My Little People

Olivia (20 months) I can't believe Olivia is going to be 2 in four months! WOW! Seriously that's crazy! She is getting so big and smart. (And with smart comes sneaky!) She is everywhere and into everything. Nothing is safe! :) As a matter of fact if you leave a pen for her to find within minutes she will have written all over the bottoms of her feet, maybe legs and arms too if they are exposed and any paper or solid object near by. She is also a climber so on top of the table or desk is NOT a safe place. Other things that are not safe around her are 90% full bottles of garlic salt. This will become a self created, in house "sand table" for her to play in until someone notices. She is also repeating everything you say these days so also not safe is any language you wouldn't want her to repeat in her christian based PDO class. HA! The ability for Olivia to communicate is a blessing and a added challenge. Her frustration level most of the time is decreased because she can let us know exactly what she wants (and it is an exactly), but if she can't have it.. well lets just say we have our fair share of "meltdowns" around here. (They are kinda funny at times though.. she puts on some good shows.) Other than that we are working on saying "please" and "thank you" rather that "I want that" or "I want juice" or "I want moose" (a.ka. cartoons). She also always wants "meeks" (music) on in the car. Her music, the Toddler Tunes CD or Laurie Berkner on my IPOD. I miss listening to my station, but I figure it will only get worse so enjoy "kookaburra" while I can. All in all, Olivia is doing great. She knows who is in her family, her colors, animals and is beginning to learn songs. I can start singing Mary had a... and she will sing the rest of the line and so on.
Olivia's Favorites:
Books
- If You Give A Mouse a Cookie ("mouse cookie")
-Olivia series ("EEAA")
-At the Zoo Sesame Street
-Hug Book
Songs
-I'm going to Catch You ("I chech you")
-Mary Had A Little Lamb ("mary went")
Food
-cheese
-animal cookies
-Cheerios (O's)
Favorite Nickname of the Moment: Livy Lou
She also loves to hug, be rocked, play with Owen, play outside, kick balls, play with her dolls and take whatever Owen might be interested in at the moment. I figure that last one will be a long term thing.
Love this little girl, she makes me laugh every day and some days makes me a little crazy too!


Owen (5 months) My little man is trying to crawl! Can you believe that?!?! He is up on all fours and rocking away. He scoots and rolls around the room. I am soooo not prepared to have two mobile children in the house. Some of Olivia's smaller toys may need to be put up for awhile. He still doesn't have those graded movements you need to sit up by yourself. He tend to jerk himself back when I'm holding him sitting up. He does like his exersaucer for short periods of time. I have started giving him some rice cereal most evenings. He seems pretty apathetic about it. He will eat it, but it isn't with the intention and desire that Olivia displayed when she was first introduced to food other than milk. Owen's ability to sleep at night has regressed! When he was two months old he was getting up once at night around 3. Now he goes to sleep about 9, gets up at midnight, 2:30 and 5:30 and then for good around 7:30 or 8:00. There are even times when he likes to have a party around 5:00am. I'm not a fan of these parties. :/ Someone needs to let him know that at 5 months he is welcome to start sleeping through the night. (Although Olivia was 13 months before she started to somewhat consistently sleep through the night) Owen for the most part is a happy little baby except.. when he is in the car. That boy HATES the carseat, the car and everything in between. Poor little man. We may try and get him a different car seat to see if it helps, but I really think he hates being semi reclined. I think it is that in between laying down and sitting up proprioceptive feeling of falling. He can't seem to get use to it and realize he is ok and relax. In the tub he is semi reclined and he doesn't freak out like in the car seat, but he is always still trying to sit up. (Little guy doesn't realize he can't sit up by himself yet apparently). He and Olivia are getting along great. He thinks she is the cat's pajamas and can really do no wrong. She will waller him to the point I'm afraid she is hurting him and he just laughs and laughs. He can not wait to be able to "play" with her!
Owen's Favorites:
tummy time with some toys to put in his mouth
Olivia's attention
Being talked to
Being carried my me in his sling
laying in bed with mommy in the morning
Owen's Dislikes:
Car seat/car
Being left alone in a room
Clothes being pulled over his head
Olivia's bath time (that goes along with being left alone)
Nickname of the moment: "Mister Mister"

