Our house

I meant to post this when we first moved in, but then I didn't have internet and got busy and distracted with lots of other things. There is still lots of stuff to do (including a kitchen to finish) but I wanted to share some before and after pictures of our house. This is all before we moved in, minus the second living room shot, and I haven't updated any of them because most of the rooms are pretty messy and not quite done yet. So i'll share those later.

Front of the house before

After (Green grass and cleared out weeds and dead plants--but still lots we want to do)

Before

After

This picture probably shows the best example of the changes. Tim restored the original fireplace (took sooo much longer than he thought), took out the tile floors and put down hard wood and new baseboards, and painted. Makes a huge difference and he did such a good job--i'm so pleased with how it turned out!

Family room before

After

Fixed the broken window, had new carpet installed and painted.

Master bedroom before

After

New carpet and paint; Tim also fixed the creaky floorboards after he ripped up the carpet so that it wouldn't be so noisy when walked on. (The carpet was the worst in this room--tons of stains and smelled really bad.)

So i'll share pictures of the kitchen when it's not such a mess and closer to being done.

Gotta run--Dylan's fussing!

Happenings

Getting dressed up for church's trunk or treat as Cinderella

First real bath

Doesn't like it so much

So Dylan hit three weeks today. He still hasn't had his two week checkup so I don't know what his stats are; his appointment is tomorrow. I can't believe it has almost been a month since he was born--it really is going fast. I need to enjoy this newborn time; it's going to be over before I know it. I'm starting to get the hang of things a little better now, but I still haven't ventured out on my own with both of them yet.

Kaylin's still adjusting but she loves her brother. (When she notices that he's there.) She only has problems when she's tired--then she can really throw a fit! I'm still getting used to that side of her, she never used to be all that fussy or temperamental, but with all the changes she's had to adjust to, I guess she's actually doing pretty well. It's just hard when he's crying because he's hungry and she's screaming and crying (usually down on the floor) and wants me to pick her up because she needs me too. That's tough because there's only one of me. I'm hoping that she'll be back to herself in the next few months. Of course we have one more major change ahead and that's moving into our house (hopefully this weekend! Yay!) so I hope she handles that okay.

And one last thing: Happy Birthday Tim! (A few days late.) We were able to go out for a late dinner and dessert without the kids, which was really nice. We don't get to see each other much these days, so that was really nice to reconnect a bit. Dylan did okay, but didn't like to take the bottle, which I hope changes so we can go out once in awhile. It's definitely needed every once in awhile!

Two

Okay, for those of you who have two or more children, how do you do it? How do you balance a newborn's needs and an active two-year-old's needs? (As well as some of your own, like taking a shower or running errands?)

Today is the last day that I will have someone around to help me. My sister is leaving around 3 to head back to Los Angeles, and she has spent the last several days tending to Kaylin while I have Dylan. I have to say, I'm a little scared to be alone with both of the kids. Luckily, Dylan sleeps a lot and doesn't really cry much, but he does like to eat a lot, so I'm on the couch with him much of the day. This leaves plenty of opportunity for Kaylin to get into things. Part of the concern is that we're at my parents, so there's more for Kaylin to get into that she shouldn't (they never really baby-proofed) and the house is bigger, so I don't always know where she is like I did in our last place. Another issue is that we were not planning on staying at my parents this long--we thought maybe a few weeks, but it's turned into almost three months. I didn't pack a lot of Kaylin's toys, so I think she's getting bored and i'm not the most creative with organizing things for her to do (and again, we're at my parents, so I can't just put her in front of paints and let her go at it). I find myself putting in videos way too often to keep her close by and out of trouble, but I hate doing that. And unfortunately there's no parks nearby because at least that would be an option.

I am awaiting a sling I bought online, so I know that will help a bit. I guess this is just a time of adjustment for everyone, more complicated because we're not at our own house. I just want to make sure that Kaylin doesn't feel left out and that she's getting enough stimulation/attention, but I also don't want to sacrifice Dylan's care and attention. Anyone have any suggestions, tips or advice to share?

Another complication that I have no idea how to deal with is naps. Unfortunately, Kaylin never learned to nap or fall asleep by herself. I made the mistake of always holding her, rocking her, nursing her to sleep, and even up until the last few days, someone has to go into the room with her and lay with her in bed until she falls asleep. This is definitely not going to work with having Dylan. So i'm worried that her naps are just going to be dropped, and she definitely still needs them (as do I). Again, anyone have any suggestions? Okay, i'll stop sounding freaked and go get working on stuff.

Birth story

Since I've added pictures of Dylan to the blog, I figured I should probably share how he was born. I'll try to keep it brief.

As you know (those who read from earlier posts) the little guy was taking his time in making an appearance, and I had several days of braxton hicks and then mild to moderately painful contractions before I went into real labor early Monday morning. I woke up around 2 am on Monday with a painful contraction and waited until I had my third somewhat regular contraction before waking up Tim. From there things started moving quickly, my contractions were getting stronger and closer together so we packed the rest of our bag and left for the hospital. My mom stayed with Kaylin, who slept through all of it, and my dad followed behind us. We got to the hospital around 2:30, went up to check in, meanwhile my contractions are getting stronger and stronger and I'm having to really concentrate through them, walking and almost fainting a few times. They finally got me in to check me and I was 5 cm. They put me in my labor room where I really started to struggle with the contractions. They were coming right on top of each other, some only giving me 30 seconds to rest in between. I requested an epidural at that point (I had been there maybe half an hour) and they told me they had to do blood work first and it would probably be an hour before I'd be able to get one. I was a little frustrated about that, so the nurse offered some pain medication to take the edge off, which I of course took. The nurse checked me again a few minutes later telling me I was about the same--still about 5 cm (of course I was thinking, how could I be the same when those contractions were so strong?!). I was really starting to feel the pressure down low and at that point the midwife came in to check on me, asking if I felt the urge to push. I told her that I was just starting to, so she decided to check me and I was 9cm, fully effaced and his head was completely down there. (I don't know about the other nurse, hmm.) At that point I looked at her and asked if that meant I wouldn't be able to get an epidural. She said probably not. This scared me because of what I had experienced with Kaylin. (Her very large head, two hours of pushing and forceps to get her out, not to mention the bad tearing.) So the midwife told me to go ahead and push when I got the urge. Right when she said that, I got the urge and just started pushing. The contractions weren't as bad (the little bit of medication really helped) and they were coming a little further apart, giving me more of a break. I pushed for half an hour, even with him facing up. (I was surprised when I found out about this because I didn't have bad back labor at all.) He came out after the half hour, a big and healthy boy. I got to hold him right away and Tim cut his cord. (We didn't get to do either with Kaylin, so that was a really neat experience that I was hoping for this time.)

Overall this was a much better experience, even without the epidural. I still can't believe that I did this naturally--I'm such a wimp and don't have much of a pain tolerance. God definitely got me through this, that's all I can say! I am recovering really quickly too and have to keep reminding myself that I am still recovering and to take it easy.

All the changes have been easier too because so far Dylan has been a really easy baby. He hardly cries (only when hungry or getting his diaper changed) and has been nursing really well. (It seems that's all he wants to do!) Sleeping at night is a somewhat different story though. He sleeps fine but really doesn't seem to like laying flat on his back, or by himself. So either Tim or I hold him through the night (we take turns). Not an ideal situation at all, but he just doesn't like his bassinet. Anyone have any suggestions? I've been putting him in his boppy during the day, even though they tell you not to let babies sleep in it. He does really well in that.

Okay have to go warm up dinner (thank goodness for leftovers!) Guess I really didn't keep this brief, did I?

Pics from the hospital

Right after little Dylan was born. I was able to hold him right away--well after he was cleaned.

Big boy

Not liking his bath.

Kaylin meeting her little brother.

Kisses

Our family

Leaving the hospital

Cute! And too bad it's not a real smile!

He finally came!

Our little boy finally decided to greet the world and made his appearance early Monday morning. I'm a bit sleep deprived so more details and pics to come later. For now i'll just give his stats:

Dylan James
born 10/20/08 at 5:18 am
9lbs 3oz
21 inches

He's healthy and things went well. Just got home a few hours ago. Going to try to take a nap and later i'll add the story and a few pictures of our new little man.

No baby

So still at home waiting. No baby. I thought things were starting last night because I began having what I thought were regular contractions, but when I laid down, they stopped. So now today i'm just sitting on the couch waiting. I'm still getting contractions, but they are in no way regular. I think things are starting, but that it's going to be slow going and still may be a few days out. Of course, according to when I think i'm due (not the doctors) i'm not really late, so it still may be awhile.

