2 years. 730 days. 17,520 hours. 1,051,200 minutes old.

You are TWO. Those words feel so weird coming out of my mouth. The night before your birthday I laid in bed looking thru my old facebook pictures. I labeled all of my albums based on how old you were at the time. I first looked at all of your newborn pictures. I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. I remember how cute you looked with your extra large flower bow and headband. I remember all of the nurses commenting on how big it was in comparison to your head. I remember how excited I was waiting for Abby and Nathan to come up to the hospital to meet you. I can still feel the energy there was in the room when they first walked in. Their smiles. Their gentleness. It was an amazing time. I remember sitting in my hospital bed alone with you examining your little fingers and toes and playing dress up with you. I changed you from the plain ole' white long sleeve hospital tee into a bright pink gown and pink headband. I took lots of pictures of you. I had waited so long for you baby girl. So many hours of worrying about ultrasounds, blood tests and movement. It was such a feeling of accomplishment to be sitting in that room holding my baby.

 I slowly made my way thru the rest of the pictures. Some pictures made me smile. Others made me cry. I miss that little baby and all of those milestones and yet I wouldn't exchange this stage of your life for any of the previous stages. Right now you're so fun! Everyday you learn new words and make new faces and play with your toys a new way.

At 24 months you:

~~Wear size 2T shorts and 2T or 3T shirts
~~Wear size 6 or 7 shoe
~~Wear size 5 diapers
~~Has peed on the potty once
~~Love reading a story before bedtime; favorite book- Llama Llama Mad At Mama
~~Loves Yo Gabba Gabba (Gabby), Sesame Street (Meh-Mo), and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Mouse or Gog-Gog)
~~Loves to play with her baby dolls, puzzles, and chapstick
~~Love green beans
~~Love to draw and color with pens and crayons
~~Love to sing songs, especially "The wheels on the bus", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "How much is Doggie"
~~Love swimming in the pool
~~Want to play in the water table and blow bubbles everyday

Day in the Life of...

April 19, 2012

Alexa- 1 day shy of 22 months
Jackson- 8.5 weeks

7:28am- Nathan wakes me up to ask what he should wear today. I turn my head to see this little face sound asleep. He slept in his cosleeper until 5:30am but then fussed until he was in Momma's arms.

7:40am- The fun REALLY begins. Abby and Nathan are arguing and Abby comes to snitch. I decide it's time to get up and start my full time job as a referee.

7:50am- The princess is awake. We're in the middle of redoing the nursery so we have a half hot pink and black and Dr. Seuss nursery.

8:00- I get both babies dressed. Jackson has been a bit constipated so we celebrate when we find a poopy surprise!

8:35am- Mini photoshoot (3 mini bribery marshmellows included) while we wait for Daddy to get ready for work.

9:25am- Dropped Daddy off at work. Now we're on our way to Dollar Tree and Beckers for some new educational toys.

11:07am- Lunch in the car with Lexa. Wendy's

11:58am- Our new counting animals and sorting tray from our shopping trip

12:00pm- The fun begins! After a mini teaching session on what the colors were and how we would sort them she got started on sorting them herself.

12:18pm- Not bad munchkin!

12:00- 12:20pm- Jackson enjoys some playtime on his mat while me and Lexa play together.

12:20pm- We moved onto lacing. This is one determined little girl!

1:48pm- Now we've gone to the opposite extreme. Instead of constipation Jackson has diarrhea and a sore tooshie. Nothing that sitting around with your booty in the wind can't solve. Time to stop the daily one ounce of apple juice.

12:56pm- Nap time! One of the last few naps in her crib. By next week she'll be sleeping in her new toddler bed and I bet she'll still sleep with her booty in the air.

2:15pm- Jackson FINALLY falls asleep in the travel swing. I start strightening up.

3:00pm- I wake Alexa up from her nap and get ready to pick up the kids from school. We come downstairs and can't find the keys. After 10 minutes of frantically searching I call a friend who I talk to at the school and ask if she can drop the big kids off to me. She agrees and I keep searching.

3:34pm- The big kids are home and I promise $1 to the one that finds the keys.

3:50pm- Abby finds them behind the heater in the living room. Woo-hoo!