So grateful and blessed for my two happy, healthy children! The pictures on this page were taken by my dear friend Holly (www.olliefern.com). I know this post is 5 months and 20 months, but the pictures are actually 4 months and 19 months. Just so ya know. :)

Owen Goes on Vacation

Not many four month old kiddos can say they have had dinner on Bourbon St. We hope he isn't bragging about it at the nursery in church. :) Owen had his first (and like I told him probably only) vacation with only mom, dad and him.
Sam had a buddy getting married down in Lafayette, Louisiana so we decided to head down there for the big day and then make a little mini vacay out of it and go see New Orleans. The thought of having two kids at this evening full catholic mass wedding was just not logical, so we made the tough decision to leave Olivia at home with Mamu and Papu. (More to come on this adventure in a later blog). This was a very hard decision for me. Olivia stayed with them when Owen was born and one other random overnighter, but otherwise has stuck close to home. Looking back it was the right decision and worked out just fine, but I missed her like crazy and I don't want to go on anymore vacations without her for a while. Sooo.. we dropped her off Wednesday night at bedtime and I cried all the way home because as I left she was crying "go home" "go home". (Per my mom this lasted like 30 seconds and then was distracted by going on a yard walk with my dad, but still.. the last thing you see and hear...) Thursday morning we were up bright and early to go catch our plane. I was nervous to fly with Owen. Olivia flew when she was about 8 months old and I'm pretty sure the girl that sat next to us on our first flight has that on her top 5 worst flights ever list. Owen did GREAT! Seriously, best baby ever award for him.
We flew to Memphis and then on to Lafayette and he slept on both flights. Nursing him on the plane was a bit of a challenge because he can't stand when I put a cover over his head when he is nursing, but I sat next to the window and oh well.. people will get over it, the baby has to eat. When we got to Lafayette and got in our hotel we went to get some lunch (PoBoy sandwiches), buy a wedding present and then take a much needed nap. Owen is along for the ride whatever we do.
Our one and really only major challenge with him is he HATES the carseat. Seriously I thought babies were suppose to sleep in the car. Not him, he screams. So whenever we are out to eat or in a store I carry him in my sling or we hold him. I got a new sling before this trip and let me tell you. I LOVE IT! Sweet Pea Ring Sling in case anyone is interested. I liked my moby, but this is so much easier and better. Owen likes it better too. He doesn't even mind that it is purple. :)
That night was the rehearsal dinner. This was a long event and eventually Owen and I just had to leave it because it was getting too late. Sam stayed and went out with his buddy. Owen and I had some relaxing hotel time, I read my book and late to bed for both Owen and I. Hanging out in the hotel room after the rehearsal dinner

Friday was wedding day, but like I mentioned earlier the wedding wasn't until 7:00. So we had all day of nothingness. It was so nice! We had a relaxing breakfast, read our books, workout, took naps, went out to lunch and checked out an "oldtime" village. It has been a LONG time since I could just lay around all day, read a book of choice and relax. That does not happen in our house anymore for some obvious reasons. I think Owen was jet lagged because he took three long naps that day. The wedding was nice. Beautiful little campus church, LONG catholic mass (Owen and I watched from another room) and nice reception. We danced with Owen in his sling while he slept. Even through the loud music. In my "Sunday Best" for the wedding... finding cute little boy clothes for the wedding was hard!

Saturday we headed to New Orleans. I have never been there. Sam went there to watch a Saints game when he was stationed in Louisiana getting ready to deploy to Iraq. I didn't know what to expect with Katrina and an oil spill in the news. Honestly I was pleasantly surprised that A. the only sign of Katrina I saw was miles of dead trees trunks as we were driving in and no obvious damage from an oil spill.
B. No one talked about either one except for a few "FUBP" shirts for sale.
We got right to the sight seeing and went to ACME Oyster house for lunch (Janelle vs. Food) and the WWII museum. I walked all over New Orleans with Owen in his sling and he loved it. I hated all the smoking though. Everyone was smoking everywhere, even in restaurants. YUCK. For dinner we ate on a second story balcony restaurant overlooking Bourbon St. Food.. ok. View.. interesting. I ordered BBQ ed shrimp. It was THE WHOLE SHRIMP.. eyeballs and all. I was pretty grossed out by it and I tried to get over it, but I just couldn't. Owen liked the lemon we let him suck on. Riding in the trolley, watching the scene, on our way to the WWII museum

