Two weeks old!

Amelia is two weeks old, hard to believe! We had her two week well-check today, and I thought I would share her stats. She's gained a whole pound since she was born! Up to 7 lbs. 15 oz. Which is actually an ounce more than Jackson weighed at his two week check! So, this confirms what we already knew, this little girl is a good eater!

She's 21 inches long, which means she grew 2 inches in the last two weeks, but the nurse figured she may have been measured incorrectly at birth. They want to stay curled in a little ball when they're born and so she said many babies are measured incorrectly. It's probably not likely that she grew two inches in two weeks. But, those are her official stats for two weeks.

She is a very easy baby so far. She is still sleeping like a champ. She wakes up about every three hours at night to eat and goes right back to sleep. But, she is starting to stay awake for longer periods and is more alert. Jackson loves it when she's awake, he gets a big grin on his face and says, "looking at me!" I love watching him interact with her!

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

A lesson in the importance of exercising your right.

He's an Obama supporter, whenever he's on TV, Jackson points and says Obama. It's pretty cute!

Welcome, Amelia Nicole!

She's here. She's perfect. We have been enjoying her, which is why it's taken me so long to get around to this.

Here is the story of Amelia's birth:

We checked into the hospital at 8:00 am on Wednesday, October 24th, ready to meet our little girl. It was a little disappointing to find out that on the initial assessment, Amelia wasn't as ready to meet us. My body wasn't cooperating this time, like it had for Jackson's birth. With him when I went in to be induced, I was already 4 centimeters and 80% effaced.

So this time they started me with Misoprostol, a medication that softens the cervix. They started me with that at about 11:00 am and let it do it's job for the next four hours. Luckily, I had plenty of people to keep me company. Parents, Grandparents, friends, siblings, and of course my favorite little guy, Jackson. He spent most of the day up at the hospital with us and boy, was he a champ!

So when they checked me at 3:00 pm, I was about a 2.5 and they decided we could start Pitocin, which is what starts contractions. And from there things progressed very slooooowly :( By 8:00 pm I had only made it to about a 4 and so I decided I would get my Epidural and then let the doc break my water. I wanted to make sure and get the Epidural BEFORE they broke my water, if this was going to be anything like Jackson's birth, breaking my water meant labor would pick up and be much more painful.

I wasn't so sure this little girl was going to come on the 24th. I thought she was going to take her time and we probably wouldn't meet her until sometime in the morning on the 25th. But, just like with Jackson, after they broke my water, it took me about 2 hours to go from a 4 to complete and ready to push.

Having an Epidural that actually took effect before I began pushing made a huge difference in my experience. I feel like I don't remember too much of Jackson's birth because I was in so much pain, that was really all I could focus on, but with the Epidural I was much more focused on pushing and doing what I needed to, to meet my little girl.

And after about 30 minutes of pushing, Amelia Nicole was born. And there really are no words to describe meeting your baby for the first time. I was excited, overwhelmed, thankful, exhausted, but most of all, amazed at the wave of love and adoration that washed over me as soon as I saw her. She was a perfect 6 lbs. 15.5 ounces, 19 inches long.

She waited a good 20 to 30 minutes to let us hear her, which was a little nerve racking for Mom. But now she's found her voice and she definitely uses it when she needs to!

We are all doing good, adjusting to life as a family of four. I would say Jackson is transitioning like we thought he would. He's definitely testing a little more than normal and looking for some extra attention from Mommy. But he's been such a loving big brother to Amelia, giving her kisses, patting her head and holding her hand. He's also been a great help to Mom and Dad.

We are savoring every moment and enjoying being a family of four!

She's Coming, She's Coming!!!

Well, not now, but sooner than we thought. As it turns out, Wednesday works better for our doctor's schedule and with the hospital's schedule, so Wednesday it is! I've got my "reservation" for 8am and we'll go from there!

So, being the slightly compulsive person I am, we've been running errands, hanging curtains, cleaning, cleaning, oh, and cleaning! Trying to get everything checked off the list, which I know is an impossiblilty, but we can still try. (I know this is an imposibility because if we were able to cross every thing off, I would only add more, so really the list is never-ending.)

BUT, these being the last few days as a family of three, we also wanted to make sure and squeeze in some special family time. On Saturday morning we headed to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. We had a great time, Jackson picked out the perfect pumpkin for himself and one for his new baby sister. He liked all the pumpkins, but he LOVED all the animals! He got to see calves and baby chicks.