Still nothing...

No baby yet. Braxton hicks have even slowed down. Maybe it's still going to be awhile yet. Guess i'll just have to keep waiting. I know he'll be here eventually, but the waiting and not knowing is tough. Of course, then I get scared for the whole process to actually start because, let's face it, labor is hard and this time around I have more of an idea of what's ahead. I just keep praying that this time will be quick (but not too quick because I want an epidural!) and that I can get this little one out myself, with no tearing. (Kaylin had to be pulled out with forceps after an hour and a half of pushing--her head was too big.) Okay, more news to come when things start...

Still here

Well nothing today, but I'm thinking it may be in the next few days. Sorry if this is tmi, but just lost the mucous plug (or at least some of it) and i've been feeling lots of pressure down low and getting more painful braxton hix contractions. Although with Kaylin, I lost my mucous plug and it wasn't until a week later that I had her, so you just never know. Keep you posted...

Just never know...

Had another doctor's appointment yesterday. 3cm dilated and 70% effaced, head's down there, so I guess it could be any time now. Just have to play the waiting game. I feel tired this morning and crampy, kind of like i'm about to get my period. Of course, that could be the result of the examination yesterday. It's hard not knowing when this is going to happen. I have a weird feeling it may be today, but I could be way off too. Only time will tell I guess. I'll try to keep this updated if something does happen.

To my firstborn

Since these are the last few days I will have with just my little girl, I wanted to do a tribute to her, to my first born. Here's a little montage of pictures of her young life, just to show her off. She's grown fast and I cherish all the memories I have with her. I hope the times we spent together are meaningful to her as well, but I know she won't remember them very clearly as time goes on. She's a sweet little girl, so full of life and energy, always with a smile on her face. She's gotten extra cuddly lately, which I love, because she never used to do much of that. Maybe she's more aware of the upcoming changes than I realize. I have learned so much from her, how to be a mother, what to do right and what to do wrong. She's taught me how to be young again, how to imagine and create. It makes me a bit sad to realize this season with just my little girl is coming to an end, but I know we will still have great adventures ahead. I want to make sure that I spend time with just her every once in awhile so she still knows how precious she is and how much I love her. Here's to you, sweet pea! And thanks for being such a wonderful first child!

Waiting...

So today is my official due date. No baby yet, and no big signs that he's on his way really soon. I did have a few pretty intense braxton hix contractions last night, but I think it was from doing too much and from being on my feet too much. (Kaylin really keeps me busy!) After laying down and going to bed, I didn't have any more. They did make me realize though, that this is going to happen very soon and it's actually real! I'm going to have another baby! Sometimes I get a little scared. I've heard that going from one to two kids is pretty intense, and Kaylin is so busy and energetic all the time, that i'm afraid it's going to be pretty tough to meet the demands of two. I guess i'll just have to take it day by day and we'll all just have to adjust. Thank goodness for having two sets of grandparents around and a wonderful, supportive husband!

My goal for today is to finally pack for the hospital and finish a load of laundry, along with a few other things that have been awaiting my attention. My parents have the day off today, though, so hopefully I can get some stuff accomplished.

I'll try to keep everyone updated as things start to progress...

Due date

So my official due date is October 13th, not what I put on my blog for the countdown, which is set for the 17th. That means just 5 days! The reason I put the later date is because I used the day I ovulated, not the date of my last period, so I think it may be more accurate. The doctors use the period date, so they're saying the 13th; we'll see. I think it will be later. Plus, in the first few ultrasounds I had, he measured closer to the 17th, 18th. And if he's anything like Kaylin was, he'll be late anyway.

But the countdown will begin Monday, the 13th, so i'll just be laying low, waiting to see what will happen. And i'll keep the blog updated, too. As of last Friday, my last doctor's appointment, I was about 2 cm, not completely soft or thinned, but getting there, and his head hadn't completely dropped yet. My doctor said she didn't think he would be coming early, and I don't mind because I still have lots to get done! Here we go...

Belly and baby

Here's a belly shot from back in August.

