Back to work

I keep meaning to update the blog with the latest in our lives, but the time just gets away from me. I am definitely back at work.

The last week before I went back we made a trip down to the Oregon coast - to Yachats. Josh grew up going there to visit his great grandparents. His great aunt and uncle still live there and we went to see them. Almost the entire Canfield clan came. Josh's brother, Jeremy, had to work so he did not make the trek. We spent a lot of time playing dominoes and we did get a couple of trips to the beach as well. Thomas loved the water - he would point at it and say "Water!". Josh taught him how to run from the waves with limited success.

When we returned, I had oral surgery. For the record, I do not recommend this as the last thing to do before going back to work. I'm still struggling a little bit with the pain - it is not healing as fast as I would like. I'm just counting the days until all of this dental stuff is done.

The first week of work went well. We are all adjusting to the new schedule. I still make oatmeal for breakfast in the crockpot. It works nicely and is great comfort food. I am doing pretty well at getting up every morning and working out before I leave.

The big project this week has been Charlotte's room. We had an area next to Thomas' room upstairs that was open like a loft. We decided to close it off and make a new room for Charlotte. Our contractor came on Saturday and framed and put in dry wall. He also added a closet in the room. I'm really excited to see it all come together and think about Charlotte growing up in that room.

That is pretty much it for the last couple of weeks. Now I have to go to sleep.

So much to do, so little time

Things have been pretty busy in the Canfield house. We have one very tired and growing boy who has now proven that he can sleep anywhere. We have been out a few times lately for various reasons and Thomas is a champ at going to sleep somewhere else and sleeping in the car all the way home and going straight to bed.

First we had a great night out on Valentine's Day. It was the night of my book club, so we planned to have dinner with each other and our husbands. It was a huge hit. We had really interesting conversation and we all got a night with adults on Valentine's Day that was way better than going to a restaurant. One thing I've really enjoyed about being on maternity leave is that I have had more time to get to know some of these folks and I'm really happy about that.

Second, we continue our daily family workout time. I'm really going to miss mornings in our house when I go back to work. We all get to hang out together and eat breakfast after our play time. I'm going to continue working out, but I'll have to do it earlier and get out of the house by 7am so that will change our routine. Look at these kids - so cute :)

The other big news is that we bought a new car. We went to look at the Chevy Traverse, but they didn't have any in stock and it turns out that the Chevy Traverse, the GMC Acadia, the Buick Enclave and the Saturn Outlook are all the same car. We were looking for a car with three rows that would have decent mileage and be able to tow the jet skis during the summer. We loved the Acadia when we drove it and it turned out that they had a used Saturn Outlook with low mileage and we were able to negotiate all of the features we wanted (like a tow package and navigation).

Otherwise, we are busily preparing for my return to work - only one week of leave left. I'm really going to miss all of this great time with my family. I'm planning to really soak up the weekends with them. It is amazing how fast the kids are growing. Charlotte is really active and so chatty. Thomas is full of energy and he gets new words every day. He said a two word sentence this week - "Bye bye Doggie" to my parents dogs and "bye bye Daddy" when Josh went down the stairs. Pretty soon they will both be competing in the Olympics (Thomas on the USA Hockey team and Charlotte in speed skating). I better go to sleep so I can keep up with them tomorrow.

30 Day Challenge

This morning I completed my first 30 day challenge on EA Sports Active. It has now become a family activity :) We all get up in the morning and do our workout together. For Thomas this means a lot of playing on the slide and laughing when the program tells me to jump (I'm not sure why he things jumping is so funny, but he does). I decided to give myself a little treat for finishing. No, not food - shoes. I figure shoes will continue to fit, even as I lose the weight, so they are a good investment.

Charlotte also got in on some of the action today. We brought out her activity gym and laid her on it. She doesn't get a lot of time on the floor to exercise since we want to keep her protected from Thomas. But, he has been really good with her, so we are doing new things like putting her in her swing and using her mat. She loves it - kicks her legs, rolls on to her side and smiles at everything she sees.

My other big project this week is clearing out the storage closet in our loft. We have boxes up there that never got unpacked from when we moved in here in 2007. Most of it is my stuff and I have found myself much more willing to get rid of things than I used to be. We want to close off the loft and make it into a bedroom for Charlotte. That way we will be able to maintain a guest room in our house. The storage closet will have to be turned into a real closet, so we can't keep too many things in there. The final part will be going through all of my knitting supplies (I have tons of yarn), organizing them into projects and then clearing out some of the yarn that I'm never going to use.

