Whenever I burp a baby, why am I the only one burping?

Ahhhh, the joys of breastfeeding. I had forgotten how difficult it is for me in the beginning. Timmy is slowly but surely catching on (and so am I). It was much easier with Thomas. He hooked on the minute he was born and didn't let go for over a year. It was very trying with Matt. We had a hard time with him. It seems that Timmy has a few tendancies like Matt did (ie falling alseep in the middle, using me as a pacifier). As a result it is a little painful at times and he doesn't nearly empty out my chest to make it feel any better. But on the positive side, for the first time in months my chest is larger than my stomach! I also forgot all about the cramps you feel when nursing. Almost like contractions. As I sit and cringe while feeding him, I tell myself that I'm having cramps for a reason and it is a good thing. I also forgot how hungry you get. I have my snack collection for the middle of the night feedings. (my feedings that is!) It's a great diet plan actually. Eat all you want and nurse a baby and still loose weight. I forgot that anytime you hear a baby, think about a baby, or think about nursing, the milk prouction starts up and you can feel the pressure building up within (like right now as I type this!) I also forgot how thirsty you get. I was thinking of ways to drink water and nurse at the same time. I came up with this...

Only with water bottles of course.

The nursing is going better though. Hopfully Timmy is able to gain back the weight that he has lost. We went to the Dr yesterday and he had another bilirubin test and the Dr called last night and we're going back again today. He needs to get more hydrated so he doesn't get jaundiced. Last night was a really good nursing night. It goes something like this:

First night home with baby: 20 minutes of sleep

Second night home with baby: 0 minutes of sleep

Third night home with baby: 5 hours of sleep. Priceless.

Last night we were up for about an hour at a time (feeding and changing diapers- which he hates by the way), and then we would sleep for 1 1/2 - 2 hours at a time. Perhaps I was tired enough to sleep through his noises all night. In any case things are looking up. We're still working on falling alseep mid feeding, and latching on correctly. You know when the baby gets on incorrectly cause it feels like someone is chewing on you and pulling your body parts away from your body and it really hurts. Kind of like a vamipre.

And speaking of newborns and vampires...

Saturday is a special day. It's the day we get ready for VAMPIRES!

Thousands upon thousands have been looking forward to Saturday, Aug 2nd. At last we get the end of the story between Edward, Bella, and Jacob. All of our questions will be answered. Will Edward and Bella still get married? Will Jacob come back? Will Bella chicken out? Will Edward follow through with his promises? Will Bella make a good newborn? Will Jacob try to kill Edward or vise versa? All these questions make this book seem like a soap opera! Hee hee.



If you have no idea what I'm talking about, shame on you! OK, OK, you can redeem yourself by starting to read Twilight today. Check out Stephenie Meyer's website and you can get Breaking Dawn quote of the day. (She is posting one quote from the book a day until the book release.)



And speaking of book release, how interesting is it that there is solar eclipse on Friday night along with a new moon. How convienient of the publishers. I'm going to have a hard time containing myself and reading only when nursing or something. It's very easy for me to get sucked into a book and ignore the outer world for hours on end. I can't really afford to do that this time. Happy reading!

Timothy William

Just born 7/24/08 7 lbs 7 oz

Mommy and baby Timmy

Complete adoration

Sleeping

Big yawn

Snug as a bug

Triplets

So people have asked if Timothy looks like the boys. What do you think? Here are pictures of all the boys when they were less than 24 hours old. Can you tell them apart?

The delivery story

OK. So nearly every woman at any age will share their birthing story with you. Who knows why. It'a an amazing experience and everyone's is different. So I thought I'd share the story with you. Here goes.



We went into the hospital at 7:30. Got an IV (which by the way was nearly the worst part of the whole day. I really hate needles and to have one sticking out of my skin all day is the worst kind of torture on me. I even felt faint when they got it in. What a lovely way to start the day). They started a Pictocin drip at about 9:00. And then I settled in for the long day. I took a nap.



