Cyrus is 4 months/Scarlett is funny

 

Cyrus is 4 months old. He is wearing 6-month clothes and the other day he met an 11-month old girl and was bigger than her.  Reader, you should've seen her parents' eyes when I told them he was not yet 4 months old. Yes, I would like to say his handsomeness is the first quality he is complimented on when he meets a stranger. But his size is always first. Then if the person has ever seen Texan they immediately add how much he, "looks like his daddy!" they always say.

Cyrus loves his right hand, maybe a little more than his left. And I have caught him sucking his thumb twice now. I think by 5 months he will be a full-on thumb-sucker the way Scarlett took to it at the same age. That's 0/2 for pacifiers in this house. Momma tried, y'all. Judge me.

He rolls over back-to-belly when he is on his play yard and even did it once in his crib at 1 am which led to much crying for the poor guy. In the past his little neck would get so tired, and that first night I found him face-down squirming and squealing like a stuck piglet. But just a couple weeks later he looks like he might want to crawl when he is on his belly. He smiles as he proudly raises his head and pushes up on his arms. 

He is still sleeping like a champ. His schedule hasn't changed at all since my last post and I love it. But I can say the last week he has been going to bed much earlier, between 8 and 9 rather than 9-10. Some nights he sleeps from 9-5 but most night he has a 3 am feeding and will sleep straight on until 8:30. And it never fails that on Sundays he wants to sleep until 11. 

On the 6th of June he discovered his feet. He can't hold onto them for too long yet. I think he doesn't realize he can control them quite yet and he kicks like mad. He sticks his tongue out a fair amount these days and reached for a toy for the first time recently. 

My all-time favorite thing he does is watch Scarlett run around. He is a kitten and she is a beam of light teasing him as she darts around whatever space she's in. His little head turns as fast as it can to keep up with her. She loves to get nose-to-nose with him and make him smile. She then announces, "Cyrus is smiling!" And, inevitably, some drool pours forth from him mouth and she announces, "Cyrus spilled it!" I don't know where she got that.

Almost every day I succeed in getting both kids to nap at the same time. It comes very naturally for Cyrus to fall asleep between 1 and 2 so I lay Scarlett down at 1:30. But he is still kind of an unpredictable napper. Oftentimes he sleeps long past the 2-hour nap that Scarlett takes and sometimes he only sleeps and hour. 

One of my favorite things that Scarlett says right now is, "Good morning, Mom! Good morning, Cyrus!" She says it whenever she feels like it. The other day she held her arms out wide and said, "Mom, I want to hold you." I picked her up and she hugged me for a good 15 seconds straight and said, "I love you really much. Now give me a kiss." Oh, my heart. 

And when she wants a banana, she points and says, "My pan-bana!" But she doesn't say it like she is being greedy, rather, she says it as if someone had stolen it from her and she has found it. She sounds so happy, "My pan-bana!" My sweet, long-lost fruity goodness. She almost knows her ABCs by heart and chooses her ABC animals book to be read at nap and bedtime. She can sing the whole song as long as she had he book in front of her. I adore the sound of her pronouncing exotic animals like, "N is for Nudibranch" or "O is for Okapi." She pronounces "chimpanzee" like "hinch-ee-pinch," my favorite. She loves to make letters out of sticks in the yard but they are all the letter X since that is the easiest one to make. She says, "Look! The number X." The she imitates me, "O-O-O-OCTOPUS." She is such a joy to me.

We took our first family road trip last week to the hill country. It was a 4-hour drive and both children did very well. We stopped once on the first trip to change diapers, have lunch and nurse. Scarlett and Cyrus have always been very tolerant of their car seats and the only stresses we endured were Scarlett not choosing to word her frustrations (poopy diaper and hungry) and getting dramatic right before we stopped at subway. There was a horse trailer parked in the parking lot and she got to visit with a beautiful horse for about ten minutes and it was just what she needed.  On the way home Cyrus cried for about 30 minutes because he was so tired and wanted to be nursed to sleep. It was pretty awful mostly because Texan seems to think crying babies only bother him. I'm more laid-back and feel like Cyrus will eventually fall asleep. But SOMEONE is in the driver seat acting like the car is on fire. "Should I pull over?! What does he need?! We should've brought bottles of milk! Why are we so careless?! Ahhhhhhh!" 

To close, thank you for asking about Texan and praying for his family during this time of loss. The morning we were getting ready to go bury Texan's mother, he let out a sneeze and Scarlett said, "God bless you, honey." I love when you know you've got a hard time coming up and your baby just sweetens the moment a little with a funny phrase. 