Sunday I was really home sick and wished our flight didn't leave so late. Not to mention we were going to miss the Colts game while we were flying. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do about it so we opted for the late check out and went out in search of beignets. We walked forever and it was super super hot. I had to take Owen out of the sling it was so hot. When we got there (Cafe du Mode) there was a long line in the sun. My thought was this is ridiculous, but we had walked so far to get there. The line moved fast and let me tell you.. it was SO worth it! Those were the best pastry I have ever had. DELICIOUS! I wouldn't go to New Orleans without going there. Owen wasn't too thrilled when we got there (he was hot), but we gave him some water and then when we were done there was a park across the street and we walked over there and I fed him. All better now! Giving Owen some water at Cafe du Mode... we were all TOO hot!

We did some shopping and bought Olivia a "chomp chomp" (alligator). This is her new favorite toy to chase the cats around the house with now. We checked out of our hotel, but still had some time to kill so we ate a nice lunch and headed to the airport to watch some football. Unfortunately the New Orleans airport stinks and there was nowhere to watch the game. Owen had also developed a bit of a cold and the first airplane ride was a little rough. He wanted to nurse, but he couldn't breathe and the pressure from taking off was hurting his ears, but then he fell asleep and literally didn't wake up until we were back in Indiana (including sleeping through the Atlanta airport. I was too afraid to move him so I held him for about 4 straight hours. (Too good of an arm workout).
That night I went to sleep about 1:30, Olivia woke up around 2:15 and was up until about 3:30. Owen woke up at 4:00 and my alarm went off at 5:30 to go to work on Monday.
Overall, a nice little vacation, but glad to be home.
Napping at the airport before we head home. Not feeling too hot. My little man has a cold. :(

