Stormy Weather and Simple Needs

Well mom is finally tired enough from sleep deprivation that she has given us back control of our blog. So here are our updates.



CAMERON
My vocabulary is rapidly expanding, though I still only say most words (other than dada, mama, hi, and bye) only when prompted. My newest words include up, baby, truck, book, more, Jesse, woof, meow, and car. I am very helpful with Nathan. I bring mommy diapers when she goes to change him. I also find his socks and hat and give them to mommy, whether she needs them or not. I also help mommy with other things around the house including the laundry (she hands me wet clothes and I put them in the dryer), cleaning (I like to pick up dog hair, fuzz or other things off the ground and put them in the garbage), and the dishes (I take the dishes out of the bottom rack and then check and re-check and check yet again to make sure there is enough vinegar in the rinse aid compartment).

We had our first big thunderstorm of the year tonight. I don't really remember last summer's thunderstorms, but now that I'm old enough to really notice them, I don't like them. There was so much lightning and no matter where I looked, I kept seeing it so I got scared. I was better once mom and grandma took me upstairs to my room where the blinds were closed and mom turned on my music and ceiling fan to drown out the thunder noise. Fortunately the major part of the storm passed before I finished getting ready for bed so I was less freaked out.

Grandma Linda has been here since May 19th and I sure have had fun spending time with her. I also saw Grandpa Brian last weekend and both of them will be back next Friday. I'm very fortunate to have four wonderful grandparents who are so much fun to play with.



NATHAN
I'm a simple guy with simple needs - I like to eat every 2-4 hours (more frequently during the day and less frequently during the night which I think mom and dad appreciate) and to sleep most of the time, though I am starting to have longer awake periods and am much more aware of my surroundings. In fact, I usually have 1-3 lengthy (anywhere from 90 mins-3 hours) awake periods each day. I have only had two nights where I wanted to be awake at night. One night last week I was up for about an hour around 1:30am and then Wednesday night, well actually Thursday morning, I decided to get mom up around 3am and kept her up the rest of the day. In my defense, I did go back to sleep around 5 or 5:30am, but by then I think mom was wide awake.

I am gaining weight at a healthy pace. In fact, from my 2-week doctor's appointment last week Thursday to my weigh-in Wednesday up at the hospital, I gained 10 oz so now I am at 8 lbs, 2 oz. I eat 3-4 oz at each feeding which explains how I'm gaining as much weight as I do.

The past few days I have become more vocal and have shown a fondness for movement. However, I do not need to be in constant motion; I simply like seeing new sites once in a while so I appreciate a short stroll through the house. I can also be soothed by the pacifier, especially if I'm a bit fussy and I recently ate. I will also take the bottle fairly well if mom is not around so her and dad have been able to play softball (their season started in mid-April) and even have a date night while grandma and grandpa watched me and Cameron.

We are enjoying the beautiful spring weather we have had the past few days and hope it stays as we both love the great outdoors.

Love,
Cameron & Nathan

Nathan's First 10 Days

Here is an update on the boys. Mom still is the guest writer as Cameron takes a break from his blog to acclimate to being a big brother...


NATHAN
Nathan continues to do well. He is back to his birth weight and is on the high end of eating (took 3 oz in the other day when we were up at the hospital and could weigh him before and after feeding). He is finally and thankfully off of the phototherapy treatment. It is so nice to be able to walk around the house with him rather than being "stuck" wherever he was plugged in. Nathan is also a decent sleeper so far. He goes about 3-4 hours at night and has been very good about going back to sleep after (or sometimes during) nursing. A lot of the time I think I fall asleep too as he is a good eater and so far no challenges there. Makes it a lot more relaxing and therefore easier to doze off so I feel much more rested this time around. During the day Nathan is awake 1-3 times a day for 1 1/2-3 hours at a time. We love seeing his eyes and he is a very quiet, alert baby when he is awake. Unless he is hungry or cold (during diaper changes), then he is vocal. So far Nathan's likes include eating, being held, being swaddled, sleeping, and being in his car seat. Quite a simple life! I took the boys out for Nathan's first shopping trip when he was a week old. He did very well considering we got close to his lunch time. Having both the boys with me is good for the budget - there' s not much room in the shopping cart when you have Cameron in the front seat and Nathan in his car seat in the cart!


