6 weeks out

jude and i headed off to our six week check up today... all things good.

i started off our appointment first.

i will admit that i usually don't look at the scale when i have to hop right on it. but when my doctor came in and congratulated me on getting back to my pre-baby weight, i was pretty excited. i am exactly at the weight i was when i got pregnant, almost down to the ounce. i am, however, not where i would like to be... but can check off that goal that i wanted to achieve by may. i am well on my way to my goal weight and body, lets hope i can continue. everything with me is going great and i feel so fabulous.

jude, well with the weight that i'm shredding, he just might be gaining. jude is hefty- 11lbs 2oz! yep, i knew he was going to be a little fatty :) he's in the 69th percentile for weight and only the 50th percentile for height, at 21 2/3 inches long. i think gavin might of got the height gene in the family, and jude the weight... for now. our doctor was extremely thrilled to see how strong judes neck is and how he can just about roll over already. she also confirmed that since he is so incredibly strong it is PERFECTLY okay for him to sleep on his belly. i have had NUMEROUS incredibly rude mothers comment about how jude is a belly sleeper and honestly make me feel like a horrible mother for letting him sleep on his belly.. shame on you! poor thing got his shots today and is "sleeping like a baby". i am a-okay with him sleeping now cause it gives me some much needed workout time. i haven't worked out since friday :( but today is a workout day and a yoga day so i am pretty excited!

also, the weather is fabulous so if jude wants to sleep for a few more hours that's okay as well! i have some gardening that i would like to finish! LOVE this spring :)

4.1.12

so it was april fools day yesterday.. i clearly forgot about it or otherwise i would of had something marvelous up my sleeves for dan... i usually get him pretty good. but, eh i must of been too preoccupied.

around dinner time i got a text from emily saying she made a great april fools day joke on andy.... "sam and dan are pregnant again"...

funny, but not at all at the same time.

i guess andy was like, ohh wow, oh that was fast.. yes, it would be, but we are NOT pregnant, nor do we want to be--- maybe even for like four years? :)

i told dan about emily's joke and his response was, that's it... i'm getting a vasectomy... (nice try dan)

for now...

these two are good enough for me.. love them!

ever read?

i'm not telling you what to do... but read it! i was totally not a "gamer" at first but decided with all the hype that i would read the first book.. well, i read it in two days. i found myself hoping and praying jude and gavin would leave me alone for 10 minutes longer than usual so i could read it for just a bit longer. i read while feeding jude, while sitting with gavin in the bathroom for his bath, while pumping and well, pretty much doing anything that i didn't have to be fully concentrated on. dan hates when i buy books because i read them in two days and then they just sit there, oh well!

i am heading to the movie tomorrow with danielle (and maybe others?) and cannot wait to see it and put a face on the characters.

i just started the second book, love it.

a really really quick read, and totally worth reading. DO IT! :)

a week of highs

and i mean that (somewhat) literally...

i joined a yoga class-- but you know that by now, hence my previous post. and on the first day our yoga instructor told us we were going to be doing handstands by the end of this session. at first i was like, oh ya, sure i can do a handstand. i mean, i thought i was pretty freakin awesome when i would do drunk handstands at parties (yea, pretty cool huh?) and i don't just mean on the keg ;) well as we were getting ready to do these handstands i totally freaked out. "what about my neck" is all i thought. well, i didn't do one yesterday at our class, but today i did! woo hoo! i was pretty excited. next week we don't have yoga so sarah and i are going to get together and try to continue our yoga routine... who wants to place bets that we will sit around and drink wine on our yoga mats and call it yoga? i'm pretty sure only that will happen ;)

on an extremely different note, gavin has been having a week of play dates. blaise has been hanging out with us from monday to wednesday and i am kind of sad to see him go. we have had so many great moments and did so many cool activities- i'm beginning to think that three kids wouldn't be that bad. but, definitely NOT now! or for quite some time. actually blaise and gavin are just about the same age difference than gavin and jude are. it has been so much fun and pretty easy ( i will say) having blaise here. he and gavin play together and i, well, i just continuously clean up after them and break up the teeny tiny spats they have, usually over a toy! we have been having fun and it's been wearing gavin out!