This week went by really fast - probably because I spent another 2 days at the dentist. I have only 2 appointments left with the dentist and then a couple with an oral surgeon to fix up one last tooth. It is so great to get this done - even though it is not a lot of fun.

With things going by so fast, we didn't take any pictures. We'll try to be better about that this week.

Where does the time go?

Last week, on Josh's birthday, we went to lunch at Chuck E Cheese. Yes, Josh is over 30 and he picked the place - he thought it would be fun for Thomas :) We had a great time. Even Charlotte got in on the action by driving the jeep.

Friday was Charlotte's two month appointment and she is doing really well. I had to go back and check on Thomas' stats and she weighs more than he did! She is 12 pounds, 12 ounces, 23 inches - he was 12 pounds, 1 ounce and 23.5 inches. We'll have to see is she keeps up the trend. We've been trying to give her more opportunities to explore. We got out the bouncy seat for her and today I got out the floor mat with all of the hanging toys. It is so different the second time around because we have to keep her protected from Thomas so she doesn't get as much time on the floor as he did :)

We are definitely starting to see some personality from our baby girl. She smiles and coos at us and she just loves to interact. She does not like to be poked by her big brother and I'm starting to sense that he is going to have to watch out for her when she gets mobile. I think she will be chasing him down and poking him back.

Both of our kids are finally healthy again. It is great to see Thomas happy and hungry again. He is definitely starting to test his limits. He loves to climb and wants to go and explore everything. We are trying to keep a balance between letting him explore and keeping him safe. We bought him a slide that we put in the workout room. He loves it and it allows him to do some good climbing.

Josh gets up with Thomas every morning and feeds him breakfast. When I come out later (like an hour or two later) dressed for my workout, Thomas comes running over and is so excited to "work out" with me. He especially likes the running and the jumping :)

After my last post, I went to book group and had a great discussion about Omnivore's Dilemma. I also discovered a new place in Bremerton that sells local food called Fresh Local. They have produce and cheese and locally raised grass fed beef. Last week I made pot roast on Friday and it was really good. It was also really expensive. Which means that we are eating a little less meat. I also got some great lentils there and made lentil soup. It turns out that Thomas likes lentil soup, so we will be making that again. I've also been making bread in my bread maker again. I have a great recipe for parmesan peppercorn french bread and Josh and Thomas love it, so I have been making it over and over. I haven't been able to get the whole wheat bread to work right in my bread maker, so I am now off to locate better recipes for bread machine wheat bread.

It has somehow gotten late again, so I must be off to sleep.

Food, health and other fun topics

My son has been sick for a long time - like most of the last two months. I think he was well for maybe 2 weeks. First he got a cold and that led to a horrible ear infection and two rounds of antibiotics and now he had another cold which also led to a round of antibiotics. This week, Charlotte finally caught on to the trend and got sick. She has RSV. Crazy. I think we have finally turned the corner - Thomas is getting back to his old self and Charlotte is not having any trouble breathing.

The other big health topic in our life right now is working out and eating right. When I was pregnant, we got lazy with the eating and exercising. We knew that we would have to turn things around once Charlotte was born. We started the eating right thing in December, but I started exercising again last week. I have to be honest - I have a real love/hate relationship with exercise. I get up in the morning and grumble my way over to my workout and moan my way through it. BUT, after it is over, I'm ready for more. Like, I'm ready to move more and I feel better (sore, but better). It makes me really mad. I'd much rather lose weight by sitting on the couch and knitting, but it turns out that knitting only burns 2 calories/hour.

For working out, I am relying on several Wii programs. First, I use EA Sports Active for my morning workout. I am doing the 30 day challenge. I like it because it let me choose the intensity of workout I wanted (Medium) and the kind of music I want in the background. Afterward, for fun, we use the Wii Fit Plus. I like to play the games :) If Josh is around, we sometimes play Wii tennis. We plan on going to the park and playing real tennis when it gets a little warmer and less rainy.

And, as far as eating right, we are trying several things. I plan meals in advance - usually for the week. We eat lots of whole grains (especially for breakfast), I have several cookbooks that I like (Healthy in a Hurry and The Healthy Slow Cooker) and of course I rely on the internet for recipes.

