The Purpose of My Blog and Lack of Posting

My posts being fewer and further between is the result of the fact that I don't want every post to simply be an update on my life right now.  That is just a personal preference as to the purpose of my blog.  The purpose of this blog, I believe, is to:

1. help those with IF find morally acceptable means toward healing
2. give encouragement and hope by my story to those on the path to healing because it can be long
3. help those new to Dr. Hilgers and his methods navigate that world as easily as possible,
4. support mothers after IF since that comes with its own mix of emotions and
5. share things of interest to my Catholic and/or pro life sisters.

I have probably forgotten some since that was literally just off the top of my head, but that covers the gist of it, I think.  I hope I am meeting these goals and am happy to take feedback if I am not (via comment or personal email).  I blog for you guys, not for me, though I have been greatly benefitted by this wonderfully supportive group of new friends!

That being said, I do have a few updates.

In the area of fertility, I have not yet gotten my period back.  There have been several times I thought it was coming due to crampiness, but nothing yet. I have had some interesting symptoms come back, as well, that I think relate but in a not so obvious way.  For example, the stomach problems I have are totally cycle related.  Mostly grease or rich chocolate send me dying a slow death and eventually running for the bathroom after my intestines have been turned inside out. I didn't miss that!  And my itchy spots have come back-the base of my scalp and mostly the little "corners" of my nose.  Nikki, I want to talk to you about the bumps from elbow to shoulder on my arms!  Its all so interesting to me how it relates.  I have had several instances of peak type mucus (10C/K Lx1, 1") but nothing sticks around.  I am not doing the best charting, I regretfully admit, but am resolving to get on it better.  With Charlie, I was mostly dry after his birth and then my period didn't return until a month or so after he was completely and totally weaned.  This was surprising to me because of how slow he was weaned (due to repeated mastitis). I literally nursed him about a minute his last time, I believe a few days after or before his first birthday (sorry, no time to look up, but the post is there if you are interested).  I know every child can be different, but it looks like it might be the same.  AJ is over 9 months and, as of now, I don't plan on nursing past a year (4 times mastitis so far, at this point I had had 5 with Charlie-its a recurrent problem with me that Dr. Toth said is probably related to the chronic infection that plays a big part in our infertility).  I will say my infection cleared up on its own because I pumped as soon as I realized that was why I was sore and I don't think it progressed very far. I was grateful to avoid the antibiotics.

WARNING-IF YOU ARE FEELING FRAGILE TODAY, THE FOLLOWING MAY NOT BE FOR YOU. IT MAY COME ACROSS CALLOUS, WHEN THAT IS NOT HOW I AM MEANING IT AT ALL.  When people ask me if I want another child (non-IFers of course!), I say absolutely yes!  We were so blessed to have the 2 we have and I do not feel that I can personally shut the door on that.  I want to be a witness for life and let them know how precious children are!  When I met my dh, I always told him I wanted a big family.  I did/do, but I would exaggerate beyond what is likely possible given my age because my dh tends to negotiate (is that terrible?!).  He would say he wanted 2 to 3 and I would say 5 or 6 :)  Since then trying to have 3 children has become a given around here, so I'd say it worked at least somewhat.  I tell him if we are lucky, I could have 4 biological given my age and then we can adopt!  My dh is one that needs to get used to the idea of something.  I don't shove adoption down his throat, but I have been clear from day one that I desire this.  (He also doesn't like surprises).  I, actually, would be really surprised if he would agree to this, but the other day he said something that was matter of fact about it and I silently giggled with delight that it was still a possibility!  So, trying for #3 remains something we both want to do, but I have purposely not mentioned when we would actively try to conceive.  I have done this because, with my period not back yet, I figured it would give him some time to not feel pressured.  We have both been hit hard with the lack of sleep and I have been harder to live with, for sure.  I think he is scared to dive right back in.  I, of course, am scared not to.  So I give him space on it and I hope that when the time comes he will feel better about things.  I figure if my period comes back in 3 months or so, then (if the protocol is the same), I will have blood work on the 2nd cycle, medicate the 3rd and repeat peak plus 7 blood work, and then try on the 4th.  Even if we got pregnant right away, it would still be another 9 months and we (hopefully) would be well rested by then and ready to parent!  I, honestly, can't believe it still that we got pregnant with AJ on the first cycle trying and have no idea what to expect this time.  I am perfectly aware that something could have changed and we may never be able to get pregnant, so that is always on my mind and I am grateful for what we do have.

