Felix and Link Comparisons

People say they look a lot alike but I don't see too much yet.  You can pick out Link easily because of all his hair.  

Weekend review 3

1. Mostly we were all sick this week with fevers and coughs.  All but Felix.  Link slept almost 3 days straight.

2. The Giuntas came on Saturday, but we were resting so we visited with them on Sunday.  Monet brought her boyfriend, Ben, for the first time.  We all went out to my parents new house to check on the progress.  Monet built a snowman with Link and Diana.

3. After hanging out at my parents we attended the Kinderhaus Festival of Lights.

4. We attempted kinderhaus on Monday but got called to pick up Link who was sick with a fever.  I did fit in appointment with Brenda before the call.  She encouraged me to slow down just a little but thought everything looked great on both Felix and I.  She also told me I looked like a radiating goddess in birth.  Who gets midwives like that?  I love her.

5. Leslie came over with some soup, a new sweater for Felix and a bike helmet for Link.  She and I have been texting all week about weird breast feeding problems I have been having.  Itchy boobs being the weirdest.  But she thinks a lot has to do with my body getting rid of the sickness.

6. High school musical casted and practice has begun.  We are doing The Little Mermaid.   So far lots of talent and things coming easy, minus ALL the snow days.

7. After watching Bryce nap all day and then complain about sleep at night and me being the same sick and not napping and feeding Felix and tending to a crying Link for three nights I lost it and spent the night crying in the bathroom.  Bryce then had to tend to the crying boys himself.  Things got better after a good cry.

8. Felix and I had a chiropractic appointment Saturday morning.  My back is all out of whack from nursing.  Felix doesn't tell me anything is wrong, but after appointment he cries less and sleeps more.

9. Felix got a flower bath mat to put in the sink.  He liked this bath much more than the first.

Weekend review 2

1. Link drew on the wall for the first time.  Before I lost it I let him know he is not to draw on walls without asking first because some people don't want it.  He felt bad but said he was just decorating.  We got out a magic eraser and my god those things really are magic.

2. On Friday Felix had his first well baby doctor appointment.  He is 99% weight, 95% head size and also 90% for height.  Dr. Schwartz said he looked great.  I also went over to the hospital to have a car seat expert fix our straps.  She said she remembered me from Lincoln's birth.  Our seat was all messed up.  She did some magic.

3. After two weeks of going back and forth between Edward, Marshall, James, and a few other ideas we decided Marshall is the middle name for Felix.

4. The Moores sent us a really cool hand made card.  In it was a code for a free book from shutterfly so i have been working on Felix's arrival book.

5. On Wednesday we had my mom come watch Link while we went to see The Hobbit.  We brought Felix.  He slept in the Moby the entire time.  I feed him once but he didn't wake.  Earlier that day I had looked up who Felix shares a birthday with and the only person I really knew on the list was J.R.R. Tolkien.

6. After three snow day cancelations I finally had auditions and the kids did spectacular.  I am very excited for such a great cast.

7. On Monday Felix ventured outside the house for the first time.  We spent the day in Elkader.  First we had breakfast at Treats, then I took Link to story hour with Hila (kinderhaus was canceled).  Then we went to the extension office to drop off papers.

8. On Tuesday school was canceled again but we went to Jane's story hour anyway.  Bryce went with.  Paula and Cheri were both there.  Afterwards my family went to Prairie.  We had dinner at the Mexican restaurant and picked up some stuff at Walmart.  

9.  Bryce and I both fell ill with the flu on Friday.  We woke up with coughs which went to fevers and aches.  Both kids seem healthy.  Hoping it passes quickly.  Hard not to wake a sleeping baby with a house full of hacking.

10. I received a massage from Marge at her new location at cedar street suites.  It was a great massage and the location looks very nice too.  I'm very excited for her.

Things I forgot

1. Why we owned a king size waterproof mattress pad.  Leaky baby, leaky mommy.

2. Enjoying those after nursing gas smiles is sometimes interrupted with scary rolled back eye openings

3. why i cut all my hair off two months in.  caked in baby spit and yanked in every direction.

A little about Felix

Felix is asleep most of the time.  3-6 hour increments with not lots of wake time.  When he is awake he is calm and looking around.  10 pm seems to be a time he is almost always awake. He does cry during about 50%of diaper changes and all through his bath.  He likes to be bounced, especially with dad on the excessive ball.  He also seems to like his vibrating chair and carseat swing.

