New Years Resolutions?

Do you make New Years Resolutions? 

I normally don't.  I hardly ever follow through on them when I do make them and so it's sorta like making a to do list that is way too long and you really know you won't finish it all in the time you have but you make it anyway and are super bummed with yourself when you don't finish it up.  That's how New Years Resolutions are for me.  I make them sometimes and then I can't follow through and I end up feeling depressed about it.  It's a fun time.

But this year I'm thinking about making some.  Of course making them realistic and something I can follow through on without disappointing myself.  But this will take some time.  Some time to figure out exactly what I can handle right now and how well I know myself in order to keep them.

1. I will put me first sometimes.  I am notoriously terrible about making me a priority, as I think a lot of women/wives/mothers do.  But this year I won't feel bad if I just wanna go shopping alone or take a nice long bubble bath alone, or spend a smidgen extra money on the healthy food I need to fuel my mind and body the right way.

2. I will love my family always and make a major effort to be patient even when I am running low on sleep.

You know what?  I think that's it for me.  I could make a ton more but my chances of keeping them would be small.  So we'll stick with those to and focus my efforts.

Good Luck with yours!

4 week update.

So Claire is 4 WEEKS old.  How on earth have I managed to survive 4 whole weeks?  Only 2 weeks til I go back to work.  I really can't believe it.

Some updates.

She is getting better about sleeping at night.  She still wakes up every 2-3 hours for food but she goes back down pretty easy at least.

She still is super fussy from about 7-10ish or so at night.  She wants to be held and bounced.  We oblige her but it does get old.

Adam and I are not sleeping in the same room.  I take baby duty at night in the bed and he sleeps on the couch.  When I go back to work, this arrangement will end.

On a brighter note....she occasionally smiles now....I'm sure that she still has no clue what she's doing but I soak it in in hopes that she will genuinely smile at me one of these days.  *heart melt*

She is starting to find her voice.  She occasionally lets out a coo here and there and it seems to surprise her. 

The girl loves to lay on her tummy, something Lily never liked to do.  So this is nice.  Hopefully her head will stay this nice round shape that way.

Lily is still madly in love with her little sister.  She hugs her and kisses her and helps me with her.  And as of now I have yet to see an inkling of jealousy from her....she even shares her "B" with her.

She has Thrush.  Which is weird...I never even knew bottle fed babies could get thrush.  So it goes.  We went to the Dr. on Monday and she got a prescription for it.  She is also finally back up to her birth weight.

I'm definitely starting to like her more and more every day.  Her scream is easier for me to tolerate...since I'm sure I'm getting used to it. 

I think I'll keep her and see what the next 4 weeks brings.

Weight and the New Mom

So I doubt it's a big secret that I have struggled with my weight.  Sounds stupid right?  I am just barely over the healthy range but I just never quite feel good in my skin.  So WeightWatchers is my choice go to program.  As far as cost goes it's actually not too bad.  It's pretty easy to follow if you are feeling motivated to do so.

My highest pregnancy weight was 209.  My pre-pregnancy weight was about 168 or so.  My weight right now is 178.  So I have 10 pounds or so before I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight and I would ideally like to get down to right around 150 and then maybe re-evaluate my goals as far as that goes.  These days my goal is not to be a skinny, but to be healthy.  Not only for myself but to be a good example for my girls.

So I signed up for WWers last week.  Though I have to be honest.  It's not that it's hard to follow the program but I'm struggling already.  I mean I do have two small children to tend too so meal planning isn't as high on my priority list as it should be.  I'm fairly certain that when the new year rolls around Adam and I plan to kick it up into high gear.  He signed up for a program at work where he gets cash incentives to lose weight.  And while I have no cash incentive it's certainly a lot easier to follow the program when you don't have to do it alone.

I'll probably write about it here.  That way people don't get completely sick of hearing about my kids.  Because clearly I don't have much going on other than them right now.

Happy 3 Weeks to Claire!

I honestly can't believe we have survived the last 3 weeks.  She is so different than Lily was...or at least how I remember her.  But we love her anyway and so does Miss Lily.  So Happy 3 weeks Miss Claire.

