saturday

Today I spent the only free time I had sorting, organizing, labeling, and filing away 180+ pictures into the kids' photo albums. Leaving me with a hand sore from writer's cramp. I felt like I was back in college scrambling to write as much as possible on an all-essay final exam. {btw - those were always so dumb. multiple choice is easier for me and you, the teacher grading the test.}

I usually do this process every month, but this time I was about 3 months behind... oops. Living in a digital age where you can share pictures online and never have to leave your house to order them makes life so much easier. We have a photo-sharing group online with our family members, which is amazing. We never have to guess what photos people want and mail them - they can just do it all themselves online.

Now that things have settled a little bit here at home, I have things I need to catch up on. Like the photos: things that are no where close to urgent, but need to get done nonetheless.

My next goal is to write in the girls' journals.

After seeing how touched my friend Shelby was when she received a journal her mom kept for her from when she was a baby, I decided to keep a journal for each of our girls. I found these handmade journals on Etsy and absolutely love them.

I wrote about the day they were born, little milestones as they grew, and sweet moments we shared. Now, as they grow older, I also write down funny things Bailey says or how sweet Avery is with the new baby.

Now that we have a boy, I wasn't sure if a journal was too "girly." But most people I asked thought I should go ahead and keep one for him too. My hope someday is that all of our kids will appreciate being able to read about the things they were doing and how their dad and I felt as they grew up. And it's a good way for me to remember all the little things from our day-to-day lives together that become so easy to forget. So even if a journal is pretty girly, maybe some day when I am dead and gone Graham will appreciate it anyway.

Tonight Bailey offered her "help" in the kitchen. She likes to play with all her food toys, but cooking for real with Daddy is much more fun.

(And so is constantly trying to eat what is being cooked.)

 

 

This little terror was also roaming the kitchen,

looking for dropped food or anything she could climb on top of.

 

 

From the looks of it, we may need to invest in a high-quality hair net.

 

 

Meanwhile Brother took a nice long nap up against his boppy.

(That seems to do the trick lately!)

 

 

Of course he woke up just as i was sitting down to eat supper.
Of course.
Baby's have ESP for that, you know.

life with a mama-lovin' baby

2013 has been pretty ho-hum around here so far.

Jared worked a double shift on New Year's Day, which translates into more money for us, but a pretty long day (after a near-sleepless night) for me. So I was really happy when my mom asked if she and my dad could come hang out later that night. They help with baths and are champion book-readers. Plus the girls always like to jump all over spend time with their grandparents. 

Graham has been making sure I don't get much done around the house.
That child doesn't want to be put down.   ever.
In fact he is chilling in my lap right now as I write this.
I can't remember the girls being quite this needy.

I am all for baby-wearing. I have a Moby wrap and I use it. But it is super hard to do tasks requiring bending over when wearing a newborn, especially one who weighs what most 3 month-olds do. Perhaps I am not doing it right, but I can't help but feel like his head is going to snap right in half if I bend over too far.
So unloading the dishwasher is out. So is picking up toys. And laundry for the most part.

If I sit/lay him down for even a few minutes, this is the face I get:

So sad, right?

It doesn't matter if he is completely asleep when I lay him down, he wakes up within seconds. And that nice swing we bought just for him? Forget about it.

We were doing really well at night - sleeping 5 hours at a time, but he seems to have hit a growth spurt. He sleeps well, just not by himself. He is a bit codependent you might say. He snoozes just fine as long as I am within one centimeter of his body. Each and every time I try and put him down in the pack-n-play. If he lasts an hour, I am amazed. Most times he wakes up within 15 minutes - just enough time for me to have fallen asleep - a hard sleep.

And I know I shouldn't, but I get up and put him in bed with me. Instantly he stops crying and makes this sweet little baby sigh as he snuggles up next to me. Ohh...it's just so cute...{Clearly, he is one manipulative little baby...} I don't sleep nearly as well because I don't move the entire time, but at least it is sleep. We won't make a habit of it (personally, I think those "family bed" people are bat-shit crazy) but it is what is working this week.

Speaking of beds, we had a family movie night on ours last night.

Oliver and Company was what was showing. (Pretty awesome, I know.)

We all cuddled up together under the covers and watched a Disney movie together. Bailey was pumped just because there was popcorn. Sister loves her snack foods.
It was a sweet moment.
Like the ones I pictured when I imagined having kids some day.
And those moments are what make the hard days and long, sleepless nights all worth it.

