I feel like I’m healing so much faster this time than I did after my first section. Probably because you have to with a toddler at home! But I am feeling great and haven’t even taken any pain meds for 2 days! Not bad for being cut in half 12 days ago!

Lauren has been amazing!!! She is such a great big sister! She is very loving and gentle and sweet with him and wants to help do everything!! The first thing she says when she wakes up in the morning is, “where is baby Justin?” and shes goes and gives him hugs and kisses When Victor took him out of his car seat on the day we got home from the hospital, he told her to sit on the couch so she could hold him and she said, “no, put him down so he can walk.” Haha! I knew she was hoping he’d come home and she would be able to play with him! But she’s learned quickly that he doesn’t do much but sleep!

As far as the jealousy goes, she’s really been pretty good. Honestly better than I thought she was going to be. She has been a little more emotional than usual, especially when company is over. She seems to be better when it’s just the 4 of us. I think she somewhat understands that the people are there to see Justin, not her. But even that has gotten better over the last 2 weeks. She’s also been good with the fact that I can’t pick her up. I thought that would be a huge problem. She’s been asking me lately if my boo boo is all better and I keep telling her almost…I can’t wait to pick her up and hold her!! They said 4-6 weeks but I’ll be lucky if I can wait the 4

Now I don’t want to jinx myself but so far, Justin is a really good baby! Lauren had her high maintenance temperament from day 1 so I’m hoping Justin’s laid back temperament is here to stay as well! I did a whole lot of hoping and praying for a calm, go-with-the-flow baby while I was pregnant so maybe that worked! Plus, I think the fact that Victor and I knew what to expect and are much more relaxed this time helps a lot, too! But he’s eating and sleeping good and really, I have no complaints! Victor and I have an overnight schedule that is working very well for us so we both are getting a decent amount of sleep. A friend recommended the book The Baby Sleep Solution to me which promises to have your baby sleeping 12 hours a night by 12 weeks old and I am determined to make it happen. More about that in a later blog, I’m sure!

But we really feel so blessed and in love and seriously, just complete. We couldn’t be more happy with our family of 4! So in love!!!

Here are the pictures that the hospital took…I knew that they were doing them now, it’s fairly new for Brockton Hospital, but I could not believe how beautiful they came out!! I only wish they were doing them 2 years ago when Lauren was born…

I am beyond excited to meet this little man who has been kicking and moving around like a monkey for months! I wonder how much hair he’ll have…will it be light or dark? Curly or straight? Will he look like Lauren?? I also wonder how big he’ll be! I think he’ll be a little smaller than Lauren was…my guess is 8lbs 8oz. At my ultrasound on Tuesday they did measurements and the guess was 7lbs 13oz but the tech said she thought he’d be more like 8 or 8 1/2lbs. We’ll see!

I can’t wait to snuggle him and kiss him and hold him. And even more, I can’t wait to see Lauren’s face when she first meets him. It’s going to be magical!! She doesn’t fully understand what’s happening but she knows Baby Justin is coming out of Mommy’s belly tomorrow and she is excited! She has a gift to give him (and he has a few for her, too!) and she can’t wait to hold him. I get teary eyed now when she hugs my belly and says, “I love you baby Justin” just imagine how I’ll be when she’s hugging HIM and saying it!! I better make sure I have waterproof mascara!

So my next post will be once I am a mother of two! I seriously can’t wait!! I feel so blessed and fortunate to have my family. I never thought I could be so happy and I know it’s only going to get better

17 more days

Lauren is excited! She talks about baby Justin all the time. The other morning I asked her what she wanted to do that day and she said, “I want to hold baby Justin!” It was so cute!! She has a baby doll that she calls baby Justin and she gives him a bottle and holds him and takes him for rides on her bike. I do think she’s going to be a little disappointed though when he gets here and she realizes she can’t do very much with him at first. She’s going to want to play with him! Bring him down the slide and on wagon rides!! Hehe…all in due time. She is for sure going to be jealous but she’s going to be a great big sister! I can’t wait!!

