We're Back

And most of you didn't even know we were gone!!! I'm sure you just assumed I was absent from the blog as usual, but we were away last week for our annual Spring Break Vacation in Hilton Head.

I was a mad-woman trying to get everything packed and ready to go the Thursday and Friday that we left (the 26th). It's amazing how much stuff you need to take with a 4 year old and a newborn! I had Hannah home from daycare on Friday because we were planning to get on the road by 2:00. It was all going fine and she was staying out of my way as I finished getting everything ready. Nicholas was good for me too. Then all of a sudden, around 11:00, Hannah started complaining that her ear was itching. She was pulling it and rubbing it like crazy. I asked her if she wanted to lay down, and she did for a while, but the itching ear was too much for her. I tried washing it off and putting hydrocortizone cream on it and that wasn't helping. She asked to play on the computer and so I let her and within a few minutes, she came up crying about her ear. I knew there was a problem because she doesn't cry when she's sick, unless she's really sick. I called the doctor around 11:45 to see if they could get her in before 1:00. They agreed to have her come right in (during their lunch - so nice and very appreciated!!!). She had an ear infection! Not the worse thing in the world, but awful timing. They called her in a prescription and I finished packing the car and everyone up and around 2:00 we stopped to get her prescription and hit the road.

The ride down Friday night was pretty easy. Hannah rode with my mom and Randy so we could tend to Nicholas in our car without stopping too much. We arrived in Statesville, NC around 10:00 and slept for the night. We got back on the road in the morning, stopped for breakfast and then arrived in Hilton Head around 4:00 or so. We got groceries and headed to the "vacation house" and unpacked. Susan arrived a little while later and we stayed in and made pizza's for dinner.

Sunday, we got up and went to Harbour Town for breakfast and then hung out. The weather was great all week - 70's and 80's and sunshine galore! It rained one morning really early and was clear by daytime. Hannah played on the beach on Tuesday.

We went to the pool Wednesday and Thursday.

Tony and Randy golfed on Monday and Wednesday. I sat at the pool with Hannah and walked Nicholas down to the beach for a little bit on Tuesday. It sure was a different vacation with two children! It was good, but just not the same as in the past. I think part of it was that I wasn't in dire need of the vacation break since I have been off work for the past 5 weeks and also, tending to Nicholas doesn't give a lot of free time to come and go like we could with just Hannah. It still was great to be down there and enjoy the weather and the vacation life. I also had to unfortunately do some work down there Tuesday and Friday.

We met up with a friend from High School that lives down there now and works at the Salty Dog. Susan, Tony and I went out Tuesday night with her - Hi Laura!!

Tony's birthday was Wednesday. We gave him his gifts on Sunday night since they were golf-related and he needed them to play on Monday. The kids and I got him a new driver he wanted, Susan got him new golf balls and Mom & Randy bought him two rounds of golf. We went to dinner on his actual birthday and had cake and ice cream back at the condo.

Susan left on Thursday afternoon. Before she left, I made everyone go down to the beach for pictures!!!

Mom and Randy went out to dinner that night so Tony and I took the kids out somewhere too. Nicholas turned 6 weeks Thursday, which officially marked the end of my short term disability. I am taking one more week off at home with him before I go back to work. I was going to take two extra weeks, but I think I'm ready to get back into a routine, although it makes me a little sad too to know my time at home alone with him is ending. So much of it he spent sleeping!!! Now he's finally more awake and giving lots of smiles and cooing - much more to enjoy!

Friday, we all took Hannah to the horse farm and petting zoo. She has a blast there every year and enjoys the pony ride and petting the animals. They built a brand new horse barn this year which was really nice!

Then we all went over to Harbour Town for lunch and to let Hannah play on the playground.

I needed a little bit of "me time" Friday, so after I finished work stuff, I went to sit by the pool and then for a walk on the beach for about an hour. It was nice - I got a wee bit of sun and just had a nice break for an hour. Tony and I went to dinner for our annual date to the Japanese Hibachi restaurant. It was good and then we headed back to start packing up.

We got up and packed up the car and headed home Saturday morning. We got on the road around 9:45 and made it back home by 10:30! Great timing and a good drive. Nicholas slept the first 8 hours and cried the last couple, but he did really good! We were all so glad to be back home but also had another great family vacation!

I'll put all of my pictures on the slideshow instead of a ton in this post since it's easier. I'll also post about Easter tomorrow.

One Month Already!

Wow, can't believe it, but Nicholas is one month old today already!

These past four weeks have gone really fast! I'm finally feeling like we're starting a routine and my days at home still go really fast, but they're starting to feel more productive and not such a blur. We're still having some issues at night, but even that seems to be getting better or at least more routine.

Here's the little guy today

He's still such a good baby. He cries sometimes, but mostly when he's hungry, needs changed or when he's trying to fight falling asleep. He's got more awake time every day and he's getting so much bigger and stronger. He's holding his head pretty good, although sometimes it still flops around. He's starting to follow sounds a bit more and smiling - we choose to think he's smiling at us and it's not gas!!! He's getting very chubby cheeks and Hannah thinks it's funny to tell him that! He likes to suck on a binky and if only we could figure out how to keep it from falling out at bedtime so he doesn't fuss!!!

Here we are yesterday celebrating St. Patrick's Day in green

And last night, everyone was playing in Hannah's room. Hannah's been having a lot of Daddy time lately and she loves it!

I've got another month before I go back to work (officially only 2 weeks, but I'm taking 2 extra weeks). It's just so crazy how fast this month has gone by, but we're enjoying every minute of it!

I did a little comparing of Hannah and Nicholas and even though Hannah looked just like me from the get go and Nicholas seems to look more like Tony, these two definitely look like siblings! I brought up a picture of Hannah last night and asked her who it was and she thought it was Nicholas!

Here they are side by side after just a few days old

And then again at one month

This is just so cool! I love these kids!

Firsts at our house

We've got some "firsts" to tel you about and they don't all belong to Nicholas!!!

Hannah got her first haircut this weekend!!! Yep, after over 4 years, I finally decided to get it trimmed up and it was much needed and overdue! With the curl in her hair, I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I knew I needed to at least get her hair trimmed up. I mean really, the ends are over 4 years old!!! She didn't really want to go at first because she was afraid I'd have it cut short, but I told her that we'd just cut a little bit off and she'd get to sit in the beauty shop chair and look in the big mirror, so then it was all good! We just went to Great Clips and they just trimmed it up a bit. To be honest, you'd probably not even realize it was cut if I didn't say anything, but it did make it look so much healthier and made her curls bouncier. They angled the sides just a bit to give it a little shape, but you really can't tell. She loved it and it was fun to have another first with her!!!

I had spent most of last week preparing for a children's resale that I was attending with my neighbor. I went through four years worth of girls clothes that I had saved of Hannah's. There's no need to keep it anymore, so it is time to part ways. I couldn't believe how much stuff this one kid had!!! It's crazy and so many things were name brand and many items still had tags on it or she only wore things once or twice. Kinda ridiculous! Anyway, I had 7 tubs packed completely full of her clothes. We set up for the sale on Friday night and I went to dinner with the girls after. This was my first time out without Nicholas and despite being exhausted, it was sort of nice to go out. I had to get up early Saturday morning for the sale which was from 8 until noon. I came back home mid-morning to get Nicholas because Tony took Hannah to her last swim lesson. She was promoted to the next level for next session which is in the water without a parent!! I think that session starts in April, so we'll be signing her up! So I finished up the resale until noon. I made a total of $230.00 which I thought was pretty good, but still came home with 6 full tubs of clothes! I'm going to try another sale if I can find one nearby. I may wait until Nicholas is out of some of the baby things like his swing and bouncy seat. Those items seem to go really fast. I sold Hannah's old stroller and a cradle thing I had but didn't really use. I may also just take Hannah's clothes to a second hand store to sell them. I do a lot of shopping there for her, so maybe getting store credit there would be a good thing also espeically now that I will need to be buying Nicholas new clothes for every season!

Nicholas is doing great. He still sleeps a lot during the day and is still not that good of a sleeper at night. I'm pretty sure it's that he doesn't like to sleep on his back and in his bassinnet. I'm sticking to my guns for the most part though and keeping the routine of going to bed and staying there as best as we can. He's getting better and starting to get used to it more and more. I'm afraid of starting bad habits that will be hard to break, so while I'm still home, I'm trying to stick to a normal bedtime routine. He's getting bigger and has more awake time during the day. He's so bright-eyed when he's awake and is starting to smile a little and make little talking noises. He's a good eater still and doesn't generally spit up too much. He's really a good baby and I'm so happy to have him in our lives! Hannah still enjoys him and is so proud of him when we're out. She likes to boast about her little brother and give him hugs and kisses.

As for the other "firsts" for us, Nicholas had his first bath last week! His cord finally fell off, so I was able to give him a real bath. Of course, he hated most of it! He cried at the beginning, but I tried my best to keep him warm and then he was OK with it. I forgot how little and slippery a newborn was getting a bath!!!! It's a little tricky to hang on to him and have a productive cleaning! He smelled so good after though!

We also went for our first walk last week. We've been blessed by a nice warm up that got rid of all the disgusting snow we had! That was nice!

It was great to get out for a nice long neighborhood walk. That's one thing of having a winter baby that stinks - you're cooped up inside for the most part, so getting out for a nice walk on a spring-like day was great! It was also nice to get the exercise. I've been able to drop over half of my baby weight already and am in to normal clothes (a size bigger than normal), but I figure the second half will be a little harder to work off, so getting some exercise is nice. I can't believe how easy the first 21 pounds came off though - I was not that fortunate with Hannah!

Other than that, we're just hanging out. I've been working on Nicholas' birth announcements. After I get them all in the mail, I will post a copy of them on here. I think they're turning out really cute! I had trouble finding the right picture for them, but the one I chose seems to be perfect for the announcement. I've been doing a little work every day, but nothing too extreme. I haven't been to the office in about a week, but will probably pop in there at some point this week to print some stuff and drop off the stuff I've been working on and pick up more stuff. But I'm enjoying my time off with the baby and hanging out at home. Life is GOOD!!!

Nicholas 2-1/2 week update

OK, so blogging just doesn't seem to fit into the schedule - sorry for those that look here to see pictures and updates of how we're doing. It's amazing how fast these days go! Nicholas still sleeps a lot and I can't get over how much I don't get done during the day while he's sleeping. You'd think I could at least get a regular blog post done, but I just find it hard to sit at the computer and get it done.

So I fessed up about our little mishap when he was a week old. Since then, we've been really busy - and safe! We unfortunately had to go to the funeral of my mom's Aunt Norma. Norma had been one of the youngest 90-something I knew (I think she was 93). We saw her in January for the family birthday party and she was spunky as usual. She had just been given some bad health news and went in for testing just after that birthday weekend. The news after that was even worse and she immediately lost her will to live. She was in a nursing home to take care of her for a month. She really was ready to die, but she wanted to wait until our baby was born so the circle of life could be complete. Nicholas was born on her birthday - pretty cool, huh, and Norma died the following Tuesday. It was nice to see some family with Nicholas, but still unfortunate as to why we were all together. Anyway, Norma knew Nicholas was born on her birthday so we were all happy that the events happened as they did. Now she is resting peacefully with her loved ones who have already passed, something she was very ready to do.

Then that weekend, I went to Maggie's baby shower. Molly was still in the hospital, but I'm happy to report she finally came home!!! I think she was in for a little over 2 weeks, so I'm so glad for all of them to now be home!! The shower was very nice and taking Nicholas with me was easy since he slept the entire time!! Here is "un-pregnant" Maggie and I that day:

Also, my sister was in town. She came to visit last Sunday before she left for the airport. It was nice that she could meet her new nephew, but I have to say, I think she does a little better with the more self-sufficient 4 year old niece!!! She loves to get Hannah all hyped up and running around the house playing loudly! They had fun playing in her room.

I had a long outing with Nicholas last week doing some shopping. I had to get groceries and all the stuff to make his birth announcements. Tony's working late Monday's and Tuesday's now, so I have 2 evenings home alone with both kids (so funny to say that!!!). It's been going well so far.

Last Tuesday was Bible Study so we went next door to Laura's house. They enjoyed seeing Nicholas. I went into work twice last week to do some printing and pick up and drop off stuff I was working on. I guess I was doing a little showing off of the little man too - the girls went nuts over him!!! I spent most of the day last Wednesday working on the monthly forecast for work - I did that from home. We went to gymnastics last Thursday - no accidents!!! I tried to take a couple pictures of Hannah, but the picture quality in that gym is awful! There are seriously a million orbs in the pictures I take, so there's some sort of truth to orbs being present where there's a lot of energy - very strange! She's doing great in her new class and she's really doing well at some of her skills.

Mr. Nicholas has his days and nights a little mixed up. We're working hard at getting that fixed! He still sleeps a lot during the day, although he has more awake time every day. I think he pretty much doesn't like sleeping in his bassinette. I had been giving into him and bringing him in bed with me or sleeping with him on the couch, but I just don't want to start that habit with him, so I'm working hard at sticking to the bedtime routine I want to have. It's extremely frustrating though when he fusses all night long when I'm trying to sleep, especially when he sleeps all day (and I don't rest enough - shame on me). He's had a couple good nights though where he does sleep for 3-4 hours by himself. We'll get there, I just have to remember these phases don't last long in the big scheme. He likes to sleep with me or Tony - on our chest or in our arms.

