A Day in the Life

I've seen this done before by other bloggers and I thought it would be nice to have a real, full-day record to look back at in the future and recall what life was like at this point in time. So, here goes. I'm not picking any day in particular for any particular reason. I'm mostly a stay at home mom now so my days kind of blend together anyway! This was all done on Thursday, July 18. Evelyn is 2 years old and it's Adam's 4 month birthday!

11:30 pm - Adam is up. He's been asleep since before 8, which is typical, but we didn't swaddle him tonight since he's started rolling over. We'll see how the rest of the night goes. I nurse him and say a quick prayer before putting him back to bed.

1:14 am - Adam is up again. I nurse him and tell myself I'll wait until he's good and asleep before trying to transfer him. 

1:40 am - Fell asleep in chair (it's funny, I almost NEVER did this when Evelyn was a baby. Now, I have the hardest time staying awake during night wakings. Talk about sleep deprived), Adam leaked out of his diaper (finding a solution for diapering him overnight is a whole other story), change Adam, get him back to sleep, crawl in my bed. Feels so good!

2:40 am - Adam is up. Again. Sigh... I guess it's going to be one of those nights. Have a fleeting thought of just sleeping in the chair or on the couch. Let's see if I can't get him back in bed.

3:49 am - Fell asleep in the chair again. Back to bed for me.

4 am - Adam is up again. To the couch we go. Nurse Adam back to sleep. Praying he decides to sleep longer than an hour.

6:28 am - Good morning sunshine. We hang out in the couch for a bit (aka I keep my eyes closed as long as humanly possible).

6:54 am - Rob heads out the door for work so I finally decide to get up and change Adam's diaper. So. Freaking. Tired. I dream of dropping Adam's adorable, smiling little tush in Rob's arms on Saturday morning and sleeping until noon. It probably won't happen but a girl can dream, right? Nurse big boy and set him down to play for a bit. He found his toes the other day and is loving it.

7:09 am - head downstairs to continue doing diaper laundry I started last night (I've got some exciting news on this front to announce soon!). Cloth diapering 2 kids has definitely meant an increase in laundry, but I still love it!

7:16 am - assess the damage from last night's lack of sleep... me in all my morning glory. Just keeping it real! Splash some water on my face, put my hair up, and go sit for a bit to browse Facebook, Instagram, StlWed, etc. on my phone until Evelyn gets up. This will likely be the only quiet time I get all day. Hoping she sleeps until at least 8. But with construction going on to build more houses you just never know.

7:45 am - I get Adam down for a nap in his swing just in time to hear Evelyn awake in her room. I get Evelyn up and change her, then walk in the kitchen and realize that the trash smells terrible so I take it out.

8:20 am - I put Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on so I can sit down and pump. Then I text my mom to firm up plans for swimming this morning. It's supposed to be in the 90's today and I'd like to beat the heat.

8:30 am - Done pumping. Get some breakfast for Evelyn and I (Cheerios and apples and peanut butter). Adam is waking up in the swing, but he's content so I let him be. Side note: I'm off dairy in an attempt to help Adam's tummy. It sucks. I'm attempting to like almond milk and chocolate almond milk, but it's just not the same. I miss my big glass of chocolate milk in the morning. I really, really miss it. And on mornings after a night like last night, I sometimes consider forcing myself to like coffee. Or drinking. I guess it would be too early for that though...

8:53 am - I finish breakfast and empty/load the dishwasher and put my pumped milk away while Evelyn finishes. Another side note: this is actually two days worth of milk. I pump every morning to manage my oversupply. Some days I get 20 oz (when everyone sleeps well) some days I get 5 oz. Depends on the day. I'll be attempting to wean myself off the pump when Adam is around 6 months old.

9 am - I clean the magnets and such off the fridge so they can take it away (it's broken) and move the loaner in, get my swimsuit on, and run a rinse cycle on my diapers. Adam is fussing again, so I change up his scenery.

9:15 am - Get Evelyn cleaned up from breakfast and (attempt to) get her swimsuit on. Adam is fussing again, so another change of scenery. I'd like to wait to feed him until right before we leave for the pool but I don't think he's going to last that long.

