Kennedy Arrived… 3 months ago!

Well, typical of a mom of 3.. I’m just now getting a moment to sit down and write. It’s been since I was 29 weeks pregnant that I updated. I like to write how my deliveries have gone because it’s easy to forget the little things.

So, let’s start back in January. My due date was January 26. Early in January my doctor scheduled me for an induction on the 24th if she wasn’t here sooner. At my appointments I had been sitting at 3 cm for several weeks, which he said on a 3rd pregnancy is completely normal. On January 13 I had a few contractions really early, but nothing consistent. That night my best friend and I went to eat dinner at Cheesecake Factory and the moment we sat down contractions started. I tracked them and they were 2-7 minutes apart from 7:30 – 10:00 and then just stopped. I was disappointed because I was ready to be done and really didn’t want to wait another week and a half. That night started a full week of nightly contractions at the exact same time. My doctor’s appointment was the same that week- no more progress and if they got more consistent I could come into the hospital.

Saturday, January 20 was a busy day. Dave and I worked all morning, came home and did some yard work and then I took a nap. Honestly I was feeling the exact same as the other days that week. We went to Kids Kastle to let the boys play and my contractions started while I was there at 4:45. I thought nothing of it because I had been having the exact same thing every night for a full week. We went to dinner at Mi Cocina and then picked up ice cream from Marble Slab. We put the boys to bed around 8:00 and up until that point all the contractions had been no more than about 30-40 seconds in length and they were still randomly dispersed… 2-11 minutes apart. It wasn’t until close to 9:00 that I sat down to eat my ice cream and realized that it had been 4 hours since they began. They really weren’t all that painful though and I was really just preparing myself for them to stop altogether. I called my mom and told her it was time. I showered and packed my bag. It was getting pretty painful- to the point that I couldn’t really talk or move through the contractions anymore.

We got in the car at 9:45 and arrived at the hospital around 10:00. I’ll never forget Dave playing rap music in the car to the hospital. Things are kinda a blur at points, but that I won’t forget- he’s so silly in situations like these. He was pretty upset with me that I refused to ride in a wheelchair when we got to the hospital. Goodness, just let this contraction stop and I can walk my self up there! 🙂 LOL We checked in and they got me in one of the side evaluation rooms. I changed while Dave went to the car to get all our things. The nice little nurse came in and checked me… poor thing- you could tell on her face that something wasn’t quite right. She called in another nurse and asked her to come in and help. At 10:15 they said I was at 9 cm and that’s about when things went bad. Laying there in that bed made those contractions nearly unbearable. They quickly rolled me into a labor and delivery room and in the hallway the nurse asked if she could do anything for me and I said ‘get me an epidural’. That girl knew it was too late and she was kind enough to keep her mouth shut. Inside I also knew it had to be too late but a girl can hope, right?! They started hooking in my IV and it was during that process that my water broke. They were telling me ‘sweetie, you’re going to have to wait for your doctor to get here before you push’ and now I know why people say you can’t JUST wait. Things just kinda happen on their own. Thank goodness my doctor showed up, got his scrubs on and THREE contractions later Kennedy made her debut.

Kennedy was born at 10:48 pm, weighed 7lbs, 7oz and was 20.1 in long.

She had aspirated some meconium so she had quite a bit of fluid that the nurses worked to remove. Otherwise, she was healthy! We stayed in the labor and delivery room for a long time, which was good. I was in a bit of shock and was literally shaking from how things went down. Being able to sit with her in the quiet was awesome! We didn’t get to sleep until close to 2 and that night was pretty exhausting.. waking her up every 3 hours to feed after being up since early Saturday morning.

The boys came to see her on Sunday morning and they were in LOVE! Dawson immediately wanted to hold her. Graham wasn’t as interested, but he still sat and looked at her. Dave took off a full week which was needed because that transition was a hard one.. going from 2 to 3 getting ready to school, bed, etc. But, now that time has passed this transition has been easier than going from 1 to 2 for us. Dawson is pretty high energy, so having him be 2 years older has been really helpful. Graham is super sweet and laid back so he’s easily entertained and that made some of those earlier days a bit easier.

To keep in tune with our crazy lives we went for a little drive to look at some houses early February. We had thoughts of maybe building a house, which would take about a year and that was perfect timing to get in before Dawson started kindergarten. But, we realized that building would go well over our budget because the ‘base’ price is just that… But, they had a spec home that was ready to go that really worked perfect for us. We decided to list our house just to see what would happen. It sold in 48 hours and we closed 30 days later. We moved late March. It was really a God thing- we said from the beginning that if we didn’t get list price we wouldn’t move forward and we knew that there was a risk of someone else coming in and taking the spec home before we could. The inspection on our home was also all things our roofer came and took care of for free. Everything happened in a way that we knew we were making the right move. We miss our old little house- where it all started. But, having more space with three littles is a breath of fresh air. I have more space to clean, but I also have more space to force toys to stay upstairs so that my house doesn’t look constantly cluttered.

