Week of Fun

Monday- Duchess had her end of the year sing-along. Her class is mostly boys- 8 boys and 4 girls. They are not very enthusiastic about preforming. The other 3 year-old class is mostly girls and they are VERY enthusiastic about singing. Duchess sang a little, blew a lot of kisses and played with her sunglasses. After school she had her last ballet class.




Tuesday- I got my haircut, yay! Duchess, Huck and I had lunch on the patio at La Madeline, I got a new pair of shoes and Duchess and I had pedicures. She had a smile on her face a mile-wide when the lady painted flowers on her big toes.

Wednesday- Back to work for me. I was not thrilled to go but it was not a bad day. My sweet nurses brought me Starbucks in the morning and had a chocolate cake to belatedly celebrate my birthday. In the afternoon I popped in to a baby shower for a coworker and got to catch up with several friends I had not seen since Huck was born. Everyone at home fared well.

Thursday- The not-so fun day. I spent hours at the mall trying to find something to wear when I present at conference next week. Apparently my criteria are too strict- professional looking but still wearable for everyday work and not that expensive since it probably won't fit in a few months (when I hopefully lose the last 5 lbs of baby weight). After buying a pair of pants at J Crew that were OK, I ended up finding something in my closet to wear instead. So the pants are going back as I'd rather have something that is better than just okay. I'll save the money for the H&M that is opening Memorial Day weekend. Duch and Huck were with me and did great. The cleaning people came so having a clean house when I didn't have to do it is fun. And teaching the last class in the Natural Birth series was fun.

Friday- Back to work again and lots of work on my conference presentation. Pretty fun since we accomplished a lot. Rushing to get to Duchess's dress rehearsal- not so fun. Watching 3 and 4 year-olds dancing on a real stage for the first time- fun. Two kids fighting in the car the whole way home- not so fun. Listening to the two of them laughing hysterically in bed when they were supposed to be sleeping- fun!

Saturday- Wallace Elementary Carnival! Bounce houses, games, food, running around with friends- what could be more fun? Jackson got thrown in jail twice and we had to bail him out. A friend pays 2 tickets to throw someone in jail and then the jailbird has to be bailed out with two more tickets. I certainly hope that is the only time we have to come up with his bail!








The big ballet recital! Big maybe, but definitely short. So short in fact that Daddy missed it because he was standing in line buying flowers for the prima dona. Her dance lasted maybe 3 minutes and the whole show was maybe 20 minutes. She seemed to enjoy it but didn't really think it was very special. I, however, got a little teary.

Meet Pam

Duchess-
Duchess: Mom, Kennedy and I changed our names at school today.
Mom: Oh really? What are your new names?
Duchess: Kennedy changed her name to Mickey Mouse.
Mom: And what is your new name?
Duchess: Pam
Huh? We don't know anyone named Pam as far as I know.

Duchess got to get a gumball after lunch for having good behavior in the restaurant. It is never really a good idea because they are too big for her mouth. She whined all the way to the car but it was impossible to understand what she was saying because she refused to swallow the spit or to open her mouth to speak. Once at the car I gave her a napkin and she spit out the gumball, but when I tried to throw it away she screamed "no!" I asked what she wanted me to do with it. Her reply? "I want you to chew it up so it is not hard and then give it back to me." Once again,HUH???

Big dance recital this coming weekend, pics to come!


Huck
No more SNS!!!!! We have not used the supplement for more than a week. We saw the lactation consultant last Monday and she thought he was doing great. The pediatrician agreed when we went in for his 2 month check up. Just in time as I go back to Children's tomorrow. He was almost 12 lbs and had grown 2 1/2 inches since birth. He continues to be a serious little guy. He often has a furrowed brow, BUT, he is smiling a bunch too. He smiles at me a lot and will smile at Bubba and Dad as long as he is not overstimulated. Smiling at the Duchess is less frequent as most of the time he sees her she is 2 inches away from his face. He is doing well at holding his head up as well. Last night he went 7 hours between feedings. Yeah for me!