Speaking of, Mr. AJ has had a fabulous week of sleeping through the night, which is going a LONG way for me and my ability to parent a teething two year old!  For those interested, I feed him 2 oz of cereal and 2 oz of fruit/yogurt for breakfast (after nursing).  For lunch, he nurses and then (half hour to hour after) solids consist of 2 oz fruit/yog and 2oz of vegetable.  He has a "snack" around 2 or 3 (after 2nd nap) of nursing and some finger foods like cereal (just starting) and then he has dinner around 5 (4oz veg and 1oz protein-meat or edamame, etc).  He sometimes nurses before dinner, but mostly after (about an hr, before bed).  If he is too full to nurse before bed, I will nurse him if he wakes up an hour or so later and then right back to bed.  If he doesn't wake on his own between 10pm and 11pm, I will wake him and nurse him.  He then sleeps until about 7, sometimes 8 (about 12 hrs total).  He is such a sweet, fun baby.  He smiles anytime you look at him and is very very easy going.  He is thrilled to be mobile.  Funny how it was a late start to sitting up (7 1/2 months), but how quickly he went to rocking on all fours, and crawling, then pulling to a stand.  He now is trying to let go and/or stand in the middle of the living room.  The latter isn't successful, but he really tries!  He only really was fussy when the top two teeth broke through last week.  He now has four!

Charlie only had 2 teeth at one, so he was a slow painful teether.  In fact, he is still teething!  He is almost done, finally!, getting in the top two incisors.  I just found out last week at the dentist that his 2 yr molars are finally coming in on the bottom (no top ones yet).  I told you he was slow!  The teething explains a lot related to nap time, which has many factors making it hard.  First, teething, then the fact that if he sleeps at night 13 hrs then he is not tired for nap. Then you add how he gets hyper and resists sleep if he is overtired.  Then add potty training (he uses it as excuse to leave room, plus he holds bms sometimes-though much better this week-so that makes it hard to sleep and he starts streaking his pullup that he wears at naptime only...)  It's quite the process.  But, if he is truly tired and has teeth medicine on board, then I can usually get him to sleep now if I can get him to be calm in bed for 20 min or so. That involves praising him for following our three rules-laying down, pants on (haha!), talking quietly.  He gets to watch MM Clubhouse if he does and then I feel better about "giving up" on a nap if he has done those things.  Since he loves attn and me going in the room, I try to do it only to praise him-at 1 min, 5 min and then 20-25 min.  The clock starts over if I walk in and he isn't following the rules.  This utilizes my education in positiv.e behavi.or support.  Before, I was tired and cranky and regrettfully spanked, which was not effective and made me feel awful as a parent and a professional.  For those struggling with challenging behavior, I highly recommend a book I was reading for work called Optim.istic Par.enting.  It is wonderful therapy and help and I, embarrasingly, needed it!  However, I am doing much better knowing this experience will make me a better professional and using the serenity prayer as my guide!

Charlie is such an awesome big brother.  He seems to have mostly moved past the constant rough love and really likes to engage AJ in play.  And AJ is happy to cooperate so that is really awesome to see.  I included some pics of them playing together.

One more update for fun, I asked dh for a deck remodel as a little oasis for me as my graduation gift.  This summer has been so hot and I really don't want the cooler weather to pass without me taking advantage and the winter coming in.  He happily obliged and I was able to get a new porch swing (old cushion molded bad and new swing was cheaper than new cushions-plus is reclines!), new chairs for our table outside (ours broke through), an umbrella, seat cushions, chairs for the boys, a new swing for AJ, and new pillows for the swing (yay for end of the season clearance!).  It looks so great and we have been enjoying both coffee in the morning out there and dinner at night.  I love it!  It is definitely making me feel more refreshed!  And, the icing on the cake, was when Jenny was so kind as to mail me this great mug as a prayer buddy follow up gift!  It makes me smile so much to look at it. Thank you, Jenny!

