4 months - may in quarantine/ isolation

To update on Ross specifically, Ross at this time we have no idea on his weight or height as dr appointments are still not allowed in person, or at the shot appointments. He is wearing 6 month 6-12 month clothing. He began to teeth at 4 months, fully flips over and can kind of army crawl. His hair is officially turning red like his sister. He only really loves his mommy and his sister. He is such a chill baby minus being put down and baths! He is beginning to smile all the time, blows raspberries and giggles quite often. He began to hold objects by himself and even grabbed for a steak knife when mommy was eating dinner one night! 

Daddy during this time got laid off from his job and was able to help with even more projects around the house. This time we painted the kitchen, we ordered new windows and doors. We also tore down our shed and fence and are getting new ones.

Daddy traded in his car for a truck since the car was too tiny for everyone. It’s the same model as mommy’s truck but everything is blacked out. 

We visited great grandma in grande cache and went on our first big road trip. It was hard to visit her as we had to wear masks and we had to maintain a distance of over 6 feet. It’s really hard to not walk up and hug a loved one you haven’t seen in a long time. Our visit was a surprise to her and everyone cried because she was so happy to see us. We also visited cousins in Calgary, Macy had a ton of fun visiting with them and socializing with other kids. 

3 months - our first pandemic

What a crazy time this past month has been! We are experiencing our first worldwide pandemic from Covid19 or better known as the Coronavirus. When I was ready to step back into the world and felt human as a parent of 2. The whole world stopped. March 14th dr. Deena henshaw our chief medical officer of Alberta closed down the schools a few days later closed all non essential businesses. We are ordered to stay in our houses and new terms such as “social distancing” and “physical distancing” is being used.

All appointments at the drs office is closed and at Ross’s vaccinations due to distancing measures wasn’t able to get his weight. So I bought a digital scale and at nearly 3 months old he is 15lbs. 

During quarantine we have done a few things around the house so far we have repainted the kids room, we painted our upstairs, got new couches and a coffee table. I got Macy a swing set for free so we are able to utilize the “park” as all the parks are closed too. I dyed my hair pink which I always wanted to try and dyed moms hair also. Hers turned out more purple than pink. We have painted the window a few times to bring smiles on peoples faces as they drive by. We have had dance parties, painting parties.

During this time, it’s taught us a lot. To enjoy Time at home and to create activities with Macy not outside the home. To really be her parent and to embrace toddlerhood. To embrace the mess and enjoy the quiet. To create date nights without eating out or going to movies. To really enjoy cooking and baking again. I have really enjoyed this time on quarantine and will never regret going out again. 

first month as a complete family 💕

The next few following weeks was the real work. We found Macy a dayhome to go to 2 times a week that has a preschool program so she’s able to socialize with other kids and learn things to get her ready for school. Her new dayhome mama’s name is Andrea and she had a great time there. The first day she had the typical reaction where she was fine until we went to pick her up and she got really emotional when she realized we actually left her there alone.

Ross got his circumcision and I think that was the hardest decision making as a parent. Borderline I thought it was selfish to make him go through that pain for cosmetic reasons but better now than later. It eventually healed and he was fine. At that appointment they weighed him and he was 7 lbs 12 oz! Little chunk! He also grew about 2 inches but I think it’s hard to get their height at that age since they curl up so much. 

As a tradition within the first month of any of our kids being born, with Macy my car got totalled and with Ross the furnace needed a new blower motor. Our Xbox upstairs also died, which we heavily rely on for Macy’s music. Both were very expensive unexpected fixes.

My post partum recovery was harder than I thought and Jesse ended up staying home a bit longer this time to make sure I was ok. I had no tearing, but my bleeding has been heavier this time around and I haven’t felt great. I actually took a few days to really rest and bond with baby Ross.

We celebrated jesses birthday with going to a family friends house for a pizza night and a game night. It was a lot of fun but it was hard due to the lack to sleep. 

Ross always cluster feeds at night and it’s very questionable each night how much sleep we are able to get. One of the worst nights he only slept for half an hour since I ate something that hurt my stomach, so it hurt his as well.

Macy has been retaliating a tiny bit and hits, throws tantrums a bit more but she still thoroughly enjoys listening to her music.

She is expanding her interests with music and now likes “get back up again” from trolls. She loves “into the Unknown” from frozen 2. The whole frozen soundtrack and the whole Moana soundtrack. She loves to hop and scream to the songs all day long! 

