Merry Christmas...

Sorry it took me a while to follow up on my last post. We've been very busy, if you can only imagine, and blog posting is definitely on the back burner. In addition to our Christmas celebrations, we've been battling a little 20-month old who has decided she doesn't like to sleep anymore. She cries when she goes to bed, she cries...er...screams...in the middle of the night, and fights her nap-time too. It's now become a norm and we're trying to figure out what's wrong; we don't know if she's scared or just wants attention or what. So, experienced moms out there, any suggestions???

But, we had a great Christmas with both Patrick's folks and my folks. We ate well, too (prime rib, potatoes, pineapple-cherry upside down cake, homemade yeast rolls, spiced wine, etc, etc) and I absolutely loved being in my kitchen.

We head out today to celebrate Christmas in Elberton with my sister, bro-in-law and parents. We're looking forward to some relaxing and hopefully some much-needed rest! I'll have to post some more pictures soon...

Christmas is right around the corner!

I'm getting excited about our Christmas celebrations...starting tomorrow (hopefully). Why I say hopefully is because Patrick is supposed to be off tomorrow though he may have to see a patient. If he's off, I think he'll take Mallory to the gym, which she (and he) both love to do! I have to do my Christmas grocery shopping tomorrow because there is no way I'm going out into the stores on Saturday unless it's an emergency!

So, I've been looking through recipe books, trying to decide what to make for our meals around Christmas. Which, I guess, leads me to outline our plans for the coming week. Patrick is supposed to be off from Friday through Tuesday. His folks are planning to come into town on Sunday sometime, though I'm not sure when they'll leave. So, we'll have probably have our family Christmas on Saturday morning and then Christmas with my in-laws on Christmas Eve morning. My parents are coming in town either Christmas Eve night or Christmas morning and will stay through Wednesday sometime. It will be fun to have both grandparents here on Christmas Day. I'm looking forward to baking, roasting, mashing and sauteeing holiday treats and meals to fill our bellies, which help from Gram and Grandma though I'm hoping to have a lot of stuff done in advance so we can enjoy each other while they're here. BUT, for those of you, like me, who love to be in the kitchen, I want to spend some time there over the holidays.

Once I figure out what we'll be having, I'll share. In the meantime, I'll be doing an inventory of my cupboards, sifting through recipes, and making grocery lists. Fun, fun!

Helping Mommy in the Kitchen

I made Ginger Snaps the other day and Mallory "helped". She's getting to be such a big girl.

Recent pictures of Ethan

Ethan is becoming a chub. He's eating really well and is getting the hang of evening sleep, though there are still a few nights during the week where he fusses a lot. But, he's getting better. He's a cutie and I'm enjoying being a mommy to a boy (though changing his diaper is another story!!!)

Long time, no blog

Finding time to blog is hard for me. But, I enjoy keeping my blog updated with pictures so my out-of-town fam and friends can see my beautiful kids. We're all doing well and are looking forward to the holidays!

Oh, and we have been doing our Advent traditions I outlined in my December blogs from last year, I just haven't had a chance to post about it. I'll have to do a mass post of all of our sessions after Christmas sometime. I love the Advent season!

...to Grandmother's House she goes!

I called my mom on Saturday and asked her what she thought of keeping Mallory for a few days for me while I caught up on some much-needed rest. My mom and dad said that their schedule at the restaurant was pretty flexible this week, so it worked out well. I know I'm going to miss her, but I'm so tired and my naps are catch and go with Mallory and Ethan's schedule. I've missed several days of naps and with only averaging 5 hours of sleep and STILL trying to recover from Ethan's delivery, it's been physically exhausting for me.

My main goal while Mallory is at her grandparents is to rest. But, I'd also like to clean bathrooms, vacuum and mop, finish my shopping, start wrapping presents, order new checks at the bank, organize the huge pile of papers on my kitchen counter, and, and and...we'll see how much I get done.

For now, though, Patrick and I are going out to dinner tonight with our little E. Though Ethan has his moments when he's inconsolable, he's very good for the most part and will sleep through just about anything, well, except for the dog parking half way through OUR nap today and Ethan waking up from the dog barking with a poopy diaper (hence no nap today!). I'm looking forward to being with my boys tonight.

