2011 - A Year in Review

Let's do a little recap, shall we?

January - We started the year off with a Maybe Baby, and by the end of the first month, Maybe turned into Owen! Henry was walking and starting to talk with a short list of words, and just starting to give me problems with his eating habits. Henry got his first official hair cut.


February - A pretty boring month ... Henry dropped his morning nap, and still only had 5 teeth! Henry played in the snow for the first (and only) time.


March - entered the third trimester of pregnancy with Owen, had to go to physical therapy for my back pain, did not do much blogging at all :) Henry got his first ear infection, and a rash from the ammoxicilin. We also took him to Chuck E Cheese for the first time!


April - I was officially a giant - biggest belly ever. These photos make me feel better about where I'm at with my weight/body issues today. I mean wow, I was huge!! Henry got a big boy bedroom this month, but didn't start sleeping in it yet. I'm sure this was also the month that I got laid off again and Nick started really hoping to be called back to Rockford.


May - Henry started sleeping in his big boy bed, and started acting up. He turned 18 months old, and we have some beautiful photos to remember that age by! My newphew Kelvin was born, and the cousins spent some time getting to know each other!



June - Owen Roger arrived safe and sound. Our daily lives and routines got 10 times more hectic, frazzeled, and full of joy. Well, sometimes joy. Thank goodness for having summers off to get to stay home and get to know this little stinker!



July - While enjoying the summer and adjusting to being a mom of two, Nick headed out to his summer job. I managed to stay sane, but am now baffled by women who decide to have more than 2 children. This was my world for most of the summer:



August - Henry began practicing for his future career in stunt deviling - setting up elaborate scenarios to fall off and hurt himself. And Nick and I began figuring out what on earth we were going to teach next month - I got assigned to 3rd grade and a new building. Nick was ecstatic to return to his old school district, but it took weeks to find out exactly what he would be teaching.


September - Back to work. Full time. This definitely has its ups and downs - and this month took a lot of experimenting to see what works best for our family. We realized Owen's head/neck issues, and started seeing the OMM Therapist for it. The annual Pig Roast was a blast - as always!



October - Henry finally started saying mom ("bom!"). He also started eating only cheese. Owen started sleeping through the night once in a while. Henry was the cutest Halloween dino ever!


November - Henry turned 2. Still unbelievable to me! Owen started on solid foods. We went to the Children's Museum for the first time. We hosted Thanksgiving and Henry's birthday party, which both were fabulous!



December - We had a lovely holiday season, full of family togetherness. Sometimes too much togetherness makes me freak out, so I also had lots of mommy night-outs! Owen is army crawling and so close to sitting up. No teeth yet, but chewing and drooling like crazy. Henry is starting to speak in phrases and short sentences. I love these boys so much.


It is amazing how far we can come in one year. 365 days.

What will 2012 bring?

The older Owen gets, the easier this whole "mother of 2" thing will get. He is at such a tricky age right now - I find myself struggling. I don't want him to grow too fast - because time always passes too quickly - but once he starts walking, I think my life will get better!

I will lose this baby weight. Gosh freaking darn it, I will.

We will get our finances in order. Perhaps start looking to sell our house. Perhaps buy a new house.

I know - my resolutions are completely original huh? I really wanted to come up with something completely random and fun, but I'm not feeling creative tonight.

Where is 2012 going to take you?

Henry Mercer - 2 years old

What? Two? For realz?? It seems like just yesterday he was a little pink line and a dream in my heart.

2 Year Stats

Height - 3' exactly, 88th percentile
Weight - 31 lbs, 6 oz, 85th percentile
Head - 49 cm, 50th percentile

Loves:

Cheese. Grilled Cheese. Mac n cheese. Cheese Quesadilla. Cottage Cheese. Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper. Cheese-its. You get the picture.
Dinosaurs
Robots (the movie)
Curious George
Spoons
Making tents then saying, "dark in here"
Trying to dump water on his brother in the bath
His Grumpa (sorry grammy!)
Running

Hates:

Vegetables. all. of. them.
The potty.

