Baby + Toddler Thanksgiving Survival

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! The past holiday weekend included a few milestones, including our first flight as a family of four. Happily, Lil' Chica did well and nursed or slept much of the four total flights we took to get from San Diego to Ohio and back. Traveling and the holiday with baby AND toddler was significantly more challenging, though, than when we simply (ha!) traveled with Lil' O as a baby. Oh, in hindsight, those were the days. Admittedly, the kiddos were angelic on the airplanes. In the case of Lil' O, this was mostly thanks to copious screen time, something that we limit at home, but that he constantly asks, begs and bargains for. Keeping him wrangled and with us in between flights was the challenge. He wanted to run and we tried to encourage that, but he also wanted to run AWAY. That was less than angelic. How do parents with three or more kids travel?!

Aside from chasing our toddler, though, the holiday weekend went quite smoothly. So smoothly that it must be commemorated. Here's what helped us get through the holiday and even enjoy the company of family.

Mommy Alone Time

My wildest introverted daydream has now been realized! I am home alone. Alone! There is nobody but me in the house. Sigh, it’s glorious. Mommy alone time is a coveted thing for all moms, especially those of us who are introverted. There’s no escaping children. Those adorable chubby hands reach for me when I’m in the bathroom and Lil' O has even begged to join me in the shower. (It’s in these moments that Husby thankfully runs intervention.) But, still, the best alone time I get is late at night when everyone is asleep. It counts and it’s wonderful. I get so much done! Now that I’m back to work, I also get daytimes at home with just the dog. So nice, but even still there’s always someone to interrupt my train of thought, to take care of, to be sure I’m not literally tripping over or walking into. Really, this pup is constantly nearby! You'd think he was a herding animal.

We started this week sending Knute to doggy daycare during the day. He’s been at this facility when we’re out of town, but today is his first daytime-only visit. To start, it’ll be once every other week. Poor pup desperately needs to socialize with other dogs and while we have been taking care of new baby and juggling Lil’ O, he has fallen to the bottom of the priority list. Sure, he’s still walked once a day and gets to hang with us, but it is so clearly not enough for our high energy, high anxiety dog.

First Week Back to Work

Baby #2 is here and I’ve now been back to work a full week. It’s high time I updated the blog! And, finished up things like sending out birth announcements. Hmm, whoops. Go figure, having a newborn in the house made things a bit crazier and has allowed for a lot less sleep.

Going back to work was at least easier with Lil’ Chica than with Lil’ O. I think that is largely due to it just being the second time around. My maternity leave with Lil’ Chica, while it of course had its ups and downs, was smoother than with Lil’ O. I think I realized more of what I needed to do (and not do) to stay sane. As a result, I did things like getting out of the house more and caring about mess and schedules less. I also mostly persevered with breastfeeding – more details to come – and that made it easier to be mobile than with Lil’ O. (Since I had early supply issues with him that the doctors were concerned by, he got a bottle really early, never looked back, and I took to pumping. Being tied to a pump is extremely limiting!!)

So, going back to work…I’m happy to report that I did pretty well. Monday was the most difficult day, but I put aside my missing Lil’ Chica and really, really focused on the new assignment I’ll be spending my days on with work. I love a new challenge and it helped that I hadn’t been at the computer much during my leave. So, coming back to strategic thinking and writing felt refreshing. I did sneak some breaks to look at pictures of my little girl, though. She sure is a cutie. Each subsequent day this week got easier and I'm grateful that I already have assignments coming in and deadlines to meet, all of which will help keep me focused.

Welcome Lil’ Chica, A VBAC Birth Story

She’s here, she’s here! Lil’ Chica *finally* made her grand entrance one week and one day after her much-anticipated due date. Later than anticipated and still right on time. And, once she decided it was time, she came pretty quickly! Maybe a little too quickly.

It all started the Tuesday after my Friday due date. Got that? Four days after my due date I finally got a sense that something was happening. Turns out, it was what’s called “false labor.” I don’t like this term. While it didn’t progress and bring my baby rushing into the world, I still think my body was working and preparing. So, sure, not the labor I was looking for, not as intense as it’d get, but also not “false.” Bah.
 

