2 years old!!

So my baby girl, Leah is 2 years old.  She had a minnie mouse themed party, it was so fun.  So I wanted to make her a birrthday cake and it of course had to be  minnie mouse themed.  At first I thought this would be simple, but it turned into quite the project.  I could have just as easily bought her a cake but I wanted it to be homeade.  So during her party when the birthday song was being sang to her, I of course started to cry.  I don't even know why, I guess because time is flying by or maybe because Leah was laughing and in such joy as everyone was singing to her.  Either was it was a good day.

Lydia is doing great.  She is 6 months now.  She loves to eat and is such a calm sweet baby.   She is starting to learn to crawl, she just gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth.  So any day now she start crawling!!

I love watching my girls play together.  They will just giggle together.  Leah loves to bring Lydia toys. Lydia just watches Leah run around and I know she wishes she could join in. 

I am of course back to work.  It was pretty hard going back and work has been so busy. It is hard balancing motherhood and working.  I feel torn all the time, especially on the days when I have to work all they until their bedtime.  It is really hard to leave as soon as they wake up and then get home in time to say goodnight.  I cherish the weekend time.  Side note with work,  I hate the stress of pumping.  Don't get me wrong I love nursing, but hate pumping.  If my day isn't all ready busy enough it is difficult to find the time to pump. 

                                                            The cake

                                                                    Lydia

                                                 Kev's getting good at playing with "girl" toys

Kevin and me have been house hunting.  It seems like we can't find everything we want (within reason of course) in one home. I wish we could combine like two homes at times.  We want a yard so our kids can play in.  Also would like two living spaces in the house one for hanging out and the other for more of a play room.  It sounds simple but to have both of these is actually pretty hard. I think we are going to choose location over getting a more updated home. It has been tiring house hunting almost everynight after work.  We are waiting now to hear back on our most current bid and a home that we both actually like.  I'll keep you updated. 

Hospital Stay :(

 My poor little Lydia has had a rough couple of days.  Now remember she is only 9 weeks old.  On Friday I noticed that she had a temperature, but it wasn't breaking the 100.4 that they consider a "true" temp for an infant.  Then on Saturday it was gone, but on Sunday the fever came back with a vengence.  The highest it got was 101.4.  I was nervous and I kept taking her temp and was doubting myself thinking maybe I am doing this wrong, because it would be different each time I took it. I then undressed her to wait and see if maybe she was just too wrapped up during her sleep. I hesitated calling the doctor because it was 3 am and she didn't seem fussy and she was eating. So I waited and just drove her right to the pediatrician office on Monday morning waiting for them to open. Her fever was just 100.5 at this point. 

Well here comes the traumatic day she had to go through.  At the doctor's office they had to catheterize her to get a urine sample, that was so sad.  Then they sent us to the lab to get blood and nasal discharge tested. The nasal was also hard to watch because they had to go deep into the sinus cavity to get the sample.  Next we had to get her blood work, I assumed they would do a heel stick because she is a baby. I was sadly wrong.  They had to actually draw blood and they couldn't find her little veins and kept poking around in both arms.  She was screaming and I know it had to hurt because I have had them not beable to get a vein on me as an adult and it was extremely painful.  Then they couldn't get enough blood out before the vein blew and so then they had to heel stick her and squeeze out blood.  I was crying watching my poor baby going through all this.  She at this point looked so exhausted and miserable, I just wanted to go nurse her and give her some comfort.  As I hurriedly left the hospital I sat in the car and nursed her.  Then the doctor's office called and said I needed to bring her back in so she could get a shot of antibiotics.  When I got there they said this shot would be extremely painful because it was so thick.  My poor child!! It seemed like she couldn't catch a break. After the shot we went home to wait on the results of all the lab work.
So I got home and put her down for a nap and finally sat down to eat myself when I get a call from the doctor. He informed me that I needed to take Lydia to the hospital as she needed to be admitted for the next 48 hours due to the preliminary lab results. I was mortified, my infant has to go to the hospital and get poked more. I at this point had a mini breakdown. 
The hospital stay went well and she had to get an ultrasound, poked more, interrupted sleep from all the checking in of the nurses, and had to get two more of those nasty shots.  The results of the stay Lydia's right kidney is smaller than the left and she is not able to fully empty her bladder thus she got a urinary tract infection.  Now we had to go see a pediatric urologist specialist to figure out the course of treatment.
I am so happy to be home and  have Lydia sleeping in the comfort of her own bed and room.
Here are some pictures of her in the hospital.

                                                      Leah came to visit each morning

schedules

Just a quick entry to say I miss having a set schedule. Before the baby I knew that Leah went to bed at  7 and then after that I had my "me" time. Now with an infant there is no set schedule. I'm so ready to have set bedtime for both girls. That alone time is so golden and I forgot how much I got accomplished in those few hours. With that said I notice that everyday I'm getting the hang of being a parent to two young kiddos more and more. (Still not easy)

New Addition

So our new little one has arrived, Lydia Grace Clark.  Lydia was born on Dec 17th weighing 8'6 and 20 inches long.  I had to have another c-section due to the health problems that happened last time and some new additional health concerns.  I was really nervous and felt guilty for having to have another csection, but all went well. I have to say getting an epidural without having the pains of contractions to distract is really painful.  The recovery went smoother this go round.  It was difficult though because I could pick up Leah at all.  This was hard because that meant I have to have someone with me pretty much everyday for two weeks.  I didn't think about all the little times I pick her up like putting her in and out of her crib, changing her diaper/clothes, putting her in the chair to eat and etc. 

