tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21083391309135893252024-03-20T23:12:36.146-06:00Proliferation of PinkTwo little girls, LOTS of cuteJordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594691656157462437noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-61645874320153979372012-04-12T14:38:00.002-06:002012-04-12T14:39:58.484-06:00A Splash of BlueAfter what felt like forever, we finally added some blue to our pink-heavy household. Quintin James Anderson was born April 9, 2012 at 7:08 pm. He weighed in at a healthy 7 lb. 15 oz. and was a tall baby at 21 inches long. it's a good thing he came a week before his due date or he could have been one huge little guy. His birth was a lot faster than his sisters' births. I only pushed for about 20 minutes before he came popping out. We're pretty sure it had a lot to do with me not having an epidural this time around. I shared the story on my other blog, but haven't ruled out the possibility of rewriting it here to see how my perception of things changes over the course of a few weeks.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just after birth</td></tr>
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Quintin has been a really good sleeper for the past few days. Almost too good a sleeper. I have to wake him up at night to eat sometimes. He's still getting the hang of nursing. Quintin is also a very gassy boy. I think he swallows a lot of air. And boy does it smell when he passes it. Hopefully my milk will be in fully before too long.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Angel baby boy</td></tr>
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Ellie and Maya are just loving Quintin to death. Maya would probably smother him for real with kisses if I weren't there to curb her enthusiasm. He seems to be fairly patient with everything. Quintin may also be the first of our kids to voluntarily take a binky. We can hope. For now that's all there is. We love this little dude and look forward to integrating him into our lives. Now I just need to think of a new name for the blog...<br />
<br /></div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594691656157462437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-18624762828639396842012-04-01T14:09:00.000-06:002012-04-12T14:09:59.474-06:00Update of the Girly-piesAs my due date for our little boy approaches I figure I should record some things that the girls are saying/ doing before I get completely overwhelmed with #3.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First day of Primary</td></tr>
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Eliana is now 3 1/2 years old. Our biggest project at the moment is potty training. We've been working on that for over a year now. I really don't want three kids in diapers, but it's looking like it will be that way for a while. My mom told me I was Ellie's age before I potty trained and that makes me a little less discouraged with the process. She knows how, she just doesn't consistently choose to go on the potty. We got her a potty watch to help remind her. It's probably a better reminder for me so I can make sure Ellie goes. The novelty is wearing off, though I think she still likes it. She just doesn't insist on always having it on her wrist anymore.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkMrCvPFNds_KtdFQiL32AiTi8AdI6j715V76uVd78kg4ByvOkbvf6-vqFVsRttwJQbaj3JvmW0KS5WzXV00S1qAKJcVBnX-S3qe9r-A-86ltCrjXBD6aQj17dyilGWxprLbTKvIT-as/s1600/DSCF1496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkMrCvPFNds_KtdFQiL32AiTi8AdI6j715V76uVd78kg4ByvOkbvf6-vqFVsRttwJQbaj3JvmW0KS5WzXV00S1qAKJcVBnX-S3qe9r-A-86ltCrjXBD6aQj17dyilGWxprLbTKvIT-as/s320/DSCF1496.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
We certainly have a little performer in Ellie. We gave talks in church a few weeks ago and Ellie was also able to participate. She loved it. She's asked when it's her turn to speak in church again. The same holds true for singing and, well, pretty much everything she does. We were at my parents house recently and the girls were enjoying playing on the slide. Out of the blue she started calling out, "Ladies and gentlemen, is you ready for a show?" Then she went down the slide on her tummy. For another ten minutes after that she announced every time she, her sister, or her cousin were about to go down the slide with, "Is you ready for a show again?" It was funny.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99cn5pCKaYGTfUfoJvCngBLQk5Fh8gIPJNvYimSoyeKRoohQZAoUfTMQS81qY_3qmAfpHK2gmeL3GKN-V_GsNVpjF1Dr8UbiyE_hR4qGtIzdgd0xWmbW-0mXtM4KX6M1lFe8tnqYtbBI/s1600/P2110519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99cn5pCKaYGTfUfoJvCngBLQk5Fh8gIPJNvYimSoyeKRoohQZAoUfTMQS81qY_3qmAfpHK2gmeL3GKN-V_GsNVpjF1Dr8UbiyE_hR4qGtIzdgd0xWmbW-0mXtM4KX6M1lFe8tnqYtbBI/s320/P2110519.JPG" width="320" /></a>Another of Ellie's favorite activities is jumping. Always has been, probably always will be. New activities include bike riding, wanting to help with EVERYTHING, running around like a demon, and playing with my makeup. <br />
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Ellie is also our little comedian. She doesn't know it, but we find her rather hilarious. My favorite gem that's come out of her mouth was when she told me, "I'm being a princess. I dancing and singing and shaking my bottom." Ellie also remains convinced that we will go to the dentist to get her baby brother out. She has a dentist appointment yesterday and that didn't happen. I think the dentist was pretty happy about that.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing at Discovery Gateway</td></tr>
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Maya just turned 18 months old a couple of weeks ago. My joy that she is now in Nursery is unparalleled. She's been there twice. It's nice to be able to pay attention in my classes. It seems that she's done well, though I have heard her give her signature I've-been-betrayed cry when she realizes I've left the room. No one has ever brought her back to me, so that's something. I used to be so sad that she was growing up so quickly, but I think with the baby's imminent birth I've been wanting her to grow up (read: be more independent) a bit faster. She's going to have a rude awakening when baby brother comes on the scene. Her favorite place to be in either in my arms or on my lap. Sorry kiddo, that space is going to be reserved for a nursing baby. But I do like the snuggles she so readily gives.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting the table with Ellie's extra milk and cereal</td></tr>
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Where Maya used to be a really mellow and somber-faced baby, she is now a ball of happiness. I love the way she smiles with her whole face. I hope that's something she will keep as she grows. Smiles are abundant, but she saves her real laughs for when she's really amused. Eric and Ellie are both pretty good at getting them out of her.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Helping" with the laundry</td></tr>
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Favorite activities for Maya include drawing, climbing, taking books off of shelves, sitting on my lap, sabotaging the computer, and getting up at least twice in the night so she can sleep in my arms. That's another habit that will have to go. Maya's favorite thing, though, really is drawing. She's learning that the walls are unacceptable drawing places and thinks that her skin is a suitable replacement. She's our little tattoo artist. Hopefully she gets that out of her system before too long.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another good use for Pull-Ups: helmets</td></tr>
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Ellie is finally starting to progress a little with potty training. I don't relish the idea of three kids in diapers so this is a blessed change. There's a lot she still needs to work on, but any forward movement is good. It's been a long, frustrating time in coming. I think the real trick was getting her a potty watch and rewarding her with chocolate Robin Eggs. Ellie is very excited whenever she earns "a widdle tiny chocwat egg." Maya is also really fascinated with the potty, but she's not ready to train yet. She just likes to sit on it.<br />
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Both of the girls are looking forward to having a baby brother. Ellie can't quite pronounce his name and people think we're naming him Gordon. His name will be Quintin. Both of the girls kiss my tummy frequently. Maya likes to lift my shirt for better access and to see "Bee-bee!" Ellie frequently predicts when he will be born, but I think that's mostly because there are things she knows will happen after he's born. It's a treat to be mommy to these sweet little girls. I may get frustrated quite a bit (what mom doesn't?) but I wouldn't trade them for anything.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big girls at the dentist's office.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maya in Christmas dress and coat</td></tr>
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</div>Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594691656157462437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-68293894077428466332011-07-21T14:14:00.000-06:002012-04-12T14:15:46.207-06:00Ten Months (Maya)It's been a while since I've updated about either of the girls. Now that they are both so close to their birthdays it's time to start again.<br />
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Maya is such a sweet baby. She still likes to cuddle me every now and again and I just LOVE it. Sleeping at night has gotten a little better. That endears children to their parents. Maya has been going to sleep a little later and we need to work on that.<br />
