Is Sarcasm Genetic??

Let me preface this with saying that Jason and I have a relationship and banter that includes alot of sarcasm. We tease, we joke, we mildly insult but we always know that it is just in good fun and how we interact sometimes. Though I don't think we ever thought that Jakob would, at such a young age, grasp the form of sarcasm. Maybe it was a fluke, maybe we are reading too much into it, but we almost fell off our chairs the other night. We were finishing up dinner and Jakob had already excused himself from the table. Aiden was swinging in his swing with a full belly and a grin....oh and the hiccups. Jakob walks over to the swing, looks down at Aiden and says..... "Nice Hiccups" - with just a slight ooze of sarcasm. It was hilarious. He then proceeded to sit down on the floor and play with his many many hotwheels. So the question is - nature vs nurture?

OMG!!!

He slept fantastic last night. He only got up once last night. Yes, that’s right, ONCE. He was up until about 11ish, slept until 3:15 am, went right back to sleep and then woke us all up at 6:50 am. We needed to get up too! Jakob needed to be at school by 8! I woke up just before he did in the middle of the night. Don’t forget my boobies are telling me when Aiden will need to eat! I was surprised to look at the clock and see what time it was. My first thoughts were that something was wrong, did I miss him waking up? Did Jason already get up with him? Nope, he was just snug as a bug and not yet hungry. But that didn’t last long. We had a full diaper and an empty stomach. I am sure that this was just a fluke and tonight he will be up and down all night tonight. But for today I can take it easy as I feel well rested and happy that Aiden is such a wonderful baby.

Christmas with my new family...

What a perfect holiday. I got the present that I asked for, and I think so did everyone in my family. Aiden made the holiday even more special. Jakob was so excited to see his little brother. In the hospital he would come running into the room to see us and would walk over and take a look at Aiden and tell me “awww, he’s cute”. Jakob has been a great helper, he brings me things, brings Aiden things, kisses his little brother good night every night…it is the cutest thing ever. We are being careful to make sure that Jake’s needs are being met as usual and trying not to disrupt his regular routine too much, which has not been easy. He knows that things are different and that Aiden isn’t going anywhere and he seems good with that, for now. That might change – we have only been home for a few days but so far so good. Back to Christmas… it was crowded into our little house. The four of us, the dog, and my MIL. But we made it work. Christmas morning was a slow one. It had to have taken over two hours to unwrap all that was under the tree. I loved seeing Jakob’s expressions has he delicately removed the wrapping paper in tiny shreds instead of ripping it off madly. He was having so much fun. There were a lot of “wows” and “awesome”. And of course we had to open up each new toy and check it out before he would move on. Jakob was playing “Santa” so we were waiting patiently between gifts for the rest of us to get ours. He was very cute in “helping” Aiden open his presents and then decided that he needed to help all of us with ours as well. Jakob was spoiled, of course, Jason got what he wanted, my MIL loved her presents from the boys, and I couldn’t be happier. It was a great day, spent in our pajamas and one holiday that we will remember for a very long time.

I didn't order a yellow baby!

Yes, my new little baby is yellow. Aiden developed jaundice on his third day of life. Jakob did the same when he was born. Though this time we didn’t panic. We took the billirubin test, waited for the results and put him in the sun in his diaper. The results came back but he didn’t need any other intervention, just increase feeding (definitely not a problem for this one) and keep track of those lovely dirty diapers. After a couple of days we re-did the test and the number went down on his levels. So we are on the right track. Aiden will go in for a weight check on Friday to make sure he isn’t losing too much weight, which I find hard to believe as he eats so well. And if they think he still looks yellow they will do another test. But for now, my little man is turning a nice pink and looking more like the baby I ordered!

Boobies, boobies, boobies...

