Theo :: Two Months

Ugh--totally forgot to put in Theo's official two month pic and stats from his two month appointment!

14 lbs, 4 oz = 97th percentile - giant baby!

23.5 inches = 75th percentile 

I know it's cliche and I know I'll be saying it every month, but--two months already!!?? Pure craziness. 

Our little Theo is such a fantastic baby. When all is right in his world (i.e. well rested with a clean diaper and full belly) he is just the calmest and happiest guy. However, if any of those things require attention? Watch out. Also, even if allis right but we have been mean, horrible, safety-conscious parents who have buckled him into his carseat? World War 3. Thats right, Theo is officially a carseat hater. He has screamed entire car rides before and we have all gotten very good at ignoring it, because it's the only thing you can do. The crying is only remedied by taking him out of the carseat and holding him. Someone tell me this doesn't last forever. Please. But I can forgive this because a: he's adorable and b: this is what babies do. 

About halfway through this month he finally started staying awake and alert for longer periods of time, which everyone is loving. Noelle wants so badly for him to be more interactive and playful. These two will be best buddies, I'm sure of it. Theo absolutely loves watching Noelle. She is an entertainer and loves to dance and sing. Theo will just watch her and if she leaves his line of sight he starts to look all over for her!

He also likes to lay on his play mat and kick the octopus and turtle rattles that hang from it. Theo also loves looking at himself in the mat's mirror and gives big, gummy smiles to himself!

During Theo's second month we got out and enjoyed lots of things the area and summer have to offer. Although admittedly, Theo slept through most things :) Which is why many of these pictures don't always include him!

We celebrated my birthday at the end of July. 

We had Ott Family Field Trip Day. We went to Possibility Playground in Port Washington,

Bookworm Gardens (one of my favorite places) in Sheboygan,

and the beach at Kohler-Andrae State Parks. 

Theo had his first trip to the State Fair, followed a few days later by his second! He did not enjoy these outings (as if any infant would). It was too hot and noisy for his delicate sensibilities :) But his big sister sure had a blast!

Theo (and Noelle) took their first trip to Mimi and Papa's (my parents) up north house. Theo did a lot of this:

And a lot of this:

Throw in a few trips to the zoo, Discovery World and a restaurant here and there and Theo had a very busy second month!

Nursing is still going incredibly well. Theo nursed at all of the above places and it's amazing how relaxed we've been. Unfortunately that relaxed feeling does not always last. That gas/reflux issue I mentioned last month? It was back with a vengeance this month. After ruling out foods and before a call to the doctor, I really started to pay attention to our feedings. (TMI ahead) Since Theo was a few weeks old my letdown has been really forceful. I've had to cover the non-feeding breast with a cloth because milk would drip out like crazy and sometimes even spray while Theo was eating on the other and the same thing was happening. It was getting progressively worse and I finally put two and two together and realized my overactive letdown was causing Theo to gulp his milk really fast. Doing so would cause him to also cough, choke and gulp down a lot of air. A little Googling and some feeding time adjustments have pretty much solved our issue. And thank goodness because dealing with a screaming baby every night was really starting to get old. I give huge props to parents who have to deal with true reflux and colicky babies. 

As far as physical developments go, Theo is holding his own during tummy time. His neck strength is really great and I think that's partly because he hates to be held in a laying down position. He m.u.s.t. be held upright or he will start yelling. Noelle was the same way and I sometimes wonder if it's gas that's hurting or if they just like the view better that way. 

Theo has always liked standing and he his legs can "support" his body weight for about 3-5 seconds before going back to jelly. 

One of our favorite developments this month has been Theo's full blown smiles and his silent laughing. He gets this big open mouth grin and you can just tell he wants to give a big ole belly laugh! There has also been a lot of cooing and babbling and he really likes to talk to the ceilings and his playmat.

Life with two kids is still going really well and I'm truly surprised at how easy things have been. Not to say that it hasnt been hard and stressful at times, because it absolutely has. Nothing makes you feel as frazzled as when both kids are screaming at once but you can only help one at a time. Noelle's age and the fact that she is pretty independent and a great helper have been big reasons things are pretty smooth most days. But I'm definitely not naive to the fact that things will not be this easy as Theo gets older and becomes more demanding of our attention. For now though, we love seeing our family of four grow and develop!

