Omaha Trip

Almost every year over the Fourth of July holiday, Chris and I (and now the kids) road trip down to Omaha for an extended stay at his parents' home. Before we had kids, the trip was all about relaxing, which restaurant to eat at, strolls around Omaha's Old Market, fireworks, movies and adult beverages.

The two trips we have made with the kids (once when Agatha was one and this past Fourth) do not resemble those pre-kid trips very much. For one thing, it's hard to relax in a non-baby proofed home with a child who has recently learned to walk. Instead, you spend most of your indoor time following the baby around and redirecting him away from the stairs, the cupboards, the electrical outlets and the cat dish. Then, take eating out. I don't know about you, but taking kids to restaurants is not high on my list of "fun activities." It is high on my list of "things I'd rather not do." The perfect place for kids to eat on vacation is outside. Make a mess! Run around! I don't care!

We did get a lot of fun activities in on this trip and the kids had a lot of new experiences. Also, they were really well behaved on the 6+ hour ride to and from.

Our first full day in Nebraska was actually mostly spent in Iowa. Chris' brother, Jeremy, and his wife, Amber, recently moved to Avoca, Iowa from Lincoln to try their hand at farming. We took the 45 minute ride to Avoca to enjoy their 4th of July parade. The town is so cute and the parade was great - not too long and not too many tractors! I was very worried about Agatha running into the street and getting run over on her quest for candy, but she did really well and the kids made out like bandits! Agatha and two of her cousins, Ernie and Lenora, each filled a quart sized Ziploc bag. We even had to stick overflow into a backpack!

Cousins patiently waiting for the parade to start.

 After the parade we headed across the street to the library book sale and picked up a few books including Giant John and a copy of Stuart Little from 1945. I love old books. Agatha ran over to the library sign and posed herself like that with no prompting from me, I swear.

We then headed out to Jeremy and Amber's farm for some lunch and more fresh air. Agatha had a blast feeding chickens, picking mulberries, looking for the barn cats and taking out every single board game in the house. We tried laying Oliver down for a nap, but we had forgotten his special lamb in Minneapolis and he was having a hard time falling asleep without it. On the way home, we stopped at Target and Oliver picked out a Mickey Mouse doll that acted as a surrogate lovey for the rest of the trip.

The next day, Chris' parents went with us to the Henry Doorly Zoo. The last time we had gone was when Agatha was just turning one, so it was fun for her to actually understand what we were doing there. We saw a lot of different attractions this time and I especially enjoyed the hippopotamuses and the cute prairie dogs that were just out in the open as you walked along a path. Agatha and I even rode a camel! Oliver and Agatha stopped into the petting zoo area but neither one seemed too sure about the whole concept of petting the animals. I was excited for Oliver to ride on the carousel. I wasn't sure he was going to make it since he cried and was trying to get off his horse while we were waiting for the ride to start, but as soon as the music started up he started smiling and ended up loving it!

 

 That last picture reminds of Agatha's first ride on the carousel.

We also had plenty of pool time this trip. I bought Agatha some arm floaties and from the minute she got in the pool she was adamant she did not need us and she wanted to swim by herself. And she did great - I was a little surprised the floaties held her up, but they exceeded my expectations of what $4.00 will get you. I was excited for Oliver to try the pool for the first time, I had high hopes since he loves baths and the small kiddie pool we have at home. And I was right, he took to the water like a, well, like a fish, I guess. He happily sat or stood at the edge and "jumped" (really, just fell) into my arms and lounged in his baby float/tube/thing like a boss. Agatha loved jumping off the side of the pool as well and yelled "CANDYBALL!!" every time she jumped. Too funny.

Agatha insisted on watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving four times throughout the trip, but it give us a break to pack up on our last day. We ended up stopping at The Incredible Pizza Company in Urbandale, Iowa for a few hours on the way home. We ate lunch, watched Bambi (SAD!) and played arcade games. It was actually pretty fun.

The whole trip was a blast and since the driving/riding has been going so well, we're hoping to get down again in early September.

One last picture of Agatha at a splash pad we stopped at one night when everyone was squirrely and needed to get some energy out.

Oliver: One Year Later

Happy belated birthday, Oliver!

You came into our lives so peacefully and thoughtfully and easily, and have continued to demonstrate those traits over the last twelve months. We brought you home and you were so easy going, happy to have attention when attention was given, content to observe your surroundings when we were distracted.

I worked from home part time for a month before returning to work full time, and you would lay in your rocker and watch me, waiting for me to be done so I could hold you or play with you.

