Cleo one week old; Gus turning two years old

Cleo is one week old now. She's doing well. Eating well, pooping and peeing well, sleeping all the time. I forgot how much they sleep these first couple of weeks. I know it's the "honeymoon period" so I'm trying to take advantage of her naps while I can (by napping myself). I hope to fit one in later this afternoon. We took her to the doctor Monday for her week check up and the doc said she's looking great. She's back up to her birth weight, which made me feel good. She's so much smaller than Gus was that I constantly worry she's not gaining enough weight, but that's just the worrier in me. I know she isn't technically smiling yet, but I love to see her "smiles" (gas or whatever) when she's sleeping. It gives us some insight on what her cute little face will look like when she does smile for real.

Gus is doing well. He has his moments where he's super jealous of Cleo (mostly when I'm feeding her...he yells "Momma, Momma!" and cries/whines). It makes me feel loved but also terrible for him at the same time. I know it's a phase, but it breaks my heart when he does it. He's been yelling out for me when he gets stressed...last night in the middle of the night I heard him yell "Momma!" and then he went back to sleep. I just hug and kiss him about twice as much as I used to, hoping that will help him adjust. But he gives Cleo kisses and hugs, and he calls her "Baby K-eee-o" It's super cute. He seems to really dig her most of the time, which is nice. He had his 2-year doctor's appointment yesterday and is doing great, too. He's in the 84% for weight and 85% for height (31 lbs. and 34" inches tall). As my doctor always says, he's a "sturdy boy." Hee hee. I'm also excited that we get to switch to 2% milk for Gus...cheaper!

This weekend we're having a few folks over for Gus' 2nd birthday. I need to think about what type of cake I'm going to make and we need to get his gift! So behind...it'll be a laid back get together since the baby is so new. But I wanted to throw something for him. I think I'll keep him out of daycare on his actual bday *8/6* and do something with him and Cleo. Maybe the zoo?

I'm getting used to maternity leave again. I start to go a little crazy when I don't have work to accomplish. I'm just so programmed to be working...but it's nice to just have some down time with Cleo. Gus has been going to daycare during the week (the 3 days he usually goes) and I have him on Tuesdays and Fridays. It's hard when it's just me and the two kids together, but I am learning how to get around with both. It's difficult, though...double the work, for sure.

Until later...oh, more photos posted at our flickr account.

ek

I'm no longer outnumbered!

UPDATE: Photos are now updated on flickr.

We had our baby, Cleo Anne Dierks, on Tuesday at 12:47 p.m. She is fabulous and lovely and delicious and perfect. I am just so happy she's here and she's healthy. And I'm no longer outnumbered at our house, a point that Andy pointed out when she was born. Not that being outnumbered by my two #1 guys is a bad thing, but it'll be nice to have a little lady in the house.

The name...Cleo is a family name on Andy's side. He had a Great Aunt Cleo and Great Uncle Wes. They couldn't have children so they were the awesome aunt and uncle who pampered their nieces and whatnot. We always loved the name and especially loved that it was a family name, so that's where Cleo came from. Anne is a family name on my side. My Great-Grandma on my mom's side was Sarah Anna and my mom and older sister both share the middle name, Anne, after her. So I wanted to pass Anne on to Cleo. That's the name game! Short birth story (the long one I'll give in person to anyone who might be interested...but I'll save the major details!): We had been tracking Cleo's (Fozzy at the time) weight throughout the pregnancy. As posted here, I even noted that she was tracking smaller than Gus had ever tracked, but we weren't concerned about it until last week when on our sono showed she had dropped from the 25% of weight class to lower than the 10%. I guess docs get concerned when babies in utero either go above the 90% or below the 10%, so there we were. Basically Miss Thang was gaining weight but just not as much as she should've been. They estimated on the sono late last week that she weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz. After consulting with 3 different docs in the hospital and getting the same recommendation, we opted to induce labor Monday night and deliver Cleo about a 1.5 weeks early, just in case something was wacky in utero (we had many tests run on my placenta and the u. cord and all that, and everything looked ok, but she still wasn't gaining as much weight as she should have been). So I received the pitocin Tuesday morning around 7:30 a.m., they broke my water around 9:30 a.m. and I had Cleo by 12:47 p.m. All in all, it was extremely painful but really short, so I cannot complain (Gus' labor in all was over 12 hours long). And she ended up weighing exactly one pound more than they predicted, so that was a great relief. So far she looks perfectly healthy, receiving high marks on every test. So we're happy that it seems everything has worked out. All that weekend worrying for nothing, but still, we're glad we have her out here with us intead of worrying about her in utero. They are doing an analysis on my placenta just to make sure they didn't miss some issue with it. I guess we'll see!

