Hernias and Hydroceles No More

Have you ever seen someone smiling so big after having surgery? Normally our little Landon is crying and demanding yet less than an hour after having two incisions to his abdomen and multiple attempts at placing an IV in his hand and both feet he is smiling. His hernias and hydroceles were repaired on St. Patrick's Day and our experience at Kosair was fantastic. This time around was much smoother than when we Hayden underwent the same surgery. This time we did not have to stay overnight and it was basically a drive thru surgery. We arrived at 6 for a 7:30 surgery and were back on the interstate by 10am. The staff was fantastic and our experience was great considering no one wants to their baby to have surgery. He didn't seem to be in much pain afterwards although he did want some extra holding (if that's possible) for the following 24 hours. We are thankful all went well and he was such a good patient. Unfortunately the surgery seemed to do little for his overall demeanor. He still cries A LOT and wants to be held, has a hard time going to sleep but he does smile a lot when he is held and held in the position he wants.

Spring has Sprung

You wouldn't know it by the temperature outside now at a frigid 34 degrees but spring is here. Yeah! That means more time outside. I used to not be much of an outdoors person but add in a couple of kids and now the great outdoors and I are going to become great friends. Hayden, like most kids, loves to play outside and last year while being pregnant I did go out some but not nearly as much as would have satisfied his hearts desire. This year it's going to be different. We now have a swing set and a jeep, thanks to Connor and Carson, so we have lots to do outside and lots of friends to play with. Hayden happens to be surrounded by lots of little ones in the neighborhood, eight to be exact. He enjoyed playing for the first time this season with Lexi and Wyatt. Hayden giggled with much delight while playing on their teeter totter and swing set. We have taken a walk with another neighborhood pal, Nyil, and can't wait for the weather to get warmer and the days longer so we can spend more time with all our neighborhood pals.

The Big Awaited Day

As you can see from the photos above, Hayden along with his cousins, Kayla and Addison, took in their first live show. Actually I think it was their first show period. I wasn't to sure how Hayden would do; if he would make it though the whole show; be scared of the dark theater or if he would be mesmerized by the lights and sounds. Yep he was mesmerized. As soon as the lights went down he did comment on it being dark but then out came the characters and on came the music and his eyes became fixed and he jumped out of his seat to stand and watch the show. He sang along and danced to the beat. He yelled Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse along with the thousand or so other kids as the characters they have seen on TV came to life in front of their eyes. He had so much fun. During intermission Aunt Andrea passed out a Mickey pez dispenser and magazine which was a great idea. Thanks Aunt Andrea! The entire show lasted about an hour and a half and you knew it was over after the cast sang hot diggity dog and waved goodbye. Hayden's face turned red, he held his breath and tears streamed down his face as he held out his arms not wanting this experience to be over.

Sleeping in Secret Swinging Places

Well both the boys are sleeping, hence the opportunity for me to update my blog. It has been nearly a month since I have found the time to do so. Not sure when I will find the time to do so again so thanks for those of you who repeatedly check back to find the same post as you saw the time before and the time before that. Life with two is so much harder than life with one. That's why I had to take a picture of the miraculous event that has only happened on a handful of occasions and that is my two little ones sleeping. Aren't they so cute when they slumber. Their eyes closed and their bodies so at peace. I love them all the more when they are in dreamland.

Well as you can see neither of them is napping in their beds. Landon was sleeping in his crib. I had finally gotten him out of his swing and into the crib the week I went back to work but after two weeks of sleepless nights he is back in his swing. He was waking about every 1.5 to two hours and then waking up ready to start the day around 4 am. So back to the swing he went. It hasn't fixed all our sleep problems but at least for the last two nights he has slept from 8 0r 9 until around 3am to wake up to nurse and go back to sleep for about 1-2 hours. He then makes his way into my bed so that we can get just a little bit more sleep because 4 is just too early for me. I am doing a lot of "I never" with this one. Things I said I would never do..... co sleep, swing sleep, sleep any where other than his crib for that matter, rock to sleep, nurse to sleep. You get the idea. Well I have done them all now and will never judge another mother for anything she does for the sake of sleep. My new motto is Do what works. I might pay for this later but being the mother of two I can't nap when baby naps and all the nice things that came with just having one so I will do what I must to get some sleep. (I now know why the use sleep deprivation as a form of torture. I would totally cave and reveal all to get some sleep.) I know that I should be enjoying how easy it is with just two because an older wiser me will probably read back on this post when I am am a mother to three and laugh at my younger dumber self saying if you only knew. When I am the mother of three who knows if my blog will ever get updated or if I will ver get more than 4 hours continuous sleep. So I guess I will just enjoy that my two are asleep even if they aren't in their beds. Which brings me to Hayden sleeping ins his "secret bed". Greatest invention I have come up with to date. As some of you might recall I was in panic mode about 6 months ago when Hayden started throwing himself out of his crib and we were forced to move him to a big boy bed. That was horrible. He cried and gagged and even vomited because he didn't want to sleep in his crib anymore or sleep by himself really. I could just see us all sleeping in my bed and I did not want to co sleep. (Ha Ha laugh at me now since Landon does at times but you see I didn't know what was coming at the time.) So we made a BIG deal about being a BIG boy and getting a BIG bed. Jeff and I debated whether to get a toddler bed vs a twin bed vs a full bed. I knew if we got the full bed one of use would end up sleeping with Hayden so I vetoed that. The toddler bed was too temporary and a waste of money since he would outgrow it and he had one at dede and pawpaws and wouldn't sleep in it so that left a twin bed. We bought a twin bed with a trundle and it has been wonderful. At first we had to be in his room with him and over the weeks we gradually backed our way out of the room to the hallway and finally into our room where he has a direct view of our bed. So a very pregnant me would sit on the edge of my bed with Hayden in his bed watching me. Once he feel asleep I could get up and resume my activities of laundry or doing dishes etc. Once Landon arrived Hayden didn't need to see us anymore because we were all over the place with Landon and taking turns consoling or trying to console his cries. Hayden would lay right down after a story or three and our nightly prayers without any need to see us except the hall light has to stay on. Nap time now takes place in his "secret bed". The secret bed is his and my new favorite place. It is the trundle that stays hidden under his bed until nap time and we both pull it out and pull all 5 of his blankets and Mr. Silky along with his pillow out from his bed and onto the "secret bed". He goes right to sleep and will nap from 2-3 hours without so much as a protest. If only it would always be this easy.

Me and My Boys

Yep me and my boys. Couldn't leave out the dog. We have been trying to pay Linus some attention as of late although it seems as if it is mostly negative attention. He got really depressed after we had Hayden. So much so that we hired a girl down the street to be his dog walker just to lift his spirits. He had a lot of the symptoms of major depression.

Isolated, check. He didn't want to be in the same room as us.

Loss of appetite, check. He wouldn't eat his food unless we stood over him.

Anhedonia. check. Yes he lost interest in doing what he used to enjoy including barking and his orange bone which has been his favorite toy since a pup.

Hopeless. check. You could see it in his eyes. He knew things would never be the same.

Depressed mood. Yep he didn't walk with the same little peep he once had.

Well I guess deep down he must have known life, his life, well all of our lives actually, would never be the same. We hired Amanda to walk him and day by day our Linus came back to us. Now fast forward two years. He loves Hayden and they play well together. Just the other day Hayden walked Linus on his leash and Linus was on best behavior. Hayden refers to Linus as "my doggie" and says "i love my doggie". Some days Hayden is more excited to see Linus when he gets home than his own mother. Linus is just as excited to see him. Hayden hand feeds Linus one piece of dog food after another and Linus just relishes the attention. Just the other day Linus went into Hayden's room while he was napping and cuddled up to Hayden in his bed. His secret bed. Linus knew better. He is not allowed in Hayden's room and hasn't been since Hayden was born but he snuck in there anyway despite the potential punishment just to be close to him. Jeff said pretty soon the two will be sleeping together at night but I don't think I am ready for that to happen. Linus didn't even miss a bark when Landon came home. He didn't even acknowledge that a new baby had just moved him down the totem pole one more notch. He literally sniffed him once or twice and hasn't paid him one iota of attention since. He has woken Landon from countless naps with his incessant barking when people or animals walk past the house. He continues to eat the hand feed dog food from Hayden and now sleeps in bed with us. I never saw that one coming since he has always slept in his crate. Oh the joys of boys and their dogs.

Tubby Time for Two

Hayden 3 months old

Hayden 2 months old

Landon 1 1/2 months old

Landon 1 1/2 months old

Landon loves to take a bath just like his older brother. That is one thing the two

can do together..... get in and splash around. Landon goes in the baby tub and Hayden sits in the big tub. Hayden likes to help wash Landon's hair and does a good job keeping the soap out of his eyes. He likes to share his toys with Landon although Landon really doesn't do anything with them. They both can be in a rotten mood and stick em in the tub and they both are as content as can be (for the most part). Landon reminds me so much of Hayden at this age. I have said it many times... Jeff and I apparently know how to make babies that don't sleep well, like to be held around the clock, have hernias and hydroceles, suffer from reflux and have a great set of lungs if you know what I mean. We are so fortunate that we have two healthy children and at least Hayden doesn't seem to be any worse for having such a rough start in life for the first six months. I continue to remind myself that Landon too will be just fine and he won't remember any of this. I am hoping he turns into the content happy hearted toddler that Hayden has become but yet is unique in his own way too. Hayden is so much fun at this age discovering all the things he can do and bringing so much laughter into our home. He constantly is saying things that make us laugh and is such a sweet boy dishing out countless hugs and kisses.