You watched your big sister with interest and tolerated her too-rough kisses and smothering hugs. We called you Meatball, Mister Guy, Chubby Wubby, and Buddy. You slept in Target, on walks, in the car, on our laps, on our chests and in our bed.

You learned to kick, to roll, to sit up, to crawl, to stand, to cruise, to climb and to walk. You say Mama, Dada, Aga.

You are the smartest baby that has ever lived (in my opinion). You are fascinated by how things work and I can see you watching to understand - Why does this go in here? What happens if I do this? Can this be put on this? - and you will try and master toys at this age that Agatha did not play with until she was two, if ever!

Your idea of Heaven is an open toilet to splash in, endless cupboards and drawers to open and close, a kitty to chase and millions of pacifiers. And food.

Oh, the food. You. Will. Eat. Anything. You are a lean, mean, eating machine. And I mean that literally. Although  you would be happy to be fed constantly, you are still a tiny guy. I pray that your love of food continues through toddlerhood, because I don't know if I can fight that battle with two children.

You love the bath. You love the pool. You love the water table. You love the treat of water in a REAL cup not a sippy cup. (Those are for BABIES!)

You go to bed like a champion. You grab your stuffed lamb, Sam, and snuggle into our shoulders. At nap time your make nary a peep. At bedtime you put up with your sister climbing into your crib to "entertain" you three or four times a night before you manage to fall asleep.

You are starting to enjoy books. You like books where you can DO something - lift a flap, feel a texture, etc. You love music, and dancing, and banging on instruments of any sort. 

I love you, little man. I love your open mouth kisses. I love your one floppy ear. I love your four little teeth and your belly laugh and how you clap for yourself when you are proud of something you've done. I love how you race towards the door when your dad gets home, how you try to put your sister's shoes on, how you love taking my shoes off my feet when I get home from work. I love when you walk over and rest your head on my knee, or crawl on the ottoman and lay down. I love how you bounce up and down to music. I love how you are such a snuggle-bug. I love how you make people so happy when you reach for them and hug them and lay your head on their chest, then pick your head up, look at them and lay it down again. You are the sweetest boy in the world and I am so proud to be your mama.

Back in the Saddle

So, it has been almost a year (!) since I posted. I can't believe that, and I also feel like I have said that the last few times I posted. This last year was...a lot. There was a lot happening.

Parenting two kids is a lot of work and I finally felt like I was getting my into my groove when Oliver was about 9 or 10 months old. So I didn't feel like I had a lot of time to blog, or take very good care of myself, or read, etc. I did manage to find plenty of time to stare at my phone and play Candy Crush and look at Facebook ten times in 15 minutes, though. Gotta have your priorities.

But these kids. I love 'em. Yes, our house is too messy and too small, and they are noisy and throw tantrums and don't eat the dinner I just spend an hour making, but they are smart and hilarious and so so so sweet. And mine.

As I was saying, a lot happened this year and it's been hard to find a way to write about my experiences while giving them the proper weight and respect they deserve. I haven't figured it out quite yet and I don't know if I will.

There were plenty of good things that happened this year, though. I got a new job opportunity, Chris' mom finished her cancer treatment and it was successful, we got a two new nephews and are expecting another any day now, and summer finally came to Minnesota.

I told my mentor at work earlier this year that 2014 was going to be my year. I am trying to make that happen. Wish me luck.

Turning Two and Other Stuff

Agatha is now officially TWO! I can hardly believe it has been two whole years since I became a mother to that sweet little girl. She makes me laugh every day and is obviously the smartest two-year-old to ever live. I am so grateful to have the privilege of being her mommy.

That's not to say there aren't tantrums and fits and sassing. There is. But not too much.

We celebrated the big day with family and a few friends. Here is a beautiful picture Agatha's uncle John took of her attempting to blow out the candles on her cake from Yum! Bakery.

Our big gift to her this year was a tricycle. She can barely reach the pedals, so we got one with a push bar so we could help her along. She calls it her motorcycle and loves it!

Cloth diapering is going really well with Oliver. We won a year of diaper service from Do Good Diapers, so we use the prefolds and covers they provided during the day. They pick up the dirty diapers once a week and drop of clean ones. It is really easy. At night we were using disposables until recently. We started using our own stash of cloth at night and it is going really well. I have to do a very very small load of diapers every other day. We are still using disposable wipes because Agatha is still in diapers and we use disposables for her. Sadly, the daycare we use does not want to use cloth so we will have to use disposables there. Although I have a plan to show her how easy they are and hopefully she will change her mind.

