Noah's First Smiles

Noah started smiling a couple of days ago, but on Thursday, I pulled the camera out to take a picture. Yay for smiles. I love them and get him to give them to me after every nap. (if you can call it a nap)....

Battle of Wills

There has been an ongoing battle over here at the Leptuch household. It is Ava (and Bobo, Fee-fee, and paci) vs. Mom and Dad at bedtime. As I mentioned before, when we put her down in her crib at night, she has been immediately throwing Bobo, Fee-fee and paci out of the crib and crying for mommy or daddy. She actually says "mommy, are you?" or "daddy, are you? Translation: mommy or daddy, where are you? Then we would go in and pick them up and put them in her crib.As soon as we would walk out the door, she would throw them out again. This would go on for an hour sometimes. Finally we said enough is enough. A two year old is not going to rule us. So we let her throw them out and let her cry for about 8-10 minutes and then would go in and tell her to go to sleep and that she couldn't have them back because she threw them out of her crib. We would leave and she would cry harder. This would go on for a while and finally we would give in and give her one of the three. The first night it was paci. Then she woke up at 1:15 am crying for us, really wanting her Bobo. After about an hour, we gave her bobo and she went to bed. The 2nd night, it happened again. After about 15 minutes, Mike gave her Bobo. This time she slept until 3 am in which I gave her paci. Fast forward to the 3rd night and she went down without a fight and did not throw anything out of her crib and she slept in until 6 am. Let's hope it will happen again tonight!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ava!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet Ava. This is a picture from this morning. This is as good as it gets when she is watching Calliou, her favorite show currently. Forget about Barney, it's all about Calliou these days.

I still remember the day she was born. I never got to post it on this blog because I started it when Ava turned One!So here is her story...

 It was 3:45 am and my water broke. I told Mike and he jumped out of bed asking if he had time for a shower. I said, "no", but he got in anyway. We drove down to the hospital excited about meeting our little girl soon, or so we thought it would be soon. I was admitted into the hospital only to find out that I was 1/2 cm dilated. Yikes! It was going to be a long day. After about 8 hours, I finally dilated to 4 cm and was able to get my epidural. The rest was a blur. After 10 more hours of not progressing past 5 cm, the Dr came in and said "looks like we are going to have to do a c-section". It wasn't something that I had prepared myself for, but I was ready to meet Ava and be put out of my misery. So they prepped me for surgery and at 10:41pm, Ava Grace Leptuch was born. She weighed 8 lbs , 8oz and was 20" long.

2 years have gone fast and she is right in the middle of her terrible two's.  She is all about "I do" and "no way" as I mentioned in a previous post. A lot of time, I just let her try. If anything, she might be at it for 15 mins so I can get something done..
She is talking up a storm! She says 3-4 word sentences and tries her hardest to communicate.
She is really good playing by herself and using her imagination. She will often tell Bo Bo what is going on. She takes her everywhere.
She asserts herself and will let you know when she doesn't want something. 
She is a picky eater and eats when she is ready. I am not very creative when it comes to food, so maybe some of that is my fault. She doesn't really like breakfast first thing in the morning. She will eat and then get up and play and then sometimes come back to her food. We allow it, for now.  Her favorite food is pizza, hands down. (She must be my daughter!!)
She loves animals, plastic and real. I wish we could make it to the zoo more often.
She is not the happiest when she wakes up, but if given the right attention, she will be laughing in no time. She is smart, creative, attentive, caring and funny.
She is often jealous of her brother even though she doesn't say it, we can just tell in her actions.
She is a good sleeper when she wants to be, but lately it is much to be desired. She has been waking in the wee hours of the night and when we put her to bed, it can be 15-20 minutes of us going in there to pick up Bo Bo and Fee Fee and paci that she has thrown onto the ground. She has us trained. (WE are trying to nip it in the butt by not picking them up, but the alternative is her screaming on the top of her lungs until we come in. This will be an epic battle that I am not sure we are going to win, but we will die trying)

She has her 2 year doctor appointment on Wednesday and I am curious to see how tall she is and how much she weighs. She is currently in 2T to 3T clothes. 

We love you Ava! You enrich our lives.

Ava's 2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated Ava's 2nd birthday with family and friends on Saturday. Just like last year, it rained! I guess if you are looking for rain in February, just call me and I will tell you when her party is because we are 2 for 2 with rain. We had a great time despite the rain and all managed to cram into our house.

Ava did surprisingly well with all the people. Mike's dad and Step mom and Brother all drove into town for the event. Here are some pictures from the party.

Ava in her birthday outfit. This was the best picture I could get.

Ava and her daddy

Daddy and Noah AND Chad and Carter. The boys are only 2 weeks apart.

Ava put on her new headband. What a fashion statement.

Ava and her mommy.