This is the most recent of my belly shots. It was from about a week ago, so I'm about 37 weeks here. And yep, I really carry out front, nice and round. Most people that stop me first comment that I must be due any day (and I was getting that almost two months ago) or they ask if I'm having twins. Makes you feel really good. :)

Here's my baby shower--high tea in Davis. Nice and relaxing and low-key.

Kaylin enjoying tea as a princess. She wasn't actually at the shower, Tim watched her so we could enjoy some quiet. She does love having tea though, and would have really liked it.

Back again

Well, it's been a long time again. Feeling pretty busy, although I guess by most standards I'm really not that busy. Tim, Kaylin, and I have been living with my parents for about a month and a half now, which has its ups and downs. Our parents have been very generous but we're looking forward to having our own space again. (As I'm sure they are too.)

Work on the house began in the middle of September (we finally closed Sep. 9th, after many complications) and has been moving along steadily. Although, with the way things look, we'll probably be here at my parents when the baby is born. The house has been gutted, so until we have the new flooring and paint in, we don't want to be living there. We've already accepted the fact that we won't have a kitchen for a while after we've moved in, but we have a makeshift one in the garage for the time being. Tim and his dad put in a fridge, oven and sink out there, even some cabinets and countertop, so that will have to work for awhile. It'll be interesting to have a newborn and a toddler in the mix once we move in. We have lots of help though, so that's good.
I'll post some pics later on of the house in it's current state.

And because life seems so upside down and busy right now, the thought of having a baby in two weeks is just unbelievable! We haven't done much to prepare, and that's starting to scare me a bit! We don't have a name or even a nursery and Tim and I hardly see each other, so we haven't had much time to talk about the impending birth and arrival of our son, much less time to get things done for him. I've gotten a few things for him (diapers, onesies, etc.) in the last week, but it's still very unorganized and just sitting in bags out in the car. I haven't packed for the hospital, aghh! Very different from the first time around! I don't know what we'll do if he comes early. I definitely need the two weeks to get things more under control. At least i've been healthy and feeling good. With Kaylin I remember being tired all the time at this point, and unable to move around very easily. (Although that could've been around the time that I was already a week late.)

On the topic of the baby's name, we have been mulling around a few names, and seem to be down to two that we like more than any of the others we have talked about. Maybe you all can give us your opinions...I've been having a hard time with it, though because I don't completely love either of them, and it's hard to picture either of them as my son's name. Maybe we'll just have to see what fits when he's born. Anyway, the names are Dylan and Logan. My mom and Tim lean toward Dylan, and I go back and forth between the two.

Okay, I need to sign off now to get started on dinner, but i'll try to be better about updating this, especially as it gets closer to my due date. I also wanted to put some belly pics on here, so we'll see.

Hello again

So I know it's been a very long time since I've posted anything, and who knows if anyone actually still checks my blog, but I'm finally on here again with some pictures of what we've been up to around here. We finally got our laptop repaired and back so I was able to update and put all our backlogged pictures on it and add some here.

Here are a few pictures of Kaylin turning two that I wasn't able to add to her previous birthday post. This was on her actual birthday when just the grandparents and Aunt Cori came over to celebrate, it wasn't the big party. Tim's sister Cori made her cake (dairy and egg free!) and unlike her first birthday when she didn't want to have anything to do with her cake, this time she couldn't wait to dig in! She even blew out her candle all by herself!

Yum!

Here's Kaylin during her big party, making her classic "cheese" face for the camera.

Mom and Kaylin

The weekend after Kaylin's birthday, we went camping at Big Sur with some high school friends. It was fun and great seeing everyone again, but unfortunately Kaylin was pretty sick (she was a trooper though), it was cold and we never actually saw the sun. And I didn't get a lot of pictures because we were a little occupied with Kaylin.

Gotta love my sister's face here.

4th of July. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying Tim having a day off. We went to a local park with my parents where the city of Davis does their fireworks.

Kaylin enjoying some bubbles.

Waiting for the fireworks.

And enjoying some popsicles. Kaylin did okay with the fireworks. She was a little scared and cried at first because they were "a bit loud," as she later put it, but as soon as she was hiding with dad under the blanket, she was okay. (She later claimed that she liked the fireworks and thought they were fun--she kept talking about them for several days.)