Lily Loves her Little Sisser.  She gives her LOTS of hugs and kisses and is so patient and kind to her. 

This was Claire's first real bath.  Her Cord fell off pretty early at like 8 days old or so and so Lily was pretty excited to help me give her, her first official bath.

She just loves to be cuddled up tight and nice and warm.  She wasn't too thrilled to be stripped down and put into the water.  Afterwords she was pretty worn out and slept for quite a while.

Four generations of Omtvedt girls.  My grandma, my mom and my two girls.  Unfourtunately this picture was taken at my dads funeral whem Miss Claire was just 2 weeks old.  I will forever be sad that my dad did not get to meet Claire before he died.  I know he would have dug her.

Claire in her ladybug Jammies that my mom got for her.  She loves them and so does Lily!

Just another day.

So today is my birthday.  I'm the big 2-7 now.  I really never thought I'd get the the point where I felt my birthday was just another day.  But here it is.  Just another day.  This year it's a little tougher to do anything special because of our newest addition but even without that, it's winter and it's darn near impossible to find something to do that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  This year I have a two week old baby, a two and a half year old and it's winter.  Blech.  Adam has been off work the last couple weeks to help with the baby and he goes back to work tomorrow.  Claire has a doctors appointment in the morning.  On the plus side, My In laws have miss lily for a few days and so I can use this opportunity to get used to doing things on my own during the day.  Then Lily will be here on Wednesday and then on Thursday she is going to daycare and Friday is Christmas eve.  so I'm guessing that this week is just going to fly by.

Tomorrow or Tuesday I hope to get presents wrapped.  Thank god I don't have to actually go and buy anymore, I'm all done with my shopping.  Next weekend will be busy. So I'm looking forward to the downtime this week.

Happy Birthday to me.  :-)

2 Week update.

A few days late on the 2 week update.  It's been rough.  I'll say that much.

As most of you know now, my dad passed away a week ago.  Claire was only 8 days old and she never got to meet her grandpa.  That makes me sad.  Very sad as I know he was excited to meet her.    The funeral was yesterday and everything went as well as it can.  I only cried a few times and I guess I wonder what's wrong with me?  I feel like I should be more torn up about the whole thing.  I mean, he was my dad, we were close.  But yet I can't seem to convince myself that it's all real.  In fact really the only time I cry about the whole thing is when I think about my girls and how fortunate I was that I got to know both of my grandpas and how they won't have that opportunity.  It's so important to me that they know their family.  Maybe it's because he had been sick for so long.  I mean on one hand I really never thought the day would come that he would actually die.  He has lived through so much he sorta seemed indestructible and on the other hand I can't believe he made it as long as he had.

Couple that with the horrendous lack of sleep and it hasn't been pretty around here.  I am not nearly as patient as I'd like to be and neither is Adam.  I'm terrified for Monday when Adam goes back to sleep and I', left all on my own.  Not to mention Monday is my birthday.   Happy Birthday to me.  Ha.  He has been such a great help.  Since I've been pretty much attached to the baby since the only thing she seems to like is being held 24/7, I usually take that on as I do have just a smidgen more patience than Adam does and while I do that he washes bottles and gets me things and does the dishes.  How will the dishes get done when he goes back to work?  The thing I feared most has come true....With Lily I just napped when she did as I didn't have another kid to worry about and now I have to think about her and hope to god that they both nap at the same time so I can catch 45 minutes.  It's interesting to say the least.  And SO much harder than I had anticipated.

Claire seems to have horrible gas.  So she cries and cries and nothing can console her sometimes.  And have I mentioned just how blasted loud she is?  I mean I love the girl but holy smokes Momma needs some sleep.  she also seems to be cold All. The. Time.  Which is why I think she likes being held so much.  She breaks out of the swaddle on a regular basis too. 

So for now, we are still adjusting.  Hoping we can figure everything out sooner rather than later.  After all it's supposed to be a happy time of year!  My birthday, new baby, Christmas.  We just need a breather to take it all in and figure out our limits.

10 Things no one tell you.

Post Baby Edition:

1. There are a lot of hormones.  A LOT.  Like I cry at the drop of a hat.  For no reason mostly.  Something makes me happy, I cry.  Something makes me sad, I cry.  That coupled with the lack of sleep situation makes the first few weeks at home not so pleasant.

