Pictures from the Second Week

Grandma stayed with us for a week and she was a lot of help. We were sad to see her go...

Our BIG little baby...

Skogen's last bath before his cord fell off (which almost made mommy pass out!). Now Skogen can have real baths...

Maida was a big help for mom, helping her wash his hair...

Skogen's 2 Week Check Up

We just got back from our second week check up and I thought that I should update. Skogen is now 21 1/2 inches long and weighs 10 pounds and 4 ounces. He's a BIG boy! He's healthy, all except some clogged tear ducts in both eyes, which Maida had too when she was a baby. We will go back at two months for another check up. It will be exciting to see how big he is then!

Our doctor scheduled a nerve conduction test for me today. My hands are still really bad and she wants to get them checked out. I will have the nerve conduction next week. The nerve conduction test will determine if we should do therapy or cortisone shots or if they will do surgery. I am excited to finally get this figured out, but scared at the same time! I just wish that my hands would take care of themselves.

Second Week Update

We're well into the second week at home with two babies and it is going so much better than I ever dreamed. I had no idea that it would be way more stressful and hard to bring home the first baby, compared to bringing home the second. The only thing making this time difficult is the recovery from the c-section. Otherwise, everything else is falling into place.

Skogen is a much much different baby than Maida was. I am having a hard time figuring things out with him at times. He wants to eat ALL THE TIME and even wants me to feed him to sleep. He won't go to sleep with his pacifier or in his bed. It gets really frustrating after a while. I was so desperate tonight, that I put him to bed on his tummy!! I know that's a no-no, so that's why I'm up. I am keeping myself awake so that I can go in and check on him every once-in-a-while. Pathetic, I know. Skogen also cries! Maida never cried when she was little and so learning to deal with a crying baby has been hard too, especially when he doesn't like his bouncer or his swing, so "dealing with him" means holding him all the time. Hopefully that will be a habit that we are able to break fairly easily and fairly quickly.

I ventured out of the house for the first time on my own with the babes on Monday afternoon. I took them up to Erik's school to eat lunch with him and show Skogen off. I have a phobia of too many people holding Skogen at once (you know, the kind of thing where one person asks to hold him and then they will pass him to someone else and they will give him to another, and pretty soon you have no idea where your baby is or who's got him), so I put him in my moby wrap so that no one would ask to hold him. I felt bad about doing that, because I know that everyone would have loved to hold him and love on him, but I just couldn't fight my motherly instinct to keep him close. Maybe when he's a little older, I'll take him up and pass him around. As far as getting out of the house with two kids went, it was hard. I don't think I'll go out again alone with them for a while, at least until I heal more from the surgery.

Everyone has asked about Maida. I'm happy to report that she has been a little princess. The first week was rough while my mom was here because Maida thought Grandma was only here to play with her, so if Grandma did anything else, Maida got upset and whiny. Since Grandma left, though, she has been so perfect. She is such a great helper for me and loves Skogen so much. He's the first one she wants to see in the morning when she wakes up and the last one she says goodnight to at night. It's so fun for me to see the growing love she has for her brother.

I don't have any pictures to post now, but hopefully we'll get some more loaded soon. Thanks for all of the thoughts, prayers, emails, messages, cards, phone calls, and gifts. This has been such a special time for us and it means a lot to us that you all are apart of it too.

First Week Pictures

Here are some pictures from the first week at home with Skogen...

Maida in Daddy's ski helmet. She's still waiting to go skiing for her first time, which she'll do in a couple weeks when Nana and Papa come from Oklahoma.

We had some special visitors on Friday! Kara's brother Jay and his wife Nancy, along with their daughters Brittany, Sarena, and Natalie came to meet Skogen for the first time. Skogen got really spoiled by being held all day long by his sweet cousins! He also got some new clothes, which we really appreciated (THANK YOU!!!).

The first week has been a lot easier than I had thought it would be. My mom came to help and the ladies from church have been making us dinners. Skogen is a pretty easy baby and Maida has adapted well to the new babe. There was one night when I didn't go to sleep once because either Maida or Skogen was awake, but other than that it's been pretty easy. Skogen loves to eat and would eat every hour if I let him! He also doesn't like the dark and won't sleep in his crib at night unless we leave the light on! We are so thankful for our babies and love being parents to two children. I'm working on our birth story and hopefully will post that soon.

A couple more pictures...

A few more from the hospital...

First time at home...

Maida is a proud big sister...

Daddy and Maida, "CHEEEEEEEEEESE"...

Picture Update

We are so sorry that we've been so bad at updating the blog! We never thought that we'd be this tired! It seems like the days pass so fast, getting to know as much as we can about this new little baby. The nights seem to drag on and on, making both of us feel so sleep deprived. Skogen is a great baby, happy most of the time. He eats and sleeps well, however he may eat a little too well as he loves to eat every hour of the night! The lactation consultant said this was called "cluster feeding" and that it's okay to do. I think it's crazy feeding and it really does't work for me! I have only slept for three hours total since we got here. I may try to put Skogen in the nursery tonight as I'm sure I would start recovering a little faster and better if I had some rest.

Here are some pictures from our hospital stay. We will be going home tomorrow! Thanks for all of the prayers. (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)