2 Week Check-Up

Today we had Aedan’s 2 week check-up.  The most important part of the appointment was finding out if he gained his birthweight back.  We struggled with Brody gaining weight, so I’ve been worried constantly about how often he’s eating and if he’s growing.  But like the many differences between my two pregnancies, they are obviously different children and will have many differences.

The funny thing is, you’d think we’ve been through this before and we wouldn’t have many questions for the pediatrician…yet, I had a list of them.  I don’t think you ever become an expert at this!

First, he’s at 9lbs 13oz.  Woohoo!  That’s up 1 lb in less than two weeks (he went down to 8lbs 13.5oz at 4 days).  He’s 22.5 inches long.  That’s the same length as Brody at 2 weeks but more than a pound bigger than he was.  Aedan’s going to be my little chunky monkey and I love it.  I don’t know if giving up dairy helped him gain weight (he doesn’t spit-up nearly what Brody did), but if it has, it’s totally worth it.  Next, I plan to phase in small amounts of dairy and see if it affects him.  Also, I can stop waking him up in the middle of the night for feedings.  I’m so sick of hearing my alarm at 1am and then trying to convince a sleeping baby to eat, so I am very excited about that!

Then we went through our list of questions/concerns:
1. Aedan has a cold.  Ick.  2 weeks old.  We’ve been monitoring his temp and he isn’t running a fever.  The doc listened to his lungs and has no concerns.  Just need to keep up what we’re doing (clearing his nose, humidifier, etc.), and we’re pretty much experts at colds by now having Brody in daycare.  It does freak me out when Aedan starts gasping for air because he’s so stuffed up, but we just have to keep doing what we’re doing and wait it out.  Jason had a cold last week and managed to infect the whole household.  So aside from Aedan having a cold, Brody & I got it as well.  Not fun. 

2. Aedan’s hearing.  Tuesday, we took him to the hospital to repeat the hearing test they do when he’s first born.  His left ear failed on day 2, but since a lot of times this is due to fluid from birth, they just re-test to determine if it’s an issue.  Happy to report that he passed with flying colors.

3. Aedan’s eyes.  His right eye keeps turning inward, making him look cross-eyed at times.  The doc says this is totally normal for 2 weeks, but if it keeps up by 1 month we’ll take a closer eye on it.

4. Umbilical cord.  It fell off last week, but still bleeds from time to time.  Again, it’s apparently normal and said it actually looks really good.

Overall a good check-up!  We head back at 1 month, when he’ll have to get more vaccines, poor guy.

Worn out from the appointment, napping in his carseat

2 Weeks

2 Weeks Old

Aedan:
The very exciting life of a 2 week old.  Aedan is eating every 2-3 hours during the day and 3-3 1/2 hours at night.  He’s a good sleeper right now, but I’m still waking him at night to eat until he’s back to his birth weight.  His 2 week appointment is on Weds and I’m just praying that he’s surpassed 9.5lbs so we can let him sleep on his own.  According to our home-scale this morning, he’s actually over 10 lbs, but since it’s not a very scientific way of weighing him, we’ll see what the pediatrician says!

After eating every hour all evening the other night, I tried letting him wake on his own.  4 hours later he was still sleep and I felt bad, so I woke him up.  Of course once he’ll be allowed to sleep as long as he wants, I’m sure he’ll start waking every 3 hours.

This week, Aedan also got his newborn photos taken.  He did an awful job, but we had a great photographer who was very patient with him.  Once we get more pictures back, I’ll blog about our experience.  Here is one that turned out pretty cute.

 



He’s becoming more attentive, but still sleeps a lot during the day.  We’ve pulled out the playmat to give him some tummy-time when he is awake.  We’ve also introduced the swing, which he seems to like.  He watches the mobile above the swing, which I don’t remember Brody paying any attention to until he was older.  It’s pretty cute.



Brody:

He loves his baby brother.  It’s clear that he realizes he’s not getting as much attention as he used to and has been acting out a little more.  The good thing is, he’s not taking it out on Aedan.  He still wants to hug him and give him kisses.  Our biggest argument about Aedan is when Brody gets mad that we won’t let him carry his brother. 

