Eden is 3 weeks old!

Three weeks. I feel like time is moving at warp speed! Slow down already. I want to savor every moment of the itty bitty stage. She's only tiny once and I feel like its happening too quickly!

At three weeks we are venturing out into the world! Eden was officially the youngest camper at St Croix State Park to visit the lodge and she camped like a champ. It was hot hot hot that weekend, so she spent most of the time with a fan pointing on her. Turns out she seems to dig fans! We ended our trip on father's day, Drew's first as a dad of three. It was a fun day, but after the weekend I think we were both pretty worn out. 

This week we were back on our own schedule. Grandma headed back to Milwaukee and we were in our stride. Its always nice to have help, but its equally nice to have our own pace again. Sometimes I think I'm more efficient if I know there isn't anyone else there to help and I have to do it myself. To help with the routine I put her in the Moby, she seemed to like being all cuddled up and I was able to have two hands free! Score!

You also tried out the cradle, which you also seem to like. Mostly, if you are sleepy, you like all the beds/swings/etc we have around the house. This makes you a pretty easy baby, because usually I can put you down to sleep. In fact, you are a pretty easy baby. You rarely cry and at night you are totally content to eat and go back to sleep, which is awesome. Your brothers used to like to wake up and stay awake, or at least fuss for a bit before going back to sleep. Not you though, you like your sleep. Just like your momma. Three weeks into this gig and I'm actually NOT feeling like a zombie. That's sayin' something!

Even though we can put you down, you spend a lot of time in my arms. We're a pretty tight duo! Back to the whole this time passes too quickly thing and I want to hold you as much as I can. We've found that you also love it outside. You like to look at the trees and leaves move in the wind, you are usually quiet and alert when we are outside looking around.

Our routine goes something like this these days- at three weeks we aren't really seeking a schedule, but I can see one peeking its head through.  You wake up around 5:30/6:00 to nurse and then fall back to sleep until about 7:40/8:00 when we get up with the boys.During the night you sleep in the cosleeper between us, so you are nice and close, but not on the mattress, which I love (that's you in your cosleeper above) They get up around 7, but since from 6-8 you are usually asleep on my chest, they humor us and get books to read quietly in my bed until you are up. Then I pump and we head down to get breakfast.

Here we are camping, it must be about 7 am, and you are in that second bit of sleep (below).

In the morning, during breakfast etc. you are usually awake, alert and interested in the world. The boys though have tasks, so we spend the time chasing them around making sure they get dressed, make their beds, brush their teeth, etc. Once that's under our belts we usually try to play a little bit- they read you books or we look around. I'm getting back in the habit of narrating everything to fill your adorable brain with words.

Its not long after and you are heading towards a nap, usually in my arms, the moby or something similar. We try to get things done around the house, but usually are batting around 50% of what we used to do. This week we've had Candy three days to help with the boys and its amazingly wonderful. She takes them out of the house from 9-2 and we get to be a tiny bit more efficient.

At work these days I'm the boss lady for many things. This means that even though I'm on leave there are things that I keep tabs on and a bit of work that I'm doing from home. Rebecca, one of my favorite colleagues came over on Wednesday to get some work done, but mostly she just wanted to hold you!

Anyhow, you are awake and cat-napping, on and off until a bit after lunch (with nursing every 2.5 to 3 hours during the day and then 4 to 4.5 hours at night) and then you hit the sleepy afternoon and mozy in and out of longer naps and cuddles. You are a mass diaper filler, rarely using less than 12 diapers a day. Probably because you are a big fan of nursing.

Then around dinner time we usually get another little alert period where the boys always want to hold her, sing to her and love on her. Its very sweet and usually I'm always amazed that we arrived at dinner time so quickly.

After dinner we get you ready for bed and you settle in to sleeping. Starting about 7:30 you settle in for cozy sleeping time. We usually hold you until 10 or so when we go to bed, but mostly you are asleep on one of our chests and then we off to bed we go to start the process in another day.

This week camping was lots of fun, and the boys loved sharing your first camping adventure. We went to St Croix state park, so not too far away and you got to go to your first beach.

It started to rain a bit and then the bugs came out, so we retreated to our campsite, where the sun promptly returned and it got hot. Here you are in the camper all sprawled out with a fan blowing on you. You look pretty happy!

The hardest part about camping with you is that one of us always had to be holding you (we didn't bring anything to put you in, so here you are cuddling with daddy while I took a shower one day, I think).

It was a fun trip and we're so happy to have you in our lives. It three weeks time all of our hearts have grown 3000 times as big. We all love you so much!

Eden is 2 weeks old!

Today Eden is 2 weeks old. We are 2 weeks post partum and life is finding its way back into a routine. This week, with any luck, Eden has gained weight to get back to her birth weight (7 pounds 5 oz). We’ll know for sure if that happened on Monday when we go to the doctor for the two week check.

