When You're Done Having Babies

Would you believe that I get asked almost daily if we are done having babies?

Yes, daily.

No, I'm not kidding.

While I think this is an incredibly personal decision and people can and should have as few or as many babies as they darn well please, I've reached a different point in my life when I've had to really sit down and think, are we done?

We have always talked numbers of kids or when we reached our end, and while I'm not quite ready to say we are done having kids, I am pretty confident saying that Eloise will be the last baby to grow in my belly. Take that for what you want, things could change, but for now, that's where we are at.

For the past 5 years I have been pregnant, breastfeeding a new baby, chasing around toddlers and never seen or thought of an end to diapers, night time wake up calls and baby cuddles. But I see that end now, I've become pretty comfortable seeing the end, but I have had to ask myself, what now?

I haven't worked in order to take care of the kids and keep them home with me and I have absolutely loved that. I am very lucky that we had that option. I have done a few small projects, volunteer work, but everything has always revolved around my kids. With the twins off at full time school and seeing what that is like, and what my future will be like when all 4 are at school, I've had to really sit back and think about, not my kids, but myself. Gasp!

What do I want to do with my days? What do I want our family to be like when we have school aged kids? Do I want to work? Go back to school? Take a long vacation on a beach when I'm finally done breastfeeding? Ok, that's a given. But what about ME? What do you do when you're done having babies?

It's a different chapter in life and one I knew would come eventually but haven't given it much thought. I'm happy and excited to see how these 4 little miracles turn out but I'm also excited to have more time for myself and what I want to do and figure out what I want to be for this next chapter. I still don't think I know what I want to be when I grow up. At 30. Ya know.

So my question for all of you lovely readers, how did you know you were done? What changed when you were done having babies? What should I expect for life without a baby in the house? Besides taking all the baby gates down. Can I get a hallelujah for that one? :)

What's Another One....

Adding baby Eloise to our family has been so much fun, but I think the fun is yet to come!

She gave me her first gummy legit smile today and my heart is freaking melting, people! I LOVE when babies get interactive and start exploring the world. Seriously, the BEST time ever. Everyone who tells you newborns are hard, the first year is the worst, they are simply liars. The first year is the most magical year! I absolutely love it...can we have another baby now? Ok, calm down people, I'm not pregnant.

So at almost 2 months old, I have officially been on my own with 4 kids for a month now. Every day, all day, just me and the munchkins. It's been...interesting.

Some days are beyond exhausting. Especially when Jack is having a rough day. I also tend to over schedule in the summer I've realized. I want to be outside and at the parks all day, every day so we've had a play date, pretty much every day in the past month. It's been fun but tiring.

Some days are very relaxing. I have a lot more energy than I did when I was pregnant so when the kids are chill and playing nicely, I manage to cook, clean and do a project or 2. It's been nice. We are still slowly ticking off the list of house projects we need to do before we rent or sell this place so I feel like we're always doing something but it's been fun.

Overall, Eloise is an easier baby then any of the others. Obviously, it's not hard to beat out the twins. Ben was super easy, but now that I've seen another personality, I look back on Ben and think of what a wild and crazy kid he was, even from the beginning. He was always full of spunk, joking around, pranking. He is going to be that popular kid in high school who always has a joke to share with the class...and ends up in the principal's office. Just watch.

But mostly, she eats, she sleeps, she shares a little smile or 2 with us from time to time.

She loves our 4 year old swing. She just hangs out all day.

If she is fussy, I throw her in a wrap or sling and she is happy again. Very easy. We have just loved having this little red head in our family!

But having 4 kids is loud and crazy. Our house is rarely quiet. I know I have some friends who love early morning or bed time with their kids. These are hands down the most stressful times in our day! And soo loud! Everyone is wanting something and yelling and fighting.

But when all the crazy ones are asleep, and in the summer when the sun is still setting, I get a few quiet minutes with my sweet new girl, rocking her by the window.

and now I want 10 more babies just like her.

So sweet.