It has been a crazy month of ups and downs already and it isn't even half over. 

My next post will have some vacation pictures in it. We are very excited for Cyrus' first trip to the beach followed by a visit from some Florida relatives.

I hold onto toys now. Everything goes in my mouth!

3 Months

Cyrus is 3 months old today.

 I will spare you the, "I can't believe how fast it has gone," phrases because, truth bomb... It feels like it has been a year. Cyrus is a wonderful addition to our family--patient, sweet, happy, and predictable. He loves his schedule and I feel like I hit the jackpot. Despite all of these wonderful compliments I can pay to him and to the God who made this precious boy for me to love, when I think back to that first week when my mom was here and I cried when she left...that feels like a lifetime ago. When I think back to that time I took Scarlett out to lunch just as pregnant as I could be and I knew it was the last time she and I would have mommy and me time alone, that feels like a century ago. I can confidently say I know why these 3 months have felt so long. I have really had to live in the moment every day to make it work with having two young children. I watch the clock in fervent hope that the hours between 4pm and 6pm will fly by somehow and Texan will appear in the doorway to hold Cyrus so I can do some dishes. I can't tell you how many moments I have held captive in my mind as I nurse Cyrus, cross my legs, and bounce Scarlett on my top leg shouting the lyrics to, "Camp Town Ladies" while she "rides the horsey." And it probably took me a good 3 weeks to get good and used to waking up and immediately changing two very soggy, wet overnight diapers, feeding both dogs, presenting Scarlett with her intravenous chocolate milk ration, and all finding time for me to pee. Some mornings I admit it was the dogs who whined and whined and didn't get breakfast until noon because I just forgot they were alive. And some mornings I wouldn't even realize as I poured my third cup of coffee that I was doing "the potty dance" as we called it growing up. Staying awake until naptime started to take precedence over my bladder at one point, but we're back on track now. And the dogs are still alive. Calm down.

Cyrus weighs 15 pounds and 11 ounces as of yesterday (fully dressed) at his doctor's appointment. I took him in for a cough to make sure he didn't have any infection. Thankfully (I guess) it is just something that has to run its course. His hobbies include very loudly sucking on his hands, scratching his forehead, wearing mittens to protect his forehead, and smiling and cooing at anyone (or no one) who smiles at him. A true testament to his temperament occurred yesterday at his appointment. I began to nurse him about 5 minutes before the doctor entered the room, so I had to pull him off and let the doctor inspect his ears, nose, lungs, and throat. I fully expect that being forced to quit nursing almost as soon as you've started would make even the happiest of babies a little annoyed. But as soon as I propped him up onto my shoulder for the doctor to look in his ears, he smiled and cooed at his doctor, who said that he couldn't believe how social he was at so young. Cyrus takes so much delight in making eye contact with people. I love watching him smile and make other people smile back. Cyrus goes to bed by 9-9:45, wakes up once a night to nurse, then once in the early morning between 6 an 7. Then he goes back to bed until about 10.
 Having a video monitor that switches between the children's rooms is the best. I remember sending Scarlett to sleep in her own room made me so anxious because I wanted to do about 30 visual checks throughout the night. Now having the monitor I feel good knowing I can see them if I want and hear them when they call. When I found out I was pregnant with Cyrus my biggest fear of having children so close together is that 2-year-olds don't always do what we expect them to do. So even though Scarlett sleeps through the night 99.9% of the time, there is still that small window of chance that she will have the whole house awake one night. And it finally happened 2 night ago. It began like any normal evening. Texan read Scarlett "Donald Duck's Day in the Kitchen" before bed and said good night. I delivered her Doggy to her and sang her Baa, Baa black goat (because she loves goats and sheep are so last century) and turned off the light. Cyrus was in bed at his normal time and Texan and I we in bed by 11.

 Then.

A cry in the night. MOMMA MOMMA MOMMA.

I went into Scarlett's room and laid in her bed because I was too disoriented to ask what was wrong or turn on a light. I rubbed her back and shh'd her. When I left the room I closed the door and checked on Cyrus. Still sleeping.
Then a shout.
MOMMY!
Now I was really awake and so was Cyrus.