We came home and got out our Halloween/Fall decorations, Jackson helped me decide where everything should go. I'd say we're as ready as we're going to be for Halloween and Thanksgiving. Hopefully we can manage to at least decorate our pumpkins this year, I don't think carving them is in the cards.....

Jackson also picked out a few special gifts to give his baby sister when she comes. He thought she would like a froggy rattle and some socks to keep warm on these chilly days! He says he's excited and ready for his little sister to come meet us. He asks me almost daily, "Mommy, baby come out?" I can't wait to see them together!

And I know I wasn't very good with the pictures during this pregnancy, but here's the last belly shot you'll probably see from this pregnancy.

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

This little boy is growing up right before my eyes. *tear* He is definitely ready to become a big brother in the next week!

Update

At the beginning of this pregnancy, I had intended on keeping a journal of sorts, something baby girl and I could look back on and remember, fondly or not, our experience together. I was going to take the monthly belly picture, but this time with fruit as a visual aid to get a good idea of her actual size as compared to my belly. Record the daily/weekly/monthly physical and emotional feelings.

Well, here we are approaching week 37, and I've failed miserably. I forgot to factor in my busy toddler into this equation. And I've realized it's only going to get busier once she's on the outside! So, I'll have to make a greater effort to document her life too. I love to share our experiences with everyone, but this blog is also a "baby/family book" for us to look back on. Like when my cousin's little guy, Charlie, revealed his four month stats, it was fun to look at how big Jackson was at that age!

Anyway, here's an update/recap of this pregnancy:

I've had a fairly easy pregnancy, no morning sickness, a little tired in the first trimester, some heartburn in this last trimester. And actually that's probably the hardest part of pregnancy for me, I have acid reflux pretty bad in the end and can't sleep, laying down anyway. So I have to be careful what I eat (no citrus, no fried food, no dairy-read: ice cream) especially late at night. And usually if I quit eating by about 7pm, I can lie down to go to sleep by 11. Not that this matters as much now, I'm getting up to use the bathroom at least every 3 hours!

She seems to have a good idea of night and day, I'm crossing my fingers this is true when she comes out too! She's very active in the morning, usually by about 7, on and off throughout the day, but seems to settle down after about 10:30. That's a schedule I can live with!

Things have gone really well this entire pregnancy. I've had a small amount of swelling in my feet/ankles the last month or so, but that's it. My blood pressure has been nice and low and everything else is just how it should be. I had an ultrasound about 2 and a half weeks ago and they estimated her size at that time to be about 6 lbs. 10 oz.! We've been doing our Non Stress Tests twice a week (which means I go to the hospital at least twice a week, sometimes 3). So, if everything goes as planned, I think this little girl will be making her appearance Friday, October 26th. That just happens to be her Grandpa's birthday too. We see our doctor on Thursday and will know more after that. I promise I'll share!

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

A few weeks ago, we went down and spent some time with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Alex. Jackson loves to help with any "grown up" task, so he was helping Grandma make dinner. The salad spinner is absolutely fascinating to him and he spins and spins and spins!

Hello, Again

OK, We're back! It's been too long and I have so much to catch up on. But, we're going to start with a little mishap that occurred a few nights ago. Now, at the time, I didn't have the sense to actually document the occurrance, but it's something I won't soon forget.

Let's back up a little bit. For Jackson's birthday (and, yes, I plan to post pics from that event sometime in the near future) we got him a play kitchen. He loves playing in the kitchen when I'm cooking dinner or helping me unload the dishwasher. So naturally, we thought, he would love a kitchen his size and all his own even better, right?

Well, kinda.

He does love his kitchen and can spend the better part of the day playing in it. But, he has to come into my kitchen every so often and get some "tools," a spatula, a colander, and a favorite, an oven mitt. He can now also open my oven and put things in. Uh-huh, that's where this is going. He filled my oven with tupperwear lids the other afternoon. I turned on the oven that night to make dinner and it wasn't until the oven dinged to let me know it had reached 375 degrees. That's when I realized I was making melted plastic for dinner.

Let me tell you, melted plastic is NOT easy to get out of an oven! Needless to say, we had tuna fish sandwiches that night!

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

How many people does it take to get three little boys to sit still and look at the camera......

Squeeze

We call him Turkey....

 

And this little turkey has decided to call his Mommy by her first name. He goes through the house looking for me calling "Niki, Niki." And he says it perfectly. Don't know where he picked it up, Matt doesn't really call me Niki. But he thinks it's really funny when he does it and I frown and say, "No, I'm Mommy." What happened to my baby?

Why I love summer

1.  The SUN. duh.
2.  Playing in water fountains with Jackson.
3.  BBQing with my boys.
4.  The smell of fresh cut grass.

 I could go on and on. I often wonder why I live in Oregon where it rains ten months of the year?

5.  Endless hours of daylight.
6.  My family's annual beach trip

Which is where we're headed Friday! Hooray! And it can't come fast enough. This family is in serious need of a vacation! I could blame my absence on summer, and that's definitely part of it, but we've been busy. Really busy. We started a small renovation (we're adding a bathroom), had a mountain of bark delivered, helped Ron (or was it Ron helping us?) add a built-in desk to our bedroom, all while shuffling back and forth between our house and a friend's we were house-sitting.

Whew! I'm tired!

So, this is just fair warning that Dose of Crose is on hiatus for at least the next week. But, when we return, watch out! I'll have lots to share :) Like, a new belly pic of this little lady growing, and constantly moving inside of me!

Hope everyone is having a terrific summer!

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

Does this say urban hipster, or what?!

Seriously, this little guy cracks me up with his attitude! He puts those shades on and he walks the walk!

Summer. Sun. Softball.

Summer, which apparently doesn't start in Oregon anymore until July, is here. That bright orb in the sky that I've been waiting to see since last September is here again, thank goodness! Not a moment too soon, Jackson begs me everyday to go outside, and now, thankfully we do spend most days enjoying the sunshine. Whether it's at our Stroller Strides class, the park, the water fountain, or our very own backyard, we are loving the weather!

Summertime means bbqs, camping, and of course, SOFTBALL!! I'm not sure a summer would truly feel complete if there were no softball. Weekends of softball, softball and more softball. That's how we spent our last weekend, watching Alex and her softball team go UNDEFEATED and win the 16u Cooper Memorial!!!!!!!! The first tourney I think they've won, and to go undefeated was icing on the cake! Alex had some great plays and a couple of awesome hits! The team played really well all weekend and definitely deserved their trophy!

And while we were watching the girls steamroll their way to victory, Jackson was......, well being a boy I guess! Sitting in the dirt. Moving rocks. Taking a swing with the bats. Climbing on the bleachers, which he soon found out also made a good set of drums. He thoroughly enjoyed spending eight hours at the ball fields each day!

It was fitting that the girls won this tournament, as it was their last for the season. I'm not sure what we'll do with the rest of our summer........Oh wait, we've got a family beach trip, someone has a 2nd birthday just around the corner, and we some prepping to do for next November :) Never a dull moment at the Crose Casa!

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

There's a new chief in town.

 

Summer is here

And so are skinned knees :( Unfortunately, I think Jackson's poor little knees have had "ouchies" since we broke out the shorts, a few months ago. He gets so excited and his little feet just can't quite keep up with his big ideas!

When he gets a glimpse of those knees, he remembers that he has ouchies, and he'll tell you all about them. He is very aware of what it is to be injured. And he wants you to be aware to, he needs an acknowledgement. "Bump," when he bumps his head, "Tootsies," when he drops something on his toes. Usually a kiss and a hug is all it takes and his ouchie is all gone.

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

A little boy's love of fireworks is born.

On the Road Again

We were on the road again last weekend. We headed to Boise, ID for my cousin, TJ's wedding. We had a really great time, the weather was perfect, and so was the wedding. A beautiful, rustic, heartfelt event. And it was great to see some family we don't get to see enough!

My little man in a tie, could he be any cuter?!

Jackson had a great time, meeting some of his second cousins. Brynlee is 2 1/2 and Miss Adelynn is 16 months. Two of the cutest little girls I know! Brynlee and Jackson hit the dance floor and didn't look back.

He had some fun with Mom  on the dance floor too!

And, of course, weddings always take you back to your own. Matt and I just celebrated four years! Hard to believe, I've been Mrs. Matthew Crose for that long! It used to be just the two of us, now soon to be four. I love the family we've built and am so excited to meet this little girl!