My Great Privilege

Well we have an almost 19 month old and a 3 1/2 month old in the house now. Things are slowly but surely getting easier.. I think. I'm starting to get into a zone while I'm taking care of them especially during busy times like meals and bedtime. The other day I cut my toe pretty bad and didn't even realize it until about a half and hour later when I saw it was bleeding because I was so focused on making dinner, getting Olivia fed and keeping Owen happy in the process. Now that is concentration because once I realized I had cut my toe and it was bleeding.. DANG did it hurt.
I have started back at work part time again. Right now I am working 2 to 2 1/2 days a week. It has been a little easier going back to work with Owen than it was with Olivia I think for a couple of reasons. #1 He was 4 weeks older than Olivia was when I had to go back #2 He is an easier baby for the most part, so I don't feel like I'm leaving someone else to watch over my screaming, not sleeping child (Love you Olivia but you were a hand full in those early months for sure!) #3 Sam has moved to a four 10 hour shift so he is home all day with them on Mondays. Don't get me wrong.. it was still hard and I miss both of them like crazy when I'm gone, but luckily or unluckily work has been so crazy busy I really haven't had time to think about much except how am I going to squeeze in a chance to pump today.
So Sam is home with them all day on Monday. This is going well I think. He really has some special bond with both the kids and I contribute his Mr. Mom duties to some of that. (Not that he wouldn't if he didn't stay home with them, but I think it has been great for them, him and for me.) Olivia really only wants Daddy in the mornings because they have their little routine (juice and cartoons on the couch) and Sam is the best at getting Owen to smile.
Here is a little bit about each kiddo in the past month or so:
Olivia (1 week shy of 19 months) Olivia is doing well. She has started a PDO program once a week. My hope for this was to get her out of the house and exposed to some more kids, music, games and help with the separation anxiety that we encountered weekly at church in the nursery. She better than I thought she would on her first day. I did get a phone call about her being upset around lunch time, but they were able to pull her through with a paci, blanket and some adult attention. I am MOST impressed that she napped unrestrained though! Getting her to sleep out of her crib or car seat is quite an impressive victory. I think this will be really good for her. I sat around for a couple hours just waiting and wanting to go pick her up until I finally decided to go walk around Wal-mart with Owen just to keep myself from going crazy. This was a big letting go moment for me as much as it was for her. I prayed and prayed and talked and talked about if this was the right decision for her (to go or not to go), but I think it will be good. It is just weird for her to be with people I don't know and not really know what she is doing all day. Some other funnys about Olivia recently. She is referring to herself and "you." I'm guessing because we are always saying "It's you" or "I love YOU". If she sees a picture of herself and you ask her who it is she says "you." I think this is too funny and cute but to avoid years of speech therapy I have started correcting her. (But this is a really hard concept for kids I think). Also one thing that has just blossomed over the past couple months is her pretend play. She is always taking care of her babies. One really funny story is one day I was rocking Owen in the rocking chair in her room and she was in there playing with her babies and not really paying attention to me at all. She had recently fallen and busted up her chin so I had some of this Burts Bees stuff out I put on her scraps to help them heal. She had found the stick of ointment and was saying "boo boo.. boo boo" and rubbing it on her babies head. I though.. ohhh how sweet is THAT! Then... she took her baby by the foot and beat the baby doll against the wall a couple times then said "boo boo... boo boo" and proceeded to rub the ointment on the dolls head again. I about fell out of the chair silently laughing because I didn't want her to know I was watching her. Oh Olivia.. you my child are something else! Olivia in nutshell: Olivia likes... music (singing EIEIO a hundred times a day along with Laurie Berkner) dolls, playing outside, bubbles, cookies, Nick Jr (especially the Moose), Elmo, fruit (especially blueberries and bananas), cheese, chasing the cats, being naked, neigh neigh rides on daddy's back and jumping. Olivia dislikes... coming inside from playing outside, time out, things ending, being left somewhere (aka nursery), getting her diaper changed and pickles.
Owen (3 1/2 months) Owen is doing great. He is sweet happy little boy. He really isn't at the stage where you have funny stories yet, but he loves to watch Olivia and be in the action. My day with him usually involves a lot of feeding, snuggling, tummy time, and naps. (If I'm REALLY lucky they nap at the same time or at least overlap for a hour or so.) He is getting use to being watched by other people. Since I was home with him all summer this is been a bit challenging. I think he gave my grandma a run for her money the other day. Day times are the best for him and after 6 don't plan on putting him down and after 8 be prepared for lots of rocking. This can vary depending on how he has slept that day. One day he takes great naps and then next he struggles with it. He is generally taking a morning and afternoon nap and then a quick evening one. When he wakes up after the evening on he is generally pretty demanding until bed time. He hasn't been weighed recently so I'm looking forward to his four month appointment to see exactly how much he weighs. Owen in a nutshell: Owen likes... to be held facing out so he can see the world, tummy time with his toys (this is the best way to put him down), boobs and bottles (he likes to eat!), peek-a-boo, black and white pictures (or other highly contrasting images), Olivia (he loves to watch her), sitting up, bumbo seat, being carried in the Moby Wrap. Owen dislikes... the car seat (he HATES it.. this makes for some long car rides), pacifiers (despite my best efforts and purchasing of every different kind I could find), napping sometimes, being left alone in a room, anything that semi reclines him.. he really wants to sit up all the time, milk in mommy's diet (still), and loud noises.
Well, this is the latest update from our household. At church on Sunday the preacher said something that I have heard before in different forms, but really always sticks with me and I like to be reminded... "Great privilege has great responsibility" and I truly believe that it is a great privilege to be given these children and I am embracing this GREAT responsibility of raising them.