Theo :: One Month

Well, we're already more than halfway through month two, but let's just move past that little item, ok? I've never been a good blogger so when you throw in a newborn, blogging falls way down on the priority list. Although I don't think he's technically a newborn anymore, so there goes that excuse!

Anyway, Theo's first month - just some notes and musings from the month in no particular order - here we go!

--Little man is super snugly and loves to be curled up in someone's arms, especially when sleeping. I don't think anyone minds this at all, but I'm sure that will change when we really need to get things done. 

--Theo is, of course, only awake and alert in very small chunks throughout the day. Bryan says he doesn't remember Noelle sleeping this much but I assured him she definitely did and that's it's very normal. 

Most nights he is down for the night around 10:00 (only because that's the time we turn in). Of course in the very beginning we were going to bed almost as soon as Noelle was asleep around 8:30! He usually wakes up between 2 and 3 and again between 5 and 6. 

The first few nights at home were especially tough and he seemed to want to be awake for a good hour or two and then sleep for about 30 minutes. Thank goodness that's over (for now anyway)!

Also sleep related is that he does not fall asleep when put in his car seat or swing. With Noelle these two things were like magical sleep fairies and she'd be knocked out for a good two hours. Theo fights and fights sleep in both things and has screamed his head off for entire car rides. Really (I mean, really) hoping this changes. 

--Eating. Holy cats can this dude eat. From the very beginning Theo has latched on and nursed like a champ. The lactation consultant who visited me in the hospital said the nurses' notes indicated we were an "excellent" nursing team. I didn't even realize the nurses kept track of or even noticed this!

This category is probably the biggest difference from Noelle's infancy. Not only is Theo a nursing champ, but I am too! I'm so much less afraid/timid to nurse any time, any where. Here's a quick list of where Theo has gotten a meal. The library, zoo, Discovery World, the backyard, and walking around in the house while multi-tasking. That last one got harder toward the end of the month as he grew almost too big for me to hold in one arm. 

We also had a few nights during week 3 in which Theo exhibited colic or reflux like symptoms. They went away after a few days but, spoiler alert, they'll be back in month two. 

--Being a super eater means little man is growing like crazy. We've literally been watching him grow in front of our eyes. Another big difference from Noelle who kept that scrawny newborn look for a while because she wasn't gaining weight.  

At his one month check up on July 29 he was 11 lbs, 2 ounces and 23 inches. That's a gain of 3.5 lbs and 2.5 inches from birth.  Although I never really trust the length because a wriggly baby makes it so inaccurate. 

--During week 4 we started to get some 3/4 smiles that just melt our hearts!

All in all this first month has been awesome. Bryan stayed home from work for two weeks, and when it was time for him to go back, I didn't have a complete freak out like I did last time :) Things have just been so much smoother this time and we've been much more go with the flow. From my recovery to dealing with a newborn to dealing with two kids - there have been plenty of stressful moments for sure, but overall it's been fantastic! 

We love our little boy and life feels so much more complete with him here!

Theo's "official" one month picture. My smarty pants telling us he's one month!

Progression of a Belly

This isn't actually a real post, but I put together some belly pic collages a while back and wanted to finally get them posted.

 

  



 

I put the last three together separately because I think there is such an obvious change from week to week. Maybe it's just me, but I see a huge difference from 37 weeks to my very last picture at 39w 2d. Love it!

 

 

I technically took one last set of pictures two days before Theo was born. I just wanted to document what I looked like for my sake. Sorry for the butt shot, but I took a side, front and back shot with hopes to do another set when I get back to pre-pregnancy weight. I guess there's no real reason I did it, just to see the changes I guess!

 

 

Ok, last one - I promise! A classic beginning and ending comparison.

 

 

Post-Birth Story Notes

There were a few notes that I wanted to include in Theo's birth story posts, but I decided to just do a separate post - honestly, I knew I'd never get Part 2 of his birth story posted if I waited for myself to write up these extras! And this is proof enough - Theo is almost 3 months old and I'm just getting this posted. If there were a motto for this blog it would be: better late than never. Ugh. 

