2 Months Old

Let me introduce you to the many faces of Marcus:

The Happy Face

The Trying SO Hard to Talk Face

The Annoyed at Sister Face

The Poop Face

The Super Excited Face

The Curious Face

The "I'm So Hungry I Could Eat My Fist" Face

I am so thankful to say that the last couple of weeks have been so much better than the first several weeks of Marcus's life! He is so much happier and sleeps way better than before. We still have our rough days, but at least they are fewer and farther in between!

2 Months

At his two month checkup Marcus weighed 11 lbs 14 oz (75th percentile) and is 22.5 inches long (45th percentile.) Short and squatty. He also got three immunizations, one of which included the tetanus shot and it must have made his leg sore because he was not a happy camper that evening.

We're still working on establishing a more predictable schedule, but we're getting there. He does sleep for one good 5 hour stretch at night, usually, and then another 3 hour stretch.

Layla, on the other hand, is no longer taking naps on most days. *Sigh* What a sad day. At least she stays in a relatively good mood most days, despite not usually napping. If she doesn't take a nap, I do make her have "quiet time" in her room though for at least one hour.

Guess who put the sprinkles on?

Mitch ran a half marathon last weekend that his work sponsored. It started at 10 pm and they passed out glow sticks and different light things. Mitch got eaten alive by mosquitoes, but other than that seemed to have a great time. He finished in 1:55, which is awesome considering the course was flat and not downhill. He's pretty speedy! He even carried a bracelet that has a light in it the entire 13.1 miles so he could give it to Layla. What a nice Daddy!

Sometimes I do nice things for her too like make a face out of her veggies.
She thinks it's hilarious.

I just bought a bike stroller for a steal from our neighbor. Layla LOVES it! We just got it today. I'm wondering if I can rig something up for Marcus to sit in it, but I should probably just wait until next summer to take him.

I also called a lactation consultant to see if I can start training for a half marathon yet since I'm anxious to get back into racing. (I'm not fast by any means, I just love running for the endorphins and I love races because of the adrenaline high.) She basically told me I was crazy to think about training 8 weeks after my baby was born and that I need to wait several more months so that I don't hurt my milk supply. So not what I wanted to hear. Oh well. I guess there's always next summer ... gotta do what's best for this little guy:

                             

The Temple

I came across this beautiful video about the temple. It explains things perfectly.
I dedicate this to all my family and friends who have not yet been to the temple. :)

Summer

I feel like this summer is going by way too fast. Layla has definitely been having a lot of fun though! She's had playdates most week days and I must note on here that Oakley's mom, and my good friend, Nicole, has been a life saver this summer! She has taken Layla swimming, to Princess Academy, or just to her house to play with Oakley more times than I can count, even picking her up and dropping her off so I can rest or get things done. I appreciate it so much and I tear up every time I think of how much she's helped me. Such a good friend! Also, my parents have offered to have Layla sleep over so many times, and that has been so helpful (and fun for all of us!) as well. And my grandma even came up one day to help me and I really appreciated her. Such good friends and family we have!

I also wanted to add that Mitch's parents had Layla sleep over recently and they took her to the dinosaur park in Ogden. Layla had a fun time with them, as always!




They also cleaned their swimming pool and Layla LOVED squirting grandpa with the hose! Ha, ha I can just hear her laughing now ...

We were able to attend Mitch's cousin's wedding, Cameron, to his beautiful bride, Katherine. They were married in the Brigham City LDS temple. I was so grateful that we were able to attend the ceremony because it was a good reminder to me of the promises and blessings that Mitch and I made to each other and to our Savior when we were married. The words are beautiful and inspiring and I may have shed a tear or two. I was so happy for Cam and his decision to be married in the temple. I know our temple marriage has only blessed and enriched our lives. Also, doesn't Mitch look so handsome in his suit? I'm sure it stinks to wear it when it's so hot out, but he sure looks nice!

Layla and Marcus hung out in the waiting room with Mammy and Grandpa Bott. They were good kids! Oh, and Marcus takes a bottle like a champ! Wahoo! Freedom!!! (We never could get Layla to take a bottle.) I try to pump a little breastmilk every day to have Mitch give him at least one bottle a day so he doesn't start rejecting it. Anyways, back to the wedding. Layla showed everyone her underwear while she was in the waiting room. It was awesome. Totally reverent. Ha, ha.

After the ceremony and a few pics outside we went to Maddox for a ring ceremony and the yummiest lunch ever. Seriously, their food is SO good. Unfortunately, by this point the kids were done. I spent over 30 minutes trying to get Marcus to stop screaming (he didn't want to eat, but was probably overstimulated and overtired and couldn't fall asleep) and Layla spilled her drink all over and wouldn't eat any of her food. So what happened? We left in grumpy moods, Marcus finally fell asleep in the car, and ... Layla threw up in the car on the way home. It was awesome (sarcasm). Mitch said we are never taking the kids anywhere nice again until they're older. I said next time we just need more help because honestly, while the food was so yummy, the luncheon was not fun at all for either of us. Of course we wouldn't have missed it for the world, we are so happy for the bride and groom, but we should have either left the kids at home or had more help from family members. Needless to say we all took naps when we got home and were very brief at the reception that evening.

I think Layla looks a lot like her Aunt Katie.

Later that night we put the kids to bed and I hear a noise that I thought was Marcus and his acid reflux, only it was really Layla throwing up again. It was nasty and we felt so bad for her. It was also very strange because she had no fever, no diarrhea, and didn't complain that her belly hurt or anything. In fact, she was her normal chatty self and seemed in a fairly good mood considering she had just vomited all over. We made her a little bed on the floor in our room and gave her a big bowl just in case. She actually seemed excited to throw up in the bowl, like it was a challenge or something, so we decided she must not be too sick if she wasn't upset or crying. Long story short, she never threw up again, never developed any other symptoms, and has been fine ever since. Weird, right? She probably just threw up because she didn't eat any real food all day and only drank juice. Parent failure right there.

Layla has one more swim lesson left for this round then I think I might enroll her in the preschool swim class next month. We'll see. Also, we went out and helped her practice riding her balance bike (a bike with no pedals so they learn to balance first and never need training wheels. Google "balance bike," they're awesome.). She's really getting the hang of it! I told her we'd go out every evening and practice until she can do it herself and then she can pick a prize from the store. She already decided she wants to pick a "candy prize." Easy enough. I'll have to post a video of her riding it once she's got the hang of it. Should be pretty soon!

Marcus is doing so much better with his reflux! He coos and smiles a lot now and it's the cutest thing. He LOVES to stare at windows and watch the ceiling fan move and gets mad if he's watching them and you move him. It's hilarious, he seriously yells at you. He's going to be a feisty one, I have a feeling. Marcus has a lot of nicknames around here: Little Man, Mr. Bott, Little Dude, Mr. Man, Little Guy, Buddy, MJ (Marcus James/Mitch Jr.), Little Brother, Baby Brother, and probably a few more I'm forgetting. Whenever I say something like, "I'm coming, Little Man!" Layla will immediately follow it with, "Mamma's coming, Little Man!" It's hilarious, and I'm sure will be totally annoying to Marcus when he's older. Ha, ha. She's the sweetest, yet most annoying big sister ever. She just loves him SO much and she's always right in his face. Like one inch away from his face, which means her hair is always touching him and I can tell he hates it. Poor little guy. It's pretty funny though. And I'm mostly just glad that she loves him so much, even if it is too much at times.

Mitch and I finally joined the 20th Century and got smart phones. Actually, Mitch has had my mom's old Iphone for a while now, but we were too cheap to pay for a data package. We finally broke down and got a data package and we both got new Nokia Windows phones. I love it! It's so sleek and organized the way everything is displayed. I feel like my whole life is organized and planned in that phone and I can accomplish so much more because of it! Mitch kept making fun of me because I wanted an app where we could both add to and view our grocery list. Well, the awesome Windows phone has that feature, plus the ability to add and view pictures we take on either one of our phones, already built in! It rocks. Now I just need to take the time to download the pics off my phone onto my blog. Soon.

Too Much Fun

First let me just say that Marcus is a different baby now that we switched his medicine to Prevacid. Hallelujah! He actually smiles a lot now and makes cute little cooing noises. If he's awake then unless he's hungry or tired, he's probably smiling and talking. It's so cute and totally makes up for the first 4 weeks of torture we endured. He still has symptoms of acid reflux but it is just so much better than it was and we are so thankful that the poor little guy is feeling better! And he really does have the cutest, biggest smile. It melts my heart. He's sleeping a lot better at night. At 6 weeks old he does one 4 hour stretch then 2 to 3 hour stretches. He has done a 6 hour stretch twice ... I can't wait until that becomes his new norm. Naps are more difficult. He'll do one or two in his swing but the rest usually consist of me lugging him around in the baby sling.

Oh, and I started eating dairy and chocolate again. Turns out that wasn't the problem afterall. Good thing, I couldn't have gone a whole year without those things! Though I still can't eat spicy food, but that's much more manageable.