Since I'm so overwhelmed with emotion I leave you with a two year review of my favorite Hank the Tank photos... love love love this child!

Henry Mercer - 22 months old

And we can't have an Owen update without a Henry update :)

This kid is the best! He is just so funny and loving. He is finally saying "mom" (or bom) and I love it. He runs around the house looking for me, "bom, bom bom BOM!!!"

He walked in our school homecoming parade (well, rode in a wagon) and I'd hear "bom bom bom" - just to turn around and he'd ask "What's that" while holding up his sucker. Over and over - too cute!

He is not very nice to kiddos who are smaller/younger than him - but he loves to play with older kids. He pushed his poor friend Jack down last night - in a very mean way. Something to work one I suppose!

Henry only likes to eat cheese ... grilled cheese, cheese quesadilla, cheeseburger hamburger helper, macaroni and cheese. Or hot dogs and ketchup. He doesn't take after his mother at all. *grin* No vegetables - though we did just try out Kraft's new mac n cheese that has cauliflower somehow in the noodles - and he did fine with that. Time to get sneaky!

I haven't uploaded any recent photos, but here's a couple from the last month or so:

Owen Roger - 18 weeks old

Last weeks Watch Me Grow photo (17 weeks old)

Working full time has turned me into a bad blogger mommy!!

Owen had his four month check up this week. His stats are:

weight - 15 lbs 10 oz - 65 percentile
height - 26 inches - 84 percentile

WAKE TIME
Owen averages being awake for about 2 hours before he needs a nap -- a little shorter in the mornings, a little longer in the evenings.

Formula
Owen averages four 6oz bottles a day. About 4 out of 7 nights, he wakes up for another bottle.

Solids
We've started giving him rice cereal in the evenings -- he still has the tongue thrust reflex, so he spits most of it out -- but seems to enjoy the experience. I'm hoping as we practice, this will help eliminate the night time wakings.

GAS
Owen has some days where he still needs gas drops and is in pain. Other days, he's completely fine. I have no idea what causes the change.

NAPS
At home - Owen does not sleep for more than 30 min. in his crib -- then we finish his naps in his bouncey. At daycare, it seems that he sleeps just fine! He takes a morning nap, a little longer afternoon nap, and then a bouncy or swing cat nap in the evening, usually during our dinner time.

NIGHTTIME SLEEP
Owen goes down for bed around 7:30 or 8pm. He may cry for 10-15 minutes, then is fast asleep. As I said with his bottles -- half the time he sleeps through the night, the other half he wakes up hungry. We always try to paci him and let him talk a little first, because he may just go back to sleep. I can usually tell if he is moving his mouth a lot when I try to paci him if he's hungry or not.

OMM
Owen had an OMM appointment last week for his poor crooked head. They want us to use a sleep positioner so he can't turn his head the way he likes at night - and also just to turn it as much as we can while he's awake. I haven't done the positioner because they make me nervous. I get that it's a long time for his head to be turned that way - especially when he sleeps through the night because it's 9+ hours. But it makes me nervous. We are doing better with tummy and siting up time - esp. now that he sits happily in his exersaucer for 15-20 min. at a time. I dunno - we'll see what happens.

FTWM
Working full time is hard for me. It's easy when I'm at school, in the "zone" - but when I look at all the things I want to do and get done in my classrooms vs. all the things I want to do with my boys - I struggle. It doesn't help that I'm teaching a new grade level that has a lot of extra prep work - especially since I'm having to make copies of all the materials - but also that I'm the type of teacher who does better, and teaches better when I'm well prepared (wait ... shouldn't all teachers be that way? :P ) It's all a balancing act and some days I do good, and some days I don't. I will say that I am loving third grade - and I absolutely love all of my students. I don't think there's one that I wouldn't take home. Yes, CP friends, even that *one*, holds a special place in my heart.

I've also been slacking on the photos -- did I ever post his 3 month photo session here? *checks back* Nope, sure didn't. Here's a few from a month ago, and maybe one or two more recent ones!