I opened her door, turned on her lamp and asked her what was the matter. She mumbled something with her thumb in her mouth and pointed at her book shelf. "See the books, Mom?" she asked. "Donald is in the kitchen." I thought she must be talking in her sleep so I asked her if she wanted me to read it to her. "Okaaaaay," she said with a smile.  NO WAY. Those were my words. NOT  A CHANCE. She wanted me to read her a book at 1:30 in the morning. Or, possibly, sleep-talk Scarlett did. I informed both Scarletts that we don't read books when it's time to sleep and I did my best to sound patient and loving... and I closed the door to more of her cries. I stood in the hallway rubbing my eyes as both my children cried and my husband dreamt of...what do husbands dream of when they are sleeping through mayhem? Someone find out and get back to me. She was back to sleep within 30 seconds and Cyrus nursed for about 10 minutes and my nightmare was over just like that. The next evening when Texan got home from work I asked him if he had heard all the crying the night before and he, of course, said no. I told him Scarlett had asked me to read the Donald book to which he replied, "I read her that book before bed. It's REALLY a good book." So, that's what I get. A book review. I know it's a good book, people. It rhymes, it's funny, and it has a great rhythm. My dad used to read it like an auctioneer, loudly and in a southern accent while I clapped in time. This blog post has gone so very far from where it started.

 I'm sure there are plenty of nights in our future with teething and other developmental strains that will cause me to have dark circles under my eyes, but for now I am in Heaven every time I hear my babies whimper from across the hall--because this is the time in my life where they love me more than anything and they need me for just about everything. And just like every elderly person has told me: I am going to miss these days so very, very much. These are the best days (and nights) of my life.

Funny things that Scarlett says:
Every time I sneeze: "God besh-oo, Mamma!"
Every time I rub my eyes: "Alright, Momma? Just tired?"
"Oh, come on!" She doesn't quite know how or when this is appropriate but she's practicing incredulity quite nicely.
"That sounds nice!" Mommy Pig (of Peppa) said this the other day, and now Scarlett says it whenever anything hits any of her 5 senses in a pleasant way. Sound doesn't factor in.
"I'm gonna pinch you, MOM!"
"I poop in a diaper and it stinks yuck, MOM?" *sigh* (potty training update: won't)
Every morning: "Have milk and a bar, please." One of my biggest cravings with her was the very same milk and bar combo she wants for breakfast each morning.
Her two big questions right now: "Where are you going, Mom?" when I put her to bed. "What's that noise?" when ANYTHING makes a sound. She even cups her hand by her ear and tries to guess what it is.

Cyrus is 2 months old and Scarlett is just plain 2.

Cyrus Dean is 2 months old. My favorite thing about him besides the fact that he is  dashingly handsome adorable from head-to-toe is that he is asleep every night between 9:30 and 10. "Oh hey, mom, it's 9:59. You better lay me down so I can fall asleep like a flipping angel," he says. Don't mind if I do, little buddy. Don't mind if I do. His first shift usually last from 10-4 then after 30 minutes of nursing and a diaper change we sleep until 7 or 7:30. He'll sleep until 10 if I don't get up to get Scarlett out of bed when she wakes up, so that's nice to do on Texan's days off. One night Cyrus did a crazy thing (because I'd had him out until 9:30 shopping) by staying up until 11... but then he slept straight through the night until 6:15. He is a great sleeper. That's what I'm getting at here, people. Awesome sleeper.
Conversely, during the day he nurses so much that I feel like I get nothing done. That's pretty much the story of my life right now. I sit on the couch nursing and looking at my unfolded laundry, Scarlett's toys everywhere and I think, "if I am ever able to put him down I am going to get SO MUCH crap done." Then inevitably, Scarlett asks me to catch a ball (aww) or push her on the swing. And I'm like, of course I should do those things. Cyrus is sleeping in a milk coma and she deserves some one-on-one fun in the beautiful spring weather. Then it's just a cycle of nursing and trying to be a fun and active mom. A few frantic 10-minute cleaning intervals strewn about throughout the day and, voila! Somehow I still manage to make dinner and keep the dishes from piling up. How does she do it?! It's called coffee, you should try it. And 3-hour FaceTime conversations with my sister who has twice as many kids as I do...those are helpful--not to my house's cleanliness but to my sanity.

Not that My sanity is in question. it's just under investigation.

Ok, Cyrus. He's 2 months old, like I said.

