Hoarder

I'm starting to get concerned that Joseph's future has him starring in an episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive". He clearly inherited my mom's family gene of being a pack rat, at the very least. My grandfather and mother save everything - like boxes of newspaper articles from 1963, every greeting card they have ever received, and check registers from 1984. If I had a toy, it's still in my parent's attic.

Joseph's early tendencies towards this trait include his need to travel with an entourage of his favorite things. As of right now, the count of things that need to be in his crib each night are 3 pacis, 5 lovey blankets, 3 stuffed animals and 1 pillow. In the morning, we can't leave his room until all these items have been loaded in our arms to make the trip to the couch for his morning cartoons. If one falls on the floor on either the trip into the family room or once he is on the couch, a lot of shrieking ensues. This pretty much captures 7am at our house:

Luckily, despite several tantrums, I have been able to keep the entourage down to Joseph's two favorite loveys and 1 paci when we actually leave the house. The funniest part is that one we get someplace fun, Joseph ditches his prized possessions faster than you can imagine. We like to say "Joseph's up to serious business" when he hands us his loveys and pacis saying "All Done!" and runs off to play.

And because an entry wouldn't be complete without Conrad making an appearance, the latest pictures of the boys together.

Conrad is becoming quite the chunker - which is to be expected when the kid takes 4 oz every 2-3 hours around the clock. Although we did get a 4 hour stretch from 9:15 pm to 1:15 am last night. Of course, he was then up every 2 hours after that. Lucky for Rich he had the 10 pm - 2 am shift and I had the 2 am - 6 am shift last night, of which I slept none of. Rich was sweet enough to go into work late this morning and let me get back in bed until 7:30 this morning after finally settling Conrad back down at 6 am (Joseph was up at 6:20 am).

We survived!!!!

Well, the first week of being a stay-at-home mom to two kids is over. I have to say, it wasn't THAT bad. We had our rough moments, like the following:

• I load two kiddos into the car (a process that alone takes 10 minutes) and head to the grocery store to pick up some essentials. Conrad is not happy about it. He screams the entire 5 minute drive there. I figure he's hungry and end up breastfeeding him for 10 minutes in the back of the car when we get there. He settles down and I undergo the process of getting 2 kids out of the car and into a double stroller. Conrad is calm for all of 15 minutes only to launch into hysterics halfway through the store. We head off to the bathroom to warm up a bottle. He's screaming his head off when Joseph notices the tampon dispenser. Apparently, this looks like an awesome toy and he is now screaming to get off the stroller and play with it. After sucking down 1/2 an ounce, Conrad calms down again...only to start screaming again as we walk out. At this point, anyone walking into the store could hear me say "This would make a good commercial for birth control". I get to the car only to realize some asshat has parked so close to me that there is no way I can get Conrad's car seat into the car. I pick up the monstrosity of a car seat on the other side of the car and somehow get it past Joseph's car seat and across the backseat. BTW, it was about 90 degrees. Oh yea, and in the middle of this chaos some cooky old bat interrupts me to ask if Joseph and Conrad are twins???? Yeah, lady they are, we just kept Conrad in the womb for 23 extra months!
• On Thursday, Conrad decides he needs to eat 10 minutes before Joseph needs to go down for a nap and Conrad isn't the quickest eater. Joseph, in his typical overtired fashion, is running around the room like a crazy man. He trips over a toy and face plants into a basket of toys. Crying ensues and I am trying to calm him down from the couch when he lifts his little head and blood is streaming from his mouth. Conrad's feeding is abruptly ended - he gets thrown into the swing - and I am trying to apply a cold cloth and assess the seriousness of Joseph's injury. Meanwhile, Conrad is screaming for more food. Luckily Joseph's injury did not require any sort of doctor's visit - just a superficial cut to the lip that bled like crazy.

Overall, though, those were pretty isolated incidents. Sure, it was hectic trying to get two kids and their supplies out of the house, attempting to make sure Joseph didn't seriously harm himself (or Conrad) while I was trying to get lunches ready or laundry folded, worrying about whether each child was getting enough of my attention, but it really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. We got out of the house everyday. Conrad came to play dates, the park and trips to Target and only exhibited some minor fussiness while out and about. Despite not napping more than 30 minutes any day, Joseph remained relatively happy and content with the new schedule and routine. We all survived.

