Here's a little something that should make you smile today! Every Monday at Garrett's "new stook" (aka new school) they have show and tell. Up until now, he's taken an odd assortment of balls, cars, and stuffed animals, but this Monday's installment takes the cake. When I asked him what he wanted to bring (I always let him choose) he said underwear. I asked if he meant the pair he had on and he said "No. My Mater (from Cars) underwear." Luckily, that pair was clean and off to stook we went. The teacher thought it was so funny and said that this was a first. One of the other mothers wanted me to please write it down so I could remember to tell it at his rehearsal dinner. This same mother told me today when she asked her daughter how school was, she said "Garrett brought underwear for show and tell." When I asked him what everyone said when he brought it he said "Thanks." Ahh, the joy of being three.
Because I've been so sporadic on updates lately, I have a few things to catch you up on. My grand plan was to have everything in chronological order with pictures, but I've got to do what I can when I can, so here goes!
1. Garrett is potty trained. We started a big "When you turn 3 the diapers go bye-bye" campaign about a week before his birthday and that seemed to work. So far just one accident (on the floor of my very understanding chiropractor's office). Number 2 is still a bit of an issue, but we're figuring it out. Bless his heart, he didn't go the entire time we were in Augusta for Thanksgiving (3 days!) and was in quite a state when we got home. I bought prune juice yesterday at the store and he went twice yesterday! It's very nerve wracking, but it was so wonderful to go to BJ's and only have to buy one box of diapers!
2. Garrett and Harper went to the doctor last week and had great check-ups! By the way, I highly recommend making double appointments. For a while I wondered if I was the craziest woman on earth, but not having to go back is worth the little bit of chaos. Here are the stats:
- Garrett weighed in at a whopping 30 1/2 pounds and is 36 1/2 inches tall. His blood pressure was 98/50 (normal). He did so fantastic-peed in a cup (filled that sucker to the top too!) and let the nurse prick his finger to check for anemia. He got one shot in the arm (which is new) and took it like a man. He was just terrific while we were in the office and helped me keep Harper entertained.
- Harper is 14 lbs 4 oz and 25 1/4 inches long. She got three shots, but did fantastic.
4. She will finally take a bottle (can I get another AMEN?!). I decided the week before Thanksgiving that enough was enough and forced the issue. I offered her a bottle for her first morning feed and when she wouldn't take it didn't nurse her. She took the bottle at 11. I think the thing was I was trying to make everything like when I nurse her-sitting in the same spot, using the Boppy, etc.-but I think that confused her because she thought we were going to nurse. When she took the bottle, I had her on the floor facing her and she gulped it down. Since then, no problems. My mother-in-law gave her a bottle while I went shopping on Friday. She even took a little bit of formula (her first). It was the first feeding I've missed in her whole life. It was wonderful! Blessed freedom!
5. Jason and I had our first dinner date since Harper. This was my first meal out without the children and our first date in a long while. It was great!
As you can tell, we've had a couple of busy weeks in the Russell household. There are good days and then not-so-good days. Having 2 children is definitely more than double the work. Today is a good day and I feel on top of things. But, man, when things go bad, it seems like they go really bad. Last Wednesday, I was trying to get us ready to travel to Augusta for the holiday and Harper had a rough morning and Garrett has hit a defiant streak and I could feel my blood pressure rising. Luckily we were not leaving until Thursday morning (which is great-no traffic at all), because I told Jason there would have been no way we could have left Wednesday.
But, things always have a way of working out. A really bad day is followed by a fantastic one. Your son will fall asleep on you on the couch (which he hasn't done since he was Harper's age), your daughter will laugh when you tickle her chubby little neck, and you will get some Christmas shopping done because your mother-in-law rocks! I definitely wouldn't say that being a mother is the best job in the world, because there are far cooler things out there. But I am learning that it is the most important thing I can do with my life right now and am starting to see the pay-off in Garrett (a little...sometimes...mostly when he's asleep!)
