Wordless Wednesday: Handsome Gentleman

Baby Food Blunders

I have decided to make some more posts about the baby food that I am making for Finn because I am learning quite a bit along the way.  I have been reading a lot about this again (refreshing my memory, really) and I am starting to get in the groove.  I am also on this new kick to try to cook more 'seasonally' since I live in a climate where there are four full seasons and the farmers market actually does change seasonally.  I think that having this mindset when making menus and planning our meals will allow is to eat the freshest produce available and eat locally as much as possible (with one BIG exception--avocados.  They are a main staple in our house year round).

My main source of recipes right now are from a fantastic book, Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. My sister gave me this book a couple of years ago and it is such an awesome resource! The book is organized very well to use as a reference on how to cook vegetables and fruit you may have never prepared, as well as the nutrient content of EVERYTHING and some great recipes for toddler food as well.  I don't completely follow her system yet (she prepares a lot of food in advance and freezes it, and I just don't do it that way) but I may try while I'm in Florida visiting my family.

This week I am inspired to introduce parsnips into all of our diets (probably do pureed for Finn, mix with some sweet potato puree) and try some pureed noodle recipes.  I always have leftover noodles because that it all Maeve will eat lately.  She is becoming a very picky two year old.... I'll let you know how it goes!

Friday's Five

This list is about my baby boy, who is growing up way to quickly. Sometimes I looks at him and I can picture a little toe-head boy running down the beach.  I've actually had that vision in my head since I was pregnant with Maeve, which is why I thought she was going to be a boy, but that's another story!

Five things I love about Finn:
1. The Finn Grin: His completely irresistible smile.  Seriously infectious.
2. His laid back attitude: If he is fed and has a clean diaper, you will not see a happier baby on this planet.
3. His Chunky/Chubby little thighs: enough said. I just want to eat them up!
4. He lights up when he sees the people/animals that he loves.  At only 6 months, he completely recognizes Mommy, Daddy, Maeve and Guinness.  He also goes crazy when he sees one of us, and it is so heartwarming!
5. Those Baby Blues:  His eyes are a really clear, beautiful blue (right now...we'll see if they change) and he really smiles with his eyes. I hope he grows up to be as kind as his eyes say he is...

Back to Basics...Making baby food once again

Taking care of an infant the second time around is totally different than the first.  I am much more relaxed, I hardly read any books and I have learned to trust my instincts and go with the flow.  However, there are a lot of times where I look at Finn and the new milestone he is crossing, and I immediately remember where I was with Maeve at that same moment.  I was so focused on her and only her for that first year that there wasn't room for much else in my life.  Now that I have them both I feel like I am bursting at the seams with joy, frustration, sadness, and love all at the same time. 

One thing that I have been particularly dreading the second time around is baby food. I know I should be excited about. I mean, I am a registered dietitian, specializing in pediatrics.  Food was my profession for over five years.  Not just food, but KID FOOD. Yet, I hate it.  I hate the tedium involved, the preparation and organization that is required.  Yet, I know enough that I am avoiding jarred/boxed foods as much as possible if for no other reason than I did it with Maeve, and Finn deserves it at well.

So, I have tried making foods in batches, I've tried individual servings, I have tried high quality forzen stuff. I have tried it all. Now I am getting ready to try it all again, seeing how it fits into my much busier life.  And while I may complain about it, making food for Finn does make me feel like a good mom.  He doesn't get all of my attention like his sister did at his age, and he never will.  I will probably feel bad about that for the rest of my life.  But, I can do little things to make up for it along the way.

So, today he will be getting a gourmet dinner of pureed chicken and sweet potatoes.  I'll let you know how he does!

Wordless Wednesday

The first two weeks

Wow, I can't believe that Finn is going to be three weeks old tomorrow! I had to double check my calendar to make sure I hadn't miscounted because it seems like A LOT longer than that. Our house was just buzzing with excitement and fun from the moment that we stepped in the door and while it was wonderful, it was very tiring. Now that everyone has retreated to their own homes (and they are likely still catching up on sleep!) I am so sad and missing my family a ton. I am still catching up on mundane tasks such as cleaning, and the fun tasks like uploading photos and sending them out to everyone. I have uploaded a bunch to the shutterfly site, so check those out!

