Our first three weeks of a family of four

  

It's been three weeks since our family has become a family of four and only one week since I've been doing it alone(during the day). It hasn't been too bad!

I know it can definitely be worse, but it is also by no means easy. Alistair is still only waking between 1-3 times a night but has been waking at 6am for hours while Elyse sleeps till 8am. Which if I had it my way, I would be sleeping till 8am as well. But he's been pretty good otherwise. I dont know if maybe because I have a better idea of what to do and what to stress and not to stress about. My hands are definitely full though. Elyse is in the middle of potty training (she's getting it!) and also moved to a toddler bed. On top of that, she managed to get a cold. So it's been hard being on top of all of those things and keep her away from her brother. The potty training is going better. She's been at it since her brother was born and recently is going days without accidents and going both poop and pee in the potty so thats a big plus!

The toddler bed thing is a different issue. She likes it, but she likes her ability to get out whenever she wants too. The chanagelle here is a safety issue of making sure she doesn't leave her room and get into something, but also she gets up at random times of the night, opens her door and yells for us. So we have 2 kids getting up in the middle of the night now, awesome. 

We are trying to not move backwards and are sticking to the toddler bed for now, but we have the pack n play set up in her room in case she just won't stay in bed. We haven't had to use it in a week though. It's been exhuasting since we have double duty, but not terrible. Although, it is almost 11am, and all I have had is a half a cup of coffee and I've been up since 6am. (maybe I should eat instead of blog)

I have noticed I am not as stressed out as I was last time or even while I was pregnant. I don't know if it's because I'm home all the time(with potty training and two kids, its hard to leave) so I am always comfortable or if its because I'm fairly busy, but either way, I'm not as upset all the time with Elyse or the dogs so thats good!!

Here are some of Alistair's recent adventures in the last 3 weeks :)

Sleeping

First bath at home(after his belly button came off)

Working out at the activity gym

"I can't believe I'm related to these people"

His big hands!

"My sister is already dressing me up without my consent"

Family time at the beach

I dont know where she learned this from, but Brody didn't care

This is the face I always see. It means "i need a nipple in my mouth!"

my little man and I

Hes a fan of the ergo

more cute sleeping

He's wearing crabs!!!!

Here's a few photos of him growing :

Birth

The one week old pictures are from his newborn photos and I don't have the rights to use those just yet. So soon!!

Alistair Coulston Van Gundy

  So we made it!! All the way to 39 weeks and the scheduled repeat c section!

It was a very very different experiance this time. Although I had a c section with Elyse and knew what was coming, it was still scary and unpredictable. With Elyse, the things that hurt, didn't hurt this time, and the things that didn't hurt last time, hurt a little this time. Last time I wasn't a fan of the IV getting put in, and the cathedar being taken out. Those 2 things didn't hurt a bit this time. Maybe because I was expecting it to hurt a lot! 

The day before

In the recovery room getting preped!

But my spinal didn't really hurt this time, but the sting of the numbing meds hurt more than I had remembered. The one that this was predictable was that laying on the table while being cut open was still one of the most unpleasant feelings I have ever had. I just worried that at any moment, something could go wrong and I would suddenly feel EVERYTHING! Due to this fear I was gaging and spitting up. Basically making myself sick with worry. There was a lot more moving and a shaking this time. Apprently, my little boy was 1, not engaged in my pelvis(he hadn't dropped yet) and 2, not ready to come out at all!! They tried to vaccum him out, which didn't work and had a very hard time pulling him out of me. He was hanging on!!! My OB later told me that they thought that if she had let me go until I went into labor naturally, that he would have gone to 42 weeks and then had to do a c section anyways. He was NOT coming. HAHA

Cole was trying to distract me and asking me questions. One of them being "so how big do you think he'll be?" Cole guessed 7lbs something and I said 8lbs 1oz. 

