HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN

As a stay-at-home mom (for the time being), I'm getting used to the life of being "homeward bound" for most of my day.  It's interesting to see what goes on in our neighborhood during the hours that I'm usually at work.

I didn't pay any mind to these things when I was on leave with Evie, but I've been a bit more observant while home with Abbott. The comings-and-goings of residents and visitors, the antics of pets when their owners are away... or when the pets think their owners are away. (Example: Nomar, the bigger of our two dogs, climbs up in Evie's pink chair and sits like a human when he thinks no one is around. It kind of shocked me the first time I caught him, because he looked so regal and normal sitting in it. Kind of a Planet of the Apes moment... he sprang out of the chair immediately with a sheepish look on his face.)


Okay, enough of my drivel... on to the pictures!

When Abbott naps, everybody naps. Including Evie's toys.
And they ALL nap on Momma.
(Please notice they are positioned face down. Evie's trying to tell us that even she knows Abbott would prefer to sleep on his stomach!)



Dad gets in on some of that napping Abbott action.




Evie was always interactive and observant, but it seems
Abbott is already more reciprocal with his facial expressions.
He's "smiley"! 




Really smiley.
You can't get too upset when this is the face
keeping you up at night.



Yes, the pregnancy pounds are just melting off.
Oh, wait... nope, they're not.
It would probably help if we stopped baking so many "test cookies" for Santa.

She likes him. A lot.

I'm printing a thousand wallet-sized copies of this and hiding them all over our house, cars, wallets, purses.. everywhere I can think of.
That way, in a few years when they are beating each other to pieces, I can whip this photo out and say
"STOP IT!!! I KNOW YOU REALLY LOVE EACH OTHER!"

YES!
(he's just practicing his jabs for later...)

Also, for the record... daytime television still stinks. For all you soap opera fans, I have no idea how you do it. The only bright spot in all the daytime drivel has been The Chew, which is actually one of my new favorite shows to sit down and watch when our little monkeys are taking their afternoon naps.

ONE MONTH UPDATE

Hello there!  It's been a whole month since our last blog post.  We're still here and are all alive, I promise.

To defend our absence, let me explain:  In my typical all-or-nothing fashion, I made myself a promise to savor every single moment of maternity leave with Abbott and not let anything else get in the way. I had realized how fast our time with Evie as an infant flew by and I decided with Abbott that I wanted to shut away the outside world and enjoy every minute of his infancy that I could. 

Well, that was my theory anyways. Problem is, I didn't inform the rest of the world of my intentions and life has still managed to get in and bother me. There have been plenty of distractions along the way and unfortunately I've given in to a lot of them.

(Don't even get me started on crappy U.S. maternity leave policies. YES, I'm very thankful to have a good job - and NO, I don't want to go back to work when my baby is only 12 weeks old! Can we at least wait till babies are crawling before ditching them at daycare?!)

Don't get me wrong,  I've still managed to relish every moment I can with Abbott, but I'm learning that life is about keeping things in moderation, right? (What? ... Hell no! Moderation is for wimps! What did Mae West once say?  Too much of a good thing can be wonderful?! Yup, that's more my style.)

One week old.
All 8 lbs, 12 oz of sweetness.
Give or take a wet diaper.

One month old chunker.
10 lbs 12 oz.
This little lion man doesn't skip many meals.

Also, I promise we haven't gone the route of they-had-a-blog-about-one-kid-but-then-had-another-kid-and-got-too-busy-to-blog-anymore. Well, at least we're not heading that direction yet.  Lord knows, it is much busier around here with two kiddos and this blog may get kicked to the curb sooner or later.  

So, now that Abbott has survived an entire month with us, here's some insight into what I've learned so far as a mother of two: 

Boys are very different than girls..... and every kid is different. 
(Wow! No sh*t, Sherlock. That's a pretty deep conclusion to come to!)

I can state this with authority because Abbott has made it abundantly clear that he is in no way a carbon copy of Evie.  He has often made us feel like we are complete amateurs at parenting even though we've managed to keep one kid alive and even teach her a productive thing or two. (Amateurs is a nice word. Morons is appropriate most days.)

