If you're not following my sorority sister & friend Brittney's blog, you're missing out! She is blogging weekly a 2 Under 2 Tuesday series, so since this is a significant number for Team Wieck right now I thought I'd borrow the idea! Team Wieck added Baby #2 on Jan 2 via a 2 C-section with a 2 year old and 2 years now in Jamestown.......... 2 Years Old: The prince of the house turned 2 on January 8th. He continues to amaze us every day with his exploding vocabulary and most recently, exploding tantrums. Thankfully they are infrequent, but maybe that makes them worse when they do happen. We celebrated Jordy in style as he brought cupcakes to daycare and Grandma Karna was still here helping with Anya. Later that week he had a party with both the men's and women's basketball team. Super cute! We had a great time when Grandma Karna & Grandpa Jeff came back to visit while the Jimmies had an out of town game... even though our 2 year old interrupted the weekend with a quick visit to the ER. Somehow while playing he had a dislocated elbow... which I inadvertently popped back in while waiting for the doctor. So, that was an expensive trip for Mommy to do all the work. He capped off the week with a visit to the Walk In Clinic for a double ear infection and croup. Jordy is bound and determined I guess that little sis will not steal the show! It has been a challenge that for some reason at nighttime he will have NOTHING to do with Daddy. It is MOMMY only. That includes when little visitor pops into our room at 3:00 AM. We tried to Super Nanny-style him back to his bed but honestly, although I think Team Parents are pretty good at saying NO, when Justin took him he screamed and cried the most pitiful cry for Mommy and I was in so much pain after the C section I wasn't able to get out of bed... So, he's ended up with us more often that not. 4 people in a queen size is pretty cozy! This too shall pass, right? 2 Weeks Long: Ahhh, how long Jordy's daycare was closed this February. Stay at Home Moms, I salute you!!!! Although --naturally-- during basketball season I am alone with the 2 kiddos quite a bit and often overnight, it was interesting having them both by myself 24/7! Some days I fantasized about that dislocated elbow.... where he just laid around.... Needless to say, the tantrums were up a notch, and with the weather being well below zero we had to get pretty creative. Anya cried A LOT during the day-- I think from overstimulated and lots of "snuggling." I have to admit I was looking forward to spending some time with my Boy, and feeling a little cocky with my teacher trained schedule with snacks planned and all my Pinterest inspired activities... but Day 1 it ALL hit the fan when Grandma and Grandpa left. Apparently Mommy could not provide the attention and entertainment and feeding and holding Anya became Jordy's arch nemesis. Although a rocky start, we finally settled in to our new normal, and Anya spent A LOT of time in the swing. Thankfully, week 2 Grandma Denise was to the rescue! Just an extra pair of hands to rock Anya to sleep or take Jordy to the potty was a godsend! Even taking the kids to the Jimmies game was 1,000 times easier with my mom here. Thanks, Mom! 2 Months Old: Ahhh sweet baby girl who actually likes the swing. Moms of baby girls, you have been holding out on me. She is the snuggliest little baby who barely fusses, likes to be worn in the baby carrier (which leaves me hands free for Toddler Tornado) AND likes her swing! She took her 2 month old shots like a champ! We are 15th percentile weight and 85th percentile height. She is smiling and cooing and while she often gets the shaft in terms of photographs, tummy time, reading time, and parent time when brother is around, she is happy healthy and growing. She gets up only 1-2 times per night to eat and go back to sleep. Now that I'm up moving around we aren't feeding in bed so she is in her rock and play and soon to move to crib. Such a big girl! 2nd C-Section: Anya was a planned repeat C section, so those that know my birth story with Jordy can understand my amazement that we checked in at 5:00 AM, went into surgery at 7:45 AM and she was born at 7:52 AM :) ... but in most ways it has been a more difficult recovery. Obviously, I'm older (30!) and have commitments to a rambunctious toddler! Justin, naturally as Head coach has more commitments (and no, he didn't take a day off). Also because of the crazy ND weather I didn't get my sisters pampering me for a week. The basketball schedule was much less forgiving too as I was picking up Jordy from daycare and hauling 2 kids and huge diaper bag to many more games. Thank Goodness for my amazing Team Coaches Wives Erin & Sara. Even though Erin has her own newborn to wrangle, there's safety in numbers! I also mostly ignored the recommendations not to do stairs for 2 weeks (we have 2 levels, sooo ?!). Really though--- what was I thinking putting Jordy bed the first night we were home from the hospital?! This experience was way more incision site pain and back pain. And although I took the pain meds round the clock for the first week, I paid for that later out the other end.... I mean, as my friend Amanda puts it, pushing out ass boulders is probably more painful than actually giving birth was! All said and done we had a healthy delivery and healthy little nugget to take home. 2nd Year Head Coach: Well since the birth of our 2nd child the Jimmies went 12-1!!!! We had a crazy amazing conference season where we won the Regular Season Conference Title AND the whole conference tournament. And if you haven't heard the news.... Coach Wieck was honored as theCoach of the Year!!!!There are so many highs and lows when your life [and livelihood] revolves around wins and losses and recruiting and never seeing your spouse... but I have always said the 'highs" are so very very very High! We can live on this one for awhile. All the traveling, recruiting, long nights that screw with the kids schedule, the cheering, distracting the toddler and the fortune spent on happy meals and concessions end up as distant memories when the season ends on such a high note. I won't ever forget the hugs Coach Wieck got from the guys on the team and the joy he had celebrating with Jordy cutting those nets down. Sometimes being a coach's kid you can really get the shaft but sometimes you get some really cool experiences! Needless to say, we're exhausted and blessed beyond measure. We are looking forward to Anya's inaugural trip to the motherland... Iowa! We joke often that our kids are Dakotans by birth but Iowans by choice! :)
Going to Daddy's Game!