So my daughter was really early, and my son didn't want to leave :) Maybe he's a mommy's boy already? :)

Alistair Coulston Van Gundy was born July 3rd 2013 at 8:06am. 8lbs 9oz and 21 inches. He pooped coming out and then was immediately hungry. Different from Elyse, I got to hear him cry coming out of me. I wasn't prepared for it because I was busy worring about myself and then when I heard him I immediately started crying. I was so overwhelmed with emotion it was strange. I did not have this with Elyse because I was just in a different time of my life and I knew there were still obstacales ahead with her breathing, and health. 

Once he was out, I say the pediatrican take him and clean him up. I heard them talk about how he pooped, and then he was a little bundle wrapped in swaddle and handed to Cole. So surreal, I have a daughter AND a son now!Cole brought him over(im still being sewed up on the table) and he looked nothing like I had expected yet completely perfect at the same time. I couldn't believe that a few minutes ago he was still in my womb and I was pregnant.

Getting cleaned up!

He was bigger than I had expected, and looked nothing like Elyse. I thought he would be the boy version of Elyse, but they couldn't look more different! Elyse had a darker complexion coming out, dark hair, dark eyes, and obviously really small. He has light hair, light eyes, and fair skin. When Cole brought him up to me, he was so cute. He was sticking his tounge out and licking his lips :) The pedi came over and said "he's hungry". hahaha unfortunately for him, he was going to have to wait till I was done being sewed up :)

Cole was holding him and Alistair was showing me he was hugnry while I was being sewed up

Once I was done, they put him in my arms and wheeled me to my recovery room. He was SO cute. Then a few minutes later, he was breastfeeding. He latched pretty easily and was doing great :)

The rest of the stay was pretty good. My parents came with Elyse and she got to meet her baby brother. She was SOOO good with him and still continues to be interested in him everyday. 

So excited to meet her brother!!!

That first night was tough though. Since we didn't get to have elyse in the room with us last time, this was also another one of those "firsts" for us. He cluster fed that whole night. It was unexpected for us and really hard. He wsa basically eating for 4 hrs straight with burps in the middle as a break. We were SOOO tired. Plus I was all drugged up and we had both barely slept the night before. 

The second night was a little better. Not as much cluster feeding and was eating every 3-4 hrs. When we left the hospital on friday mid morning, he was 7lbs 9 oz, so still getting back to his birth weight. Oh I forgot to mention, the hosptial was really awesome!! They had photogrpahers that came around(of course you had to buy the photos though) and massages(also needing to be purchased, but worth it!). The some of photos on this post were from his third day of life in the hospital room by the photographers.

my handsome boys

Coming home!!! His hat says "born at Swedish"

My last day of Pregnancy with Alistair!

 

The day has finally come. Today is my last day of pregnancy! 

I have very mixed emotions about it all. On the plus side, I am glad I will be able to meet my baby boy, and start my new life as a mom of two. I'm excited to see my parents and have their help(and of course my mom's cooking!). But I am not sure I am ready for more sleepless nights, breastfeeding, having a c section, having a hard time to do anything besides suriving the day, and of course I am sad about Elyse not being my one and only baby anymore. 

When Elyse was born, it was so life changing it took me months to catch on. This time around, although I feel like I have the advantage of knowing a little bit of what to expect, but doing it with 2 kids, while recovering from surgery is scary. Of course it was our choice to have more children and I always knew we would try for more, but now that the day is here, its surreal. 

Today is my last day with my little toddler being able to consume my world, she will have to share the spotlight after today! I will miss us waking up late and cuddling in the morning, getting my coffee and her milk ready, and slowly starting our day. Last time was also very difficult because I didn't know any other moms at the and all my friends were working(and cole was working late hours). But this time all of my friends have had their first kid and are either staying at home or working a lot less. So I am hoping I don't get ppd quite as bad as last time!

Also Elyse is older and knows things like "get me a diaper" "throw this away", etc. :) so that will be helpful!