So having another child brought on a ton of emotions for me.  I felt guilty that I wasn't able to show the one on one time to Leah. I was upset that the newborn needed me so much and I couldn't spend more time with Leah.  When Leah came to the hospital to see the baby and me I had a mini breakdown.  I felt bad that I couldn't go home with her and that her life was changing so much. After she left the waterworks came on, I missed her, and the nurses and the cleaning lady saw me craying in my room and all came to make sure I was okay. Needless to say I have adjusted and now life is wonderful.  Leah adjusted so well to having a baby in the home and sharing the attention.  We do watch alot of Elmo DVD's while I nurse.  Speaking of nursing, I forgot how time consuming breast feeding is and how needy infants are.  I'm already ready for the newborn to  be sleeping through the night and be on the same schedule as Leah.  It's amazing that sometimes I am so busy tending to the children that I don't even have to time to eat or clean.  I feel like my whole day is taken up with feeding the kids, changing diapers/clothes, and putting them to sleep. Having two young children this close in age is very difficult. 

Kevin has been so helpful during this whole process it has been great to have such a wonderful husband.  He helps to keep me calm if I am starting to feel overwhelmed and really helped out with my recovery process. My sisters and mom also helped alot.  I don't know what I would have done if my family hadn't been there. My older sister, Holly, who has two children of her own came and stayed in the hospital with me for two nights so I didn't have to be alone. My mom has came and cleaned my house several times while she was also recovering from a surgery.  Then my younger sister who is in her last month of pregnancy came over to help take care of Leah for me.  

Lydia has had super bad acid reflux, we have already had to increase her medication and she is scheduled to see a stomach specialist. I can tell she doesn't feel well, I hope we can figure out what is going on and get her feeling good. 

I am enjoying my maternity leave, but I feel that it is going  by to fast. Kevin has started school again and is working so hard at that, it takes up most of his free time.

                                              us getting ready to go into the operating room

                                                              baby Lydia

 first time Leah saw me at the hospital, it was a very emotional moment for both of us

                                          Leah bowling and she knocked down some pins!!

                                              Gran-daddy helping the sisters meet

                                                                   Leah bowling

 Leah's Christmas present, there are no ball pits to play in these days, so we got her one for the house

 Leah and Briggs eating at the new "kid's" table

1 Year!!!

Leah is ONE Year old!!! I know everyone says the first year goes by so fast, and I was always like yea yea everytime I heard that.  But it is so true, I can't believe she is one year old, seriously where did the time go?!

Well we had a very lovely birthday party for her.  She did so good at eating her birthday cake and made the biggest mess ever!  We also had a swimming party, she loves to be outside and play in the water.  She got some new toys and outfits.  She loves her new grocery cart, she is in the phase of putting things away. 

So with her being a year old we had to switch to cows milk.  I was giving her the same amount cows milk as I did formula.  However Leah quit eating and I was super worried.  Come to find out that they are not supposed to get that much cows milk, so when I decreased the milk she started to eat again. WooHoo  With that said she has suddenly became a picky eater.  She won't eat vegetables, its crazy because I love veggies.  I hope she will learn to love them eventually. 

I love to watch her play and her excitement and interest in things.  She points and says "who that"..so cute! I love having her in my life.  It is a really harder road then I thought, but it is so worth it.  I just want to give her the world. 

Another challenge I have with her is getting her "trained" to sit through church.  I feel like I am the only mom that cannot do this.  It's like nothing entertains her at church, she won't even eat her treats! I'm hoping that with consistency she will eventually get it.  It's hard for Kevin because I have a calling and so he has her for the last two hours. 

                                       This is what she does, pull everything out of the cabinets!

                              She loves to watch me cook, I've become a pro at one handed cooking..lol

                                                Leah and Briggs playing

                                             She's like are you done singing to me yet

                                                                Happy Birthday!

                                                                  Birthday cake time

                                  I made Briggs a little cake too! He was a more neat cake eater...haha

 Other big news!  I am pregnant again!!  This is a very unexpected surprise.  When I first found out I was sad, nervous, angry.  I felt like I didn't get enough alone time with Leah.  Then I felt that this second child won't ever get the one on one attention that Leah got.  Just crazy emotions. But there is nothing I can do, I got pregnant earlier than expected.  The baby is due on Christmas Eve.  I am already showing its crazy because I feel like I never really got my body back from having Leah.  With this pregnancy I found out I have the little C antibody problem/syndrome.  Basically I have to get my blood monitored, see a high risk OB, and possibly have to get inter-uterine blood transfusions to the baby. 

So two children close in age and it will be a tough next couple of years, but I will get through it.  I know this because I have an awesome supportive family.  My parents are amazing and still willing to watch my children so I can work to help support our family until Kevin graduates. 

Easter Fun

Leah is getting older and is now able to get excited about things.  This made Easter more fun.  I know she can't most candy yet but I still made her a basket.  I put lots of candy and a stuffed bunny in it.  Now she loves that bunny and she loves to carry around the plastic eggs and play with them.  Poor thing had a cold on Easter but I still dressed her up for quick pictures. 
Work is going well, it's keeping me extremely busy.  I am sad that a good friend is transferring to a different office.  Work is like your second family ( some weeks I spend more time there than at home)  Kevin is still working hard at school.  I mean really working hard, I don't remember putting in that much time..lol  

Nothing else new going on with us.  Enjoy the pictures!