We'll get there eventually, I'm sure. I sure love the little guy though. Funny story: the other night in the bath Layla randomly told me, "Rubber duckies aren't loud." I said, "Nope, they're not," and then she said, "But babies are loud when they cry." Ha! Yep, our baby sure is!

Layla has just had the funnest week of her whole life. It all started on Wednesday when our neighbors, the Nilsens, had a BBQ for everyone on our street since everyone just moved in within the past year. It was really fun to mingle with everyone and meet the rest of our neighbors. Plus, there was a whole herd of kids there and Layla was in heaven playing with everyone. And not to mention the food was delicious.

Jordanelle with Mammy and Grandpa Miles

Thursday was the 4th of July. We kept it pretty low key that day, but partied hard that night! We had some friends over, which included Layla's bestie, Oakley. Man, those two girlies have SO much fun together. I always wish we lived closer than our current 15 minute drive to our house. Maybe then I wouldn't have to hear Layla whine about how she misses Oakley and wishes Oakley could come play. :)


We had a BBQ, roasted 'mallows, and set off a few fireworks. The kids thought the fireworks were pretty cool and they also had fun playing dress ups. Silly girls.

On Friday Layla went swimming with Aunt Katie and her bf, Brandon. Layla loves hanging out with them and it's nice to have them live so close to us. While she was there Mitch and I went and saw a few homes in the Parade of Homes ... if only we had 1.8 million dollars to buy our dream home. Ha! We did get a few good ideas for a backsplash for our kitchen and some wainscoting for our entry way and master bedroom though. We ordered some samples for the backsplash and I'm really interested so see how they'll look.

On Saturday Layla had her first swim lesson of the season. Mitch took her. She did okay ... still has a ways to go, but at least she likes the water, right?

After that my parents came and got Layla and took her to Liberty Park where they saw the birds at Tracy Aviary, rode the carousel, rode the paddle boats, played in the water fountain thing, and lots of other stuff. Layla had so much fun and was tuckered out by 8 pm that night!


On Sunday they woke up and went boating on a whim. My parents not only bought her a new swimsuit, cover up, water shoes, and sunglasses (since they didn't plan on boating so we didn't send her with any of that), but they even bought Layla her very own pink fishing pole. She thought it was pretty neat when they caught some fish; I'm just glad she wasn't scared of it or didn't think it was sad. That's my girl. I used to love fishing and went a lot in high school. I would not only bait my own hook, but I would also gut my own fish. While I love Layla's little princess stage, I don't want her to be too girly, so I was glad to hear she thought fishing was fun. Plus, I see a lot more fishing trips with Grandpa and Mammy in her future. One of my favorite childhood memories is fishing with my grandparents on their little green boat. My grandpa always attached a bell to the end of his fishing pole and then he'd fall asleep in the warm sun until he'd catch one and his bell would ring and wake him up. And my grandma would make us egg salad sandwiches and they always tasted so good. I'm really glad Layla can make the same type of memories with her grandparents.


But I digress. Sunday Mitch and I went to church (not nearly as fun as boating, but uplifiting) and then met up with Layla at my grandma's for a delicious 4th of July dinner. Good times.

On Monday Layla and Oakley went to "Princess Academy." (Basically a little get together with a bunch of preschool age girls where they do different activities based around a princess theme.) Layla has been talking about this for weeks now. She was SO excited! She wore her Cinderella princess dress and had a great time. But she was disappointed because "Princess Academy was just at someone house and not at a castle." Guess I should have explained that a little better. They colored, did a craft, and planted a flower seed in a little pot they decorated. Super cute. They should probably charge more than $5; heck, I would have paid $10! Layla gets to go again on Thursday.

That brings us to today, Tuesday. The fun hasn't ended yet. Layla went and played at her friend's Landon's house. They played outside and ate otter pops. I meant to go too to chat with Becky, but I was so tired and she kindly offered to just take Layla so I could nap. It was nice.

Layla's new thing is when I go to pick her up from her friends' houses, she'll say, "I don't like you, Mom!" Of course I know she likes me, loves me even, she just doesn't like that I make her leave when she's having so much fun. Oh to be a kid again.

Welp, gotta go. Marcus is hungry.

4 Weeks Old

Well, we survived the first four weeks. Barely.

Marcus on his 4 week old bday.
 He was ticked that I set him down.

Everyone is happy to get their pic taken except Harvey ...

One of the newborn pics I took.

I love our little guy. Really, I do. But the last four weeks have been rough. Thankfully he only had to be on the bilirubin lights for 48 hours and we were over the jaundice. Unfortunately, Marcus also has severe Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), which is basically really bad acid reflux.

So, when he was just a few hours old I asked a nurse at the hospital about a gagging sound he was making while I nursed him, worried he had acid reflux. She told me he probably just swallowed some amniotic fluid and that it would go away in a few days. I clung on to that because I didn't want to think that it was a bigger problem than that.

I tried and tried to get sibling pics.
It never really worked out as you can see ...
We have to stick with the more candid shots around here.

Well it never went away. It's only gotten worse. Poor little guy was only sleeping in 30 minute stretches, 24 hours a day, and I was going to lose my mind. I told Mitch I was going to run away. 

(Funny side story: one morning Marcus actually slept fairly decent so I decided to go for a walk outside before everyone woke up. I wrote Mitch a little note telling him I'd be right back and left it on his alarm clock since I figured he'd look there first. Marcus woke up crying soon after I left so Mitch stumbled in there to get him without seeing the note. Of course he wondered where I was and seriously thought that I really had run away. (I'm telling ya, it's been rough around here.) After a few minutes he saw the note and understood. I really worried him, poor hubby! But I am shocked he thought I'd actually run away; I never really would!))

This is what happens when you nurse in front of your observant 3 year old.

But I digress. So, I was in denial and couldn't admit that Marcus had something wrong with him. I was telling my mom how he didn't sleep and made these gagging sounds and several other symptoms and she said that perhaps he had acid reflux. (She would know since I had GERD and my brother had acid reflux.) I brushed it off at first, even though I've known since the day he was born that he had it, I was just hoping that the nurse was right and that it would just magically get better really fast. It didn't and I finally had to admit that something was wrong.

This pic is for our friends, the Burts, who live in MA and gave
Marcus this adorable outfit. Thanks guys!

We've since tried just about everything. I hold him upright for at least 30 minutes after he nurses (which sucks in the middle of the night when all I want to do is go to bed). I wear a baby sling and carry him around for hours every day, which makes him happy and kills my back. We give him a binky because it's supposed to help produce more saliva and reduce stomach acid. I have quit eating dairy, citrus fruits, chocolate, and anything spicy, fatty, tomato based or fried. It sucks, but I've almost lost all my baby weight because I'm always starving! Ha, ha. We tried having him sleep in his car seat, swing, and in the crib with the mattress angled and he hates them all. We finally broke down and bought a $75 Fisher Price Rock 'n Play sleeper and it has changed our lives! He LOVES it and sleeps so much better in it. (It's only been two days, but I'm really hoping it will continue.) At night he sleeps in it right next to our bed. When he starts to fuss I just put my hand on him and he calms right down. It's the sweetest thing. He's a total mamma's boy. I remember when I was young and would get sick and all I wanted was my mom to hold me. I think he feels the same way, poor little guy.

The lifesaver.

Last week I finally broke down and took him to the pediatrician and got him on Zantac. I really hate to medicate my tiny little baby, but he was having such bad reflux spells and even quite breathing a time or two. So scary. I'm not sure if the medication is working. Sometimes I think it is, other times it doesn't seem to do anything. We're in the process of working with our pediatrician to possibly switch him to Prevacid, though I'm hesitant to do that  too. I'm torn between him suffering and giving drugs to my newborn ... also, today his reflux has been so much better, and he's actually taking good naps, so I'm hoping he'll outgrow this sooner rather than later.

Layla thought he might want the cat toy to sleep with.
How thoughtful.

Anyways, when he's not in pain, he's actually the sweetest, most content little guy. Though I must say he has the stinkiest gas! He's such a boy. Mitch says he'll be the hit at scout camp. Ha, ha. That's why boys puzzle me ... why would stinky gas make you popular? Weird. Anyways, Marcus sure loves his sister! He smiles a lot when he can hear her talking. I know they say babies don't really smile until they are two to three months old, but I swear he smiles for her! She loves him too. She gets sad that he can't play with her yet, but pretty soon he'll be following her around and driving her nuts, so she should enjoy this time. Ha, ha. 

I am thankful that GERD is the worst thing wrong with him. It will go away and he'll be totally fine. I am really very thankful that it's nothing more serious. Also, I've learned a lot of patience and how to go with the flow the last few weeks. I never knew I was such a control freak until Marcus was born! Lately I've been going crazy because he's not on any type of schedule: I am constantly nursing him and it's rare that I am ready for the day before noon. And let's not even talk about housework or making dinner. I couldn't handle the unpredictability at first. But I've been learning to let go a little and it's been really good for me. Funny how trials make you grow and learn so much. Also, Mitch is a lifesaver and helps with all the things I can't get to.

Layla is adjusting really well. She's still her particular little self, but she also makes me laugh. Like the other night at dinner when she said her food was "fancy" and we finally figured out she meant spicy. Or the other night at bath time when I finished washing her hair and asked her to stand up and she said she couldn't because she was "taking a break for a minute." When I asked her what she was taking a break from she said from me washing her hair. Apparently it's exhausting.

Dancing and silly face.

Most of all, she is so sweet with her brother. She asks to hold him quite often now and is always laughing at every little movement he makes. It melts my heart to see the two of them together. I love my kiddos. Even on the hard days (or weeks!).

Father's Day

My most favorite picture ever.

I would not have survived the last four weeks without my husband, the father of our children. Layla loves him so much, and Marcus does too, even if he's too little to say it. I am so glad that Mitch passed his super strong genes onto our children because they are my three favorite people in the whole world.

To celebrate Mitch on Father's Day, Layla and I made him breakfast and gave him some new running attire. I also helped Layla complete the following questionnaire about Mitch:
My Daddy's name is ... Mitch

My Dad is "I don't know" years old. (32)

His hair is "black" and his eyes are "blue." (yep.)

My Dad's favorite food is ... popcorn (it is?)

Daddy's favorite color is ... blue (correct)

My Daddy likes to wear ... blue work clothes (this makes me laugh because every day Mitch wears khaki pants and a button up shirt to work. About 90% of his work shirts are actually blue.)

My Dad's job is ... to give money to us (well, kind of, ha, ha ... I was just pleased that all my lectures about how "Daddy works so hard to earn money to buy us food and pay for our house" have sunk in to her little brain!)

He loves to eat ... popcorn (he does like popcorn, but not as much as she makes it sound like.)

He's smart because he knows ... how to play upstairs (in the bonus room with her and all her toys. So smart, ha, ha!)

My Dad works hard at ... working (true.)

Daddy always tells me ... to go potty. (yep.)

I'm happy when Daddy ... gives me a hug and a kiss (so sweet!)

I love my Daddy because ... I do. (don't think she quite understood this one, but it's still sweet.)

Thanks for being such a great dad, Mitch. We love you!

Landscaping

Mitch is so close to having the yard finished! Yay! He has spent hours and hours out there. Unfortunately, he had to spend several unplanned hours because we had a sprinkler fitting burst— just hours after he planted the grass seed— and it completely filled up the trampoline hole with water. I'm not exaggerating. I'm using a lot of italics in the post for a reason, people. The trampoline hole, or swimming pool as we kept calling it, was totally full of water. It was awful. There were some tears shed and some cuss words cussed. Ha, ha. But seriously, how frustrating is that?!?

Trampoline hole (before the leak) and garden box.

Long story short, Mitch found the problem. It was a fitting he had added on to hook up the drip irrigation. It was just total bad luck that the fitting broke right after he planted the seed and not any time in the several weeks prior while he was running the sprinklers to make sure they were working. Talk about plain, rotten, bad luck. But, at least the water didn't go the other way and flood our basement! And the trampoline hole didn't get ruined, which is a huge blessing!

The pile of topsoil that drew all the neighbor kids to our house.
I was SO thankful that Layla didn't decide to bury herself in it too!

It's fixed and now we have to wait for the seed we ordered to be delivered so Mitch can replant that section of our back yard. And then he will finally be done. Well, that is, done until the grass grows in and we get around to planting trees and bushes ... also, I'm trying to talk Mitch into building a miniature golf course in our back yard. Wouldn't that be awesome? We went to a BBQ years ago at his coworker's house and they had one in their yard and I've wanted one ever since. Maybe in a year or two we can add one.

Anyways, a big thanks to my handy hubby. Our yard is going to be beautiful and Layla will have so much fun on the slide! Also, a big, big thanks to our friend, Dave, who spent two whole Saturdays helping Mitch with the yard, our friend, Kevin, who also spent a Saturday in the hot sun, and Katie's bf, Brandon, who slaved away with them one Saturday too. We are lucky to have such kind friends to help us!

Oh, and a quick story about the slide: when Mitch first installed it he told Layla to come try it out. She hit the turn in the slide and was going to fly off but Mitch caught her. The slide was way too fast. It really scared her. Several hours of hard work later, Mitch had added another step to lower the slide (even though the directions said you could have it higher, but obviously not because it was too fast) and it worked a lot better. But Layla was still scared of it. She wouldn't go down without holding someone's hand until after her little friend, Elsie, came over and went down the slide all by herself with no problems. Now Layla likes it and I don't have to worry about her flying off the slide of death.