My Poor Baby

In case you are a reader of this blog, and are wondering what happened to us...we are here! And if you worry that the baby does not get as much attention as the first born, well you are just WRONG! But also right? He gets a different kind. Not the kind of attention that I could give as a working outside of the home mom! That being the well documented kind that someone who has a commute has time to arrange in her head because of the few moments of silence. Our dear little "pup" as his father now calls him, receives the hands on attention that I am capable of as work from home mom. The kind that I cobble together between work because no one else is going to do it! Ha! Just kidding! I have no choice but to be well organized with my time. But the noise... The constant noise and chattering of not just one, but two precious rambunctious boys. Ahhhhh. It leaves my brain utterly blank! I do manage to do special things for the baby though. In those few precious hours while he is at preschool! Stuff like this.

I have been planning and assembling this for two weeks now! It takes that many little moments grabbed here and there. 

I have also finally started organizing the beautiful baby photography that I have of the boys.

Please ignore the stock picture frame photo in one of Jack's! I did not have this vision when I chose the landscape direction that does not work here. 

Anyway.... Carpool awaits!

It would be way too fake for me to finish a thought here anyway. That NEVER happens here;)

Grief

It never fails to creep up on me when I am feeling the most joy. Is it guilt? I like to think it is that whenever I feel joy, I think of all the joy she gave us kids... Like, I associate joyful feelings with her. Mom. I say her name about 10 times a day. Everyday. Without fail. 

I just had my first epidural. I have been having a lot of pain in my back. Pain from a bad herniated disc. As my pain management doctor said...it is not small. I cried while waiting, thinking of all the times she went through the same thing. I have been thinking of her through every step of this ordeal. I think the guilt and emotions are worse than the physical pain. It is just too much to feel like I have experienced her world a little. A little too late.

I left feeling great. Not cured.... Just great! Feeling happy it was over. Happy I had two whole hours to kill without kids. Happy that I finally downloaded the Shovels and Rope album I wanted.

Then it hit. That lump in the throat. It starts out feeling kind of dry and hard to swallow. Then it slowly slips down into my chest and blooms into something that feels hot and like so many bricks just weighing heavy and hard down on my lungs. Making it hard to breathe. Then the tears start to well up. Hot and sticky on the rims of my eyes until they finally overflow and spill out onto my cheeks and then just pour out like a bottomless well. If I am alone, and can let it come out, the sounds that come from my body are primal. They are like groans and growls and screams all rolled into one. If I am hidden from my children in the bathroom or laying quietly next to my sleeping husband and need to keep it in for the moment, then the sounds just turn back into the lump, and feel dry and hot in my throat until they move to my chest again. Pain. Heavy. Tears. Lump. Repeat.

It has been almost three years. It is definitely easier. I get the time heals things. But, I am changed forever. I will never be whole again. A piece of my heart is in heaven. 

Stationery Card

Stationery Card

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Catching up... On the go!!!

I really feel sad that I do not keep up with this as well as I used to! It is such a great outlet for recording the day to day little odds and ends about the boys growing and just life in general;) soooooo.... I got the app! Now I can quickly say:

Shep is so cute. He loves the Thomas theme song and always looks at me when it comes on to get me to start swaying back and forth with him!

He is still almost bald, but will not wear a hat....usually. He wore one almost the whole time at a party yesterday!

He says brother ( only I can tell that one) ,  Jack, dog, and cookie. He is already running and can go up and down the stairs! He just started walking a couple of months ago!

Jack is doing great in kindergarten at KUMC. He is finally getting excited about learning and asking what certain words are. Not reading, yet.... But I am so proud of him and his progress!

He has learned to skateboard which blows mind! He still loves to snuggle with his momma and for that I am so grateful. I am constantly reminding myself that he will tire of that soon!

Fall Mantel Design

I was talking with friends yesterday and mentioned something about my blog and they were like, " you have a blog"? and I was like...yeah, it has been a while, huh? maybe I will do the mantle post that I took pictures for a WHIIIIILE back! I mean, I used to get so into the link parties and decorating for the holidays, etc...

