The first 2 weeks

Lord have mercy! I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks since Jacob was born. I can remember what the first few weeks were like with Sammy and the experience with Jake could not be more different.
With Sammy, I never slept. I rarely ate. I didn't breast feed because of the added stress, which I could not take anymore of. I remember feeling like I was in a panic the whole time. Totally lost, and out of my element.
With Jacob, I got to sleep, even in the hospital. We have good nights and bad nights, but even on the bad nights I get sleep. I eat 3 meals a day. I make sure I have a snack at night because breast feeding makes me hungry and thirsty. We are doing AMAZING with breast feeding, and with pumping enough so I can go to class. I'm still working on getting chores and things around the house done with 2 little ones, but I'm sure I'll adjust.
I am a much more confident mommy! And I think Jake and even Sammy can sense it.
Tomorrow my mom leaves and we will be on our own as a family of 4. I can't wait to see how we handle this. I haven't really experienced much in the way of the "baby blues" this time around but I think I may feel it more in the coming weeks when I will be spending more time by myself. Stay tuned.

A family of 4!!!!

Well I am no longer pregnant!!!! I'm so happy that this baby is OUT!! I'm a pretty good pregnant lady, but I am an awful "3rd trimester, almost to my due date pregnant lady." This pregnancy was fantastic as far as pregnancies go. No complications! And considering our last year of trying get (and stay) pregnant I am very happy that my pregnancy was uneventful.

Jacob Duke is beautiful! He was born 2 days before his due date! Sammy is an amazing big brother already. He loves Jake. He gives him kisses all the time. It's adorable. The only thing Sammy is not a fan of is our change in bedtime routine. Since Jesse will be waking up and taking care of Sammy at night if he wakes up (so I can wake with Jake) we decided it would be best if Jesse also put him to bed, instead of mommy. It's quite sad but he will get used to it. Mommy still does nap time.

I had my last doctor's appointment on Thursday (Aug. 9th) and I had not progressed much at all since the week before. So the doc was pretty certain that we'd be seeing each other in another week for another appointment. I was soooo bummed. I asked him about size of the baby. He felt my belly and measured it and said " oh he's small. I wouldn't be surprised if he was about 6 or 7lbs when you finally deliver." Jacob was born 9lbs 0.9oz Take that Dr. Trottier!

I went home that day making a mental list of everything I needed to do for the next week. Throughout the day, Sammy and I went about our normal routine. I had a horrible back ache all day but figured hey I'm super duper pregnant why shouldn't my back be hurting. That night I went to bed and Jesse rubbed my back. At 10pm I had a contraction. I really didn't think anything of it because well I'd been having all kinds of contractions. About 20 min later I had another. Then another. I made Jesse get some sleep because they weren't anywhere near time for hospital and I was sure they'd stop soon. But they didn't... They got closer together, and STRONGER! When they were about 5 min aparrt I woke up Jesse, we called the doc then our friend to come over and watchrr Sammy.

We were monitored for a few hours at the hospital and my contractions were regular but I had not dilated at all from when I was checked out in Dr. Trottier's office. So Jesse and I walked the halls to see if we could get things moving. And when I was checked again we had progressed to 3cm so we were admitted! That was at about 5:30 am.

I labored for a few more hours. I was given pitocin to regulate my contractions and get them closer together. I had to get my epidural shortly after. By that time I had been awake for over 24 hours. I was just going to bed for the night when my contractions started so no sleep since the night before. At about 9:30 am they broke my water (4-5cm) and the nurse had me rotating laying on my sides. 45 minutes on each side. By the second turn I was 9.5 cm. then ready to push. It was all very calm. Like I've done it everyday. Until I actually had to push.

I pushed about 30 minutes and Jacob was delivered! The first thing the doctor said was "wow he's a big boy!" they put him on my chest and it was just the sweetest moment! They took him to clean him and weigh him so I sent Jesse over to that side of the room with the camera. It was an amazing day. After all the excitement had died down Jesse left to get big brother, Sammy. And Jacob and I did our recovery process.

Sammy enjoined meeting his baby brother for the first time. It was like he completely understood what had happened. Jesse was a fabulous coach and I really could not have made it without him. My cup is full... My boys!

Jacob Duke
Born: 8-10-12 @ 11:12am
Weight: 9lbs. 0.9oz
Length: 21 inches

Still pregnant, STILL!!!

Well it has started... the contractions that are false alarms, looking up every old wives' tale to induce labor, bouncing on a yoga ball, walking, driving on bumpy roads (none of that works by the way). It's almost as though the first 8 months of pregnancy are the growing part, and the last month is just waiting... And waiting..... And waiting.... And waiting.
Last night I got very emotional that I'd have to leave my oldest when we go to have this baby. I feel so bad that we may have to leave him in the middle of the night. It's so sad. It's exciting that we'd get another great little boy. And Sammy won't remember how scared he was when mommy and daddy were gone but I worry.
If we have no baby by Thursday (I doubt we will) I have another doctor's appointment and he said we may discuss induction then. The end is near! The end is near!

20 Chore Tuesday

I have been working on organizing my house to get ready for baby number 2. While doing this I have enlisted the help of many devices. I have an earlier blog on my dry erase boards. Which have been SUPER helpful. We cut our weekly grocery bill by at least $40 by making a menu. And we also got a Sam's Club membership which has cut the bill even more. I've been working on making a recipe book, if anyone has any good ideas for that I'd love to hear them.

And because being a mommy is so crazy and hectic we use a dry erase calendar to mark when bills are due. I'd like to get a box or basket to keep monthly bills in.

Another tool I use to stay on track is an app called Cozi. It is PERFECT for listing all I have to do in a day. I even like putting things on it like make lunch and nap time. I am a regular on the app called instagram ( or IG), and Tuesday's are 20 chore Tuesday. You can read more about it here. I don't always come up with a full 20 chores but I try to get a good deal done on Tuesday! Why Tuesday? I say, Why NOT Tuesday?!? I also like to post before and after picture on my IG account so that my friends can keep me motivated. It's also kinda nice to see the difference I've made.

 This is my chore list for today that I made on My cozi app! 

Tickity-tock

Tick tock, tick tock! As D-day gets closer and closer I have been busy busy busy! We have pretty much everything we need, except a few odds and ends. I need to buy my breast pump and I want to buy new bottles (actually I have the bottles but I need the nipple parts). I have everything I'llneed for when school starts (except books). I need to check with my instructors to see if I'll need them right away or not. But I am registered and supplies are bought and in a bag ready to go.. I have started some organization for the classes that I will teach later in the semester. So I can somewhat relax about that.

I REALLY want this "little" guy out!  HE has dropped. I am waddling. It’s uncomfortable so let’s get this show on the road. I am very happy that my friend Karyn is available to help us with Sammy when ever the time comes for baby to come.  

I've also started packing my hospital bag. I don’t have everything in there, like camera and chargers and some of my clothes, but that is because we are still using some that stuff. But we have a coming home outfit for jake i have some comfy clothes to wear after delivery. I have travel shampoo and soap and all of that ready to go too. I need to pack a few things for Jesse so that he has a change of shirt and stuff for if he can stay with me. And I need to pack a little bag for Sammy as well. With diapers, pjs, and some play clothes. Wow after seeing it written down it makes me feel like I have NOTHING done. Ahhhh! I need HELP!!!!!!!! I am doing all this today. I am starting to get very nervous that it’s almost time for baby Jake, and I’m so far behind. I keep trying to keep my house clean but with a 2 year old that is impossible.

I cannot get the urge to craft out of me! It's almost maddening. Most recently I made some burp cloths. I have an awesome idea for Christmas presents! So I'll be working on that next. I have to keep busy or I'll go out of my mind. I also find that the more tired I am come bed time the better I sleep. Except for the 3,000 times a night I get up to pee.

No pictures for this blog except an awesome comparison picture of my belly. These photos are about 4 days apart, and look how much he's dropped.

The Nesting Continues!

With a month left of my pregnancy its time to get cracking (Not that I haven’t already been going). CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???? ONE MONTH!!!!! I finally bought a package of diapers…Until you are pregnant you don’t realize how much of a relief that is. I now have diapers ready for when we get home. I have the bassinette set up in our room. I washed the cover for the car seat. So now we can bring home baby AND he has a place to sleep.  I have baskets for organizing the things that have to be in our room for Jake (diapers, wipes, Burp cloths, bibs, extra night gowns). We are using a 3 drawer organizer for Jake’s clothes. I revamped it a little bit.

Some of my other DIY projects have been to cover and line boxes for storage. I made one for Sammy’s room for his books, and I made one for our room for Jake. Not sure yet what I’ll use it for but I have it for when I need it. They used to be old Luvs diaper boxes. Cute aren’t they! I found the idea on pinterest.

I have also cleaned out all the closets in the apartment. They are by no means empty, but they are clearer and more organized. I still need to get the master bedroom more organized, it seems to get messy very fast and I want to avoid that if I can when the baby comes.

Is it just me or does anyone else’s kitchen table ALWAYS cluttered! I can’t seem to keep the junk off of it! It drives me nuts. If anyone has any Ideas for that I’d love to hear them!

I think my next mission will be to go through some of my books and give them to the used book store in town. So I have a bit more room for new stuff on the shelf. And I have a box of clothes and a bag of shoes to donate to the Salvation Army.

Here are some growing bump pictures!

Take that Martha Stewart!

So I've done some more crafting. This baby has got everyone in a very DIY mood. My latest project was a mobile for his crib. I had on picked out that would match his bedding but it was $45! And I'm rather thrifty (cheep) so I wasn't about to pay that! We have a mobile from when Sammy was a baby but the colors just didn't go... But I tout if I made my own hanginng characters then I could reuse his old mobile. So this is what I did...

I picked out my characters. I chose to stick with a blue and brown color theme and I picked out wild animals to make. A giraffe, lion, elephant, and a turtle. Using Google images I googled "Giraffe outline" or "giraffe outline template." I did this with all the animals. The hardest part was getting them to be all about the same size. I printed out each template then cut them out.

i cut out the shapes out of felt. Then using the opposite color felt I cut out things like spots and eyes and ears. I used fabric glue to attach everything but to tell you the truth it didn't work at all. Which is why I hand stitched around the edges. A hot glue gun would work MUCH better. And when I find mine I am going to go back and make sure all the spots, ears and eyes and such are secure.

I stuffed them all with this filler that you can get at Walmart but this was WAY more than I needed. I would recommend cotton balls (our Walmart was out, COMPLETELY out of cotton balls) because it's cheaper and less waste. I may have to make something else just so I can use up this filler... A pillow maybe?

 And I picked this cute inexpensive (47 cents) ribbon to attach each character to the mobile. In light blue, of course, to match. I have a lot of it left too!

Like I said before the fabric glue didn't work well with the felt so I hand stitched the edges (which turned out really cute). Stuffed with the filler and hung on the mobile. I only spent $6.50 because I already had thread and fabric glue (and hot glue when I find it). Way better, I think, than $45.

I bought 6 pieces (8x10) of felt- 3 of each color (i ended up with one untouched sheet of each color left over)= 27cents each
Ribbon= 47cents
Filler= $3.50 ish

My brother-in-law made wooden letters for the wall to spell out Jacob's name. And his wife painted them light blue with brown polka dots!