2 Months Old!

Can't believe my baby is 2 months old already! This was taken on Sunday, just after he got out of the bath - what's been one of his few happy moments lately.

I am so not used to having a fussy baby and it's been so draining! It seems like the only time he's happy is if he's sleeping or having a pacifier held in his mouth.  He is such a little sweetheart, but definitely has furthered convinced me that Asher should have been the poster child for the easiest baby in the world. Here's hoping it's a stage he grows out of, because all this crying is breaking my heart. What's ironic, is that he doesn't fuss quite as much when we're out and about and my consolation prize is that he's always been a great sleeper at night, which might explain why he hardly ever naps during the daytime.

We joined the Y last week and I'm so ready to start working out! Two back to back pregnancies has definitely taken a toll on my body and I sure have packed on the pounds. I'm also super excited to start working out just to have a little time to myself every day. The kicker is that since Atley has been so fussy and inconsolable unless someone holds him while holding the pacifier in his mouth (he can't keep it in on his own), I can't really take the kids in and put them in the childcare. Since I know he can't be held the entire time with all the other kids in there, it would only be a short few minutes before I was paged over the intercom to come calm him down, which defeats the purpose of trying to work out, so we've yet to make it to the Y.  Thankfully, the weather  has been beautiful so we've been taking some nice long walks every day, which actually beats going to the gym anyway.

On to other news, we've started to live life again. Went to a chili cook off on Friday night, had friends over for dinner on Saturday and then visited the botanical gardens on Sunday. Despite our fussy little guy, we're starting to get the hang of juggling two kids. I'm sure once Atley gets to the age where he has a specific nap time and routine though all that will change and we'll be back to never leaving the house  again between both of the kids nap times.

For now though, we're enjoying life and getting out as much as possible while life and the weather permits it.  Happy Fall everyone!

Twins?

I was looking at both some old and recent pictures this morning.

Can you tell which one is Asher and which one is Atley?

Yes, they definitely have some differences, but I still can't believe how much alike our boys look. I'm interested to see if those differences fade as they grow. As it is now, I don't think Asher looks at all like he did as an infant, but then again, a lot of that is due to the crooked haircut he now wears. :)

2 Weeks In....

We're now two weeks into navigating the waters as parents of 2 and boy is it difficult! I tend to be one of those people that like to imagine the very worst, so that I'm pleasantly surprised when things are actually better than I could have imagined. This time though, I guess I could have done a little bit more imagining, because it's actually been way harder than I thought it would be.

We weren't sure how to expect Asher to respond to a new baby since he is still so young and little himself. He has had such a hard adjustment though, and life with Atley is a piece of cake compared to life with our little sweet Asher. He seems to have adjusted a little better these past few days, but still, it's been rough. I just feel so bad for him when he throws these little tantrums, because I know he doesn't understand all this change. Poor little guy.

Atley is finally doing well! It's been such a struggle these past few weeks to get him to gain weight. At the lowest, he had lost 14% of his birth weight, so we've had him in the doctor every other day for weight checks since we left the hospital. As of Friday, he still had 4 ounces to gain to get back to his birth weight. The doctor was skeptical that we could do it over the weekend since he's had such a hard time gaining, but I think little Atley was  determined that he didn't want to go to the doctor so often anymore either and went on a binge! Literally, this kid was eating every 45 minutes to an hour. Talk about a tired momma! All of the eating paid off big time though and over the weekend he gained a whole 13 ounces! The doctor said that this is unheard of, as most babies gain half and ounce every day at most. We are so, so happy that we don't have to go to the doctor again for 2 whole weeks! Hopefully little Atley will keep the weight and continue to gain, although I wouldn't mind if the eating slowed down a little. Last night was the first night that the doctor said we didn't have to wake him to eat every 2 hours and it was so glorious! This kid likes to sleep at night just like us, and only woke up once for a feeding. It was SO nice! Hopefully he'll stick with this routine, but I'm not convinced yet.

Steve went back to work yesterday and I missed him SO much! He has been such a great help since we came home from the hospital and pretty much has taken care of Asher completely on his own. I thought I would freak out about being home with both boys on my own yesterday, but I could definitely feel God's grace. We even managed to take a nice long walk, hang out with the neighbors and I took both boys with when we went to the doctor, although that part of the day was a challenge when I had to wake Asher up from his nap to drag him along with.


Here's some pics of our cute guys taken in the last week

He loves going to the park to swing!

Asher got to sit on Chris' motorcycle, he wasn't so sure what he thought of it!

Love, love, love my three guys!

My littlest cutie!

Asher loves taking walks in our enormous new double stroller

Introducing Atley Clyde

Our little guy has finally arrived, and I'm so happy to report that for the first time in what feels like forever I am no longer pregnant! Woo-hoo!

Atley Clyde was born on Friday morning at 9:50 am weighing 8 lbs. 3 oz. All went well, except for the doctors shoes got soaked and ruined during the surgery due to the extra massive amount of amniotic fluid that went gushing all over the table and floor in the operating room when my water broke. Funny stuff. This kid looks just like his big brother did when he was a newborn. It's really cute! We sure do know how to make hairy babies!

We're still in the hospital now. Going on day 5, so as you can imagine we're pretty stir crazy. At the last weight check Atley had lost 12% of his birth weight and had elevated bilirubin levels, so we're hoping all is better today and we can go home. Either way, I will be discharged later this afternoon, so we're just praying that we won't have to go home and leave the baby here. I'm feeling pretty optimistic that things will look up and we'll all be leaving together though. I'm excited to start living life as a family of 4.

Asher's doing great and having so much fun with my mom. He still doesn't really have a clue about what's going on. He does seem pretty annoyed if he comes to visit us at the hospital and the baby starts crying though. It's funny to watch him get impatient and annoyed because someone other than him is crying.

Without further ado, here are some pics of our sweet little guy:

Meeting Atley for the first time

Asher meeting his little brother. He wasn't so sure what he thought of this invader.

Our first family photo!

Can you tell that I'm totally smitten with this kid?

Steve thinks he's okay to.