CAMERON
Cameron has been adjusting very well in my opinion. It must be hard to going from top dog to sharing our attention - just ask Jesse! Cameron has had several new experiences in the past week other than becoming a big brother. He added a new word to his vocabulary on Thursday while watching the Brewers game with me. He now says "go", the first time in response to one of the Brewers getting a hit and running hard. Thursday and Friday he also worked on (and is now very good at) crawling down the stairs so I don't have to carry him. Too bad we didn't master this while I was still pregnant! He also grabs his diaper when it needs changing. Guess that's another step towards potty training, but I'm certainly not ready for that yet! My favorite development though was a spontaneous one yesterday. At breakfast, Cameron got his bib out of the cabinet, put it on (backwards, but still...) and then when I put him in his high chair, he helped buckle himself into the chair. He definitely knows what's what around the house.

Some of Cameron's new favorites include Kashi cereal with milk at breakfast. He especially enjoys drinking the milk out of his bowl. He definitely did not learn that from me or Greg as I hate milk in my cereal and Greg doesn't eat cereal. He also enjoys checking on his lil brother whenever Nathan makes noise. He even understands which blankies are his and which are Nathan's (Cameron uses cloth diapers that we use as burp cloths as his blankie so now with Nathan spitting up on occasion we have those same cloth diaper/burp cloths on hand for Nathan). If he's not sure who's blankie it is, he will smell it and/or look at us for clarification. If we tell him it's Nathan's, he puts it down and looks for his.

Finally, Cameron has been taking advantage of some nice weather and enjoying the great outdoors. He loves being outside and pointing out bugs, especially ants, and picking grass, sticks and rocks. Because he has been pretty helpful and I feel guilty for not spending as much time with him, I made an unplanned stop at the Pewaukee Lake beach last weekend with Cameron. He wanted to walk right into the lake which made for a messy walk back to the car through the sandy beach. But it was worth the smile on his face to explore somewhere new. One of these days when it is warm out again, we'll have to make a family trip to the beach and spend more time there so Cameron can play in the sand with his new sand toys (thanks Buries!) and explore the water more.

It has been a pretty smooth first 10 days with Nathan so hope I can report the same in another 10 days!

Love,
Kristi & the boys

And Then There Were Two

Cameron has kindly given me the editorial reins for this posting since he was not present for the birth of his little brother. Nathan James Kruepke was born on Tuesday, April 6th at 12:20pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 15 oz (3 oz more than Cameron) and was 20 inches long (compared to Cameron's 19 inches).

**Note: I have divided this blog into two sections: labor & delivery and meet Nathan in case you do not care to read about the labor portion.

LABOR & DELIVERY

Nathan's delivery was also much easier than Cameron's. On Monday night, my contractions were already 8 mins apart, but they weren't very strong so I went to bed hoping to make it to my 8:30am doctor's appointment. Around 1am, I woke up and the contractions were now 5 mins apart. My doctor had advised to go to the hospital if they were 5-10 mins apart so I was already pushing it. But I still waited until 3 am before deciding to go in partly because they weren't strong so I didn't want to get sent home and also because I didn't want to have to get Cameron up unless I really had to, but by 3 am, I was a bit anxious and called the doctor who advised me to go in to be safe. I was officially admitted at 5 am after they determined it was active labor and not false labor (they had me walk around for an hour and then checked to see if that led to any progress and since it did, they admitted me). Cameron's Grandpa Jim and Grandma Barb came down and picked him up around 5am and took him back to West Bend where he stayed until Wednesday evening.

My doctor was on vacation this whole week so I had a different doctor, Dr. Taylor, in on the delivery. I really liked how laid back yet to the point he was as it fit my style well so I wasn't concerned about having a different doctor. I nicknamed him the Danny Gokey of doctors because he had really stylish eyeglasses and wore a different pair the day he delivered Nathan and the day he discharged me.

Because they had to break my water and that typically leads to stronger contractions and because I remember how painful my contractions were with Cameron, I ended up getting the epidural even though I wasn't experiencing any pain at the time. I'm glad I did because after they broke my water, I had to get pitocin since my progress had stalled and the pitocin is what really created the unbearable contractions with Cameron. Although I probably could have made it through without the epidural, for the sake of all in the room, I decided not to chance it knowing how low my pain tolerance is. I was not nervous or anxious at all about the labor or delivery process except for the epidural. I think because I didn't have any other anxieties and also because I wasn't in any pain when I got it (compared to Cameron's delivery where I was keeling over in pain by the time the anesthesiologist arrived), I really felt the epidural process and did not care for that.

The dose was perfect because I could still feel what was going on, but did not feel any pain through the entire process. In fact, a little after noon I told the nurse that I felt the need to push and sure enough I was fully dilated and ready to push. A few contractions and pushes late (and about 10 mins total time), Nathan was born. I had a slight tear, but nothing as painful as last time. In fact, I didn't feel any pain in the recovery process. The nurses kept asking if I wanted anything for pain, but I kept refusing since I didn't have any. The one exception was I had a headache (likely due to lack of sleep) Tuesday night. Other than that, I felt pretty darn good. I was walking the halls of the hospital the next day. The only challenge is that since I did feel so good, I think I have pushed myself a little too much these past few days. Without the pain, I easily forget that I am still recovering.

MEET NATHAN JAMES

Our little Nathan has quite the appetite, eating every 1 1/2-3 hours, depending on how tired he is. And he sleeps ALOT! Even when he is awake, he is pretty laid back yet still quite alert. We'll see if this is his true personality or just a result of his jaundice. Because his bilirubin levels were high, he has been on phototherapy since Friday. This entails him having a rubber pad up his shirt so it is against his back. The pad is attached to a hose of fiber optics that carry the special light that helps break down the bilirubin. Fortunately his levels are finally dropping after plateauing yesterday. We have had to go to the hospital every day since coming home to get blood draws to test his bilirubin levels. The brave little guy has been such a trooper and hardly makes a peep during the process. Hopefully tomorrow will be our last trip to the hospital for quite a while!

Cameron got to meet his new little brother on Wednesday evening and so far has adjusted pretty darn well. Thursday was a little trying as we came home from the hospital and Cameron didn't nap very well so that all added up to a needy, cranky Cameron. Since then, he has been a proud big brother, checking on Nathan when he makes noise, bringing me Nathan's hat to make sure his head stays warm, blowing kisses and saying "hi". We have been trying hard to make sure Cameron still gets some one-on-one time with each of us, but it has been a juggling act to do so. Fortunately he has had good one-on-one time with his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and his sitter to help supplement the smaller chunks of time he gets with us. I did take him to the beach at Pewaukee Lake yesterday for a short excursion since I was feeling extremely guilty about not being able to spend time with him. Though my recovery is going well, I'm trying to limit how much I carry Cameron, especially up and down stairs, so I have not been his primary caregiver these past several days and have not been able to do as much with him as I would like. That will change in a week or so when I can resume pretty much all day-to-day activities. Plus, with Nathan attached to his phototherapy machine 24/7, I can't really go places with the kids so we're stuck at home for at least another day or two.

We think Nathan looks more like his daddy. Cameron looked more like me than Nathan does. It will be interesting to see how his features develop and if he does continue to resemble Greg as he gets older. So that is our Nathan in a nutshell. Now Cameron seems so big (never thought I would say that about our first peanut) compared to Nathan. We are very blessed to have two healthy, wonderful boys and look forward to them growing up together.

Love,
Kristi, Greg, Cameron, Nathan & Jesse