Since my due date came and went, and because I refused to schedule an induction, I got the lovely addition of nonstress tests every few days to be sure Lil’ Chica was still doing well. All looking good! Despite these assurances from the tech, I did ask about the position of the baby. This came following prompting from my doula who thought the baby might be slightly twisted, which would explain some of my start and stop labor nearly every day. (When the baby isn’t quite in position, contractions can start and stop to help the baby make the turn and get into the best possible position of birth.) Sure enough, though Lil’ Chica’s head was obediently down, her face was looking right at us, meaning she was posterior, or sunny side up, and needed to turn around. Ugh! That was Friday morning, one full week past my due date.

Following the news of Lil’ Chica’s posterior position, Husby and I went that same day to a specialized acupuncturist to hopefully get labor going. I was convinced from talking to my doula and friends that after one session, I’d be in full labor. Sadly, that wasn’t quite accurate. I mentioned to the acupuncturist the baby’s position and they added a couple needles to help her turn. All of this was meant to “open me up.” It worked at least in part. My mucus plug was lost later that afternoon. Wow, that thing is gross! Following acupuncture and Lil’ O’s bedtime, I also then did a circuit of exercises to help turn baby into position. Brutal, but it seemed to do the trick! Contractions that I could tell were the real deal started at 4 a.m. We waited until 6 a.m. and called our doula to come on over. We were going to have another baby!

The Power of Nesting

I have just a few more weeks before the supposed arrival of our baby girl. Crazy! She could of course deviate and not come punctually on her due date like her brother, but the guess date is the best we have at this juncture. I’m both geared up for birth – I’ve been doing lots of prep in anticipation of what I hope and pray is a successful VBAC attempt – and not quite ready for a newborn. Yet, I know the time is coming to a close; and, due to depleting energy stores, some of my late night surges of productivity have been recently replaced with reflections on the wonderful life God has given me with Husby, the joy that Lil’ O brings and how life is about to change. I’ve also taken to wandering our little home and noting all the things we’ve gotten accomplished these past few months as Husby and I have nested and made our home ready for our baby girl. Some completed projects are of course bigger than others and we certainly enlisted help, but I’m proud of all we accomplished, big and small. Below is the tally, plus some pictures.

Projects Completed

• Decorated and transitioned all of Lil’ O’s stuff to his new big boy bedroom.
• Prepped nursery for arrival of Lil’ Chica, complete with baby gear and freshly laundered clothing, swaddling, accessories and more. 
• Home contractor crew built new backyard shed and Husby built a stand to store firewood.
• Home contractors installed new kitchen shelf for my cookbooks, which I’ve since maximized and started to decorate.
• Husby installed insulation and flooring in the attic to maximize attic storage space and ease of use.
• Hung pictures in main bathroom.
• Installed new home office.
• Rearranged some furniture as we explored what to keep and what to purge.
• Donated clothing, too-big luggage, filing cabinet and small bookshelf.
• Recycled various dead electronics that had been collecting dust in the garage.
• Planted some new edibles.
• Purchased bench and planted a new aloe plant alongside the side of our home for a bit of added interest.
• Cleaned and oiled the kitchen cabinets. 
• G'ma deep cleaned some of the house in need of extra TLC.

The nursery, now ready for Lil' Chica

New shed, mostly for yard tools, but also serving as Lil' O's toy "garage"

Goodbye ugly over-sink lamp, hello recessed lighting & cookbook storage

New Craigslist bench and aloe plant

Yet More Remains…

I’m really proud of all we’ve accomplished, especially because it’s so hard to get ahead of routine maintenance with a toddler. Along these lines, I must confess that much of what we did finish was through teamwork – often one parent entertaining Lil' O while the other did some house task or by enlisting help – and/or completed after Lil' O's bedtime, often in the wee hours of the night. And, despite our best efforts (and lack of sleep!), this list is not meant to imply that our place is pristine. Far from it! In fairness, below is a short list of what more we could do, but likely won’t before baby. We’ve simply run out of oomph.

• Install more sprinklers and refresh plants in the front yard. Curb appeal is not the best right now.
• Install drip sprinklers in the backyard to ease vegetable plant watering.
• Plant grass in our backyard's "bald spots" and fertilize the full lawn. The whole scorching summer heat has kept us from this one, so maybe next spring we'll tackle this one.
• Add attic insulation – another task that requires waiting for the summer heat to break.
• Add curtains to Lil’ O’s room – I have no idea what I want there!
• Sew curtains for our master bedroom, which is honestly sad since I have all the stuff (minus thread) and this would take maybe a half hour. Ok, probably an hour since my sewing machine and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms.

Hmm, there’s probably more, especially when it comes to cleaning and organizing, but this will have to do. Baby countdown is in full effect.