Of course, we have lots of people who assisted us in surviving the week...my playgroup Mommy friends for opening their houses to us for play dates (play dates that allowed me to sit in one spot while Joseph expended energy in a contained area) and sending us home with yummy dinners, the night nurse who is coming every other night, allowing me to sleep 7 hours (with a quick pumping session in the middle), and my husband for managing to come home before 6 pm every night and doing more than his fair share of night time duties to help keep me sane.

So on the eve of beginning week 2, I am optimistic that handling these two will not actually send me to an early demise. I know there are going to be days ahead when both are sick or one is teething or I am just exhausted and I am going to lay down on the floor and cry or call Rich telling him I am losing my mind or drink a pitcher of margaritas at 11 am, but I am actually starting to think this might end up being kinda fun...

Oh, what a night!

Last night was the first night it was just Rich and I left to control these two kids. It did not go well. Not well, at all. Here's a quick re-cap of the last 12-ish hours:

9:00 PM - Joseph, who sleeps through the night regularly, has been soundly asleep for the last 90 min. Conrad's just had a feeding, was a little fussy afterwards, but Rich has him settled and sleeping in his crib. We decide to head to bed.

9:30 PM - It's only 9:30 and we are enjoying actually being in bed together for the first time in two weeks. I actually comment to Rich "The newborn phase seems easier this time. Makes me want to have a whole gaggle of these kids". He gets a little scared but agrees it is easier.

10:00 PM - We've both dozed off only to be woken up by really loud thunder and heavy rain. The heavy rain turns into hail - really, large hail that is pounding our roof and we can hear coming through our chimney. I suddenly realize Joseph is standing up in his crib screaming. His room is right next to ours but we couldn't even hear him screaming because the hail was that loud. Rich goes into his room and brings back a terrified Joseph screaming "Mommy, Daddy". We cuddle him into our bed where he won't let either of us let go of him.

11:30 PM - Joseph's still in our bed because every time we hear a distant thunder rumble, he buries his head into our chest. No one has slept because in between thunder, Joseph wants to tell us how the baby goes "Wah! Wah! Wah!", ask for the "lights on" and to turn his "shows" on. It's clear Joseph's not going to sleep in our bed so once we are thunder free for 15 minutes, we send him back to his crib. We all settle in from some sleep...finally.

12:00 AM - Conrad is fussing and needs to be fed. Rich gets up to tend to him. 5 minutes later a loud thunder rumble comes through and Joseph is screaming again. He comes back into our bed. After 30 minutes, Conrad's crying and fussing from gas, which is making Joseph annoyed. I take Joseph into his room to try and rock him to sleep. He's having none of it - just wants to ask me for his books, airplanes and the cat. Back into his crib he goes. He screams his head off for 15 minutes, which only makes Conrad's fussing worse.

12:30 AM - I gather up a pillow and comforter and head into Joseph's room. I spend the next 30 minutes laying on his floor, reassuring him I am there until he settles down and falls asleep.

2:00 AM - I wake up on Joseph's floor after a quick snooze and sneak out. Conrad's finally settled back into his crib after a ridiculous 5 ounces of milk! I think to myself that Conrad will certainly sleep a solid 4 hours with that much food in his belly and Joseph should be good until after 6 am - I can survive on 4 hours of sleep.

2:30 AM - I've barely settled back in bed and Conrad starts crying. How can this kid be hungry already? Sure enough, he is. He's in our bed for the next 90 minutes either eating or fussing.

4:00 AM - After a brief snooze, Conrad is back awake and wanting to eat again! I take him into the den so that Rich can at least get some sleep. For the next hour he eats and fusses and eats some more and fusses some more. He seems so uncomfortable from gas. By 5, he finally settled into sleep on my chest. I sleep in fits for a little bit.

6:30 AM - Joseph wakes up screaming for Rich. He's ready to start his day, which means so are we. AWESOME!