4:25 pm- 15 minutes of reading

5:59pm- Daddy's home!

6:05pm- Trip to Walgreens for doggies and Pathmark for formula with Alexa. It's amazing how easy it is to shop with one child.

7:00pm- Momma and Jackson socialize while Abby does her girl scout thing.

8:00pm- Abby and I scarf down chicken quesidillas for dinner

8:30pm- Lexa goes to bed

9:00pm- Big kids are in bed and supposed to be sleeping but still chatting. Why should tonight be any different?

23 months

She LOVES this monkey!

I definitely feel as if I've neglected updating about my little Lexa Lynn lately. It's so hard to keep up with all the changes going on with these babies these days. Thank God Abby and Nathan are older and don't hit as many milestones. I'd never be able to keep up with it all.

My baby girl, you turned 23 months old yesterday! One more month and you'll be 2! Is that even possible? You don't seem two to me even though you're so mature. I'm one lucky Momma! You so far have been a pretty easy toddler. You listen quite well. Well enough for me to let you walk ahead of me on the sidewalk and never have to worry about you going near the street. Well enough that you've been coloring and painting and doing big girl arts and crafts since about 15 months old. Well enough that I can send you to walk down the driveway and up the front steps while I get Jackson out of the car. I don't realize just how well behaved you are until I see you around other kids your own age and see how much of a difference there is in your behavior. Thank you Alexa for being an AMAZING little girl!

I love listening to you talk and just watching your routines. In the morning when you wake up you lay in bed shouting "Momma? Momma?" until I hear you on the monitor and come in to get you. Sometimes you come into the bathroom with me while I put in my contacts and you always steal either Abby or Nathan's toothbrush and brush your teeth with it. You even pretend to spit in the sink. You've begun protesting when I give you a sippy of cold water. You want juice! And we can thank your Daddy for that very bad habit! I've started letting you drink water from a big girl cup in an attempt to make it fun again. You're doing pretty well with it although my carpets aren't ready for you to be drinking anything else that might stain in a big girl cup.

You're still a huge Yo Gabba Gabba fanatic! You sing along to just about every song they sing. Your favorite is "There's a Party in my Tummy". You know every word. "Carrots wanna go to the party in my tummy?" you say "Yeaaaaaah!". Listening to you sing makes it almost makes it worth it to listen to the CD over and over again in the van.  Gabba is by far your fav but these days you will also hear Sesame Street playing on our TV. You call it "Melmo". I appreciate the variety.

Alexa, I just love listening to you using new words. Lately you've learned the word "spicy" and you use it every time you take a sip of someones soda. The carbonation must tickle your tongue and throat and remind you of something spicy. You've also started saying "Wal" for "Walk", which we have been doing every night and you love it!

You are a wonderful big sister. I wasn't always so sure of how well you would adjust to having a baby around but it's been such an easy transition. You love holding him, kissing him and talking to him in high pitched voices. Anytime Abby or I starts talking to Jackson you come running up to imitate us. You've earned the nickname "Copycat". You're just like another Momma to him. You come get me every time he cries. You say "Ry-in" for crying and you alert me every time he starts tipping over while sitting up on the couch.

Ever since we moved you into a toddler bed we've been reading a bedtime story. Sometimes it's the only way I get you to agree to peacefully walking up the steps at night. Right now your favorite books are "Momma" or "Llama llama mad at Momma" and "Doggie" or "Turner McWerner and Hooch the Pooch". You sit on your bed as I read and listen so quietly. When I say "The End" you immediately lay down ready to sleep.

HUGS!!

I love checking on you before I go to bed because I always find you in some crazy position.

You held onto this slide for dear life until you could finally hold no more.

You love putting on clothes. Even if they're not your own!

The other night we experimented with letting you sit in the back of the sit and stand. You thought it was great. You even enjoyed sitting in the basket.

Your very 1st ride in the car shopping cart. Too bad we can never find it when we go food shopping.

I'm such a lucky Momma. I get to spend every day listening to you learn and watching you grow. Watching you smile when I understand what you say and watching your eyes as you think and learn are some of the best experiences of my life. I cherish every day with you and love thinking about our future. I love you Lexa Lynn.