Here is an example of a couple of things that we have made and liked:

Last night, we ate Pork Tenderloin with green beans and Sweet Potato and Chickpea Puree. Thomas ate all of it (as you can see from the pictures above). He loved it so much he rubbed some of it in his hair and decorated the table with it. Josh and I though the Pork was a little dry, but it was really good as leftovers for lunch today.

Tonight, we had Pot Roast and Salad. For the pot roast, I used the recipe on the back of the Lipton's Onion Soup box, but used red potatoes instead of white. It was REALLY good. I could eat pot roast every day. But, that is part of the deal - moderation on the pot roast.

For breakfast these days, I'm enjoying steel cut oats (also known as Irish Oatmeal). We eat ours with a tablespoon of peanut butter and a banana. I would never have thought of putting peanut butter in oatmeal, but it is delicious and the whole bowl is only 350 calories.

At book club tomorrow night, we will be discussing Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. A lot of our eating lately has been influenced both by this book, the next book he wrote, In Defense of Food and the movie Food, Inc. I don't ever want to be one of those people who goes around telling other people how to eat or what to eat. I respect that people have to make their own decisions about food (and a lot of other things in their lives). These books and movie made me think and one of the things they reminded me (again) is that I am grateful that we can make healthy food choices. The most heartbreaking part of Food, Inc was the part where they profiled a family with a limited budget trying to choose between eating fruit and vegetables and eating off the dollar menu at (fill in the fast food place).

The healthy choice for me now is to go to sleep since both of my babies are sleeping :)

Just one of those days

I was thinking earlier today that I could look at this day in either a positive light or a negative light. I am generally more prone to look on the bright side of things, but some of the negative things were really funny. For example, both of my children threw up on me a little today. Thomas was coughing so hard that he gagged and Charlotte just had a little too much bottle (so technically, it was just spit up). As a parent, these are the moments that you remember and (in the future sometime) make you laugh.

On to the details of the day.

Thomas has been sick for a while. He had a cold and then got an ear infection (he pretty much gets ear infections every time he gets a cold). We discovered this ear infection in mid December when Thomas was having trouble sleeping and pulling his ear. It was a pretty bad infection in both ears. It took 4 weeks and 2 rounds of antibiotics to clear it up. We went to the doctor last Tuesday and finally got the all clear. Friday night into Saturday morning, Thomas started coughing a lot again. Saturday he still seemed pretty good. He was eating well and in a pretty good mood all day. This morning, he was still coughing, but only a little, so we went to church. After church, we went to lunch with my parents and Thomas could not stop coughing. He also refused to eat. After lunch, Josh called the on call doctor and went to get some cough medicine since Thomas was coughing so much. The doctor called back and told us to come in to get checked. The verdict? You guessed it - ear infection.

I've never seen him this sick. When he got back from the doctor, he took his medicine and then sat on my lap, ate a yogurt, curled up and went to sleep.

I spent a lot of time after that thinking about all the things I am grateful for. First, I am grateful to have such a great husband. He took called the doctor, took him in and then got the medicine. Second, I am grateful for my parents and Josh's parents. Both of them were really helpful to us at separate times today and we really love the fact that they are so involved in our lives. Third, I am grateful that we have good health insurance and we can see a doctor on a Sunday and get our boy help right away. Finally, I am grateful that we have such a good baby girl. She took a long nap this afternoon and then woke up in a great mood and smiled at me.

So, this is just one of those days. Definitely a lot of challenges, but also a lot of reasons to be grateful as well.

Life in the Canfield house

Sunday morning we took some pictures of the kids because they were being so cute

I decided that Charlotte should start wearing some dresses - and some fancy boots. She just looked so cute. She got these boots from her cousin Catalina who outgrew them quickly.


Thomas found a key chain and he carried it around. He likes to shake things to see what will happen. He loved this one for some reason.

Thomas likes to help us do the laundry. Or he really likes to "put your pajamas in the bag". It is amazing to me how much he understands now. I can say "pick up the toy and bring it to Mommy" and he does it. Amazing.


Charlotte is starting to smile more and to interact by copying what we are doing. Yesterday she giggled. And, she makes a lot more noise than she used to. She coos and babbles. I don't remember Thomas being very verbal at this age. He was pretty quiet.

We've been putting into motion a lot of new house projects. Because I am at home, we have more of an opportunity to do things. I made a list of all the things I wanted to do during the rest of my leave and got started by reorganizing my desk in the kitchen and then reorganizing the bedroom. We bought a great new dresser for the kids clothes. The dresser we were using was a little too small and Thomas' clothes are getting bigger and bigger. Now we have everything put away.