We are slowly getting into a routine and I seem to have at least 20 minutes a day where both kids are sleeping at once (except Friday, but I hope that was the exception) so I can shower and catch my breath.

Finn is growing like a weed, as is expected considering that he is eating nearly every two hours! Maeve has nicknamed him "Finny" and "Buddy" and she wakes up every morning asking to see him and 'tickle' him. She is already showing signs of being a really awesome big sister.

Finn gets a bath!

Today is Finn's two week birthday, and it has been quite eventful for him so far. We had a houseful of family and while it was hectic, it was so much fun. Finn has now been exposed to a lot of noise and activity which is great for him to learn to sleep through. Maeve has been worn out daily by her cousins and this morning she was so sad to come downstairs to an empty house.

My mom is still here for a few more days (thankfully!) and then I am on my own during the day. That's when the real fun will begin! If anyone has suggestions on the best way to wrangle a newborn and toddler, please let me know!

Day 5 at home

We have been home for 5 days now and Maeve is finally warming up the idea of having Finn around. She said 'good morning, finn' today and enjoyed patting his head and only tried to poke his eyes a couple of times. Overall, she is adjusting just great bit she did catch a bug at the hospital, so hasn't been feeling all that great. She is getting very used to having Zar around and loves to say "Hi, my daddy". I am a bit worried about how she will handle it when he goes to work next week.

Fortunately there will be a lot of distractions next week because we will have a ton of family visiting! liz's sister and nieces will be staying for a week and her Aunt Phyllis will be here for a few days as well. We are so excited!

Delivery Details..for those of you who are interested

And for those of you who aren't....just stop reading here and look at the pretty pictures that I posted.

As most of you know, I have been wanting Finn to arrive early as I just couldn't stand being pregnant any longer and I was really worried about delivering another large baby. I was doing pretty much everything possible to induce myself, but it wasn't working. I was walking a lot (mostly from chasing after M), eating spicy foods, and pretty much every other wives tale that you hear. Well, on Sunday night we had dinner with some of our friends and it turns out that Brad BBQ ribs did the trick! I started having some contractions around 9 pm, and they were somewhat painful (nothing like what you see on TV) and I wasn't sure if they were just muscle aches or real contractions. So, Z decided to download an iphone app that helps you time your contractions and it maps out the intervals...very fancy stuff. So I recorded my first contraction, started to read a book, and about 20 minutes later recorded my second contraction, read some more of my book and at about 10:30 pm my water broke. This was a new experience for me as I was induced my first pregnancy, so I wasn't really sure what happened. I woke Z up told him and he got a huge smile on his face and started furiously getting ready to whisk me off to the hospital.

Our friend Suzanne came over to watch M, and ended up spending the night with her while we were at the hospital. At first I was triaged in the pregnancy center and had the wonderful experience of working with a medical student and three residents. That just means I had to give my history to four different people, which got a bit annoying. Especially because they all asked me if I had been taking my prenatal vitamins and foolishly told them the truth...no. They confirmed that I had 'ruptured' and they admitted me to the hospital, and at the time I was 3 cm dilated and I wasn't having any contractions of significance.

So, we settled in and actually got a bit of sleep, when I started feeling some more contractions, not extremely painful, but definitely there. I hadn't progressed much in dilation (I was 4 cm at 3 am) so they started pitocin. I knew I wanted an epidural, so I asked when I should get that and the nurse told me there was about a 15 min lead time for the anesthesiologist and that it was a slow night, so we decided to wait a couple of hours. Well, the pitocin kicked in and I really started to feel the pain. The contractions were taking my breath away and were about 3 min apart, so I asked for the epidural. I had to wait nearly an hour for the epidural because the team was in another room at that point ( very difficult placement) and I was freaking out a bit that I would miss the window of opportunity for the epidural. These were seriously painful contractions, and I can see how women in labor scream profanities and really life. Well, they came in and placed the epidural at about 6:30 am and I felt SO much better. I even got some more sleep, anticipating at least 4 more hours until I would be fully dilated. The MD's checked me again around 8:30 am and concluded I had fully dilated, and was ready to go. It was so fast, and so awesome. She asked for a practice push and had to tell me to stop because he was crowning. After two contractions/pushes we had our baby boy at 9:13 in the am!