We cheated and put the new cushion on the old porchswing since we haven't had time to put the new one together!

Lookout-he is getting braver!

My Life-Filled with kid talk (i.e. pooping)

I haven't been blogging.  I haven't been doing much at all for myself lately, which means I am in serious need of a mental health day :)  But things are getting better around here, slowly.  And that means both boys are napping today-yay!  I didn't want to bore you with what I have been up to, but I can't help myself, lol, so here is what is on my mind almost 24/7-sleeping, pooping, and eating.  (Btw, for those who care, no cycle yet, but one fertile reading every 5 days or so which knocks out a lot of days for us tired folks!  I have had a few days of cramps and thought it was coming, but not yet.  Time will tell...and then I will rejoin the land of fertile CM talk once again, lol).  Now that we got that out of the way, back to the usual topic of convo...

Sleep.  As in my lack of sleep because in an effort to get AJ eating less at night he must cry some and so for the short term I was sleeping less not more.  Ugh.  He is actually doing pretty well at night lately without the tears.  Also, he is putting his paci back in himself now, which is glorious and something Charlie never seemed to do.  He does still get stuck on his stomach sometimes, but recently he learned to sit up from the crawl position (he doesn't crawl yet-thankfully) so I was surprised to find him sitting up in his bed one day.  The latest with his schedule is now tweaking so I don't overfeed on solids b/c he is way to distracted to nurse these days.  I need to put solids and nursing grouped together instead of staggered two hrs apart (yes, we are always feeding) so he is hungry enough and then nurse first b/c he loves solids and will eat anything, which is awesome.  And yes, I finally introduced the nasty meat.  And he eats it.  Crazy kid.

Sleep also as in Charlie's lack of sleep because he is now able to remove all his clothes and we are potty training so that means he is in his room removing his clothes, asking to go potty 100 times and still managing a bm in his pullup.  Go figure.  And he still manages to pee out of his night time diaper that is supposed to be super absorbent so he wakes early even though he goes to bed late and then he is crabby and wakes his borther.  Part of the problem is also that he can not turn off his imagination.  No such thing as rest or quiet time in this house.  He still needs the nap, as evidenced by his melt down in the evening.  Thank goodness the slow teething seems to have subsided briefly.  And he is back to napping half the week after stopping for two weeks during which I definitely lost my mind.  Did I mention nap time is my break time?  But I can't very well leave him in there naked with the light on because if he does fall asleep he will pee on the floor or wherever he finally goes to sleep.  I suppose there are worse things.  Maybe I will try it.  See, this is already therapeutic.  P.S. He lives for attention-if it is negative attn all the better, so I have been struggling b/c lots of bedroom behaviors can't be ignored.

So between the sleep and the pooping issues are all entertwined but we are hanging on to our small improvements like the fact that we can maybe leave the house in the evening now that AJ transitioned to 2 naps (though they aren't longer than before, actually shorter...).

Charlie sure does love his little brother, but it is quite the rough variety and hugs look like tackles.  I actually freaked out on him yesterday for running and jumping over AJ who was laying on the floor.  He about flattened him!  And then today he woke his brother from nap for the 2nd time by sneaking into his room when I was busy and tickling AJ.  Little turkey.  I suppose there are worse things than loving on your brother.

The work situation is still up in the air so please pray about that.  Dh is a wreck stressing and really hates his job more each day.  He feels a lot of pressure so things are a little tense around here between the lack of sleep and money/job stuff.  We took some time out to play trivial pursuit the other day and had some much needed laughs!

Okay, if this post weren't random enough, I have a recipe I want to share.  Not to be clique, but it is good and super easy and I want you to share some back on the comments. In order to save our family money, I'd like to me more thoughtful in my meal planning so this is a first step. 

Marsala Pork Chops-
1 c sour cream, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, mushrooms, 1/3 c marsala cooking wine, pork chops
Mix, put a little on the pan, put pork chops on top, put the rest over.  Bake 30-1hr depending on how thick the porkchops are.  Serve over mashed potatoes.  Heavenly.  You will be licking the bowl.   My kind of easy meal. :)

And because I post so infrequently lately, I had to include pictures.

