Taylor's 2 month apt

Taylor had her two month apt and we tried to talk to the pediatrician about her gassiness, fussiness, and eating habits. The doctor decided that she has reflux and although she doesn't spit up...I agree with this. She has pretty much every other symptom. We noticed that she is much less fussy with formula so over the last few days we've fed her mostly formula to see how she did. Day one was amazing but day two she seemed to start getting a tad constipated. She hasn't been sleeping as good at night the last two nights like she was before so we aren't sure the formula is helping as much as we thought it was at first. We will keep going back and fourth between breast milk and formula. She only weighed in at 10lb 12oz at 2.5 months so that was a little concerning to us and we are trying to up her food consumption. The doctor told us to put her on a probiotic so we ordered that and it should be in at some point soon. Hopefully that will help and if not we will try her on a reflux med. She is getting so cute and smiley. I think I even got a the start of a little laugh out of her the other day. Today we got to witness a solar eclipse. Our whole town was so excited for this event. It went over the entire US. Cj and Daniel were over and I planned lots of activities and themed foods for the kids. Eli was very excited about it. Unfortunately the clouds went over at the moment of totality so we didn't get to see that but it did get dark, it was lightning all around us, it was thundering, and the wind was blowing so it was pretty dramatic! It was an amazing site to see and I am so glad that we were able to view it as a family.  Danielle 

Workin' it Out!

We still haven't totally gotten into a plan that works for us. I am thinking when Eli starts school in a few weeks we will get on a set schedule but for now...we're just playing it by ear almost every day. I've been making it back to the gym and working out more now. I started doing weights again and it feels good. I've been going to this place called Flex-Able and it's basically where you go to have a professional help stretch your muscles. With that they can tell what parts of you body needs work and which parts are over worked. I love that! They're helping me tweak certain exercises I'm doing and giving me suggestions on what I need to do more of or less of. Turns out my back could use some work while my chest and what not is rather tight. Same with my quads being tight but my hamstrings needing more strength. The guy I'm working with has also identified why my shoulders have been in pain and why my knees have been giving me troubles. I'm so happy for that because I thought my knees were because of doing the stairs but he told me it's because my side of the legs (not technical here..haha) are tight and that I need to foam roll them. I foam roll often but have avoided that part of my legs because it hurt so bad...guess it needs it the most though and that's why. I'm glad because I was about to give up the stair master and squats thinking my knees were bad. It's so much fun to learn about that kind of stuff to me. Unfortunately, despite getting back into working out my weight loss hasn't picked up much. It's still going but barely. That's so frustrating but I know it will come. Taylor is starting to sleep much better. We introduced some formula which I feel like I should be bummed about because it's just the beginning of the end but I'm not. She seems so much happier with formula and less gassy which I know shouldn't make sense but it's what we've observed. She's really become quite and easy baby except for her gas problems which are a constant with her. She goes down at 8ish and we have to paci her still once or 10x's before she's out. You just never know but her only feeding at night hasn't been until about 4-5. Last night she only got her paci back once and then woke up at 5:45. That's amazing! We're so blessed to have her and I know the first two months were challenging for us but I feel like they are getting better and better everyday! We're starting to enjoy our new family more rather than just running in survival mode. When I can get back on a steady work routine, I think I'll feel just perfect about it all.  Nolle is her normal adorable self but she is probably the most challenging right now. She's starting to assert her independence and throw some tantrums here and there. She is also pretty messy as in she goes through drawers and cabinets pulling things out. She's also not great at talking...like she doesn't talk but she is so ready to communicate so that is frustrating to her and to us sometimes. She wants to tell us things that we sometimes can't understand or if we do, we can't really explain why she can't get her way which frustrates her. Such as lately she's wanted to take a bath all the time. We can't do bath all the time because there's 50 other things to do but she doesn't get it so then a tantrum happens and sometimes it's 5 min an sometimes it's 30. She SO loud with her tantrums too which doesn't help if Taylor is sleeping. I find myself being more patient and understanding with her than I was with Eli. I think because I better understand that she's just learning and I know she will figure it out eventually. With Eli I thought I was setting him up to be a spoiled brat for life if I didn't disapline every fit he threw so, I'm feeling bad for that. I wish I had been more understanding with Eli and maybe he wouldn't have the anger problems that he has now. Speaking of Eli...he is fantastic. I'm curious to see how he does in school this year but over the summer he has been a wonderful little boy. He's grown so much physically and mentally and especially when he's alone with either of us he is actually pretty perfect. He can get into it with Noelle sometimes but that's expected. I've been watching CJ and Daniel some over the summer too and he plays pretty well with them too. At the gym he said there's been some mean kids and when he talks about how he wants to respond to them it makes me sad because he sounds like a little dork head and I can see him getting made fun of more. THat's not totally fair though because the kids making fun of him were older and have an unfair advantage.  So...that's our life for now. Until next time, Danielle 

2 Months In

Well we're 2 months in to this family of 5 thing and things aren't too shabby. If I look at it from the outside Taylor is sleeping relatively well, the house is kept relatively well, our business is doing relatively well, I'm relatively happy and energetic. When I look at it from my point of view I feel tired of getting broken sleep, I don't feel like I can get all the house work done that I WANT to get done, I've taken on some new (time consuming) projects at the store that are stressing me out, and I feel a little sad that I don't feel like I'm totally rocking this 3 kids thing. I think we are doing well and I wish I could just be satisfied and enjoy our sweet new baby without feeling stressed to accomplish a million other things. Taylor is getting cuter everyday. She's giving us little smiles here and there and she's getting increasingly better throughout the day. She goes down at 8 and some times we have to give her paci back a dozen times...usually it's just a couple. She then wakes up anytime between 1-3, eats, and goes right back down before waking up at 6. She can be a loud sleeper but I'm starting to be able to get pass that and sleep through it. I feel like we don't give her the credit she deserves calling her difficult or a pain and she's really not! I guess when you've gone from getting full nights worth of sleep and naps if desired, going to this is an adjustment. Noelle and Eli have been watched by lots of other people this summer so that's been helpful and when I spend the days at home with the 3 of them its actually pretty easy but I'd love to be able to go somewhere and that's what's been difficult. Taylor needs her morning nap and then after that it's lunch time then Noelles nap time and I feel like a slave to the house sometimes. When Eli starts school I'm hoping we can all get on more of a schedule. I think the lack of schedule right now is what's driving me a little nuts but who knows. I just like to be good at things and I don't feel like I'm in my groove...YET! Taylor is smiling and she's turned over for us a couple of times. She is pretty gassy so I feel bad for her about that. Noelle is so in love with her baby sister but when she want's attention she want's attention. Eli also loves Taylor and he has adjusted so well this time around. I am very proud of him! Noelle is just over a year and a half and she is starting to be able to repeat pretty much anything we ask her to say...when she wants to that is. She is starting to have little temper tantrums but she's so dang cute, it's hard to care. She knows how to smile and get her way though. She is learning quickly how to work it and it's absolutely adorable now but not sure what this means for the future. Eli's school starts back next month and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does this year. I think he's come so far. Lately he's wearing no pull ups to bed. When he did wear them he never wet them but then we decided to take them off and he had an accident like 2 days later. He's only 4 right now though so I'm not too worried, it would just be nice to not have to worry about having pull ups in the house or changing wet sheets. The kids have been hanging out with their cousins A LOT this summer and it makes my heart so happy! I love watching them play and get to know each other. I think it's been good for everyone! I think that's all the updates for now. I'm wishing I kept the updates going when Noelle was a baby so I could look back. It's funny/sad how fast you forget things!!!