I used to do posts like this http://pickledblu.blogspot.com/2010/12/its-beginning-to-look-lot-like.html

and even if I was busy or running low on creativity and time, I would at least do something like this

http://pickledblu.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-fall-yall.html

anywho, just to let you guys know that I am still alive and kickin' it. ( I know the phrase is alive and kicking- this is my own personal version. "Alive and kickin' it" is like cold kickin' it live, which is completely different and much cooler than the original version).
Here is what my mantel looks like these days!!!

The 5 year ago me, would have been struggling to let this play session go more than about 20 minutes before we cleaned it up. Now I am all like, that is tooo cute! Let's keep it all week!

I am embracing my new life ya'll...it is a defense mechanism to try and keep the crazy at bay!

One

 

 We are still here...thriving, really. I am just not doing a great job of recording it all here on the ole bloggity-blog! Our baby boy is one! ONE!

Shepherd is such a sweet and good baby. I am so lucky to have him. He is crawling on all fours now, and pulling up on EVERYTHING! His little head pretty much stays banged up these days. He is a tough one, though! He says ma-ma, da-da, bye bye, dog, uh-oh, and brother. He loves to play with the tupperware when I am in the kitchen and LOVES to feed the dogs from the "table"."( his high chair) He has four teeth on the bottom and almost all four are in on the top. He loves to eat cheese puffs ( the baby kind), strawberries, green beans, peaches, bread and cheese. He does not really like the deli meat and chicken and hot dogs that I have tried to give him, so we don't press...otherwise, he will pretty much eat most everything we eat! He JUST started holding his bottle and drinking from a cup. That stubborn little guy would not lift a finger if he thought he could keep us working:) When he is finished drinking if we are holding the bottle or cup he will put his pointer and middle finger at the rim and push it away, very gentlemanly like! He is NOT very consistent in the sleep department. He will sleep from 7 till 7 for a few weeks and then suddenly just start waking at 3-4 am for days at a time. Yes, I usually blame teething or the fluid that they keep finding on his ears, but I think he is just not a really consistent sleeper. He is kind of sketchy on his naps too. He gets tubes in his ears next week, and although it is a very routine procedure, this momma is worried sick. He is a daddy's boy through and through. Jack was not really like this, so it is very noticeable. Dan HUNG THE MOON as far as Shep is concerned. He just coos, oohs ahhs and hollers when Dan walks in and reaches to daddy to be held. His favorite word is da-da. We sang Happy Birthday to big brother last night and Shep SANG. He really did. He has been singing with me since he was tee tiny! He can whistle and he LOVES to dance. Love that baby boy of mine! I am trying to take in every little baby moment without rushing us on to the next phase! His birthday party was on May the 19th, so as you can see I am behind on the picture posting. BUT, it happened, we celebrated in grand nautical style!

 

 What did I do before pinterest? Love this idea for putting berries and snacks in small cups for little hands!

 My cucumber whale was brilliant in concept ( from Pinterest of course) but the execution was a little "sideways" HA!

 

 Sail Boats

 

 

 Swedish Fish and blinking light squishy ball party favors.

About a week old on the left and about 8 months on the right.

The photo booth idea that I stole from Jarah was a hit....all the pics are on my phone and I think I posted them all to Facebook??? My sister Kelly whipped up this cute sign in about 2 seconds flat. Wish I had a batter pic of it!

The New Kid in Town

Look out...I am about to catch up on about 7 months worth of baby, so if you are in a hurry, this post might not be for you:)

Where does the time go? At one month I was struggling with all that comes with being a momma to a new baby. I was also figuring out how to be a mother of two. Breastfeeding...UGGGH...so hard for me! Shep was a natural. We did so amazing for the first two months. At about 6 weeks, he started cluster feeding in the evenings and I pretty much breast fed from about 5pm until about 10pm or until I was bone dry. Before long, I was bone dry more often than not and little Shepherd was not going to have it! After a bit of guilt, heartache and tears, I went to formula and did not look back.