This week we started to get a better handle on nursing- I have no shortage of milk, pumping an extra 4-6 oz a day to store in the freezer. She spits up on occasion because she seems to overeat, and she also burps like an old man and produces poops that stink like one too! At two weeks she’s nursing on demand still- about every 2 hours during the day (sometimes three) and about three to four at night. She sleeps well (knock on wood!) with at least a big 2-4 hour nap in the afternoon (surrounded by lots of little naps, she’s still pretty sleepy!) and does well overnight usually nursing about 11, then again about 2:30, and then again about 5.  At two weeks she’s starting to wake up a bit more, but is still generally sleepy and really loves to hear the boys sing to her when they hold her.

This week she took her first adventures- two photo shoots for birth announcement photos, one IGDI photo shoot (she’s a movie star already!) and today her first party! Hugapalloza!

While Eden was busy taking on the world with the boys and I, her dad was busy throwing out his back, which meant two weeks post-partum I was working on the parenting solo gig. Not exactly how a mom wants to spend week 2, but luckily Drew’s mom is still here to help a bit. Since we were out of the house so much today though, it felt very much like a herd of three. The boys were really well behaved though and super helpful- I was so proud of them. It kept me relaxed and made for a couple enjoyable events without much stress!

At two weeks Eden is giving us lots of “gas smiles” that I know are not social, but I SWEAR yesterday she seemed to smile at me, socially. It’s a baby genius! She’s a very easy and happy baby, who mostly loves to be held. She likes the swing best I think, and then the rock and play, and is still getting used to the crib and cradle.

Our routine is unfolding- three nursing a night, getting up between 7:00 and 8:00 am (when I have to pump because I’m so engorged overnight). Then diapers, nursing, clothes and our day begins. This week she’s been awake some of the morning, showing us her beautiful bring blue eyes and spending much of her time in the “quiet alert” phases. By early afternoon she’s moving toward the sleepier part of the day and usually takes a nice long nap in the afternoon, and from then on it’s a slow wake, eat, poop cycle through the night.

I can barely believe she’s two weeks old already- time is flying so quickly as we enter the fun of summer. This coming week, at three weeks old, we are taking our first family camping trip, Eden’s first adventure in a state park!

The last day of 1st grade

Today Collin finished 1^st grade. The last day of school is filled with excitement for summer and an amazing pride for all that Collin has accomplished. When I took his photo today outside our front door I found myself just standing there staring at him. He seems so tall. So old. It happened so fast.

With Eden in the house now, I find myself balancing these memories of when Collin and Owen were infants as I cradle her and smile at her beautiful face, with the new adventures Collin and Owen have brought us as growing, maturing, boys. I’m having a hard time with it- its probably a mix of my hormones going back to normal and not really believing that we got to this place in the blink of an eye. As Collin finished school today and we walked out of the building, he grabbed my hand, and I wondered, - how much longer can I count on him to hang on?- We talked about the excitement of summer, of vacation, and what that means for the coming weeks as we visit family and lake houses and go camping. He was excited for all of it, but it was part of a routine for him. To be expected. It was no longer new. He’s had a few years experience and now, he knows better than I the ebb and flow of the academic year. And when I noticed this about him, I again thought, how did we get here? How did he get to be this old?

I’m so proud of all Collin’s done this year. He’s really made strides in focus, attention and control, which makes my heart soar and he’s climbed incredibly far in reading. At the beginning of the first grade we had not yet established a love for chapter books, or even books without pictures, and by the end, he was independently picking up the second Harry Potter book to start reading it to himself. Reading is such a big part of my life, my career, that I can’t help but beam with pride when he chooses to cuddle up with a story. He’s also made big gains in writing and spelling. At the beginning of the year writing was his least favorite, and it showed. His penmanship could use some work and he ideas to write were brief experiments in seeing how few words he could get away with. By the end of the year though, he had taken a liking to writing. Mrs. Amundsen’s class published a book of stories the kids wrote and he was so invested in the writer’s workshop process. He independently began to pursue cursive writing and amazingly, his penmanship took a huge turn for the better, ending the year with neat and complete writing.  At the same time he’s really starting to make lasting friendships. It has been exciting to see these relationships blossom because these kids will likely be the kids who he knows for the rest of his life. So many of my friends entered my life in early grade school and I’m so grateful for those relationships, as I am sure he will be when he is older, looking back on who his first true friends were.

And so, we jump head first into summer. Taking it in like one deep inhale and savoring every moment as we move toward second grade. Onward to every moment and memory we build together, cementing our pride with love and admiration for the young man Collin is striding towards.