9:28 am - Adam is done. So I sit down and feed him while Evelyn dumps a bag of diaper samples on the floor. Whatever keeps her occupied.

9:32 am - Way too distracted by sissy to actually have a good nursing session but he's a little more content.

9:37 am - Sit down to put Adam's swimsuit on and find he pooped! Woo hoo! We've been having some poop trouble lately, so I get excited when he goes.

9:40 am - Mom and James arrive and we get the kids slathered in sunscreen.

10:00 am - Load up the ridiculous amount of paraphernalia it takes to go to the pool and head out the door.

11:45 am - Get home, feed Adam, change clothes/diapers, hang suits to dry and decide on lunch while the kids play for a bit.

12:30 pm - We head out the door to Arby's for lunch. Evelyn eats a ham and cheese sandwich and I have a French Dip. Nothing too exciting, but since we haven't left the house except to go to the pool for three days it was kind of nice.

1:30 pm - We get home from Arby's and Adam is way beyond ready for a nap. He screamed the whole way home in the car, through Evelyn's diaper change so I could get her in her room for a "nap" (lol), and through his own diaper change until I sat down and nursed him for bed. He konked out pretty much immediately.

1:45 - Adam is asleep and Evelyn is in her room, so I grab the laundry from downstairs and hang the diapers out to dry before sitting down to get started on this post.

2:17 pm - Adam is up, coax him back to sleep.

2:37 pm - Call Lowe's to try and figure out what's going on with the fridge issue. They are supposed to be picking up our broken fridge today and moving a loaner into the house until our new one arrives in a couple of weeks. Except they haven't called or come yet. Come to find out one of the delivery men cancelled our visit because he didn't have anything to deliver. They said they would call me back and let me know what's going on.

2:45 pm - I check on Evelyn to find her standing on her art desk turning the light on and off (oye) and with a poopy diaper. I guess quiet time is over. I get her up, change her, and give her a snack.

2:55 pm - Lowe's calls back and says they are on their way. Crap. I haven't emptied the fridge yet. So I go find a couple of coolers for the frozen stuff and empty it all onto the counters. My kitchen is officially a disaster area. I finish just as they are arriving. Evelyn is pretty fascinated.

3:40 pm - The old fridge is gone and the loaner is in place. Now I have to figure out how to get everything from our 22 cu. ft. fridge into this 18 cu. ft. one. I guess I needed to purge anyway. Nothing like being forced to clean the fridge out!

4:00 pm - I figured since it's all out, I might as well bag and label my milk to go into the deep freeze. Then Rob calls and reminds me that his mom is bringing his grandma and great aunt by to visit. Crap. Again. The house is a disaster and they will be here any second. Oh well. Not much I can do at this point since Adam is now awake (woo-hoo for a 2 hour nap!) and hungry.

4:30 pm - I finish nursing and changing Adam just in time for my mother in law to arrive with Rob's Grandma, great Aunt, and our niece. Evelyn is super excited to see Isabella and they immediately run off to play while everyone else dotes on Adam. Thank goodness he is rested/full/clean!

5 pm - Rob gets home.

5:30 pm - Our visitors leave and I coax Evelyn back inside. She really wants to ride her bike, but it's really just too hot. I bribe her with another snack. I try to clean the house up a bit more while we relax and play with the kids a bit.

 

5:54 pm -I get dinner started, while Rob entertains. We're having leftovers: Mini Meatball soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, and homemade calzones.

6:15 pm - Dinner is ready so we sit down to eat. In his perfect time, Adam starts fussing, so I get him down in the swing for a little cat nap and continue our dinner. Yummy!

6:45 pm - Evelyn needs a bath since we swam today, so I decide to take her in the shower with me. This is what we typically do, but as Adam's gotten older we've been doing more tub baths with them together. And since I've pretty much decided to give up on getting her to nap, we're moving bed time back from 8:30 to whenever she seems tired. She was pretty glazed over at dinner, so we get the process going. I love taking showers with her because it's one of the few times when we just quietly play together. She has her tub crayons and we talk to one another and sing songs. Love it.

