Two Under Two

Life has been crazy lately, but I'm happy to announce that we are all home and (somewhat) healthy! Besides both kids having colds.. yay.. we are doing great! That may change very soon, as Carl went back to work today. We finally have a routine and were making things work, and I'll admit I'm very skeptical about how I'll do at home with two of them by myself! We're all still alive today, so I guess I'm doing alright!

Charlotte has her days and nights mixed up, so sleep is just a vague memory right now. With Henry getting up around 7:30 every morning, and me usually staying up way too late, I'm existing purely on coffee and the reminder that these two munchkins depend on me for survival. 

However, it is great not being pregnant anymore, since I can get up and move around! I'm also very excited to put more effort into the Etsy shop this next year. Carl's officially on a full time Detective schedule, meaning he's off at 3:30 and has weekends off, whoohoo! That means I'll get time to leave him in charge of the kiddos and work on products, advertising, and social media for the shop. I would love for nothing more than for it to catch on so I can stay at home with the kids & get to do what I really love for a living. 

We've come up with some fun ideas, and while we're going to create more inventory, we decided to test out our ideas on Christmas presents for family members: 

   

 

I'm really excited to experiment more with these coffee cozies, as they're so much fun to make and there are so many possibilities! Mom has an embroidery machine, and personalized cozies would be awesome (I've got a "Mrs. 33" police sleeve in the works). 

That's all I've got for this post, they are both miraculously napping at the same time so I better eat and start laundry while I can! 

Miss Charlotte Elizabeth Staas

So sorry for the silence lately, life has been crazy! I am so happy to announce that Charlotte Elizabeth Staas arrived December 7, safe and sound. She weighed in at 5 lbs, 13 oz, and 20 in long. With how big Henry was, such a little peanut has taken some getting used to!

Since my last post, I was hospitalized again for high blood pressure, then had to stay for some light bleeding. I was finally released, then days later had a scheduled C-section. I was so terrified with the idea of surgery but honestly, it wasn't near as bad as I had freaked myself out about.

The hardest part has definitely been the NICU stay, for about a week and a half now. She needed some assistance breathing at first, and since then it's been a combination of low temperatures, low weight, high bilirubin, you name it. Nothing too scary but definitely low enough that they weren't comfortable enough sending her home yet. Her weight dropped to 5 lbs 3 oz and while weight loss is to be expected, hers kept going down which was concerning. She is now up to 5 lbs 4 oz and as long as it stays up, we get to go home tomorrow. Can I get a hallelujah?! I miss Henry so much I don't even know. I can't wait to have my whole family together again.

Enough of my complaining though, I have to share some of the ridiculous amounts of pictures I've already taken :)

This first one is extremely blurry, since in the NICU you have to keep your phone in a plastic bag. We had the nurse take a photo of Henry meeting her for the first time, & he even gave her a couple of kisses. Too cute for words.

She is already the sweetest little girl, and I cannot wait to get her home. I am a little nervous about how Henry will do with her getting a lot of my attention, but we'll see! Thank goodness Carl's got more time off to help with the adjustment. 

And a side note- I decided to switch up the name of my blog. I would like to get more dedicated and make some changes in the new year, and I thought what better start than a new name! Let me know if you like it, or thought Staas & Company was better. 

That's all for now, thank you so much for reading!