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I'm hoping Maya's hair is starting to show signs of curling. We'll see. If not, it will be nice to have baby hair that is easier to comb through than curly hair is. There rest of Maya is growing up pretty well. She hasn't yet taken her first unassisted steps, but she does enjoy cruising along on the furniture or on a lounging parent: whichever is more available. Her steps are getting a little faster and her valance a bit more steady. I'm actually kind of excited for her to learn to walk. I just don't want her to grow up. I'm loving her babyness.<br />
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A favorite game of Maya's is what I call Climb and Drop. She'll climb up the arm of the couch then fling herself down to the cushions we sit on. It entertains her to no end. Maya also enjoys spending time in the water. Baths are great and she also loves the dishwasher. I have no idea what the appeal is, but maybe it will mean she'll want to do dishes in the future. I can dream, right?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-13036253851343016952011-06-20T11:24:00.002-06:002012-04-12T14:16:21.327-06:00Maya's Baby Contest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-47881971256414887452011-05-31T21:35:00.001-06:002011-05-31T21:48:09.608-06:00The Giggle!I've been trying to capture Maya's giggle on video for a while now. I wanted a record before it disappears. I know it's probably cuter to me because I'm the mom. That's okay. It still makes me laugh every time. It's a full nine seconds of joy for me.<br />
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As a matter of explanation, this is a favorite game of Ellie's to make Maya laugh. I don't know how Ellie came up with it but it's pretty messy. She bites off a piece of paper and spits it on the floor. Maya proceeds to laugh hysterically. This is the first I've been able to catch it on video. I'm sure the laughing would have continued if she hadn't fallen over. It always does.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx7RLJWSDQjNvcUSV3EqHGp7ADQKjuVdzP4bXVTRaXPoIwc4w4igcq-NN0qKRfgsfivNr2TSXjit-7KF8zzhw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-6335481389189771292011-05-20T22:16:00.000-06:002011-05-20T22:16:17.669-06:00Who Looks Like Whom?Quite a while back I did one of the look alike things with the picture of the baby and the parents. Ellie looked equally like Eric and me.<br />
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I decided to try it with Maya to see how it worked with her.<br />
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Maya also looks equally like Mommy and Daddy. I love to hear people's opinions because it always fairly equal about who she looks like.<br />
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Because children's faces change over time I decided to see how Ellie compares to us now. The face detector they have is apparently really bad at finding Ellie's face in a picture, so the first one I could get to recognize her face is almost a year old.<br />
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Now she looks 6% more like Eric. Maybe I'll have to try it again if I can find a more recent picture of her that the site will accept.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-60752056412001599122011-05-20T14:16:00.000-06:002012-04-12T14:17:17.961-06:00Eight Months (Maya)This month has been a really fun one with Maya. She's getting up on her knees quite a bit more to try crawling, she's very vocal, and she's happy as can be. Recently she's learned how to play peek-a-boo and that is endless fun for both of us. It's about the cutest thing I've ever seen. I'll post a video of it at the bottom.<br />
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Maya is measuring 28 inches long (about 83rd percentile).<br />
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Crawling is still of the army variety, but Maya keeps on trying to get onto her knees for real crawling. She can get one little knee move out before she just starts pulling herself along again. She's getting really fast. Maya is also just starting to take notice that she can pull up on things. It's mostly me so far. Right now Maya can't get up very high. She still struggles with putting herself in a sitting position on her own, so I'm not sure that she has the strength to really pull herself up just yet. As soon as that happens I'll need to look out for her to start walking. Yikes.<br />
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We're kind of wondering if Maya is differentiating between when she says "mamama" or "dadada". Most of the time she says the latter. It's just funny to watch her saying one or the other while looking at the corresponding parent.<br />
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Maya got her third tooth the day after she turned eight months. Looking inside her mouth I can see the line of the jagged edge that will be her fourth tooth. It's really close. I expect it in the next day or two. it should make nursing interesting. I'm hoping she doesn't figure out the bite-and-pull trick that her older sister did. Ouch.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-48053465770073069052011-05-08T00:06:00.001-06:002011-05-08T00:09:41.148-06:00Thirty-One to Thirty-Three Months (Eliana)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluLFWQfmcObAeoHuS7bqUhZ62vLisYhnQPalVzW12dhyphenhyphenh5gQREUJVkoPRwuTSiZtDjF6EI1JTpJ3nz4OoMB77YfO8wyng4GvwsHyw9CZhsyET2V4_mNDQGxu_Pz_CVcZSyYGof38Kifim/s1600/P4230016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluLFWQfmcObAeoHuS7bqUhZ62vLisYhnQPalVzW12dhyphenhyphenh5gQREUJVkoPRwuTSiZtDjF6EI1JTpJ3nz4OoMB77YfO8wyng4GvwsHyw9CZhsyET2V4_mNDQGxu_Pz_CVcZSyYGof38Kifim/s320/P4230016.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>So quite a while has passed since I've updated about Ellie. Where to begin? Well, Eliana seems to be getting better at pretty much everything she does. Recently Ellie has been going through what I call a speech spurt. It happens every so often and is characterized by new words, longer sentences, and a proud mama. It is highly noticeable right after she is spoken to. Ellie is an excellent parrot. It's a good thing we don't say nasty words to each other in our house. However, she <i>did</i> learn that the file/pumice thing used for a pedicure is a "foot grater".<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">We're working out issues with bedtime. Ellie used to be a stellar bedtime girl but has recently decided that bed is not something she wants to do. Two hours of putting her back to bed after she's gone down is not acceptable. We've tried what seems like everything and are still searching for the answer. Things are getting a little better, but there is still a ways to go.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Ellie loves to jump. A lot. That's nothing new. The only difference is how much more daring she in becoming. I have to watch her like a hawk at the playground so she doesn't leap off something she shouldn't. I'm hoping that her recent leap out of a shopping cart and subsequent crash to the tile floor taught her a bit more caution.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div>We realized not too long ago that Ellie can count to ten on her own. I don't remember teaching her that so it was pretty cool. Maybe if I actually works on the ABCs she'll be able to get those down. We were really surprised by the whole thing.Her speech is becoming more complex and her vocabulary is expanding rapidly. We've been having fun recently with Baby Signing Time videos. Right now she won't do command performances of the signs, but she will occasionally decide to add them in.<br />
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One big surprise we got recently was when Eliana started counting to ten. I haven't worked with her on that much, so it was quite the shock when she popped off with it one afternoon. Sometimes she'll just count for fun. My current project with her is to show that counting can stop before reaching ten. For example, when we were playing a game that has four balls she continued to count them over again until she reached ten. I'm hoping the concept will sink in soon. Either way, I thought it was neat thing that she counts. <br />
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Ellie's also learning ABCs. We started to sing the ABC song a few days ago and I'm surprised with what she remembers. Sesame Street helps quite a bit. I love Netflix.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHFQkotbLU6cagJ8fvu-dfyoeXYw9b7Gyfg0swQmZfGxSjDea8Xapo0H4x7QlFsWZT0QuDY_GxOLDcqYADy6tIEl-DwXC8JlhQnBHpmLozrxpxppOEb_sBrC3jrFb_JTVelcgxMrA6ojh/s1600/P4220002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHFQkotbLU6cagJ8fvu-dfyoeXYw9b7Gyfg0swQmZfGxSjDea8Xapo0H4x7QlFsWZT0QuDY_GxOLDcqYADy6tIEl-DwXC8JlhQnBHpmLozrxpxppOEb_sBrC3jrFb_JTVelcgxMrA6ojh/s320/P4220002.JPG" width="320" /></a>We've been having fun trying to be sociable. Ellie certainly loves it. Play group is something she looks forward to every week. I think Ellie really craves time with other children. Last week we went to the park and she found a new friend there. I was a little creeped out when one of the dads at the park looked at my daughter and said, "You have one more minute before we need to go home, Eliana." It didn't take long for me to realize that Eliana's new friend was...Eliana. They'd been running around holding hands and playing. It was pretty cute.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpssUTuIAF5w88mMUs8nNMPpfwIPtWJ2Css8QLQD8ZEynXeAyv2bkNWXYdYQRaP7zOEFoyUcq3DH9UpS4wojVdszLKvbrbC45H4fXiO0TLOZtTzlUdOyqkyE7rg3gmWRRLwdIDLMm-Nm2/s1600/P4240018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSpssUTuIAF5w88mMUs8nNMPpfwIPtWJ2Css8QLQD8ZEynXeAyv2bkNWXYdYQRaP7zOEFoyUcq3DH9UpS4wojVdszLKvbrbC45H4fXiO0TLOZtTzlUdOyqkyE7rg3gmWRRLwdIDLMm-Nm2/s320/P4240018.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Let's see...Ellie is still very much into princesses and pretty dresses, but not into potty training. We had another false start with that recently. She really wants to wear her princess panties, but I'm not sure she really gets it yet. I think she assumes that underwear are the same as a diaper and it won't make a mess if she goes in them. She doesn't seem to like letting it fall into her potty (I think that the problem, anyway) and seems to just let her panties catch it. Every time I put a new pair on her she wet them within a minute. I think the learning curve on potty training is pretty steep. Especially for me.<br />
