2 month recap

Somehow in between chasing a toddler, feeding an infant, changing massive amounts of diapers, cooking and cleaning, I've let 2 months lapse on here. So while both kids are sleeping for the moment, here's an update on how things are going:

First trip to the ER:

In the middle of January, we took Brooklyn to the ER because she threw up every time I tried to feed her for nearly 12 hours. After lots of tests, we found out she had a urinary tract infection/kidney infection. Ugh! She was admitted to the hospital for 3 days so she could be closely monitored and given a few rounds of IV antibiotics. It was so hard to have our 5-week old baby in the hospital hooked up to and IV, but we were so thankful that she was well taken care of. The infection cleared up, and she is now a perfectly healthy 10-week old.

Cloth diapering:

When we had Jack, we lived in an apartment which shared a coin-operated laundry room with everyone in our building. Needless to say, using cloth diapers was totally out of the question. We decided to give cloth diapers a try when we had Brooklyn, now that we have our own house. We use Gro-baby diapers and love them! We still use disposables at night as they absorb more and she is able to sleep better. We only have enough for 1-2 days of diapering, so I usually wash a load of diapers at night. They're not really that much more difficult to use, and I love saving the money!

I ♥ sleep:

Brooklyn's day/night confusion ended when she was around 6 weeks old, and I could NOT be more thankful!! Lately she's been sleeping 6-8 hours at a stretch, getting up for 15 minutes to eat, then going back to sleep for a few more hours. There is very little that I appreciate more than a decent night's sleep. I am a MUCH nicer person, and my outlook on life is so much more positive. I didn't really realize just how exhausted I was until I started slowly catching up on sleep. Those first 6 weeks are a blur!

My little girl is growing up!:

Brooklyn started smiling around 1 month and doles them out pretty easily these days. She is just the sweetest little thing, and her smiles make every sleepless night worth it! She loves watching her big brother run around, and I know that I'll blink and she'll be running around with him. She rolls over easily from front to back and is getting so big! She's in the 95th percentile for height and weight (no surprise there...we grow 'em big!)

Post-pregnancy bod:

If you're into wrinkly, saggy, muffin-top abs, then I am SO attractive! My belly button has moved at LEAST an inch to the right, and my abs have a large separation between them which could cause a hernia at any time. HOT. When I asked my midwife about the belly button shiftage, she said, "Hmm...I've never seen this before!" I really am a freak. I still have about 15-20 pounds to go before I reach my pre-pregnancy weight, but given that I gained 65 pounds with Brooklyn, I'm choosing to see this glass as half-full. And you know what? If my belly button disappeared altogether and I never lost the baby weight, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. My kids are so precious, and I wouldn't trade them for the world!

Although I am curious as to how many pregnancies it would take before my belly button ended up on my back....

Three weeks of awesome

My sweet baby girl is three weeks old today! These last three weeks have been an amazing time of bonding for our family of four. Here's a wrap-up of some of the challenges and successes:

Challenge #1: Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is one of the most natural things a mother can do. Our bodies were designed pretty well to sustain life, but it has NOT come naturally for me. I nursed Jack for 12 months so I thought it would be easier the second time around, but that was wishful thinking. Brooklyn has an incredibly strong suck and did quite a number on my "bottles." There are certain areas of the body that you hope you never see bleed... Not to mention that I developed a mild case of thrush, which basically felt something like this:

Success #1: Breastfeeding

After two weeks of tears, grimacing, and a bit of profanity (sorry Brooklyn!), we made it through! Brooklyn is eating and growing well, and I love knowing that she is getting the best possible nutrition at such a young age. I no longer dread feeding her and look forward to EVERY moment I get to spend with her. Breastfeeding now feels very natural...I was even able to play wii tonight while nursing her!

Challenge #2: Toddler in the house

Whew! Having a 21-month old toddler certainly livens things up a bit! Jack is an energetic boy that loves to explore and destroy. The most challenging part about having two kids is how to keep Jack occupied while trying to take care of Brooklyn. Left to his own devices for too long, he will come up with something very creative to do....which is usually dangerous or destructive. And it doesn't help that we're smack dab in the middle of winter and a wind chill of -38 is just too cold to play outside. By the way, why do we live in Iowa? My mom suggested having a toy that I only let him play with while I'm nursing, so that he has something special to do during that time. He's handled this huge adjustment like a champ, much better than I expected, but I know it's still hard for the little guy.

Success #2: Big boy bed

We moved Jack to a big boy bed last week, and he took to it really well! Some friends from church were getting rid of a twin bed, so we took them up on the offer and moved Jack sooner than we originally planned. I was worried that he would have a hard time going to sleep and then wake up throughout the night (one child getting up every few hours in the night is enough, thank you!). But it has not been a problem at all! He was really excited about the switch, and now we're starting to talk about the baby someday sleeping in his old bed.

