2 Kids = No More Spare Time!

Wow is it going to be difficult to maintain a blog now that I have 2 kids (let alone everything else that needs to be done)! I don't know how people do it, and manage to keep it together. The last few weeks have been a big adjustment for us, and I haven't even been left alone all day yet! My mother just left this morning however, and today I got a taste of what it'll be like during the day taking care of Vince and Zoë alone. I only had to do it until about 11am though... that's when Vince's babysitter (and our dear friend) from Cambridge, Kathryn, came to rescue me. What am I going to do if I can't even last half a day on my own haha! Well I'm sure it'll get better. I'm looking forward to having the excuse of not being able to do any house work during the day because I'm too busy with the kids. I get one more week of someone being around during the day to help me out, as Mike's mother is coming back tomorrow. I'm very thankful of this because Mike will be leaving on Sunday for a conference that will last the whole week. So Nonna will be around to keep Vince some company and help hold the baby.... which I'm sure she won't mind doing.

So here's what's been going on with us:

Zoë seems to be growing just fine, and wins the hearts of everyone that comes to meet her. She's pretty good at falling asleep on whoever happens to be holding her. She's a great cuddle bug! My mother got in as much cuddle time as she could possibly get... and I know Zoë will miss her!

Here she is curled up like a frog on Grandma

Here's Vince and his buddy Max at a neighborhood block party a few weeks ago. I kept meaning to put up this awesome picture of them and there blue lips. As you can see Max has a nice cupcake with LOTS of blue frosting... and Vince is eating a blue ring pop. Hence they both look like they just made out with the cookie monster.

Mike had the bright idea of 'camping out' with Vince in our backyard a few nights ago. We figured that would get him ready for an upcoming camping trip that the two of them are going to take. Well, Vince was super excited about the tent when we put it up.... and talked about it until it was time to get in it and go to sleep. Being able to see down into the tent from our bedroom window, I could see that sleeping was the last thing on Vince's mind! He was using the tent as a boxing ring and Mike was his target.... jumping all over him for over an hour, having a ball. Then at one point he escaped the tent and started running around the backyard (this was after 9pm mind you). Vince's shenanigans went on for over 2 hours and Mike failed miserably to get him to commit to any sort of rest whatsoever. Then at about 9:30 Mike comes into the room and announces that the camping trip has been aborted. Vince started asking for his crib and wanting to sleep in it. So in the house they marched, and Vince fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. I think they are going to try it again in the next couple of weeks, we'll let you know how it goes!

Continuing the Tradition

We have Vince's pictures each year wearing his Daddy's shirt, so I needed to dig up a good shirt for Zoë to wear every year for her birthday! Here's installation number one of her yearly t-shirt pic, go CU Buffs! (thanks for the idea Joc!)

Update and More Pics

The last couple of days we've been settling in with Zoë. Things have been going pretty well, and we're not very sleep deprived yet. Zoë has been sleeping a lot, allowing me and Lisa to get some rest too. My parents just left this morning, so we'll see how we do for the next couple of days on our own until Lisa's friend Lyla arrives.

Here are some more pictures:

Zoë in the bouncy seat

Nona holding Zoë. She's a great cuddler!

The next three photos are of Vince and Zoë. Vince has been great around his little sister, and when we tell him things that he can do and Zoë can't, he says "I'll show her." However, he has had a couple of really bad tantrums the last couple of days, but we've been dealing with them. He's just been more particular than lately about having things his way. We're not sure if this is his acting out due to the presence of Zoë, or it's just normal toddler behavior.

Home From the Hospital

Around 11 this morning we left the hospital and headed home. Vince was excited to see us, and we spent a few minutes together, but he definitely has some jealousy issues, like any toddler would have in these situations. We're going to be settling in over the next few days, and I expect that he'll come to accept Zoë a little more.

All this is probably mildly interesting, but what you really care about is pictures.

Mom and Zoë snuggling in the hospital

Big mouth, but tiny lungs

On our way home

Going Home Today

We're getting ready to be discharged from the hospital this morning. Just a couple more people to see then we're on our way home. We're looking forward to having all four of us under the same roof tonight.

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Thoughts on a second baby

I have to admit, it seems so sudden to have another child. I know that this may sound strange since Lisa was pregnant for 9 months, but everything surrounding Vince's arrival was an ORDEAL. We obsessed about the pregnancy and labor, reading books and taking classes. We researched baby products and had everything we thought we needed on hand, which of course turned out to be way more stuff than we really needed. And of course Lisa's labor with Vince was incredibly long and drawn out.

Everything was different with Zoë. Since we already had Vince, we were busy with him so we didn't spend much time thinking about the delivery or the aftermath. Lisa certainly didn't get the pregnancy pampering she got when she was pregnant with Vince! The strangest thing for me was the labor and delivery. Lisa got her first contractions around 1:30 am, and we decided to head to the hospital. When we got there, she was 5cm dilated. It took 24 hours of labor with Vince for Lisa to get to that point. Lisa decided to get an epidural this time, to experience the other end of the spectrum. That went in around 4am. About 7am, they checked Lisa again, and she had not progressed yet. We decided to break her water, which did not help, so we had them give her pitocin around 8. That seemed to do the trick, and her contractions started coming strong. Of course, Lisa could not feel them at all, we basically hung out in the room. Lisa watched TV and I surfed the internet. It felt totally surreal compared to how active Vince's labor was. It was like we were just hanging out, not like there was a baby coming soon. Around 9:20, the nurse came in to check on Lisa, and she said the baby was almost there. The midwife came in, and after 7 minutes of pushing, we had a baby girl! It's like we were just spectators at the birth of our daughter. (Lisa would have disagreed with this while she was pushing.)

Pictures of Zoë

It's been a hectic 24 hours with running back and forth to the hospital, dealing with a toddler whose world has just been turned upside down, and having someone in my backyard doing drainage work. I've got plenty of help to juggle all of these things, but there's still not enough time during the day for it all. And of course I chose sleep over a blog post last night.

Without any further ado, here are some more pictures of Zoë

Epidurals are fun!

First moments

She looks more like Vince than Mike or Lisa

First bath

Lisa and Vince

Family Portrait
At least we got one kid looking at the camera, but that's because she can't move her head yet!

Nona and Zoë

Welcome Zoë

Zoë has left the uterus! Weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs 1.5 oz, Zoë was born a little after 9:40am. Mom and Zoë are doing great!

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An epidural is a totally different experience...

When Lisa was in labor with Vince she had a natural childbirth. It was a pretty long labor, and the contractions were very intense. Right now Lisa is in labor, but with the epidural she's not feeling anything. We're just sitting here in the delivery room watching TV while she's having contractions. The only way we can tell that she's having contractions is the strip chart recorder hooked up to her belly. Right now, we're just spectators along for the ride.

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Zoë is on her way

Lisa started having contractions around 1:30 this morning. We headed up to Mt Auburn Hospital, and the midwife told us that Lisa is in active labor. We've settled into one of the delivery rooms, and we're excited for Zoë to make her debut! More updates to follow...

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Happy Anniversary To Us!

On June 24th, Mike and I celebrated our 4th anniversary! We celebrated by going out to a nice dinner and getting a nice babysitter to watch Vince. It was relaxing to get out and just enjoy an evening together, something we don't do enough of anymore!

Happy Anniversary Baby! You're the best husband and father anyone could have!

Surprise Anniversary dessert (along with the one we ordered!)

I had a salad with capers mixed in. I'm a total nut about capers, I could eat them from the jar! Well I couldn't believe the size of these capers that were in my salad! They were ginormous! I don't know if this picture even does their size justice, but I thought I'd try to record the day that I actually felt like I had too many capers in my food.


In case anyone is wondering about the baby, here's an update: nothing has happened yet! I feel like I'm overdue now even though the due date is July 8th. I wish I would have given birth a week early like I did with Vince but this little girl is doing things her own way! It has given us some extra time to get things done though which is nice. Now it's just a waiting game! We'll update the blog as soon as anything happens (and we have the time, haha).

We have some birthday party pics!

Our friends Amy and Marcus came to Vince's birthday party and brought all sorts of fun toys for toddlers, including a large jumpy castle which they own. They also managed to take some pictures of the day... and since she just did a post on her blog I decided to steal some of the pictures to put them up on our blog!

The little man getting cake cutting instructions

Ramona directing everyone into the pool

Enjoying the water