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Easter was FUN!!! My in-laws got some chicks a week or so before Easter and Ellie loves them. She keeps asking to see the "beebee chicks" whenever she remembers. Eliana got in a few good egg hunts. Mostly she liked to open up the eggs. It was Mommy who wanted the stuff inside. All the pictures on this post are from Easter and its festivities, except for the one where she looks drugged/evil. We made Easter cookies that didn't turn out how we thought, but it was a good idea.<br />
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It's hard to believe that in only three more months Ellie will be three years old. How quickly time passes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-86197784790327880332011-04-22T21:35:00.025-06:002011-05-08T00:31:22.994-06:00Six Months and Seven Months (Maya)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKXjtSGD84Xhyphenhyphenjw5HfAjv1-XcBdIDcvK0yDlNKaw_oe2vslSqz2CdyxcQFqS4kO56HGE5sZl-EEO2P59rAdNWMIxiVTsunfumpniWTClG0dZq2Q-13jL0RK0JoBstu5XIefejqzu0h8Vb/s1600/P4220005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKXjtSGD84Xhyphenhyphenjw5HfAjv1-XcBdIDcvK0yDlNKaw_oe2vslSqz2CdyxcQFqS4kO56HGE5sZl-EEO2P59rAdNWMIxiVTsunfumpniWTClG0dZq2Q-13jL0RK0JoBstu5XIefejqzu0h8Vb/s320/P4220005.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I couldn't do a six month post very well because there aren't any working cameras in the house. I've also kind of lost the will to blog. That has shown with the infrequency of my posts. So now Maya is getting her first combination monthly post. <br />
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Wasn't I pregnant just a couple of weeks ago? Time flies when you're having fun, as well as when there are two children to chase. Maya is so much fun to have around. In the past two months she has become very talkative and very mobile. She can do the slapdrag with the best of them. She's just starting to get up on her toes, so I think real crawling may not be too far behind. Maya likes to babble and I like to think she's been saying "mama" off and on. Mostly she just blows raspberries and has a grand time with that.<br />
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In other physical development news, Maya is sitting up pretty well. She's fairly steady, though she still topples quite a bit. I've been looking forward to this bit of development because it will make entertaining her so much easier. I'm sure she will still prefer that I hold her, but that's just too bad. ;) The slapdrag has been a great thing for me as far as entertainment goes; she loves to do it and I love to watch it.<br />
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Maya's giggle is an elusive thing that is difficult to capture but well worth the effort. She's full of smiles, but her giggle takes a bit of coaxing to release. I'm still hoping to capture it on video. The little laugh/grunt is adorable.<br />
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Maya remains a momma's girl. I can't say I don't love it. Miss Maya is my sweetie pie. It might get a bit tiresome to have her on my hip all the time, but it's very sweet. I love that little girl.<br />
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Measurements at the doctor's office showed a slight increase in her weight percentile and a small loss in her height percentile. I'll have to get the numbers when i go back for her 9 months checkup. She's very healthy and doing well. Maya's two teeth are pretty cute and she's getting two more on top. Slowly. Maya is chewing on everything she can find, but that's fairly normal. We've just started putting her the walker. She thought that was pretty good stuff. It's nice to have another way to entertain her.<br />
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Hopefully she'll get better with sleeping through the night. We're crossing our fingers on that.<br />
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Maya is a great little eater. She sucks the food right off the spoon and asks for more. We are happy to oblige.<br />
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Before too long I'll be updating about more new things that she's doing, but for now I want my baby to just stay my baby.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-46178463010946253682011-04-15T07:35:00.002-06:002011-04-15T07:35:25.452-06:00No Camera!!!<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So I haven't posted anything of the girls recently because we're low on pictures. How can that be with two adorable girls? The answer is that the older of the adorable girls has any affinity for any "cammer" she happens to see. She has successfully broken every camera we have in the house and I need to take them in to see if they can be repaired or if I need to shell out the money for new ones. I am not happy about that. So, until I can access the pictures I <i>did</i> take I will leave you with the post I put on the other blog.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I've mentioned a couple of times that makeup is my new hobby. That came from a blog called Classy Cosmetics. She's such a cute girl and very sweet. Her blog is a great way to learn about techniques and products. She's also got a giveaway on <a href="http://classycosmetics.blogspot.com/2011/04/votre-vu-and-mac-giveaway.html">this post</a> that looks great. I've always wanted to try MAC, but it's a little pricey for me. So go to her blog, become a follower, and comment on <a href="http://classycosmetics.blogspot.com/2011/04/votre-vu-and-mac-giveaway.html">this post</a> that I'm the one who sent you. She really is a lot of fun. Just make sure you go there before the 17th so you can enter the giveaway, too!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-47173172806058664172011-02-22T16:01:00.003-07:002011-02-23T14:32:33.347-07:00Five Months (Maya)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNfuyjfKBU7abM0zR_2BsDz3UhBc5INW2BWEhA6jApUgaT-ojz-8PdovcMEhLNV0QowsH6fkVtAgVWAxvUriiTP6DXaJZcYmOuUGX9080dieaOFUn9CEteSWOtID3pQrTYukUiz1NzAb_h/s1600/SNC11203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNfuyjfKBU7abM0zR_2BsDz3UhBc5INW2BWEhA6jApUgaT-ojz-8PdovcMEhLNV0QowsH6fkVtAgVWAxvUriiTP6DXaJZcYmOuUGX9080dieaOFUn9CEteSWOtID3pQrTYukUiz1NzAb_h/s320/SNC11203.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Maya is growing beautifully. She certainly gets more beautiful by the day. She is so mild and calm. Sadly, she has been kind of sick for the past couple of weeks. Maya is better now, but she had us really worried for a while. The worst it ever got was a snotty nose and a hoarse voice that scared us pretty good. It wouldn't have been so bad except that her sister has pneumonia at the same time. We didn't want to deal with that at Maya's age. After two trips to see the doctor we finally just let the sickness take it's course. Thankfully, she's just fine.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyRPL52UfA9qS93yGkyEi2KWtigsa1UsFbyq2CZtYLu1MFor0fJGOAkOerRrFAiCgh4E_U-DQGV7rT_TSJzOgxueyk-HMg3pVROl8NG0sDfecTVghh0H9uijMdV9AJbuikkfPIfliaDWV/s1600/s41301cb114216_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyRPL52UfA9qS93yGkyEi2KWtigsa1UsFbyq2CZtYLu1MFor0fJGOAkOerRrFAiCgh4E_U-DQGV7rT_TSJzOgxueyk-HMg3pVROl8NG0sDfecTVghh0H9uijMdV9AJbuikkfPIfliaDWV/s320/s41301cb114216_15.jpg" width="240" /></a>Lately I've been a little concerned that Maya has not started rolling over. Other babies I know of have rolled over and Ellie had it pretty well mastered by this age. Then I remembered how often I actually put Maya down on the floor...not so often. She can't learn to roll over if she doesn't get the opportunity. I'm working on that. She may have rolled over once when I wasn't looking, but it's also likely that her big sister was helping her.<br />
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Maya has seemed a little extra hungry and fussy lately. I was pretty sure that she was teething and I thought I could see a bit of tooth starting to come in on the bottom. Nothing came of it and I kind of let it slide and thought maybe I was wrong. Today (the day after she turned five months) I looked at her gums again and it is <i>quite</i> clear that she has both of her bottom front teeth coming in. I'm thinking the extra hungry was her teething. She won't take a pacifier, so Mommy gets to be the teething apparatus. That's going to change.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;">Maya had her first Valentine's Day this month. I don't think she really noticed or cared, but I certainly had fun. I put her and Ellie in matching red dresses and gave lots of snuggles. I just don't think it gets much sweeter than that. There will be lots more of that in the years to come. I couldn't be more excited. Next month will have St. Patrick's Day and I'm excited to put her in the little green romper Ellie wore on her first St. Patrick's Day. I love cute hand me downs.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7D7cY_dEQNmz_U7nNzDlPHn1bd0EH4a9xwH3-bXGjewqDCLCglQAxMK_ocQowo3IpMaxQ8DtaxxetH3ZMaPtczMLAviWJXwjAuiJjt1Cby34HoFYnNhnxckGvR3jolkcw90aGqjDW5O3j/s1600/SNC11178.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7D7cY_dEQNmz_U7nNzDlPHn1bd0EH4a9xwH3-bXGjewqDCLCglQAxMK_ocQowo3IpMaxQ8DtaxxetH3ZMaPtczMLAviWJXwjAuiJjt1Cby34HoFYnNhnxckGvR3jolkcw90aGqjDW5O3j/s320/SNC11178.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