7:10 pm - We're out of the shower and I get Evelyn dressed, her teeth brushed, prayers said, and nurse while Rob gets Adam in his pjs.

7:30 pm - Evelyn is in bed so I start working on Adam while Rob starts on cutting the grass. He's not always so easy and tonight is the second night we didn't swaddle him. He's rolling over now and seems to prefer his tummy, so that's what it ends up being.

8:11 pm - Adam is in bed so I sit down and work on this post a little more and start researching ideas for a little secret project I'm working on. :) What a busy day!

9:00 pm - Adam is awake. Coax him back to sleep.

10:00 pm - Join rob on the couch to watch a little Netflix while he draws on the tablet.

10:30 pm - Crawl in bed, praying for a good night's sleep but worried about Adam sleeping on his tummy.

Another long night was had as Adam was up at 10:45, 11, 3, and 6. And just for good measure, Evelyn was up at 4:15. Blah. This too shall pass and I comfort myself knowing that I get to start fresh everyday. Tired or not, I love being home with my kids and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Tidbits

• Oh dear. I am way behind. I was talking to Rob today to reminded me that it is currently February 2. WHAT!? So, not only have I neglected to take pictures of Evelyn's big girl room after completion (more on that in a minute), I also have a weekly bump post due in two days and I'm late on Evelyn's 19 month post. 
• I can't believe my baby is 19 months old. And I completely forgot about it. I feel like the last 2 weeks haven't even existed as I've literally been pouring every spare ounce of time and energy into completing her room for the big move this weekend.
• Speaking of her room, we officially made the move meaning that it is done. Not necessarily to my vision, but some of it I realized just isn't really possible with the age she is right now. I'm going to write a whole post about her room before and after and all the logistics of everything, but I'm pretty happy with it overall!
• Evelyn's first official night in her new bed was last night. It started pretty rough as she just didn't want to stay in bed (not surprising), but finally my good friend asked if she could lay with her and lo and behold, she fell asleep! Dallas managed to sneak out and Evelyn slept the rest of the night. She didn't even get up before she normally does! Look closely and you can see Sweet Pea sleeping in her big bed!

• I wish I had slept as well. My body slept but my mind didn't. You moms out there would understand. And, as soon as the sun came up I was wide awake just waiting for her to wake up early. Totally unnecessary, but oh well. Maybe I'll sleep better tonight.
• I finally got my official Christmas present today! Rob got me a second band for my wedding set, but he got the wrong one. So, today, we went and made the exchange. I'm pretty much in love. Hopefully I get to wear it a little before my hands swell too much!

• I have been nesting. Bad. Cleaning non-stop, working on Evelyn's room, working on the nursery to revert it back to "infancy." I even did my first load of laundry for the baby. Diapers and washing things like the Boppy and Rock N' Play covers. Yikes.
• I gained 1 lb over the last two weeks putting me at around 35lbs gain. Things have definitely slowed down!
• My next OB appointment starts my weekly visits. Oh dear. It's coming. FAST.
• Evelyn has not been napping well. It's frustrating me and her. She gets super cranky, but I'm not sure what to do. It's even worse now that she can climb out of her bed. At least I can say that moving her to her new bed didn't ruin her naps. They were bad already. But I'm sure it won't be helping the situation.
• I'm done with winter. It hasn't even been that bad this year either. But, I'm ready for leaves on the trees and adventures to the zoo and the swimming pool! And walks! I can't wait for spring!
• I really hope this summer is a mild one. The last two have been brutally hot and I'd love to spend a lot more time outside this year. Evelyn will be at a great age for the park and the new little on will still be nice and wearable, I think.
• We've been attending a new church. I'm still getting used to it, but I really like it. I love the messages and the worship. Seriously, the guy can teach. And I like it when I'm learning and being taught, not always preached at. If that makes sense. My biggest struggle is the size of our new church. I've always attended small churches (200 or less) and this church is very large. It has multiple campuses and multiple services per campus. But, I think with some effort on our part to get involved, we can call it home. That's what I'm looking for, home.

Miscellany

• I love Christmas, but I'm glad it's over. It's like going on vacation but being glad to sleep in your bed when you get home. It's chaos, glorious chaos, but makes you appreciate the routine days throughout the rest of the year.
• I finally got all of my decorations put away. 
• I'm nesting. Bad.
• This is a good thing as Evelyn's room is finally getting some attention and our basement is getting more organized by the day.
• I'm a little freaked out by the fact that I'm having a baby in two months. That is not enough time to get everything done. I'm trying really hard, but not being very successful.
• Rob has been hearing yet another round of layoff threats. This one sounds legit, but when you hear them at least once every four months you begin to ignore them. God will take care of us.
• I don't think Rob would be disappointed to have to find a new job considering how much he dislikes his. Maybe this is God telling him to move on?
• I am finding my job harder and harder. My body is protesting sitting all day staring at a computer. I feel tired and frustrated. I miss teaching. I miss my baby. 
• Evelyn has begun with the tantrums. She's attempting to scream/cry and fall on the floor when she doesn't get her way. Fun, no? At this point, we are both just completely ignoring the behavior or telling her that when she is ready to be kind we can do an alternative activity.
• I'm struggling with the idea of Evelyn weaning (yes, she's still nursing). She is beginning to drop morning sessions and I've noticed changes in her habits as my milk changes back to colostrum (aren't our bodies amazing?). Outside pressures make me question how I'm handling it, but I know deep down that it's a positive part of our relationship and that someday she will wean and I won't have these moments anymore. This may be a whole other post in and of itself though.
• Parenting is hard stuff.
• How the heck am I going to handle two?
• I often feel like I don't devote enough attention to certain activities. I stink at remembering people's birthdays and sending cards. I want to take more pictures of life and keep my photos organized. I want to be crafty or keep my house cleaner but I feel like I can never keep up. I think this is common with moms. But, it's hard when others seem to make it look so easy. 
• Example: I'm 3 years behind on putting our family photos into our annual ornaments. Also, I desperately want to make a photo book for Evelyn's first year, but I feel like I have to be doing so many other things that I can't focus on it. I think the part of me that can't stand to start a project and not finish it in one sitting is my greatest detriment in this department.
• If people call me a procrastinator, I'm not sure what I'd label Rob. His incessant habits of procrastinating are grating on my every last nerve right now. I can't get going on Evelyn's room because his desk covered in his crap is still in there and I, obviously, can't move it. Also, him and trash is probably topping my list right now. Is it really that hard to take two steps to throw the wrapper of a piece of candy away? Also, when I ask you to take the trash out (because you yell at me when I do it - being pregnant an all) that means actually taking it outside and putting it in the can, not setting it in the garage for morning. And then not doing it in the morning either. I might as well have just done it myself.
• Thankfully though, when he does get motivated, there's no stopping him. He's been working hard on the basement and it's finally getting there!

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!

A little ahead of schedule, my new blog is now live. Now, don't get your hopes too high. It still looks like a blog. It's not a full website or anything. But I've made some pretty major changes.

• Completely new color scheme and header*
• I've added some new pages and a navigation bar*
• I've updated my About Me section
• Made easy access buttons to posts and info that people seem to like
• I've made myself a blog button (!)*
• Easy to follow social media links if you want to follow me elsewhere*

Everything with an asterisk next to it, I plan to do tutorials on. It might take me a bit because they can be a bit labor-intensive to explain, but I will try my best. If there is anything you would like to know about let me know and I'll try my best to address it!

What do you think? I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this little project and am quite proud. It may not be professional quality, but I like it and I hope you do too.

P.S. Any Mac users out there? I tested it on Chrome, Firefox, and IE, but I have not a clue about Macs and the browsers they use. Everything look and work okay there? Thanks!

Getting My Nerd On: Sneak Peek

I promise, I haven't so quickly given up on blogging! I've been working quite busily on updating my look. This means a lot of photoshop and a lot of HTML/CSS. AKA, my inner nerd is just giddy with excitement right now. I thought I'd share a little sneak peek of how things are going. I think I finally settled on my header/color scheme. This could absolutely change, but I'm kind of loving it right now and the overall look of things.

Here you go!

Pretty sweet huh?

Some other things I've been cooking up:

• New background/color scheme as a whole
• Social media icons
• Better links to certain, (what I think are) popular topics
• A new snazzy navigation bar

Is there anything in particular you like to read that I should make buttons for? Are there things you look for on a blog to make it easier to read? As much as I write this for myself, I do get some slight satisfaction knowing that others are enjoying it as well. And I, of course, love making new friends! I know I have a few of you out there, but just thought I'd ask! It's a work in progress, but hopefully I will be able to unveil it before the end of the year. I have quite a few things still to polish as well as some updated pictures of the family I need to take. Oh, and you can look forward to a few tutorials as well. I'm not promising they will be the right way to do it, but so far things seem to be working. Is there anything anyone as ever wanted to learn how to do?

Stream of Consciousness

• My 24 week post is going to be late. I was going to write and post it tonight but I took a shower and got in my pjs and realized I didn't take a picture. I don't want everyone to see me on my pjs. I'm old fashioned like that.
• Speaking of old fashioned, apparently, I was born in the wrong era.  I went to get a slip to wear under a dress this weekend and couldn't find one. Do people not wear slips anymore?
• Evelyn keeps saying "where did it go?" Followed by "there it is!" It's freaking adorable.
• So are her efforts with a spoon.

• I think we've broken Evelyn of the night time pacifier. Now all we have to get rid of is naps. The pacifier that is, not the naps. Yikes.
• I've been working on a blog post for a couple of weeks entitled "Getting my nerd on." It's proving to be much more difficult than I anticipated. But I'm feeling determined to make it work at this point in time. It may just take a little while. Julia's little upgrade is giving me even more motivation.
• I feel bad that I haven't posted in a week. But none of the posts on the blog burner are done yet. Hence the stream of consciousness. 
• I really want to post about our first big DIY house project, but it's STILL. NOT. DONE.
• It's not done because we had to file a dispute with our credit card company regarding the cabinet we bought to add to our kitchen. We ordered it in August and still don't have it. Then they stopped returning our calls. Lo and behold, we heard from them the day after we filed the dispute. Shocking.
• Speaking of battles, I still don't have any idea what is going on with getting my car fixed from SEPTEMBER. Someone driving a government vehicle backed into my car in a parking lot. Apparently, no one in our government knows how to file an insurance claim involving their cars. It's extremely irritating.
• I'm currently obsessed with Starbucks hot chocolate. It's a good thing I don't have one very close or I'd be dropping a lot of money there.
• It's even better that Costco has started selling their hot chocolate mix in a can. Delicious.
• I just tried the cranberry Sierra Mist. It's delicious.
• I plan on writing a blog post about unjunking my diet. Unfortunately, my weakness is soda. Soda is SO bad for you. But there is something about that bubbly feeling that is just oh so good. Why couldn't I be obsessed with apples or something?
• I may just go to bed right now. Even though it's only 9. I'm so tired. We had our friends' Thanksgiving yesterday evening and I was cleaning house all day. I forgot how much my hips hurt while pregnant. It was a great time and so worth it though.

Dudley's Story

Dudley is our second born. A puppy for life. We got him from a rescue and often joke that we rescued him from the rescue. I didn't really like that we "supported" the rescue we got him from and I know that rescues aren't out there to make money or anything, but this place left something to be desired. He was pretty sick when we got him and so, so skinny. My vet, whom I adore, estimated him to be about 8 to 10 weeks old. He had already been neutered (way early) and was promptly put on medication for worms. But, as anyone who has met our Dudley can attest to, he won us over immediately.

{Love at first sight}

Oliver didn't like him at first. It was a solid 6 months before he would even tolerate being within 5 feet of him. And God forbid they share my lap. Eventually though, they became the best buds. Two peas in a pod. Inseparable. He's always been a little "slow." Never really catching on to things quickly, never as fast or strong as his brother. It's like he would be a puppy forever. Even his face looks a lot the same.