Reading a book to his brother

Newborn photo shoot

Me:

Nothing much here.  I’m feeling well, just tired.  A couple of weeks of only sleeping 2-3 hours at a time, eventually catches up with you.  However, it’s been fairly manageable and Jason is still being a huge help with Brody.  The weekends are easier to take naps because I know Jason is around to watch Aedan while I’m sleeping.  Even though he’s sleeping, sometimes I still worry about him.  At least at night I’m getting 6-8 hours of sleep, even if it isn’t consecutive sleep.



Potty Party

So you’ve never heard of a potty party?!?  I can’t imagine why…

Brody’s daycare teachers throw a “potty party” for each kid that is deemed “potty-trained.”  Ever since we started the potty training journey, Brody has been talking about his potty-party.  The great thing is, when the other kids at daycare have one, it’s incentive for the others to have one. 

Finally, we seemed to accomplish small success in going both pee and poop in the toilet.  #2 took a little (lot) bit longer, but we eventually got to the point where he did it, voluntarily, on his own.  Once at “home” (we were actually out to dinner @ BW3s…who knew that’s where he would decide to go!) and then again at daycare the next day.  So, his teachers promised him that if he keeps his underwear clean for one more week, then he gets his party.

One week and a few days later, he had his potty party.  So what do you do at a potty party?  Well…

First, you put underwear on your head:

Second, Brody gets to pick the snack (Oranges) and flavor of milk (Strawberry).  And his teacher got him a balloon.



Then, your parents come, and you get to make them wear underwear on their heads.   

Brody has been talking for months about how he wants his brother to come to his potty party.  At first we were unsure if Aedan was coming in utero or in person.  But at 8 days old, Aedan showed up to the potty party.  He did not, however, wear underwear on his head.

 

 As silly as it seems, it was important for Brody to be recognized as much as possible for being potty trained.  We’ve already had one minor set-back, but he’s come a long way in the last few months.  We’re very proud of him.

First week down

Aedan’s first week was eventful (you know – being born and everything), yet uneventful (sleep, eat, repeat) at the same time.  All in all though, it’s going great.

Aedan:
We left the hospital at 27 hours old and he’s been doing great ever since. He’s a sleeper like his brother, forcing me to wake him at night to eat instead of waking on his own. A couple times he’s woken to eat, around 3 1/2 hours after his last feeding. It’s a pretty good span of time allowing me to get 2-3 hours of straight sleep at a time.

He dropped to 9lbs by the time we left the hospital (from 9.5) and then was down to 8lbs 13.5oz by 4 days old.  I’m constantly worried about the weight loss, since Brody was a slow gainer.  But the pediatrician didn’t seem nearly as worried this time, since Aedan only lost about 7% of his weight, where as Brody lost more like 11% of his birth weight.  So, if doctor isn’t worried, I’m trying not to worry.

So far, his interests include: eating, sleeping, peeing on his parents, and pooping on the changing table.  It’s a very exciting life around here.

Brody:

Brody is very very excited to be a big brother.  He loves Aedan, which means he loves touching him, getting in his face and wants to hold him constantly.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t understand how fragile babies are, so we have to keep close eye on him.  We already had a baseball incident in the house and luckily Aedan was okay. 

He is definitely a little more difficult these days, looking for attention (good and bad), so we’re needing to pull out a little more patience than normal.  But it’s completely understandable since he’s used to having 100% of our attention and now has to share it.

Me:
I can honestly say, I don’t feel like I gave birth 7 days ago.  I actually feel pretty good.  Sleep-deprived, but good.  My post-birth experience with Brody was less than stellar.  I had a lot more pain and had a few days I could do nothing but feed Brody.  I feel very very lucky that things are going better this time.  I had no idea how I would handle a two-year old and a baby when I could barely take care of myself.  Thank god I don’t need to figure that out.  Jason has been super helpful in allowing me to still take it easy (I’m not up and running quite yet…), but hasn’t had to take on all of the burden.  He only got a week off of work this time instead of 2 1/2, so I’m officially on my own anyway.

