extreme optimism or extreme fatigue?

I begin pretty much every night thinking, tonight is going to be the night that Oscar (and therefore, I) sleeps well! And I really believe it. Every night.

Tonight my rationale is that he was awake for most of the time during the past 6 hours, so surely he must be tired. And, he cried quite a bit of it, so SURELY he must be tired. Never mind that it might also mean that something is really bothering his tummy or upsetting him and why would the next 6 hours be drastically different?

This is the mind of an extreme optimist. Or an extremely sleep deprived person. Or an extremely sleep deprived optimist.

got milk?

The kids decided that they wanted to drink their milk without their sippies. And they didn't soak their clothes completely! We were really impressed. This will be a game changer. So, here's Rafa's first milk mustache:









Also, is it time to cut his hair again??

music to our ears

After another tired night, D got up to get breakfast ready for Sylvia and Rafael while I gave Oscar his. Sylvia and Rafa were sleeping in a little longer than usual, but we decided to get them up to not throw their day off too much. As we approached their room, we heard one of them start singing "Jesus loves me" and the other joined in. We stood outside their door savoring every note and every made up word, hearts melting. Then, as they finished the song, Rafa declared, "Otra!" (Another!)

Bravo, niños, bravo!!

colic, gas, needy baby?...

We are really struggling with Oscar at night. He just doesn't want to sleep. And worst of all, he screams like he is in major pain. Poor little guy. It seems to be worst between 9pm and 3am. Lucky us.

He's not a great sleeper during the day, either, and only sleeps for short periods before suffering from painful gas (we think), possible reflux, or who knows what else, but it appears to be some sort of tummy pain.

I think it's worse than it was with the twins, but to be perfectly honest, I don really remember those first four months to compare. I know Sylvia had her bouts with colic between midnight and 4am for a little while and that we gave both kids gas drops, so there must have been some tummy problems, but I don't remember exactly how bad it was. Either from sleep deprivation, I made no memories, or just god's little trick to convince us to have more children.

We're doing all sorts of things to try to sort it out and are still pretty confident that it will get better, hopefully soon. Until then, please forgive the sporadic posting as I'm trying to use every free moment to catch a few z's.

And, to top it off, Sylvia has suffered from a fever the past few days. We're hoping it's viral since she has no other symptoms except that she's only moving around 80mph instead of her usual 150.

2 weeks!

Oscar is 2 weeks old! Although it feels like at least a month. We're a little tired. Oscar doesn't like sleeping at night much. We got spoiled by the NICU with Sylvia and Rafael since they came home on perfect 3-hour feeding/sleeping schedules. We still have some work to do to get Oscar there.

We had our doc appointment on Monday and everything looks great.

Height: 21.5" (87%)
Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz (64%)
Head: 13.7" (22%)

I can't believe he's already gained a pound!

Here are some cheeks to prove it:

jailbreak!

We got out of the house!!



Packed 'em in like sardines. But, how wonderful is it to see them all together?!!



And enjoyed a dinner out! I don't know why I was skeptical, it ended up being quite fun. D did hold Oscar most of the time. He did not enjoy the car seat. But since he slept, D could still eat. It probably also helped that we accidentally skipped Sylvia and Rafa's afternoon snack, so they are really well and allowed us to eat, too.

I'm mostly amazed that I was up for the journey. I started feeling much better this morning compared to every other day since Oscar's arrival. Like a new woman appeared this morning. That is wonderful both physically and mentally/emotionally.

future hairdresser?

Voila!!

we have three children

It shouldn't be a surprise to me, but somehow answering the question of how many children I have, it feels a little strange to say 3.  Three?!  When did that happen?!  It seems like just yesterday that we were struggling to have just one miracle.  Now we have three beautiful little people filling our hearts. 

she's come around

Sylvia was a complete mess this weekend. She pretty much cried herself through. Everything was upsetting to her, her world was just turned upside down.

Each time Oscar cried, she lost it. Which, on the one hand was incredibly sweet, but on the other meant that we had two screaming children to deal with. (Reminding me of the time I tried to feed both twins for the first time on my own--not pretty.)

Things got better Monday morning when the nanny showed up and I think she realized things were not completely topsy turvy.

Each day that she's had more interactions with Oscar and has started understanding what's going on, she's been better.

Sweet, even.

faces

Oscar is one week old!

It's amazing it's already been a week that we've spent with this little guy. We're starting to figure out how to do all of this newborn stuff again. But, unfortunately, little O has some major tummy problems. Gas, reflux, whatever it is, I had hope that since he cooked longer, we wouldn't suffer this trial as much as with the premie twins. Perhaps it won't last as long. I can hold out for that, anyway. The poor guy just gets really uncomfortable. And he's really loud. I mean, really loud. His cries, his grunts, his hiccups, everything with gusto. He must know he needs an extra decibel to be heard over his big bro and sis.

