Author: Kyllan

Elliott is 2 months old!

Kyllan 1 Comment

Ok, yes… I am late with my 2 month post for Elliott, but it has been a busy week.  We just returned from a quick family vacation to San Antonio last week, which was great (except for the traffic on the way back to Dallas on Sunday).  More on that in another post.

Another month has zoomed past and Elliott is already 2 months old!  His is growing by the minute it seems.  He had his two month check-up yesterday and he is 13 lbs, 12 ounces (79%ile) and 24 inches long (87%ile), so he is a very healthy boy.  I can’t believe that he is already in size 2 diapers and starting to bust out of his 3 month size clothes.  The new development this month is that he has begun to smile! 🙂  He started smiling over the 4th of July weekend and smiles a lot throughout the day, which is so rewarding when you are exhausted and just makes your heart melt!  The photo below shows him cracking a little bit of a smile.

He is sleeping a little bit better and I am occasionally getting the 3 1/2 hour stretch, so I will take the improvement from every 2 hours.  He will start daycare in a few weeks as I prepare to go back to work, so I am hoping he will have longer stretches in the near future.  I know Laurel slept better once she started daycare since she was up more during the day than when I was at home with her.

Laurel still enjoys being a big sister and seems to take her role very seriously.  She loves to help calm him down when he is crying by singing the alphabet and other songs to him.  She also likes to help give him the pacifier back when it falls out his mouth although we are trying to help her understand she does not need to wake him up and shove it back in his mouth if he has fallen asleep.  She is also still learning to be gentle with Elliott and not poke him so much, but I think he is used to it by now.

Its funny to see the similarities and differences between Elliott and Laurel.  I read the post I made when she turned two months and just like his sister at 2 months, 2 month old Elliott enjoys bath time, sucking on his fists, can easily break out his swaddle and is a loud sleeper (lots of moans, groans, and humming).

I am sad to realize that our daily bonding time is coming to an end in just a few short weeks when I return to work and I am trying to figure out how I will balance being a working mom of an infant and toddler, but I am sure I will quickly discover a routine that works.  I think it will just mean cooking meals on the weekend for the entire week and learning some crock pot recipes.  Recommendations and suggestions from you super moms and dads out there are much appreciated!

Well…. I need to wrap up this post so I can get some rest.  Tomorrow is a VERY special day… Laurel’s second birthday, so much more Codyreport news and photos to come!!!

Elliott Two Months

 

 

The countdown to Laurel’s second Birthday… one month to go!

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Now that we have welcomed and celebrated Elliott’s arrival, we are now prepping to celebrate Laurel’s Birthday in exactly one month.  Ahhhh!!!  So much to do, but I think I have a plan, so we’ll see if I can pull things together.

Laurel is growing so fast and continues to amaze us.  Her vocabulary is growing every day and she is quickly learning to communicate (and boy does she have a lot to say!!).

Here is a few quick facts about Laurel at 23 months

1.  She LOVES books.  Her favorite is her “Otis” book, which is random because it is a book about a tractor, but we read Otis every night… twice… because she enjoys it so much.  Fortunately, there is a shorter “Otis Loves to Play” book in the series that she has become fond of, so William and I are thankful for the shorter story since it’s only in addition to the 3-4 other books we usually have to read at bedtime.  Of course, it is time well spent.

2. Despite the fact that she loves her Otis the tractor book, she is into girly stuff: jewelry, make-up, shopping, clothes, shoes, handbags, dolls, etc.

3. She still loves to eat and wants to eat as soon as she walks in the door from school, but has become much pickier lately about what she eats.  One day she will eat chicken and the next day, she completely dismisses it.  It’s my biggest challenge and I am sure a challenge for many toddler moms.  She enjoys her snacks most: graham cracker bunnies and goldfish, but also loves strawberries and watermelon, so we try to find a balance.

3. I think oatmeal has replaced waffles as her favorite breakfast food.

4. She loves to spend time outside on walks or in her wagon or most recently, stroller rides with Elliott 🙂

5. SHE LOVES MUSIC.  She cannot get enough music.  She usually dances to the music and demands William and I dance too!  When the song ends, the next song cannot start soon enough and she is already asking for “more music”.  I think that is the number one phrase we hear out of her mouth besides, “eat”.

