Well.....It Sounded Like a Good Idea...

So, when you are the mama of 2 under 2, and you have a 3 week old baby, and it is winter and raining/cold....you don't get out much.  In fact, you basically live your life from within the walls of your home.  I have to admit this is at times boring, but the idea of pulling two little ones out in this weather is not always appealing.  Also, there is the fear that my sweet bundle will catch the flu, or RSV etc etc.  Therefore, I have not taken her to many places as of yet.

That being said, we had however, planned to attend church for the first time with both kiddos yesterday morning. However, as all good plans go with children it did not work as we had planned.  We were going to attend the late service, but that messed with Caleb's nap schedule, and about 30 minutes before we started getting ready he was in melt down mode, so we decided to skip church one more week.  I was at this point going crazy though, because I had been at home for days upon days.  Generally I would leave and go shopping, but we are trying to save money so that was not a good option. 

I then had a brilliant idea.  A impromptu photo shoot of my babies!! YES!! I was dying to dress lil miss up in some of her clothes, and Caleb had a new outfit that I wanted to put him in, so why not dress them up at home.  I mean I was going to take pictures so it wouldn't be like they were all dressed up with no where to go. 

Anyway, like all good plans....the photo shoot did not quite go as I expected.  Here are the shots that we did manage to get....

Awww life with 2 Under 2...I have to admit even though it has its moments...I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Hey My Favorite Office

Grammy informed me that you could not get any of the newborn pics to print because they were in video format.  Here is the link where you can print them.   Enjoy :) Love you all!

Adventures in Breastfeeding

I am happy to report that breastfeeding this time around is going amazing.  I believe it was out of total determination.  I was so devistated when it didn't work with Caleb. Truly heartbroken.  I was sad that I missed out on that bonding process, and that I had to give into formula so soon with him.  This time around I decided that breastfeeding was my ONLY option, and so far it is going great. 

Lil bundle latched immidately after birth, and I had LC's visit us in the hospital daily to help get us both comfortable.  We left the hospital with her latching well, and eating a lot! However, the latch started becoming extremely painful.  She had eaten so much the second night in the hospital that she had literally drawn blood from my nips, and I had open wounds. Every single time she would nurse I would hold my breath in pain, and honestly I did not  want to feed her because it hurt so bad. I made an appointment with the LC to check and make sure she was latching correctly because I knew it was not suppose to hurt.  The LC checked her latch said it was great, checked her tongue, and said there was no issue. She stood there stumped for a moment as to why it was hurting me so bad.  She then put her finger in Mckinlee's mouth and was like "OMG your baby sucks like a piranha".  It was then that she gave me a life saver in the form of a little object called a nipple shield.  No more pain, no more bleeding, and a perfect latch every time!

We have been using nipple shields since Mckinlee's 4th day on earth.  She latches automatically, eats well, and has no nipple confusion at all. She is able to go between binky, bottle, and nipple shield no problem.  The only downfall is that they are messy, but we are working on that.  (Any mama's out there who have used them have any advice on how to cut down on the mess?). 

Mckinlee usually eats every 2 1/2-3 hours, but she cluster feeds before bed.  We have started giving her a bottle at midnight and I will pump while hubby feeds. She is taking about 3 ounces at that feeding, and then she sleeps until around 4.  That is the only bottle she takes during the day unless our schedule is awkward.  She is doing so great, and I am so thankful that breastfeeding is going so well this time. 

Random Tidbits of Info

Hello all (if anyone is still out there reading). Sorry about the neglect of my blog.  I am still adapting to life with 2 under 2.  I have so many posts that I want to do, but honestly I never have the time.  I basically sleep when Caleb naps (the time I used to blog), and late at night I want to do nothing more than sleep.  So, trying to find the time to sit and do a blog post has been almost impossible.  However, I have been keeping up with you all.  Nightime nursing sessions, my iphone, and blog hopping has become a ritual.  It helps keep me awake so poor Mckinlee can eat.  This post is going to be random, and it is just basically for my memories.  Feel free to read, but I can't promise that it is going to be all that exciting :).

• Bundle now weighs 6 13.5 YAY!! We passed birth weight.
• She is still wearing mostly all newborns, but she has fit into a few 0-3 months.
• She is waking up at 4 am, 6 am, and then 8 or 9 am each night to eat. 
• She is sleeping in her bassinet now, and actually likes sleeping on her back now.
• She has taken a liking to the binky (YES!!).
• Caleb loves to hold her all the time now, and he gets upset if we do not give her to him right when he wants.
• He loves to pat her back and kiss her head.
• He gets a little jealous sometimes when I put her in the bouncy or the swing because he has claimed them as his own.
• He lets Nick hold her now.
• Caleb is finally napping again from about 12:30 or 1-2/2:30. 

Newborn Photo Shoot

This past weekend we had a newborn photo shoot with Wonderfully Made Imaging.  They were wonderful.  Here are a few of our favorites. 

Mckinlee Week One

At one week you weight 6 lbs 5 ounces.  You are eating every 2-3 hours and you are to small for all of your clothes.  At one week you have stolen our hearts, and we fall more and more in love with you every day.  Don't grow up to fast little one.

Big Brother

Caleb was able to meet Mckinlee the day after I had her.  His meemaw brought him to the hospital, and he was oh so precious when he arrived.  They had stopped at the gift shop, bought big brother and littler sister
t-shirts, a big brother book, a balloon from Caleb to Mckinlee, and Caleb picked out a stuffed lion for her.  He walked into our room and just had the cutest little expression on his face.  I love his little faces.  Nick scooped him up and brought him to my bed to meet his baby sister. He smiled at her, and gave one kiss, but did not seem to interested at all. 

