The [boring] life of a SAHM

I got what I am pretty sure is a positive hpt this morning. I'm not sure if its leftover hcg from having Addie or if it's a new pregnancy. I've been told after a month my hcg should be back to normal. So I am not real sure about anything right now. I was supposed to start my birth control tomorrow so thats the only reason I tested. (DH & I have DTD X3 w/o protection) I am going to keep testing to see if it gets lighter or darker. I'll update as soon as I know anything...

((*I think you can click the pic to make it bigger*))

We told Braxton that since he has been SO good at going to the potty we would buy him some big boy underwear! We took him to the store last night & let him pick some out.

I already knew what he would pick. Spiderman underwear. I was right! We also got him some Spiderman shoes (just because :) ) and they are adorable.

Anyways, we got home last night and opened them up. He was so. so. SO. excited! He took off his training pants (we use them when we go out in case of an accident and at night) and wanted to wear his spidey underpants. :) I put some on him and he goes to show daddy. "Look Dad! Spy-man!" then he comes back to me, takes them off and points to another pair. "Wear these ones!" he says. "Ohhkay" I said. I helped him put them on. Then he points to ANOTHER pair, takes off the other ones and says "Wear these ones!" He did this five times.
He wanted to try them all on. It was so cute.

~~
We all know I can't go anywhere without buying something for Addie. I bought her a super cute outfit (size 12 months..I adore toddler clothes, so much cuter than infant.) I need to post pics soon. It's kinda funny though-last night at walmart we were getting groceries and getting the big boy underwear, etc. Well we get out to the car and we're loading the kids up. I pick up Addies carseat and underneat of it was that outfit. We had walked out and forgot to pay for it. I told Josh and made him take it back inside to pay for it. I felt so bad. Even after paying for it I still felt like a "thief." Josh said he walked in the door and told the door greeter he needed to pay for this outfit b/c he forgot to earlier. She was in, like shock. "You came all the way back in....because you forgot to pay for something?" Josh was like "Yeah, I can't just take it, that would be stealing." The door greeter said she had never seen that happen before. LOL
Anyways, I have to take a pic and post it b/c it is ADORABLE! :)

If you read my last post you know that we went trick or treating last night because Stillwater changed the day for it.

It didn't go too well. Before trick or treating we had to go pick up the OU dress I bought off Craigslist-so we had to find that ladies house. It was impossible to find. When we finally did find it we realized we had drove past the road it was on at least 3 times! So by the time we got to stillwater it was 8 pm. We were going trick or treating with my cousin, her husband and their one year old daughter, Kennie. They needed to buy hoodies so they spent like 30 minutes in JC Penny shopping while we sat outside in our car waiting for them. So they get out, its 8:30 and we start trick or treating. We get to the first house and they realize they forgot to bring a candy sack for Kennie. So we go ahead and go to the house and then have to drive to the store to get a bag for Kennie. So its 8:45, we've hit only a couple houses and we are having a hard time finding any with their lights on outside. (Probably because either 1. it was too late, or 2. not everyone reads the paper and saw that they changed Halloween.) So we got to go to MAYBE 10-15 houses.

So we were ALL in our car. Me, Josh, Lindsey, Justin, Kennie, Braxton and Addie. All of us were in our little 5 seater 4runner. Me & Lindsey up front, the 3 kids in the back and Josh and Justin in the very very back...where there are no seats! lol. Well anyways, since we weren't going far inbetween houses they decided not to strap Kennie into her carseat. Well, we got out to go up to a house. I was getting Addie out on one side, Lindsey was on the otherside trying to get Braxtons shoes on (he kept taking them off) when all of a sudden I hear a THUMP and squealing cries. I grab Addie and run over to the other side of the car where Lindsey is to see what happened. Since Kennie wasn't strapped in she fell out of the car!!! :( She hit the car and then hit the ground. They checked her head for bumps, scrapes, etc and she was fine. I think it mostly just scared her more than anything. Lindsey beat herself up about it all night though. So after that we were all pretty much ready to just call it a night. We stopped at McDonalds for a quick dinner and went home. The kids didn't get much candy at all...but the candy they did get is the good stuff :) Reeses, KitKats, Nerds, Laffy Taffy, 3Musketeers, etc. Not one piece of that cheap yucky halloween chocolate. LOL!