 I love this smile and get to see it ALL THE TIME.  He is a wonderfully easy going child.  For now.  Thankfully!

 Oh my this boy is trouble!  And so much fun too!  He is growing up way too fast!

 So handsome!  Please don't crawl soon!

This is where we live.  Still.

Rough love, but grateful there is so much of it towards his brother.  I pray they will be best of friends and always there for each other!

Hodge Podge

I miss you all!  Life has been very busy.  Some days it seems like all I do is the stuff that needs to be repeated tomorrow or the next day-like laundry, cooking, straightening the house, and baths.  Its a good day if I get beyond these things!

I love love love making my own baby food and it is incredibly gratifying to make it for a child that will eat it.  So far AJ has had (in order) rice cereal, avocado, peas, green beans, and just yesterday we added carrots.  So far he loves them all with the exception of the avocado.  Charlie only liked sweet potatoes as a baby!  Thank goodness he has moved beyond that phase!  See, AJ even loves just the spoon :)  Of course, adding solids has increased the number of baths around here exponentially!

Another thing that added to the craziness around here is we switched around childcare.  My provider during the school year is amazing-so amazing that her whole family runs a Catholic camp all summer, which means they live there and can't do childcare.  My summer childcare provider from last year is having back surgery which means she will be out almost all summer, so I had to find new folks.  We ended up putting Charlie in preschool/daycare at our church.  He is in the 2 1/2 room and will continue through the school year  We are really excited and I know he will love it.  Today was his first day and he couldn't stop talking about the hamster, Ernie :)

AJ was a little tougher in that we had to split his days between two sitters.  That's lots of saying goodbye and collecting items, writing up schedules to train the new folks and redistributing stuff!  Just in case you still have respect for me, I should add its 2:30pm and I just realized I haven't yet pumped today-yikes!  Where does the time go?  We did have a lovely 4 day weekend (dh was off Friday) where we got stuff done, had family time, and squeezed in a date night.  I am finally feeling closer to being on top of things after last weekend-which was graduation!  Here are a few of my favorite pics.

 I went to say hi to family in their seats since I had some time and AJ was already hungry.  I must admit, I felt a little like superwoman nursing him under my gown so I made dh take a pic, lol.

 Being hooded.

 Me and my kiddos

 Favorite family pic-see I do shower and remove the glasses for special occasions! ;)

I made someone take a pic after I realized how funny it must look having a diaper bag slung over my gown!

So, its been a little nutty around here.  Add to what I already mentioned the crazy storms and tornadoes and my dh traveling a bunch for work (which both happened at the same time and were completely scary-both his city and mine were having crazy weather!)  The biggest news I saved for last-AJ slept from 6:30pm to 5:00am before eating the other day! He hasn't repeated it since, but now that I know he can, we are about to have some tough love at this house. I had recently took him down to two feedings (one before I go to bed and one in the middle of the night), but soon we are definitely dropping it down to one!

I owe you aso many posts-about baby food (thanks for so much great advice-and I still have a couple questions), and one about the pro life mother's day rosary I attended at Plann.ed Parenthood; also, I attended a Christ Renews His Parish retreat that was much needed and time so well spent!  And I had a visit with a fabulous friend that is as close to a saint as I will ever know.

p.s. I did read some of your blogs but I was unable to comment-grrrr!  I plan on catching up shortly!  You all are never far from my thoughts and prayers, especially on mother's day!

A Schedule is Emerging-*Updated

Life is good, but busy over here.  AJ is just so much fun! He is cooing and making all sorts of sounds, smiling and laughing, doing his little crunches, putting everythign in his mouth (he almost got his paci back in the other day by followin a short paci clip!), he is very mellow (but when it is bedtime, you had better book it!), he loves to stand on your lap or play on his back and he rolled over from tummy to back yesterday!  Today he seemed to be humming himself to sleep-so cute!  Charlie was a super late teether, but AJ has been really gnawing rather than sucking his hands and I've been wondering.  Today I saw a familiar "turtle face" where they suck the lip in, so I think he's feeling something.  It still could be a long while.  Charlie continues to be gentle and love his brother.  You can tell he is teething himself (he is getting the 4 incisors) because he will argue with you when he has no idea what he is even arguing about, lol.  Dad is trying to get more actively involve with putting AJ to bed-since he was getting a lot of pushback we both realized I need to share more :)  That's the fun stuff.  Now wanna hear how bad its been over here?!  If not, just scroll down for cute pics including Charlie rocking out in a diaper and frog galoshes.  :)

