We finally have our close date set for December 12! We are so excited to move into our new space and see the house we've dreamed about as a finished product!
Here's a few pictures of the house progress so far.
Also, we have a crawler!! Oscar stared crawling on October 24 (almost exactly 8 months) and pulled up on the coffee table for the first time that same weekend. This kid is so much braver than our first - after pulling up for a mere two weeks, he successfully transitioned from the coffee table to the couch by himself tonight. He's going to be standing on his own very soon - he can already do a couple seconds on his own.
He has nearly 8 teeth (7 have broken through with an 8th on the way) and is gradually becoming a better sleeper. He has gotten up only 1-2x per 12 hour night stretch for the last several nights. We're making progress!!
He's such a cute little guy. He is so smiley and loves to be talked to. It continues to amaze me how physical he is - he LOVES to move and use his body.
Jesper is learning to become much more independent. He can even brush his teeth, get his pajamas on, and goes to the bathroom all by himself as he's getting ready for bed (not that he will every night...but he CAN). :)
He's learning the sounds that letters make and is very interested in sounding out words and looking at them in books. So fun to see him enter the world of language! Also, it's pretty cool to see him write his name on his schoolwork.
It's been a busy summer....understatement of the year. We put our house on the market on the same week that I went back to work at the end of May. Sixty days and a couple price reductions later, we sold it in late July and closed on August 29.
We are building a house in Chanhassen, and it will be done in late November / early December. We broke ground in mid-August and the house is about halfway completed (framed and roof and windows are in!). In the interim, we moved in with Paul and Gail in Victoria. They generously allowed us to move in only a few short weeks after they got settled.
Oscar
Oscar is a horrible sleeper (up every 2-4 hours, about 2-3x per night). At this point, I've learned to function with a consistent sleep debt. But oh, how great it will be to sleep more than 3-4 hour stretches at a time!! #functioninganyway
On the recommendation of our pediatrician, we tried to "cry it out" over Labor Day weekend. Despite sticking with it for 4 nights, the result was that we established a consistent 7/7:30pm bedtime but didn't lengthen stretches at night. However, I think part of the problem is that he still fights his bottle, so he prefers to get his calories straight from the source at night. It's a good thing nursing is going well!
Another issue is that he's been in the throes of teething. He got his first tooth on Aug. 6, the 2nd one shortly after, and the 3rd one in mid-September. He also seems to be working on about 3 others. He might be eating steak by Christmas!
Oscar is a very physical baby. He rolled over on his own from back to front at 4 mos. and was sitting up well on his own by 4.5 months. He's just now starting to army crawl and I would imagine that he'll be all over the place in just a couple weeks.
Personality: Quietly happy, unless he's uncomfortable. Then he's crabby. He's a little stinker - he already thinks it's funny to swat at the spoon while he's being fed to see if he can hit it and make food go flying. And the other day, he tooted and then laughed at himself. He's a little more sensitive than Jesper was - more likely to fuss if nervous or surprised. He loves to observe and likes physical play ("sliding" down Mommy's legs or practicing scooting around the ground). It's hard to get a giggle out of him, but he smiles a lot.
He's a good eater and has liked everything but green beans. Favorites are carrots and sweet potatoes (actually seems to like veggies more than fruits).
He's very coordinated - he could pick up a cracker and feed himself at 6 months.
Jesper
My precious little Jesper boy has had a rough summer with all the changes. He is very good at adjusting to change, but we've thrown a lot at him in 6 months. He LOVES his little brother and does a fantastic job of being gentle and is a great little helper. However, we've been dealing with some behavior issues at school - more bathroom accidents and reports that he isn't listening. My theory is that he hasn't been sleeping as well because Oscar disturbs his sleep and he is missing some attention from Mom and Dad with as busy as this summer has been.
He's started to have a phobia of bugs - we actually had several nights where he would wake up with nightmares because "there are spiders on my face."
