Our life recently

Lately Jason has been falling asleep on the way home from church on Sundays.  That's okay with me because it seems like when he falls asleep earlier for naps he sleeps better at night.  The only difficult part is taking my sleeping boy from his car seat to his bed when we get home.  I pride myself on rarely waking him up for this even as I take off his shoes and cuddle his sweet limp body on my shoulder.  When I have to take Jason, Elizabeth and all our stuff in by myself it requires a few trips out to the car and back.  This Sunday Jeff was with us and he brought in Elizabeth and my diaper bag.  As I was coming down the stairs he told me we needed to have a conversation.  Apparently I was getting my anniversary present from him today, he was taking me to dinner and a concert in Austin (about an hour away.)  YAY!  but my head was spinning with questions: Who? Celtic Woman. When? leaving at 3pm. What are we doing with the kids? ditching them with Grandma!  I got a date night out!

So even though the traffic was awful in Austin (seriously, who does construction on every major highway at the same time?) we had a wonderful time.  Our first stop was Cabela's, a sporting goods store, to get a reclining camping chair to replace the one I got Jeff for Christmas that was broken.  Next it was time to battle the traffic to get some dinner, we decided on Outback, and off to the show.  I was a little nervous as we waited for the show to begin that since I didn't know much about the group or any of their music I wouldn't enjoy the show.  That was not the case at all.  I did know some of the songs and I enjoyed listening to the new ones.  After the concert was over we hurried home before exhaustion set in. 

We came home to a report that both of our kiddos ate that night.  Jason decided to try a little bit of everyone's dinner and Elizabeth ate 16oz in the 6 hours she was awake!  Grandma has decided that our little girl is going to eat us out of house and home, we will see.  Both of them went to bed without a problem.  All in all it was a pretty good night!



 Some other things that are going on with us:
Jason got his first professional haircut and is looking so much like a big boy!

Jeff has a few job nibbles, but nothing is signed yet.  We will keep you updated with that.

Jeff and my 6 year wedding anniversary is coming up on Sunday May 29th.



Elizabeth has her 2 month appointment on Thursday and we are all going camping this weekend.  But right now the little girl needs me so I'll have to sign off.

Who will they grow up to be?

When a baby is born everyone asks who you think she looks like and before I had kids I honestly thought all newborns looked the same.  I mean they do look a little bit all squished up and wrinkly, but their parents always find distinctive features.  Before Elizabeth was born I envisioned another Jason, just wearing pink.  She has way more hair then he did, but I had a hard time figuring out any features that were distinctly mine or Jeff's.  When we brought her home Grandma Salomon said she looks just like her Mommy and the older she gets the more I realize she is right.

Of course there are ways that our children are like us other than in physical attributes.  They both love to be outside and although that isn't very surprising of a two year old boy, Jason, like his sister, has always been happier when he is outside.  We just take Elizabeth on a walk around the yard to calm her down, it's amazing!  They of course got that from their father, whose first word wasn't Mama or Dada, but outside!  Elizabeth hates change, she doesn't like to be passed from one person to another and if she is happy she wants to stay where she is.  We are so blessed that she is sleeping very well at night only waking about once a night after sleeping 5 or 6 hours at a time!  Jason is currently our sleep fighter, but he always has trouble when we are in a new place so maybe he isn't a big fan of change either.  Mommy is the one that I am sure they have gotten that from.

And why is it that Jason loves trains?  Is it because his family's love of them was breed into him or is that just something he picked up? No matter if it is nature or nurture it will be interesting to see these little ones grow up.

Hold on!

I feel like I have been saying that a lot, to Jason, to Elizabeth, to life!   It always seems to be that when Jason wants something I am in the middle of doing something for Elizabeth.  Jason just got over a very nasty stomach bug that lasted from Tuesday until Sunday and has suddenly had a newfound interest in eating.  I am thrilled with this interest generally speaking because our little shrimp needs to eat, unfortunately he only ever wants to eat when Mommy is nursing Elizabeth.  He is very used to being an only child and getting what he wants when he wants it.  It feels like every other phrase out of my mouth is "hold on a second Jason"


Elizabeth at 1 month


Jason at 1 month

Then there is our little Elizabeth, who is becoming not so little.  She is a whole month old now! We call her a little chunky monkey, but I am not sure she is any chunkier than any other baby.  I am constantly comparing the two kids and trying to remember if Jason was this chunky at this age, because he certainly doesn't look it now.  Elizabeth is getting so much head control and has even rolled over on accident a few times.  I feel like a terrible mother though because we didn't even document her first Easter with pictures of her.  We did take a couple of Jason opening his basket, but Elizabeth was napping and we put the camera down and forgot to pick it back up to get cute pictures of the kiddos all dressed up.