Just a few examples:

- Evie loved bath time from her very first day on the planet. Baths would calm her and have always been part of her bedtime process. Abbott has a tendency to get wound up during his bath, and baths sometimes excite him or agitate him. I've been giving him baths at bedtime, only to find out he wants to stay up and play for hours after. It's a total energy rush for him!

-Evie hated infant massages or being rubbed down with lotion for a long time. Abbott absolutely adores this and you could massage his little bootie all day and he'd be in complete heaven. Forget the spa certificates for our daughter, give them to our son. (Not really. Clearly you're better off giving the spa treatments to their mother - that way, everybody's happy and we all win!)

-Evie was (and is) very LOUD. Abbott is both LOUD and NOISY. 

I didn't realize Evie was so loud as an infant till my older brother, Winston, mentioned it. I started paying attention to other infants and realized that our little girl is like a boisterous foghorn over a sea of tiny tugboat toots. (How's that for a comparison?) Evie's cry and voice has always been the loudest in the room. Seriously.

Abbott is on the same decibel level as his sister - yet he is also a noise machine. He grunts, groans, moans, and snores much more than she ever did. I would often have to put my hand on Evie's chest to see if she was breathing, but I can be three feet from the crib and hear that Abbott is breathing. His little grunts and groans are reassuring to hear at night, even if they keep me awake!

I guess a constantly vocal child is a good thing because I can already differentiate most of Abbott's cries and groans. Sometimes he belts out a  I'm-hungry-and-you-better-come-feed-me-right-now-woman! cry, other times it's a Hey-where-did-everybody-go-I'm-lonely-and-I-want-a-hug-right-now cry. 

Every now and then it's a oops-I-pooped-my-pants-and-this-is-kind-of-embarrassing fuss.  My personal favorite is the holy-crap-my-sister-is-all-up-in-my-grill-and-now-I'm-overstimulated yell.

Seriously? I only cry because you guys
insist on bathing me in a pink tub.
We all know pink is Evie's signature color
and if I try to claim pink as my favorite too,
she will stage a massive revolution.

 

And last but not least, a HUGE difference between our little ones is that Abbott has reflux. This has made life a bit harder for all of us. Because of the reflux, it is really uncomfortable for him to sleep flat on his back.  He either wakes up screaming and needing to be burped again, or spits up a lot, which prevents him from sleeping for long periods.

I posted about stomach sleeping on Facebook and got a ton of feedback from friends who said their child/grandchild was a stomach sleeper and that I should just let him sleep on his stomach and he'd be fine. 

The problem is, I talked to our pediatrician (who we adore and trust completely!) and after having a discussion about a lot of his symptoms, she was adamant that we keep him on his back when he sleeps.

Our conversation was not one of those I'm-going-to-smile-and-wink-when-I-say-he-is-supposed-to-be-on-his-back-but-I'll-ignore-it-if-you-put-him-on-his-stomach type of chat. 

Instead, she looked me directly in the eye and said, "Abbott needs to sleep on his back. Yes, he will learn to roll over - but for now, you must put him on his back."

Anyone that has read recent newborn literature knows that you are always supposed to put a baby to sleep on his or her back. SIDS is the leading cause of death among infants 1 month to 1 year old and is known to be higher in boys. Yes, it remains unpredictable despite years of research - but putting a baby on its back lowers the risk by 60 percent.  I'm thinking that's a percentage I should pay attention to. 

So very peaceful.
Some of the time.

So, we've learned to swaddle our little lion man a bit tighter, stick to a good bedtime and nursing routine, and make sure his little tummy is full and he's as burped out (as physically possible!) before putting him down on his back. 

He still spits up, and wakes up crying to be burped again, but he has gone from sleeping only 1.5 or 2 hours at a time, to more like 3.5 or even 4 hours. This is fine with me! I can handle that. I can live with that. Even better, I can actually function on that.

And he's alive, so we're good!

You expect my huge noggin to fit in that hat?
Not gonna happen.

In reading back over this blog post, I realize I have a tendency to string-words-together-with-hyphens-in-order-to-convey-an-idea.  Sorry if this makes reading and interpreting my ramblings harder on your eyes.  