The nurses laughed when I told them that my breasts were so full that I felt like Pamela Anderson without the fun! It was a conscious decision for me to not attempt to breastfeed this time around. I had a hard time with Jake and it made me very unhappy and guilt ridden that I wasn’t able to do what “should” come natural to women. I hate that – not everyone is built to breastfeed. And those people who make comments and frown upon those who chose to formula feed are always the ones that had no issues and think they are better than us. I have several friends who went through the same guilt and unhappiness that I did with their first child(ren). This time I new life would be very different with two boys and that the best option for me was to not set myself up for possible failure or the lock down of pumping every two hours and only getting an ounce or two like I did with Jakob. Then I had the time and the energy, even if it did make me sad after every pumping session looking at the pitiful results. I laugh now at the sensations that creep into my breasts just five minutes before Aiden wakes up hungry. It’s like my breasts are mentally linked to his stomach! The dull ache is slowly dissipating, getting less and less everyday. Soon the enormous boobies will go back to normal. I can’t wait. Aiden is feeding like a champ. The good people of Nestle have made a product that he loves and will give him all the nourishment he requires. He eats on a good schedule and likes to finish his bottle. The burps this kid comes out with sound like he has had a couple of beers instead of a couple of ounces of Good Start!

Aiden's Here!!

It is amazing how different labour experiences can be, and how quickly your life can change. Now being the Mother to two boys I am ready to share my experiences and trials and tribulations of raising them! It has been six full days since I gave birth to our second son, Aiden. It all began on the 20th as I pretty much begged my OB to induce me. Being only 2 cm dilated he wasn’t to keen on it, but said we could try and see what happens. So we crossed the street to the hospital with our already packed bags and let the games begin. Our Dr. showed up around 9:30 and gave me the cervadil. Contractions began pretty soon after that, and with no relief in between each one. By noon I was saying that they were only about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. The day progressed, but my body didn’t. There was no change in my dilation and wasn’t any indication that it would in the near future. By 7 pm I was dilated to about 3 ½ and the pain was a lot worse – more like an 8. At that time they called the OB to see about getting me an epidural for the pain. He denied the request saying that I wasn’t progressing enough and that he needed to see more development from me. I was doing my best! What more did he want! I was walking, bouncing on the ball; I even took a Jacuzzi to try to distract myself from the pain! The evening went by in a blur of contractions and the slowest moving clocks ever! After another call to the OB and another shoot down of the idea of an epidural and only being dilated 4 cm they finally decided to give me some morphine to “take the edge off” and let me try to relax. The consensus was that I wasn’t dilating because I couldn’t relax enough between the contractions, which at that point were every 2 minutes and at least an 8 on the scale. What a relief the morphine was, I felt drunk, but was able to sleep for several hours. The sleep that I got from 11 pm to 5 am the next morning was just what my body needed. I woke up to that familiar pop of my water breaking. And from then on it was on. The contractions were definitely up to a 10, and coming right on top of each other. After being checked and finally making it to a whopping 5 cm my OB gave in and they called in the “take my pain away” doctor! I was so happy to see him when he arrived at about 6 am. The epidural took away all the pain I was experiencing and allowed me to relax and get ready for the main event. It wasn’t long before the OB came by to tell me that he wanted to check me quick before he went to book the OR for another soon to be mother. He surprised us all by saying that I was fully dilated and ready to push since Aiden was right there waiting for a push! The Nurses got ready and we began to push. Three, yes three, pushes later I was holding Aiden in my arms, all goopy and beautiful. I wasn’t keen on holding Jakob when he was messy like that, but this time it didn’t bother me so much. I was so happy to have him finally out that I didn’t care what he looked like or how grossed out it made me! I have to make a note here. If anyone is looking for a great labour coach, my husband is the man. He was great. Very patient, helpful and I only had to flip him off once! He was really wonderful. Knew I was in pain and did everything he could to take my mind off of it. I think that he was just as relieved as I was when the Epidural Man showed up. He wanted me to be as comfortable as possible and hated to see me suffering. Suffering – is that the right word? No, suffering sounds gloomy – let’s go with extremely uncomfortable. That sounds better. I don’t want Aiden to think that he caused me to “suffer”.