Well, it has been rough goings at night since about the 20th of Feb.  Just in time for major dissertation deadlines.  AJ just decided he was very interested in continuing to eat throughout the night.  He totally did a 180 and was eating every 2-3 hrs through the night.  It.was.rough.  I wasn't used to waking that often anymore.  And it wasn't just waking to eat.  He would go down and then wake about 10 minutes later.  I suspect some of it had to do with him falling asleep nursing and then waking up because he realized he wasn't nursing and didn't have a paci.  Didn't bother him before, but he was getting older and maybe that association had developed/he had become more aware.  I definitely think a growth spurt was part of it as well.  Can I just tell you how much I despise falling asleep for ten minutes and then getting woke?  I was a zombie.  AJ was doing that plus waking from 6am to 7am playing in bed (during which there was no way I could sleep), then he'd go back to bed in time for Charlie to wake.  Charlie was/is teething and therefore would wake crying once or twice a night, my dh was snoring (something he only does when he was sleep deprived).  Add to that me eating constantly because I was producing all this extra milk, then peeing constantly...did I mention I was a zombie?  I am not complaining.  It was just fact.  I have never been that tired in my life-not even when either boy was a newborn.  One night I made the mistake of drinking coffee too late.  Ugh, we were both up from it, but it was not productive awake time! 

Things are better now. I'd like to say that AJ is back to eating once or twice, but he is not.  However, several things improved are situation, so I will list them here since there are several babies in the group close to AJ's age.  Maybe they will help someone. 

First of all, realizing it was truly hunger helped me know to feed him and not try to otherwise pacify him. Pacifying him was hard and it didn't work for long (he'd sleep another hour max).  Plus when I fed him, he acted hungry and stayed awake eating for most of it, so I knew he was truly hungry.  I am big on knowing if it is real hunger or not because if it isn't, then I can send in the big guns (daddy) to comfort while I sleep-haha!  Knowing this also allowed me to let his sitter know to feed him more during the day and I made great effort to feed him where it was more quiet and make extra sure he had his fill (as opposed to being squirmy due to a burp or whatever).  I began always feeding on both sides every feeding around then.  All of this was possible because we increased his prevacid, which I think, allowed him to drink bigger amounts more comfortably and he kept it down better.  I knew 2.5 oz per feeding (what he took per the sitter) was not typical for his age.  He began to take more and also was able to move to more like 3 hrs between the feeding (which is one reason I understand that he is still needing to make up some at night, but I am okay with that-it helps that I have accepted it for now and am going to bed earlier to compensate). 

Another thing I did was block out the sun in his room.  He has never showed any day/night confusion and I figured his internal clock was pretty well set.  However, the sun rising earlier was making everyone in this house rise earlier and I was not ready for that.  I do very well waking at 7am.  Not so much before.  And what is good for mommy is good for everyone :)  Plus, AJ waking from 6-7am and then sleeping from 7am-8am wasn't working well at all with daycare dropoff, which happens at 7:30am usually. 

Oh yes, and probably the biggest thing I did was move his bedtime earlier.  At this time, they usually move from more adult like bedtimes to more infant bedtimes (6-8pm) and since AJ always went down at 8pm (early for an infant), I had forgotten about this.  Rereading (Sleeping through the Night, No Cry Sleep Solution, and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child-my favs) I recalled this and now he goes to bed between 6pm and 7pm.  It's true what they say, earlier to bed later to rise.  Whether it is this or the darkening, he is sleeping more now.

I also have a little trick if your infant is a light fusser or a happy talker and you still need some sleep.  AJ sleeps in the room next to ours.  If he is fussy and it isn't time to eat (and I mean light fussy, not full on cry), I open his door and ours (normally both shut) and then turn off the monitor.  This way I can sleep through the little noises much easier and I am confident I will hear him if he gets really upset. I've only had to do this a few times, he is usually asleep when I leave the room from nursing and stays asleep, but just lately I've had to do this and he puts himself back to sleep nicely.  It is so easy to underestimate them, or in our sleep deprived state pop up and tend to them quickly.