Ross Christopher Russell

Ross Christopher Russell was born in January 16 2020. The week leading up to his birth I had a ton of false labor with him, going in a few times to get checked. I fully lost my

Mucus plug on the Friday before and really thought I would have him by the following Monday. The Tuesday I woke up at 8 am and didn’t feel well. Around 430 I started getting very strong contractions while exercising at 630 pm we decided to go to the hospital to get checked. It was official I got admitted to the hospital as I was 4 cm dilated, we decided to stay at the hospital and do stairs, walk around to help my labor progress. An hour later I was fully effaced but I had not dilated at all. We decided to do more walking but this time we went home to labor at home for a few hours. At 1030 pm we went back to the hospital and I was 5 cm dilated so got to go to the delivery room since I needed antibiotics before his birth. While in the room my labor stopped so I asked the nurse if I was able to walk around the unit to hopefully make my labor progress more. Around 1 am I really got uncomfortable and asked to labor in the tub I was approximately 6 cm at this time. The labor in the tub got really intense and luckily Jesse was a great support and I just asked him to stand in front of me while I pulled his hand down to help “ground” a contraction. It wasn’t long after at 1130 that I wanted to go and have an epidural. The night I went into labor it was -58 with the wind chill and the anesthesiologist was doing 2 c sections before she would be able to give me an epidural. The labor was really hard, jesse was still amazing and again I just sat at the edge of the bed and pulled his hand down with both my hands to “ground” the contractions. Finally at around 1 30 am I was able to get an epidural, she shot my back 10 times with lidocaine to numb my back. She then tried 3 times to get the epidural catheter into my back. I got a contraction that was so bad that I couldn’t even feel the catheter go into my spine at this point she asked if that was a “pushing” contraction. It was but I was so resilient to not give birth naturally that I lied and said no I don’t feel like I have to push so I could get the epidural. My epidural didn’t end up taking anyway. Right after she was done at 245 am. I was already 10 cm and ready to push. I had a resident dr. Thomas, a family physician dr. Greig, my labor nurse Heidi and jesse help deliver him. The pushing was hard getting his head out was easy but delivering the shoulders really hurt. At 333 am he was born into the world. I guess when he was born he was completely black and Jesse knew he wasn’t alive at that point. I guess the nurse was giving him cpr while he was on my chest. A few nicu nurses were there and took him to reassess him and get him

Breathing. I saw him begin to get colour quickly and he peed on the nurse to make sure to let them know he was ok haha. They said he was 6 lbs 15 oz and 17 inches long. I was in complete shock, my dr said I was measuring 2 and a half weeks ahead so to prepare for a 9 lb baby. Since the epidural didn’t take I was able to get up half an hour later and shower take my things to recovery. I didn’t tear at all with him and he was observed in nicu for a few hours since he was a bit “grunty”. My delivery with him was so massively different from Macy’s. I was calm, the contractions hurt so bad but I was strong through them and focused on the end of the

Contraction. we are so grateful this sweet little being chose us and that he blessed his mom by coming early at 39+2 weeks. I am extremely proud of my body for going into labor naturally and pretty much delivering him

Naturally since that was not part of my birth plan. We love him so much already 💙

our first week as a complete family of 4

After the birth of our son..son can you believe it? I always imagined myself to have girls and instead I have my million dollar combination of a girl and a boy. I am so excited I get to experience both genders.
I got discharged from the hospital 2 days later, I was not happy about it at all. I wish it was sooner. I got no sleep in the hospital, to start off with it was cold as anything. I was the patient nearest to the window and normally nurses do not encourage for babes to cosleep with their moms, but they asked both my roomate and I to cosleep with babes to keep them warm. In the hospital all he did was cluster feed so again not much sleep that we ended up having. When we got home Macy pretty much loved up her brother, and he was her baby and no one else's. She loved to feed him a bottle or give him his soother.
When we got home, again we did not get much sleep he cluster fed again the following night. The day after that I thought he had jaundice and took him to emergency to get his levels looked at which wasnt bad at all. While I was leaving, I put his car seat onto the stretcher and when I went to grab the handle of his bucket seat my hand slipped. Poor Ross got flung across the floor but luckily he was buckled up really tight. On top of that I discovered that macy put almost a whole tin of peanuts in his car seat because they went all over the floor. The nurses just looked at me trying to calm me down and say accidents happen. I just burst out laughing saying "Didn't do it with the first kid haha but had to do it with the second."
Later on that day I went in to get some groceries and Macy and her dad waited in the car. When I was walking back with the groceries, I could hear macy singing "Let it go" from 10 cars away, let it go blaring, and when I got to the car Jesse was fast asleep on the drivers side, I only went in for groceries for about 10 minutes, and he was passed out.
We got our newborn photoshoot done with Aly, luckily she is a great photographer and she took the photos in less than 5 minutes. Both Mason and Macy were acting up and throwing tantrums where we got photos done, but they ended up being beautiful anyway.
My post partum healing isn't going as great as I thought it would, I have bad post natal contractions where it feels like I am in labor. Bad headaches, blistered and bleeding nipples from him having a bad latch the last few days. Luckily I have a friend that is a midwife that sent me videos on how to get him to properly latch, after that I didn't have engorgement anymore, or the stabbing pain when he would feed.
Macy would watch me feed her brother and whisper while pointing at my breast "titty". Something her dad taught her one day haha even though I wasn't pleased with that. She would watch me breastfeed him and she would mimick the motion with her puppy and "breastfeed" him. Its been a bit of a learning curve with macy, she is retaliating a tiny bit with her going through a phase of hitting and biting again. We are trying to do outings but its hard when all the adults are tired.
When we did get home our church organized for someone to feed us each night throughout the week. Its been great so far, we have had chicken tacos, sheperds pie with salad, pizza. Its been great to not have to worry about dinners as exhaustion is hard to deal with.
Ross is a good baby as well, he only ever cries when getting his diaper changed and when hes hungry.

Some members of the church provided us with some meals the first week being home. One of the nights one of the members also brought over some homemade cupcakes for us. I asked Macy to help me carry some stuff up the stairs I was expecting her to carry the bag of chips (enchilada soup that night) and instead chose the cupcakes. As she was going up the stairs she dropped the cupcakes and quickly in a worried voice kept on saying “oh no oh no oh no” over and over again. It was so cute! 

2-2.5!

Our girl is such a spirit. She fully embodies the entity of her red hair that is a fact.

Updates:
We found out that she will be having a baby brother, its hard during this time for me to help with Macy at night, so grandma will be moving in with us for awhile! We had to say goodbye to our favorite dayhome yet as they travelled to go to Ontario, we will miss Jess, Kennedy, Autumn and Jackson!

I ended up going off work early since it was really hard working with my pregnancy. Grandma got to move in with us so she can save up some money and help me out with the new baby. 

Some of our new favorites is Moana, peppa the pig, Elmo and Mickey Mouse clubhouse. She is really picking up her language development and she lets us know when she pooped or pees. She always loves singing and hopping around dancing to songs. She just constantly runs anywhere she goes and it’s hard to keep up with her haha. 

2 years old!

I can't believe our girl is 2 years old! She is such a sassy, funny, smart and creative kid! We are going into the twos expecting some sass and she already has red hair!

Favorite things

Frozen. She loves frozen so much, she doesnt call the movie by its name she calls it "go go", when “let it go” comes on she just screams singing gooooo. She even loves the movie so much if we aren’t watching it we came up with a rule that is the movie isnt on she can read frozen books instead. She decided one day she would need one of her books to go with us to the park. She played with her frozen book on the slide, it was so funny! 

She started a new dayhome and since she has started she has really developed her speech. She has learnt a lot of small words and can decipher between items. “Go away” is her favorite saying. She can be quite bossy and scream “ma” when we aren’t paying attention to her. She loves jumping on the trampoline so we got her one for inside too. She is OBSESSED with cats and sad to say one of these days her dad and I might have to get one. She loves playing with anything with buckles like her car seat. 

She likes to choose her own outfits and put on her clothing by herself. 

She loves to run. All the time anywhere it’s really hard for me to keep up with her!

She really caught onto the word NO, and is really sassy about it. She fully understands the meaning of it, she loves to slam doors, open them and close them by herself. 

She has been taking off her diaper a lot which makes me worried that she's ready for potty training. 

Trips and outings:

She went to Calloway park for the first time with our friends molly and emiley. She loved the train at Calloway, she wasn’t a fan of a tiny car ride. 

We went and visited our cousins in Calgary and had a huge water fight with them! 

Her birthday party was wild. We had to make a back up plan since we couldn't get the church doors open so we used their little shelter outside. Everyone still had fun making elsa crowns and sven deer ears, we had lots of help from our friends at her party to help set up and make it work for her birthday. All the kids had fun and loved running around, since there was so many toddlers we had to break up fights a lot over toys.