little cuties

She'll probably hate these someday... but I think they are cute!

And here is the other little cutie...

trip to the park

We took a walk (pretty much across the street) to the park the other day. It was fun to try out our new double stroller. Thanks for the recommendation Laura -- we went with the sit & stand like what you have :) I am happy with the stroller so far. It is definitely more of a workout to push 2 kids than just one... but that is a good thing. It means my walks will burn more calories!Here is Evelyn going down the slide. Travis catches her before she gets all the way to the bottom... for some reason she can't stay upright and she gets all twisted on the way down. But she LOVES it!!I love to watch Travis and Evelyn play together -- it makes my heart melt. Travis is such great dad! Evelyn always gets crazy giggles and huge smiles :)
Here is a picture of poor little Noah after his bath today. When he pouts he looks like Evelyn.

Sunday Cuddles

Here is a little view of what we did this afternoon:
Gotta love Sundays spent on the couch :)

The good with the bad...

Good: I love flowers!! We received these flowers from Trav's aunts last night when they came over with dinner. They stopped and picked them up at Pike Place Market before coming to our house. Good: I received these flowers from one of my favorite accounts that I call on. My work partner must have told them about Noah -- these got delivered the other day. They are in a beautiful square glass vase. It is nice to know that some of your customers really like you :)Good: Trav's mom made us this cute throw blanket with all sorts of monkey fabrics. It has the softest "minkee" fabric on the back. It is the perfect blanket to cuddle up with during the middle of the night feedings with Noah.
Good: I have been wearing my tight bella band on my tummy ever since my incision pain level has gone down. I read somewhere that it will help with the tummy-pooch. I think it is working!
Bad: I still have a ways to go... It will obviously take some serious ab-work (that I am not allowed to do yet) to get a flat stomach again.
Good: Trav's mom has been a huge help ever since Noah was born. She has been taking care of Evelyn pretty much completely so that I can get adjusted to Noah. I am also not allowed to lift Evelyn yet (I have a few more days left to go)--- so I wouldn't really be able to take care of her on my own.
Bad: Sally leaves on Sunday. Then it will be back to the real world of cooking our own meals, cleaning up afterwards, grocery shopping, etc...
Bad: My heart is completely breaking. I miss my little girl so much... It makes me sad that I haven't been the one getting her up out of her crib in the mornings... It makes me sad that I haven't been giving her baths, feeding her, giving her a bottle before bedtime, etc... I am slowly able to play with her more and do more things together, but I still have a few days to go until I can lift her and have our interactions somewhat back to normal.
Good: I finally allowed myself to get on the scale and I have lost a little over 15 lbs so far...
Bad: I have 15 more lbs to go to get to my pre-Noah weight... 5 more lbs after that to get to my pre-Evelyn weight...
Good: I think some of that 15 lbs is the large amount of milk I am storing in my gigantic boobs.
Bad: I have never been a boob-girl --- I want my normal sized chest back. I am hoping the swelling/engorgement will calm down in the next week or so...
Good: I am starting to get the night sweats... I remember losing what seeemed like a few lbs of water weight after Evelyn was born because I sweated so bad at night for a few nights.
Bad: Gross! I hate sweaty sheets --- I am forced to sleep on a towel and do a lot of laundry!
Good: BFing is going great so far... Noah was 7lbs 3 oz at birth, he went down to 6lbs 10oz, and his weight was already back up to 7lbs 8oz yesterday. He is feeding and growing like a champ!

pee tents? rain-gear?

Moms of little boys, I need some advice... How can we take care of the constant peeing during diaper changes? I swear, it must be the cold air or something... almost every diaper change we are dealing with pee shooting through the air. The direction is never predictable either... sometimes it goes straight up in the air, sometimes sideways (squirting whoever is changing him), and he even squirted pee right up onto his face once! The poor guy! It was funny and sad all at the same time :)

I have tried to hold a diaper over the pee-er, but the diaper seems so big that it makes it impossible to see what you are doing underneath. We also tried a kleenex, but since he was circumsized and we are putting petroleum jelly on him, the kleenex just stuck to him and got all gooey...

I have seen little Pee tents in gift shops before... are those real or are they gag gifts? Any tips for this clueless mom?

More pics

Here are a few more pictures from the past few days:
Evelyn cuddling Cocoa :)

Happy Birthday Travis!

Happy Birthday (belated -- April 11th) to the man who has given me more than I ever dreamed possible :) I love you!

Here is Travis showing Noah to Evelyn after we got home today. She seemed to be pretty curious...

Mommy update: I am very thankful to have Sally in town to help out with everything. I am still in a lot of pain from the c-section. This recovery seems to be a little tougher for me so far than last time... maybe because Noah is bigger? Everything else is going okay... I need to catch another cat-nap though before it is time for another feeding :)

Noah William Vandervort

Noah William Vandervort has arrived: 7 lb 3 oz, 19 3/4 in. He was born at 8:03 AM. Evelyn got to meet her little brother shortly after his birth. Everything went smoothly; now, Michelle is working on recovery. We'll add more pictures and updates later.

Getting better...

Evelyn had a better day yesterday than Sunday.... I am hoping that she is done with the puking. She was able to keep down water, watered-down gatorade, lunch (a tiny amount of applesauce & bananas), dinner (plain pasta), and a small amount of milk before bed. She was still extremely tired and lethargic all day though... She isn't up yet this morning, she should be waking up any minute. I am crossing my fingers for a healthy, happy little girl :)

Tomorrow morning -- 7:30 AM --- I can't believe the time has come! I think it has finally started to sink in that we will have two children in our house very soon. I'll try to post (or have Trav post for me) a few pictures tomorrow!!

What else...?

Please pray for a healthy Evelyn tomorrow... It is Sunday night and Travis and I have been dealing with a sick peanut all weekend. She caught some sort of bug (feverish, pukey, lethargic). I have been covered (and I mean soaked) in rotten milk two times... I have been spot treating carpets, chairs, etc... if anyone has any secrets on how to get your little one to vomit strategically, please let me know.

I thought she was done with the pukey part of it... but right before bed she drenched me (and herself and the glider) with smelly vomit. I seriously don't know if I can handle another day of this... there are still things that I wanted to do before my c-section on Wednesday (one of them just being to relax). I am exhausted, uncomfortable, and sick of cleaning up stomach acid/rotten milk vomit!

One More Week!!

Here they are -- the requested belly pics (38 weeks). I am not sure how much bigger I have gotten the past week, but I know that my discomfort has been steadily increasing. I never experienced any of this with Evelyn...

I feel as if I am carrying "high" and "low" at the same time!! My belly is pushed right up under my bra line and I have constant kicking and movement under my ribcage... and yet I have so much pressure down low and on my bladder, too.

I am no longer doing my gym routine (the elliptical trainer wasn't even an option anymore, my legs would come up and put pressure on my belly) --- it is pretty much down to trying to take long daily walks. After having some bad Braxton-Hicks contractions during a walk the other day I decided that I should always have my cell phone with me, just in case :) Cocoa, Evelyn and I are still doing 2-3 mile loops around the neighborhood. I am a little bit slower these days up the hills though.



As you can see, my belly isn't quite as bruised anymore. Since I am nearing delivery, I had to switch my injections from lovenox to heparin (it leaves your body quicker). This is a good and bad change... the heparin doesn't seem to leave as many bruises, but I have to give the injections twice a day instead of once. Oh well... this will all be over with soon. I am ready to have this baby!!

Crazy kid...

Evie's new favorite thing to do -- climb on top of anything and everything. Here she is on her music table... she goes up and down over and over again -- it never gets old!

Here are a couple of pictures from swim class tonight...
This isn't a great picture -- but Evelyn's face cracks me up :)