6. She seems to have hit the terrible two’s about a month before Elliott was born.  She randomly began having tantrums and being much fussier when she doesn’t get what she wants, but it’s a work in progress and is slowly, but surely getting better…. I think.

7. She is on night #2 sleeping in her “big girl/big sister” bed.  We took the front rail off and put the toddler rail on.  I was panicked abut her waking up and destroying her room by pulling all her books and toys off the shelf and on the floor or that she would escape her room, but she did great last night/this morning and again tonight.  When she woke up this morning, she actually sat in her bed until I went in her room to get her ready for school.  She sat there looking tempted to explore, but is not used to the freedom yet, so we’ll see how long it lasts.

8. Elliott has a wonderful big sister!  She is still learning to be gentle and share the attention, but she enjoys singing to him and trying to help when she can.

I’ll try to get some photos of her in her big girl bed later this week.

Elliott is 1 month old!

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Today Elliott is 1 month old.  I am not surprised at how fast the first month went by considering how fast Laurel’s first month went.  I read the post I made when Laurel turned 1 month old and it was pretty similar to how Elliott’s first month has been minus the stress of being a first time mom.  I still visit many of the same sites I was visiting then, particularly kellymom.com and babycenter.com, however, I do not spend all day on the sites like I was with Laurel.  I certainly feel much more relaxed this time around.  Being a mom of two is certainly more challenging than being a mom of one and is something I am adjusting to, but I am learning as I go along.  The hardest part is trying to ensure Laurel still gets her one on one time but still be available for Elliott.  To keep her routine familiar, she still goes to daycare during the day, so when she comes home I try to coordinate it so that Elliott is napping or at least settled so I can put him down and sit with her while she eats dinner and spend time playing, cuddling, reading, or whatever she is interested in that evening.  It seems to be working fairly well, but I think she certainly senses that Elliott is stealing some of her “mommy time”.  She does seem to enjoy being a big sister and enjoys “holding” Elliott, so as he gets older and more active, there will be more opportunity to involve Laurel and help her understand how important her big sister role is.

Elliott is doing great.  He is growing…fast!  He has his 1 month check-up tomorrow, so we’ll get he weight and length, but I tried to weigh him this morning and I think he is 11lbs!!  Laurel was only 8lbs, 14 oz at 1 month old.  I shouldn’t be surprised considering he wakes up every 2 to 2 1/2 hours around the clock to eat.  Its pretty exhausting, but I am realizing that he is still young and trying to enjoy every moment.  It’s hard for me to even recall how sleep deprived I felt with Laurel, so I know the time will past quickly and my sleepless nights will be a faint memory.

I think most people think he looks like William, but we stopped by my workplace after my doctor’s appointment yesterday and many of my co-workers felt he looked like me.  I will have to get William to post a photo of him as a baby next to Elliott to compare, but I think Elliott has his eyes and nose and maybe other features.  It does seem that it will be pretty obvious that Laurel and Elliott are siblings.  Though she has some of my features, I still think she looks more like William and looking back at her photos from this age, they look very similar.  His personality seems more like William’s, quiet and laid back, but I think I thought the same thing about Laurel and she is certainly not quiet :-).  Elliott doesn’t cry much right now, but when he does wake up in the middle of the night for a feeding, he cries very loud as if we are not going to hear him.  Fortunately, he settles pretty quickly when we pick him up.  If only I could get him to sleep 3+ hours at a time!!

More to come soon.  Photos from the past month are below and on William’s Flickr page.

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Elliott’s Birth Story (Sunnyside Up)

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It always seems to happen on a Saturday night…..

Many of you may have heard that I was scheduled to be induced on Sunday night, May 19th so I could deliver on Monday, May 20th.  I had just completed a busy week at work feverishly trying to tie up loose ends and hand off projects so I could enjoy my time off.  At home, William and I created a list of last minute things to do prior to Elliott’s arrival.  The list included some household chores as well as baby preparations like installing the car seat bases, pre-washing the clothes, and most importantly, packing our hospital bags.  Yes, these are all tasks that we completed a month in advance before Laurel’s birth.  🙂

We spent Saturday morning running our last minute errands and the afternoon I had a little bit of “Kyllan” time while William and Laurel attended a biology department reception for the seniors who were graduating the next day from the University of Dallas where William teaches.   They had only been home for a short time and I was just pulling a load of Elliott’s clothes out of the dryer when I had one of those “what just happened ” moments.  My shorts were suddenly wet and I was trying to figure out if I had just lost control of my bladder or if my water broke.  I didn’t experience a “gush” like they always show on tv or in the movies, so I had no idea what to think.  William was just about to head out to get my car washed and fill the gas tank so his mom who was scheduled to arrive the next day could use the car while she was here.  I told him that I thought my water broke, but I wasn’t certain.  I told him to go ahead to get the car washed, but while he was gone, it became very apparent that my water had indeed broke.  I sent William a text message to let him know what was going on and called my OB.  I then called my mom and sister since we needed someone to stay with Laurel while William and I went to the hospital.  Let me just interject here that walking around the house while your water is breaking and trying to keep up with a toddler is not fun.  Laurel decided to “wash her hands” with her Pedialyte (she was running a fever the night before).  She decided the sofa made a nice place to wash her hands 🙂

But I digress…

Once my mom arrived at the house and was able to keep Laurel occupied, William and I began packing our hospital bags, which we had planned to do later that evening in preparation for checking in to the hospital the next day for induction.  Between making sure we had everything situated with Laurel, everything we needed for the hospital, and trying to tidy up the house a bit, it took us about 2 hours before we actually left for the hospital.

We arrived to the hospital around 7:30pm.  I still had not started having contractions yet and I was only 2cm dilated (the same as I had been at my OB appointment previously that week).  My OB decided we would wait until 10pm to start the Pitocin, so I was able to get a quick meal in before the labor process started.  Of all things, I had William go to Wendy’s to get a chicken sandwich and fries 🙂

At 10pm, we started the Pitocin.  I started having contractions pretty quickly, but they were not strong nor painful at first.  Every 30 minutes, the dose was increased and for several hours, but they still were not strong.  A few hours later, maybe around 3am, the contractions finally got to the point where I was starting to feel uncomfortable and had to use my breathing techniques and go to my happy place to make it through the contractions.  I requested the epidural and once that was in place, I was at 5 1/2cm and much more comfortable.  It seemed like I quickly progressed to 10cm and we were ready to meet our son.  My OB headed in to the hospital and a short time later, we began pushing.

I was pretty amazed how comfortable I was during the labor and delivery phase.  The only time I was really in any pain was for about 2 hours when the contractions picked up and the epidural kicked in.  This was much different than with Laurel when my epidural never really worked how I imagined it would and I was not in a lot of pain, but I certainly was not comfortable.  The pushing process took a bit longer than I had hoped, but again, no pain.  In fact, we ended up stopping the epidural so I could feel the contractions a bit better to help push out the baby.  After about an hour of pushing, Elliott came out at 6:28am… sunny side up…. with his eyes wide open.  🙂  Generally babies are born with their face down, but Elliott had apparently rotated in the birth canal and was born face up, which apparently is not easy and can put baby and mom at risk, but fortunately everything worked out great and he came out without much fuss.  We spent the first hour or so getting some good quality skin to skin time and time to nurse before the nurses came in to weigh, measure, bathe, and do all the routine exams and checks.

Laurel came later that day to meet her new baby brother.  I think she was still a bit confused, but certainly intrigued.  Fortunately, she has adjusted well to the new addition to the family.  William’s mom has been here at the house, so that has certainly helped ensure she is getting lots of attention, so I think that has worked in our favor and helped tremendously with the transition.  The true test will come next week when it’s just the 4 of us here at the house, but I am very hopeful that she will continue to adjust well.  The burden will be on us to make sure we are still giving her ample “Laurel” time.  She loves reading and going outside, so as long as we continue to make that a priority, I think we will be ok.  She generally asks about Elliott when she comes home, but most times he is sleeping, so she goes to the bassinet to check on him, pats him and goes back to her usual routine.

So now we are a family of 4 with a son and a daughter and I certainly feel our family is complete and I have an abundance of joy when I look at Laurel and Elliott.  I experienced a few health issues this pregnancy and it certainly seemed like it took a greater toll on my body than it did with Laurel, so after being blessed with a healthy girl and a healthy boy, we have decided our family is complete.