"I'm So Glad You're in My Family"

Today is July 25, 2010. I'm stating the date because my grandma Kindler died 13 years ago today. I really can't believe it has been that long. I took some flowers out to her grave today and on the way home it got me thinking about what a wonderful person she was. I wish Sam could have met her. I was also thinking about how much she would have loved my children. Family was so important to her. I have so many wonderful memories of her and I realize that's what it is all about because that is really all we leave people with when we go. Here are some of the memories we have created over the past few weeks.
Olivia Jayne 171/2 months old
Wow.. Olivia has changed a lot in the past few weeks. She is talking talking talking and saying new words everyday. She has learned "NO" and it is so cute I can't even be annoyed with it yet. I have quickly learned only to put things in the form of a question if I am ok with her saying "NO" to it. Some other words she has are "knee", "church", "Get outta here", "help", "play", "giraffe", "trash", "ouch", and "pool". She also has learned that things belong to people. I think this is because of the emphasis we have put on things such as "that is Owen's paci and that is Owen's swing." So pretty much all day she points to things or brings you things and says "mamas" or "daddys" or "Owas". The best is that she knows the remote is "daddys". HA. When something is hers she just pats her chest. She refuses to say her name. Also in the morning she generally does a round of asking about everyone she knows and we tell her what they are doing. O: Mama Sam: mamas sleeping O: Owa Sam: Owen is in his swing O: GG Sam: GGs at home O: Mamu Sam: Mamu is on vacation.. and so on...
One of my favorite things to do is to watch her play when she doesn't know I'm watching. Obviously child development has always been an interest of mine given my occupation of choice, but watching it so intently and from such a front row seat is completely different. Today she was "reading" some books by herself while I was rocking Owen and I was watching her in the mirror. She picked out "I love you through and through" and was pointing to the book and patting her self saying in her mix of words "I love you". She knew exactly what that book was all about. It amazed me! (I'm not sure why.. we have read that book a hundred plus times, but not in a really long time). I also watched her play peekaboo with herself in the mirror and then laugh hysterically. This is hilarious! Olivia also loves it when you sing to her. She asks me to sing different songs all day long. Her favorites are Laurie Berkner "I'm a mess" and "Family" and EIEIO (aka Old McDonald), Itsy Bitsy Spider, Zachiaus. I also taught her one of my favorites "Apples and Bananas". She is very particular about which one she wants to sing at that particular time. If you sing the wrong one she says "noooo" in the cutest voice ever. I need a video camera! I love this girl so much.
Olivia has such a spirit to her. I call her my fireball! She climbs on everything, falls off everything (and then gets right back up on the thing she fell off of), runs away at the first chance of freedom and if I tell her not to do something it generally means do it. I have a feeling she will always be a challenge for me, but I don't think there will be too many dull moments. I pray every night for guidance in making good parenting decisions for her to help her grow up into the best she can be.
Favorite moments with Olivia:
watching her play especially pretend playing with her dolls
rocking her last night, singing and holding her and she snuggled with me
when she says "Owa" or "Laurie" (Laurie Berkner)
crazy hair in the mornings (I refuse to cut her hair and yes I know it is in her eyes)
running around and "chasing" her on the golf course grass
when she lays down next to Owen and talks to him

Owen Lucas 2 1/2 months
Oh my! After Olivia I didn't know how it was going to be possible to love someone as much as I love her, but Owen sure has stolen my heart! His smiles and squeals make my heart burst with happiness. Today I'm just sitting there rocking him trying to calm him down after he took a baby doll arm to the head when Olivia was trying to "play" with him. You think this would be a stressful moment but it wasn't. I was just overcome with happiness rocking him and watching him look out over my shoulder with his little baby tears and the last little sniffles from his cry. He was just so stinking cute! I just wanted kiss his little tears away. Olivia was in the corner "reading" her books and he was snuggling with me and I was thinking.. my gosh.. there is no where I'd rather be. (This is not always the case when he is crying his little colicky head off.. but for some reason today I just embraced it and enjoyed the moment)
I think Owen is morning person. When he gets up in the morning he is a pretty happy, easy going baby. He smiles, giggles, will swing in his swing for long periods of time either cat napping or watching the birds circle overhead. Over the course of the day that diminishes and after he gets up from his late afternoon nap I hope you don't have any intentions of putting him down because all heck breaks loose. He also has evening of some spells of colic, but this is getting less frequent. This has been challenging especially since Sam works evenings. As for sleeping, he is doing pretty good. Sleeps 4-5 hours at first at night and then is generally up every 2-3 hours after that. So a typical night bed at 10, up at 3, up at 5:30, up for good at 7:30. Not too bad. I can handle it, but not sure what will happen when I head back to work in two weeks. Right now Owen still sleeps in our room in his pack n play and then maybe in bed with us from the 5:30 to the 7:30 sleep session. I had planned to move him into his room when I went back to work, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for that. It is so nice just to pick him up, feed him and then lay him back down and generally not even have to get out of bed. Plus he sleeps so well in there next to us and since he is a belly sleeper I can frequently check on him. Some other things about Owen... He can't decide if he loves his pacifier or hates it. Sometimes he does great with it and other times he chomps it or pushes it out of his mouth. Also we still can't figure out what color his eyes are going to be. Sometimes they look perfectly brown and other times they look blue gray and you can't see a drop of brown in them. It is so strange.
Favorite Owen Moments:
Mommy/Owen alone time in the mornings before anyone else gets up. Especially our early morning trip to Flap Jacks the night I could sleep.
Bath time
When Owen and Olivia lay on the floor "talking" to each other
Our naps together
Watching him suck on his fist... one of these days he will discover that thumb. :)

