The Smile Award :)

I have been awarded the Smile Award from Angelle!

What does this great honor mean? Recipients of the Smile Award must:
~ display a cheerful attitude.
~You must show love to others.
~You must make mistakes.
~You must learn from others.
~You must be a positive contributor to blogging.
~You must love life.
~You must love kids.

Angelle said about me, "Kristen is a new(ish) friend that I have met in real life, but got to know much better over the internet. I have a feeling that if we lived closer, we would be pretty good friends. She just had a new baby, so let’s all congratulate her on the arrival of Landon Matthews Corn!"

Once you accept the Award you are then required to follow these simple rules:
Here are the rules for the Smile Award:
~You must link back to the award creator. (We still can’t figure out what the name is–the text is so small!)
~You must post the rules if you are a recipient.
~You must choose 5 people to pass the award to.
~You must fit the characteristics of the award.
~You must post the characteristics of the recipient of the award.
~You must create a post sharing your win with others.
~You must thank the giver of the award…

So it is with great pleasure that I present the Smile Award to:

* Marian at Past the Point of Delirium. Marian and I have become great friends over the past couple of years, and have had so much "fun" in class, dealing with our pregnancies and school woes together! She just had her second child, Eamon Grey Northridge Norris, on March 2. I'm not quite sure I'd have made it through this school year without her, to say the least.

* Emily at On Awesome Avenue. I met Emily through Lynn and am so glad I did! Emily is a wonderful friend and is actually the first person who got me interested in blogging! :)

* Amber at The Flenniken Family. Amber and I became friends in college and have gotten re-connected since we've both become mommies! She is such a great mommy and it's obvious when seeing how intelligent and well behaved her beautiful boys are!

* Fran at Jackson and Jacob. Frances and I met during Recruitment our first year at UT! We were in the same Rho Chi group because our maiden names were right next to each other. We got back in touch through our blogs! She has super handsome twin boys. I think the phrase "super mommy" is used quite often by people talking about Fran :)

* Cindy at Baby Claire. I found Cindy's blog through my friend Emily's and we've chatted ever since! She has a gorgeous baby girl who makes me smile whenever I see her pictures and videos.


Of course, all my friends are worthy of the Smile Award but I settled on 5 like the rules say :)

"Fun" week :)

We really did have (overall) a great week last week! We kicked it off with a visit from Uncle Nate on Sunday. Oh, how happy Addie was to see him!!! Not only does she just love him to pieces anyway, but she found out that he's a sucker and would push her on the swing for as long as she wanted :) It was so sweet to see how attached she is to him. She even asked him to take her to the potty - huge! I'm sure he loved that :)

Landon and I went back to the lactation consultant on Monday and found that he had gained four ounces since the Friday before. Hooray! It made me feel so much better and a lot calmer knowing he was starting to eat well and get back on the track to get back to his birth weight. That put him at 7 pounds, 6.9 ounces.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Mimi came to play with Landon and me. We had such a good time! I had to giggle at how different it was from when she came to help me with Addie. I was having such a hard time adjusting to mommy-hood with her and my mom was my saving grace. I told my mom that this time was just like we had taken 3 days off to chat with one another. We had so much fun! Landon enjoyed being spoiled rotten by Mimi. I had to put a limit on her holding him for fear that we'd never be able to put him down again - ha ha ha! Thanks, Mommy. :) And thanks to Lynn & Quinn for bringing us lunch on Wednesday too!

We also had some more special visitors on Wednesday when my good friend from college, Amber, came to visit with her sweet boys, Jacks & Wil. Amber brought us dinner, too! We were so thankful. It was so nice to catch up and it was the first time I had met Wil! Those are two of the cutest boys ever. Addie was unfortunately not in a playing mood, but I am sure that we will have more successful playtimes with them in the future :)

Friday was Landon's two-week checkup and my little monster had gained 9 ounces since Monday! He was 7 pounds, 15 ounces! The goal was for him to be up to his birth weight and he had far surpassed it. Awesome! I was so excited. Afterwards, we went to Mellow Mushroom with Lynn & the boys and Leslie. It was sooo nice to get out of the house. It was also fun to see my sweet boss & coworker as they walked around the corner to come take a peek at Landon!