Life with 4 Under 4

I am not sure I'm an expert at this 4 under 4 biz yet but I am starting to get the hang of things. Its been a big help having my mom in town, but I know my day of doing it all on my own is coming very soon! I will write a full post on my life lessons when I have some to share but I just thought I would share how things have been going in the beginning with have 4 little littles.

 

 

 

My first thought was Ben would have a meltdown sharing mommy time, Amelia would be my helper, Jackson would care less. I was very wrong with my guesses.

 

Ben loves HIS baby and giving anatomy lessons about the baby. We have hourly discussions about how poking the baby's head and eyes is not ok. He also loves to give very heavy hugs. So....he isn't allowed anywhere close to baby. He handles not having mommy to himself well but he has grandma to play with, so I think that will change when she is gone.

 

 

Amelia actually could care less that Eloise is here. She will hand me a diaper or some wipes but other than that she minds her own business. She likes showing off her baby sister when friends have come by to visit or bring by meals but most of the time she does her own thing. I think when she can play with her, she will be a lot more interested. She asks daily if she is big enough to share her room with her so she is just waiting to have a toddler little sister ;)

 

 

And Jackson. Sweet, loving Jackson. Have I ever mentioned he is my sweetest child? He loves baby Eloise and gives her gentle hugs and kisses all the time. When she yawns he gushes about how cute she is. He really loves his baby sister and is so excited to tell everyone about her. Its super sweet. I know he is a loving boy but to see him being so sweet and kind to his sister just melts my heart.

 

 

Overall, everyone is adjusting. They still remember the days before Eloise and how Eloise was in mommy's tummy but she came out. It's definitely different having almost 4 year olds and a 2 year old and adding to the family than it was when the twins were only 19 months old. It was a much smoother transition then ;) the idea of getting all 4 kids dressed, fed and out the door in a morning by myself seems very daunting but I know I will get the hang of it. The twins are becoming more independent so that is helpful and once Eloise gets on a good schedule, I think I will manage but right now, it seems a little crazy.

 

So that's life so far! More updates as we adjust ;)

Baby E Is Here!

I guess on her 1 week birthday I should get around to blogging that baby Eloise is here!

It's amazing how in 24 hours this big ol' belly goes from this...

 

To this cute little face!

 



 

 

I have no exciting birth story to share. I was having no contractions or anything going on up until 39 weeks. 39 weeks 0 days was my scheduled C-section. Tom and I woke up, said bye to the kiddos and went to the hospital. The C-section was pretty uneventful and after a few hours, Eloise came into this world, bright pink, kicking and screaming! She weighed 8lbs 10oz, almost 2lbs bigger than Ben! and over double the twins weights...combined. Big girl!

 

She received nothing but top reports from everyone who saw her, and luckily, I did too and we were home 2 days later!

 

The bigs LOVE their baby sister.

 

and she has been such a good baby! A little slow to gain her weight back and jaundice, just like Ben (my milk is a little slow to come in), but she passed her most recent check up, gained enough weight and bilirubin went down enough that we're done with check ups until her 2 week. Which amazingly, is already next week. I feel like she was just born! She is 1 week old today! Crazy!

 

My mom is here helping me out for another week. She is mostly in charge of the bigs while I recover from the C-section. They are having a lot of fun having her around. Baby and I are settling in well and it's so fun to snuggle with a newborn again! Ben grew up too quickly on me ;) Eloise better be a good girl and stay little for awhile!

 

Thanks for all the messages and congrats and all of our local friends who have been such great helps! It's made the transition for the bigs a lot easier :)



Full Term!

t's official! I am full term with baby #4! I have been feeling a little off the past few days so I was nervous I wasn't going to make it, but here we are! It takes a preemie parents to really appreciate being full term I think ;)

and what a difference 17 weeks makes!

 20 weeks.

 36 weeks.

Whoa baby! It's been warm lately so you might find me in the kiddie pool with the kids until the weather gets a little cooler or this baby comes out.

1 more week until I reach my most pregnant ever status (I had B at exactly 38 weeks), 2 weeks until my scheduled C-section! Let's see how long this little girl wants to bake!