We’re in a really fun place and we couldn’t be happier!

 

29 Weeks- UGH

This week has been absolutely draining. I will be 30 weeks in 2 days and my body feels like it’s failing me! LOL Last week I wasn’t very motivated to do much and that was demonstrated in my lack of real intensity on workouts. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. On Friday night I was having some pain (like period cramps) pretty low on my left hip. It continued into Saturday. I had two thoughts: I haven’t drank much water- I’m probably dehydrated and maybe my hip flexor was annoyed. I even called the dr at one point because it just didn’t feel right. They were going to charge me $25 to call the on-call nurse for advice so I decided I’d try everything it could be prior to going that route. Drank tons of water and did lots of stretching. Saturday night Graham got sick and honestly I was just too busy to notice anything other than getting him well. Come Monday I noticed that I had a raised spot there by that same hip that was hurting. Thought it was odd, but really didn’t put too much thought into it until Dave mentioned that it was likely a hernia. On Tuesday I had my normal check-up at the OB and they confirmed that it definitely seemed like a hernia. UGH The dr. suggested ‘light aerobics’ and no heavy lifting, which is a total bummer. It’s right in my hip, so raising that hip up, running, squatting and anything that uses that leg and side hurts. So, that leaves me with very little. I have two main thoughts here: part of me is so frustrated and part of me knows this was likely just the result of having three kids in four years and leading an active life. I’m frustrated because I wonder if I didn’t bring this on myself.. was I going too hard in workouts, should I have scaled back, etc. The thought of not being able to do much of anything for another 10 weeks + recovery time from having the baby + surgery and recovery from that seems absolutely insane. But, I also know that my abdomen wall was already weakened from having multiple kids in a short period of time and this could have happened literally doing normal life. I also know that the results of me continuing to push through could end up being 10x worse than me just taking the time off now and resting. So, that’s what I will begrudgingly do. After I have the baby I will look into the next steps, which I assume are surgery. I did do a little research and found that it is not recommended to have the surgery until you are recovered from child-birth, 3-6 months. So, we’ll just cross that bridge when we get there.

My appointment was pretty un-eventful. I had my glucose test, which is obviously not super fun. The heartbeat was in the 130s and he said everything was on track. I’ve gained 20lbs since the beginning. I’ll get the results from the blood work back here soon and I don’t have another appointment for another 4 weeks.

Now, onto one of the most exhausting weekends. Saturday Graham seemed absolutely fine. He coughed a few times right before bed and I had gotten a letter from the school that a few kids in his class had croup. So, I suspected that with the cough that I heard. But, he was acting fine and went to bed fine. Around 11:30 pm he woke up and was breathing pretty labored. I honestly thought nothing of it because I figured he was just breathing heavy from getting sick or something. The night was pretty terrible- I think I got about 2 hours of sleep the entire night. The next morning Dave called the pediatrician and they suggested that we go to an ER or Rapid Med and explained that the normal albuterol would not help Croup. We decided to go to Rapid Med, as we’ve had good success with them in the past. The dr there tried to do an albuterol treatment, which I explained the pediatrician had already told us not to do. He also prescribed him a steroid for several days and a an antibiotic (not sure what that was for since Croup is a virus). I tried to get Graham to take the medicine but he threw the entire thing up. He didn’t keep anything down all day, so that wasn’t new- he was even throwing up liquids. His fever was pretty high so I tried giving him tylenol for that and he threw that up so we did a bath. His breathing still wasn’t better at that point so I decided to do the steam shower and while we were in the bathroom his eyes were rolling into the back of his head and I’m pretty sure he passed out. I called the pediatrician again and they said we needed to go to an ER right away. I packed him up and we went to Medical Center of Lewisville. We got there around 6 pm. They were awesome- LOTS of people helping us out as soon as we got to the room. He was given two epinephrine breathing treatments (that was all they would do before transferring him) and an oral steroid. We monitored him until around 9 and when he was still having the stridor (labored breathing) and they had done the two breathing treatments they transferred him to Medical Center of Dallas. They took him via ambulance (I thought for sure they’d let me drive him, lol) and that was NOT a fun mom moment. We got there and they did another breathing treatment and put in an IV (another experience I could live without as a mom). We got moved to our overnight room and they started him on fluids. At that point it was like 11 pm. Around 1:30 am they did another breathing treatment (making it 4 total). The night was absolutely terrible. He woke up every 20-30 minutes. I think most of that was just that he wasn’t able to get comfortable with three cords coming from three different places on his body. Every time he’d wake up he would be hysterical. It would take Dave and I both talking and walking with him to calm him down. Around 3:30 he pulled his IV out, which was probably the worst part of all. He was exhausted and mad and Dave and I were both exhausted as well and they had to clean him up and redo the IV. UGH! So, we had to hold him down again and go through the screaming and looks of ‘MOM, WHY ARE YOU LETTING THEM HURT ME?!’. I was just praying for daylight at that point- just get us to the morning. At 7:00 am he had finally worn himself out enough that he was OUT. He literally slept without moving until 10:00 am and then ate a popsicle and fell back asleep until 1:00 pm! The dr came in and said that she would release him 12 hours after the last breathing treatment if he didn’t need another. So, at 1:45 we were released and he was given 1 more dose of steroids. All he cared about on the drive home was ‘See brother’. We couldn’t get to Dawson fast enough and he ran in so excited to see him. 🙂 My parents were life savers- they kept Dawson the entire time and kept him occupied and busy. Since coming home Graham has just acted exhausted. He’s been falling asleep a good hour before his normal nap time and bed time. He’s been REALLY clingy. I haven’t gotten to set him down for more than a minute or two. Don’t get me wrong, I love the cuddles and I wouldn’t trade that. BUT, having this hip pain + being almost 30 weeks pregnant + carrying around a 25lb child is not the easiest thing LOL. Although they said we could send him back to school on Monday (as he was fever free for 24 hours) he has definitely not been ready. I think by next Monday he’ll be good. Tonight was the first night he actually has started out in his own bed. He threw a fit last night when I tried to lay him in his bed. So, it’ll be a process getting him back into good habits with that. Until now he’s really needed one of us close because he wakes up having coughing fits and needing water, someone to sit him up, etc. I’m sure he’ll end up in our bed later tonight, but it’s at least a good first step! 🙂 Dawson has been a trooper throughout the whole thing. He certainly hasn’t gotten as much attention as he’s used to but he’s been a good sport about taking care of Graham.

Needless to say, I will be thankful for a less eventful week. One with nothing new happening.

26.5 Weeks

Haven’t had much time to write- two kids + business keeps me too busy to do much else, imagine that. I’ve been meaning to sit down and post a bit about this pregnancy since I haven’t since I was around 14 weeks.

This time around has been almost identical to the boys. I’ve felt really okay throughout- my body just hurts more. I think that’s normal with more pregnancies, so it’s to be expected. I’ve gained more weight this time around too. At my last appointment about 2 weeks ago (24 weeks) I had gained around 15 lbs. Just the last week or so that weight has become very obvious in normal day things, especially working out.

Baby Kennedy is a lot more gentle or laid back than I remember the boys being. I didn’t feel her really move until around 20 weeks. I felt Dawson at 19 and Graham at 16. Until this week there would be days where I’d go most of the day and not feel her at all, which was obviously concerning. I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m more busy and unable to really focus on it like I did with the boys or if she’s just more chill. This week I’ve felt her more throughout the day, but still no real hard kicks or crazy movement like I know I felt at this point with the boys.

We did decide on the name Kennedy Marie. My front runner name for many years has been Kenzie. Dave has never been a huge fan, but was okay with it when we found out we were having a girl. He mentioned Kennedy shortly after finding out the gender and I liked it! Dawson hasn’t been on board with the decision and when we say Baby Kennedy he gets upset and yells, NO KENZIE! I think I may have convinced him to change his mind last night by telling him that was Daddy’s favorite. Anything Daddy likes, Dawson likes. Marie is my middle name, so that was decided prior to even knowing it was a girl- we wanted to use a name from my family. If it had been a boy the middle name would have been Tyler, which is my brother’s middle name.

My appointments have been going fine. I don’t have my glucose test until 30 weeks, so I’ve still got a few weeks until I go back. My sonogram was about a month and a half ago and everything with that was great. She was sitting breech facing my spine, which made getting shots of her face REAL hard. We got a small picture of that. It was also hard to double-check the gender. We had that gender blood test at the beginning, but I obviously wanted to double check that! 🙂 I couldn’t really see by the sonogram, but the tech assured me that it was in fact a girl!

We haven’t done too much to the nursery yet- my plan was to keep Dawson in his room until Thanksgiving-ish and then move him into the room with Graham. But, about 2 months ago Graham learned how to climb out of his crib, and that ended him being trapped. He was climbing out and coming out of his room up to 10 times a night. So, I decided to go ahead and move Dawson in there, hoping just having another person present in the room would help him stay. It didn’t. It’s been quite the night time adventure since. He’s slowly improving, but I swear it’s just preparing me to be up multiple times a night. We did go ahead and move Graham to his twin bed we had waiting in a box. So, the crib is ready in the nursery. I also painted the nursery grey. My mother in law is making all of our bedding, so we’ve picked the fabric for that. Now, it’s just a matter of starting to pick out decorations, etc.

