She is listening

We have reached what most people would consider, the terrible 3's, a little early. A lot of friends have told me 2's are hard, but 3's can be harder. Mia's attitude has completely changed this past month or so and it's thrown us for a whirlwind. Albeit, some of it is hilarious and we are hiding our laughs and smiles behind our bedroom door for her not to see, but man, it's hard. A few of the common things we see from Mia these days(and are trying to correct, mind you):

"Mom, you're not serious!!"

"Quit being so mean mommy" (usually said after i tell her she's being mean to me or her sister)

"I don't want to do that" -crosses her arms across her chest

She eye rolls

When she knows she's about to get in trouble, she comes in for a big Ahhh with a hug, trying to worm her way out of it

She makes mean/scrunched up faces

She says "I don't like that" in the snottiest voice possible

She says, "I share?" when she wants one of us to share with her

However, not all of the things coming out of her mouth is sassy, or bad. She also says

I love you

Hazel, it's ok(when comforting her)

Hazel, where's my smiles??

Boys, I miss you sooo much! (when seeing the dogs in the morning)

That's my favorite!

Sings Jesus Loves me and Mary had a Little Lamb all the time

Requests dance parties often (we love to dance, esp after long, hard days)

Daddy, you're the best boy ever!

She prays for every single friend of hers, every single night.

She's a great big sister, and loves helping out with Hazel. She loves 'holding' her, tickling her, and can get Hazel to belly laugh like nobody else can. She loves helping me clean, and does a great job at it! She usually listens and does what we ask her too, she still gets incredibly excited to see her friends, and enjoys calling daddy, aunt amanda, and her grandparents to say hi and i love you.

Our Bible verse we've been learning is Ephesians 4:32: Be kind to one another. I figured it was simple, and definately an area that we are constantly reminding her of and teaching her about. She's going through a phase in life where we constantly tell her to share, be nice, etc...but then sometimes the kids she's playing with don't share, aren't nice, etc. (such is life of a toddler!)

Today, in the car, it was a conversation I never want to forget.

Me: Mia, do you remember our Bible verse.
Mia recites it
Me: great job!! do you know what it means? what are some ways to be kind/nice?

Mia: share toys, hug them, play with them, get them toys when they cry

Me: right, sweetie!! Is laughing w/ friends nice? Is hitting nice? Is yelling nice?

Mia answers the above questions.
Me: and why should we be kind to others/friends/mommy/daddy/sister/people we dont know.

Mia: Because it makes God happy!!

I know to most, it may seem like a simple conversation. But in this season of difficult parenting, disciplining, teaching, correcting, loving, and some days just praying to survive them with out raising my voice, I thanked God again, for giving me such a precoius, intelligent, healthy, friend loving, big hearted child.

If I learned anything today from that one, simple conversation, is even in the thick of the hardest of hard days(which yes, i know when they get older it gets tougher in different ways, i get it), to keep teaching her about God, and His love for us.

Even when it feels hopeless and our children aren't listening or learning, they are, they always are.


jess

Dear Hazel,

Dear Hazel,

You are 4 months already!(dec. 26th) How did this happen? It feels like just yesterday, I was snuggling you in the hospital through wee hours of the night.

I realized tonight, as you did something funny, that I really need to keep this blog/journal for me. For you. I don't want to forget these precious days of you being so sweet, and so little.

The boring stats from your drs yesterday are: 14 lbs 8 oz. Your height was in the 63%tile, weight 54%tile and head 46%tile. You definately do not have Mia's big noggin' :D.

You are wearing a size 2 diaper, and 6-9 month clothes!! How can this be?! Sadly, most of your 3 month winter clothes did not get worn.

You are a hot/warm baby. I do not put you in fleece things and rarely put a coat on you, b/c of your warm and toasty cover on your car seat.

You've lost most of your hair, even your mohawk. You do have some long strands, and your hair is on the darker side, so this helps in keeping you like you have some hair.

You still loved to be swaddled(on your bottom half) and will pry continue to do so until you are rolling around.

You love your play mat. You talk and laugh at your little animal friends on it all morning long.
You have become quite interested in the dogs lately. I think you like Shorty more then Otis.