Anyway, we'll see Mallory again on Thursday. And in between now and then, I KNOW she'll have a great time with her grandparents. I'm sure she'll love all the attention that I haven't been able to give her as of late. I'll miss my girl. Tons.

A new diet

Well, after a few days of having a fussy son (and I mean FUSSY...almost every waking moment!), I think I have determined that he has trouble with my intake of dairy. I have been cutting back for the past week and just recently cut it out completely and I have already seen a marked difference in his behavior. Also, the ecsema that had broken out pretty majorly on his face is also going away. Hm. It amazes me how truely interconnected we are while I'm breastfeeding. It's a wonderful bond I have with him! But, it has been a challenge for me to cut out cream from my coffee, milk for my cereal, chocolate, cheese, sour cream...anything with dairy. It's going to be a challenge for the next several months. I did buy some soy milk yesterday and it's not bad in cereal, though I don't see myself chugging down a glass for fun. It will do, though it doesn't replace the taste of half in half in my coffee!!!

Ethan is doing very well now that I'm monitoring my diet more closely!!! He's got is afternoon routine down pat; he has his feeding, is awake for about another 45 minutes and then is out for a good 1.5 hour nap. At night, it's a different story! He wakes every 2.5-3 hours to eat and is fussy from about 5-6:15 am. Needless to say, I'm lacking in sleep! Anyway, I'm hoping we'll get on a good nighttime routine soon!!!

So, goodbye ice cream, pizza, and cheese on my sandwiches. I'll see you in a few months.

Christmas Pic with Gram and Pops

While my in-laws were here, we attempted to make a Christmas picture. But, with hungry kids and an ansy father-in-law, we only had 3 pics and this was the best one. :-)

Picking out the Christmas Tree

We went out as a family last Thursday and picked out our Christmas tree. It's always fun with kids!!! Patrick and I really enjoy hunting for the perfect tree. I think we found it!

Mallory's new outfit

Thanks, Gram!

Reasons why I haven't been posting lately...

1. I have 2 kids (OK, you moms with 2+ who blog more faithfully...I'm getting used to this!)

2. We've been decorating for Christmas
3. We've had company for the past 6 days (Mosses on Fri - Sun, my mom from Mon - today)
4. With only approx. 15 minutes on the Internet a day, and having LOTS of Christmas shopping to do, blogging was put on hold
5. Sleep is more important that blogging. Really.
...

There are more, but I'm currently eating dinner while blogging and I don't want it to get too cold, which I guess means eating and blogging are equal?

Here's a picture taken tonight. Here are my kids watching Baby Einstein in their PJs. Melts my heart!

It's been a while...

...since I've checked my email in my Yahoo account (where I get all my junk mail sent). I have 1214 new messages.

Random pics

Just to give you all an update, I've been feeling MUCH better as of late; I'm starting to heal more quickly now and feel like I'm definitely on the upswing. I still have some pain every now and again, but not nearly as often as I used to. I think I might be my old self in a couple of weeks (hoping!!!). Other than being very sleep deprived, I'm feeling pretty good. Ethan has decided to be awake from 4-6 the last two mornings, which is just kicking my butt. I think I've arranged the kids schedules today to give myself an hour nap. Let's hope that I get it!!! Ethan seems to be more difficult to get on a schedule than Mallory was, but I think I'm just speaking in the moment. Ethan has been pretty congested in the last 24 hours, though he sounds better after I've sucked out some of the junk in his nose and started the humidifier. Keep him in your prayers...


Here are some pics that were taken of me and my kids while preparing for our Christmas picture...

Our Thanksgiving

I'm very thankful that my sister and brother-in-law decided to come up for Thanksgiving. We didn't know until Wed. night if they were coming! They both felt up to the car ride and arrived Thursday afternoon, just in time to start dinner preparations!!! It was nice to have them visit and introduce my son to his aunt and uncle. Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving meal.

Mallory helping me in the kitchen.

Ethan helping Aunt Amanda peel potatoes

The spread. I actually cooked the turkey in the crockpot and it turned out GREAT!