All along my plans were for just a small gathering. I even did on his actual birthday, which was a Tuesday, thinking that would help keep it casual and short. But I realized that our circle of friends is too big to have a small party. Garrett has 2 friends, Charlie and Grace, but those two friends come with a lot of others! Plus, my in-laws drove in, my girlfriend from college was visiting from New Orleans with her daughter, and then of course we have Uncle Josh, Aunt Candy, and Harper's best friend, Abby. There goes my small party! But we had fun. I got moon sand (yes, I got suckered in from the commercial) and the kids loved it. At the beginning of the party, Garrett, Grace and Charlotte were all in his room (with the door closed-does it really start this early??) and Leslie decided to get them going on the sand, which I had in the living room, while I finished up stuff in the kitchen. I actually walked into the living room to ask why the kids were still upstairs because it was too quiet. But they were in there, just totally engrossed in the sand. It was great. I was excited about it, so I just knew that they wouldn't like it at all, but I was wrong. It was a hit!
I've included a couple of other pictures of the event, but please check out our family website (link to the left) for more pictures of his party and of Halloween.
We went over to Grace's house because Leslie and I both figured that they would be braver together. They were so excited and so cute getting into their costumes. We all struck out and he charged off down the sidewalk ready to go get that candy! I kept waiting for him to get scared and for us to have to high-tail it home. Grace got scared at the second house because the husband and wife were dressed up to pass out candy and she was done. I really thought he would be done too, but he just waved bye to her as he was charging down the sidewalk toward the next house! So compassionate. We probably went to about 15 houses-I know I was tired. He had a blast-went right up to people's houses, knocked on the door and said "Trick or treat, please!" I kept thinking he was going to get scared, but he seemed to really understand that it was all pretend and enjoyed scary stuff.
I must say this was my most favorite event with him. I had very low expectations and was really thinking this year was just to get his feet wet with the whole deal. It far exceeded my expectations for even next year! I so enjoyed watching him have fun. Oh the future looks bright!
And my sweet baby girl! Isn't she precious?? She was such a trooper. Jason had her in the Baby Bjorn and it was well past time for her to eat and go to bed, but she never made a peep. Too much to look at, I guess. She finally gave up and just fell asleep. The sight of her all slumped over the Bjorn in that duck costume was hilarious. Of course we didn't get a picture of it, I do have it on video though. Next year she'll be walking! I can't wait!
I love the family picture of Jason with the kids. He has a real smile! Plus Garrett all dressed up and sucking is too funny.
OK, so days after posting her 2 months shots, here are her 3 month shots! I love the one with her and Garrrett because it looks like she's whispering secrets in his ear. My prediction is that Harper is not going to be quite as social as Garrett, but she's going to be "the woman behind the man". I have a feeling she will develop the plans and Garrett will execute them! :) The next 2 are classic Harper these days. She is such a talker (shocking, I know). This is her in the middle of telling me something vitally important. I discovered that her 11 AM feeding is her coffee break feed, because all she wants to do is take a couple sips, look up at me and talk, take a couple more sips, talk, etc. It's just this feeding that she's so distracted! It's hysterical; I want to offer her a biscotti.
I bought our first tights yesterday! One pair of white, one pair of pink, and one pair of white "rhumba" tights. For the uninitiated, rhumba tights are regular tights, but with ruffles on the behind. But of course, now that I have them, the weather has warmed up a bit, but I'm sure she'll be in them before long. I'll be sure to post that picture when it happens!
We've survived our first night by ourselves. Jason went to Dallas for work yesterday. He just called me from the airport. They are due to land around 7:30 tonight, so I probably will let Garrett stay up until he gets home. We did good though. We've been bathing both of them together, so it just took a bit of logistics for me to do that by myself and make sure no one drowned. All in all, it went a lot better than I expected, but that's the way life has gone these days.
I did, however, have a rather depressing thought last night. Jason called me after dinner and was talking about where they ate and all and I realized that I haven't had a meal without one or both kids since Harper arrived. I remember with Garrett, I realized when he was 8 weeks old that I hadn't had a full night's sleep in 8 weeks and that just about crushed me. This is my realization for this go-round. I haven't had a meal by myself or with just grown-ups in 13 weeks. I must admit I was quite jealous of Jason for getting to go somewhere. I really do like my kids, but I'm really starting to feel that we did not get to take a vacation this year. At this point, the Holiday Inn down the street feels like a great vacation destination. Somewhere I don't have to vacuum, clean up the kitchen, and do laundry sounds like heaven right about now. We are going to Augusta this weekend for the air show, so that will be nice.
