It's not the flu

I feel like my body is not what it used to be since I moved back home...I've been stuck in bed for the past two days for fever, achy body and headaches. I go to the doc today where its not the flu but some virus and I have drainage. So I've been confined to the bedroom again while Tom manages the fort with the help of his parents.  Ive gotten this sick with both kids and even last year. It is not a fun feeling!!

Well tom has been sending me photos of mizz Ania. Cameron is up to her usual sleeping schedule...

Big girl bed

Ania has a full size mattress thats on the floor in her room. What I don't understand is how a 2 yr old can constantly fall off the bed with all that room. Oh Ania.  Lol

4 weeks old

Talia is 4 weeks old today. I have no clue where the time is going. She'll be one month this Saturday.

Talia is sleeping 3-4 hours at a time.  She spurts a lot!!  She does that more than burp. It's so funny because she sounds like an adult letting one rip. She follows my hands with her head from side to side and she eats a lot.  I say she averages 4 oz. Each feeding.  She has baby acne and still has redish hair and eyebrows with bluish eyes, which I know is going to change. My mom said she looks like me as a baby so im going to see the next time I'm at my parents. Also, mom usually says mestiza but she said this one looks straight white. Lol. Oh how my genes are recessive to Tom's. ..

As far as Ania adjusting,  shes doing well. The only thing is that she doesn't let Tom hold the baby sometimes. Depending her mood,  she say "No baby" until tom hands her to me...oh boy. .

Puzzled

I'm still trying to figure out how a 3.5 week newborn that sleeps most of the day, aka Cameron, makes me so exhausted?  Oy vey

Imitation

I have no clue where she learns this but ania never fails to amuse me

Remedy to a slump

Staying at home and not going anywhere...well most of the time can take a toll on me.  I was at the hospital for 5 days and have the majority at home for 3 weeks getting out of the house by walking around the block.

Today, I couldn't take it anymore so we dropped Cam off at the inlaws and spent the morning and lunch with Ania at the mall. It was nice getting out and spending one on one time with Ania and Tom.

We got home and this is what our living room looked like. Tom was the photographer.

What day is it today?

It's hump day!!  This catch phrase would make more sense if I was in the work environment but I'm not.  Plus, I didn't know what to title this blog since it's a whole bunch of ramblings.

So yesterday, aside from going to a nice dinner with girlfriends.  Well, as I told Tom last night, the clock stroke midnight and I was back to the pumpkin life, meaning I'd have to wake up in an hour to feed the baby.  Back to where I was, last night there was a party at my house from 1-4:30am and I woke up with a hangover.  Oddly enough, there were no beverages involved or invitees, other that two baby girls that slept over.  We'll call one girl, Ania, and the other, Talia.  Needless to say, I'm tired and I'm back on caffeine. 

Talia woke up her usual 3 hours but the thing with her is that when she falls asleep, she starts making these grunting noises.  It just means that she needs to pass gas.  Sometimes it gets so loud I have to pick her up and try burping her again.  This was one of those nights.  Poor kid.  She's now on full formula now since I stopped with the breast milk (it just got too stressful with nursing then having to give her a bottle for every feeding).  I looked into giving her gripe water.  It's a natural liquid that I put in her bottle to help relieve gas.  It may be a mind thing, but every time I've given it to her she poops and doesn't grunt.  So it works. 

Ania woke up at about 3:30 crying.  I think it's part of her adjusting to her little sister.  She has her good days and bad days.  This day was particularly good but she still woke up.  The thing with Ania is that she calls my name, "Mommy" but then when I go into the room she says "no, Daddy".  Girl, make up your mind!!  Partly, I think it's because I left right before bedtime so she wanted to make sure I was home.  So Tom changed her diaper, brought her into our room and laid with me for awhile.  She doesn't (and can't) fall asleep in our bed, which is probably a good thing, so when she was getting tired, she wanted Tom to carry her back to her room and she fell asleep until 7:30am.  The running joke is Ania like me, but in a subliminal way.  I'm just looking forward to when I'm completely healed, Ania and I will have a reuniting workshop (aka mommy/ania days).  I can't pick her up for another 3 weeks until my stitches heal (doc's orders). 

Speaking of diapers, Ania's doc hinted that she's ready for potty training.  I admit I hate changing her diapers now as her bowel movements are like an adults but the goal is to have her potty trained by the time her next appointment rolls around (in 6 months).  So hopefully this weekend, I'll stock up on Lysol and let Ania roam free.  eek!  We do sit her on the toilet (with her diaper on) and go through the action and tell her "this is where you pee pee or poo poo or both, then you wipe and flush the toilet", then she flushes the toilet. 

More Ania updates.  She LOVES being outside.  If she could she would just stay out there.  With Tom pretty much watching her full time, they spend about 90% of their time outside on the weekends.  I go out sometimes with Talia, but I'm mostly in the house with Talia.  Ania is putting words together like "bye outside", "Ania water", etc.  and she's becoming more independent.  Where did the time go???  She's becoming a big girl before my eyes and I just want her to stay this age forever!! 

Since I'm on maternity leave, I'm experiencing the stay at home mom lifestyle.  Well besides having to stay at home because Talia is still so new and not being able to go anywhere, I don't think I could do it.  Tom has asked, "do you want to continue doing this?"  My response, "no, thanks".  I find myself constantly doing laundry, sorting things out, and right now Talia is mostly sleeping so I'm just here.  I did start reading a book (it's been awhile) just to feel like my brain is functioning.  I'm enjoying it as much as I can since I only have 8 weeks before I go back to work...unless I use my vacation.