The only not-so-good things (besides the obvious lack of sleep & sheer exhaustion :)) are that Addie woke up early Saturday morning with a 102 fever. We spent the morning at the doctor's office where we tried to get a urine sample (she had been holding her private parts and saying her "tee-tee hurt") without success. They ended up having to place a catheter which was of course traumatic for everyone. We never did determine the cause of her fever. I guess it was just some virus or something but am still kind of concerned as Addie is like me and not especially prone to running a fever.

Addie also seems to be struggling with the fact that I am someone else's mommy in addition to hers. At least, that's what I am hoping it is. She wants nothing to do with me in the mornings and tells me to go away. This is heartbreaking to me as she has always been such a mommy's girl. I have had plenty of tearful mornings because of this! I am hoping this phase passes quickly because I'm not sure how much more I can handle :) I have been trying to make sure that she and I get plenty of one-on-one time, so hopefully that will help. Please keep us (me!) in your thoughts & prayers as I deal with this. Thankfully, she still seems VERY much in love with Landon and has not acted out towards him at all. We're still trying to teach her to be quiet when he's sleeping (by that, I mean not banging on the piano) and to be gentle when she touches him. Overall, she is being a GREAT big sister. Now if she'd just give her poor mama a break, all would be well :)

ANYWAY - let's be honest - you're here for the pictures, right? Here goes!

Addie comparing her feet to Landon's "little tiny feet"

I'm not feeling this tummy time, Mama!

Hehe :)

Me, Landon, Addie, Jacks, Amber and Wil

Mimi and her boy!

My sweet babies!

Landon, starting to look a little more like Landon and a little less like Addie, Part II :)

See?

Addison Leigh on her birthday

Landon Matthews on his birthday

Addie Leigh

Addie is doing well adjusting to Landon. Of course, he's still sleeping most of the time, so I know there are many adjustments to still be made once he starts having more wakeful periods, but I'm still pleased (and admittedly, surprised) with how she's handling things. She seems okay with him crying and makes sure to tell us "Baby Landon is cwying!" I'm not sure why she says it like that because she doesn't have trouble with saying her Rs normally :) She loves to come up to him and pat his head and she gets the biggest grin on her face when she sees him. She had one little jealous fit the other morning when he was laying next to me in our bed the other morning. She did NOT like that a single bit and gave me the silent treatment for about an hour. Our bed is very special to her because she gets to be in it only on the weekends when we're all still waking up a little bit. I guess him being in her "sacred" place was just a little too much!

Other than that, she always wants him to be around and if I'm not holding him, she'll say, "You go get Baby Landon right now!" Precious. She is SUPER interested when I'm feeding him and will ask me, "What is Baby Landon eating for breakfast/lunch/supper?" :)

Check out the video below. It's sideways, but it's WELL WORTH having to tilt your head or laptop to watch it.

One week

My goodness - I can't believe it has been one whole week since Landon was born! I am pleasantly surprised at how quickly my heart grew to love him (that may sound terrible, but I was VERY concerned that I wouldn't be able to love another baby as much as my sweet Addie). It is definitely a different kind of love, but I am loving not being as nervous about everything or as scared to be alone with him for fear I won't know what to do! Ha ha ha. Gotta love the second child thing, I guess :) I know it has only been one week, but I have only had one minor freakout with both babies. Addie has had a horrible cold this week (awesome timing, huh?) and has been a little whiny. Last night she had a complete meltdown because John Michael wouldn't let her have a(nother :)) Hershey's kiss before dinner (how dare he, huh?). She insisted on being in my lap, which of course I would have welcomed, except that Landon was flipping out because he was hungry. So I was trying to get him calmed down enough to eat, and she was crying and climbing on me and asking to be held. I already don't remember who we calmed down first or how, so I guess it wasn't too traumatic... :)