So this month has flown by! Sorry I've been away so long, but we've been really busy. Harper is getting so big. The pictures above are from her 2 month photo shoot, so she's almost 4 weeks bigger! I promise I'll update with her 3 month pictures in a more timely manner. :) I was just telling my mom today that she is just the best baby. She's such a peaceful child. Even her fussy moments are not bad and she's very easy to soothe. She has really started smiling and cooing and "talking". I absolutely love watching her watch Garrett. She just lights up when she sees him. He is just fantastic with her and is a huge help to me. He says "I love my baby" all the time.
Our family schedule is a good one. Jason gets Garrett up, dressed, and breakfast before he goes to work. Harper gets up between 7:30 and 8 and I feed her and watch the Today show. Harper eats again at 11, then naps while Garrett and I have our lunch. She eats again at 2 and both kids go down around 3. I get at least an hour to myself, feed Harper again at 5, and start dinner around 6. Bath around 7 or 7:30-we've put both kids in the same bath the last couple nights, feed Harper (and watch Scrubs) and she's down by 8 or a little after. Jason does jammies and story for Garrett and we're done for a little while. I get Harper up again around 11 for a "dream feed" and then she's good for the rest of the night. Considering she's only 12 weeks, I consider myself a lucky, lucky woman. Life is predictable, which is a wonderful thing!
September was really the month of Father-son bonding. Jason got to take Garrett to his first Georgia game on September 15 (pictured above). He had such a great time and they stayed almost the whole game. We were both thinking that he wouldn't make it much past half time, but he did great. Seeing Uga and Hairy Dawg were definitely the highlight. He liked the marching band too (good thing!). Jason said they were cheering while the team ran out through the tunnel in the beginning and he looked down and there was Garrett cheering right along with him and he got a little choked up. He's probably going to be mad at me for telling that, but I think it's really sweet. We always used to see dads there with their children and say "that's going to be us someday" and there he was. It was hard for me to let him take him by himself because I really wanted to see Garrett at his first game, but I think it's better this way. I think it is a really special memory for Jason.
The very next weekend, Jason and Garrett went camping for the first time. Steve and Grace Hyland and Jay and Charlotte Alexander also went. Everything went really well. I've seen the video of the event and it's pretty funny. Check out the Russell family website for a page on the trip (I'll be working on that this weekend). Not much sleep as Garrett and Jason shared a tent with Steve and Grace. Garrett kept hitting Jason in the middle of the night to make sure he was still there. Jason took some video of Charlie and Garrett the next morning and they both have bags under their eyes. Too funny. Jason got a great shot of Garrett totally sacked out in his car seat when they got home. Garrett keeps asking me if he can go camping again. "No you (pointing to me), just me and my Daddy". I think it was a big hit!
Well, speaking of my predictable schedule, I need to go get my sweet girl and feed her one more time. I'll update more when I post her 3 momth pictures.
I was reading my friend Ashley's blog last night (link to the left) and she had an entry that I thought was neat. So, I'm going to steal her idea. The idea is to take today and look back to what you were doing at different times in the past, so here goes:
10 years ago: In October of 1997, I was in my senior year of college at the University of Georgia. (It makes me feel really old that 10 years ago, I was almost done with college.) I was in the middle of my last season as a Redcoat (the marching band at UGA) and we were two weeks away from beating the University of Florida for the only time in my time there. It was a very sweet night-made even sweeter by happening in my senior year. I have no idea what classes I was taking, but I can guarantee you that I was writing tons of papers! I was probably working on graduate school admission stuff and preparing to take the GRE. Jason and I had been together for 2 1/2 years at this point and would get engaged in October of 1998. Lots of good memories from this time.