Anyways, we're going again Saturday so hopefully it will go a little smoother. I'll add some pics later! :)

We are going trick or treating TWICE this year. Yes TWICE. :)

We normally go just once-here in Perkins. But this year Stillwater (the town right next to us just 10-15 minutes away) has changed trick or treating night to Thursday (tonight!) The reason being-Saturday is game day. & for those of you who don't know-Stillwater is home to OSU. Soooo, they thought it would be too dangerous for young children to be running around at night when THOUSANDS of football fans are leaving the stadium trying to get home. Not to mention half the town would be at the game! So Thursday is trick or treating. Which works out great for us!

We're going tonight in Stilly, Saturday in Perkins. That means. lots of candy for Mom & Dad. I mean, Braxton. ;)

I'll post photos of the kids in their costumes later. Braxton is going to be spiderman, Addie is going to be a butterfly tonight.

I originally wanted addie to be an OU cheerleader but couldn't find an infant size ANYWHERE. Well today as I was browsing Craigslist..like I do everyday...I came across an OU cheerleader DRESS, but it would totally work as a costume! It's adorable! How much? $1.50!!! so I emailed her & we're working on getting a time/place to meet. So she may not get to be a cheerleader tonight but probably will be saturday! :)

Adelyn's 2 month appointment is coming up in a few weeks and I'm not sure what I'm going to do about her shots.

When I had Braxton I got him all of his shots & never even thought twice. I basically thought it was something I had to do. Now, I know alot more about vaccines, what's in them, adverse effects, etc. So now I don't know if I want to vaccinate Adelyn, or if I want to just delay her shots or just pick & choose which ones I want her to have. I need to do some research & make a decision but it's SO hard!

The one I am worried about right now is DTaP. On the FDA's website it lists adverse effects. 2 of them are SIDS and Autism. But wait...doesn't the FDA tell us there is absolutley no link between autism & vaccinations?! What a contradiction. Also, after spending some time on the Selective, Delayed & Non-Vaxxing Forum on FertilityFriend I have learned that most SIDS cases are reported between 2-4 months old. Right after the 2 & 4 month old shots. Hmmph.

I haven't really researched any other vaccines yet but plan on doing so before Addies appointment next month.

I talked to Josh about this and asked what he thought. He doesn't want Addie OR Braxton to receive any shots at all. We still don't know what we're going to do.

Any thoughts/opinions/information is welcome! :)

I posted a couple days ago about Braxton using the potty 3-4 times in one day.
Well, I must proudly say that ever since then he has been going every single day. Not one accident!! (not counting nights) Yesterday he used the potty NINE times! Wahoooo!! :)

It's so crazy how it just happened out of no where.

My family kept asking and asking around 18-24 months, "Is he potty trained yet?" I would tell them we are working on it but he doesn't seem to be ready yet. They would tell me I need to bribe him, or discipline him (when he had accidents on the floor) Basically, they wanted me to rush him into. I told them, he'll potty train when HE is ready, not when I am ready for him to be. I thought for sure he would be potty trained by the age of 2 because of what a huge interest he had in the potty when he was younger (we introduced the potty chair at 12 months and just let him sit on it at first-get used to it) Well his 2 year birthday rolled around and I was a bit disappointed but knew it couldn't be too much longer. So when I found out I was pregnant with Addie I was sooo hoping we could get him trained before she got here so we only have to buy diapers for one kid. Well my due date got closer & closer & he showed no signs of being trained soon. He would go in the potty every once in awhile but it never stuck.

Now he is 31 months old and FINALLY ready! I am so glad! & we still only have to buy diapers for one kid. We still have a HUGEEE stash of diapers for Addie and here pretty soon Braxton won't need them anymore!

I think we're going to get him some Pull-ups for night time & for outtings. He's allergic to the Huggies brand though. :(

Question for mommas that have potty trained before: How long until I can safely take him out in public WITHOUT a diaper on-just underwear? I'm terrified to in case he like, wets (or worse) himself in Walmart or something! Should I give it a couple weeks and keep in diapers/pull ups when we are out or just be brave and let him wear underwear?

At the drs today....

There was a little boy running around the waiting room, being a complete brat. He was probably around Braxton's age. He was yelling, running, pushing kids down and even went back into the doctors office area where only STAFF is permitted. The mom did practically nothing to discipline him. When he hurt other children she DEFENDED him. While I saw all this I didn't say anything because well...it wasn't really my place, he wasn't doing anything to my kids...

Or so I thought.

After we left Josh told me that while I was being seen the kid stuck his hand in the water fountain, and then threw the water on Addies FACE! She then woke up (dh had JUST gotten her back to sleep...) Josh said he had to really restrain from slapping the kid! The mother didn't even see him do it because she wasn't watching him like she should have been.
When Josh told me this happened I was so furious! I wanted to turn around and go back in there!!



