Dang, I'm a Mom.....

This week it has finally sunk in that I'm a mom (I know I'm 14 months late.......... so go ahead and take 50 points off of my IQ....) Having one baby is a breeze now that I look back at it. But now that I have my arms full (literally) I realize that this mommy business is harder than I thought it would be. I told my parents this week that it really sunk in that I was a mom because I was holding both babies and I could tell by smell which one was poopy. I'm 21. Shouldn't I be partying every weekend and worrying about boy problems???? Then I realize how blessed I am that I'm actually past that stage in my life (plus it is fun to think that I have two pregnancies out of the way and most people my age still have all of theirs left..... mwahahahaha).

So here's one of my tales for the week: Yesterday I took Lily to get her 12 month immunizations (yes, I'm 2 months behind.... hand me the "Worst Mother of the Year Award"). So with Lily in one arm and my diaper bag and Sky in the other I try to open the doors to get into the building (in Rexburg this is a nightmare because there are always double doors!!!!). So as I wait Lily's running around the lobby while Sky's screaming because he's hungry (dang, I'd hoped he would just sleep....). Then finally they call Lily's name. We get all the paperwork done while she runs out of the room, takes off the magnets on the file cabinets, puts finger prints all over the window, and attempts to take off the books on the bookshelf. Finally it's time for her to get her shots. I braced myself because I knew she was going to get 6. But she was good like she was every time and only cried for about 60 seconds. Whoo. That's done. The worst is over. So with two babies and a bag in arms again we leave to go home. It's nap time, thank goodness. Lily wakes up 2 hours later, and then I realize, that, no, the worst is not over. She had 6 band-aids. Now she only has one. I can only see 2 in her crib. Where are the other 3? I don't know. Hopefully not in any of today's diapers......

This is a picture of Sky's hair after his bath. It's sooooo curly! He's only a week old in this pic and this is when I decided that he's my cherub. What a cutie!

Daddy and Sky

I just need to say how grateful I am for Ben. He has been the greatest support. When I had Lily Ben was working from 7 AM-11 PM every day and I didn't think it was fair that he do any nightfeedings so I think he did two total (when I was sick). He has a different job now and he has been helping me so much with nightfeedings and all sorts of other things. The other day when Ben was home for lunch I fell asleep while he was chatting with me (horrible I know) and I woke up 15 minutes later as he was putting the babies in their cribs to go to sleep so that I could also nap since he was about to return to work. I'm so grateful to be married. It's the best to have such a great best friend. And then I remember, yeah, I'm doing all of this pretty early in life, but it's pretty amazing. Life is good.

Thank Goodness I Have Long Toes

My mom flew out to Rexburg to help me with Skyler's birth and with all of the adjustments afterward. I owe her a ton because she helped out when drama hit. So thank you, Mommy, for all of meals you made for us and Lily, the cleaning, almost-sleepless nights, and entertainment. She brought Sky this little onsie. It's pretty obvious that it's from her.... if you can't read it it says, "If Mommy says no ask Grandma." Pretty perfect for her since there's also a whale on it..... hopefully he'll fit in it for a while...... but no promises since he's putting on weight faster than me in my third trimester.

Becca also came up for a couple of days to pick up my mom and bring her down to Utah. She and Sky bonded nicely. I love sleeping babies..... SO CUTE!



Then April and her girls came to visit. Here's a picture of Sam and Lily together. They're only a month apart and looked almost identical when they were newborns. The camera took this a split second after they let go of holding hands.... awwwww.....

April: "This picture is going to make it look like Skyler's OUR baby....."

As for our little Macbeth family we are doing much better. Lily has finally been sleeping through Sky's cries at night. She used to pop up after every noise and cry when I would get Skyler out of his crib and leave her in hers. However, Saturday night she was just EXHAUSTED. Her bedtime is 7 but I couldn't keep her awake that long...... this is her close to sleep at about 6ish...... (sorry about its blurriness).....

Let me say that I totally LOVE having two babies. It keeps me busy and I'm past the roughest part (I'm pretty sure) and so I'm just enjoying the love that I get to experience each day. This doesn't mean that it's easy, though. I have discovered a whole bunch of "magic tricks" up my sleeve. So what's my biggest asset? My toes. That's right. My whole life I've made fun of my toes that resemble E.T.'s fingers. Well I'm not laughing anymore. When I'm nursing Skyler I can tickle Lily, grab her blankie when she cries, close baby gates behind me when I'm holding one or two babies, pick up trash really quick before Lily gets to it, and so many more things. I have a whole new respect for toes now. And yes, you really are reading a blog post about toes. I promise that when I get more sleep I'll write about something that actually makes sense. In the meantime enjoy my mindblowingly dilusional blog!