Not surprisingly, Joseph is a hot cranky mess today. He's 3 hours short of his normal sleep, he doesn't understand where PopPop and Grandma T went or why it's 10 am and he hasn't been out of the house yet. It's tantrum central here today.

Conrad continues to eat extraordinary quantities of food every 2 hours and then be completely fussy afterwards. Rich actually called the pedi this morning because he decided this wasn't normal. They suggested it *could* be a food allergy and said I should limit my diet...which includes no caffeine. Hello, phone nurse, did you miss the "we were up all night" part? No caffeine today? I also checked out Dr. Sear's elimination diet for food allergies. For 2 WEEKS I should eat organic turkey or lamb, rice or potatoes (with salt and pepper only), squash and pears ONLY to see if the gassiness will get better. I love ya, Conrad, but if that's the solution, I hope you like formula.

For now, I am just going to try some gas reducing methods and chalk it up to a really bad night. Hopefully, tonight will be better. If not....pray for us.

UPDATE: It's 1 pm, Joseph's nap time. Conrad just fed and is actually sleeping well. We think we'll squeeze in a nap while Joseph naps. Nope - he's been screaming for 10 solid minutes in his crib. He's so overtired and that never is good news for his napping. Yes....start praying for us.

Joseph and the "Po Po"

We had some dramaz around here this morning. Drama slightly more serious than the usual "I want cookies for breakfast" or "I want to go to the park at 6:45 am" tantrums from Joseph or Conrad's "Feed me now. It's been 2 hours since I last ate" or "My diaper is being changed and I am cold" screaming.

Yes, someone tried to break into our house. Rich was at work and my Dad had taken Joseph to the park so there were no cars in the driveway. I was feeding Conrad and chatting with my mom when the doorbell rang. We figured it was a delivery person so my mom went to the door but ignored it when she realized it was just two teenagers, most likely selling something. 30 seconds later they started ringing the doorbell incessantly and knocking really loudly. I immediately got nervous and told my mom to go yell to them to leave us alone so they would know someone was in the house. By the time she got back to the front of the house, they were headed up my driveway, almost to our back door. My mom knocked on the window and they said they were looking for "James" and quickly headed up the street.

I called the police since the whole thing just seemed shady. The police picked them up a few blocks over....two sixteen year-olds with prior juvenile records for breaking and entering and screwdrivers that had been altered for easily breaking into doors in their possession. The police arrested them for attempted breaking and entering and stopped by our house so I could give a signed statement.

Joseph thought the police were pretty cool and we got a couple pictures of him hanging out with the police. He's been walking around saying "po po" since they left. These cracked us up....Joseph behind bars talking to police. Let's hope it's the one and only time that happens....

Luckily I keep my doors locked during the day and we have a security system but the police emphasized that if someone comes to your door, don't ignore it!!!! Don't open the door for them but just yell to them so they know someone is home. Most of these thieves are petty criminals and have no interest in breaking into a house with someone in it because it's a much more serious crime than a breaking and entering attempt.

Look-a-likes

My boys definitely look similar. My first reaction when I saw Conrad for the first time was "He looks like Joseph". Over the next couple days in the hospital, we actually started to think he didn't look as much like Joseph as we initially thought. He seemed to favor Rich a little more, while Joseph was a mini-me from the beginning. However, the last few days, Conrad has started looking identical to Joseph's baby pics. I posted some pictures of Conrad to Facebook while Rich was napping and when he saw them, he had to ask me if they were Conrad or old pics of Joseph. Here are some comparison shots.

Joseph:

Conrad:

Joseph:

Conrad:

Joseph:

Conrad:

They definitely have their differences. Conrad clearly has my turned-up nose, while Joseph does not and Conrad was not blessed with Joseph's mile long eyelashes. Conrad has "Nana lips" which is a dominant trait passed from Rich's grandmother of a lower lip so thin, it's barely visible. Joseph has full lips. They both have Rich's pointy chin and quirky ears (Rich has these little nubs on each of his ears that both boys also clearly have) but my darker coloring.

I can't wait to watch these two grow up together and discover how much they will resemble each other and how similar or different their personalities are going to be!