Things are going well, overall, although we've had a little feeding trouble with Landon. I was having EXTREME pain with breastfeeding and thankfully, decided to call the lactation consultant on Monday. We got in to see her Tuesday morning, and she immediately pointed out that Landon was tongue-tied and that this was very likely the cause of my pain. To sum it up, he was unable to get his tongue over his bottom gum line, so he was essentially gnawing instead of being able to properly feed. It caused severe damage to me, but she thought it could be fixed by having his frenulum clipped. She said she would try to call Dr. Hood to get the order faxed over to the hospital's nursery, and hopefully we could get it done that afternoon. She admitted that she didn't think Dr. Hood would approve it because their practice frowns upon the procedure. I am not sure WHY, given the risks are practically zero and that it can make such a huge difference in feeding. Long story short, Dr. Hood approved it and we had it done that afternoon! The procedure took about 30 seconds and Landon did not cry and did not bleed a single bit. Hooray!

This was awesome, and with the help of a little protective device, I was able to continue breastfeeding with a lot less pain. We went back to the consultant the next day because, essentially, Landon has to learn how to properly use his tongue. He went five days trying to use it the best he could, and of course, had been sucking improperly the whole time he was in my belly! I am so very thankful that he did not lose more weight than he did (he was still getting milk, just not as much as he needed, but was still only down 6 ounces from birth), and that my milk supply did not decrease at all. I admit that I am very frustrated because his tongue was pointed out to us immediately after his birth, but nothing was done about it. I was not overly concerned about the pain (so didn't really make a big deal about it) in the hospital because I attributed it to being the "adjustment" period. I know they would have done the procedure if I had discussed my discomfort more. But still. Argh.

We'll go back for another weight check on Monday and to make sure he has really learned how to feed. The lactation consultant told us yesterday that he is a "lazy feeder" so we have to put a little more effort into it and make sure he stays awake to properly feed. Addie was also very sleepy during feedings for her first month, so at least it's not a completely new thing for us! :)

ANYWAY - sorry for the novel, I'm just kind of using the blog as a memory book for myself! Now for the fun stuff! The post below this is all pictures. Hooray!

All pictures!

Most of these pictures are from a week or so ago. We have newer ones but I have to get them off the camera still...

We took Addie to paint pottery the day before Landon was born. She chose a turtle bank for Baby Landon and a jewelry box for herself!

One last belly picture, taken in the hospital room

Brand new baby!



Precious boy



Little Addie clone



So proud!


Addie checking out her big sister gifts from Landon! She named her Cabbage Patch "Baby Quinn" :)


How cute is this gown!?! I kinda wanted to steal it from the hospital ;)


In love all over again...

"Get me out of this hospital!"

Landon all ready to come home!

The adorable big sister with her borderline inappropriately short shorts :) HOW CUTE!

Landon Matthews Corn

He's here and he's beautiful! I thought I'd take a quick moment while he's sleeping to write down the events of his birthday before I forget them all :)

We got to the hospital at 6 a.m. and got to our room (the "princess suite" thanks to my dear friend, Terry Cooper, who also happens to be the best L&D nurse ever). I had my blood drawn around 6:30 and they got me hooked up to all the monitors. The nurse who was getting me settled asked if I had been having any contractions, to which I replied no. The funny thing is, I started feeling things and told John Michael that I was beginning to feel like labor was starting on its own!

Terry (who also happens to have delivered Addie - she is my high school friend, Chrissy's, mom) came on duty and asked me if I realized I was contracting every five minutes! I thought it was hilarious, because this same thing happened when I went in for my induction with Addie. She told me I would have been in on my own that day, regardless. She predicted that Landon would be born between 2 and 3 p.m.

ANYWAY, Terry started the pitocin at around 7:30 a.m. to give my body a little boost. She told me she had discussed it with the anesthesia team and they had decided to do early placement for my epidural because I delivered Addie so quickly. Sounded fine to me! The only thing was that they had to wait for my blood results before it could be placed, but that this shouldn't be a problem because the results should be coming up any second.

Sooo...an hour later, and pretty regular and quite a few starting-to-get-very-painful contractions later, I hear Terry out in the hallway saying, "YOU ARE KIDDING ME!" I looked at John Michael and said, "They lost my blood." Sure enough, Terry came in to tell us that was the case. Thank goodness, just a few minutes later, they located my blood and the nurse anesthetist was on her way. Hooray!