What's in a Name?: We had the easiest, and then hardest time picking out a boy's name - both with the same name. From the beginning we knew we wanted something that was like Noelle - somewhat unique (as in, not in the top 50-75 most popular names in the last few years) without being weird. 

I don't know how Theo popped into my head; I don't remember seeing or hearing it anywhere, but I knew I liked it. A lot. A few days later Bryan and I were discussing our criteria when he said he had thought of a name he liked. (Does everyone see where this is going? ;) ) He said Theo and I said "Are you serious!?" It was definitely one of those we've-been-married-too-long moments. 

So that was the easy part. 

The final name decision became harder, in my head only, when I started to question using Theo. I basically started to let others' opinions wear down my love for the name. When people would ask us for our name choices and I said Theo, it was met with one of three reactions:

1. Genuine like for the name. 

2. A comment about The Cosby Show. 

3. That fake approval of the name - "ooh, that's nice. Uh huh, I like that one." Liar. 

I would say reactions were split equally among those three. Unfortunately though, it felt to me like everyone hated it or made the Cosby comment and it really started to wear on me. So much so that I told Bryan I didn't really like it anymore and that we had to come up with a list of names to pick a new one. 

Bryan still really liked Theo but agreed to keep an open mind toward other names. The only problem was that after looking through website after website, talking to people about names and even intently watching the credits of movies and shows, we had no other choices we loved. I only had three names in my boy list when we went to the hospital: Evan, Nolan and Theo. Evan was the only one I wasn't lukewarm about. Bryan hated it. 

Once the words "It's a boy!" came out of Bryan's mouth, we knew we'd have some decision-making to do. We decided to take out Nolan pretty immediately because it was too similar to Noelle and too popular. Everyone kept asking us his name and we would answer that we were still deciding. And every time Bryan would try to convince me to go with Theo. 

I finally told him that everyone's reactions had worn down the name for me. He yelled at me like any good husband would after his wife had just given birth and made me realize that it was no reason to not choose the name that I had once loved. I still had some doubts and for a little while thought that we had made the wrong choice. I even tested out calling him Evan that first day.  But in the end I fell back in love with the name and think it fits him perfectly!

Length of stay: I didn't realize I even had a say in how long we stayed in the hospital after the baby was born. It wasn't until a friend of mine posted a picture of her new family leaving the hospital before the typical two day stay that I started to think about doing the same. 

I decided pretty quickly that we would leave the hospital after only one day as long as everyone was recovering nicely. This is such a 180 from when Noelle was born. I had a full blown panic attack when it was time to leave the hospital and I would have stayed an extra 5 days if they would have let me! This time the unknown was not so unknown and I knew Noelle would do better getting back to her normal routine. 

Thankfully Theo and I both had amazing recoveries and we were allowed to leave the hospital after 36 hours. Even though we're all smiles in this picture, there was still a small amount of anxiety behind those sunglasses. 

Life with a newborn and a 3 and 3/4 year old: One of my biggest sources of anxiety  during my pregnancy was how difficult the transition would be to a family of four, especially in the newly born days. Honestly, it was one of the smoother transitions we've made as a family. I was just so much more go with the flow this time around. Bryan kept commenting on how relaxed I was in the hospital and when we got home and that he wouldn't even know I had just given birth. Physically and mentally I was just in such a better place this time around. 

It was so much easier to not fight the idea that I might have to stay glued to a chair or couch if Theo wanted to nurse every hour in the hour. Or if he wanted to wake up every two hours and stay awake for an hour - like he did the first night home. 

Knowing what to expect the second time around just made things easier overall. Now if it seems like things were all puppies and rainbows, they weren't. At all. We absolutely had our share of crabby bickering and freak out moments. I had some minor baby blues too, but we just took everything in stride. 

I will say that Bryan had some kind of crazy newborn amnesia. Dude could not remember *anything*. There were so many times I had to correct or remind him of something and he would have no recollection of it from Noelle's baby days. It was actually pretty funny and became a running joke in those first few weeks. 

Overall that first month went pretty smoothly and it has continued that way (knock on wood). Even the first week of my return to work has only had a few minor hiccups. I really hope this trend can continue, but I know things will get tougher as Theo gets older and more demanding. And to that I say, bring it on :)

Theo's Birth Story :: Part One

I'm rewriting from shorthand-ish notes I took on my phone throughout labor so apologies if things seem a little choppy.

