tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65480394544561143852024-03-18T10:46:54.944-05:00My Life in TransitionWords and Pictures in excess since 2007Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.comBlogger1333125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-3654016942720315082022-10-06T21:41:00.000-05:002022-10-06T21:41:13.811-05:00Twin Cities Marathon 2022 (Third Time's a Charm)<div>I love reading back on these posts, and know about 2 other people that will enjoy all of the nitty gritty details of my third marathon experience. Avert your eyes if you don't care at all (the masses agree)!</div><div><br /></div><div>After Chicago 2021, my second marathon ever and the first since having kids, I didn't really know what to do next. I was real tired and pretty defeated by the Chicago race. I really wanted to beat my pre-kid marathon time in Chicago and I really did not do that. </div><div><br /></div><div>I ran a half marathon in May 2022 to test the waters a little bit. It went well, I came close to a PR for my 11th half, but I still couldn't quite pull the trigger on tackling another full marathon. But I also couldn't quiet the voice in the back of my head telling me I had unfinished business with 26.2. This annoying voice got louder and louder in my now 41-year-old mind. And because I know myself, I knew that if I signed up for another full I'd want to go ALL IN, which requires a mega-time commitment from myself and my family. Sigh.</div><div><br /></div><div>I talked to Nate over our anniversary trip to Napa Valley, and told him I really wanted to run the Lakefront Marathon for a bit of redemption from Chicago. I knew I could get a better time and I *still* wanted to beat my 2008 Lakefront time. Younger, carefree Julia was becoming this evil character for me to compete with---I wanted so badly to prove I'm a better runner now, faster, more efficient. I also wanted to hire a running coach for the first time ever, because I wanted a customized training plan for my very specific goals. We talked it over for a few days and he gave me his blessing, saying that 'at least one of us should hit our goals'. His hip has been acting a fool for about a year now and it's a real bummer. </div><div><br /></div><div>In early June, signed up for the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee, set to happen 10/2/22. I wanted to sleep in my own bed, miss as little soccer that weekend as possible, and have my kids and friends/family THERE at the race. Plus, Lakefront was where I ran my first marathon back in 2008 so I could just taste the redemption. I knew the course had to change this year because of construction, so it was no longer straight downhill the entire time. Darn!</div><div><br /></div><div>I used a training plan from the internet starting June 6th, and by June 27th I had hired Tristen at HAT House to be my running coach. This is when things got real for me. I trained for a total of 17 weeks, 13 with Tristen, which boasted a total of 567 miles all together. I ran 5-6 days every single week. My longest run was a 20 mile run, which I did twice, both of which had a 'fun' 10 miler tacked on the day before or after. I did speed work at the track which involved running 800s at a 7:00-7:20 pace....something I never thought possible, but I did it and shockingly loved it. I ran hills and didn't totally hate them. I ran mostly alone but sometimes with friends, but the relaxed social time I was accustomed to getting 2-3 times per week morphed into more intense, fast solitude. </div><div><br /></div><div>I trained my butt off, made sleep a priority over several social events, woke up at 5:00 or earlier to get my runs finished before starting the day with the kids. It was a lot. But it was awesome and it definitely gave me a boost of confidence to know I could hold FAST paces when I needed to, and I ran my fastest half marathon ever during training with a 1:52 time (8:26 min pace). I felt amazing after that 13.1 and knew my training was working.</div><div><br /></div><div>I tell you all of this to say that I was ready. My training was successful, I didn't get injured even though my peak mileage was 47 miles in a week and I typically run about 15-20. Completing a training cycle like this was absolutely worth celebrating, regardless of what happened on race day! </div><div><br /></div><div>But it also put my head in a place where I was (really) amped up to see what I could do on 10/2/22. I had four time goals: </div><div>1. Beat Chicago 2021's 4:40, </div><div>2. Beat Lakefront 2008's 4:19, </div><div>3. Beat Nate's Chicago 2009's 4:15, and </div><div>4. Get sub-four hours. </div><div><br /></div><div>I told myself I'd be happy with any of those check marks and tried not to get TOO focused on my time goals, but oh it's so hard as a runner to be a free spirit and to 'have fun' and 'be chill' as they say. Or maybe it's just hard for me because I always seems to put pressure on myself to achieve goals, and may be a little tough on myself at times. :) </div><div><br /></div><div>Regardless! The Lakefront Marathon was cancelled just three weeks before race day, which was a small crisis averted only because Nate and I decided traveling to the Twin Cities Marathon on the same day would be totally doable. We pivoted and decided to make it a semi-family event, pulling Truman and Cece from school and sports and Nate took off work so we could make the 5 hour drive to Minnesota. I am not a flexible person (shocker) but once I wrapped my head around the location change, I was all in for the experience. </div><div><br /></div><div>The week before the race, I got a bit of the kids' cold and tried to sleep as much as possible and lay very low during my taper. I focused on mentally prepping for the race while still running almost daily but less mileage, blowing snot rockets and feeling like a garbage can for a few days. Then I talked to Tristen on the phone about race day. I was kind of freaking out as you can imagine, but this pep talk got me all fired up.</div><div><br /></div><div>She wanted me to break the marathon into three chunks of time: miles 0-14, miles 15-19, and then finally miles 20-26. She wanted me to shoot for a pace of 8:35-8:43 min/miles depending on how I was feeling and depending on the millions of other variables that go into race day. She said to avoid getting TOO SET on my pace, to be flexible and willing to roll with whatever came my way (ahem, SO HARD). Tristen told me I'm so much stronger now, a faster runner, and that I am 100% capable of running these paces as proven in my very consistent training. She cautioned me to stay away from falling back into old routines of running 9 minute miles because I'm capable of more now. I decided to trust my training, trust Tristen, and trust my own body in this race. I knew I'd leave it all on the course and give it my best. AND I REALLY WANTED TO MEET ALL OF MY TIME GOALS.</div><div><br /></div><div>The four of us made it to Minneapolis the Friday night before the race. We stayed in a hotel downtown 1 mile away from the start line, hit the expo, ate lunch with friends, and welcomed my sister-in-law Brittany from Oregon. We ate a big Italian dinner out that night and I was feeling pretty wiped out/tired/nervous afterwards. All day long I felt like my chest was crampy/tight/spasming and didn't know if it was my lingering cold or plain old anxiety. I went to bed around 9:30 and woke up at 1:00 and then at 3:30 am I was up for good, unable to fall back asleep. I know this is normal before a race but I also think I require more zzz's at my old age than ever before, and my energy was already pretty zapped.</div><div><br /></div><div>I got out of bed around 5:30 and started getting ready in the tiny bathroom with the door shut to avoid waking the children. Nate got up with me, and after my coffee and choking down my breakfast of cold/untoasted English muffin with PB, I said I was ready. We let the kids sleep, although Cece did wake and give me a hug goodbye, and walked to the start line together. It was dark and pretty chilly at about 50 degrees, and there was hardly anyone else walking down (very much the opposite of Chicago's start line experience). I hit the porta potty, we found Katelyn and talked with her a bit, and then I hugged Nate goodbye as he went back to the hotel to get the kids moving. </div><div><br /></div><div>One more portapotty stop with Katelyn and her friend, who are both at least 10 years younger than me and shooting for 3:30s as their finishing times (!!!!), and it was time to line up in my corral. I was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt that I could toss in the donation bin at the start line, but noticed I was shivering/shaking and my jaw was chattering as I waited for my 8:06am gun time. I tried to relax and calm down because I was super excited and just wanted to RUN already. But I realize that killed a lot of my energy along with sleeping like dog crap the night before this race. I took a gel at the start line beacause it had been awhile since I ate breakfast, and sipped on the disposable water bottle I wanted to use for the first few miles to avoid the water station bottle necks.</div><div><br /></div><div>No time to overthink when I cross the start line, because I was getting the show on the freaking road! The first two miles went quick but I also had to keep finding 5 sights, 4 sounds, 3 feels, 2 smells, 1 taste to keep my mind focused. I did find my 8:40 pace pretty quickly. I was right by the 3:55 pace group from the start and felt really strong and consistently hit 8:36-8:43 for the first six miles. I took my second gel at mile 3.5 and continued to focus on being present and really looking around at every spectator, sign**, and beautiful fall tree.</div><div><br />At mile 7, I remember celebrating the halfway point of my first "chunk" of this race. AND I saw my family with signs and happy smiles, which energized me greatly. I took gel number three and continued to sip my water. Oh, how I wish we had pictures or a video* of me here because it might have been the best I looked all race day! Here's the race photo I did purchase because I love it, and it's probably from around miles 5-9. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9P2HoNS74JJuKs48rBJimP8ExWOs15fc5EaCge9o7iP0LhWlmOjols8l7u_QVnw6lM2I9W9SDWgI56OvqGJvlG2wAG5s3wZkkkcQpkB0kyjmERmFPYUHVXXnqmtguEn55bqrZvmiV9vKgKsnVBJdeCADzjz13DTAHPWypGO5_A2zWHbNbsfDohn6Z" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1923" data-original-width="1278" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9P2HoNS74JJuKs48rBJimP8ExWOs15fc5EaCge9o7iP0LhWlmOjols8l7u_QVnw6lM2I9W9SDWgI56OvqGJvlG2wAG5s3wZkkkcQpkB0kyjmERmFPYUHVXXnqmtguEn55bqrZvmiV9vKgKsnVBJdeCADzjz13DTAHPWypGO5_A2zWHbNbsfDohn6Z=w213-h320" width="213" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><br />At mile 8, I started saying, "8 and feeling great." Over and over again, in my head, and reminded myself to stay in this mile and think of nothing ahead of me. Let the mental workout begin.</div><div> <br />At mile 9, I repeated, "9 and feeling fine." For these two miles my watch was beeping that I was behind, because I crept up to an 8:50 pace. I tried not to worry too much about it and noticed an awesome drum line under bridge here. </div><div><br />"Mile 10, and gonna win". I don't know what that means but it rhymed. I took my pace back to a 8:33, which pushed it a little, and in hindsight this was probably WAY TOO FAST. I think the 3:55 pace group was right behind here, and heard them chatting about pace and felt annoyed because they were supposed to be doing 9:00-and I felt like I was going WAY faster. </div><div><br /></div><div>Also, looking back my heart rate was INSANELY HIGH (for me) at this point. It registered as 177 bpm at mile 10 and I usually never get above 145 bpm even with my longest, hottest runs or with speed work. I know this is very weird, to have such a low HR during training runs but it's my norm---so having a rate that's over 20 bpm higher is real stressful for my body (I think!). Here's where I say my heart rate was high from the beginning of this run, even at rest BEFORE the run, and remained too high throughout. More overanalysis on this later.</div><div><br />At 11, Nate had planned to see me again but he texted a few minutes after I passed the mile marker saying they just missed me. I know my water bottle was empty and I was concocting an elaborate plan to have Nate refill it and hand it to me again at 14, but when they weren't there I think I stopped at my first water stop because I needed to take gel number four. I walked super quick through and sloshed it all back, replying to Nate I'd see them at 14 instead.</div><div><br />Mile 13: I saw my family unexpectedly at a turn and felt SO happy about that, and also being at the halfway point. Possibly around now a spectator said “all of you are finishing under 4 hours, you got that?” And I believed it. I briefly dreamed of how it would feel to be finished with a half marathon right now but also felt strong, and knew the 3:55 pacers were still behind me. </div><div><br />With mile 14 came Erin's crew, and they were so pumped to see me! I loved that because they totally didn't understand WHY anyone would run a marathon and I think they sort of get it now:) I told myself I’d start my music after seeing them, so I did, and popped in both AirPods but kept them pretty quiet. I remembered to celebrate my first chunk of the race being done. Whoo hoo! I hit a 9:00 min/mile average here and started to feel tired, but I was super happy that my quads were okay. In Chicago, they started shutting down at mile 14 for some reason and I've pondered that issue ever since. I had my tiny water bottle handed to me from a random spectator, which I may have grabbed around 13 and kept til maybe 15 but it's a little blurry. </div><div><br />Next came the second chunk of this race, miles 15-19. And as per Tristen, I really needed to focus on these because they were the most important miles. I took my fifth gel at 15, and told myself only 2 more god awful gels! I probably drank from the water stop, too, because I had the tiny water bottle but was feeling so thirsty. I noticed my diaphragm was cranky like I couldn’t take a deep breath, or felt water logged. With my music in my ears, I lost focus on the spectators/other runners/my pace and form a bit here. I knew I wouldn’t see my family during this chunk and needed to prepare for my hills, but looking back I probably should have skipped the music as a distraction. </div><div><br />From miles 11-16 I hovered right around a 9 min mile. Watch kept beeping at me but with music on I could block it out, (don't nag me about my pace, GARMIN). I knew I was slightly slowing down but also felt secure in keeping right under a 4 hour pace. </div><div><br />At mile 17, I officially started feeling like a slug. My friend Ali called and I figured out how to answer it with my air pods. I was struggling, and couldn't even lie to her when she asked if I felt awesome (no). There were hills now and my legs didn’t want to go up them. I remember my watch said 9:30 pace which isn't horrible but I knew I was slipping. I indulged in my first water stop where I walked more than 3 steps and tried to regroup. The 3:55 pacers hadn't passed me yet. I wasn't panicking just yet.</div><div><br />Then mile 18 happened: a 10 min mile. I tried so hard to push harder, thinking, "Well, this is a classic wall point." I told myself I would NOT run a 10 min mile, knowing Tristan said even a 9:00 isn’t my full potential anymore. I just literally could not get my legs to go. I started bargaining with myself to not care as much and just keep moving. I wanted to walk, as my brain told me I’d feel instant relief. But I didn’t walk because I knew it would feel impossible to start back up again (the lesson learned in Chicago). I did feel myself getting passed a ton though, and I didn't even notice when the 3:55 pace group pulled away. Notable: there was a big screen of fans sending videos to runners, which was super cute. I think I had one AirPod in here and started hearing a few random text messages from friends come in. I knew so many people were tracking me and thinking of me and I didn't want to let them down, but by God I was tired. Why are marathons so hard?</div><div><br />At mile 19, I took in water and my sixth gel. I had to choke it down, and my stomach was feeling super gross. I definitely walked a few extra steps to recollect myself, then tried to find a few people in front of me and pretend to pull them in with a rope. Somewhere around here saw another Strider with Team Rehab shirt and let that feel like a good sign. I knew this was the final leg of my second chunk and I'd be crossing the Mississippi River next, ready to enter the last phase. </div><div><br />Mile 20 was the start of my final leg and the start of the hills. Tristen had prepared me for the hills and they didn't scare me, and honestly they didn't affect my pace all that much. I was still hovering around a 10 minute mile and then I (finally) saw my family. I wanted to show them a big thumbs down and cry a little, but instead I just blew a big raspberry with my lips, and gave them high fives with a half of a grin. I was so tired but didn’t want the kids to be worried. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nate jumped in and jogged with me thankfully. He asked how I felt and I said not good, tired, wanted to walk, thirsty but might puke. He said I was doing great and the 4:00 pacers were in sight. I looked up and did see their little sign about 5 people in front of me. He said 'just a little faster and you'll still get under 4.' I found that hard to believe but it was slightly exciting. He said my estimated finish was at 12:04pm and I started at 8:06. "Ok I can do this, I want to get up there so badly but I'm also giving it my best right now and can't dig any deeper." He said I just needed to get over the hills then push and I'd be there. "I’ll see you at the finish. I love you," and he went back to the kids. I wish he could have run with me the rest of the way to pump me up but it wasn't in the cards this time! </div><div><br />Miles 21-23 were (as promised) one big long gradual hill. They weren’t killer because I was already in the pain cave and I did expect them. I think I stopped for water both at 21 and 23. Saw a woman really struggling and crying and being very negative. I didn’t have it in me to pump her up. I was solely focused on moving forward and not walking. I saw many many people walking. I saw a mom stop running to get a group family pic and she looked so happy, which made me smile and feel slightly envious that she was enjoying this race while I was hating it. People were calling me out by name and I would muster up a thumbs up in return, but no eye contact because TIRED.</div><div><br />I remember at 20, 21, and 22 staying IN that mile, flashing my fingers at my side to remind myself where I was. (2, 1, 2, 1, 2....2, 2, 2, 2, 2). I would say goodbye to each past mile by slightly waving my hand at the ground, like BYE MILE 21, NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN. These hills did completely kill my pace though, as I registered 10:39-11:08 here. I'm a broken record at this point, but I definitely wanted to pick up the pace but my legs said otherwise. I will never stop overanalyzing why this happened. :)<br /><br /></div><div>At mile 23, I told myself 'just 3 miles. Let’s go.' Some down hills now appeared and I knew the uphill was done. I was getting tons of texts here that I loved hearing. I decided that I may be slowing down like CRAZY but I will not walk! Did stop for my final water stop at 23 but didn’t take the final gel here. Felt thirsty but water logged. I took a small sip and dumped the rest down my back as I was getting pretty hot. I also felt like I was passing a lot of people who were walking, and I would not allow myself to walk no matter how slowly I was running. Forward is a pace and all of that. </div><div><br />Okay, let's go! Mile 24-saw Erin's family again!! And I told myself this was my old basketball number, I must have done hard things in high school and pulled through so I could do it again now. Pulled out both AirPods here right before seeing Erin cause I noticed the crowds were awesome and many cheer sections. Possibly some good music too, I think I remember half-dancing to Ed Sheeran.</div><div><br />Mile 25--I dug out my phone and took pic of the mile marker flag. It was so beautiful. I knew I could do one freaking mile. I wasn’t looking at pace at all (it was a 10:30), and just told myself to keep moving. Saw the Capitol and whimpered got a pic. I think I was grunting and mumbling here. I was almost finished.<br /><br /></div><div>My family was on my right side by the finish, just as Nate had texted me. I was looking for them and staring at the finish line at the same time. It was all downhill at the end, and I tried to push it but also didn’t want to fall on my face because my quads were now toast. I think I said, 'Aw man!' when I saw the clock time of 4:14, because until this point I didn't do any math in my head to know what my finish time would be. I also didn't feel *that* bummed because I WAS ALMOST FINISHED! PRAISE BE. </div><div><br />I saw my family cheering for me, remembered to raise my arms up, and felt the sweet relief of stopping when I crossed the finish line. Official time? 4:07:38.</div><div><br /></div><div>I saw my friend Ali to my left as she works the entire finish line, she asked how it was and I didn’t know how to respond, kinda stunned. Legs felt like actual jello and I wasn't walking in a straight line, which felt a little concerning. A guy said to keep walking, don't stop. I got my precious medal, Ali said to walk slowly and she’d get my people from their VIP spots she had secured. I grabbed a fruit cup and took a selfie, then chugged some water. I kept walking and went all the way out but should have waited cause the fam was inside the gauntlet too, but I didn't really know what was happening at this point. I found a curb by the big screen, Nate called me, I sat and removed my shoes (SWEET RELIEF). </div><div><br /></div><div>My family appeared and I got my hugs, a picture with them, and we chatted with Katelyn (who finished in 3:32 like a boss). We couldn't find Brittany, my amazing sister-in-law, who had watched the finish line from the other side. Nate called her and he was going to have her meet us inside the family meeting area, but I quickly decided we just needed to meet her at our car and get the heck out of the sun. </div><div><br /></div><div>I started to return 78 text messages from friends and family because I have a helluva support system that I don't take for granted. I texted Tristen, my coach, and felt nervous she might be disappointed in me for slipping away from my ultimate goal of a sub-4 hour race. Turns out coaches don't get upset with you for giving it your all, and she was super proud of me (just like everyone else). </div><div><br /></div><div>Well, they are all *proud* of me but Truman did admit that he's a little disappointed I didn't get under 4 hours. He's our first born rule follower who likes to follow a plan (Ahem, like his mama) so he doesn't quite understand why I didn't 'just run fast every mile.' He wanted it badly for me, and now that I've had a few days to decompress, I'm also feeling a little disappointed.</div><div><br /></div><div>I know that smashing three out of four time goals is amazing. A 12 minute PR over my pre-kid self is truly everything I wanted out of a marathon....except that I wanted a little more. A 33 minute improvement over my Chicago marathon last year is also pretty impressive. But I feel like sub-four is also very attainable for me. I had perfect weather, amazing training, no injuries, did great with hydration and nutrition, tapered well, carb loaded, and my stomach was rock solid during race day. ALL SO GREAT. But still...</div><div><br /></div><div>Other runners understand the mixed bag of emotions after a marathon. Non-runners absolutely do NOT get why I'd be even slightly bummed right now, so I'm not complaining to anyone (besides Nate) unless they specifically ask how I'm doing and I can tell they really mean it. I think I need more time to process and figure out why I couldn't hold my race pace. Maybe I needed a few miles to warm up? Maybe I just went out too fast and should have tried for more of a negative split despite the looming hills? Maybe my heart rate was high because I was more anxious than I thought I was? Maybe I was dehydrated even though I felt like I was good? My heart rate average was 157 for this race (usually 130s/140), and even my resting heart rate before the race was up near 75-80 and it's usually 60. </div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe I just cannot run less than a 9 minute mile average for a marathon. Maybe I should stick to halves and get faster and faster with 13.1. Maybe I was just overreaching with my goals I set for myself and I should cut myself some slack for once. Maybe 4:07 is good enough.</div><div><br /></div><div>One thing I know for certain is that I'm taking time to rest, recover, and NOT run. I'm about to lose 1-2 toenails, my foot is killing me in a 'stabbing, something is NOT right' way, and I have absolutely zero desire to run right now. I am LOVING sleeping in until 6:40 and not working out at all, but it's only day 4 after the marathon so who knows how long this vibe will last. </div><div><br /></div><div>I might sign up for another marathon next year (cringe, breath hold, cringe). I don't do well when I can't check a box that is important to me. The question is, how important is it for me to run a sub-four hour marathon? The jury is still out on that one, my friends. </div><div><br /></div><div>--------------</div><div>*many more pictures found in Instagram, I don't feel like adding the same ones here!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>** My Favorite <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Signs: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">"Why?” With a dog picture<br /></span>Giant heads of people. One giant dog like 10 feet tall<br />You run better than our government <br />You are really good at exercising<br />Where’s everyone going?<br />If it were easy, I’d be doing it<br />Run like your mom used your full name<br />Vikings score is…<br />Run like you got the last beer from Wisconsin <br />Power up, punch here <br />Believe <br />Giant Dino guy <br />I’ll run with you tomorrow at 6am, meet here!<br />Tomorrow is a rest day<br /> </div>
Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-45186637619429782692021-10-11T20:57:00.002-05:002021-10-15T09:43:40.262-05:00My Chicago Marathon 2021<p>In 2008, I was 27 years old and a newlywed, when I ran my first full marathon. Then I ran 9 halves, had 4 kids, and decided I wanted to do the impossible: run another full marathon, post-kids at age 40. I know, I'm a little bit crazy, as most runners are:) I trained with my friend Katie the summer of 2020 until I injured my calf and then the marathon was cancelled anyway that year due to Covid. On the scheduled race day of October 11, 2020, I was actually in bed with Covid. Sick, exhausted, and finishing rehab on my calf. It was not a fun time. </p><p>Enter summer of 2021, when the Chicago Marathon was set to be ON, even though Covid is still not off. It would be the first time in 2 years that road races (not the virtual kind!) would happen. Chicago is a 'major', it boasts 35,000 runners and an incredible spectator turn out of at least 1 million people. So we trained beginning in June, through a hot/humid summer, in the dark, waking at 4:30am and running long runs at 6:00am on weekends. We'd run another 2-3 times during the week and I'd strength train 2 days per week, plus another day or two of cross training (Peloton!). There were Covid scares and quarantines, Nate had knee surgery the week before my race, I had started a small business, and so many other life distractions during those months of training. </p><p>The time commitment to running a full marathon is what gave me pause, waiting 13 years in between my last. But Nate and I agreed to make this a priority in our family for this summer, knowing he'd have to pick up the slack in parenting most weekend mornings while I was out running for 3+ hours. I'd miss soccer games and social events. But team work makes the dream work, right? </p><p>I had one really big goal for these 18 weeks of training: avoid injury. At 40 years old I know I cannot run 70 miles per week, nor do I want to. I'm proud to say I achieved this goal during our training cycle, which was no small feat in itself!</p><p>I had four goals for the race itself, in order of importance: have fun, finish, beat my previous time of 4:19 (or even Nate's previous time of 4:15), and don't poop myself. I totally smashed 3 out of 4 of those goals as you'll read soon. </p><p>So how about I recap the marathon itself now, as it's taken a full day for me to compose my thoughts? </p><p>Katie and I met at the starting line at 6:30, but our wave wasn't set to take off until an ungodly late 8:00 am. We were nervous as we kissed our husbands goodbye, but so READY to get the show on the road finally. We hit the porta potties, sat on the concrete and chatted, and then Katie waited for one more porta line before our corrals closed at 7:45. I was in awe watching all of the thousands and thousands of runners fill in the gaps in our corral. These are my people, a diverse crowd of runners with a common thread of focused determination to run 26.2. Old and young, big and small, but everyone tied together by grit and maybe a touch of stubbornness. The energy was pure electricity that morning, and we chatted with a few runners around us to get pumped up. Notable was the couple behind us, who had been friends since high school. It was her 9th marathon and his 3rd, and they were so positive and upbeat about the race ahead. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEciCF-i0H4s-qsuB_qI-N-edVs3s6c4IEYqbAYHGanfTEEDBbukXVfEAnPN05c6Ldg-TEPpBD1LzJUt0uklkbMSv_PaVyPh2AcgwpS12wxUHf-iMO_t5Cf6x8xWJbjsB8FcvOV8_t37w/s2048/IMG_8745.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEciCF-i0H4s-qsuB_qI-N-edVs3s6c4IEYqbAYHGanfTEEDBbukXVfEAnPN05c6Ldg-TEPpBD1LzJUt0uklkbMSv_PaVyPh2AcgwpS12wxUHf-iMO_t5Cf6x8xWJbjsB8FcvOV8_t37w/w400-h300/IMG_8745.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>When our wave FINALLY started to move, I knew it was game time and snapped a picture of the start line. No more anticipation, it was actually happening! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYH9S7CvflmT0KnCmGrF9jRXA7SKX4dndbEU-1CYa9AW8cGz_aVfjURxuWI6nke7qWZW5TRM2SmRVuZbavGQoj3n04IM787ozY030a4gwYhx-01pESSkL3m-dSi5KvyaUv5YZ5lzeO9M/s2048/IMG_8749.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYH9S7CvflmT0KnCmGrF9jRXA7SKX4dndbEU-1CYa9AW8cGz_aVfjURxuWI6nke7qWZW5TRM2SmRVuZbavGQoj3n04IM787ozY030a4gwYhx-01pESSkL3m-dSi5KvyaUv5YZ5lzeO9M/w400-h300/IMG_8749.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I was prepared to go super slow in the beginning, because of the crowds of runners and because a classic rookie move is going out way too fast in the start. We did manages to stay under a 10 min/mile pace, for the first five miles which was perfect. In those first four miles, I saw two sets of our friends from back home on the sidelines, each and every time we saw familiar faces it felt like a biggest surge of energy. We first found our husbands and Katie's kids and parents at mile 4 and I felt SO stinking excited to see our crew! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb8pOy7BJz-ih0dZsuVi2maWrx4stiUi1Ne74DOo0JGZn_oKlfO_GlDyZVrM954GZREtWn5KgdR_5Mq3ngn8K8D2zX12PFjbQTFrLdweRJ2YeIE2raBnvowNalJhB4aiskFfLrdy0DGg/s2048/IMG_0457.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb8pOy7BJz-ih0dZsuVi2maWrx4stiUi1Ne74DOo0JGZn_oKlfO_GlDyZVrM954GZREtWn5KgdR_5Mq3ngn8K8D2zX12PFjbQTFrLdweRJ2YeIE2raBnvowNalJhB4aiskFfLrdy0DGg/w300-h400/IMG_0457.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p>Another remarkable memory is when we ran past an older couple, with signs on their backs that read 'this is my 100th marathon' (!!!!). I yelled over to them that they were incredible. I asked where their first marathon was, and they said 'Chicago!'