We seriously should have named him Dennis.

Max has been on a roll today. And why wouldn't he be? Tessa refused to go back to sleep after her 4 am feeding so that was our start to the day. Just a few of Max's "special touches" today are below. (His artwork on the couch, Bailey wearing a headband around her neck, the curtain with tieback that has been ripped out of the wall). The best part of all is how even when he's napping he's making himself known. I was sitting on the couch feeding Tessa when Bailey wandered into the room wearing the headband; he had apparently "accessorized" her at some point before I took him upstairs.

He's awake now...here we go for Round 2 I guess.

Oh, and my angel, who I'm sure to be writing a post like this about in a couple of years. But for now, she's a perfect angel. 

8 Weeks Old!!

Tessa was 8 weeks old yesterday. I don't know where the time has gone already. And what's scary is that I remember writing these "weeks old" posts for Max and it seems like YESTERDAY.

Anyhow, I think we are getting (somewhat) settled into our routine with a new family member. Max is settling down SOMEWHAT and some things are definitely easier the second time around. Tessa is a fairly easy baby, although she has her idiosyncracies like everyone does, I guess. She is a good eater, and I think she's up to about 10 lb 11 oz or so. She's a pretty good sleeper too (knock on wood), getting up once a night to eat. Unfortunately, sometimes when she gets up to eat, she thinks it would be foolish to go back to bed, even if it is 4 AM.

She has started really grinning and "talking" to us; in particular she really seems to like to look at and engage with Max, who is all too happy to oblige with witty conversation and open-mouthed kisses. Unfortunately, Tessa will only sit (ok, lay down) somewhere happily for about 10 minutes; after that she's ready to be bounced, swayed, and patted to sleep. All of those things. At one time. Makes for a very tired/sore/in need of chiropractic care Mama. It also makes for a jealous Max, who will at times regress and insist on being held like a baby. And, back to the need for chiropractic care.

Here's a look back at these past 8 weeks (I think she looks very much the same as she did on Day 1):

 

 

 

Sheesh...it seems like 8 days rather than 8 weeks. We love her so much!

This Place is a CIRCUS.

To say that Max has been a bit "rowdy" since Tessa was born would be an understatement. I understand that my little boy's world has been rocked and that life as he knew it has changed completely. It must be confusing and frustrating to discover that you now have to share attention with this new little creature that Mom and Dad seem to love as much as they love you. I've tried to find ways to show Max that he's still our special little guy, but it is hard to give him one-on-one attention with a needy newborn around.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to leave Tessa with the Rogers clan and take Max out for an afternoon of undivided parental attention at an event that is very similar to what goes on at our house every day: the Circus!!! And, let's face it, I was probably every bit as excited about it as Max was. Ok, not probably...definitely.

I think Chris was excited too, although you'd never know it from this picture: (and why are Max's eyes closed?) I think we can all admit that my pictures from the circus are abysmal. Good thing I have a vivid memory.

Max's favorite parts of the circus all involved animals. He really liked the horses, the tigers, and the elephants. The elephants were really amazing. And I never remember being to a circus and seeing so MANY elephants.

I also don't recall from my past circus experiences that all of the circus performers were girls and guys in their 20s with amazing bodies. It made me feel rather old and frumpy actually. I think one of my favorite parts might have been when they laid out a long spongy runway and about 20 guys tumbled their way down it time and time again. They were quite impressive. I also enjoyed the guys who played basketball on unicycles. And of course the animals.

Max had a good time and surprisingly was able to keep his active little self in a chair (mostly) for the 2 plus hours that the circus lasted. A minute longer might have been too much to ask however. I was pretty happy when we got in the car, though, and after talking about how fun the circus was, he piped up with "Where's baby Tessa?" And when I asked him if wanted to go get her he said "Yep."

We had a fun day with our boy. And if this isn't the sign of a fun day, I don't know what is:

(Oh, and the next day we even managed to get up and get ready in time to go to church for the first time since Tessa was born. I think these two looked super cute in their Sunday best!)

New Year, New Family

As excited and thrilled as I was about being pregnant over the past months, I also found myself at times paralyzed with fear. What if something happened to this baby we so desperately wanted? I was considered AMA, or Advanced Maternal Age, which in the pregnancy world is evidently a high-risk situation. In the beginning of my pregnancy I had to go to a high-risk doctor and was offered (and in some cases accepted) all sorts of additional testing to see if there was anything wrong with the baby. All of this resulted in an extremely high level of anxiety and, even when I got positive results from my testing, I was never fully able to relax about the pregnancy. Therefore, I never felt comfortable with blogging about it - even as excited as I was.
So, a brief synopsis:

I'm pregnant!

It's a girl!

 

 Despite all the worrying I did, those 9 months flew by. Having Max to entertain and take care of really distracted me most of the time from the fact that I was even pregnant. And other than the worrying, I think I had a pretty easy pregnancy (although Chris says that I complained way more than I did when I was pregnant with Max. Well, of course I did; it's way more exhausting to be pregnant when you have a toddler to chase around!)

 

Finally, though, our wait was over. I had really hoped to be able to try to have this baby the "normal way" after having a C-section with Max, but she had other ideas. Since she refused to show up by her due date of December 30th, Dr. Keith agreed to come in after she got off work on December 31st to do my C section. (It's considered much more likely for a uterine rupture or some other adverse outcome to occur when a Mom has previously had a C Section and tries to have the baby the normal way past her due date). Surgery isn't really my idea of a fun plan for New Year's Eve, but Chris was sure happy that we would be getting that tax deduction for 2012!

 

So, after a tearful and fearful goodbye to Max at Mimi and PopPop's, Chris and I headed over to the hospital, and by shortly after 10 AM I was well on my way to baby #2.

