Snacks

Leave it to Lilly to be a creative one. We were playing with her stuffed animals the other day and I asked Lilly what her little brown dogs name was and she told me his name was "Snacks". (I double checked with her just to confirm that's really what she wanted to name him and she really wants his name to be snacks) It made me laugh, now it is confirmed that's what is on her mind all the time.

Keeping busy

With Kyle here and summer upon us, we have ventured back out into the world for some summer fun. We have been staying busy going to the park, visiting the farm, walking in the garden, going for strolls, playing at the pool, splashing in our porch pool, and digging in the sand. It has been a pretty fun couple of weeks so far and I think Lilly is having a pretty good time.

P P

I can't believe I forgot to blog about Lilly's big break through. About 2 weeks ago Lilly went pee pee on her potty. HUGE deal since she has only ever sat on her potty and jumped off every time she was about to actually go. On this night no one had prompted her it was all on her own free will. She was in the tub and suddenly she crossed her legs and put her hands over her legs and I asked her if she needed to go potty and she quickly said yes and I asked her if she wanted to get out and she pointed to her potty and told me she wanted to sit on it. Shocked I sat her on it and after a minute or 2 I heard the tinkle. I was so proud! I think it was a big step in the right direction. What makes me even happier is that our method of letting her be the guide of when she is ready seems to be working. We haven't put any more pressure on her since then but have tried to remind her more that the potty is available if she wants to sit on it. She is very aware of when she is going potty. When we were at the pool the other day she went pee pee and the swim diaper didn't catch it and standing there she was very discreetly trying to tell me she was going potty and that it was going down her leg. She has also started changing her own diaper so I am thinking she is more than ready and we are on the brink of potty training!!!!

Summertime!

It's officially begun! Although summer started 3 weeks ago, we have been somewhat slow to get out there and enjoy it. The city decided in an effort to save money they would not turn on the water features at our parks, so I wasn't as excited to get out there and play with Lilly, it's just to hot sometimes...but the great news is that New Belgium Brewery (which is local here) and the Hockey team donated funds to have the water turned on!!! So in celebration we went out today and celebrated by playing at the Oak Street Plaza. It was a little chilly because it was all shaded but so much fun! We will definitely be having more summer days filled with more water play.

Lilly's 1st haircut

Today was a big day in the Reed house. Lilly finally got her first haircut. With her second birthday quickly approaching and her hair wild and crazy as ever I decided to just bite the bullet and cut her hair. It was a family affair and we all got to be there for her as she had this exciting experience. We went to this cool cuts for kids place I heard about through my good friend Kathleen. It was a little pricey, but for how much they cater to kids I suppose it was worth it. Lilly did excellent! The only time she whined was when the hair dryer came out...but it was quickly put away. She looks fantastic and she even got a special "reverse" ponytail put in.

After the haircut...looking good, but not looking to happy

They were so nice and put her hair in a little baggy with a certificate of her first cut

Adjusting

Kyle is now 2 weeks and 3 days old. It's hard to believe that he was born that long ago. It seems like just the other night I was waking up because he wouldn't stop dancing in my belly. There has been a lot of adjusting happening most of it being on my part. I must admit it has been a challenge. Lilly is in love with her brother and is constantly helping. She is quite a good little helper, but we have to remind her about a million times a day to be gentle and to give Kyle some space. She wakes up asking about him and has to know where he is at all times.

For me it has been challenging to find the balance between the 2 kids and keeping up with the house work. Getting out of the house requires a lot of organization and planning, but has been successful several time now. The other challenge I have faced is with Lilly. Our sweet little princess, who has now seemed to turn on me. Although she is always wanting me to carry her and hold her, she has become quite aggressive towards me. She bites and hits and pinches, all of which she uses her super human strength to do. Our 3rd day home she bit my finger so hard it made me cry and almost broke skin and honestly I am still not sure why she bit me.

And if I thought I got no privacy before I really get no privacy now. She has to be in the bathroom with me while I am going potty, forget closing the door she'll just open it and what's worse is she is right in my face while I go. If I leave the room she is very quick to jump up and follow me to wherever I may be headed. It is sweet in a way, but sometimes one just needs a little space. It is all slowly getting better, but I find that we are still working on the kinks.

Kyle however is a pretty laid back dude. He sleeps pretty good. He has 2 good nights and then 2 not so great nights, but during the daytime he sleeps like a champ. He is however much fussier than Lilly. If his diaper is dirty...he lets you know right away and he eats on a consistent, predictable schedule. Which is actually not to bad. He is very alert when he is awake, much like Lilly was and he has a very strong neck. I am excited to see what comes next. This chapter of our life is going to be pretty fun I think!!!

Hospital stay

Because Kyle was born so quickly he was very out of sorts. He was not a very happy camper and did not want to nurse for the first 2 or 3 hours. The nurse assured me that it was just because he was a little bruised and it might be a little painful for him. Right after he was born I felt immediate relief. Like my normal self again. I consider myself very very lucky because I had absolutely no pain. I didn't tear and I didn't even bruise. (I remember with Lilly being so bruised and what not that I could barely sit the first week or so) I had some discomfort, but it was nothing more than what one might experience during their menstrual cycle.

