We're doing GREAT!!!

One day Dave saw her on the chair and asked her what she was doing and she said,
"I'm just relaxing Daddy"

She helped me with his bath by splashing water ALL OVER THE COUNTER

It's been over a week and we are all doing way better than we had ever dreamed we'd be at this point!

Katie is totally adjusting to having Ben around and is being a total trooper. She isn't jealous and she isn't too interested - which is good because I don't have to worry about her smothering him.

She is totally understanding so far about the constant breast feeding - she just wants to be able to play with the boppy every once in awhile. Dave and Katie hang out while Ben and mommy feed/eat.

I stay up with him at night and let Dave sleep and then Dave gets up with Katie in the morning and plays stay at home dad while I take care of Ben.

I try as hard as I can to pay as much one on one attention to Katie whenever Ben lets me, which means I'm kind of exhausted because I will play with her rather than nap if given the opportunity, but I think it's important and I think it's helping her adjust and realize I am not just spending time with Ben.


Katie LOVES getting mail and this week she got 2 packages just for her! Her new favorite things are her sunglasses (Thank you Cousin Kathy!!!!) and her Peter Cottontail stickers that we put on the window.

Ben is doing well - eating like a champ - we just got back from his one week weigh in and he now weights 7 lbs 4 ounces which is GREAT cause that means he gained 7 ounces since last Monday.
He is eating all day every day but seems to fully understand that nighttime is for letting mommy sleep for a little while. He usually gives me a 4 hour stretch somewhere between 12 and 5am so although he eats all day, I suppose I should be happy for the 3+ hours of sleep I get in a row when he does this.




Katie hanging out with her snack on the couch - yes that is my Ipod she's playing with!

So, yes we are doing VERY WELL and working like a great team. If only Mommy could get a little bit more sleep at night, I'd say everything is absolutely PERFECT.
Oh and if we had a robot maid that would cook and clean for us and do our laundry - that would kick ass too!

Happy Monday!

OH and P.S. I have yet to be peed on - but Dave gets peed on almost once a day! hahaha I win!

More Pics

His first tea party

It's been a little hectic - but we are surviving and doing surprisingly well.
Katie is adjusting VERY well and only acting out once or twice a day for attention and they are VERY MINOR.

So far Ben only cries if he's hungry (which is ALL THE TIME) or when we are changing his diaper (he's not a fan of that)

He literally poops and eats all day long. I forgot how much I hate changing diapers!!!

We bought him a special chair for the living room/dining room since he's doing so good in his pack and play - called the Rock and Play Bouncer - it's new and people who have used it swear by it. He is also as bitsy as Katie was so we are having a tiny issue finding clothes that actually fit him - but I'm sure in 3 weeks we will be fine again.

He also pees through his clothes like 5 times a day. His belly button is still yucky, so we don't tighten his diaper too much, so we are kind of letting him pee through his clothes, but that's because we don't want him to get hurt or irritated.

I'm hoping the feeding starts to settle down and that I am able to start getting some better sleep at night. The first 2 nights were great and then last night I think I got a total of 3-4 hours all night long. I'm trying to really limit my caffeine just in case it bothers him - so it's going to be a rough few days for me but it's ok - because I think he's doing MUCH better with nursing than Katie did, so hopefully we can keep doing it full time instead of me having to pump and bottle feed!

More to come once we come out of our haze.

On the Katie front - she has gone from being a super smart 2 year old - so talking like she's 5. She also apparently knows her left from right - we have been testing it for 2 days and so far - she's ahead of Dave in that game ;)
J/K!!

Happy Wednesday!

Benjamin David Metcalfe

What a birth story!!!! (to come later as I'm delirious at the moment)

Just know that he decided to come quick, painful and created total chaos!!!

But at the end of the VERY long and hard day we started pushing around 9:08pm and he was out and with me by 9:13 PM.

7.2 ounces (which is exactly what Dave guessed)
19 inches



We knew we wanted to call him Ben - but we just weren't set on Benjamin... at the end of the day, we figured we need a good, strong long game for when he gets in trouble -
so Benjamin David it is and we will call him Ben.

We are home. Mommy and baby are doing well. I am a "human watering hole" as Dave mentioned yesterday and getting adjusted. Dave is getting over a nasty cold so we are working as a team to try to keep these kids healthy and alive and happy:)

Our first night home with Ben and Katie went WAY better than our first 3 nights home with Katie - he only cried when he's hungry or being changed and we can put him down sometimes which we couldn't do with her.

I'm exhausted and sore, but doing awesome considering the severity of the whole thing and the quickness with which it all happened.