After 4-5 hours I was at a 4 1/2. OK, so 1 cm per hour. Only 6 more hours to go. This was at 2:00. The Dr came in and said, "once you get to a 5 then I bet you go all the way to a 10 within a 1/2 hour." I kind of thought, "yeah, right". (by the way, he had already broken the water). So at about 3:00 the contractions started being a lot stronger and closer (every minute) and I decided that there was no way I was lasting who knows how many hours and I had better order the Epideral. Besides, my concentration music and other means to help me weren't helping very well. So they got the Epidural in about 3:30. While I was getting it I mentioned that I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, but interestingly enough only when there was a contraction coming. The nurses looked at each other and asked if there was pressure. Well, yes, there was. They looked at each other and asked "when was the last time you were checked?". I got checked and I was at a 7-8. So with the Epidural in, the pain was gone, but of course I could still feel pressure coming. The Dr came in and checked about 10 minutes later and I was at a 8-9. Then people started turning on lights, the Dr got the stirrups (that's lovely), and people were in and out making preparations. This was about 10 minutes to 4:00. A little after 4:00 they told me to push if I felt like it. I did and at 4:17 little Timothy William came into the world. Thank goodness I got the epidural when I did.



Timothy weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz. He was 20 1/2 inches long. I'm sure that if he came a week later when he was due, that he would have definately been at least 8 lbs. So congrats to Andrea for guessing that he would come a week early (I really appreciated your faith in that one!). Email me with your address and I'll mail you some chocolate. Emily was the closest with weight, so I'll be kind to a fellow pregnant person and send a treat your way as well. (how long would it take to get there anyway?)



So that is the story. If you want further details, you'll have to ask.

Too Tired to Post

Hi all. We're home. We're gearing up for the first night at home. Hopefully I get some sleep. I should be asleep right now. So I'll post pictures tomorrow.

"Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow. You're only a day away..."

So tomorrow is the big day. I go into the hospital early in the morning and will come out with a baby. Any more guesses as to how big he is going to be? Remember, if you guess the size, you can win a prize!

We will send out an email either tomorrow night or the following morning (depending on what time everything happens). If you have never recieved a newsletter from our family email, let me know (send me an email, or comment here) and we will add you to the list. When I get home later this weekend I will update with lots of pictures.

Wish me luck! And pray that it doesn't take too long!

Baby timing

So, if you've been keeping track of the floating baby countdown off to the right, you've noticed that all of a sudden the days left over jumped from 10 to 4. You may be wondering why. Last week at my Dr appt, my Dr asked if I would like to be induced on the 24th. So, if my body is ready (ie. fully effaced) then I will have a baby on the 24th. (yes, this Thursday!) I'll let you know on Wed after my appt what's going on. (Well, after I go out for lunch of course. Without children! My friend and I scheduled our appointments at the same time so we could do lunch. Smart eh?)

Trilingual Musicality

Somehow we have raised a musical genius.

OK, maybe not a genius. But something very interesting has come to our attention.

Each time we have Family Night we sing songs, and we let the boys pick out their own songs. Needless to say we have sung "Angels we have heard on high" every Monday night for the last couple of years. The boys can turn to the page in the Hymn book without fail. Matt has the page number memorized. I guess that Thomas just knows what he's looking for. He doesn't know his numbers very well, and he certainly can't read. So imagine our surprise when he was holding the French Hymn book and he flipped right to "Angels we have heard on high" and proudly announced he found it. We were quite shocked. The music is even a little bit different between the two languages. I was slightly skeptical, so we closed the book and I asked him to find it again. He did. Then just for kicks, we gave him the Swedish Hymn book and asked him to find it. He did. How in the world is a 3 year old finding this song in books where he can't even read the language, doesn't know his numbers, and the music even varies with each version?! (I've highlighted the different musical versions if you want to see the difference. I couldn't find the Swedish one online). I know he has to be looking at the music. So I am wondering if Thomas can find this particular song in other languages. Maybe if I get a hold of any other Hymn books in different languages, I'll test him. It sure is a mystery though.

Safety in a Maternity store

So today was very hot (like 95, with who knows how high humidity). We were trying to figure out something to do to get the boys out of the house and use up some energy, without going in the heat. I suggested walking around the mall. Now Doug really doesn't like the mall at all, especially on a Saturday. But I mentioned going out to eat and video game store and he was hooked. So we piled in the van and went to the mall. We walked the length of it and got something to eat, then the boys wanted to go up and down the escalators. We went into Sears to check out vacuums (ours is on its deathbed). I've never seen two people so excited about vacuums. The boys were jumping up and down, "Wow! Look at this one!" After that we went to a video game store. Thomas wanted to go back to the escalators. So Thomas and I rode them up and down a couple times and then I decided that I wanted to go into the Motherhood Maternity store to look at some nursing clothes (there's no way I'm buying new maternity clothes with only a week left!). So while I was looking at stuff, Thomas wanted to look at himself in the mirror. Next to the mirror was a man apparently waiting for his spouse. He looked down at Thomas and asked him, "Is that a basketball on your shirt?". Thomas was excited that someone noticed him and started jumping up and down and starting to say yes. Then he stopped all of a sudden and looked very serious. He looked at the man and said, "Wait. Are you a stranger?" Then I heard giggling coming out of the changing room. The man smiled and said, "Well, yes I am a stranger" Then Thomas said, "Hey Mom, watch this." He turns to the guy and says, "I'm not allowed to talk to strangers"

Now, you may wonder why Thomas would say this. Lately he has had this bad habit of talking to random people and telling them his name, his brother's name, their ages, his parents names, and whatever pops into his head. We keep telling him that he can't do that. So, for the past couple weeks for our Family Night we have talked about how it is important to not talk to strangers. So after reviewing for a couple weeks, I was quite pleased to see Thomas actually follow through. I almost felt bad for the guy at the maternity store. He was just trying to talk to a little kid, but I'm sure he understood why we taught our kids to be careful. Even if the other person feels like our kid is being rude, too bad. It's for our child's safety.

Fête Nationale

Aujourd’hui c’est la Fête Nationale (Bastille Day). C’est la journée d’independence en France. Nous aimons le fêter avec les crêpes, la musique française, et en parlent le français avec les autres amis qui parlent aussi le français. Mais aujourd’hui je n’ai pas l’énergie á faire des crêpes. Et je ne veux pas que ma ventre soit proche de la cuisine (ca peut être trés chaud pour le petit bébé.) Peut-être on peut jouer au Monopoly en Français. Peut-être on peut enseigner quelques mots aux garçons. Alors, aujourd’hui si vous voulez faire quelque chose française, vouz pouvez écouter la musique, manger la cuisine française, ou regarder un video en français (avec les DVDs c’est tres simple!) Bonne journée!

...And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air...

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

Tonight is was supposed to rain, and it did. However, when the boys got their PJ's on, the rain momentarily stopped. We deliberated for a little bit about taking our chances and going out to see the fireworks. So, we took their PJ's off, put them in sweatpants, grabbed a couple lawn chairs, a couple A&W Root Beers, the bag of Doritos, and we were out the door. As we were driving, the rain started up again. "Oh well, " we thought. " At least the boys will get sleepy in the car". We drove to the Metro station and went to the very top of the parking garage. And waited. After about 15 minutes the fireworks started (much to our surprise). The boys were very excited to see the fireworks. (I think this was one of the first times they saw them. Last year we only saw a couple minutes worth behind some trees). When the rain came down harder, we moved our back row seats in the van to tailgate style, and the boys sat on them and got a great view while keeping dry. I sat in a lawn chair holding an umbrella. Too bad I didn't have the camera. Overall we had a good time. We need to give the boys experiences like this from time to time.

I can still hear occasional fireworks going off. Good thing it's raining so things won't catch fire with random back yard fireworks gone bad. The boys are sleeping and the big boy (yes the man of the house) is setting up yet another video game console.

We had talked about getting the Wii, and thought that maybe it would be a nice distraction for the boys when the baby comes and they won't feel left out. Doug, however, pointed out that we had better make sure that it works properly before the 30 days are up or we won't be able to return it to the store, just in case. I think he's looking for a good excuse to get it out of the box early. But he does have a point. So I mentioned that he could get it out and test it out tonight after the boys go to bed. Then we have to keep it hidden until the baby comes so it is a really cool surprise. I wonder how many times Doug's going to play it after the boys go to bed between now and then. Oh well. I'll have to keep my eyes open for "Cooking Mama" (a game where you get to mimic cooking skills.). Matt should like that one. He's always asking me to teach him how to cook and he loves the show "Iron Chef" on the Food Network. He says he wants to be an Iron Chef some day. Fine with me. My goal is to make sure my kids know how to cook when they leave the house, and not just Mac & Cheese.

Well, the game is now set up. Gotta go. Too bad I have no energy to have a boxing match with my husband. Maybe in 4 more weeks.