I have 3 kids!

I still can't believe I have 3 kids!

  We've been so busy every day, just trying to figure out our new routine and how to work Cooper's schedule into the twins schedule. We're just really in survival mode at the moment, so much so that I haven't been taking very many pictures, especially of all 3 of them together.

 

 The twins haven't really had a lot of chances to interact with Cooper yet either because he is always either eating or sleeping and they are off doing their own thing playing together (which, by the way, I've never been more grateful that there are two of them because they play together so much and entertain each other enough that I don't have to worry about them needing all of my attention while I'm getting adjusted to life with a new baby).

 

So the other day, I made it a point to have Cooper awake and on the floor when they came home from school so they could play with him a little.

 Chloe wanted to show him all of her toys.

 

I know it's all just a part of having a new baby, but I've been having a lot of guilt lately too. I feel guilty for not paying the twins as much attention as I used to, even though I know there is nothing I can do about it right now. The baby needs me and I need to rest when I get the chance because of the lack of sleep I'm getting at night. So when I can, I try to spend as much one on one time with them as possible.

 The other day, it was Connor's turn because everyone else in the house was sleeping. We played upstairs together, he made me a hamburger in the play kitchen, and we took pictures with each other.

Since the baby has been here, Connor and Chloe have changed so much. They've become more independent and also have become better buds. They are always asking where the other one is if they don't see them right away. They run off and play together without us suggesting it. They love on each other and hug and kiss each other good night. And when one of them falls down or gets hurt, the other one is right there asking "You okay?".

 Yes, there are still fights and temper tantrums, but more often than not, they are buddies.

Mamaw and Papaw come to visit

This weekend, my grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw, came to visit all the way from Alabama.

They went to watch Connor and Chloe's soccer practice and then came over to spend the day and evening with us outside.

 

  It rained a little that afternoon so the whole yard was wet and muddy, but that didn't stop these two from playing all afternoon. They were filthy!

 

Chloe stops everything for cake!

 

Papaw even read a bedtime story before they left.

 

Thank you for driving all the way to Oklahoma to come see us! We love you!

Pools and Popsicles

We spent a lot of time outside this weekend playing in the water. David went to get Brutus (the dog) a kiddie pool so he could stay cool during the summer while we aren't home and when he brought it home, the kids ended up playing in it. So dad went back to the store and got one with a slide for the kids and they love it. We have an inflatable one, but this one is easy and quick to fill up for some fast pool play time!

Cooper and I hung out on the couch on the patio watching bubby and sissy play.

 

I'm also happy to report that on Saturday morning all 5 of us got up, got ready, and were out the door and at soccer on time! I have to be honest, I didn't think it was going to be possible but we did it!

And just FYI...this one follows me around more than the other one, so that's why there are more pictures of her!

 

After a nap, we were back outside playing in the water. I walked out with a popsicle and Chloe and Connor immediately wanted one. I didn't bring them one at first because the last time they tried one they got so upset when it started melting. But not this time. I put them in the grass and they went to town, until it REALLY started melting and then they were over it.

Just Born Photo Shoot

I'm a little late, but last week I did my first photo shoot with Cooper in the same chair I did the twins' monthly pictures in.

It's so much easier to take pictures of just one baby! In fact, the whole baby thing is a TON easier when there is just one. Feeding is easier, soothing is easier, night time is easier. Granted, I'm still taking care of two toddlers so it's not like I'm a vacation or anything, but as far as the baby goes...one is a cake walk.

Cooper's first week home:

He sleeps a lot! I guess I just didn't feel like the twins slept this much because they never did it at the same time, so I always had a baby that was awake. But not this time...if he's asleep, I get a break! And sometimes even a nap if David is taking care of the twins.

 

He HATES having his diaper changed.

He HATES having his clothes changed.

He HATES getting a bath.

  I think he just hates to be naked period.

He's smiling!

 

He eats about every 3 hours during the day and night. It's pretty much like clockwork unless he didn't get a full feeding the last time because he fell asleep or if he has a dirty diaper.

He has gained a little bit more of his weight back since we've been home and the last time we were at the doctor he weighed 7 lbs 12 oz.

We've had one major issue so far...