Ethan...

Daddy's bookshelf

Mallory LOVES books. She flips through them and "reads" through the pages. She's even starting to like some of Daddy's classics.
















Patrick's bookshelf after Mallory "reads" the books.














A Jane Austin fan??? (Kelly - I thought about you when I saw which book Mallory had. If you had girls, I'm sure you would be proud)

Update...

My doctor's appt yesterday was good. I don't have an infection, which I didn't think I had, and the doctor thought I was healing "great", since, in his opinion, it looked like a grenade had gone off in my bottom after Ethan arrived. I told him that the OB who delivered Mallory told me the same thing! Anyway, he said to be patient...that with the condition that I was in when Ethan was born and how I'm healing now is great. Well, that was good news, except I'm tired of being patient! I am feeling much better since this weekend, though I still have stabs of pain every now and then. I'm still taking it slow, though I'm itching to get out of the house! I just don't want to overdue it until I'm more on the "up" side of my upswing.

Mallory did great at the sitters. My friend, Margaret, was SOOO happy to watch her and felt honored that I called to ask for her help. I hope to return the favor once I'm...again...on the upper upside.

I'm going to start a little bit of my baking today for tomorrow's Thanksgiving meal. We might be on our own again this year, though my sister and her husband are still considering coming up (Amanda is sick and David's back is bothering him :-( ) Anyway, no matter what happens, we're so Thankful for the abundant blessing the Lord generously bestows up on us!

Newborn Pics

I took Ethan's newborn pictures on Sunday. They turned out great! I usually do some post-processing work in Photoshop, but I really liked the natural pictures and didn't want to manipulate the newborn look. These are not my absolute favorites...I'm saving those for his announcements and Christmas presents, but they are some of the good ones.

PS - I have another doctor's appointment today. Pray for me and the doctor so we can figure out what needs to be done to help me heal better! Mallory will be going to a sitter...her first time being left at a friends house without mommy. Pray for her and for my friend, Margaret!

Newborn Faces...

Here is a video I took of Ethan last week (while he was still "glowing"). Though this may not be interesting for some of you, the grandparents and aunts will LOVE it. :-)

Girl Talk...

Setting: Mommy just cleaned Mallory up from eating honey and jam at Cracker Barrell. Here, she gives you an idea of what our "conversations" are like as of late.

Great News!

We went to the pediatrician again yesterday for another biliruben test and the doctor said that Ethan looked so good that he didn't need to take the test! Plus, since he's gaining weight like a champ, I could count yesterday's visit as his 2-week check-up and I don't have to go next week (MAJOR blessing since I would have taken both kiddos by myself)!!!

To celebrate, we went to Cracker Barrell for breakfast. Mallory entertained herself by chewing on the containers of jam (FYI...honey is VERY sticky and spreads everywhere and blackberry jam won't stain if you used lots of Spray N' Wash). Ethan quietly slept in his carseat while we enjoyed a yummy down home breakfast.

As for me, I'm still on the recovery. After 11 days, I'm still very sore and am trying to be patient in the healing process. I get frustrated very easily, but Patrick keeps reminding me that I will eventually heal. :-)

OH - I had my first outting today with just the kiddos. We went to playgroup and I felt like I accomplished a major victory getting them in and out of the car by myself. I think I can do this multi-kids thing. :-)

Big Sister

Mallory has been doing SO well with Ethan. She is still learning to be gentle with him, but is getting more curious by the day. She's sat with me a couple of times while I'm nursing him and watches intently, though only for a few seconds before she's off to the next thing.

Grandma has been entertaining Mallory quite a bit while we've been taking Ethan to Doctor's appts (4x in the past 7 days!!!) and an appointment for me (I thought I had an infection, but don't, praise God!). Mallory has been loving on her Grandma and my mom loves playing with her. They've been building bock towers, reading books, singing, jumping, and so many other adventures that Mallory loves. My mom has also done about a dozen loads of laundry, loaded and unloaded my dishwasher several times, and helps me keep things clean around the house. What a blessing it's been!!! I'll really miss her when she leaves, which I think is tomorrow; we've been playing it one day at a time.