On Tuesday night (June 24) I decided to get out of the house for a little bit for some me time. I went to the mall to walk around and get some Shopkick points. I texted my best friend and joked that I was determined to walk this baby out of me.   I had to run to Target after the mall and noticed (what I thought were) Braxton Hicks contractions. They felt a little bit different, but not enough that I though anything of them. I just thought I had overdone it walking around the mall. [Now that has to be a finalist for Most Pathetic Statement of the Year! Walking around the mall was too strenuous for me!]

I got home and went through Noelle's bedtime routine with her and did a few chores. I finally collapsed on the couch around 8:45. I noticed that I was still having the BH contractions so I drank some water and put my feet up. About half an hour later it finally started to dawn on me that these weren't just the same BH contractions I had been having the last half of my pregnancy. I realized that they were happening with more frequency and that I should probably pay more attention to them. 

I kept track of them for about an hour and they weren't very regular or painful. It felt like a stomach tightening BH, but with more pressure on my back and lower abdomen. I also had to pee after just about every one and I usually had some "bloody show" as well. (You should probably just get used to the TMI factor. This is a birth story after all.)

After hemming and hawing with Bryan about calling the hospital - I didn't want to be that pregnant woman calling for every little uncomfortable thing, I finally called around 11:00 just to get advice. You have to remember that I had never been through this before because I was induced with Noelle. I really didn't know what to expect this time around. After a couple of phone calls back and forth with the nurse - and she having some back and forth with the on-call doctor - we decided it would be best for me to come in and get checked out with the understanding that they might send me home if its too early or false labor. 

We called my parents and told my dad to come on over, finished packing some last minute items and left home around 11:40. Now,  let me remind you that we had both been up since about 6:30 that morning. I remember telling Bryan that I really hadn't wanted my labor to happen at night because of the sleep factor and the inconvenience of everything. As if I had a choice, right? Silly pregnant lady. At this point I was starting to have to take a break and breathe through the contractions. They weren't too painful, but they were no picnic either.

Bryan finally got to realize his dream of rushing to the hospital. He has always said that the last time was such a let down because I wasn't having any contractions and there was no real urgency to get to the hospital for the induction. I'm glad I was able to make it more exciting for him this time around ;)

The nurse had called ahead so they had a triage room ready for me. At midnight the nurse who worked with us (Sara - absolutely loved her) started all of the questions while checking my vitals and getting me hooked up to things. I had been 3 cm dilated for the last two weeks so we knew that would be our starting point. The next course of action - be officially admitted or be sent home - would depend on if/how much I had advanced. Well, at exactly 12:15 Sara told me with a big smile on her face that we'd be having a baby today because I was already 5 cm dilated!!! She also said that my bag of water was very, very taut. 

Bryan and I couldn't believe how quickly things had advanced in the matter of a few hours and with very minimal discomfort and pain. Everything was so surreal to me and it was hard to imagine that this was really it and we were finally going to have this baby!

Around 12:30 I noticed that my contractions were already coming faster and were a bit more intense but still manageable. I had to interrupt any conversation I was having to breathe through them, but I wasn't pleading for any pain meds. I was glad that we had come to the hospital when we did. I had wanted to labor at home for as long as possible, but with the speed with which things were moving, it might have been a little close!

That all changed as the contractions increased significantly over the next hour. The pain level went to a 6 and so did my cervix! Bryan and I kept looking at each other with such disbelief over how quickly things were progressing. My induction made things so slow that it was really amazing to see what my body was finally able to do on its own!

I really wanted to last longer without an epidural, but the contractions were just getting so strong and I just don't have a high pain tolerance.  The nice man with the drugs came in around 1:45am and I immediately felt soooo much better. I have to say, that after two child birth experiences, I really don't get why everyone is so afraid of the epi process. Mine were both so pain free. I was really able to control my breathing through my contractions and I know that has a lot to do with it.

Ok, if I don't post at least part of this now, I'm worried I never will! Part two to come (hopefully) shortly. 

Trying to get a full body shot while Bryan parked the car. 

After finding out I'd be admitted!