I still have a lot of things on my list. Next up is getting rid of my books. I am having a really hard time deciding which ones to keep and which to give away. We don't have the space for them anymore and I have been reading exclusively digitally for 2 years now. The room that all the books are in is also the music room and the Wii/workout room. We have actually been using it for workouts every day, so I can't wait to get more room in there.

The other things on my list involve some more organization (I have to get my knitting stuff under control and also go through my yarn stash) and lots of cooking. I have been trying new recipes - first I tried a lot of Crock Pot recipes and now I am doing some more regular cooking on the stove. Tonight we had lamb chops and cous cous salad (Josh did not love the cous cous), but the best thing I made this week was a pot roast in the Crock Pot. It was so easy (and I could have eaten the entire thing in one sitting it tasted so good).

Tomorrow I am going to cross the worst thing off my list (right below exercising consistently). I am going to the dentist. I've put it off for too long and now it is time to face the music. I'm a little afraid of how much work I'm going to need, but it is time to get it over with.

That is all the news fro our house. More pictures and stories to come next week.

Catching up with some pictures

Life at our house is pretty exciting right now - as you can tell from the picture above. I love this picture because the toy that is sitting on Josh was put there by Thomas. I had forgotten that kids don't really understand "Don't bug Daddy, he's sleeping". Thomas thinks it is hilarious to put things on Josh and also to pull his hair while he is sleeping.

Thomas got his first haircut the week before Christmas. He was starting to have a really out of control mullet in the back, so we finally took him in to get some trimmed. He was really good for the whole haircut which is amazing since his cousins were there and we were taking a ton of pictures and videos. Afterward, we took him over to McDonald's for some lunch. It was a little crazy since all the kids were out of school.


Here is a rare picture of Josh and I with our baby girl. We are always taking pictures of each other, but rarely have a chance to get a picture together. She is so precious. We took a picture with Thomas as well, but it did not turn out as well since he is so squirmy.


We went to visit my grandparents the week before Christmas and Thomas really liked this rocking chair. It belonged to my aunt, Jeanette, when she was a little girl. He loves having chairs his own size, although he is also now able to get up on chairs that are adult size, so he wants to sit in those as well.

My grandma with Charlotte. She slept for most of the visit...

We are getting back to the more normal routine of life after the holidays. Charlotte now has longer periods of wakefulness. I have been carrying here around a lot in the Bjorn because she likes it and sometimes will fall asleep a little easier if she is walked around.

Thomas continues to grow like crazy and has a lot of energy. We are really thankful that he goes to Robb and Rebecca's twice a week. He needs the change of scenery and his cousins keep him busy so he can get some of his energy out.

Josh has been busy working on a couple of websites and work for the gym.

I have been tackling all of those projects I didn't have energy for when I was pregnant. In addition to trying a lot of new recipes in the crock pot, I've been working on getting rid of things we don't need/use anymore and better organizing the things we do use.

Hope your new year has started off as good as ours!

Are you going to have another baby?

We had a great (and busy) Christmas. The kids are so blessed to be around so much family. They got great toys, but the best part was spending so much time together. I keep meaning to get all of my pictures downloaded, but I have been distracted by things like feeding the baby and hanging out with family. I will get it done in the next couple of days...

One question that came up a lot over the holiday from many family members is "Are you going to have another baby?" I should say up front that I am sort of used to people asking questions like this. From the minute Josh and I got married we got the "when are you going to have a baby?" question. That one was harder because it took us a little time time get pregnant because I am of advanced maternal age (yes, this is a real designation - it means the mother is over 35).

Okay, so here is the ambiguous answer to the question - we don't know. We are definitely going to take a little time off from pregnancy (or rather, I am going to take a little time off from pregnancy). I would also like to get to a point where we have at least one child out of diapers and possibly speaking intelligible sentences. Right now, we love our little family and find our children to be perfect (well, not perfect, but perfect for us). We are having so much fun with Thomas and Charlotte is definitely our little love bug. As for the future - only God knows. :)

Stuff we use all the time

I thought it might be a good idea to start a list of all the things that are necessary for the first couple of months with a new baby. We are not sure whether or not we will have more kids and if we do, we intend to wait for a little while before having the next one. Needless to say, my memory is not what it once was, so this list is mostly for me. I will be updating it over the next couple of weeks as we run into different things that we can't live without...