Workouts have been going okay. I’m getting in about 4 a week. Obviously, breathing is real hard. Weights haven’t really changed at all. But, I can NOT breathe. That’s really dictated what type of workouts I can do. Pull-ups have gotten real hard, chest to bars are pretty much impossible now. I can still do kipping and strict, but man, they’re real difficult.

I’ve been getting weekly massages this time around as well. Michelle works wonders. I’ve had NO back or hip pain and very, very little shoulder pain (from laying on my side ALL night). In the past I’ve had quite a bit of hip pain and I’ve had literally none at all. I attribute that to getting weekly massages and taking care of my body in that way. She is amazing!!!

I’ll post some pictures of life lately here soon.. I’m on the wrong computer! 🙂

Baby #3

We’re crazy. We’re completely aware that our lives are already packed full and we’re adding another element. We’re completely okay with this.

I’ve always wanted 3 kids. No significance in 3 other than I just think it makes for a bigger family feel. It was no secret that I was pretty disappointed when I found out #2 was a boy. I went through literally half my pregnancy with Graham thinking it was a girl. So #3 for me was a chance at a girl. You ask me now and I would obviously say our family would not be the same without Graham. That little boy has all the Sullivan traits, down to my dad’s blue eyes and he has my whole heart. He’s all boy, but is sensitive and as funny as it is to say about a 1 year old he’s polite and kind. He and Dawson couldn’t be more opposite. I likely would have stopped with 2 kids if he had been a girl- and to think of all I would have missed is terrifying.

This spring we started talking about it and honestly I started having second thoughts. We’ve had quite the year. Graham was only 1 month old when we put the offer on the property we moved the gym to this year. I am not an entrepreneur and the thought of putting our complete savings into this project simply scared the crap out of me. To say that I’ve had to put complete trust in the Lord this year in all aspects of my life is an understatement. It’s been real scary and there were moments that I thought we were making the biggest mistake of our life. Now, looking back it all seems so small and silly but it really probably was the hardest year for us in our 6 years of marriage- juggling running the business, purchasing this property, dealing with the town (huge eye roll) and having a toddler and new born baby. So, when the spring rolled around, all was well with the move, etc we started discussing. I literally was just starting to feel back to normal- not breastfeeding, getting back to a normal routine and working out like my old self. There were many moments I thought 2 was it for me. Someone at the gym said- you have your entire life ahead of you to get back in shape. If you have wanted 3 kids you are going to regret not doing it later. That was it for me.

We found out we were expecting on Mother’s Day, May 14. We told our parents that day. I thought that was perfect- we told them we were expecting on that exact day 2 years ago. In their Mother’s Day cards we put a big number printed on a paper (10 for my mom, 12 for my mother-in-law). It signified the number grandchild it would be for them. My mother-in-law immediately got it and said nothing to let my mom figure it out. I had to tell her to go back to the sheet and she still didn’t get it. It was pretty hysterical. The next three weeks were pretty tough. I had daily bleeding every day for the first 3 weeks. It was enough that I went in several times for blood work and was put on progesterone for the first 11 weeks. We went in for a early sono at 5.5 weeks and were actually able to see a heartbeat. They said that was a positive thing. It was a real tough 3 weeks though- every time I worked out it seemed to make it worse. So, I basically wasn’t able to really do anything during that time which then made coming back even harder.

At 10 weeks we went back, really unsure if we would be able to hear anything. The doctor did find a real faint heartbeat. I went back last week (12.5 weeks) and the heartbeat was much more clear (173) and they drew my blood for the genetic testing. I just got that back yesterday and found out it’s a GIRL!

This entire time I’ve thought it was another boy. Aside from my face breaking out a LOT more, I’ve really had an identical pregnancy. A little sick, but nothing significant and weeks of real bad headaches. I also was having visions of having three boys and how cool that would be for them to grow up with all brothers. Dawson and Graham have the sweetest relationship so I thought that would be cool to add another.

Dave decided to call the dr yesterday at lunch. I was annoyed because they told me it would take 2 weeks to get the results and it hadn’t even been 1 week. He left a message and they called me back shortly after. I was embarrassed when I answered the phone and was apologizing when she  said they actually already had them in. Then, said everything on the genetic test was great and that it was a girl. AH! Tons of thoughts flooded my mind: Obviously super thankful for a healthy baby, thrilled that it was a girl then a what in the world will I do with a girl, though?! LOL I am not girly and I have two boys that have no sort of girliness to them. She’s going to be one tough girl!

