Going from one to two...

Someone once told me that going from one child to two was way easier than going from zero to one.

I am quite positive that this person may indeed be addicted to crack cocaine.

This Saturday, Eleanor will turn a month old. Last Saturday, Adeline turned 15 months old. One whole month has passed since we became a family of four. 

I remember the first month after becoming a family of three. I was still very much in the "honeymoon" phase of new motherhood.  I had that "I'm a first time mom" glow about myself and I loved getting Adeline dressed up and ready to go out on the town and show her off. I was writing mushy posts to Landen about his stellarness (is that even a word?)  and I spent hours making sure that I told Adeline's birth story with absolute perfection here on the blog. Other than a few issues breastfeeding I took to being a new mom like a duck out of water. We had our hiccups, I cried like a baby the first time Landen went back to work. I had to call him to find out how to lock the infant seat into the base the first time out of the house. I wasn't always dressed nice and dinner wasn't always made, but I had the mom thing down pat. Spit up and all. 

I have recently found myself, during those few precious hours a day when Adeline is napping, remembering this time last year. I remember holding Adeline and watching her sleep, not a care in the world except whether she needed her diaper changed or when she needed to eat, or whether I needed to take Abbey outside. I remember wishing that I could have a few minutes of "me time" but using those few moments I got holding her instead of laying her down for a nap.  

Maybe I was the crack head.

Since becoming a family of four I have spent more time picking up Puffs that have gotten stuck in the carpet while trying to keep Eleanor latched on and eating while chasing Adeline around the house. I don't have time to scrub each and every apple juice drop that falls on the carpet and therefore have had to hire carpet cleaners to come in and do it for me. I became the mom that plops her in kid in front of the TV with sugary cereal in her highchair so that I can change Eleanor's diaper or put on deodorant after just catching a whiff of myself.  

Instead of eating oatmeal each morning to increase milk supply, I eat handfuls of Oreo's washed down with a glass of milk that I used the day before and didn't have time to wash.  Adeline may or may not wear the same clothes two days in a row because well, we aren't going anywhere anyway and I don't have time to change her in between picking cereal out of the carpet and changing diapers. I see a lot of butts throughout the day.  I have to plan at least 10 minutes in advance if I have to even pee, and then the whole time I'm listening for the sound of impending doom coming from the living room praying that God will put a "hedge of protection around them" long enough for me to do my business. 

Adeline loves to give her sister kisses but sometimes follows it up with a whack to the head. Sometimes I catch her and stop her and sometimes I don't get there in time.  We are in the character building business in our house. Eleanor is building lots of character through head whacking.

With all the chaos though I have found time to maintain some sort of a schedule. Mostly centered around Adeline. It goes something like this:

Sometime between 8 and 9:30: Adeline wakes up.

I get breakfast ready and her bottle and put her in the highchair.

She feeds herself, I feed Adeline.

We spend the next few hours playing, cuddling, loving on Eleanor, feeding Eleanor, changing diapers, making messes. Around 12:00 I feed Adeline her lunch and get her ready for her nap.  

1:00: Adeline goes down for a nap. Every. day. at 1:00.  Landen jokes around telling me I just have to make it until 1:00. He has no idea just how right he is.
Adeline usually sleeps between two and three hours during her nap and I use this time to feed Eleanor, straighten up the house, eat lunch, and sometimes even nap a little myself.
When Adeline wakes up I give her a small snack and we commence the playing, cuddling, changing diapers, etc.
Landen gets home around 6:00 and I pass off the girls to him while I take a few minutes to myself. Usually I take a shower.

My goal now, since establishing a little bit of a daily schedule, is to get Eleanor on a sleeping schedule. We are still struggling in this area and this Mama is getting wore out!

All in all I would say that things could be going much worse. I am adjusting to being Mommy to two and Adeline is adjusting to being a big sister. Abbey, the dog, spends a lot of time hiding out in the corner of the couch with her ears covered. Can't say as I blame her!

I'll leave you with a little glimpse of the occasional sweetness between my girls. This makes it all worth it.

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday!

Right Now

Scenes from our week...

Surprise visits to KY. Family hangouts. Daily walks. Tent fun with Daddy. Puppy lovins. Just us girls. A great book and tea. Messy eats. Temper tantrums. Big eyes.

How did your week go?

Guest Scrapper 004: Sandra Gonzalez

Hello everyone! I'm so glad to be back into my regular posting schedule again! Baby Eleanor is doing great and so is Adeline. We are getting into the swing of things just fine! 

This week's guest scrapper is Sandra Gonzalez or ohsnapgonzo on YouTube. I have been watching her videos for some time now and her style of scrapbooking really inspires me. I don't know how many of her layouts I have lifted some part of! I was thrilled when she agreed to guest post here on my little blog. So, I won't keep you waiting any longer!

Hello crafters. I am so excited to be part of Amanda's blog and would like to thank her for this opportunity.  My name is Sandra Gonzalez and on YouTube I go by Ohsnapgonzo.  I am 36 years old and live in Chattanooga, TN.  I have been married to a really great husband and dad for 9 years and we have two girls.  If you have seen any of my YouTube videos you have probably seen a little hand wave across or even heard their commentary on my page or products I am showing...let's just say they're my little helpers...lol.  Isabelle is 6 years old and Gabby is 3 years old and I love to hear them talk about washi tape and making layouts or a Gabby says "mom are you booking (scrapbooking)?  My husband is very supportive and even enables me by stopping at Archivers if he is working in Atlanta and Skyping with me so I can shop.  The lady recognizes him at the store and always helps him out.  See I told you he was a really great husband. :)

Tell us a little bit behind your scrappy process and what inspires you. 

‪I find that most anything can inspire me to create a layout. Sometimes it's the moment or mood that is captured in a photograph. I can look at a collection of papers or embellishments and it will spark an interest in creating a specific layout for a specific picture I have. Lately I have noticed that I have been creating layouts on white or kraft paper and then adding pattern paper for layers or a pop of color. I love to use Thickers for titles and will use anything like brown bags from kits that I receive, packaging from a stamp or sticker and even the girls art work as embellishment on a layout. I love for my layout to have layers and a "puffyness" to them for lack of a better word. 

 When do you scrap?

 I tend to do most of my crafting towards the end of the day after dinner and when the kids have gone to bed. I just find that I get more done and have less interruptions. I have also been Skype scrapping during the night and that really has motivated me to scrap. You might be saying...what is she talking about skype scrapping? Well I have made many great friends in the YouTube community and one of them is Lisa, who is Maggiemylow on You Tube and even though she lives in Canada and I live in Tennessee we have been scrapbooking together over Skype. Gotta love technology...right? It is so much fun. We talk as we are creating layouts or working on project life and it is nice having the company of another crafter who loves it as much as you do. I would encourage anyone to get on skype and craft together, it really is so much fun. So yes I am a night owl and will stay up until midnight or 2 am if I really want to complete layouts. 

‪ What inspired you to begin scrapbooking? 

I first started scrapbooking about 11 years ago. I have always loved to take pictures...I can remember my first polaroid camera my brother gave me. It was pink and grey or even the 110 film cameras and disk cameras. I have always loved to take pictures. So one day I was shopping and I came across a crafting isle and started looking around I saw some Christmas stickers and a spiral album and thought it would be fun to put pictures in there instead of a regular album. You want to know something it was way more fun!!! I was hooked and from there I went to buying crafting magazines and finding Hobby Lobby and really going crazy for stickers, paper and paper trimmers....there was no stopping me now.

What are your favorite techniques. 

‪When I start a layout I generally have one or two pictures I want to use. I will put them down on my 12x12 white paper and start to pull pattern paper from a collection that I want to use. Sometimes I rip the paper the size I want to use or cut it with the paper trimmer. I find that I like my layers to be uneven and I will usually put distress ink around the layers to help them pop out a little...black sout and vintage brown are my favorite. I normally don't spend to much time on one layout it can take me from 20 or 30 minutes to complete a layout. I don't get to worried about the perfect placement of a sticker or any type of embellishment. I don't know many of the design rules so if I like where it is at I glue it down and move one and most of the time in the end I am very happy with my layout.

What is your goal as a scrapbooker?

‪My ultimate goal would be to have every picture on a layout, in my project life album or in a regular album all nice and neat and organized. Yeah right? Wouldn't we all love that but I know that will never happen so I will be happy with just creating as much as I can. I want my kids and even grandkids one day to be able to open up a album and feel like I am sitting right beside them telling them the story behind the picture.