. They said it was in 1980 or 1981, and I told them this was Katie's first marathon:) They were adorable and pumped us up, saying we needed to enjoy this race because it's just the best. I asked if this was the hottest marathon they've done and they said, 'Well we are from Arizona, so no.' They said the coldest was in Fargo, we thanked them for being amazing, and we were off. One hundred marathons, you guys. </p><p>I took 1/2 of a gel at 5.5 miles, and then by mile 8.5 Katie waved me on while she made a bathroom break. I had hoped to run the first 10 with her, but I also had high hopes of my time goal and for her first marathon, she just wanted to finish (spoiler alert, she totally did it!). So I gave her a quick hug and a pep talk and went ahead. I wanted to push faster but still felt like maybe I should keep my speed in check until the first half was completed, not wanting to tank later.</p><p>At mile 11 I took a full gel, and realized my stomach was feeling mighty fine! I saw more friends on the sideline somewhere around here and got another surge of energy, right before rounding the corner near 13 and seeing a man down. </p><p>He was on the left side of the road, someone was lifting his legs overhead (to get the blood back to his head, I guess) and another person was rubbing his chest because he wasn't responding. Immediately I started to spiral mentally. I saw an RN and then an MD with an AED walking towards the scene, and another runner said 'You need to get back there fast!' It really shook me up more than it should have, but I just kept wondering what the hell we were doing out there. That was someone's husband and I felt teary just thinking about him when I heard sirens starting from afar. I still have no idea what happened to him but I'm hopeful he was 'just' passed out from exhaustion and dehydration. </p><p>Crossing the 13 mile marker, I remember telling myself to pull it together. I think I first popped in one AirPod to listen to music and vowed to myself that I'd listen to my body even MORE than before and I honestly didn't even look at my pace again until mile 20. This is also when it registered that my quads were on FIRE. I knew this was really really early in the run to have burning quads but had to push along. My legs never felt this bad on any of our long runs but I tried not to think too much about it while jamming to my marathon playlist. </p><p>Here is where I should mention the Event Alert Status system for marathons. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_jLaa8GR1hsJyYWukeYytun5YLKA9ys9m1A50hD2H6aerGGhzqkg2Q5KbVdGiVa_fTIhvAODjaOUN1T84IXffKM1iUAwX1NTQfdGvLITAK5E8lL2igPCOXa95ZX8TAR-N1iZZfMCyswM/s2609/IMG_8840.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2609" data-original-width="1205" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_jLaa8GR1hsJyYWukeYytun5YLKA9ys9m1A50hD2H6aerGGhzqkg2Q5KbVdGiVa_fTIhvAODjaOUN1T84IXffKM1iUAwX1NTQfdGvLITAK5E8lL2igPCOXa95ZX8TAR-N1iZZfMCyswM/w185-h400/IMG_8840.jpg" width="185" /></a></div><br /><p>The week before the marathon, we started getting emails about how the event had moved into the Yellow/Moderate zone because of the heat and humidity. Slow down! Hydrate! Find extra water stations/ice bags/wet sponges on the course. They were less than ideal conditions for sure, and although temps in the 70s aren't usually that oppressive in October, they certainly feel horrible when running for multiple hours. Later in the race I noticed that they had moved us into the Red category. This was the forecast from the marathon app, check that humidity. Barf.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP8sV2yixJThx6qaZcWFM3orDnrSKDfX1vH5_UpfPFS1MY9_ygdrcwd77HE-zfuAlpCK_1FZ2O6Wp7Qpkqrp87cWvMNcuWUmT-Bd7Y-V-HwZSTicqzWjUJcfXXpaShnOGo3nEUiN3kE1E/s2609/IMG_8839.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2609" data-original-width="1205" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP8sV2yixJThx6qaZcWFM3orDnrSKDfX1vH5_UpfPFS1MY9_ygdrcwd77HE-zfuAlpCK_1FZ2O6Wp7Qpkqrp87cWvMNcuWUmT-Bd7Y-V-HwZSTicqzWjUJcfXXpaShnOGo3nEUiN3kE1E/w185-h400/IMG_8839.jpg" width="185" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, I saw Nate and Katie's husband at mile 14 and instead of just pumping my fist 'hello', I wanted a hug from Nate. So I ran over and snagged a sweaty hug and told him my quads were on fire, and that I saw a guy down back there. He assured me I was doing great and he'd see me soon, so I was off on my way towards 15. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2NjoZDD2f4OR-r3wahWjiGyZeUlDPvEH7DsAhMiE06286c5R778QMP1NI8z4NHObmuHl0uRhL2LVlzvRBftWtxi-H1xjd__tGNU2NgHqfJDsNMvggWMYfHO1SUcN4KNFR4n8EhpGtFKI/s2048/IMG_5046.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2NjoZDD2f4OR-r3wahWjiGyZeUlDPvEH7DsAhMiE06286c5R778QMP1NI8z4NHObmuHl0uRhL2LVlzvRBftWtxi-H1xjd__tGNU2NgHqfJDsNMvggWMYfHO1SUcN4KNFR4n8EhpGtFKI/w300-h400/IMG_5046.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p>Boys town was up next and I yanked out my AirPods to fully experience the joy here. I freaking LOVED this neighborhood with the drag queens dancing up on platforms, along either side of the race. The signs there were hilarious and the happiness was just contagious. </p><p>I was running along side of the 4:20 pacers for awhile there. It got us a lot of cheers 'FOOOOOOUR TWENTY, BABYYYYY!' and I was thinking that I still really wanted to be ahead of this pace group. But my quads were failing me big time at this point and I was nervous they'd lock up all together. I was taking in a ton of water along the way, carrying my own water bottle at first and then I started using the water stops by mile 15. I'd take a small sip and then dump the rest on my head and down my back to cool off. The wet sponges were pretty cool too, and I did grab handfuls of ice to put under my hat and down my sports bra. </p><p>Mile 16 seemed impossibly slow and so far from the finish line. Looking back at my pace, this is when I struggled to stay quicker than an 11 min/mile average. I kept repeating 'sweet sixteen' in my head and tried listening to music, pulling out my air pods when I'd come across 'real' music in a neighborhood. I wanted to pull energy from the crowd and talk to other runners around me but I also felt so depleted that I just couldn't. I had to go internal for a bit and work things out alone, in my mind. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg77dtSkgC5uKBatONS22x50svCryZlNfM0NxAJTHf4kGqr6RlEXaPKzkTgEcO1d-71p-VGHsXu6Q4XgGKvxsy7ZgWjpeDmCwyrx2IL5t0KCXjGX99KvnUAP22inTGx-Wu_yMfjieCDqsE/s2048/IMG_8750.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg77dtSkgC5uKBatONS22x50svCryZlNfM0NxAJTHf4kGqr6RlEXaPKzkTgEcO1d-71p-VGHsXu6Q4XgGKvxsy7ZgWjpeDmCwyrx2IL5t0KCXjGX99KvnUAP22inTGx-Wu_yMfjieCDqsE/w400-h300/IMG_8750.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>At mile 17 I took another 1/2 of a gel and started making myself walk through each water station, just a little longer each time. I also stopped to the side and stretched my quads for the first of about 3 times at this point. It hurt so badly to stretch but I was still scared they'd lock up if I didn't. I saw another person down, stretcher on the way and had to avert my eyes to stay focused. </p><p>Some of the signs along the route were seriously epic. A few of my favorites that stuck with me: "Smile if you peed a little", "Your legs hurt because you're a badass", "Toenails are for losers," "You obviously got Moderna", "Remember that you paid for this", "You're almost done #fakenews" at mile 2. There was a guy dressed up as a vintage coach with a clipboard that made me LOL, actual nuns, a runner dressed as the pope, spectators in blow up panda costumes (that gave me an aggressive high five), and a ton of signs that had the mushroom from Mario Brothers on it that said 'touch for power'. I tried to slap every single one of those along the way! </p><p>I saw Nate on the left side of the race at mile 18, so I hobbled over to him for a quick chat. He said he was going to meet me near the finish line and my heart sank a little because I wanted to see him again before that. It seemed so far away. He asked how I felt and I said 'not great, can we PLEASE get an Uber after this to get back to the hotel?' and he agreed. I kissed him and hobbled off, and he texted me a few minutes later to say 'You are crushing it'. I think he knew I needed more pep talks and it totally worked. I had my phone in my pocket and when I had an AirPod, I could sort of hear when a text came through. I was getting so many texts all morning and couldn't read them all but did glance down a few times. So many of my crew were tracking me on the marathon app and apparently it was working well all morning. Saw Truman say 'Good job mom' once and felt teary. Oh, the emotions at mile 18. </p><p>Every time I stopped for water, it felt harder and harder to get started again. I had to talk to myself and dig deep. And somehow it was mile 19! I took a picture because I remember thinking 'this is the most beautiful site I've seen and I want to remember it.' I also took one at mile 20, plus a selfie, and saw a sign that said '6.2 to go' which got me seriously amped up. We did a 20 mile run for the longest training run, and I told myself this was officially the longest I'd run....in 13 years. :)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XOY5Wko0wWUkn0CC9So1zKiu9QrbRasXzSbhR_6duMKJd3r8IixzwW1QaFF1ybjvqyOwetw4D4hue_qVOHonpC2AyOvtDs5eA6MCZmRO310DHWS45iZyAfpnaYJKvqOYhYn8JwE0twk/s2048/IMG_8755.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XOY5Wko0wWUkn0CC9So1zKiu9QrbRasXzSbhR_6duMKJd3r8IixzwW1QaFF1ybjvqyOwetw4D4hue_qVOHonpC2AyOvtDs5eA6MCZmRO310DHWS45iZyAfpnaYJKvqOYhYn8JwE0twk/w400-h300/IMG_8755.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>At mile 20, I also looked at my watch and saw I'd been running for 3 hours 45 min. My initial goal of beating 4:15 was very obviously out of the window, but I let myself dream of being done in just 30 minutes away. Instead, I thought about finishing in 4:30 which I knew would also mean a big push. I tried to go a little faster here and my legs would.not.do.it. I took my last 1/2 gel at mile 21 and threw the packet away aggressively, the taste in my mouth was so disgusting! I had also been using my own LMNT electrolyte drink in my holsters which really tasted like hell, but I knew I needed electrolytes and didn't want to deal with the Gatorade on the course.</p><p>Everything gets a little blurry after this, but I ran through Chinatown and didn't even see the big paper dragons---the one thing Nate prepped me to enjoy. I snapped another pic of mile 22 and saw my college friend again with signs just for me. I wanted to take a picture of her and my sign but I just couldn't muster up the energy, but it did give me a little more pep in my step! I refused to quit on myself and my stubborn tendencies were shining at that moment. I remember checking my heart rate, which strangely never really gets above 145 bpm even with super hard workouts. It was right at 146 which reassured me, because it definitely felt a little fluttery/weird for a hot minute.</p><p>Mile 23: 'Just 3 more miles. A simple 3 mile loop at home. Just 3 more miles. I can do this'. I must have allowed myself to walk even longer at this mile marker though, based on my slowest pace of the entire race. I saw Katie's sister waiting for her to jump in and run, and I gave her a huge high five. I told myself I would never, ever do another full again. I'll stick to halves, and try to get faster. Or maybe I'll never run again, or just take a month off....I don't know, but I was bargaining with myself that I never have to run again if I don't want to. I repeated 'beast mode' as a mantra along with 'we can do hard things' and anything else that I could pull from the depths of my soul to KEEP GOING. I wanted to walk forever and ever but I also just wanted to be finished as soon as possible.</p><p>Mile 24: 'Just two more freaking miles. 20 minutes. I CAN DO THIS!!!!" I remember stopping to stretch, walk for about 20 seconds, and then almost started to cry when I got started again because my quads hurt so badly. They were just wobbly, like they might give out on me but I knew I couldn't let that happen. I tried to tell myself that this was nothing compared to childbirth, especially to Wallace's med-free birth when I was stuck at 7cm for 2 hours. It honestly didn't help my mental state that much to think, 'I didn't die then and I'm not going to die now!' :) I told myself that pain is just temporary and I'm equipped to handle the pain. But I also wondered how long it would take me to recover from this race. </p><p>I hit mile 25 and got a text from Nate saying he was up on my right side. I was very aware of how tired I looked and like my gait was totally sloppy, out of control. I pulled my AirPods out for the final time and tried to just be present. I counted my steps like, '1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3' and just tried to get one foot in front of the other. I saw Nate at 25.5 and tried super hard to muster up a smile for him. Which reminds me: every time I saw a pro photographer I decided to fake it until I made it, with goofy smiles and poses that I hope will translate into pure insanity. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmydaST4VxzP-G9JSqO22ufg9bbg1alR2JrPJoJr7Gr-upq0v33WhS3QJYBV8mL1UtObmsZcbjuJOIlRDzCZQwzTVwcpcjnfeeruCl6olTrLrRV0J_TzZBxjjjfi0Aqbr-ra0Eex59SJU/s2048/1088468_302967240_XLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmydaST4VxzP-G9JSqO22ufg9bbg1alR2JrPJoJr7Gr-upq0v33WhS3QJYBV8mL1UtObmsZcbjuJOIlRDzCZQwzTVwcpcjnfeeruCl6olTrLrRV0J_TzZBxjjjfi0Aqbr-ra0Eex59SJU/s320/1088468_302967240_XLarge.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqrhdhX6Z87YkfrLvaoY1ax7zoTIlo6Fk0FhFoei8bft5j_990WofKy7YlbuVCl_GSjDP9q8berRFtzlMPMxl69cCGzF-0fPZohqv2quivgM6f8z9TyOrzRfAJ2wkWsFf-yHYC57iZEI/s2048/1088469_303032669_XLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1361" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqrhdhX6Z87YkfrLvaoY1ax7zoTIlo6Fk0FhFoei8bft5j_990WofKy7YlbuVCl_GSjDP9q8berRFtzlMPMxl69cCGzF-0fPZohqv2quivgM6f8z9TyOrzRfAJ2wkWsFf-yHYC57iZEI/s320/1088469_303032669_XLarge.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>I looked up and saw the infamous hill around mile 26. I told myself that I could NOT walk it, no matter how slowly I jogged, and I didn't walk. I kept going. Even when I saw a woman sitting down, passing out, and someone was grabbing her by the shoulders. I kept going, wanting to see the finish line so badly.</p><p>I turned my head to the left and saw the most glorious site of my entire life (at that moment). The finish line!!! I snapped a blurry pic and went for it, my legs and feet basically numb at this point. I choked back an exhausted tear and remembered to smile for all of the cameras. They were announcing our names as we crossed the finish line, and if they did say mine they totally botched my last name but I didn't even care. I did it. I finished in 4:40 which is not at all what I hoped, but I can promise you in that moment time didn't matter. </p><p>Crossing the finish line after a race that brutal, that humid, that intense was truly magical. Euphoric, even. The relief was immediate and I gladly accepted a water bottle as the herds of champions walked through the gauntlet. I heard the medals clinking and someone handed me mine. It was beautiful. I high fived a dude next to me, and we kept walking down to collect protein shakes and bananas and whatever else we could hold. I got a reflective blanket and a wet towel for my neck and called Nate to see where to meet him. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkFj3oazygTDbhG13OuRBSyfeo5P00AxRelCgAWltd5FjFu66OIBqAYaQpHOeWt8u97aoDLLQoOVozOk9B5j1Quy8Ke-mj2ULPbldnliYB7rXZcYeTWcowpNJAk9Ht9z4EnhfaZUVSWoQ/s2048/IMG_8759.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkFj3oazygTDbhG13OuRBSyfeo5P00AxRelCgAWltd5FjFu66OIBqAYaQpHOeWt8u97aoDLLQoOVozOk9B5j1Quy8Ke-mj2ULPbldnliYB7rXZcYeTWcowpNJAk9Ht9z4EnhfaZUVSWoQ/w300-h400/IMG_8759.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p>Notable: not one time did I have to stop for a porta potty! Yes, I peed my pants but no poop issues, praise be! And if my Strava is accurate, which it doesn't appear to be, I only walked about 4 minutes total for the whole race. Total steps that day: 54,411 and 31.16 miles trekked. DANG.</p><p>It was a bit of a bottle neck getting out of the finish line area and I ended up sitting on a curb, removing my socks and shoes, and telling Nate to come and find me on the corner of Jackson and Columbus. I sat starting at my poor blistered feet, sipping a disgusting banana protein shake, and returning a few texts to friends. I felt so much support from my girl gang, my family, my friends, and even YOU, dear internet. So many people were pulling for Katie and I all morning, and we are pretty lucky to have such an awesome support system! Then Nate called to say he couldn't get in to me, and I needed to walk out to Michigan ave. I said I would try but I would be barefoot because NOPE to putting on my shoes again. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSATMumJj8HEpgaa3qabu5nqMdp83ElNg3f-SZrV8qwASBSXSKEPTUS_Jyp1vM4v4qztUEutXaqW5R7hmng3OADveyBAiHWlbXe2FcNp6Boz-mlVS6jtHU50yIHoHvHIHmKU6nwet_Zlc/s2048/IMG_8763.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSATMumJj8HEpgaa3qabu5nqMdp83ElNg3f-SZrV8qwASBSXSKEPTUS_Jyp1vM4v4qztUEutXaqW5R7hmng3OADveyBAiHWlbXe2FcNp6Boz-mlVS6jtHU50yIHoHvHIHmKU6nwet_Zlc/w300-h400/IMG_8763.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p>I had a stranger snap a picture of me as I walked past tall buildings (barefoot, ha), and then I found my guy. He gave me my slides and held my stinky shoes and gave me a big hug. I had another stranger snap our picture and then Nate told me he had bad news: no Ubers available for at least 30 minutes, so we had to walk the mile to our hotel. I fought back a tear and just said 'ok but I'm going painfully slow'. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xN7RD-TtxlQiSR6TR6iM8wwTHdRwq4Ygl7yYH7iTls-i5VMIHqTNqUPYHpwEenyAnReAM-8QC359tcJ4zcp7gqEq4v0XAl6Cvubusd8IiAs3GcP3y_7VWbHaq4NESjaY_onhzWxpUms/s2048/IMG_8767.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xN7RD-TtxlQiSR6TR6iM8wwTHdRwq4Ygl7yYH7iTls-i5VMIHqTNqUPYHpwEenyAnReAM-8QC359tcJ4zcp7gqEq4v0XAl6Cvubusd8IiAs3GcP3y_7VWbHaq4NESjaY_onhzWxpUms/w300-h400/IMG_8767.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p>We made it back, I showered and discovered about 5 places of intense chafing, and collapsed into the bed. I tried to nap a little bit since I had slept awful the night before and had just run for 4.5 hours:) I honestly haven't been sleeping great since the night before the marathon, but I know my body needs the rest. We stayed the night in our hotel Sunday night, and left Monday around 11 to come home. I missed the kids dearly but also feel some serious post-race blues. I'm exhausted beyond words and so incredibly sore. But I'm happy and proud of myself for not giving up. </p><p>I know that runners are more than their times. Missing a time goal is really small potatoes in the grand scheme of things and yet, it feels pretty lousy after the fact. I definitely gave it my best that day and for all of my training. But I don't feel like my time accurately reflects my training, my fitness, or my abilities. For reference, my typical half marathon time is 1:52-2:00. I really wanted 4:14 or less on Sunday, and I'm not totally sure what went wrong (besides humid conditions, and crazy-angry quads). While 4:40 isn't 'bad', it's just not even close to what I had hoped to get. Fellow runners will understand this, right?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7m-le5OgkTdVuubqfB24yo5iOaAnwVfOTtgUCoMCTouiIGA46aS59rg19r5REO53h7Okakrqm9caN8DY8tNMJa4A-mz7iD_HyWA-aMa9th3pEIeLCFmC-zdBdOeIqV_Cl1KXFlvh0SP8/s2609/IMG_8838.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2609" data-original-width="1205" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7m-le5OgkTdVuubqfB24yo5iOaAnwVfOTtgUCoMCTouiIGA46aS59rg19r5REO53h7Okakrqm9caN8DY8tNMJa4A-mz7iD_HyWA-aMa9th3pEIeLCFmC-zdBdOeIqV_Cl1KXFlvh0SP8/w185-h400/IMG_8838.jpg" width="185" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxubhSAb70Ga0NwSZ5haSS2v5uanscicE5wGxrq2C8tv3YIu3RGb8PSrUTKpKYIjbTP9dN5ZwpkHt9GCMfk5tZuOH47FPrOcAz1-dO_lBdPRrd9A9K5vAU3e27jATWwa4U5HubeQFq1e4/s2609/IMG_8821.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2609" data-original-width="1205" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxubhSAb70Ga0NwSZ5haSS2v5uanscicE5wGxrq2C8tv3YIu3RGb8PSrUTKpKYIjbTP9dN5ZwpkHt9GCMfk5tZuOH47FPrOcAz1-dO_lBdPRrd9A9K5vAU3e27jATWwa4U5HubeQFq1e4/w185-h400/IMG_8821.jpg" width="185" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>*If* I do another full marathon again, I'd do just a few things differently: I'd remember to make a sign with my name on my chest, so strangers could cheer for me. I'd line up friends to run with me in segments to keep me going. And I'd really love to see my kids as spectators! Chicago's crowds just did not allow for that this time, and Nate had planned to run with me but then he needed knee surgery so that was out. I'd train about the same, I think----maybe focusing on more speedwork, but I'm also really glad I didn't push so hard that I got injured. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbu_0_jgNPjrVFBhJA0HA8rwkrEGvvzcjTKYrJ72qugKcd18R7qvJmVFEoArbkWFvkmt1qIWdd31DyIIhI4khouB_tHCBJWt4ZLywvPR7Z_bREGOheLqG4eiWnX6QCFXVnug163OyohqU/s2048/IMG_8830.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbu_0_jgNPjrVFBhJA0HA8rwkrEGvvzcjTKYrJ72qugKcd18R7qvJmVFEoArbkWFvkmt1qIWdd31DyIIhI4khouB_tHCBJWt4ZLywvPR7Z_bREGOheLqG4eiWnX6QCFXVnug163OyohqU/w300-h400/IMG_8830.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p>Before the marathon, when Nate and I were eating a big Italian dinner, he asked me if I was planning to run another marathon after this. I said, 'It depends on how I do tomorrow. If it's a great race and I'm pleased with my time, then I'll be done. If not, I'll probably have to do another'. The night of the marathon, he said, 'Well, so are you going to do another?' I want to say YES. It's just too soon to tell. Once I can walk without a limp I'll let you know. I still feel pretty chewed up and spit out by Chicago, and need to plot my revenge once fully recovered. </p><p>I know that nothing in life is a guarantee and I feel serious gratitude for being able to complete this Chicago Marathon. I did it. What a whirlwind, a magical, horrible, wonderful whirlwind. </p><br />Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-69245212963999542692020-10-22T14:17:00.000-05:002020-10-22T14:17:38.801-05:00Our COVID Chronicles, part 2<p>Well, Truman's third test came back positive, so we are sitting at 5 out of 6 COVID cases here. Sigh. Truman is feeling better than he did on the first day of his fever, but still has a headache, is weak, no appetite, and his legs ache. His fever has come down from 102.4 that first day to right around 99 on his fourth day. He also has a new face rash, but the Ped isn't concerned because Truman does get viral rashes. Zyrtec should help the itchiness and we were cleared to use Ibuprofen for the leg aches, too. Sigh, so much sighing around here. Sigh. Sigh. Freaking Sigh. </p><p>Porter is the last man standing, and he's cracked the code for this mess. Yesterday we were talking about all things COVID, and he said to us, 'I'm not going to get it, because I'm being SUPER careful.' We asked him to elaborate and he said, 'Well, I'm not going to lick anyone that has it.' Porter! We also discussed extra hand washing as a truly 'careful' measure. To which he responded that he does wash his hands after using the bathroom, and 'before we eat, whenever you tell me to.' This kid, man. </p><p>(my images are going to be all inspiring quotes by <a href="https://morganharpernichols.com">Morgan Harper Nichols</a> on Instagram. She is the most amazing artist and speaks to my soul often!)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJ3AFCmfGOlpsRMsGguV6wRixTnjLtFTcvSg8DQ4fkFU3L1o2tJv7VQ5NrpsCmjRdwlBHERSQK_HxJMJKQSJoRPcE-IyPL-YfLaqB4ip4O38ClnqwB5q_z4_R_zncWD26xkcUGaN0akc/s1368/IMG_1009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1368" data-original-width="1242" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJ3AFCmfGOlpsRMsGguV6wRixTnjLtFTcvSg8DQ4fkFU3L1o2tJv7VQ5NrpsCmjRdwlBHERSQK_HxJMJKQSJoRPcE-IyPL-YfLaqB4ip4O38ClnqwB5q_z4_R_zncWD26xkcUGaN0akc/s320/IMG_1009.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhF2CojjG7qVV0x2-USJrWQeUh7HI96jTxhmGQW1DXvUcBqg-7peDvOCaXlUenKr7UBCLaO71g2PqHKfgV_QkAvCtM8AgiIjQ5MXZPnVwAqyg3BWIeyfqe9NMJgMa-s3JmvZY4MCkPRzA/s1376/IMG_1015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1376" data-original-width="1242" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhF2CojjG7qVV0x2-USJrWQeUh7HI96jTxhmGQW1DXvUcBqg-7peDvOCaXlUenKr7UBCLaO71g2PqHKfgV_QkAvCtM8AgiIjQ5MXZPnVwAqyg3BWIeyfqe9NMJgMa-s3JmvZY4MCkPRzA/s320/IMG_1015.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Yesterday I spent some of my day answering questions on Instagram, which was mostly enjoyable because it feels nice to share and help others work through their questions. Old habits die hard, I guess. Most people were very supportive. And yet, I can feel the anxiety rolling off many of the comments. I get it! It's incredibly scary, the fear of the unknown can be suffocating. I'm guessing parts of our story will increase the panic (specifically around sending your kids into a school building) and some parts will ease your worries. But I wanted to touch on a few things before I get into my actual post. </span></div><p>When I mentioned the shame stigma that seems to surround COVID patients, several people said that nobody should feel shame about contracting a virus. And I agree! But now that I'm digging into my feelings a little more on this topic, it's not a true 'shame' that I've felt. I mean, it does feel like we have the plague and people may want to run the other way when they see us. But what I really couldn't put my finger on until I shared our story, is the fear of judgement. It feels like some people will pick apart our story, and look for 'what went wrong', or what we DID wrong. Because obviously, we messed it up somehow, right? And maybe if *you* don't do this pandemic how we've done it, you will be SAFE. How else can I explain it other than saying, we did everything right and we still got it? Yes, the kids wear masks all day in school. Yes, they are socially distanced--there are only 9 kids in Cece's cohort. Yes, we have brand new HEPA filters installed in our school building. I know that is hard to hear but they are facts. I know everyone means well asking questions and I'm ok answering most of them. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZg4qPpG6Fds9Wj1X9J2ANxbXbTg14p5-1S0AM57FQaUdT45HUDcm62HmcpNtTHKlzbmYEiLvqmVfHr12rB2gzzKFBR15lnx_b1-6Jk09rlcNOl-ZFWHqsuc-T3t5yxINEssrFhisYII/s1242/IMG_1010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1233" data-original-width="1242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZg4qPpG6Fds9Wj1X9J2ANxbXbTg14p5-1S0AM57FQaUdT45HUDcm62HmcpNtTHKlzbmYEiLvqmVfHr12rB2gzzKFBR15lnx_b1-6Jk09rlcNOl-ZFWHqsuc-T3t5yxINEssrFhisYII/s320/IMG_1010.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />Trust me when I say I completely understand others' anxiety about this, and the need to control and predict what will happen to you. But as long as you are doing your very best, which I believe 99% of people truly are doing, you just have to keep following precautions and continue to take calculated risks you feel most comfortable with for your family. It could still happen to you as nothing is a 100% guarantee at this point, except for literally locking yourself inside your home until the end of time. I would not recommend that choice either and I certainly do not recommend living your life in fear! <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2HeyzAEwaU1xlZ_PznnYdvhsgpwr3cC1lpKoYw5LKZsZLokRGcYbgKK10u5qYGthQsI-aAD1XiiKKgh3lkvlYcqrJrEG1Azn4F9pcgYvQxYwyZb11PiXcYBX_FLWXEVXMZz4xovxn2g/s1371/IMG_1014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1371" data-original-width="1242" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2HeyzAEwaU1xlZ_PznnYdvhsgpwr3cC1lpKoYw5LKZsZLokRGcYbgKK10u5qYGthQsI-aAD1XiiKKgh3lkvlYcqrJrEG1Azn4F9pcgYvQxYwyZb11PiXcYBX_FLWXEVXMZz4xovxn2g/s320/IMG_1014.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>It all really sucks, you guys. All of it. The anticipation of COVID, the actual living through COVID, the unknowns about the future. I know so many people are struggling mentally and emotionally right now, and it's heartbreaking. BUT! There are silver linings and positive things to pull from this, I promise. I'll talk about those in a hot minute. </p><p>A few other hot topic questions from Insta revolved around my in-laws and how they are doing. They are doing great, Praise Be! Lois tested negative twice, and we didn't actually see Tony the weekend that Cece would have been contagious. Ultimately Nate's parents have been our top priority during this entire pandemic. Back in March, we completely stopped seeing them to protect them from COVID. And then, once we realized there is not an end in sight to this pandemic, we started taking calculated risks to see them as they are an invaluable part of our lives. It would be my ultimate nightmare to give COVID to my in-laws and I'm <b>beyond relieved</b> that has not been a part of our story right now. We miss them so much but we have a ways to go before everyone is out of quarantine. It will make it even sweeter when we can reunite. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiotAT93UOpVbV6No8D95F5J_J6u7jMu8ni0aPw5qzL2MNQd1ePGbCvEDIZEo2vfeZXS1RkfaRy7aMUEZCO4YDHtWP0AsdM05-Z-h8B0p9Ta-HyBvk-Z6a8TlD4w4RQElWpiXJyqq3jfnU/s1242/IMG_1013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="1242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiotAT93UOpVbV6No8D95F5J_J6u7jMu8ni0aPw5qzL2MNQd1ePGbCvEDIZEo2vfeZXS1RkfaRy7aMUEZCO4YDHtWP0AsdM05-Z-h8B0p9Ta-HyBvk-Z6a8TlD4w4RQElWpiXJyqq3jfnU/s320/IMG_1013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The other common thread in most of the questions had to do with the school district policy on quarantining after a positive case. I was disappointed in how the district handled Cecelia's case, and I have been in communication with them about my disappointment. I'm not going to elaborate any further or throw anyone under the bus. I know people want to blame SOMEONE here but it's honestly not worth the effort to point fingers. <p></p><p>Also, yes we will be sending our kids back to hybrid (assuming it stays hybrid and doesn't switch to full virtual soon with our metrics changing by the day). Cece is already back, in fact. No, I do not regret sending my kids into the building. Full virtual learning for our family is extremely difficult and I do not think my children learn best in this home environment. Obviously, I wish Cece didn't get COVID but I still prefer in-person learning to at-home learning. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFXM_P5TBGnlGFN5CH3072kUyM6OtLTq31NRSxEVb8x7vXrn8kn-NwPpa_-fHvsEJk0tsCWCKytQgAnHZFfGSj4OdijA8hYtbaIuNkURcDpm0OujoSZ5dAVJUGrs7q5xx4e2wfhIT7NVA/s1381/IMG_1012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1381" data-original-width="1242" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFXM_P5TBGnlGFN5CH3072kUyM6OtLTq31NRSxEVb8x7vXrn8kn-NwPpa_-fHvsEJk0tsCWCKytQgAnHZFfGSj4OdijA8hYtbaIuNkURcDpm0OujoSZ5dAVJUGrs7q5xx4e2wfhIT7NVA/s320/IMG_1012.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>And yes, I still believe in mask wearing. Cloth masks are not N95 masks, they are not perfect, and nobody should promise you that you'll be safe if you just wear a mask. But I do think masks reduce the viral load you're being exposed to and I think they are worth it.</p><p>Yes, of course I am worried about long term effects for the kids and for Nate/myself. But I cannot create mental space for those worries right now. One day at a time is all I can manage. </p><p>Oh, and blood types! I realized why I don't know my kids' blood types. I asked my Ped about this today and she said the hospitals only test babies' blood types if the mother is Rh -. I am for sure not negative and believe I'm AB+, so there's no way any of our kids have 0 blood. Also my Ped said that in children, luckily their symptoms tend to be less severe overall than adults---so the blood type and symptom relationship isn't proven for kids. </p><p>Onward!</p><p><u>My Covid Silver Linings:</u></p><div>-Nate's clinic can still function without him present. He can't work from home, and it's not the usual income without him there but absolutely better than nothing. </div><div><br /></div><div>-I am not working outside of the home anymore. Seriously, would have been impossible with both of us in healthcare and without any help from grandparents/daycare during quarantine.