Saturday, his eye started gooping up really bad and was getting matted shut with yellow discharge. I asked friends about it, I googled it, I tried to get in to see the doctor that day and after reading a lot about it, I decided I would wait one more day before I tried to find an Urgent Care with a pediatrician. Well, Sunday, it was worse. I asked a nurse friend about it and she eased my mind that it probably was what I thought it was...a clogged tear duct, which apparently is very common in newborns. She also told me that my doctor's office happened to be open that day so I called and got right in. It is indeed a clogged duct and it's infected. It's not too serious and this could be his only outbreak of it or it could happen again and again until it unclogs maybe around 1 year! I'm hoping this is a one time thing! I just have to keep cleaning it with a warm rag, massage the inside of his eye towards the top of his nose, and put the prescribed ointment on it 4 times a day. It's looking a lot better today.

 

  As far as Connor and Chloe go... They are doing fine and it seems like most of their every day lives have not changed. They don't seem jealous one bit and actually ask where he is if they see that I'm not holding him. Chloe does like to be right next to me a lot or sits with me when I'm feeding though, but I'm not sure if it's me or Cooper that she wants to be close to.

 

I think they have finally accepted that I can't do everything for them like I used to. We've told them that my belly hurts from the doctor taking the baby out and that I can't pick them up and I think they finally understand a little and have quit throwing fits when I tell them that I can't hold them. David has stepped up a lot with the twins and they have loved playing with him and they might even be turning into Daddy's babies. Daddy seems to be a lot more fun than mommy right now. But at the end of the night, they still want mommy to read to them and take them to bed.

 

They seem to have grown up a lot in the last week too. They've become more independent and love to "help" us and each other. They are talking a lot more, especially Connor. And most of the time, it seems like they are closer with each other since we've brought Cooper home. For the most part, they've played together a lot and are always looking for each other. They do still fight, usually when one is trying to boss the other, but it's nice to see them be sweet to each other too.

 

Both kids have been around me when I've fed Cooper and I'm pretty sure they're going to go to school and talk about my boobs.

Time to go home! Finally!!!

Cooper finally got circumcised Monday morning. His jaundice was tested again and his levels were ok enough for him to not need treatment, so we were given the green light that we would be getting discharged after he had a little bit of recovery time after the circumcision.

 

We were ready to go!

Since we didn't find out what were having, I didn't buy any new clothes. All I have are Connor and Chloe's hand me downs which are perfectly fine and in good shape. But it's so funny to see Cooper in Connor's clothes because they look so much alike. I even kept calling him Connor instead of Cooper. One sleepy night, after a feeding, I was half awake when I called the nurse to come get him I said "Connor Dunaway is ready to go back to the nursery". I quickly caught my mistake and said "Cooper is ready, sorry". She probably thought, "that lady doesn't even know what she named her baby".

 

We were home by noon that day and I quickly realized that I had so much to do. All of those times that people would ask me if I had everything ready, my response was always "I think so. The room is ready, so I'm really not sure what else I need to do". Well, I was wrong. There were a few small things that I needed to do, like get diapers and wipes out ready to use for the next diaper change. I had to put a trash bag in the diaper trash can in his room. I had to unpack my new pump and figure out how to work it. There were a few more small things that I had forgotten about, so my afternoon was a little busy. I also wanted to give Cooper a bath. He hadn't had one in a few days and it was time.

He hated it.

 

Then it was time for the kids to come home from school. I was so excited to see them and have them back home.

  Before we went to the hospital, I had bought them presents that would be from the new baby. So when they got home, I told them that Cooper had brought them both a surprise from the hospital.

They loved them and constantly say how Cooper got them for them. They even went up and thanked Cooper for the new toys.

They played with their new toys for a little bit and then the meltdowns started. They both wanted to sit with mommy and they wanted mommy to do everything for them. There was a moment where they were all crying and all I could think was "And this is how it's going to be!". I was so nervous that I was going to get overwhelmed, but I think I actually handled it pretty good. They eventually calmed down, wanted to hold the baby before they went to bed, and mainly just kept their normal evening routine.

 

And of course, Connor kept reminding me that there was no baby in mommy's belly anymore.

Father's Day

Before we even went to the hospital, my plan was to get discharged on Saturday and come home. The doctor even told me that would probably be fine and plenty of people do it. I wanted to be home for Father's Day because I wanted David to be at home with all of his babies.

 But Saturday was horrible and we knew that wasn't possible.  We celebrated by sending Cooper to the nursery for 30 minutes while we walked down to the vending machines to get an Ice Cream Snickers.