Felix squeaks when he eats.  He nurses is small increments often falling asleep.  Then after 5-10 min he wants give it another go.  I'm still getting use to this.  His feedlings are usually followed by spitting up all the milk and getting the hiccups.  He seems to fight gas and every bowel movement is an explosion.  

One of the absolute most adorable things about Felix is when he sneezes it is followed by the cutest sigh a baby can have.  

Today Felix left the house for the first time.  We went to Treats, story hour, and the extension office.  I had him in the moby and he fell asleep almost immediately and was still asleep when we got home three hours later.  

He loves being swaddled.  He loves looking at high contrast images.  He won't take a pacifier but will occasionally suck on a parent's pinky and occasionally the side of his hand.  No thumbs out yet, but his fingers are constantly moving around.  No tight fists.

He lost his umbilical cord at about 5 days.

He has the softest hair in the entire world.  It looks blond, brown, red, depending on the light.

We are all so in love.  The transition seems pretty easy from 1-2 kids.

Some other photos from the week

1. Felix and Gretel Moser.  11 days apart.

2. The chalkboard sign outside our house.

3. The RH Test.  Took the hospital over 5 hours to tell me Link was a positive blood type (did not tell me if he is O or A) and I needed a rhogam shot.  Took Brenda 5 min to tell me Felix was A- and no shot was needed.

4. Somebody's been really interested in LEGO Indiana Jones lately.  (He got the button at the Lego Competition and thinks it has Lego powers.)

5. Brothers, forever.

Tears and Laughter

It has been -20 this week so the whole town is basically staying inside keeping toasty which is exactly where I want to be too.

I am healing well physically and can see an emotional shift in hormones as they shift around as well.
My husband and 4-year-old are getting great belly laughs from me for all their one liners which they love and my ab muscles are starting to get use to.

I am shedding lots more tears though too.  I feel like taking selfies and posting them like the meem where parents post photos of their kids crying and why and it seems ridiculous.
I didn't take those photos, but here are the reasons I have shed tears:

1. Bcause Bryce thought all the photos of the camera were deleted.  (Not that any birth photos were actually in focus, but just the the thought. ) He found them a few minutes later.

2. Because Landslide came on the radio and I started singing it to Felix and the words hit me too hard.

3. Because I have never once cut Link when clipping his fingernails and I cut Felix on the first nail.

4. Because I asked for Link's help getting a burp cloth and he was taking too long so I impatiently went and got one myself and Link was genuinely hurt.

5. Because i watched Downton Abbey

6. Because I wanted to feel Felix in my belly again.

7. Because I feel like an awful person when I don't always think Felix is cute.

Extra things I am thankful for

.

1. Sitz bath.  For releasing, soothing, and giving me cravings for ramen noodles.

2. After ease tincture.  For instantly soothing a uterus that clamps down with every feeding and sometimes even just during Felix's cry.

3. A husband who is beyond words the best man in the world.  How he is managing all three of us at this time is beyond me, but he is still smiling.

4. A midwife who says "I love you."

5. A four-year-old son who has proclaimed himself "the most helpful little boy to ever come out of your belly" and has kept me laughing these past few days.

6. The Moser's who home delivered professional chiropractic care for Felix, friendship, chocolate, and their own fresh born baby for some company.

7. Warm food from neighbors and loved ones.  It always makes me feel so warm and loved.  Especially when I am ravished after nursing.

8. Placenta smoothies for the incredible energy and strength I have and the continued crazy label from my family.

9.

Amanda Greavette paintings.  I found her on Etsy a few weeks ago and plastered her beautiful images around my birthing rooms for inspiration.  Do a google image search of her, it's worth it.

10. Cabbage leaves.  My bra is a garden right now.

Felix's birth story

Jan 3 at 3:00 in the morning I got up to go to the bathroom and realized I had been dreaming about talking to Amanda Dettbarn about labor and contractions.  After coming back to the room I realized I was actually having contractions and they were pretty intense.  I looked at the time and figured I should try to get some more sleep but I couldn't even sit down or lie down without a contraction.  I walked around a little and started counting during contractions and recording spacing.  I was only having 15 to 20 second contractions but they were already 5 or less minutes apart.  After an hour I woke Bryce up.  I had him move link to his own bed and get the bedroom ready for labor.  I called Karin and let her know what was going on.  She started coming over right away.  

I put on my diffuser and pandora station and tried to relax by kneeling in front of the birthing ball and swaying my hips during contractions and walking around and squatting.  Two great songs came on pandora during this time.  Brett Deneen's "blessed" whose chorus goes "blessed is this life, I'm going to celebrate being alive" and Regina Spektor's song "folding chair" which has this great line "I've got a perfect body, though sometimes I forget.  I've got a perfect body cause my eyelashes catch my sweat."