</div><div> </div><div>-Nobody has endured severe symptoms, hallelujah. In fact, MOST COVID cases include mild symptoms. There will always be outliers to this statement but chances are high that you'll be okay if you do contract it.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Cece and I could quarantine together. It was a strange but sweet time. </div><div><br /></div><div>-Nate and Wallace could quarantine together (with Cece and me) after my quarantine was finished.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Cece did not spread it to her classmates.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Antibodies! For at least 3 months we can feel less fearful of this virus. It is not a guarantee of course, there's just so much we don't know about this virus. But I plan to breathe a little easier and let go of some anxiety I've had prior to this.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Family time and help from Nate in online learning! Under different circumstances this would have been heavenly, like a true vacation. Of course it has been anything BUT peaceful, and we have all been pretty sick. I have still been able to notice and appreciate the time with Nate here and I'm sad that period is ending, but he needs to get back to work!</div><div><br /></div><div>-Hugging my family after isolation was an absolute HIGHLIGHT. It's like I don't ever want to take for granted all of the beauty in the ordinary days again. My first Wallace-hug made me cry, his little body wrapped around mine <3</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u>Things I've learned from our personal case study:</u></div><div><br /></div><div>-Being inside a school building with masks, HEPA filter, and social distancing does not mean you are safe from exposure. Even if you are staying 6 feet away, and have not been in contact with an exposure for more than 15 minutes cumulative, you could still contract the virus. This is a huge pill to swallow and I'm guessing Cece's case is rare but it still happened. </div><div><br /></div><div>-This virus is unpredictable: some people will get it after very low risk exposure, and some won't get it even with significant exposure. MADDENING.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Even with symptoms, you might be negative (Truman). Well, at least for two tests, and then he finally got a positive test on the third try with a new fever. </div><div><br /></div><div>-Without symptoms, you might test positive (Me and Wallace--but we did get symptoms after our tests, so we would be considered pre-symptomatic).</div><div><br /></div><div>-Our symptoms are not the same as everyone else's symptoms with COVID.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Transparency and communication is KEY when it comes to possible exposure. Err on the side of caution and give potential 'close contacts' the information they need to make decisions for their family. </div><div><br /></div><div>-The only way to handle COVID is to go through it, you cannot completely avoid it forever or be fearful of it. Respect the virus, it is a very real thing. Take all of the precautions. But once it hits your family in some capacity, focus on the silver linings to avoid total overwhelm. Listen to your doctor. It's okay to be scared, angry, and sad. But at some point you'll need to process those emotions and move on. You cannot control everything that is happening to you. You can only control how you respond to this very crappy situation. I'm still working on this one on the regular.</div><div><br /></div><div>-The first few days after Cecelia's positive test were the most stressful, overwhelming, scary days full of constant information. Many bits of information will conflict with each other when it comes from different sources (doctor versus health department versus school district). Grab hold of any information that makes logical sense and try to let go of the rest. And get ready for a crash after the adrenaline wears off. For me, my head was spinning for a solid two days before I crashed hard, and then I got sick after that. Stress does real things to your immune system and cortisol sucks. I'm not blaming my stress for contracting COVID but I'm certain it didn't help.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Stick to Tylenol instead of Ibuprofen, even though it sucks in comparison for relief of fever (for adults at least, my Ped did say Ibuprofen is okay for Truman). Ask your doctor to be sure.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Comparative suffering is not worth the effort. Everyone will move through this experience differently, at a different pace, and with a unique story to tell. Don't play the game of 'we had it worse than you because....'. There is value in re-prioritizing what is deemed 'essential' in your life, and having a kick-ass support system will help immensely. But ultimately, you will need to process this on your own, with your family, isolated. Nobody else can do that for you.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzAliHlfXn8UxTpbNSSNWg3c_g68g3KvU0mil0wvITPu60modcZjyU6lkDVu2bpzO_nmPIyznyo4bEsBXAeHel-npFcFZcMQ6_cTcdhITkqIfy6c8lPICgsyruL0wZ4xJulWeIqvxJnM/s1242/IMG_1011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1237" data-original-width="1242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzAliHlfXn8UxTpbNSSNWg3c_g68g3KvU0mil0wvITPu60modcZjyU6lkDVu2bpzO_nmPIyznyo4bEsBXAeHel-npFcFZcMQ6_cTcdhITkqIfy6c8lPICgsyruL0wZ4xJulWeIqvxJnM/s320/IMG_1011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The end for now. </div>Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-27193700331785675132020-10-20T20:06:00.001-05:002020-10-20T20:06:27.355-05:00Our COVID Chronicles, part 1<div>I'm emerging from an experience worth reflecting about, and I find myself craving the blogging process for this one. I want to compartmentalize my thoughts, I want to brain-dump all of the knowledge I've gained throughout this. Partially for me, but I also think others may want to read about our COVID story because we are learning new bits of information every day about this virus. And I understand what its like to obsess about different scenarios and worry about the 'what if's, and to crave real-life stories and facts. I also think it's helpful to hear positive outcomes about COVID instead of constantly being bombarded by the intense fear and worst-case scenarios. And finally, I'm sharing this because I don't want to buy into the shame stigma of COVID. It's happening everywhere and I truly believe everyone will be directly touched by it soon. Your story will look different than mine. So here we go. </div><div><br /></div><div>Our family has COVID. Cecelia, myself, Nate, and Wallace have all tested positive. Truman and Porter have somehow tested negative, twice. It's been a hot mess around here but we are all going to be okay. Priorities have shifted and our support system has been incredible. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjts3S2dNiVc6fxp7lb3UEdoS7GNZcnYsJ9xxT6BR5H5Ae35WJdGsMF1afhM_atevrd9dKS2NkdHWbJ8an8XLVHjRkJ_hxlyX9avq9z3OYCaJk5rFccmq6mhxc6oK-21f_kyCGBM0bZHjY/s2048/IMG_0956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1535" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjts3S2dNiVc6fxp7lb3UEdoS7GNZcnYsJ9xxT6BR5H5Ae35WJdGsMF1afhM_atevrd9dKS2NkdHWbJ8an8XLVHjRkJ_hxlyX9avq9z3OYCaJk5rFccmq6mhxc6oK-21f_kyCGBM0bZHjY/s320/IMG_0956.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">General timeline:</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>On October 1 and 2, Cecelia attended school in the building as a part of our hybrid set-up. On the night of October 2, someone in her classroom spiked a fever. We obviously found out about this much later and I'm not going to give details about someone else's story, because it's not mine to tell. But yes, we do feel confident that Cecelia was exposed at school on October 1 and 2. </div><div><br /></div><div>And in that same vein, I will talk about my entire family in this post, but I'm going to focus mostly on my own story and symptoms---not because I'm self-centered but because I feel most comfortable sharing my thoughts and less comfortable speaking for my family. I'm a little rusty on the old blog here, some feelings of fragility are surfacing now that I'm about to publish this, so please be gentle with me. </div><div><br /></div><div>So. That person with a fever tested positive for COVID on October 3. We got a vague email from the school on October 4 but no details about a positive test or confirmed exposure. We didn't do anything out of the ordinary that weekend, but we did have Lois over for Sunday dinner (10/4) and Cece played soccer that same day, too. </div><div><br /></div><div>On Monday October 5th, right before bedtime, Cecelia complained of a sore throat. My ears shot up but she didn't feel warm and I just chalked it up to her being tired after a long day. October 5th is now considered Day 0 for Cecelia. </div><div><br /></div><div>On Tuesday, October 6th Cecelia came downstairs for breakfast and laid her head down on the kitchen island. She said she felt 'okay' but her eyes looked glassy to me. We took her temp with our forehead scanner and it read 103. My head started spinning right then, and I called our Pediatrician as soon as they opened at 8:30 and then started jumping through the hoops to get Cece tested through our larger hospital system. I took her for a drive-through test at 2 in the afternoon, after calling Nate home to stay with the boys. It was unpleasant for sister, to say the least--we had all gotten tested at a free site in July before my parents came to visit us, but this was a lot more intense because Cece had symptoms. One thing I learned is that they order a 'deeper' test if symptomatic, and they swabbed her nostril along with her throat this time.</div><div><br /></div><div>At 5 am on October 7th, Nate woke me up holding my phone after reading the MyChart results: Cecelia tested positive for COVID. I think my first word was an X-rated one, and then began the chain reaction of cancelling all.the.things. Nate spent most of the morning on the phone cancelling patients and updating everyone at the clinic. I began making numerous lists of questions and people to contact, and I sent emails and texts with a spinning head that felt totally overwhelmed. I talked to the Pediatrician's office, the hospital system that gave her the test, the school principal, the district nurse, but no health department called me that day. All of the information coming out of these various institutions was so confusing and conflicting. It was a lot. Cece was feeling pretty good this day, but definitely not herself---her fever was down to 100 degrees and she said her throat still hurt, and she had a headache for her day 1 of COVID. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLtcgRwH5TDnyaIORd01gfp0-LMFrbDB1FO0p0PKBP1CJGUZd019F0Uapn27vjWf_xw_NX_DrZLX5rUFI0lX4wONfWmLv7aZgF2-GdxA6iubRGeV8lvJcPvLAV8Wh-XtVQAXuG4a6YlU/s2609/IMG_0783.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2609" data-original-width="1205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLtcgRwH5TDnyaIORd01gfp0-LMFrbDB1FO0p0PKBP1CJGUZd019F0Uapn27vjWf_xw_NX_DrZLX5rUFI0lX4wONfWmLv7aZgF2-GdxA6iubRGeV8lvJcPvLAV8Wh-XtVQAXuG4a6YlU/s320/IMG_0783.PNG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>On Cece's day 2, October 8th, Nate and I decided to get tested for COVID, and this turned out to be my Day 0. We both felt fine and Cece was 97% better (self-reported), with a fever of 99 degrees now. We were attempting to isolate Cece from the rest of the family, as instructed by the health department who finally called me this day. But at the same time, isolating a sick 8 year old from the rest of the family unit felt impossible to me and I was worried about Cece's mental health at this point, too. My emotions were all over the board. I still felt like my head was spinning out of control and I cried a lot, which is not like me but it needed to happen. I was scared for Cece, worried about the rest of us, sad that we had to cancel so many fun events on our calendar for the next two weeks, and not excited about extra online learning for the kids during their quarantine. ALSO, there was a large amount of stress happening because our suburb was bracing for social injustice protests, and school switched to all-virtual to keep kids safe in case of riots. </div><div><br /></div><div>On October 9th, I slept awful. I woke up at 4 am and was super uncomfortable and had a raging headache like nothing I've experienced before. I sort of thought I was having a mental breakdown, and tried to nap that morning. Nate banished me to my bedroom to rest and sometime after lunch, I spiked a fever of 100.4. I knew my COVID test results wouldn't be in for several more days but I started to accept that I likely had it once my fever appeared. This was my Day 1 because my test came before my symptoms. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">My symptom checklist:</span></b><div><br /><div><div>-Fever up to 101 (my baseline is 97.5) on day 1 and 2</div><div>-Unbelievable headache on day 1</div><div>-Body aches-could actually feel my hips and knees and back throbbing on day 1-4</div><div>-Diarrhea--explosive and surprising--on day 2 and 3</div><div>-Sore throat starting on day 1</div><div>-Congestion starting on day 3</div><div>-Extreme fatigue/weakness starting on day 1 and most noticeable until day 7 when I began forcing myself to eat protein</div><div>-No appetite on day 1-7</div><div>-Loss of smell and taste--which is seriously depressing. Never realized how much tasting food is a quality of life issue. This began on day 4 and I'm told it could last for 6 weeks.</div><div>-Notable: I never had a cough and never had any trouble breathing/shortness of breath</div><div><br /><div>At that point, Nate took over caring for the boys and Cece started isolating with me in my bed. She was feeling a ton better by this time, and she'd go downstairs with a mask on to fetch me water or whatever I needed---my sweetest little caregiver. What did quarantine look like for us ladies? Well, we watched a ton of shows and movies (Princess Bride, Return to Oz, all 10 episodes of Babysitters Club, Hamilton, Never-ending Story, Hocus Pocus, and all episodes of season 2 Making It---we loved them all!). I also watched plenty of shows and movies once Cece was sleeping in her own bed but I mostly had to rest my eyes and listen because my eyes hurt so badly in the beginning. I could only stomach popsicles and some soup, we were taking lots of Vitamin C, had Biocidin spray from the holistic doctor that gave Nate and I our tests, and I took my temperature incessantly. I felt so weak I didn't even want to get up to go to the bathroom and had to lay down immediately after standing up. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nate sent me pics of the boys 'scaring' people outside of our house, made me smile:</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ7wCGR1MzA3YHcAB1bx-gXJD449p7XFdWZgPh_86Ma0fq6T8C8pDoKa-iPPHGZUIWt1voBmeewjejbhweegBg_OS-vICpYy9bGLaPv3haCLkjZLzldU0RGgoLzEKh3HJxRBBkHcNEoCU/s2048/IMG_0854.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ7wCGR1MzA3YHcAB1bx-gXJD449p7XFdWZgPh_86Ma0fq6T8C8pDoKa-iPPHGZUIWt1voBmeewjejbhweegBg_OS-vICpYy9bGLaPv3haCLkjZLzldU0RGgoLzEKh3HJxRBBkHcNEoCU/s320/IMG_0854.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>So many supplements, so little time. I figure they can't hurt. </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFdFG2A-YhW_3v5ko-RK2ZoAEv86L7WfKFe3iiLWKFYHGKrCXbqeyl751vLT88ltVCE4DOU7SFchoaeVwIuT9XLpzfwV8VIlEZbQOsEvyPry9UvhGnkLLcaTcyGFteQoecdJoYgiouP4/s2048/IMG_0959.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFdFG2A-YhW_3v5ko-RK2ZoAEv86L7WfKFe3iiLWKFYHGKrCXbqeyl751vLT88ltVCE4DOU7SFchoaeVwIuT9XLpzfwV8VIlEZbQOsEvyPry9UvhGnkLLcaTcyGFteQoecdJoYgiouP4/s320/IMG_0959.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Saturday, October 10 is a total blur but I know I started taking Tylenol for my fever that day. Then on Sunday, October 11th I noticed I couldn't smell anything (not even my favorite candle or coffee) and my back was KILLING me from laying down so much. Cece started Face-timing with my mom and her friends from school to pass the time. We would also Face-time with the boys but it made Porter and Truman super sad to see me but not be able to come in and give me a hug. We all took turns crying. I think those two days were my lowest point mentally and I had several dark moments when I just couldn't stop crying. I felt rotten and was in disbelief this virus was actually hitting our family, and felt so worthless from my bed---not able to help with the kids. It was pretty rough there for a bit, you could say.</div><div><br /></div><div>How the boys said 'goodnight' to us. (tear).</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBJdKdEdYm2kG6X6DGNENu1uep9l_VQ4hudbXxIc808ZPI4XBc3B4ZIvY_KEEHEv_eO8D29A1ZGxczFj4WdqFl8lMwm6tfroo7X8C0fDRCe6rAx0lk9aZCw0WeH3hkYVxGQMLryGW2AG4/s2048/IMG_0832.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBJdKdEdYm2kG6X6DGNENu1uep9l_VQ4hudbXxIc808ZPI4XBc3B4ZIvY_KEEHEv_eO8D29A1ZGxczFj4WdqFl8lMwm6tfroo7X8C0fDRCe6rAx0lk9aZCw0WeH3hkYVxGQMLryGW2AG4/s320/IMG_0832.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Porter drew me about a million pictures (mostly of gravestones and spiderwebs):</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuoCQZzQj-N_yjCfSkh5Z5-J_RDCawyLwO1XMN8CS1jwKaghDwtg-yqki0PTW8BzzuqYH6AISQvsnLd09YAYzEXaxa5l1U007dJuKwGZiAENz_sr-BpR9oaO2swQUWQWj0zJYZPxqaAas/s2048/62403495626__9B0AA291-C335-4396-A071-2ECCCA2322DA.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuoCQZzQj-N_yjCfSkh5Z5-J_RDCawyLwO1XMN8CS1jwKaghDwtg-yqki0PTW8BzzuqYH6AISQvsnLd09YAYzEXaxa5l1U007dJuKwGZiAENz_sr-BpR9oaO2swQUWQWj0zJYZPxqaAas/s320/62403495626__9B0AA291-C335-4396-A071-2ECCCA2322DA.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>My entire collection from one day!</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVZd6Bj70FwimNqoJksaGO20j1AxjkPPO4jJHD2_FvFRX6XXzyUoKcRLAQ7QUMTpWU4k5kp779z2ecc0AmFXYY4pvfJzyolwJGJZc5MaQJJpqnvSX7d4L2pF08J_3WsWUsVGm00M3vys/s2048/IMG_0803.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVZd6Bj70FwimNqoJksaGO20j1AxjkPPO4jJHD2_FvFRX6XXzyUoKcRLAQ7QUMTpWU4k5kp779z2ecc0AmFXYY4pvfJzyolwJGJZc5MaQJJpqnvSX7d4L2pF08J_3WsWUsVGm00M3vys/s320/IMG_0803.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Cece helped him rig up a system to give me those Porter treats: she tied a piece of yard around a basket, and put a bell out in the hallway next to the basket. When Porter would add a new picture for me, he'd ring the bell and Cece would pull the basket into my room, returning it to the hallway once we grabbed the paper. It was really so cute but also crazy hard to be apart from the guys. Anyway, Cece was on her day 6 and I was on my day 3 and I have no idea what the boys were doing downstairs, and didn't even care at that point. I do know a lot of our friends dropped off an impressive amount of goodies: chicken pot pies, soup, tacos, pizza, chocolates, home-spa kits, baked goods....it was pretty incredible to feel the love from our people. </span></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihe2DxSPz-yz4jDNg753efWh8PsRLHEYtENCDmloDP1BJmFVPE5B69hGd5GGcov-5nyedeGnhnPA4AVGEujrXkPONzTEE1bpWkqiBeG3z8MOQjlay2J_n6gFRUtvdvcnoQKYSoYmDBWEw/s2048/IMG_0823.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihe2DxSPz-yz4jDNg753efWh8PsRLHEYtENCDmloDP1BJmFVPE5B69hGd5GGcov-5nyedeGnhnPA4AVGEujrXkPONzTEE1bpWkqiBeG3z8MOQjlay2J_n6gFRUtvdvcnoQKYSoYmDBWEw/s320/IMG_0823.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Sweetest donuts I couldn't taste but everyone else could so it's a win.</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLhCTM06MXQPw_WR29M09EoqUCKAwLuD5NrzMcT4MtO0HeIqnUTjCu8YHi5SXlRqlS_GRioMyu1xk9gRz4u1Uh5Gizx7vh2OXeZRYAC_yXGz3jn8aDrgaIbvsYsiEbllW4ARyBKAfwPs/s2048/IMG_0917.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLhCTM06MXQPw_WR29M09EoqUCKAwLuD5NrzMcT4MtO0HeIqnUTjCu8YHi5SXlRqlS_GRioMyu1xk9gRz4u1Uh5Gizx7vh2OXeZRYAC_yXGz3jn8aDrgaIbvsYsiEbllW4ARyBKAfwPs/s320/IMG_0917.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Rules of Quarantine length:</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>Now seems like a good time to mention this very confusing part of quarantine. If you test positive for COVID, your first day of symptoms OR your test date will be your day 0---you'll use the date that comes first. Then you have 10 days of quarantine, so on your day 11 you can re-enter the world at large. If you are in close contact with someone who tests positive, you will need to quarantine 14 days from LAST exposure to that person. This gets extremely sloppy within a large household, when some are testing positive and some negative. With each positive test, quarantine dates get moved around for everyone else in the house who is negative. With Cece's positive test, the rest of us went into quarantine from the world (and she went into 'isolation' from us) for 14 days, using the date of last exposure to Cece as our marker. As soon as I tested positive, all of the boys' quarantine date got pushed back even more, using their date of last exposure to ME as a marker now. Eventually we found ourselves wishing for a positive test for every person, because everyone had been exposed in our house like crazy and quarantine for those negatives became ridiculously pushed back. More on that in a bit. </div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Back to the timeline!</span></b> On Monday, October 12th, I noted that I was feeling about 40% of my normal self and did sleep pretty good at night for once. I was on day 4 and Cece day 7, and my test results finally came in: I was (obviously) positive and Nate was negative. He did get a pretty bad headache this day but I figured it was from all of the stress of being Mr. Mom:) I helped Cece with online learning while we both laid in my bed, and we watched lots of TV once she finished. I weighed myself and had lost 5 pounds, which sort of freaked me out, and I vowed to force more food down into my body so I didn't just wither away. </div><div><br /></div><div>Online learning from isolation: </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjKc5ZgnCYi5p5KYdCmku8xfKu28s4ZlSw9CgUh-fTe5FYSOFuRZqF7XyIkwo6Djhb9ZkXfndF8IVmVf-BCosQrn-F01biNJEtKMZTQraHKeb1O_Ex-u9eLe2eTRCGf323JTsYLDAYuKk/s2048/IMG_0836.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjKc5ZgnCYi5p5KYdCmku8xfKu28s4ZlSw9CgUh-fTe5FYSOFuRZqF7XyIkwo6Djhb9ZkXfndF8IVmVf-BCosQrn-F01biNJEtKMZTQraHKeb1O_Ex-u9eLe2eTRCGf323JTsYLDAYuKk/s320/IMG_0836.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fCkmRPBWvSqMpOi0Db33pMNSWaFjS2c3nCPjJqJJKHI6YorifVzToWHJeBOKzCCLfsKlO6WYJmaSrFfGXk523RDFAI5a0H6_DO32MkAQwiGxEDDA3GbCsL3Er7vPlBgAA97pHIjSLZE/s2048/IMG_0874.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fCkmRPBWvSqMpOi0Db33pMNSWaFjS2c3nCPjJqJJKHI6YorifVzToWHJeBOKzCCLfsKlO6WYJmaSrFfGXk523RDFAI5a0H6_DO32MkAQwiGxEDDA3GbCsL3Er7vPlBgAA97pHIjSLZE/s320/IMG_0874.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>And online learning from quarantine downstairs. </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwaySA8XsX1mO1YI5glcN22ILgppaJZ3nMPo_-nZSCgZrb_hBbRyb2eDgtcYd0dqVpBoGGgRJcmpySAkAzXKxU1-eLOMd7smvXsZW9OYGbW0qZi393sHhnOm6jg07BwUP8nTOc8mBwLg0/s2048/IMG_0884.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwaySA8XsX1mO1YI5glcN22ILgppaJZ3nMPo_-nZSCgZrb_hBbRyb2eDgtcYd0dqVpBoGGgRJcmpySAkAzXKxU1-eLOMd7smvXsZW9OYGbW0qZi393sHhnOm6jg07BwUP8nTOc8mBwLg0/s320/IMG_0884.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Tuesday, October 13th: I was more vertical this day! I needed to rest immediately after being up but I was proud of being out of bed for 30 minute stretches. Nate took the boys on a drive and when they got back, I snuck a peek at Nate and he just looked BAD to me. Sure enough, he spiked a 100 degree fever and that's not all! So did Truman, at the same time. Awesome sauce. They both felt achey and had headaches, and I wanted to burst into tears while punching a wall. I broke quarantine to be with them that night, I got online and requested all four boys get tested the next day, and then I rage-cleaned the kitchen while Nate napped on the couch after the kids' bedtime. I did not feel well enough to be 'on' for parenting yet but I knew Nate couldn't do it alone, and if his test turned up positive we couldn't even quarantine the rest of the boys away from two positive parents anyway. Hot mess express. Nate had been sleeping in the basement on a blow up mattress since Friday, but that night I told him to just come back to our bed to get decent sleep. </div><div><br /></div><div>Family Vitamin C time, so ridiculous:</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWo0tSuUa2M4pD7IjyFCpvfG0jQ5mEFVVGFgQNUYFaqYdWQ6U4bY_gFltd_7qV2ghNpqpmcS24BiRt4K9ocauPbpEje5ptJPdH9tgRE6nCB98wTDonAN663kkXl4Lq8YMn3MUr8WQ2d4/s2048/IMG_0897.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWo0tSuUa2M4pD7IjyFCpvfG0jQ5mEFVVGFgQNUYFaqYdWQ6U4bY_gFltd_7qV2ghNpqpmcS24BiRt4K9ocauPbpEje5ptJPdH9tgRE6nCB98wTDonAN663kkXl4Lq8YMn3MUr8WQ2d4/s320/IMG_0897.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Wednesday, October 14th: Nate took all 3 boys to get tested and Porter smacked the tech's hand away during the test, it went *that* well. Truman didn't have a fever anymore but said he didn't sleep much because he was super hot. Nate was up and down but obviously sick, although he wasn't flattened horizontal like I had been the week before. I was still feeling super weak, Cece was pretty much 100% better, and we all plowed through online learning somehow. It was a strange limbo day, feeling stuck between wanting to abide by quarantine rules but also just *knowing* Nate and Truman would be positive and everything would have to begin again for quarantine. On Thursday early morning, I checked my phone for test results at 5:30 am. Nate was positive, Wallace was positive (!! what??), but Truman and Porter tested negative. I had to make a color coded calendar to keep this all straight because nothing was making sense anymore. The kids all did Zoom calls with their classes, since this was the first actual school day they missed. I still felt weak and exhausted but we did things like set up a big puzzle in the basement and watch some family movies together. We couldn't be separated anymore with four positive cases in the house, since Truman and Porter couldn't take care of themselves just yet. So we decided to make the most of family time while we could. Nate still wasn't feeling great and then Wallace spiked a fever after dinner that night, 100.2. Poor baby boy was such a trooper but I felt super anxious about how he'd handle this virus. It was a challenge to avoid 'worst case scenario' thoughts when Wallace went down but he was so resilient and mostly happy, kids are amazing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jarring to read the word 'survivor' but I'm glad there is mental health support!</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Dorozh3v37B6ztwyldg458DF2OjK8ncndRivtEeT93U7bq4hOcW1ij0QbYS8r_Z7gs518eDktHqjnnz4sGevtV9sTnBRjxVSnlonsDNuqr12sNadscwLbOIIRVL4LfMNTecWvllSSKk/s2048/IMG_0922.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Dorozh3v37B6ztwyldg458DF2OjK8ncndRivtEeT93U7bq4hOcW1ij0QbYS8r_Z7gs518eDktHqjnnz4sGevtV9sTnBRjxVSnlonsDNuqr12sNadscwLbOIIRVL4LfMNTecWvllSSKk/s320/IMG_0922.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Friday, October 16 was the day Cece was released from quarantine so she could return to school. Such a strange thing to have our initial COVID princess return to the world WAY before the rest of us! She did well at school as we tackled more school zoom calls for the boys. I was on day 8, Nate on day 4 (using his headache on Monday as first symptom and day 0), Wallace day 2 (using his test date as day 0). Wallace seemed pretty much fine but his fever perked back up too 99 for a bit, even while he was running around the house like a hooligan. </div><div><br /></div><div>So many puzzles. </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqwTdhbcxF0HBj3r3zgo3q0CyDD8VFZmB2bKe9m6P2i6lX8BCZRsAuB8oMCa9-t9QZ3SnAr0jgFaZhbu8tOaixdPKb6XoWz7LTHFIPGyKjSjarLxTwBoP_ehAxp_gBT7WsfmtLXUAuCY4/s2048/IMG_0912.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqwTdhbcxF0HBj3r3zgo3q0CyDD8VFZmB2bKe9m6P2i6lX8BCZRsAuB8oMCa9-t9QZ3SnAr0jgFaZhbu8tOaixdPKb6XoWz7LTHFIPGyKjSjarLxTwBoP_ehAxp_gBT7WsfmtLXUAuCY4/s320/IMG_0912.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>So many movies in the basement</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Ts8FgDblf7H1TD53FZJIsTiMDbAZjNVCfTzpsVHyt-2dbOVcWUE_rbzNP7SVr69lWI7rE25cZrpQakVOCzfppsKDxPChej5cvgwt1BQ71hzxCd3u5OXW5sglYE1Ak6c_EsvLNZCLlX4/s2048/IMG_0915.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Ts8FgDblf7H1TD53FZJIsTiMDbAZjNVCfTzpsVHyt-2dbOVcWUE_rbzNP7SVr69lWI7rE25cZrpQakVOCzfppsKDxPChej5cvgwt1BQ71hzxCd3u5OXW5sglYE1Ak6c_EsvLNZCLlX4/s320/IMG_0915.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>So much cross stitching for me</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqcXlWwLJ8J5oyvr_6nhkwY5p5bmQKMxadl50c3ca_42tM87Aa9SyNunmMcWmD0n7pLFj89Fv7eobZ4fYMKzMcreZoC-Tk3-9-_hmobCve2cZLtDANk9y6qBIGm3li2dAadW2AsvLY_8Y/s2048/IMG_0953.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqcXlWwLJ8J5oyvr_6nhkwY5p5bmQKMxadl50c3ca_42tM87Aa9SyNunmMcWmD0n7pLFj89Fv7eobZ4fYMKzMcreZoC-Tk3-9-_hmobCve2cZLtDANk9y6qBIGm3li2dAadW2AsvLY_8Y/s320/IMG_0953.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The weekend was pretty unremarkable. I did get Porter and Truman re-tested on Saturday, October 17 because my BFF at the health department urged me to try again. Considering Truman's fever earlier in the week and the amount of exposure those boys had undergone, it just didn't make sense for them to remain negative. And yet, their new tests came back negative AGAIN on Sunday. Sigh. Also, Nate lost his sense of smell and taste on his day 5 of this mess. If nothing else changed, the negative boys couldn't even start their 14 day quarantine until Monday, October 19th---the first day I was released from my own quarantine. So Truman will miss the rest of his soccer season, Porter will miss his favorite holiday (Halloween), and neither can return to school until 11/2. I hate you, COVID. Seriously. </div><div><br /></div><div>Have been trying to get outside, with masks, and not around anyone else obviously. A little Vitamin D and fresh (36 degree) air is good for the soul.</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbko2EcZBZ1O8OlN6ED8VZdLRbxqUjaX_Xdf8uBGbIKLegjid6C11YWA_evY50ny10jS64zKV9vF7Gowx8qEENFk1pfBQiTFHWkKnm3ITUkRWbOPcFq4RFM3_r_vAPH0Nfe-KHIWyAUFQ/s2048/IMG_0962.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbko2EcZBZ1O8OlN6ED8VZdLRbxqUjaX_Xdf8uBGbIKLegjid6C11YWA_evY50ny10jS64zKV9vF7Gowx8qEENFk1pfBQiTFHWkKnm3ITUkRWbOPcFq4RFM3_r_vAPH0Nfe-KHIWyAUFQ/s320/IMG_0962.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Everyone is feeling pretty good today as I write this, on October 19th. Cece is on day 18, I'm on day 11, Nate day 7, and Wallace day 5. So now that I'm not in quarantine and not contagious, I can care for Truman and Porter, Cece can be with anyone she wants, but Nate and Wallace need to stay away from T and P. It's a different kind of quarantine because Cece and I can bounce around to any of the guys. Although, one stressful thing that happened tonight is that Truman spiked another fever of 100.4 and says his legs hurt and he's cold. He does NOT want to get tested again so I guess we will just treat his symptoms and hope it moves quickly for him. </div><div><br /></div><div>Seriously.</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIdbI-D2PSS_nx7V8rev0v4EXa1EX58_RrqgTqY-9Tuy4H8yNjPeqg9TODNt5xty0pPXraaNPemjAKEYCysllgjscho_bBsjg6dkpXouPgLoinWJkjNFj_fA66SkvOuDVlfGM0Jq9LwlU/s2048/IMG_0960.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIdbI-D2PSS_nx7V8rev0v4EXa1EX58_RrqgTqY-9Tuy4H8yNjPeqg9TODNt5xty0pPXraaNPemjAKEYCysllgjscho_bBsjg6dkpXouPgLoinWJkjNFj_fA66SkvOuDVlfGM0Jq9LwlU/s320/IMG_0960.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Update: his fever persisted overnight, he's achey, headache, feels freezing cold, and weak. I called our Pediatrician office and got him in to be seen, and they tested him for COVID for a THIRD freaking time. Poor boy. I hate this for him so much, just want him to feel better. I don't even care if it's a positive test anymore, but I am glad I took him in and the doctor didn't ask me to make the decision to re-test at all. So if it's negative, this could be influenza (although he hasn't been exposed to anyone outside of our family for over two weeks now) or some other virus. What are the chances??</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScLONBCUbZfIYfhHXhGKNGl_cZQ3sJa1OhY6cgxphZmiXI50_Eak9ir8kU9H7Ne78OxtLln-MQ0LQsw5RbhUC6VjkhBB9OsCb87rUb6SMeJAwMiYwxjMSVQTT_p5LQ41jHsGzXc4AnYM/s2048/IMG_0977.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScLONBCUbZfIYfhHXhGKNGl_cZQ3sJa1OhY6cgxphZmiXI50_Eak9ir8kU9H7Ne78OxtLln-MQ0LQsw5RbhUC6VjkhBB9OsCb87rUb6SMeJAwMiYwxjMSVQTT_p5LQ41jHsGzXc4AnYM/s320/IMG_0977.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>We did get Caution tape for our house, and nothing makes Porter happier than Halloween decorations---this tape felt creepy a few weeks ago but I agreed to it now, because everyone really should stay away from our contaminated house!</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfI0aLafqOXBSrEWi2TnitZ8AWIxLcAxcvgITq0LIA6J1slzlNbuIZ4Og3yA4tCkNrGtlhgYJbzaMkguD1kBpd920zkO7rSi0-2DRs8n_RlYnpoXt-iyl7WGidnCVdsiEG-4kPYPh_wg/s2048/IMG_0983.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfI0aLafqOXBSrEWi2TnitZ8AWIxLcAxcvgITq0LIA6J1slzlNbuIZ4Og3yA4tCkNrGtlhgYJbzaMkguD1kBpd920zkO7rSi0-2DRs8n_RlYnpoXt-iyl7WGidnCVdsiEG-4kPYPh_wg/s320/IMG_0983.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>And if we can't trick-or-treat this year, we will just have to pump up the decorations because Porter won't be satisfied until our entire lawn is covered with spooky decor. </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAU0umJjUaZOWqAciD_IsjuZAQKwwark6rG5GXQJsK3Ood2_cQHy9E9RhJlU-I4TAlznJzQbWthHLkHWl7ckgafx7dQbPFhg8pF9pSInC-qfgK3L0GokLp4gRH6KcXGg4JINi9QbsESqo/s2048/IMG_0980.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAU0umJjUaZOWqAciD_IsjuZAQKwwark6rG5GXQJsK3Ood2_cQHy9E9RhJlU-I4TAlznJzQbWthHLkHWl7ckgafx7dQbPFhg8pF9pSInC-qfgK3L0GokLp4gRH6KcXGg4JINi9QbsESqo/s320/IMG_0980.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm running out of head space for this blog post, but I have more to say about silver linings and things that we've learned on this wild COVID-coaster ride. So stay tuned for a second post sometime soon-ish. </div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-76044455115348070882018-07-12T20:52:00.000-05:002018-07-12T20:52:01.124-05:00Wallace is ONE!It's unbelievable, I know. But our last baby is one and I'm not sure where the year has gone.<br />
