Andrew Frederick de Sam Lazaro

Andrew is now 16 days old and what a 16 days it has been. I'm still trying to get used to timing everything with 2, but I think part of that is the lack of routine that we have had due to holidays and family visits, etc. I am really hoping that with the start of next week (holidays done and daddy back to work) and Andrew having been in the world for 3 weeks, Nathaniel, Andrew, and I will get into a rhythm together.

I went in for me 40 week check the day after my due date and got scheduled to be induced on Thursday 12/15/11 if nothing happened on its own. We spent the weekend walking at various stores and spending some time on the Wii Fit. My water broke on Sunday evening, 12/11/11. It may have broken earlier in the day, but I noticed it for sure that evening. I went in to make sure that it really was my water and was kept there. The doctor started pitocin to get the contractions going stronger at about 1:30 am on 12/12/11. Andrew arrived just over 12 hours later at 1:56 pm. It was very similar to what happened with the induction for Nathaniel - drugs/medical intervention started with him at 9:30 in the morning and he was born at 9:36 pm. A grueling 12 hours for both, but when the time came to push them out, they were both really easy on me. I pushed through 3 contractions (less than 10 minutes in the pushing phase) and Andrew was here. He was vocal from the beginning and certainly lets us know when he wants/needs something. I guess he learned in utero that if he wants to be heard he will have to be louder than his chatty older brother.

Anthony and I had both guessed we were having another boy, so we weren't too surprised when we saw we had another "he". My first words when seeing him were "you look just like your brother". He does resemble Nathaniel a lot, but is starting, even at just 2 weeks, to look more distinctive and like "himself".

Nathaniel has been doing well for the most part. He likes to look at Andrew and hold his hand and will sing to him as well. Andrew definitely recognizes Nathaniel's voice. We could tell that he recognized his voice from their first meeting. I really hope they grow to enjoy lots of things with each other. Nathaniel is for sure jealous of the time that Andrew has with mommy. He climbs up into the chair with us often and seizes the opportunity to sit on my lap when Andrew is napping or finished eating (and daddy takes him to get changed, etc). I am hoping that as the three of us establish a routine some of the jealousy will diminish. I have been trying my best to give Nathaniel play time with mommy as well as time with mommy to do dishes and laundry and take baths and all of his favorite things. It has been difficult however as Andrew is a hearty eater, especially during the day. He eats every 2 hours during the day, sometimes more frequently and then usually goes 4-5 hour stretches between feedings at night. I will take the extra night time sleep (even if it means engorgement, discomfort, and extra pumping at night) in exchange for "hungry days". He usually takes a good nap in the afternoon, which has coincided nicely with Nathaniel's nap (good for mommy to rest or get things done, but not the best for mommy/Nathaniel time). I know I can't expect him to do well with all of this change overnight, but I'm hoping once the holidays are fully over and we get into a routine things will be smoother.

Here are a few pictures of my boys.

Nathaniel and Andrew meet

Nathaniel is excited to see mommy and baby brother

Giving Andrew a kiss

One of his favorite things - rubbing Andrew's head

Mommy checking out Andrew

All of my boys

Just born

One of Mommy and Andrew's first picture together

One of Daddy and Andrew's first pictures together

Nathaniel saying good night to Andrew his first night at home

Christmas Eve - The first time Nathaniel "held" Andrew

Our Family of Three to Become Family of Four

So the "nesting" continues here at our house. Going through massive amounts of stacked up mail, papers, and general mess. Laundry, ironing, putting things away in general are all consuming my time. I also finished some crocheting today and got all the pictures from July of this year until now onto my new computer. I think Anthony got his "nesting" out last week as this weekend he is just back to being antsy as usual. He is playing various video games, surfing the web, reading on and off, and just pacing the house driving me nuts. I don't know what to do for him, but at this point I think he is more anxious for this baby to come out than I am. I must be driving him crazy.

We took a picture of the three of us on Thanksgiving to put in the baby book for our newest family member to have a picture of our family just before his/her arrival. Nathaniel had been sitting on Auntie Erin's lap with his baby cousin Nikolas for pictures before this picture was taken, so he was ready to be done with pictures by that time. Here is our family of 3 soon to be 4.

This one has our silly man.

We are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest family member. Everyone is anxious and expects exciting news whenever they see a call from our house. We are disappointing them frequently - especially my mom since I talk to her several times a day. I am resigned to the idea that I just am not capable of going into labor on my own and that I will have to be induced on Thursday. I am not looking forward to induction since last time I had some rough spells with it, but if it gets the job done and brings our baby into the world safely that is okay with me in the end. Usually you don't get to pick your child's birthday, but we picked Nathaniel's and it looks like we're picking this little one's as well. Maybe this one will surprise me. For now, let's assume we'll have news for everyone on Thursday.

An aside: While I was typing this Nathaniel asked if he could "make some letters with mommy". So here are Nathaniel's letters and thoughts for all of you:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

(Can you tell he likes to sing the alphabet song? It only took one letter for him to figure out he doesn't need to hold the key down for it to show up. Our smart little man.)

The Things I Missed Out on in OT School

So several of us were talking at work recently about knitting, crocheting, and sewing. This topic came up as many of us bring our knitting or crocheting to staff development days in order to increase our attention. One colleague was recalling knitting and sewing as part of one of her OT courses. She learned to knit as a young girl which helped her in this course. By the time I started OT school crocheting, sewing, and knitting were no longer part of the curriculum. We did however do copper tooling, leather work, and some woodworking. I made a cute Christmas decoration in that class with use of a band saw, some glue, and some paint. My mom puts it up in our home every year and it has become a moving target for amusement in the family. (It sits on a door frame or windowsill and my family members like to move this Santa around the family room and place him upside down). What family fun a class in OT school has brought us for the past 7 years.

I missed out on the sewing, knitting, and crochet instruction. I do know how to crochet though. I don't know that I could ever get the hang of knitting. My grandmother taught me to crochet while I was in elementary school and I have learned to progress these skills over the years in order to make more complex projects. Why is all of this on my mind? I am behind on my current crochet project. I finished the baby's afghan. I whipped up a hat for my nephew a couple weeks ago and a couple for our baby as well. I finally spent time today finishing the baby's Christmas stocking. I have been working on it on and off for weeks. I made most of Nathaniel's Christmas stocking on our bus trip to Detroit and back in 2 years ago. I went off the pattern a bit for the baby's stocking making it a bit wider and with fewer panels. It looks a lot bigger than Nathaniel's but I don't think it is much bigger and I think the differentiation of the 2 is important. Maybe one of these years I will get a chance to make stockings for Anthony and I as well. I made a tree skirt for my mom last year and hopefully one year I will have time to make one for our home too.

Here are a couple pictures of the stockings:

Baby's Christmas Stocking minus name

All four of our stockings

Baby Time - Anytime Now, Right?

Much like Nathaniel this baby is proving to be a stubborn Austrian as well. Today is my "official due date" and no baby yet. I was induced 5 days after my due date with Nathaniel mostly because I requested that date as they would have waited another 2-3 more if needed. Both Anthony and I are hoping this little one comes on his/her own and that I won't have to be induced again. We were lucky with Nathaniel that the morning of my scheduled induction there was space for me at the hospital. We may not be so lucky again and may have to wait longer.

I am sitting here this evening drinking raspberry tea. One of my coworkers brought it in to work for me yesterday as it is supposed to help induce labor or at least help make the contractions stronger and more progressive. The cup I had yesterday actually eased the contractions I had been having during the night and morning. This evening it doesn't seem to be doing anything either way. BUT ... it tastes good and is a nice warm drink on a cold December evening.

As I sit here I have been thinking about how this year the day after Thanksgiving was much different than the day after Thanksgiving 6 years ago. We got engaged the day after Thanksgiving, November 25th of 2005. We spent the day together and then met friends at the Gasthof for drinks and dancing that evening. The following day we had dinner at the Glockenspiel with our parents and grandparents. This year we spent a long evening in the hospital and tried to have a semi-relaxing weekend at home while I was uncomfortable with a headache. Nathaniel on the other hand got to spend time with our extended family who he doesn't see often, but enjoys spending time with and talking about. He got the better end of the deal I guess.

Nathaniel's due date was around many family members' (alive and gone) birthdays. We were waiting to see if he would arrive on his Great Auntie Mary's birthday, his Great Uncle Anthony's birthday, his Great-Grandpa Edward's birthday, a couple second cousins' birthdays, or his Auntie Shireen's birthday/Grandparents' Anniversary. He decided to come out on his own day once the doctors helped get things started and that is just fine.

This little one is in a similar situation. Several family member birthdays have come and gone. My cousin's fiance, my aunt, Grandma Betts, and mom's cousin (all the same day), and now today is almost gone and was my great-grandfather's birthday. There are still more to come. I don't know that tomorrow is anyone in the family's birthday, but Saturday is my Uncle Russel's birthday as well as my Great-Uncle Henry's birthday. My initial prediction for baby's birthday was December 10th since Nathaniel is July 10th, so we'll see if this little one gets to share a birthday with his/her great-uncle and great-great uncle. However, maybe he/she wants a birthday of his/her own, in which case tomorrow is a fine day ;).

There are other predictions coming in about baby as well. My in-laws leave town early tomorrow morning for a long weekend in Portland, OR, so many of us are predicting that baby will arrive while they are gone. My latest prediction is that baby will decide to make an appearance on Monday. All of my paperwork has been turned in and processed for my doctoral program and I am scheduled for either a Skype or in person interview on Monday afternoon. My prediction is that I will be in labor on Monday and be unable to make that interview and have to reschedule it for later next week. Let's hope that is not the case, but this little one will determine his/her own entrance into the world.

The best thing is that whenever baby arrives we are ready. My substitute starts work on Monday, so I will be off and resting with Nathaniel next week if baby is not here yet. I am ready to be done at work anytime and my loose ends are tied up for the most part. Anthony's work stuff is tied up and he will be able to be at home with us from baby's arrival until after New Years' when he starts at the firm. We are ready to go. Nathaniel on the other hand may not be so ready, but I am hoping he will be excited once the baby is here. He continues to mostly say "baby brother" and I think most people think the baby is a boy (including Anthony and I), but we will all be pleasantly surprised with a girl. There are a few convinced the baby is a girl and hoping the baby is a girl. Hopefully within the next week we will know and have a wonderful new addition to our family.

I will be sure to keep everyone posted on baby's arrival and name and pictures when the time comes. I will also keep you all posted on my insanity with interviewing and maybe getting into the doctoral program. Much less exciting news than a baby, but news none the less.