 
Mostly we forgot because Jeff, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Michelle and Uncle Michael hustled off after church to unload our house into a storage unit here in San Antonio.  They worked their tails to the bone and we repaid them with the nice stomach bug I mentioned that Jason had.  They were thankful, I'm sure.  Now everyone is mostly recovered and we are trying to settle into life here in Texas.

Goodbye New Mexico

I'm sorry I have been awful about updating the blog.  In the pre-Elizabeth time I would update while Jason was napping or after he went to bed, but with Elizabeth I spend a lot of that time sleeping or holding her.  We also had my parents visiting last week so we were kept busy.  It was really great to have my mom around to help especially on Thursday when Jeff and I were both feeling sick.  We know my dad loved cuddling his new granddaughter too!




This is also shaping up to be a busy week also: we will be packing boxes all week, then on Friday and Saturday we will be loading up a truck and on Sunday we will be moving to San Antonio, Texas.  While Jeff is looking for a new job we have decided to stay with his parents.  It will give me some help with the kids while Jeff is off interviewing and it will be nice to live in a major area with shopping and an airport.  I just hope we don't have to impose on their generosity for too long.





I know the grandparents will be very happy to see the kiddos.  Elizabeth might have started out small but she is growing fast.  At her two week appointment she had gained 1 pound and 3 ounces!  Our little chubster is a pretty cute girl though.  Jason has a few moments of jealousy over mommy's time but he has been nothing but sweet with his baby sister.  One of the most difficult evenings came when Jason was refusing his dinner and everything other than Mommy.  Elizabeth needed to eat and I had not had a chance to finish my dinner.  To say the least I didn't have enough hands to make both of my children happy.  Things have gotten better as I learn what needs have to be dealt with immediately and what can wait a bit.  I also recently realized that Elizabeth may have been effected by my afternoon soda so I cut it out yesterday and we had a great night.  Hopefully it wasn't a fluke. 



Well a little boy is awake so I have to sign off now.

There goes the rug...

Our little family is settling in at home. Elizabeth is a great eater and even lets us get lots of sleep some nights. We are getting to know her personality a little better. She doesn't like anything up near her chin and like most babies loves to be held when she sleeps. I wanted to try to get her sleeping in her crib early on, but we haven't gotten around to it because we are worried about disturbing Jason's sleep. We were so blessed to have Grandma Salomon stay with us for a week after Elizabeth was born. She cooked and cleaned and took care of all of us. Jason loved having the extra attention and Grandma loved spending time with both of her grandbabies. We didn't want to send her back, but Grandpa and Uncle Michael were missing her. So on Saturday we all drove up to Albuquerque to take Grandma to the airport with promises that she would see us in a few weeks. The Salomon's have offered to help us move into our new Tucson house over Easter weekend.





We took advantage of our time in Albuquerque and found a refrigerator for our new house (it was missing one), a double stroller, and a bunch of summer clothes for Elizabeth. We were told that Elizabeth was going to be a large baby so I didn't have many summer clothes for her in newborn size which is what it ends up our tiny girl will need for a while. I must not have been thinking when I stocked up because for some reason most of her clothes were long sleeve and pants which is a little warm for our 80 degree spring days.




I though the most difficult thing about Monday would be handling 2 kids by myself. I was so nervous, but forced myself to be productive and went grocery shopping and got some laundry done. Right after I got Jason down for his nap Jeff called. I was so excited to tell him how well everything was going, but he also had some things to tell me. Apparently his company was no longer going to be in the reclamations any more, which means that he had a job for now, but needed to start looking for a new one. The rug was pulled right out from under us. Goodbye Tucson, goodbye house. Life was changing. I went through so many emotions right then: anger at his boss who we asked if we should commit to a house, frustration and sadness that we wouldn't be fulfilling our housing dream at this point, concern in the fact that we have 2 kids that need food and clothes, and a million others that I couldn't name. We have gotten started on canceling the contract on the house and Jeff is starting to contact his contacts to see if he can find a good job that he wants. And we have been praying, oh there has been so much praying for guidance and help. Obviously the Tucson plan wasn't what God had in mind for us, but I kind of liked it, so it has been hard for me to let go of. I know that God will guide us and we just need to trust him.



