The Mixed-Up Adventures of the Merry Mederich's.

Justin is done done done with undergrad, and I'm just so proud!  For the past two years he has taken care of the kiddos while plugging away at the final portion of his Bachelor's Degree.  After Justin finished his Associate Degree he was blessed with a work-from-home opportunity that was really to good to be true.  For five years he worked as a Quality Assurance Coordinator for a company in California.  Shortly after we found out that I was pregnant with Via his company eliminated a portion of their workforce - Justin's position included.  It seemed like God was saying - stay home with your kiddos!  So that's what Justin did.  He and I also felt that the timing was right for him to take classes as he was able with the goal of finishing his degree.  Now it's time to put on our party pants, because we are almost there.  He is officially done with all classes and is just waiting for the committee to approve his capstone work and issue ...

**Posting this late, because the pictures and I weren't getting along on the day I actually blogged.** November 24 As of the 21st Soren Fisk Mederich is officially halfway to one.  Unreal.  Justin took him to his 6 month checkup today and our Little Man grew a whole bunch in the last two months.  His current stats: 27 inches - 68th percentile 19 lbs 6 oz - 79th percentile 18.5 inch head circumfrence - 99th percentile Yes.  He has a huge dome.  :) Eating: I've still been pumping 4 times a day so Soren gets a mix of breastmilk and formule.  He gets a bottle 5 times during the day and I've been breastfeeding him once at night.  We do solids for sure once a day and sometimes twice.  Sleeping: Soren goes to sleep between 7:30 and 8.  He wakes up between 3 and 5 and I feed him back to sleep and then he gets up for the day between 6 and 7.  Our pediatrician said that he doesn't need night feedings any more, so we will work o...

My Little Duck is 2 today.  2 years old.  24 months.  730 days!  The party: Over the weekend we had a family birthday party for her, and she was in all kinds of Heaven.  I'm so tickled that my little girl loves her extended family!  We featured an orange theme, and it was something of an orangestravaganza.  For food we noshed on mac & cheese with bacon, cheetos, oranges, and carrots.  We drank orange soda and ate orange cupcakes.  Justin stopped me from putting food coloring in the veggie dip.  I was getting a little out-of-hand.  Via and her cousins played in the cardboard castle that she and daddy built, and then Via opened a massive pile of presents.  The girl is loved.  Eating: Via is a pretty good eater.  She usually tries everything we put in front of her.  Lately our whole family has been loving red, orange, and yellow peppers.  So delicious. Sleeping: She's been sleeping pretty good late...

Little Man is 5 months today, and I apparently forgot to blog about Big Sister this month.  That's okay - I don't think too much has changed on her side of things, except that she now goes to the bathroom on the potty sometimes!  Other than that, I'll save her update for a Big Bad Two Year Old post in about two and a half weeks. In my last update I posted about Soren's major sleep regression.  A few days later I took him to his 4 month check up and found out that he had only gained two pounds in two months.  He dropped pretty significantly from the 60th percentile to the 15th.  Our doctor (who I love and trust) advised that she would have liked to see more of a gain in weight and that the sleeping and eating elements were likely quite intertwined.  She suggested nursing him and then topping him off with formula, pumping extra to increase my supply, and starting solids.  I'm a busy momma.  I love nursing my baby and absolutely, 100% believe that ...

Yesterday we celebrated having our Little Soren Man around for 4 months already! I wish I could say that life is all sunshine and rainbows, but the kiddo has decided to stop sleeping.  For quite a while he was doing 1 or 2 nighttime wakeups, eating, then going right back to bed.  Life was beautiful.  A few weeks ago we decided that little man was ready to drop the swaddle and transition to the crib.  The first night was rough, but the next two nights were awesome.  Naps were going okay.  We though that all was well.  After the honeymoon period things got pretty bumpy, and we are still not sure exactly what to do.  Last night he seemed to do better as we swaddled him again and put him in the rock-and-play sleeper.  Perhaps he's just not ready for the crib yet...  In terms of other "development" he's doing great.  More and more head and neck control.  Lots of tummy time.  Tons of smiles and giggles.  He is...

ViaGirl is 22 months old today.  I'm psyched out of my mind that we are only two months away from her 2nd birthday, because that means I can officially go into party planning mode.  Woop woop! Via has become so great at independent play lately.  It blows my mind the things that she can keep herself busy with.  It seems like her favorite toy of the moment is her baby that she has affectionately dubbed "Baby Ila" after her little cousin.  I think it's pretty cute that she prefers to take care of a little girl since she already has a little brother.  Speaking of baby boys and girls, we are learning a bit about gender and it's funny to ask her if someone is a boy or a girl because we are never sure if she is going to get it right or not.  This morning while I was getting ready for work in the bathroom I could hear Via in her crib singing the ABC's, Ba Ba Black Sheep, and Holy Holy Holy.  She loves to sing and has quite the repertoire.  Justin...

I have been back at work for almost three weeks now and life is super hectic and crazy.  With my new job comes a new set of customers and a different set of responsibilities.  I've been working longer hours and it's been a little tough to find the sweet spot of work-life balance.  I know that we are still in the adjustment period and things will get easier, but for now we are stretched pretty thin.  I am beyond grateful for my life partner and best friend, Justin.  He is the world's best stay-at-home dad, and our kids are blessed to be home with such a good man.  Speaking of kids, Brother Soren is three months old today.  What?!?  Is it possible that our little man is already a quarter of a year old?  Soren is smiling a bunch, especially when he wakes up in the morning.  Super cute gummy smiles.  He's starting to giggle when we tickle his neck and sometimes his tummy too.  He is starting to get intereste...

Testify:  to show that something is true or real : to give proof of something After giving birth to Soren I had the normal after-birthing baby pains.  I was sore.  I felt weak.  I thought, this too shall pass.  I started to feel better pretty fast, and I was so thankful for a rapid recovery.  Justin and I started going on walks with the kiddos and it was great, except for one thing:  lingering pain and pressure.  Sometimes I couldn't even stay standing up while holding Soren because the feeling of pain and pressure was too great. Okay, so this is pretty graphic, but after about four weeks of normal post-delivery bleeding and discharge I thought I was pretty much done when all of a sudden the blood returned.  Not cool.  One of the benefits of breastfeeding is that most of the time you don't get your period until after baby starts the weaning process.  Great, I must be the exception to the rule.  Boo!  However, I still h...

Via girl was 21 months yesterday.  Here's the happenings..... After we returned from our California trip Via was excessively moody and whiny.  It was terrible.  Like, she wanted to be held all the time and would scream and cry if we weren't "nuggling" her.  As I mentioned in my previous post, when we were out of town, and especially on the airplane, we allowed her to watch a lot of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  It occurred to us that perhaps the excessive amount of media had gotten to her.  When we first introduced TV we did one show a day while I got dinner ready and Justin picked up the house.  After Soren was born we went to two shows a day.  One to keep her quiet when she first woke up and then the pre-dinner show as well.  In an effort to try to reclaim our sweet girl we decided to give Daniel Tiger a little break.  I can't tell you what a difference it has made!  Like seriously.  TV is the devil and Via can never watch ...

Well, I didn't blog on July 21st as I intended, but there is a very good reason for that.  On Sunday, July 21, the Justin Mederich's embarked on a 6 day trip to California to visit Justin's grandparents on his mom's side.  This entry will serve as both an update on Soren's 2 months of life, as well as some pictures from our trip out west. So, what is Soren up to these days?  He's becoming very engaged with the world around him.  He looks around and follows things with his eyes.  He smiles a bunch and tonight after his bath time he even laughed a little bit. So stinkin' cute!!  He's been eating well and nurses about 9 times a day.  I'm so happy to have been able to stay home longer with Soren and establish our nursing relationship for longer before returning to work.  Sleep has been good too.  Last night he even slept for a 9 hour stretch!  That certainly isn't the norm (yet), but I'll enjoy it when it happens.  Hooray for sleep!...

Since this blog is more or less my scrapbook, I set a goal of blogging twice a month.  My aim is to blog on date of the month that each of my kids were born.  Via was born November third.  Today is July third.  Today I blog about Via.  Via is such a joy to be around.  She is sweet and bright and a mostly happy little girl.  Bringing Soren home wasn't super easy for her.  It's hard to all of a sudden share your parents when you've previously had them all to yourself.  Her reaction to little brother hurt my feelings a bit.  Since she saw me holding and feeding him so much she clung hard to daddy and didn't want much to do with mommy.  With postpartum hormones going crazy, I did quite a bit of crying the first few days.  It didn't take long for things to level off though.  Via realized Soren wasn't going anywhere and that mommy still loved her.  She still gets whiny about sharing our attention sometimes, but who c...

40 weeks came and went.  Nothing.  I made it to my 41 week checkup and hoped that I wouldn't have to be induced like last time.  Ultrasound looked great.  Blood pressure looked great.  Let the waiting game continue!  This was a Monday.  Tuesday. Around noon I started to notice "things."  Possible early signs of labor, but nothing major.  During dinner I casually glanced at my watch to check the time because I thought I was having a real contraction.  Having not gone into spontaneous labor with Via I wasn't 100% sure what I should be expecting.  It didn't hurt really, so I thought perhaps it was nothing.  Made it through the evening with a few more here and there and then went to bed as usual.  Around 11:15 I woke up to a contraction and glanced at my watch again.  Fell asleep.  This went on for two hours or so.  Contraction.  Check watch.  Sleep.  10 minutes.  9 minutes.  8 minute...