I still just can't believe the day is here and we made it this far! My C section is scheduled for tomorrow morning(July3). I didn't think I would make it this far at all. I thought I would have gone into labor like a month ago. But nope! Here I am, July 2nd and STILL pregnant! Amazing! I amd 38 weeks 6 days, and will be exactly 39 weeks when I get the c section. I will say, I am actually really sad about the C section. I know its the best thing in my situation and with my body, but knowing that I still don't know what a real contraction feels like or what going into labor is really like is sad. It is like a rite of passage for women with children that I am just missing. The only chance I have to go through it is if he happens to break my water today or start contractions today, OR if cole and I decide to go for a third child. Which, at this point, we are not leaning towards but are keeping the option open. 

Also, the c section. Scary. Although I have done it before, knowing that I have to lay on a table for about an hour being completely cut open is still mentally challenging. I am really not looking forward to it at all. I understand that its "not as painful" as vaginal birth, but it doesn't make it any easier. Seriously... cut open, guts on the table and you're awake, its not ok. Okay, maybe your guts aren't on the table(I dont know, I can't see) but still.... yuck. 

I'm hoping that since I am expecting things to get really hard(but of course happy to meet the baby) maybe it won't be as bad as I think!?

I guess we'll find out!!! :)

I've been really addicted to reading the WTE(what to expect) forums and on rare occasion I will reply to some posts. But those women are interesting!! They used to be so mean to each other, and now that it has been pointed out, the boards are a little nicer! Or the mean women gave birth and aren't as active anymore. either way, those girls are funny. They try some of the craziest things to try to go into labor!! I personally don't have the energy to do more than what I am doing haha Unfortunately it doesn't seem like many of the techniques have worked yet :/

Crafting like Crazy

  Here's a new thing that I didn't get to have with Elyse, I finally have the feeling of nesting!

I am 34 weeks along and nesting is a brand new feeling. I always wondering if I would feel it or if it was a thing pregnant women blamed for stressing out just before the baby arrived. Well for me its a real thing. Recently I have just gotten this urgent feeling of "the baby could be here any day now and there's so much I wanted to get done before he gets here!"

Yea, that's a long quote. But that's exactly how I feel. Looking back and thinking of how much of a zombie I was after Elyse was born, and how guilty I felt for being so useless. So this time I want to get things done that I have been wanting to do for some time now(mostly from Pinterest) so I don't feel quite as bad for being a sleep deprived, useless, zombie :)

So here are a few things I have been working on!

Curtains I made for the baby's room:

 A little hard to tell in the picture, but the are rugby striped navy and white curtains! Doesn't look very hard, but its a lot of work for amature sewer! Hemming, sewing straight lines, cutting straight lines!! oh and I sewed a black out liner to the back too!Also made a crib skirt. But I think I am going to put this one in Elyse's room and add a ruffle and make a plain navy one for Alistair.

I have been crocheting a fair share lately too!!!

Heres a hat I made for Baylee:

And I tried to make a matching one for Elyse but... it turned out a tish small :(

But a little bit ago, I made this hat for Elyse:

And Last week I made these for Alistair!

So he is ready for Seahawks Season!!!

Also made him a little tag blanket:

I also saw this pin on pinterest 6 months ago:

and ive been telling myself I wanted to make this so much!!.. so I finally got around to getting everything I needed to make this and omg... its a lot of work!!! I thought it was going to be simple as gluing letters on canvas and spraying it once and Ta-Da!...no.. not at all... its making sure the lines are straight, and the letters are evenly spaced, and glued on securely, but make sure each letter is straight... then painting it.. I'm still on this process because painting around the sides of the letters has been a HUGE pain.. so this is where I am right now:

Clearly I am still trying to paint around the letters...

Lastly, I have been very minimally helping with yard work. VERY minimally.  But here is the sprout of a sunflower that I planted from the shower I threw a few months back. We gave out sunflower seed favors :)

I should probably move it to a bigger container now...