I also knew that I would need to ease into the transition of two kids, so we’ve taken it slow.  My first week home, Jason was also home and Brody was in daycare during the day.  For the next 3-4 weeks Brody will continue going to daycare, allowing bonding time with Aedan and Brody to still get his energy out.  I’m hoping by 4-5 weeks old, Aedan will be a little more predictable, allowing the three of us to get out and do more during the day.  I know Brody will miss going to daycare every day, but it will save us money, while hopefully I can keep him entertained at home as well.  (Anyone with suggestions of things to do during the day with little ones – send them my way!)  Luckily we have a good Children’s museum and at least for awhile the weather nice enough to go to the zoo.  Keep your fingers crossed that Aedan starts sleeping through the night as early as Brody did!  (I hope I didn’t just jinx myself…)

Aedan Andrew’s Birth Story

I’ll try to keep it from getting too long, but here is the story of Aedan’s arrival!  (I’ll keep the gory details to a minimum – but for those that don’t want to hear the details of labor, may want to skip this one)

Aedan was due to arrive September 20th, but not surprising, he didn’t come on time.  At my 40w appointment, we discussed induction and when was the right time.  He said he’d prefer to induce no later than 41 weeks, which would be Sept 27th, but I could pick any day between now and then.  At this point, I’d been having contractions for a week, mostly in the middle of the night, but never enough to progress into labor.  I was this close to having him induce me the next morning.  I was done.  I also knew that Aedan was another big baby (Brody was 8lbs 14oz), so I didn’t want to let him get too much bigger!

Instead we settled on 4 days late, Monday morning.  I was positive that Aedan would come over the weekend (I mean it had already been a week of contractions!), so I didn’t think we’d need the induction.  I was wrong.  The weekend came and went and no baby. 

Monday, September 24th

Enjoyed our last morning as a family of three, took a few pictures and then took Brody to daycare.  In case things didn’t work-out as planned, we didn’t want to tell Brody anything, so he went to daycare clueless as to what was going on.

7:45 – Arrived at hospital, got hooked up to monitors and IV.  Contractions were about 8-10 minutes apart, but weren’t strong enough to be considered real labor.  But the good news is that my body was at least showing that it was ready for labor.  Took three pokes to get my IV started (lovely!) but finally got it going.

9:15 – Pitocin started flowing (medicine to induce).  Contractions got closer together, but it was a low enough dose that they weren’t too painful yet.

9:45 – OB comes to visit & break my water.  Tells me I’m about 1-2 cms dialated, 50% effaced (thinness) and -2 station (+2 is when the baby is ready to go).  I was 1cm dialated at my appointment on Thursday, so I was really annoyed that in 4 days my body didn’t do anything.

Then, he breaks my water.  This was awful.  Apparently mine was a little tougher than normal.  There was a point where I think he actually thought he wouldn’t be able to do it.  By the end of it, I was in tears.  But I knew that this was nothing compared to contractions, so I just considered it prep.

Lots of discussion at this point about how long it was going to be.  Clearly Jason was worried about whether or not he’d miss the Monday night football game, since the Packers were playing.  Sheesh.  The generally consensus was that I’d probably deliver by kick-off, but not much before that.  Jason was hoping to hear it would be by 4:00, the OB laughed.

OB also said whenever I wanted to get the epidural, that I was fine to go ahead and do so.

11:00 – Heaven.  In other words, epidural.  The contractions started coming 1-2 minutes apart after he broke my water.  Since I had to be monitored to make sure that Aedan didn’t react poorly to the lack of fluid, I couldn’t walk around much to manage the pain.  I tried a couple different things, but was in enough pain to get the epi.  I always knew I would get it, so it was just a matter of when.

After that, I layed in bed, relaxing, facebooking etc.  I could sometimes feel the contractions, but it just felt like tightness without any pain. 

1:30 – Nurse came in to check my progress.  I was hoping for some good news that things were progressing faster than expected.  (one can hope – right?!?)  I was 4cms, 80% effaced, -1 station.  So, I was progressing right on track.  It looked like the dinner-time prediction by my OB was going to happen.

Nurse told me to turn on my side to get the baby moving down quicker.  I had been staying on my back because with the epi when I layed on my side the numbness went all into one leg.  But I turned on my side anyway.

2:30 – My left leg was numb and I could feel contractions on my right side.  Since I was getting uncomfortable, I turned to my right side.  This is easier said than done with an IV and two monitors with cords.  So flipped and layed there for about 10 minutes or so.

Despite flipping sides I was still very uncomfortable.  I felt a lot of pressure.  Mentioned it to the nurse and she asked if I needed to push?  I was like, well, no, I don’t think so?  I never felt the need to push with Brody, so it wasn’t something I expected.  Besides, it had only been an hour since I was 4cm.