Challenge & Success #3: Sleep

When Jack was born, I could sleep whenever he slept, day or night. So while I wasn't getting a full night's sleep, I was able to catch little naps throughout the day. That's not really a possibility this time around. For a little while, Brooklyn's nights and days were turned around, and I was catching about 3 hours of sleep each night. I'm not a very pleasant person when I'm that sleep-deprived! Thankfully, God has been very gracious and I'm able to get more and more sleep each night. And Brooklyn is usually sleeping during Jack's afternoon nap, so I'm often able to catch an hour or two then. This week, she's only been getting up once in the night (around 3 AM) and I've been able to get 6-7 cumulative hours of sleep. It's amazing how much more positive my attitude is with an increase in sleep!

Being is a parent is the hardest and most rewarding thing I've ever done. Having a second child adds new challenges (many that I have yet to discover!), but the joys have also increased exponentially. I love watching my kids grow and discover the world around them. I love seeing Jeremy interact with them....he is such a GREAT daddy! I love dreaming about their futures and ours as a family. And I love soaking in every moment that I have with them.

Brooklyn Dawn

What a week it's been! Our precious baby girl arrived 9 days ago on December 12. She was born at 8:00 AM, weighed 8 pounds/9 ounces, and measured 20 inches in length. Here's how it all went down (or out, rather):

Friday, December 11:

6:30 PM- After running errands, Jeremy, Jack and I decided to hit up Culver's for dinner. Ironically, Jack was also born after eating at Culver's...makes me wonder what's in those butterburgers! I'd been having irregular contractions for weeks, but was starting to casually notice the time between them and take note of their intensity.

7:00 PM- Jeremy was still working on his dinner when I told him he needed to hurry up; I was kind of feeling like this baby was coming soon! Contractions were 7-10 minutes apart.

8:30 PM- We decided to take Jack to Nana & Papa's house to spend the night, just in case we headed to the hospital in the middle of the night. And Nana is a NICU nurse and knows a thing or two about labor & delivery so we figured she could help us decide when we should go. Contractions were 5 minutes apart, but I was still able to talk and laugh through them, so it didn't seem all that urgent. Sue (Nana) suggested I walk on the treadmill to see if it changed the contractions at all. (If they went away, probably false labor; if they stayed or intensified, probably real labor). After nearly 30 minutes of walking, contractions were getting stronger, and we were getting very hopeful.

11:00 PM- We called the hospital to see if we should come in. Although I could still talk & laugh through the contractions, they were stronger and also in my back, so we decided to head in. On the way, I reminded Jeremy that I REALLY wanted to go drug-free again.

Saturday, December 12

12:45 AM- After we get situated in our room at the hospital, the midwife tells me I'm 7 cm dilated. Whoa! Glad we didn't wait any longer to come in! The labor nurse guesses that I will definitely be holding our baby by 3 AM.

5:00 AM- I am NOT holding my baby in my arms and have only dilated 1 more cm. The midwife breaks my water, and we hope that things move quickly from here. Contractions hit HARD, and I suddenly remembered all that I had forgotten about labor after Jack was born. And this time I had strong back labor because our baby was posterior, which was also slowing down the process. So the labor nurse & midwife had me trying different labor positions to get our little girl to turn around. I had an awesome support of Jeremy, my mom, and Jeremy's mom in the room with me. They each took turns rubbing my back and putting cold washcloths on my neck & back. My mom kept saying "I think I'm going to rub a hole in her back!" to which I said, "Please don't stop!!" I knew how hard it was for my family to see me in such pain, so I tried to crack jokes to let them know I was going to be ok.

7:45 AM- After trying several positions, throwing up several times, and telling Jeremy, "ok, your turn now!" I had to push. The moment was finally here! We were going to meet our baby girl!

8:00 AM- Brooklyn Dawn Jennings entered the world! Our midwife let me take hold of our daughter and pull her out and into my arms. What an AMAZING experience! In that moment, there's the greatest relief, excitement, and rush of love that I can imagine.

8:10 AM (approx.)- My mom cut the cord, Jeremy helped weigh and measure her, and Sue checked her vital signs. The next few hours are somewhat of a blur, but I'll never forget watching Jeremy bonding with his brand new baby girl. The way he held her, looked at her, and talked to her, as though there was no one else in the room. Brooklyn is blessed to have a Daddy who loves her so much. And I am blessed beyond words to have this family.

Vacation '09

This past weekend, my family (mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, niece, Jeremy, Jack, myself) took a vacation to northern Minnesota to visit grandparents and other extended family. It was great to spend time with relatives that we don't get to see that often, and it was nice to get away for a few days.

