3 Months

Its nuts…Ella is officially NOT a newborn…and I know that and say it because the Enfamil Newborn formula I stole from the hospital in case we needed to use it in an emergency, says newborn – 3 months…so that means Ella is a real infant NOT a newborn anymore. Wow. That has flown by!

This month was the biggest transition month. We went from staying home with Mommy from work everyday to staying with Nana. We were SUPER nervous about the bottle situation but she didn’t put up as big of a fight as I thought she would. Proud to say she now takes a bottle from anyone no problem! I’m still nursing full time so the bottles are few and far between aside from Nana during the work week.  Little Sister had her first co-bath with Big Brother this evening…and it was weird to see BOTH OF MY CHILDREN in the bath together. I knew it would happen SOME day…but its surreal to see both kids playing together. I had one of those moments of “oh my god…my kids are playing together…and I’ll tell them these stories when I’m old and gray!”


Ella truly ADORES her big brother. Always watching him, laughing at him and NEVER gets annoyed by his heavy hands (he lends on her sometimes!)  Owen got to hold his baby sister for the first day a few days ago…

My lanta you should have seen the excitement on his face. It was ADORABLE! Yosh was standing RIGHT there…but Owen felt so proud to hold her. Owen said “Look Mom…I’m a real big brother now because I can hold my baby!” Oh so cute…but deep down I’m a tad terrified that one of these days I’ll be in the shower or something and see Owen coming holding his sister…I’d sh*t myself!

Anyway…the life of a working Mommy of Two…I’m exhausted…ALL the time! Had a rib injury last weekend (don’t try and play water polo at your college alumni game 11 weeks post-baby…busted my rib on the side of the pool trying to get my fat a$$ out of the water after playing TWO whole minutes!!!!!) Oh geez. So that has made sleeping, moving, laughing, breathing, all kinda difficult! haha Why me?!?


ps. The Alumni kicked butt and actually beat the current team! Go Old Yotes!

 

Here are her 3 month photos…she wasn’t in the smiley mood…at all really! lol

Owen and Ella…both at 3 months…

Vote for ME!

So my dear friend Heather nominated me for a scholarship spot to attend a photography workshop called Camp Mom*Tog. 

My story was chosen as one of the top 5 finalists and now its up to readers to vote for me!!! Sooooo please…go here and vote! Its something I’d so so so love to be able to attend. Obviously you know I love taking pictures…and with this “training” day I’d be able to capture precious moments of my babies and they might actually come out decent! haha how exciting is that??

Some people are having issues with the voting…there is a link titled “SurveyMonkey” OR a link that says “If you are unable to view survey please click here to vote”. I wasn’t able to view the survey through SurveyMonkey when I voted (ok yes I voted for myself…don’t judge! haha) but was able to vote by clicking the other link.  
Please don’t vote by leaving a comment on the blog because those won’t count!! Takes 2 seconds and I REALLY REALLY appreciate it! 
Voting closes on Wednesday May 1st at midnight. Please pass this on to your friends and family too…I need all the votes I can get! Oh and its one vote per computer…soooo if you have multiple devices feel free heehee (is that cheating???)

**Vote for Erin S.**

Newbie Pictures

When I found out I was pregnant back in June 2012 one of the first things I told Yosh was that we were definitely  getting newborn pictures done of this baby! It was one thing I REALLY regret NOT doing with Owen. We never got newborn pictures of him…my anxiety to leave the house was too crazy and it never crossed my mind to hire a photographer that would come to my house and take pictures until it was too late.  So this time I hired a photographer before I even knew the sex of the baby! haha I didn’t think I’d have anxiety again…and was doing it to be prepared…and THANK God I made the arrangements since I had that same anxiety come back with this baby!

The key to newbie pictures is they have to be under 9 days of age…after that they start morphing into real babies and not sleeping as heavily.  Getting a new Mommy out of her house that soon after child-birth can be difficult (for some like me) BUT I’m so so so glad we did! I love our pictures so much…wish we could have taken more and jealous that these awesome photographers have now turned their business into a traveling studio and come to your house…all the new mommies now hiring them are getting the best of both worlds…how awesome is that!?!?

Our photographers are Brian+Amanda Photography…and they truly make baby pictures look like real pieces of art…amazing!

All the accessories (except the last headband was something I bought for Ella at a craft fair before she was born) are handmade by Amanda! You give her an idea and she makes it happen…AMAZING right? Funny thing is that I have known Brian since we were little kids. Our dad’s worked together, we played little league and went to school together and have been reunited since facebook became so huge! He has found something he loves doing (photography) and has a gift…and was lucky to find and marry a girl that is also into photography and is pretty amazing herself!

They have the magic baby voodoo that keeps the babies asleep…with the help of some white noise, holding, rocking and swaying while getting babies set up each picture. I loved watching them…it made me laugh. Amanda would be holding the baby swaying that Mommy-Sway we all have…and Brian would be standing holding the camera talking to Amanda ALSO doing the sway. haha They really work together so well…I found it intriguing to watch them in action…working together, knowing their roles as business partners, colleagues AND husband/wife. Not all couples can work together…I know that…since Yosh and I work at the same high school and MANY people say “HOW do you deal with that?”…I love being at the same place as Yosh everyday! Yes we drive separate cars to work BUT really love sharing all our experiences, students, bosses, etc with one anther and TOTALLY being able to relate. Wouldn’t want it any other way!!!

We got just a few family and sibling shots…it was toward the end of our shoot…Mommy was getting anxiety, Ella was starting to wake and Owen was getting inpatient. BUT we got some SUPER DUPER cute ones…I love them!

Thank you Brian and Amanda…we love our pictures and can’t wait to hire you again for someday in the future when Baby #3 comes along!!

Happy Birthday Paul!

34 years ago today my brother made Bernie a Mommy for the first time. Mom’s life changed forever on this beautiful day in Omaha Nebraska.  Her role in this world changed. She went from being just a daughter, to a sister (she is the oldest of 4), to a wife, THEN a Mother. I now know these feelings; the emotions involved of having your first baby, a son, the love of your life, center of your universe.

Today my brother would have been 34 years old.

Yes its another sad day around here…I told you this time of year is tough. His anniversary is at the end of March then his birthday 26 days later. Paul passed away 26 days shy of his 21st birthday in 2000. Its sad to think that Paul never got to celebrate his own 21st…that’s a fun one….and he never got to experience it. Don’t get me wrong…he did his share of partying BUT it’s a different party when your “allowed” to be doing it right?!?

It’s a shitty time for everyone but my heart hurts extra for Mom today. The mother in me finds it so hard to comprehend how she gets through days like this! I can’t even pretend to imagine my life without Owen…I don’t want to imagine…my poor mom! I just think how much I understand her feelings for him now as I’m older.  I knew Paul was her favorite BUT I get it now…no hard feelings Bernie! hah
When Paul was born my dad was deployed for 18 months to Turkey…leaving Mom in the states alone with a new baby! Mom and Paul bonded…only having each other and obviously they became extremely close! And I feel that way with Owen…4 months after Owen was born I got sick…and we spent day and night together…daddy would be at work all day, sleep at night and Owen and I became buds. I feel that Owen and I have a special bond…and always will!

But the day you have your first born is something all mothers will NEVER forget. You remember every detail of your labor, delivery and then seeing your baby for the first time. The overwhelming sensation of love that you NEVER knew even existed the very second you hold your baby for the first time.

First time I held Owen in the recovery room!

It’s a weird day in a Mothers life, your child's day of birth…I think back to the day I became a Mother…it’s a mix of emotions; immense happiness, anxiety about change, physical pain, HORMONES! and a little bit of sadness for whatever odd reason, I have no clue. A birthday should be a happy day…right?!?

I have no clue why birthdays are sad…I get teary eyed every year singing Owen Happy Birthday…Yosh doesn’t understand why it makes me sad. I think it might be a Mom thing…we are already naturally a bit more emotional then the daddies (not always…but usually!) And heck I get sad…don’t judge…and my poor Mom has to be sad on her son’s birthdays for a different reason now! I hate it.

And I’m sure Daddies have different feelings about the day their baby boys were born….

Wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see my Dad when Paul arrived in 1979!

But anyway Happy Birthday Paul…hope you are having yourself a little celebration up there!! We surely miss you down here!! I’m having a Mexican Pizza from Taco Bell for ya tonight!

Thanks again Pinterest!

Thanks for the idea Pinterest…I love these pictures!

Back to Work

I have wrote about my Mother before…and most of you that read this blog know that she is SUPER special to me and seriously one of the most amazing people on this planet. I’m not just saying that because she’s my mom…MANY MANY peeps would totally agree with me! My mother is awesome. She has seriously made my transition of being back at work sooo much easier than I could have imagined.

When the alarm went off Monday morning my body was in shock…and my brain was tired AND my heart was worried. Ella still wasn’t taking a bottle! My Mom knew she was going to have a few rough days with her…so we sent Owen to Martha’s for the whole week! That way Mom could dedicate all her attention to the lil lady without neglecting His Lordship! I’m not going to lie…I was super worried when I was driving to work. I knew that I shouldn’t be worrying since if there was a total issue, my work is only a mile away from the house and Mom could always bring Ella to me to be fed. I knew Bernie was a bit nervous as well…she hadn’t slept a wink on Sunday night!

But the pictures and texted started coming in from my Mom (she knows her daughter too well…keeping me updated to ease my stress).

When Ella woke in a great mood….her refusing the first bottle and falling asleep…I started to get NERVOUS!

 

<----and even pictures to prove that Nana WAS putting her down in her crib and not holding/spoiling her all day!

 

 

 

 

 

She woke again and the bottles started flowing!…Yes Ella put up a fight but eventually gave in and took the bottle from Mom. Bottle #1 was nothing to me though…we had gotten Ella to take a few bottles the first time…

BUT after Bottle #2 I was a bit more optimistic! STILL nervous about Day 2 though…BUT she proved to actually be cooperating! THANK GOD…all week…she took the bottles from Bernie…and by today (Friday) there were NO tears even. She willingly took the bottle and all in one sitting!

Thank the Lord…my stress level DROPPED tenfold! So as my body got used to working thankfully my sweet daughter was being so nice to Mama…and was actually sleeping most of the night! She’s been waking once but doing some GREAT sleeping, like last night she slept from 9-5am! awesomeness right?!? But with all this sleeping at night I’m starting to worry myself about my milk supply! Its so different to be pumping and bottle feeding you can see exactly HOW much she is drinking. ps. pumping sucks…and DOUBLE sucks having to do it multiple times at work during the day!!! I’ve been doing the block feeding (meaning only offering 1 boob per feeding) when nursing…but obviously I  pump both boobs and only get 2 oz max out of each one. So you would think she’d be drinking 2oz bottles…but NO…my girl is drinking 4oz bottles!!! So I’m starting to worry that maybe I’m not producing or nursing her enough or something?!?!? I asked on fb today if I should be waking at night to pump since she’s been sleeping through the night lately…consensuses says no…my body will know the supply and demand. She’s gaining weight, happy most of the time and so its ANOTHER thing I’m going to try NOT to stress about! Does the Mommy stress ever end….NO!

But My mother is my savior…she was patient with Ella…got her drinking bottles AND cleaning my house while I’m at work! Coming home everyday to my bed being made, Owen’s bed being made, laundry done, folded AND put away, a happy baby, picking up an excited 4 year old AND a tidy house…. siiiigh…..GOSh its like heaven! Mom is amazing. I’m so lucky to have her…lucky to have her be ABLE To help us for the rest of this school year (I think she’s busier now as a retiree than she was when she was working full time!) haha

And now its Friday…I’m EXHAUSTED…was a LONG week…

 
…a long week for both of us!!!  Tonight, Mom cooked us dinner and made me a birthday cake for an early celebration!.

Yep I turn the big 31 tomorrow…gosh…this year is a bit different than last year’s celebrations.

Anyway…thanks for being amazing Mom!!! You made this week great…only 7 more weeks and counting!!

Now…I must go and pump…again…grrrrrr

Oh…and can you tell who is who in this picture…

Both my babies at the exact same age!!!