Here's our happy guy! He started smiling yesterday but I haven't been able to get a good shot of the grin yet.

Agatha is doing really well with him. She wants to kiss him a lot still and that is about the extent of her interaction with him. She does request "No Oliver!" sometimes when I am holding or feeding him but she gets over it quickly. I love our little family but time is moving much too quickly for my liking!

Oliver Linden

Oliver Linden is here! He arrived on June 9 at 11:30 PM. It was an incredibly quick and easy delivery. If you are interested in the details, keep reading!

Oliver Linden Hall

Saturday, June 8, Chris, Agatha and I had a wonderful time at the neighborhood celebration that was happening in the park across from our house. Agatha went in her first bouncy house, rode a pony and got a balloon and an ice cream cone. It was a pretty big day. I'm really glad we got to spend that special time with her since her brother would be arriving the next day - a week early! Later that evening, we headed to downtown Minneapolis to celebrate my niece's graduation from her Medical Assistant program. It was lovely to see a few of my brothers and sisters as well as my niece and nephews.

Sunday morning, Chris took Agatha to a kids in-store performance at The Electric Fetus. I took a ginormous nap and waited for my mom to come. Agatha's daycare was closed for two weeks, so my mom had been up watching her, since I was still working. My mom had thought about coming into town on Monday morning, but I had a midwife appointment scheduled for 9:00 and she had my car. So, she decided to come Sunday afternoon.

Around 4:30 or so, I was picking up the house a little and had what I considered to be my first contraction. My mom showed up around 5ish and I had another contraction soon after that, but nothing major. We just hung around for the next few hours and then Chris and I decided we had better get our bedroom set up for the little guy. (Procrastinate much?) After Chris and I did the initial rearranging, my mom and I gave the room and closet a good cleaning and organization. I also finished packing my hospital bag. During this time, I was having contractions fairly regularly. They weren't terribly painful, I would have to stop what I was doing and breathe through them but they were manageable. Then I noticed it was almost 7:30, so I decided I had better make dinner. My mom and I made dinner and I sat on my exercise ball at the table. I decided to call the midwife at that point, because the last few contractions had been 7 minutes apart. I left a message and my favorite midwife, Carrie, called me back about ten minutes later. I was so excited that she was the midwife on call. I had seen her for most of my prenatal appointments and secretly hoped she would be the one to deliver my baby. I told her I would be at the hospital in about an hour.

At that point, it just made sense to wait until we had given Agatha a bath and put her to bed before leaving, so Chris bathed her and we did our normal bedtime routine. I had to stand while Chris read to her - standing was the only way I could work through the contractions. They were getting more painful, but my standing and breathing technique was working really well for me. I remember being in the bathroom at one point and getting a contraction and yelling, "Time it!" through the door. My mom thought that was pretty funny. The only really, really painful contraction I had at home was when I was sitting down when one started. I tried to stand in the middle of it and it was extremely painful. I think we left for the hospital soon after that.

Minutes before leaving for the hospital.

Chris and I said goodbye to my mom and left for the hospital. I was not looking forward to the ride since, as I said, I was managing the pain by standing straight, not sitting. When the first contraction in the car came, I said to myself, "Draw the pain up, breathe the pain out." That became my mantra and really worked for me. hilariously, Chris got on the wrong road on the way to the hospital and we drove in a big circle for about five minutes. Soon enough, though, we arrived! At this point, contractions were about 3 or 4 minutes apart. We had to stop in the parking ramp while we were walking in for a contraction to pass. A group of people passed us and said, "Good Luck! Congratulations." which I thought was pretty funny.

Once on the labor and delivery floor, I got admitted to triage. I was admitted at 10:18 PM. They told me they wanted to monitor me for twenty minutes and I said they'd have to do it standing up because there was no way I was laying on a bed for twenty minutes. The nurse agreed and hooked me up. Soon my midwife and her assistant, who was training to be a midwife, came in. Her assistant checked me and said I had bulging waters, the baby was at -1 station, I was fully effaced and dilated 8 centimeters! I was in shock - Chris and I were hoping I had progressed to 6 centimeters but 8 was crazy! At my midwife appointment the previous Monday I was 3 cm, so I was just hoping to be more than that.

They decided to move me to my room right away and continue the monitoring from there, while they filled the birthing tub. We got to our beautiful room and I went to the bathroom and then was hooked back up to the monitors. They started filling the tub and fiddling with the temperature. The L & D nurse and midwife assistant were very encouraging and calm while I labored during the monitoring. Chris was amazing, rubbing my arms and reminding me to drink water. My midwife was out of the room at the time, taking care of a repair on another patient, so her assistant was an amazing asset to have.

