Baby Teddy!

Theodore Jack Osman

Baby Teddy's Arrival!

Theodore Jack Osman arrived Tuesday June 28th right around 38 weeks. Around 10 pm I started having contractions every 2 minutes that were not painful. I was really tired and just about to go to bed so of course I thought "Oh Crap" and hoped they would stop. At around 11 I decided to wake Lawrence up who just went to sleep. His reaction was, "seriously? Are you kidding? I am so tired. Do we have to go in?" Gotta love men. We debated about going in or just staying home until I was in more pain. I had to flashback to my contractions with Levi (before epidural) and decided that I should go in so that I had access to drugs should I need them. With Levi they did not think I was in labor (umm actually I was) and my contractions got so bad I dropped to the ground every few minutes telling Lawrence I wanted to die and went around 8 hours without an epidural which was enough "natural childbirth" for a lifetime. Props to anybody who goes all natural: you are my hero.

We got to the hospital around 1am after waiting for my dad to come over to stay with Levi. They basically agreed I was having very frequent contractions but was not progressing fast so told me just to rest until 7 am when my doctor could come check on me. My contractions were still not too painful at this time. Around 3am, Lawrence decided he was hungry and went to go get some food (seriously Lawrence?) although he told me he was just headed down to the car to grab my bag. Once again, got to love men. Of course, this was the time when several nurses came rushing in declaring Teddy was in serious distress (heart rate dropped to half of what it should be) and quickly gave me oxygen and a shot of adrenaline which launched my heart rate really high and added to the panic that I was already having that the baby was not okay. Within minutes, they are preparing me for a c-section (still no doctor around) and paging FAMILY PRACTICE RESIDENTS to come get ready for surgery. These are students who Lawrence casually teaches dermatology to in his free time and have no OB or surgery training to speak of! At this time I am in a complete panic and Lawrence finally casually walks back in and sees me in this condition and doesn't even know what is wrong. After about 5 minutes they got Teddy's heart back up and decided to wait for my doctor to arrive to do the c-section. Thank Goodness!! So, at 5:25 Teddy was born and was just fine which is all that matters.

Because Teddy was a bit early and our second kid, we didn't have a name for him when he was born! So, we wrote our options on the white board in my hospital room and asked every nurse, doctor, and lactation consultant that came in what name they liked the best. After day two, we had it down to either Theodore Jack or Jack Theodore. Finally we decided on Theodore because the way Levi pronounced Teddy was so cute! It was funny to get everybody's opinion on names. One nurse quickly decided "he does NOT look like an Owen." What does an Owen look like anyway? Another funny incident from the hospital is that the nurses kept thinking Teddy had jaundice until they realized he looked too colorful only against my skin because it was so white  (like the sheet they declared!). Sorry nurses, I decided to avoid self-tanning during pregnancy but I got your hint that I need to resume- stat!

The C- section recovery was much harder than I expected and it took me about a week to feel somewhat normal and I am still unable to be very active which has been hard. When we came home, all was going well and Levi was just in love with Teddy. He says, "Teddy love him" and "Teddy kiss" as he kisses him while also saying " Teddy rock him" as his pushes him back and forth in his bassinet. Every few minutes he asks for Teddy with a huge smile. Then the real problem came when Levi developed a fever and rash reaction to his MMR shot that he got about 10 days ago so we had to keep him away from Teddy. He screamed and cried Teddy, Teddy! and it broke my heart when I had to feed Teddy upstairs away from Levi. We finally decided it was best to send Levi to Grandma and Grandpa's until Monday. He still is asking for Teddy and Mama all the time but is breaking his fever and declares that he is "on vacation!" Got to love that kid.

Teddy is such a good baby but I don't want to say too much on account that I will jinx myself. I actually have to wake him up to eat and he only gets up twice a night and does 4-5 hour blocks which Levi did not do until about 6 months! I am sure he is still in the sleepy newborn stage but even two weeks of this angel baby phase is enough for me because Levi was a very difficult (er- "alert") baby. I am very much in love with my little guy and proud of Levi for being such a wonderful and gentle big brother which we knew he would be! I hope to post more adventures very soon:)

eyes open!