9 plus weeks

I admit that life has gotten quite crazy in the last few weeks son. I feel as if I'm neglecting this blog and losing precious memories of you in this crazy, chaotic, sleepless life. You've been awfully clingly and cranky lately so much of my time has been spent sitting on the couch rocking you or pacing the floor to calm you down. Although it's stressful for me to not be able to get much housework or play time in with your sissy during the day, I know I won't regret the time I spend cuddling you. The nursery is halfway finished, I have bows laying half completed in every nook and crannie of the house and laundry piling sky high, but I love that you need me so much right now. I just wish it wasn't at the expense of your happiness. You've changed so much in the few weeks since I wrote. You're changing everyday and becoming such a handsome little man.

Feeding: We have officially made the switch to soy. You've been on it for a couple weeks now. Your tummy seems to be thanking us. You  no longer spit up with every feeding and you seem to be less gassy. I dreaded the switch to soy because I know with your sisters the soy made them very constipated. Week after week I would try to weigh the pros and the cons of making the switch until finally your tummy troubles outweighed the problems we would have with constipation. You were fine for the first two days, keeping very regular. By the third day you were having a hard time going and were having to push super hard. It breaks my heart to watch you turn super red, latch onto my shirt as you bare down and scream out in pain and struggle to go.  At your two month check up the doctor suggested we add one ounce of water to your 4 oz 2 scoop bottles. The idea is to just add extra liquid to your stools. Exciting right? Our other option was to try giving you one ounce of prunce juice mixed with one ounce of water. Neither seems to be working exceptionally well but you are going now without the screaming and tears so we'll take what little relief it seems to be offering. At your appointment on the 23rd (9 weeks old) you weighed 14lbs 4 oz and were 25 inches long. All those late night feedings are doing you good. You are a BIG boy!

Sleeping/Awake Time: You have finally started sleeping thru the night! Tuesday the 24th was the first time I had slept longer then 4 hours in months. I awoke feeling like a new woman and a better Mommy. You seem to sleep better when I have all the lights out in the room. No TV. No nightlight. Just darkness. Oh, and you still love to be swaddled. Add onto that a full belly and a dry diaper we've got a baby who will sleep 6-8 hours straight. Sleeping during the day seems to be a totally different story. You have started only napping for 10-15 minutes at a time. And most times you'll only fall asleep on Mommy or Daddy's chest. I'm worried we're starting bad habits with you and now that you're almost 2.5 months I'm going to work on establishing some sort of routine for naps. Our house is always quite noisey so I may start laying you down for naps upstairs in your room. Lately we've been thinking that you may have colic. It has been quite stressful on the whole family. I hate to see you cry, but those cranky times make your happy times all the more exciting. Your happy now means smiling, cooing and laughing. You're becoming quite social. If anyone talks and smiles at you you smile right back at them. You are however quite stingy with the smiles when I take out the camera. You're very intrigued by it and everytime I try to take a picture of you smiling you stop smiling and concentrate on the camera. It drives Mommy crazy! I go nuts trying to get your attention and make you smile again. We've started using your bumbo. At your two month check up your doctor noticed a flat spot on the right side of your head. He suggested we do things to avoid having you lay on that side. I figure some time in the bumbo will help strengthen your neck muscles and give that flat spot a break. You've also been doing some tummy time to work your neck muscles too. Generally you will happily lay on your tummy for about 3 minutes. Any longer then that and you fuss. Several times you've gotten so annoyed being on your tummy that you've pushed and rolled yourself over onto your back.

Diapering: My chubba wubba! You are now almost 11 weeks and wearing size 2 diapers. When you were in the hospital at 6 weeks they gave me a pack of size 2 Pampers. At the time you were still fitting nicely in size 1's but we were running close to the end of the pack. Once those ran out I didn't want to chance buying another pack of size 1's and have them be too small before we could use them all so up a size you went.

Clothing: You are officially out of size 0-3 months clothes. I look at them and you look huge in comparison. Are you really growing that quickly?! I returned a few sleepers that Nana bought you and bought a couple Carter's size 6 months onesies and matching pants sets. They fit you perfectly. You now only have 5 spring outfits to wear. I refuse to buy another whole winter/spring wardrobe for you with this crazy weather. In no time you'll be out of 3-6 months clothes and into 6-9 months. In fact I worry that I'll be buying another summer wardrobe before the summer heat leaves PA.