Dawson has been saying the entire time that it’s a boy- he calls it Baby Everett (that was one of the boy names we had picked out). So, I was pretty interested to see how he would react. We got a pinata and put candy in it. He pulled it open with my parents and mother in law and I don’t think he cared a bit about the color- he was so excited about the candy! LOL He has since figured out it means he will have a sister and he seems okay with it but he’s still young. I’m not sure that he will fully grasp what it even means until she is here and not leaving.

All this to say, we are super excited and super blessed and thankful. We know it’s going to be crazy. But, my life is already crazy and I survive and would have it no other way. We are due January 26- all birthday’s will be within a month of each other (Jan 4- Graham and Feb 5-Dawson).

My next appointment isn’t until mid-August and I’ll update more then. Here’s some pictures of our lives lately. 🙂

November 2016

The time changed. Whoever created that didn’t have small children. Morning 1 it was Graham who woke up at 5:45 am and morning 2 it was Dawson who woke up at 5:45. UGH. So, I have a few extra minutes this morning to update on our life!

Graham is 10 months old as of last week. He’s so fun! He took his first steps last week, but has been crawling since. He wouldn’t even do it again so that I could film it! He still only has 2 teeth. He’s been working on a third for awhile and it just won’t come through. He’s sleeping (other than this time change thing) from 8 pm to 7 am every night and he takes 2-3 naps a day (1 longer one in the morning and two shorter in the afternoon). I’m still breastfeeding and he’s eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. He figured out how to use a straw about two weeks ago and quickly realized that Dawson sometimes gets something other than water to drink (apple juice or lemonade). Uh oh. So, he’s always after Dawson’s cup. He is literally the sweetest thing. You can tell that he’s really sensitive to your feelings. He’s bitten me a few times and he just cries and cries and cries and if you tell him no he gets the fattest lip and gets so upset. He’s terrified of the vacuum- like shaking, screaming, everything. He’s also really into music. If he hears something he starts bobbing up and down and waving his arms. Dawson has never really been into dancing so it’s fun to see! 🙂 It’s hard to believe he’ll be one in less than two months.

Dawson will be three in February. Lately he’s done so many big boy things. As of about 1.5 months ago he started wearing undies all the time other than bed. I think it was more than time. I had just been lazy about having him wear them out of the house. It’s really hard going to a public bathroom, holding Graham because he can’t stand on his own yet (and putting him on the bathroom floor is nasty), helping hold Dawson up to go and getting him dressed again. But, I decided it was time and he’s done awesome! He’s only had a few accidents and has even started making it through naps and night without wetting his diaper. He even made it to and from the deer lease (2 hour drive) in undies this weekend. So, we’re almost done with diapers for 1 kiddo! 🙂 He’s really funny and can be so sweet, but man- he’s also at a really challenging age. He struggles to listen (what kid doesn’t, right?!) and doesn’t really seem phased by discipline or incentives. So that can be really frustrating.

This fall we’ve spent some weekends up at the deer lease. Dawson loves it there- helping Daddy work and riding the 4-wheeler. He loves kicking and laying in the dirt and constantly is in the fire. Graham is a little too young to enjoy it since he isn’t walking. We spend much of our time inside since there’s no concrete or anything for him to crawl around on. We also took a trip to Abilene. Dave spoke at a conference there so the boys and I tagged along. That trip went really well! The boys never nap or sleep normal in a new place so I was pretty worried that the whole thing would be awful, but they did really good at night! The drive wasn’t too bad either (3 hours). We only had one incident where I think Dawson got carsick and threw up all over himself. Thank goodness it was in Grapevine on the way home and we had wipes and a change of clothes, etc! 😉 This weekend we are heading to San Antonio for the Notre Dame/Army game. My parents are coming along to watch the boys. My grandparents also live there- so they’ll spend some time with them. I’m excited to go to the game, but also to see my grandparents. They haven’t met Graham yet, and haven’t seen Dawson since he was about Graham’s age. My grandpa is in a nursing home and I think it’s so special to get some pictures of them that they can have forever.