The Moments That Make The Stressful Times All Worth It

Hanging out in the backyard

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

6 weeks old

Olivia eating sand
I have had a couple "Must Remember" moments this week so I thought I would jot them down while I actually have two kids sleeping in their beds. :)
First of all, Olivia has been eating EVERYTHING. And when I say everything I mean everything.. Mulch, chalk, sand, crayons, foam balls, wrappers to granola bars, rocks.. you name it. She doesn't just put it in her mouth. She eats it and goes for more. She has even licked the driveway (GROSS) and the last straw was when she bit a tree. I decided at that point to have her tested for Pica. (Pica is a disorder where you have an appetite for non food items). One of the main causes for Pica is low iron. I got a lot of grief for having her tested for this because it is somewhat developmentally appropriate for her to mouth things, but I thought it was quite extreme and the fact that she LIKES it! I didn't want to keep reprimanding her for eating these things if she was just trying to meet her nutritional needs. Soooooooo.. I had her tested aaannnnddd everything came back normal. I guess it is just a behavioral thing, but in great Olivia fashion she ate the entire sticker they gave her for doing such a good job. I find a lot of irony in that.
(Ok, a note before you read the next Olivia moment.. Olivia calls all drinks "juice".. aka milk, juice, water, gatorade)
Second Olivia moment, I was pumping while Olivia was awake for the first time this week. When I started she was playing by herself not paying any attention, but at one point she walked over to show me something and her eyes got really big and she said "Mama JUICE!" and she keep pointing to the milk and she was so excited. I know a lot of girls think their dads are superheros, but I'm pretty sure my stock just rose with her because daddy can't make his own "juice"! :)
Olivia is doing better with Owen. The hitting and the throwing has decreased, the timeouts have decreased and the good moments are starting to out number the bad and the scary. She also discovered she can crawl into his swing which is interesting. Hopefully her interest in that dissipates quickly. It is really neat to watch her pretend play with her dolls. She rocks them, gives them drinks of her milk from her sippy cup, tries to put diapers on them, rocks them. She is going to be a good mom someday! :) Her vocabulary is also increasing each day. It is amazing! Right in time for Father's Day she came up with her own name for my dad "Pa-poo." She will bring me the phone and say "papoo, papoo" meaning she wants to call him on the phone. My mom says she doesn't want to be ma-moo, but I think that is next. We went down to Sam's family reunion this weekend. Despite it being unbelievably hot it was so nice to see everyone. Olivia got to see Spencre (her cousin) too. She really loves Spencre and from an early age could pick her out of a picture before really anyone else besides me and Sam. It is neat to watch especially since right now Spencre is her and Owen's only first cousin. I can't wait to watch those relationships grow. My cousin were and are still a very important part of my life. I was always quite a bit older than them just like Spencre is, so it has been fun watching them grow up from babies where I baby sat them to being teenagers and adults now. They are all such neat people and I love that I have gone from having a caretaker, play friend, older cousin relationship to now having adult conversations with them. Even some of them taking care of my kids now. :)
Owen is getting bigger by the day. He weighed 10lbs 11oz at his six week appt. There are some morning when I look at him and think.. you look different than you did YESTERDAY! I am already needing to pack up some clothes that he has grown out of. This is crazy! He is such a sweet cuddly little boy. I love the quiet moments we have together. This evening we just sat on the front porch after the storm was over listening to the wind blow in the trees and the birds chirping. It was one of those moments where you feel like God is just sitting right next to you and you can just have a one on one conversation. Owen and I just sat out there and rocked until it was too dark to stay out there. I tried to freeze that moment in my head to think back to during the moments where both kids are screaming and I'm trying to get some dinner on the table. :) He also is starting to smile. Talk about forgetting everything and just loving the moment!!!! I love my sweet little boy. My nickname for him right now is "handsome man".