Added to all that, I think 3 is a difficult age anyway - he needs to start being more self-reliant yet it's not as safe and secure as when Mommy and Daddy help him. He started Pre-K this fall at his daycare and we've noticed that he's doing a better job of several tasks - getting dressed, zipping his jacket, getting his shoes on, getting his own tissue, etc. Hopefully as we move into our new house and things calm down, we will all adjust more easily to this next step of childhood.
Current favorites: construction trucks (I.e. "Working trucks"), Oscar, Soukie (Paul and Gail's little white dog), crashing his cars together
Other updates:
I received a promotion at work to the Account Manager position. It's been a challenge - I'm learning a LOT and am being asked to take on projects that make me stretch and grow. I have a great team and manager and have been enjoying the learning curve, but it has also meant more late nights and business trips. Josh has been great about taking on more responsibilities with the kiddos so I can meet my deadlines.
Josh and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Sept. 20. Representative of this season of life, we went out to eat at a local Mexican food restaurant with Paul and Gail and the kids. There will be many years ahead for nice romantic dinners, but Jesper and Oscar will be little only once. :)
Chris and Morgan Macbean came to visit at the end of September. It was SO fun to see them again! We went out to eat at Barrio for lunch and then had dinner with Brandon and Sarah on Friday night. We spent Saturday walking around the Arboretum and enjoyed hanging out with them at the house for dinner that night. It was like no time had passed - we are so lucky to have wonderful friends like them! We're looking forward to our turn to visit them in Hollis.
Balancing life, work, parenting, and love right now is as difficult as it's ever been. I'm thankful for a great partnership with Josh and the support system of our friends and families. Here's hoping for a few more calm and quiet moments in the months ahead!
My parents visited from Charlotte from April 1-7. It was wonderful to introduce them to Oscar and watch them play with Jesper. They also got to celebrate Jesper's 3rd birthday with us and witness Oscar's first smiles.
We got to see Duane and Darlene and my cousin Cari and her little boy Ezra on Wednesday. They brought lunch, met Oscar, and Ezra and Jesper played for a little while. It was so nice to catch up with them, and I'm hoping we can meet up with Cari on another Wednesday during my maternity leave for a play date.
My dad took Jesper to the Mall of America on Thursday and walked around for several hours. They had a great time. My dad said that they stopped at benches around the mall to talk every once in a while, and Papa Ron carried Jesper occasionally so he could hear what he had to say. "He was talking the entire time." They also went on a few rides at Nickelodeon Universe.
My dad and Josh also took Jesper to Sea Life at the Mall of America on Saturday morning.
My parents were dreading the Minnesota weather and mother nature reminded them why they moved to Charlotte with a snowstorm that delivered 6 inches of snow Thursday - Friday. However, my dad made the most of it and got to snow blow the driveway on Friday. "It's kind of fun," he said....probably because it's the only time he has done it this year and it was nearly 35 degrees.
My mom got in lots of snuggles with Oscar. She held him for many of his naps and helped with lots of diaper changes. She had the privilege of being the first person to get Oscar to smile. She was also wonderful about helping out with dishes, laundry, and many other chores around the house.
We celebrated Jesper's 3rd birthday on Saturday by going out to breakfast at IHOP. Jesper ate six (!) pancakes for breakfast and answered a birthday questionnaire. I'd like to ask him these same questions every year to see how his answers change. :)
Later that day, Nissa and Grace came over and we had cake and opened presents. Jesper really loved the balloons and cake and had a blast playing T-ball in the driveway with Josh and Papa Ron.
On Sunday, we went to the Minnesota Children's Museum. It was so fun!! We had never been and I was a little worried that Jesper would be too small to fully enjoy it, but they do a great job of catering to children of all ages - 3, 7, 35, or 60. :) His favorite part - no surprise here - was the marble run inside the Works exhibit. Oscar was very cooperative and slept the entire time in the stroller.
Jesper ran into a friend from school, Charlie, and they played together in a couple of the rooms
I can't believe my first baby is 3 years old already! He is my silly, smart, tough, cautious, and gentle little boy and I can't wait to see what the next year brings. It is so fun to watch him grow and experience the world through his eyes.