Bubba
Bubba has just 12 more days of school. He read me a book this morning and I still can't believe it sometimes. In just a few short weeks he is going to be 6! Sometimes I look at him and can't believe how big he is. But then I see him at school surrounded by the "big kids" and he still looks like my little guy. He was buying a toy (with Grandma dollars) at the store the other day. He had 10 ones and the total came to $8.54. I told him he needed to give the lady 9 dollars and he looked up at me and said with a twinkle in his eye, "That means I just have to take away one dollar." He is doing subtraction without even trying :-)






Mom
I am headed back to Children's tomorrow. The Hubby has done okay with Huck while I have been teaching but tomorrow will be the real test. The big kids both have school. I can't decide if that is a good thing or not. It is good because for most of the day he will only have Huck to worry about, but potentially bad because he will have to coordinate drop-offs and pick-ups and can't just hang around the house all day. Next week Huck and I will be going to Chicago. I am presenting at the Child Life conference. Grandma is coming up for one day to be smiled at by Huck and watch him while I present.

Back to Work

Last week I went back to teaching for the first time since I was put on bedrest. I am teaching a natural birth series of 4 classes. Gotta admit I'm gonna have to fake advocating for unmedicated births a bit :-) My head can speak to it well but my body still remembers the intensity a little too well right now! The class is a good group and I am enjoying it. The Hubby seems to have fared fine being in charge of the 3 kiddos as well. I guess we can consider it a warm up for my return to Children's in 2 weeks. Huck did okay last week but last night he was fussy most of the time I was gone.



Speaking of Huck, he is doing well. I weighed him this week and he has gained 2 1/2 lbs in a month and is now 11.2 lbs. The expected weight gain at this age is 4-7 oz a week, so he exceeded that by gaining 10 oz a week! I can tell that he is nursing better, his latch is more consistent and I am much more comfortable. I don't want to jump out of my skin each time he latches on. I have been able to feed him several times a day without the suplimenter and am only pumping 1-2 times a day. I can finally see the end of the SNS in sight, although I'll save the celebration until it is retired for good. I have a love-hate relationship with the thing.



I hate the additional work, the difficulty of getting it placed correctly in his mouth, the cleaning... but I am grateful for it's existence because it allowed me to continue breastfeeding. For me, breastfeedingis about so much more than just feeding. Outside of the nutritional and health benifits, not to mention financially, it is about an emotional connection. I love that time when it is just the two of us- me stroking his soft hair, snuggling him close, kissing the top of his head... him reaching his hand up to my chest, grabbing onto my finger, looking up at me... With the other two I especially enjoyed coming home from work and cuddling up together to reconnect. So while nursing is going better, poor baby has had a cold this week. It started last weekend with lots of congestion and a cough. It is a deep, junky chest cough too. You just know it hurts hom sometimes. In the beginning he was so confussed by it all- the look on his face was so pitiful. He just wanted to be held all day. Now the congestion has improved some so I don't need to suction his nose as much and the cough is mostly at night. (By the way, he is sleeping pretty well- I'll usually get a 5-6 hour stretch between feedings at night.) I got the cold early this week. The two of us sound pretty pathetic at night! I'm pretty sure it came from a certain big sister who thinks she needs to be 2 inches away from his face when she speaks to him...

One of the things I love about preschoolers is their rapidly expanding vocabulary and the way they make things up if they don't have a word for what they want to say. The Duchess likes to change the part of speech to suite her needs- two of my favorites right now are: sharp (v) to sharpen a pencil. "Can you sharp this pencil for me?" and inside-out (v) to turn right-side out, "Can you inside-out my pants for me?" She is also know to use some mature sounding phrases. The other day her Dad asked her if it was cold outside and she answered "It is starting to warm up out there." She has just a few weeks left of school. I know she is going to miss her friends, Chloe, Kennedy and Bethel. The 4 girls have really bonded this year.