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Ten points if you can spot the missing month in the above picture---might have had to duplicate one of the months because I totally flaked on getting a quilt shot. And yet, I'm too obsessed with the monthly comparison collage to let it go!<br />
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But please, look at this comparison of one month versus twelve months! Those legs though.<br />
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Waller McBaller is walking all around the house now, up stairs like a boss and can<a href="https://flic.kr/p/LGKKs1"> dance </a>like nothing I've seen before. We say he took his first steps at 10 months, started walking at 11 months, and now at a year he's nearly jogging;)<br />
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He's JUST starting to get the hang of drinking water from a cup. He prefers an old school water bottle and nothing fancy, and is really only digging water and not milk yet. He still nurses twice per day and would probably do that for comfort many, many more times a day if we had time/I let him just stay attached to me. Feeling a little sentimental about my baby turning one, and the realization that he will probably be done nursing soon. Or maybe not, but it's definitely a different ballgame nursing this big guy compared to baby Wallace from a year ago. I'm so thankful he's a great nurser, what a way to go out! <3<br />
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Solid food is going well, but he still loves purees a lot. Maybe because he isn't drinking a ton of fluid, so he likes the watery baby food? He will also put DOWN the processed carbs and also ice cream. Fourth babies get sugar before their first birthdays, okay?<br />
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He's talking and babbling a lot more now, too. He can legit say 'dada' and looks right at Nate when he says it. He says 'shhhhh' and goes to grab his shoes and tries to put them on his feet. He tries to say 'Tru' and goes to look for Truman, but that word and also 'Cece' sounds a lot alike. Mostly he loves to sing to himself, saying 'ba ba ba ba ba' or 'oooooooo'. He can also wave 'bye bye' and says 'ba' when he does. He can shake his head 'no' when we tell him not to do something, and it's stinking cute to see his serious face when he shakes his head no.<br />
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I love that Wallace can understand some of what we are saying now. He's really such a delight and incredibly chill. I cannot stress this enough, and many people comment that wow, he's really laid back! I guess he HAS to be, as a fourth baby, but he's mostly down to hang with the big kids and loves him some mommy snuggles. There are times he only wants me, and only wants me to HOLD him. But he will also waddle over to Tony or Lois or Nate and lean into their legs like, 'Pick me up, fools!'<br />
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Sleep? Meh. He IS sleeping through the night most of the time, so that's something. But many mornings he wakes at 5-5:30am for the day. Better than starting the day at 4:30am, and better than 2 wake ups at night but still. Mama's tired. But I think that's just life now, right? I don't mind the 5 o'clock hour too much because I'll just get up and run after I feed him, if Nate can entertain Wallace for a bit before N goes to work. Naps are rarely over an hour, but we still do two naps around 9 or 10, and again around 1 or 2. I don't know, maybe he's ready for one nap but this seems SUPER early to me. Bedtime is around 7:30pm. He cries before every nap time and bedtime and sometimes even when we walk into his nursery. The kid just doesn't want to miss out on anything, I think!<br />
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Wallace is so very loved by all of his siblings. I love watching all of their relationships grow, but <a href="https://flic.kr/p/26f8j1N">Truman and Wallace</a> might have the most special bond of all. But then again, Cecelia carries Wallace around like her (big) baby doll, and Porter is so very patient with Wallace when he just destroys Porter's trains. I think we are all slightly infatuated with this baby boy and I don't see that changing anytime soon.<br />
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Teeth! Wallace got his two front teeth this month, and one other top tooth is right there. That brings the grand total to four;) Way behind the curve of his siblings with his chompers, but his mobility blows them out of the water. Because it's totally a competition, I know.<br />
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He had his one year appointment today, complete with three shots and one finger poke (no lead, which makes me feel relieved after the lead paint removal process outside). He is 21 lbs 9 oz, which is 54%, and 30.5" which is 74%. He has consistently been on these growth curves for some time now, my sweet average, tall-ish guy.<br />
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We had a huge BBQ joint birthday party for Wallace and Porter last weekend, with close to 50 people here to celebrate. I knew Ace would put a smash cake down like a boss, and he didn't disappoint.<br />
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We are gearing up for a BIG Oregon family vacation, which will be Wallace's second time on a plane. I feel like the difference between one year and 9 months is a big one, so these flights might be a little more brutal. But we can't wait to meet our first nephew and our kids' first cousin!<br />
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It's been quite the year for mister Wallace, and for the rest of us? It's been the fastest year of my life. It's making my head spin to think about our baby being a year old, but that whole thing about long days and short years? I understand it more and more as our kids age. We officially have an 8, 6, 4, and 1 year old. Amazing.Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-91059907073008075362018-07-05T20:44:00.001-05:002018-07-05T20:44:22.077-05:00Our Home Addition: The OutsideSo we had our entire exterior painted just recently, and it's honestly my favorite part of the renovation process. Hello, grays, whites and yellow!!<br />
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And yes, the doors are bright yellow. And this color scheme is so very 'us' and makes us really happy.<br />
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Our new back patio is something Nate dreamt about for years.<br />
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We often sat right here, looking up at our house, imagining what it would look like with an addition and repainted. We don't have to imagine anymore, as this is real life now!<br />
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How about some before and afters?<br />
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Front of the house:<br />
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Paint colors: cedar shakes (the lighter gray) are Sherwin Williams 'Steely Gray'. Plank siding (darker gray) is SW 'Wall Street'. Black windows are SW 'Caviar'. White trim is SW 'Rhinestone'. And yellow door is SW 'Cheerful'.<br />
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Have I ever told you how much I hated the brown roof, brown siding, and dirty cream colors?<br />
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Driveway side: I love how the windows and doors just pop now. Also I love the little side ceiling of the overhang above our door. So glad the painter scraped it all off to show off the original bead board. Just wish we could have done that to the other soffits that have bead board, but it took a million years to scrape off a million layers of paint on that wood. And it would have cost us about $1000 more, so no. Just this little part of wood will do;)<br />
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White trim on point, if you ask me. Also really glad we went with black windows and the black 'crown' trim piece, too.<br />
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Back of the house: looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.<br />
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Craziest comparison for me:<br />
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Neighbors' side:<br />
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Garage: We had to get new garage doors right before the addition, since ours totally broke. I picked light gray and just hoped it was the right shade to match the someday-addition. Turns out they worked great as inspiration for the lighter gray color.<br />
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Details: So many fun details on our house that never showed before, since they were all painted the same color.<br />
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There's that black trim piece that I love.<br />
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And although I figured this out after they'd already painted several windows, I asked to have the bottom strip of the windows done in black like the left window. Again, glad we went that route.<br />
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Bead board soffit that COULD be stripped down and left as raw wood, but for now we went with white. Maybe someday!<br />
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So the painting process wasn't too awful. We interviewed three guys and went with Rick , who was reliable and did great work. He estimated it would take him 10 days and it really took 20 days. He came every day at 7 am and even on Saturdays, sometimes with one other guy and sometimes with just himself. Rarely he had three other guys helping him.<br />
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We knew our existing paint was lead based just because of the age of the house and because Rick tested it. Rick was a certified lead removal specialist and that was important to us. He could only scrape the paint on one side at a time and had to wear huge suits and masks and tarp off everything around that side. Not all of the old paint came off like we had hoped. But you can't pressure wash lead based paint, so hand scraping was a lot more labor intensive and some of the old stuff was just GLUED on there practically. Rick tried to use a big sander but ultimately the hand scraping was best. He used some special primer/adhesion agent for any of the bumps and uneven parts of the paint.<br />
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They did mostly stick to doing one side at a time but it was a HUGE project, as expected. Rick never seemed too rattled by how long it was taking though;)<br />
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We also originally thought about getting new windows in the house, but then we decided to have Rick paint our existing windows black. We also wanted him to paint just the screens (our windows are so old, they have a separate storm and separate screen that are exchanged twice a year). Then we planned to get new windows just on the second level.<br />
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But once we saw how nice they looked painted black, I figured that we should save ourselves several thousands of dollars and just paint everything instead! That meant I pulled up an extra 10 storms for Rick to paint from the first floor. And we also had him paint the storm/screen combos on the second floor that we planned to toss and buy new. REALLY good decision, we are so happy to push off another major house project for a few more years (windows, $$$$$$$$).<br />
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And now for our patio: we had a big concrete slab poured as a part of the addition process, and then we wanted an arc extension off of that slab. We asked our mason to come back and do it for us but he was booked solid until September. So Tony and I went and picked out stone pavers and then he and Nate and I did the dang thing.<br />
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We also got SOD to help our backyard feel less like a dirt pile. It's really coming along! We have actual green grass again, hallelujah.<br />
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I never really get into flowers that much but this year I'm totally digging them. Also into adding stones to edge multiple flower beds around our house. Better late than never, right?<br />
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All in all, we are happy we did the addition when we did. Our contractor has since gone to work for a bigger company so if we had waited a year until things 'settled down', we would have missed the chance to work with Scott.<br />
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We went from 3 beds/1.5 baths to 5 beds/2.5 baths with this addition. Wallace got his own brand-new nursery, we got a master bedroom that can fit a king sized bed, plus we have his/her walk-in closets and a large (for us!) master bathroom with two sinks and a glass door shower. We have a door into the master suite to separate our new bedroom and bathroom from the four kids' rooms. But all 5 bedrooms are on the second floor together, and the two full bathrooms share a wall for plumbing.<br />
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Our general timeline:<br />
We signed the contract with the architect in January, he completely finished in May, the contractor broke ground in June, we moved into the new addition in December, and we officially closed on the new mortgage in February. Then we got the house painted in May and that part just finished last weekend. So all together, the construction piece really took a whole year of people in and out of our house, constant messes everywhere, nails in our yard, trucks in our driveway, dumpsters in our driveway, porta-John in our yard, our yard being completely destroyed into a mud pit, and other really awesome things that come with construction.<br />
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But bottom line? It was 100% worth it. We were told to expect the process to take twice as long and cost twice as much as our estimate. In reality, it took about 6 months of actual construction when Scott predicted 4 months. Unlike the typical warning about home construction, we actually did not go over budget. There were a few items that we opted to add into the process and pay outside of our loan to make happen. I can actually count three things that we upgraded, to put us slightly over the contracted price: 1. extra insulation in the new walls, 2. solid wood doors for the rooms, and 3. windows that are black on the exterior but white on the interior. Not too bad!<br />
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And this concludes my epic posts about our addition. Next up, Wallace turns one on Sunday. Hold me.Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-23524539481181410982018-07-01T21:15:00.004-05:002018-07-01T21:15:47.345-05:00Our Home Addition: Construction TimeWe left off in April, when we finished with our architect. It's a little fuzzy to me now, but I know we signed the contract with our general contractor, Scott, sometime in May. We went over everything with a fine toothed comb because we wanted to include as much as possible up front, knowing that if we added jobs in later they'd be up-charged by 40%. Being aware of that fun little tip made us say, 'We want Central AC in the entire house now', and also 'might as well do a whole new roof since we have to do the back half of the house anyway.' Can I get an AMEN to both of these big ticket items?<br />
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One decision that we mulled over for a few days was whether or not to create doors from our sunroom, onto the new patio. At first we definitely wanted to bust through this 'playroom' but then as we talked about moving electrical lines, creating stairs onto the patio that would take up about half of the concrete space, we weren't so sure. Then the logistics of walking from our kitchen, around to the sunroom, and out the door seemed to be exactly the same as walking form our kitchen, out our side door, and around the back to the patio. We decided that we can always add doors and steps later, but we wanted to leave the first floor alone as much as possible and save on space for the new patio.<br />
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First up in the long list of sub-contractors was the mason, who came to dig two giant holes in our backyard on June 19, 2017. Porter's infatuation with heavy machinery meant that the entire construction process seemed like we were orchestrating it just for him, and when the masons left their diggers in our backyard over the weekends? Heck yes, we got pictures.<br />
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After they dug the holes, they had to pour some concrete into them for supports. Then the concrete had to cure and somehow this process took much longer than anticipated. STORY OF OUR LIFE when it comes to a construction timeline, right? We were waiting for three giant steel beams to be delivered and there was some miscommunication, which meant that right when I had Wallace there was a lull in the action for the addition. Looking back, it was a blessing to have some silence for the first two weeks of bringing home our newborn baby. Things picked up at the end of July, though.<br />
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After the lovely Porta Potty was delivered to our side yard, Scott parked his work trailer in our driveway, along with the massive dumpster that sat in our driveway and blocked our garage for 4+ months. Then the steel beams were finally delivered on 7/31/17. Alllll of the lumber needed for the framing, plus the roof tresses arrived (in our yard) right before that. They used a humongous crane to lift the main steel beam into place, and then started framing in the addition and adding some rough walls. This part seems to go really fast, just like everyone told us it would. Scott, our GC, is a carpenter and he did a lot of the rough framing himself with two other guys.<br />
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On 8/11/17, they first started <a href="https://flic.kr/p/Xn8bB3">tearing off the roof</a> and old airing porch. Also, they had to time the tear off with the weather. They'd put a huge tarp down over the open part of our roof, and started with the back of our house. No big deal, except for the night they didn't tarp it because it took about an hour start to finish, to secure the tarp...and the forecast never included rain. Until it started to POUR at about 6am the next morning, and then I saw the first of three leaks into our kitchen ceiling. A low point of the process would be when <a href="https://flic.kr/p/XnPmgx">I saw water pouring out of our kitchen light fixture</a>, the newborn baby was crying, Nate was at work, I was on maternity leave, and the crazy had just begun!!<br />
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End of August meant the roofers arrived, as did our brand new shingles. This was an extremely messy process, if you can imagine, and we are still finding rusty nails in our yard a year later. But I think we had three layers of shingles on the roof, plus the original cedar shakes from the 1920s up there. As the roof was going up, Scott and his guys were <a href="https://flic.kr/p/ZanQuq">framing some inside walls</a> and working on the soffits of the addition. After the rough framing was done, the insulation guys came and we upgraded to extra insulation given that the addition has WI winter air coming at it from four sides.<br />
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Early September brought the electrician, the plumber, Scott ordered our new windows, and Nate and I decided to go with two pedestal sinks in our master bathroom. We just could not find a solid wood vanity that didn't cost 4k, and the more I hunted around the more I fell in love with two pedestal sinks for the clean lines/minimalist look. Scott assured us that he would build a nice linen cabinet in the bathroom for storage and even with the rough framing, we knew it would feel HUGE to us compared to our other full bath. To access the plumbing from our basement into the addition, they did have to tear out part of our kitchen wall to get to the 'stack', and then they had to get creative with where to place the new pipes. We ended up having them put the pipes along our kitchen ceiling and outside wall, and you don't even notice it now--but we were kind of hoping they could pipe off the upstairs full bathroom into the addition instead of going through our kitchen. Ah, well.<br />
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I have in my notes that our roof was totally done on 9/6/17, the plumbing to the new bathroom was finished on 9/10/17, and the HVAC company first came on 9/18/18. It took them awhile but they installed central AC in our whole house, creating ducts from a unit in the attic. They went into each room on the second floor, and then piped down to the first floor through two closets. This was a no-brainer for us, although Scott thought we could get by with just having one vent on the main level. I knew if we were converting to central AC and saying goodbye to window units forever, that we needed to do this right. And so they put a vent into each room on the first floor, too.<br />
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Scott installed the new windows on 9/20/17. And then began the saga with the plumbing inspector from the city.<br />
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The plumber was awesome but the plumbing inspector was not awesome. The inspector wanted the plumber to tear out an extra part of our kitchen wall, so that he could see if we had a vent to our half bathroom downstairs....which seriously has nothing to do with the addition and was SO ANNOYING to me. And tearing out plaster walls in the one room I didn't want to touch was the messiest, and this came at a time when Nate was traveling and I was hormonally charged at about six weeks post partum. It ended up being fine, and there <b>was</b> a glorious vent that the inspector needed to see. But it was highly inconvenient to lose our cubby storage and hooks during the first week of school. We didn't get them back until the drywallers came and fixed the huge hole, and we just learned to live without our little mudroom area in the back of the kitchen.<br />
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Early October brought the drywall company, which was rumored to be the <a href="https://flic.kr/p/CFeCF5">messiest part of the gig</a>. Newsflash, <b>they aren't lying</b>. Hanging the drywall wasn't too bad, and it just took them two days to hang it all (delivered with a crane, through our new windows, super cool). They taped and mudded, then sanded, and textured the walls a bit. This part was horribly dusty and it was during a time when my mom and Memaw were here visiting. We had to exit the house and go to the playground to escape the dust, and although the main drywall guy 'cleaned' after they finished, it was certainly still messy as heck.<br />
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View from the top, our lovely dumpster that STUNK and sat around for way too long.<br />
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Begin mantra: It will be worth it when it's done. Repeat forever.<br />
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We did get to write our names in sharpies before the drywallers were finished, so that's good.<br />
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At the same time as drywall going up inside, Scott and his guys were installing the new siding to the exterior of the house. Because we have both plank siding and also cedar shakes, it kind of took forever to get it looking authentic and like the rest of our house. We interviewed three exterior painters, as we were going to paint the entire house outside of the construction loan. We picked our guy in August and hoped to have it painted in October, but then winter hit hard and fast, and the new siding wasn't fully installed. So we opted to wait until Spring to paint everything, which was a bummer to push off but the right move. Low temps can't dip below 40 degrees so that the paint sticks well, and we knew it could be well into April or May before we saw warmth like that again. Oh, Wisconsin winters, you are ridiculous.<br />
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Since the drywall was ready to paint, Tony, Lois, Nate and myself got to work at the end of October. Painting wasn't included in our construction contract as we've already painted every square inch of our house and I actually enjoy painting. Come to find out that brand new drywall, compared to old school plaster walls, sucks up paint like none other! I picked two grays for the addition: Behr's Dolphin Fin for a lighter gray (which is already in our kitchen and hallways) and Behr's Pencil Sketch (which we had in our previous master bedroom and full bathroom). Then for the ceilings we did Dolphin Fin at 50% white. We painted, and painted, and painted for a whole weekend and even into the week. It was quite the job but looks so amazing now!<br />
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The gutter and downspout guy came at the end of October, and Jim the tile guy started at this time, too. Because I completely blew our budget with the black and white hex tile for the bathroom floor, we decided to have Jim tile the pricey floor for us but we would tile the shower stall with white subway tile ourselves. Jim added the concrete board for the shower but then spent about four days tiling the floor for us---and he was not shy about telling me how much of a pain in the rear this hex tile was to lay. Ahem, WORTH IT.<br />
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Scott's main guy, Bill, was working away on all of the trim inside the addition: baseboards, window casings, and trim around the doors. This 'finishing' stuff was really labor intensive and lengthy but they wanted to do it right, and match the rest of our 1920's trim that is pretty thick. We wanted all white trim so much of what Bill installed was already primed white, but we had to paint it all with two coats. Filling all of the nail holes and caulking around the trim was a huge job, too---mostly done by Bill but we also did some of it to help speed along the process.<br />
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In early November, our solid wood doors were delivered. I thought one of the lumber guys that delivered them was going to have a heart attack carrying the doors up our stairs. I finally had to remove all of my photos from our wall gallery in the stairway because the doors were going to knock them down. Surprised the wall gallery made it that long, actually!<br />
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Also, once the bathroom floor was tiled, the plumber came back to install the sinks and toilet. Bill started working on the hardwood floors in our bedroom, hallway, and Wallace's room. We went with solid wood, pre-finished planks that are very similar to the rest of the house. But the new floors are a standard width for planks and our originals are really narrow, so we knew they wouldn't match perfectly. The architect briefly talked about finding reclaimed, narrow wood planks to use instead but we didn't think it would be worth the hassle and we really like the gloss/newness of the wood we chose.<br />
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Bill was installing floors but also finishing up all of the trim, which was taking a million years. Nate and I ordered all of the light fixtures and a new KING SIZED BED for our bedroom in mid-November. He and Tony tiled and then grouted the shower in November and it turned out awesome! Also, the HVAC guys came back to turn on the heat to the addition this month, and having in-floor heat in our master bedroom is the greatest. We used our existing radiant heat system for the addition, with Wallace's room and the new bathroom having baseboard heat but our bedroom with in-floor heat. I'll never get an area rug for our bedroom because I am obsessed with stepping down on the bare, WARM wood in the winter.<br />
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Right before Thanksgiving, they poured the concrete for the patio outside. JUST before the ground froze.<br />
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Thanksgiving was the target 'move in' date for many months preceding November, but of course it came and went without much fuss. Scott installed the doors right after Thanksgiving, then installed the knobs we picked, and the mirrors in our bathroom. The trim was super close to being finished but not quite yet.<br />
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At the beginning of December, Nate and I spent every free moment painting trim. We even got the kids to 'help' us on the weekend, which was hilarious. The electrician came and installed all of our light fixtures and ceiling fans. The cleaning lady that was a part of the contract, came and worked her magic for about three days in early December. I was SO hoping she'd show us some mercy and clean not only the addition, but the other parts of our house that the construction mess touched (basically all of it, with the central AC holes in ceilings and people up and down our stairs for months). Deb the cleaning lady did end up deep cleaning most of our first floor plus the addition, which made me so happy.<br />