He was however interested in goldfish, mama's lunch, and all the exciting aspects of the hospital room.  Nick's mama left to go pick up his sister, and she left Caleb with us. Nick and I looked at the babies, looked at each other, and said "Oh my we actual have TWO kids".  Chasing Caleb around the hospital room, trying to keep him from eating dirty gold fish off the floor, and nursing the baby definitely broke us into how life is going to be. 

Trying on Mckinlee's hospital cap

Since we have been home Caleb has done okay with her.  He mostly does not pay attention to her unless Nick is holding her. I think he has claimed Nick as his own since I am nursing the baby and he sees me with her a lot.  Some cute things I wanna remember...

• He lifts up the fabric on her bassinet to stare in the mesh area and laughs.
• He rocks her car seat and smiles at her.
• He wants to lay in her boppy.
• The other day I brought him inside from the car first and I was going to get Mckinlee.  He started crying as soon as we got in the door, and he was reaching for the car.  As soon as I brought  lil miss in he started smiling and laughing. It was like he had to remind me she was there.

He has had a few jealousy issues. Mostly concerning Nick.  He gets upset right now if we tell him to hold on for a minute, even if we do not have the baby in our arms. He will run to a corner and pout. He is also having a hard time going down for naps. Not sure what is up with this but it is enough to make my hormone levels fly out of the roof.  We are giving him lots of extra loving, taking turns playing with him, and allowing him to hold Mckinlee whenever he wants.  It is definitely an adjustment period but he is already such a great big brother.

Here is a video to melt your heart

Coming Home

I am so far behind on recording Mckinlee's first week with us.  Bare with me as I slowly but surely get everything posted.  Life is a little different with two kids. I am currently enduring day ONE as a full time mama of two all by myself. Hubby returned to work, and I have been trying to get little man to go down for a nap for over an hour now.  I seriously feel like I am sleep training him again.  I am currently going Super Nanny style, (he gets up, I put him back in bed, he gets up, I put him back in bed repeat repeat repeat...) I'll be sure to let you know when it actually works.  Ughh.  So much for my nap today.  If only he would nap he would realize that I have super fun crafts for him to do after nap.  Pray for me bloggy friends. 

Anyway, back to the point of this post.  Bringing bundle home.  We stayed at the hospital two nights. Basically because by the time we would have been discharged the day after her birth it would have been 8 or 9 at night. No thanks.  So we decided to stay the extra night.  The second night in the hospital she did not sleep at all.  She nursed basically the entire night, and she only wanted mama.  There was nothing dada could do to help.  Needless to say, come morning I was EXHAUSTED.  I mean the type of exhausted that causes a hormonal mama to cry at the drop of a hat, and to repeat over and over again how tired she is.  Thankfully, bundle was willing to go to dada come morning, and I was able to get an hour of much interuppted sleep (you can not sleep in a hospital).  I did pull together enough energy to shower, but goodness knows I was not about to get myself fixed up.  In fact I sported the wonderful mama underwear with sweats and let me just say my panty lines were horrific.  Oh well, my excuse "I just had  a baby". 

The nurses brought all our paper work in, and told us we were good to go, and that we just had to wait on a wheel chair.  Well, we waited and waited and waited and waited.  We waited at least a good hour.  We were so frustrated because we were so ready to get out of there.  We took the time to take some pictures of our sweet little miss.  Notice how all of her clothes are HUGE on her. She is so little.  Newborn outfits swallow her up.  However, I thought she looked pretty darn darling anyway. 

After the wheelchair finally came we traveled to pic the big bro up from Nick's parents house.  He of course was more interested in laying on dada's lap than looking at the baby. After a quick nursing session, we headed home, and it was oh so marvelous to be there as our little family of four.  I think that is when it really hit Nick and I that we now have two children.  However, they look pretty darn cute laying on their dada's chest. 

Nursery Reveal

So this post has taken me forever.  Probably due to the fact that I have been waiting on the hubster to put some finishing touches up. I still need to add one more thing, but a post about that will come once it is completed.  So without further delay here are pics of bundles nursery.

Her large bow collection. The M frame was purchased from Hobby Lobby, and I was actually kind of crafty and added ribbon.  I love the way it turned out, but I think I may need to get a G as well in order to hold all of her bows. I also need to thank my mother in law for all these bows because she made basically all of them. 

These frames from hobby lobby were the inspiration for the room colors.  They are hanging above her changing table, and I am planning on adding photos from her newborn photo shoot whenever they come in. 

The curtains were made from Wal Mart flat sheets that I bought for 4 dollars a piece!! Woo Woo!! Simple idea I found online.  Hubby did an amazing job pulling everything together with the tie backs.

So I went back and forth on bedding ideas. The bedding that I absolutely loved was over 200 dollars for a bumper and crib skirt, and that was just ridiculous! I found an idea to do a canopy above a bed online, and I loved that idea. I went with simple pink and bedding and a green sheet to pull it all together. Oh, and I only spent 30 dollars on her bedding after using a gift card.  The canopy is made from Wal Mart sheets fused together with binding tape, and from plain pink fabric.  We made the holds for the canopy out of wooden pieces found at hobby lobby.  Hubby built them and my mother-in-law and I painted them.  Love how they turned out. 

I purchased a simple black frame from hobby lobby, and my mother-in-law worked her magic and turned it into something amazing using modge podge and scrapbook paper.  I wish I was that crafty.

Above her closet we placed her initials 

Above her glider I used a few items I found at Hobby Lobby, and some pictures from Nick's little sister. We repainted the frames to match the colors in the room. 

I covered the glider in a green flat sheet from wal mart, and tied it with hair ties to keep it tight.  I then placed an angel blanket that my grandmother made for all of her great grandchildren.