I was finally able to get into the tub at a little after 11:00. The first contraction I had in there was very uncomfortable. I was really nervous about laboring in the tub since I was managing so well out of the tub, but I decided to try it. After the first contraction, I tried a different position, basically laying flat, floating in the tub. That was a lot better. After about three more contractions in the tub, my water broke. The assistant said the contractions would get a little more intense after that. She also asked me to be more vocal about how I was feeling, since I was laboring in almost complete silence. I would talk in between the contractions, but during them I just closed my eyes and breathed. I had three more intense contractions and then felt an incredible urge to push. I told them that and they immediately ran over to the intercom and asked for a delivery team. My midwife finally got to the room - she was very surprised that it was my room she had been called to.

I definitely lost my cool when it was time to push. I remember saying, "It hurts! It hurts!" and that I couldn't do it. The pushing was much more painful than the contractions. Luckily I only had to push three times. The first push had him crowning, the second delivered his head and the third his body. He was here! And he was perfect.

Having a water birth was a wonderful experience, even though I was only in the water for about 20 minutes before he was born. Chris said he looked down into the tub and saw Oliver kind of floating peacefully there waiting for the midwife to scoop him out. He scored an 8 and 9 on his first and second APGAR tests, the staff told us water  births usually get sixes or sevens, so he was very healthy. Final stats were 6 pounds, fifteeen ounces, 20 inches long. Head was 13 inches around. I had no tears or repairs needed - thank you, Oliver! Eight minutes passed from when my water broke to when he was delivered - 1 hour and 12 minutes after I was admitted to the hospital! I feel like my recovery was so much faster this time. I really liked being able to walk around immediately and I felt pretty much back to normal by the time we left the hospital.

I had wanted to get my placenta encapsulated again this time, but the staff accidentally threw it away. There was some confusion as to whether I had wanted to keep it or not, and it turned out to not be a big deal. I took some of leftover pills from when Agatha was born for a few days, but in the end decided I didn't need them.

Our time at home (three weeks already!) has been really great and Agatha is a wonderful big sister. We are enjoying getting to know this little guy - he's a keeper!

Conversations with Agatha

Toddlers can be pretty funny. At least I think mine is.

*Brings me a bottle of salad dressing*

Agatha: You open?

Me: What are you going to eat it with?

Agatha: Um…my mouth!

*We are singing Old McDonald*

Me: And on that farm he had a…

Agatha: Queen!

Me: Okay. What does a queen say?

Agatha: “How do you do?”

Me: Agatha, what should we name baby brother?

Agatha: Um…Farts!

Me: Really? Farts?

Agatha: Yeah. Barney Farts!

*After purposefully knocking all of her markers and crayons off her drawing table*

Agatha: Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!

*Feeding her dinosaur some macaroni*

Agatha: He love it!

*We are pretending to sleep on our bed.*
Agatha: Wake up, little boy!

*While pulling my shirt down.*
Agatha: Happy birthday, dear boobies! Happy birthday to you! 

What's going on

Just some random things to record:

Baby numero dos is growing big and strong. The 20 week ultrasound showed his kidneys were slightly enlarged, so I had a follow up ultrasound at 28 weeks. At that time, his right kidney was showing up as normal but the left one was still enlarged. We will have another appointment at 32 weeks and see what it shows then. I am not too worried about it, the little bit of Internet research I did seemed to indicate this is pretty common and not serious.

That being said, there are only 11 weeks left before this little guy makes his arrival! We have almost everything we need, thanks to generous friends and leftovers from Agatha. I have a few things to purchase, and I will probably start doing that soon, but our house is so cluttered with toddler stuff that I don't want to bring more into it.

Which brings me to the idea we may need to send Agatha to my mom's for a weekend so Chris and I can purge a bunch of crap from our many, many storage rooms. I am so nervous about leaving her. Chris has been away from her for a few nights due to work trips but I have never been, and she has never had anyone besides Chris and I put her to bed. She loves my mom and step-dad so much, though, that think it would be harder for me than her.

Another fun thing that is happening is Agatha is going to start swimming lessons later this month. I am so excited for her and bought her a new little swimsuit and flip flops. I am not looking forward to being 8 months pregnant and in a swimsuit but that is the way it goes.

Once the new baby comes, we plan on enrolling Agatha in a music class so she has some one on one time with Chris and me. We will take turns taking her and try to get a babysitter once in a while so we can both go. That won't be until later in the summer, though.

That's about all that is new in my world right now.