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Scott installed the bathroom linen closet and then on 12/9/17, we moved into our new bedrooms! This was a big, tiring weekend as every kid got a new (Craigslist) bed or got shuffled around into a different room. Truman kept his room that he used to share with Cecelia, but T got a new loft bed. Cecelia moved into our old master bedroom and also got her own loft bed. Porter kept his 'nursery' but it became a big kid room when he got the bunk beds from T&C's old shared room. His bunks just happen to be Nate's from childhood, too. Then Wallace FINALLY got his own room, after sleeping in our bedroom since he was born. Also we set up our king size bed in our new room and just stood back in awe at the size of it.<br />
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After nearly eleven years of marriage, we have finally arrived. ;)<br />
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Wallace's room:<br />
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Bathroom:<br />
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Once we moved into the addition, I think there was less pressure for Scott to finish 'quickly' outside. But he hired a helper to work on the siding of the addition, and worked on that for all of December and into January. We had the HVAC guys return right before Christmas, to make the baseboard heater in Wallace's room larger, as I felt like it was always cold in his nursery. Also, Scott and Jim the tile guy installed our glass shower door the week before Christmas which was huge, because we could actually start using our new bathroom after that.<br />
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I stopped taking notes after December, but I know Scott was finishing up the siding as it was snowing and horribly cold. He had to build the columns to cover the steel vertical beams. The electrician had to come back a few times to do some work on the patio ceiling, the HVAC guys had to do some stuff to the AC unit outside, and the gutter guy had to install a gutter on our garage. I believe we officially signed for our final installment of the title company payment in February and began paying our new mortgage payment in March. So it was about 8 months of actual construction time with a few lulls here and there, and Scott initially told us 4 months. Twice as long as expected? Seems about right!<br />
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Here is a video tour that I did of the inside, through Instastories. I'm sure that's somehow better than this lengthy post for 'reveal' pictures.<br />
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Next up: exterior finishes (painting the entire house!) to complete the renovation.<br />
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Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-44368271474498000432018-06-26T21:25:00.000-05:002018-06-26T21:25:14.755-05:00Our Home Addition: planning processTurning a house built in 1925, into a house that works for a family of six in 2018 was the ultimate goal for us when we decided to go forward with our addition. We really needed another full bathroom and another bedroom, once we found out we were having a fourth child. I like to think that Wallace was the catalyst for our addition, although it was something we talked/dreamed about for several years prior to our little caboose entering this world.<br />
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A little background for you first, before I dive into all that the addition entailed. We bought our house in 2012 and we are only the third owners in nearly 90 years, which tells you that our home has been well-loved and well cared for. We bought it from a family that lived here for 45 years, and raised three kids in this 3 bed/1.5 bath Chicago Bungalow, boasting about 1700 sq ft. It was a classic old lady home, you guys. Blue wool carpeting over every square inch of the original hardwood floors, heavy drapes covering all of the 33 windows, 1970s kitchen and full bath, and a cream color on every wall of the inside.<br />
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The exterior contained 90 years of painted original wood siding. Cedar shakes on the second floor, cedar panels on the first floor, original wooden windows and storms/screens, and a roof from the 70s (we think). I always greatly disliked the dark brown and ugly cream colors of the exterior, and truly hated the dirty cream colored walls inside. Hate is a strong word but I honestly did hate a lot of the cosmetic features of this house. We saw a diamond in the rough when we bought it, and we knew it could become US and our home with a little (a lot?) of elbow grease.<br />
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When I was pregnant with Cecelia, we bought this house and before we moved in, we spent every spare moment over here working on our first home. We did SO MUCH to this beauty and I have many blog posts entailing that process. Most everything was DIY and all that remained on our 'someday' list was 1. Finishing the basement (which we did in 2014), 2. New roof, 3. New windows, 4. New paint job, 5. Addition for more space.<br />
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And so? In the fall of 2016, we found out I was pregnant with Wallace, and we started seriously thinking about the addition versus moving to a different house with more space. We love our house, and all of the work we've already put into it makes it feel like home to us. We adore our location and wouldn't want to move anywhere else, in all honesty. Plus, buying a four bedroom home in our suburb means paying BIG BUCKS for a fixer upper. We've already fixed up this home, and we bought it at the bottom of the market for an excellent price. So it started to feel like doing the addition could turn this house into our forever home, and yes--living through the mess and stress of an addition isn't a walk in the park, but neither is selling/buying a different house, either!<br />
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Two of our neighbors up the street did additions to their houses in 2016. They both used the same architect/general contractor combination that we ended up using. Both of the guys (Joel the architect and Scott the contractor) came over as a pair and gave us a timeline and price estimate for adding a master suite. I remember this being sometime in November because I was not even out of the first trimester yet, but Nate told the guys that we were having a fourth kid. It's funny to look back on that moment now, since we were hoping to be FINISHED with the addition before Wallace was born. Hahahahaha.<br />
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In the fall, we were dreaming of a way to do the master suite in our walk-up attic on the third floor. But right away Joel and Scott saw that expanding our second floor into our backyard would be our best bet. We had an exit point out to the back, on the second floor, which took us out onto the 'airing porch' that we rarely used. The guys said that because we already had a hallway and a door that could lead to the someday-addition, this would be the best spot for more space. The first floor would be a covered porch but would not mess with our kitchen (my one stipulation....okay, one of my many stipulations). We'd have to create an entirely new roofline in the back of our house but they were confident this could happen without looking totally wonky.<br />
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We officially signed the contract with Joel in January of 2017. He drew up several ideas for the addition, including a small bedroom on the third floor, a 'living space' on the third floor, and a master suite on the second floor. As we started getting down to details about converting the attic to a bedroom and/or a big rec room, we found out we would have to re-do all of our second floor ceilings and attic beams to make it up to code. We'd also need two sets of stairs up in the attic, although we already had one full set, for a fire safety deal. So we were looking at adding a spiral staircase from the attic down to the second floor, trying to find space to fit that staircase into both floors. I didn't want to let go of the idea of a super cool, lofted ceiling living space in the attic...but eventually I did let that go when we saw the price of making that dream a reality. And tearing out all of our existing bedroom ceilings? Nope.<br />
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So then we were on board with focusing on just the second floor. After going back and forth on many options there, and measuring how far out we could put the columns that would hold up the addition, the architect came up with a plan. If we cantilevered out the addition by 3 extra feet over the top of the columns, Nate could still drive in and out of his garage door (important!) and we could get a fifth bedroom out of the drawings. We really didn't NEED a master closet that was 11'x7', especially since the rest of the bedrooms in our house are all about 11'x12'. And having a bedroom for everyone? All on the same floor of the house? Nearly unheard of in our little suburb. I was the one that pushed for getting two smaller bedrooms out of the addition, instead of one gigantic master bedroom and huge closet. Joel kind of thought I was crazy for wanting two smaller bedrooms but he went along with it anyway;)<br />
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Joel drew up the final plan, took tons of measurements, and sat with us in front of the board of review for our suburb sometime in March 2017. We were kind of nervous that the board would reject the plan for an addition this size (total square footage is about 500), but they were impressed with Joel's 3D house that he provided for a visual. The board passed his drawings and said, 'Now you have to make this happen, because a lot of the really nice plans never seem to pan out.' That seemed strange because why would the 'nice' plans not work out? We were SO excited to be moving forward with the addition, and happy to move on from the architect portion of the process---just because it meant getting closer to the final product.<br />
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This is the final drawing for our second floor (although in reality things in the master bath had to be moved around for plumbing).<br />
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I believe we paid the final installment to Joel in April of 2017, and if you are using my pregnancy as a timeline/visual guide, I was already getting close to my third trimester at this point. Nate and I would say to each other, 'Well, hopefully they break ground before my water breaks with this baby--that'd be crazy to start the process right when I'm in labor or something.'<br />
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Ah, funny how things work out. (spoiler: close but not exactly at the same time).<br />
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Next up? Actual construction!<br />
<br />Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-5904092612071099682018-06-09T22:16:00.000-05:002018-06-09T22:16:16.959-05:00Wallace | Eleven monthsHold me. He's getting seriously close to one year old.<br />
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Wallace is starting to understand what we are saying to him. He will <a href="https://flic.kr/p/KQDDij">give high-fives</a> on command, will wave 'bye bye', claps if we clap, and will crawl to the backdoor when he knows I've left the house. He points at things he sees outside and if I ask him where Truman is, he will look around and find the kid, then smiles.<br />
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He's vocal and makes his very own sounds, like he's trying to pitch in with the loudness in our house. But he mostly enjoys taking it all in, playing with the big kids, and throwing balls everywhere. This guy is OBSESSED with balls, and also with tiny objects he knows he shouldn't have.<br />
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The biggest news from last month is that at 10.5 months, Wallace took his first real steps! As of today he can string together 3-5 steps before he decides to squat down. This is really freaking early but part of me is surprised he didn't start walking at 9 months for how mobile he's been for so long. I love watching him stand in the middle of the room for 30 seconds, then take a few wide steps. It's so sweet and he is so proud of himself.<br />
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He can also climb up a few stairs and really loves to crawl with one leg under him and one out in front. He's lightning fast and when he's on concrete, he comes up with a bear crawl to avoid knee dragging. Wallace just amazes us with his mobility.<br />
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Things he's not quite as advanced with, compared to his siblings: still only has two teeth! Also still doesn't sleep through the night. Yawn. I am actually sleep training him for the fourth (?) time and it's going okay. I haven't fed him in the night for the past four nights. He was consistently waking twice a night again and I've had it, and the dude cannot actually be hungry with all he's eating during the day. Today he didn't wake at all...until 4:45am, and so that's when we started our day. We are getting there though! Really ready to sleep again, holy cow.<br />
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Naps are good, usually about 1.5 hours each, at around 9 and 1ish. Bedtime is at 7:30 and usually he wakes around 6:30am. He nurses in the morning, once or twice during the daytime, and then before dinner. We've come a long way since those early days of nursing every two hours! However, we haven't come *that* far because we are back to Wallace refusing a bottle, or a sippy cup, or really any liquid other than nursing. Sometimes he will drink a teeny tiny bit from a cup but not that much, so I worry he doesn't get enough fluid from just nursing. But he's growing well, has wet diapers and is a super happy dude so I try not to worry too much. He also eats real food for three meals plus a snack every day. He is loving chicken, guacamole, and all types of carbs the most. Can't get him off the baby food purees either, so he gets about 4-8 oz in a sitting. Henry is madly in love with this child and how much food he throws from the highchair.<br />
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Wallace fits in really well around here and he is a great fourth kid--always happiest when his siblings are nearby, and he responds with giggles whenever they talk to him. Pretty much everyone says he looks exactly like Nate, or sometimes baby Truman. I can see both but also think he's his own person, but those dark eyes are just enough to make me weak in the knees. It's no secret that I'm 100% obsessed with Wallace and the feeling is sort of mutual, as he's a total mama's boy. Separation anxiety seems to be hitting and he will sometimes start to whimper if I get my shoes on and head towards the door. Little sweetheart.<br />
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Wallace also made his first trip to Missouri and his longest road trip at 600 miles (took 12.5 hours on the way down). Pepaw passed away unexpectedly this month so we traveled as a family to be in southwest MO for his services. Although it was a sad trip I'm so glad we went, as it was exactly where we needed to be.<br />
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Other happenings: the exterior house painting is almost finished and it's amazing, like a different house all together. Cecelia turned six, and the big kids had their last day of school. Summer is finally upon us and we are loving it---just don't talk to me about Wallace's first birthday next month. How?<br />
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We love you, Waller Baller, Wall-Ball, Acey. You make life a little brighter, every single day.Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-90172989764867580732018-05-14T20:48:00.002-05:002018-05-14T20:48:58.346-05:00Wallace | Ten MonthsNo quilt shot this month and it's already a week late. BUT, Wallace is ten months old.<br />
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He popped his second tooth this month and is standing unsupported, and standing up from a squat position often. He can climb several stairs at a time now and crawls incredibly fast, with one leg propped up under his body for added speed. He will push toys and laundry baskets across the room to practice his walking and has gotten brave enough to lean into me, ALMOST taking his first step. It's crazy to me that he's this close to actually walking. Crazy.<br />
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He hates the sippy cup and also stopped drinking his bottles when I'm at work, so he's just nursing 3-4x per day and usually once at night. We keep pushing the sippy with water, breastmilk, or even whole milk and he literally laughs at us and throws it to the ground. Still growing and has wet diapers so I won't worry, although I cannot assume he's getting *that* much milk from me anymore. Kid just loves the boob though, and I'm trying to look at the bright side of this. NO MORE PUMPING at work and I put the pump away for good. Hallelujah.<br />
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Naps are getting more consistent, still following the 3-3-4 rule for wake time during the day. He will cry before falling asleep at naps and also bedtime but not usually for very long. First nap is around 9 for about 1-1.5 hours and second nap around 1 for the same. Bedtime is around 7pm and then he fell into a routine of waking around 3 am this month. Of course, last night he was up FIVE TIMES AND I WANT TO DIE. But we have all had a bit of a stomach bug, Wallace included, so I'm chalking last night up to sickness. Porter puked in the middle of the night, Nate was puking all day on Mother's Day, Wallace puked last Thursday and his diaper are just disgusting, and I kept Cece home from school today. Truman and I were on the verge Saturday but we both fought off the pukes somehow. Living the dream around here, folks.<br />
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Wallace loves solids and has been doing better with real people food and not just purees. He eats 3 meals a day plus a snack or two. Loves his highchair time as does Henry dog, of course.<br />
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Oh yeah, I flew with Wallace and Lois to Oregon this past month. He did awesome on his first flights but was a little sick when we returned. Must have been those airplane germs and the nearly constant licking of airplane seats/windows/everything. Great trip though, and Ace is excited for his first ever cousin to be born SOON.<br />
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He's getting more vocal and will mimic us now, which is the cutest. He will shake his head 'no' when we ask, motions 'so big' when we do, and can half-point at things . He likes to blow raspberries, squeal, and whisper sweet nothings into my ear.<br />
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Some separation anxiety hit this month and he wants mama, and only mama, more often than not. See also: 'boob baby who doesn't sleep.' Actually he DID sleep through the night twice this month, which is basically twice ever (because I don't count those sleepy first three weeks of life at all).<br />
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He's wearing all 12 month clothes and is around 50-60% for weight, and the same for height. Grew a little more hair but not a ton. He is seriously the cutest and I know I'm partial but, COME ON.<br />
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There's more to write about but my brain is mush after the five wake ups last night and cleaning kid vomit from puke buckets. Mister man is loved so hard around here. We can't get enough of him and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-60488695199225592462018-04-10T22:15:00.001-05:002018-04-10T22:15:57.769-05:00Wallace | Nine MonthsSeems like he is 'almost a year old', but really---nine months. Still big and still growing way too quickly for my liking. And his birthday in July seems like a million years away, mostly because it's legitimately very much winter weather here at the moment.<br />
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But yes, my Wallace baby is nine months old now.<br />
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First tooth FINALLY sprouted this month. So now I'm on the look out for numero dos because baby Wallace can be incredibly cranky, so I am forced to blame the teeth.<br />
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I have failed to get a picture of the cherished tooth, but that closed-lip smile though.<br />
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Actually, that isn't entirely true. He is happy as a clam during the daytime hours. But at night? We are majorly struggling with sleep deprivation here. FOR REAL, something needs to change. I can't even form a coherent sentence regarding night time sleep (lack thereof), but I will just say this: I need to be ready to fully night-wean this 'boob baby'. And in order for that to happen, I need to be ready to wean all together in case my supply drops or I have to push bottles more to ensure he's completely full/meeting his milk requirements. It's a long story and a convoluted mess in my head, but we will get to a point when we aren't drowning...hopefully soon.<br />
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Picture by Truman:<br />
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I am flying with Ace and Lois in two days, and we are going to Oregon for a total of six days. (EXCITED!! Going for my sister-in-law's baby shower). After this trip, I promise to focus on night weaning and sleep. But I'm not bringing my pump and haven't had to start formula yet, so for this trip at least we will be nursing and not doing bottles.<br />
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Nighttime sleep blows, he's up at least twice a night and sometimes more (and sometimes cries after nursing). Naps are all over the place but usually happen after being awake for 3 hours, then again after 3 hours, and finally bedtime happens after 4 hours of wake time. I'd guess he's up for the day around 6-7 am and I try to get him down for the night by 7:30pm. Each nap ranges from 30 minutes to sometimes 2 hours. Meh.<br />
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My screen saver at work:<br />
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Also, he's nursing but this month I can tell my supply is dropping. I'm down to pumping just four times per week (at work) and he usually drinks 11 bottles a week. But recently he's been refusing bottles so I don't even know. Happy to have my big freezer stash from when he didn't take ANY bottles! Regardless, I'm nursing only from my right side now, so let the lopsided fun begin! I'll pump about 4 oz from righty so I'm guessing he gets at least that when he nurses about three times a day, plus the two-ish times at night. See how those numbers don't totally add up? I want to keep nursing him but also want to sleep, and want to know my baby is full/satisfied. Ah, fourth time around and eating/sleeping is still a 'thing'.<br />
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Solids are not a problem at all, as Wallace eats three times per day and loves mostly anything we give him. He eats whole milk yogurt for breakfast, fruit and veggie purees for lunch and dinner, and then I'm still giving plenty of 'real' food that we are eating as a family. So far he love goldfish crackers, graham crackers, and Veggie Straws the most. Go figure!<br />
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Besides the typical sleep and eating talk, Wallace is still incredibly mobile. He's walking along furniture and has even stood unsupported for a few seconds recently. He crawled up three of our stairs and then fell backwards, because I had no idea he could climb stairs. So that was a fun milestone this month;) He will clap, raise his arms above his head when we say 'so big!', and can sometimes wave goodbye. Oh, and the screaming! Add that to his list of tricks, because kid loves to screech like the rest of the children. The louder the better.<br />
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Cannot with this face.<br />
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Truly, he is the sweetest baby, you guys. My favorite is when he nuzzles his face into my neck after waking up for the day. Either that, or when I come home from work and his face lights up with the biggest smile ever.<br />
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This is not his big smile, but it is a great shot of his double chin.<br />
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Best.<br />
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Wallace loves to be with the big kids and will crawl at lightning speeds to keep up with the crew. He has a particular obsession with Porter's train table and enjoys destroying any and all train tracks that big brother has built. I'm really proud of Porter for being patient with destructive baby but I wonder how long that patience will last. Wallace just adores the big siblings and will follow them around like a puppy dog. It's the best.<br />
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Super pumped about his first Easter, obvi.<br />
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<a href="https://flic.kr/p/25To9Hs">Balls</a> are a big deal this month as Wallace likes to throw them and then chase the balls all over the house. He will slap his hands on the table/high chair over and over again as if to say, 'Feed me, woman!' He definitely knows his name when I ask him to stay out of trouble (ie, don't suck on our shoes or crawl into the bathroom to explore trash cans).<br />
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Spring break 2018 at a museum with the kids. Nate has been working 12 hour days at his new clinic and we are all OVER WINTER already, obviously.<br />
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#blessed<br />
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What else? This past month also contained Truman's first broken bone (his wrist, during a soccer game), Cecelia's awesome dance recital, Nate had his kidney stone surgically removed and also opened his clinic, and we had a good but short visit from my mom, Memaw, and my Aunt Dana. It was a total whirlwind of a month, I guess!<br />
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Kind of can't believe our baby is nine months old already. But it also feels like eleventy hundred years since I was pregnant.<br />
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Love this little caboose of perfection, even if he won't sleep and gives me more gray hairs than I've ever had before.<br />
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But we will start with 'something': I blinked and he is eight months old, what in the world?<br />
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Sleep is not my favorite topic at all after last night's debauchery. Yes, it was Daylight Savings Time and yes, it usually blows for all parents in the history of ever. Wallace was up at midnight, then again at 4:45am and he didn't return to sleep after that until 6:30am. He nursed four times and I am seriously exhausted, not sure what is going on but he's getting worse at sleep instead of getting better.<br />
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I'm looking at you, kid.<br />
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Someday he will sleep through the night and it will be a glorious occasion. But kid just loves to nurse and likely needs it for 'comfort' in the middle of the night, despite all of our sleep training efforts to make bedtime a solid routine that doesn't include nursing.<br />
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He gets a bedtime bottle around 6:30pm and then lights off around 7pm after jammies, books, songs. He now hates taking a bath so I'm not forcing the issue every night in the name of routine.<br />
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Naps are not quite consistent yet, but he will roughly nap for a total of 2 hours each day. Usually he takes the first one around 9am and the second around 1pm, and they range from 45 min to sometimes 2 hours long. It's a crap shoot because depending on how awful the night went, he may sleep in until 8:30 am which throws off the nap schedule entirely.<br />
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Yawn.<br />
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I'm tired of talking about how tired I am so let's just move on, shall we? Because my goodness, he's cute.<br />
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Wallace loves eating 'real' food now and is gagging less on non-purees. He enjoys protein pancakes, burgers, pizza, quinoa and rice, and baked sweet potato strips. Anything that he can hold himself is a winner and the messier the better! He still eats purees, too, and will down 4-8oz of the stuff during a mealtime. Because I'm being a little psychotic about sleep at night (ha!), I'm trying to get him full to the gills during the day---so purees actually pack more punch than chunky food at the moment.<br />
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He is an excellent nurser, too, and for that I'm eternally grateful. He nurses when he wakes up for the day, gets one 6oz bottle of breastmilk while I'm at work, nurses when I return around 2:30pm, and sometimes nurses again around 5pm before dinner, then that 6:30pm 5 oz breastmilk bottle happens before bed. I have been pumping at work and then also before I go to bed, but I told myself after he hit eight months I could drop the bedtime pump. I do have a hefty freezer stash leftover from the days of bottle refusal/return to work, and honestly if I have to supplement with formula here and there I vow not to care. Because right now, my mental health is going to suffer if I continue pumping before bed, working outside of the home, managing three kids, a house, etc etc etc. I have no doubt that Wallace will continue to nurse when we are together, even if I give a formula bottle at bedtime---so we will just cross that bridge when we come to it as my freezer stash dwindles.<br />
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Delicious skin.<br />
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Sidenote on nursing and sleeping: I mentioned the <a href="https://www.preciouslittlesleep.com/">Precious Little Sleep</a> book in my last post, and there is a section in the book that really stuck with me. It talks about 'boob babies' and how you know you have a boob baby when they are obsessed with nursing. It's like nursing is a chocolate cupcake to them, and they are not happy when you remove their beloved cupcake from them. Sure, they CAN sleep without a mouth full of cupcake, but why would anyone want to do that? Stand between a boob baby and his cupcake and you will feel their discontent. Wallace is a total boob baby and loves his freaking chocolate cupcake like woah. I'll try to focus on the positive in this, because although Porter was STTN by now, he also self-weaned at six months. You can't always have a good sleeper AND a good nurser, right?<br />
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An area of excellence for Wallace? Mobility. This baby is seriously crawling super fast, pulling up, sitting back down, he just climbed up the bottom step of our staircase, and he can easily walk along furniture now. The ottoman, couch, and trainable are his favorite locations to practice this skill and I've seen him reach from couch to ottoman, changing locations without a problem. YIKES. It's kind of my favorite to see him crawl like a maniac from room to room, and he will hunt me down when he hears my voice from afar.<br />
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T-R-O-U-B-L-E<br />
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How I shower:<br />
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For all of his amazing efforts in mobility, Waller McBaller still has not cut a single tooth. This is definitely late compared to my other children!!<br />
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Also, this past month was not the healthiest for our baby. He had his very first ear infection about a month ago, and then two weeks ago I had to take him into Urgent Care because he was hysterical at night. Also, the other three kids were also sick (Truman had an ear infection and possible strep, Cecelia and Porter both had tummy bugs). We had a total of four Urgent Care visits spanned over two weekends, Wallace going in twice and the other kids all went in once. It was a blast, let me tell you.<br />