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

Jackson is taking the upcoming PBGA tournament very seriously!

(For those unfamiliar, our family plays a bolo golf tournament at our family beach trip each year)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads in our life! We really are pretty lucky when it comes to strong, compasionate and supportive men in our lives.

I am, of course, very appreciative of my wonderful husband! He is such a great Dad to Jackson and he definitely knows how to make me feel special. (Case in point, my surprise spa day last week with one of my best friends. Can you say heaven!) And I couldn't feel more thankful to know that my children will grow up with such a caring, supportive and conscientious Dad for a role model.

And, on that note, I've been meaning to share the upcoming addition to our family. At the beginning of this pregnancy, I told myself I was going to document each week. How I was feeling. How Jackson was reacting. Well, here we are in week 19, almost half way there, and I haven't done any of that. Funny how having a toddler can really throw a wrench into the best laid plans.....

So, for the most part, this pregnancy has been very similar to the others. Everyting did seem to come on earlier this time, I pretty sure I started showing when I was five weeks! I was tired in the beginning and had a teensy bit of nausea, but for the most part, felt good. My energy is back, I'm really starting to feel her move, which is so exciting!! And there's no hiding this baby, she's out there for everyone to see!

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

Is it really Wednesday already?

"Superboy"

It's a......

To my shock, we had french food on Thursday!! That's right, we are having a GIRL! Like I said, I was so sure it was a boy, I was in complete shock (wonderful, joyous shock)! We even had the doctor check again when she came in with the results. At the beginning of the ultrasound, Matt thought he saw boy parts, and the tech agreed, so all through the ultrasound we were calling her a him! It wasn't until the end when the tech went to verify that it was a boy, he changed his mind and said it was a girl!

She was so active, it was incredible. I have been feeling her a little bit, no where near as much as she is somersaulting around in there. If it's possible, she may be more active than Jackson or Hannah.

So since yesterday at 11:00am, I have been dreaming and planning her nursery, planning the many shopping trips for itty bitty dresses, and wondering how we are possibly going to wait until November to meet this little girl.

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

Is it a HE oR a SHE? Tomorrow we find out. We've decided if it's a girl, we'll celebrate with lunch at La Provence and if it's a boy, Pastini. Leave your guess and then check back tomorrow to see if baby burrito is really French or Italian!

Playing Catch-up

Where did the month of May go? Hard to believe it's June already! Summer has officially begun, now all we need is the sun.

Where ever May went, we went with it! We have been so busy! Traveling, coming home just long enough to do laundry and repack our suitcases, it feels like.

At the beginning of the May we headed south to visit my parents and to see Alex attend her first prom. (this makes me feel really old by the way, I can remember my first prom!) We all headed down for the weekend and we sent Dad home to work for the week while Jackson and I stayed to spend some time with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Al. We also managed to catch a few softball games too.

 Jackson and I came home to a very sweet Mother's Day dinner (and dessert, he definitely knows the way to this pregnant lady's heart).

The following weekend we were off to Everett (north of Seattle) to visit Chris and Melody. We got to see their new house. Matt and I were both oooing and ahhhing over the 3-car garage. Imagine all the extra stuff we don't need we could store, if we had a third bay in the garage!

And to kick off the summer, we headed to The Dalles for a family reunion. We got to spend some quality time with baby Charlie, who is just the sweetest little thing! It all came back to me, he snuggled in and took a nice nap with me, oh how I miss those days! Those newborn smells and noises, I can hardly wait for it all over again! Of course, it was great to see everyone else too :)

And this last weekend was a road trip to Yuba City, CA for a wedding. It was nice, we stayed with my parents on the way down and again on the way up, which really made the drive managable for us. We got to enjoy some beautiful weather, time with friends and an absolutely amazing wedding. Jackson had a blast in the pool and then hit the dance floor hard! He was such a character, and had the perfect partner, a little girl who was 3 days older than him. They were too cute together.

And wouldn't you know Jackson pulled out all his dance moves when the camera was no where to be found. We forgot the camera at the hotel, so unfortunately we don't have evidence of the beautiful setting and Jackson's sweet moves. I'm hoping someone else got some footage and will share....

Now we're home for a full weekend and I'm hoping we can spend the majority of it napping!