Princess and Chicken Noodle

Well, we survived month one! Owen will be one month tomorrow and Olivia is now 16 months old! It has been quite an adventure.
First about Owen: He is gaining weight and starting to look more like a baby than an infant. He is a sweet cuddly little boy that loves to be held (especially in the evenings when he is a bit colicky). He has some stomach issues around week two, but after eliminating dairy out of my diet he seems to be doing much better. He loves to eat and even took some pumped bottles this week when life required me to be away quite a bit. He is a belly sleeper like his sister and even when he is awake prefers to be on his belly if he isn't being held. This makes the swing and the bouncy seat kinda useless, but occasionally for a few minutes he will swing and listen to the bird sounds it makes. He is sleeping for four hour usually the first span during the night, then he is up about every two hours after that. I can't complain, at least he sleeps!!! He takes a pacifier occasionally, but so far isn't a huge fan of it. He also HATES the car seat, which makes going anywhere interesting. I use the moby wrap with him whenever I can. My favorite term of endearment for him right now is "chicken noodle."
Olivia: Olivia is getting so big so fast!! She is starting to have some verbal words along with still signing a lot. Some of her verbal words are "mama" "dada" "daddy" "hi daddy" "hi mama" "juice" "shoes" "all done" "cheese" and "Owa" (aka Owen). She also has complete conversations with herself in jibber jabber nonsense. It is so funny and cute. Speaking of Owen.. well Oilvia has been a challenge with Owen around. The honeymoon period has definitely worn off. I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do with her. She hits him, throws things at him and sometimes she wants kiss him and pick him up. I don't think it is out of hate or anything I just think A. he takes a lot of my attention especially at night when he won't be put down. B. he is loud C. he won't play with her. So far she gets A LOT of time outs. My biggest fear is someone getting hurt either because A. I'm not paying close enough attention to her or can't jump up fast enough when she is doing something dangerous or B. She hurts him. Anyways, we are learning as we go I guess. Otherwise Olivia is doing great. She amazes me everyday how smart she is. She figures things out and remembers things that just amaze me. She is also quite a climber. I have found her in Owen's bed (no clue how she got in there), on the second shelf of our entertainment center and in other various (and potentially danger situations). I think when she is 18 months I will sign her up for tumble tots or something active and structured like that. She really loves books, the water, playing outside, pancakes, and music. She does not like clowns, some bugs, a lot of meats or mixed foods, being all done when it isn't on her terms. She is starting to use silverware (with varying accuarcy), pretend play with her babydolls and follow commands such as cleaning up her toys. She also is really starting to interact and play with other kids her age. This is one of my favorite things to watch. It is when I really get to see some of her wonderful personality. She is a wonderful blessing to this house and is challenging me to find a ways to guide her into the wonderful young lady I know she will be. My term of endearment of choice for her right now is Princess. :)
As for having two kids in the house. It has been wonderful, hard, happy, sad.. the whole spectrum of emotions. The first time I saw Olivia after Owen was born it was like she was a totally different kid. She just looked so BIG to me! I missed my baby but rejoiced about my wonderful daughter and kid she was turning into. It has been hard and a blessing that she is much less dependent on me and has developed a stronger bond with her dad over the past month. I love that they are closer, but when she hurt herself one day and want her dad not me, I'm not going to lie... It broke my heart. I know this is a good thing though because so much of my time is taken by feeding and caring for Owen who needs me more right now.
In light of this week in which I lost a good friend who had a nine month old daughter I realize how important this blog may be someday. If something should ever happen to me someday one of my blog followers please print this blog out for my kids to have. (I don't think my husband would remembers I do this).