Then also recently planted this amazing Peony!!! I LOVE these. These and Dahlias are my absolute favorite flowers!!!

I left the care card so I can remember how to take care of them :) I have 2 dahila's waiting for me to put in cuter pots too!!

So for now thats what I have. Still on the list is scrapbooking Elyse up to 12 months, I am at 9 months at the moment...problem is scrapbooking is SO messy and takes a lot of work and organization. It's not for the unorganized kind of crafter or person. With all the cutting and gluing, it's hard to do with Elyse around, so I have to do it when she's sleeping. I am also not very creative when it comes to page layouts but I do think my scrapbooking has gotten much better. It went from a preschooler art project to 1st grader :)

Other things I want to do is finish decorating Elyse's room, and I am making Alistair's moblie. Finish putting up any artwork around the house and maybe get my child potty trained all before the baby arrives. Oh also, I am re painting a dresser to look distressed, we'll see how it actually turns out. 

So a lot on my list, but a lot is done too!!! :)

 

May 2013 Events

  It's been about a month since my last update. It's been a fairly busy month which is kind of nice! Most of my weekends have been pretty full and my weekdays are full with visits and cleaning. The cleaning is never ending of course. 

I have also come to realize that this pregnancy is almost over and I have a lot of things I want to get done before Alistair is born. I have gotten back into crafting and getting things done since I  know I will be completely unless for a little bit after he arrives. I am currently 34 weeks pregnant today!! woo hoo!! I have never been this pregnant before and this was the distance the Drs wanted Elyse to get to, but we obviously didn't get that far. Unfortunately, I am definitely huge and getting stretch marks :( Not exactly something to brag about but it is reality as well. I put on that stretch mark cream a lot but I know at the end of the day, its not helping. 

I also haven't gained a large amount of weight as I would have thought! Every time I go into the drs office I expect them to talk with me about my weight, but the last fwe times I was there, I only gained a pound or two. Which is great! But I have also heard you gain the most at the end, so since I am not there yet, I have nothing to celebrate. Plus, whatever I gain, I gain. At this point, I want to enjoy what I can of my last few weeks of pregnancy. I have 6 more weeks(although they want to do a c section at 39 weeks, so really I only have 5 more weeks) and I want to spend them enjoying a full night of sleep and eating what tastes good :)

Since my last post I have had visitors in town!!! First my cousin Jennie and her husband Mike came to visit for the weekend. Jennie is also pregnant and due a day after me and Mike and I were born on the exact same day on the exact same year. So we talked about how ironic it would be if we ended up having kids on the same day too!! That was a nice weekend. Since Jennie is pregnant too, we took it slow and made many many bathroom stops for the both of us :) We went to Salty's(sooo good), did a small walk on Bainbridge Island at the Bodel Reserve and did a tour of Safeco Field. 

Seattle from the Bainbridge Ferry

On the Ferry to Bainbridge

The walk on Blodel Reserve

Very Pregnant at Safeco

Jennie and Elyse in the dugout

One also very exciting thing that happened was our friends Tim and Amanda had their beautiful baby girl, Baylee Faith. SO adorable!!! She was born that sunday which was also Cinco de Mayo AND Amanda's birthday!

Baylee Faith McCarthy

The following weekend, Cole and Elyse went to California for Cole's brother's graduation from CMA. My friend, Courtney came up to visit that weekend! It was nice to see her and also not be all by myself! She is also pregnant so it wasn't a jammed packed weekend. She used to live up here so it was probably good for her to see how things have changed and the things that haven't. One thing that did change was that we all have babies now!

 I didn't manage to take any photos that weekend though :( We went and saw a lot of friends and had dinner and movie at Ipic and saw the great gatsby!!! so fun!!!

Thats all I will update for now. The next post will be about all the crafts I have been up to!