Love This Guy

Happy 28th Birthday Brian!

I love you so mucho.

And in case they don't make it obvious enough, the kids love you so mucho too.

Thanks for being the amazing husband and father that you are.

2 Weeks

Well Sydney is two weeks old today and I already feel like she looking more like a baby instead of newborn. I'm feeling more nostalgic this time than I did with Wes because I know how quickly they grow up!

Things are going well overall. She's getting her days and nights figured out, but she sure does like sleeping!

As for feeding, she took well to breastfeeding - a little too well, maybe - and I had a ton of pain that I really couldn't deal with after a week. I started pumping and then breastfeeding on each side once a day. That was going really well until yesterday when I got mastitis. Awesome. I was fine when I woke up, but started getting worse and worse as the day went on. I recognized it quickly because I had it when I was pumping with Wes. I got on an antibiotic and a Tylenol and Motrin regimen by 3pm and started feeling better.

This morning I was feeling better after having had some good sleep - alternating the night feeds with Brian, who's also been sick, by the way. (He's a great husband, huh?) Around 10am we went to get Wes' 18 month pictures taken. Things were going well until we started to get done and I started shaking uncontrollably. It was so weird. I literally could not stop shaking. Of course Brian was starting to freak out a little bit and wanted to call an ambulance for me. I told him not to because I felt fine besides not being able to quit shaking. I wasn't too hot or too cold and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out or anything.

Anyway, I told Brian to tell them we'd come back to look at the pictures and we headed home calling the nurse on the way. She thought that they maybe didn't give me a strong enough antibiotic so she wanted me to get under a blanket, take some Tylenol and then call back in an hour if I hadn't stopped shaking. Luckily, once I was laying down the shaking subsided and I only had a few aftershocks. I still have a temperature - it fluctuates between 99-something and 102-something - but at least I'm not shaking anymore! Unfortunately, the constant sweating and headache I have make it really hard to fall asleep.

So I've concluded that before I had Wes I was definitely a breastfeeding advocate. However, Wes would not breastfeed. (Don't believe me that I tried everything I could? I could make you a list...) I came to terms with that (after lots of crying) and he got pumped breast milk for a month and formula until he was one. He never had an ear infection and he's super smart. I still wanted to try breastfeeding Sydney and she took to it really well - like night and day from Wes. But really, I don't know that this is all worth it. This is my hard part of the birth process I guess. I have great pregnancies and great labors/deliveries but breastfeeding comes with some hard challenges for me. I haven't decided how to proceed. The jury's still out on that one. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

In other news... Wes had his 18-month check up yesterday. He did really well and was very patient since the process took a while. He got 3 shots - one of which was a flu shot. (I debated that one, but decided to go ahead with it.) Here are his stats: head - 18.5 inches (27th%), height - 32.83 inches (65th%), weight - 23.21 pounds (15th%). We have a little lightweight on our hands! They said he looked really great though and he's progressing really well! He's adjusting better and better everyday to having Sydney around. He's learning how to be "soft" but sometimes gets a little hyper and attention-seeking. We're working on it though!