About a week ago I introduced Maya to her feet and I think it's a love for the ages. Time spent on her back is no longer so odious as it once was. It's really fun to watch her trying to sit up to reach them better. I've included a couple of the "outtake" five month pictures showing her grabbing at her toes. There are even more on my camera that what I've posted here.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwWAPXmNSeF0iZKEeCydvRwjL5CWAsW6Idj93yZHfEts6y3gR4ogntvbu7w9Lf-xiU5tIgniUDkoOFT5eHLmRdR4od1HI7_XlnDSzGbzlZp-QjIKZHStaaJXLNKchWR2dKwO0d00gC_ijL/s1600/SNC11219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwWAPXmNSeF0iZKEeCydvRwjL5CWAsW6Idj93yZHfEts6y3gR4ogntvbu7w9Lf-xiU5tIgniUDkoOFT5eHLmRdR4od1HI7_XlnDSzGbzlZp-QjIKZHStaaJXLNKchWR2dKwO0d00gC_ijL/s320/SNC11219.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigRepBRlccDto9NB51Gx4HLvn7MW5IgcvLMH6dMwO9eE7bnVIgjgdbLMBv9Zb2obZiIPA6IG_I1221zD46Yvbcfj0mBasRG8ff1jjyPB46G9uGTC5HX3I-_F38rWyaoIoBzJfvkBZIq5Wr/s1600/SNC11215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigRepBRlccDto9NB51Gx4HLvn7MW5IgcvLMH6dMwO9eE7bnVIgjgdbLMBv9Zb2obZiIPA6IG_I1221zD46Yvbcfj0mBasRG8ff1jjyPB46G9uGTC5HX3I-_F38rWyaoIoBzJfvkBZIq5Wr/s320/SNC11215.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Hopefully all the discomfort of teething will end shortly and Maya will work on sleeping through the night. A mommy can hope. Either way I love this little girl to bits.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-73826174034862109152011-02-07T20:15:00.002-07:002011-02-23T16:02:41.792-07:00Thirty Months (Eliana)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirXKxguqF3JYyyt_XujwU29Y0SAQadK_M02g_JlM3Z-Zdj-nDfvc3k4qL-9fS_NiV6lOHcNLyand7Pw0VF8KGG7VV2W8Hir3tH8I_e1zUAJg97NSYalcotqqAvRZ__BQ75vrd7W4ltbvND/s1600/s41301cb114216_24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirXKxguqF3JYyyt_XujwU29Y0SAQadK_M02g_JlM3Z-Zdj-nDfvc3k4qL-9fS_NiV6lOHcNLyand7Pw0VF8KGG7VV2W8Hir3tH8I_e1zUAJg97NSYalcotqqAvRZ__BQ75vrd7W4ltbvND/s320/s41301cb114216_24.jpg" width="240" /></a>Two and a half. Sigh. My baby is growing up. Ellie may have a little sister, but she will always be my baby. In the past few weeks she has been asserting her independence more and more. Naps are becoming a thing of the past. If I put her down she just gets back up. We're working on that. It happens at night, too. She just gets out of bed less if she hasn't had a nap. I'm not ready for her to give up naps, but I'm not sure I have much choice in the matter. Maybe once it warms up and I can take her outside more she will use up enough energy to require a nap again. I can hope.<br />
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Another fun/frustrating show of independence is when Ellie gets things for herself. She will usually ask me for whatever she wants. If I'm busy I'll tell her to wait just a minute. She then asks me again two seconds later and I repeat the same answer. After the second request she just does it herself. That generally involves pulling a chair over to the counter and getting whatever she wants from there.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoe6t7Nk-nQtQv6UFl7G32oRMoQEroFGBZy1lgVO7CEYz6rfNAxrWh2cINWqjT2WVErFxpAcjI9U89jP0_DahgoSUa4bCXhlEKBDL8LlK15-V4UzG9Bf421qweKJs5RPKpEcBMKHlzsf_T/s1600/s41301cb114216_34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoe6t7Nk-nQtQv6UFl7G32oRMoQEroFGBZy1lgVO7CEYz6rfNAxrWh2cINWqjT2WVErFxpAcjI9U89jP0_DahgoSUa4bCXhlEKBDL8LlK15-V4UzG9Bf421qweKJs5RPKpEcBMKHlzsf_T/s320/s41301cb114216_34.jpg" width="240" /></a>Ellie continues to be a great big sister. She likes to hold Maya's hand and give her kisses. She becomes very distressed if I leave Maya with anyone else. Ellie enjoys pointing out Maya's body parts and "tickling" them. It usually doesn't make Maya cry, but sometimes Ellie isn't very gentle.<br />
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Dressing up is the only way to go for Ellie. Sometimes I have to hide her dresses if I need her to wear something else. She is highly talented at stripping her clothes off and bringing me whichever dress she wants to wear. More often than not I let her wear what she wants. The pictures below are an example of that. In the last one she's wearing her dress, a pettiskirt, and one of my maternity shirts.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHrYU06TiAHjW09wKyg-BaF1kMEjdn4eYCxgwSYrghF0ss23euGm1VMjPos2OVFnomAsojD6rZoygJ_NXI-Qt9TOSL7PFQAlr3R1Z_X4pj88Mm5fzkpG5PkhneuTbRs8EQq5m7owU2HAj/s1600/SNC11081-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHrYU06TiAHjW09wKyg-BaF1kMEjdn4eYCxgwSYrghF0ss23euGm1VMjPos2OVFnomAsojD6rZoygJ_NXI-Qt9TOSL7PFQAlr3R1Z_X4pj88Mm5fzkpG5PkhneuTbRs8EQq5m7owU2HAj/s200/SNC11081-1.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJeVUrmtugBk5YNHrAFJGKq_RtOo9BA6jrXMhRc5xYWnyDzW9WxBKFxQMhuzrU-gnpixteWuits8haxQqNtuWVnUwB-HpqJ7LbUdr1eQTw6naqPwQpfmocxrAHYhDwMDkmfkHR7om8XRGr/s1600/SNC11102-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJeVUrmtugBk5YNHrAFJGKq_RtOo9BA6jrXMhRc5xYWnyDzW9WxBKFxQMhuzrU-gnpixteWuits8haxQqNtuWVnUwB-HpqJ7LbUdr1eQTw6naqPwQpfmocxrAHYhDwMDkmfkHR7om8XRGr/s200/SNC11102-1.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFI5yA3VrbXJVM_DOwOqKoyKzIkyrudKzkuRq4zWh-ReAuLnv1_DH5_ghICjMZHEkzARmKNFoLisBa8C8gYFpsaUnWOBF5WyHRZQW3UASrchgcO_VLZrTdFBEaXrnGtn9O439IihlmhIt/s1600/SNC11144-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFI5yA3VrbXJVM_DOwOqKoyKzIkyrudKzkuRq4zWh-ReAuLnv1_DH5_ghICjMZHEkzARmKNFoLisBa8C8gYFpsaUnWOBF5WyHRZQW3UASrchgcO_VLZrTdFBEaXrnGtn9O439IihlmhIt/s320/SNC11144-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We love our little Ellie and look forward to all the time we have with her.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-35055091658034488962011-01-23T15:54:00.003-07:002011-01-27T18:19:45.630-07:00Four Months (Maya)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">ti<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkBMcLM7lW4e_L6Tz4t4mebqJGJfuZN2e06qY2CMXqANFIdnc-th_CYYh8TuXzRnB6vkgivJ-xLXoFlbyJtwO9mQPTumaCOv2DJZHJUjN2l8vtfleXMWFR-f4xTH_Go5RUamn7XOTWBXTg/s1600/SNC11138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkBMcLM7lW4e_L6Tz4t4mebqJGJfuZN2e06qY2CMXqANFIdnc-th_CYYh8TuXzRnB6vkgivJ-xLXoFlbyJtwO9mQPTumaCOv2DJZHJUjN2l8vtfleXMWFR-f4xTH_Go5RUamn7XOTWBXTg/s400/SNC11138.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Our little slice of heaven just turned four months old. It's been a busy month. She had her first Christmas and New Year's, as well as her first "road trip" to visit her grandparents. "Road trip" is in quotes because it was only a three hour drive. No biggie. We didn't even snap a single picture while we were there. We did, however, stuff the car so full of gear and clothing that there wasn't room for anything else.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Murb10sJzxBXVsNqBNo_tEHjL05YU2lhdtibB3vhQ46mD6FL2DTOyl7ZEoIAPGO43NEb2aa8XEL-PBv7Dbs0mMa-2bYajrkMPRuUo1TPJ2hhpqnjtZz-RbVtctsLWWekEaj9P-WCq3ez/s1600/SNC11074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Murb10sJzxBXVsNqBNo_tEHjL05YU2lhdtibB3vhQ46mD6FL2DTOyl7ZEoIAPGO43NEb2aa8XEL-PBv7Dbs0mMa-2bYajrkMPRuUo1TPJ2hhpqnjtZz-RbVtctsLWWekEaj9P-WCq3ez/s320/SNC11074.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Maya is getting really good at twisting her body around to see things, no matter what position she's in. She not rolling over yet, but she can redirect herself to get another view of the world. I'm not sure that Maya understands what she's doing just yet, but she'll get there.<br />
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She weighs 12 lb 2 oz (looks like about 25th percentile, but they told me it was closer to 50th) and is just over 25 inches long (95th percentile). It looks like she's following her sister's growth pattern.<br />
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Giggling is happening more frequently. When Maya's really amused it's almost a growl rather than a giggle and it's pretty cute. Her big sister is better at getting her to smile and laugh than anyone else. Maya is also using her voice quite a bit more. She makes the sweetest baby noises.<br />
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Maya's hair seems to be growing in much lighter than what she was born with. It happened the same way with Ellie and now I'm excited to see if she gets curls or if her hair remains straight. They both have their pros and cons.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERkjl_TTGkGlLRlwRN6FcUBiY54IHGow3XfckwHm6TyoDcy5dnj0n7wUgEIK8TAUd71VO_qSIBhu2p0BZ-x63lX2HVXsMlsGYfU15WI9HfzadDEGbySmrfu_5TMS7oa6aq90NWB9uUBrR/s1600/SNC11100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERkjl_TTGkGlLRlwRN6FcUBiY54IHGow3XfckwHm6TyoDcy5dnj0n7wUgEIK8TAUd71VO_qSIBhu2p0BZ-x63lX2HVXsMlsGYfU15WI9HfzadDEGbySmrfu_5TMS7oa6aq90NWB9uUBrR/s320/SNC11100.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>I was interested to read back on Ellie's four month and see that the two share the same sleep problems. 2 am-6 am is a vicious time to not sleep well. For me. I don't know if either of the girls give a hoot about how Mommy sleeps. Maya isn't in the crib yet because I like the proximity of the crib to my bed. I prefer not to have to go to another room in the middle of the night.<br />