Also, AJ is a good sleeper, and knowing that he can take long naps encourages me to give his paci back rather than just get him up and it usually works.  And then the sitter knows to expect this too because he can look wide awake and then go right back to sleep. Infants amaze me with things like that!

I also read that the morning nap is starting to develop around 9am and I see that to be the case.  It's funny, but there is something about starting to put him on a schedule that results in one emerging rather than the other way around.  Not that I don't base the schedule on what I've seen from him, but getting the ball rolling with a wakeup time or a common sleep time and going from there...esp when you see a pattern with the timing of the first nap, then every day starts off the same, so then they vary less.  So, even though we aren't sleeping through the night, the schedule that he's been on the last week is definitely doable.  Here it is, if anyone is interested.  All times are approximate. 

5:30am feeding-about 4oz each feeding per sitter
wake about 7:30am
8:30am feeding
nap about 9am for 1-1.5 hrs (he no longer gets swaddled, we eased off it at the beginning of Feb, but I will swaddle his legs or do a sleep sack; our routine is simply to change diaper, add blanket, and rock 1-2 min or until sleepy and put in bed awake; he has heart beat cd and his room is now darkened with towels over windows)
11:30am feeding (nurses10-20 min total)
nap about 12 for 1.5 to 3 hrs (wake if more than 3.5 hrs-yes, we've had to do this 3 times-he likes sleep)
2:30 pm feeding
nap about 3pm for 1 to 1.5 hrs
5:30pm feeding
Bed between 6pm and 7pm (he goes to bed with paci, but I don't replace it in the night, he falls asleep either nursing or usually when I hold him upright for ten before putting him back in bed so he can digest the milk so I just put him to bed without paci and don't replace it).
(for now we are doing two more feedings-about 11:30pm and 2:30am-I am confident they will drop down soon, but don't mind since he goes down so early and sleeps so late and doesn't wake btw for paci, etc or from 6-7am anymore; once he starts sleeping through them mostly or spitting up from over feeding I will send daddy in to soothe for one of the feedings.  Also, I can slowly move the 11:30pm to before I go to bed and then if we skip the 2:30am, I will only actually be waking to go in once-won't that be nice!)

What a Difference Two (and a half) Weeks Makes! Pics too!

All I have to say to the expectant ladies is hang in there when you have that newborn!  It DOES get better!  What a difference a few weeks makes!  Here is my recap of what has changed in the last few week in the areas my life revolves around: eating, sleeping, pooping, and self care for me (which is even more minimal, if that was possible!)

Eating:
Turns out,  I was overfeeding AJ at first.  I did it because he was eating forever before my milk came in.  And Charlie was a 20 min or so nurser.  So when AJ nursed for ten min and wouldn't switch sides, I worried and I persisted. :( He would spit up and I would think he was showing signs of reflux.  Duh!  Thanks to my notes on how long he fed, I realized he was a ten min nurser now and I switch sides at five minutes.  No overfeeding, he gets what he needs, and what a blessing to not be nursing almost an hour anymore!  And did I mention my nipples aren't on fire anymore?!  Wonderful feeling to not have that anymore.  And, knock on wood, no signs of mastitis yet (which I had five times with Charlie!).  It is so funny to me how when you first nurse you have to have the perfect latch, a ton of pillows to prop you up, etc and then two to three weeks later it is practically effortless.  He can put himself on and I don't have to turn on any light or anything to make sure he is on alright. I feel so much more comfortable about all of it!  Of course, that is just my experience, and I don't recall if it fell in the same timeline, but I had similar experience with Charlie.