The hiccups and the gas seem to happen pretty much after every feed. We get a good burp out of him and think, maybe he won't suffer this time, and then he starts hiccuping. More air equals more discomfort. One week in, though, isn't much time to figure out what might work best, so here's hoping he or we figure something out the next few weeks.

Until then, we'll just enjoy giggling at all his squeaks, squeals, hiccups and funny faces. At least when he's doing all that during the day.

first doc visit

Oscar had his first doc appointment.  She said he's perfect.  We agree.

Here are the stats:
Height: 21.25" (96%)
Weight: 7 lb. 8.6 oz (47%)
Head: 13.5" (35%)

He is one TALL baby!  With a little head.  Thank goodness for me...  Quite the opposite of his big brother.

You might have noticed that he shurnk a little.  While the measurements are not perfectly accurate, the PA offered to measure him again.  The doc heard her mention that and she popped her head in to say that newborns often "shrink" a few days after birth.  She explained that babies get their cone heads when they go through delivery, but then after a few days, that goes away and the head reshapes and often that means the babies lose a little bit of length.  Oscar has plenty of height, so a quarter inch is no biggie.

the name game (part iv)

What's in a name?  It feels like never before have so many people been so interested in a decision that we've had to make.  Of course, because we had a name ready to go for a little girl (the history of our name conundrum is here), we had a boy.  We have ruminated and discussed and read lists and still are left with no consensus on baby boy Vassar's name.  The hospital gave us until tomorrow (5 days after birth) to let them know what his name would be for them to file the paperwork for his birth certificate and social security card.  So, tomorrow's the deadline.  Thank goodness we have a deadline! 

There's a part of me that thinks this is a major decision that will impact our little boy for the rest of his life.  Then, there's the other part of me that thinks that it's not really such a big deal and particularly since none of the names we're considering are real doozies.  At the end of the day, whatever name we choose, even if we don't feel like we both are super in love with it and know now that it's perfect, once it becomes his name, because we love him, we will love his name, too. 

...

Update, we're going to sleep on it, but after much discussion, we're leaning towards Oscar Iván Vassar.  D doesn't love the sounds of Oscar John Vassar and John was the middle name we were planning on using to pass on his dad's and brother's name.  We have also heard some concerns about the initials O.J...  D's bro loves Russian history, so he's also keen on the Latin/Russian version of John.  So, that's   We've joked about blowing white smoke from our chimney, but I think FaceBook will do.

first impressions

Baby boy Vassar made his debut to his siblings!  We decided not to bring Sylvia and Rafa to the hospital and just let them meet their new little brother at home.  Sylvia was intrigued and wanted  to check him out from head to toe.  She wanted to feel his hair, took note of his hands and feet and generally got up close and personal with the little guy.  Rafa, on the other hand, was much more content to check out the new baby from afar.  Rafa didn't take his eyes off of the baby, but was not interested in getting too close.  It's sometimes hard to believe they're related.

This pic was taken a little later after Rafa had a little time to warm up to his little brother.

going home!

baby boy Vassar

Baby 3 has arrived! Weighing in at 7 lb. 12 oz. and 21.5 inches long, he's off to a good start to catch his older sibs.

the belly

One of my cousins in Germany requested a picture of my belly, so we took this tonight.





This is how things go with the forgotten child... For the twins (first pregnancy), we took a picture weekly to watch the belly grow. With the same outfit, the same pose, the same lighting... Longtime followers of this blog might remember. Here is one post that references a few. .

And, with this pregnancy, that might be the only belly photo. It is for sure the only photo taken specifically of the belly. Of course the belly makes itself known in most pictures.

Someone else asked recently if we had a shower for this baby or at least a place online for things for people to buy. I thought about saying that the baby doesn't even have a name... But, decided to just leave it at, nah, it's the second pregnancy. He suggested that second and third children tend to not get the same fanfare throughout life. So, why start out any different? Maybe since baby 3 will be so close in age to Rafa and Sylvia, this child won't be forgotten, just lumped with the older sibs. That's what happened with my little sis, which I never really thought was fair, but I'm now grateful that we have a close relationship, so maybe it was all for the best. You hear that kids, you'll thank us for perceived unfairness later. Even if it's 30 years later.

perros!

Our sweet next door neighbor is on a mission to help our kids get comfortable with dogs. They have been pretty terrified of all animals that get within 5 feet. So, we were impressed and surprised to receive this video from our nanny today of Sylvia hanging out with our neighbor's dogs!

One day Rafa will get the courage, too.

38 weeks!

We made it to August!  Still awaiting baby 3...  It's a little strange to think that these are some of our last days as a 4-family.  We are really looking forward to meeting baby 3, though!