2:45 – Um, nurse?  Yeah, kind of feels like I need to push…

3:00 – 9.5cms – get ready for baby!  (Seriously…5 1/2 cms in an hour??  I was in shock)

3:15ish- Nurses are all in the room, everything is set up, we’re ready to go.  I’m trying everything I can to not push.  One nurse has me do a “practice-push” to see if we can get Aedan a little further down.

Jokes start about whether or not we’re going to deliver the baby without the OB.  He still wasn’t there yet…

Few minutes later… In runs my OB.  Apparently there was a miss in getting him the message.  His office is attached to the hospital, so there was no reason he shouldn’t be there for the birth.  Once he checks that he didn’t miss anything, he runs off to change.

3:30 – ready to push.  Started pushing Aedan out.  It was definitely different than with Brody and a lot more uncomfortable.  Let’s just say I was motivated to get him out sooner than later.  OB did seem concerned at one point and said a couple of times that “IF he looked good when he came out that they’d put him on my chest right away” I was a little worried that he kept saying, “If…”

3:38 – Aedan Andrew arrives!  4 contractions, 8 minutes of pushing.  He was clearly a big baby.  Luckily he was doing great and came right up by his mommy.  However, his umbilical cord was pretty short.  He wasn’t able to put him on top of me before cutting it.  Jay wasn’t thrilled about cutting the cord to begin with, so he had no issue letting my OB cut it.

Let the jokes about how big he is begin…Oh, and the bets on the official weight. 

9lbs 8oz.  21 inches long (I’m waiting for the pediatrician to confirm this, I totally thought he was longer than Brody).

My OB also made a comment on how Aedan’s APGAR score should be a 10 just because of how pink he was.  He was clearly thriving instantly.

The entire pregnancy has been more stressful and emotional for me.  Turns out the birth was to.  It was very uneventful and successful, but bringing him into the world definitely filled my heart in a different way than Brody.  With Brody, I didn’t really know what was in front of us.  With Aedan, I really know what it is like to raise a little boy and love him so much. 

What I didn’t know is that it’s possible to love two little boys more than anything else in the world.

40 Weeks

39 weeks 5 days

 

The weekly update I never really want to write.  But Aedan’s due date has come and gone.  Honestly, from the beginning I never expected him to come early.  Brody was 5 days late, so I didn’t think Aedan would be here sooner.  I’m glad I haven’t felt ready for the last 4 weeks like I was the first time.  It made for less “waiting” time.

 

40 weeks

 

Total weight gain/loss: Up a couple pounds this week, 29 in total.

Maternity clothes:  Sweatpants and tank-tops from here on out!

Sleep: I’ve been up with contractions almost nightly for the last week.  So sleep has been a luxury when it comes.  Of course the contractions stop and aparently aren’t actually doing anything.  So I’m just sleep unnecessarily sleep-deprived at this point.  But it’s all part of the process right?

Best moment this week: Last day at work!  My mind wasn’t working that well on 4 hours of sleep, so it’s best for everyone that I’m done. 

Food cravings: Custard…but since I’m not eating it, I’ve just substituted it with other desserts.

Labor Signs: Lots of random contractions, but nothing that means anything.

What I miss: My body.  It takes me like 5 minutes to roll over in bed, I can’t fit in tight spaces and my lap is nonexistent for my toddler to cuddle with.

What I am looking forward to: Baby snuggles

Milestones: Due-date!
Differences between 1&2: Everything.  Instead of laying around pampering myself the last couple of weeks of pregnancy, it’s been about making sure Brody feels loved and secure.  It’s actually been great because he helps keep my mind off the waiting.  And this time, instead of pampering me by doing things for me, Jason takes care of me by taking care of Brody more.  He lets me nap when Brody naps, sleep-in when I need to and do the heavy-lifting (literally) when we’re out with Brody. 

My Obsession with Dates

Okay, so I have a little obsession with dates.  Not the fruit.  But the day of the week, year etc.  In High School I notoriously could remember practically everything that happened on the date that it happened.  It was a little obsessive.

It’s decreased over-time (though I really think it’s my memory that decreased, not my obsession), so I couldn’t tell you exactly what I was doing on Sept 19th last year.  Although, since it was a Monday, I’m going to guess that I was at work. 