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Maya is growing well and, as always, we're happy to have her in our family.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-72765300804273525582011-01-09T08:25:00.004-07:002011-01-13T22:30:22.776-07:00Twenty-eight and Twenty-nine Months (Eliana)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLb6lvOPoOZH0RU6ceoq3C4fCAJTUjQAnZ5sgIFN-0InYIio7SVggzHfBvkx493akL8kZL8zGqZUHgynKlUcIyNBlQX_f4toveWL2XGcix2TUc9wvUYqUJhsc7o1N8IvbXidkwqhvuJ94X/s1600/SNC10821.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLb6lvOPoOZH0RU6ceoq3C4fCAJTUjQAnZ5sgIFN-0InYIio7SVggzHfBvkx493akL8kZL8zGqZUHgynKlUcIyNBlQX_f4toveWL2XGcix2TUc9wvUYqUJhsc7o1N8IvbXidkwqhvuJ94X/s320/SNC10821.JPG" width="320" /></a>How does time pass so quickly? Ellie is growing up so quickly that it takes my breath away. It seems like I was bringing her home from the hospital yesterday and now she is a tall and agile little girl. We just started a class called Tumbling Tots. I thought it would be fun Mommy-Ellie time so she can have a bit of me for herself. She loves it. She also the tallest kid in the class. Two of the other kids are older than she is.<br /><br />Ellie seems to be loving her little sister and taking more interest in her. Watching the two of the interact is probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen. <i>No one</i> can make Maya giggle like Ellie does...and she loves doing it. When I dropped Maya off with my friend for the first Tumbling Tots class I was surprised by Ellie's reaction. She was very distressed that I was leaving her little sister somewhere and driving off without her. Despite my reassurances that we would get Maya after class, she called out for her sister until we got into the class with all the toys. It's heartwarming watching them together.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41Ndc-VZ1SanN1x_ZMWmGcws6CxYgfPTUDhJByPNcUvXf_DaLCRsLxolbfK2hQVTpORKrsi4PhNt-Nt5PeOKNAksk8T6LUyDdSFq-Rn-5KOPR4KKLtlQtg81vUwG2dkP9gTklQM9ftzN-/s1600/SNC11047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41Ndc-VZ1SanN1x_ZMWmGcws6CxYgfPTUDhJByPNcUvXf_DaLCRsLxolbfK2hQVTpORKrsi4PhNt-Nt5PeOKNAksk8T6LUyDdSFq-Rn-5KOPR4KKLtlQtg81vUwG2dkP9gTklQM9ftzN-/s320/SNC11047.JPG" width="240" /></a>Ellie loves all things princess and will repeat "princess...dress" whenever she sees one until she is satisfied that we have all noticed the princess and her dress. She loves putting on her pretty dresses and twirling. "Princess hair" occassionally works as my bribe to get her to let me do her hair, but she's pretty much grown out of that. We got her a singing Belle doll for Christmas and she has thoroughly loved it ever since. The picture shows her asleep in the car the day she got it.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAg0U2ooIl0FS7Ugrt3ZhsZVncVB-z5bkRQQ51f18kWWvasi91bGyhyphenhyphenAH3ADcIsBchso_2jS7qzKSnVuW1mV2cRM35_GbkYErrwgTVf3pt-aBE5LxVP_qRtnyOOjG5izFdd_GY6X5NVcQ/s1600/SNC10990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAg0U2ooIl0FS7Ugrt3ZhsZVncVB-z5bkRQQ51f18kWWvasi91bGyhyphenhyphenAH3ADcIsBchso_2jS7qzKSnVuW1mV2cRM35_GbkYErrwgTVf3pt-aBE5LxVP_qRtnyOOjG5izFdd_GY6X5NVcQ/s320/SNC10990.JPG" width="240" /></a>Meals are a difficulty. I don't know why Ellie refuses to eat, but that's a pretty common scenario around our house. Meals and snacks are often refused and it's a struggle to get her to eat. Sometimes she even refuses to eat things we know she loves. Some days are good eating days and others are like yesterday,when all she ate was goldfish crackers and one bite of her grilled cheese sandwich. The doctor assures us it's normal, but I can't wait for this phase to pass. I have no idea how Ellie continues to grow. There are certain things she'll ask us for, such as cheese and chocolate milk, but we try to give her a more varied diet.<br /><br /><br />Other children are another favorite thing of Ellie's. She loves having playmates.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUydPJuMUzrrA-uYdTxDRp2iOHxjABETae-w65Aa9m-Gw9_pYrCmvmxNYpAd1cKP7a9VqE2rnU8mNzssM9MECcIrAdk9mltRvlLXTcO7_-069AWj-Gf9-J_ROJh7bCEPIszj2Vc4cF1HEZ/s1600/SNC10832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUydPJuMUzrrA-uYdTxDRp2iOHxjABETae-w65Aa9m-Gw9_pYrCmvmxNYpAd1cKP7a9VqE2rnU8mNzssM9MECcIrAdk9mltRvlLXTcO7_-069AWj-Gf9-J_ROJh7bCEPIszj2Vc4cF1HEZ/s320/SNC10832.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Most of the other things for this past month were Christmas things, so hopefully I'll be able to do a post including all of that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-29393164386346633192011-01-03T16:13:00.000-07:002011-01-13T16:14:20.599-07:00Three Months (Maya)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidhGE8yRpfNy8uh-sxLow4KrrjL8rFYsm6XBKzJmo8Rbg5Txm_r-zypLjrqAa-8HAakc8b-TSfxxzvrwKz4N3qFKLZzkSRFZb9KhYVUwcK_WRoSn1oLmws6QLIDfbqj70pEUXhjdQ5-od/s1600/SNC10991.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidhGE8yRpfNy8uh-sxLow4KrrjL8rFYsm6XBKzJmo8Rbg5Txm_r-zypLjrqAa-8HAakc8b-TSfxxzvrwKz4N3qFKLZzkSRFZb9KhYVUwcK_WRoSn1oLmws6QLIDfbqj70pEUXhjdQ5-od/s320/SNC10991.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Cuter and cuter by the day. At three months she has started to look very much like her own little person. The newborn look is completely gone. Maya continues to be a chill little kid, which is great. She is starting to get a bit more fussy recently, making me worry that she's not getting enough to eat. The easy fix for that would be to give her a bottle, but she's decided that those have gone out of style. We're working on it.<br />
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The hair on top of Maya's head has grown back and we're trying to figure out if we're getting another blondie or if it's a light brown. She has the most gorgeous brown eyes and is very expressive with them.<br />
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I didn't measure Maya's height this month, but she weighs in at just over 12 pounds. That puts her (from the best I can tell) at the 50th percentile. I'll let the doctor measure her height at the next appointment.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBdUGo3sHXCQDWEUGU7jGvUGQkejx29_2eD_y6ABHxFznpsjvG1y2Kq9qC2sudO_LNFTLODnfb3Gxn7WRa6Lbk_mVZpjrrWtGhatlhLNUjJqGwqN9fG4OVaA7We79_sXskkcb8jAUSkCl/s1600/SNC10908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBdUGo3sHXCQDWEUGU7jGvUGQkejx29_2eD_y6ABHxFznpsjvG1y2Kq9qC2sudO_LNFTLODnfb3Gxn7WRa6Lbk_mVZpjrrWtGhatlhLNUjJqGwqN9fG4OVaA7We79_sXskkcb8jAUSkCl/s320/SNC10908.JPG" width="240" /></a>In Maya's third month she celebrated her first Thanksgiving. We gave her an enormous bow to wear to show her Thanksgiving spirit, but she wasn't a big fan of wearing something bigger than her face.<br />
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Maya's body movements are slowly becoming more deliberate but she still has those sweet, random baby movements. Her drooling has picked up and I'm hoping that is not associated with teething. Her daddy and her sister were early teethers. There's already enough pain that goes with nursing Maya (she's...enthusiastic) that I'm not ready to add teeth to the mix.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBpXvod7Ce4Am0-zuVnKn1EbVdNtwcU6wasnDdK1fcD6_DCbZbd8wmV5YGLl-kz0kCn75sblLc4sdypfEYPz3U1rXA47zUiXGXdOcPsFlU2GbX0lDjDUTaL7kIrWYRWg1YRIh69nr4Ql_/s1600/SNC10972.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBpXvod7Ce4Am0-zuVnKn1EbVdNtwcU6wasnDdK1fcD6_DCbZbd8wmV5YGLl-kz0kCn75sblLc4sdypfEYPz3U1rXA47zUiXGXdOcPsFlU2GbX0lDjDUTaL7kIrWYRWg1YRIh69nr4Ql_/s320/SNC10972.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I'm still a little sad whenever Maya reaches a new monthly age because I want to keep her as my precious little bundle of baby cuteness. My comfort is that, if she has to grow, she is growing well. Maya also loves her mommy and prefers me to anyone else. I am the one with the food, after all. She also loves her big sister and giggles beautifully when Ellie jumps for her.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Enjoying her bath</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCe1YXNbBm4IeanTe1pW8mQWoiWtGRXR5CtSzp5FAJ6Xw2OwGXk7VIk5e8VIuJoiVbd-tv8wzXU2KxW2x-X5_svNun0Ru0gEW-O6B39__Fablw0zyXfPW4dTA_mMOJOA75OGqHZyLPrMOH/s1600/SNC10913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCe1YXNbBm4IeanTe1pW8mQWoiWtGRXR5CtSzp5FAJ6Xw2OwGXk7VIk5e8VIuJoiVbd-tv8wzXU2KxW2x-X5_svNun0Ru0gEW-O6B39__Fablw0zyXfPW4dTA_mMOJOA75OGqHZyLPrMOH/s320/SNC10913.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Wearing her cute new jumper</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbTSXr7TZ2kS0xdkbkd45AJlv1wGNL-fsNE-YEpiCjWxWQuWUnhJ32qz36G0aDHVy8z7zyllYIc_GokkUF_gZXN3rowD0e1i0O0HG4wh0wzkdjher136l_KbCXvfni0HsvEaXRzUuzzjn/s1600/SNC10929.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbTSXr7TZ2kS0xdkbkd45AJlv1wGNL-fsNE-YEpiCjWxWQuWUnhJ32qz36G0aDHVy8z7zyllYIc_GokkUF_gZXN3rowD0e1i0O0HG4wh0wzkdjher136l_KbCXvfni0HsvEaXRzUuzzjn/s320/SNC10929.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-10920522914639769232010-11-22T19:01:00.001-07:002010-11-22T19:04:20.796-07:00Two Months (Maya)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKv_tCxGr7shJVjj1cjYyg7dpMUYv0k0gs4bXms9wJCgEnOaiYjJE_uKKv964T9KvXqXG_SWmEa6FJrulWp8J8uAR_CqVFVLfdWTS_5FiB598dWnRfSdpRqhth9q56C1QS-VU2x1PcsQe9/s1600/SNC10896.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKv_tCxGr7shJVjj1cjYyg7dpMUYv0k0gs4bXms9wJCgEnOaiYjJE_uKKv964T9KvXqXG_SWmEa6FJrulWp8J8uAR_CqVFVLfdWTS_5FiB598dWnRfSdpRqhth9q56C1QS-VU2x1PcsQe9/s400/SNC10896.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>This month has been a big one. Maya has gone from looking like a newborn to looking more like baby Maya. Her baby acne is gone (hallelujah!) and the hair I scrubbed off her head has grown back. She's starting to coo, which is a sweet accompaniment to her smiles. <br />
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Today was shot day for Maya. It continues to be very sad. Her little thigh is bruised and she's pretty cranky. The plus side is that she was weighed and measured, so I have a good idea of how she's growing. Head circumference was 75%. She weighs 10 lb 12 oz, which is 50th percentile. She hadn't eaten for four hours, so I'm curious what her weight would have been if she hadn't just finished a long nap. Maya measured 24 inches long, which is 95th percentile. She may end up taking after her sister and grow to be tall and lean. Poor girl. Insert further sarcastic comments {here}.<br />