Opening presents. That is dog pillow is from Aunt Jacy.

Mommy and Noah AND Kerri and Carter.

Ava's Sesame Street Cake.

Grandpa Mike, Grandma Ellen and Noah.

Everyone was singing Happy Birthday to Ava. She was scared.

Ava and Tyler. He was the only other kid that was able to make it. Most called out sick.

Ava and her new toy.

All By Myself...Thanks For All The Help

We have officially exhausted all the help form all the mothers in our family. My mother-in-law was the last to help out and she left Wednesday night. We are so grateful for all the help from my mom, Patty and Christine. Thank you all. I could not have done it without all your help. I am not sure I still have the hang of things, but I am managing.

Here are some pictures of our visit with grandma Nini...

Ava and Grandma Nini each had one sock on..

Playing with the new sandcastle mold Ava got for V-day

Building with blocks.

 It has all gone too fast. Noah will be 6 weeks old on Sunday and Ava will be 2 years old on Monday. I cannot believe it.

We have Ava's party planned for Saturday and there is a call for rain. It rained last year on her birthday party as well. So I guess, if you are looking for rain, call me around this time each year and I will tell you when I am having Ava's birthday party and you will have rain!!!

Here's an update on us.
Still not getting a lot of sleep.

Ava has turned into a mommy's girl (probably jealous over me holding Noah so much.

Not only is Noah not sleeping, Ava has had her fair share of sleep issues, but they seem to be getting better with all the extra visitiors here.

Ava's favorite words are "I do"  and "No way". 

Both my kids are addicted to pacifiers ( not sure how this happened. I WILL have to kick Noah's in the butt early).

Ava has been playing very nicely by herself and has all sorts of conversations with her play toys, especially Bo Bo.

Managed to get by another "holiday" without a whole lot of hooplahhh. This may be the last year I can do that. Next year, I WILL make heart shaped food for Ava and not just pass off some sand toys as her gift and Valentines Day.

Still working on our new year's resolutions, but getting no where in the push ups and pre baby weight department. Eating healthy requires a lot of work and planning and I vow to start sometime next week!!!

 

Bright and Early

It is 6 am Sunday morning, bright and early. I sit hear on the couch with my little man asleep in his bouncy...

My little girl playing nicely by herself...(except for the fact that I have to keep telling her NOT to color on her magnet board)

And my husband fast asleep...

We had a long night last night and have had a couple of long days. Noah has started this thing where he only sleeps for 30 mins at a time during nap time. I spend the rest of the hour trying to get him to go back down only to get him up to feed him.  I am hoping and praying that it is just a growth spurt and that he will start sleeping like he used to. I am so desperate that I have started searching the Internet for some swings that are more "womb like" to put him to sleep in. When you are sleep deprived, you will do anything. Mike said that I could spend $150 on one. That is true desperation....

 Last night after his 1am feed, Mike told me to go into the other room to get some sleep and he would get Noah down. Ummmm, yeah, that didn't happen. I was able to sleep for about 45 minutes when I heard "mama-mama-mama"  coming from Ava's room. I went in to settle her. Her newest thing is to throw Bo Bo, Fi Fi and paci out of the crib and stand up calling for someone.. Fun, right? NOPE! Now we can't just wait and see if she will go back down because all her comforts are on the ground. When did this start? Why did this start? Is someone from up above trying to tell me something?!?! I had to go in about 4 times and then I heard some howling coming from our bedroom. Mike was having NO success getting Noah to go to sleep. I took over and he went right down. (Mike just got him good and tired for me that is the only reason he went right to sleep- you do such a great job with him love!!). Then about 5 am, we heard Ava calling again. Mike went in a couple of times and then I suggested he take her in into the guest bedroom and lay down with her. I fed Noah. Then I switched with him and took Noah out of the room so that he could sleep. Hence where we are right now! 2 men sleeping, 2 ladies up!!

Ava has started up with a stuffy nose. I am hoping it is just her two top molars trying to come in as we have her birthday party this weekend. I don't want to have to cancel and I DON'T want grumper 5000 there either.

Yesterday she thought it would be fun to get into Noah's (well, actually it was hers first) bouncy...

Here are some pictures of our little man...Isn't he precious....



This is a 6 month Carters outfit. I can barely fit him into any 3 month clothing, it has to be 3-6 months or 6 months. Crazy big bubba!!

Noah is 1 Month Old

Yup, Noah is one month old today. We went to the doctor's office this morning and Dr. Jafri says he is doing so great. Here are his stats:

11 lbs
23" long (92nd percentile)

Sleep habits: Sleep, what is that. Just kidding. He is starting to be more alert after each feeding, so he is sleeping less. He can't fall asleep on his own yet, but that is expected. He will usually wake up 30 minutes after I put him down too, which is tiring for me at nights. He is a loud sleeper. By that I mean, when he is in his light sleep cycle, which is still quite long, he makes grunting noises. That keeps me awake most of the night.  He is not sleeping through the night yet. He has had one or two nights where he has slept 5 hours, but for the most part he is up for feedings every 3 hours and then wakes up some times in between too. We are zombies here!!

Eating habits:  He is still nursing 100%. He eats every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I do have to wake him up to eat during the day.  The reason for that is that he doesn't go down to nap very easily so sometimes he has only an hour of sleep before it is time to eat soooo I...wake...him.. up... I know, it is a crime, but I am trying to get his wake/feed/sleep cycles in order. 

I started putting him in some of his 3-6 month clothes because he is so long. He is still in size 1 diapers, but I think he is ready to move onto size 2. I just have to finish using up size 1. Those suckers are expensive... I already had to waste some newborns..

Overall, he is a good baby. He has an "air" problem, so once he fixes that problem, he is calm and taking in his surroundings.

Happy One Month Birthday Bubba!!!

A Huge Thanks!

Boy does time fly!  My step mom, Patty, was here helping me out for the past 3 weeks and I owe her a huge thank you! I could not have done it without her.  She hung in there even when Ava and Noah were showing their not so pretty side.  Her help allowed me to get my feet wet handling 2 kids.  She helped cook dinners every night too! We even added all her recipes to our list of meals because they were all delicious. This week I have the help of my mom and then Mike's mom is coming for a couple of days next week, then I am all by myself.....Let the chaos begin.. Some days I know I can do it and some days, I think, how on earth will I manage. This morning was one of those oh $h!t moments. We had a rough night last night. Noah just isn't a sound sleeper and when we put Ava down to be last night, she wasn't settled and called out for mommy and daddy for a good 1/2 hour. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of good sleep. I think Noah woke every hour or so and couldn't settle. I hope he will grow out of it. Then this morning, they both seemed to want to get up at the same time. Mike and I had slept in because we were so exhausted and were just trying to shower and both were crying out for us... Those make for some interesting mornings.

Ava has been having a rough couple of days too. She has been a mommies girl lately, which I know is hard on Mike. She will say "stay away" when she doesn't want one of us around. Everyone says that the oldest regresses when a new baby is brought home and I thought we might have averted here in this house, but Ava has been asking for her "paci" a lot lately... I probably let her have it more than I should. I let her suck on it longer in the morning especially since she isn't a "happy morning person". Here is a picture of her with 2 of them...


2 paci's

Auntie Melissa gave us some hand-me-downs this past week from Sophie. Included in the box were some dress up clothes and Ava found a tutu skirt that she insisted putting on over her clothes every day. Then she would put on daddy's shoes. I always wonder why she decides to do the things she does.


Tutu, Bobo, Big shoes and a Cheesy Smile!

Here are some pictures of our family...



Noah is getting so big! He is starting to look like a little old man. I can't wait for the smiles!



Ava and I enjoying the nice Arizona weather. It finally warmed up to go outside..

 



I Am Not Pregnant Anymore

I was commenting to Mike this morning that my mind and body are not in sync with not being pregnant anymore. I often find myself thinking, I shouldn't be doing this and then stop myself and ask "why"? I am not pregnant anymore and am not trying to "cook" Noah anymore. I am pretty much healed up from the c-section too. I have the occasional pain here and there and if I move a weird way or do something a certain way, but the path to recovery is to move forward with life.

Things that have changed...

I no longer need to have tums with me at all times.

I don't have to use Vics Vapor Rub like it is going out of style. (I had major stuffy nose at the end of my pregnancy and that was the only thing that helped me breathe)

I can drink more than one cup of coffee in the morning and not feel sick.

I can eat breakfast any time in the morning vs having to eat right when I woke up.

I can have a glass of wine.

I can clean the house and do laundry and not feel like I am "doing too much".

I can clean the shower now,( Mike wouldn't let me because he didn't want me inhaling the chemicals in a confined space) even though I have yet to do it.

I can get up off the floor without Mike's help.

I can drink a whole lot of water and not have to pee 50 million times in an hour.

I only go to the bathroom once, maybe twice in the middle of the night vs once an hour. I now wake up to feed or settle my "little Noah".

I can wear some of my early pregnancy clothes and not have to worry about my belly hanging out of the bottom. (As many of you saw, I had a basketball growing out at the stomach area and most of my shirts from my early pregnancy wouldn't go down far enough to cover my entire belly).

These are just a few of the things that have not caught up with my brain yet. It is very bizarre. I don't remember feeling this way with Ava, but then again, I don't remember a lot about how I felt when I had
Ava or maybe I would never have had another one. They don't call it pregnancy brain for nothing. It is how nature intended for us to have more than one child!