Whirlwind

To answer your questions: No, this blog is not defunct.  Yes, we are still alive.  NO, two kids is not double the work, it is ten times the work.  YESSSS, I will take anyone up on an offer to pay for a live-in nanny.

Phew.  Ok, so I just looked back and realized I had not posted on here since mid-February, right after we got the house.  A LOT has happened since then, I have been so busy just trying to hang on for the ride, the idea of writing about it did not even cross my mind.  I feel so bad for Liam, having only a small handful of posts after his birth, and, even then, they are mostly not about the whole family, not him specifically.  At this point in Elliot's life she easily had 20 posts dedicated to her every milestone.  (#SecondChildProblems)  So, I will try to bring you up to speed.

1. We moved in to our house!
However, the joy of this momentous occasion was stolen a bit by someone breaking in literally the day before we were scheduled to move in.  They completely destroyed our front door, damaged one of the doors in the basement, and stole some of Erik's tools, our Jambox, and some mail we had here.  Fortunately, no one was hurt and very few of our belongings were actually in the house at the time.  We were able to move in as scheduled.

For the most part, we are settled in now.  There are several boxes that remain unpacked and a few rooms that definitely need some organizing, but all the essentials are in place.  We are loving the additional space and the new 'hood.

2. I went back to work.
Apparently, all maternity leaves must come to an end, and mine was no exception.  I was mostly just surprised at how fast it happened!  But, if we are being honest, I was getting a little stir-crazy the last few weeks, so I wasn't completely devastated when the time came.  It was sad to be sure.  I cried handing my sweet beeb over to my Mom the first day, and then most of the way to work.  But once I got there it felt good to be stretching the muscles I hadn't used in a while.

3. And then I went back to work some more.
Since Elliot was born I had been working 30 hours per week instead of 40.  Which is an awesome gig if you can get it.  Well, about a month after I went back to work this time, my boss engaged me in discussions about coming back full-time.  It felt right to me, so I agreed.  It was difficult to get all my work done in just 4 days, and this way I would be paid more.  So far it is working out, but getting used to these two-day weekends is rough.  They are so short!

4. The flood came.
One Saturday morning, early, while we were all still in bed, there came a knock on the front door.  It was the neighbor who lives below us (we live on a hill) and he said our water was running mud into his pool.  Perplexed because we hadn't even turned on the water yet for the season, Erik went to investigate.  We have a fire hydrant on our property, and the neighbor who is building on the lot across the street, and up higher on the hill from us, had attached a hose to the fire hydrant and was using it to keep the dust down.  He had been running it all night.  Sometime during the night, it appears someone came by and clipped the hose, causing tons of water to gush down our property for who knows how many hours.  It completely took out a section of our retaining wall, covered our front yard with mud, filled our crawl space with water and mud, leaked a little into our basement, and completely washed out our garden in the backyard.  Fortunately, I had not planted anything in the garden yet.  It is a huge mess.  We took care of the emergency issues, and are waiting for estimates on the rest.  We thought the neighbor was going to be cool about it and take responsibility, but it sounds like that may not be the case now.  So, since this may lead to a lawsuit, I will not say more about it at this time.

Now, for a quick update on the kidlets:

Liam will be 5 months in a couple days!  Whaaaa?!!  It is unbelievable, but true.  He proves to remain an easy-going chap.  He has started belly laughing, which is utterly delightful.  My favorite sounds in the whole world are my children laughing.  Bonus points if they are laughing together.  At his four month well-child appointment he was 98th percentile for height and 60th for weight, so basically a giant baby.  His favorite food, besides mama's milk, is bananas, and he really loves his morning cereal.  Kid can eat.  I don't think he would ever refuse food.  He rolled over once at the beginning of April, and apparently decided that was enough.  I have not seen him do it since, although he really likes rolling on his side and perching there for long periods of time while playing with a toy.  He has started arching up when he is on the changing pad, like he is starting to think about sitting up, but I think we have a little while until that will happen.  He is not as ambitious as Elliot was as a baby.  She was constantly trying to move to the next big thing.  He is content to take his sweet time, which is more than fine with me, because we haven't quite figured out a way to babyproof our stairs in a way that will still allow the dogs access to the backyard...hmm.  He is a morning person and so pleasant during our early morning feedings.  He just looks at me with big, clear eyes and coos.  In contrast, at night he is a huge grumpasaurus.  He will rage eat, pulling off frequently and, almost, violently and scream, then reattach and keep going, for about 20 straight minutes.  This whole process always works him into what I call the "anger sweats" because his little head gets all red and sweaty.  By the time I burp him and calm him down he is usually ready to drift off, so I just lay him in his crib wearing his Merlin suit (pure magic) and he quickly falls asleep.

Elliot is going to be 4 in a month, which means for now she continues to be VERY good at being a threenager.  She delights us with her wit, but good lord, that girl has all the words and they must come out all the time.  I have to say things like "Ok.  Elliot.  You need to take a break from talking for just a little while," and "Shhhhhhh, Mommy can't," or even sometimes "Please put something in your mouth."  She loves going to preschool and doing her projects.  And she love, love, loves her teachers.  She plays a game at home called "Mrs. Rose and Mrs. Karen"in which she is alternately one of the two.  She is fiercely proud of Liam and loves to cuddle him and give him kisses.  I love to listen to her talk to him.  "Leeeeee-um.  WHAT are you doing?  You, you, you, you."  He thinks the sun shines just for her, too, so it really does something to my heart watching them.

Well, it is getting late, and tomorrow is, sadly, a work day.  I hope life will slow down a little for us and I can write more frequently and less scatter-brained.  Until then, wishing you all the best!

Home Sweet Home

As promised, here is the big reveal: we bought a house!!

Ok, this may not be super exciting for you (sorry for the build-up), but for us this is a dream come true.  It is something that is several years in the making and was the light at the end of our debt tunnel.  ("Just $40,000 more debt to pay off and then we can buy a house!" "No, let's not buy that couch.  Only $15,000 more and then we can buy a house!" etc. etc.)  If you follow this blog regularly, you may recall we became debt free this July.  Since then we have been saving up for a down payment for our house and finally, FINALLY, today was the day we got the keys to our house.  We did not realize how long it actually takes from making an offer to taking possession, so we have been sitting on this for quite some time.  It is hard to believe it is actually ours now!  Woo hoo!

Here are some pics I snapped this afternoon.  I have not edited them, and the lighting wasn't the best, but it should give you an idea.  It is an older house and needs a little updating, which we plan on doing over time.  But we love it and can't wait to move in.

Front porch :)

This is the basement, or, if you ask Elliot, the playroom.  There is a pellet stove on the left.

The back yard.  We need to put up a fence to keep the doggies in.

The living room.  Hard wood floors and gas fireplace.

The kitchen.  The seller completely updated the kitchen so it has really nice, brand new stainless steel appliances and new cabinets.

The deck off the living room.  There is another deck off the master bedroom, but I didn't get a picture of it today.

View from the street.  This is the front of the house.  We fell in love with the view.  You can kind of see it behind the house.  You can see pretty much all of the Tri-Cities.

The view from the windows in the living room.  Pictures do not do it justice.

My loves on the deck.  Elliot was beside herself with excitement.  She was going up and down the stairs, and in and out of her bedroom.  Although, when she walked into her room she was dismayed to discover there was no bed in there.  I tried to explain that we will be bringing all of our belongings over to the new house, but I am still not sure she has wrapped her mind around the concept completely.

Alright, well it feels good to share this awesome news with all of you.  Before I go, I just want to recommend to anyone who is buying or selling in the TC area to use the Kenmore Team.  We had a fantastic experience with them.  They held our hands through the whole process, explained anything we didn't understand with patience, and were always available to us.  I can't say enough good things about them, and I promise, we are not getting a kick-back or discount for this plug.  Seriously, today when we went to pick up our keys, our agent was mopping our floors, just because he "wanted them to be cleaner for us."

Anyway, that is all I have for now.  We are planning on moving in within the next few weeks, we just need to get a few things done, like putting in the fence and painting the interior.  I am hoping to post "before and after" pictures every so often as we make home improvements.  Wish us a smooth transition and thanks for reading about our exciting news!

The Return of the Camera

Full disclosure:  This is not the big reveal to which I referred at the end of my last blog post.