Now that I have had a few days for this news to sink in, I am still a little upset, but I am trying to accept that there is a plan for us that I may not understand.  As always we will keep you guys updated on where our life leads.

Elizabeth's Birth Story

Elizabeth Ann Salomon was born on her due date, March 26, 2011 at 3:24pm.  Here is her birth story, if you are squeamish you should probably just scroll though the pictures:

At 2:30 in the morning Jason started fussing so I got up to settle him and felt a small gush of water.  After that nothing happened so I went back to bed and waited until morning.  When I got up around 5am it happened again and Jeff made the executive decision that we needed to go get checked out at the hospital.  I was unsure because this was nothing like the definite water breaking that I had with Jason, but went along with Jeff's plan.  We arrived at the hospital around 7am.  The nurse, Heather, got me all set up in a room, ran a test to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid and asked all the usual questions.  She checked my cervix and I was 3 cm dilated and she said that she still felt a bag over the baby's head.  The Doctor headed in a little later and did a different test to see if I was leaking fluid, but said she did not feel the bag over the baby's head.  I was finally admitted by the Doctor at 10:30 and they started an IV and Pitocin to augment the small contractions I was having.

I could feel the contractions pick up and by 12:30 I was ready to talk about an epidural.  The nurse said that the anesthesiologist was just headed into surgery, but when he was out I would be first in line.  He finally was able to come in about 2pm, but had a lot of trouble getting the epidural in the right place.  He finally found the spot and I was feeling relief by 2:30.  Shortly after he left I realized I was still feeling pain low in my right side and then it spread more to my back.  In trying to find a more comfortable position I knocked the baby's heart rate monitor off so another nurse came in to help adjust it.  I told her about the pain and at this point my body was shaking and asked if this was normal.  She asked how long ago my cervix had been checked and I told her it had not since I was admitted.  She checked me and as she had guessed I was fully dilated, but she still felt the bag over the baby's head.


 Things started moving really fast at this point nurses rushed in to prepare the room and they called the Doctor.  The Doctor checked in and was telling me about what was going to happen and just checking in when I had to interrupt her to say that something was going on and I needed to be checked.  At about that time I gave birth to...a water balloon.  It seems that my water had sprung a high leak, but much of the bag was still intact so as my body was pushing it pushed out the bag of water and any remaining amniotic fluid.  The doctor called all the nurses over to take a look at this unusual sight and I was reminded to ask for a mirror so that I could watch the birth.  The bag was broken and in just one contraction with a push for her head and a push for her body, Elizabeth was born at 3:24pm.  It all happened so fast I almost didn't believe it was real.  She was 6 pounds 4 ounces and 19.25 inches long.  She had some fluid in her stomach (probably from being in the sac for so late into labor) but it was cleared out within an hour of her birth. 





 We are all in love with our beautiful baby girl!

Waiting game

Waiting for baby girl is kind of like waiting for Christmas, but worse.  You know it is coming, but unlike Christmas you don't know when.  At the last Doctor appointment on Monday she said she thought that we would be in labor and delivery this weekend.  The weekend is almost over and there is no sign of baby girl.  Then again before my water broke with Jason there was no sign of him either, so who knows.  Before Jason was born I felt like I was going to have to wait around for him, but he surprised us and came right on time.  This time I felt like baby girl was going to come early, but I may be wrong again.  Only God knows when baby girl will make her appearance, but I keep praying it will be sooner rather than later.

In the mean time we have been spending time with visiting family.  Jeff's parents and brother, Michael, came to visit us this week and we tried to keep them entertained in our small town.  We went to White Springs Missile Range and White Springs National park.  Another day we spent in Las Cruces going to the small railroad museum and La Mesilla, a small town where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced.  Dad and Michael did go out to Silver City and the Gila River Cliff dwellings, but I was concerned that the drive was too bumpy and it would be too far to travel from the hospital so Mom and I stayed home.

Jason has really enjoyed having Uncle Michael around to play with.  He was slow to warm up to everyone, but now is happy to cuddle and give hugs to Grandma and Grandpa.  It doesn't hurt that they take him out to play and read books to him.  Dad and Michael had to return home early this morning, but we are keeping Mom around to watch Jason when Jeff and I have to go to the hospital.  I don't think she minds getting to see a newborn baby girl either.

In other news, we do have a contract in on a house in Tucson.  Of course things could go wrong, but we agreed with the bank on a price.  We are still working out the closing and when we would move, but are hoping we can move things along quickly!