Time flies when you don't sleep

Wow, Emma is almost 2 weeks old, and I still feel like it's early April. Somewhere I lost 2 weeks in there... Perhaps it has something to do with having a baby? Or now having 2 kids? It must be something like that.

Anyways, Derek went back to work today. It's been amazing having him home. It certainly is a big adjustment. When Addison was born we were so caught up in becoming parents and adjusting to being responsible for a tiny fragile life that we thought it was such a huge amount of work. Boy were we wrong! Now it seems that Emma takes very little work and attention compared to Addison.

Addison has been bouncing off the walls and constantly screeching or singing or running and spinning. Thank goodness newborns can sleep through anything. It's mostly positive energy, but to a couple of exhausted parents, dealing with a 2yr old is quite taxing; she doesn't care how much sleep we get at night (she has figured out how to sleep through any midnight feedings and diaper changes), all she expects is that we are up and ready to play when she is.

So, having Derek around for a week helped ease the adjustment. I'm not entirely caught up on sleep yet (nor will I be for a few months yet), but at least I've started to adjust to getting my sleep in 1 - 2hr intervals. I even felt energized enough yesterday to spend some time outside planting flowers while Addison ran around the yard and Emma dozed in the shade. Let's hope I have as much energy now that Derek is off to work again. Of course, my mom is coming in a few days, and I'm counting on getting some naps in while she's here to run fence on Addison.

Baby has arrived!

Baby has arrived! Rather unexpectedly, she showed up 5 weeks early and with a speed that surprised everyone (including me and my OB). I had written a blog post that day, but never had a chance to post it before we rushed off to the hospital - it is up now despite it seeming boring already. Did I mention that we made it to the hospital 24 minutes before Emma was born? Yea, that's what I mean by fast; in fact, the nurses nicknamed her 'Speedy'.

For those who haven't heard the craziness that was Emma birthday, I'll do an attempt at a brief recap here...

I woke up Tuesday (April 9th) with some mild cramping, but nothing that suggested labor pains. At my OB check up that morning they ran a battery of tests to see if I was close to labor and determined that I probably had a few weeks left; this was pretty much what I was assuming as well. So, Addison and I went off to story time at the library, and then home for lunch and playing in the backyard. I was a bit more tired and uncomfortable than usual, so we didn't venture out on any walks or to the playground, but otherwise spent it as any other normal day.

Then at about 4pm my labor started; however, I didn't realize that's what it was. I thought I was just having strong Braxton Hicks. It wasn't until after dinner, around 6:30 that they became painful, over very quickly went from 10 minute intervals to 2 minute intervals. That's when I knew it was time to go to the hospital. But I will caveat that I didn't have time between contractions to really think about how this meant we were going to have a baby soon! I guess pain will do that to anyone.

So at 7pm we piled into the car, dropped Addison off at our wonderful friends house, and sped our way to the hospital. Just like you've seen in the movies, I was the pregnant lady in the wheel chair screaming for an epidural while being told it was too late. Thankfully Emma quickly entered the world so I wasn't in pain for very long. And now I know what natural childbirth is like. I think if there ever is a next time, I'll strive to make it to the hospital with enough time so I can actually decide whether or not to get the epidural.

All in bloom

It is so exciting that the weather is warming up! Even the plants seem happy, as our yard is blooming. No, I don't mean the garden; although there are shoots of green popping out of the ground. No, when I say that the yard is blooming, I mean the lawn. There are beautiful little white, purple and yellow flowers all over! Granted I realize this means our lawn is more violets, dandelions, and wood strawberries than it is grass. That's ok - Addison and I enjoy the color even if it makes Derek a bit frustrated.

People certainly take pride in their outdoor areas around here. We do too, it's just a lot of work! This transition from winter (brown) to Spring (green) seems to happen overnight and always leaves us reeling for a few weeks. This year I feel like we are doing well - we've weeded the garden beds, mulched, and even mowed a few times already. So although it may not look that impressive compared to the neighbors, we do care and work hard on our yard.

Hopefully when baby comes it will make it even easier to maintain. How, you might ask? Mostly because I hope to be able to squat down and bend over to work in the dirt... Right now I'm lucky if I can pick up the things Addison drops on the ground, let alone pulling up weeds.  

The missing blue egg

Saturday night after dinner, our little family of 3 (soon to be 4) sat down at the table to dye some Easter eggs. I'm not sure if this was a tradition that you had as a child, but every single year my family colored at least a dozen eggs; usually each kid got their own dozen. Good thing we all like hard boiled eggs.

So Derek and I have continued this tradition with Addison. Derek had prepped the table, laying down butcher paper and colorful bowls for each of the colored dyes; Addison has a collection of colorful plastic bowls, so each color had its corresponding color bowl. When Addison decided to join the operation, Derek was just beginning to pour water on the dye tablets... that's when the fun started.

The very blue tongue

As I don't remember dying eggs when I was 2, I can't tell you what it looks like from Addison's perspective. I have learned though, that the dye tablets look a little bit like sweet-tart candies. You might wonder how I learned this... well, the hard way of course. In the 2 seconds that Derek and I were looking at the table and not watching Addison with eagle eyes, she apparently snatched up one of the dye tablets that hadn't been covered in water and vinegar yet, and popped it into her mouth. I can only assume she thought it was a candy (she had been to an Easter egg hunt earlier in the day so is well aware of what candy looks like).

Well, we didn't realize she had done it until she said,
"eww! yuck!" and started to spit it back out. We looked up to see her drooling royal blue from her mouth down her chin onto her shirt and the table. Panic set in - Derek scooped her up and held her over the sink so as to contain the spreading blue mess and hopefully reduce the amount she ingested; I ran to the egg dye package to confirm that the dyes are nothing but concentrated food coloring and not poisonous at all. Thankfully they are harmless and the only warning on the package is to watch out for choking if ingested.

Addison coloring a green egg

In our haste to wash her off, we did not stop to grab the camera, so the only pictures we have of the truly deep dark blue pouring out of her mouth are mental pictures. The others came after the panic and don't go very far to show quite how vivid the colors were; you'll have to use your imagination. But even after numerous rinses with water and some scrubbing of her chin and neck, she continued to have a very blue mouth and a rather blue-ish tinge to her face for the rest of the night. Thankfully that was the extent to the concern, and we did get back to dying eggs pretty quickly, which Addison really enjoyed (once she figured out it wasn't for eating).

Needless to say, we don't have any blue Easter eggs this year.

Happy Easter!