That's the (short!) story. We are so happy and excited and tired. Gus doesn't know what to think of her. He's already a little possessive of me (when I nurse Cleo he wants to sit on my lap and gets kinda frustrated), but otherwise he's great. I can't believe my baby is a big brother. And we're having a ball with girl clothes. There are some cute things out there for little ladies to wear! And I can definitely put Gus' leg warmers to great use, now... hee hee.

More later with photos. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Here we go!

ek

They just keep coming...

More baby news! Andy's friend from high school, Jim, and his wife, Pinar, had their first baby this past week. They had a girl, Leyla Rose. She is absolutely beautiful with a head of black hair! Jim and Pinar live in Instanbul, Turkey. Jim was in our wedding party and is seriously one of the nicest people I've ever met. We miss them. He and Pinar are going to be wonderful parents. We wish them the best!

Preparing for baby

The babies are coming! My cousin Adam and his wife Meg had their third child this week. They knew they were having a boy, and his name is Hank Robert. He's so cute! I can't wait to meet him and I'm sure his big sister Carolyn and big brother Will are so excited about his arrival. Meg was due July 22 (my original due date!), so maybe I'll go early, too? ...

Speaking of possibly going early, I had a doctor's appointment Monday and I'm already dilated 1.5 centimeters. That, of course, could mean nothing at all, or it could mean something. I have felt the baby dropping, though. I have another appointment next Thursday with a sonogram, just to make sure the baby's weight is tracking normally. So far it's been tracking a bit smaller than average, so we'll see if it's gained a bunch of weight by next week. The doctors still think I'll have a baby around 6.5-7 lbs or so. And, they told me Gus would be around 7 or 7.5 lbs. and he was 8 lbs. 5 oz, so I don't know how accurate the sonograms are. This pregnancy has been all over the map, though. My original due date was July 22, then after a sono they moved it out to August 2. Throughout the pregnancy they've tracked this baby a bit after August 2 (more like August 11) based on its size. So my doctor was surprised I was already dilated so early...who knows what's going to happen! :)

We are going to continue work on the nursery this weekend. It's coming along. We bought a fun lamp that we're going to hang in the room. It's a green lantern that has a wicker cover, so it diffuses the light nicely. It's pretty funky, but we loved it. The whole room has no theme, per say. We're not theme folks. It's definitely a mish mash of stuff. But it's a cute, cozy room, and that's all the matters. I need to clean the breast pump off this weekend (fun!) and wash the Baby Papasan seat cover. Little things to prepare. I think Gus pretty much lived in the Baby Papasan vibrating chair, so we definitely need to get it ready. And the swing! I also need to buy a baby sling. I have a feeling I'll use it quite often since I'll have 2 kids.

Work is insane right now. I'm trying not to stress out, but I didn't realize how much I had to finish before handing it all off. I guess it'll all work out, even if I have the baby super early. My gut feeling is that I might have Fozzy in the next 2 weeks, but now I've jinxed myself, so I'll be two weeks late. I'm not going to lie...that would kinda suck! :)

We're also going to a wedding Saturday night. Our friends Brandon and Megan are getting hitched in Kansas City. Should be a really fun wedding. It's at 7:30, so Gus will stay with a babysitter and we'll make it a date night. I'm excited for the food, of course.

We're also prepping for Gus' birthday...I honestly cannot wrap my mind around the fact that he's going to be two. It's so bittersweet. He's growing up so fast. I want to make sure we can focus on his birthday even if the baby comes around the same day. It will be a crazy month!

ek

4th of July

Gus and his new favorite boots, from Aunt Lindsey. Seriously, he won't take them off...

It's the 4th and we're just hanging out. Gus is watching Thomas the Train, Andy is talking to his Dad on the phone, and I'm updating my blog.

We're going to be busy today and this weekend, getting the baby's room ready to go. I'm excited b/c we got the wall art in the mail this week. We ordered some fun textiles to hang on the walls, so I'll post a photo once the room is set up. We ordered some fun textile art for Gus' room and now we're addicted. They sell all kinds of fun stuff online these days! We ordered Gus' wall art from a Marimekko online store, and Fozzy's stuff came from Dwell.

Gus had a fun week. My mom watched him on Monday, Wed. and Thursday b/c Jen is on vacation. He had a blast with my mom. He was really sad to see her leave. My mom always teaches Gus new words. She watches him pretty much every year during this week b/c Jen usually takes vacation during the week of the 4th. Last year he learned the word "ball" from my mom (his 1st real word!) and this week he learned a few new words and songs, including the beginning to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." My mom the teacher! He also fell off a chair and scratched his nose, and at some point during the week he got about a billion bug bites, one really nasty one on his eyelid (I'm pretty sure he got them when we were in the garden Tuesday...I even covered him in bug spray!). His eye was so swollen this week, I was so nervous. I took him to the doctor but all we could do was give him Benadryl (sp?) and Clartin and wait for it to clear up. It looks so much better today. Before and after photos for your pleasure (the before photo is somewhat scary...his eye really was that swollen and nasty!

Before...Gus giving the "stink eye"

And after...Mr. Happy Pants is back!

Our friends Kim and Chris are in town this weekend. We're so excited to see them. They moved to Dallas two years ago and we all miss them terribly. They are expecting their first baby in September, so we're throwing them a baby shower tomorrow night (I should say Hannah and Jim are throwing it! We are contributing). Anyway, it's at Hannah and Jim's lake house and we're going to shoot off some fireworks and whatnot. The kids will have a blast, and it'll be so good to get a Trankowski fix (we call them the "Trankowskis" b/c Kim's maiden name is "Tran" and their married name is "Jankowski" so it's a perfect fit). I can't wait to see Kim's baby belly.

Speaking of babies, we're REALLY in the final countdown now. Andy and I are getting extremely excited about Fozzy's arrival. What will he/she look like? Will Fozzy be a girl or boy? So many fun surprises. Oh, and what to name him/her? We were going back and forth just last night on names. We still haven't decided what name to pick from our list of boys and girls names. We have about 2-3 of each, and it's hard to decide. I guess we'll figure it out when Fozzy arrives. I can't wait to snuggle with a newborn, though. I did get a baby fix at work this week. A student I know brought her new little girl in (just a month old) and I held her. She was gorgeous and so snuggly and smelled so good. Ahhhh, babies. It felt so good to hold her.

I have another doc appointment Monday, and they are every week from now on. I'll be full term in about a week, so we'll see what happens! I'm a little anxious about work b/c there's so much left to do, but I'll get it done. I remember feeling this way with Gus and somehow I got everything done in time. The new interim dean started this week, too (my new boss for a year). He's very nice and is very excited for Fozzy's arrival. He has two grown children himself, so he seems very family-focused, which is great.

I'll end this post with a photo of Gus and Ash swinging at the park. Good times!

Summer, Summer, Summertime...

Good morning, everybody!

It's a rainy Friday. Gus continues to greet us bright and early in the morning (between 6-6:30am usually, but sometimes earlier!!). I think he's still adjusting to his new bed and he's so excited that he has the ability to get out of it himself in the morning. As Andy said, Gus is just so excited to be alive that he can't stand to be in bed for too long. That's a nice way to look at it. It doesn't help that the birds are chirping as early as 5:30am these days, so of course Gus thinks it's time to get up. I'm sure when it gets darker in the morning he'll slowly start sleeping later again. But the adjustment to the toddler bed, overall, hasn't been too bad. He seems to get that he needs to sleep there for bedtime and naptime now, for the most part.