 

  So then I was ok with going home on Sunday. I just wanted out of there and I thought we could at least just have a good dinner at home and sleep in our own beds. But nope, that wasn't going to happen either. They still wanted to monitor his weight and now it looked like he had a little bit of jaundice. So they wanted to monitor that too. And not to mention, he still wasn't circumcised!

 

So our Father's Day went exactly how the 2 previous days had gone, just sitting in our room, waiting to go home.

 

 

At least the twins got to come up and see David and give him their gift from them.

 

Connor and Chloe gave David an "Alphabet Book". It's a bunch of pictures of him with them and they are organized by letters, like "A is for Affection" and then there are pictures of him loving on them, "B is for Beach" with pictures of David and the kids from our beach vacation last year.

 

I really wanted to get a picture of David with all three of the kids. So when Chloe wanted to hold the baby, I told Connor to get up next to Daddy so I could take there picture. This is what I got...

 

Let's try that again.

Me: "Connor, Chloe, go stand by Daddy so I can take your picture."

One more try...

 

Happy Father's Day David!

  We've had 3 kids in 3 years and I really wanted you to have the best Father's Day ever, but it was out of my hands. I promise we will celebrate Father's Day soon!

The days after...

We spent the next few days in the hospital just resting and cuddling.

The first night, we sent Cooper to the nursery so we could get some rest. It had been a long day. But since I was trying to breast feed, they would bring him to our room for every feeding. I was told this would be every 3 hours, so when he didn't come in during a time I was expecting him, I started getting worried that they had forgotten about him or that something was going on. So I couldn't sleep anyway. But they soon did bring him in and said that he had been sleeping so good that they just let him sleep. He slept 4 straight hours.

 

Friday, he slept most of the day. I think I only saw his eyes open once.

 

  My parents brought the twins by for a visit.

Chloe loved giving him kisses.

 

And Connor just wanted to be silly.

And then Connor decided he was ready to hold the baby.

Connor is the one that would remind me 20 times a day that there was a baby in my belly and that the doctor would get the baby out. So on this day, he saw that I still have a belly and I guess he got a little confused because he looked at Cooper and then he looked at my belly and said "mommy has 2 babies". We quickly straightened that one out.

 

That evening, David's parents came to visit.

 

This is also the day Cooper started losing weight. Yes, it's normal for babies to lose weight when they are born. It's usually all of the fluids that are pumped into me before I have the baby, but he was losing more than normal. They base it on a percentile. But the nurses summed it up to me not getting my milk in and that it was no big deal and that I just needed to keep trying. But he wouldn't latch on. He was hungry and I would try to feed and he wouldn't latch on because I think he knew there was nothing in there. The nurses suggested that he stay in our room that night and that I try to feed him every 2 hours, even if he was asleep. And if he didn't latch on and feed, they wanted me to pump instead and give him what I pumped. I was only pumping about 1 ml of the stuff that comes before the milk. So he still wasn't getting much.

 

Saturday was more of the same thing. It felt like our days were on repeat. I was constantly trying to talk to the nurses about him not eating, me not producing, and on top of all of that, we were still waiting on his circumcision.

 

We had another visit from the twins, my parents, and my brother. Chloe clung to me a little more this time. She just wanted to sit with her momma and eat her snack. Neither one of them really paid much attention to Cooper.

Connor saying "Cheese!"

Saturday night, Cooper still wouldn't latch on and I wasn't pumping even a drop of anything. So he had gone another day without eating and lost even more weight.

 I was feeling so frustrated and was upset that no one was doing anything about it. When I saw that his lips were getting chapped, I had had enough. I called the nursery and insisted that we start supplementing. I was told that my nurse was with another baby right then but they would have her come see me as soon as she could.

 Well, when I still hadn't heard anything from her 45 minutes later, I called again. I was fed up. Someone needed to do something and I didn't care how much I was bugging them. Finally, 2 hours after I first called, the nurse came in with formula and a tube. We were going to try tube to breast feeding. She put the formula in a syringe hooked to a tube that was taped to me and that would go into his mouth when he latched on to try to breast feed. We did this so he would still latch on and help my milk come in and at the same time also get some food in him. He went to town and drank 20 ml within just a few minutes. He was STARVING! Also, afterwards, he was more awake than I had ever seen him. He felt better instantly. This made me feel better and I was happy that I used my own judgment about what to do about this and actually got something done.

  I continued to do this type of feeding the rest of the night, every 2 hours and on until it was time for us to leave the hospital. He immediately gained weight and I immediately felt better.