Dancing

Emily's new favorite activity is dancing. I'm getting pretty good exercise with her constantly insisting I dance with her. At this moment, I was feeding Edward, so she decided to dance with Tinker Bell instead. This video is only the end of her dance, she really did this during the entire song.

And yes, those are 12 month old pants that are slowly falling off. She is so dang skinny, pants just do not fit her.

Life With A Two Year Old

No, Emily isn't quite 2 yet, but she's getting in some good practice. I cannot say that I was unfamiliar with the concept of the terrible twos. I had even experienced it, to some extent, with my younger siblings. It is still strange to have a two-year old of my very own. So many new skills I have to learn! The most important skill seems to be sneakiness. Let me share a few examples with you.

Treats: If I'm eating any kind of treat...or rearranging cupboards where treats are kept or opening the fridge for any reason....I have to be very sneaky about it so Emily doesn't insist of having a treat. 

Books: The Orem Library has a book called "Buzz, Buzz Busy Bees". It is not particularly interesting, but Emily is attached. We renewed it as many times as we could because she would throw a fit every time we tried to return it. Finally, we had to sneak it into the diaper bag. When we got to the library, I started talking to her while Jacob quickly threw it in the drop box. I don't think she's noticed yet that it's missing. We'll see what happens when she does.

Baths: Emily is suddenly, unexplainedly terrified of having a bath. I've tried all kinds of sneakiness here and nothing has actually worked yet. Jacob got her undressed in the living room while she was watching a show and  then carried her to the already filled bathtub. At least she got a bath, she wasn't happy about it though. For the next bath, I set her on the bathroom counter and started by wiping her hands and face and slowly moved to the rest of her. Again, at least she got cleaned, but much screaming was involved. I'll let you know when one of my plans works.

Wii Fit: I play Wii Fit a lot, so of course Emily wants to play too. For a little while she was fine with holding the remote and watching her Mii turn into a snowball. (This is what happens on the ski jump game if you don't jump.) This is no longer satisfying, she wants her Mii to move like Mom's does, but she is very opposed to having any help. So, I sit behind her and push on the balance board while she's not looking. It's kind of hard to play Wii Fit with your hands and keep it a secret.

Of course, we're also starting to experience the temper tantrums of a two year old. One is being thrown at this very moment because I won't let her sit on the computer desk and play with everything up here. She's sure cute, but I never imagined it would be so hard to keep her happy. Don't get me wrong, sometimes things can't be any other way and she just gets to scream. However, to avoid constant screaming and keep Mom sane, extraordinary measures must be taken.

Side Note: Edward is doing well and getting bigger everyday! The sleeping is still a work in progress, but last night was wonderful. I think we're going to start giving him some formula before bed to see if that will help. I'm not sure he's getting full enough at the end of the day.

Living by the Spirit...how do you do this?

So, we just got home from church (early because I have a monster for a daughter who needs a nap) and it was a really good sacrament meeting. The talks were on priorities and making sure our priorities are the best ones for us. The reason for my title being, through the entire meeting, I kept getting this feeling that we need to move. Where? I have no idea. Why? Again, no idea. When? Sooner rather than later. We have no real reason to move. We like our apartment, I really like my job, Clarissa and I have a lot of new friends here, so why the sudden feeling that we need to start thinking about another location? We have talked about Clarissa applying for jobs so that I can go back to school, but thats not for another 6 months or more. And that included the possibility of staying here. The feelings I'm getting are that we need to be somewhere else in the next 3 or 4 months. If anyone has any thoughts or feelings, please share, because I am at a complete loss for what to do.

Sleeping

I don't get it. At night, Edward can't sleep unless I am touching him. Thus, he ends up sleeping in our bed, which I really don't like. I have tried everything to get him to sleep and he just won't do it. So, I end up letting him sleep in our bed so that I can get some sleep. Then, during the day, this is what happens:

This is what he looks like right now, he's been in this position for over 2 hours. Why can't he do this at night? I was thinking that if we could break the cycle, he would sleep at night. Maybe he just still had day and night mixed up. Nope, no matter how much he sleeps at night and how much he is awake during the day, he still won't sleep by himself at night and will sleep anywhere during the day. What the heck?

As a side note, Emily is very good at sharing. She frequently brings Edward her blanket and baby when he starts crying. She is a very nice big sister.

Adjusting

We're adjusting pretty well to being a family of four.

My recovery has gone better than ever expected. I think this is my blessing for making it through that pregnancy, easy recovery. I've actually been feeling really well and am starting to get out into the world again. It's a delicate balance, Edward probably shouldn't be around too many people for a while, but I am getting bored with just sitting around the house.

Emily is still working on adjusting to being a big sister, but she's doing pretty good. Really, her only major problem is loving him too much. She wants to take care of him, pick him up when he cries, and feeding him with her doll food. It's adorable, but we're still working on learning to be gentle...and not picking him up. She's also struggling a little bit with the fact that there are so many new rules. There are so many things she can't play with (his pacifier, his swing, etc). She seems to have decided that since she can't remember all of them, she just won't follow any of them, including the rules I know she knows, like not pulling all the DVDs out. It's a tough concept that there are things in the house that don't belong to her.

Edward is adjusting very well to being alive. He sleeps pretty well and doesn't cry much at all, even when his sister is picking on him. He does seem to love the pacifier, which is a new thing for me, but he's getting better at keeping it in his mouth and that is all I ask at this point. He's growing so much and getting cuter every day.

I don't know if there's any adjustment for Jacob. He loves having two kids and helps me out a lot with both of them. I'm sure he'll let me know if he's had to make any adjustments after he reads this.

Edward's Story

As you have probably guessed from previous posts, Edward was a little too comfortable where he was, so I was induced Saturday morning. I went into the hospital at 7, was all hooked up to the IV's at 8 and started real labor around 9. There are definitely pros and cons to being induced, but it was time. It was only 3 hours later that Edward was born.

My plan was to go natural again, like I did with Emily. It worked for about the first half of my labor. I was already so tired and sore this time that I just didn't have the stamina to fight off the pain. So I got an epidural to help me through the last half. I will definitely try to go natural again next time, but the epidural definitely wasn't a bad thing. I disliked losing control of my body and the feeling of the medication in general, but it helped me live through it.

We have really been enjoying having Edward here with us! He is a pretty good baby, despite the fact that he still has his days and nights mixed up. We are hoping to remedy that soon, but in the meantime I will continue to survive on naps. His big sister's only problem seems to be loving him too much. We have to remind her frequently not to squish him or pull his fingers off.

Edward Jacob Beckstead

Edward Jacob Beckstead

Born: January 2, 2010 at 12:14 pm

Weight: 7 lb 8 oz

Length: 19 in

The hospital's internet connection, this computer or both are apparently very slow, so I will post pictures when we get home. (Hopefully we will be home tomorrow, but it is up to the pediatrician because he has Group B Strep.) There are pictures on Facebook though, so check those out!