Anyway, here are some recent pics of Mallory in the last few days.

Slippers

Thanks to my friend, Shannon, Ethan now has 3 pairs of new shoes!!! These slippers are the best and don't fall off (well, when he's wearing socks!). Thanks, Shannon!

Here are the pics from her blog that has all the shoes. Ethan's include all of them except the bottom right pair.

Breast is Best!

When we went to Ethan's check-up on Monday morning, he was 8lbs 9oz, which is 3 oz more than his birth weight. He's growing so well and LOVES to eat!!!

Phototherapy Lights

Here are some pictures of the set-up we have for Ethan while he's in his phototheraphy "blanket". The contraption looks like a projector and where the lens would be, there is a cord that connects to a 20"x4" blanket that wraps around his body and shines a bright blue light directly on his skin. He's on it through the remainder of today and then will be off all day tomorrow before we go to the doctor on Thursday to re-check his levels. The biliruben levels are dropping; lets pray that they won't spike too high once he's off the lights or we'll have to start them back up again.

The one picture with me in the chair is without the flash so you can see him glowing. He looks really funny at night...like a little blue lightening bug laying in the bed. He's a trooper.

Bili Boy

Ethan is our little glow worm. Literally.

He has a high biliruben count, leaving him a nice, jaundice-y yellow color. His level is high enough for our pediatrician to recommend him take in some phototherapy sessions with "bili-lights". We had a home health agency show up at our house today, leaving us with a phototherapy blanket, which is on Ethan all the time except for being changed or bathed. It's a pain, but it should help the biliruben clear out of his system. The phototherapy blanket makes him look like a bright, blue firefly. Our little glow worm.

I have pictures to post, but I just wanted to give a brief update on why I haven't been posting lately. As for me, I'm still very sore and very tired. Mom is staying an extra day or two to help adjust to the phototherapy stuff, since it causes things to be even more complicated. Patrick is off all next week to help me out, too. And the dinners start coming, too!!!! Thank the Lord for loving family and friends.

More to come later...

A few updates

All is going well at the homefront, thanks to the help of our family!!! Patrick actually went back to work today and will go tomorrow as well. He'll be off the majority of next week (Mon - Thurs) and then my sister and her husband will be up over the Thanksgiving holiday. We already have some meals scheduled to come to us from dear friends over the next several weeks as well. We've been blessed! I'm feeling pretty well. I'm still VERY sore, since I did have some tearing down below. I'm moving slow, but with extra hands around, my kids are being well taken care of. Now, if I can just get Ethan to sleep at night instead of in the day... :-)

My dad has been here since yesterday and is leaving this afternoon to head back home. Mom is staying until Saturday afternoon. It should be just the 4 of us next week, which will be a very special time for our family.

Here are some recent pics...I'll keep the updates coming as I can! PS - Grandmas and Aunts --> I am currently getting pictures uploaded to a developer to make sure I print some out and sent out to you ASAP!!!

Ethan Price Moss

For those of you who did not read my sister's comments in the last post (smart thinking, Amanda!!!), Ethan arrived on Monday morning, Nov 5, around 9:27am. My water broke about 3am, so I was only in labor for about 6.5 hours this time around (13 for Mallory). Labor was hard, but God was so gracious to sustain me through it all. My mom was able to make it in time to see Ethan born, which was special for her and for Patrick, since I know he needed her support as well. Gram and Pop helped care for Mallory while Ethan entered the world, which was a huge relief for me to know she was well taken care of. Thanks, also, to our neighbors who came over at 3:30am to sit with Mallory until Gram and Pop arrived around 8am!

Ethan was 8lbs 6oz and 25 inches (CORRECTION - he's 20 inches - Thanks Courtney!) long. There were no complications with my labor and unlike my experience with Mallory, I was able to keep Ethan in my room for a few hours before he was taken to the nursery for his first assessment. I was able to nurse within an hour of his delivery and he ate for about an hour! He's a good little eater.

