"Cheese Me, Mom"

Yes...this is an exact quote from Chance. He's learned the whole saying 'cheese' bit when I take pictures. I grabbed the camera to document that we do indeed spend time outside and the second he saw the camera, he paused, posed and said, "Cheese me, Mom". I thought it was pretty cute. Here he is playing with his friend Hazel in the water tub. I'm too scared to venture out to the pool alone, but he has just as much fun playing in the front yard.

The other thing Chance says that just melts my heart is "nuggle me". Translation -- "snuggle me". He drops the /s/ at the beginning of /s/ blend words so snuggle becomes nuggle and scary become cary, etc...you get the idea. I just think it's so cute when he asks me to 'nuggle' him. When do they grow out of wanting to be kissed and hugged? I know it will happen one day. SAD.

He LOVES to just play with the hose, watering the sidewalk, filling cups and then dumping water on himself.

And here is Sophie in a simply adorable skirt. I just couldn't resist taking a picture. Despite what this picture shows, she has started to smile a lot lately. It's so sweet. She's still doing great most of the time. She slept until 5am this morning which sounds great except she wouldn't go back to sleep afterwards until Jeff snuggled her.
She's absolutely horrible at burping which I think causes some tummy trouble. We pretty much have to keep her vertical for 30 minutes after she eats or else she spits up a ton. She's a great baby though...if that's my only complaint, I can handle it!

I can't believe June has flown by and that Sophie is already a month old. That means I only have about 6 weeks before work starts again. I just can't think about it...at least it will only be part time this year.

Update



I figured I would actually write a bit more of an update than last week. I had just enough time to post the pictures before Chance woke up from his nap and Sophie needed to be fed. They're both asleep right now and while I should either be napping or cleaning, I'd rather be blogging.

Sophie is a dream baby. I don't know how or why I am lucky enough to have easy babies that sleep so well and are easily pleased. I'm sure it will come around in the end, say when they're teenagers, but for now I just feel really blessed. Sophie still sleep A TON. I mean really...a ton. As long as she is fed, she's happy and content just like Chance was. Last night she even went 6 hours between feedings. Granted, I still only slept for 4 because I just had to clean the kitchen and of course pump before I went to bed, but I was shocked when I was able to sleep straight til 4:30 w/o the 1:30 feeding.

Now, as for pumping. It's going. I seriously hate it, but I'm able to keep up with her demands so far. Although I do swear she has radar because the second I'm hooked up to the thing is when she does finally decide to wake up. This is a big part to why I'm not getting enough sleep. If it was just her waking up and eating, I could feed her and be back asleep in 30 minutes, but of course I then still have to pump...UGH.

Chance is a typical mischievous two year old. The other week I found him coloring on the floor, wall, couch and then he decided to pull out every article of clothing he owns from his drawers and toss them on the floor. Last week was much better and w/o incident. He seriously LOVES his sister and the transition has been easier than I expected. The fact that is was so rainy the past few weeks has helped me feel less guilty that we're stuck in the house all day. I'm going to work on getting out more with him now that the weather is supposed to be nicer this week. I'm just grateful that he still naps!

I'm getting geared up for my family to come visit in a few weeks for her blessing. We'll have a great time and I'm excited to have a built-in baby sitter for a week -- Thanks mom!

I do want to say how grateful I am for Jeff since it was just Father's Day. He is truly a wonderful dad. Sometimes I get so caught up in the little details of how I think things "should be" done that I take for granted how great Jeff really is. So what if he uses a dish cloth instead of a burp cloth or dresses the kids in mismatching clothes, or lets Chance eat brownies for breakfast (true story)? The fact is he is always willing to help and loves to be with his kids. I know I need to work on relaxing about the little insignificant details. Happy Father's Day and I love you!

The last two weeks

We've been doing really well the last few weeks. For the most part, I feel like I'm getting in a routine. Chance has done really great with Sophie. He always tells me she is 'pretty' or 'cute' and asks if she is happy. He tries to tickle her feet and wants to hold and snuggle her quite a bit. He seems to be over his jealousy for the most part. I feel bad that we're stuck inside a lot. Doesn't help the weather was really rainy for the last few weeks. We might as well have been in Oregon!

Sophie's first photo shoot

I can't get the formatting to work on this. I don't know why. Anyway, here are some pictures that my sister in law was nice enough to take. Sophie was a bit cranky and tired by the time we got around to taking them, but overall, she did great and I thought they turned out really cute! I love how much you can see her hair with the white background. Thanks Kristi.

Sophie's First Week
Well, things have gone pretty well this week so far. Chance has actually transitioned much better than I expected. He hasn't tried to hurt her and anything. He's actually been really sweet and says that she is "my baby" all the time.

As far as the nursing goes. I had to give up on it by Sunday night. I was just miserable. I had already done all the things suggested by you lovely experienced nursers and it hadn't been working. So...in the meantime I am pumping and bottle feeding it to her. It's SUCH a pain and very time consuming, but I figure that as long as I can keep it up I might as well let her get as much breast milk as she can. I know 0nce I go back to work in two months I'll have to use formula.