Ringing in 2013

My sweet New Year's Eve celebration:
a cranky one month-old boy.
a small glass of delicious wine (good pick, Beaner!).
DVR'ed episodes of random TV shows.
a husband that wimped out on me by 11 o'clock.

Lackluster. to say the least.

I didn't even see the ball drop.

Graham finally gave in to sleep around 11:20 and I decided I should take my sleep when I can get it. And good thing I did.
I technically did see the new year in as I was awake trying to console my fussy baby. In fact, I probably got as much sleep as those out celebrating and having a good time. But sadly two hours of sleep is a little bit cooler to talk about when you were out drinking and dancing the night away.

2012 was a good year for us - full of big changes.
I found out I was pregnant.
We moved.
Both of us took new jobs.
We moved again.
We had a baby.
And we finally are no longer homeowners.

It sounds pretty simple when I list it all out like that, but really, there was a lot of stress involved.

For 2013, I am happy to be settled.
We are in our house to stay. Our newest little addition is healthy (and usually happy). We no longer have to worry about selling our house. We can enjoy just being.

I am not big on resolutions.
Obviously I want to lose the rest of the baby weight, but I am not even going to make a resolution about it. I have a one month-old and there is a lot of snow on the ground: I am clearly not going to exercise... And yes, I need to stop with the Christmas candy. But I can't  let it go to waste! I will not - I repeat, will not! - do that to a delicious Reese's tree. Soon it will be gone and then I can start being good, right?

One resolution I do want to make: keeping a gratitude journal.
Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds all Oprah-y. But I was watching some news shows the last few days and they listed a gratitude journal/list as an easy and effective way to improve your outlook and attitude on life.

And as a mom to 3 kids under 3, I think I could really use that.

All it requires is writing down 3 things every single day that you are grateful for. I think it sounds like a good exercise in teaching myself to notice the small things again. I hope it can help me focus on what I do have in my life versus focusing on the negative or what I wish was different. Because when it comes down to it, I have a lot to be thankful for. And while I know that, it is always good to have a reminder. Plus it will be an easy resolution to keep.

Hopefully other people had a more exciting New Year's Eve than me. In fact I know they did because I am bombarded with fun-looking pictures on Facebook.
Maybe next year I will get my New Year's kiss.
Between work and babies, it's been a few years.    [Damn we are old...]

Christmas 2012

I've been meaning to post for a couple days now, but truth be told, we haven't really been home much.

In fact, we have been so on-the-go that Bailey woke up this morning and asked, "Where are we going today, Mommy?"

Thankfully the answer is Nowhere.

Christmas this year was even better than the last.

It was nice to not have to travel and be able to wake up on Christmas morning in your own bed. It was special to be able to watch the girls run downstairs to open gifts together in our own house. We didn't go see Santa this year (underachieving mommy) and I am not sure Bailey really knows much about the whole Santa-bringing-gifts thing. She just knew presents were under the tree and that is all that mattered in her book.

It was fun to spend time with family. There are always a lot of laughs and board games.
And food.
Big emphasis on the food part.
And even though we didn't get to spend the actual holiday with Jared's family, we saw both his mom and dad this month. And both girls are well aware of Grandma Cathy's presence, especially around Christmas-time, because she does send some very nice gifts

We had multiple get-togethers this year.

The first was with my Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Ronnie.

Weiss grandkids and great-grandkids

 



Every year we get together at their house and completely stuff ourselves with prime rib (like I said, emphasis on the food). We open gifts and play our gift exchange game, which b.t.w. - I scored some delicious wine. No peanuts this year!

And this picture about sums up the holiday experience for Bailey.

I am pretty sure she ate at least 20 cookies over the course of 3 days.
{She knows Grandma Sherri is a sucker.}
It's no wonder that girl never wanted to sleep.

 

 

For Christmas Eve we attended the annual candlelight worship service. And as previously mentioned, we portrayed the Holy Family.

Photos were indeed taken to commemorate the event.

Don't we look so pious?

And because Jared can't be serious for long...

However, I did keep it respectable and deleted the picture of Joseph goin' gangsta and throwing up a peace sign.

Graham did amazingly well during the service. I was able to lay him in the manger and he stayed asleep. About halfway through he woke up ready to eat. And because Mary didn't wear a nursing top back in the day, Brother had to wait. He settled for a pacifier instead.