5 years ago: In October of 2002, I was working full time at North Point Community Church as the Associate Director of Waumba Land (the preschool environment). Jason and I had been married for a little over 4 years and had bought a house in 2001. What consumed my life at this point was trying to get pregnant. December of 2002 would mark 1 year off of birth control and still no baby. I began to see Dr. Howard as my OB/GYN in September of this year and remain with him to this day. It would be 4 more months until I began Clomid in an effort to get pregnant. This time probably marks the beginning of what I refer to as my "dark period". Not a lot of happy memories from this time.
1 year ago: In October of 2005, Garrett was about to turn 2. I had decided I was ready to try to have baby #2. Of course, this was not a process I was looking forward to as I was unwilling to revisit the "dark period". The plan was to just "pull the goalie" in October-no counting or "trying", just not preventing. Then for November and December I would count and we would have strategic sex. In January and February, I would try those ovulation kits. If by March, we weren't pregnant, that was going to be it and we would start the adoption process. I was not going through what we went through to get Garrett. However, in sharp contrast to our experience with Garrett, Harper would be conceived this month and we never even had to try. That's why I say Garrett is our miracle and Harper is our gift.
I was working part time at NPCC as the Database Administrative Assistant and Garrett was happy in the Weekday program there. Jason had just taken a job with a new company right around the corner from the house. Good times in the Russell house.
1 month ago: Harper was about to be 2 months old and Garrett had just started his new preschool. Jason was still getting used to another new job (that he started 2 weeks after Harper was born!). I was fully recovered from my C-section and Harper was on a really good schedule and sleeping a good 6 hours at night. It would only be another week or so until she would sleep until 8 am and I would truly get my life back. We had just gotten back from our first road trip to Augusta with Harper.
1 week ago: Just a normal night in the Russell house. I'm pretty sure this was the night that Jason came home from work and took both kids for a walk so I could have some alone time. It was so nice to get dinner ready in peace and quiet. We have settled into a really nice groove around here, but it is a bit wearing by the end of the day, so this was a really nice treat.
1 day ago: I worked on downloading pictures onto our computer last night. I had taken 2 month pictures of Harper and they were still on the camera. Since I'll be taking her three month ones on Friday, I figured I should pull the 2 month ones off. I'm trying to be good about printing pictures as we go, so after I downloaded them, I uploaded them to the Wal-Mart website so I can pick up the prints next week while I'm there on my weekly pilgrimage. I also uploaded a few to the blog and you can check them out to the right!
1 hour ago: Loathe as I am to admit it, Jason and I were watching the last few minutes of my totally guilty pleasure-"The Girls Next Door". It's a show on E! about Hugh Hefner's 3 live-in girlfriends, all in their 20's (he's in his 80"s) and their antics at the Playboy mansion. It's totally twisted and it's like a train wreck-I can't not watch it. Please don't judge me. :)
Well, there it is. It's crazy how much has happened in the last 10 years and it's even more crazy to think that in 10 years I will have an almost teenaged boy (gulp) and a tween girl (bigger gulp) and I'll be 41!!!! How is it possible that all that is only 10 years away?
Harper is two months old! Where has the time gone? We went to the doctor today and she weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs 1 oz and was 23 1/2 inches long. That puts her in the 95th percentile for weight and 75th for height. So I would say she's thriving! The doctor said she was a healthy little girl! She also received her first round of shots, which was bad, but I didn't cry. She did-as Garrett later said "Harper cried lots and lots and lots; Harper doesn't like the doctor!" But we survived and it wasn't too bad.
Please check the Russell family website (link to the left) as I have added two pages-Garrett's first day of school and Harper's first road trip to Augusta. Garrett has started preschool at St. David's Episcopal Church right around the corner from our house. He goes on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-12. Grace is in his class (St. David's is her grandparents church) and they seem to enjoy it. He certainly napped well on Monday and Wednesday. And when he took his shoes off a lot of sand came out, so I think that meets good time criteria for Garrett! :) That boy does love to dig.