It took the doctors a little bit of time afterwards to take care of some bleeding that I had, which was unexpected. After about 45 minutes, things were all taken of and a little later we headed up to our room.

The recovery process is a bit difficult, but I am feeling much better now than I did earlier today. My iron levels are a bit low, so Z brought me an O'Connell's burger for dinner, and even snuck me in a pint of Guinness to celebrate our lucky Irishman, F.

Day One

Things are going great here for TeamToolan, which we are aptly named because there is some serious All Star fever going on in St. Louis. We like to think that the onslaught of celebrities, including the President, and all of the commotion going on in the city are to celebrate our newest "All Star".

Last night was our first night with F and it wasn't that bad. You get interrupted a lot at the hospital, but they did a great job of just letting us 'do our thing' and leaving us alone. F ate a couple of times during the night, but for the most part enjoyed a really nice slumber. This morning was a different story as we were awoken at 6:30 am by the first resident, then the housekeeper, juice lady, birth certificate lady, hospital photographers, lactation consultant, the attending physician and the food service worker. While I appreciate all that these folks are doing for us, it was quite a bit of commotion for first thing in the morning.

M has handled the transition quite well so far and she has now come to see her 'baby brotha' twice. Z and my mom are doing a great job of shuttling her around from the hospital to home while still keeping somewhat of a routine for her. We owe a VERY special thanks to our friends Suzanne and Brad for stepping in and watching M in the middle of the night and the next day while we were at the hospital. We also have an awesome baby sitter, Catherine, who was able to step in at a moment's notice and help out as well.

The troops have retired back to the house for a while to take a nap and I am happy to have some quiet time while F sleeps....something that I know will be hard to come by in my near future.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and prayers!

Finn Charles Toolan

He's finally here! Z started live blogging the event 7 am when I was 7 cm but was interrupted from posting it when the doctor checked me and I was fully dilated!

After two quick contractions (< 15 min) we had our precious baby in our arms at 9:13 this morning. He is healthy and happy and we are just over the moon! Finn Charles Toolan born 7/13 @ 9:13am 7 lb 7 oz 19.5 inches

A Room with a View

This was Z's attempt at a 'live blog' of the delivery.... Although he is quite humerous, I am happy that he was interrupted and that it was a quick delivery!

All right, folks, we're moving into the top of the seventh. Pitocin is moving things along, epidural is keeping things tolerable. L is 7 cm as of 7:30 am. We watched the sun rise over the park from Room 5484 as we settled into the day's events. Our whiteboard reads the following: "TODAY IS: 7.13.09. PLAN FOR THE DAY IS: Hold that Sweet Baby Boy!"

We had what can aptly be summed up as an All Star Weekend. M and I started Saturday with a run around Tower Grove Park ("Wheeeaaah arr u skwirrrel??? There he is!!") followed by swim class at the Y. Saturday afternoon included live blues and BBQ

It's happening!

Finally, it is time! I started having some regular contractions around 9 pm and they were low in intensity and about 20 min apart. Z quickly fell asleep as we had a pretty busy weekend only to be woken up by the infamous phrase "honey, I think my water just broke".

We quickly called our friends Brad and Suzanne to come watch M and headed to the hospital. We are now in the l&d unit getting settled in for the night. I hope we will get a bit of sleep before he gets here, but we are very excited to meet him!

Yesterday we received a 'sneak preview' of our family photo shoot from a few weeks ago. Our photographer was amazing and I think she really captured the essence of our family. She will come back after Baby Boy is born and take come newborn photos of him, which I can't wait to see! As a budding photographer, I can really see how much better the photos turn out for someone who knows what they are doing, but I will still do my best to capture the memories of our newest addition.

I am still waddling around and waiting for some contractions to start. I am walking A LOT (mostly running after M) as I have been trying to keep M out of the house as much as possible before it is super difficult for us to get places with a little baby in tow. The nursery is fairly well put together, and all the essentials are in place. We haven't done much decorating, but that doesn't stress me as I know now that it doesn't really matter until the baby is older anyway. I am just happy that M continues to sleep in her bed and the crib has been taken down from her room and is hidden away for a bit. We'll probably pull it out once the little guy gets too big for his bassinette (maybe as early as a month, if he really is 8 lbs already!) and hopefully M won't want to sleep in it instead of her bed.

My hospital bag is packed and I am ready to go--wish that this baby felt the same way! It must be pretty comfortable in there...

37 week check up

My doctor's appointment went very well today and Baby Boy is doing great. My BP is fine, his heart rate is great and I even lost 1 lb! My doctor's are not concerned about his size and as one MD told me today, "You've proven that you can deliver a 8lb 11 oz baby, so don't worry!". That's not really what I wanted to hear!

Actually, I felt really good about the appointment and that I was listened to by the doctor and not simply patronized in my late pregnancy. She said that I am now 2-3 cm dilated and she felt that if I progressed this way for next week we could plan an induction at 39 weeks, because I am a favorable candidate for induction. According to her, my risk of C-section will not be different at this point if I go into labor naturally or if I am induced. She won't induce me before 39 weeks though (despite my questioning and encouraging....), and while that is still two weeks away and I am getting so anxious, I still feel good about having a specific end date.

Of course, it would be ideal if this little guy would simply decide to join us on his own! I keep telling him that it's really nice here and he will have all sorts of room to stretch out. Let's hope he starts listening to me!

We'll keep you posted!

Big Baby Boy

I went to the doctor yesterday for an ultrasound just to check in on our little guy and see how big he is. My doctor's don't want me to deliver a really large baby because of the complications we had with M. At my last visit, I was telling the doctor that I felt this baby was large, and I could tell she was thinking "All pregnant women think that..." but I really meant it! I also explained to her that while my belly is not large, that is just because of the way I am carrying and trust me-there is not a spare inch of room in this belly. So, she conceded and scheduled the ultrasound.

The ultrasound tech was great and she did a thorough exam. She even got us some 4D pictures that Z promptly sent to facebook. Our little guy looks just like M did when she was born. It's crazy! He is also very healthy, complete with chubby cheeks, and even some fat rolls on his neck. Needless to say, when she came back in the room and told us that she estimates him to be 7 lbs. 4 oz right now I nearly started crying. Ultrasounds at this stage can over or underestimate weight by 1/2 lb, so he really could weight anywhere from 7-8 lbs but with three weeks left to grow that means he could be 8.5-10 pound by the time my due date rolls around.

The good news is that I had some Braxton hicks contractions a couple of days ago and I think he is really getting ready to come out. I say, let's the get this show on the road...the sooner the better!!!!!

Swim Class

M has now started taking Saturday morning swim class at the YMCA. She is in the beginner class for 6mos-2 years and the first class went really well. She loves the water, has no fear and really enjoying singing, splashing and getting thrown in the air by Z. I will be in the water with her in the next couple of weeks and she will likely be disappointed that I can't throw her around.

Here she is practicing her floating and kicking with Z.

This is a group shot of the class. As you can see, swim instructors look a bit different in St. Louis than they do in Florida. I'm also not the palest person here... finally.

Baby Shower!

I was so lucky to have a SURPRISE baby shower thrown for me by the wonderful ladies that I play Bunco with (a.k.a. Bunco Babes)! I was so stunned when I walked into Debbie's house that I was tearing up and completely overwhelmed. It was such an unexpected and really sweet thing. Baby Boy received a ton of new clothes and we are excited that he won't be wearing Maeve's pink hand-me-down's. Debbie went all out with a ton of balloons, cupcakes and a delicious dinner. It was so fabulous. Pictures to come soon!

33 weeks and counting

One week into June and we are really starting to get busy! I am 33 weeks pregnant and really starting to feel the 'bulge'. All of my Doctor's visits have been very uneventful (yay for that) and despite the fact that I think my belly is huge, at my last visit I had no weight gain and my belly was on the small side. My Doctor was not concerned, and she said if she is worried, they can do an ultrasound to check on the baby. His heart rate is strong, and he is QUITE active. M is now 19 months and is active as ever. Her favorite things to do now are to swing in the backyard (thank you Papa!), color pictures, play with her 'guys', sing/dance and go to Gymboree.

This week we are very excited to have a painter come and paint the nursery (I'll show pictures when it's done). We will also be celebrating our 6th anniversary on Friday!