Blog Patrol

Call me paranoid but I have decided to make our blog private to ensure the safety of our kids as many strangers are viewing our blog and it makes me a bit uneasy. I love to follow other blogs and have been a "blog stalker" myself. I don't want to take away from the networking and am very open to sharing our site via friends of friends, etc. Just send me an email with your email or simply make a comment with your email address and I will grant you access!

What the Carps have been up to...

I am finding it harder and harder to get on here and update our blog. Facebook is an easy place to just update with photos but I really want to continue to update our blog to reference back, sort of like a baby journal, for our boys. On that note, some of you have already seen these pics but here we go again!

First and foremost, my bro-in-law just got married on Friday and Henry was the ring bearer. We were really nervous that he would not make it down the aisle with 400 people staring at him but he in fact made it and was a little ham all day/night long. The flower girl, Tatum, is 3 years old and pulled him down the aisle in his wagon. They were so stinkin' cute! Having 2 kids and Chris being in the wedding I had my hands full but thanks to my parents it was soooo much easier to enjoy the evening and be able to snap a few photos early on in the day. We are so excited to officially welcome Auntie Emily to the family. I have been to a lot of weddings and hands down their ceremony was the most beautiful and heartfelt I have witnessed thus far (ours included!). They both wrote their own vows and the beauty in their words is indescribable. The entire evening and to this day all anyone can talk about was how touching their words to one another were. It certainly confirmed the love they have for one another and made me proud of the man and woman they are. Simply amazing.

My absolute favorite pic of the day...right as they announced them as Mr. & Mrs.! Secondly, my husband celebrated his 31st bday this past Saturday. Since he has absolutely everything and can never give me an idea of what he wants I decided to surprise him with an all guys poker party at our family lake house. He had no idea what was in store for him and was very happy to enjoy an evening with a bunch of his buddies. I am thrilled he had a good time and I was able to keep it a secret! It was fun keeping him guessing and to see his face as we arrived to find all the guys waiting for him and then his shock as I left him with some cash, a bottle of his favorite whiskey and a kiss goodnight as I headed back home to take care of the boys for the night.

Next up, we had Oliver's 1 month check up today and he is one healthy boy! Breast feeding has been so much easier this round and it was nice to see his stats to reassure me that he is getting the amount of feeding/ounces needed. Check out these stats...we have some solid boys on our hands!

Weight: 11lbs 13oz (95%)
Height: 23 3/4 (>95%)
Head Circ: 15 5/8 (80%)

In comparison Henry was:

Weight: 10lbs 2.5oz (55%)
Height: 23 (90%)

Lastly, our pumpkin patch opens this Friday and we are in for some long busy days at the patch and at home. Thankfully my dad arrives on Saturday for 12 days for a visit and lend a helping hand. I cannot wait to see Papa Gabby and introduce him to our latest addition! I am sure we will be making daily visits to the patch as Henry is absolute obsessed with pumpkins already! I guess it is in his blood.

My Angels

Seriously can't get enough of these two (Henry 20 months & Oliver 1 month)!

Guess who?

Can you tell which one is Henry and which one is Oliver? Both are at 3 1/2 weeks old. We think there are similarities but both definitely have their own look. Pretty sure the massive head of hair Oliver has gives it away but Henry is the bottom pic.

Henry just loves his baby! He gets about an inch from Oliver's face (if that) and says "Hi Olie (awee)" about a billion times every day. Kisses him constantly. Wants to hold him and even puts his arms out and tries to scoot them under Olie to pick him up while I'm holding him. I love that he loves his little brother. But, he definitely doesn't like to share mommy time with Olie all day long and I do have to keep my third eye on him to ensure a truck or a book doesn't come flying across the room at poor little 'awee.' I am working on getting a good pic of the boys together but still am not satisified with the final results yet. However, here are a couple from this week.

Week 2

There isn't a whole lot to tell except we are figuring out our routine and I feel like I am slowly getting the hang of taking care of 2 kids under 2. While it's nuts and exhausting I wouldn't change it for the world. I just love these two little men in my life so much. Oliver is still a dream baby. We are up a few times at night for feedings but it's now about every 3 hours and he is still nursing much more effectively than Henry. Thank goodness. I am still having to wake him up a bit during the day for feedings as he loves his daytime sleeps. A bit backwards on his schedule. On Wednesday he was up to 8 lbs 13 oz and moving at the right pace to get back to his birth weight. Other than that, I am just trying to figure out ways to get some naps in myself. Here are some pics from this past week.My big feet...Took this with my iPhone...love Henry's "cheese" face!

Baby Olie

This past Monday, August 23rd at 6:02pm, we welcomed baby Oliver "Olie" Christopher to our family. Weighing in at 9 lbs 4oz and 20 inches and a full head of jet black hair and blue eyes. He is an absolute dream baby. Seriously, the most mellow child, is immune to his big brother's 'loudness', is an awesome eater and sleeps most of the time (minus the numerous nighttime feeding session with mommy).

Delivery was super easy and the recovery period has been drastically different than the first time around. I actually had a mini date with my husband for a couple hours this afternoon to enjoy some beers and play a couple rounds of darts while my parents watched the kiddos. Little did the boys know that they would be at lunch with my parents sharing a hot dog while Dave Matthews was in the same restaurant. Gotta love Seattle! Last time at day 6 for our anniversary I could barely keep my eyes open and couldn't even enjoy a cocktail at dinner. So hard to explain the difference physical and mentally the second time around. As for the details, we were induced Monday, but when I checked in I was dilated to 5 and was already having consistent contractions about 10 - 15 min apart, so likely would have gone on my own soon anyway. At about 10:30am I was hooked up to some pitocin to move things along and at 1pm they broke my water. At this point I still had no pain. By 2:30 I was having contractions strong enough to stop me dead in my tracks and not be able to talk through them so I decided it was time for some happy drugs! I got the epidural at 2:45 and was dilated to about 7. By 5:47pm we were ready to push and after a long 15 minutes (heehee) we welcomed baby Olie to the world! I still cannot believe it was only 15 minutes of work to get this 9 lb 4oz/20 inch child into my arms! He and I were doing so well that we were able to leave the hospital and head home before the standard 24 hour stay. It was so nice to get home to my own bed and my other baby Henry!

As for Henry, well let's just say he has given us a run for our money this week. I thought the baby was going to be the hard part, boy was I wrong. It's not that he is jealous as he actually really loves his brother and is constantly trying to give kisses and 'help' out. He actually got Roseola while we were in the hospital delivering Olie and has not felt well all week, which in turn has created a very fussy and at times a defiant little boy. We have barely been able to get him to eat, he has been super addicted to my mom and really wanted little to do with Chris or I. He actually was asking his nauna to leave the house. Grabbing his shoes, her purse and saying "ready to go?" When she took him out for a drive when they pulled back in the driveway he said, "no, nauna's house." Before I knew it was because he was sick I thought we had traumatized him with the addition to the family and have been extremely emotional about the rejection I was feeling from my little man. While I hate that he is sick it did make me feel much better knowing it wasn't due to Olie and as soon as he was out of the woods things started turning around and mommy/daddy started to become his buddies again. Phew. When your first born asks to leave your house, won't come to his parents and has done a complete 180 in behavior, let's just say with the pregnancy/post partum hormone change it was more than mom could handle and saying a few tears have been shed is an understatement. However, he has recovered, Olie is unlikely to get it due to being breastfed and we are slowly getting his diet back on track. I am hopeful week 2 will be more of a 'normal' routine and far less tears being shed and more smiles are to be seen! ;o)

Anyway, enough of the details, how about some pictures of our past 6 days! Enjoy!

The new dualie....

Fam of 3

Today marked our last day as a family of 3 (assuming all goes as planned tomorrow and we actually get that hospital bed for our scheduled inducement). You can bet I will be the very first phone call at 6am on the nose to get the confirmation one way or another!

I wanted to make sure we got some special time in today for just the 3 of us to go play but we also needed to get some things done around the house. After a morning of cleaning up and making sure everything was ready to go we set off this afternoon to have some quality family time at my in-laws place on Brown's Point (Puget Sound). And as a special treat for Henry and to keep mom or dad from having to cook or do dishes we went out to Red Robin. Nothing too fancy but a nice afternoon with my boys. However, I noticed earlier in the afternoon that Henry felt a bit warm and definitely his behavior was starting to shift to being more needy/fussy than usual. After we got home we discovered he does in fact have a low grade fever. Perfect timing. A child that has never really had a fever (not bad for being 19 months old!) is making his super emotional mommy very worried/stressed out. Logically I know it's nothing to worry about as I have a feeling it's his 2 year molars, but logical thinking is not my best suit right now. The emotional side of me is certainly out to play. It makes me sad knowing that mommy may not be able to be here to nurse him back to good health. I guess I am starting to feel that tug of war of where should I be. With new baby or with my little boy who so wants to cuddle with mommy right now. I just hope by morning the fever has passed and he is in good spirits. The last thing I want is to be stuck in the hospital and not be able to check in on my little monkey, not to mention not being able to fully focus on the arrival of our new little one. Anyway, please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers as we jump into the next chapter of our lives as a family of 4!

Here are a few pics from our family outing today.