We left the hospital yesterday about 5:30pm, a little less than 36 hours from delivery!!! It was wonderful to be home last night with my whole family. Mallory still has a lot to get used to with Ethan here. Continue to pray for her. She loves it when I can be alone with her but has issues when I hold Ethan. Every time she sees me, though, she'll get better.

I will update more later, but for now, enjoy the pics!

What I WON'T miss about pregnancy...

This is probably the 3rd night in a row where I've had insomnia. And then, when it's time for me to take a nap in the afternoon, I can't sleep either. Needless to say, I'm very tired. But, with Ethan moving a lot, having contractions every now and then, and having a 7+ lb baby in my belly, "comfortable" is something I can't quite say about my state of being at this moment. I don't remember being this uncomfortable with Mallory. I'm looking forward to labor. (wait...did I just say that????)

I'm hoping I won't have too many more of these late nights. My brain can't shut down as I think of all the things I want to do, but can't find the energy to do once it's time to do them. So, once I stop blogging, I will be tweeking the document I've written about Mallory's schedule for whoever cares for her while we're in the hospital (which could be a wide range of people) and I *guess* I should write a brief list of instructions for the dog, too.

I'll close with a small list of things I'll look forward to once pregnancy is over (*trying* to be a Pollyanna)!!!
1. Cuddling a newborn on my chest rather than in my belly
2. Sleeping on my back.
3. WINE!!! Specifically, Pinot Noir!
4. Walking normally without a profound waddle
5. No contractions everytime I stand up, climb the stairs, or pick up my daughter
6. Waking up to feed a baby rather than go to the bathroom

Halloween Pics

We took Mallory to the Fall Festival at church for Halloween. While we were there, she had fun playing at the different gaming stations while Mommy and Daddy racked up on the candy for her efforts :-) She had more fun running all over the place than playing the games, but it was a joy for Patrick and I to watch her be a chicken nonetheless. After the festival, Patrick and I walked her around the neighborhood for trick or treating. She received MANY compliments on how cute she was. I know that's surprising to you all...

Knocking down Goliath with Grandma (and I believe she actually threw the bean bag herself!!!)

Playing darts with Daddy



















Making a glow bracelet with Mommy (which she somehow managed to break and get yellow glow juice all over her hands and costume)

Any Day Now?

I had an OB appt yesterday and I've made progress since last week; I'm now 3cm dialated and 50% effaced. I've been having some mild contractions, but nothing regular that would make me think "today's the day". Only the Lord knows.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted as I can. In the meantime, I hope to post some pictures from our Halloween festivities yesterday and other things we did this week with my mom. Did I mention in a previous post that my mom has been in town since Mon? I don't know...but anyway, it's been a WONDERFUL treat to have her help with my active little girl and with other odds and ends around the house. And I know Mallory has had fun with Grandma over the past few days. I know she'll miss the activity once my mom leaves this afternoon, since I'm moving slower and slower as my impending due date approaches. :-)

The Herlihy Dog

For those of you who are SNL fans, you may remember the skits of "The Herlihy Boy", starring Adam Sandler. Well, recently we've dubbed Cayman "The Herlihy Dog" because many of her antics/facial expressions remind us so much of the Herlihy Boy. Patrick and I have enjoyed adding a Herlihy "script" to several of her antics, including:

* Please let me sleep in your bed (direct from The Herlihy Boy)
* Please let me come in your house
* Please let me lay at your feet
* Please let me play in the yard
* Please let me play with your child
* Please let me eat some of your food

...and there are several more.

Here is a clip of The Herlihy Boy. Please note that there is some mild language (thanks to Chris Farley). And for those of you who know our dog, imagine it's her thoughts be spoken by the Herlihy Boy...oh, it's funny.

Baby Showers

Last Sunday, the ladies from church threw a shower for me and another friend of mine who just recently had a baby boy. It was so wonderful to have these ladies, though nearly strangers, make such a wonderful event occur in honor of Ethan and Zach (my friend's baby).

This past Thursday, Patrick's work threw him a baby shower, too, in honor of Ethan. It was a surprise to him, so when Mallory and I walked into his meeting on Thursday morning, he was happy to see us and felt very honored by the event his coworkers organized for our family.

We're so blessed!

Pictures from the Gentiva shower: