Little Faker??

You will notice that she still likes to take off her clothes; she is wearing overalls because she is not able to take them off

Annabelle has had a tough week at daycare. I have had to go pick her up early 2 times this week because she has thrown up at daycare. She has not been running a fever and after we get home she seems to be in a great mood and feels just fine. After picking her up 2 days in a row I decided to keep her home today just to see how she is...so far she seems healthy as can be. Brian and I are wondering if she knows that I am home all day and she has figured out how to be sent home from daycare to be with me. I am hoping she is too little to know that trick but we really can't put anything past her.
She is becoming more curious and wanting to do new things everyday. Her latest thing is she wants to sit on the toilet and try to go to the bathroom. She has yet to go but once she figures it out I don't think it will take her long to catch on. She is also repeating more words everyday. She is really trying to say different things. It is so much fun to watch her learning new things but it can be frustrating trying to understand what she wants when I can't understand what she is trying to say. She is still using her sign language and I wish that I knew more - she picks that up so fast. She knows where different parts of her body are and can do things like turn around, touch her toes, stomp her feet, clap her hands, and jump up and down. She really enjoys singing songs that have actions and little finger plays - she is like a sponge. It is hard to believe she is only 18 months old and she has already learned so much.

2 week check up

Cole had his 2 week check up yesterday and he is still a healthy baby boy. I was a little surprised at his weight - he only weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces. I am not sure what his discharge weight was when we left the hospital but he seems to be eating and happy so we are not worried. They also measured him and told me he was 21.25 inches - which means that he shrunk. The nurse said babies don't shrink so someone mis-measured him but we don't know if it was at birth or yesterday, the nurse didn't remeasure him. Overall it was a pretty uneventful appointment. The only real excitement that we had was Annabelle was with us and was very busy and curious about everything that was in the exam room.
Cole is still doing well at home - we are very lucky! He is starting to have more awake time during the day, which is nice. He then usually sleeps most of the evening so we are able to get through supper and spend some time with Annabelle. He has some awake time around 8:00 and then I try to feed him sometime around 10:00 and then he normally will go to bed. He will get up about 4 hours after he eats and eat again and then is right back asleep for another 4 hours or so. It is remarkable that he does so well at night - we thought baby number 2 was going to give us a run for our money but so far so good.

1st Time

Today is the first time that I have been home by myself with both kids. I am not going to lie I was a little nervous about how it was going to go, but so far so good. This morning when I was feeding Cole Annabelle decided that she was going to undress herself - which is not uncommon for her to do. I figured I have to pick my battles and it wasn't going to hurt her to run around in her diaper for a while. When I was almost done feeding Cole Annabelle came running out of her room holding a book in one hand, her diaper in the other and she had a big grin on her face. Luckily I was able to get her diaper back on before she decided to go to the bathroom. After Cole was fed we all played on the floor for a while. She did really well playing next to him. She insisted on sitting right next to him to the point where some part of her had to be touching him. When she wasn't paying attention I would move him a little and a few minutes later she would again scoot closer to him. Cole ended up falling asleep before lunch so Annabelle and I were able to enjoy lunch together. Then it was time to feed Cole again and back to sleep he went. Annabelle went down for her nap as well and they have both been sleeping for the past 2 hours. When I thought about today I was envisioning total chaos with screaming kids and no one sleeping - I am glad that is not the way it turned out.
Our past week went well. Annabelle went to daycare like normal. We think it is best to keep her in her routine. Normally Brian gets her up, ready and off to daycare. I helped one morning and it didn't end well but when I stay out of sight she is in a great mood and walks out the door with no problems. In the evenings when she comes home we eat supper and play for a while and she is still in bed by 7 or 7:30 each night and continues to sleep thought the night.
Cole is a great baby. He still sleeps quite a bit and eats about every 3 hours. He is very laid back and doesn't fuss much unless he is hungry or is mad that we are trying to change his diaper. At night he has been having some awake time from about 8-10 then eats and he is off to bed. He usually wakes up about 1 or 2:00am and 5 or 6:00am to eat and then right back to sleep. I am not sure how we got so lucky to have 2 infants that do well at night but I am thankful that we do.

Adjusting

You forget how small they start and how fast they grow


We have been home for a few days and everyone seems to be adjusting to our new life. We are thankful for Brian's parents who were able to take Annabelle for a few days while we were in the hospital with Cole. Now that we are all back together we are figuring out our new routine. Annabelle still isn't sure what to think of Cole. She is ok with him as long as someone else is holding him or he is any where but in my arms. The first few times I held him she cried and wanted me to hold her instead, but she is getting better. This morning when I changed him she wanted to see what I was doing and wanted me to hold her but there were no tears. When I was done I gave Cole to my mom and poor little Annabelle gave me a pretty big hug and didn't want to let go. She has some interest in Cole when he makes noise she wants to see what he is doing. She will sit by him on the floor and likes to push him while he is in the swing. She will pay attention to him for a minute of two and then it is on to something else. My mom and dad were up for the weekend so it was nice for Annabelle to have a distraction for a few days while she adjusts to our new family.
Cole so far has been a good baby. He sleeps quite a bit as any newborn does and when he is awake he seems to be pretty content. He fusses when he is hungry or when we are changing him and that is about it. The first 2 nights we have considered a success: he eats about every 3 hours but then goes back to sleep. Yesterday afternoon and evening while he was awake we let him stretch on the floor and he seemed content laying on the floor and even did well with tummy time!
We are really enjoying being a family of 4!

Annabelle & Cole

Annabelle came up to the hospital to meet her new little brother and it went pretty well. She was curious about him and wanted to hold him. We let him sit in her lap a little while and she seemed to enjoy it. I think the big challenge at home will be teaching her what she can and can't help with. She will make a great big sister!

Cole Gerald

We are proud to introduce our new son Cole Gerald Paulson. Things went well yesterday and the day seemed to fly by. I woke up at about 3:00 having some pain that I quickly figured out were contractions. I got up and sat in the living room for about an hour to time them and see if it was the real deal or not. They kept on coming so a little after 4:00am I called the hospital to see when they wanted me to come in. They said to come in at anytime so I went to wake up Brian. He got right up and called the people we had lined up to come and watch Annabelle until daycare. We got to the hospital about 5:00am and the nurse said I was 5-6cm - we were on our way. They called for an epidural right away and by 6:00am they were here to give the good drugs. By the time they were done with that it was almost 7:00am and we were moving along. The doctor came at 9:00am and and we started the actual work - Cole was born at 9:34am. His head came out Vikings purple (Brian's description) and the rest of his body was white; he had his cord tightly wrapped around his neck twice. The doctor worked very quickly to get the cord clamped and cut before he finished the delivery. Once he was safely out they laid him on me and really rubbed him to get him screaming. It took a few minutes for him to snap out of it and give a good scream. We are very thankful that the doctor and nurses know what they are doing! Today he is doing well.
One of my first thoughts was how tiny he was when he was born but the nurses and doctor commented on how big he was. When they were going to weigh him the doctor guessed he was going to weigh 8 pounds 15 ounces and I remember thinking he must be joking until the nurse said he was 8 pounds 12 ounces - holy cow no wonder I was starting to get uncomfortable.
The whole thing overall went really well and we are very lucky that we are able to come to the hospital and in 4-5 hours have a healthy baby! It is hard to believe that we now have 2 healthy kids, but we couldn't ask for anything more - and having a girl and a boy is just icing on the cake!

Welcome Cole!

Welcome to the world Cole Gerald Paulson!
Born: 9:34am
Weight: 8 pounds 12 ounces
Length: 21 1/2 inches

Another Appointment

I was back to the doctor for a weekly check up. Not much exciting happened - just like every other week - weight, blood pressure, fetal heart rate, and measuring my belly. The doctor told me that based off of my size baby should be ready to come out anytime - something he has been telling me for the past 2 weeks. I was shooting for Little E to make his/her big arrival last weekend and that didn't work out very well. I did tell the doctor that I am being optimistic and I didn't not schedule and appointment for next week (in hopes that baby will be here by Monday). He smiled and told me that if baby isn't here I still have to come and see him. I guess time will tell - we are hoping to be able introduce a new little Paulson to everyone in the next few days.

No No

Well Annabelle has finally starting saying "No". We were pretty proud that her first word was not no and it has taken her longer to say it than I thought it would, she has been shaking her head no for a while but has not said it. I think now that she is in the toddler room the older kids are telling her no more when she tries to see what they are doing. Anytime you say something to her the response you get is "no no" it is pretty cute. The whole week we continued to get great reports from daycare on how well she is doing and how well she listens; the move has been good for her.

Almost Done (Hopefully)

It is hard to believe that we are going to meet our new addition in maybe a few days.

39 Weeks

Little E weighs as much as a matches up to a mini-watermelon and weighs over 7 pounds. Length is over 20 inches from head to heel.

January Temps

We just have to note the weather this winter - with the situation at house this year we can't complain about the lack of snow and cold. We hit an official record high of 55 degrees today! Unbelievable! All of our snow is gone, not that we had much to start with, and we are starting to wonder if Annabelle will ever get to really use her snow pants, boots and new sled.

New Room at Daycare

Annabelle has graduated to the toddler room at daycare and she was more than ready. When we arrived at daycare today she was more than happy to go into he toddler room. When I picked her up tonight the caregiver said she did great and she was all smiles. Apparently was very quiet today and just watched what the others were doing which doesn't surprise me, it usually takes a little while for her to warm up in new situations. The rest of the night at home she chatted away - she had lots to say about her day. Normally she is is in a good mood but she seemed to be in an even better mood tonight and it makes me wonder if she just had more fun today with the older kids. We were told that she was very well behaved and was a very good listener that is much better to hear than some of the other reports we have had in the past few weeks.
Little E news today: went to the dr for a regular check up and really nothing exciting. I have lost weight again but nothing to where the dr is worried. He actually said he is impressed that over the holidays I lost weight most people gain to much. I think with all the things that have been going on at home I have just been very active, but Brian is back on track so things have slowed down a little for me in the past few days. My blood pressure was also a little high but again nothing to worry about at this time. Other than that heart rate was food and baby is still active. We will either seethe dr next week for a check up or sometime before in the hospital. I was also told by my dr that I was in a good mood for some one this pregnant. He said the same thing when I was pregnant with Annabelle. We are very lucky that things seem to go well for us and I feel good this far into it.

11 Days Left

According to Little E's due date we only have 11 days left. This may sound odd but it is just starting to sink in that in potentially a few days we will have a new baby in our house and I will have to try and split my time between Annabelle and a new little one. It is also hard to imagine that my nights of sleeping from 10:30 until 7 is going to come to an end.
People have been asking me when I think baby is going to make the big arrival. My guess is sometime between Saturday and Tuesday. I say that time frame because that is about the time that Annabelle came. With Annabelle I was expecting her to be late and we were completely surprised the morning we found out she was coming; now I am thinking Little E will come a few days early and part of me has a feeling that this little one will make a late arrival just because we are waiting for the big day. I guess time will tell and in the meantime we will continue to enjoy our one on one time with Annabelle before her world is turned upside-down.