Scheffler's Six Month Post

SIX whole months. Time was flying and we were heading into the holidays. So many firsts were coming right around the corner. Between the four and six month mark, however, we hit some bumps. Not Scheffler, he was rolling right along. Nursing well, eating solid food well, starting to sit up a little and babbling on and on. 

But life. 

Life happened. 

First my Grandma Arline suddenly passed away. This was very hard. She was a vibrant, eclectic woman that lived life to the fullest. It was hard to imagine that she was gone. I was blessed to have had such an amazing woman in my life. I treasure the fact that she met Scheffler and got to know Henry. She loved them both fiercely. I can easily say there was nothing she was better at being than a grandmother. 

Shortly after this happened, we decided to head back to Kirkwood for Halloween. Since it was on a Saturday, I thought it would be a good chance or Henry to spend the holiday with my parents and trick or treat around where I grew up. When we woke up the morning of Halloween, we'd driven in the night before after my football game, our car was gone. The Pilot had been stolen right out of my parents' driveway. There isn't anything much more violating than having someone walk right underneath the window where you are sleeping and steal your car. Several weeks later, after we'd settled with insurance and purchased a new car, they found the car in a tow lot in East St. Louis. Not really the first Halloween we'd hoped for Scheffler. 

So we trudged along and Scheffler continued to shoot up the growth charts. It was hard to imagine could keep up this pace. We were desperately looking forward to the holidays for some cheer and time spent with family.

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER

SIX MONTHS

22lbs 11oz

28in 

Scheffler's Four Month Post

My Fall season was in full swing and Scheffler was growing up so quickly. During the past two months he'd gotten baptized and started rolling over. I remember being really emotional the first time he rolled over. I just remember thinking "He's actually doing something new. Not just living. But doing something." At his four month appointment it became apparent just how big he was and was going to be. He weighed in at a whopping 20lbs and in four months time had more than doubled his body weight. He was still nursing like champ and we were doing really well with it. Things were just chugging along at this point. Henry was finally fully potty trained and we were all in the swing of my fall schedule. Football Friday nights away were hard but that is my favorite part of the job and so I enjoyed it more than I didn't. I think that's the key to being a working mom, you have to enjoy being in the moment at work and not be constantly wanting to be away. Do I miss my kids while I'm at work? Sure. But I can be fully focused and in the moment while I'm there. 

At four months we also started solid foods with Scheffler. This is something we waited until six months with Henry but wanted to start with Scheffler, mainly because of his size, to help keep him satiated. He quickly took to it and we explored lots of foods quickly. 

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER

FOUR MONTHS OLD

20lbs

27in

Scheffler's Two Month Post

Two short months in and Scheffler had already survived his first road trip. We traveled to St. Louis to spend some extended time with my family and take part in a huge Scheffler Family Reunion. Scheffler did not take too well the the excessive heat and humidity of St. Louis or all the new people at the reunion. I can easily say that the three day stretch of the reunion remains his worst stretch of life to date. He cried almost the entire time. Took terrible naps. And constantly wanted to be held. Forget taking that kid outside, which was tough because most of the reunion activities were outside. But we survived and he kept thriving, despite a bout with thrush. Looking back this 1-2 month stretch was our worst for a several reasons. The reunion that threw him off, dealing with thrush and I returned to work. It was a transition for everyone. Luckily by the time I returned to Fall sports, Scheffler was sleeping from 10-11:00pm until about 5-6:00am. It was great. There were many mornings I was waking up before him to get to football practice. Returning to work was hard with two kids because your time becomes more limited and now you're splitting it between two kids. Henry was still trying understand why I had to feed Scheffler every time and it couldn't ever be dad's turn. We were also still in the tight feeding schedule of every 2-3 hours during the day, so often I was rushing around in between feeding showering, eating, etc. Pre-season practices are actually a great way to ease back into working. Without games my schedule is much lighter and is a nice transition back to the demands of my fall sports schedule.