How Daddy does the parenting
snuggle buddies
how to get 15 minutes of peace : give him a popsicle
Figured it was about time to update the blog since we've become a family of four!
Eve of Christmas Eve, we got a wonderful surprise! Coach Danny Neville and his wife my dear friend Erin welcomed their little bundle of joy Emma! Jordy looooooooooves baby Emma so much! And so do we. Here is the proud little man holding Emma and my big ol' pregnant belly in the background.
We had a quiet Christmas Eve (except for church, where Jordy kept shouting "Happy Birthday Jesus!") at home just the three of us, baking cookies, to which Jordy was NOT impressed that Santa "ate" his cookies. And his most favorite thing in his stocking... his new socks. Cheap date, I love him!
Baking Cookies with Daddy on Christmas Eve
Christmas Day the weather was beautiful so after a visit to the Nevilles, we headed to Aberdeen to spend the day withthe Sathers (Basketball families are wonderful, aren't they?!) Before we left we took this picture which is one of my favorite pictures of all time... I always carried Jordy like this while pregnant and had been feeling rather emotional about flipping his world upside down!
Then it was a blitz to get ready for Baby! Everyone kept asking me, "Are you ready?!" If by ready, they meant we had a package of newborn diapers and I had dusted off the good ol' Rock N Play sleeper... then sure, yeah, I was 'ready.' I actually think that Justin's sister Abby had a bit of heart attack when I told her I didn't even have a hospital bag ready a few days before giving birth. With a scheduled C-section, I didn't think I need to over do it and be ready early :) Luckily Abby and Brent were here visiting the day after Christmas. Otherwise our tree would still be up! They also cooked and froze some delicious suppers for us!!!! And entertained Jordy so I could collect my thoughts! We had 38/39ish week (whatever!) appointment on Friday December 27. Coach Wieck was scheduled to leave for Sioux City, IA on the bus for a 2 game tournament, arriving home the day before our scheduled C-section. Well Little Miss said I don't think so! Our wonderful doctor told us that Baby was head down, had dropped, and I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. [Sure, get this on the SECOND one when I all ready HAVE to HAVE surgery...grrr]. I then proceeded to bribe the doctor with money, beer and pizza if she would just go ahead and make baby come that day so I didn't have to worry if she would arrive when Daddy was gone. With all that information at hand, Coach Wieck told the team the next day at practice he wouldn't be going to Iowa to coach them because he just couldn't risk missing the birth of his daughter (and probably because I've threatened several times this is the last hurrah!;) We spent the next several days enjoying Jordy, making ridiculous amounts of trips to Wal-Mart (realizing, hmmmmm.... yes ... might need a couple pairs of jammies for baby... maybe a Paci??), and cleaning and scrubbing (why do pregnant people do that? So weird). I did shed a few tears putting little man to bed the night before we were headed to the hospital. Justin's parents were staying with him, so we knew he was in great hands and have an amazing time being spoiled! We planned to have him spend the day at daycare and meet little sister that evening. We checked in about 5:00 AM and when I was all hooked up my contractions were about 4 1/2 minutes apart. She was bound and determined that today was going to be her birthday! The nurse told us she likely would have been delivered before 5:00 PM that day regardless! On January 2nd, 2014, 7:52 AM, Anya Lynne Wieck arrived via an uncomplicated C-section. She and I were both doing so well I even got to see her down in recovery! She latched on like a champ while I took a little snooze and they put those vibrating things on my legs. I was soooooo drug induced and cuckoo I actually said to Justin "That was great! Maybe she isn't our last!" (There are no witnesses to confirm nor deny this claim). An hour later we are lounging in our room when the phone rings (Yep, there's landlines in hospital rooms apparently.) It was the Jamestown Sun! Apparently, Anya arrived in style as the FIRST baby of 2014. So the nurse hustled me into a beautiful more stylish PINK hospital gown (I imagine cleaner as well...) so we could get our picture taken for the paper. Yep, 3 hours after surgery it's time to be in the newspaper. Here's the link if you missed it! http://www.jamestownsun.com/content/couple-celebrates-new-year-new-baby Grandma Karna and Grandpa Jeff came to meet Anya and bring Justin lunch and then evening it was time for the big reveal to big brother! I had read a million blogs and posts and books about preparing your toddler for a new sibling and maybe I need to write one because none of them seemed to mention hiding every single button and cord in your hospital room from your curious toddler :) I did make sure that the baby was in her crib and Justin and I greeted him first and talked to him about his day before introducing baby sister. It couldn't have gone better.... he was thrilled to see us and her!!!! He kept saying, "I see Baby Anya! I wanna snuggle her!" (And occasionally called her Baby Emma... so confusing!)