I’ve been feeling great! Really good actually!! Other than being tired, which I always am even when not pregnant, I have absolutely no complaints! The heartburn I was having only lasted a few weeks. Other than getting up once a night to use the little girls room, I’m sleeping well. My blood pressure and diabetes both have been good so that’s awesome! I’m still hoping that the whole second child is the opposite of the first child theory holds true. But he is extremely active in my belly so I’m not so sure about that. I’m hoping for a laid back, go with the flow, chill baby boy who is a really good eater and sleeper. Ha! I can dream right?! I’ve been giving him little pep talks so he better be listening He’s been face down for about 2 months so even though I’ve had ultrasounds, I really haven’t seen him. But at my ultrasound this past Tuesday, he was cooperating and let me see his sweet little face! He was moving his lower lip like he was sucking and it was so cute! I think it’s why he has the hiccups all the time! He has big chubby cheeks and the most perfect lips I’m in love already!!

Ok, enough with all that sappy stuff Here are some pictures from her birthday! Unfortunately, my camera battery died 1/2 way through the party so I didn’t get nearly as many pictures as I wanted to. I’m so mad I didn’t check it before we left the house! But she had a blast at her party and got some really cool presents!!

Training was tough, it was 3 looong days, but it actually went by faster than I thought it would and I think the time away from home and away from each other was good for both Lauren and I! Training was last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9am to 5pm plus driving time, I was gone from 8am to 6pm…those are really long days for someone who hasn’t worked in 2 years!! But it was good, I learned a lot and had some fun! And I ate really well….Care.com likes to feed their employees

And Lauren made it through the days pretty well, too. Poor Tanya had the worst of it. She watched her the first day, which also happened to be her birthday, and it was kind of rough. Lauren screamed for the first hour and was fussy for the last hour but was okay for the time between. But she had 4 poops (that’s unheard of!!) so that, plus Jack and Emme….Tanya has never changed so many diapers in 1 day in her life!!! I seriously can’t thank Tanya enough for watching her, on the first day, along with her 3 children, on her birthday…she is a rock star!!!

As much as I don’t want to admit it to Tanya, Lauren did really well the next 2 days! Jenny watched her on Thursday and she said there were no tears. She went to Early Intervention group with Ari and had a blast! They want Lauren to go back to be a model student!! Then Mom watched her here on Friday, which I was nervous about because I thought she’d associate home with me and be upset all day but again, there were no tears! A little upset for a few minutes after I left but no tantrums or meltdowns! I’m so proud of her for being such a big girl!!

So I’m liking the job a lot! The company is really great and I’m glad I got the chance to go to the office. It’s very modern and high tech but still very causal and they are very accommodating and generous to their employees. A seriously huge transition from the last place I worked. Pretty much exact opposites. I think they value their employees and want to keep them happy and comfortable, which results in people excelling at their job and a lot less turnover, which is a really good thing. I’m so happy to be a part of Care.com….and I can’t wait to bring home a paycheck!!

1. I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions but I have one this year: to grow my hair long enough to donate it to Locks of Love. I would then like to continue doing it, grow, cut, donate, again and again, but I’m going to do it at least once.
This was not accomplished but it wasn’t my fault Locks of Love changed their guidelines so that they no longer accepted highlighted hair. I was very upset when I found this out, I had been growing my hair out for almost a whole year and really wanted to donate! But I made a financial contribution instead and do plan on doing that every year.

