Eliza.... waking and eating!

Well - because of the lack of sleep and an increased amount of chaos in my house (it's amazing how a crying baby in the background can make any routine task seem stressful) I have failed to post. If you are not tuned in to my life in other ways you may still think I'm worrying about my daughter's weight gain..... well not any more. All of the sudden (at about 4-5 weeks of age) she decided to chunk up. Now she is an amazing 12 pounds at 7 weeks (which is about 9 ounces larger than my oldest son was at 8 weeks!) and is in the 90 percentile for her uncorrected (not taking into account her being early) age. Well, in weight that is, as in height (in typical Breedlove fashion) she is only in the 50 percentile. Looks like we're going to have a chunker on our hands. Which is typical of our babies.

She has definitely woken up. I have gone through the painstaking science experiment of trying to figure out what makes her cry. She was having definite stomach pain so I have eliminated several things from my diet - dairy (sigh), caffeine (man, I'm loving this process), and peanut butter. It still seems like some days she spends the majority of the time crying, but I suppose that this is because she is just a baby. She is not quite old enough to "schedule" yet, but she is too old to sleep the day away. So we're left in no-man's land. She wants to be held all the time to fall asleep, then she wakes herself up after 15 minutes, and then she cries from being overtired. All that to say - my life looks very different now than it did 3 weeks ago, 2 months ago, or a year ago. I suppose we can always say that!

One thing has remained the same. The boys still adore her and Sam still claims to have a baby in his tummy. Often at funny times. For example, they were all eating cookies for dessert at my mother's house and I had to settle for synthetic crap.... candy corn. So Sam turns around and says he wants some. I explain that he had a cookie and that Eliza won't let momma eat a cookie or she'll cry. He explains to me that his baby in his tummy doesn't like cookies either (even though his is 4/5 gone) and it needs candy corn too (insert melt down). Sigh. Sam. Never a dull moment.

Long lost pictures

I suppose I have an excuse - but here are some delayed pictures. We've been to my parents house twice in the past month. Once to visit with Nanny and George and once to visit with the family including my sister and her girls. Enjoy.

Things I've Learned

* The grossness of boys is more apparent to the tired mother. I think the gross things my boys do wasn't usually an annoyance to me..... now I find when a little boy asks to smell my breath or eats his brother's booger extremely offensive!

*This also holds true for the loudness of boys.... I seem to notice the volume more if I'm sleep deprived!

*Little girls are different! Eliza totally freaks out if she is scratched accidentally by my finger or if I attempt to get something out of her nose or ear - a different level than the boys did!

*That the postpartum visit is partially there to make the new mother stop eating cookies - hence the reason they put you on a scale 3.5 weeks after giving birth.....

*That Sam has some incredibly funny and defiant moments. As he was attempting to put crayons up his nose I explained that the doctor would have to cut his nose open to get it out.... this was my attempt to stop him (which my husband later revealed to me as a boy this might make it more appealing). He then started putting it in his eye and told me it was his i-phone.

*Sam also told me as I threatened him with discipline upon his repeated defiance that if I punished him God would come down and take him to heaven..... at this point I break down in tears (as two other children are crying in the background) and say I'd like to go to heaven too. At that moment I realized my hormones were still not quite back to normal. But on the up side.... it was the first time Sam felt sorry for me and choose to obey (while saying, "don't cry mama.")!

*I also see how very much the boys love their sister. They are always nuzzling, kissing, touching, patting, or generally loving on her. Everyone we meet is told about our new baby whose name is Eliza (or wiza from sam). Sam often tells them she is his baby and that she came out of his belly.... or while doing some form of belly dance that there is a baby in his belly that is moving.

2.5 weeks old

I realized we hadn't really taken any pictures since Eliza has been home, so today I took a few! Mainly for my mother who is convinced that in the 1.5 weeks since she's seen her, she may have changed drastically!

Eliza went to her 2 week appointment on Wednesday and she looked great. She was 7 lb. 5.5 ounces. Somehow this was a little disappointing to me as my boys grew SO fast. The Dr. was very pleased with her growth and she was well past her birth weight (which is the goal by 10 days to 2 weeks), so I tried to be pleased as well. When one of your major roles in life is to be a human dairy barn for your child, it is difficult when they don't grow as fast as you think they should. It somehow feels like a slight to you!

There is a bit of medicine on her eye which is why they have a slight shine.

And this is one of the first pictures of me that I have allowed to be public. I was intentional about NOT being photographed for the first few weeks (even though originally I said it would be 6 months!). With the first child, you take pictures coming home from the hospital etc... then years later you look at these pictures and wonder what in the world you were thinking! So this time I stayed away from the camera! And if anyone comments that I look tired I will have to stop talking to you for at least 3 months. There are some things better kept to yourself.

This is one of my husband's favorite occupations, letting her sleep on his chest. He loves his little girl so much and is such a proud Papa!

Things you thought you'd never do

When I graduated from college bound for the altar and the classroom, there were some things that I vowed I would NEVER do. Some were based on stereotypes of teachers and some on stereotypes of wives and mothers, but either way I would be different.

*The first declaration dealt with big hair and big bangs.

*The second was thematic clothing of any type - namely dealing with holidays. I would never wear Rudolph sweaters with red noses, or jingle bell earrings (and even though one of my siblings swears that this had to do with the teaching of elementary school.... I swore I would never cave).

*The last was owning a van. To me a van was a sign of a dorky soccer mom.... and while I wanted to be a mom and I indeed played (and coached) soccer, somehow this was a sign of weakness. But one day I woke up and realized I was a mom! And now that I have 3 kids, there were some serious advantages to owning a van..... the number one in my mind was the power sliding door that I can control from my key fob! I wanted space, convenience of my children being able to get in and out of their own, and all the special perks they add to vans just for mamas! Either way - I have been coveting vans for 6 months and as of this weekend, I now have one of my own. Key fob activating door and everything. Now we're living the life.

I suppose if you break one vow of what you'll never do you should somehow change or create a new one. So in order to do this publicly, I will do so now. I vow to never put a 13.1 sticker or stick figures of my family members (or pets even though I believe this should go without saying) on the back of my van. Sorry Tiff.

Eyes Open

Claire Elizabeth Breedlove

This is a quick post to welcome the newest edition of our family! Eliza Breedlove! She was born on May 11, 2011 at 2:05 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 1 oz even though she was only 36 weeks. Her brothers adore her as does her father. I'm sure this will be the first post of many with lots of pictures. Enjoy.