So, clearly, since I have ZERO control over when this little man shows up, I obsess over dates.  When might his birthday occur?  Wouldn’t it be great if he was born on xyz date?  and so on…

I’m actually surprised at how many dates in September we’ve felt some sort of connection to.  First it was:

Sept 9th – the date Jason & I were supposed to get married.  That is, until our reception hall decided to double-book us and we had to set a new date.  Our dating anniversary was also the 9th, so it had significance.

Then…
Sept 11th – why not have something happy on this tragic day?  It wasn’t so much a wish for this date as it was that it would be wonderful to have something to celebrate on a day that brings so much saddness.

Sept 15th – Brody was due Jan 15th and born on Jan 20th.  So wouldn’t it be funny if Aedan was born on the 15th when was due the 20th??

Sept 17th – same day of the month as Jason’s birthday

Sept 20th – same day of the month as Brody’s birthday (keep it simple kiddos!)  Not to mention he’d be born on his due date, he’d naturally be my favorite child for learning to be punctual early on. 

Sept 21st – 21 is Jason’s favorite # (and I think his baseball # in high school)

Sept 27th – 27 is my favorite #, I was born on the 27th and I was a second child.  However…I will cry if he’s 7 days late…so I really don’t want him to be born on the 27th. 

Obviously, I can’t control anything at this point.  So, since I’m sitting around waiting, I daydream about the day my little man will be born and a date that we will celebrate for the rest of our lives.  (Now I have TWO birthday parties to plan each year – woohoo!)

39 Week Doctor Appointment

Friday I had my 39 week appointment.  I found out sometime back that my OB was going to be on vacation this week, so even though I really want Aedan to join us, I am glad he didn’t make his appearance while my OB was out.  So my appointment on Friday was with the OB that was on-call over the weekend, in case I ended up going into labor. 

Weight: Down 3.5lbs – yep, I lost exactly the amount I “gained” the week before.  It looks like I was really just retaining a ton of water.  So officially only up 27 lbs in 39 weeks.  I’m happy with that.

Blood Pressure: 110/60 – also back to a normal amount for me.  I’m a lot less worried about showing signs of pre-eclampsia now!
Heartbeat: Good – 140ish
Fundal Height: Fill-in OB actually measured me, she didn’t tell me what it was, just that it was fine.

Labor Progress: I woke up with severe but sporadic contractions Friday morning.  Since I never had any contractions before I was in labor with Brody, I assumed that this was it!  I figured it had to send me into labor within the next 24 hours or so…right?!?  WRONG!  (Anyone ever heard of false labor? ugh.)

So at my appointment I told her about the contractions and she checked progress.  I was lower than last week, but still only about a cm.  Apparently my contractions weren’t doing much.  Oh yeah, and it’s now Tuesday and I’m still pregnant. 

Questions: I was also worried about how to tell if I’m leaking amniotic fluid or if I am just showing signs of dialation.  She did a quick check to make sure everything was still in tact, and reassured me that it was just my body progressing and nothing else to worry about.  So that was good news!

Then she just told me that if the contractions get closer together or stronger to come in and get checked again that afternoon.  Also reassured me that she’s on-call all weekend, but she won’t be offended if Aedan decided to hang out and wait for my regular OB.  🙂

So obviously nothing happened.  The contractions eventually fizzled out.  Then started up again Friday night continued on and off until Monday night.  But they’re pretty much the definitely of “false-labor.”  They are all over the board for timing and never get stronger.  Some are pretty strong (wake me from dead-sleep) and then the next one will be weaker. 

So, I am still predicting that Aedan will follow his big brother’s lead and keep his Mama waiting…impatiently waiting.

My Favorite 2 1/2 year old

Rockin’ Mommy’s sunglasses

Let’s face it.  This blog has been quiet for a few months and when I do post, it’s very much baby related.  Unfortunately, that’s probably a little representative of how things are going at home.  I’m trying to be very conscious of not talking about Aedan too much and reassuring Brody that he’s still my favorite “big-boy.”  As the end grows nearer, I think he’s getting more and more worried about his attention from his parents.

Yesterday, I dropped him off at daycare and along with begging me to stay longer to play with him, he actually whimpered (not quite crying) when I left.  He hasn’t acted that way in well over a year.  It nearly broke my heart. 

So, the last few weeks, we’ve tried to do some extra-fun activities and have been doing as much “family of three” stuff before that changes.  Our regular babysitters haven’t been happy about this arrangement, but Brody is getting lots of mommy & daddy time! 