He doesn't roll over yet because laying on his play yard either makes him fall fast asleep within about 5 minutes or it makes him realize how starving he is. Imagine.
He loves to be held while he sleeps and I find freedom in those night where I'm too tired to sit up and properly nurse him, burp him, tuck him into his bassinet I can let him sleep in my arms. But he doesn't expect it every night. Last night I was the model of propriety. He slept only in his bassinet and I trolled Pinterest on my iPad while he nursed. But a few nights from now he may wake me up one too many times and end up my little cuddle buddy because I am too weak from exhaustion to even sit up. That's my prerogative. He is my favorite cuddle buddy since his 2-year-old sister cut me off from snuggle-ville about a month ago. I can no longer cradle her in my arms or hold her close when I read to her before bed. She is a wiggle worm with lethal roundhouse kicks to anyone who dare lay hold of her weapons that are her legs. I knew the day was coming but I though it would be a couple more years.
Pah! Naive.
Oh, Scarlett.
 I don't allow the use of the phrase "terrible twos" into mine or Texan's vocabulary because there's nothing terrible about this time. Scarlett is hilarious, inventive, obnoxious and sensitive. She plays with her stuffed animals in her bed until I come in and get her each morning and nap time. And when I enter the room she asks, "I get down? Peeeeez?" She is my sweet girl who occasionally drives me nuts with her new faux cry that sound a bit like a moose being stabbed.
We'll be spending the better half of this week with Grampy and Dreeny at their house and I look forward to that very much. Scarlett adores them and let's face it...so do I.


We love having Cyrus in our family and we love seeing his personality unfold by the day. We basically love the heck out of that boy.

Cyrus is a whole month old!

Cyrus turned 1 month old at 11:02 on Thursday night. Maybe one day when he is old enough we will let him stay up late to ring in his birthday and have a mini midnight party! Especially since both my babies came within about an hour of each other on their respective birthdays...maybe that will be a thing one year. 

He is a typical newborn. I could say he loves to eat and sleep and fill his diapers but...duh. We haven't been able to capture any smiles yet on camera, but he smiles in his sleep and smirks at us when we tell him stories. I remember Scarlett smiled at about 3 and a half weeks, so I know any day now he'll give us one for the baby book. He goes to sleep between 8:30 and 10 each night and wakes up around 2, 5, and 7. Thankfully I get to go back to bed with him until either Scarlett wakes up around 8:30 or until Kyle has to leave for work. The other night he slept from 7-3, and this morning he slept until 10 and so did his sister...and so did I!

The hardest part about having a second child is how much I have to tell Scarlett to wait because I'm nursing. The other day she asked for shark snacks (fruit snacks shaped like sharks) and I told her yes. But I was nursing at the time so, time went on and eventually she came into Cyrus' room where I was rocking him and said, "MAMA, come on...my snacks!" It cracked me up. Along with speaking to me like I am a low-level employee, she has added the words, "delicious" and "fantastic" to her vocab. Her 2 most used phrases are "Hurray! I did it!" along with "oops...sowwy" whenever she accidentally drops something or trips. I don't have the heart to tell her that's not what apologies are for. She can also count to 14 now. So crazy that the last time I posted a blog after my mom left she could only count to 6.

I'm still nervous about taking Cyrus around groups of children, so with all the gatherings we have been invited to this month I am trying to figure out a way to avoid Cyrus catching something while still letting Scarlett have fun. But how?! Don't answer that. It will be ok and it doesn't actually take up that much of my thinking power. I spend more of that wondering if Scarlett spends enough time outside and if I'm taking enough pictures of Cyrus. Scarlett calls him Cyrus (Sah-wiss) now instead of Baby Cy and I love it. And she loves him now. Only took a month. Hooray, she did it!

Here are some photos I took today in the beautiful sunlight that spilled into our home all day long.

First picture: Bed head and jammies. I said: "Show mama how you say "CHEESE."
Second picture: "Show mama how you blow bubbles." LOL

NOTE: Scarlett completely trashes the living room as soon as she wakes up. TOYS EVERYWHERE. I love when it's time to put them all "night night" and I get my living room back.

 For these we went out onto the porch and she was having so much fun responding to my prompting. I said, "Show me how you..." so many times that by the end she was coming up with her own ideas. She said, "Show Mama a sneeze...AH-CHOO!"

Happy 1-month birthday, sweet boy!

Update time, readers.