Bubba has had a fun month at school with feild trips. The older kids have done standardized testing so they have sent the Kindergartners out of the building. They went to the zoo, a farm and today they are walking to a nearby plant nursery. Coming up they also have a carnival, Buddy Fun Day, Splash Day and a last day of school party. Whew! It is pretty amazing to see how much he has learned this year. He is reading independently, writing sentences and doing math. We are so lucky that he had such a great teacher. Not because of the acedemic acheviements but because of the balanced approach she has to teaching. She really seems to understand what these 5-6 year-olds need- and it is NOT sitting at a desk for most of the day, it is NOT doing homework everyday, and it is NOT having perfect behavior all the time :-)



The Hubby got a new car yesterday! It is a Buick Enclave. It is pretty and fancy and is the first New Car he has ever had. The Caddilac was going to need more maintanence and it just wasn't worth putting more money into it. If I can figure out how to upload a picture from my phone to Blogger I will post it.



The other manager at his work quit so he has had more responsibility handed over to him. It is not a bad thing because the other girl didn't really do a very good job, but it does require more time from him.

Harrison's TV debut!

Harrison is a TV star!


http://www.wfaa.com/good-morning-texas/Baylor-PrenatalBaby-Yoga-120488184.html

The Bunny is (Almost) Out of the Bag...

Happy Easter! We had a fun family day today. Huck was kind enough to sleep well last night so Mommy got some good rest. He ate around 12:30 and slept until about 6:30. I woke up around 4 and was so confused- I couldn't figure out what time it was, where Huck was, when he had eaten last... when I got up to feed him at 6:30 I felt like I had slept forever! Bubba was up soon after Huck and the Duchess was not far behind him. The kids dug into their Easter baskets and that's when Bubba started getting a bit suspicious... the first comment was "Hey, I saw this at Target!" Then a little later he said "I'm starting to think the Easter Bunny didn't do this." When asked why he said "Because I got everything I liked." But then bought the Hubby's story that he thought he saw the Easter Bunny running away when he got home from work last night. I wonder how much longer it will last. He was extremely disappointed when he discovered the Bunny had only hid a few eggs outside.

But then the Hubby snuck around back and hid more and all was well.





After the egg hunt I made pastel pancakes- pink, green and blue. I was going to try to make them egg shaped but that did not work so well. We went to church at the Methodist church in our neighborhood- I thought it would be easier than dealing with the crowds at Watermark. It was easier but the did not have Sunday School for the kids because it was Easter so Bubba and Duchess were not thrilled to sit through church. They both thought the music was too loud. After church we had some lunch and played outside with new toys- bubbles and kites.



While the big kids played I tried to get some photos of Huck. A few cute ones and lots with his serious face. He is doing well, I believe. He is eating better although he still needs the supplementer. Nursing is more comfortable now although not pain-free. I believe it is due to his high soft palette and that it makes it harder for him to latch correctly. But we are getting there- much improved from a month ago!



I have a new nephew! Dillon James Quirk was born on 4-22-11 and he weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. Mom and Baby are doing well and big brother William thinks he is cute.

Out to Lunch

We actually made it out of the house to meet a friend for lunch today! It was a beautiful day and we sat out on the patio and had a great lunch. Huckleberry was a perfect little guy, slept and snuggled. Of course things didn't run completely smoothly behind the scenes... Duchess was supposed to go to school today, but we both slept in until 10! I thought I would take her late, but then realized by the time I got her fed and dressed, myself fed and dressed, and Huckleberry fed and changed most of the school day would be over, so she skipped school :-) I started getting ready at 10:30 by feeding Huckleberry, then pumped, got dressed, got the kids ready and got out of the house at about 12. Went to the chiropractor where all 3 of us got adjusted and headed to Erin's house to pick her up. By the time we got there it was time for Huckleberry to eat again. So we didn't make it to lunch until almost 2:00. Good thing we ate a late breakfast!

I mentioned that we went to the chiropractor. I have always believed in chiropractic care, but I have become a true devotee as of late. It all started with the displaced rib...once Autumn saved me from that horrible pain I was hooked. A few years ago I never would have thought that I would let my kids be adjusted, especially my newborn. But let me tell you, they all love it. Bubba has been as well. The two big kids climb right up on the table with no hesitation. Huckleberry lies there and either sleeps through it all or stares with big eyes up at Autumn and stays calm as can be. Huckleberry has a strong preference to turn his head to the right. After each adjustment I see him keeping his head midline or turned to the left more and more.