1st grade field day

Every year EDW hosts a field day for the kids in each grade. This year we participated in the 1st grade field day a few days before the end of the school year. The kids had a fantastic time and it was Eden's first outing about a week and a half after she was born. Collin's class wore red and competed against the other 1st grade classrooms in various sprints, relays and fun activities. Here he is in the sack race and sitting with his class, and hanging out with friends. Its so much fun to see how independent first graders can be!

Eden is 1 week old!

We have three children! Its zone defense time! Eden, amazingly, is one week old!

This week was a whirlwind, as we dove headfirst into life with three babies. Drew didn’t take any time off after I had Eden other than the regular memorial day weekend Monday break, so Tuesday-Friday I had the nanny to help and onward we went to our regular routine. Surprisingly it wasn’t so bad. The boys really dote on Eden, and so far have cut me a lot of slack in caring for her. I realize that they are probably a bit more stir crazy since I’m constantly saying “I can’t, I have to change/feed/hold Eden”, and I’m not exactly on my best parenting game being overtired, but really, I can’t complain too much. They adore her, want to hold her and sing songs to her. Its incredibly cute (check out the videos!).

In the first week of life we’ve learned a lot about Eden. First, she’s a very sleep baby. Almost too sleepy! It made me worry a bit. After her deliver we were home in 24 hours- which was nice to be back in my own bed, but also made me hyper-vigilant about her because so many things they typically catch at the hospital I was now watching for at home. For example, Jaundice. Turns out, she was jaundiced, just like the boys. This meant at the hospital a horrid nurse smashed her foot onto a sheet of paper after poking it for something like 10 minutes to squeeze out 100 drops of blood. – A note of advice to the hospital nurses who do bilirubin checks, WARM THEIR HEEL, you ASSHOLE. AND DON’T SQUEEZE THE HELL OUT OF THEIR FOOT WHILE THEY SCREAM. After a few minutes I wanted to punch that nurse in the face. This test results in a high screen (but not a confirmed case of Jaundice) so it made for another round of testing in the doctors office (which went wonderfully, by the way. That nurse knew what she was doing and Eden didn’t even make a peep- she warmed her foot and the waited for the blood to flow instead of squeezing the hell out of it). A few days later we had to have a third check on bilirubin- she kept coming in with a high screen, but just under the “worry” line, so we continued to poke her foot and not worry. Meh. I wasn’t super happy about it.

The second thing we learned was how baby girls and peeing works out. We’ve had two boys, so we were very used to the circumcision rules and such. With girls, no such thing, which is fantastic! This meant by day two she was supposed to be producing two wet diapers, but by day two, she still hadn’t. Which made me worry she was dehydrated or not eating enough, so back to the doctor we went. Turns out that after a super intense cycle of feedings (every hour) she finally peed, and that seemed to break the dam. Now she pees a lot. Like 10 times a day.

The third thing we learned is that nursing was not like riding a bike. My body didn’t remember exactly how to “toughen up” and Eden didn’t quite master the latch (and is still fairly lazy about it!), so this made for horrible pain and a decent amount of blood. So, another call to the nurse was warranted because Eden was spitting up blood. At first I panicked that it was her blood, and then I realized that it was my blood. Photos were taken, submitted to nurses, and they too worried about what was going on, so on to the doctor we went the next day. It turns out that when babies are born, often they have in their stomachs some of the blood from delivery. It comes up as brown mucus-y chunks and pieces. She had this in her spit up, so that part was pretty typical. The bright red stuff was all mine, and it also turns out that its fine for them to ingest blood while nursing, but it generally means nursing is not off to a good start, so a visit to the lactation consultant was in order.

The lactation consultant taught me something else about our dear daughter- she’s a “Chomper”. While nursing she definitely prefers to use her gums to “chomp” down which is super fun for me, and not the easiest thing to correct, so the consultant advised I change techniques, which I have, and it helps some but she’s still a bit lazy and still likes to latch on weakly, wreaking havoc on my body. Alas, though, at the end of week 1 thing are looking up, so all hopefully will be good on the nursing front.  My milk came in fast and furious around day 3 or 4 and since then I’ve had to pump some because she’s been spitting up after nursing. Too much food for her little belly.

Our routine for week 1 was totally governed by Eden, but I have to say, that she’s been pretty generous at night. The first night in the hospital she wanted to nurse all night long, but since then she usually gets up just twice a night, which is such a blessing. Sound sleepers are the best (when you aren’t worrying that they are sleeping too much!). She had her first bath this week and so far, she seems to like it so long as she isn’t cold- getting in and out, she didn’t like so much, but being in the warm water seemed to please her.

So far, its been sleep, eat, poop, repeat. She loves to suck on her hands, looks a little like Collin and a little like me as a baby, seems to dig music, and is generally adored, all around. We read stories, and rock and dance around, and smile at her, with the hopes that her little brain is seeing those smiles and knowing that her life is surrounded by so much love. We’re so happy she’s here and so excited to see what the coming weeks bring.