on tuesday, while mr jude slept in his swing.. (surprise surprise, a sleeping baby?)

we made playdough and cupcakes.

and had to stop to enjoy an icee

they thought it was pretty cool to make playdough and then be able to play with it...

and cupcakes as well...

i couldn't believe how serious both boys were about frosting the cupcakes... they weren't so serious about eating them... it was a huge mess! i was pretty proud of myself... i didn't even have one!! woo hoo for sam!

we finished out our wednesday together by ordering some pizza.. we got the "pizza box" and it was perfect for the boys and i. 8 small pieces, breadsticks and cinasticks... we had a lot left over, enough for dan to take to work today!

another positive? well justine and theresa came over on monday and delievered this:

WHO'S EXCITED? not me.. I AM ESCATIC! i couldn't be more honored and happy about justine and anthony getting married, and being a part of this special day. i mean, i feel like i've been waiting for the ring on justines finger just as long as she has. THANK YOU ANTHONY, for finally proposing to your girlfriend of SEVEN years :) ahhh love! justine is so prepared for this weeding- she has the colors, dresses, decor and most everything set... now to just book a venue! they are getting married next summer... so that means??? another fabulous summer full of weddings! cannot wait!

gavin has a busy rest of the week as well. grandpa and grandma are taking gavin out to taco johns (his favorite) today and then friday he's going to daycare! woo hoo! this means i have some time to take some pictures of jude.. something i've been saying i was going to do for ummm well a month now. lets see if i can get some snapped today. i guess we have a busy weekend too. we are starting the project of finishing our small area of hardwood floors... and thank goodness we know some pretty awesome guy to do it for us for... the great price of... free! of course we plan on paying him something, but he doesn't want any money- just some beer.. OKAY! the only bad part... staying at my moms with both boys, urgh!

a quicky

another reason i love my husband..

my text: just a reminder i have my yoga class tonight and i'm going tanning after.. you'll have to put gavin to bed. (dun dun dun)

dans text: YTL baby! probably not the l part though

me: well i do laundry all day so yea..

dan: LYT then :)

someone watches too much jersey shore?

also, dan's newest comeback: "if i was big like ronnie i'd do it"

yes, too much jersey shore!

LOVE HIM!

we're three weeks in

i can't believe jude is only three weeks old.

i feel like he's been here for at least a month or two.

our life is getting so much easier now that we're adjusting to our new lifestyle of... four.

jude is not the baby that gavin was, but i knew this.. right? wrong! i assumed jude would be this easy baby just like gavin. gavin was hands down, the easiest baby ever. jude, well not so much. wait though, don't get me wrong, he's a good baby... but gavin, well he must of been a freak of nature! jude is a little fussy when it comes to eating- sometimes he eats 3-4 oz and sometimes he will barely finish off 2 oz. and sometimes he'll spit up quite a bit and then need to re-eat.. urgh! and then there's his sleeping---- ha! he's actually a good sleeper. he goes to bed around 10-10:30, gets up at 1, 4 and up for good usually around 6:30ish. but, we're still working on sleeping on his back, flat. so he's now sleeping in his boppy (don't judge) and my chest at night. we will concur this sleeping thing, but i just don't want to have a screaming baby waking up gavin in the middle of the night. he is napping in his favorite boppy lounger, but his afternoon naptime is usually four or so hours, so i will eventually put him in his crib, like i said, eventually... one thing i will say is jude doesn't ever wake up when gavin drives his trucks on the hardwood floors in the living room- or when gavin screams at me for some reason, so that's a plus.

onto gavin- well, he is a big brother now and he will tell you all about being a big brother if you ask him. we were at story hour on friday (not a good time) and gavin actually got defensive about little breck looking at his little brother in his car seat. and then after he was the big brother of the year, he continued to be that naughty kid at story hour; we quickly left! gavin helps me bathe jude and hands me diapers and pretty much anything i ask gavin to get. when i have to run out to feed maddy gavin gets to be "in charge" and he thinks it's pretty cool. gavin does get to take a break from the baby as he heads downstairs and plays in "his room" aka the playroom/downstairs living room. and he loves when jude is sleeping so he gets moms full attention. so far, so good. gavin has adjusted much better than i ever thought he would. we're getting ready to sign him up for preschool, something i know he will thoroughly enjoy.