Neighbors.  One more thing.  Our neighbors are awesome and so nice!  They've been in the neighborhood for 15+ years and are older but they always tell me and Tom that if we ever need help to just knock on the door.  One neighbor got gifts for the girls and another saw us taking a walk and ran out to meet Talia.  We've never had that before and what's so funny is that Tom baked a pie for one because she wheeled Ania's playhouse to her house when we were out of town last year.  I have to say we're looking out for each other and it's pretty cool.  I grew up not really knowing our neighbors but we talk to our neighbors all around us.

The newborn baby complex

Its been two weeks since we brought Talia home and we've quickly adaptes to our new life.

Ania is taking it with strides. For the most part she's pretty independent with doing things (e.g. playing, eating, drinking, etc).  She refers to the new family member as "baby" and acknowledges baby whenever she makes a sound. "Baby crying", "baby milk", "baby diaper".  There are things we have to do to both kids. If I'm giving Talia milk, ania wants milk. I put aquaphor on Talia, ania wanted aquaphor. One thing though we're also dealing with are the "two personalities"  aka tantrums. We let ania cry them out and it takes a whole lot of patience when lack of sleep is a factor.
Mommy and Daddy. My older post we divde and conquer when both kids wake up at the same time. Since I'm on maternity leave and tom's working, I have Talia duty during the night shift. My side of the bed is currently covered in a towel where spit up was and I'm sleeping over a spot Talia peed on while I was changing her.  Tom and my salvation is showering!  That 10 mins of alone time is like winning a million bucks. We've talked about it before but lately our highlight is when we relieve each other to take shower. And bedtime. We put the girls to bed at 8pm and one would think we go back to the living room. Nope. We sit on our bed and breathe. Tom gets us a beer and we just sit on our bed in quiet.  Then hopefully in bed by 930. How times have changed so quickly. Before I went out on maternity leave, my guy coworker who's older was telling me about his kids (who are now in college).  He told me about his experience on transitioning from one to two kids. His exact words "all I remember is that I lusted for sleep"  im starting to somewhat relate but most nights we have good kids. I hope Talia sleeps like her dad, which tom can sleep all day if he could. There's been times I've let him sleep in and I have to wake him up at 11. Something I've havent been able to do in a long time.

Talia. She doesn't like to be rocked,  so far.  She makes sounds during her sleep and sounds like a purring cat or any cat in general. She makes the pushing sound when she lets one rip and she doesn't really burp after I feed her. She either farts or poops...she still sleeps most of the day about 3-4 hr stretches at a time. And she hates being swaddled.

Heres to the beginning of my family of four.

Nighyly chats

My cousing, Margarita, and I have kids the same age. Her son is 2 weeks younger than Ania. So when we first had the kiddos we pretty much went through the same thing and were up at the same time in the middle of the night. How do I know?  We texted each other throughout the night. Literally fron about 1-4am trying to get each other through the first child's adjustment and phases.

Fast forward two years later, we're pregnant again at the same time. I had Talia already and she having another boy in January. She's been having trouble sleeping and I'm awake for feedings so we're back at the late night chats. It's pretty funny but at the same time nice having live support with someone going through the same thing.

Genes

Tom has pretty strong genes. Most likely, she'll look like me later on.

Friday night

Before, fridays were about going to a bar or dinner with friends and drinking a lot of wine.  Now my friday nights consist of hair in a bun, sweats and watching something on the disney jr channel.

Maybe soon I'll incorporate the wine...

Back at step 1

Having a c section, it's been hard to walk. It just hurts in a different area from a vaginal delivery. Anyway, I feel tired and winded after a short walk so I feel like im starting over when I try to get my prepregnancy body back.

Just like with Ania, the girdle is on all day everyday. It actually helps my back too because it hurts from hunching over walking.

Anywho, I took a photo 9 days postpartum and want to track my progress. Tom goes back to work next week and I bought a sling so me and Talia can go for walks. It made sense bc shes still so small and its easier then putting (buying) an adaptor for the car seat to fit on the stroller...

Baby brunch

I totally forgot to blog about the brunch with the gals before Cameron was born. Photo posted soon...

Ania's Birthday and Halloween

Ania's Birthday was celebrated in two parts.  The first was 2 weeks ago with just family because my due date was so close to her actual birthday, I wanted her to celebrate with cake and all.  It was actually a good call because I delivered her baby sister 3 days later.  The second was her actual birthday.  We just got her a small cake and went trick or treating to a couple houses in the neighborhood. 

We started her birthday off at the doctors office for her 24 month check up.  She's a healthy girl, mostly in 50th percentile in weight and growth.  The doc said she's a little taller than the average 2 year old which made me say "oh, ok" just because we've been getting a lot of "she looks tall for a (then) one year old".  Ania also got her flu shot, which was cool because it was a nasal spray, not shot.  So all good leaving the doc without shots!  Well Ania had blood taken but she's such a good girl because she didn't even cry!  Killing two birds with one stone, we also had a newborn check-up for her sister, Talia. (trying both names out still...) 

She's growing healthy and back at her birth weight.  She's been pooping up a storm and no jaundice.  score.  I'm still feeding half formula / half breast milk because this girl can eat!!  I'm starting to produce but she still gets so hungry so I have to give a bottle.

Side note: Getting two kids ready was insane and throwing in heavy rain and me not being able to carry anything >2 lbs.  Overall, we succeeded but I was exhausted!!  lol  The adventure took 2 hrs, but it felt like a lifetime.  lol

Anyway, after Ania's apt, we took her to school.  We debated but they had a Halloween celebrated and I wanted her to have activities to do since it was raining so hard!  We felt bad because she started crying when we dropped her off but when we picked her up, she was all smiles.  We got her this tent / tunnel crawl thing that she played with most of the time.  Then we had dinner (burgers, fries and corn) and blew out her candles. 

She's my 2 year old and love her to pieces!!