We went for his "official" two month visit closer to ten weeks and it quickly became clear that he was going to be larger than Henry. His stats are below with a few pictures from the month between 1 and 2. 

First matching brother outfits. Happy 4th!

This is the evidence of how miserable we all were. He had cried and cried and cried. He FINALLY zonked out swaddled in his carseat. We left him in it and set it in the bassinet. 

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER

2 MONTHS

15lbs 3oz

24.5in

Henry Three Year Post

In the midst of being 8+ months pregnant, I had a two year old becoming a three year old. I was desperate to potty train him and he couldn't have cared less. He showed flickers of interest but it would be another two months before he was truly potty trained. I learned, and hope to remember, that potty training is absolutely something you cannot teach a child. They have to be ready and part of that is physical and part is mental. We bribed and pleaded and begged. He didn't care. Finally, we went to my parents' house for a couple weeks and it clicked. Well, sort of, he got number one down VERY quickly, number two would take another couple months to truly achieve. But he was out of pull-ups at night quickly as well. 

Meanwhile, we were, unknowingly, barreling head first for the Threenager year. 

But for now we had a fairly sweet boy. He still was a great sleeper, rarely sick, and a good eater. He's hardly met a food he didn't like. He takes after Nick in body type and is tall and skinny. This as turned out to be a challenge because people think he is older than he is and expect him to act older. My mom dealt with this with my brother and I'm sure there is much more of this in my future with Henry and Scheffler (who is even bigger.)

We had his 3rd birthday party a few weeks early, since I was due only two weeks after his birthday. It was a train theme and Nick's dad made him a beautiful train table for his Brio set. He's obsessed with it to this day. Many hours have been spent playing on it and I don't see that changing anytime soon. 

A few pictures from his party and his three year old stats are below. 

It's posts like this that are really making me wish I had blogged better over the past two year but empowering me to keep up with it now. 

Singing Happy Birthday

The amazing train table made by his Grandpa (Nick's Dad). 

Scheffler's One Month Post

At this point we were all adjusting to having a family of four. But Scheffler was being just the best baby he could be. He was nursing like a champ and sleeping as well as a baby that was a month old could. He was in 3-6 month clothing and working on tummy time (but hating it.)

During this time Henry was still going to the sitter, for multiple reasons, but mainly for him. Yes, seriously. Here's the thing. Scheffler was nursing every two hours during the day for 30ish minutes at a time and 3-year-olds are not great at entertaining themselves. So what was he doing while I nursed? Too much screen time. I'll admit it. It was a crutch. It was my babysitter for him at home. But nursing is hard and I needed peace to do it. So we became slaves to YouTube and Netflix. But he was happy, Scheffler was eating and therefore I was happy. But I knew that I couldn't do that all day with him. So he went to Ms. Stephanie's and had a great time with his friends. He ran around outside, got to go swimming and be three. Because here's something no one tells you about having a baby right before summer, it's hard because it's hot. I couldn't swim because I'd just given birth and it was just so hot to have Scheffler outside for very long. Sitting on the deck was one thing but long outdoor adventures were tough. Also, I'd have to nurse if we were out for too long and this was hard for a few reasons. One, Henry would possibly have to sit with me wherever I chose to do it, probably not gonna happen.  Two, it is hot undercover for a baby when nursing. Three, although more comfortable then I was with Henry, I never got totally comfortable nursing in public. I could care less if you do but it just isn't really for me. Side note: it tuned out not to really by for Scheffler either. He HATED eating under a blanket but who could blame him. 

Scheffler was growing like a weed and we couldn't have been happier. 