Gus is really into learning letters and numbers right now. If something has letters or numbers on it, he will read them (he knows about 70-75% of the alphabet and a few numbers...number "2" being his fave!). Case in point, the Wall Street Journal...we took these photos because he looked hilarious. Our little child genius reads the Wall Street Journal in the morning with his bowl of fruit and sippy cup nearby.

Gotta read the Journal this morning...

Wow, look at those gas prices...

As of this weekend I will be 35 weeks along in this second pregnancy. About 5+ weeks to go (unless I go early). That totally freaks me out in a way b/c we have so much left to do. I don't function well when procrastinating, so it's difficult for me to wait until the last minute to fix everything up. But it's hard on the second baby, b/c you just don't have time or energy to do all the things you need to. I'm sure it will get done, but I'm nesting right now and it's hitting me hard! Preggo anxiety! I have my pre-admission appointment at Lawrence Memorial on Monday. I need to update my birth plan for the nurses and my doctor. Here are a couple of photos of me at 34 weeks. The baby continues to kick up a storm, especially late at night and in the middle of the night.





Our Lawrence friends are throwing us a "Baby Sprinkle" tomorrow afternoon. It should be really fun. It'll be a potluck at a nearby park. So it's a "sprinkle"...people buy you diapers and wipes and ointment and shampoo and whatnot for the new babe. The stuff will definitely come in handy and it will be a fun excuse to hang with friends and babies. Sunday I think I'm meeting up with some friends and their kids at the downtown pool. Gus and I went to the pool last Saturday and he loved the fountains, so it should be fun. And I love getting sun in the summer. I don't love my preggo swimsuit (doesn't cover up everything!), but that's what cover ups are for, right?! I bought one at Target that does the trick and is still stylish. :) I still look like a beached whale (not looking for sympathy with that comment, I honestly really do look huge!), but I've learned not to care what I look like at the pool, especially when pregnant. It just feels so good to be in the cold water and to get a tan.


Andy has another business trip Sunday through Tuesday but then he's home until around September, which makes me super, super happy!


Have a great weekend, everyone.

ek


P.S. HOW COULD I FORGET TO MENTION THIS? Blame it on my preggo memory and brain...Leah and Dan announced to us last week that they are expecting baby #2 in January. So exciting! This baby will join big sister Beatrice, who is 5 years old. I'm sure Bea is just so excited! Leah said Bea wants a little brother, but we all know how it goes. No real choice in the matter! They are going to find out the sex, so I can't wait to see if they share with everyone. :) Congrats!

Fozzy update and TGIF!

My sonogram went well yesterday. Fozzy looks to be doing well in utero. He/she has been very active and somewhat stubborn during the sonos I've had, so that's funny. The sono technician wasn't able to do much yesterday b/c Fozzy was having none of it. Fozzy's sign will be Leo, just like Gus, so that's two Leos in a row for us. But they will be natural leaders, and that's what I'll tell myself when they are being very, very stubborn or "independent." :) I'm still tracking pretty much on schedule w/ my due date, but if anything, I'm actually a bit behind, meaning I could go late with this one. But I don't really trust these machines all that much for 100% accuracy, so we'll see. This baby is measuring a bit smaller than Gus was at this point, so that's interesting to know. But all is within the average range, so we're fine. Maybe Fozzy will have some massive growth spurt in the last month? Yikes! Right now Fozzy weighs about 4 1/2 lbs. or so, give or take.

Oh, Gus just woke up from his nap. He's hanging with me as I type this. We are going to the Farmer's Market tomorrow morning and then to some garage sales. Andy is painting the baby's room tomorrow. We've decided to go with white/off white as the color. Sounds boring, but the room is rather small-ish so this will work. We'll color the room with accessories. I'm trying to find some fun, bright curtains that match w/ our bedding and a rug, too. Oh, and wall art. We need to figure it out soon!

Our 6th wedding anniversary is Sunday so Andy and I are going out for dinner tonight. Annie is coming over to hang with Gus. I'm not sure where we're going, but it will be nice to go out somewhere.

I think now I'm going to turn the sprinkler on for Gus and watch him have a blast in the backyard!

ek