5 Things I'm NOT Buying For Baby-and a few things I am

Now I admit, a lot of baby stuff we don't have to buy for baby 4 because we have them, which is awesome! But there are a lot of things we haven't had, or I haven't used in the past that I don't plan on getting for this baby. For people expecting #2 (or 3 or 4) I thought I would share the things that we aren't bothering with this time around, unless I find that I really need them.

1. A new breast pump. I do plan to breastfeed, but I am really, REALLY hoping for a good eater and not needing this. If I need one, we'll go out and get it, but I'm hoping that's not the case! I used the same breast pump for my first 2 pregnancies but it's seen better days so I think if I plan on using one regularly, I will invest in a new one. I'm really hoping that's not the case though because I pumped enough with the twins to last a lifetime.

2. Along those lines...bottles. We tried for a few weeks to get Ben to take a bottle and he never did and honestly, I had enough going on with the twins and a new baby to worry about pumping and bottles and cleaning them. We gave away most of our bottles during Ben's first few months and I don't plan on buying any more. If we NEED them, I will go get them, but I'm definitely not buying them beforehand.

3. Pacifiers. The end all-be all of babyhood right? Ben never took a pacifier and never really needed one. Again, I loved the simplicity of not having to worry about carrying it, cleaning it, making sure I had it. It definitely was a big help with the twins, it's how they learned how to eat really, but if this baby girl isn't crying constantly, she's not getting a pacifier. Have I mentioned how awesome it is to NOT have to wean a kid from a pacifier? Amazing.

4. Fancy swings or bouncers. Apparently the 4moms Mamaroo is all the rage these days in infant swings and bouncers.

 Source

It looks amazeballs, don't get me wrong. If it's your first kid, I say rock it out. HOWEVER, this poor baby will probably not be able to left unattended...umm...ever. Have you met my other children? They'll be good helpers...maybe too good. Also, when not in use, my children like to climb in baby swings and a certain little girl is tiny enough that she can fit in them still, just like her 12 month "pants" that i put on her under her skirts. So to avoid this trouble and them potentially breaking anything, we're just skipping it. Baby will have supervised floor time, spend a lot of time in a wrap, and sleep in her crib or bassinet, but that's about it for baby 4. Sorry kid, you'll be ok though. I have faith.

5. Pretty baby towels/new clothes/new anything. This baby is getting almost all hand me downs. Sorry sweetheart. She'll use whatever towel is clean in the kids bathroom. She'll wear Amelia's hand me downs (and a few from other friends who have given us a few things), sleep in the cribs we bought 4 years ago, and major score, we still have a year left until the infant car seats we bought the twins home in expire. They hardly got any use with Ben (he was too heavy to lug around in the carseat and was close to 30" before he even hit 1) so I'm glad we can get one more baby out of them before they expire. Next babies-r-us trade in event, we'll get her a big girl car seat and we'll have managed to have 4 kids in 2 car seats in under 5 years. Bam! Win!

SO what exactly have I bought for baby?

Not much.

A little sister onesie.

Some things for me (nursing pads, nipple cream, some things to take to the hospital with me).

And the biggest purchase...new cloth diapers.

I destashed a few months ago and actually made a decent amount of money back selling my old diapers. People were really wanting to buy stinky diapers used on 3 kids. Wow! It helps they were all popular brands (all Bumgenius or Fuzzibunz). But because of Ben's skin troubles we had in the last diapers, I figured I'd just start brand new with this girl. I still think in buying all new diapers, we'll be saving money in the long run. I got about 1/2 of my money back from the diapers I sold. I am thinking I could get even more for these because they will be used a lot less than my first batch was. I'm also not buying nearly as many as we had so overall, about $250 (I shopped BG sales, and you can use Bed Bath and Beyond coupons on BG diapers at Buy Buy Baby! That took a $17.99 BG 4.0 down to $12.99 with a $5 off/$15 coupon people! Major score!) and I think we'll be set for her until she is potty trained. Definitely by far our biggest purchase for baby girl, but I think the best investment. I hate buying disposable diapers.

I also might get a cute nursing scarf. This one, in particular, caught my eye.

 Source

 These seemed to be more popular when I was nursing with Ben but I already had a nursing cover to use. But maybe, to get something pretty and different, I might try a scarf this time around ;) I'm much more of a scarf wearer in Ohio than I was in California. We'll see. 

What did you buy for your 2nd/3rd/4th/+ kids that you might not have had for your 1st? What did you skip out on?

My Baby Isn't A Baby Anymore

I'm heartbroken to say that I don't have any babies in the house anymore.

My baby boy turned 1 on Sunday and I've been in denial ever since.

No joke. I'm struggling with this first birthday!

I think being pregnant with Ben when we celebrated the twins' first birthday made it bearable. With no baby P's in our near future, I'm a little heartbroken to see my baby grow up. He also seems to be growing up so much faster than the twins did! How is he 1 already?

So what did we do to celebrate our big guy?

We kicked off our day with birthday pancakes!

aka whole wheat banana pancakes with sprinkles in it. The twins were a little jealous they didn't get a candle but came around when they realized they had sprinkles in their pancakes too.

Then we decided to do a photo shoot!

Seriously, is there a cuter 1 year old? I'm biased, but I dare to say not ;)

We did cake with the family later that night and Ben loved a day being the center of attention. Sometimes it stinks being the baby of the family. Sorry buddy but I promise your birthday will always be special! We are having a party with our friends on Saturday so I'm happy he gets another special day for his birthday ;)

So what's Benny Boy up to at the ripe old age of 1?

He's been taking steps since around 10 months, right before Christmas he became a legit walker and hasn't looked back. Now he's practically running. If only I could get him to run in the same direction as both twins, that would make my life a little easier.

Tooth count: 8 in, 2 molars should be cutting through any day now and 2 more are on the way. It's not pretty
Weight: 23lbs on the dot
Height: 30 1/2inches
Clothes: Comfortably in 18 month clothes, can fit anywhere up to 3t though (trust me, I've accidentally put him in Jack's clothes more than once)
Favorite food: sweet potatoes, chicken nuggets and strawberries
Least favorite food: Anything green. I'll turn him to the dark side eventually.
Favorite toy: Anything cars and trains...which poses quite a challenge since those are also Jack's favorite and they don't always share well together.
Favorite time of the day: When the twins are napping and he has free range on the house.
Sleeps: Never. Seriously. He's worse than Jack. Please someone teach my baby how to sleep.

He still nurses 3 times a day and once at night. I'm trying to get rid of that night feeding, but it isn't going well. I am proud that Ben has gone an entire year without a single bottle and no formula. He's been such a good eater, we've had a good experience nursing with very little trouble (except one bad episode of milk blisters). It's been nice to not have to worry about pumping, bottles, milk supply, blah blah blah that I had with the twins so things have been much more pleasant this time around.

Ben seems interested in talking and signing so I'm excited to see his language skills blossom over the next few months. The twins really took off with language around 18 months so I'm sure I'll have more to share on that front in a few more months.

Thank you everyone for the well wishes for my baby's birthday!

It's Christmas Time

I admit, I'm pretty excited for Christmas this year.

1. There's a chance we might see SNOW! I haven't had a white Christmas in years!

The last time I saw snow this happened....

Obviously....

2. We're actually going home for Christmas! The last time we were home was probably the last time I saw snow for Christmas. See picture above for how exciting that was...

3. The twins LOVE Christmas. I don't think they REALLY get it, but they do enjoy the lights and music and the idea of Christmas. Don't even get me started on their love of the Christmas tree.

4. I am not pregnant and don't have a newborn (ok the twins were 6 months old their first Christmas but they were still acting like newborns).
Christmas 2010-pregnant
Christmas 2011-the twins were itty bitty and we had just moved aross the country
Christmas 2012-VERY pregnant
Christmas 2013-NOT pregnant with an almost 1 year old and two 2 1/2 year olds. My, how quickly that seemed to happen!

5. It's this big guy's FIRST Christmas!

Isn't he cute? :)

What are you excited for this holiday season? My favorites are everything white chocolate peppermint flavored, going for walks to see Christmas lights, hot chocolate, and lots of family time! :)