After the service we headed back to our house with my parents and sisters and ate our usual post-church service meal of little wienies and other unhealthy snacks.

And as always we had to pose for pictures.

That brings me to Christmas Day.

The girls woke up around 8:15 and headed downstairs. Bailey knew what was awaiting her under the tree. Avery just followed along because that is what she does.

 

 

They would open a gift and play with it for awhile until we made them continue opening the rest.
We don't really go overboard with the presents, especially since they are still so young. We bought them some clothes and a book or two and some small toys we knew they would like - like PlayDoh. Presents from Grandma Cathy were under the tree too so the opening lasted for quite a while.

Jared made breakfast for us all and I sipped apple cider while the girls enjoyed their morning. It was nice and relaxed, with the exception of the occasional fight over who got to play with the new cash register first.


Mid-morning we loaded the kids up and headed to my parent's house to open gifts (and eat!) with them.

 

Our kids are truly spoiled by their aunts and grandparents. There was absolutely no room near the tree for another present. I must say though, our family is very good about buying things that are useful - like jeans and shoes. And also with a teacher in the family, the girls are always getting new books.

Bailey was especially liking her newest book (or was it Avery's present?) from Aunt Beaner.  She took a few minutes to read to all of us.

We stayed at my parents' all day.

I forced family members to play Rack-O with me - a game I asked for for Christmas. {Yes, those are the kind of presents I request.} I also logged in some hot tub time with Beaner and a bottle of wine.
Jared took about a 4 hour long nap on the couch.
Bailey consumed quite a few cookies while watching Disney movies on my mom's bed.  My dad enjoyed finding those crumbs under the covers on his side later that night.
Avery spent the afternoon constantly hunting down Beaner's cat.  Poor Kobe.
And Graham journeyed from lap to lap being snuggled and cuddled.

Then to officially finish up the Christmas holiday, we went after-Christmas shopping yesterday. We always like to go and get decorations and lights for next year. We truthfully don't need any of it, but I like having a festive-looking house at holiday time, and after Christmas is the time to buy more stuff.
I really do love a good sale.

Tomorrow I will probably start taking down the tree and Santa-themed decorations. But for the rest of today, I have no plans. And that is fine with me.

Getting in the spirit

We decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I wanted everything done before Baby's arrival. Same goes for Christmas shopping. All our presents were purchased and wrapped before Halloween this year.  And yep, I am bragging - I am pretty proud to have been so on the ball for once.

I seemed to remember the exhaustion that comes with a newborn and knew I would have zero energy for anything more than the necessities.

Although we put the tree up a month ago, we didn't actually put ornaments on it until last week.

 

 

And even that was probably too soon. Our decorated Christmas tree is a magnet for little hands. Bailey didn't bother it last year, but Avery is a different story this year. Slowly the ornaments have been migrating further and further north on the tree - for their own protection.

Every year we try to put the kids under the tree for a picture.

Our children are soooo not cooperative with things like this.

 

Bailey stayed put pretty well, but she makes the weirdest faces.

And Avery apparently thought that "cheese" meant to run as fast as possible to get as close as possible to the camera lens . However, she was always smiling - just blurry and out of focus.

 

 

 

Then we added Graham into the mix. He doesn't have a Christmas outfit, and we clearly planned this photo shoot so well seeing as he is wearing a duck-themed sleepsack.

 

Oh well. It's pretty hard for a 3 week-old to be photogenic anyway.

Here is one of the few where he isn 't cross-eyed or closing his eyes (probably praying for it to be over).



 

Bailey can usually be convinced to do things with food.

 

(Don't you just love our parenting techniques?)

 

She loves sweets. She goes on regular scouting expeditions to the kitchen, looking for cookies or anything else she isn't supposed to have.  So with the promise of a freshly baked cookie, she volunteered to pose for photos.

 

{I told you she made weird faces.}

 

And speaking of sweets, we are a bit late to the game, but yesterday afternoon we finally started making some Christmas goodies. I wanted to put together a plate for our sweet neighbors, especially since they cleared our entire (large) driveway and sidewalks with their snowblower yesterday. They are awesome.

 



 

I really can't believe Christmas will be here in 4 short days.

The next few days will be spent with family.

