Checkups!

Ella had a birthday!!! She turned 3 years old last Saturday. I can't believe my baby is 3. We celebrated with family at Chuck E Cheese, and she had a blast with her cousins. She also got a lot of loot. We are big believers in recycling toys. She got a ton of toys from my sister that used to be my niece's and then a gorgeous baby bed that used to belong to the Chicago cousins. She also got some cool clay that I have yet had the courage to get into. It says it is not messy but I think anything you have to add water to is automatically messy. So we are saving that for a day when Dad is up and can help with baby. Ella's three year check up went great. No shots thankfully but there was a blood draw and an attempt to pee in a cup. She screamed through the little poke in her finger and then was fine. All afternoon she kept trying to tell us about her boo boo that went bye. I think she was trying to explain that it didnt hurt so bad and was barely there. She weighed in at 31 lbs 6 oz and 37 inches tall. She was in the 50th percentile for both which is a huge change from when she was an infant. My girl was a skinny baby and is chunking up. She loves her eggs and cheese. We are back to working on potty training but it is tough with the baby. I think we will be doing good by the end of summer though. Luckily it is perfect weather to run around half naked.

Luke also had an appt for his 8 week check up. He unfortunately did have shots. Poor guy! He did great through the checkup but then we had to wait and by the time the immunizations came, he was really tired. I had given him tynenol before we left so hopefully that helped him deal. He weighed in at exactly 12 lbs and was 22 3/4 in. He is a really happy baby and smiles and coos all the time. I feel bad because I know he is left to entertain himself a lot because of Ella. He loves his bouncy seat and will happily kick his legs for an hour. He has really strong legs now! We are now officially pumping all the time. He gets to nurse 2 or three times a day when time allows. He likes to but often falls asleep and still needs more. I find the bottles allow us more freedom to do stuff.

Wish I had pics to share but the camera got left on by accident after Ella's birthday and we still haven't had a chance to replace the batteries that cost a fortune. Hopefully this weekend!

Feeling blessed

There seems to be reminders around a lot lately that are telling me that I am very lucky to have healthy family. I need those reminders. I try to focus on them during these really long days and even longer nights as the horrible sucking machine drains the energy out of me. Also remember it when my almost 3 year old looks at me with those sad eyes because I can't read stories to her, and her little baby brother screams because I am taking too long with the bottle after already sorta nursing for 40 minutes. I am blessed. Little Luke is gaining at an amazing rate and is a very happy baby. Ella is talking up a storm around the house. Today we got the word "banana" instead of the sign for the first time. And she is so happy- most of the time :). I keep telling her that soon baby Luke will be bigger and the three of us will go do so much now that mommy isn't working.

The nursing is coming along ok. I have almost given up so many times but then we will hang out with each other for a few and its like he knows that its his last chance the next time around. We had a very nice Le Leche League leader come help us out Saturday. I knew I was doing all I could but I just wanted to hear if there was still hope. She said she definitely understood my frustration as Luke latched on for several minutes and then just stopped and decided to scream at me and my boob until a bottle arrived. It's been very confusing. She told me she really believes there is still a chance. I am going to give it a couple more weeks. The last 24 hours we have had a lot of good nursing and even avoided a bottle or two. It's progress but it's still exhausting.

Baby is stirring so quickly going to post a couple pics. The first are little Luke. The last two were just today and you can see how big he has gotten. The last of Ella is her new obsession with folding our cloth diapers. It keeps her entertained for hours while I care for baby but it makes a big mess!