It was wonderful to have my parents visit. We really appreciated all their help with fixing things around the house, household chores, and most of all, the extra time and attention that they gave our precious little boys! We are looking forward to heading to Charlotte to see them again later this year.
Oscar Gray Carlson was born on February 26, 2014 at 1:37pm. He was 8 lbs and 20.5 inches long and is absolutely perfect!
I felt the first contraction on Tuesday, February 25 at about 5:30pm while I was just finishing up some emails at work. My labor with Jesper had been so fast (6 hours from first contraction to delivery) that my doctor had told me to come in to the hospital as soon as I felt organized contractions because I needed at least 4 hours of antibiotics for group B strep before the baby was born. After another couple contractions, I called Josh on my drive home and told him to ask Nissa to come over to our house to watch Jesper just in case.
By the time I got home, the contractions were about 8 minutes apart but they weren't very organized and weren't really painful. We ate dinner, chatted for a little while with Nissa, grabbed our bags, and headed out the door around 7pm. I thought it might be a false alarm, but better safe than sorry.
We were put on monitors for a couple hours when we arrived at the hospital to see if I was really in labor. When she checked us in, the nurse didn't think that we would be staying (she said "we'll probably see you back in a couple days"), but she wanted to monitor the baby for a little while just to make sure everything was ok. However, by 9pm I had dilated another 2 centimeters so they admitted us. "Let's have a baby!"
They put me on antibiotics right away. After that was completed, we walked...and walked...and walked...and walked around the hallways. At 2am they checked me again but I had only progressed to 4 centimeters. Labor stalled out at that point, and Josh and I decided to try to get a couple hours rest at about 4am.
The next morning, we tried walking again to get things started. It was unsuccessful, so they broke my water. That was still unsuccessful, so they started Pitocin at about 9am. Hard labor started around 11am, and Oscar Gray arrived at 1:37pm. Josh was amazing through the entire experience (although he was wishing pretty early on that he had brought his tennis shoes for all the walking that we did!). I had decided to labor without pain medication and I couldn't have asked for better support through the entire experience. He entertained me while we were waiting to be admitted and through the hours of walking and helped with counter-pressure on my back through every contraction.
"It's a boy!" I said as they handed Oscar to me. He was perfect - and he looked just like his older brother. :)
The labor and delivery with Oscar was more difficult - longer and a little more painful - than it was with Jesper. However, the recovery was much quicker. Breastfeeding was successful from the first hour after he was born and I was feeling like myself within a few hours. We checked out of the hospital within 24 hours after he was born.
Oscar was slightly jaundiced but not enough to need light treatment. He was also slightly tongue-tied, but not nearly to the same extent as Jesper. We had the doctor clip his frenulum at his one-week appointment - Oh, how I wish that we had known to ask about that with Jesper!!
Jesper met Oscar in the evening of February 26. He was a great big brother from the very beginning. "Is that my baby?" he asked. He got to hold him and received a "big brother" gift at the hospital. We had gotten him the book Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site. We read that book several times per day for the first 3-4 weeks after Oscar was born. He loves to lay on the blanket with Oscar during tummy time and put his diapers in the diaper pail. He has needed a little extra TLC at times and had a few meltdowns, but overall has been adjusting beautifully to having a new brother.
Oscar loves to be held! He wouldn't sleep anywhere but in someone's arms the first week at home. I slept with him in the rocking chair, on the couch in our room, and in our bed. We gradually transitioned to his crib and he was sleeping normally in his crib at night by 2 weeks (thank goodness - I was one tired mama after nights in the chair and couch).
It took a couple weeks to adjust to life with 2 boys. An almost 3-year-old is awfully loud and busy compared to a newborn! Jesper stays home with me on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays while I'm on maternity leave. Those are really busy days, but we're starting to get into a rhythm and my multitasking skills have grown.
We love Oscar and Jesper so very much and feel blessed to have two happy and healthy little boys. We are looking forward to years of cars, dirt, and skinned knees. :)