me.. i. want. to. workout. seriously, it's killing me. i have started to work on my arms, just lifting light weights and doing as many push ups as these flabby arms can do. but i want to go for a cold, brisk walk... NOW! and i want to start to workout in my living room to jillian, now! i want to join back up at the gym, now. and i really want to start yoga and bootcamp, now. have you figured out that i want to work out? i didn't have any of the "down there" problems after childbirth so i am mooooooore than capable to start up right? wrong! i asked, she said no. i still have just over a week before i can start any strenuous workout... and she said that "that might be pushing it". baaaahhumbug! i have however, started pricing out double joggers and the one that i am more than in love with is over $250, so i'm going to have to show dan that i am going to use this jogger and be serious about this fitness thing asap so we can purchase in time for spring. the great thing about a february baby? by summer jude can be in a stroller without his carseat! double jogger time! i want to get all of this baby belly leftover flab gone by may... i think that's a more than reachable goal for now- but i might end up changing it... may kicks off our summer/early fall of six weddings. and besides looking good in that dress, i want to feel good in all those dresses i'm going to purchase! side note- dresses are my favorite thing to purchase, by far! and thankfully, (not for dan) only two of the weddings won't have all the same people at them so i can't really "re-wear" the dresses! my postpartum is gone, or well i think it was just "baby blues" and that, is a good thing. those first couple days were awful and i am so thankful i am not suffering anymore.

dan, well dan tells me every single time he hears jude crying that we are completely done having kids. dan just can't really handle it. he couldn't with gavin either. obviously, men seem to enjoy their children when they are a little bit older and less fragile. dan heads out for the garage when it's judes bath time simply because the sound of jude crying makes dan a little frustrated. dan and jude have this weird bond though, much stronger than the bond he and gavin shared at this age, it's cute! dan and gavin have tons of outdoor projects to start once this snow melts and the temperatures heat up a little. gavin's pretty excited about the "andbox" that dads going to build for him- he talks about it, evvvvery day. other than that dan's finally done with school so no more missing him on saturdays, and dan's not doing any side jobs so we, the three of us, have his full attention. i will cherish these days and take full advantage of them. come spring i'm sure it will be a different blog post about me complaining how dan's so busy!

hmmm what else?... i am going out for my first night out... scary! dan has been begging me to go with him to hairball and it's in willmar so we gathered a few of our friends and got some tickets. i am going to have to drink at least one glass of wine or one margarita (not complaining) after the boys go to bed so my tolerance is somewhat up there so i'm not a mess on saturday. kind of nervous about going out... i just don't remember going out and coming home and taking care of a newborn- i know i did it with gavin, but just don't remember at all. i do know that i don't need to hit it as hard as i did before i got pregnant, that is not necessary!

jude andrew

well, he has arrived!

we are on day seven of our newly expanded family of four. and i will say this, life. is. different.

...a caution: this is a LONG post!

on wednesday morning i woke up feeling UNrested and sick. i couldn't keep anything down and was so tired. but dan and i headed to the hospital around 7 am to start what seems to be one of the longest days of my life. we got checked in, hooked up to fluids and quickly hooked up to pitocin to start my induction. things didn't go quickly. by noon i was only dilated to four and my doctor ordered my pit dosage up. i was sitting, waiting and wishing for this labor to hurry up because i was feeling so sick and extremely tired. by 1 i still hadn't dilated any further. my doctor came back to my room and debated on wither or not we should break my water, since i wasn't feeling so great. i think she said something like "if we break it there's no turning back" and by that point i was NOT going home without a baby. she broke my water at 1pm and by 1:30 my contractions were two minutes apart and STRONG. the contraction monitor wasn't picking up my contractions so every time i'd have one, one of the nurses would have to push this button.. and they would push it after seeing my face turn bright red and in agonizing pain. around 1:45 i decided to get an epidural, and after about 15 minutes my contractions weren't too bad, but still strong. the pressure "down there" was what was killing me this time. i told the nurse, she checked me, and she immediately flew to her phone and called in the doctor. i started pushing at 2:30 and by 2:52 our little baby boy was welcomed in the world. he came out quickly and with his cord wrapped around his neck (not tight, thank goodness). one nurse said something about it being a girl and i TOTALLY freaked out. nope, he is a boy! jude andrew schroeder weighed in at 8lbs 3oz and 20 & 3/4 inches long. he has darker features, brown hair and dark eyes... he's pretty perfect :) when jude arrived he looked just like his dad, but now that he's been here for awhile he's looking like both of us and also a whole lot like gavin, in ways.

wednesday all of our family came to visit and, and an unknowing godmother. i decided to ask sarah, one of my best friends to be jude's godmother and she was shocked. she started to cry (if you know sarah, this isn't surprising) and was emotional about the whole ordeal. gavin came to visit and was pretty uninterested in the baby by this time. he got so many new toys and gifts from friends and family that the baby was not even on his radar. wednesday night jude didn't eat too much, but that's pretty normal for a newbie.

thursday morning we kind of just sat around looking at our newest little bundle and analyzed him over and over. we had a few visitors thursday as well and i begged to go home. i was so over being in the hospital. but since jude still wasn't eating great we were denied.

friday morning jude was circumcised so he slept the entire day and didn't eat at all. doctor haiwick was really concerned but thankfully let us leave and head for home around 3pm. THANK GOD! i needed to get home to see my little gavin. it was an emotional reunion with gavin. i cried and cried and hugged him and held him and carried him for probably the entire night, i missed him so much. i think i fell asleep crying about missing gavin. it was REALLY hard for me to be away. once we arrived home jude downed 10 CC of formula and from then on has been eating like a champ. we are using formula and jude has started drinking breastmilk from a bottle. i, for some reason, cannot get myself relaxed and comfortable to nurse jude, and it's just really awkward to do around gavin- he is too curious! i give MAD props to mothers with toddlers who have newborns and nurse! WAY TO GO! so i will pump and bottle feed until i can't do it anymore. jude is a pretty good sleeper. he sleeps for 3 hours at a time between feedings at night so that's decent for me. he's pretty much up from 6:30 to 11ish and then takes a huge nap in the afternoon, which gives me a good chunk of time to spend with gavin. one thing that we are going to work on this weekend is jude sleeping in his crib or bassinet. right now he only wants to sleep in my arms or his boppy pillow-- it is annoying! i guess during the day he sleeps in his swing and his bouncer deal, but we need to get him to sleep on a flat surface on his back.

i will say that i am going through a small amount of postpartum with this babe. simply because my anxiety goes up when i think of all the changes and not spending all my time and energy with gavin and now trying to split it up. thankfully, newborns sleep quite a bit so i will have some time to adjust and figure out a good schedule to make more and more time with gavin. and normally, i wouldn't share this for the world, but it seems like when i express my postpartum and anxiety it helps me get back grounded. dan has been super husband of the year! he is so supportive and so patient with me and my tears. i think this postpartum has brought us WAY closer than before, too!

other than my anxiety i feel great. i don't feel like i just had a baby... in the least bit. i am not sore and i have no "after baby problems"... i am ready to get up and start working off my baby belly leftovers, but three weeks should go fast? i'm dying over here. i am still watching my sodium intake because i can still get toxemia (version of preeclampsia) for up to a month. but my bloating is gone, oh yes! my face is looking normal and shoes fit :) i'm pretty excited for this weekend, dan is going to get up with jude one night- i can't wait to just sleep for more than 4 hours at a time! another woo hoo for me: we're going to hutch to get some baby things we spaced on and also grabbing a margarita at applebees, sans kids! which is something i've been craving for NINE months! since we're using formula mostly at night and breast milk during the day i'm not too worried about the whole "pump and dump" thing. i have some already stored. i am actually super excited to be spending a good amount of time with just my husband, no kids included!

so here's a quick pic. uploading pictures is just not too important on my list of things to do today.

so what do you think?

brothers? can you tell which one is which? gavin is on the left and jude is on the right. they kind of look a like?