Traveling with toddlers is far from relaxing and takes so much more planning than when we could just throw everything in a duffle bag and call it good. But it's so worth it. Jack had so much fun seeing new places and meeting new people. We went blueberry picking one day and he was in heaven!

I love traveling with Jeremy. He's laidback and doesn't sweat the small stuff, which is quite helpful when little ones are involved! I have yet to go on a trip with Jeremy that I don't come back more in love with him than when I left. Which I think is saying a lot, after five years of marriage plus three years of dating! I'm excited for our next travel adventure together and look forward to adding Jack's little sister into the mix soon.

Dr. Michael Magichands

To set up this story, let me take you back five years, to the summer Jeremy and I were first married. We were more adventurous then (and lacking wisdom) and would often go bridge-jumping. On one occasion, Jeremy decided to swing from a rope off the bridge, which broke and threw him (15 ft or more?) to land on his back in just inches of water. That summer marked the beginning of chronic back pain for him. His job as an auto detailer never helped things, but he managed to survive.

Fast forward to this spring, 2009. We bought our first house to accomodate our growing family and moved in mid-March. One evening Jeremy spent countless hours moving boxes from our 3rd story apartment to the new house (I told him to wait until more people could help, but he wanted to get as much done on as his own as possible). And by the way, if you've had chronic back pain for nearly five years, it's ok to let other people help you move. Needless to say, the move was horrible for his back, and his health took a pretty big nosedive. He finally went to a doctor when just getting out of bed was a major struggle. They took x-rays, told him his muscles had seized up and sent him home with painkillers and muscle relaxants. The drugs started making him really sick, to the point that he couldn't eat anything (or keep anything in) for over a week. He couldn't stay at work, if he could go at all. And the pain was unbearable. It was one of the most helpless times I've ever had in my life. The worst night was when I came out of the bathroom to find Jeremy on the floor in the hallway, eyes rolled back, sweating profusely, and mumbling. I really wondered if I was watching him die (and I'm about as optimistic as they come...)

Five weeks ago, Jeremy finally agreed to try a chiropractor as a last resort. He had been VERY anti-chiropractor up until that point, but traditional medicine had been a total bust. So, with a dear friend's referral, we headed to see Dr. Michael Jorgenson, a chiropractor in Ames. Now, I don't mean to be overly dramatic about it, but seriously, he saved our life. He took the time to really get to know Jeremy and hear all about his history. He gave an in-depth exam and took the time to go over all the x-rays with us, which by the way, CLEARLY show a bulging disc and misaligned vertebrae, among other issues (thanks for nothing traditional medicine?). And then gave us HOPE. Hope that he could help. Hope that Jeremy would be feeling significantly better in 6-8 weeks. Hope that Jeremy could be feeling as good as "pre-rope-swing" days by the end of this summer!

After visiting Dr. Michael (who we now call Dr. Michael Magichands...) two times a week for the last five weeks, I have seen such a change in my husband. He's probably the healthiest that I've ever seen him. He bought a season pass to Ames' pools so he can swim laps after work. And then after dinner, he takes Jack on a 30-45 minute bike ride. He's changed his diet a lot and eats things like grilled chicken salads, apples, gluten-free pasta, and he drinks Smart Water instead of soda. Seriously, WHO IS THIS GUY??

This summer is shaping up to be so much different than what I was prepping myself for. I'm so thankful for Dr. Michael. I'm so thankful that we've been given a second chance. I'm so thankful that Jeremy can play with his son (and in less than 6 months, second child!). And I'm so thankful that the despair we felt just five weeks ago has been replaced with hope for our future.

Empty house

It's just after 11:30 on a Saturday evening and for the first time in over a year, I'm alone (excluding, of course, the precious child hanging out in my womb). Jack is having his first overnight without parents (he's staying with Nana & Pops), and it's very strange to not have him sleeping in his room. Jeremy is at a bonfire with a few friends, and I have the house to myself. I've been playing piano and singing loudly just because I can, but this isn't something I ever want to get used to. I am so in love with my family, and I hardly know what to do with myself without them here!

Key word being "hardly." There are dishes to be done, laundry to be put away, and a pillow & bed calling my name. So off I go!

The things I could do!

My mother-in-law watched Jack for an hour and a half this afternoon so that I could get a few things done around the house. It's amazing how much you can get done without a toddler running around undoing half your work! In that time I:

*finished making dinner (pork spareribs)
*cleaned out my car
*cleaned half the house (granted, our house is small and it was a quick cleaning)
*did two loads of laundry
*organized a closet

This makes me wonder what on earth I did with my time before Jack was here. But he is worth every minute of my time, and I am so thankful that I get to be his mama. It's the best job in the world!!

So now that my work is done for the night, I'm going to pop some popcorn and watch tv.....ahhhh.