St. Lucy Day

One of those days to see the good, bad and ugly of parenting. All in the same day: Lucy sleeping like an angel on her feast day:

I love the reflex when she startles but never wakes up.

Then on to CJ. He's a climber. Climbed up onto the table and couldn't get down. I was nursing Lucy so I couldn't get him right away and he decided to thrown a hissy fit. I left him there, hoping he would get over it eventually, and he tired himself out.

Should I have left him there? I don't know. (And thus started some serious questioning of my parenting abilities.) But whether or not I think we both felt like this by the end of it.

CJ discovers cars

Lucy's birth story

I am finally making an attempt to write down Lucy's birth story. Her feast day has inspired me to write about this beautiful bundle of joy!

She's grown so much already!

This ones actually a few weeks old, when the Rangers were actually in the series.

I was having contractions for 3 or 4 weeks before Lucy was born. Because of that and because CJ was early, I was determined this one was going to be early. We really wanted to get through a big training for work in the middle of September. We did, and then this one still seemed to take forever! What? Me, impatient? We still didn't know if this baby was a boy or a girl, but were very anxious to find out! I was having contractions regularly during the week of Dave's training, but I would rest as much as I could to postponed this if I could. It worked, and as soon as Dave's training was over we were so ready to meet this baby. I kept having contractions, but the midwife told me that if I rested and they went away, we'd still be waiting. And wait we did. As my sister put it, we asked God to wait for that week and then he asked us to wait. That seemed to be my routine for the next couple of weeks. I was so tired, be having contractions and put CJ to bed early so that I could rest them away.

Then comes Saturday night. I thought they were becoming more regular, and I called the midwife and called Dave at work and our neighbors who would watch CJ. Then I called them all back later determining it was a false alarm. I was exhausted, put CJ to bed early and went to soak in the tub and rest. I fell asleep for about an hour and then woke up around 10 to very intense contractions that weren't going away. I called Dave, who was still at work at 11 and then we got moving again. Called the midwife to meet us at the birth center and another nice neighbor came to stay with CJ.

We got there around midnight and the midwife checked me, and I knew I had progressed some with all these contractions but it was kind of bittersweet because it was kind of in between-she could break my water to try to get things started, or go home and probably be back later that day. I just looked at Dave and said "Let's do it." I was just so exhausted and impatient at that point that I couldn't wait any longer. She broke it and it seemed like 5 minutes later I was at 4 and some, and Dave and I were remembering how long it took us to get to 4 last time. We settled in there, and it hit Dave that he hadn't had dinner yet, so we ordered pizza at 1 am. I was moaning and laboring and all that for a couple hours when the birth assistant drew a bath for me to get in. She checked me to make sure I had progressed more before I got in, in case it would slow things down and I was still at a 4. I couldn't believe it! We were praying and so frustrated but praying, because that's where I got stuck with CJ and had to be transferred to the hospital.

I had no sense of time. We tried different things to progress and I got to go into the tub and pushed for a while, and then I moved to hold on the bedpost to squat and push. I have never screamed so much in my life. :o) Then I was ready to get up on the bed to deliver the baby. All of a sudden Dave and the midwife and the birth assistant were yelling "Now! The baby has to come out now!" At the very last minute , the baby's heart rate stopped or dropped or something. So, I grinned and beared it, and pushed the baby out in one contraction. Our beautiful daughter was born. Her color was off, and she wasn't breathing right. I got to hold her for a minute, and then they whisked her to the incubator thing. They tried several methods to try to get her to breathe right, but nothing worked for 2 hours. The whole time she was there I was feeling faint so I couldn't stand and be with her. They called the NICU people to come and get her, and they came and did their assessment. They took her to the hospital and she stayed in the NICU for 2 days. It was really surreal knowing I gave birth and could be home recovering but not with my daughter. She was there for 2 nights, and basically just had some fluid in her lungs that had to be worked out. Her cord was around her neck, making it difficult to let out the fluid. Compared to her roomies in the NICU, we had a lot to be thankful for-a full term baby who would be just fine in a couple days.

That's probably my longest post ever, but I did it. That's how Lucy got here!

Finally some pictures

Getting used to having her around!

First day home with Daddy!

CJ meets Lucy for the first time. He was too little to go to the NICU.

Lucy spent a couple days in the NICU. She was only there for 2 days and it wasn't too serious.

I should be doing dishes. The last couple day have been a rarity-CJ has taken long naps for me, allowing me to sleep too and then get some things done as well! Lucy is still pretty easy to convince to sleep. Sometimes.

His grouchiness is up. Downside to these long naps is that it takes him a while to be his usual cheery self. And I don't know why the blog is acting up, and of course can't figure it out now. But enjoy the pictures!

Late announcement

I have been terribly remiss in blog posts for the last couple months. Adjusting to life with two little ones and Dave working all the time has sure been an adventure! Right now, CJ is climbing all over the double stroller, probably waking up his sister who fell asleep in it. Oh, I guess I should tell you...

Lucy Marie was born Sunday September 25, weighing 7 lbs 8 oz (bigger than CJ was!)

She was born at the birth center where we went for CJ also. More on the story later. (When I can get time and energy and lose adorable distractions all at the same time. :o)

I've been having technical difficulties with pictures too, but those are forthcoming. Because its just cruel to announce a new baby and not include pictures.

Quiet time

Earlier today I took a minute to check email, and all of a sudden I got this feeling that it was too quiet. I got up to look for CJ and found him sitting in the dog's water. Not splashing in it which he normally does, but absolutely soaked and sitting in it, looking so proud of himself. I couldn't help but laugh as I held him a few feet above the bowl to drip into it. New clothes and off to naptime for this energetic little kid.

Hide and Seek

We had lots of fun with this. Simple pleasures!

This started a fascination with clapping. CJ has since learned to do this, and is so excited. Tonight I tried to fold his hands to pray and he got so frustrated and wanted to clap just for the heck of it.

Dancing fun

CJ has started dancing with music. Our friend Nate was over once, a couple weeks ago, and CJ was showing off for him, and then he just like watching him do his silly moves.

New England, Last Part!

Our last day in MA, Dave found a beach on the Narragansett Bay that we swung by on our way to the airport in PVD. CJ's first trip to a beach! Not really sandy like anything we're used to on the Gulf, but it was so beautiful and he loved exploring it nonetheless. Here is a smattering of pictures that we took that day on the beach.

It was a lovely, quick trip and we hope to go back again sometime!

New England, Part 2

On Day 2, we went with Dave's parents to the Kelly homestead, where Dave's dad grew up.

It was great fun. CJ had a great time in the high chair in the kitchen.

He then got himself measured, and then measured up his great grandma. :o)

CJ then watched his daddy hunt for homeplate in the backyard. (A piece of concrete poured by CJ's grandpa years ago.)

After finding it, CJ tried to figure out the bat and ball-

ta-da!

Time for a quick game and a pose with Daddy...

then off to the nursing home to see Dave's grandpa Charles Joseph Kelly I!

4 generations of Kelly men together. It was great!

It was great-really the point of the trip and it was wonderful to see him light up when CJ was around! CJ proved to be very curious as usual, charming the ladies at the home and wanting to get into everything. Keeping up with CJ vs. spending time with Grandpa proved tough.

Another thing CJ got to discover was window box A/C units. We're so reliant on air conditioning down here that he really had no idea what to expect!

The three Charles Joseph Kellys.

And a last shout out to my Cronin homies before signing out this part.

One more installment to come. Then I can move on to fun, quick posts. :o)

New England, Part 1

Turns out the more pregnant I get, the more tired I get. :o) When I put CJ down to sleep at night these days I tend to collapse too. So, here's the first of hopefully a couple installments of pictures and stories from our trip to Massachusetts.

Yes, it was such a great surprise to us that we at the last minute were able to go to Massachusetts to see some of Dave's family, especially his grandpa whom CJ is named after. We were all able to go, (which was a great last fling for me before not being able to travel much!)

CJ started out in a great mood, despite having to wake up super early to make our cheaper flight. He loved looking around and soaking in all the sights and sounds of the airport and airplane.

Then he decided he was overtired and would fight falling asleep for an hour. (Note-no pictures of that.) Dave and I kept passing him to each other, hoping and praying he would fall asleep on one of us, which he finally did. We had a layover in Washington, and after our second flight someone complimented CJ on his behavior. We kind of laughed and said, "well that's because he got it out earlier." Someone else piped up, asking if we flew from Dallas. Yes, we were those people with a grumpy, noisy baby on the plane.

After spending some time in the car and exploring the area (namely, letting CJ run around in the fire ant-free grass of the town "Green" (center of town for those like me who had never experienced that before), we had a small birthday celebration for CJ. He is one lucky dude! And definitely my son. Another great excuse to have some chocolate!

The adventures of the next day are soon to come.

Birthday boy festivities!

Dave and I started out the day by going into CJ's room together this morning and singing Happy Birthday to him. We could tell he had no idea what was going on-its usually one or the other of us.

We opened packages from his grandparents before Dave went to work. From the Cronins, camo boots and basketball outfit.

His birthday getup. Shirt borrowed from a cousin, so it already has blue icing on it. :o)

From the Kellys, a noisy lawnmower toy.

On to more fun things: We had a gathering of a few friends to celebrate CJ's birthday. I think it is so funny to watch how differently kiddos react to their first birthday cake. Here's what CJ did:

After he played with the icing a bit (and got it in his hair, of course) he dove into the cake.

The end result was a very tired boy with a new appreciation of chocolate cake. He turned into a very tired, ungracious host who went to bed before everyone was gone.

Lost Loves

In getting things out in preparation for the new baby, CJ has rediscovered an old favorite toy. He just doesn't remember how we used to rock him to sleep in this. Anyhow, he thinks its the coolest thing ever.

He thought it was so cool when I put him in it.

And then he figured out how to dump it over. Somehow its cooler that way, isn't it?

But really the neatest thing was being able to climb in and out of it by himself.

(Sorry my voice is kind of loud in it.)

Mealtimes

Sometimes after a long day CJ just seems dissatisfied by everything. In desperation one night, I played clips of Veggietales for CJ as he sat in his high chair just grumpy. At first he at them, not knowing what to think, but then he laughed hysterically at them. I only caught a glimpse of the great reaction.

Productive Saturday

I woke up this morning determined to make this place shine like the top of the Chrysler building! Unfortunately, I think CJ woke up determined to make that impossible....Here's the proof.

First, he started with the tupperware.

Jeeves was a silent participant in it all.

Tupperware was fun to play with. But, alas, it proved not to be messy enough.

Pitstop inside the pantry...He found a great hiding place...

On to pots and pans and loud noisy bowls.

CJ loves showing off his work. Looks pretty organized, but just wait till he's finished!

On to the living room! He didn't even pause long enough for a picture before he moved on to the next thing.

He's so proud of himself!