 

We  will celebrate with my mom's side at my grandma Joyce's house on Sunday afternoon. The highlight is the gift exchange/stealing game we play. This year I hope to not end up with the mixed nuts.  Just sayin'.

 

Monday night is Christmas Eve church service. We have been asked to portray the Holy Family since we conveniently have a fresh little baby in our family now.  So Graham will be Jesus and I will be the Blessed Virgin... {Try not to laugh at that thought.}

Then afterward we will have our annual meal of appetizers/horrible-for-you foods with my family.

 

Christmas morning will be celebrated at our house for the first time.

I am excited for the girls to wake up and run downstairs to open their presents.

(I am sure they will think all of them are from Grandma Cathy since whenever they see a wrapped gift or a delivery from FedEx, Bailey yells, "Gramma Cathy!!"  Forget Santa, Grandma Cathy already has that gig covered.)

 

And after that, I will be more than happy to tear down our Christmas tree and put away any surviving ornaments.

 



Life with Three

The days really blend into one another around here lately.

With Jared working nights and sleeping during the day, it's all up to me to manage two toddlers and a newborn. And having to sit down for at least a half hour to an hour every 3 hours to breastfeed Graham makes it a bit harder to keep tabs on both girls.

 

Granted, they find trouble no matter what I am doing.

I went to use the bathroom (total of about 2 minutes) and come out to find Avery on top of the kitchen table, eating an apple.

 

Meanwhile, Bailey took the opportunity to use the upstairs bathroom.

Which is a good thing - yay potty training!

But she decided to go #2 on her own.

 

I didn't even realize she was gone until I heard the toilet flush and Bailey yelled, "Mommy! Mommy! I went poop, Mommy!"

Seeing as she emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, I figured I would have a mess on my hands, but I didn't.

{Thank God for no-wipers.}

 

But in hindsight I wish we had never bothered with the little potty and just gone straight for the seat that sits directly on the toilet.

There is nothing I like less than using a Clorox wipe to scrub out remnants of last night's burrito supper, beans included, from the little bowl inside the little potty.

{Easily one of the least glamorous aspects of motherhood.}

 

 

Then today while I take one minute to address an envelope to put in the mail, Avery climbs on the same table to peel every single banana in the fruit stand.

And, of course, take one bite from every one.

Apparently it was snack time.

 

Meanwhile Bailey is attempting to unwrap the present I have sitting out to mail to Jared's mom.

 

And where is Jared during all this you might ask?

Taking a nap.

I am not joking.

Honestly, I didn't realize how easy I had it with just two kids.
And one kid - talk about a cake walk!

Thankfully there are some moments of calm.

Sunday afternoon was perfect:
a full belly,
football on t.v.,
a cozy blanket,
and a snuggle with a cuddly Baby.

I am trying my hardest not to become that mom. You know, the one who is always yelling.
But it is really hard some days.

Especially with Bailey.

I am not sure what it is; whether it's the change of having a baby in the house or just the continuing Terrible Twos.
It's so frustrating to have your previously (modestly) well-behaved child become a whiny little monster!

A 2 year-old is hard enough to deal with.
Adding in a curious 19-month old and a mama running short on sleep doesn't make it any prettier.

All I gotta say is that Jared better make this a very short nap...

Super Mom

Super Mom schedules newborn photos and arrives with a cute little baby and a variety of adorable outfits. Super Mom also uses said photos to send out precious birth announcements to all her family and friends.
Not only have we never done newborn photos, we haven't even really done family photos. {Okay, we tried once and both kids were not having it.} And we also haven't sent out a birth announcement. Ever. I even gave up on sending out Christmas cards this year. Fail.

Super Mom is patient and has more than enough energy to deal with both her newborn and her older children.
Yesterday both Jared and I wondered out loud if it would be child abuse to throw Bailey out in the backyard. And then she purposely dumped her milk out on the floor at supper and we were dangerously close to just taking our chances.

Super Mom entertains her children with educational activities and fun craft ideas - ala Pinterest.
Please. Simba, Ariel, and Lightning McQueen have been our girls' besties going on about 4 weeks now. And I have not one ounce of guilt.

Super Mom's kids always look cute - from their clothes to their hair accessories.
I am pretty sure in the past week that the girls have only worn pajamas, with the exception of times they went to the doctor's office. In fact I know that's right because when I did the laundry, there was a whole lot of footie pj's and about one pair of pants. And hair? Well, taming down Bailey's fro doesn't even make the daily to-do list.

Super Mom cooks a healthy dinner for her family.
Today we had hot dogs and mac-n-cheese. Sadly it was the best the girls have eaten in days. Thank God Jared does 99% of the cooking around here.

Super Mom eats those healthy dinners and takes care to make sure those pregnancy pounds come off quickly.
Not only did I eat the aforementioned mac-n-cheese today, I also had a Reese's mini peanut butter tree for dessert. {Okay, make that two of them.} And as for the pregnancy pounds - I am just going to remain in denial, cross my fingers, and hope that breastfeeding does the trick like last time.

Super Mom makes a point to dress herself and look presentable.
The only shirts I have worn in the past 2 1/2 weeks are from Target. Specifically the nursing section. And they are the world's most boring tank tops with snap-downs. And I own one in every single color available. Oh, and to really jazz it up, I pair them up with one of two zip-front hoodies that I own.  I give myself bonus points if there are no spit-up spots visible.

I hate those women who actually are Super Mom.

I am taking a small victory in the fact that we haven't killed each other and the house is still half-way presentable.
 
FINALLY the entire family seems to be on the mend health-wise. I am blaming a large chunk of my lack of energy and lack of giving-a-damn on the fact that we have spent entirely way too much time at the hospital or in doctor's offices.  Since Graham was born, I think we have only had maybe 3 or 4 days where we didn't make a trip to visit the hospital. It's pretty hard to enjoy your new baby when you are doing a big chunk of your bonding in waiting rooms and super comfortable exam room chairs...

The rest of the time you can find me with my butt firmly planted in our leather recliner.
(Early Christmas present from Cathy. LOVE.)
And if it is around 3 AM, Graham and I are probably both half-asleep, cuddled up in blankets, with my boob hanging out for the world to see. {Thankfully my chair doesn't face a window!} And since Graham absolutely hates a pacifier, he uses me as one. It's all right because, frankly, I am too tired to care. Cuddly, warm little babies make it so hard to stay awake in the wee hours of the morning!

Jared's dad visited from Kansas this past week.
Since Graham's favorite time to sleep is during the day, he got lots of cuddle time in.
(Aka, like 3-plus hours at a time.)

 

 

 

We haven't taken nearly enough pictures the past few weeks.

With every one's snotty, swollen, red noses and nasty coughs, the last thing we have wanted to do is pose for pictures. My goal the next few days is to effectively nag Jared into taking pictures of Graham. Even though I admitted defeat with the Christmas cards this year, we still need to get some cute little baby photos.

 

5 out of 5

It's been a crazy, busy week.
A newborn's first week of life is probably always busy, right? Well throw in some sick children and parents and it gets a whole lot more hectic.

Graham's bilirubin has been monitored every day since he left the hospital last Wednesday. So every day we loaded him up and someone drove him (and me) to the hospital for his blood draws. By Friday his bilirubin reached 16.0 so it was time for a bili blanket.

So for the whole weekend we had our own personal at-home glow worm.

He chilled out in only his diaper and we snuggled up together.

And of course drove daily to get labs drawn.

By Monday morning his level was down to 9.6 and we were able to stop using the blanket. Hallelujah!

Also on Monday we took Bailey and Avery to the doctor. They have been the whiniest children on the planet (or at least it feels like it) and they just weren't getting any better despite massive amounts of Tylenol, Vick's vapor rub, and vaporizers running nonstop. Turns out that both girls have ear infections as well as upper respiratory issues. So we made a trip to the pharmacy for ear drops, antibiotics, and albuterol nebulizers for both girls.

We almost needed 4-point restraints to get both girls to tolerate the breathing treatments the first night. But after a time or two, they started fighting over who got to go first.

And if you thought our trips to the doctor on Monday were complete, you would be wrong.
My surgical incision had been starting to cause me a lot of pain over the past two days, so much so I had to start taking the Vicodin again. Then I noticed it was itching and draining. Awesome.
A quick trip to my OB led to a prescription for antibiotics for me as well. Apparently if my site wasn't infected, it was on its way. Off the pharmacy we went again.

Tuesday morning rolled around and Jared was the one calling to make a doctor's appointment. He is sick too, only this time it is his sinuses. And another pharmacy run...

So you would think we would be done with all this hospital stuff, right?

Wrong.