My workouts have been going well. Time is still obviously a struggle, as I think that’s my future with kids. But, I’m able to get in a solid 4 days and then if we are in town I can usually get something in on Friday as well. I’m down 5lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight which is probably the lowest weight I’ve been since 2012 or maybe earlier. I usually sit at 150 and have for a very long time. I think the 145 is totally based on that I’m not as strong. I don’t LOOK 5 lbs lighter and I’m certainly not as strong as I was at 150. But, I’ve been happy with my consistency lately and my body has stayed really healthy and pain-free so I can’t complain about that right?! No huge PRs lately, although we have been doing pull-ups pretty much every day for the last 9 weeks and I know my strict number has increased. We test this week. I’ve also been able to do 8-10 chest to bars without coming off the bar, which is a big deal for me. I’ve always sucked at chest to bars. So, that’s definitely improved- just don’t know how much quite yet! 🙂

 

 

August 2016 Update

It’s been over a month. I’ve been meaning to sit down and write something for a week or so now, but man- life has been crazy. We have been busy with the back to school schedules and getting back into a routine there. My schedule changes a little from the summer to the school year and so do the kids so it takes a few weeks to get it down.

The boys are doing great and both are in a really fun stage right now. There are small little moments where they will occasionally play with each other. Their version of playing is just sitting next to each other playing with the same toys, but it is the sweetest thing to see. Then, they also have their moments of Dawson pushing Graham over or ‘patting’ him, which is really hitting. We have more of these moments than we do the sweet moments. But, I have a feeling it will only get more interesting once Graham can dish it back. Dawson is always concerned about where Graham is and what he’s doing- especially when he is getting some one else’s attention. Dawson still calls Graham ‘MY baby’. In the car Graham stares over at Dawson for the entire ride. Dawson will make these cackling noises and Graham just cracks up! It’s hilarious!

Dawson is quite the big boy lately. He started back at his school 2 weeks ago and has made drastic improvements on potty training. At home he rarely has accidents and has finally begun going on his own without my reminders. When we are out and about he seems to be too busy to think about it. He’ll occasionally say he needs to go, but usually not. He’s been struggling to get back in the swing of school. The first week was great and the second week.. not so much. Full on screaming fits as soon as we’d pull into the parking lot. I know he’s fine once he’s in the class and I’m out of sight, but UGH I hate leaving him like that. Dawson’s always been a paci-lover. Like would have a paci at all seconds of the day if I’d allow it. We have only allowed him to have it in the car and when he sleeps, but we cut out the car a few weeks ago. He doesn’t even ask about it anymore. Our next adventure will be to cut it all together. I have a feeling that’s going to be a hard process since there are still pacis around the house because of Graham. I wouldn’t be so worried about it if he wasn’t so dependent on it. He often throws screaming fits when you take it away from him after a nap or in the morning and I’m so over that. So, I’m trying to figure out a clever way to be finished with the paci that may make his transition a bit easier.

Graham is about to be 8 months old a week from Sunday. I can’t believe how fast time has gone. I swear time was slower when I just had Dawson! He’s doing so well! He just got his second tooth last weekend. That was a hard few days of broken sleep and very little eating. But, it’s broken through so we are in the clear for a few weeks, at least! He’s been crawling for about 2.5 months now so he’s completely mastered that and pulling up. We are currently working on trying to eat some soft solids. He gags every time he puts anything in his mouth. I’ve tried bananas, peas, those soft melty fruit baby snacks and a granola bar. He’s gagged with all of them. So, I’m just continuing to put things in front of him. He’ll get the hang of it sooner or later! 😉 He loves drinking water from his cup, but he’s still only drinking like 5 oz of milk at a time! I have no idea how he’s as big as he is! Dawson was eating a lot more than that at this point. We have moved his bed-time routine (milk and jammies) up to 8:45 pm! That’s huge!! It was 10:00 pm so this has allowed us to be in bed right at 10:00 rather than 11:00! That extra hour is heavenly when we wake up at 4:00 am! So, he’s sleeping from basically 9:15 pm-7:00 am. He’s not super vocal- he makes some noises, but he’s super observant. His overall personality is the sweetest thing- he just watches, smiles and is pretty quiet. He rarely cries. Most mornings at 7:00 I walk in his room and he’s just sitting in his bed without making a sound. He’s already in some of the 9-12 month clothes, which is crazy because Dawson fit into those last summer (when he was 18 months old). It’s really crazy to see him in stuff that I feel like Dawson just wore.

Workouts have been okay. I still just haven’t had enough time to do what I’d love to do. Most days (four days/week) I really only dedicate 45 minutes to something. I could spend more time on some days, but I choose to work or spend time with the boys instead. I guess I’m just in this season of life where that is more important to me. I say that I care about getting some of my harder skills back (muscle-ups, better handstand push-ups, etc) back, but I really don’t dedicate the time to get those. So, at the end of the day I guess it’s just not important enough to me. We’ve been eating pretty good lately, which is good! Having two kiddos as small as they are can be a challenge at times if things aren’t prepared. But, I’ve been doing a lot better about cooking at home. 🙂

I do have some updated numbers since I posted last time in May:
Clean and Jerk: 170 175
Clean: 175 185
Push Press: 140 150 x 2
Front Squat: 200 215
Strict Pull-ups: 7 9
Unbroken Toes to Bar: 12 20

September is a busy month for us- a few gym events and David’s birthday are all this coming month! I’ll also be heading to Houston for a weekend to watch my niece in a gymnastics meet! I’m pretty excited about that because I’ve never been able to go watch her! So, it’s going to a busy month. I’ll update when I can!

their matching jammies!

our outdoor adventures! looking for turtles and fishies!

first day of school!