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SADDEST.<br />
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Oh yeah, I forgot about the time his eyes were crusty and red and swollen last month, too. Let the good times roll.<br />
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ANYWAY, that first weekend of fun uncovered Wallace's second ear infection---this time only his left ear, but 'pretty bad' according to the doc. Since he had been off amoxicillin for only one month, they put him on Cefdinir this time which is stronger. It did help clear up the infection, but on day 7 he spiked a 103 degree fever over night and was crying the saddest cry ever, plus very tired. I took him back into Urgent Care and they swabbed him for Influenza, which was negative. Therefore it was some 'new' virus that gradually faded after a day or two, but the past few weeks have been pretty insane around here. See also: Nate has had a kidney stone for FIVE WEEKS NOW and has to have surgery to remove it this week. #StruggleBus<br />
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Because he's been weighed every time at Urgent Care, I know Wallace is a little over 19 pounds now and fits both 9 month and 12 month outfits. I feel like his forehead gets bigger every day and with his new-found scrunch face smile? Totally resembling Truman more and more, if you ask me.<br />
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His siblings are in love with this baby and the feeling is mutual. Wallace will giggle at all of them and although he usually destroys Porter's train tracks, big brother is being patient with the little trouble maker more than I expected. Truman and Cecelia are genuinely helpful as they play with Wallace, keep him out of trouble (sort of), and carry him around the house for fun.<br />
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Also, sits in BOB without car seat now!<br />
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ARE YOU KIDDING ME?<br />
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We call him 'Wallace' most often, but Ace, Waller McBaller, Wall-Ball, Wally Poppins, Mister Poppins, Wallaby, and Acey Basey are all common nicknames you'll hear us say to this nugget babe.<br />
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Bunch of (lovable) clowns<br />
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Well, this turned out to be complain-y pants, huh? I should know better than to write a blog post the day after getting horrid sleep. But I'm obviously not making time to write here much anymore, so when the opportunity presents itself I must blog, darn it.<br />
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Things to also note:<br />
-Truman turned eight years old and is amazing.<br />
-Nate's new clinic opens in a week!<br />
-Did I mention Nate is having surgery this week?<br />
-We signed the final draw for our addition. Still need to do a tour for you, I know.<br />
-Other thoughts on this hectic time in our lives do sometimes surface, and I consider writing them down. But if a general monthly update is this negative (read: TIRED), I don't think I can do the positive side justice right now. So I just don't write and that's uncool, but maybe someday I'll dust off the cobwebs. After all, this little blog has been kicking for almost ELEVEN years, man. Insanity.Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-81833569945612633012018-02-10T10:39:00.002-06:002018-02-10T10:39:50.407-06:00Wallace | Seven MonthsCloser to a year than his birth, Wallace is officially seven months old. How? I do not know, my friends.<br />
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It was a huge month for our little caboose: he went from army crawling, to <a href="https://flic.kr/p/ExWwj6">four-point crawling</a>, to pushing into<a href="https://flic.kr/p/22RQqZn"> sitting alone</a>, and then <a href="https://flic.kr/p/G5dFwW">pulling to stand</a>. Yes, it's super early for him to be this mobile and I have no idea WHY he's this insane. We've done nothing different with him compared to our sweet Porter boy who didn't roll or crawl or pull to stand until almost a year old. It cracks me up to compare these two dudes, who are polar opposites when it comes to motor milestones!<br />
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But anyway, Wallace is all over the house now and it's a whole new ballgame. He's pulled up on our bottom stair and stands there, looking over at me with a smile. He's trying to climb on top of our mini-trampoline (the centerpiece of our decor during winter months), and will stand at Porter's train table until he's tasted every train. We are doing our best to 'baby proof' the house but it's no small feat, when tiny Shopkins, miniature trucks, and other choke-worthy items seem to end up on the floor at all times. The big kids are really helpful with intercepting foreign objects from Wallace's grubby little hands, and I'm feeling more inspired to capture the dust bunnies living in our corners.<br />
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Was getting stuck under things for awhile, now can free himself!<br />
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I'm going to schedule the regular cleaning lady soon, mark my words.<br />
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We had to <a href="https://flic.kr/p/22Nznyx">drop the crib mattress this week,</a> as Ace started pulling up in the crib and is a man obsessed with standing instead of laying down. He 'sort of' knows how to sit back down but not really, because he mostly just bails and falls to the side when he wants to move on. Once he masters sitting down gracefully he will probably be a lot happier and less frustrated.<br />
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Because also, he STLL hasn't cut his first tooth, which seems to be a source of great irritation for him. I haven't looked back at the archives to be sure, but I remember the other three cutting teeth at 6 months. I keep jamming my finger in his mouth and praying I'll feel a little nub, but so far no dice. He's not THAT cranky but he has his moments, that for sure. I will continue to blame teething/a growth spurt for about....two more years?<br />
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Sorry, not sorry.<br />
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Speaking of growth, this baby is moving into 12 month outfits. He's between 18-19 pounds and looooooves to eat solids now. We are feeding him purees 2-3 times per day and he can easily slam 4-6oz of baby food in a sitting. I think he will keep going if I let him! He can also grab puffs and Baby Mum Mum crackers and some yogurt melts, which is great because it keeps him busy in the high chair while I'm making dinner. I haven't been really strict with introducing new foods one at a time, because #fourthbaby, but so far he seems to love mangoes and bananas the best. I'm really into the Plum Organics brand of baby purees this time (not sponsored!) and some of their flavors seem downright delicious. Raspberry, banana, barley? Turmeric and Cardamom? Yes, please!<br />
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Henry is a huge fan of babies at this age.<br />
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Because Ace is eating so much 'real' food, he's adjusting to his new poop schedule and has to really push them out now. I won't go into detail and don't think he is truly constipated, but he has to work harder than when he was only consuming breastmilk. And the diapers are much more offensive now, so sad!<br />
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He's still nursing really well, although we are playing around with our nursing/pumping schedule and I think my supply is finally dropping down from where it was a month ago. Right now Wallace nurses around 7:30 am before I go to work, he takes a 5 oz bottle of pumped milk around 11-12am, nurses again when I come home around 2:30, sometimes a snack around 5pm, and now we do a 5 oz bottle of breastmilk before bedtime around 6:30pm. He also has solids at lunch and dinner, and then I pump at work one time and before I go to bed. I HATE pumping and am toying with the idea of dropping the work pump session, but we will see. I do still have about 250-300oz of milk frozen from my maternity leave/early return to work when he refused a bottle. I also find myself less psychotic about avoiding formula, because Porter had already self-weaned at this point and did just fine on formula. Of course, I worry Ace won't even drink formula if we offered because he's so darn picky, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, just celebrating an awesome nursing relationship for the past seven months!<br />
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He IS starting to clamp down/bite my nipple and whip his head around in distraction, which causes me to scream in pain----not fun at all, and hopefully he stops that soon. I want to continue nursing as long as he wants to nurse, and I could see this guy nursing well beyond a year. We will see, I suppose!<br />
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Now for sleep talk: I just finished the book <a href="https://www.preciouslittlesleep.com/">Precious Little Sleep</a> and seriously love it, you should definitely read it if you are struggling with sleep issues in your baby/toddler. I started off by devouring her blog and then her FB page, and then finally bought and read the book this month. I am a big fan of the author's take on sleep training---it gets right to the point, saying it's necessary to teach kids how to sleep independently so that they can be well rested and healthy, and she throws in a little bit of sarcasm/humor to lighten the topic. Really, it's a great read and I'm not sure why I haven't heard of this book before now!<br />
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Wallace is most definitely NOT sleeping through the night but we have come so far from the days when he needed to be glued to my boob all night long. Having his own nursery was a huge step. And now we have solidified a bedtime routine to include bottle (so he stays awake during the last feed, and also gets really full), then bath, lotion and jammies, books and singing, then GOODNIGHT at 7pm! Sometimes he fusses around for about 5-10 minutes in protest, but some nights he goes down without any grumbles. This. Is. Huge.<br />
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Then he consistently wakes about twice at night to eat, around 12 or 1, and then again around 4 or 5. I'm starting to try the PLS method of night weaning by shortening our nursing sessions at night, and I won't feed Wallace if he wakes before midnight. Usually he will nurse for about 15 min and then I'll lay him down without issue, but sometimes he is super pissy to be removed from the breast. Last night he was only up once at 3 am, and he kept falling right to sleep nursing. I doubt he's truly hungry at night as he's plenty big/old to make it without night feeds, but I know he's just used to eating at night and loves to nurse for comfort. We will get there, as I'm more than mentally ready to sleep longer than 5 hour stretches. I'm super proud of Wallace for how far he's come with sleeping at night and can absolutely see a difference in his demeanor when he's slept well at night. It makes for a happier mom, happier baby, and happier family life when we sleep. Who knew?<br />
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Naps are getting more consistent, too. We try to follow the 2-3-4 rule, which means he is awake for 2 hours in the morning before his first nap. That puts him going down around 9 am, and then he will sleep anywhere from 45 min to 1.5 hours. Then we keep him up for 3 hours before nap number two, usually putting him down around 1-2pm. That second nap is usually only 45 min or so, but sometimes longer. Then he can make it for about 4 hours before bedtime, assuming he wakes from his second nap around 3 and bedtime is 7pm.<br />
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I'm sure this sleep talk is not nearly as fascinating for you as it is for me, but I'm definitely becoming obsessed with getting more sleep these days. I'm going to be 37 in a few months, and with four kids and a part time job outside of the home (and everything else in life), mama needs some freaking sleep!! Who doesn't, right?<br />
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What else? Oh, this past month Wallace also had his first double ear infection and therefore his first round of Amoxicillin. He was up from 10-2am one night and then the next night was just as bad, so I trusted my gut and took him in to the doc, hoping for answers. Sure enough, double ear infection. BOO. He truly hated the amoxicillin and spit most of it out for the first 5 days, then started to accept it better in the final 5 days.<br />
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We've also been hit with a wave of illness in this house beyond the ear infection, as Truman had a fever and missed a day of school, then he started puking a few days later and missed two more days of school. My stomach has NOT been right since then and I've been kind of stressed about everyone else getting sick. I think about 1/3 of the kids are sick at home at the kids' school, as this winter has just SUCKED for sickness! Truman and Cecelia had their first ever snow day yesterday, though, which is very unlike Wisconsin to call it after just 5-6" of snow! But we will take an extra day at home, and luckily Tony didn't mind having them home while I worked my usual 5 hours.<br />
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Wallace's personality remains the sweetest, happiest, and most curious little baby around. He loves watching his siblings and now follows them around the house. He sometimes cries when I leave the room so I think separation anxiety is beginning, but usually he's just fine as long as he's entertained. And he's a BUSY BOY, constantly crawling around, standing, putting things in his mouth, squealing, etc. His smile and giggle melt us and it's hard to feel stressed when starting at this face.<br />
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The <a href="https://flic.kr/p/FSmy45">month of January was a good one</a> around here. And not related to the baby, the house addition is 99.99% finished and I expect we will officially sign the completion papers this week. Nate also turned in his notice at his job and is opening his own PT clinic through a Detroit-based company. We expect his new doors to open mid-March and it's quite surreal for him to OFFICIALLY go this route! It's been a long time coming and we are excited for all that's to come. I've been in my supervisor position for a year already, too. Time flies!<br />
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Back of house, cannot WAIT to have the entire thing painted this spring!<br />
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Life is wild but it's incredibly good, too.<br />
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Quilt shots getting really difficult. #ConstantBlur<br />
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This baby is no longer a teeny tiny baby. He's officially<a href="https://flic.kr/p/21Zq674"> army crawling</a>, pivoting on his tummy, up on all fours and rocking, <a href="https://flic.kr/p/2398p68">scooting himself</a> around the house, and has discovered Porter's delicious trains and trucks and various toys/dust bunnies. He will plank, get up on all fours, and then plop down in satisfaction. He can move forward now and seems to practice his new moves in his crib, when he is supposed to be sleeping.<br />
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Very dangerous place to be now.<br />
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On that topic, we are still working at the sleep thing. Ace is finding his groove with a solid bedtime routine at 7pm: bath, jammies, playtime in the dimly lit nursery, then nursing and bed. I want to move the nursing up in the schedule so it's not the very last thing he does before snoozing, but we aren't there yet. He usually wakes up about twice at night to eat and sometimes goes back to sleep easily, sometimes NOT. The new fun is when he wakes up RIGHT when I fall asleep for the night, around 10:30, for the first time---then again around 2 and 4. Yawn. I'm pretty sure he's old enough and large enough to night wean, so I will put that on our To-Do list.<br />
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We took an epic nap together over Christmas and it was the greatest.<br />
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Naps are decent, usually taking his first one around 9 or 9:30 and it lasts for about 1-1.5 hours. Then his second nap is a little harder to come by, but usually happens after he's been awake for 2-3 hours. On my work days he is rocking the bottle now, taking about 5-6 ounces no problem. He still prefers to nurse at least twice in the evenings when we are reunited but it's much improved from last month. YAY. I find myself being able to set him down and he can play on the floor while I cook dinner. Gone are the days when I was nursing and carrying a fussy baby while eating/wiping butts/etc.<br />
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Oh, my heart.<br />
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I think Wallace will cut his first tooth really soon, based on the constant red cheeks and hands in his mouth non-stop. The others all cut their first teeth at 6 months so I'd be surprised if mister man takes much longer. His cheeks were so red and seemingly chapped this month that I thought maybe he had Fifths Disease, but now I'm thinking it's just from drool and dry air. I've been putting Aquaphor on the baby's sweet skin and that seems to help a little bit.<br />
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Also enjoys sucking in his lower lip.<br />
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The other really big event from this past month is that Wallace is eating solid foods! His first foray into anything other than breastmilk went well. I baked and then pureed some sweet potatoes mixed with water and breastmilk, and he was immediately impressed. I love the look on his face, like, 'Why have you been holding out on me this long?' We also tried an avocado and then a banana in the mesh teether, and both seemed fine but I doubt he actually ingested much. The thicker, store bought version, of baby food in a squeeze pouch did NOT got over so well---definitely too thick for the texture, I guess!<br />
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Nightly baths in the bumbo are now a must, given his love for holding his own spoon full of sweet potatoes. He loves his jumparoo and his playmat, although he won't stay ON the playmate for longer than a minute before he is across the room, getting into trouble.<br />
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Yellow water from color changing tablets, not pee (I think).<br />
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Timehop told me that three years ago, Porter completely weaned himself from breastfeeding at this same exact age. Combining this fact with the memory of Porter refusing to roll or crawl or move at all until one year of age? These two boys are complete opposites. Ace loves to nurse and for that I'm really grateful. I haven't had to supplement with him, mostly because he has amped up my supply with frequent and efficient nursing this whole time. I'm still pumping once during my work days, getting about 5-6 oz at a time, which is exactly what he's taking while I'm gone. I'll feel random let downs (even at home) if I go more than 3 hours without nursing/pumping. This seems sort of crazy to me, at the six month mark, but I'll take it. At the advice of many IG friends, I started taking Sunflower Letchin, and (knock on wood) I haven't had mastitis or a bad plugged duct since. Hooray! Mostly very grateful to have such a wonderful nursing relationship with this babe, because the snuggles are intoxicating. He's more distracted now than he was a few months ago, which makes nursing a little more challenging (ripping my nipple off as his whips his head around? No thanks). But for now it's working and he is a big nurse for comfort guy, too.<br />
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Wallace is still just the smiliest, most laid back baby. Strangers comment on how HAPPY he is. They also say he is Nate's spitting image, which is sweet except that Wallace is super fat and bald and has big ears ;) Ace has his six month appointment this Friday, but he's probably at least in the 50th percentiles for everything. Wearing 9 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and still boasting some mega arm rolls and thigh fat.<br />
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He loves his big siblings and is highly entertained by their antics. The love is reciprocal because Truman, Cecelia, and Porter all have their own ways to interact with Ace in the most awesome ways. Truman enjoys carrying Wallace around the house and talks to him in a high pitched voice, announcing to his class at school about every little milestone Wallace hits. Cecelia requests to lay with Wallace on the couch and she 'babysat' him once for me, in the nursery, while I gave the big boys haircuts in the shower across the hall. Granted, she did let him crawl inside of the closet where he started pulling out diapers from a box but hey, it worked! And Porter has a big heart for his little brother, frequently telling me that he doesn't like Wallace to cry, and he will provide numerous toys to keep him distracted if the baby is upset.<br />
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Someone had his first Christmas and got maybe one gift!<br />
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Also had his first cold and rocked it, too. Definitely threw off any good sleep training we did but whatevs. Watery eyes and stuffy nose, so sad.<br />
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Oh, duh. ALSO, Wallace got baptized this month! We had Nate's brother, Jon, and his wife, Brittany, as the godparents while they visited us from Oregon over the holidays. Wallace did amazing, considering he hadn't napped that morning before the 11:00 service. He wore the same white outfit that my mom made for Truman and also Porter wore. Ah, seeing all three boys in the same clothes does something to my heart.<br />
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His nursery is nearly fully decorated and I love it so so much. Sneak peek of my view in the glider, at those Swiss cross decals that nearly killed Nate and his brother to apply:<br />
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I don't know what else to report about our caboose who is a half of a FREAKING year old already. He is pretty much smothered in love at all times and brings us an absurd amount of joy daily. We love you, Waller Baller!Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-43306173772706508422017-12-13T13:54:00.000-06:002017-12-13T17:31:23.072-06:00Wallace | Five MonthsThis is going to be a short update, FOR REAL THIS TIME, because life is <u>nuts</u> but I just can't let go of the monthly posts.<br />
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Wallace is five months old now. He is rolling all over the place, pushing up close to the All Fours position, scoots around on his tummy in a circle, and has already tried to eat our Christmas tree a few times. How is this happening so early?!!<br />
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He was on that mat when I walked away, then I returned to this:<br />
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He's a happy dude and loves to stare at the big kids. I'm thinking he's an early mover simply because he knows he has to get the heck out of the way of these three other kids---or at least keep up with them.<br />
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He's grabbing at our food and looking at cups like they are the most fascinating thing ever. Kid wants to eat, but mommy just isn't ready yet. Not ready for the changing poops or the mess, but I guess I better suck it up and go for it soon. The others all started solids around 5.5-6 months, so yeah. It's time.<br />
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Oh my heart.<br />
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First picture I took on my real camera since his birthday...yikes. But DIY Christmas cards were calling!<br />
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Wallace is still an excellent nurser and is even taking the bottle while I'm gone now!! Usually he drinks about 5-6 ounces while I'm away, and then nurses non-stop from the time I get home until bedtime. This is actually a point of contention with me, because I'm reaching my breaking point like woah. I cannot sit on the couch and nurse from 5-10pm even though that's what Ace would love. It's hard not having any <b>break</b> time to breathe, and no--work doesn't count as a 'break'. It's <u>work</u> and it's something else to manage/think about/focus on other than myself. I do not get to relax at work, although I usually manage to have a hot cup of coffee from my thermos, so there's that;) I could go on and on, and really---things are going well, but we need to find a schedule for nursing and sleeping ASAP.<br />
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Last night I finally said that it's time to implement some sleep training, even though I HATE HATE HATE it. I also despise being sleep deprived and stressed out and not able to give my family the best of me. So we are sleep training and last night went really well so far. Wallace still loves me and is smiling at me right now, so I'll remember that when I'm wavering tonight against his cries.<br />
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We are striving for two naps each day, around 9 and 1. Admittedly, we have been failing greatly at this but I have high hopes for the next month. And instead of finally laying him down at 10pm and then crashing into bed myself, we are going to stick to a 7pm bedtime. Here goes nothing!!<br />
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He's wearing size 9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper that I found seemed to fit much better than size 2. Baby Wallace is not an infant anymore, you guys. He's growing up so fast and is still so squeezable and edible.<br />
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Hands are ALWAYS in his mouth and his cheeks get super red lately, drooling constantly. He has to be teething? He also seems to have a little bit of a cold but he's not letting that affect his outlook on life just yet---dude is super chill and just the best.<br />
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Plus, I have another diaper changer in the house though, so it's all good.<br />
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And Ace has two mommies, didn't you know?<br />
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OH yes, and he is taking a bath with Cecelia and Porter by using the old Bumbo trick. I have to hold him down so he doesn't float but he freaking loves bath time now.<br />
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I'm forgetting 90% of what I wanted to blab about today, but duty calls. And by 'duty' I mean gathering up snow gear to walk across the street and get the big kids from school.<br />
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(ALSO, our addition is basically done! Remember that time we broke ground in June? And signed the contract with the architect back in January? Yeah, the project is still continuing but it's so close to being 100% finished! The outside still has a good week of work left to complete, but the inside? It's so amazing! King bed for us, new beds for the kids, all of us have our own personal space....someday a blog post will follow. We went from 3 beds/1.5 baths to now 5 beds/2.5 baths and it's glorious. But when I say life is <b>nuts</b> for Wallace (and for all of us), the addition is a big part of that statement.)<br />
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CRAZY TOWN = our house<br />
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It's crazy but I wouldn't have it any other way with these buggers.<br />
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Help me, ma.<br />
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And, okay, a sneak peek of the master bathroom <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24311709@N06/38185541524/in/datetaken-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4583/38185541524_a494ab0597_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-77737449549251280442017-11-12T20:49:00.000-06:002017-11-12T20:49:04.553-06:00Wallace | Four MonthsHoly moly, he's four months old already.<br />
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I'll just get the nasty part out of the way right now: Wallace isn't sleeping well AT ALL. He used to be so great at night, waking once to eat and then falling back to sleep quickly. And now that the four month wakeful period has hit, I've stopped counting the number of times he will nurse at night. And all through the evening after work. And his eyes pop open and he screams as soon as I lay him in his co-sleeper, at night and also during the day. So yeah, naps are usually 20-30 minutes at a time, unless he's in the carseat or Ergo---then I can sometimes sneak at 2 hour deal out of him, but it's rare.<br />
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It's not easy to convince myself that we have to work hard to change his sleeping habits, considering that he doesn't have a nursery yet and therefore he's still sleeping right next to me at night. I think he can smell me and just wants to nurse and cuddle all night long. I tried putting him in with the big kids and that was an epic failure, so now I'm just thinking we will hunker down and wait it out until the addition is finished. Supposedly that is going to happen by Thanksgiving, which most likely means Christmas---but SOMEDAY Wallace will have his own (brand new) bedroom and a crib and will NOT be next to my bed all night long. Someday soon!<br />
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I also think Ace is just getting used to me being at work four days a week. He's still not taking a bottle consistently: some days he will slug down 4 ounces but other days it's zero or a half of an ounce total while I'm gone my 5.5 hours. You just never know with this kid! But since he also hates to nap, I get home to a starving/exhausted baby who just wants to eat and hang on the couch all night. This is really impractical and hard, baby boy! But we are figuring it out and finding some sort of routine....I think.<br />
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Wallace is loving his hands this month and always chews on them. A lady in the grocery store remarked that he 'must be teething', because of the hand-eating, but I don't know--my other kids never got a tooth until six months. He can roll over but hasn't really done much of that since he mastered it last month. We pulled out the relic jumparoo monstrosity, circa 2010, and he loves batting around some of the plastic friends for a solid 15 minutes or so. He is at the age when he needs to be entertained, and the jumparoo, the Bumbo seat, and the play yard seem to fit the bill. He also loves to prop up on the couch and watch TV---this kid seriously loves the boob tube, almost as much as the boob. ;)<br />
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Truly, he is the happiest baby, super smiley and content 95% of the time. He'll flirt with anyone who makes eye contact with him and he LOVES watching the chaos of the older three kids around our house. We think he sometimes gets lonely when we leave him in the pack and play or somewhere that he can't see us, because as soon as we get closer to him he's happy again. Ace will giggle if I toss him in the air, or tickle him, or make a funny face at him. IT'S THE GREATEST SOUND EVER.<br />
