Whew...

Holy cow...going from one kid to two is exhausting. I've been completely overwhelmed lately. If it isn't one thing, it's another. I feel like I go from feeding one to the other or holding one crying baby to comforting the older one. It's definitely been trying...I'm so thankful for Dustin and his amazing help. I definitely couldn't do any of this without him. It's been crazy, exhausting, busy! I don't think I'd change it...except maybe some relaxation for myself during the day....someday I'll get them to take a nap at the same time...I hope!

Jack...

Poor Jack, he's been a little overshadowed by the arrival of Reid. He got to enjoy a ton of "daddy" time while I was recovering, but now he's been having to share me on the days I'm home with both boys. He doesn't fully understand about sharing, except his germs, and doesn't wait patiently. We are working on the "be nice to your brother" thing...it's not easy! I'm definitely thankful we are only going to have 2 children. Jack is doing well in general, he still loves school. He's been super sick all weekend with a fever and not eating at all...hopefully he's coming out of that, he needs to eat again! He got lots more daddy cuddle time this weekend since he felt so awful and only wanted to snuggle, but I got to put him to bed last night with cuddles and lots of books!

Here's one of our first pics of the boys together...what do you think?  Neither of them look extremely thrilled!

One Month Old...

Wow...a whole month has gone by...time sure does fly when you are getting little sleep!  Seriously though, it is amazing that Reid was born just over a month ago.  We have had a busy month...weight checks rather frequently to start off with, thankfully he's gaining weight very well now by mainly breastfeeding with only taking bottles overnight!!  Reid is now up to 7lb 4oz, which is terrific considering he's been sick for the past week, turns out he ended up with bronchiolitis (RSV).  RSV is scary for any parent but even scarier for the parent of a newborn, preemie.  Thankfully, he's been getting that awesome breastmilk, so it stayed mild and we did not have to go to the hospital!   He has this nasty sounding cough but overall he has improved greatly since Monday and I'm very thankful for that. 

We have introduced Reid to many of our friends this past month.  He's met our neighbors, our close friends, and new babies.  He even gets to go to a wedding next weekend!  He's a busy little boy!  I'm still not too sure how his older brother is taking all of this...just this morning, I had to stop Jack from pulling Reid off of the ottoman.  He also tried to sit on Reid the other afternoon.  I'm sure it will all get easier as Reid gets older and can hold his own around his big brother!!

Jack has been doing great...he has a blast at school, loves playing outside, and unfortunately is getting over another ear infection.  Looks like tubes are in our future...boo.  I hope it helps him avoid getting ear infections though, I feel like we have been on an antibiotic forever!

We are looking forward to some fun summer activities and hoping for both boys to be healthy this summer...it hasn't started off good!! :)

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Baby Reid

I haven't posted in quite a few weeks because we have been VERY busy at our house lately.  As you all know, I was hoping to make it full term with this baby, but he seemed to have different ideas.  Here's a brief recap of what happened:

May 2 - went to see my OB, everything fine, blood pressures were still borderline but non-stress test was great.  Plan, return to OB on Thurs for another appointment.  I went to work for the afternoon.

May 3 - spent the day hanging out with Jack, my sister and niece came over in the morning to help out for awhile, nothing exciting going on.

May 4 - Dustin's mom came over to help out, she watched Jack while I rested for the day, good blood pressure in the morning but it starting creeping up in the afternoon and I noticed the baby wasn't moving as much.  We decided I should call the OB and see what to do.  He wanted me to come in and be checked out at the hospital to see what was going on.  So, I got Jack's diaper bag packed and headed out (of course, I didn't have a bag packed yet).  Dustin was planning on meeting me at the hospital and then we'd decide what to do with Jack when we got there.  I got hooked up to the monitors, had a high BP reading there, so I started laying on my left side and it went down.  I started noticing the baby moving more frequently so that was a relief.  While I was hooked up to the monitor, it was measuring contractions - turns out I was having regular contractions, 5 min apart and increasing in intensity.  Dr. Kappelman came in and was glad my BP was down but was concerned about the contractions.  He checked me, I was dilated a fingertip.  He told us that he'd see what happens over the next couple hours and make a decision regarding the baby...he said that likely we'd be having him that night.  Of course, I was very nervous, I was 35w 1d, we made it to May, it was just so frustrating to make it that far and have this start but I guess he really wanted to meet us all!  Well, 2 hours later, contractions were closer together, Dr. Kappelman had spoken with one of the MFM doctors, and they said at this point it would be better if we had the baby, 35 weeks with my history is great...so on 5/4/11 at 9:43pm, Reid Harrison Albright was born.  He weighed in at 6lb, 19.5in long.  He came out screaming, which was a welcome sound.  The NICU was on standby, they checked him out, decided he didn't need to go to the NICU and would do fine in the Continuing Care Nursery (CCN).  I got to see him and give him kisses before he headed to CCN.  It was scary to have another early baby but he seemed to be doing well.

Here are a couple early pictures of Reid -

An afternoon at the playground...

We have been making every effort to get outside and enjoy the weather, when it isn't raining.  Last Saturday, I got lots of rest during the early afternoon while Jack napped and Dustin mowed the lawn.  Thankfully, Jack woke up from his wonderful nap and we went to the neighborhood playground to enjoy the rest of the warm afternoon with Aunt Marianne, Uncle Steve and Kate!  Here are some fun pictures from our afternoon!

Almost over...

Wow, the month of April seems to have flown by!!  I can't believe in a few short days it will be May.  I've been looking forward to May ever since I found out I was pregnant but now that it's here...I can't believe it!  Thankfully, I'm still pregnant, hoping for 3 more weeks, that'll be 37 weeks...full term.  Things are going well so far, I've had a couple non-stress tests, that all looks good.  My blood pressure is staying within a good range and I'm still working! 

We are still not finished with the baby's room...it'll get done, hopefully soon but we'll see.  We have a couple things to still buy, plan is to do that this weekend...we have a little painting and organizing left to do.  I haven't even washed the new clothes I bought!!  I'm definitely running behind on all this...it's crazy because I know it'll be here before i know it!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable April...still can't believe it flew by...my birthday, a night in the hospital, and Easter...all done and we look forward to May and meeting this new baby in a minimum of 3 weeks!!