Levi being the doting big brother!

Teddy and Dada- he is a GREAT dad!

18 Months!

I have become lazy as of late as the baby is encompassing my organs and has reduced me to the energy level of a pug on a hot day. This is not a good combination of symptoms to have when you have a toddler running around. So, I am not going to put any sort of stamp of endorsement on getting pregnant with a toddler for those who are contemplating such a brave and seemingly reckless action. We still have not totally decided on a name, mostly because Lawrence dislikes all names other than Jack. We are well aware that this child will sometime around his teen or pre-teen years use as bargaining material the fact that we clearly do not love him as much as Levi for not giving him another L name. We will just calmly explain that we gave him an L middle name instead and that we love him, just not as much as Levi. I kid, I kid. And yes, the baby's initials are looking to be JLO at this point. This is one step better than the other name were considering: Owen Jack (OJ).

Levi is almost 18 months and he has been blowing my mind lately. His personality is sweet overall and he never hits or bites which we hope continues when the baby comes. He started saying "night night I love you" as he goes to sleep which is really cute. He is talking like crazy, has probably around 400 words and is now using short phrases a lot of the time. He can correctly identify and say most colors, counts to 10, says his full name, blah blah. Nobody cares of course but I wanted to get it down because as I have covered before, you lose 20% of your brain during pregnancy and this blog is his baby book. 

The other day Levi said, "Dada, find him." I explained Dada is at work and he replied, "Dada..doctor, office". It blew my mind because he has clearly been listening to us talk and is putting ideas together himself without being told. This means I have to watch my mouth and not tell people he is a crazy maniac like I do when he is kicking on the ground throwing a tantrum because I would not let him touch dog poop.Some other things he does is when I give him anything broken (like a piece of cheese) he will throw it on the floor and say "no, broken!" Then, he asks for a "nice one". He must not understand that children are starving in Africa.

He also likes to say "broke it, get batteries" if any of his toys are not working. He clearly has a mild obsession with batteries as his favorite aisle in the store is the battery aisle (normal?).  He seems to be aware that I am suffering from terrible pregnancy heartburn. When I complain about it, which is very often according to Lawrence, he finds my Tums for me and says "pills! mamas" and brings them to me. It is pretty cute until he asks me to "open it" and throws another tantrum because I will not give him the "candy". Clearly he has not figured out that peppermint flavored chalk does not taste like candy. Levi also loves trucks and busses and identifies and says trash truck, truck, blue bus, or school bus from the sound alone in the yard.

Eating and weight gain are still his Achilles heel. He lives off milk, fruit, and sunshine mixed with some "star cheese". Yes, he will only eat cheese in a star shape. This is okay though because I have given up on really caring about this due to pregnancy induced apathy. He weighs the same (22 pounds) as our new 5 month old neighbor Blaze (cool name right? I digress). There is much more to report but that is all for now. Hopefully I will get in another update before the baby comes!

32 weeks

Big Belly Traveling

Pregnancy Ate My Brain

I figure I better utilize what is left of my brain (which shrinks by 20% during pregnancy) to you know, go to other stuff like the alien inside me and do a post. I have just entered the 3rd trimester/28 weeks (cue holy $#@! cursing). However, my feeble mind does somehow manage to be bombarded with thoughts of caffeine withdrawal, Mc Donalds cravings, baby name lock-up, and desire to wear diapers at night (TMI?). I have put on 20 pounds already, which is quite impressive considering A) the baby currently weights 2.5 pounds and B) 20 pounds was like 1/5 of my pre-baby weight.