I don't even know if there is a literary term for this. (Yeah, it's called being a descriptive crackhead.)

I'm functioning on 3.5 hours of sleep here, people. 

Cut me some slack. ;-)

Till next time... 

Evie and Abbott's Mom

HEY, ABBOTT!

He's here!!!

  

Abbott Wells joined our family at 1:33 PM on Friday, November 4th.

Abbott shares his birthday with his great-grandfather,
Lt. Col. James W. Boddie
(Katie's grandfather)

"Evie hold him!" has become a frequent statement
around our house this past week.

No, she's not trying to smother him... She's sharing her special blanket with him!
THIS IS A REALLY BIG DEAL. Seriously.
Not just anybody gets to touch the blanket...

He's awesome! Can I keep him?!

We've spent the past few days getting to know each other. Abbott is a very calm and chill baby, which helps Momma's recovery process a lot! He's the first thing Evie asks to see when she wakes up in the morning.

Below are a few pictures I've taken during Abbott's first week with us. Just feast your eyes on this adorable bundle of snuggles...

A very late night/early morning at the hospital with Momma.

Hi, I know you.

Ready to come home!

Mom, seriously. You're making me go cross-eyed
from all the picture taking!

Abbott and his daddy's GT letterman's jacket.

Soaking up the sunshine on Momma and Dadda's bed.

And of course we can't forget our other new family member.
Introducing: Evie the Shark!

She's worn this shark hat for a few days now and even wore it into her class at school yesterday. She roared/growled (like a shark?!) at her classmates and pretended to swim around.

She's a happy shark.  No shark bites to report so far. (thankfully)

Now, it's time  for me to go snuggle with our new addition. I hear him yelling my name!

TICK TOCK

Sorry for the extended absence. No, we're not a family of four yet - Baby Boy is still nice and snuggly inside his momma's tummy. We've just had a flurry of activity going on around here and blogging got pushed aside. 

We had a very important birthday in our house (Evie turned TWO!), and we also have had lots of work projects to finish up before maternity leave, Georgia Tech's tailgate (for what was probably the last game we'll make it to this year!), Nana and Pop coming to visit from Rhode Island, and we've been trying to tie up some loose ends and finish up appointments while the clock ticks down towards our little man getting here.

Because Evie's birthday landed on a weekday, our little lady ended up having a week long celebration for "E-bie's HAPPY Day!"... her birthday was on October 6th, which also happens to be the same day as the Y&P's wedding anniversary. 

I have yet to make it through all the pictures on my camera from the first half of this month, but these few are from our trip down to Mountville, where Miss Priss had some one-on-one time with Cocoa, the miniature pony.

  

We also took some pictures with Gabba Gabba that (might?) turn into a Christmas card for them. Hopefully, I'm not giving a surprise away, but even with weird and speckled lighting, horses who didn't want to look towards the camera, and silly faces from Gabba, I think some of the pictures came out okay.

Gabba has plenty of pictures to choose from, but these were some of my favorites:

 

We also watched Uncle Battle try out the new zip line. When it came time for her turn,  Evie hung on for a few (assisted!) seconds, but I think the zip line is an activity we are still a few years away from getting the 'hang' of!

He flies through the air with the greatest of ease...

MY turn!

I'll just watch the crazies go down
the line from here, Grandaddy.

 

And last, but definitely not least, below is a picture of the Baby Boy.  We took Evie to "see" her baby brother this past weekend. I found a good deal on a last minute 3D/4D ultrasound appointment and we decided it would be neat for Evie to see pictures of her baby brother.  (Just for her to confirm that there is really something in there!!)

I was well past the "optimal" window for the ultrasound to be done. He's really too big now to get good pictures of, but they were able to capture a few of our little man...

I'm trying to sleep here! Leave me alone, people!

Other than freaking out the first few minutes because she didn't like the ultrasound tech touching Momma's stomach, Evie was interested in baby brother for about a minute and then wanted to watch Elmo videos on Dadda's phone. 

Oh, well... I guess a dis-interested big sister is better than a resentful big sister, right?

We're still hoping for a loveable big sister by the time he gets here!