What its like

People had been giving us the look for awhile.  The "you have no idea what its like" look in reference to doubling our little people count.  We knew it would be different.  We remembered the good old days after Emma joined our house when sleep was special and there weren't a ton of words coming out of the little one, just poop and yelling.  But we thought, eh it wasn't so bad, right?  Well it is.  And it isn't.  First of all, Kinsley is starting to look almost identical to Emma more and more each day (minus the previously mentioned rug that Emma had that Kins couldn't quite replicate).  But it is just as hard as we (or at least I) expected.  This time around I am at a very busy point in the year (no not doing taxes for the 100th time:) and oh yeah there is the Emma factor.  Overall Emma has been better than I expected - I would knock on wood right now if some were near but I am too tired to go find some (even though its under my feet).  But her emotions are still running rampant and at any moment we could literally have a 30 minute meltdown for very little reason.   So there is that new variability.  then there is the newborn factor.  They are just so much more variable than toddlers and I think I forgot.  you literally don't know if they are going to sleep for the next 4 hrs or get up in 10 min.  you don't know if that lovely noise you heard is a shart - a term which I am not afraid to use where appropriate- or just pure gas.  So Emma volatility + baby variability + mommy being tired = fear by daddy.  Not like I may not live fear, but the kind of fear where I too am worn out from consecutive nights of little sleep and don't think I can handle a major event.  Cooper feels the same way, he is looking at me while I type this with uncertainty in his eyes. 

At the same time I forgot how much fun it is to have a little person who doesn't almost throw out your back to pick up, you will lay on you and not move for more than 2 seconds.  How weird it is to have a little being who really just wants their diaper changed and to be swaddled.  And again Emma has been good.  She is obsessed with Kinsley in a good way.  Emma got a little bunny when Kinsley was born , but insists that its Kinsley's bunny and tries to put it in Kins's face when she is sleeping.  Someday we will explain to Emma what a suffocation risk is, but for now we'll just enjoy it.  She also wants to hold Kinsley a lot, which I think is a good sign.  and when Emma is talking to Kinsley in what a teacher would call an outside voice, Kinsley doesn't budge because she's used to it already.  And Emma overall has gotten a bit more affectionate which isn't something I will complain about.  So really we are blessed.  I am still scared but blessed.

Lela seems to be recovering well from everything.  Pinterest is her obsession this time around, so there's a 50/50 chance that Lela will forgo going back to work to be a chef who exclusively cooks Pinterest meals and that I will have to cut back in hours to work on the new projects that pinterest proclaims are so cute and neat.  Thanks Pinterest. 

I don't think I posted either but we've had some big developments in recent months.  while grandpa and grandma were here in December Emma decided it was time to work on some potty training.  she's been doing really well since and even has pooping down.  by down  I mean it is our new favorite stall tactic.  if I had a dollar for every minute Emma was allegedly going poop, I could go to starbucks for a month.  Wait, maybe I should do that, good thought to self.  Anyway, Emma also moved to a big girl bed.  Its so weird to go in there and see her in this giant bed, but due to her ever increasing stuffed animal population it was necessary.  Not kidding, we are up to about 10 friends in bed, with some nights where their presence is requested around Emma's head to the point where she is no longer visible.  She's our little hoarder.  But she likes the bed.  Knock on wood but it all seemed to go well, we tried to be cautious to not throw too much change into the mix around Kinsley's arrival, but some of it just happened and it seems to be going relatively well.  Which is scary.  yes i live in constant fear.  In a good way.

Here are a few pics from our professional session and one from Kinsley's birth. I will upload more later, but am too tired and scared.

 

Kinsley Hope

So I am sure I shared the birth story for Emma, so here goes for Kinsley.  I was saddened it didn’t interrupt watching the national championship game or iowa’s bowl game or any other game that I wish I hadn’t spent time watching.  Maybe I need to watch less sports if it is bringing so much dissatisfaction to my life.  Anyway,  it all started around 4:30 with me turning off my alarm and deciding Tuesday wasn’t a working out kind of day.  Coincidentally, I made of similar decision on the day of Emma’s birth because I had to take some  physical exam and wouldn’t be able to eat that morning.  Lela got up and did work out, because she’s crazy like that.  On her way back from the gym, Lela elected to treat herself to a pumpkin spice latte from Sbux, something she rarely does.  I think that woke miss Kinsley up.  After showering, Lela claimed that she didn’t feel quite right.  When I probed her what she meant it, it sounded like the convo we had with on Emma’s day of birth.  Lela said “sort of but not really.”  I was pretty sure at that point we were having a baby that day, but we went along our merry way because lela doubted it.   Basically  the moral of that story is that I am really smart, and Lela should listen to me all the time and never question me. We both went to work, I called Lela who still wasn’t convinced, but about 8:45 Lela called me that she was on her way home because she didn’t feel well and I should “work from home for a bit to see.”  I packed up after sending an email or two about Hawkeye football (you don’t want to leave people hanging important about things), and ran home.  As I arrived it was clear it was coming.  To me that meant we probably would get to the hospital around 9:45, Lela would labor for a few hours and about 2 we would get to meet our little girl.  I was wrong. . .

On the drive it was very apparent that lela’s contractions were a minute apart or so, which for those of you with children that means close.  So I sped up some, noting that Lela wasn’t a fan of life.  We pulled in to the drop off (9:50), I walked Lela in (who collapsed to the floor so they forwent the usual paper work they for some reason make birthing moms do when they get there) ran to the car, noted that valet parking had like 10 cars in it, squeeled into a parking spot and ran in.  I ran into the room and was told she was about to start pushing.  WHAAAAT?  What happened to the first labor that was allegedly fast but took 8 hrs??????  Lela pushed once, rolled onto her back, pushed twice and it was over.  10:01.  I am still processing the craziness that that was.  Lela was a champ, shocker I know.

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Kinsley was in perfect shape.  She was 7 lbs 8 oz, 18 inches tall, so shorter and chubbier than Emma.  She had less hair than Emma (who had a frickin rug that made my balding head jealous) but was perfect.  It was just nuts to be arriving at home less than an hour from when the baby was born.  Not a revelation here to anyone but it was also crazy to hold such a little person after being used to wrestling around with a crazy 2.5 yr old.

Emma did well with meeting the baby.  She hit a point after a few minutes where I think she realized that the baby was real and got quiet.  But she moved on and her favorite thing became sitting on Mommy’s lap while mommy held Kinsley, which is as safe as it sounds!  As the pictures show, Emma is doing well with everything  and wants to hold Kinsley as much as possible.  Grandpa and Grandma came down to play with her, she got to open some presents (some for her, some for Kins) so its basically a 2^nd Christmas. 

Speaking of Christmas, I didn’t post about our Christmas.  It was very quiet this year because we stuck to OP due to Lela’s state of being (as in being really pregnant).  Wet facetimed with the cousins, which was a great alternative to just calling (and apparently a shout out to the evil empire that is Apple), but it wasn’t the same without watching all the kids open presents and have fun together.  Emma enjoyed opening presents this year, though she was painfully meticulous, as in it may have taken her 3 hrs to open presents if it weren’t for prodding by  impatient daddy.  Anyway I haven’t uploaded all those pics just yet but will have more later.  Here are the first pics of the 2 together.