July 2016 Update

Two months have flown by since the last time I posted. We’ve been working like crazy this summer with sports training, our normal adult classes and a few other projects.

Graham just had his 6 month check-up this afternoon and he’s doing awesome! He is 18lb, 1oz (61%) and 26.75 in (56%). He’s been eating sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, peas, bananas, apples, pears and peaches. He doesn’t seem to have a favorite, but has liked everything he’s tried. He eats solids twice a day and still BF seven times during the day. His last feeding is at 10:00 pm and his first feeding is at 7:00 am. He’s pretty much sleeping from his last to his first feeding, other than an occasional cry for a paci. So, we’ve come a long way in that regard. He’s even putting himself to sleep, which I’m not sure that Dawson did until he was much older.

He is crawling a little. He will do it when he really wants something. He can get from his belly to a sitting position and holds that pretty well without assistance. He’s even getting into a bear crawl position with his feet flat on the floor! So, we’re not far away from a full on mover. He’s ALWAYS happy. I thought Dawson was a happy, chill baby but Graham has proven that it can be even better. There are many days that I’ll go in his room at 7 am and he’s just laying there looking at the ceiling and he’ll see me and just smile.

This summer we have Jessie coming over to the house in the morning Monday through Thursday. She keeps the boys for us while we work. Dawson really loves not leaving the house and being able to play most of the day here at home. It’s also been awesome to not stress about getting the boys up, dressed and ready for the day along with myself. I’ve enjoyed that! 🙂 But, they will start back at their school in about a month and a half.

Dawson has been doing awesome this summer. He’s CRAZY and full of energy. He takes after his daddy in more ways than one. 😉 He took swim lessons a few weeks ago with Carly. The one time I went and watched he whined for the majority of the 30 minutes.. but it really has helped him! When we go swimming with him he actually does the things that she taught him. He really enjoyed going to that. He’s pretty much mastered the ABCs, counting to 20 and spelling his name. He’s also surprised us with learning almost all the words to 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redmond. He won’t sing it for you when you ask, but you can hear him singing in his bed or randomly while he plays with his toys. We’re still working on potty training. When we’re here at the house he does really well, but when we’re in public he doesn’t do so great. We went to his first movie last week with Lindsey and Harper. We saw Finding Dory at the Moviehouse Eatery. I was really nervous because I had both Dawson and Graham and David was gone. But, as soon as the lights went out Graham fell asleep and Dawson did awesome. He only made a few loud comments during quiet times and overall it was a great experience. After the movie he didn’t act like he loved it, but he talks about Nemo and Dory multiple times a day now. So, I think he enjoyed it more than he acted like.

We aren’t really traveling this summer. We went to Austin two weeks ago for Youth Nationals in Weightlifting. Dave was coaching three lifters there. It was pretty much a nightmare in terms of sleep. LOL The four of us were all in one room and Graham wouldn’t sleep in the pack-n-play. So, we got very little sleep. We were all very anxious to get home to our own beds and more importantly separate rooms! 🙂 We decided then that we would not be traveling anywhere until Graham was able to sleep well in a pack-n-play.

Workouts have been going okay. With my schedule right now I don’t really have much more than 45 minutes to warm-up and get a full workout in. So, it’s definitely more condensed than I would prefer. No great PRs lately or anything either. But, I’m consistently getting in 4 days/week and I think that’s a win! 🙂 Dave and I have cleaned up our diet quite a bit and I hit my pre-pregnancy weight last week. So, that was exciting. The 150 looks different than it did before. But, I’m happy to be back to that number none-the-less. Eating clean has helped with my energy, motivation to workout and overall attitude so I’m happy that we straightened it all back out.

Below we’ve got Graham’s 5 and 6 month pictures, some July 4th shots from Lone Star Park (where we got to watch the horse races and fireworks and Dawson got to ride a pony for the first time), Father’s Day at Mi Cocina, one of Dawson’s time-outs after he colored all over himself and my desk chair with a marker, a very special day when a tractor was parked right outside our house and Dawson got to look at it for almost an hour, our first movie experience with Lindsey and Harper, our photo shoot for Daddy’s Father’s Day gift and a picture from Mother’s Day at Verfs! 🙂 It’s been an awesome few months!