Dreeny Poppins left us on Wednesday to go back to the real world. While she was here she lived up to the comparison to Mary Poppins in every way--ok, except for the arguing with her own reflection thing. She prepared food and waited on me, washed and folded laundry--it seemed there was ALWAYS a load of laundry going for the week she was here--she vacuumed, mopped, hand-washed every dish, meal planned, grocery shopped and crocheted. But most importantly of all, she was Scarlett's closest companion throughout it all. Scarlett was her alarm clock every morning due to the fact that she slept on Scarlett's trundle bed. She engaged her in educational games and quizzed her on counting, (to 6, so far) colors, animals, and shapes. She took her on at least 1-2 walks each day in the wagon, stroller or just as far as Scarlett's tiny legs could go. She even turned the job of cleaning up toys into a game. See? Mary Poppins. 

She rubbed Scarlett's chest and feet with essential oils to treat her croup cough and re-covered her with her blankets in the middle of the night when nights were cold. She took her to get donuts, to visit the duck pond and to shop around town buying her prizes for being a good girl. I literally never once worried that Scarlett missed me, even though my mom insists she asked about me a lot when I was napping or away in the hospital.

The night my mom left I cried before bed. I was so worried that Scarlett would feel left out while I nursed Cyrus or worse, that she would wake up wondering where Dreeny was. But our first day solo was so wonderful. Texan got up with Scarlett and even took sleeping Cyrus out of our room and held him all morning. I slept until 9. It was bliss. Then each day since he has let me sleep while he changes Scarlett, feeds her and deals with the dogs. Then when he is leaving for work he wakes me up with a half-hour to spare so I can get my coffee and he can do "shift change" where he informs me of everything Scarlett has done, eaten, and put in her diaper so I know where I stand. It actually took until Saturday night for Scarlett to ask about Dreeny. She was in the bath and Texan was supervising when I peeked around the corner to see how it was going and she said, "Mama, where Dreeny go?" I told her Dreeny went to Florida with Dry Dry and she replied, "I go See Dry Dry...NOW?" And that was the extent of it.

 No one knows why she calls Grampy "Dry Dry" but I'm pretty sure that as she gets older she will realize that is weird and change her ways. It seems Dreeny has stuck though as it was the closest she could get to pronouncing Grammy months ago when she invented the word. When we try to get her to say "Grampy" she says, "MY Dry Dry!" Oh well.

This morning was an exciting development in her complete disregard for Cyrus' existence. When I got her out of her bed, Cyrus was still asleep in his bassinet in our room. The first thing she said was, "Go see baby Cy?" Then I led her into our room where she ran over to him and I went into my bathroom...which made her mad. "Oh, no Baby Cy! Take out, Mama!" She was not happy that I left him in there. She spoke very sternly toward me about him "cry-nin" which he totally wasn't. 

Cyrus loves to eat. He has already given us cause for concern and has had more doctors visits than I would like. He had a Jaundice test at 6 days old because at his first visit to our pediatrician here at home he looked a little yellow. I felt clueless because I have never seen a jaundice baby in person. The test was negative. Then 2 days later His umbilical cord came

off partially and smelled like...something horrible. It was weepy and so yucky. Scarlett's had been totally dry and fell off cleanly with no smell, so I took him in to have it checked because when I called the doctor he said it could be infected. Thankfully it wasn't infected and the doctor gave it a good cleaning in the office and showed me how to do it. I love having my pediatrician 3 minutes away and I love how they always get me into the office as soon as I have a concern. Also, I always see my children's doctor and an NP or nurse. He is so caring and patient. I kind of thought my second baby would leave me a little more laid back and more nonchalant like, "I'm sure it's nothing," and then I learned how every baby is so different and Cyrus has stuff going on that Scarlett never did. Maybe by my 5th kid I'll have seen it all. Just kidding. So kidding. 

 

 

Cyrus sleeps all the time, but at night he is still getting up 4 times, mostly between the house of 11 and 3 to nurse for 45-60 minutes each time. Then he usually gives me a good solid 3-4.5 hours before wanting to nurse again. I average 5-6 hours a night but last night I went to bed at 9 and enjoyed 7.5 hours of sleep. I forgot how simple newborns are after living through all the changes infants go to on the road to toddler-hood with Scarlett. I love these days of nurse, change, sleep, repeat. Scarlett may be watching more TV than I like these days since Dreeny left but soon we'll I'll be feeling more active and outdoorsy. I'm trying not to heap on the self-inflicted guilt about that. We play outside once a day before nap. For now that's ok. But today we are going on a walk and Wednesday we are having Scarlett's best friend over to play. She needs peer interaction so badly. I'm really looking forward to it.