‪You can find me on You Tube as Ohsnapgonzo or friend me on Facebook Oh Snap Gonzo. Thanks again Amanda for letting me share a little about myself and I hope everyone is finding a some time to craft. Have a great day:)

Sandra, thank you so much! I got a little teary eyed when I read about our kids and grandkids feeling like we are sitting right next to them as they look at our scrapbooks. Isn't that really what it's all about? Leaving behind memories for our loved ones. It's just an added bonus that we get to make things pretty at the same time! 

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks guest scrapper as much as I have! Go check Sandra out and leave her some love on her channel and Facebook page! I know she would appreciate it!

Eleanor's birth story

Eleanor was supposed to be born on a Friday morning at 8:00. 

Instead, Eleanor decided to surprise us all and come a little bit early.

Nothing about this little girl was really expected.

Between finding out we were having her when Adeline was barely 5 months old, and then finding out she might have club feet (which she didn't), we should have known that she would try to sneak in another little surprise at the very end.

Let me start at the beginning.

For weeks now I have been in planning mode, trying to anticipate everything and anything that would need to be completed before our little girl arrived. I had pages of to-do lists at work and with the school year ending I was trying to get everything put away and stored while still leaving out the skeletal items that would be needed to finish out the year and make things easier on my sub.

At home we were furiously cleaning and organizing and working really hard to keep the house tidy and organized just in case I went in to labor. You see, when Adeline was born we weren't prepared for anything, didn't even have our bags packed even, and I vowed I would not let the same thing happen this time!

So after spending Memorial Day at home, finishing up a few final details and cooking out with friends, I made up my mind that Eleanor would in fact stay in place and that our Friday c-section was going to happen after all.  I began working through my nerves of the surgery and trying to mentally prepare myself for this life changing event that would be rocking our world very soon.

On Tuesday I went to work and finished up the rest of my to-do list items.  I felt good about ending the school year, and I was finally beginning to feel relaxed. I commented to one of the teachers that now that I was finally ready for the baby to come my nerves had began to kick in about having another c-section. Even though I had already had one with Adeline, it was an emergency one so I didn't have time to process the fact that I was getting split open.

That evening we went to our Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class at church that Landen was leading and left with lots of words of encouragement from the people in our group.
When we got home we ate a late night dinner of hamburgers and watched an episode of Monk on Netflix before going to bed. We had barely laid down when I felt a weird I-just-peed-my-pants feeling. Now to be honest, at this point in the pregnancy, it is completely possibly that I was, in fact, peeing my pants. I had an small feeling though that this was the real deal.

I jumped out of bed alerting Landen to the situation and he jumped out of bed frantic. If you remember from Adeline's birth story, Landen was at work when my baby juices started flowing freely so this was a new experience for him.  He asked me if he had time to take a quick shower to which I agreed because I wasn't feeling any contractions yet. We called a friend from church who was our backup plan to watch Adeline just in case I did go into labor in the middle of the night.  By the time she arrived I had packed the last few items, written a note about Adeline and what she was eating, and was feeling some pretty strong contractions. I was more than ready to head to the hospital.

Landen and I were quiet on the way to the hospital (other than the normal "drive faster. run the stupid red light. when will be there" pregnant lady outbursts). I can't be sure what he was thinking but I can imagine it had a lot to with the the new little girl that we would hold in our arms soon and the sweet little girl we left laying in the crib asleep at home.  I know that's what I was thinking about.

We arrived at the hospital around the time my contractions were starting to get pretty intense.  After confirming that I was in labor, (duh), the nurse asked if I was still wanting to go ahead with the c-section or if I wanted to try and attempt a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). This sparked a two hour  back and forth discussion between Landen and I and the nurses. I had made it to the end of my pregnancy fully expecting to have another c-section. Now, being faced with the choice of delivering vaginally, I was scared to death. Landen, being the stellar husband that he is demanded that they provide us with all of the statistics and risks associated both with having a repeat c-section and having a VBAC. After praying about it, I made the choice that I would try and chance a vaginal delivery. They wheeled me from the triage room into my very own labor and delivery room, set me up with my epidural, and the waiting began.