May Break Through

Hey all! It’s been awhile! That’s life with 2 kids while trying to run a business. The 2 kids is job enough.

Since the beginning I’ve said that Graham is actually an awesome sleeper- he just won’t sleep more than 3 hours at a time. He’s never seemed to have his days and nights mixed up. He would sleep at night, but literally every 3 hours almost on the dot he would wake up. We have tried it all. Up until 2 weeks ago he was still swaddled, sleeping in a vibrating bassinet and some times co-sleeping as well. It was pretty much a nightmare. He would go down at 10:30 and wake up at 1:00, 4:00 and then kick around pretty restless from 5:00-7:00. So, needless to say, I wasn’t getting much sleep. At his 4 month check-up the dr suggested we start slowly taking away some of those sleep aids and let him cry. So, we took off the swaddle and stopped letting the bassinet vibrate. We did that for a week. The first night I think I got out of bed like 12 times.  I saw improvement with the amount of time he would cry throughout the week, but he was still waking up every 3 hours. Last Sunday night I looked in the monitor and he had rolled from his back to his belly in the bassinet so that pretty much ruled that sleep aid out as well. So, back to square one last Sunday- crying all night because he went from a cozy bassinet to his flat crib. But, by Wednesday night he was only waking up at 3:00 to eat and then he woke up at 6:00. Each night since he’s woken up a little later and a little later. This morning I woke HIM up at 7:00! So, we’re not completely sleeping through the night because of the feeding at 3:00, but it’s a HUGE improvement. I’ve been saying some serious prayers about this because it’s been taking a toll on our family, so I’m really thankful that maybe he’s getting it?

Our last dr appointment went well! Graham was 15lb, 15oz. Dawson was this exact same weight at 6 months! 🙂 So, he’s a bit chunkier than his brother. We have given him a taste of avocado and sweet potato. He’s not so sure about either. We don’t really do any kind of rice cereal- so we’ll just kinda start transitioning him to food when we feel like he’s really ready. At this point, I don’t think he’s quite ready. Graham LOVES standing up- his legs are CRAZY. He kicks them SO fast. He’s also started grabbing at toys and he grabs at his paci all the time. He just hasn’t quite learned how to open his hand to let go. So, he’ll grab his paci and take it to his mouth, but then can’t let it go and he gets frustrated! LOL

Dawson has been doing well. He LOVES his little brother. Any time anyone is giving Graham attention he says ‘MY baby’. He loves to give hugs and kisses and lately he’s been trying to move Graham. So, I definitely can’t leave them in a room alone. He just finished up his school year and will be staying  home with a sitter this summer. We decided on this to make our mornings a bit easier and less hectic with all of the sports training we do in the early morning. Lately, Dawson is REALLY into tractors, especially excavators (yes, he knows the difference and he’ll make sure you know as well). He also LOVES the garbage truck. Every Monday he wants to go outside when he hears it to wave at them! Really any kind of truck, tractor, train, etc he loves. We went to a trampoline park on Friday and he loved that. We went back in February to a smaller place and he had a great time, so we took him to a bigger place and actually jumped with him and he had the best time! One hour of that wears him out! One of my favorite things about him right now is how fast he’s learning certain things… like he loves music and has learned quite a few songs. He can sing most of his ABCs, Row Row Row your Boat, Jingle Bells and he loves the song 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redmond. He’s pointing out tons of letters too- on street signs, t-shirts, etc. Some of his favorites, and how he points them out are: D- Dawson, P- Pop (my dad), T-Tucker, O- Ostrich, M- Mommy, N- Nana (my mom). He knows most of the letters and some words that start with them, but he only points certain ones out without being prompted.

Workouts have been going well. I finished up my lifting cycle about 2 weeks ago. I finished out with some good numbers. Obviously, not lifetime PRs, but that’s going to take me some time to get back to. I’m back to doing CrossFit workouts. My conditioning has definitely taken a hit and I feel like I’m going to pass out or throw up during most workouts.. but it’s fun, right? I’m about 2-3 lbs away from pre-pregnancy weight. My goal isn’t necessarily getting back to that weight, but instead having my stomach and overall body looking the same…. and we’re still a bit away from that! 😉

Here’s some of my new lifting numbers:
Back Squat: 245
Clean and Jerk: 170
Clean: 175
Snatch: 120
Push Press: 140
Overhead Squat: 135
Front Squat: 200

End of the Year Performance

Mother’s Day

First time in a swing

Magnolia in Waco

Sushi with Pop

Visit with Melissa and McKinley at the Aquarium