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He's quite vocal and scares himself with his squeals, like he doesn't know that they are coming out of his own mouth. I've also noticed that he stares at my food or cup when I'm eating, so perhaps we are getting closer to the table food milestone. I don't usually start the kids on any food until five or six months, so I'll wait for awhile longer, but he does seem to take interest already!<br />
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Wallace and I are quite attached to each other, which is why it's been hard transitioning back to work. I'm really grateful that it's only twenty hours per week, because I am loving my job itself---it's just tough to come home to a grumpy baby that missed me greatly. Here's hoping we can find our groove this next month.<br />
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The big kids are infatuated with Waller Baller, Wallipop, Walli-poppins, Ace of Base, Acey, and Wallermelon. He has more nick names than anyone I've met in my life. Truman has begun carrying the baby around the house, Cecelia frequently puts a crown on our baby, and Porter likes to keep him from crying by letting Ace suck his (disgusting) finger. We are working on that one. Blech.<br />
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We have his four month well-baby appointment this week, but he's growing out of his six month clothes and size 2 diapers. I'm happy he's an excellent nurser but it's also challenging when I'm not getting a break from nursing in the evenings and at night. He's growing really well and is a chunky monkey, so I won't complain--especially when I remember Porter at this age (who wanted to wean ASAP and it broke my heart).<br />
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Also, it should be noted that Wallace is seriously Truman's clone. It's actually freaky sometimes looking at T's old baby pictures compared to this child---it's like we made the same baby, seven years later! Handsome devils.<br />
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Ace can also rock pink pajamas, as we found out when he pooped through his outfit out on the town, and his lady friend, Cleo, had a spare for him to borrow.<br />
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Show us how you really feel, Porter.<br />
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First Halloween---really excited.<br />
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Wake up, little dragon!<br />
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Love it!<br />
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My mom and my grandma came for a visit this month, so Wallace had THREE grandmas (of his four) doting on him. He didn't hate it. Neither did the grandmas.<br />
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Bottom line: Ace is doing great and we aren't sure how we got along without him before this.Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-75440282713225318222017-10-31T20:09:00.001-05:002017-10-31T20:09:46.339-05:00Wallace's Birth Announcement I realize it's fairly old school to send paper birth announcements in the mail, but it's something I've done for each child and I didn't want Wallace to feel left out;) Also, I mostly love to save one or two announcements for the baby book (yes, I do that, too) and even frame them in a shadow box with other newborn delights. Because of social media, pretty much everyone on our Christmas card list knew Wallace was born. I guess I could have called my Facebook post about his birthday the official announcement but nah, I can't let the paper cards go. Even for a fourth baby.<br />
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I've used Pear Tree Greetings for birth announcements and Christmas cards for several years now, as they've always been great to work with and will do sponsored posts/giveaways for my blog readers. This time they offered to do the same, so score another point for a discount for my readers! </div>
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I knew I wanted something pretty simple for this announcement, to showcase <a href="http://julia-transition.blogspot.com/2017/08/wallaces-newborn-family-photoshoot.html">our professional photos</a>. I love rounded corners and spots for at least two pictures, since I can't ever choose one picture for an announcement! I chose <a href="https://www.peartree.com/birth-announcements/new-arrival-boy-birth-announcements/p/PTG27501BHFC2-KT/">this card style</a> and love how they turned out.<br />
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Addressing cards and sending them out to our friends and family...<br />
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Front of card, OMG he was so tiny!<br />
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Back of card:<br />
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I sent them out sometime during my maternity leave and heard lots of compliments about how cute these cards were. They really ARE fantastic cards and I'm always pleased with Pear Tree Greetings for their quality. I'm already starting to think about Christmas cards and I know where I'll return once I sweat it out, attempting a DIY photoshoot with all four kids. Who wants to bet I will get plenty of hilarious outtakes and maybe one of all kids looking/smiling at the camera?<br />
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But back to the birth announcements: you lovely readers can get 50% off any of the birth announcements on the Pear Tree Greetings site. You'll just enter the code MYLIFE50 at check out and you have until 3/31/18 to use your discount. Hopefully some of my pregnant or new-mom readers can use this code, and have fun going down the black hole of design options!<br />
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Enjoy shopping and stay tuned for another sweet deal for holiday cards.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #bd081c; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 26px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 1996px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="background-color: #bd081c; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 26px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 1996px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-39431988507384309142017-10-08T13:08:00.001-05:002017-10-08T13:08:39.060-05:00Wallace | Three MonthsHappy Three Months, Wallace!<br />
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You are getting so stinking big, it's startling.<br />
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This month was huge because I started back to work last week. Wallace started the week off strong and took 3-5 ounces a day, during my 5.5 hours away from him. But by the end of the week, he was getting angrier about the bottles and took exactly zero ounces from Lois on Friday. Yikes. He tends to hang on until around noon when he just cannot anymore and then he gets very upset. He'll nurse most of the evening to make up for our time apart, which means I have a hard time putting him down to do anything else (i.e. help the big kids with unloading their backpacks, homework, making dinner, doing bedtime, etc). Last night Lois watched him while Nate and I went out with friends for 1.5 hours and Wallace was hysterical and wouldn't sleep for Lois. Sigh. I know he will get there but right now he's showing his strong preference for the boob and for mommy.<br />
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First day with Lois:<br />
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First day with Tony:<br />
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First day!<br />
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We need to get into a solid routine of eating, playing and then napping longer than 20 minutes. When we are together he still prefers to nurse to sleep for most naps which is a problem when we are apart, obviously. So on my day off and weekends we will focus on the sleeping and scheduled naps first, then we will hope the bottles fall into place with time. I ordered the <a href="https://www.mimijumi.com/?ads_cmpid=888049141&ads_adid=44247898493&ads_matchtype=b&ads_network=g&ads_creative=208408081122&utm_term=mimijumi%20bottle&ads_targetid=kwd-296727880490&utm_campaign=&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&ttv=2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxdnGmaTh1gIVgUGGCh0jIgFCEAAYASAAEgIaj_D_BwE">$30 Mimijumi bottle </a>that is 'guaranteed' to work, or your money back. I truly don't think it's the bottle choice that's the issue but we will see! I've been down this path with Cecelia and forgot how awful it is and how much stress it causes for everyone.<br />
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Therefore, my first week back to work was good while I was AT work, but tough when I'd come home to a sad and hungry baby. Here's hoping next week is better. I'm thinking it might be a solid month before we find a new routine.<br />
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In other news, Wallace rolled over for the first time today! This is VERY VERY early compared to my other kids, if I recall correctly. He has been rolling from his back to his left side consistently for a week or so now. This morning he went all the way onto his tummy, we all screamed and cheered, and then he started to cry. He's super strong, always trying to bear weight through his legs, holds up his head during tummy time, and loves to be vertical when we hold him, too. This kid is Porter's exact opposite because Ace loves to nurse and loves to move (Porter hated both of those things at this age).<br />
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He's a big fatty, wearing size 2 diapers and mostly size 6 month clothes. His 3 month outfits are still in rotation but are quite snug, but I don't know how much he weighs for sure....guessing around 15 pounds? His eyes seem to be brown and he has very little hair, which makes his ears even bigger. He's seriously the cutest and so stinking happy all of the time (except when I'm away and he can't nurse, or won't nap....but otherwise he's the best!). He is our biggest baby yet and I still think he looks most like Truman with those dark eyes and double chins, plus the chill attitude makes us remember Truman much more than Cecelia or Porter. ;)<br />
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Wallace is newly obsessed with his hands and loves to suck and chew on them constantly. He's grabbing his dangling animal friends that hang above his activity mat and really enjoys putting every blanket in his mouth, too. He also loves to be outside looking around at trees, and still can be distracted from a freak out if we go outside for a little bit. So basically he is at that stage when he needs to be entertained but his attention span is still extremely short. I find that after one hour of being awake, he's had enough and really needs to nap. But again, that is one area we are working to streamline a bit. I'm pretty sure the other kids were falling into a 'three nap a day' schedule by three months.<br />
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Twins?<br />
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He sleeps in the Mamaroo swing at night next to our bed, and consistently wakes for the first time at 1:30-2am to eat. Usually he will eat again around 5am and last week I had to wake him up before I left for work, to force feed him around 7:45am. He goes down for the night around 8:30-9pm in the swing, so that means his first stretch of sleep is about five hours. Not bad, but he's been doing this since the first week at home without much change in his sleeping pattern.<br />
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Sister was here.<br />
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He'll spit up if he nurses too much and will pop on and off when he's had enough. I don't know how much milk he's eating at once because the most he's taken in a bottle was 3 ounces, but I am pumping 8-9 oz during my one session at work (about 3-4 hours after our last feed). So basically, my supply is pretty amazing this time around but I attribute that to a big baby who freaking LOVES to nurse. It's nice to only pump once during my work day but I'm definitely feeling multiple let downs before I pump around 11:30am, and my reusable breast pads are totally soaked by the time I get home.<br />
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Oh, and I calculated 200oz of frozen milk in our stash, so hopefully someday Wallace will take a bottle and we can use that milk!<br />
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Reading back over <a href="http://julia-transition.blogspot.com/2014/10/porter-3-months.html">Porter's three month post</a>, I remembered to say that Wallace absolutely LOVES TV, too;) He can also entertain himself for about 30 minutes on his activity mat at times, just like big brother used to do. Wow, really glad Wallace nurses better than Porter did---I forgot that he was already trying to wean completely by now. But yeah, Porter definitely had a better schedule during the day although he was kind of a mess at night. Ah, such a trade off to have an excellent nurser but not a great daytime schedule this time around. Happy he sleeps well at night though!<br />
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Lived in my body three months ago, insane.<br />
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<a href="http://julia-transition.blogspot.com/2012/08/cecelia-at-three-months.html">Cecelia at three months</a>? Gah, I vividly remember the day when I did a bottle stand off with her, because she was one who didn't take the bottle and fussed all day at daycare for Lori. I only remember her drinking a few ounces for Lori, but apparently she was actually taking 8-10oz? Who knows. But this is the post that tells us how we conquered the bottle with her and now I'm thinking about doing this for Wallace. Ugggghhhhhhhh. Also, both Porter and Cecelia were going to bed for the night around 7pm so I should probably start that with Ace, too. It seems like CC and Wallace are similar with nighttime sleeping schedules at three months.<br />
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<a href="http://julia-transition.blogspot.com/2010/06/three-months.html">Truman's post</a> says he was 16 pounds, so maybe Ace is actually that heavy, too? And all three big kids' posts mention the fourth trimester ending...I forgot about that!<br />
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Well, Wallace, you are still the best baby ever. Even when you won't take a bottle. Love you so much!!Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-51012385363909580922017-10-07T14:47:00.000-05:002017-10-07T14:47:32.936-05:00Fall 2017 Day in the Life Heads UpSomehow it's already October, which means it's time for the quarterly Day in the Life!<br />
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I asked if my blog friend, Liz, would host this quarter again because life feels a little too nutso to take this on. However, I'm hoping to actually participate and link up this quarter and you should, too!<br />
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<a href="https://www.ellieandaddie.com/2017/10/02/day-in-the-life-fall-2017/">Find Liz here</a>: your posts are due to her by October 22, so pull out your calendars and get to it.<br />
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I have this crazy idea for how to do this post without it taking a million years to write up and add pictures....not sure it's nearly the same caliber for details and fun reading. BUT. What if I just do a lot of Instastories the day, complete with time stamps and writing out details, videos, and pictures. Then I save the whole video from the day and embed it into the blog to be a visual account of that particular day? Less typing, less time spent adding pictures, but still documenting a day...the lazy way!?<br />
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I don't know, I just might go for it this time around.<br />
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P.S. Being back to work this past week was fine. I say 'fine' because Wallace started off the week pretty strong, taking 3-5 ounces in a day while I was away. But by Thursday and Friday, the wheels fell off and he took exactly ZERO ounces on Friday. He's crying for a solid hour or so by the end of our time apart and then wants to nurse all evening long. Luckily he isn't up all night (knock on wood, dear Lord) but it's still really hard and stressful. Pumping just one time yields about 8-9 ounces for me and I think he 'should' drink at least 6 oz while I'm gone. But this child has a strong affinity for nursing and still hates the bottle.<br />
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He is Porter's exact opposite. We will figure it out. Three months old tomorrow!<br />
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I have mixed feelings about donning my 'working mom' hat, one more time. I am not <i>dreading</i> my <u>job</u> and in fact, really find myself looking forward to that part of the gig. Dressing up and feeling somewhat put-together, establishing a solid routine, conversing with adults in a professional setting, making a noticeable difference in our rehab department, contributing to my family financially, stretching my brain beyond it's 'mom' setting, and probably feeling some sense of accomplishment that I'm appreciated and needed----these are all things that I anticipate with my current job. I'm really glad that I took the supervisor position back in January and I think it's a perfect fit for me right now.<br />
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Now let me say this: being at home is the most thankless job, but the most important job in the world, in my humble opinion. Being a mother in GENERAL is thankless and important, which is true whether we work outside of the home or not. It's not that I need a pat on the back to say, 'you're going a great job,' every day or anything. But man, it will be nice to hear a 'thanks for doing this' every now and then. So far keeping four kids alive (including a newborn), making meals, semi-cleaning the house, doing laundry, potty training the three year old, coordinating a house renovation/making decisions for the contractor, breaking up sibling fights, running back and forth to school a million times every day, and kissing all of the owies hasn't included many thanks. Or a paycheck.<br />
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But I'll say it again: being at home is wonderful and challenging and IMPORTANT. I do feel a solid sense of satisfaction that everyone is still alive and relatively happy after these twelve weeks. It's not tangible, like a paycheck, but the payoff of being home and being a mom is seriously priceless. I've enjoyed my leave SO MUCH. I've soaked it in the best I could, I've bonded with Wallace in a way that I don't remember achieving before with the others, and I've only cried a few times in the process. That's really saying something, isn't it? We must be doing something right with these kids because they remain pretty freaking amazing, blowing our minds on the regular with their little personalities.<br />
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And actually, I'll still be in charge of all of those above SAHM tasks, but now I'll be wearing my PT hat in addition. So, yay for another role being added to my plate and cheers to serious time management. I think I'm up for the challenge but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about this next transition. And Nate, I think it's time for us to hire a housekeeper, and we might need to start ordering groceries online. Let's talk later about how we can delegate and outsource. ;)<br />
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I've been thinking a lot about motherhood in general, and this stage of rearing young children combined with the responsibilities of working outside of the home. I despise the word 'busy' when being used to describe our days, so I'll just say that life is really...full. It's hectic at times, feels a little chaotic and lacks control, but it's so stinking good, too. We are blessed (another word that sometimes makes me cringe). We have four kids now, which still sort of boggles my mind. I once pictured myself as a mom with 2-3 kids and a fulfilling career, but now I see that our story includes FOUR children plus a career that I truly enjoy. Life is better than I could have imagined and so much fuller, too.<br />
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I'll probably still get choked up when I leave the house on Monday morning. I really don't want to leave Ace and am worried he won't take a bottle, or that he'll scream bloody murder the whole time and my in-laws will resent me/him for it. The first week or two will likely be a huge adjustment for us all, but I have faith that it will all turn out just fine. I've done this before and the perspective I have on this fourth time around is absolutely key: things will constantly keep changing and it's up to me to adapt. Roll with it. Find the little joys throughout the day and let the crappy stuff go. Drink all of the coffee and don't let the To Do list take over your world. The glass is half full and life is good.<br />
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These are all concepts I'm still trying to master as a mom of four. Being a mom can be isolating if you let it, but it can also make you feel supported and like we are all doing this huge thing together.<br />
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And so THAT'S how I'm feeling about going back to work. Now I'm off to snuggle my baby and reflect on an awesome-but-crazy maternity leave together.<br />
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<br />Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784248013181090775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-33332165380104706832017-09-10T10:03:00.000-05:002017-09-10T10:03:23.041-05:00Wallace | Two Months OldHe's two months old!<br />
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Notables:<br />
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-Very consistent with nighttime sleep, from day one until right now. Wakes around 2 am and 5 am nearly every night. Sleeps in his mamaroo in our room, or with me.<br />
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-Loves to nurse and is getting into the habit of nursing, falling asleep, and continuing to suck away while sleeping. Need to break him of this and start some sort of daytime schedule but oh, it's just so much easier to let him nurse non-stop when we are at home.<br />
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-Super smiley guy loves to grin at us! We don't even have to work hard for it anymore, and he might be close to a chuckle soon.<br />
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-Doesn't do technical tummy time very often, but when he does it seems like his neck is getting stronger. Loves to be held upright and does a great job controlling that noggin when vertical.<br />
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-Cries only if he wants to be held, if he's hungry (or just wants to nurse), or if he's overtired. Incredibly chill personality 95% of the time!<br />
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-Continues to be a big baby, wearing some 3-6 month clothes now. Some of his 3 month outfits are way too small. He seems to be long and also fat, will see the official stats this week at his two month appointment. A mom on the playground asked if he was five months old the other day, and most people comment that 'he's so big'. I love fat babies so much.<br />
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-Wallace's eyes seem to be turning brown! His head is kind of scaly now but overall his skin looks great.<br />
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-Loves staring at trees and windows and lights. Is easily distracted if he's getting upset, will happily play on a blanket or walk around outside for a few minutes before really letting us know that he WANTS MOMMY NOW.<br />
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-Tony and Lois are getting to know this guy a little better each week. I really hope he does great for them when I'm back at work!<br />
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-Really loves his mom. Can smell me when I'm in the house and will cry until I take him. Again, need to work on this because I'm going back to work in three weeks. YIKES.<br />
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-Takes the pacifier only occasionally and never from me. Has only taken one bottle so far but we just haven't tried it since then. Again, let's work on that soon.<br />
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-Goals for this month: establishing some sort of schedule/routine that doesn't include nursing to sleep. Need to focus on naps in the swing again, instead of naps on me or while in the Ergo/Bob. But hey, fourth babies tend to get carted around everywhere, as we are rarely sitting around with nothing to do;) Mostly I need Wallace to start sleeping in the mornings while I hustle around the school time routine. It's a little difficult to pack lunches, expedite getting dressed and ready for leaving the house at 8am when Wallace wants to nurse and be held by me the entire time. We will get there. Someday!<br />
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-Wallace loves his siblings and they love him. They will still ask to hold him, will kiss him, and they are genuinely excited to see the baby when they wake in the morning.<br />
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Love you so much, baby Wallace. You are simply the best.Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-44034361459171137932017-08-29T15:40:00.001-05:002017-08-29T15:40:49.801-05:00Wallace | Six and Seven WeeksOh boy, I've gotten pretty behind in these weekly updates. I still want to record several things about sweet Wallace for his album/baby book that I will likely <i>print</i> from these posts....sometime after he goest to college;)<br />
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Weeks 5-6 were pretty brutal, if I'm honest. Probably a low point in our time with Ace, but not really because of HIM. Just because of life.<br />
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Right, my man?<br />
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During his one month pediatrician appointment, the doc announced that Wallace has thrush on his tongue. He DOES have a white tongue but all of our kids have had that, and we always chalked it up to 'milk tongue'. He is not in pain when he nurses and seriously rarely cries anyway. He has a great latch and nurses all.the.time, and gained three pounds his first month of life. So I think nursing is going pretty well, you know?<br />
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All three kids with their 'milk tongues'...or was it thrush then, too?<br />
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But back to the thrush: I also don't seem to have any signs or symptoms of thrush. No cracked nipples or pain or anything. However, I was on IV antibiotics during Wallace's birth due to Strep B....but again, I've had that every single time with each kid and received at least some antibiotics during every birth. Then I had mastitis around week four (I think? Did I even mention that one here yet?), so I was on antibiotics for seven days including the day we went to Ace's appointment.<br />
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I suppose the antibiotics could set me and therefore him up for thrush? All I know about thrush is that it can be horribly difficult to get rid of, just from hearing other moms' horror stories. I started to feel kind of panicky about what this could become and looked back at pictures of Ace to see that even on day ten, he had the white tongue.<br />
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The pediatrician was very non-chalant about it, but prescribed Nystatin drops for Wallace to take four times per day 'until the symptoms are gone.' Which, he has no symptoms of thrush except for a white tongue. I gave the drops for about three days and it was horrible--he gagged, choked, cried, and spit almost all of it out each time. I was supposed to give it to him after feeding, but then not nurse again for 30 minutes. IMPOSSIBLE for Wallace since he would nurse constantly if I let him. I applied anti-fungal cream to my nipples after feedings but then felt weird nursing him later with it on there, even though the doc said it was fine for him to eat it (???!!!!). I was super stressed about the 80+ oz of milk I had pumped and frozen, if it was 'contaminated' with yeast or not and worried about my pump parts. Again, the doc was very laid back about the whole thing and didn't really tell me much of anything except that thrush is very common and it usually resolves by 2-3 months of age. If it is still present at our two month appointment, he said the lactation consultant could give me some magical nipple cream that works really well.<br />
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So anyway, all of that to say that I did try treating it with the drops and cream but then I just had to stop because it was becoming super stressful in itself (and combined with everything else in life). And Ace is not at all bothered by it, and neither am I. I might buy some Genetian Violet after reading about it online, since it seems to act quickly and pretty effectively. I've tried to cut back on sugar and alcohol too, and am taking a probiotic still even after my antibiotics are long gone. So really, who knows? Is this even thrush? And if so, did my other kids have it and we didn't know? I will treat it again if I need to but it does seem like his tongue is not quite as white as before. And he's just so stinking happy.....<br />
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Enough thrush talk, but have any of you had a thrush diagnosis that seemed iffy and then it went away on it's own?<br />
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The other reason weeks 5-6 were pretty hard was because of the mastitis I already mentioned. I felt the clogged duct one day, tried massaging it out and nursed a ton on that side, but by the same evening I already had the fever, body aches, chills, and red hot streaky boob. It was rough, and thankfully the OB on call agreed to call in the antibiotics for me to begin right away. I slept on the couch that night because I was freezing and yet sweating, and basically totally miserable. Luckily the meds did help within about 48 hours.<br />
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Unaffected by the meds or thrush or mastitis:<br />
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Cheeeeeeeks:<br />
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That next morning after I started meds, we had <a href="https://flic.kr/p/XnPmgx">three leaks into our kitchen ceiling </a>from construction. And I started potty training Porter, which was no walk in the park. When it rains it pours, right??<br />
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Once we got over the hump of that nonsense, things have been settling into a better routine. I had to adjust to my parents being away again, after their amazing twelve day visit with us. My mom and dad flew here from Colorado while Tony and Lois were out in Oregon. My brother also came for a bit, as did my grandma and grandpa---it was an amazing span of two weeks with tons of visitors and helping hands.<br />
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When they left, that is when I got mastitis and the thrush diagnosis and the leaky ceiling happened...but then a week later the cloud lifted and I thought, 'I can do this.' My in-laws will still help me out here and there, and even if it's just taking the big kids to a playground for two hours it is MUCH appreciated. Nate is back to his regular hours including several late nights working until 7:30-8, so sometimes he is gone for a solid twelve hour stretch. On those days I try to give myself as much grace as possible and we HAVE to get out of the house by 9:30-10 or we all start to go a little nuts.<br />