My favorite thing of the moment - Gerber bunny slippers. Because her feet were so cold all the time, we really appreciate having something to keep them warm.

My favorite diapers - Pampers Swaddlers. This time I used one big box of Newborn size before moving up to size 1. She was born at 8 lbs, 4 oz and got back there by the end of her second week.

My favorite wipes (I had to hunt around to find a link) are the Target brand unscented wipes. We just buy the refills - there is really no need to buy the dispensers. We have one dispenser that we got originally, but we also just use the refills. They are in the kind of package that makes them easy to access and we buy them in this big box so we can have packs all over the house.

By far, we love the Diaper Champ way more than the Diaper Genie. We have both because I originally thought the Genie would be better, but the Champ uses regular kitchen garbage bags which makes it way easier because we have a ton of them and you don't have to go looking for the Genie refills. I will say that we like having two because we spend our days on one side of the house and our nights on the other, so it is nice to have a diaper pail in both locations.

My favorite bottles -Born Free. We have used these with both our babies. I don't use the sterilizer or the bottle brush, we use the dishwasher. We do use a drying rack because it is a convenient way to keep them on the counter and available and my bottles never come out of the dishwasher dry. We also use a dishwasher basket inside the dishwasher to hold the nipples and vents.

My favorite bibs are these organic cotton ones from Bumkins. The terry cloth is the best for absorbing drips. I also like terry for burp cloths and the ones from Gerber are my go to - I have them stashed everywhere.

My favorite swaddler at night is the Kiddopatamus. We find this keeps her snug and warm and calm at night. She definitely sleeps easier in it.

When our babies need to suck to soothe, we love the Soothies pacifiers.

We think a lot about keeping our babies warm, so when we go out, we use the JJ Cole Infant Bundle Me in the car seat. There are two versions and we have both - a heavier one for winter and a lighter one for spring and fall.

On the subject of strollers - we originally bought a Graco Quattro tour system - meaning the car seat and the stroller. We love the car seat - we hardly ever use the stroller. It is heavy - which makes it inconvenient to haul in and out of the car. We finally broke down and bought a light stroller - a Maclaren - which we love. They have recently all been recalled for a retrofit to cover up the hinges, but we have not had any problems with ours.

Now that we have two babies, instead of getting a double stroller, I've been using the Bjorn. I love being able to carry the baby this way and it makes it easier than trying to get both kids in a stroller. I put Thomas in the Maclaren and Charlotte in the Bjorn and away we go.

We are using the Graco infant car seat/carrier for Charlotte. With Thomas, we used to put him in the carrier for naps (he liked it because it was tight and cozy). Thomas moved up to a normal car seat at about 6 months when he got too heavy for the carrier. We got a Britax Marathon which works both rear facing and front facing. These are expensive, but you can get them on a good deal if you watch for one.

I'll keep adding to this list as I think of more things :)

Meeting the Great Grandparents and 2 week stats

Last week we got to introduce Charlotte to some of her Great Grandparents. The first picture is with her Great Grandma Walthrop (Josh's grandma). It is her fondest wish that Charlotte be very girlie and not called "Charlie". Don't tell her, but I call her Charlie all the time. :)

On Friday, we visited her Great Grandma and Grandpa Canfield. We drove up to Everett and visited with them in the hospital. Great Grandma Canfield is in the Critical Care Unit so we knew she wouldn't be able to make the trip over to Bremerton anytime soon.


Proud Great Grandpa Canfield!

On Monday, we went to the doctor for Charlotte's two week appointment. She didn't have to get any shots, but she did have to have her heel poked for the second half of her PKU screening. She handled it pretty well and I promised her there would be no more heel poking.

Stats - 20 inches, 8 lbs, 6 oz. She is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. Right down the middle. We'll see if she moves up the charts at her 2 month appointment, but we are really happy that she is happy and healthy.

Thomas spent a lot of this week with Aunt Reba and Uncle Robb. Josh is working on a big project and this is our last week of babysitting for a while because Rebecca is going in tomorrow for foot surgery. I spent the time hanging out with Charlotte and getting a lot of Christmas stuff done. We are about halfway done with all the wrapping which isn't too bad considering we still have a week left.

Hope you all are getting in the Christmas spirit too!