After my epidural kicked in, I was feeling pretty good. I emailed my principal, my substitute teacher, and the other 2nd grade teachers to tie up some loose ends since I would not be going to back to school. I watched a movie on my computer, Landen slept, and my parents, sister, and niece arrived. While everyone else tried to get some sleep in the late night hours my mind was going full force. I had no idea what to expect from my body, and I knew that labor could take hours. Many. many. hours. I prayed for our little girl, both the one in my belly and the one at home. I begin to understand that my little family was changing. When the nurse checked me and I was still at 3 cm they decided to do a very light drip of Pitocin to see if things would get rolling faster.

I can't tell you what time of the morning it was when I realized that my epidural was wearing off, but I remember that I quickly became aware that I could feel my right leg more than my left one. After alerting the nurses to the situation we tried adjusting my position to let gravity do it's job and when that didn't work the anesthesiologist came back in to up my dosage.

It was around this time that I began to feel a weird cramp in my right side. The Dr's came in and checked me again and I was at 6 cm with her head at minus 2 (which I guess means that she wasn't ready to make her grand entrance yet). As time went on the cramping continued to get worse and worse and before I knew it I couldn't talk through the pain anymore. This all seemed to happen in no time and I was suddenly in the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. It's true that words can't describe the pain of labor. All I can say is that at one point I think I said something along the lines of "stupid freaking Eve and that stupid freaking apple!"I was in pain y'all!

To make a short story story, the pain that I was feeling was what they call very active labor. It's the kind that is caused when you go from 6 cm dilated with a baby not ready to come out to 10 cm and a baby pushing her way out on her own.  I was told that the epidural simply couldn't '
keep up" with the pain I was feelings.  Thank a lot epidural. I went from 6cm to a baby in 45 minutes after only 20 minutes of pushing. I think Eleanor is going to have her mother's sense of urgency. Pushing was a lot harder than I thought, but not for the reason that you probably would think. My neck and my arms felt like they were going to fall off my body. I kept complaining about my arms hurting and the nurses kept laughing. They kept reminding me that I was in labor and that it wasn't supposed to be pleasant.

As Eleanor's head started crowning everyone started talking about her hair. Can I just insert here how weird it is to be spread out for God and everybody to see and everyone is looking down there talking about the color hair the baby has and playing with their hair and talking about all the hair. Come on y'all. I'm kinda all exposed over here. Please stop looking at my nether regions!  My mom and my sister were allowed to join us in the delivery room and just as sweet mothers do my mom was so worried that they were going to do an episiotomy and I kept hearing her ask the Dr in her sweet southern drawl to not "cut me" if they didn't have to. You gotta love Mama's who have your..uhhmmm... back. 

At 8:31 a.m, after one last push, Eleanor Mae was born.  The feeling of seeing Eleanor come up out of my..well, you know...was incredible. I looked at Landen and he looked at me and we looked at her and there were so many emotions that I couldn't possibly capture them in words. I went from the worse pain ever to having a baby crying and flailing about on my chest.  I will say however, that she was the most beautiful little girl, just like her sister, and she had RED HAIR!!! WHAT THE HAYDAY! How did I birth a kid from my loins that had red hair! I was surprised when Adeline had black hair but at least her father shared that trait. No one in our immediate family has red hair. She also looks a lot like her Momma, which makes me this lady really happy. Adeline is the spitting image of her father so I love that we both have our little mini-mes.

It's also amazing how in that moment, we were also both thinking about Adeline and how much we missed her. I wish she could have been there, but alas, she is one.

Eleanor weighed 7lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She barely beat out her sister in both weight and length.  She suffered a little bit of jaundice which led to Children's hospital coming out for home visits for a couple of days but she soon received a clear bill of health from that.  I did fine and had very minimal tearing which made the healing process a breeze. I'm so thankful for that because I was able to enjoy our little girls so much more!

Adeline meets her sister for the first time!

We are adjusting to being a family of 4 very well. Adeline loves her sister and is constantly wanting to give her hugs and kisses. Other than the one time she looked at me, smiled, and stomped on her baby doll that was laying on the floor I haven't worried to much about her future relationship with her baby sister. They definitely don't look much alike but I know that they are going to be the best of friends! 

Eleanor took us by surprise in a lot of ways. She came on her own in her own little way, and for that I am thankful. I am thankful that she gave me the experience of labor and delivery. I am thankful that she has red hair. And Landen's eyes. And my chin. I'm thankful that she was healthy and strong and that her jaundice was low. I am thankful that she is ours. She is such a joy and she has definitely been just the right addition to our family.

We love you Eleanor Mae!