Now the fun begins… 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a Boy!!

Kyllan 1 Comment

Yes… I was supposed to post the day after my last post, but the move and the pregnancy have worn me out.

As you can see from the title of this post, IT’S A BOY!!!

William and I were shocked to find out it was a boy.  I think we were both expecting we would have another girl, but it’s great that we’ll have one of each!  William wasn’t able to go to the ultrasound appointment I had for the gender scan, so the physician printed the images with “boy” written on it and sealed it in an envelope for us to open later once we were together.  I have to admit it was hard to go all day without opening the envelope.  We decided to go to dinner at one of local favorite restaurants and when the dessert was delivered, we opened the envelope and saw “BOY” and I think both our mouths dropped open in surprise.  Laurel decided to closely examine the ultrasound photos herself to see what all the fuss was about, but she still doesn’t understand the concept of a baby brother.  It was an exciting time.

We are slowly but surely getting ready for the baby, but feel we are so much further behind where we were in planning when I was pregnant with Laurel.  We purchased so many items by this time in the pregnancy with Laurel.  We finally ordered furniture 2 weeks ago, but we still have a few more items to purchase for his room.  Our stroller converts to a double stroller with a rumble seat, so that takes care of that.  We are also able to use the same infant seat we had for Laurel.  So, I think we at least have the major items out the way.  Now it’s just baby essentials like diapers, wipes, clothes, and other room decor.  William has agreed to decorate the room again this time, but I have offered to help him.

We do not have a name picked out yet, but are taking suggestions!  We have a few names on the short list, but are still having a hard time.  We were interested in “L” names or “W” names so perhaps he could have William’s initials, but at this point, I think we are exploring everything.

Well… that’s the update for now.  I am trying to multitask and watch the State of the Union address as well. 🙂

 

 

 

 

Growth!

Kyllan 1 Comment

It’s been a busy few weeks for the Cody household.  We moved into our new home last weekend, Laurel is growing like a weed and turned 18 months this past Thursday and my belly has certainly grown in the past few weeks as well!

I’ll start with Laurel.  It’s pretty amazing to watch her grow and develop.  She seems to say or do something new everyday.  She is talking and babbling much more these days and loves to repeat what you say.  Her vocabulary has expanded, so she is able to communicate basic needs to us.  It was no secret that she loves music and dancing and it seems she is singing a lot more these days.  Her daycare sent home a CD of songs they also sing at school and she loves to sing a long.  She still loves Elmo and singing with him and she also still loves her books.  She went shopping with daddy today and bought a potty chair, so I guess we will begin potty training soon.  She has her 18 month check-up this week, so I guess we’ll see more specifically what we should be working on.

We FINALLY closed on our new house last Friday and moved last Saturday and are quickly adjusting to life in our new home.  To have all of our belongings out of storage and having room for Laurel to play is really refreshing.  We love having space to spread out although we were pretty covered in boxes until the last couple days.  I finally got the kitchen unpacked last night and my mom came over today and helped unpack more of Laurel’s toys and items for the upstairs bedrooms and linen closet, so we have more “livable” space now.  Tonight I am going to try to finish unpacking in the bedroom and closet.  A few days ago it felt like we would never be done unpacking, but I am finally seeing a light.  I think the fact that William’s spring semester at school started this week and I had a busy work week with 6am meetings on two days and a 7am event to attend this morning complicated unpacking.  We were both too exhausted to really do much.  I stayed up much later than I should have trying to get things unpacked, but the pregnancy definitely makes it difficult to go too crazy.  My swollen ankles quickly brought me back to reality, but I also really want to feel more settled before I get too much further into the pregnancy and we switch gears to prepare for Cody baby #2.  So far though, we love the house and the community.  We were invited to dinner by one of our neighbors and will have the chance to meet other neighbors as well, so hopefully William and I can become more social and meet new friends on this side of town.  We are about 40 minutes away from where we used to live, but the location is great.  We are 15 minutes from the airport, 20 minutes from downtown, 12 minutes from William’s job and 30 minutes from mine not to mention close to many more amenities than we used to be, so it feels great!

On to baby news…..