Contractions kept getting stronger so before Karin got here I called Brenda and Sadie.  Karin soon arrived and did a stop watch count of my contractions.  She said I was right about timing and we needed to intensify the length of contraction.  I suggested getting in the tub.  I did and it wasn't long before I was having minute long contractions and my counting turned into low moans.  I was already in the next stage of labor and here I had planned all these things to do in the first stage because of the length of my first birth.  I no longer had a sense of time but it was probably around 5 pm.  

I laid on my side in the tub with Karin putting pressure on my back and Bryce assisting.  Sadie soon arrived and did the same. She also helped loosen up my legs and butt which I kept clenching during contractions.  Sadie also moaned with me nice and low to match pitch and keep my voice low.  I kept saying things like I want a break and I want to be done and Karin knew I was thinking of Link's birth and how long it was and kept reminding me this was a different birth.  

Link woke up around 6:00.  Bryce called Trish and Richard and they came to pick Link up, but for 45 min or so Bryce was downstairs with Link while they waited.  When he was back up in the bathroom I started pushing.  I pushed and felt my water bag pop open.  I pushed and felt the baby's head enter the birth canal and I remember saying "wow that's big."  I loved that no one told me to push this time, I just felt it.  In my last birth I was pretty numb by this point so I don't remember feeling anything like that.  What i do remember from both births is my legs uncotrollably shaking at this point.  I loved that in between pushes it suddenly felt like I was getting a break.  Maybe only 30 sec to outside observers but it felt long to me.

I had already been able to feel the hair on the baby's head when Brenda got there.  Karin had been trying to get me on hands and knees and I didn't want to, but when Brenda got there she told me I need to get on hands and knees or out of the tub because the water couldn't go high enough and the baby wouldn't be able to figure out what to breath if born right on the surface.  In between a push they put me on the birthing stool.  One push after that but all of the sudden there was a giant splash and Brenda had the baby in her arms, handing him to me.

It was awesome.

Bryce, Felix and I were put in bed for a while to cuddle.  I birthed the placenta and then tried to release my bladder.  I had been having trouble all during he birth to release and actually for the past couple days so I knew one thing that worked, which was laying on my belly in the tub.  So I did that while Bryce and Felix hung out and then Sadie came in and washed me all up.

Felix was born at 7:28 am.  I couldn't believe how short it was.  Sadie made me eggs and we got some after ease tincture and sitz bath going.  We checked out the placenta.  Felix got his measurements.  He got a 10 on his apgar.  Karin asked me if I thought he was smaller or larger than Link and I thought smaller, but boy was I wrong.  His head was the same 15 inches, his length was one inch longer than at 22 inches and his weight was a whopping 11 lbs and 6 oz.  

He is such a strong boy and nursed right away.  There were no complications and I am feeling great.  I have the normal swollen bum which is keeping me in bed but once again I had no stitches, no real tearing.  Felix is doing amazing with diapers and sleeping and everything.  We are so happy.

Link was brought back to the house at around 12.  Trish said she had told him two different times that Felix was born and he didn't say anything but when he walked in the house he shouted "I love my baby brother."  He came right upstairs and saw Felix sleeping on my chest.  He gave him a hug and a kiss and looked at him a while.  Then he wanted attention and was super rambunctious.  Richard went to the store and got us some food and supplies and Trish held Felix while we did some upkeep.  After they left Link and Bryce played while Felix and I slept.  Grandma Rose got link that night and he is there all weekend.

2014 Goals

The categories are listed 1-12, so I can do one each month from each category

Lifestyle Changes
1. Purchase an animal (processed)
2. Lose 10 lbs every season
3. Pack my own lunch when I work
4. Get a compost machine
5. Plant a better garden and maintain it- Enough for our family to eat
6. Learn to use the pressure canner for vegetables
7. Save seed for next years harvest
8. Cook dinner or lunch 3-4 days a week
9. Make homemade noodles
10. Learn to coupon at the co-op
11. Make all own condiments
12. Trade out all non-stick pans for cast iron or stainless steel


House Goals
1. Redo the stairs/stairway
2. Repaint the bedroom
3. Paint the rest of the guest room
4. Get a bed frame for the guest room
5. Build a bookshelf in the office
6. Fence in play area
7. Replace sink in bathroom downstairs
8. Put in a back patio
9. Clean siding
10. Get a new floor in the kitchen
11. Move heater in bedroom
12. Set up a better recycling area