More pictures will come as the fog starts to lift from both of our brains!

Love to all!
Annie, Dave, Katie and Ben

Brother Baby's new clothes

My good friend Meghan asked me if I wanted some hand me downs from her friend that just had a baby.

Of course I said yes.... and here is what we got!!!

This kid is set for awhile on clothes.... (sorry Grammie)
The bag above is all newborn or 0 - 3 - we have pants, shirts, onesies, pj's and more socks than any kid would ever need:) It's waiting for Dave to come home so he can put it in the laundry for me and we can put it in his changing table. (which is already full of 0 - 3 stuff that we have gotten from people already:))

This HUGE STACK is all 3 - 6 months

This bag is all 6-9 months

I think the baby we got it from is only about 9 months old now - and his mom told Meghan that there is more to come as he grows out of it:)

Hand me downs are GREAT! One less thing to buy or worry about -
and I HATED when I would find something that we didn't get a chance to put on Katie and she had outgrown it - seems like such a waste to me:( Especially since they grow so quick and they spend so much time in pj's and onesies the first few months of their life anyway.

Sorry Grammie and Mimi, we'll have to find something else fun for you to look for for brother baby when you are shopping!!!:)

Let the countdown really begin... 12 days or less!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday cooking baking

I've been trying to rest - which is near impossible for me - so this is me and Katie hanging out on the couch last night watching tv.

I decided to bake some sugar cookies for Katie as they are pretty much the only type of cookie she will actually eat and I figure we could keep them in the freezer for her so when the baby gets here she can have a nice treat every once in awhile without me having to bake when I have no time. She's actually pretty good with the cookie cutters but then she discovered flour and I decided to let her play with it even though I knew it would be a HUGE mess - and she had a great time and I finished the cookies while Dave ran at the gym:)
All in all, it was a fun and productive morning and I feel good knowing I have a stash of her favorite cookies.

I also dyed brother babies burp cloths as we are trying to explain to Katie that he is going to need some too - she is crazily attached to hers which are pink/purple and white so I asked her what color his should be and she said blue and green.

I'm super bummed because about 5 minutes after this pictures my dye leaked out of the sink and they didn't come out quite as blue as I had hoped... but she gets it - which is all that matters and she even helped me put them in his drawers when they were all washed and cleaned:)

I will have to go to the craft store now and get MORE dye and go through the whole process again though so that I can fix them. I hate going through things halfway. STUPID SINK! I also need to get a new sink drainer to make sure it doesn't happen again - so it looks like Katie and I will be going on an adventure today!

I also baked a banana bread to freeze and made a baked ziti so that we have some yummy stuff in the freezer when the baby comes! I know cooking will be last on my list of things to want to do and I hate ordering out all the time cause it gets so expensive... so I'm trying to be as prepared as possible!!!

That's all for us. Happy Monday Morning!

Singing at Breakfast

Happy Sunday!

Recent pics of the kids!

Foot print picture above... he's had his foot permanently up against my belly for weeks and this was confirmation!

This is a profile pic - his chin is on the bottom left, then his nose and forehead - I feel the quality is pretty pathetic... but what can you do?

My appointment went well. He's measuring at 6lbs 8 ozs and the nurse said we should probably have him within 2 weeks - but that could also mean 3 weeks so who the heck knows!

I go back again on Tuesday and then will pre-register at the hospital as they won't send me the paperwork to send back to them which is VERY annoying.

We are still slowly getting ready - his car seat is installed and his corner in our room is set up and we have been stocking up on diapers when they go on sale - so we're ready - just anxious for him to get here already!

I am most nervous about making sure it isn't too chaotic for Katie if we have to leave for the hospital in a hurry. We had lots of time to hang out when she decided to make her appearance, but if my water breaks this time - then we gotta rush and have someone come over to hang with her while we wait for my mom to get here. So, I'm mostly concerned about that. Other than that I'm just excited and anxious.

Right now, Katie has some gook in her eye that I have to keep pulling out. I don't think it's pink eye as it was in one eye yesterday and now is in the other eye but has left the first eye - so I'm watching it closely and washing everything and my hands a million times a day as the LAST THING IN THE WORLD I need right now is pink eye!

We are trying to get in as many play dates as we can before he makes his appearance because then we will have to go off the map for a few weeks until the doc says he can be around kids, etc...

So, as Dave said - here's hoping for at least a 5 hour window from when we start to really feel like we are in labor. Enough time for us to get Katie settled and for Mimi to get here and us to leave peacefully as opposed to the way they had to leave on the I love Lucy episode when she went into labor with Ricky!!!!