We found out the sex of the baby!  I will try to scan a picture to post tomorrow, so you’ll have to hold out for one more day.  William wasn’t able to accompany me to the ultrasound that day, so the physician printed the image with the sex of the baby and sealed it in an envelope.  Later that evening, we went to dinner and ended with dessert and the big reveal.  I will say that everything seems to be progressing nicely and he baby appears to be healthy and growing on schedule.  I am 22 weeks and have been feeling pretty good with the exception of some major sciatic nerve pain that has been bothering me, but probably because I have been doing a little much lately with the move and packing and unpacking.  Hopefully that will go away soon.

Well… my break is over.  I am going to doing a little more unpacking before going to bed.

More to come…

Happy 2013!

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2012 was another great year for William and me.  We had a great year of celebrating starting in January with my cousin’s wedding and taking Laurel to Cleveland to meet my extended family.  We quickly progressed through our first Mother’s Day and Father’s Day followed in July by Laurel’s first birthday celebration, my parents moved to Dallas, William got a tenured track position, we took an awesome trip to Turks and Caicos, celebrated 5 years of marriage, sold our house, moved into a two bedroom apartment, and of course found out that 2013 will bring us a second child!  Lot’s of excitement.

It’s hard to believe that 2013 will be even better.  January will bring the 100th year of my beloved sorority, we will likely learn the sex of our next child, and we will move into our new home that we plan to be in for many years to come.  In April, I will celebrate my 15 year high school reunion and the 100th year of my high school.  May/June will be full of welcoming Cody baby #2.  July will be a fun filled 2nd birthday party for Laurel, and oh yeah we will end the year with my mom will officially become a senior citizen…65!!  Don’t worry… she won’t be mad at me for that, she has no shame in sharing her age since she looks much younger!

I hope that you and your family were as blessed as our family was and pray for a joyous and prosperous 2013!!!

The best is yet to come…..

Laurel’s going to be a big sister!

Kyllan 2 Comments

That’s right… we’re expecting Baby #2 May 30, 2013.

We are obviously very excited and looking forward to our children growing up together and hopefully becoming great friends.

We don’t know the sex of the baby yet, but I am about 17 weeks along, so we may be able to find out sometime in January.

Laurel does not seem to understand the concept of “mommy having a baby” or being a “big sister”, but perhaps as we get closer she will understand it better.

The next few weeks will be very busy with Christmas, moving into our new house, travel for William, and just our usual routine, but I will try to do a better job of posting updates and photos to the blog.

Merry Christmas!

Eat… Eat…. Eat!!!

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I don’t know where to begin with an update on what Laurel has been up to, but let’s start with food.

Eat… Eat…Eat….

William and I hear those words all day long.  I think Laurel eats more than William and I combined…seriously.  How she is only in the 40th percentile with her weight is beyond me.  Don’t I wish I had her metabolism! Laurel will eat pretty much anything, but her favorites are probably waffles and bread.  She loves her carbs!  She does eat most fruits and veggies too and has recently become a fan of bananas and strawberries.

Words…

Laurel is starting to say a few more words and is learning basic vocabulary like the sounds animals make.  Her favorite animal has to be a duck.  That seemed to be one of her first words.  She can also say cow and dog  and make their respective sounds.  She cannot say horse, but she knows the horse says “neigh… neigh”.  She knows her body parts and loves blinking her eyes when we ask where her eyes are :-).  She also knows basics like mommy, daddy, baby, ball, milk, etc..  My favorite thing is when we read her alphabet book and we get to “i is for ice cream” and she says, “yum yum yum”.  I’m telling you, the girl LOVES  food.  She has only had ice cream twice, but if it looks like edible… she likes it.

At daycare, she seems to enjoy reading time, music time, and outdoor time.  Oh… and of course all meals 🙂  They comment on her ability to sign words and “more” is her favorite word to sign.

Well… I am running out of steam, but as you can probably tell, Laurel is staying busy.  William has been begging me to post for weeks, but I can never type just one or two sentences and seem to write novels every time I make a post, but I think I will stop to keep from boring everyone.

We recently took a trip to the Dallas Arboretum to visit the pumpkin patch and see the Chihuly exhibit, so we’ll post those photos soon.