**Side note: Addie was weighed while we were there! She now weighs 10 lbs 4 oz!!!

I think we're "officially" potty training now!

Before, when we tried he was never really ready. He was interested in SITTING on the potty, but nothing more. He's been sitting on it since he was 12-18 months. When I KNEW he was going potty in his diaper and asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty the answer was always no.

Well, I think today all that has changed. Earlier today I was putting his clean clothes away in his dresser and heard him peeing (the bathroom is right next to his bedroom) I thought "oh great, he's peeing on the floor!" I peek in the bathroom and he's standing there going peepee in the potty!!! Now, he's done this before. So of course when he was done I told him how great it was that he was using the potty and told him I was so proud of him. But I didn't start thinking "OMG he may be out of diapers soon!" because like I said, he's peed in the potty before.

THIS is what changes all of it:

A few minutes ago he started taking his pants off, DH asked him what he was doing and Braxton said "Peeeeeee!" Then Braxton took his diaper off and ran to the bathroom where he peed in the potty AGAIN! So twice today he felt the urge to pee and did so in the potty! That's huge progress! I'm SO excited. I've heard it may take a little while to get him to go #2 in the potty & I've heard it takes awhile to get them trained through the night but I'm still excited!

Go Braxton! :)

**Edited to add: It's been a few hours since I've posted this and he just did it again! 3 times in one day!!!! My mom told him several months ago that when he goes to the potty 3 times in one day then she will buy him a Thomas the train toy. He is very excited about that. I also promised him to take him to the store to let him pick out some "big boy" underwear. Another thing: now that he's gone potty in the big potty he's no longer interested in wearing his diapers! woo!!

Addie is starting to SMILE! REAL smiles not the "I have gas" smiles! Haha! I'm so excited!! I got TONS of smiles this morning when she woke up. I just sat her on my lap facing me and started all the high pitch baby talk and BAM! Smile after smile....she just stared at me with this goofy open mouth smile. She also cooed for the first time! I think she was trying to laugh? It sounded like a gurgle-coo! haha. I'm so in love♥♥♥

Here are some of the smiles I got from her last night while she was "modeling" the headbands I made and trying on hats. :)

Addie trying on the hat Tiffany made! It's still a little big but still looks SO cute on her!


Big open mouth smile.



goofy grin

:)

with my new breastpump. LOL!

For a few weeks I was using my old pump I used with Braxton. It's just a cheap battery operated one from walmart by Evenflo. Well, my cousin had given me the pump she got when she was having her daughter. BFing didn't work out so she never used the pump. It seemed kinda complicated (though its a nicer one) so I didn't bother with it at first.

I have 2 pumping sessions a day. One in the morning before Addie wakes up (unless she gets up early then its after she eats.) and one in the evening when she gets a bottle from DH. I usually got 4-5 oz each morning and 3-4 oz each night total. With my old pump.

Well I decided to give this other one a try. It's a double electric Medela Pump In Style. Oh boy does it work!!!! It's more painful than my other and the sucking is alot harder on it but I have noticed a great change.

When I pump in the morning I get about NINE ounces!! 5 out of one side, 4 out of the other. I get anywhere between 5-7 oz at night depending on when DD last ate. Incredible!!

I can never use my evenflo pump ever again. I'm in love with my Medela!!

For the longest time I have wanted some of those crochet headbands with the flowers on them...but I didn't want to pay like $15 for just one like many boutiques charge. So...I took things into my own hands!

Now for the flower part...I went to Hobby Lobby and got:


-alligator clips
-hot glue gun+sticks
-rhinestones
-ribbon
-flowers


I took the stems off the flower and cut as close to the bottom of the flower that I could. I glued a square piece of ribbon to the back to hold the flowers layers in place. I then glued a strip of ribbon to the alligator clip and glued the clip to the back of the flower. Then all I did was pick out a pretty rhinestone and glue it to the center of the flower. Voila! Done!


This is what I ended up with:




So cute:

I'M GOING TO SEE JEREMY CAMP IN CONCERT!!

Josh just bought the tickets today! I am SOOO excited!

:)

Adelyn turned one month old 2 days ago! Oh, time is going by fast!!!

I weighed & measured her to see how much she's grown, here are her stats:

WEIGHT:
Birth- 7 lbs 13 oz
Discharge (2 days old)-7 lbs 3 oz
1 week- 7 lbs 8 oz
2 weeks- 8 lbs 2 oz
1 month- 9 lbs 5 oz!!!

LENGTH:
Birth- 19 3/4 in
1 week- 20 1/4 in
1 month- 22 1/2 in

She's growing!! She can barely fit newborn onesies (depends on the brand really, some fit, some are too small, some are too big) She's outgrowing her 0-3 sleepers b/c she's too long for them. Alot of her 0-3m stuff is too big though.


Anyways, here are some photos of my one month old. *tear*



I think she looks soo pretty in purple. :)


Wide-awake!



her favorite thing to do: sleep in her swing.

My cousin Lindsey & her husband totally surprised us last night! They were out shopping & asked for Braxtons clothing size. We told her & didn't think much of it. Well when they got home they asked us to stop by so they could show us what they got.

They got Braxton & Addie Christmas Outfits!! How thoughtful!


Of course I had to let them try them on.

Here is Addie wearing her outfit. She was not too happy about it. It's a 0-3m & fits pretty well. I'm leaving the tags on just in case. Who knows how fast she's gonna grow in 2 months?


This is the best pic I could get of Braxton. He hates my camera, I've taken too many photos of him since he was born. :) He looks so HANDSOME! I cannot believe they bought him a suit! Too adorable!

What shocked me even more was the fact that they spent over $100 on the kids' outfits!!!!! Wowza! Braxton's suit cost around $75! I still need to get him some nice dress shoes...not sure where to look for some.

Anyways, thought I'd share some pics! They looked so cute I couldn't resist! :)

I got to sleep in until TEN. Two days in a row!

I couldn't even do that when I was pregnant...

:)

October 15th is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
See http://www.october15th.com/ for more info.

ROLLED OVER!

During tummy time she was getting kind of PO-d and was trying SO hard to turn to her back and SHE DID! She rolled from her tummy to her back! She is almost 3 weeks old. So exciting! I keep putting her back on her stomach to see if she will do it again but she won't...she just gets mad. So now I'm letting her relax in her swing (her favorite thing ever!) and we're going to try again later! :)

~House/life with 2 update~
Things are going well. It's definetly hard having 2 kiddos at home but we are all adjusting. Addie is STILL at that stage where she wants to sleep all the time, I'm really taking advantage of that. Braxton's tantrums have gotten better (they were absolutley horrible when we first brought Addie home.) I'm still trying to find a balance between rest/cleaning/taking care of the kids. The house is suffering a bit but DH has been wonderful at helping me keep it picked up. It's by no means "clean" but its not nasty either. I think cluttered is a good word for it. Toys strewn across the floor, empty cups next to the loveseat, trash overflowing, dishes piling up. I'll figure this out someday though. :) Right now resting and spending time with Braxton and Addie are more important to me than housework. Reminds me of this poem, I love it and tear up when I read it:

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue (lullaby, rock-a-bye, Lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due (pat-a-cake, darling, and peek-peek-a-boo).
The shopping is not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there is a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing "Kanga" and this is my "Roo.
"Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?(lullaby, rock-a-bye, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

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~Braxton & Addie update~
Braxton loves "sissy" so much. He is always asking to hold her. ("Take her?") I often let him. Each time I let him hold her he just looks down at her with love and gives her a kiss on the head. Oh if only that kind of love would last forever...I'm sure there will come a time when he swears he "hates" her. I hope not. It's just too sweet to see him loving on her all the time. Such a good big brother....except for yesterday. Dear, Oh dear.

I asked him to keep an eye on baby sissy while mommy got in the shower. "Come and get me if sissy starts to cry, okay?" Sissy was sleeping on the couch on her boppy pillow. Braxton said "Okay ma." I headed towards the bathroom and realized I needed a towel and the only clean ones were in the living room (I had been folding laundry.) So I turn back around to get a towel and I saw Braxton walk over to sissy and HIT HER. Wham!! Right in the stomach!!! I was completely shocked. He had never showed any sore of agression towards her before. He looks at me and says "Sissy awake. Cry." I think he somehow misunderstood what I asked him to do. I think he thought he needed to wake sissy up and make her cry. Sigh. I told him hitting is not nice and if he hit her again he would be in big trouble. Still...I'm scared to leave them in a room together now, even for a moment.
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~Breastfeeding update~
Breastfeeding is still going great. I'm so proud that I have made it this far (okay 2.5 weeks may not seem like a big deal but after you've failed at breastfeeding once, it's a big deal!) We haven't had any problems so far. We even introduced the bottle at 2 weeks. She didn't really like it at first, I think she thought it was her pacifier and she wanted FOOD. We squirted some of the milk in her mouth & then she realized she was going to get food & happily accepted. No "nipple confusion" and she definetly prefers breast to bottle. She doesn't get a bottle often. She's had 2 so far. I'm just sooo glad that now if I need to be out of the house for more than a few hours I can take a bottle of expressed breastmilk & not have to worry about finding somewhere to nurse in private. Pumping is going well too. I have probably 50+ ounces of milk frozen already. I'm trying to build up a "stash." Most women do this because they have to go back to work and need that stash so their LO can eat while they are at work, then they just have to pump at work. Well, I am 'stocking up" for a couple reasons: 1) In case somewhere down the road BFing doesn't work out-I will still have frozen BM I can give Addie until it runs out. The more BM the better! 2.) I only plan on BFing for a year. If I freeze BM & rotate it out (use the old, save the new) then hopefully once 1 year hits & I stop BFing I will still have some frozen BM I can continue to give her.

Last night, Addie did not eat well. She woke up ONCE to eat, that was at 3:30. Woke up at 6, I offered the breast but she was not real interested. Gave her a paci and she was out. I woke up around 9 and was SO engorged! This is the FIRST time I have been engorged. My entire right breast was RED, hard & just full of milk. I had to pump! So I pump the right breast ONLY and got 6 ounces. I could have kept going but the bottle was full & Addie had just woke up. She woke up hungry so I let her eat off the left side. When she was done I pumped both sides and got half an ounce. I guess they got completely drained! I'm just excited I am able to pump so much! In a regular (non-engorged) pump session I get about 4 ounces, usually 3 from 1 breast, and 1 from the other. (this is inbetween feedings so I am guessing the side I get 1 oz from is the side she ate from last.) When I was pumping for Braxton I would get 2-3 ounces total. I'm just totally shocked that I got 6 oz from one side this am!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Update on my recovery~
This c-section has been a little harder than the first. In the hospital I thought it was going to be easier...mostly because I didn't feel one bit of pain the 2 days I was there. Never once did I take painkillers. As long as I got up and walked around frequently I felt great! Once I got home however...laziness got the best of me. I didn't want to get up and move. I want to lay around and rest...and that is when the pain started. Not to mention once I was home I had 2 kids to care for instead of just one. Even when it was just one in the hospital if I needed someone to take her so I could rest I just call the nurse in. No such luck at home. The first week home was rough. My incision hurt so bad, when I sat up it felt like the skin was ripping and burning. It probably didn't help that I got sent home with my staples still in. I got to leave the hospital a day early since I was doing well and my doctor didn't want to take the staples out after only 2 days, so I had to come back 4 days PP to have them removed. I still felt the burning/tearing sensation for several days after they were taken out. I also noticed horrible purple bruising on one side of my incision along with a very large, hard lump. Eventually my entire incision was just one big hard lump. (totally normal btw.) Now 2.5 weeks PP, things are feeling much better! My steristrips haven't come off yet but they are soo close. My incision looks yucky! So yucky that I thought "This can't possibly be normal!" so I posted a pic of it on FF and asked if it looked ok, apparently it's just fine but I SWORE it was opening up even though DH assured me several times it was closed and just fine. I guess it just grosses me out because it is very, very pink...it kind of looks like the inside of your bottom lip. It's also sticky. Yuck. It's healing though, it looks like there is one little piece of skin poking out like a skin flap or something. Anyways-I can't wait to be 6 weeks PP so I can start doing all the stuff I can't do now...(take baths, drive, walk up stairs, have sex, lift heavy things (by that I mean Braxton, lol) There is SO much you can't do after a csection, its crazy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think thats all the updates I have....we're doing great! I love having a little boy AND a little girl. :)

I know I haven't posted much lately. It's hard to find the time/energy to blog, but here I am! :)

Just wanted to share a few pics since I haven't done so in awhile.




So sweet. Braxton holding Addies hand.



Perkins had it's annual "Harvest Fest." They had a parade, games, business booths, and much more! Here is Braxton riding a pony for the very first time!! He did so good and I think he really enjoyed it!



Braxton LOVES holding Adelyn. Anytime I am holding her he will hold out his arms and ask "take her?" so most of the time I let him hold/cuddle with her. It's adorable. I got several shots of this but this is my favorite because Addie is smiling!

Since Addie wasn't up to her birthweight at her 1 week check-up they had her come in today at 2 weeks old to check her weight again. Formula fed babies are given a week to get to their birthweights, breastfed babies get 2 weeks.

So here are her weights:

Birth-7 lbs 13 oz
Discharge weight (2 days)-7 lbs 3 oz
1 week- 7 lbs 8 oz
2 weeks-8 lbs 2 oz!!!

Whoo-hoo! It's great to know she's getting enough to eat!

Also, her cord stump fell off so she can have a real bath now!! :)