Owen Lucas

HE IS HERE! HE IS HERE! Owen Lucas Drisko graced us with his presence on 5/13/2010 at 4:11pm. He weighted 7lbs and 12oz and was 20 " long! He weighed the exact amount his sister weighed. :)
The night before I COULD NOT sleep!!! This was pretty common though with me recently, but still frustrating especially since I had to work in the morning. Finally at 4am I got up (gave up) and came out to the couch so I wouldn't bother Sam tossing and turning. I started having very strong, but very irregular contractions. At about 6am I decided I couldn't go to work and given some incidents the previous day I decided to make an appt to see my doctor when his office opened up just to make sure my water had not broken the day before. I started tracking my contraction on my IPhone to see if any pattern was establishing.
Luckily my mom was off work that day and came over to watch Olivia while Sam and I went to the doctor. When we got there he said I was dilated almost 3 and was probably in early labor. My water had not broken, but after some further testing he determined that I was leaking amniotic fluid from somewhere and needed to have baby TODAY!! :) :) I checked in the hospital at noon and was disappointed when they told me I couldn't eat anything (I was hungry). A rule that I later became to appreciate, but I'm sure I would have vomited during some of those contractions. I called my mom and my aunt Jan who was going to watch Olivia while the baby was being born. I told them we would keep them posted, but no reason to rush up here quite yet. I was given Pitocin (which is awful stuff by the way). I was so relieved when I finally got my epidural! At 2pm the doctor checked me and said I was dilated around 5 and it would probably be around 6pm when I would be ready. At 2:40 they checked me and the nurse told me it would probably be about an HOUR! YIKES... rapid, slightly panicked phone calls to my mom and my aunt to get Olivia passed off and get up here NOW! After that I kept feeling the urge to push, but I held off telling anyone until my mom arrived and then it was time! Dr. Weber got there and about 15 minutes later he was here. (4 pushes!) My epidural was pretty weak (per my choice), but it defiantly hurt a little more than with Olivia, so I'm glad it went quick. Everything went smoothly and we announced the much anticipated name.. Owen Lucas Drisko. Owen is just a name we really liked and thought went well with Olivia. Lucas is my mom's maiden name and a name I have always liked. It also went well with Owen. We are so blessed to have two happy healthy children and I thank God daily for these two gifts he has given me and entrusted in me to raise.
As many of you know I was very fearful of what this experience would be like and mean for Olivia. I have to say she has exceeded my expectations as far as embracing this whole experience. It hasn't been without some moments, but for the most part she tells me she loves her brother, wants to give him kisses and helps me burb him. :) She for the most part though is pretty indifferent to him (which for now is fine with me!) and really likes his stuff like his swing, bouncy seat and clothes. Also I have noticed a lot more pretend play from her. She puts her dolly in the swing, brings her milk and takes her picture. It is really cute. Although, now that Sam has gone back to work and the flow of visitors has slowed down there is a few more tears as he requires a lot of my time and you can only do so much while breastfeeding. I need to get better at being mobile while breastfeeding.
Owen is doing great. He is much more mellow than Olivia EVER was. He is sleeping well, but only if held or on his belly. This time I have just embraced this rather than fighting it like I did with Olivia. I know it isn't what is "recommended" but Olivia slept on her belly and I'm guessing he will too. I try to still lay him on his back when he is really really passed out, but usually he wakes up within minutes and cries. He is feeding well and at his doctor's appt on Friday had already gained back 3oz from his discharge weight of 7lbs 6oz. I may try to go to the breastfeeding support group Thursday at Clarian North to get him weighted again since he doesn't have another doctor's appt until the later part of June.
As for now we are adjusting to our new schedule. I am so happy to be off for the summer and actually Owen will be 3 months before I have to go back to work. Perfect timing for someone who works in the schools to have a baby! I had to go back at 8 weeks with Olivia and it was just too soon. I don't know I ever would have been completely ready, but another month will be so nice. Sam has gone back to work and I just try to have a game plan for the evenings. I try to get everyone fed before he leaves, naptime shortly after lunch and then lots of playing outside, walks and visiting in the evenings. Like my blog says.. we are learning as we go!