Thomas goes to his aunt Reba's house on Monday and Wednesday and we have been continuing that even though I am not at work. It helps to stay in the same routine since so much of his life is changing. Reba is having foot surgery on December 18, so we will be taking a break for a while, but until then, he gets to continue. He loves it. He gets to play with his cousins and have a change of routine from being with us all of the time. Thomas is adjusting - getting used to the fact that he is not the only baby in the house. He is jealous of a couple of things, especially Charlotte's bottle. He also wants to be able to get up on Mommy's lap (something he rarely did before she was born).

We are now definitely in straight man to man coverage mode. Josh takes care of Thomas (I still can't lift him - or shouldn't lift him). I take care of Charlotte. Every once in a while we switch off. This morning, when Josh had been up with Thomas since 5 and Thomas was having a hard morning, I gave Josh the baby and distracted Thomas for a little while. We will have to figure out how to manage things when I go back to work :)

Charlotte had jaundice, which we started treating on Saturday afternoon. She had to wear a light blanket to get rid of the bilirubin (a by product of the breakdown of hemoglobin in the blood) that caused the jaundice. Her numbers came way down yesterday so she is now off the blanket. She has also been gaining weight steadily - especially since we switched over to formula on Monday evening. She is quite a happy little camper and now has two or three stretches of wakefulness where she checks out everything going on in the world.

Overall, we are all very happy together and looking forward to spending lots of time with family over the next couple of weeks. :)

Charlotte's Arrival and first week

These are a few pictures from the first day - for those of you who don't see them on facebook - we uploaded a ton there as well.

Here is the story of Charlotte's birth and some reflections from me on the first week. Fair warning that I will be mentioning things like breastfeeding, so feel free to skip those sections if you would rather not know :)

For us, having a second baby has mostly been easier than the first, with a few exceptions. It was really nice to know exactly when we were going to go to the hospital and have a baby. It was way easier to plan and we sort of knew what to expect with recovery from a c-section. The biggest change during the surgery was that the anesthesiologist used a spinal block rather than an epidural. An epidural is put in and left there so that drugs can be continuously administered over a long period of time (like labor). A spinal block is just one shot. I'm sure it won't surprise you that I don't like the feeling of being out of control, so being strapped down to a table with no feeling from my chest down is not the most comfortable position for me. In addition, the spinal causes nausea, so they try to keep your blood pressure a little higher to fight off the nausea. I was fine through the birth and Charlotte came out screaming. She has quite the lungs! They got her all cleaned up and brought her over to me and I immediately thought she looked just like Thomas - except she has a nice head of hair. Then, she and Josh headed off to the nursery for weighing and bathing.

After they left, the rest of the surgery was hard for me. I did get sick from the anesthetic and it felt like someone was pushing on my chest. However, these feelings went away really quickly once they finished the surgery and I was in recovery. They got everything set up for me in my room pretty quickly compared to what I remember from last time. They also got her stats for me right away. She was born at 8:10 am, 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 19 inches long (a shorty for us). I was able to see here again at 9:10 am and she ate right away. I noticed immediately that she was a better eater than Thomas. He was a little bit more lazy when he was eating and he tended to eat for short periods of time and then fall asleep.

Charlotte spent most of her first day awake. She ate a lot and she had a TON of dirty diapers. Everyone was amazed at how much she ate and pooped. These are all good signs for a newborn. The first night was tough because every time we fell asleep, there were more nurses coming to check our vital signs and make sure things were okay. One thing we learned from last time was that it was better for Josh to be able to get some sleep at night while we could, so instead of waking him up when I needed to get her out of the bassinet, I just kept her in bed with me and called the nurse when I needed more water or help changing a diaper.

She slept more the second day and things were pretty mellow in the hospital. However, I was looking forward to getting home and getting some sleep...

The only thing of note while we were still in the hospital is that Charlotte was down to 7 pounds, 8 ounces - or about 9%. Doctors and nurses don't like to see the baby lose more than 10% of their birth weight, but she was still over the mark, so she was cleared to leave. Here, a note about breastfeeding. Typically, it takes between 48 and 72 hours for milk to come in after the baby is born. The baby still gets nutrients from colostrum, but the calorie count is not very high, so babies lose weight until a mom's milk comes in. With a c-section, it can sometimes take a little longer. We had weight issues with Thomas, so we were very aware of all of these things going in and we decided to try breastfeeding again, even though we had so many problems with Thomas. I started to feel my milk coming in on Wednesday, the day after we left the hospital, but when we went back for a weight check on Friday at the doctor's office, Charlotte was down to 7 pounds, 1 ounce. We decided to wait over the weekend before doing anything like supplementing with formula, since my milk had just come in and she seemed to be eating well.