Graham has been congested for the last two days. We had just been watching it and listening to his lungs, which still sounded clear. But by this morning he sounded much worse. He had a cough and it was taking much longer for him to clear all the gunk out, which was a nasty green/brown color.

So off we went to the doctor's office. Yet again. His vitals were "adequate" and he was eating great while we were there. His lungs sounded clear to the doctor, but to be on the safe side he ordered some lab and a chest x-ray. The x-ray came back looking basically fine and the labs didn't tell us much either. However, his RSV came back positive. He most likely got it from one of the girls.

Being only 10 days old, the doctor wanted to be cautious about his plan of action. He decided to call Children's in Omaha to speak with a pediatric specialist there to decide if Graham's condition warranted an admission to the PICU there.

After {literally} an hour of waiting on said phone call (and me working myself up with flashbacks to Avery being admitted to the NICU), it was determined that he is not sick enough to be admitted.

Huge sigh of relief.

 

We are just supposed to keep watching him closely, making sure he still is eating enough and monitoring basically everything you can monitor on a newborn. So apparently I will just continue being overly cautious and worrying about every weird little breath he takes and whether he is sleeping too much or too little.
Seriously, my mommy nerves can't take much more of this stuff!
I was hoping just ONE of our children could let us have it easy!

Thankfully Cathy (Jared's mom) has been here visiting since Saturday. With all the doctor visits and sick kids, it's been a huge help to have someone else around the house.

Plus the girls love her visits.

{Despite sick Bailey telling her to "Go home!" when she didn't get her way.}

So for now we are going to be hanging out at home (*fingers crossed*) and saying prayers for our kids {and ourselves} to get better soon. The first few weeks are hard enough without throwing in hospital trips and extra worry. There are a lot of fun things for a family to do all together... being sick is not one of them.

Graham's First Days

As previously announced, our little man is finally here!

It all started last Saturday morning when I stood up out of bed and felt a small, but distinct gush of fluid. Since my water broke with both of my previous pregnancies, I knew what it felt like. I waited around for hours but never felt anything else. The next morning the same thing happened again, and then again but in small amounts. We called the L&D floor and they advised us to come in.

Once we got there, they checked me and determined that my water probably had a "slow leak" but I wasn't dilated past 2cm. Based on my "unfavorable cervix", I was only given the option of a c-section. {the VBAC I had so badly wanted was out.} Since I already had one scheduled for less than 24 hours later and I was already at the hospital, we decided to go ahead with it on Sunday morning.

Phone calls were made to notify family and I was prepped and ready around 11:15 AM.

At 11:37 AM on November 25th, Graham Ellis Solko entered the world weighing in at 10 pounds 3/4 ounces. We knew he was big based on every single person in the room commenting on what a "big boy" he was.
[And it hurts me to admit that my doctor was indeed right.]

 

My mom, Beaner and Justy were outside the OR waiting to hear the news.

{Fe was at our house with Bailey and Avery.} 

Jared - in typical fashion - sent them a head-shot picture with Graham's stats but no name - further torturing them by not telling them whether Baby was a boy or girl.

 

Everyone was very excited to learn that Baby Solko was indeed a BOY.

And while it wasn't a surprise for us, I am glad we let it be a fun surprise for everyone else.

 

 

 

And while my body was still tremoring from the hormones and meds, I got the chance to hold Graham for the first time.

 

Delivering by c-section is such a weird thing.

One minute you're pregnant and the next you're not, and you really have very little to do with the process.

 

With my VBAC, it was emotional. You are working so hard to push that little body into the world and your feelings are all over the map.

With a c-section, it's like, "Oh, you're here..."

It's just so surreal to finally hold that baby in your arms - the one that was just punching you in the stomach not 30 minutes before. So while I didn't break down in to tears, I just remember feeling so very, very grateful to have him here with us.

 

 

The aunts wasted no time in arguing over who got to hold Graham next. 

 

 

Justy admits to having cried like ten times.

I am glad she got to be present for the birth - even if it was standing outside an OR. She was away at college for both of the girls' births and was excited to be here to welcome Graham into the world. And since she now lives the closest, she was able to be the aunt who visited daily this time around.

 

My sisters and my mom were all amazing this past week. They watched the girls at our house while Jared stayed with me in the hospital. I never had to worry about how the girls were doing because I know they LOVE their aunties. And Grandma too.