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER

ONE MONTH

10LBS 12OZ

23.5IN

Scheffler's Birth Story

During the last couple months of my pregnancy my blood pressure had been running high. My doctor was keeping a close eye on it and thankfully I never need drugs or bedrest. At my 38 week appointment (May 6th, 2015) my blood pressure was again high and since the baby was measuring large they wanted to send me to triage. I was upset, I didn't want this baby to have the same birthday as Henry. I knew they were going to have very close birthdays already but I wanted them each to have their own days. Henry was already often sharing his birthday with Derby and in Louisville, that kind of sucks as a young kid. I knew it was silly but I was really upset. They sent me to triage to monitor my BP over a little time but they knew my wishes and were very respectful of that. If I'd wanted to stay and be induced they would've but since my BP went down, they let me go home. I was done with work for the time being and would be induced at 39 weeks if I hadn't had the baby by then. 

So for the next week I prepared myself as best you can for a second baby. We celebrated Henry's birthday and he spent the weekend with Nick's parents in case I went into labor and we tried to relax. 

The weekend came and went and no baby.

Our instructions were to call the hospital the morning of the 13th, at like 5:00am, and find out when to come in. If they were busy, which they were, we would call back later and see of they were free. About 9:00am they called us and said "Come on!" It was a weird drive to the hospital. When we were heading in with Henry, we didn't know if we'd be staying, but this time we did. On top of that we didn't know which gender baby we are having. Best. Decision. Ever. So were extremely excited to find out what we were having. 

Instead of going to triage, we were put right into L&D. My mom dropped Henry off at his sitters and came to spend the day at the hospital with us. So went through all the typical steps of being induced, pitocin, water breakage, epidural and soon it was after 5:00. I was not all that surprised that it was taking that long, Henry took awhile too. But around 5:30 I started really feeling my contractions, like REALLY feeling them. The anesthesiologist came in and tried to up my dose, it helped a little but not a ton. Things started progressing pretty quickly and I was in considerable pain and ready to go but the doctor wanted me to hold on just a bit longer. I did and then it was time to push! All I remember clearly is watching Jeopardy! While I was in active labor and trying to focus on the questions. Then at 7:45 I remember looking at the clock and thinking "this baby will be out by 7:00!" and sure enough Scheffler was here at 8:03! 

Now, we didn't know what we were having, but I was CONVINCED we were having a girl. I had dreams that we were having a girl. I had all these feelings. But then the night before I was to be induced, I dreamt we were having a boy. So I was doubting myself all day. When Scheffler came out the doctor said "Okay, Mom and Dad look!" and held him up right between us and Nick and I looked right at each other and said "It's a boy!" And the next thing I said was an apology to my son. I had been calling him her and she for awhile now. They put him on my chest and everything seemed right in the world. I had two boys. 

With Henry I didn't have that "angels coming down from the clouds and sunshine and rainbows and harps playing" moment that mothers describe. I knew I loved him but I was tired and now had to start on an adventure without a map. With Scheffler it was different, I was attached very quickly. Maybe it was because I'd counted every day of that pregnancy and prayed so hard for him. But he was here and he was perfect. 

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER

5-13-15

8:03

9lbs

21.5in

 

Two Years.

It's been TWO years since I posted.

I have a reason.

It was two years ago I found out I was pregnant but not with Scheffler, with the baby before him.

It was two years ago that we lost that baby.

I didn't want to talk about it. I certainly didn't want to see the words in front of me that I'd lost a baby. So I stopped writing. Because that was my life for a couple months. And then we quickly became pregnant with Scheffler and I was overwhelmed counting the days of that pregnancy. I had another scare but days became weeks and weeks became months and soon enough Scheffler was here.

Life became busy and I stopped blogging. But then I realized recently that I missed it. I clicked through the old posts and realized, this was Henry's baby book. I never filled out one for him. I recorded his weights, height, changes, trips, etc, all right here.

So, I'm starting again today. But first I catch up. I'm going to go back and write out some monthly updates for Scheffler. I want this to be his baby book too. I want both of the boys to look back at this and see out family trips and silly weekends. So, my resolution is to get better at this.

So, together, let's look back at this last year.

Kate