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Beyond smiling and cooing there's not much development to report. Now we move on to pictures.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Watching a movie with big sister</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinjY4VITY-qEWufb-k9AIw2kOardO-IVZ91QEN_AGp0NdsCTS0YQeXQ4cFzHxLoiNEzMM9j55LwYMyza5k5Y_eG7pUFDNflsVBhsB4Z2FfMY7V3YrcvkDQA40vngsmw0qUiE364XI9Aw0b/s1600/SNC10760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinjY4VITY-qEWufb-k9AIw2kOardO-IVZ91QEN_AGp0NdsCTS0YQeXQ4cFzHxLoiNEzMM9j55LwYMyza5k5Y_eG7pUFDNflsVBhsB4Z2FfMY7V3YrcvkDQA40vngsmw0qUiE364XI9Aw0b/s320/SNC10760.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I think she looks like my older brother's baby pictures in this one.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg7ey80TGRcsLaIhO9T1uf7JLYtyGzm8JAfNmDYCpZZ4gxnzgS6vYSVmwo6PT1Y3aY6JKU2LRmb92KKF5Hq0P0STXzcbOwgrbSe51NV_cBRNEQ-QXCpzRAKLNuPK2j8yJii8s6j5UxlMCt/s1600/SNC10806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg7ey80TGRcsLaIhO9T1uf7JLYtyGzm8JAfNmDYCpZZ4gxnzgS6vYSVmwo6PT1Y3aY6JKU2LRmb92KKF5Hq0P0STXzcbOwgrbSe51NV_cBRNEQ-QXCpzRAKLNuPK2j8yJii8s6j5UxlMCt/s320/SNC10806.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">First recorded smile</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidEWv7ayZ8WZhsDhz5Es6AxaA6s1Kx7DhspYoI5-dmFG5x7Ki3h7CG5oKHgZkPtEiiGZE7ccfvwoSkgQKHg9LVyb_RbXk-UU2XtHMCzTpMlFdVw2JmwJAKZ-l26oCW6H-dA67D1Selkp_s/s1600/SNC10878.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidEWv7ayZ8WZhsDhz5Es6AxaA6s1Kx7DhspYoI5-dmFG5x7Ki3h7CG5oKHgZkPtEiiGZE7ccfvwoSkgQKHg9LVyb_RbXk-UU2XtHMCzTpMlFdVw2JmwJAKZ-l26oCW6H-dA67D1Selkp_s/s320/SNC10878.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Everyone has to deal with less-than-flattering pictures at some time. Maya's time has come.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX-wv7EYOMhMC6OofcHh82Q5CjjZEbfRYpCGTQmcj0ahJZjjrzhH1_KhDLPMXi2tjPpbB5u6yoNvgrL3QRkn2sYMeGoZ5Xrv5rO85yfrSb9DRA7NPCr5Iyg6rktCxTghEIRhqufwRbmBvM/s1600/SNC10841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX-wv7EYOMhMC6OofcHh82Q5CjjZEbfRYpCGTQmcj0ahJZjjrzhH1_KhDLPMXi2tjPpbB5u6yoNvgrL3QRkn2sYMeGoZ5Xrv5rO85yfrSb9DRA7NPCr5Iyg6rktCxTghEIRhqufwRbmBvM/s320/SNC10841.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">First Halloween. She was the sheep to her sister's Bo Peep.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1NarXn-4PQJFd0cKMuQLcIUmyJ90jGhqg3gYlPauUyV4j4-5eMpjLiq9dHVIF3O22-W7wsdW-P0wcDGFld9PmPqiyZnU5x2ezdO8NOK7chARbT4_JeomnLM0pOMF5AjS-R1UfbhUH_cw/s1600/SNC10791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1NarXn-4PQJFd0cKMuQLcIUmyJ90jGhqg3gYlPauUyV4j4-5eMpjLiq9dHVIF3O22-W7wsdW-P0wcDGFld9PmPqiyZnU5x2ezdO8NOK7chARbT4_JeomnLM0pOMF5AjS-R1UfbhUH_cw/s320/SNC10791.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">I just thought she looked cute here.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFIQ3ypIzDUUgBQ5LDOWQsy6A2z1gCHDd9JYT70mq_iqOVfqEg9V3A7wj_tO09jyU6OGsWef_zLTdjrclMNTI7rD7L79_oLlq8lYr4tJPuAczlgqCC5RVicloFc1vgmGxy0OwBYsWN-MP/s1600/SNC10897.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFIQ3ypIzDUUgBQ5LDOWQsy6A2z1gCHDd9JYT70mq_iqOVfqEg9V3A7wj_tO09jyU6OGsWef_zLTdjrclMNTI7rD7L79_oLlq8lYr4tJPuAczlgqCC5RVicloFc1vgmGxy0OwBYsWN-MP/s320/SNC10897.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Just after messing a diaper.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpvy3N_o97mfjIn-I1UvX2Vsws17BeUa65KGyvgdU6vDc6MAs8UaTII3TqZGRRIBsIwrMH8yuwWNDb2yPC0mkA3d-i2BEiekQjXyNIK2JBGrvdZt6EA59DQ7LkHTUw3IV0KdiVOTKgdGUW/s1600/SNC10812.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpvy3N_o97mfjIn-I1UvX2Vsws17BeUa65KGyvgdU6vDc6MAs8UaTII3TqZGRRIBsIwrMH8yuwWNDb2yPC0mkA3d-i2BEiekQjXyNIK2JBGrvdZt6EA59DQ7LkHTUw3IV0KdiVOTKgdGUW/s320/SNC10812.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In her blessing dress.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-iv2MatQfCBzmziUw6ce6Jgr_jyzm0E0Is1f8lyK4ecAQTur57-I_c7VjSjmoJGLzVtgvHNXm1qA5FB7JIYIFShwVlIDLmJQO9HbYTqwX-WE-WuAfAM5v0DIOZqikvs5tv53LmrmM2el9/s1600/SNC10885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-iv2MatQfCBzmziUw6ce6Jgr_jyzm0E0Is1f8lyK4ecAQTur57-I_c7VjSjmoJGLzVtgvHNXm1qA5FB7JIYIFShwVlIDLmJQO9HbYTqwX-WE-WuAfAM5v0DIOZqikvs5tv53LmrmM2el9/s320/SNC10885.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
This little girl is a blast to have around!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-40268011302395326672010-11-05T16:05:00.002-06:002010-11-05T16:06:46.700-06:00Twenty-Seven Months (Eliana)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Ellie seems to have been going through a huge development spurt (if that's the right term for it) these past few weeks. Her vocabulary is increasing and her ability to parrot words is improving, too. We told her to say "happy birthday" to her aunt Amber and, much to our surprise, she did! I'm a little worried for the future, as Ellie is learning many different words for "pee" and "poo" from <i>Elmo's Potty Time</i>. Today she repeated each one and now I'm just waiting to find out what inappropriate situation we'll be in when she busts out her new words. If she's at a microphone and says "dookie" I think I'll go hide under a rock until she's 18.<br /><br />One new trick Ellie's working on is climbing stair with one foot per stair. It requires holding an adult hand, but nobody minds that. She really loves trying it out as we walk her up the stairs to Nursery on Sunday.<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoIBmUvHdvRMcNyzl0zKGs4KNAqdOWVlxlV7YMZyVVlw2wMNV8suBTEeK30LSOOewD11Rj4NQM55looVVQCcUjtrWIsSyGmZtreqBC78P4DE_4ZMSqBxGdXRxT3ewztEA_WMDFgw6gm9AQ/s320/SNC10794.JPG" border="0" height="240" width="320" />There is still no progress on the potty training front. If I suggest that she go on the potty she screams "NOOOO!!!!" and runs away. She'll sit on it fully clothed and I've even gotten her to do it without a diaper, hoping for an accidental success to show her how great it is. No luck. When she has to go she stands up, moves away from her potty and goes on the floor. A little resistant, perhaps? I guess so. Bribery still doesn't work for using the potty, though it does get her to let my style her hair.<br /><br />Eliana really needs a little playmate. Her baby sister is too young to rough house with, though Ellie does like to hug and kiss Maya. Ellie loves being with other kids and I'm trying to think of ways to get her more involved with other children. In the meantime she asks to watch a "moo-ie" at every opportunity. Right now she's hung up on <i>Cinderella</i>. Again. That probably has to do with her obsession with princesses. I'm interested to see what she thinks of <i>Toy Story 3</i>.<br /><br />More and more I realize what a truly beautiful child my daughter is. Just look at the pictures in the blue dress. Gorgeous. In the first one she is gently holding Maya. The next one was taken a few seconds later, when Ellie decided she was done holding her little sister and was pushing Maya off her lap. Ellie certainly keeps me on my toes.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaHy7WKZG80Mqa4TjYSyJ3GqNWX1ppW6Vk6AGOLMsJ7KhSGItHkivIMTESKmSwQDunJYWfiXgKVqiFPIqdlV5eH1WTq3fgSM8zgdYOt3E4Nbl0sVotIHXA0rxC6o8X6Ew6boUzvM-crc2/s1600/SNC10724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaHy7WKZG80Mqa4TjYSyJ3GqNWX1ppW6Vk6AGOLMsJ7KhSGItHkivIMTESKmSwQDunJYWfiXgKVqiFPIqdlV5eH1WTq3fgSM8zgdYOt3E4Nbl0sVotIHXA0rxC6o8X6Ew6boUzvM-crc2/s320/SNC10724.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOy4sDTlWQqWCSl7jOgqiTRTbkenUGVqixsW_XCY4qKx68Rt5nB8n62EFOp-qmIAdGfR7USd4xivXLqqqzNXkVrx2fSJ1Tcs0ZzMZsk0xV8ynDdrdKgq19IHUcWO3CcmVCJv-B1g15RdK/s1600/SNC10725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOy4sDTlWQqWCSl7jOgqiTRTbkenUGVqixsW_XCY4qKx68Rt5nB8n62EFOp-qmIAdGfR7USd4xivXLqqqzNXkVrx2fSJ1Tcs0ZzMZsk0xV8ynDdrdKgq19IHUcWO3CcmVCJv-B1g15RdK/s320/SNC10725.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQv2edHwLxsIl3aqQWpcEAVDyKt09Hc2wWUVbcB7A39i_W4rgLbUdq3vKRetrEIf39cbSmmyy8XS1W3So7mL_w91OO_jjQNiO4VhuFZ4HxFYlpeZnXL7MQkXOA0aJtHqf2Zo5IFnCMHPC/s1600/SNC10778-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQv2edHwLxsIl3aqQWpcEAVDyKt09Hc2wWUVbcB7A39i_W4rgLbUdq3vKRetrEIf39cbSmmyy8XS1W3So7mL_w91OO_jjQNiO4VhuFZ4HxFYlpeZnXL7MQkXOA0aJtHqf2Zo5IFnCMHPC/s320/SNC10778-1.JPG" width="241" /></a><br />Ellie was Little Bo Peep for Halloween this year. She rocked the costume. I wanted to make it, but there just wasn't time. My lovely and talented mother came to my rescue an finished it for me. By "finished it" I really mean "put together all the pieces I had cut out." She's my hero. Eliana go to experience trick-or-treating for the first time, though it was only on the doors at my grandma's physical rehab center and the classroom doors at the church building. She wasn't really sure what to do, but she really liked taking candy from strangers.<br /><br />We love Ellie and all her energy!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-64590532676711622932010-11-01T14:45:00.000-06:002010-11-01T14:45:08.968-06:00Halloween 2010<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCEepY8U-luxCj4spi3W9ojdUxhlIm2_X4t0VJpenXvY5Poi-gMxnPpBNW4Okb-azGJi-WTOxXAUhwV6BFHfdxQ9TjSLmFUXqG8rwuvYJlQtm9GY8te10cXanIhz3OD5gfwt8NbuIZ6Jpp/s1600/SNC10772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCEepY8U-luxCj4spi3W9ojdUxhlIm2_X4t0VJpenXvY5Poi-gMxnPpBNW4Okb-azGJi-WTOxXAUhwV6BFHfdxQ9TjSLmFUXqG8rwuvYJlQtm9GY8te10cXanIhz3OD5gfwt8NbuIZ6Jpp/s320/SNC10772.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>This was the only picture I could get of both girls in costume. As you can see from <i>both</i> their faces, I was not popular in that moment. Still, Little Bo Peep and her sheep were nothing less than charming and beautiful. Ellie loved her costume (she wore it for three days straight) and Maya didn't seem to care about hers one way or the other. Thankfully, my mom was able to make the Bo Peep costume. I simply didn't have time. I got to make the sheep costume, though. And Ellie's sleeves. At least I was able to contribute a little.<br />
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Friday the 29th was spent trick-or-treating at the rehab facility where my grandmother is recovering from surgery to fix her broken leg. Everyone loved their costumes. The girls' cousin Daphne was there with her mommy, Charlotte. She made the world's cutest Tinkerbell.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtxBWSotnRweXK-CH6xib0QujL0_pkcESSFPJDeixLoEPjjM-811SCDYz4FW3_zeam9_6FrNq96WfWBY-jYjKUk-Tww56PJQgdoKE5x9Uc80OnU_rsEkZwkXz3MrMQnZBUaFhqMvJ-hAxe/s1600/SNC10774.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtxBWSotnRweXK-CH6xib0QujL0_pkcESSFPJDeixLoEPjjM-811SCDYz4FW3_zeam9_6FrNq96WfWBY-jYjKUk-Tww56PJQgdoKE5x9Uc80OnU_rsEkZwkXz3MrMQnZBUaFhqMvJ-hAxe/s320/SNC10774.JPG" width="240" /></a>Saturday the 30th we went to the ward party. Trunk or treat was moved indoors Ellie enjoyed choosing her candies, but not meeting the eyes of the people giving them out. Maya was good-natured about being dragged around. We also visited my parents while Daphne and her parents were over. It's a riot to watch Ellie and Daphne together. The picture to the right shows them just before Ellie decided she didn't care to hold Daphne anymore and dropped her. It's a good thing her daddy was there to catch her.<br />