Brothers, much?! :)

Take the Henry vs. Owen challenge ... can you tell which babe is which? Exact same outfit, exactly the same age in life....



They don't look identical ... but I think it's pretty stinkin' cute how similar they look!

Henry Mercer - 21 months old

This kid is hilarious. Seriously. And he loves the attention he gets from it!

His current favorites: still balls, balloons, Word World, slides

He knows the letters i and o (because of watching Word World all summer). Sometimes he can pick out T, E, and D.

He's learning new words everyday - but won't always use them.

He loves to throw away dirty diapers. If you try to do it without him, he'll chase after you yelling, "trash! trash!"

Yesterday - I told him he had to say "grapes, please" before I would open the fridge. He gave me a big kiss. He always wins!

Owen - 2 Months Old

Today Owen is 8 weeks and 5 days old, or 2 months according to the calendar.

The last week has not been fun. But, the past 16 hours have been an amazing improvement. Read on for more details...


WAKE TIME
We were really struggling here. Due to constant waking early, Owen was always tired. I never knew when to put him down for naps. After a good car ride nap yesterday, I started really focusing on getting him down exactly 60 minutes after he woke. It worked great for his last two naps yesterday, and first nap today. He still fights it, and might cry and squirm, but it seems he needs to throw a little hissy fit to fall asleep. 5 minutes of fighting it is much better than the hour of screaming we were getting. So - the next couple days I am going to focus on this, and see what happens.

Feeding
After Owen eating two four ounce bottles in 2 hours time yesterday, I had a thought. Umm, hello - what if he's still hungry and that's our sleeping issue? So, again, once we got home from our errands, I made a change. I bumped him up to 5 ounce bottles. And again, so far he seems to be doing better. If my baby was a freak for a week because I wasn't feeding him enough, I will ... well, I just feel like a bad mom!

GAS
Same - gas drops at every feeding. He still farts. All. the. time. And we've really been working on getting his burps out. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes of patting him on the back, and then a huge one will come out.

NAPS
They were lasting only 20 minutes at a time. He was even rejecting his bouncey seat. But - with the adjustments already discussed, he's had 3 good naps. I'm working on the routine of swaddling him with his arms out, rocking and singing, then laying in pack and play. So far they've been like this:

Yesterday Afternoon Nap: 10 min. in pack and play, 60 min. in bouncey (bounced on and off)
Yesterday Evening Nap: 15 min. in pack and play, 45 min in bouncey
Today Morning Nap: 45 (!!!) min. in pack and play, currently in bouncey...

Again - it appears that my child wasn't napping because I a.) wasn't feeding him enough and b.) wasn't being consistent with wake-times and routines.

All of these things I knew were important, and I just chose not to go with them for whatever selfish reason of summer fun... not cool mom, not cool.


NIGHTTIME SLEEP
Same here - except he has had a couple nights of sleeping through the night! But most nights, he gets up once to eat. However, he now is fighting returning to his pack and play and loves to sleep with me in our bed. Which is great because he goes back to sleep for a long time - but I only get light sleep because I'm worried about him ... I always lay him on a diagonal so his head is far away from me and his feet are curled up into my side, but it still makes me nervous.

OUTINGS/EVENTS
We've been busy busy busy --- at first Owen did better on outings and car rides. Yesterday, not so much.

SAHM
My summer as a SAHM is quickly coming to an end. I am excited to get into gear of teaching a new grade -- but am starting to get really, really anxious about sending the boys to daycare all day. Thankfully we have an amazing daycare provider, and I know they'll be fine... but it's more me being sad that I'll miss out on so much Owen time that I was able to have when Henry was young. I know, I know, poor me. At least I have a job that we needed me to have. And at least I have two amazing boys to love and miss all day.

And now - for Owen's photo frenzy :)

39 weeks and 5 days...

39 weeks and 5 days pregnant with Owen Roger

And to compare...

39 weeks pregnant with Henry Mercer

I feel like the bellies are two different shapes, which makes sense since Henry was breech. I should have worn the same shirt for a more clear comparison!