Bathtime: Up until you're very last bath I would've said you hated it. Everytime I lay you down in the tub you cry. I usually spend about 2 minutes trying to calm you with no luck and then I give up, scrub you up quickly and take you out. This past bath I calmed you down and you smiled. You actually smiled. Then you actually started playing. You were using your legs to push up off the bottom of tub and slide yourself around. It was so cute.

Jackson, my Mommy guilt is at an all time high right now. Even though I'm enjoying your new little personality I'm struggling with your bouts of crying. I'm not afraid to admit that I have once had to swaddle you and lay you in your crib upstairs. I turned down the volume on the monitor and watched to make sure you were ok. You only cried for 1-2 minutes and then fell asleep. It killed my spirit to admit defeat and lay you there but we both needed a break. These days you and your sister are enjoying tag teaming me. I find myself telling you both more and more often that I only have two hands. I just can't be with both babies at once. I hope that this is teaching you patience but it breaks my heart to not be able to jump to your every want and need. Your sister has become a handful in the past few weeks. She needs me to discipline her as soon as she does something naughty and this sometimes means having to stop in the middle of feeding you to put her into time out or correct her. I know someday this hard work and consistency will pay off but it's hard. One day when you're a Daddy to two you will understand. I love you baby boy.

Pudgy wudgy was a bear

Baby chubb!!

I have to admit...I've never been a fan of chubby babies. When Jackson popped out at 10lbs 3 oz I was a little sad that I wouldn't see him in his newborn clothes for long. I knew he might be my last baby so I wanted to treasure the itty bitty-ness of him. Now that he's a whopping 13 plus pounds I've grown to love his chub and rolls. His little wrists have rolls. His back is pudgy and squeezable. I love it! Tonight I purposely left him in only a diaper just so I could cuddle and squeeze him in all of his naked glory. I love my fat boy!

Scary flashbacks!

A long 24 hours! It started on Tuesday (4/3). Burt was home cooking dinner and I was sitting on the couch with Jackson asleep on my chest. All of a sudden I felt him wiggle around and then gasp for air. I thought it was a bit weird but he seemed to be sleeping comfortably again. I then laid him in his swing and started to walk away when I heard that same gasping again. For a split second my heart dropped but then I had a light bulb moment. Maybe his nose needed to be suctioned. Alexa had a clear runny nose the past two mornings so maybe she shared some of her boogie germs. As I suctioned his nose he screamed and cried. By time I was done he was completely worked up and the gasping started again but much worse. Every breath was a gasp. This went on for a full minute. Another light bulb moment and I burped him. That seemed to calm him down a bit but the gasping continued only interrupted by repeated swallowing of air. I knew we couldn't let him continue on like this but I wasn't sure if it was serious enough to call an ambulance or to quickly drive to the hospital. If we drove to the hospital I knew Burt would have to come with me to keep an eye on him in the backseat. We quickly piled all the kids in the car and drove in. As soon as we got to the hospital they triaged him. His temperature was perfect. Great blood pressure and breath sounds. He seemed to have recovered his regular breathing pattern, but not knowing why it happened I knew he needed to be seen. They hooked him up to the monitors and watched him for awhile. His heart rate, respirations and O2 sats looked great for awhile. Then luckily when one of the doctors was in the room he had another gasping episode. Not nearly as bad as the one at home but bad enough to drop his sats to 89. At that point the decision was made to transport him to CHOP for observation. Burt brought the other 3 kids home to put them to bed. The ambulance came pretty quickly and after a crazy fast reckless ride there we were brought into the ER. After the usual checks they noticed his heart rate having PVC's on the monitor. They immediately did an EKG which confirmed this. As it was described to me, PVC's are when the heart's electrical system sends out a shock to tell the ventricles to contract before they're supposed to. Sometimes this is caused by low electrolyte levels. They then tried for 30 minutes to put in an IV to draw blood. My poor baby screamed and screamed. There's nothing worse then helplessly sitting next to your newborn while they scream out in pain. You can't pick them up and there's nothing you can do to soothe them. I tried the binky dipped in sugar water, shushing him, holding his arms close to his body, and rubbing his face with my finger. Finally when I was seconds away from making them stop the nurse got the IV in his left hand. Jackson calmed down shortly after I picked him up. His face was bright red and soaked in tears. I was completely heartbroken. How was it possible that I was here again with a sick 6 week old baby? Flashbacks of our many trips there with Alexa flooded my memory. I prayed that this was nothing serious as I sat alone, hungry, tired, and emotionally drained in the ER room until 5:30am. It was around that time that they admitted him to the Seashore house, room 410. When we walked into the room I was shocked to see we were sharing a room. Great! More germs! After another round of "What happened's?" we were left to get a little sleep. I knew I had to be up around 7:30 for rounds. I didn't sleep but maybe 10 minutes at a time. Every time I woke up and checked the clock it had only been 10 minutes but it felt like hours. When the doctors showed up they brought up two possibilities. First and most likely was that maybe while getting so worked up with the suctioning he refluxed and aspirated it causing him to choke and gasp for air. Second possibility was an asthma attack although no wheezing had been noted. The electrolyte testing came back normal. There was no explanation to the PVC's but I was reassured that they happen to people all the time and we just don't know it. The hope is that we just caught a random occurrence on the monitor and that his heart just resumes it's regular beating. They also assured me that the PVC's had no correlation to the gasping episodes. The doctors were confident after watching his stats all day that he was fine. We were discharged around 4pm. It was great to be home and cuddling my other babies too. Jackson's hospital roommate was a baby the same age as Alexa and it broke my heart listening to him scream every time the nurses came in. Children's hospitals are such a sad place to be. Being home with my rugrats was the boost to my mood that I needed. Jackson had no other weird breathing episodes. Thank. God.