2. Get Lauren to sleep, all night, in her crib, and to do so by falling asleep on her own. I’m ashamed to say it but as of right now, I am rocking her to sleep, putting her in her crib once she is already asleep, then she wakes up, sometimes a few hours and sometimes only a half hour later, and I take her to bed with me and that is where she spends the rest of the night. And for naps, I rock her to sleep in her bouncy chair, which she is WAY too big for. I know it is going to be really tough. Habits are really hard to break but this one needs to be stopped! We are going to start the day after Christmas because the in-laws will be off to Florida so we don’t have to worry about anyone downstairs being affected by the screams. Maybe this one will be checked off before 2011….fingers crossed!
This was accomplished and it was before 2011!! She still isn’t a great sleeper but she does fall asleep on her own and sleep in her crib all night. She has inherited her fathers horrible sleeping habits which is no fun for me. She’ll be getting a big girl bed for her birthday so the crib can go in Justin’s room and I’m not really looking forward to that. Hopefully it goes easier than I’m expecting it to.

3. Organize the office. It is a mess!! Everything from the move that didn’t have a “home” ended up in that room. The desk, floor, shelves, everything, is covered with clutter and crap. I need a good hour or two to myself to get in there and organize!
This was done, several times, but no matter what, all the clutter and crap end up in that room.

4. Hang pictures. We have a ton of Lauren and the family, most of which are already framed, they just need to be hung.
Done!!

5. Cook more often. Ive been making some things for Lauren to eat, pasta, raviolis, vegetables…..easy stuff. But I still don’t make dinner, except for the occasional crock pot meal, and I’d really like to. It’s not fair that Victor has to work all day and then come home to make dinner.
Also done!! Though it only started very recently, but better late than never! This is our system…we (mostly just me) figure out the weeks menu on Saturday, I go grocery shopping on Sunday, and I make dinner every night except Friday, that’s when we order pizza! Nothing has been incredibly delicious but I feel good about cooking dinner and Victor is not one to complain (thank goodness!) He’s just happy he doesn’t have to cook

6. Be outside with Lauren when it is nice out. I need to let my fear of the sun subside a little. As long as we have sunscreen on, we will be ok. We need to get some fresh air and Lauren needs to run around. I see a lot of trips to the park in our future this spring!
We were outside this past year A LOT more often than we were the year before. Lauren loves to play outside and we had a lot of fun checking out some parks in the area. This coming up year may be a little tough with a newborn but we will make it work!

7. I want to get involved with a melanoma foundation of some sort. If my story can help just 1 person, I’ll be happy. I’d really like to go to middle and high schools and educate these kids about skin cancer.
This didn’t happen but IT WILL! I need to do this, it is so very important to me. It may not seem like it is since it didn’t get done, but it is. I’m thinking after the baby is born I will look into what I can do to help.

8. Spend more time with people!! I’m a stay at home Mom and I know a ton of other stay at home Mom’s but somehow, I never see them! Lauren needs the social skills, and so do I! I just found out that Stoughton has a Mom’s club that is for stay at home Mom’s and their kids and they do play dates and lots of activities. I’m pretty sure we’re joining and I’m excited! But I’d also like to see a lot more of my friends and family as well!
This was sort of accomplished. I did see some people a little more often but not as much as I’d like to. I also did join the Stoughton Mom’s club and we did a few activities but it wasn’t really for me. I still am in need of more adult interaction in my day!!

9. Get closer to Victor. We have a really good relationship and we love each other but sometimes, with a baby, its really hard to stay close. Before Lauren was born, I had this vision of us putting Lauren down in her crib for the night and then we would cuddle on the couch and watch movies. That does not EVER happen. By the end of the day, I’m tired, and once Lauren is asleep, I want to go to sleep, and I do. Hopefully, once she is falling asleep on her own (it will happen!!) and bedtime is not taking me an hour or more, I will be able to stay up with Victor for a little while. Then I’ll just have to get him to shut off the PS3…..
We are able to spend some time together after Lauren goes to bed now which is nice. It’s not too much since I can’t stay awake much later than 10pm but it’s more than before!

10. Get pregnant!! My plan is to get pregnant in July or August so we have the baby in April or May. That would be ideal! But no matter what, I want to have another baby and I want the kids to be close in age so, getting pregnant in 2011 is what needs to happen!!
This obviously happened! The date for my scheduled c-section is May 4th!! I’m such a good planner So exciting!!!