How far along? 39 weeks and 5 days
Total weight gain/loss: Looks like a grand total of 42 ... three less than with Henry! Now - how am I going to lose this all, plus more in 6 weeks before a wedding that will have tons of people from high school at it? :)
Maternity clothes? Yuck!! Though, I might pick them over my husband's basketball shorts that I'm going to be living in the next couple of weeks...
Stretch marks? Why do the new ones always show up like 3 days before delivery?!?
Sleep: Awful. Just laying on my side, even supported with 7 pillows hurts me.
Best moment this week: Enjoying all my time with Henry - knowing it's going to be a challenge the next few weeks.
Movement: I'm ready to not feel like this baby is going to push an elbow through my girl parts at any moment.
Food cravings: Surprisingly, nothing really.
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: Still contractions everyday, some mucus plug lost, but that's about it.
Belly Button in or out? Outtie out out
What I miss: Being able to hold and run and play with Henry
What I am looking forward to: Getting to the point of being comfortable taking care of both children on my own! (I know - a few weeks off I'm sure... or years?? haha)
Weekly Wisdom: "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him."
Milestones: This is the start of my last 12 hours of pregnancy. Potentially ever.
Realization of the week: I'm having a baby tomorrow. Enough said.


Oh my, it still barely feels real. This has been the longest. pregnancy. ever. But now that our day is here - wowza. I don't know how I feel. Nervous and excited. Happy and sad.

How can I not be happy to add another handsome man to my life? :)

Henry Mercer - 18 Months Old

This is my giant 18 month old.

Weight: 28 lbs 5 oz ~ 80th percentile
Height: 35.5 inches ~ 99th percentile


I'm not sure if it's starting his naughty toddler stage - or if he senses the big change coming up in his life - but wow, is he starting to test boundaries with me! He likes to run from me, and once I get him, he goes limp so I have to carry him (which is awful at 39 weeks pregnant with a belly measuring over 41 weeks). We're past the point of hand and booty smacks for punishments - so I see Time-Out's in our future. Today I took his paci away because he wouldn't walk for me. He didn't like that so much :)

His latest major milestone is that he's finally sleeping in his big boy bed!! He still wakes up 2-3 times a night, either for a paci or to be re-covered up. Once in a while he'll get all the way out of bed, but as soon as you enter the room he'll run right back to it. I'm hoping this will make brother Owen's arrival easier, since Henry is losing his nursery to Owen.

I'm trying not to worry too much about being away from him so long this weekend when I'm in the hospital with Owen. I know he'll be in safe hands, and be fine ... but I will just miss him so much!!


Henry - you are such a fun loving little boy, mommy loves you so so much!

36 weeks and 3 days...

I haven't filled out the survey for this pregnancy since 24 weeks - opps!!

Oh, to post or not to post the 36 week belly picture... *sigh*


Definitely bigger belly than last pregnancy, and a very different shape. I believe that comes from not having a breech baby this time!

How far along? 36 weeks and 3 days
Total weight gain/loss: I'm on track to gain the same as I did with Henry - but am very sick of feeling fat - especially now that it's getting warmer, which means by the end of the evenings my feet are swollen, my toes are like sausages, and my ankles are nonexistent. May be a complaint - but it's true.
Maternity clothes? I miss my cute clothes :(
Stretch marks? Can't tell if they're new ones, or the old ones getting brighter.
Sleep: I had a couple good nights - and then last night was up every hour. Every. Single. Hour.
Best moment this week: Today!! First day of maternity leave -- Yipeee!!
Movement: Slowing down a bit - as he clearly has no where to go.
Food cravings: Nacho Cheese Doritos :)
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: Some braxton hicks contractions, some real contractions, and tons of pressure and pain ...
Belly Button in or out? Outtie out out
What I miss: Umm... not being pregnant. Hard for an IF Survivor to admit, but true.
What I am looking forward to: See previous question.
Weekly Wisdom: Being pregnant the second time ... not as much fun. Sad but true.
Milestones: If labor starts - they won't stop it now! We'd just have our baby boy sooner! (a girl can dream, can't she?)
Realization of the week: 3 1/2 weeks is going to go fast. I think.

I keep telling myself I need to make myself a list of all the reasons in the last 8 months I've told myself I don't want to do this again. That doesn't mean I don't want more children (not that I think we can actually afford more than 2) - but I've always wanted to adopt. So now the big type/kind/action of birth control comes into play...

Keep checking back for updates -- who knows, maybe Owen will grace us with his presence sooner than later!


"Even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don't be afraid and don't worry." 1 Peter 3:14

Mommy and Me Monday

And Henry, at 17 months old!


Oh, my little monkey Henry - you do the funniest things right now!


~ You love to hit and throw things. We are working on not hitting or throwing at people, but you don't always listen. You're just so excited.

~ When you're over excited - you like to spin in circles.

~ You have a few favorite books, and when you read them, you like to kiss the characters. This started with an ABC book, where you always kissed the melon and the monkey. Then you started kissing all the babies in another ABC book. And now you love to kiss every page of your Dinosaur counting book.

~ You are such a helper! In fact, you get very angry if you can't help unload the dishwasher or throw your own diaper away. Please remember this when I'm begging you to do your chores in 10 years.

~ Mommy's tummy is too big to pick you up from your crib unless you're standing up. So you only stay standing until I get there - then you flop back down and laugh at me.

~ If I ask you where Owen is, you rub my belly. If someone else asks you where Owen is, you rub their bellies :)


I love to kiss dinosaurs!!

I can't believe my little boy is almost a year and a half -- and he's going to be a big brother very, very soon!!

Mommy and Me Monday (one day late!)

And watch for an upcoming post about nearly 17 month old Henry and a list of his favorites and quirks :)

Photo Session

Henry Mercer - 1 year old

And then ... the 12 week belly photo (similar to the previous pregnancy's 16 or even 20 week photo!)

9 Months Old

I cannot believe it has been 9 months since this little boy entered the world!!

Here are his nine month stats:

Height = 30.5 inches = 96th percentile
Weight = 20 lbs 14 oz = 56th percentile
Head = 18 inches = 62nd percentile

Bottles: The last two weeks or so, Henry hasn't been interested in his daytime bottles. He may eat 2-4oz from them, but that's about it. So at lunch time, I began just giving him formula in a sippy cup instead of bottle beforehand. This makes him more likely to eat his 3:30 bottle. But, it still just depends on the day.

I got the go ahead from our pediatrician today to start him on milk - which I'm very excited about! We'll start w/ sippy cup of it at lunch, and see where it takes us!


Solids: Mr. Independent has decided in the last couple of days that he no longer will eat baby food, especially if someone else near by has "big people" food. Soo ... I'm still trying to sneak it in b/c it's easier to give him fruit and veggies that way -- but he's getting way more of our food too. Our doctor has said Henry can have anything, even peanut butter, so that's helpful in trying to decide meal plans!

Waketime Length: Same, usually 2 1/2 hours - sometimes longer

Naps: Henry has pretty much dropped the 3rd evening nap -- unless his afternoon nap is too short.

Nighttime sleep: Great - averaging 7:45pm until 7am.

Milestones: Henry is starting to wave at people. He wouldn't do it for Grammy last night, or friends this morning - but he was more than happy to wave at all the strangers in the doctor's office waiting room! He can pull to standing, and walk around furniture. He's also able to walk while pushing a toy! He's going to be walking before Halloween I'm pretty sure! Still waiting on those teeth ...

Daycare: Within two days last week, Nick and I both got full time jobs! Which is an amazing blessing, but I am having a hard time wrapping my head around me being gone from Henry all day. To ease the transition, he's already gone to daycare for 2 full days last week, and will do 3 full days this week. Then we have 5 beautiful days together before we're back to work officially. We are blessed to have a wonderful daycare option - I love love love our lady and know that Henry is well taken care of and loved. But - I still cry every time I leave him there :( It will get better, and we all will be fine.

But who wouldn't have a hard time leaving this handsome man?!?