{Brothers}

He goes by many nicknames: Dudley, Dudders, Duddykins, Duddy Buddy, Tooters, Squeakers, the list goes on. Which is pretty funny, because Oliver is just Oliver. Not Ollie. Oliver. They are my kids and they have successfully turned my husband into a head-over-heels dog lover. They sleep in the bed with us, under the covers of course, and are always found in someone's lap if it's available. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

{Life with a Dachshund}

{I think he likes her!}

Then, in August, I came home to find Dudley acting funny. He was in pain. I thought maybe he jumped off the couch wrong or stepped on something. It's not the first time one of the boys has gotten hurt doing something. We just thought we'd watch him. The next day he seemed fine. Then I noticed something. It was like he didn't want to put weight on his back right leg. I thought again, he hurt it. But it was evening and the vet was closed. I didn't think it was serious enough for an emergency trip so we waited again. The next day it was worse. He was walking like he was drunk. Wobbly. Unable to control his back legs well. I immediately took him in and that was my introduction to IVDD - Intervertabral Disc Disease.

{Crate rest}

Long story short, Dudley had a herniated disc in his back. This is every dachshund-owner's worst nightmare. A back problem. We were sent home for the weekend with instructions for strict crate rest, prednisone, and  a pain killer. We had to be diligent with his crate rest. No real movement for at least 4 weeks except for a few steps outside to go potty. We obeyed to a tee. Then Monday, the worst happened - he went completely lame.

He couldn't walk. The couldn't wag his tail. He couldn't even go to the bathroom. He was completely paralyzed. I called the vet because I thought she said that he could possibly get worse before he got better and wanted to know how I might help him go to the bathroom. She told me I needed to immediately take him to an emergency clinic because he had worsened more than he should have.

That night was awful.

The emergency clinic we took him to was terrible. Not that they didn't give him care or take our issue seriously, they did. But their approach to our situation and our options was not kind or friendly. We arrived and they immediately took us back to a room and we explained the situation (this was about 7pm). She took some basic vitals and then said she was going to get the ER doc. Well, much to my dismay, instead of coming into the room and doing everything with me there, they took him away. Maybe that is standard procedure, I don't know, but I didn't like it. After some time, they came back and said that he was pretty far gone in terms of IVDD. He had lost most deep pain sensation in his back legs and he was facing surgery.

We had done some research over the weekend and knew this was a possibility. But we didn't want to put him through the surgery for nothing. Would it even work? We were willing to put him in a cart or something if he was able to be live a somewhat normal, pain-free life. There are many success stories. But she said it wasn't an option. Our only options were to take him to Mizzou immediately and have them do surgery for around $5k, or to have him put to sleep. I was devastated. We were told the decision had to basic be made immediately. She also said that the chances of the surgery working were less than 50%. We talked about it and I decided to take him home and we would bring him to our vet the next day to have him put to sleep. I couldn't have him spending his last night there.

That evening while giving Dudley super snuggles and breaking crate rest rules, we talked about it. We decided to get a second opinion. So, I called another specialists clinic in the morning and we brought him in for a consultation. The news was so much better. He was pretty far gone, but not to the point where he couldn't be saved. She said with surgery he had a 75% chance of recovery and the surgery would be half the cost. We decided to go ahead.

{Post-Surgery incision and pain patch}

3 days later, I walked in to the office to see my Duddy Buddy wagging his tail! So happy to see me. We were still in for another several weeks of crate rest, but he was already improving!

{Walking again!}

After 3 weeks, he was released and had made about a 95% recovery. He could walk, run, play. Everything he did before. Maybe he wasn't as fast and his legs didn't respond as well, but he was back. Our puppy was himself! It was so worth it.

This past weekend though, we had a bit of a scare. He seemed to for some reason be in a lot of pain on Saturday night. We brought him back to the vet on Sunday morning and they didn't diagnose another herniated disc (we didn't know what we'd do then) but sent him home to be treated medically for it regardless. I think he's okay though. Maybe he tweaked it while playing. But, we're being careful.

So, that's Dudley's story. Our little fighter/lover/licker/puppy-at-heart. Our family wouldn't be complete without him!

{Our boys}