Zoo Train

“Driving” a tractor

Snack-time in front of the Badger Game

So here’s a few updates on what Brody is into these days:

-Despite the start of the football season, he’s still obsessed with playing baseball.  Which also means I often have baseballs thrown at me when I’m not looking.  (we’re working on that!)

-He still loves reading books – his favorite lately seems to be “The Big Hungry Bear,” which is funny because we’ve had the book for a long time but he loves it more after reading it with Aubrie on our vacation with them.

-We don’t let him watch that many TV shows, so the few we approve of generally rotate.  The last few weeks though, he’s loving Dora & Diego.  Lately he’s been a bit of a TV addict (asking to watch it all the time), so we’re saying no a lot more often and trying to control that for now. 

-Still as active as ever.  The best days we have with him are when he gets time to run around outside.  It’s better when we go somewhere (like the zoo).  I’m dreading winter-time!

I LOVE the funny things this kid says & does…so here’s a few:

-“I don’t want one brother, I want TWO”

-Randomly singing a Tim McGraw/Kenney Chesney song in the car…when it wasn’t even playing on the radio!

-“Mom you can’t wear boots, it’s not snowing outside!”  (Clearly I’ve stopped taking fashion advice from him)

-“I don’t want to be a big brother, I’m going to be a big sister”

 

39 Weeks & Pregnancy Reflection

First, the routine stuff:

Total weight gain/loss: Not sure – will find out at Dr appt tomorrow

Maternity clothes:  Running out of options, hopefully only a week left of work to worry about it!

Sleep: Trying to get as much as I can!

Best moment this week: Finally feeling ready

Food cravings: Trying to eat what I can at this point that doesn’t have too much dairy in it.

Labor Signs: Lots of random contractions, but nothing that means anything.

What I miss: Currently, it’s milk!  And it’s only been a week!  Hoping once we see how Aedan is doing I can phase in some milk here and there without affecting him.  But we’ll see.

What I am looking forward to: Tiny baby feet, baby toes, baby hands. 

Milestones: 39 weeks down!
Differences between 1&2: No matter how many times you go through this, every pregnancy is different.  I never felt contractions with Brody until I was in labor.  Now, I feel them all the time.  I know they’re not the real-deal because they don’t stick around.  But it’s really annoying wondering all the time if it’s going to turn into anything.  I think I’d rather go back to being naive.  😛

Reflecting back on the last 39 weeks:
Last time, I did a post of all the things I’ll miss about being pregnant and the things I’ll be glad to leave behind.  So I thought I would do the same. 

What I’ll miss
1. Life with one child.  Nap-time at our house is (usually) a time to get things done, read a book, take a nap etc.  Now, I won’t have that luxury, until we can get them both on the same nap schedule at least. 

2. Ability to gain weight without concern.  Ice cream for dessert? Why not!  2 brownies instead of 1?  Sure!  Of course since I’ve been on a slower weight gain than last time, I’ve been even easier on myself these last few weeks…

3. The kicks.  I love the bond that I have with Aedan right now.  It’s just the two of us and feeling him move around is a great feeling.  Even when it hurts.

What I’m happy to leave behind
I think I’ve said before that I believe this will be my last pregnancy.  Jason thinks we’re done having kids, I am undecided, but I know either way, if there is another child, it will be one that we give a loving home to that doesn’t currently have one.  While I always reserve the right to change my mind, I don’t believe I’ll birth anymore children.  So, you’d think I’d be a little sad to end this chapter in my life…

Honestly?  Not too much. 

1. I’m excited to get my body back.  Breastfeeding will present certain challenges, and I will always continue to sacrifice if necessary (like giving up dairy), but for the most part, I will start to feel like myself again.  I can drink more caffeine, consider a glass of wine, and fit into smaller spaces. 

2. Putting on non-maternity clothes.  I can’t wait to get into my cute fall sweaters and real jeans (though I know I won’t be in jeans right away!)  There’s also a couple cute shirts I’ve bought while pregnant that I’m excited to be able to wear for the first time. 

3. Stress of work.  Though it’s only for 12 weeks, I’m hoping to disconnect as much as possible and enjoy the time with my boys.  Then, when I return, I’ll at least be able to function a little better at work (even sleep deprived, I can bulk up on caffeine & won’t have shooting sciatic pain from sitting at my desk too long!)