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Sunday the 31st had us at G&G Cottam's place. Maya didn't put her costume on over there, but Ellie did. She was as darling as ever, even if she did decide that the couches needed accents of chocolate to make them perfect. Sorry about that.<br />
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It was fun to have Halloween spread over three days. The girls certainly got full use out of their costumes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-14481211169150533832010-10-26T15:46:00.000-06:002010-10-26T15:46:47.302-06:00Fairy PicturesI'm putting these here, as well as on Facebook, so more people can see them. I would have liked to order more of the pictures (there were some darling non-fairy newborn pictures of Maya, as well as several other great fairy shots of Ellie) but the cost was prohibitive. If I could have purchased a CD of all the pictures I would have paid through the nose for those, but I guess the photographer doesn't do that. Oh, well. These are the four prints I ordered and the low resolution files that go with them. They're very cute. I'm happy we had them done, but we won't be going back again. Enjoy.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdwJdO7cJeO8nU-xd6iYsvbPMNktU1YaRwy1wApsl-MDPK9IN7gji0XS1gLpgUZAouIPcmInU7E2s7GiUXHAGYTPKA3UJ3Wkj1VBh2rgI15xz88oKzMXDM8KeHhOPvhx-gbvUx8nwpzhUQ/s1600/webJAnderson_18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdwJdO7cJeO8nU-xd6iYsvbPMNktU1YaRwy1wApsl-MDPK9IN7gji0XS1gLpgUZAouIPcmInU7E2s7GiUXHAGYTPKA3UJ3Wkj1VBh2rgI15xz88oKzMXDM8KeHhOPvhx-gbvUx8nwpzhUQ/s320/webJAnderson_18.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgO7dB8b1Y0uQ-rQIzxYAT1JI2ynC24ZajBuX07WgPgW4EpNPUvpS2op8zHUjpyG_IaNgaSkORDEJHj7eO33QtnTeWeZL_pD5r7vJlFoAyLU45KYO8oL4SQ0ugaa6tN_dnRpoEjLXNzB2/s1600/webJAnderson_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgO7dB8b1Y0uQ-rQIzxYAT1JI2ynC24ZajBuX07WgPgW4EpNPUvpS2op8zHUjpyG_IaNgaSkORDEJHj7eO33QtnTeWeZL_pD5r7vJlFoAyLU45KYO8oL4SQ0ugaa6tN_dnRpoEjLXNzB2/s320/webJAnderson_12.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8Ct395NN1Zei_B5V_HdapjOuqXWmv-1JJ_QJj5s2OhQWiNWqPEXf49lFFq6zHpBtKJcdbBm1PEL1bBMj0y589KSXR06ANLzJn31KDC2Fhv_tXIVOtApXLF3Qm1nt1vkt_xtEJTJZ2adH/s1600/webJAnderson_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8Ct395NN1Zei_B5V_HdapjOuqXWmv-1JJ_QJj5s2OhQWiNWqPEXf49lFFq6zHpBtKJcdbBm1PEL1bBMj0y589KSXR06ANLzJn31KDC2Fhv_tXIVOtApXLF3Qm1nt1vkt_xtEJTJZ2adH/s320/webJAnderson_07.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTUIzJdsO4IwqQoFjaQ6tzuB0wtKWIHAVfkGeC7SP8vVBvy4Kd3ATaWKccqLhYAMD071Yplb8Rm2P_cVIvKRxVFG1JECIN8FnU1mTJJbiYhRMq4toOGLaRN0hib9HuiK7wJpyXwTYZgHZ/s1600/webJAnderson_22-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTUIzJdsO4IwqQoFjaQ6tzuB0wtKWIHAVfkGeC7SP8vVBvy4Kd3ATaWKccqLhYAMD071Yplb8Rm2P_cVIvKRxVFG1JECIN8FnU1mTJJbiYhRMq4toOGLaRN0hib9HuiK7wJpyXwTYZgHZ/s320/webJAnderson_22-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-71687055845813373532010-10-21T10:03:00.000-06:002010-10-22T11:36:40.330-06:00One Month (Maya)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQyNorzg2c8eexcEXTtryTkuu3I9OGIrRbukI5LRf1JMNz16G96Fm7sG-R8q6O5bQiRVPb9HXXa2wffku-JuUWOyzR4wsJZ69TTJo8qmP3vu3-tmoidnlOVy9CXe6k4aZvQvMPgzUxsy3/s1600/SNC10736_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQyNorzg2c8eexcEXTtryTkuu3I9OGIrRbukI5LRf1JMNz16G96Fm7sG-R8q6O5bQiRVPb9HXXa2wffku-JuUWOyzR4wsJZ69TTJo8qmP3vu3-tmoidnlOVy9CXe6k4aZvQvMPgzUxsy3/s400/SNC10736_1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Maya is one month old today and I'm quite heartbroken about it. With Ellie I was just so excited for her to reach all the milestones that watching her grow was a greater joy than living in the moment. Now the time is passing through my fingers so quickly that I want both of my girls to just stop growing and stay how they are forever and ever. In Maya's case, I know the newborn period is so fleeting that I don't want to miss a moment of it. But time marches on whether or not I want it to and I'm savoring every second I have with my girls.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv07GX-llqTpqvC7dkkku_-p7Ar13L3By8VVpO2qsV-2SnkacBhgsrBHLRiJOtfaEWmRHXOBvXWeKEbYT_OJgUxsERINlURboqeGPSJQWKyHb0QaHuOtoi7VdL-PQsgvSQxHV8DkMBcyiI/s1600/SNC10722.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv07GX-llqTpqvC7dkkku_-p7Ar13L3By8VVpO2qsV-2SnkacBhgsrBHLRiJOtfaEWmRHXOBvXWeKEbYT_OJgUxsERINlURboqeGPSJQWKyHb0QaHuOtoi7VdL-PQsgvSQxHV8DkMBcyiI/s320/SNC10722.JPG" width="240" /></a>Overall, Maya is a very chill little baby. Aside from the when she wants to eat or has gas the only time she fusses is when being changed and put in the car seat. She's not a big fan of riding in the car, either. We appreciate the quiet in the house. It's quite a change from our last experience. She does like to stick her tongue out at everyone and I think that's her way of telling us how she feels about things.<br /><br />We are very surprised at Maya's head control. We've been surprised about it since her birth. She holds her head up very well and can keep it there for at least a minute at a time. Maya is tolerating tummy time and moves her head from one side to the other while she's down there. We have a little pillow that's meant to help with tummy time, but we don't really use it much. Mostly she just uses it as a ramp to push herself over and ends up with her face in the carpet and her feet kicking in the air.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjefeoZnPLmbB8XJKFJEvsN5A7gHKEEBJqI6d-KlvbEAc1WrEXQ0CDIibUJPNtMCBhkHPpf5yXkPnt0yV4kpG4fG3Slqv-4ks6deb1-YmAljzuKCkNTEbkQkPp51Zv0Yrup4ms2xXLySE9b/s1600/SNC10746-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjefeoZnPLmbB8XJKFJEvsN5A7gHKEEBJqI6d-KlvbEAc1WrEXQ0CDIibUJPNtMCBhkHPpf5yXkPnt0yV4kpG4fG3Slqv-4ks6deb1-YmAljzuKCkNTEbkQkPp51Zv0Yrup4ms2xXLySE9b/s320/SNC10746-1.JPG" width="320" /></a>Baby acne has started in earnest and it looks really painful. I put some baby Eucerin on her forehead about a week ago because her skin there looked to be chapped and peeling. That's where she has the most pimples, so I'll probably refrain from putting the Eucerin on there again. Maya is also going bald on top, giving her the look of a bald mullet. I figure she's decided to go through her awkward phase now rather than waiting until junior high.<br /><br />Maya seems to like to cuddle and I'm <i>loving</i> it. I have a hard time putting her down. The feeling of the soft little lump of warmth in my arms is more sweet than I can stand.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9z2wbyzT3u_UJ9R48DegfjUWySoPJKrUSz84LEaET3QPdx61VuNksst2GeVSiqW0cJv7P__XsI3hywNy2NWU7IgYCcpS37aUiGo-TFmodT2HNpwnbOKHMZOSlhO7tHmUbg1b3Ban__1l/s1600/IMG_1975.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9z2wbyzT3u_UJ9R48DegfjUWySoPJKrUSz84LEaET3QPdx61VuNksst2GeVSiqW0cJv7P__XsI3hywNy2NWU7IgYCcpS37aUiGo-TFmodT2HNpwnbOKHMZOSlhO7tHmUbg1b3Ban__1l/s320/IMG_1975.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Maya's eyes are officially brown. They started to change in the hospital, but now they seem irrevocably brown. I thought I would be disappointed that they weren't blue or green, but I'm really liking the brown. It's the color I was used to looking at until Eliana was born and seeing the brown is almost comforting. I do start to get silly worries that our blonde and blue-eyed Ellie was somehow switched at birth, but I know that wasn't the case.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Maya has been a wonderful addition to our little family and we're to the point that we can't imagine life without her. She is sweet and incredible and we love her to bits.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-82617327287159119332010-10-07T15:53:00.001-06:002010-10-07T16:02:55.133-06:00Twenty-Six Months (Eliana)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hLQ081COU7L0iIg3S9ox1bLjODv_-IGwFR3OnmSuS1OQXHTzX0xWRrMF4xJ2lAJl_0gutCy3RQ_Q5xuVlbRHJezO_Kt1gfMZ_SJtRhacnIW9n3E-qtnuH9y9P_FBRo9cY9we5NcX0nCE/s1600/IMG_7882.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hLQ081COU7L0iIg3S9ox1bLjODv_-IGwFR3OnmSuS1OQXHTzX0xWRrMF4xJ2lAJl_0gutCy3RQ_Q5xuVlbRHJezO_Kt1gfMZ_SJtRhacnIW9n3E-qtnuH9y9P_FBRo9cY9we5NcX0nCE/s320/IMG_7882.jpg" width="213" /></a>Obviously the biggest news for Ellie this month is that she became a big sister! I think she loves it, though she does miss all the lap time she used to get with Mommy. She loves to kiss her sister and hold her for about two seconds. Then she pushes Maya away for a couple of seconds, then wants her back again. I guess whatever floats her boat.<br />
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I really love the picture to the left. It make me laugh to have a dark-haired set of parents and a dark-haired baby sister on one side and our little blond-haired, blue-eyed Eliana on the other. Her hair is starting to go darker and I assume she'll look just like us about the time Maya's hair falls out and starts coming in blond.<br />
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Climbing and jumping are Ellie's two favorite activities. The very best locations are the hearth and the couch. The new play place at the Towne Centre Mall is another well-loved place for climbing and jumping. We still hear "die, die!" just before she leaps off something and are wondering when she'll get around to adding the "v" into her dives. It really freaks out the people who don't know her when she yells "die!" and launches herself off of whatever she's standing on. That's an evening of entertainment all by itself.<br />
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We think Eliana is becoming a cat person. Eric and I are dog people (and plan on getting one when we own a yard to put one in) so this is distressing to us. ;) Ellie is quite obsessed with any "key cat" (kitty cat) she sees, live or animated. Happily, she is also happy to point out any dog we see or hear. She just prefers <i>The Aristocats</i> to <i>101 Dalmatians</i>. Maybe she just prefers the French to the British. Also a cause for concern...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0oc2fkaUGQVpvnXgQGbyvmmTmLwRRurWKY4hISj_5Gl_MSNgfEeRDIlhWpHSGdIvyvBu5cAvTCAtnT9ZQ6x2w4O1TRHqWUeilPiPftr5M06lKt9neMPk5HjnMNfzy6JbQ9V9BssRkfZF/s1600/SNC10701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0oc2fkaUGQVpvnXgQGbyvmmTmLwRRurWKY4hISj_5Gl_MSNgfEeRDIlhWpHSGdIvyvBu5cAvTCAtnT9ZQ6x2w4O1TRHqWUeilPiPftr5M06lKt9neMPk5HjnMNfzy6JbQ9V9BssRkfZF/s320/SNC10701.JPG" width="320" /></a>Another thing Ellie really loves is dancing. She really doesn't sing much, but dancing seems to be one of her loves in life. Songs with actions are the ones she likes best (normal for any kid, I suppose) and she copies the dance moves she sees. I think she gets most of her moves from George of the Jungle. She's really cute to watch. I kind of wonder if she would enjoy a dance class when she gets a little older.<br />
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Kissing remains high on Eliana's list of things she likes to do. However, short kisses aren't generally her style. With Mom and Dad Ellie seems to think that kissing is a marathon sport. She grabs our faces to pull us in and then starts in on her own chorus of "mmmmmmmmmmm" until she runs out of breath or out of kiss. The people behind us at church think it's hilarious. We agree, but it gets a little awkward to have your daughter make out with you in public.<br />
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The "limp rag" technique of avoiding doing what your parents ask is a recently learned trick. She mostly uses it on the front lawn when it's time to get in the car. She does that or climbs up on to the neighbor's porch. Ellie thinks it's a great game.<br />
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Ellie has been kind of sidelined this month as we've waited for her little sister to arrive, but she's been great. We couldn't ask for a sweeter little girl.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-51608305494270647192010-10-07T15:16:00.000-06:002010-10-07T15:16:02.071-06:00Two Week AppointmentMaya's two weeks appointment at the doctor came around today. Everything looks good, though she hasn't quite gained back her birth weight. This has been a concern of mine, as I never produced enough breastmilk for Eliana. I've wanted to make sure that none of my other children go hungry as long as Ellie did. We'll go back in a few days to re-weigh Maya and see if she is doing any better. She doesn't look skinny or dehydrated so the doctor isn't concerned about it. Maya will often refuse to be fed more and that's a good indication to me that she's getting enough to eat. I'm okay to supplement if I need to, but I'd rather avoid that cost and hassle. The value and portability of breastmilk really can't be beat. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-85755508166927514752010-09-24T13:39:00.001-06:002010-10-07T14:58:11.811-06:00Maya Moo (now with pictures)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">She'll probably hate the nickname Maya Moo before long, but right now she has no control. Anyway, she arrived on Tuesday and has been a joy ever since.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>The short version</i>:</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Born at 10:17 am, weighing 9 lb. 1 oz. and measuring 20.5 inches long. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>The long version</i>: (this part really is long and <b>very</b> informative. You have been warned.)</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">We went to bed at 11 pm on Monday, after a full day of discomfort after having my membranes stripped and being past my due date. Eric had told me that if I had contractions I was to wake him up with the first one rather than let him sleep until I thought it was something more. That's what I had always done in the past. I woke up at 1:28 am on Tuesday morning with a strong urge to relieve my bladder and my bowels, as well as feeling a contraction. That's pretty normal for my nightly bathroom trips. This felt a little bit different; it was like a band of pain around my lower back. I did my best to relieve myself and was very disappointed with the results and the lack of relief. I went back to bed still in pain. I did wake Eric up just to let him know.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">At 1:35 I got up again to use the bathroom because the feeling was still there. Still no results in the bathroom. Eric asked about it and I told him. I started to wonder if perhaps there was something more to these bathroom trips than just a need to go. I stopped looking at the time after that.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">When I got up again a few minutes later I decided it was time to utilize some comfort techniques. I tried changing to different positions we learned about in the HypnoBirthing class and that offered exactly no relief of any kind. I knew I was having contractions because the already nasty pain in my back got worse every few minutes. Until that night I had heard about back labor and had even thought I experienced some with Ellie. I was mistaken. This was constant pain and pressure without a break. Then you add contractions on top of that you've got a recipe for a miserable mommy-to-be. I also filled up the bathtub to see if that brought any measure of relief. It did not. I don't think a standard home bathtub is made to be helpful like that. There simply isn't enough water and trying to lie down in a tub while having back labor is a poor idea. The only thing that helped at all was pouring some of the warm water over my belly with a pitcher. It helped for about two minutes and I continued another few minutes before I gave up. At that point I realized that if I were to attempt an unmedicated birth while having back labor and working on two and a half hours of sleep there would be no energy left when it was time to push the baby out. I opted for sleep and comfort, instead. It turned out to be a wise decision.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">After I came back in from the bath I told Eric it was probably time to call my parents. The pain was only getting worse and it wouldn't go away. He got himself ready while I laid down on the bed and focused on my breathing and relaxation. We called my parents around 2:15 and said it was go time. They drove down to our house to pick up Ellie. I continued to lay down and try to focus on breathing and relaxation with Eric. It helped a bit, but it was not a pretty picture. I'd been in enough constant pain that I'd given up trying to pull on my pants. I had to ask my mom to do it for me when she got there and Eric was switching out the car seat.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">We handed Ellie over to my parents and headed to the hospital. After checking in at the desk they evaluated me and told me I was was at 5 cm and very much effaced. The nurse said that at that far along they could just take me and didn't need to do the hour-long evaluation. That was when the heavens opened and the angels began to sing. I knew I wouldn't have another hour of breathing through contractions before they shot me up. The nurse asked if I had been planning on an epidural. I said, "I am now!" Fifteen minuted later Dr. Gardner came in and stuck me with the horse needle that makes everything all better. It was glorious, I tell you. GLORIOUS!!!! That was at 3:45. At 4:10 my doctor came in and mentioned that it looked like I had received the epidural, after all. I told him I'd decided I wasn't a masochist. He did his own check to see where the baby was. He confirmed what I had expected and told me she was in posterior (sunny side up) position and still sitting up really high. That was why I had back labor. He saw that my contractions had slowed down after the epidural and asked if I wanted him to break my water to speed labor. I had planned on asking him to do it now that I was pain-free. It's awesome to be on the same page as the doctor. He broke my water and then we all tried to go to sleep while we waited for me to fully dilate.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7r1xPCo2XBOh4iJzz5tbLa30_8Wqbo-_YuGz3QbCsGLGfL2YX0mzfqhvn7eYN27XTfnMr3Zcyks0VtZRCjO3-Jhb2lQW2t0qCg-VvgeyfGBcPtsITICZQLcm4YsX8WOtiIOjHWBYYfogR/s1600/SNC10711_resized.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7r1xPCo2XBOh4iJzz5tbLa30_8Wqbo-_YuGz3QbCsGLGfL2YX0mzfqhvn7eYN27XTfnMr3Zcyks0VtZRCjO3-Jhb2lQW2t0qCg-VvgeyfGBcPtsITICZQLcm4YsX8WOtiIOjHWBYYfogR/s320/SNC10711_resized.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Here's the part where the HypnoBirthing came in and the only part where it really helped. After the epidural you must have a urinary catheter. That, sadly, is just how it is. I hate the catheter. The nurse told me I shouldn't be able to feel it because of the epidural. She was wrong. It hurt and irritated and made it so I could feel the contractions again, as well as extra pressure. The only thing to do about it was to go back to the breathing and relaxation techniques to help me deal with it. Eric and I had discussed a couple of scenarios I wanted to visualize. He chose to use the beach and started to talk me through a beautiful beach with turquoise water and soft white sand. That was really nice and pretty, but it didn't do much for me until he said he was there with me. Just like that I started to be able to relax and loosen up. I pictured Ellie and Maya there with is. