Brooke Eden Armstrong

Well, today is Brooke's 2nd Birthday! I can't believe I had her 2 years ago, time goes by so fast!!
She's such a little mommy, she loves to help out with Tristan...but she's been acting out because of his residence here. It will get better with time (I hope).

Some of Brooke's accomplishments have been:
making sentences
telling us what she has done wrong
being a little girly girl (which I love)
she has great fashion sense ;)
She can stand up for herself
she's my little flirt and she's a people person, she first started to smile at 2 weeks and hasn't stopped since!
She loves kissing and hugging

I'm so blessed to have her in my life and to call her my daughter! I love her so much! I don't know what I would do without her.
We went to a BBQ and she went swimming in this kiddie pool without floaties on because we never go swimming...so we never got her some. Well....she slipped and couldn't catch herself to stand up, I looked up and thought she was brave and went under water, but no, she was drowning...it was a HORRIBLE sight to see! I had a plate full of food and I just jumped in the pool and stood her up...she was pretty shaken up about it, and didn't want to go back in which I don't blame her. Seeing that gave me nightmares and was very thankful that nothing bad happened to her.

We are so blessed to have such a bubbly little girly girl in our lives, she makes us smile all the time and always has enough hugs and kisses for mommy and daddy!

TuTu's

Short and sassy look...


Layered look...



Satin edge tutu...


Flower filled tutu....I think this is adorable...seeing Brooke run around in this is too precious!




Ever since Brooke was born I always wanted to dress her up in girly girly stuff, like with pink and purple stuff, with flowers, hair stuff...but never really had the money to do it with. I've also wanted to buy her some tutu's which I think are so stinkin cute! I was looking around and found some WICKED cute tutu's!!! I can't wait to save money to buy her some tutu's.

P.S. I found these tutu's at creations4qts.com for anyone who would like to see their daughters in tutu's too.

Doc Appt.

So today we went to WIC to reapply and to also put Tristan on the plan. So he's in the 25th percentile on everything, which isn't that good, but he's in the 50th percentile on his weight as a whole. He's only gained 4 oz since he was born. I'm not too sure why...he eats like a normal baby. He has another appt next week to see if he's gained more weight.

I also talked to a Lactician doctor and she said it takes about a month for your milk to really come in and keep your baby full, the first few weeks are practice for you and baby, and it should get better in the next few weeks. But....other women don't have this problem...they breastfeed from the very start and don't have to supplement....so I still think I don't supply enough for my kid...we will see in the next few weeks.

Anyway...things have been going great. Matthew's piano buisness us making a big hit, he has 5 students thus far and he will even get more in the next few months. He is actually going to be teaching at a studio where there will be over 100 students. We are very excited for this upcoming event :)

Life.

My mom came down to visit for a week and a half and she left today, which I'm pretty upset about, she was such a big help! I'm going to miss having her around to help out, but I can't have her here forever, I need to do things on my own with 3 kids....which I'm finding out is harder then I thought it would be. Maybe it will get better when Tristan gets older.

We have finally hit a point where Gabriel and Brooke are acting out because of the new baby here. I'm not too sure if it's because of Tristan or because my mom was here and they knew they could get away with everything in the world, but Brooke keeps hitting Gabriel with anything she can find...and she instigates EVERYTHING! I know she's doing it to get more attention, I knew it would come to this...and I was bracing myself...but I thought it would come earlier then this, so I let my guard down. We will see how it all works out now that my mom is gone. Our whole routine was thrown off due to the whole pre labor and then having Tristan and then when my mom came, so once we get back on a schedule I hope things will be better.

Well...once again I hit a brick wall in my breastfeeding. When Tristan was born he never really latched on properly, and my nipples were and still are so very sore and at the beginning were bleeding because he didn't know how to suck. I completely balled my eyes out the first time I had to feed him formula, because I was doing so well and then one night I just couldn't satisfy him.
Since then I've been having to supplement, so I start him off on me and then when I can't satisfy him I give him formula. I went to the WIC department yesterday and they gave me a really high tech pump...and it's doing the job. I think because Tristan doesn't really know how to latch on, my milk supply has been diminishing and pumping has helped out. I'm still bracing myself for failure, but I'm hoping I can exclusively breastfeed (or pump and feed him through the bottle).

Things here in the Armstrong household have been going pretty well....there has been some stress on my part and some extreme mood swings but things have been going good :) and I hope they get even better.

Wonderful life!

So it has been a week and 2 days since Tristan has entered into our lives and life is just amazing! We don't have any problems with Gabriel and Brooke being jealous, they love him so much. Gabriel is such a big helper, he kisses Tristan when he cries and tries to comfort him. Brooke tries to put the pacifier in his mouth when he cries...it's so cute to see :)

The sleeping thing has been going great!!! He only wakes up once during the night :) We are putting him on a schedule so he is awake an hour or so before his last feeding, then he sleeps through most of the night. This makes mommy a VERY happy camper!
His jondice is going down, which is a good thing! I'm tired of bringing him to the hospital to get poked in the heel and have them squeeze blood from his heel and watch him scream from agony! I had to deal with it with my other 2 too....it's complete torture to see your new born cry so helplessly! We have been putting Tristan in the sun for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening so this whole thing will just melt away. He's peeing and pooping like a pro! Gabriel and Brooke had trouble because they had pretty bad jonduice.
Breastfeeding is going SOOO wonderfully! I can actually breastfeed without supplementing! It's a wonderful feeling.

Tristan is already getting bigger and he needs to STOP growing, I love the new born stage! It's funny....while I was going through labor, through all that horrible pain I was thinking how much I never wanted to be pregnant again....but after that feeling wore off...I would totally do it over again just for my precious baby :)

Life is wonderful right about now. I have an eternal family who I would do anything for. Life is good.

Finally!!

So....after 13 hours of labor and really...literally NO pushing on my part (just my body's) I have my beautiful baby boy. Tristan Matthew Armstrong was born July 13, 2008 @ 10:30pm, weighing in at 7lbs 9.2oz and 20 1/2 in long.







My Labor Story:

Well, I was in pre-labor for quite a LONG time. I went to the doctors Wed. and they told me I was 3cm dilated. I was completely shocked, I was having some contractions, but nothing that bothered me. So, these continued until Saturday night when I started having them regularly and they kinda hurt....and I was losing my mucus plug and having a bloody show. I told Matthew to get ready because I could have this baby here pretty quick. I got things ready and packed my bag for the hospital.
That night I woke up around 1 am and I was having hard contractions every 5 min...so I timed them and I was right. At about 5 am I woke Matthew up and told him I was in labor and that I thought we should go to the hospital. We got ready, got showered, got the kids ready for church and dropped them off at a Sisters house in our church.
We got to the hospital at 8:30 and they started me up on monitors, and an hour later I was 4 cm dilated, so they told me that they were going to admit me.
They gave me an IV (which wasn't as bad experience....they ALWAYS have to poke me a dozen times before they find the vein, they poked me twice).
My contractions were not at all to a 10 on a pain scale, they were always at a 7.
They told me it was going to be a while before they could give me an epidural....so they gave me this other drug which was THE GREATEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! They told me the instant they give it to me I will be drowsy...and MAN were they right. It took about 1 min for the pain killers to work and I was out of it....It was like I was drunk, I couldn't focus or talk right, and I slept for a while because I didn't feel the contractions :):):)
At about 4 pm they broke my water and then the contractions started coming every 2 min. About an hour later they gave me an epidural (which was great by the way....one of the best I have had :)) I was stuck at 8 cm it seemed like forever, then about 9 pm they checked me while I was having a contraction and they could still feel another sack of water, and when the doctor broke that bag of water I literally could feel the baby drop! it felt like a ton of bricks! From that point on I progressed REALLY fast, I went from a 9cm to 10cm from the time he broke my last bag of water. The bum pressure and hip pressure was beyond any pain that I experienced...I didn't even remember it hurting that bad with my last 2....but the time came (about 5 min after they broke my last bag of water) that it was time to push. I told them...I'm pushing and I can't stop. The nurse told me not to push because the doctor was putting on his gear....I couldn't stop and with in 2 pushes (I never really pushed, it was my body pushing the whole time) he was completely out...one push and the head was out and then the other push the rest of the body came. But man o man....what a BIG relief it is to have that baby out....it was complete euphoria.
They had Matthew cut the cord and then put Tristan right on my chest while they were doing the other birthing process and stitching me up :) I didn't have hemorrhoids during this labor and I didn't go to the bathroom on the table either (which was a huge embarrassment from last time). The nurse told me that if every labor was that easy, every woman would want a baby (uhhh.....hello? you weren't going through all that pain lady).

All in all though...it was a great experience. I was VERY thankful that I didn't have a lot of pain, although it was a long labor, there wasn't a lot of pain involved. And I am sooo thankful to have such a beautiful baby to hold and kiss and love :)

Breastfeeding is still an on going battle, and I think it will be for the rest of my child bearing years. I am, though, doing a LOT better with Tristan then with Gabriel and Brooke. By the end of my hospital stay I gave my other 2 formula because I wasn't supplying enough, but with Tristan I didn't, I've only given him 2 oz thus far of formula, although I think it's going to be a regular thing....breastfeeding as much as I can and then supplementing. I SOOO wish I could just full out breastfeed, but I don't think my body can do it....I thought it was on my part, like my fault, I could have dome something more about it....but having Tristan and seeing that I almost starve him if I don't supplement....there's really nothing I can do but supplement.
Frustrating....but I'll have a happier baby because of it :)

I think labor has finally started....

Well....for the past few days I've been having contractions that have been pretty regular. Last night they were pretty constant, and then stopped and then were pretty sporadic throughout the day until about an hour ago I've been having them constantly....and I am even losing my mucus plug. I lost a big chunk of it when my contractions started an hour ago and have been losing more every time I go to the bathroom.
So....my predictions.....I'll probably have this baby either tonight or tomorrow....or even Monday, the day before my birthday..ha ha.