Okay so I should do a whole seperate post on our current house buying situation, because it is quite different from my last post and it's a long and complicated story. I'll try to give the short version. So this is a picture of the house we our currently in escrow with. It's not the house that I posted about back in June that we made a bid on and that was accepted. We decided to back out of that offer because we realized that it was just going to be too much for our budget and we weren't comfortable with what the payments were going to be, especially since we wanted to do some updates to it. We kept looking and found this house a few weeks later. The asking price was lower, it was bigger, and didn't have the same odd situation that the other one did with dealing with a judge. This one is a foreclosure too, has a bit more work involved (Tim really liked that part--wants to put a lot of sweat equity into it), is in almost the same neighborhood, and just seemed like a better deal. So after a lot of thinking about it, going back and forth, we decided to put an offer in. We hoped the process would move quickly because we have to be out of our rental on the 17th of this month.

We first made the offer towards the beginning of July; we didn't hear ANYTHING from anyone for a week, which was very frustrating. But the interesting part was (and the great part for us) was that they ended up lowering the asking price $30,000 after we had already put an offer on it. Obviously their left hand didn't know what the right was up to. So, we amended our offer and finally a few days later received confirmation that our offer was on the way to the bank. About a week after that we got an email fowarded from our realtor stating that there were multiple offers on the house and that we needed to send in our best offer. We decided not to change our offer (much to the chagrin of our realtor). They said they were going to make their decision quickly, and after not hearing anything for almost a week, we started looking into rentals because we were getting so frustrated (and nervous) about how long the bank was taking in the whole process. We told our realtor that we were going to walk away if we didn't hear anything by Tuesday, the 29th of July. In the meantime we had almost completely set up a short-term rental in Davis. We figured we weren't going to hear anything and that they must have chosen one of the other offers, so we needed to prepare for finding other housing. Two days later our realtor called and told us the bank had accepted our offer and sent a counteroffer that we needed to look over and sign if we wanted to still go ahead with everything. We almost decided to walk away because we were frustrated and we knew that housing prices are still going down and that we could maybe get an even better deal in a few months. But we decided that it would be better for us just to move once (because of the baby coming) and that we can't live in the "what if," wondering if something better is around the corner. We got a good deal, and I think we will be able to make a good profit on it when the market goes back up.

So, that brings us to today. We've signed the papers, sent them back to the bank, and have waited another week to still hear nothing about the house. Our close of escrow date is the 28th of this month but we can't get started on anything--like the inspection--until we get the signed contract back from the bank. Frustrating!! We already have to move into my parents for two weeks because the bank took so long. So hopefully we'll hear something tomorrow or by early next week, or we're going to have to start thinking about walking away again. It's been so hard being in this unknown, inbetween state for so long! It's really forcing us to trust that God has this all worked out and knows what's going to happen. I know that He's going to take care of us and provide for our needs, but it's definetly easy to forget that and to want to do everything ourselves. So we'll keep waiting and trusting...

On a completely different note, Tim and I enjoyed a night out to ourselves a few weekends ago when we saw John Mayer in concert. He had bought the tickets for me for mother's day because he knows how much I like John Mayer. The concert was great; John Mayer is a great entertainer, wonderful to hear live, and amazing on the guitar! Thanks, hun! I had such a great night!

A shot of John Mayer

My sister Caroyln was in town from Colorado with her two girls a few weekends ago. It was a brief visit, but it was great to see them and spend some time together. Kaylin adores her older cousin and is finally old enough to play with and get to know her other cousin who is only 5 months older than her. So it was sweet to see them interacting and having fun. (I also added this picture to show a belly shot, since it's been sooo long since I've had one on here. I think I am about 28 weeks here.)

The young cousins at Fairytale town in Sac enjoying snow cones.

Kaylin going down her favorite slide in Fairytale town.

So that gets everyone up to date on the lives of the Browns. Right now we're just busy starting to pack and preparing to move. Unfortunately I can't do too much since I'm getting too big, so we're trying to tackle it little by little. Not too much else going on, but we feel busy enough. I'm feeling fine and can't really complain about anything. I'm blessed to have an uneventful pregnancy. The baby boy is healthy and very active, especially doing lots of somersaults and turns--I constantly see my stomach moving and shifting around. I'm trying to enjoy this time before I get too big. The time is moving fast, but still seems a long way off. I know it (he) will be here before I know it. Okay, it's getting late and I could probably write more, but I should get to bed. Hope all my readers are doing well! And thanks for reading through this loooooooooong post!