Cyrus was gifted two adorable pajama sets from Neiman Marcus by a client of Texan's. They saw the ultrasound picture he had on his desk and sent him a card a beautifully gift-wrapped silver box and card. I took these photos today to send them a thank you card.

 

Cyrus Dean's Birth Story

5:15 am-arrive at hospital

6:15 am-start pitocin. This is the point where the trouble started. An hour into it. Yeah, I know. My doctor came in to check my cervix and break my water but could not reach my water with his giant sterile crochet hook. I mean, nothing. He said he would come back after the pitocin had done some work and hopefully break it.

10:15 am- My doctor returned to attempt another break but beforehand he informed me that if I was still at only a 2 and if my water was still too high he would need to send me home. He said, "you can come back Saturday when I'm here all day to keep an eye on you. If I force induction today and your baby ends up being too big to fit through the canal (yes, this was a real issue based on my Monday sono) then you will have had a very long, exhausting day that ends in c-section that I won't be here for because it will likely be in the middle of the night." I guess the look on my face was absolute horror because after he checked me, I was at a 3 and he was able to break my water, my nurse said, "I'm glad you get to stay and have the baby today. You looked so upset when he was telling you to wait until Saturday!" I totally respect and trust my doctor, so I would have done what he said was best. But I'm so glad he broke my water because it's against policy to send a woman home after her water is broken for fear of infection. *evil laugh* 

Soon my contractions were very painful and I was inclined to stand up and try swaying and shifting my weight to relieve some pressure. The bed was an incredibly painful place to contract because it was so firm. Sometimes I "slow danced" with Texan and he kissed my shoulder. His prickly beard felt like a nice distraction to the piercing  pain. Other times I leaned on a swivel chair and said, "ouch ouch ouch." But really, with the pitocin making my contractions so close together and so long, I wasn't able to bear it for very long. The nurse came in and asked how I was a couple times and I told her I wanted to have my cervix checked before getting the epidural. With Scarlett's labor I feared the Epi would slow me down, so I labored for 12 hours before getting it. But this time I knew that it actually would help me to relax and not fight the pain and possibly I would progress faster or at the same speed. The next time I was checked I was still a 3 so I took the Epi around 1:15. My nurse checked me about an hour after my doctor and she said he was stingy with his numbers and I was actually at a 4. Since she had been checking me much more often I trusted her opinion because she had a better grasp on remembering how it had felt more recently. She was so encouraging and said I shouldn't be discouraged. She was happy with my progress and once I was at a 5 she would consider me in active labor. Unfortunately shift change came around 7 and she left, leaving me with a new nurse. I was soon at a 6 and my epidural began to lose its impact on my pain levels. My nurse said it probably just needed to lay on my left side to allow gravity to adjust the direction of the meds. That didn't work, and I told her I was ok with the pain as long as it meant I could have a baby faster. I was at a 6 at this point. She pressed the button to release more meds and called anesthesia. The anesthesiologist was so sweet and maternal. She told me I needed to be comfortable and she wanted to make sure I was able to feel the contractions without being in agony. She added more meds and soon I was able to relax. 