At the same appointment, the doctor checked her for jaundice and her level was pretty high, so we ended up having to go back in on Saturday for another check. The good news on Saturday was that she had GAINED two ounces (perfect - babies should gain 2 ounces day once they start gaining). The bad news was that she definitely had jaundice.

The treatment for jaundice is a little light blanket that she has to wear all the time. It is a little strange - basically she is wearing it around her chest and it is attached to a tube with fiber optic lights. We also get a daily visit from a home health nurse who takes blood to test her levels. The big bonus is that she gets a daily weight check, so we know exactly how much she is gaining. Today she is up another two ounces to 7 pounds, 5 ounces. I don't know why, but the jaundice doesn't bother me as much as the weight gain issues. Now that we are on the right track with both, I'm just chalking it up to another interesting baby experience.

On the whole, I am much more relaxed this time around. We have been really blessed to have my parents staying with us this week. They are taking care of Thomas and making meals and doing laundry and going shopping for us. It has made a huge difference. I have been able to take at least one nap a day and we both get to shower. They are going home today so we will be on our own for the first night tonight. Now we really get to test the man to man coverage :)

Thomas has been enjoying all the extra attention and he has only been distressed a couple of times by my inability to pick him up. I won't be able to do that for at least another week.

On my recovery, things are going pretty well. I am amazed by how fast my body can heal and how much less pain I feel every day. I do get to take some good pain pills, but I should be done with the Percocet and just on Ibuprofen by the middle of the week.

More than anything, I am grateful that we have so much family around us. We get a ton of support and it makes a huge difference.

I will not be blogging daily, but I will try to update at least weekly. Now I am off to get a little snack!

Halloween!

Thomas was Yoda for Halloween. He looked so cute in his little costume, but we didn't make him keep it on for very long. He has never been a fan of hats, so even getting it on him for a few minutes was something of a miracle. It was a big hit at the office.

Yesterday we took him up to Everett. It was Great Grandma Canfield's 75th birthday. The whole family was there for some afternoon cake and cookies. Then we got to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Canfield and Jason and Joanne and Catalina. The kids were real troopers, spending so much time in the car. Thomas was very tired on the way home and spent some time fighting off sleep. He finally gave in and fell asleep about 25 minutes from home.

It was the second night in a row that Thomas fell asleep in the car, so we ended up giving him a bath this morning. Of course, Thomas was up at 4:20 this morning. He doesn't really understand that we turned the clocks back, although we did our best to explain it to him. The nice part is that we could put him down for a nap at 8 and he can get 2 hours in before we go to church.

Now I have a little time to put my feet up and rest. Happy Halloween!

Getting closer!

I have been remiss in my blogging duties lately. The last couple of weeks at work have been very busy and we have been keeping busy on weekends as well. I'm at the stage of pregnancy when I get home from work every day and head straight to bed.

Josh has been doing a great job taking care of Thomas. They are exploring the mall, the yard, the driveway and today, Mommy's office. We have all the kids come to work for trick or treating and most of my coworkers had not seen Thomas for almost 6 months. He dressed up as Yoda and he looked so cute. Unfortunately, we were so taken with him that we forgot to take pictures.

After work, we went over to Jason and Joanne's and enjoyed some dinner with them. It is so fun to see Thomas and Catalina play together. They are still in the stage where they kind of play near each other rather than with each other.

Thomas also spends a lot of time with his aunt, Reba and the Leroy boys. He gets to spend more time with Noah, his youngest cousin because Noah is in Kindergarten and only goes to school 1/2 day. Thomas now says "Nah" for Noah.

He has also acquired the word "cookie" and knows that the sheep says "Baa" and while book, bath, ball and baa sound remarkably similar, his parents are starting to understand the distinction. It is remarkable to watch him gain language. I can't wait until we get full sentences.

Of course, we are now just counting the days until Charlotte joins our family. 31 days! We'll try to take some costume pictures tomorrow of our little Yoda and keep the blog more up to date!

How did my boy get so old?

I've mentioned before that Josh sends me pictures every day at work. On Thursday, he sent me this picture of Thomas eating a pear in the backyard. He looks like a little boy! Where did my baby go? He has been loving the pears (we have an Asian pear tree in our backyard) and he and his dad have been exploring the backyard. He is so mobile now that there is much more ability to get around.