Even though I was feeling so incredible Kyle and I had to stay all day Saturday and all day Sunday. I had tested positive very early on for Group B strep and because the labor went so quickly they were not able to administer the antibiotics through my IV to protect the baby, which meant keeping him for observation for 48 hours. It was very hard for me to be at the hospital and be away from Lilly. I have never spent more than 2 or 3 hours away from her and to spend 2 days and 2 nights was killer. I thought about her constantly.
Ziff stayed Friday night/Saturday with me and Kyle. He was able to get a little sleep but I was so amped up that I wasn't. I spent that whole night/day watching Kyle and watching tv. (they had cable at the hospital and it was really nice to actually have a selection of things to watch. Saturday morning I got to talk to Lilly and she seemed to be having a great time at her friends house. When I talked to her she was playing outside "driving". It brought me comfort knowing that she wasn't distraught from being separated from us for such a long period. Saturday and Sunday were spent relaxing and just spending time with Kyle . It was nice to not have to cook and for 2 days just pick up the phone and order whatever I pleased and have it delivered right to me. I think for that reason, I would stay at the hospital forever. Both nights I had a delicious salmon with fruit glaze, steamed broccoli and baked potato with a salad on the side and yummy chocolate cake for dessert. I figured I should indulge on it while there because once i got home I would not be getting to eat such things with my picky family.
I wanted to get out of there to get home and be with Lilly, but Kyle had a small fever Saturday night and so they denied us. He recovered from his fever quickly and seemed to be doing really well. He was nursing great, although he nursed what seemed like every hour sometimes and he was having great poops and pees. Lilly was able to come ad visit us both Saturday evening and Sunday. She did really great, but got bored very quickly so was only able to stay for an hour each time. It was great for her to get to meet her brother and she seemed to like him from the get go. She was a little confused at first that mommy's belly was gone and now there was this wiggly thing that everyone kept calling her brother.
It was a nice stay and the nurses wer great. They kept me company while Ziff was gone and took great care of me. I am very sad that the rest of our kids won't be born at PVH, since it was such a wonderful experience.

Easier said than done

One would think that breathing is natural. So why is it that when you need to breath the most it seems impossible? Take deep breaths. In through the nose, out through you mouth. Easy right? NOT! Friday May 28th started out like any other day. I wake up, go to the bathroom, get Lilly up, feed her, do the dishes, take shower and so on. With no real plans for the day, playgroup being canceled because of different schedules, I decided it was a great day to clean the house and do all the laundry, because you just never know when you might "pop".

Around noon I lost my plug and a little concerned since this never happened with Lilly I quickly alerted Ziff and we looked up what exactly this meant. According to online it meant pretty much nothing. A little disappointed, but not really to surprised, we went about the rest of our day. Ziff went to class and I continued with the house work and even took a little nap while Lilly napped. Evening came and we decided to go for a walk. It was so hot though we had to give up and go inside. After Lilly went to bed I decided to shower and get into my comfy pj's. It only being 8:30 I decided it was to early for bed and we settled on watching some Friends episodes. At 8:46 I noticed a contraction and it was kind of painful. At 8:52...same thing. At 8:58 again and then nothing till 9:23. Ziff asked if I was in labor and I responded "nah don't worry about it, they don't seem to be consistent...it's probably a false alarm." I had a few more random, but intense contrationss and then around 9:50 I stood up to go to the bathroom and BAM a huge, painful, stop you in your tracks contraction. And then when I got to the bathroom another...and 2 minutes later another. Ziff was in the shower and I told him that this was it I think we were actually in labor. I started to gather all my last minute things in between the contractions, which there really wasn't much time at all in between them, my guess was maybe 2 minutes.
We called our friends from church to ask if they could come over to be with Lilly, rather than wake her up to take her somewhere, but after calling twice with no answer and me ready to kill someone, we call our good friend Stacey. The first time she didn't answer and I was was in tears not knowing what we were going to do with Lilly, but I decided to try calling again and she finally answered and immediately she knew what was going on and said she would meet us at the hospital right away. We all loaded into the car and I held on for my life as each contraction threatened the arrival of a baby. I turned to Ziff at a red light still knowing we had 6 blocks to go and said "I don't think this baby is going to wait". He looked at me with worry stricken all over his face. We got to the hospital the same time as Stacey and she quickly whisked Lilly away, assuring her mommy was okay and that her baby brother was on his way.

I told Ziff I was okay to walk myself in to the ER, but about halfway there I decided I would take his offer of a wheelchair. Once inside the hospital they wasted no time getting me up to the 3rd floor. They quickly took my name and weight and then It was off to get me into a room. My room immediately filled with people. I think at one point there were 6 or 7 nurses running around prepping things because they knew there was not a minute to waste. By this time the contractions were so strong and so frequent I had no time to rest in between them.One nurse quickly got an IV inserted into my arm while another nurse checked me and said I was at a 7 with a small lip of cervix left. 10 minutes later I told her I needed to push right now and she said no you can't do that you need to just breathe. So that's what I tried to do. Breathe. In through my nose out through my mouth, whoo whoo whoo whoo.... In through my nose out through my mouth, whoo whoo whoo AHHHHHHHH! It lasted all of one contraction and then I told her again I need to push now and then I did.

My midwife walked in right as I started pushing. Later she told us that she had just left the hospital minutes before we came in and had just pulled into her driveway. She got there just in time, passing the "fill in" doctor as she came in to our room. First push. Water breaks. Second push. Third push...loud scream (there was no time for pain killers) 4th push loud scream again and BAM out he came. After saying hello to him and giving him his first hug, they whisked him off to clean him up and check him out. It was so fast that Ziff and I were still in a daze trying to comprehend what had just happened, but nonetheless our baby boy was finally here and we were both so happy and relieved.