Homecoming

Joseph is on a walk with his Daddy (By walk we don't mean out for a casual ride in the stroller because Joseph conveniently decided about 3 weeks ago he was done with the stroller. No, Rich and Joseph are off exploring the neighborhood by foot searching for puppies and cats and flowers and birds and all the other things Joseph likes to point out and chase). Conrad is swinging in his swing - although he's starting to fuss so I may be pushing my luck trying to blog - so I found 10 minutes to get all our pictures and videos from the last few days off the cameras.

Here is some video and photo documentation of Conrad's homecoming on Wednesday.

Car ride home:

A loving welcome from Grandma and Joseph:

Joseph's first response to his little brother (you can see he is more interested in the cat and his chip):

Later, Joseph's attempts to "entertain" Conrad:

A New Normal

First, let me officially introduce the newest addition to our family, Conrad Ashley. Conrad arrived on Monday weighing in at 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long.

I had a quick labor but significantly painful delivery. Apparently my body and epidurals don't get along. With Joseph my epi wore off on one side after an hour. I had to get a 2nd epi, which was so dense, I couldn't move my legs for 6 hours after he was born. The upside was that I felt nothing when delivering him. The same thing happened this time, except I was 9 cm dilated when it wore off....and it hurt...bad, really bad....like "Get this kid out now!!!!!!" bad. I begged my nurse to call the anesthesiologist but instead she sent my OB in to break the news that I had no time for an epi re-do and was going to have to deliver virtually pain-med free (at least on one side). I pushed for 10 min with Joseph so I thought to myself "You can do anything for 10 minutes." Well, 10 minutes turned into about 30 min this time. There was some screaming of "Ow. It hurts. It hurts" and "Just let me push!", searing pain and unbelievable pressure and he arrived....beautiful, healthy and significantly larger than anyone in the room was expecting. My OB looked at me and said "Well, I'm glad we did this a week early because next week would have been a whole different delivery."

The last few days have been happy, wonderful, crazy, chaotic and tiring all at the same time. Conrad is a great eater - he likes to eat every 2-2 1/2 hours, which is a daunting task when breastfeeding. He seems content to be put in a bouncy chair or swing for 30 minute stretches - something Joseph was never happy about.

Joseph loves his brother - he's so interested in him and comes running every time he makes a noise to see what he is doing. He loves helping me with diaper changes. He brings me the supplies and waits patiently to put the dirty diaper in the trash for me. He likes to tell me that Conrad has a "butt" and a "pee pee". Conrad is rather dramatic about his diaper changes and Joseph loves to mimic both the sound and volume of his crying and laughs his head off afterwards. Joseph continues to be hyperactive so balancing his need to go "out! out! out!" and my recovery and newborn care is well, hmmmm....challenging. Thank god my mom is here and keeping Joseph entertained. I think I may kidnap her and force her to stay past next Sunday.

I promise to have more pictures and videos up soon. Right now they are still sitting on our cameras and on a long to-do list we need to get to. This to-do list also includes updating the name and look of this blog. Right now we are in serious survival mode. Here is a small glimpse of why it's hard to get much done these days...

8 am - My mom has made everyone breakfast and is cleaning the kitchen. I'm trying to eat while balancing Joseph's desire to climb on the couch and sit with me and climb back off to sit and eat his breakfast....a pattern that repeats 50 times in 10 minutes. Conrad is happily sleeping in his Moses basket. I manage to get on Facebook for 3 minutes. Everything is relatively calm. Then in 2 seconds all hell breaks loose. Conrad starts screaming and I realize he's soaked through (damn leaky diapers). He screams his head off while I change him and while trying to calm him down he starts sucking my neck....time for another feeding! I get him settled in for a feeding, which Joseph sees as an opportune time to run and jump on the couch. After 5 requests to sit down, he gives me a devil-ish grin and continues. My mom swoops in him to send him off to timeout - 2 minutes of Joseph screaming. He comes back out calmer but 30 minutes later and Conrad is still feeding, breakfast is cold and Joseph is begging my mom to take him "out".

So please forgive us if your e-mail goes unanswered, I don't pick up your phone call or you don't see a ton of pictures for a little longer. We're just figuring this 2 kid thing out.