The New Normal

Life with two kids is not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, bad is not a word that should be used to describe it at all. Life with two children so far is great. I love spending every day with two delightful children. Sally is so fun and creative and entertains me every day, and Austin is as sweet as a baby can be. I feel so blessed that things so far have gone so well. Since Austin has been born:
*I have felt physically very well. I hardly needed pain medication in the hospital after the birth, and I didn’t need any once I got home. I’ve had the energy I’ve needed to get right back into the swing of things.
*Sally has been a VERY good girl. I was afraid that she would have lots of tantrums and demand a lot of extra attention the first few weeks after Austin was born, but that hasn’t been the case at all. She is the same fun, energetic, and sweet little girl. She loves Austin and can’t hug and kiss him enough.
*Austin has been a very good baby. He is calm most of the time, and is a great eater and sleeper. When he is upset, he is very easily calmed down.
*For the first week or so after coming home from the hospital, I would get up twice in the night to feed Austin, but since then I’ve only been getting up once in the night. I’d prefer to not get up at all, but that’s an unreasonable expectation at this point, and I’m sure it won’t be long before that’s the case.

Some days are hard and I’m sure that there will be hard times still to come, but I’m no longer nervous about the situation. I think we are all settling into the new normal, and life is good.

I have a lot more photos I want to post and a great deal more to say, but I'll conclude for now because my baby needs me.

Welcome, Little Big Guy!

Much to my delight, Neal and I have a brand new baby boy:

Austin Cornelius Peterson
February 15, 2010, 4:55 AM
8 lb 12 oz
21 1/4 in
Strawberry blond hair

High points:

-Going into labor on my own--no inductions this time!
-Only having to push 4 times to get him out
-A very fun and sweet visit from Sally
-No trouble nursing so far
-My wonderful friend Rosemary taking Sally last night when things starting getting intense

Low points:

-Acid reflux disturbing my slumber last night before he was born
-Multiple nurses having trouble getting my IV started
-Having Neal all but laugh out loud at me during hard contractions (pre-epidural) and tell me that I have no pain tolerance
-The indignity of being helped to the bathroom (before my epidural wore off) by two nurses who commented to my face how difficult it is for them to help people who are so much bigger than them (I'm laughing about it now)

Some photo highlightgs:

The sweet little guy snoozing:



My favorite part of the day:


Father and son:


My sweet little kids meeting at last:


Our happy family:


While I'm totally surprised by his hair color and size, I love him so much and can't wait to get to know him better.

Portraits

When we were in Utah, my sister-in-law Korrin took some pictures of Sally. Here are some of my favorites. They need a bit of help from photo shop (which Neal got for Christmas, but has a hard time using because our computer is bogged down with something and is terribly slow lately). Thanks, Korrin!

2010 Resolutions

I wrote this post on January 8, but for some reason never posted it. Here are some of my resolutions for this year:

-Create an exercise plan and stick with it (I need to figure out what I can reasonably do. I can always do exercise videos at home, but I’d rather run. The problem is finding a time when Neal is home and it isn’t pitch black outside so I can leave…which really is a problem).

-Do more personal reading (I’m not sure how to accomplish this one…since I’ve been working again, I have very little spare time, so this will come at the expense of other things. I’m not sure what yet).

-Finish the denim quilt I started before I got married (the problem is a lack of a sewing machine, but I guess that is just an excuse because I have a few friends who are willing to let me borrow theirs. I finally have enough old jeans to finish, so I really have no excuse).

-Redecorate my bedroom and the kids’ room. I’m currently working on this one and hope to at least have the kids’ room done in the next 5 weeks. [Now 11 days...I've been working on both rooms and have made reasonable progress]

-Be more loving (which includes looking for the good in people, responding patiently both internally and externally to trying situations, overlooking faults, being quick to forget misdeeds against me or my family members, being a better listener, being better at staying in touch with family and friends):

A few thoughts on one area of my life in which I could be more loving:

Having a two-year-old has certainly tested my patience and helped me to realize that I have a lot of room for improvement. While I don’t have many regrets about how I’ve responded to frustrating situations with Sally, I do have regrets about how I’ve felt inside. I’ve found that while I can respond patiently most of the time, I often feel like I’m going to explode internally.

While I absolutely love Sally more than I can even describe, my feelings aren't always consistent with my attitude. I’ve had a few situations/conversations that have helped me to realize that my attitude toward Sally is less loving than it should be. I’ve realized that in some areas I have unreasonably high of expectations for her and that I get really annoyed when they are not met. I also could be a lot more positive in what I say to other people about Sally.

