, in bed on time lives have sort of been turned upside down. There have been a few tantrums and time outs around here. I won't lie.  There is also a new whole in the 1927 plaster wall in my living room and the paint has been sawed off the walls to the kitchen.  Totally bored kids!  Alden had to wash windows as punishment to work off his debt in house repairs. He woke up the next morning and asked Joey if he could do his punishment again. Not sure that was successful, but at least I have clean windows. 

                                        

                                         

Spencer just throws himself on the ground (or on top of the fireplace) face-down until he regains his composure when he doesn't get his way. 

                                          

Harrison's first bath. Mommy and Daddy's first three boy bath. I knew how much Harrison would love it because I listened to his joy from the midnight bath the nurses gave him every night in the hospital.  I still don't get why you have to wake me and him up at midnight for a bath. What is wrong with a daylight bath?

                                         

                                         

                                         

                                         

I love the new Rock and Sleep Fisher Price thing. Thank you a million times over to Elizabeth for telling us about it. I think it makes a world of difference. He hates the Pack N Play we have downstairs,  but loves his Rock and Sleep. We get at least two four hour stretches of sleep with one eat, diaper, want to eat more, need to be held three hour period in between. I actually can live with that! Plus, he has slept on cue so far with big brothers nap which lets Mommy nap (I did have a little help from my own Mamma on that one). Best part: This might be my first reflux free baby! Hallelujah!

                                        

Amazing first week of life, amazing first few days at home.  I will get back to you when all of my help leaves me on how amazing things are then.  But for the moment, I am more than cherishing my bliss. Some of our precious moments with "Aldey, Spencey, and Harry" (boy's nicknames for each other)...