Sleeping:
AJ has gone from eating every 2-3 hours to his first five hour stretches of sleeping at night (two nights in a row now).  Of course, now that I write this, he will probably quit :)  I think swaddling is huge, cluster feeding during the day is huge, a well put on diaper is huge, and elevation is huge (prop up if they need it-for reflux or congestion by putting a wedge in mattress or letting them sleeping in the carseat, bouncy seat, or swing).  We are getting into a nice pattern now of sleeping, waking up, eating, about 3 times a day he has a good hour of awake time (yes that is it!) and then he fusses and I know it is time to swaddle and rock him and put him in his bed. I am also starting to learn his little nuances, like his uncomfortableness that means he will spit up or have a bm soon, or when he is just tired etc.  Love it!

Pooping:
I have finally mastered the newborn diaper and I am telling you, I am sorry if you master it faster than me and buy too many newborn clothes based on my earlier recommendation.  For me it is a combo of pointing it down, making sure the leg elastic is not tucked in, making sure the back of the diaper is totally up, and making sure there is a nice tight seal across the tummy.  This is all a thousand times easier once the circumcision is healed, the navel is healed, and they are a little older and don't pull their legs up quite so much.  I think he has peed out only once this week (again, going to jinx myself!) but I will say that Charlie peed and pooped a lot the second I took the diaper off to change it and then it usually got on the clothes too.  AJ is not that way, no pee so far when changing (why do I keep saying these things out loud!) but he did shoot poo three feet across the room and hit the wall so far it covered a five foot vertical area-no lie!  So...I guess boys do crazy things with their poo too, TCIE! lol  Lesson learned, his bum is quite the fire hose and I am sure it would have gone further had that pesky wall not been in the way.

Finally, taking care of yourself:
Life is so much easier once you can drop the crazy routine the hospital has you do (esp if you have an episiotomy) every time you go to the bathroom.  And you pee often, ladies, because you drink a lot to produce the milk plus you have all that fluid and blood to lose and it is mostly during/post nursing b/c that is when your uterus contracts.  One not fun lesson I got to learn firsthand, if the bleeding stops and then comes back full force, that can be BAD!  It can be a blood clot (the blood clot blocks the blood and it builds up behind and then passes), which is somewhat typical in the first week or two post delivery.  Or it can be...leftover placenta.  Lovely.  So it happened to me the day I sent my hubby to enjoy a basketball game downtown (not close to our home!)  Word to the wise, a friend tells me she keeps hubby on hand for the first month. Probably smart.  I had so much blood I was told to go the ER.  They did an ultrasound and let me go, saying it was clots and if I didn't pass them in a few days I would need a D&C.  Instead...I got a call first thing the next day from my ob saying they should not have let me go, that I had 4.5 cm of retained placenta (very dangerous, you could bleed out, and did I mention I have factor V and that my mom almost died of something similar after a miscarriage?!)  Anyway, I had an immediate D&C that day (the day before Thanksgiving).  Healing has been alright, a few setbacks with pain and bleeding that I got meds for, etc, but every day gets better and the less I have to focus on me, the more I can focus on my family.  Praise God!  Did I mention how valuable meals are?  Huge, ladies!  So grateful for them!  Especially because my mom isn't as available as I would have hoped.  We actually lost my dad's mom last week and then my dad had to have a heart cath (80% blockage, huge stint put in) the same day as my surgery.  It's been a little nuts around here, but everyday is better than the one before and we are slowly but surely discovering our new normal. :)  I am sure prayers are part of how we survived all of this, so thank you everyone, especially my prayer buddy!
P.S. I was a little insane and scheduled a photo session yesterday. Here are some of the best ones.  Man, I had no idea my face was so round, lol.  Oh well, all in good time...!  Happy Advent!

To Make You Smile

Charlie has a new "trick."  I say "show me your cheesy smile" and boy, he doesn't dissapoint!  This was just taken last week and it definitely is contagious! 

Also, if you are interested in more pics, about 3 posts ago I posted Easter pics. I started with one and later added many without really denoting that I had changed it. Almost immediately after I posted again about my friend in need, so some of you may have missed them. (Btw, she took a pill to induce miscarriage yesterday so please pray it is quick, effective, and as emotionally and physically pain free as possible!)

Happy Easter!

Family pictures are rare!

day prior-2 eggs are better than one-very pleased

gotta love the tongue!

showing the sound a monkey makes!

discovering the egg hunt!

yum-dried apple!

pleased with a new toy!

first time using bubbles-I think he likes them!

love it!