 

At two months, I was getting in the swing of things. We had Shep on the boat a few times, and Jack and I took him to the pool at LEAST once a week! He is such a good baby. We just kept him fed and dry and he just came happily along for the ride. SWEET BOY! By this time, he weighed about 14 lbs. Even though he came into the world at an average 7lbs, he was never meant to be a little baby. Oh no...that 7lbs was 3 weeks before my due date...very much like Jack who arrived 4 weeks early at 6lbs 14oz.
At three months( picture above in Aubie outfit sleeping-I forgot the label) the smiles and ooohs and ahhs were in full swing. The grunting stopped. Up until about this time he grunted all night long. It gave me FITS! I could never sleep because I was afraid he was choking or something. NO, just GRUNTING!!! The above outfit was a 6 months size.


That did not last long. His four month picture is in a 9 month size and at his four month doctor's  appointment, he weighed 18 lbs. BIG BOY! Look at that grin. He'll give you the biggest smile, and then, he will squint his eyes and just get extra cute for you... I love it! I have been convinced that he has been teething since he was 4 months old, but at 7 1/2 months, still no teeth! He started solids about this time, and I thought he really liked it, but I guess I was wrong.  At this point, he cries when I bring out the food. He does not like eating from the spoon. He DOES like it when I mush my banana and give him tiny little bites!



At 5 months, I panicked and tried to get him wearing all of the 6-9 month clothing that I realized he was about to outgrow hence the snaps about to pop open in this picture. By this time, he was getting a lot stronger and I really started noticing how much he watched Jack. He just adores him ( and Jack loves his Shep). He was sleeping through the night at about 3 months, but about 5 months he decided to start waking up about 3-4 am for a bottle. He does not take a paci, so we were at a loss at what to do to comfort him. At first I thought it was a growth spurt, we were just getting up and feeding him. , and then at his 6 month check up, Dr. McGhee tells me that it is what she calls a "trained night feeding". Yes folks...we trained him to wake up in the wee hours of the morning...UGGGH!



Look at this doll. Rolling over and sitting up with some help to make sure he doesn't slam backwards! We had to switch him over to his big car seat ( the convertible rear facing) because he exceeded the weight limit on his carrier. Really, he was too heavy for me to carry in the carrier anyway, so I was kind of ready, but I dreaded letting go of the carrier because you can just get them out of the car and do things like grocery shop and they will stay asleep while you cart them around ( mostly).  He sits up now in the front of the cart with the padded cart cover that KK gave us when Jack was a baby. It blows my mind to see how fast he is growing!



Here he is at 7 months ( actually more like 7 1/2...the holidays really through me for a loop). I am feeling pretty confident that his eyes are going to stay blue. Dan and I were kind of shocked, but we love it and think they are pretty! He is IN LOVE with his brother. Watches his every move. Jack is equally smitten with Shep. He still asks to hold him all of the time and wants to go in and see him in his crib. It is so stinking cute. Of course, he is also loud during nap time which I have a VERY low tolerance for. I am trying to let it go a bit, but poor little Shep is always on the go with us and I just want him to get his rest. I think we have established the fact that he is a very fast growing boy!
Dan and I just put our foot down on the night feedings. I went through three nights of hell trying to comfort him with no bottle and no paci. Finally it was Friday and I asked Dan to take a shift. Shepherd slept straight through  for him( of course) until about 5:30 am and has been doing pretty good with it since. He still wakes about 4 am, but he is quiet and I think drifts in and out until about 5 or 5:30. Please say a little prayer that this keeps up! It has been nice getting to sleep straight through!



CRAZY big brother. Poor Shepherd does not have a chance.



Crazy or not, we are all so happy and looking forward to a great 2013!


One of these boys is Jack and one is Shep. Can you guess who is who? Could be twins, right?