Me plus 3

Things have slowed down since all the Christmas chaos and we just got back Sunday from a wedding in Louisiana which was beautiful. I am still trying to get used to things, my schedule is all nothing short of a mess. I get plenty of cumulative hours of sleep probably, it's just all spread out and interrupted (which supposedly is worse than no sleep) from 11ish p.m.-11ish a.m. Tyler usually wakes 10:30-12ish and then every 1-3 hours. Madison wakes up 8-9 and I try to get her to let me sleep longer while she watches tv and eats cereal, which I feel terrible about. I need to just make myself get up when she does, but most mornings I can't even open my eyes that early after a crappy nights sleep. I get woken up so often I don't even have any clue how many times it is. But that's alright, it won't last forever, right? Tyler is still so sweet, and he hasn't been crying near as much this past week as the one before - which is what Madison did, too. I guess the third week of life is hard on them. He will be 4 weeks tomorrow! I can't believe how fast the first month went by. He has given us a few real smiles in the past 2 days, me two and Madison two. Both of mine were when I was changing his diaper talking to him, it lasted longer than the others and was so sweet to see him looking right at me giving me a big smile. They supposedly start smiling at 4-6 weeks, I think Madison was 6 weeks exactly. He is the nosiest baby I have ever seen, he grunts a lot! He prefers to sleep on his stomach which I try not to let him, but over and over again find him on his stomach, turn him back and he cries and goes back to it and back to sleep so sometimes I give in. He doesn't sleep so well on his back, his arms flail too much, so I try to keep him on his side. Madison used to always nurse to sleep and that is the only way she would go to sleep, he is different in that he nurses, then pulls off to go to sleep which I like better. I can get him to sleep just holding him, and John too, which didn't happen with Madison. But the last two days he is not liking sleeping unless he is in my arms. Every time I put him down he wakes up a minute later screaming, but goes back to sleep immediately when I pick him up. He finally stayed in his swing late this afternoon and slept for more than a few minutes for the first time today. He loves to be held, but I can't blame him, most babies do. I feel very unorganized. Each day is a race to get anything done while he is asleep, and most days I have to prioritize between cleaning, eating, showering and playing with Madison. Usually eating and showering take last priority and I actually forget to eat until a few hours before dinner, but by then I figure I will just wait for dinner. I always wondered why moms would say stuff like they are lucky to get a shower or sit down to eat and I never understood why, with Madison it was easy and I had plenty of free time. Not so now! Not if I want the house to get cleaned anyway. So I totally get it now. But I am sure I will get better and get some sort of routine down. So right now it's 4:00 and I haven't eaten, showered, cleaned, or played with Madison today lol! I got up and had some coffee then decided to take a few pictures while he was sleeping, then he woke up and I took a few more then got him back to sleep, only to sit down and edit the pictures, finished that and now he is waking back up so John may come home to find everything and everyone as he left us this morning, I am glad he is a good enough husband not to care too much. So I guess I am gonna get off here and feed him, then try to make Madison think cleaning the house is a race and an ice cream is the prize. :)

3 week old Tyler

Tyler will be 3 weeks tomorrow! He has changed a little since he was first born. His eyes are looking more like a really pretty dark blue in the last few days, I hope they stay blue. He is still mellow and so sweet but has gotten fussier, which I expected after the first two weeks so it hasn't been too bad. He screams until you pick him up and then he is happy as can be just sitting in your arms. He doesn't sleep for as long, he was doing a lot of 4-6 hour naps but now it's more like 1-3. I am lucky to get 3 hours straight sleep at night and it's wearing me a out a little. We don't go to bed until 12-1 because he has a long period of being awake and/or really fussy for an hour or two around 11 or 12 (which was also always when he was most active in utero). So I really should start going to bed at 9 to try and get some more sleep but I am a night owl too. I always regret it in the morning though when Madison is begging for cereal because she is always "starving" and he is fussy again and I don't want to open my eyes. He is always fussy around 6am too so I barely get back to sleep before Madison wakes up 8-9ish. So I am looking forward to him sleeping more one day...but I figured this is how it would be so I am not suprised or anything. I was just holding out a little hold that he would be as good a sleeper as Madison- she always slept 12 hours straight at night from the first night home from the hospital, but I knew I wouldn't get that lucky again. Even when Tyler is being fussy though, it's so much easier to handle than Madison was, she was beyond frustrating because her scream actually hurt your ears. He is quiter and mellower even when upset and his fussy periods don't last as long. John is great at getting him to calm down and sleep when he is fighting it, he was great with Madison too. Something about him is calming to them because I can try for an hour and he will get them to sleep in minutes. Tyler is staying awake for up to 2 hours at a time now and I love it when he is happy and just looking around. I really love it when he stares at me and smiles, even if he isn't really smiling at me yet. He is finally starting to fit into some of his 0-3 month clothes, you would think a 9 lb, 22 in baby would fit into some of them at first, but nope, only the "newborn" sizes have fit him up till now, and even still only the smallest of the 0-3 month clothes fit, usually only the name brand ones too which figures! He had his 2 week checkup last week and measured 10 pounds and 22.5 inches. So he is growing fast! He will be out of the 0-3 clothes soon after they fit probably. Madison is still doing really good, she isn't jealous at all. She was about the sleeping arrangement at first, but has gotten over that. She is just so happy to have him here and never seems bothered that his needs often have to come before her wants. She will say to me "When he is done eating will you get me something to drink?" Instead of just getting mad that I can't get up and do it now. She is adjusting and treating him so much better than I imagined. My first trip to the grocery store by myself with the two of them was kind of a disaster, he woke up when I was nearly done screaming to eat so I managed to walk and nurse him discreetly since I had two shirts on, while Madison pushed the cart and I pulled the end since she can't see over it, and held him with one hand and my arm was so tired, and while he nursed his diaper leaked all over the front of my shirt, but Madison did so great and got the groceries I needed without me even telling her which ones I needed, she just remembered what I bought which I thought was cool. She was so grown up and so happy to help and was the most perfect 4 year old ever that day, I was so proud of her. But I am taking John with me grocery shopping for a while. Anyway, I guess that's it for now, enjoy the pics :)