She placed my epidural and I immediately knew something was wrong. I felt a little pain, then numbness, down my left leg, but my right side was still feeling everything and my foot was cold. They said it might be a little one-sided so they had me lay on my right side to see if it would spread over there - no luck. At about 10:30, Terry checked me and I was still 2 centimeters. That had me a little concerned, but she assured me it was fine. I told her I was still feeling contractions on the right side, so she called the nurse anesthetist back and they "readjusted" the epidural by pulling the line out slightly. Success (or so I thought ;))! My right leg still had feeling, but I stopped feeling the contractions. Awesome!

Then it was time to have my catheter placed. A nursing student and her instructor came in to do it. They were pretty excited that I already had my epidural so I wouldn't feel anything. I told them that, oddly enough, I was feeling everything they were doing. They didn't seem too worried, and got the catheter "in place."

Well, maybe not. Thankfully, they told Terry that they weren't sure they had gotten it in the right place after all, and they were right. She came in to re-do it (um, owie) and I told her I was still feeling everything, which she replied was NOT okay. She explained that I had a "window" in my epidural, meaning there was a spot that had no pain blockage. Of course my "window" was right where I really needed it :)

Sooo...they re-did my epidural at 11:30. Not the most fun I've ever had, but once they placed it (correctly), I immediately felt better and more relaxed! Terry checked me 20 minutes later and I was at a 4. She checked me 30 minutes later and I was a 6. Long and short of it, I progressed 7 centimeters in 2 hours (the "normal" is one centimeter per hour). I was fully dilated by 1:45 p.m., and Landon was born at 2:00! Terry was RIGHT ON her estimate. He weighed 7 pounds, 8.6 ounces, and was 20 inches long - almost the exact size Addie was (7 pounds 8 ounces, 20 inches long).

We could tell immediately that Landon looked JUST LIKE Addie as a newborn! The resemblance is actually kind of spooky :) He had a rough first 45 minutes of his life, though. Because he was born with so few pushes, he still had quite a bit of fluid in his lungs, so he was "grunty." Although he got two 9's for his APGAR scores, the nurses were concerned with how he sounded and put the oxygen mask on him for about five minutes. They assured us there was no reason to be alarmed, though. They brought him over to attempt to breastfeed and he would not latch. It completely freaked me out, because Addie had latched immediately. The baby nurse stripped him down and placed him skin-to-skin with me and it took us about 30 minutes to calm him enough to latch. He's been a pro ever since ;)

Sooo...that's about it (I know, it was long, but I'm afraid I'll forget all this stuff and really wanted to make sure I didn't). He is an absolutely beautiful baby, just like his big sister, and she was THRILLED to meet him. We had an overly emotional moment when Addie had to leave with Mimi & PawPaw without her mommy, but Mimi has said she's been asking for Baby Landon ever since, so I'm glad to see that (for now) he ranks up there with me :)

The picture at the top was taken by Uncle Kris! We'll have to shrink the files from our camera once we get home, but there will be plenty more on their way!

Update on the Baby Boy

I went to the doctor this morning and we set a date! Landon will be born on (or before :)) Friday, March 6! We are very excited. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

I love Tennessee

I must admit I am biased since I have never lived anywhere besides Tennessee, but I just love this state. Where else does a random snow in March happen after 60 degree temperatures in the weeks before? Okay, I know it happens lots of places, but I'm still glad it happened here. We were SO excited to wake up to about 2 inches Sunday morning! John Michael told me it had snowed at about 4:30 a.m. (he had gotten up due to Addie crying out in her sleep) and he may as well have told me it was Christmas morning. I could NOT go back to sleep! Luckily, I finally fell back asleep for a little while so that I was rested enough to play :) Although it was soooo cold and windy, we had a great few minutes outside! AND we finally got to use Addie's snowsuit! HOORAY! Best $15 I've ever spent (thank you, Old Navy!).

Addie waiting "patiently" for Mommy & Daddy to get ready




Mowing the snow
(and speaking of crazy Tennessee weather, a very windy day a few weeks ago was the cause of our gates being knocked down!)