In truth (based on what people have told me and my own perception, of course), Sally is a very polite and well-behaved two-year old. She minds me most of the time, she tries to do things that please me, she is happy and bright, and she is progressing very well in just about every area that Neal and I would like to see her progress in. So what if potty training isn’t a piece of cake like I hoped it would be? So what if she is full of energy and has a hard time sitting still at church and a hard time not touching things at other people’s houses? So what if she has tantrums every once in a while? She is barely TWO, for goodness sake! Why can’t I just focus on all the things that she is great at when I talk to people about her instead of bringing up the bad situations? I guess part of it is not wanting to brag and annoy people, but I really ought to remember what Thumper’s father told him about not saying anything at all.

Just when you think you have it all figured out...

Things change. I'm excited for my little baby boy to be born, but scared at the same time. Scared about how Sally will react to getting less attention, scared about being exhausted (and less patient as a result), and scared that my little family will outgrow my little house before our time here is up. At this point my excitement outweighs my fear, and I'm sure it will stay that way. If all goes according to the plan, baby brother will be here in 11 days, and the answers to all of my questions will begin to unfold...exciting!

Playing Catch-up

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! Sally is sleeping, Neal is at work (it would be too much to hope that he’d have Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND New Year’s Eve/Day off during his intern year), and I’m finally dusting the cobwebs off of my blog.

I’ve fallen WAY behind at blogging about what’s been going on lately, so although I’ve just created several posts (one each on Sally’s birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and post-Christmas), none of them is quite what I’d like it to be. At this point I’m just trying to play catch-up and get a few things out there. Hopefully they will be worth your read and your comments.

Just for the heck of it (and because I still have 1 hour and 7 minutes before I ring in the new year by myself), here are a few other updates:

Sally:

-Is learning to sleep in her twin bed, but often tells me that she is a baby (“I’m Sally baby”) and wants to sleep in her crib. Tonight I about spanked her after she got out of her bed 4 times asking for various things.

-Is getting better and better at talking all of the time. A few of my favorite things she has said lately (or at least the ones that I’ve written down):

After putting a knit Christmas bag on her head like a hat: “Cute my is!” (she now can use better grammar, this was a month ago).

Speaking about what she will do when her baby brother is born: “Share my toys with him and share my sippy with him and wash him in my sink and cook him in my microwave.”

After having a taste of eggnog: “More egg juice!”

After I told her that she is my little dear: “Mommy, Bambi is a dear!”

After waking up in the morning and noticing a few toys that didn’t get put away: “Mommy, my room is a mess. I’m worried about it!”

While driving with my Dad when he missed a freeway exit: “Silly Grandpa, went the wrong way!”

-Loves to wear hats (hence the putting a knit Christmas bag on her head).

-Is in a weird phase where she sometimes doesn’t like Neal and sometimes loves him. She has been really great around him the last few days, so I’m hopeful that she is coming out of it.

-Is very observant and remembers everything.

-Likes to invent words (her favorite is bubber) and people. She often tells me about a boy in Nursery named Hunter that does not exist. I don’t know where she even heard that name.

-Loves to be told stories. She’ll run up to me and say: “Mommy, I want a story about a daddy and a mommy and a brother and a sister and a baby and a daddy and a sister.”

Emily:

-Is getting tired of being pregnant, especially because of the increasing “episodes” (an increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, and dizziness).

-Is sad that the Mormon Chorale practices start up again right about the time that the baby will be born.

-Is excited about getting new carpet (a Christmas gift from Neal), but discouraged that Sally is having an attitude about potty training (it would be so nice to have the potty training out of the way before the new carpet comes in).

-Is getting excited for her son to be born, yet is nervous at the same time.

Neal:

-Enjoyed skiing in Utah and having time off to enjoy sports.

-Is now working nights for the next two weeks.

-Has a decent head of hair once more (see the Thanksgiving post below).

-Will have a lot busier schedule for the next 6 months than he did for the previous 6 months.

I think I've had enough blogging for the night. Enjoy the posts below, and have a wonderful new year!

Home Again

We are all home now, and glad to be here. Neal got back to Kansas City the night after Christmas and was welcomed by 12 inches of snow (the most snow that has ever been on the ground at one time since I've lived here). He spent 2 hours the next day shoveling our extra-long driveway.

Sally and I arrived home the night of the 29th. Thankfully there were no airport incidents to report. Neal had a bouquet of flowers waiting for us, as well as a clean and orderly house (he really surpassed my expectations!).

The morning after we were all together again, we opened the presents that we didn't take with us and enjoyed a low-key day at home, and Neal took Sally out to enjoy the snow. The poor child doesn't own sufficient snow gear, but we got her bundled up quite well and she had a great time.

A few pictures of the day:



Neal's KU blanket from his mom.


Sally and her gifts. I promise she smiles a lot, I just don't know how to capture it on the camera.


Sally trying her hand at shoveling snow.


Snowmen--a daddy and a baby.


Two good-looking guys.


Teaching Sally the art of making snow angels.


Letting her give it a shot.