All about Lauren

Everyone talks about how the second child doesn't get as much attention as the first child - not as many pictures, not as much time, etc. My brother to this day still claims that I'm the favorite child. So in order to give Lauren her fair share of attention (at least for a bit), I wanted to share just a little about her without bringing up her big sister! A professor at another university whom I know actually had a blog for each of her daughters, but I can't imagine trying to keep two blogs up to date, when I can't even keep one updated.

Lauren is a sleepy little girl. During the first week we saw her eyes very little. We've slowly been seeing her big blue eyes more and more, but she really does like to sleep. Unfortunately, she seems to sleep best during the day. She does sleep at night, but that is when she wants to eat the most and after the middle of the night feeding she doesn't always want to go back to sleep. We're slowly getting used to getting through each day with less sleep than we'd like and/or need and we're regularly asleep on the couch by around 9!

Lauren had high levels of bilirubin (jaundice) during the her first few days. As a result, she had to be in a bili blanket bed. It really was a cool contraption and she didn't really seem to mind being in there, but it was hard on us as parents (and on the grandparents) as we didn't get to hold her much as she was in this bed at all times except for when she was eating. Poor little thing. Since those first days, her levels have come down and she's good to go.

Lauren has a good set of lungs. I blame this on the betamethizone (sp?) shots they gave me when I was exhibiting signs of pre-term labor. The shots worked and developed her lungs really well.

Lauren has long toes. I think I can definitely claim those as mine as her second toe is longer than her first. She was in a 3-month sleeper one day last week and her feet were actually too big for it. The rest of it was loose on her, but not the feet.

For as young as she is, Lauren is doing a really good job with her neck. Well, you really can't see her neck, but she consistently picks her head up and turns it all around, she's got really good control. If only her double chin would shrink, you'd maybe be able to see those muscles :)

Lauren has a healthy appetite - she loves to eat and at times she's eating nearly 6 ounces. She struggled to gain weight at first; in fact, it took her 2.5 weeks or so to get back up to her birth weight. The doctor decided that she must be burning more calories trying to get milk when nursing than she was getting from the milk, so we've had to modify our routine. One feeding I nurse her and then she has two feedings when she just gets a bottle. As with Alyssa, my milk supply isn't enough to meet her needs, so she's getting both breast milk and formula. But I feel like she's getting more breast milk than formula which makes me happy!

We never have to question whether Lauren has a dirty diaper, not because we can smell it but because we can hear it from two rooms away! (Someday she's going to kill me for writing this, but it's the truth.) And she does go through a lot of diapers - I think we're on box 4 already.

We're just delighting in our "little peanut" as we call her and taking one day at a time. As Lauren continues to grow, develop, and show us more of her personality, we'll be sure to share that with you to make sure she knows she is loved every bit as much as her older sister.

It's a girl!

Mandy needs a break from writing (and also needs some much needed rest), so I have graciously agreed to write the birth story for our little one like I did with Alyssa (a little less dramatic than last time). First off, allow me to introduce to you Lauren Faith Menke, born Friday June 11, 2010 at 12:22 pm. She was 8lb 7oz and 19 inches long. Not as big as Alyssa, but still a very good size. Lauren and Mandy are doing great. Mandy and I arrived at the hospital at 10am, filled out some paperwork, got changed and headed to surgery at noon. There was one glich around 10:30am - Mandy decided she wanted to change the first name if we had a girl. It was our second choice when we had Alyssa and was close to being our first choice this time, but we liked a different name too. In the end, we changed it and I think we made the right decision - such a nice name isn't it? Back to the birth, Mandy did great throughout the surgery. The doctor told me to get ready because the baby was coming - I stood up and watched as they took out Lauren. Once I saw her, I told Mandy we had another girl and we couldn't be happier for a healthy baby. I cut the cord and went back with Lauren to the recovery room as they stitched Mandy back up. Mandy joined us about a 1/2 hour later and she was able to hold Lauren for the first time. After Mandy stabilized we went up to our regular room where we would be staying. Mandy's parents were waiting for us and as you can imagine they very excited to see their new granddaughter after a long flight in from PA that morning. Later in the day, my parents came to visit and brought Lauren's big sister - Alyssa. We've been prepping Alyssa for a new baby and now she got to meet her. She did great - giving her hugs and being very gentle with her. She even wanted to hold her, which we let her for about 5 seconds. Alyssa always seemed concerned whenever Lauren cried. Autie Stacy also came to visit. After the long day it was only Mandy, Lauren and me left to spend the night. Mandy thought Lauren wet her diaper so I said I would change it. Much to my surprise she had dirtied her diaper and it went up her whole back - lucky me! After I cleaned her up we were ready to go to sleep for the night. Lauren seemed to be hungry most of the night so the nurses in the nursery kept bringing her back to our room to eat. However, whenever Mandy started feeding her she fell asleep. So we eventually decided to keep her in the room and between the nurses coming in to check on Mandy and Lauren squirming, Mandy didn't get much sleep. I guess I didn't have any trouble sleeping since Mandy told me I was snoring. Now before all you mothers get upset, I did get up throughout the night and help out, I just didn't do as much as Mom did. It is now Saturday and we are expecting some more visitors. We can't wait for everyone to meet Lauren! We'll keep you posted on any new developments - or funny stories!

Take care,
Aaron, Mandy, Alyssa and Lauren

Ready as we'll ever be

I was remembering today "the talk" Aaron & I had the end of last summer/early fall. We were on a walk around the neighborhood with Alyssa in the stroller and I brought up the whole idea of having a second child. I think I took him by surprise, but he knew me. I'd been thinking about it a while if I'd brought it up seriously with him and if I had it all planned out. We either had the baby in May or June or we waited at least another year as I didn't want to go on maternity leave during the first year of a new job. We talked about the financial side of things, the physical demand the pregnancy would place on me while finishing my last year of school and looking for a job, and all the unknowns of where we were going to be in a year. But we decided to put our faith in God and trust that if we were meant to have a second baby now that He would make it happen. And happen it did.

Since then we've gone back to that conversation several times, wondering what we were thinking. But then one of us would remind the other that God wouldn't give us more than we could handle. Every time we'd say that, I'd think of a quote I read somewhere, I think it came from Mother Theresa. It goes something like this: "I know God won't give more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much." It would make me laugh each and every time.

And now here we are, the day before the scheduled c-section, and I'm thinking how true it is. Despite the many moments when we felt overwhelmed or when we felt there was no way everything was going to get done, here we are - ready for this baby to arrive, with everything taken care of (I think!).

In a lot of ways, I feel very differently going into the birth tomorrow than I did 19 months ago when we headed to the hospital to have Alyssa. I've been trying to figure out whether it's because this is the second baby or whether there's been so much going on, I just haven't had the time to really get excited or prepare mentally. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to meet this little one, find out if it's a boy or girl, shower him/her with love, and introduce him/her to his family, especially his big sister! And I am definitely ready to not get up three times over night to go to the bathroom and to have my hip stop bothering me, and maybe in a few weeks wear some normal clothes. But really, that's just an added bonus.

We do finally have all the physical things ready though - the car seat is in the car, newborn diapers are bought, the bag is packed, arrangements are made for Alyssa, my parents have their airline tickets bought, and the names are picked out. Now it's just a matter of waiting. It still seems weird to think that tomorrow our lives are going to change - again. And as much as I've been wanting to know when this baby will arrive, it's kind of weird to know that it's going to be tomorrow. And there's something strange about just hopping in a car and a few hours later having a baby. I think my fears and worries are different than last time, but the anxiousness is definitely still there.

We look forward to updating you all on the birth and introducing you to baby as soon as we're able. You'll probably get some of the info through word of mouth before we're actually able to update the blog, but we will update this with pictures and details as soon as possible. In the meantime, we covet your prayers and are thankful for them and your well wishes.

Family Fun

This past weekend provided us with the opportunity to spend some quality time as a family, something we hadn't had much of for the past few weeks/months. It was such a nice treat to have fun together and not just two of us at a time while the other was accomplishing one of the many household tasks.On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at the Krautkremer cabin with the Krautkremers and the Skluzaceks. It was a lot of fun to have the four little girls, all between the ages of 1 and 4 together, especially now that they're all mobile and more interactive. Alyssa really enjoyed her ride(s) in the wagon (thanks Alex, Haley & Renee), swinging, and jumping on the trampoline.


On Monday, we headed to the Minnesota Zoo. We went before it got hot and crowded, and it was perfect. Alyssa really enjoyed watching the animals and she would be certain to say "bye" to all of them before we checked out the next animals. It was fun to watch her when they were especially close to the glass; it's amazing how instinctive it is to flinch or grab on when they come near!

With the sunny, hot weather we've been having, Alyssa's been running around in shorts which has led to several scrapes on her legs. I taught her just the other day the word "boo boo" so now she points to them and says that. Add another word to her vocabulary. Now if only we could get her to tell us exactly what she wants, our life would be a lot simpler!

The garage sale was somewhat successful this weekend. We got rid of a lot, but unfortunately, not as much as we would have liked. We still have some "big" items that we want to sell, so we listed them on Craigslist. We've sold the patio set and have received an inquiry about the place settings. Now if only someone needed a file cabinet or desk!

I had my weekly check-up today and still nothing has changed. I was at 1+ cm about four weeks ago, and I'm still there. So I think this baby is going to make us wait until June 11 after all. We just got a call that the c-section has been pushed back to 12 noon that day (as opposed to 7 am) as there's a good possibility that the nurses will be on strike. Our doctor assured us today that we would still have the best care and that we shouldn't be concerned at all about that. Last week the doctor made a comment that she thought the baby was big, but I don't know how she can tell that! I feel like baby is either getting bigger or is moving the wrong direction (up instead of down) as I'm getting a few shoves in the ribs now and again.

That's all the excitement from here in Minnesota. We finally got our hospital bag packed, the infant car seat in the car, and names picked out, so I think we might be ready. We'll keep you posted!