My dad and Texan went to get ice cream at Braums and I lowered the lights and tried to nap. But soon after they returned the pain was back. My lower abdomen was on fire. I clung to the rails of the bed and tried to breathe. My nurse said I was an 8 and anesthesia upped my meds again to get me to a 10. I wasn't breathing very well because it was so painful to inhale. I threw up from the pain. Soon enough my pain subsided enough and before we knew it I was 10. The on-call doctor was so sweet with white hair and cartoon eyes. He came In right away with a team of nurses and the giant lights were turned on. I remember with Scarlett my nurse allowed me to start pushing before ever calling anyone or turning on any lights. My doctor only came in to pull her out and stitch me up. But this time I had a room full before I even began pushing. Earlier in the day I had told the doctor that pushing was my favorite part. I had pushed for 35 minutes with Scarlett and it was actually enjoyable. Exhausting but enjoyable. He looked at me like I had a third eye and admitted he had never heard anyone say that in all of his (36) years as an OB." So there we were, at my favorite part. I just wanted the pain in my abdomen to stop, and as soon as my legs were raised it disappeared. I was in heaven. The doctor said whenever I felt a contraction start I could push. Then we waited for what felt like an eternity because they had turned off my Pitocin a few minutes before so I could contract at my own pace...everyone staring at me...not my most modest hour. Telling the story after to my mom, Kyle informed me it was less than 10 seconds we had waited. But it felt more like 10 minutes at the time. On my first push the doctor said, "a little cone head!" I couldn't believe his head was showing in one push. On the next push Texan said, "He has hair!" The next push they told me the shoulders were almost out. I managed to say, "I'm so excited!" between breaths. It was a total of 5 pushes in maybe 3-5 minutes and he was in my arms. I hugged him and kissed his slimy head and smelled his sweet skin and drank in the moment while Texan snapped lots of pictures of the precious first moments I held our son.  I love all the pictures he took because they capture so much joy and exhaustion on my face. The first glimpse I got of him as Texan cut the cord was tear-filled because of the amount of hair he had. I totally lost it when I saw that matted down hair. I had prayed that he would have hair but knowing it was kind of on the shallow end of the prayer spectrum, I was shocked to see God has provided a sweet layer of dark brown hair for my boy. He always faithfully answers my prayers, showing his love for my own desires no matter how trivial they seem. I so enjoy washing and combing it. It is definitely my favorite feature of his right after his perfect nose. There is nothing on earth like delivering a healthy child to make me praise God for who he is. Cyrus actually arrived on the same day I was induced, unlike his sister, and for that I was so thankful. We did skin-to-skin and nursed for the first hour of his life, then invited my dad back to hold him before heading up to our recovery room and passing out in blissful exhaustion. Cyrus slept and slept and nursed only a handful of times during our entire 36-hour hospital stay. That time doesn't include the 16 hour labor, of course. I was told to wake him and feed him a few times but I never did. And I am so glad I let him (and myself) sleep. Because at 72 hours old my boy discovered cluster feeding and sometime after midnight Sunday night my milk was in. It was a tiring night but so enjoyable. I caught up on Downton while the whole house slept. I adore these quiet moments of him clinging to me and needing me. He is my perfect blessing.

 

^Here's to baby #2. Before contractions started hurting and before the hair went up in a messy bun at the hands of my hairdresser husband...

 Cyrus' face was very bruised and swollen the first 24 hours^

 

 One hour old^
 

 Texan helped me with a puzzle and bought me an orchid as my push present^

 See my snacks?^ That means baby is here and Grampy is making a collage on his phone^

 Grumpy gus after his first sponge bath^

 

 

 

 

Scarlett's is 2!

My labor with Scarlett last 17 hours, so here are my 17 favorite things about my 2-year-old:

17. She is very talkative. She rambles on, loudly or softly or shouting at the top of her voice all day. It cracks me up when my parents come to visit and they can't understand her. She gets so frustrated and repeats herself over and over until I finally come and tell them what she is trying to say. She talks so much that during breakfast when I feed her cereal (the only time I still spoon feed her) that I always end up crashing the spoon into her chin as it waggled up an down because she has to announce each bite as it comes, "A bite of Cheek, Momma?" 

16. That leads me to her words. Cheek is cereal. It started off as her trying to say Cheerios and now it's all cereal. When she doesn't know the name of a shape she mixes to shapes together. A heart is called a "square-star" and a pentagon is a "tri-diamond." I like that last one because it sounds like some sci-fi movie prop. We have to get the tri-diamond to the cloud prince before Lord Falcon Wizard melts the planet. I don't know, I don't read sci-fi. She still refers to fish as "blubble-blubble" and Donald Duck is affectionately called, "Donny Duck." Santa is still "Tanna"and pillows are "polo." Avocado is "alla-calla" and watermelon is "menna." Grammy and Grampy are Dreeny and Dry-dry. There are so many more.

15. She just started saying "love" along with huge hugs and patting. "Lovey Bailey," she says as she hugs and pats her sweetly. "Lovey me?" She asks as she hugs my tightly. Sometimes it's weird, "lovey vacuum" she says as she hugs the vacuum. 

14. Her friends. Scarlett has lots of friends and she loves to talk about them and see them. Emily is closest to her in age and they have been friends basically since Emily was born in April 2014. Scarlett calls her Emmy and we get them together very regularly. Kate, Kennedy, and Klaire are her friends she sees every Tuesday and she calls them (all of them) Kate or Kenny. Klaire hasn't made it into her vocab yet. Their mom is Debbie and Scarlett asks about her A TON. She was the first person I ever saw Scarlett go to and snuggle once when she was sleepy before bed a few months back. Scarlett usually is pretty stingy with her snuggles leaving them to me or my mom if she is visiting. But she loves Debbie. Scarlett also loves to talk about her cousins, Kenna and No-No and their cat Fig. She asks if we are going to see them a few times each week. She even asks about her Vegas cousins who she only really remembers from pictures and FaceTime. 