Tyler's Shoot

Tyler is now 10 days old! He is doing great. I can't say enough how precious he is, so so sweet, so cuddly and just the sweetest boy ever. He smiles a lot, even when he is awake now but I don't know that it's on purpose yet, but it is the cutest thing. When he is awake and not hungry, which isn't just a whole lot still, he is so curious, just sitting and looking around being the most perfect baby. It has been pretty easy so far, he sleeps and eats good, although he doesn't always sleep at night when I would like to. But we have only had 2 nights where he wouldn't let me sleep much but only because he wanted to nurse a lot. He doesn't have a lot of fussy time at all and even when he does, it's pretty mild and easy to handle compared to what Madison was, although that could still change in the next few weeks since crying is supposed to increase at 2-3 weeks old (it certainly did with Madison). We are all 3 so crazy about him. Madison has not been too bad, I thought she would be way more rough with him, and she is a little, just not near as bad as I thought she would be. She gets things I ask her and helps with him in ways like that and is really happy to do it. She has been pretty good because her Mamaw was here to pay her special attention. We will see how the time goes now that she is going back home. We have really appreciated how much she has helped out with the housework and everything else. I will miss not having to do dishes :) But it's time for me to get back to taking care of the house and get down some sort of routine and figure out how I am going to do with two kids. I am sure I will be doing a lot of pictures over the next few weeks. Here are some from his first shoot by himself, and a few with Madison. I will have to get some better ones of the two of them later.

There are so many that are so much alike, but slightly different and I just can't bring myself to delete them! It was hard to choose just some of my favs to post here, if you are on my phanfare you can see all 60 of them lol :)

A few more snapshots

Can you tell he looks just like John?

Our first mini shoot

I will try to get some more done tomorrow of just Tyler and hopefully Madison with him because today didn't go too well.

I caught one! :)

I've been trying to catch Tyler smiling. They are quick, but OH SO CUTE!

He is doing really good. He sleeps and eats great all day till around 11-12ish, when we go to bed, he has a fussy 1-3 hours every night where he doesn't seem to know what he wants, tries everything for just a minute and cries again. It all ends and he goes to sleep for the rest of the night, just waking to nurse once near early morning and is out again till 9-10ish, nurses again and sleeps till after noon. That will probably be ending soon enough and he will start crying more and staying awake more, but for now he is such a dream. He is so sweet, cuddly and I am just so in love with him. Madison is becoming a little more of a handful with him, since she doesn't want to listen to stop or leave him alone. I feel bad yelling at her or punishing her when she won't mind about something to do with him, because I know it's a lot for her to adjust to, and I have a hard time knowing when we should give her a break or let her know she has to mind or else. I don't want her to resent him or feel we love him more so I'm trying to make her feel special and big which is hard when she won't mind. Tonight she got in trouble and she said "I'm sorry the baby cries all the time, but he just doesn't like me." It made me sad she said that, but I don't think she really thinks it so much as she is just a drama queen lol. But I made sure to tell her different and told her I think he really wanted a night night hug and kiss from her and that made her happy. I think she is smart with words and knows how to work people sometimes lol :) She is crazy about him, you would never know there was a time she was devestated about him being a boy! She is going to be a great big sister, it's just hard for her getting used to the rules and not being able to play with him yet. She isn't being nearly as rough as I thought she would be though, thank goodness, she really is learning to be gentle. That's all for now!