As sure as gobs of hair are falling out of my head, postpartum hormones have brought with them the return of my urge to be creative which was basically non-existent while I was pregnant. I have recently started snapping mini, spontaneous photo shoots of, you guessed it, my adorable children.  I have also become aware of at least two relatives who informed me specifically that they enjoy following my blog but are not on Facebook (I am looking at you Aunt Joan and Cousin Sarah!).  With that in mind, I am going to use this forum to display my latest creations.  In other words, a little less talk and a lot more action.  Enjoy!

Elliot Twirls:
All the stars aligned for this impromptu shoot: gorgeous light, an interesting element (her skirt), and, perhaps most important of all, the threenager was in an agreeable mood for picture-taking.

Father Daughter Ball:

Erik took Elliot to her first ball, so of course the camera came out.  There are some really precious ones here.

You guys, I actually gasped when I saw this one as I was going through and editing these.  Love, love, LOVE it.

The Many Faces of Liam:

Ok, to be honest, it is not as much fun shooting a baby, especially one this small, because they don't really do anything.  You put them in one spot and they just kind of stay there.  But I did manage to get a few shots of him learning how to make different expressions.  Plus, he is cute as a chubby button, so there you have it.  

Sometimes I wonder if I actually gave birth to this child, because he looks nothing like me.  He definitely looks more like his handsome daddy, which is fine with me.

Well, that about sums it up.  As I promised before, the big reveal is coming soon.  (Watch, now I am building it up so much you guys are going to be totally underwhelmed.)

Thanks for taking a look at my works of art! Have a lovely day :).  

Fourth Trimester

Greetings all!  I have emerged from the complete and total energy suck that is two children/recovery from childbirth to bring you this blog post.  We have been, by and large, keeping holed up together figuring out this family of four thing.  For those of you not immersed in the world of babies like I am, the "Fourth Trimester" refers to the first 3 months after the baby is born, when he is still basically an extension of my body.  We are smack dab in the middle of the Fourth Trimester.  It is a really beautiful time, so I thought I would share with you some snapshots I have taken in the most dramatic way possible: in black and white.

Lest the pictures below fool you, our transition to a family of four has not been entirely seamless.  There have been days when it is just hard.  Those are the days when I throw my hands up and say "we are absolutely not having any more kids!"  There have been days when Elliot gets overwhelmed and tantrums like no other.  And there are days when I wonder if I could go back to work, just for the day, and let these kids be someone else's problem for a few hours.

But then there are the other times.  The ones that fill my heart more full than I knew was possible.  Those moments when I see Erik tenderly holding both of our babies, or Elliot gently putting Liam's pacifier back in his mouth and kissing him on the forehead.  The times when Liam curls into me when I pick him up or lays his head on my chest and falls asleep.  These moments so overpower the tantrums, the long nights, the endless laundry.  It is such a special and short time.

During this time, Elliot has started preschool!  She goes two days a week in the mornings.  She was so nervous the first day I thought she was going to make herself sick.  But she did very well. And, I'm not going to lie, I really enjoy the break and the chance to bond one-on-one with Liam.

My baby bear.

 

This is Liam on January 10th, one month old!  I can't believe soon it will be two months!

We are not always sleeping peacefully!  Ironically, I was attempting to get a shot of him in his shirt that says "Awesome" but he was having none of it.

Even though some days are difficult for Elliot dealing with her new brother, she absolutely loves and adores him.  One of my very favorite things is watching their relationship develop.  I am so glad they have each other.  Every night Liam gets in Elliot's bed for prayers and story time.  It turns out, that is a golden opportunity for me to grab the camera.  The following photos are from those times and I love, love, love them.  Almost as much as I love the people in them.

Well, I better get back to the fam.  Stay tuned, we've got something exciting coming down the pipeline.  I can't say what it is just yet, but I suspect the next blog post will be the big reveal :).  

Liam Gil

He's here!  He's here!

If we are Facebook friends, you know the newest Rammelsberg made his appearance on December 10, 2015, making him just over a week old today.  We are so in love with him!  This is the first opportunity I have had to make a post since D day, and I am somewhat sleep deprived, but I will try to hit all the major events/answer all the most common questions I have been getting.