13. Her bedtime behavior. Scarlett is an angel about bedtime and nap time. At 7:30 every night she lets me read to her and sing and rock her before I lay her down and she goes right to sleep. She usually sleeps until between 7 and 7:45. And she still naps every day. Love that!

12. Her accessories. She loves to wear hats and bows, but especially hats. All day and through some nights . I can't make this stuff up, so I take lots of pictures.

11. Her memory of places. Every time she sees Dunkin Donuts she asks if we're getting "bye bye doney." Yeah, I totally started that. Perhaps she has had a few too many donuts in her day. Bye bye church? Is a question she asks a lot, and she knows when we pull up to her friends' houses. When we go out front and she sees the neighbor's house where her little 10-month-old friend, Kai, loves she says, "want to see Kai? Go see Kai?"

10. Her imagination. Scarlett loves to pretend to eat things, feed me things, cook, clean, wash my hair...the other day I took a bath to relieve some soreness in my joints from, ya know, pregnancy...and she stood by the bath the whole time "washing" my hair and saying, "Momma's bath. Washy hair...dry dry dry!" She hugs and rocks her baby and even wants to help when I babysit Emily's real-live baby sister. "Help baby drinking milk?" She asks as she tries to bottle feed her. Adorable.

9. Talking on the phone/FaceTime. Scarlett brings me my iPhone and asks me to call Dreeny, Dry, Gabby, and Papa daily. On FaceTime she shows my parents toys and dances for them.

8. DANCING. Dance is pronounced "den" in our house and Scarlett is in the mood to den in restaurants and shopping centers where background music is playing. She jumps down from the table where we are eating, shakes her butt and says, "wanna den?!" It's awesome and I hope she never stops dancing in public.

7. Her learning. I really get misty-eyed  when she is telling me her colors and shapes. We're working on ABCs and she sometimes refers to her ABC book as "JK?!" 

6. Her snuggles. She loves to nuzzle, be carried like an infant all wrapped in her towel after baths, and be cradled when she is sleepy. And any time of day is a perfect time for hugs and sitting in the crook of my arm. Last Sunday when we went to donuts for breakfast she sat with her arm around me and I went to church with sugar glaze all over the back of my blouse. I love her cuddles so much though.

5. Her love for animals and cartoon characters. She loves to point out animals anywhere we go and she adores all of her Disney characters. Ariel from the little mermaid is "Mer-Mer" and she only wants me to brush her teeth with her Barbie toothbrush. We have a lot of horse statues around where we live and she always says, "I see Hee-Her, Momma!"

4. Her laugh when she is playing with Papa. She laughs so hard at his Monkey noises and his tickling. Then says, "Papa funny, Momma?" She is so happy when he gets home and plays on the floor with her. And I love that he gives her baths for me since bending low is not my strong suit these days. He always spends extra time brushing her hair after baths and making up silly songs. We love him.

3. Her tidiness. She is so good about using her eating utensils, but sometimes can't get the food in fast enough with them. In which case, she asks that I clean her hands off multiple times throughout the meal. The notion of decorating Christmas cookies went over her head because where is the fun in being covered in frosting and sprinkles?!

2. She is such a good eater. Sure, we had our chicken nugget phase and some days she eats 6 mini gherkin pickles for lunch but I can usually get 2 really good meals into her belly each day. And she eats with gusto. We had Cracker Barrel for dinner after her birthday party and I ordered her Mac n cheese and green beans. She shoveled it in so fast I couldn't believe, and said "yum yum" between bites. I have never been so entertained watching someone eat before. 

1. She really is a good girl. It's funny TODAY she did two things she had never done before and they happened to be on her 2nd birthday. She threw the bathtub drain stopper in the toilet (that was the first time she ever did anything remote close to that!) And willfully slammed my glass elephant coffee creamer on the tile floor shattering it to bits because I told her not to be rough with it. Yikes, right? But she has never gotten up to the typical mischief of associated with toddler-hood. I know, after today  she is capable of it. But I never worry when I leave the room that she will get up to mischief. She doesn't want to pour out all the desitin and bathe in my perfume... yet.  She just kind of hangs out with me all day being awesome. She doesn't give me daily headaches or gray hairs and I really really really love this time in my life and in hers. I know soon we'll have an adorable extra human in our midst and dynamics will change, so I'm enjoying it as much as I can.