You are an incredibly happy, easy going baby. Today you cried(you aren't feeling well), and I had no idea what was wrong b/c you NEVER cry!! You do more of a whine thing when we lay you down to sleep(awake). I'll take whining over crying any day! Also, the dr and i were talking about eating cereal-you start in 2 weeks!-and not to wait til you get mad for your bottle...Hazel, you never even fuss for a bottle! The only time i've heard you fuss is in the middle of the night or in the car.

You still hate your carseat. You like it a little more now that you can reach n play with your toys, and we bought a bigger vehicle so we can sit between you girls in the back. You like to know that we are there about an hour or so after the drive.

You aren't a big fan of the pacifier. You'll take it in the car and at night, sometimes.

You slobber/drool everywhere. You have been for awhile now. It's resulted in some red/chapped cheeks. Mia's still dealing with chapped cheeks, so hold on sister!

You have this mischevious smile with your eyes(see above pic), and I think you will be a handful, little girl. You've got your eyes on your Big Sissy, Mia, and you are just soaking it all in.

You LOVE attention!! If we are not looking or talking to you, you cough to get our attention! Instead of crying when you wake up for a nap, you will do this cough/clear your throat type thing to get me to come get you.

You are a total Mommy's girl. If i'm gone for the day or for a long period of time, you will fuss a lot at night b/c you didnt get your mommy time in. I love passing you off to my friends to socialize you; you go to them, but you definately keep your eye on me the entire time.

I love how you go to anyone. Your grandparents love that too.

The quirky things only your mama would love about you: you are obsessed with your feet. I just went into check on you and you were half awake trying to find your feet in your swaddle. Once I showed them to you(that they're still there), you passed back out. I have to feed you in your room now, as you get wayyyyy too distracted anywhere else. If Mia is sleeping, and I go to burp you, you constantly stare at the door, waiting for Mia to come in and see you. You love to play with your taggie blankets, sit in your bouncy chair(and kick it w/ your awesome feet), and watch your new toys light up.

You love tv. With Mia, she didnt get sweets/tv/anything of the sort until she was wayyy past 1. You, my dear, are the lucky one. You sometimes watch our morning cartoons with us and YOU LOVE IT. Sigh.

You take about 5-6 bottles a day. You sleep great in the morning, and eh in the afternoons when Mia's napping. I think it's too quiet for you; that or you know you'll get great one on one time w/ Mommy. Your schedule is awful this week due to traveling the past 2 weeks, but you have been going to bed around 7 and getting up about once in the middle of the night. Like i said, your schedule is so off.

You do all of your sleeping in your crib. Sometimes I'll put you in your swing in the afternoons in hopes of a nap so i can do a few things, but you're almost too big for your swing now.

You love ceiling fans.

You "eat" dinner with us in your bumbo seat most nights. You are at the stage where you know if you are missing out-and you don't like it!

You'll be taking your first plane ride next week! We're going on a family vacation, therefore I am not attempting to get you on a schedule, due to more travels. That's really hard for your pyshco/controlling/schedule freak of a mom. That, and I keep thinking how Mia slept amazing and never woke up at night and was on a schedule at this point. *muststopcomparingbabies*

Hazel, you are such a loving, happy, easy going baby. I'm so happy you are mine, and you fit perfectly into our family. I love these days as you are learning new things and doing new things, and I start to see you laugh and giggle at Mia; I can't wait for the days you two can play together.

After watching Mia grow so fast, then losing our next baby, I try not to take any time or day for granted with you, baby girl. You are a gift from God, and not a day goes by where I don't thank Him for all He has given me, especially my two healthy, beautiful girls.

Love,

Mommy

Hazel's got smiles

This girl has the best smiles ever.

(this is actually her very FIRST smile, caught on my phone!)

And this mama is smiling too, Miss Hazel is finally sleeping 6-8 hour stretch at night!

Have a great week!

Jess

Loved by All

Little Miss Hazel is growing too fast.

It's sad, really.

That's the hardest part about kids after #1..is you know how fast they grow, and you can't stop them.

Just like her big sister, she's a true daddy's girl. I think it's because she spends all day(and most nights) with Mama, she loves her some daddy time when he's home.

She's doing great. She turned 1 MONTH OLD last week! Eek! She's eating every 3-4 hours with a couple feedings 2 hrs apart during the day.

At night she goes down between 830-930 and sleeps til 1-130; eats then goes back to sleep for about 3.5 hrs, eats then goes back to sleep for most of the morning. Now if only my big one would sleep in...

I'm finally feeling as though I can get through the day with out a nap, I think my body is adjusting to functioning on 4-6 (or less) hours of sleep a night.

She rarely cries, unless she is hungry(if I miss her cues) or if she needs to burp some more. Or if she's in her car seat for longer than 45 min.

She loves to look at the tv, the fans, and Mia. Mia loves checking on her, covering her with blankies, giving her her paci, and telling her she's pretty.

Hazel loves: her daddy, her mommy, to be held and her butt patted, to be sang too, ceiling fans, (tolerates) the dogs, eating, when you play with her arms, to be swaddled, to stretch out, her swing, her paci(sometimes), baths, to sleep, music, her thumb, fighting naps, and did I mention her daddy?

Hazel dislikes: waiting to be fed, tummy time, being in her car seat for longer than 45 minutes, her nose/snot being sucked, light in her eyes, being tickled and waiting to be held. She also stinks at burping.

The dogs are adjusting well. They love to come sniff her and check her out. Unfortunately, Hazel doesn't get a lot of time on the floor since I can't leave the room with a 2 year old (who's obsessed with jumping) and 2 dogs that like to go at it randomly. I'm finally feeling well enough to sit on the floor for long periods of time, so hopefully she'll get some more floor time in.

She's still in her bassinet in our room at night. Mia was moved into her own room/crib at 4 weeks, Miss Hazel gets to enjoy another week or so. She's been really congested from our weather change(30* at night, 78* during the day..my heat and a/c are so confused!), so I've been keeping her in our room w/ the humidifier or in her swing-since she sits more upright. She'll be moving into her room next week..bitter sweet. I will pry get more sleep since someone won't be grunting 12 inches away from me 1/2 the night:D.

She's starting to show her personality, with quirky faces, and even a couple of smiles! (for her daddy of course) I love this little girl of mine. I can't imagine how our life was with out her before. These past 5 1/2 weeks have flown by, and I find myself just soaking up all of her babyness, because these days are going too fast.

Jess

Hazel's Birth Story

So Hazel's birth story isn't really all that exciting, but I want to have a record of it for later on down the road. (and I figure it's only fair since Mia and Samuel have one!) *sorry photos are out of order, I'm tired and don't want to fix it all*

I scheduled my c-section back around 32-33 week appointment. I didn't really publicize my decision for a repeat c-section, because then I felt I would need to explain myself, which I don't think is fair. Or anyone's business, really. We felt it was the best decision that would keep me and Hazel the healthiest and safest.

We scheduled it for Friday, August 26th at 730am. The first surgery of the day, and was initially supposed to be with my OB doctor, Dr. B. About 2 weeks after my 32 week appointment, the office called me to inform me my doctor would actually be out all weekend and not in until the 30th. To say I was annoyed and upset would be the understatement of the year. However, the doctor that was on call that day, was the doctor (Dr O.) that delivered Samuel last summer. I loved her, she was comforting, nice, and all around a great doctor. I got over my anger pretty quickly!

Our family came up thursday night, and they were to stay with Mia for the weekend while we were in the hospital.

We got to the hospital friday morning at 6:10am(10 minutes late!), and they hooked me up to ivs/fluids and started prepping me for surgery. At 710 we were taken to the 'recovery room' to wait for the dr to arrive. At about 7:40 I was taken to the OR, and scott was left behind. (they leave the hubby's behind during the spinal and prep and then bring them in right before surgery)

The only thing I was mainly worried about was the spinal. My other 2 deliveries, I got so sick after my epidural, I was afraid of what would happen after the spinal. And the fact scott couldn't be in there with me for this one. (that will totally change if i have to pay someone next baby!!)No need to go into too much detail, but it took the anesthesiologist 5-7 times to find the right spot for my spinal. I was poked 5 times for numbing the area on my spine, and poked at least 7 times with the spinal needle. It took 45 MINUTES to get my spinal meds in and working. This entire time, my husband is left in the recovery room, with no update. We're not too thrilled about this part. Hubby comes in, talks to me about Hurricane Irene, they start the surgery, baby comes out, I get super sick(did with Mia too, so not surprised), they have Scott and Hazel go to recovery room because I'm too sick to see them/talk to them, they get me fixed up and sent to recovery room where we spend about an hour hanging out, checking me, checking baby. My beautiful baby girl is perfect! Dr O. kept telling me my last few weeks that she was going to be a big baby, 9-10 lbs...I was thrilled when she came in at itty bitty 7lbs 12 oz; ha!

(this is what a REAL 1st family photo should look like, ha! Sometimes I get annoyed at how perfect the women always look after giving birth...NOT THIS MAMA..I just got done throwing up for 20 minutes straight, then border line passing out as my blood pressure tried to stabalize..and no makeup/jewelry allowed in OR rooms-this is as good as it gets and I love it:D)

We got back to our room and Scott greeted our family/Mia in the hallway while they checked me in our room. Mia was thrilled! Her first comment was, wow she's cute!! I was a little nervous at what she would think of me being in a bed hooked up to stuff, but she didn't seem to mind once everyone was there and she was being given presents:D.

I felt amazing and 1000 times better after this surgery compared to Mia's. (I had an infection and my incision was open/treated for 4.5 months after her birth!) Up until 10 days after Hazel's birth, I was doing great pain/healing wise. Over 3 weeks later, I'm suffering from my 2nd infection, increasing pain, and healing that isn't going as it is supposed to. It's definately better then Mia's recovery, but it's frustrating to be taking 10 steps backwards...but that's a post for another day!My girls are healthy, happy, and beautiful. And my heart is full!

Jess

Introducing...

Miss Hazel Jolene:

She was born 3 weeks ago, Aug 26th at 8:14 am weighing 7lbs 120z! We've been adjusting to our family of 4 and Mia is a great big sister! I should be able to blog more now, the hubby surprised me with a new laptop for our 4 year anniversary yesterday!! Yay!!

We are in love with Miss Hazel(no, not a family name), and I can't wait to start recording her everyday things. She's already 3 weeks old and starting to lose the newborn look:(. They grow too fast!

Have a great weekend!

Jess

Just a minute..

I always try to be honest with friends/people when I talk about my life as a mom. I want people to know I'm not perfect, and I want to be as vulnerable as I can be. I'm not perfect, and I never ever want anyone to think that we have it all together(even though it does sound nice:)) and our lives are picture perfect.

They're not.

But, I also don't want to air our dirty laundry. As a mom of a toddler, I think it's easy for many other mom's to relate. Most toddlers go through similar things-tantrums, whining, not sharing, saying NO, not listening, etc. So when it comes to talking about struggles I have with being a Mommy to Mia, I know most of them are fairly common amongst other Moms.

One area I've been trying to improve and be more aware of is how many times I say, "Just a minute," to Mia when she wants or needs something. Think about it. How often do you say it? Oh I'm in the middle of doing dishes-"just a minute"; I'm folding laundry-"just a minute"; I'm texting or emailing someone-"just a minute"; and the list goes on and on. It's tough. Whether she needs a snack, wants to play, needs help, or just wants my attention, how many times a day is she hearing that from me?

Now, there is a balance-she's very impatient(I can def relate:D), so sometimes I do say it just to help teach her patience; but a lot of the times, it's because I don't want to stop what I'm doing. Does the laundry really need to be done right then? My kitchen isn't going to stink if my dishes sit for another hour? Can this text/email be finished later?

I'm working on it. It's one of my biggest weaknesses as a Mommy, and with the preparation of another baby coming along and my to-do lists out of control, I wonder how I'm ever going to get everything organized, cleaned, washed, sorted, fixed, and taken care of before this baby arrives. It's the planner/control freak in me. I'm learning to let a lot of it go. Mia wants to read, I stop what I'm doing and go read with her. She wants me to 'come find her!' I stop what I'm doing and give in to hide n seek-even if she is hiding in the exact same spot for the 1,000th time(in plain sight, mind you). I'm learning to take advantage of my time available and spent with this only child of mine, and to cherish these moments of easy entertainment, giggles, lessons learned, cuddles, and funny one-liners(ex: Mommy, I have pretty b**bies!!) because we all know, they grow too fast.

Jess