 But pregnancy is boring and what is becoming much more interesting is this little devil:

Oh lordy. Levi is 16 months and Mr. Funny Pants. How do I begin? Shall I start but saying how he tells me when he goes "poo-poo" or has "gas"  and says, "ut-oh, poo-poo, yucky!"? But that is not the best part. Every night after his bath his runs to the corner of his room, squats like he is sitting on the potty, says "potty" and takes a dump right on the wood floor. Of course, all while grunting and saying "poo poo yucky". So yeah, we are going to go ahead and get the kid his own potty.

Oh and this is Levi pretending to "potty" in the yard today. Remind me not to allow him in the bathroom with me again, k?

His vocabulary is exploding and he has more than 100 words and some are quite unusual. He is getting the hang of pairing words but not always correctly. For example, he likes to name all his favorite foods and animals but gets confused about which ones you can eat. When he likes a food, he says mmm tasty! There is a chicken in his animal book and he knows he likes chicken so of course he says "mmm bock bock" while gnawing on a nugget. Now the problem comes when he points to a skunk and says "mmm tasty skunk!". He will also tell you that the giraffe or cat is tasty. You just can't send a kid to preschool saying things like that or they might wonder what form of white trash his parents really are. (IE you know you are a redneck when your gunrack has a gunrack)

Levi's other interests confuse and fascinate me. I have already gone over his cleaning supply obsession. Let me reiterate he is NOT learning this from me just ask my husband. What is new is that he has become a collector/hoarder/and hider. Yes there are Discovery Health shows on these sorts of problems. He operates in silence like he is in the Russian Mob and collects pine cones, leaves, rocks, and sticks from the yard in puts them in a bucket. Once dumped out, they are sorted and categorized in like groups. Next is the most bizarre step: each different item is moved one by one to a designated spot. The pine cones are lined up and hidden behind a certain bush and if one falls out it is quickly put back. The sticks are organized in the rock garden and the rocks and leaves are placed in a hole in the ground which used to house a sprinkler. If I take any piece out he will notice even hours later and move it right back. You might wonder if this is normal and I wonder the same thing. It's like he has "larger plans". Time will tell. At least we might get a discovery "confessions of a baby hoarder" contract of out this right?

sorted evidence:

One thing that Levi and I see eye to eye with right now is McDonalds. Now trust me this kid is a healthy eater. I ask him what he wants for breakfast he says "rice, occoli (broccoli)." Then he demands more with his one spanish word (mas!) and says mas occoli and screams until he gets it at every meal. But EVERYBODY loves a good french fry from McD's and mommy is certainly no exception. So little L and I do enjoy ourselves a trip through the drive-through where I hear FRIES FRIES FRIES FRIES FRIES (repeat 100 times) from the backseat. It's really the little things.

That is all for now. There is much more to write about with Levi but let's be honest the only people who really want to hear it all are my parents so it's probably just easier to call.

Signing off!
Laura, Levi, and baby no name

How far along am I?

Second pregnancies are different. You know, the first time you avoid things like caffeine, fish, nitrates, and swine flu. Well this time it's not like that. See, you are not supposed to go over 200 mg of caffeine a day. So I found a drink that has 180 mg..problem solved. With Levi we diligently picked out the perfect shade of baby blue for his room while I coordinated all of his modern furniture and accents. This time? We are actually thinking we might keep the baby in our shoe closest for the first 6 months. No seriously. And names?  Well with Levi I made a speadsheet of different names, their origin, and their meaning. This time, I told Lawrence I don't care what the meaning of the name is unless it means Nazi Warrior in German. Then, once again, I would be offending the mother-in-law.

So, here is no name "baby in progress" at 24 weeks as I affectionately call him. And what a cute little alien he is!

Then there is this kid:

Mama was right cleaning DOES give you a headache!

Well Levi is 15 months and really pretty funny. The good news is he knows his body parts. The unfortunate side effect of this is when at the park he hears another mom say "boobs" when taking about her discomfort breastfeeding and Levi starts walking around saying "boobies boobies" while pretending to squeeze melons over and over again. Parenting fail. Then there was his bath one night where he tried his mightiest to pull off his manly member and after growing very discouraged exclaims, "pee pee (st)uck. uck uck uck!!!" Yeah, might as well learn that early in life kid...it IS stuck.

We are trying hard to get Levi used to the idea of the new baby coming. When asked "Where's the baby?" he runs over to my stomach, lifts up my shirt, and gives it a kiss while saying "muah!". However, the kiss promptly turns to hitting the baby and saying "BOP. BOP, BOP!" Then there is usually a quick pinch of the belly before I call the idea off and bribe him to avert his attention to goldfish crackers.

Long gone is my baby. Instead of liking to be rocked to sleep with his bottle, Levi now grows very impatient as bedtime arrives and he despertly tries to climb into his crib while saying "BYE, BYE. BYE". The kid just wants us gone so he can have some alone time with his glow turtle and roll around with his stuffed animals. I have even overheard him saying BYE FISH to his pet fish while sitting in the crib at night. These kids grow up too fast...by 16 months he is probably going to put this sign on his door:

Halfway There!

Here is the money shot at 20 weeks. The baby is halfway cooked at this point and there is no turning back. At my 20 week ultrasound we had another clear confirmation that's its another boy and yet another doctor warning me I will have my hands full. Do they really think they are helping? I am up a lucky 13 pounds so far and hope to gain at least 20 more in attempts to have a large portly chunk of a baby that can sleep more than two hours without eating unlike somebody else I know. Okay I am not complaining now since the kid has been sleeping in past 8 lately but I paid my dues with him...ROYALLY.

This baby looks like it can sleep though the night:

 The L name is not looking good at this point. Mostly because my mother-in-law shot down my top name of Luke for being too Christian and we all know one of life's biggest mistakes to to cross their mother-in-law. These are the names in no particular order we like at this point. Please give feedback because we can't figure it out!

CHARLIE JAMES "CJ" OSMAN

THEODORE (THEO) JAMES "TJ" OSMAN

JACK THOMAS "JT" OSMAN

OWEN ALEXANDER OSMAN

CAMERON JAMES "CJ" OSMAN

LEVI'S OBSESSIONS:

Levi is almost 15 months and is hilarious. He flirts with women and always says HI to people especially red heads (yes it's true he has a fetish). He is learning new words everyday and probably uses 40 words now.

1.He is obsessed with cleaning. I am not complaining. He actually throws food off his high chair just so he can say "up" and get out to go get his broom and sweep it up. He also cleans windows and will throw trash away when asked. So, if college doesn't work out he can always work for Merry Maids. 

2.His other obsession is fish.The second I put him in his carseat he says "fish, fish" because he knows he sometimes can find goldfish under his seat. You are probably getting some mental pictures of what backseat looks like. He also walks into the pantry, grabs the container of goldfish, bring it to be, points to the fish on the box, says fish fish fish. At this point I'm like okay kid I get the picture. However, he is also obsessed with fish in his books. He knows exactly what books have pictures of fish inside and brings me those books so he can see the fish. We are taking him to Petco today to get his first pet fish- one that can be flushed and quickly replaced when it dies (sad but true).

3. Chalk is his other love. He calls is "ACK". He knows where it is, where I try to hide it, and demands it all day. He does enjoy drawing with it but also enjoys sneaking tastes to my disgust. Lawrence claims it is just like taking calcium pills but I am not so convinced.

Until next time, The Three L's!

Why I Want Nerdy Kids

Let's face it..Levi and offspring #2 don't stand much a chance genetically. I mean, when my parents had to tell me in high school not to study so much that was a sign right there. Another sign might be when the father excels in math and science and wore four inch thick glasses as a child (sorry Lawrence it's true). Going into having children, I told people we were gunning for chess champions not cheerleaders. 