With the champagne we gave Dr. Keith as a gift for coming in on her time off to deliver our New Year's Eve baby.

I definitely think that knowing what I was in for made the process a hair less scary this time. Couple that with a nurse who manged to get my IV in in one try rather than the 3 tries it took with Max and it seemed all around to be going much smoother from the get-go. We were scheduled to start at noon, but Dr. Keith was early and we headed back to the OR sometime around 11:30. The C Section itself seemed (to me) to take much longer this time, but Chris says it was about the same. As she was operating, I heard Dr. Keith say "nuchal cord, loosely wrapped", which means that the umbilical cord was wrapped loosely around Tessa's neck. Unfortunately for me, I knew what that meant, so that also made it seem to take longer (even though I knew that usually this doesn't cause problems).

 

Regardless, at 12:08 PM, our family was completed with the birth of our daughter, Tessa Christine Ludwig. She weighed 7 lb 11 oz and was 20.5" long. I heard her first cry before she was even out of my body and this time, a nurse actually brought her around the curtain to show her to me before they cleaned her up. She looked perfect. The first words I heard anyone say about her were "She's beautiful" and I heard it said multiple times. Chris was able to go stand by her side as she was weighed and measured and he came back to show me the first pictures he had taken. My first thought (and comment, which everyone laughed at) was "She's so white!" I have no idea where that came from; in actuality, she's rather dark-complected. Whatever. I was heavily drugged. And deliriously happy.

 

 

one fresh baby burrito

After some time in the recovery room, Mimi showed up with Max. He was pretty much smitten from the get-go. I guess we had done a pretty good job of explaining to him for the months before her birth that Tessa would be coming and that he would be a big brother. He seemed to understand that this was his little sister Tessa and he seemed pretty happy about it. He also was evidently having the time of his life being the center of attention at Mimi and Pop Pop's, so he was more than happy to go back home with them.

 

Our first family picture.



Please note that I am fatter AFTER delivery than before. They pumped so much fluid into me that when I got home I weighed 5 lbs MORE than I did the morning before I had her. Over 3 days at home I lost 17 pounds!!!!

One of the first nurses to take care of us was a familiar face. Michelle had been the main nurse to take care of us when Max was born. The crazy thing is that she remembered us, remembered Chris was from Germany, and even remembered where our room was the first time! She's also a Tiger fan. She gave Tessa her first bath.

Suffice it to say, although I read on Facebook about all the fun and exciting things my friends were doing on New Year's Eve, Chris and I had the best and most exciting New Year's Eve of our lives, as we spent the evening in the hospital, staring at our new angel and watching the Tigers beat LSU in their bowl game...with the newest little Tiger Fan!

So we started the New Year of 2013 as a family of 4. I guess we are really living the American Dream: 2 kids, a boy and a girl, a house and a dog. What more could we want? After all the troubles we had getting pregnant each time, we are feeling especially blessed with our awesome little family!

Ready to go home.

 

Snowday in the South.

We interrupt the chronological catch-up postings to bring you BIG BIG news: It snowed today in South Carolina!!! That's right, there was a rush on bread and milk at the grocery stores, and the snowplows were called into service in anticipation of mass panic on the highways. I think we might have had a total of 1/2", which was mostly melted by sundown. But it was enough to make a little boy's day. (And ok, maybe mine too).

I waited patiently all day for the snow to start. And it finally did around 2:00 or so. I basically had to force Max out into it at first. (He wasn't ready to commit to playing in it, hence no coat or gloves).

 

He really wasn't sure what to make of it; and to be fair, it was more like Dippin Dots than snow initially. 

But once Chris threw together a quick table-top snowman, Max started to get into the groove.

And of course we had to get Tessa in on the action. I didn't want her missing her first big snow!!

 

 

So then Max and Chris had to hustle off to the grocery store. Most Southerners freak out and refuse to leave the house as soon as one snowflake has been spotted; Chris can't wait to hit the road. (I wouldn't have let him go if it was really dangerous...but the roads were fine. After all, it was 60-some degrees just yesterday!) When they got back, we had a nice little covering in the yard, and Max was raring to go!

 

 

Tessa also got another taste of the white stuff. Clearly it never gets very cold here; hence the reason why she still has a tag on her winter coat. She's never worn it!

The last thing I saw before I took Tessa and retreated back into the warm house was this happy guy:

but minutes later, a wailing Max was carried into the house with EXTREMELY red and cold extremities. It really is a good idea to wear waterproof footwear and, I don't know, GLOVES when playing in the snow! But, never fear, after a quick warm-up by the fire and a bit of milk, he was ready to go again. And this time he recruited me as his playmate in the backyard. He first commanded that I build a snowman (which I was happy to comply with) and then, he set about destroying it!

CLEARLY, we were better prepared for snow-play Round 2...look at that fashion plate! (and, sadly, my outfit was MUCH worse...but you won't be seeing a picture of that one). I was afraid that he was going to make me stay out there with him until sundown, but we finally lured him back inside with another cup of milk.

We ended the day with movie night, or the Ludwigs version of "indoor camping". Ever since Chris showed Max his special pink sleeping bag, Max has wanted to go camping (nevermind that he has no idea what it is). He has also been begging for DAYS for popcorn, because one of the episodes of "Little Einsteins" that he watches shows the kids eating popcorn. So, while Chris and Max were out shopping earlier, they stopped by the Redbox, where Max picked out Madagascar 3 and we plunked him down on the couch with some Orville Reddenbacher, and there you have it: "camping".  What do you know? Turns out, I DO like camping...at least Max's definition of it.