Huckleberry is doing better. He is gaining weight well and is more alert and awake. I can't believe that he is one month old already! The last month is a blur. I am still a little bit in shock that this month has been so rough. I never would have dreamed that my 3rd baby would be so different and need so much extra help just to eat. We are still using the supplementer with each feeding, but have been able to decrease the amount of milk in it. He is doing better with his latch and is making some more effort to transfer milk from the breast. I'm not sure when we'll be able to stop using the supplementer, but at least it is getting easier to use. We still struggle with it sometimes, but we have more good sessions than bad. It is a good thing he is so stinking cute and lovable :-)

Duchess is as strong willed as ever! She still refuses to even try to use the potty to go poop. Daddy bought her a big-girl bed as an incentive, but she continues to sleep in her sleeping bag on the floor. Poor Huckleberry has his big sister in his face allllll the time. I feel like a broken record saying "Back up, please. Give him some space, please." She loves to play in the back yard, specifically on the swing. She is doing a pretty good job of swinging herself and will swing by herself for up to 20 minutes. We are struggling with bedtime- she comes out of her room many times a night. A sticker chart did nothing- she couldn't care less if she doesn't earn her sticker. If fact, she has earned no stickers in the week and a half since we started it. Oh well.

Bubba is doing well. He has really been a great help with Huckleberry. He is really sweet to him and genuinely excited to see him and really wants Huck to acknowledge him in some way. School is going well. I can't believe some of the things he is learning. He brought home homework tonight that is fraction review. Fractions! In Kindergarten! It really is not quite as bad as it sounds- the questions were like color one half of the butterfly. But still, just to see the words Fraction Review on my 5 year-old's school papers threw me! His handwriting has improved so much and his spelling is so much more understandable. I found a paper in the playroom with a picture of a cat and this sentence. "a cat is sow pide I wont to have it But my mom is ulrgickt to cats." In case you don't understand Kindergarten-ese that is "A cat is so pretty I want to have it but my mom is allergic to cats." Kinda makes me want to get him a cat, but not really.

The Hubby is going on a trip to Mexico. His boss is rewarding some of his staff with a 3 day trip to Playa de Carmen, which is where he owns another bar. I'm trying to decide if I can handle the time alone with the 3 kids or if I am going to ask my mom to come help. He has been a big help while I have been focusing on Huck. He has made dinner every night he has been home, does grocery shopping, gets up to take Bubba to school. I'm lucky to have him.

Woo Hoo!

Huckleberry saw the doctor today and he has gained 9.5 oz since last Wed! So now he is up to 8 lbs 7.6 oz. And yes, we are counting the .6 of an ounce. That means he is only 4 oz away from his birth weight. The pedi wants us to continue with what we have been doing for another week. So that means I'll still be pumping after every feeding and giving him 2 oz of expressed milk in the supplemental nurser... Not looking forward to all that pumping because it makes each feeding longer, but if that is what it takes to keep him gaining I can hang in there for another week. He is waking himself up to eat now and does so about every 3 hours which is good. He also has some really good awake times when he just looks around at everything. His color is much better now, too. I am so relieved that he seems to have figured every thing out!

Grandma took the big kids to see the movie Hop yesterday. Bubba said it was "awesome!" I'm a little jealous, but the shower and nap I had while they were gone were much more valuable at this time :-) Maybe we'll see it again when it is at the dollar theater. Grandma goes home tomorrow so I'll be on my own much of the time with the 3 kids for the first time.





The Hubby has to work every night this week so bedtime should be interesting. I'm starting a sticker chart for the Duchess. If she stays in her room after she is tucked in she can earn a sticker in the morning. After 5 stickers, she'll be able to earn a reward. I'm hoping this will cut down on the number of times she gets up. Bubba has done a great job adapting to the restrictions that taking care of the baby have put on me, but the one thing he insists on is that I tuck him into bed at night. He has his little routine where he picks a number from 1-10 for the number of hugs, kisses and "I love yous" he gets. He is growing out of so many things that I am glad he still needs his Mommy to tuck him in.