He also likes his swing and bouncy seat....look at how he layed his head back and his binky flipped over his nose!!!

He also took a bottle already, so that's encouraging to know I can leave him with Tony for a while and he'll be fine. I've got a TON of milk frozen already, so we're good to go for a while!

Nicholas had his 2 week check up last Thursday. His only job was to get back to his birth weight of 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and he surpassed that! He was 8 pounds 10 ounces. His lenght didn't change - still 20-1/2 inches. I forgot to ask the percentiles for his size, but looking online, it seems to be between 50-75%. She said everything was great and he seems to be doing very well. We go back when he's 2 months.

Friday morning, Hannah had her 4 year old check up too. She's doing great too. She's 35 pounds and 40 inches tall, which puts her at 75th percentile for her age. She got 3 shots and did really well during them. She was so brave and this was the first time I think her shots made me cry with her. She did really well though and shook it off quickly. These were the first ones they gave her shots in her arms.

Saturday seems like a blur!!! I know Tony took Hannah swimming and my sister in law came over with the kids - Krista was in town. I think we all took a nice long nap during the afternoon and I went to Shelly's for a book party in the evening with Nicholas I'd never hearsd of a book party before, but it's just another home party to sell stuff we don't need! I mean books are great, but we've got a million already! I still got a couple new ones though - Easter gift for one thing. Tony took Hannah on a date! She loves going out with him for special Daddy time. Sunday, we went to the mall to get Nichols' newborn pictures taken. They were just OK. I'll get them back on the 18th, so I'll post them then.

Yesterday we just hung out at home all day. I'm working on his birth announcements, doing a little work and I'm sorting through all of Hannah's clothes. There is a child's resale this Saturday that I'm taking all of her stuff to. I'm hoping to sell most of it. It's sort of sad to go through everything knowing I'll be getting rid of them, but there's no sense to keep anything anymore as she grows out of it. We're certain we're done with babies. It's fun to remember things when she wore certain outfits. There are some things that I think I want to keep, but then what for? The clothes would stay in a bin I'm sure and just take up space. I might as well try to sell it and make a few bucks. Hopefully, I do well and get rid of a lot and make some money!!!

I have pretty much more of the same planned for today. I should make sure to get a nap in somewhere today. We didn't have a good sleep night the first part of last night so I'm sure it'll be catching up to me soon!

Mother of the Year

Well, I guess I don't get this honor this year, although, I try to be the best mother I can be (and I think overall, I do pretty well).

I did the unthinkable last Thursday...I dropped Nicholas - in public!

I took Hannah to gymnastics last week by myself, with Nicholas, who was just one week old. I figured I could totally handle this task and was ready for the outing. Tony got busy at work, so he didn't make it.

So anyway, we get to the gym, and I got Hannah ready for class. We were a little early, so we were sitting on the bleachers waiting for class to start. I had Nicholas in his car seat, which was a bit akward and bulky to sit on the bleacher, so I decided to go to the top on (three tiers up) and sit against the wall. We were doing fine and since we'd be sitting there for about an hour, I had some crazy notion that he'd be more comfortable in his seat if I un-did his buckles. I have no clue why I thought this was a good idea, but I did it. Anyway, shortly after that, the carseat tipped over and fell down to the step that you put you feet on (with him in it). Everyone gasped and we grabbed for the seat and then all of a sudden, he plopped out of the seat, face first on to the floor.

I was MORTIFIED! People came rushing over, I grabbed him off the floor and he was still sleeping and not at all phased by the fact his mother just dropped him on the floor! I was so shocked that I didn't even freak out, but felt like someone should call social services or something - how could I have done this?!?!?!
Everything was fine and he wasn't hurt at all. I just held him the rest of the time. Hannah kept asking me why I dropped her brother. I tried to explain to her that it was an accident and I didn't do it on purpose, but then I knew I had to fess up to Tony. I figured that'd be the first thing she'd say when we got home.
Tony called while I was there and I told him. That was almost as painful as dropping him, but since everything was OK, I finally was able to chalk this up as a true accidental mistake. I realized I need to get back into baby mode and be more aware and careful about what I'm doing. Now I keep hearing everyone else's story of how their baby fell or they wacked them on the head or whatever.

So Nicholas, I'm so sorry I dropped you! I guess when you're acting goofy some day a few years from now, we'll know why!
I love you!

(I'll get some pictures up soon....I've been pretty busy the past few days)