2. The second baby is not as exciting as the first.  And this is something I've struggled with a lot, even during my pregnancy.  I know people love the new baby and of course she's just as important, but she certainly has had way less of a greeting than Miss Lily did.  Obviously this is to be expected as I don't need a shower, and we don't need any gifts.  But for some reason it makes me sad none-the-less.

3. Life is NOT the same.  And it won't be.  For a very very long time.  You are tired, and even the most patient, loving person will have a few breakdowns where you want nothing more than to put the baby back where she came from.

4.  Your baby doesn't do much.  Or really anything at all.  I figure most people KNOW this, but just don't quite realize it.  They pretty much sleep, cry, poop and eat.  And it'll actually be a few months before they smile and interact and stay awake longer than a half hour or so at a time.

5. If you decide not to Breastfeed, be prepared for a couple of days of agony when your milk comes in.  You will cry.  Enough said.

6.  All you want to do is sleep.  And I've always been a big "sleep when the baby sleeps" kinda girl.  I did with Lily and it was glorious.  However this time, I have a 2 year old too which makes it difficult to just take a nap.  But still.  Nap when you can.  Ain't no shame in it.

7. You don't have to do it all.  You don't have to feel like YOU have to do everything.  If people offer to help, take it and run!  And of course, ASK for help when you need it.

8. No one will care if your house is messy.  They didn't come to see the house anyway and chances are they will understand that you just had a baby and are tired and you don't really care if the dishes never get done again.

9. It's true, as soon as the baby exits your body, no one will ask about you anymore.  Clearly they were in it purely for the baby.  And that's ok.  After 9 months of people asking you how you feel, you'll most likely welcome the break.

10. You will probably love your baby right away but you may not like her.  I mean, it takes a while to get to know each other and figure each other out.  And remember Number 4?  But they grow on you with time and soon you won't be able to imagine life any other way than it is now.

Our New Life....

We brought Claire home on the 4th.  She was pretty confused about when she should sleep and be awake and be fussy so the first couple of nights were pretty hard.  The second night Adam and I even took shifts so that we could at least get SOME sleep.  The third night she decided to sleep well for us though and we were oh so happy about that.  Of course like every newborn she was up every couple of hours to eat but it was manageable and she quickly fell back asleep after eating so we could at least sleep a little bit.

Lily is doing amazing with her baby.  She is so gentle and sweet and always wants to know where baby "care" is.  Of course she is out of her normal routine of daycare and such so she's had a bit of an attitude with us, though I guess I'm glad she takes it out on us instead of on Claire.

For now, with my lack of sleep I'm having a heck of a time being clever or funny.  So I'll leave you with some photos.  That should make up for the boring post at least.

Why can't I get those pictures to rotate?  *sigh*

Welcome Claire Elizabeth!

Today was a special day in the Philippi house!  We welcomed our beautiful new daughter to our lives! 

Claire Elizabeth Philippi
Born at 10:57am
12/2/10
8lbs 6oz
20 inches long

Her birth was nothing short of amazing.  I mean really.  I had a great birth with Lily too and this even surpassed that!

We were scheduled for induction today at 7:30 am because I was already dilated to 4cm and having tons of contractions.  Here's how our morning went!

7:15 arrive at hospital and get signed in and head up to our room
7:30 nurse starts IV and we get stupid questions out of the way.
8:30 they start pitocin and Dr. comes in to break my water, I start having contractions immediately
9:30 we get the epidural, we chill for a while.
10:30 I feel pressure.  A lot of pressure, debate calling the nurse and just then she walks in.  She checks me, I am ready to start pushing.  She calls the dr.
10:45 Dr. gets here and I start pushing.
10:57 Claire is born.

I didn't get sick this time, I didn't bleed too much this time.  It just went great.  Of course Claire thought it would be fun to cry for basically 2 hours straight.  After her second bottle and a good bath she slept for a few hours which was nice.

Lily came to visit and she loves her baby sister so much.  She was sad we weren't all going home today though.  But she's in good hands.  And before she knows it, she'll wish we could put baby Claire back where she came from....