Art Goals
1. Redo Mamatoto Marketing
2. Illustrate my children's book
3. Take a portrait painting class
4. Make an artist chair or couch
5. Create a photo tour of my town
6. Record a song or short cd
7. Knit something for baby
8. Sew something I will wear
9. Memorize two orgami folds
10. Etch glass
11. Make Christmas gifts (Pinterest Craft)
12. Make wreath

Financial Goals
1. Have Bryce switch to Veridian Credit Card
2. Create a will or revocable trust
3. Put $4000 in Link's savings account
4. Learn about the stock market
5. Set up a Roth IRA (15% of household income)

6. Start a savings account for new baby $1000
7. Have all credit card debt below $4000
8. Pay of student loan completely
9. Put $1000 in an emergency fund
10. Reduce and sell lots
11. Keep a budget spreadsheet
12. Buy all Christmas items used

Random goals without a timeline
1. Visit Grant Wood Locations
2. Read the El Kader book and write play
3. Make a photo album from high school stuff
4. Make a photo album from college stuff
5. Enter a project at the county fair
6. Go to the Natural Gait
7. Go to a Quaker meeting in Decorah
8. Visit the Mosque in Cedar Rapids
9. See Wicked
10. Get Lasik
11. Get my passport
12. Learn metrics

2013 goals completed and not

The categories are listed 1-12, so I can do one each month from each category

Lifestyle Changes
1. Drink pop only one day a week (if at all). 
I haven't kept a lot of track, but being pregnant helped significantly
2. Stop eating fast food completely (or less than 1x a month)
Again, not completely sure what I am averaging, but I think it is less than 1x a month
3. Learn to make my own cheese
I did this with a bunch of kids at camp, now to just get it to be a part of our own life
4. Make a worm tea bin
5. Get rid of everything under the kitchen sink (chemicals)
Reverse decision.  Some chemicals I just like better then homemade (like Windex), but for the most part things are gone and replaced
6. Learn to use the pressure canner for vegetables
7. Get rid of everything we can in the bathroom (chemicals)
Same as 5.  Using essential oils for most ailments, but some products still there
8. Purchase an animal (processed)
9. Stop using shampoo and conditioner
I did this for a few months, then I went back to shampoo and conditioner.
10. Get a cleaning schedule in action
11. Have another baby, if possible
Almost there.
12. REDUCE (sell as much stuff as I can that I don't use)
I have taken much more advantage of buy, sell, trade sites.

House Goals
1. Put closet in bedroom
Could enclose it, but for the most part calling it good.
2. Put up shutters
Have done on front of house
3. Put up kitchen shelving
Got one wall done and still deciding what to do with the rest
4. Put in upstairs shower
Just finished this week.  Need a couple more parts to call it complete.
5. Paint the rest of the guest room
6. Clean siding
7. Get new front door
8. Put in a back patio
9. Fence in play area
10. Get a new floor in the kitchen
11. Redo the stairs/stairway
Still working on, but halfway there
12. Set up a better recycling area

Art Goals
1. Finish mosaic
2. Illustrate my children's book
3. Take a class toward getting my art ed license again
4. Make an artist chair
5. Create a photo tour of my town
6. Record a song or short cd
7. Pinterest DIY yarn
8. Pinterest DIY sewing
9. Pinterest DIY paper
10. Pinterest DIY glass
11. Pinterest DIY wood
12. Pinterest DIY wreath

Financial Goals
1. Get and set up quick books
2. Create a will or revocable trust
3. Put $3000 in Link's savings account
4. Learn about the stock market
5. Set up a Roth IRA/retirement 

6. Get another part time job or small side job
I got an almost full time job, which is helping with debt, but not sure how long I want to keep it.
7. Have all credit card debt below $8000
Just below combining the two.  
8. Have Bryce switch to Veridian Credit Card
9. Have Bryce do some continuing ed for job
10. Have Bryce get a raise
It appears to be built into his work
11. Look into further assistance
12. Pay of a loan completely

Random goals without a timeline
1. Read the Grant Wood book and visit locations
Need to do the trip
2. Read the El Kader book and write play
3. Make a photo album from high school stuff
4. Make a photo album from college stuff
5. Enter a project at the county fair
6. Take lessons on the auto harp
7. Go to a Quaker meeting in Decorah
8. Visit the Mosque in Cedar Rapids
9. Plant a tree for Link
Not sure if it will grow but it is in the ground.
10. Get Lasik
11. Get my passport
12. Learn metrics