Things have been going well around the old homestead. Having two kids is definitely not as bad as I thought, but boy, the days are long. Nothing bad, just very little down time, as evidenced by my absence from blogging. There are days where the only time I sit is when I am nursing. Also, it has become hard to find time for Jason and I to really connect each day. We don't usually get both kids down and get the house straightened up from the day until 9 most nights and then if there's something I didn't get to that day, that's my time to do it. And frankly after a 14 hour day of mothering, I just want some peace and quiet. I dearly love my son, but he will wear you out with the talking (I wonder where he got that from??). I remember from when Garrett was newborn that I had to take my mental to-do list for one day and make it my to-do list for the week. That is definitely the case now. It's amazing how difficult it is to get to simple things. I have discovered the hardest chore for me to get to is vacuuming, which in our house is a daily need (thanks to Scout). But it's a timing issue. I can do it when she's asleep, but I don't when Garrett is asleep. But I'm managing. And the house doesn't look too trashed. My priority is keeping it straightened, not necessarily clean. That's hard for me though. I'm not good at letting it go.
I'm also starting to feel a little trapped by breastfeeding. My mom tried to give Harper a bottle last week and it was a no go. Granted, I was in the house and I think I let her get too hungry, but it was a very depressing day. It's kind of a weird point because everything is established and she eats really well (12 lbs!), but she still is on a 3 hour schedule during the day. I am getting 5-6 hours at night, which is amazing. But, I would like to leave the house without her occasionally. I'm such a fan of breastfeeding, but it does make me a one woman show and that gets wearing after 9 straight weeks! We're going to start giving her a bottle at least once a week-in fact I'm going to the movies tomorrow night and leaving her with Jason-so hopefully we'll get over that hump soon. Plus I think she's really close to going to 4 hours in between, so it will all work out. Soon I'll be blogging about how sad I am that she doesn't nurse anymore.
Below I'm including a teaser picture of Garrett on his first day (there are more on the website) and a picture of my two babies. Despite the somewhat grueling schedule, I still have moments each day when I am overcome with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for these two healthy, happy children. My cup runneth over.
From the time Garrett was little, I have been telling him that I'm his mom and I'll always win. Of course, this reminder comes when we are having a battle of wills and I want him to give up-not like when we're playing or anything! :) I want him to understand that I'm the mom and he needs to do what I say, whether he likes it or not. Up until recently, I've felt rather victorious in this area. He has a strong will, but is very obedient. Of course, we have our moments, but usually come through rather quickly and with me feeling like I handled it well.
Harper went to the doctor yesterday for her one month check up. It was a very short visit, in that she is growing and doing all that she's supposed to, so the doctor had very little to tell me! The biggest news was that she now weighs in at a whopping 9 lbs, 15 1/2 oz! So she has added 2 whole pounds to her birth weight-and really it's more than that because she was 7 lbs 3 oz when we brought her home from the hospital! Needless to say, I'm very proud of my breastmilk and it's ability to sustain and thrive a baby girl! :)
For those who've been to our house, you've seen the frame we have that I call "The year of Garrett" with pictures of him at each month of his first year. We intend on doing the same thing for Harper and the first 2 pictures (with the pink background) below are from her 1 month photo shoot.
The next photo is of her pink camo capris that I promised in a previous post. Lucky I took that picture when I did as not an hour after that photo was taken, we had to change her clothes as she had projectile vomited all over herself. Alas, it seems I have another spitter upper (though, so far, she's not as bad as Garrett).
Last is a picture of her first accessory. A friend, Karen, who has a little boy also named Garrett who is the same age as my Garrett, has a little girl as well and brought me a ton of clothes to help outfit Harper. She also introduced me to the wonderful world of hair bows. I have a feeling I will be relying on her girl world expertise here in the coming months!
We're also having an issue with him staying in bed, but we decided tonight we're going to "Supernanny" him. All in all, he's doing just fabulous and is a terrific big brother and a tremendous help to me.
The first month has gone so quickly and so much more smoothly than I had anticipated. Thanks again to everyone who prayed for us, brought us food, or stopped by to break the monotony. We are adjusting quite well to being a family of four!
Thanks to those who expressed sympathy over my plight with the cat. I certainly did not get any from my husband, who laughed about it with co-workers and said it was "no big deal". I did, however, leave the blood covered shovel for him to clean up! Ha!