Other than the whole nursing challenge, Sophie is a dream baby so far. She sleeps pretty much 22 out of 24 hours a day which is more than I can say for myself. I'm averaging 3 hours a night and it's been really tough, but what can you do? She rarely cries -- except a little in her car seat and has been great fun to snuggle and love on.

I had my first poopy blowout today. Then my mom had to change all my clothes and get me a new blanket to use. (She also had to change me into this cute new dress too.)I sleep all the time...here I am sleeping on Daddy.

Here I am awake in the morning!

My brother loves to "help" me by giving me kisses, getting my blanket and putting my binky in my mouth.

The one time my mom put a bow in my hair...she should do it more often because I sure look cute with it in my crazy hair.

First Day Home

Things have gone really well so far at home. I remember when I first brought Chance home I completely had a meltdown feeling overwhelmed. He didn't sleep AT ALL and nursing just wasn't working. I was up all night with him just blubbering. Well, nursing still isn't great...forgive me for those reading thing and don't want all the gory details of breastfeeding. My nipples are cracking and it KILLS to nurse. I seriously can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I had 2 nurses look at the "latching on" and they both said it looked great. So, I don't know. It's depressing and I hate it, but I'm trying to forge ahead despite the excrutiating pain because I know it's best for her. Anyway, I won't go into any more details, but any advice from successful breastfeeding moms would be appreciated! I have to take her in on Monday because she has lot a bit more weight than the pediatrician would like, so hopefully they will tell me she is ok.

Other than that though, Sophie has been easy...ha, ha. I'm sure I've got it coming to me. She slept from 11:30-2:30 when I had to wake her up to eat. She didn't eat much because she was so sleepy, so I fed her again at 4:30 and she went back to sleep until 7:00. I'm still exhausted, but I can't complain. She's a pretty sleepy baby. I remember Chance being quite a bit more awake, but I'll take it. Although she does take a binky, she's not ADDICTED to it the way Chance was. She will actually fall asleep w/o it and stay asleep. Chance HAD TO have it in 24/7.


Sophie, Daddy, Chance enjoying a show together.

A rare moment awake!

Chance has been pretty good so far. He has only held her this one time, but giggled the whole time. He's been softly rubbing her hair and trying to help with the binky, but other than that, he's still just a two year old interested in his own thing. Nursing is a little tricky w/ him around because he just wants to climb all over me, but I'm sure we'll figure it all out.

Sophie Nemelka
May 27th, 2009
3:56pm
7 lbs 12 oz
19 inches

Well everyone, here she is! Can you believe all that dark hair? I mean it literally is BLACK. So black that the nurse bathing her yesterday asked Jeff if his wife was hispanic. Actually, I think the consensus is that she looks amazingly like Chance, but with the dark hair. I think she'll end up losing is and it will come in a tad bit lighter, but time will tell.

Things went great all things considered. I had some issues with the epidural this time that I didn't last time. Not enough at first, then too much, etc., but in the end it was fine. I only had to push for about 10 minutes through two contractions, so I can't complain.

Thankfully, my sister in law and mother in law have taken over Chance duties. He came to visit last night and other than saying 'baby' once in a while and giving her one quick kiss on the head, he was relatively uninterested. He found the movable bed with a bar to hang off of much more exciting than a little baby that doesn't move I suppose. We will see him again tonight, so we'll see how round 2 goes. I'm sure it will be a whole new adventure tomorrow when we're home.

I will post more pictures soon and keep everyone informed. Otherwise, we're doing great!!

Rough Day

Here is a picture of me and "Bug" when he was two months old. Hard to believe that was two years ago! I just think he's so cute. And hard to believe that within 24 hours I will have a newborn again. We're both really excited to meet her, see what she looks like and how her personality compares with Chance's at that age.

I've been pretty emotional on and off today though. Jeff doesn't really understand it. I'm not sure I do either except to say that it's hard for me to envision life with more than one child. I wouldn't say that Chance is overly clingy or needy. He's used to being with other adults and children all day, but I think he senses something is going on, but he's not quite sure what yet. He's been pretty needy this past weekend and wanting to be held more, calling himself a baby. I know this is somewhat normal behavior, but it just makes me sad. And I know every older sibling goes through it and comes out fine w/o being permanently traumatized, but it's just hard for me. I want to have enough love, enough patience, enough energy, etc for both of them. Chance has been an angel when it comes to other transitions - off the nursing, bottle, binky, into the toddler bed, etc. So...I should just hope for the best and assume it will continue, but who knows.

I'm also nervous for the recovery process. It went pretty quickly last time, but most of you know I HATED nursing. It was an awful experience for me, but I stuck with it because it was the healthy, cheaper thing to do. I just hope it goes smoother this time and that I can stay as dedicated. Keep your fingers crossed.