After holding her briefly, he was over it and wanted to pull some more cords, push some more buttons, and play with the balloon we'd gotten as a gift! It was a sweet moment that I'll never forget! After Jordy left, I cried. Cried, cried, cried! Justin thought there was something wrong with me, but I just missed him soooooo much and all the "newness" was kind of overwhelming. Other than the Mission Trip I took to Peru, [where I also cried a lot from being away from him], I had not been away from him overnight this long and he has never spent a night away from either one of his parents. Luckily, I had received a pep talk from my friend Sissawho had just had her 2nd baby, too. She told me that right now it was Anya who needed me, Jordy would be fine, and to remember that I was her mommy, too!!! So I snuggled my newborn, and took my own advice and sent her to the nursery for the night. Justin and I slept amazing in the hospital! Anya was a sleepy little thing and we didn't see her again til about 4 AM. She was nursing beautifully and barely ever made a peep. Turns out she was a little jaundice so we did some waking to feed and supplementing. She'd still rather sleep than eat (gets that from her mommy!). Day after giving birth was not so peachy... Unfortunately I cried again the next morning. WHY! Well because they brought my breakfast and it was a PIECE. OF. TOAST. That's it!!!!! Not even buttered! Now I know why they withhold food as a form a torture for prisoners of war. Luckily(?) I had a headache the day before so the nice nurse gave me a Coke... but I was told after 24 hours I could eat. Well, breakfast was served about 7 minutes before the 24 hours was up. Which meant... Toast. I was like, What is this!!! A concentration camp!!!!
It went downhill from there as I was also required to get up and walk. Somewhere along the way the nurse and I miscued and one of us [her] didn't pick up the cath.... OUCHIEEEEEEEEEE. That thing was uncomfortable from there on out. The Nurse Call Button and I became good friends until that thing came out and from then on it was up to Husband to help me in and out of bed.
On Day After, the good drugs they stuck up my back wore off and it was just by-mouth pain pills. I was extremely sore, way over tired, missed my naps, Justin was at practice, and oh yeah-- now I remember how much breastfeeding hurts! It also seemed like I was lucky enough to meet everyone except the hospital administrator. My hemoglobin was low, so I had my blood taken at 6:00 AM. Anya came in shortly after. The loudest most cheerful breakfast delivery person arrived at 8:00 AM. Then my nurse. Then the surgeon to check the incision. Then the nutrition lady. Then the nurse person that works with the aspirator thing I was supposed to blow in every hour. Then 2 people came to clean my room. Then check up with my doctor.... so. much. busy-ness. Misfires most of the day and I was trying to store up my energy to see my boy again that evening. At least they finally did feed me:) It did cheer me up to see Jordy again, but for sure mommy, daddy, and Anya were ready for bed that night. Luckily we had another day to rest and recover in the hospital. On Sunday, my blood pressure and hemoglobin levels were luckily to a point and Anya's jaundice and weight had improved that we were both ready to go home on schedule.
It was soooooo blistering and unbelievably cold that not only did we have the jumpstart the Jeep, but they had Justin pull it into the ambulance garage because we couldn't even take her out to walk her from door to door. I think it was -40 degrees! As we pulled into our garage, Justin said, "Okay! Are we ready for our new normal?!" :)
The four of us the moment we brought baby Anya home ~ January 5, 2014. Jordy is saying "I wanna snuggle herrrr!"