Liam's Birth Story

As you may recall if you have been following my blog since Elliot was born, she was delivered via emergency C-section.  This left us with a choice to make with this birth.  We could try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarian) or schedule the repeat C-section.  It was a very difficult decision I struggled with for most of my pregnancy.  My OB was amazing throughout the whole process.  He was supportive of whatever I wanted to do.  He said given my previous birth experience I probably had about a 60% chance of successful VBAC.  He didn't encourage either the VBAC or the C-section, but said four words magic words that stuck with me and made me feel good about our ultimate decision: "Either choice is reasonable."

After a lot of thought, research, and prayer, Erik and I finally decided that we would schedule the repeat C-Section for December 10, but if I went into labor before then I would try to VBAC.  The reason I decided this was mainly because my birth experience with Elliot was generally terrible.  After laboring for 26 hours and pushing for 3 hours, I was completely exhausted when we finally did the emergency C-section.  I don't remember meeting her for the first time, or the first time I fed her.  I didn't want to risk that happening again.

Well, as you can see, I did NOT go into labor before December 10, so the C-section went forward as planned.  And it was really beautiful.  The hospital where I delivered was very supportive of everything I requested, including immediate skin-to-skin contact and holding off on the bath.  As soon as they pulled him out and made sure he was okay, they put him on my chest and he started nursing, while I was still in the OR being stitched up.  I was present for every part of his birth, and not exhausted this time around.  I do not regret my decision at all.

He was a perfect 7 pounds and 14 ounces.  Much smaller than we anticipated!  I was expecting a nine pounder!  Elliot was 8.5 pounds when she was born, so I just assumed he would be bigger.  But he was the teeniest, cuddliest little bundle of curled up legs and squishy cheeks.

What's in a name?

Liam Gil is named after our fathers.  Erik's dad's name is William, so we took the end of his name.  Those of you who know my dad are saying, "wait, isn't your Dad's name Cres?"  Yes, it is.  But our entire family calls him "Gil" and for a lot of reasons we decided to go with that rather than his "real" name.  I know Liam is like the most popular name for boys right now, but going with the family names was ultimately more important to us than being more original.

And then there were four.

One of the most beautiful moments of my life was when Elliot met her baby brother.  She came in, all smiles, wearing one mitten, and immediately fell in love with him.  They are so cute together.

She brought him all kinds of toys and cards from her own collection, and placed them carefully in his little crib at the hospital.  (Pictured above.)

The perks of having a Christmas baby.

EVERYONE has mentioned how awful it is to have a birthday so close to Christmas, so I have been a little bummed that his due date was in December.  However, the hospital does super cute things for babies born at Christmastime!  For example, they gave him a stocking to wear with a matching hat!  Have you ever seen anything so adorable?!!

Since we have been home...

Despite having a C-section, I was discharged from the hospital the day after he was born because I was recovering so well.  For us it was a relief to be home, with Elliot, all of us together as a family.  It was also nice to be home in our own bed!  And the little guy let us get a decent amount of sleep for a newborn.  He has been sleeping about 3-4 hours at a time through the night, so I typically only have to get up twice a night to feed him, then he falls immediately back to sleep.  On nights when Erik takes a turn feeding him on milk I pumped earlier in the day, I get around 7 hours of sleep in a row!

How is Elliot handling it?

Elliot is, as always, a champ.

She takes things in stride very well.  But this.  This was a huge adjustment for her.  She loooooves her brother.  He gets frequent kisses and requests to be held from his sister.  But she is also feeling the jealousy of lost attention, has had a little sleep regression, and a little bit of toilet training regression.  We feel so guilty sometimes about all the adjustments she has had to make and will continue to have to make.  But we are told she will adjust and I just keep reminding myself that I have a younger sister and I don't even remember a time without her.  So we hope that will be the case here.

She is the best big sister though.  And so proud to show off her brother!

I am going to leave you with some out-takes from the first photo shoot with both of my kiddos.  These are the ones that didn't make the cut for this year's Christmas card, but are too stinkin' cute not to share.

Thanks for reading this long post all the way to the end!  We wish you all a wonderful holiday season.

With love,

the FOUR Rammelsbergs