This week there was a lot more teaching of how to eat with utensils, which is always a messy undertaking. This morning I got milk and yogurt all over my pajamas. He also tries to "escape" every time we change his diaper. That is what he is doing right now, running around naked while Josh chases him and tries to get his clothes and a diaper on.

We are going to head out for some adventures. Thomas does not love to be cooped up at home all the time, so we try to give him a little variety between naps.

Charlotte is doing well, moving around and quite obviously getting bigger. Amazingly, her arrival is only 7 weeks away. I'm at the point of pregnancy where I just feel HUGE and I don't move very fast. The other day, I ran down the hallway and provided a great deal of amusement to my coworkers.

Okay, must go, Thomas wants to collaborate and he doesn't type so well yet....

Experiments and trauma

Thomas had his first trauma today. He dropped a pot lid on his toe and according to Josh there was a lot of blood. He got a band aid and everything. That was really the first time Thomas had any bleeding. I'm so grateful that he has been so healthy, especially since he loves exploring and is afraid of nothing.

On the experimental side of things, we have been making the switch from baby to toddler. Because Thomas turned one, we are switching him off of formula and on to milk. So far he has liked it and hasn't been traumatized by the change. We are also trying to transition him to cups instead of bottles. We have tried sippy cups and cups with straws and (see picture above) even let him drink straight from the cup. Of course, the last one is a fairly messy proposition. Directly after the picture was taking, he attempted to hurl the cup across the room. He loves to throw things. We are also working on using utensils. Tonight, he was eating with a spoon. He was doing pretty well, but it was a good thing that we did it right before bath time.

We have found that the older our child gets, the more his personality comes out. Both Josh and I were particularly trying toddlers (according to our mothers), so we are getting what we deserve. While our boy remains a happy, laughing explorer, he certainly does have a stubborn streak. If he gets bored or wants to explore, he wants to do it NOW and definitely lets us know. We are so blown away by how smart he is and how he really keeps us wrapped around his finger. Can't wait to see what comes next.

On the Charlotte side of things, we are quickly approaching the due date. She is doing great, moving around like crazy and making her presence known. I am working on making her blanket now that we are in the home stretch. It is hard to find time to knit - I don't think Thomas would appreciate it if I tried to knit while he wanted to play with me, so I now try to just get in a few rows every night. So I am off to work on my next baby's blanket.

Pictures from the birthday party

Thanks to all our friends and family who made this such a fun event. Thomas had a great time and sat in his high chair like a King enjoying all of the attention.

Happy 1st Birthday

Today is Thomas' birthday, but we are really celebrating tomorrow with a big group of family and friends. I took the day off to hang out with Thomas and Josh and we spent most of the day cleaning and getting ready for tomorrow. Joanne and Catalina stopped by for a visit this afternoon and it was fun to get some time hanging out with them.

After dinner we took Thomas to DQ for some ice cream. :)

We told Thomas the story of his birth last night. Tonight we told him about his first night - how Josh wouldn't put him down for hours - he loved holding him. How we all slept in the same room in the hospital for a couple of days. It seems crazy to me that he has changed so much in the last year. I can't wait to see what the next year has to bring.

Happy Birthday, Thomas!

Who works on Friday?

I took the day off today. I had an ultrasound scheduled for this morning and I thought I would take a little rest today since I have been going about a million miles an hour at work and at home lately. We are on target to have a completely laid back weekend. Thomas is already participating by falling asleep in his carseat on the way home from the doctor. We have a trip to Target planned for this afternoon after we drop off my car for an oil change and 25K mile service check. I find it highly relaxing to get some of these things done so that we don't have to try to cram them in tomorrow.

The appointment this morning was good - I did have to get a flu shot (the regular one). We got to see little Charlie. She looks like she is a little mushier than last time - starting to put on some weight and having less space to move around. I already knew this due to the amazing amount of kicking this girl can do. We also found out that she is breech (bottom down). Thomas was head down almost the entire pregnancy, so it is fun to see something a little different. She is moving right along and we are looking forward to welcoming her - tentatively on November 30. We can't schedule the c-section for sure until 6 weeks out, but we are penciled in on the calendar so we can save the space on Dr. Z's schedule. I have to go do some paperwork at the hospital next week when I am taking the day off again.

While Thomas is napping, I am going to enjoy my book. I have my feet up on a pillow, enjoying the ultimate in lazy day activities. Have a great weekend!