 

 

 

 

I think my dad was probably the most surprised and happy about Graham's birth, especially about his middle name. Since Papa Jeff didn't get any boys of his own, a grandson is a little extra special. Just hearing that my dad cried after learning he had a grandson, made me cry. (Make that number 11 for Justy.)

 

Bailey and Avery came up to meet their new brother on Sunday night. 

At first Bailey was a bit confused with all the "look at your new brother" talk. She walked over to the baby, looked at him, and then looked at my stomach, then looked back at him... It slowly started to register.
"Mama's baby?" she asked as she pointed to new brother Graham.

 

But within a few minutes she was planting kisses on her new brother and checking out the mass of dark hair on his little head.

 

Avery loves to give kisses to every baby she ever sees and her little brother was no exception. 

 

 

Since visiting in the hospital, both girls have been sick with runny noses and a cough that would put pack-a-day smokers to shame, so they had to wait to see baby brother at home.

But Baby Graham was definitely on their minds.

 

The first thing Bailey told Justy upon waking up the next day was:

"Justy! Justy! I have a baby brother! She's so cute!"

 

 

Our hospital stay was almost uneventful.

Recovery from a c-section just sucks. But this one went much better than I had hoped. I was able to feel and move my legs within a couple hours, which compared to around 12 hours last time - definite improvement. My pain didn't require a PCA and I got around pretty easily. Even better, my doctor didn't pretend to have any clue about how to get my blood sugars back under control after delivery, so he let me do my own thing. With some assistance from my educator, I am getting back to my normal pre-pregnancy needs pretty quickly.

 

 

 

Graham, being the son of a diabetic mom, had to have an IV put in to give him sugar water to maintain his blood sugars. This was new for us since neither of the girls had this done in Omaha. Because of the IV, his blood sugar was checked every 4 hours around the clock. His sugars never once dropped and we were able to get rid of the IV by Monday night - a big positive since we were told he might need it till Wednesday.

 

The pediatrician heard a slight murmur - also common in newborns, especially those of diabetic moms - so an echocardiogram was performed. Nothing out of the usual was noticed - just some small things that resolve themselves in a couple weeks. {But just the fact that we had to do one makes a hormonal mom extra nervous.}

 

And because of Avery's history of severe hyperbilirubinemia that came out of nowhere, we requested they check his bili level often. Over a period of a couple days it kept increasing, but never enough to reach a level that required more intervention than a naked nap in the direct sunlight. We had a follow-up trip to the lab today and his level was still stable. We go to the pediatrician tomorrow to recheck it again and hopefully - with all the hard work he has been doing in the baby poop department - we will find it is on the way down. Thankfully he seems to enjoy his time in the sun.

 

                             

 

Overall, things have turned out well. Throughout my pregnancy I found myself missing The Med Center in Omaha many many times, but in the end I still have a healthy baby boy.

 

And I must admit that the staff at the hospital were extremely helpful. I felt very encouraged to breastfeed, which isn't always the case with all OB nurses. My delivering nurse was insistent that I do so as soon as I could following my c-section. Little things like that can make a big difference, especially if you are feeling not so great right after having major surgery. Encouragement can go a long way.

 

The best part of not delivering in Omaha was that more of my family was close and able to come visit. After all, that is why we moved back. It makes me smile to see the proud looks on my parents' and grandparents' faces when they looked down on Graham.

 

 

 

We were surrounded by people who love us and were truly excited to share in our joy. We had people gladly volunteering to stay and care for Bailey and Avery at a moment's notice. I could hear the exclamations of excitement when Jared called his family to give them the news. We are lucky to have such great family and friends.

 

We were both discharged yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon. It felt so good to be home.

 

A family of five.

finally.

 

(And of course Bailey has to do her best to ruin a possibly cute picture...)

 

So now to just enjoy the upcoming hours, days, months of new baby-ness.

 

I am always amazed at how much I absolutely love the smell of a new baby.

Even the diapers seem less disgusting than I remembered.

I love the snuggles.

The breastfeeding has come back easily thanks to my big boy's appetite.

Baby clothes seem so small, even on our 10-pounder.

 

Now I am off to give snuggles to all three of my babies.

Introducing Baby Solko #3

 

It's A Boy!

 



Graham Ellis Solko

 

November 25, 2012

11:37 AM

 

10 lbs  3/4oz

21 inches