Who Needs Coffee When You've Got Two Babies?!?!

That's right...... I don't need coffee because I have a newborn and a 13-month-old keeping me on my toes...... let me explain. Anyone who knows anything about babies knows that they lllloooooovvvveee putting things in their mouths. They seriously find things that are invisible to the adult eye (after you've vacuumed and swept countless times, of course) and just pop them in their mouths not caring what it is. Well this morning was no different from any other day and I saw that Lily was trying to chew on something I definitely hadn't given her. "Mom do you know what she put in her mouth?" "I think it might have been a raisin." So I of course walk casually over to her and stick my finger in to check and pulled out her "snack." "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! It's Skyler's umbilical cord!!!!!!" And that, my friends, is why I don't need coffee.

Ben's parents were able to come up on Tuesday to meet little Skyler. It was good to see them again. Here are some pictures from the visit:

My mom and I agree that Skyler is the easiest baby we've ever heard of. Each night I only have one real night feeding and then one early morning (5:30ish) feeding and they're only about an hour long. He doesn't really cry, either. I am very happy to be proven wrong that I had a baby who's even easier than Lily was. She was a phenomenally easy baby, as well. Anyhow I call Sky my little Cherub. Just look at that face..... I'm currently trying to convince Ben to let me dress him up as Cupid for Halloween. I can just see him with little heart arrows...... he's already gotten me with one of them. I just love this little boy. I think I've got to be the luckiest mom in the world to have Lily and Sky.

Here's a movie I really enjoy. Nothing's better than a dizzy baby, right?

Skyler's Birth (My Side of the Story)

Skyler's birth is definitely a story I want to remember well. I figure I started my pregnancy with a bang so it was only appropriate to end with a bang. I ended up going through false labor 6 times. That's right. 6 times I had contractions at 3 minutes apart for hours at a time. Thank goodness I only went to the hospital the first time. Whenever they got regular I didn't think anything of it because I figured my body was just lying to me again. So I did have to wait until the 30th to be induced. I was admitted into the hospital at 7:30 AM, had my doctor break my water at 8:30, and then started Petosin at 9. I was already 4 cm when I got to the hospital so my nurse told me I could have an epidural whenever I wanted but I chose to tough it out for a little bit so I could progress faster. At noon I started shaking during each contraction from the pain so I decided that it would probably be a good idea to get my epidural. I had the wonderful anesthesiologist come in and told him about my last labor (I pushed for 2 hours with Lily and the epidural wore off halfway through so I felt the entire delivery) and let him know I DID NOT want to do that again. So he gave me a button to push to give myself another dose when the time was right. So epidurals just put me to sleep so of course I just went off into La La Land. Shortly after I woke up the nurse came in to check up on me and told me I was at an 8 and to let her know once I started feeling the urge to push. Yeeeaahhhh....... so I told her I was feeling it. She checked me again and started setting up a table with all of the delivery instruments and so my mom knew what that meant. I will never forget this. She said she was going to use the bathroom in my room and about a minute later when she came out I had already started pushing because I was at a 10. What. The. Heck. So they had a nurse run out and call my doctor really fast and he got to the hospital just in time to deliver Skyler. What an awesome delivery (and my epidural lasted the whole time!!!!). My only problem is that each labor gets faster and with a 10 hour labor and a not-quite-6-hour labor under my belt I'm going to have to be close to a hospital for now on. I'm so grateful everything went well and that I have a healthy and happy (he rarely cries at all) baby boy. Now our family is just going through an adjustment...... and when I say family I really mean Lily.

Here is our first family picture of the four of us. It describes our lives pretty well right now.

Although our family is definitely in a time of adjustment we're enjoying life. Ben and I are sooo grateful for our two babies and we wouldn't change a thing about them. Yes, Lily has been struggling quite a bit with her sleeping (which makes EVERYTHING go downhill) and seeing Skyler with me all the time but she's doing better all the time. One of the things that has been miraculous to me is that she's now walking. She started walking really well while I was in the hospital (Murphy's Law, of course) and is now walking just about everywhere. It has been amazing timing because with all of the attention Skyler needs Lily now gets quite a bit of praise. Here's a movie of her as our little walker. We sure are proud of her!