6 weeks

The days seem to be running together this week, making it harder to keep up with these weekly posts. It's so hard to think back to the beginning of the week.

My precious baby boy, you have become so enjoyable. The smiles make taking care of you so much more rewarding. I still well up with tears every time you smile at me. You've begun cooing at us too. Every time I hear you I can't stop my mind from wandering and thinking about what your voice will sound like. I imagine the day when you say "Momma" or "Dadda" and I smile. I certainly don't want to rush these moments but I get so excited thinking about the future.

Feeding: It's getting more difficult to say exactly how much you're eating these days. Some bottles are 4oz and you're perfectly content with that. Others are 5oz and you suck them dry. We're still trying to keep you on an every 4 hours schedule but some days that's impossible. Growth spurt maybe?

Sleep/Awake Time: This week we started letting you spend time on your play mat. You don't stay occupied for long but it does give you a new type of stimulation.

Diapering: Still in size 1's

Clothing: Everything is getting a bit snug but I'm trying to hang in there with the size 0-3 month winter clothes. The warmer weather is right around the corner and I'd hate to buy another winter wardrobe in a bigger size when you have a closet full of summer clothes. I'm so excited to see your chubby little legs in shorts. This week I bought you a super cute one piece outfit that says "Crabby but Cute". Love it!!

Outings: Household errands have been the majority of our outings this week. We took a trip to KMart and Target to pick up candy and prizes for our Easter egg hunt. I even found an Easter basket for you that matches Alexa's. Now the two big kids have matching baskets and the two little kids have matching baskets. Other outings include a trip to Pathmark for food shopping where Mommy had to pull both you and your sister in a cart behind me and push the cart full of food in front of me. Fun times being the Mommy of two babies. This week the most exciting outing was your first trip to the zoo. You of course slept thru most of it.

Bath Time: My sweet love bug, I love giving you a bath now that you seem to enjoy it. You're just so relaxed. You love when I squeeze the washcloth full of water over your tummy. You squirm when I wash in between your toes. You're so ticklish.

6 weeks ago I was staring at my brand new baby boy. I was studying each and every inch of your body...memorizing your smell...trying to burn the sound of your cry into my brain. I never want to forget these beginning days but it happens. Inevitably. And some day I'll look at you and wonder where the time went. I'll shed a tear when I look at pictures of you when you were only 6 weeks old. For now I'll walk away from the computer and cuddle you. I'll kiss your chubby cheek and sniff your bald head and love every minute of it.