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Because Wallace is the fourth child, he is getting really talented at sleeping on the go, and sleeping during incredibly noisy construction! He's doing much better in his car seat now and we've taken our first run together in the single BOB. Ace didn't even fall asleep during our run, he preferred to stare at me and smile and coo and cheer me on during my snails-pace jog. But it's a start of a nice running relationship we will have together, I can feel it. He likes the Ergo just fine, too, since we mostly walk everywhere we go right now and he absolutely prefers to sleep while being held.<br />
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Peaceful angel.<br />
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In the past week, I have been making a conscious effort to lay him down in the Mamaroo, upstairs in Truman/Cecelia's room, for naps. Some days he does really well with that---he even napped for 3+ hours two days in a row while snoozing in that swing, swaddled, with white noise and in a dark room. We can't ALWAYS force the 'real' naps since we are out and about most of the time, but when the stars align this child can nap like a boss. Best naps are in the morning and evenings can be a little fussy.<br />
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Not him!<br />
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Worn out from crying:<br />
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Actually he probably did have a string of 5-6 fairly fussy evenings a week ago, but that seems to be improving a lot now. And really, he was fussy for HIM but not compared to Cecelia or Porter as babies. He'd calm down after an hour of bouncing/walking/nursing/shushing.<br />
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He's still usually awake for maybe an hour max, then needs to sleep again during the day. At night he's waking up after a 4-6 hour stretch at first, then after that it's every 2-3 hours. This is another way to say he's usually up twice at night to eat and it's been like this pretty much since he came home from the hospital. He sleeps in our room, in the Mamaroo and I'm swaddling him but I don't think it makes much of a difference. We are really grateful for a good sleeper and hope it doesn't change anytime soon, so let's pretend I didn't even mention it so the blogging gods don't strike me down.<br />
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Fave:<br />
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Where we spend the early morning, pre-nap:<br />
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Sleepy smiles:<br />
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Next up? Stats from his one month appointment. He stayed in the 84th percentile for weight, and was officially heavier than ALL of the other kids were at one month. By a lot!! His 11lbs 12oz was way more than T, C, and P's 10lbs 2 or 3oz, and my little fatty gained exactly three pounds in his first month of life. He measured 23" long which I always assume is totally inaccurate as they wiggle around on the table, but that would be 93rd percentile. And his head is still slightly big at 39cm or 88th percentile. The doc loved Wallace at this appointment, and even with the thrush diagnosis it seemed like everything looked very normal. His baby acne cleared up around the 6-7 week mark and so far he doesn't have cradle cap. He wears all 0-3 or 3 month clothes and some seem a little snug. Slow down, baby boy!<br />
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Loved the zoo! ;)<br />
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Another really amazing milestone would be Wallace giving us genuine smiles. I think this started happening pretty consistently somewhere between 5-6 weeks, and now we can get him to smile just by looking at him;) I really think this is the BEST gift as a mom to a newborn: seeing him smile at me makes my heart to funny things and it makes me talk in a sickeningly high-pitched delusional voice, too. I take way too many pictures of this child, thus bucking the trend for the fourth kid to be under-documented. I mean, it's hard to avoid this face, especially when he looks right at me and smiles! It's like he recognizes me and it's the best. Throw in some adorable 'coo's and 'goo's and you have a recipe for the sweetest, happiest babe ever.<br />
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I've mentioned nursing already, but Wallace nurses on demand so I'm not sure how often. I'd say he likes to eat at least every 2-3 hours during the day if not more often. Usually takes both sides but sometimes he will stay latched on one side until he drifts off to sleep. I'm trying to keep him on an Eat-Play-Sleep schedule but I fail quite regularly at this goal. He will nurse for at least 10 minutes but again, many times he just falls off when he is asleep or totally full. Wallace has now had a few GIANT spit-ups but maybe only two times has it seemed like a ridiculous amount. I think he just likes to overeat, really, and doesn't seem to be upset when he barfs.<br />
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Still tiny, though.<br />
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I'm pumping most days, just one time for about five minutes, but I'll get 5-7 ounces at a time. I just added it up and have a grand total of 148 ounces frozen right now. I have about a month to go before I return to work on October 2, so this number makes me happy!<br />
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OH, and Wallace took his first bottle right before he turned six weeks old. I went out for a girls night dinner and was away for two hours...my longest stint without my baby yet. Nate was home with all four kids and managed to give Ace a 3oz bottle of freshly pumped milk. I was afraid he wouldn't take it, since he hates the pacifier now and only wants to nurse/be held by me when I'm around. But go figure, he took it just fine! And he also took a pacifier and didn't scream his head off the entire time I was away. When I returned he was wide awake and content for about two hours, nursing only a little bit and mostly just staring directly into my soul;) I have a feeling he will do great for Tony and Lois when I return to work but I still don't love being away from him at all right now.<br />
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Concerned citizen with a muscle tank<br />
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Happiest.<br />
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I seriously cannot handle him.<br />
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We are trying to remember to do tummy time and Ace is rocking it better than I thought he would. The big kids find tummy time to be their favorite because they yell and cheer for baby Wallace when he slightly twitches his neck muscles:) I also realized he is ready for something to DO when awake. So I pulled out the activity mat and he happily passes the time staring at the aged, dangling animals for a good 10-20 minutes at a time.<br />
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The bigger kids are still completely obsessed with Wallace, but I think Cecelia's love for this baby is the most apparent. She calls him her best friend and definitely has a natural motherly instinct with him---covering him up, snuggling him, asking to hold him.<br />
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I think he looks most like Truman these days, too. It has to be the double chin! T on left, W on right.<br />
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Porter and Ace just have totally different face shapes! (Ports on the left, Ace right)<br />
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Three boys, all their own person!<br />
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In conclusion, we all just love this guy so much! I mean, how could we not be totally under his spell? It's not all puppies and rainbows over here and we are quite ready for school to start at the end of this week. But the newborn baby part of life is pretty amazing.<br />
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Headed towards two months, and it seems like he's been with us forever. But it's flying by! Love you, Ace-man/Acey-Base/Waller/Wallipop.<br />
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Last week I decided enough was enough and it was TIME for this three year old to stop wearing a diaper. The two biggest kids were completely potty trained before two-and-a-half and they rocked the three day method immediately: night training, nap training, poop AND pee training all at the same time. It was glorious and easy both times before this....from what I recall, anyway.<br />
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Enter Porter: three years old and stronger willed than the other two combined when it comes to getting him to do things he does <b>not</b> want to do. I've been dreading potty training with him for no other reason except that he is too smart for his own good. He knew when he had to potty but he just didn't want to go in the toilet, so I never pushed him and figured 'it will happen someday'.<br />
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Someday turned into last week on Wednesday when I realized we didn't have a ton planned for the week, his man-sized poops belonged in the toilet, and I wanted to rip the bandaid off and GO FOR IT while on maternity leave. Because, you know, why not potty train while undergoing major house construction with a newborn and the big kids home for the summer? Why not?!?! (She says with psychotic laughter and crazy eyes).<br />
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Anyway. Monday of last week he said he had to poop, so I had him sit on the potty. Nothing happened but I put on big boy underwear anyway, just to give it a go. He didn't have an accident but didn't go in the potty either. We were both pretty amped up and excited about these adorable big boy undies. Then he was off to a playground with Tony (in a diaper), then napping, then I lost all steam to try that day. 'It will happen someday,' kicked in again but I knew that it was time.<br />
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On Wednesday, 'someday' arrived. I ditched the diaper first thing in the morning, we hung out mostly at home for the day, and even when we walked to get the big kids from VBS he stayed in the undies. And stayed dry! Until we came back home and he was a few feet from the house, and he had a pee accident. No biggie, as he had several of those throughout the day. Inside the house, creating puddles, you know---the whole shebang. But I knew he was GETTING IT and had lots of successes in the potty, too.<br />
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I would reward Porter each time he peed in the potty, going a little overboard with high fives and excited claps and hugs...plus plenty of M&Ms and suckers and marshmallows. Note to self: trading diapers for dental bills may not be a win, but I'm going with it anyway. Day one was pretty darn good, boasting about 6 accidents and 4 successes. He wore a diaper for nap and bedtime and I was glad to have the first day behind us. He was so stinking proud and it really almost made me cry to hear him say, 'I did it! I peed in the potty, mommy!' My baby was becoming a man...or something.<br />
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Second day boasted more successes than accidents, but he still pooped in his diaper and it was wet in the morning after sleeping all night. More M&Ms and also suckers were had, as we focused on a sticker chart for each success. He was working towards earning a new train after 20 successes and was well on his way by day two. I believe we got him that train by day three but it's all a blur now.<br />
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The following picture must have been taken in a different lifetime, because now my house is seriously a disaster and will never be this clean again (slightly dramatic, but yeah---being at home more for potty training means a messier house, I guess).<br />
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Just because I want to remember this: there were multiple times when I was nursing Wallace, stepping on legos, making lunch one-handed, instructing the big kids on dumping the pee in the potty for me, and helping Porter's underwear to inch back up his legs onto his butt....all one handed. Add in a barking dog with every doorbell, and construction workers ringing said doorbell during every nap time and you have the recipe for my week last week. The ultimate in mom life, yes?!<br />
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Also, the second day brought a<a href="https://flic.kr/p/XnPmgx"> leak in our kitchen ceiling</a> after unexpected rain hit in the early morning. It was from the construction, as they didn't put the tarp down over the new addition, thinking they'd be safe from rain. So waking up to a steady stream of water coming out of our light fixture was a little frightening. It all got fixed, after two more leaks sprouted, and now they use a tarp every night no matter what the forecast. They will patch up the janky kitchen ceiling at some point and construction rages on for the most part, so whatever. The exterior framing is basically done and they've begun tearing off our old roof now, so it's coming along nicely. I'll post about it 'someday'. ;)<br />
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Oh yeah, ALSO, I came down with Mastitis at the end of day one of potty training. More on that later but let's just say that Wednesday night really sucked (I slept on the couch because I was shivering cold but burning up), and Thursday morning wasn't that much better. But we survived!! Last week was really a doozy now that I stop and think about it. The baby is doing great and I'm doing my best to remain sane, thanks for asking. Antibiotics are kind of the best and my boob no longer pulsates in pain. Win. I do have a nasty cold and apparently Ace has asymptomatic thrush (?!), but let's get through this first post and go from there before I start complaining again. But yes, a LOT going on here lately!<br />
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End of Thursday, day two, when I declared popsicles for all and waved the white flag at potty training, mastitis, and house construction.<br />
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Day three was Friday, and now I see this is when things really clicked. He had maybe two pee accidents, was dry after his nap, and even dry in the morning after sleeping all night in a diaper. Amazing! He definitely was NOT waking up dry from naps or nighttime the week before this. He didn't poop in the potty so he must have used his nap time diaper this day, but I can't remember. I just know that on day three he turned the corner and I was less nervous about him sitting on the couch in just his undies. No towel needed anymore! Still nerve-wracking to leave the house every time but getting less scary by the day. <br />
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Maybe I should have mentioned this sooner? Part of the three day method that I've always used includes saying, 'Let me know if you have to potty,' and then asking, 'Hey! Are your undies clean and dry? GOOD JOB!' over and over again. You <b>aren't </b>supposed to ask IF they have to potty, because if you have a boy like mine he will always answer in the negative. But if you put the ball in their court and just ask them to tell if you if they have to go, it seems to work like magic for the most part. But Porter caught on quickly and by about ten minutes on day one he asked, 'Mom, why do you keep SAYING THAT?' I really am a broken record during potty training and it's hilarious to me that he noticed. Overall Porter was really excited and happy throughout the process and not frustrated or mad. I could tell he was extremely tired at night and before his nap, just from learning this new skill of not using a diaper, but otherwise he has been pretty unaffected by the training. Me, however? I'm freaking SPENT. In case you couldn't tell.<br />
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By day four, I let him nap in his undies and they were totally dry! We even went to State Fair and he peed in a public restroom there, so I knew he was on the home stretch. And by five he was wearing undies to bed at night, and again---dry! I'm not sure how I've had children who night-train so easily but it's very much appreciated. He honestly has not even had a pee accident since day three right now, and he's still super proud of himself overall. Because WE are so proud of him! Having Truman and Cecelia cheer for him and congratulate him on peeing in the potty is a big part of it, I think. But also, I'm careful to stay upbeat about his successes and will still dish out the M&Ms every time that he asks. He doesn't always want the rewards anymore, but sometimes he will remember and I'll oblige.<br />
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Lest you think this is a done deal, we still need to get him off the froggy floor potty and onto the real deal. ALSO, he needs to stop pooping in his underwear. For instance, today I have cleaned THREE smallish but horrible poops out of undies and I'm about at my limit for dealing with this part of it. For being so amazing with pee, he is really not getting the poop on the potty thing. At all. Does anyone have any special tricks with this part? My other kids did both pee and poop pretty much right away, so this is uncharted (crappy) territory...no pun intended.<br />
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I realize this is probably very normal, and potty training a three year old (boy!) is way different than doing it when they are two like the other times. But I'm really hoping he will start pooping in the potty very soon, like tomorrow, or else I'm seriously just going to buy about three more packs of underwear and start throwing those dirty puppies in the trash. GAG.<br />
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Seriously though, it's crazy to me to think that two weeks ago he was wearing diapers and now he just isn't. For all of the dread and putting it off, it wasn't TOO awful......except for the poop part. That really needs to get better but I'll still proudly proclaim him potty trained for pee and when sleeping. Also, it seems like he's trying to drop his nap FOR REAL NOW and I'm not sure he's ready for that. I know I'm not ready to have a non-napping Porter but I guess we will roll with it and figure out a way to make everyone minimally crazy. I realize I never did a three year old post for Porter so this will have to do for now: (mostly) potty trained, trying to drop his nap about six months earlier than his big siblings did, really smart, incredibly talkative, and a hilarious sense of humor. <a href="https://flic.kr/p/XF4wEH">This kid is something else, man. </a><br />
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M&M face at 9am.<br />
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He really melts me to my soul...when he isn't driving me bonkers. ;)<br />
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And now we only have one kid in diapers again. The giant size 6's will be packed away for Ace to use someday, and I'm off to buy more big boy underwear online!Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-45957619191140933992017-08-09T07:00:00.000-05:002017-08-09T07:00:19.619-05:00Wallace's Newborn Family Photoshoot I knew I wanted to do a family photoshoot with baby Wallace, and had hoped to do it within his first ten days of life to really capture him at his sleepiest. But then my eyes almost popped out of my skull while birthing said baby and I looked like a vampire for a solid three weeks, so we postponed it until I looked more human.<br />
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<a href="http://www.katiederusphoto.com/">Katie Derus Photography</a> is seriously the bomb. We have used Katie twice now and both times I have been super impressed with her skills dealing with our wild children and then the final product is excellent, too. Katie came to our house to capture some casual, family photos on 7.31.17 when Wallace was a day over three weeks old. My mom and Grandma were here so of course we had to grab a four generations shot to start the event!<br />
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And then we went right into the 'four kids' shot on the couch.<br />
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This is when Porter showed us that he is three and has his own ideas of what to do for a photoshoot. He was pretty naughty throughout but apparently Katie still managed to capture his smile...and I do love the 'real life' shots the best.<br />
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But Wallace woke up and stole the show anyway.<br />
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He does have two mommies, you know.<br />
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Family of six, holy moly!!<br />
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I sure do love these people of mine.<br />
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I did not have the time, energy, or focus to buy any new clothes for us for this shoot. So I picked the one dress that I feel sort of pretty in right now, then went with 'super bright' colors for everyone else. I love how colorful this shoot turned out to be!<br />
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I mean, seriously?? Sweet boy.<br />
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Truman, age seven, and the best big brother ever. Also: toothless and handsome.<br />
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The original two kids;)<br />
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Cecelia, five years old, and sure to hold her own with the three boys. Tough as nails, this one.<br />
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On our sidewalk, in front of the house: I really love these images.<br />
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Four kids! New challenge will always be to get them all smiling in a picture together. Seems like the ultimate mecca of all photos!<br />
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Then I wanted a shot of us from above, laying on each other, all squished together. These don't disappoint although I was sweating profusely here.<br />
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Truman looking at Wallace....seriously?! And Porter's (and Cecelia's!) eyes are breathtaking.<br />
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Woah, all of us looking happy! Party of six.<br />
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I like this one, too. These are near our backyard where the porta potty is sitting currently. Glad we did this shoot right before the big construction began!<br />
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My crew.<br />
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Nate and I with our fourth child. It strikes me to see this picture, compared to those images with 'just' Truman as a baby...everything and nothing has changed in seven years. Married for ten, together for FIFTEEN. And just look at that little caboose of a baby!<br />
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And this guy? He's shaping up to be a great big brother. Porter, age three, is the master of all potty talk and our class clown.<br />
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One more try for shots with the four kids....love this one a lot.<br />
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Gah, so sweet. Even if Truman is slightly freaking out holding Wallace without the Boppy or pillows.<br />
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This isn't even all of the images, but mostly my favorite ones. How will I choose which to make into prints for the house, and which to use for a birth announcement?? What a great problem to have.<br />
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<br />Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6548039454456114385.post-44617118838083268252017-08-08T13:58:00.001-05:002017-08-08T13:58:42.110-05:00Wallace | One Month8.8.17 | <b><u>One month old!</u></b><br />
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It's hard to believe Wallace has been with us for a whole month already, but it also feels like he's always been a part of our family. It seems like a million years ago when I was pregnant, so in that sense the first month with our baby seems like it should have been longer. It's funny how once the baby arrives it all makes sense: like THIS is who you are, little bugger! How could we have not known you?<br />
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More from our family shoot in a bit, but look at him!<br />
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Wallace is still a rock star baby, guys. He's had a few fussy evenings but nowhere near the caliber of Porter or Cecelia at this age. One night, after we had a very busy day out and about at the zoo for several hours, Wallace did cry more than he's ever cried before. It lasted for about an hour and he was just really upset, not fully wanting to nurse, couldn't fall asleep, etc. But then he passed out and slept great at night, seemingly overstimulated and wiped out from his tough evening. A few other evening hours have been like that: nursing, but not happy when milk was actually entering his mouth. Trouble falling asleep even though he's tired. Wanting to be held but NOT wanting to be held, you know...the normal 'fussy evening' baby stuff. But overall, he isn't inconsolable and it's definitely not every night, and we just keep reminding ourselves that Porter and especially Cecelia were SO MUCH WORSE. So thank you, Ace, for being much more chill than your older siblings;)<br />
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ATNR reflex, the PT in me loves this stage:<br />
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Will tolerate the swaddle but needs his hands by his face AT ALL TIMES. Also: cheeks and lips.<br />
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Mister muscle shirt.<br />
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He absolutely loves being held, loves walking around the house or outside, and does great in the Ergo for the most part. If he's not sleeping in our arms, he's probably sleeping in his Mamaroo swing--which is where he spends most of the night, too. He's obsessed with looking at our windows and will sometimes look us dead in the eyes, staring into our souls and making us melt over this child. My favorite early milestone? He's starting to smile at us! I haven't captured a great picture or video yet, but I am determined to prove myself on this one. I love love love when babies start smiling at you----it's such a great reward for the hard work it's been to care for this child so far. Keep it up, buddy!<br />
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Wait, what? Why are you making those noises at me, lady?<br />
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I've noticed that Wallace cries if we leave him alone on the floor/pack and play/swing when awake, but as soon as I send a sibling in to talk to him, he stops crying. He is a social guy, apparently, and just wants a buddy to hang with. He still doesn't love the car seat but we aren't using it too much anyway, and I'm thinking it's because he can't see anyone else around him in the seat. Luckily we have more than enough people to keep this baby company right now.<br />
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Still my favorite position ever.<br />
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As far as nursing goes, Wallace is still doing great. I don't have any idea how often he will eat but he tends to sleep more soundly in the mornings, then prefers to cluster feed in the evenings. At night he will usually nurse for the last time around 9 or 10pm, then first wakes up hungry at 2 or 3 am. That's a crazy long stretch and I'm so thankful for it! After that he will usually nurse every two hours or so, and throughout the day I'd guess it's around there, too. He doesn't spit up that much or that often, but it seems like he will barf more in the evenings when he is probably super full from constant nursing. He isn't a fan of the pacifier anymore but I'm going to keep trying, since it would be very helpful for comfort when he doesn't actually want/need to nurse!<br />
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Sucked his thumb one time!<br />
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Baby toes.<br />
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Nursing at the zoo in a nursing pod thing! Pretty sweet.<br />
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Sometimes he will still just stay on one side for 20 minutes, or sometimes he will take both sides. Either way I feel like I'm at my peak of making lots of milk for this baby. I will let down if I haven't fed him in an hour or two, and am constantly soaking nursing pads. When I pump each morning I get 6-8 oz now, and definitely feel somewhat engorged when I wake up for the day. This seems to be more on par for my supply with Cecelia, who was an excellent nurser, as Porter was already getting very finicky at the breast by one month. We have not yet introduced a bottle, probably because I'm nervous he will start preferring it more than the boob (like Porter!), but I know we should do that soon. I have a nice stash of frozen milk, around 80 ounces so far, which makes me strangely satisfied. I forgot about the numbers game with pumping and nursing, but I'm ready to rumble once I return to work.<br />
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Hashtag Lopsided<br />
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Wearing some cooler weather clothes on a day it was 66 degrees as a high.<br />
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Most common view:<br />
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I will NOT count down my weeks left on maternity leave, though. I will not! I'm enjoying being home with this baby and the other kids so much. This summer seems to be flying by at a crazy pace, with the month of August being the last of our true summer before the kids return to school on Sept 1. Then Wallace (and Porter) and I will have the month of September together, as we adjust to the bigs being in school all day. Then I return to work on October 2nd! CRAZY, so I will just soak it up while I can.<br />
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'Real' outfits slay me!<br />
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Superficially, he's definitely getting bigger. Not sure on the weight until next week at his one month appointment, but he comfortably wears 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. He's growing some awesome cheeks and a few thigh rolls. Oh, and baby acne is in full swing, which is always so pitiful! No cradle cap yet but I'm sure it's coming. We think he looks a lot like Porter and Truman but sometimes also Cecelia. More often than not he mostly just looks like his own person but it's still so fun to compare our kids!<br />
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His unique little folded ear!<br />
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Not scrawny<br />
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Right? Looks fat here to me. Love this outfit, was Porter's, by Tea Collection.<br />
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Porter vs. Wallace---different face shape and lips, I think!<br />
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Nicknames for our baby: Waller McBaller, Wallipop, Walli-melon, Walli-present (Porter is coming up with all of these), Ace of Spades, and Acey Baby.<br />
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Best friends<br />
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Another big fan<br />
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Three for three<br />
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As you can tell, we are all still over the moon for this little guy. I catch myself staring at him daily, thinking he is the BEST unexpected addition to our family. Not sure how I got by without kissing his head non-stop.Julia Gooliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14778787182629361642noreply@blogger.com3