Sure, there is the teasing but we have it all figured out. Note: I am going to come off stereoptying my own kind here.....deal with it. But, if this is the case, we will enroll our children in an all Jewish school. I mean even if the kid can hit a baseball ten feet he would be considered cool and athletic. I can only say this because I attended a "gifted magnet" (read nerdville) elementary. I thought I was really cool coming out of 5th grade. I can not stress this enough. I mean the giant New Kids On The Block button on my denim jacket, my neon slap bracelets, the high pony tail with multiple scrunchies.....I had it all together. Reality hit fast and hard I was forced to mainstream into a general public middle school in the Bay Area away from my Jewish nerdy posse. I was suddenly the opposite of cool. How was I fooled for so long? 

The key my friends is to isolate your child in this window of nerdiness (aka nerd bubble) until college. (<-----Please sense tiny amount of sarcasm here, tiny). If you can bypass that window of horror between the ages of 12-18, you are in clear waters. College and post college rewards nerds: Mark Zuckerberg was probably not voted COOLEST KID in high school right?

So why would a parent wish this on their child? Well, while the cool kids were attending parties and doing drugs in high school, I was too busy sucking up to my Spanish teacher working on my extra credit pinata and calculating the lap splits I had to run to improve my mile time. On that topic, I will also encourage my sons to run cross country (read nerd magnet #2). I mean, was it really a surprise that our cross country team won high GPA award every freaking year in high school AND college? How can you even get into trouble when you have to go to bed at 9pm because you have to run 10 miles in the morning? Drinks at a party? Forget about it... too dehydrating! 

See, nerds are really a parent's dream and nothing would make me happier than to see my sons become cross country running nerds (Minus the glasses). So, will nerds breed nerds? It is far to early to tell although Levi was wearing his pants a "tad" high today.

Boys + Names?

A mother's intuition is supposedly a very powerful thing. So powerful, I had already planned possible names for the little girl inside me. Finally,  I could buy one of those damn pair of "jeggings" for my kid (for those not in the baby loop think skinny jeans for baby perfectly paired with pink baby uggs of course). I mean clearly, this pregnancy was different. I was feeling great and I am still downing my cup of coffee a day which thanks to morning sickness, was impossible with Levi. My OB of course told me she was also 75% sure I was having a girl..until.....

Note: Not OUR baby- what parent posts this online? Well, I thank them because this is exactly what our picture looked like

The baby opened HIS legs and we saw something, something that was not to be mistaken. " Are you sure it's not the cord?" No, she says..I can see there is no blood flow on the ultrasound. Silence. This, of course, is after the OB is giving me a lecture how great girls are because "they can talk." Okay so boys are great and this will be better for Levi, but the thought of 2 boys 19 months apart makes my brain tired. There will be fighting, yelling, tears, and dirt. But I do have to say I would take this anyday over 2 teenage girls 19 months apart..our future cell phone bill thanks us.

Then of course comes the challenge of names. Lawrence and I sort of dug ourselves in a hole by giving Levi a L name. Of course my little girl would have been Lily but the L boys name is more challenging. How about Luke? Love it but it's a super Christian name and let's face it we aren't Jews for Jesus. Liam is another nice name..but we call Levi "Leaves" for short and would probably end up calling Liam "Leems" or something. This will mess will their heads don't you think? Lawrence and I decided one night we like the name Toby James (TJ) for the baby. I of course go straight to my information Bible (aka GOOGLE) and type in "baby name Toby" and people are writing in right and left saying it sounds like a dog's name. So we have gotten nowhere. The question is will our kid resent us for life if we don't give him an L name too?  Should we just do a L name? What do you think? Anybody have other good male L names? Remember that a bad name dooms children for life..so no pressure.


Okay why not throw in some bonus cuteness to this rant-y post. I am at the lake here people. I now walk around and grab my head and say "head" when not asked and I point to my foot and say "oot". I go to yoga now and do a killer downward dog and stick my hand between my legs and wave hi to the people behind me while in the position.What can you do?

that crazy "MOMster" lady attacking me again: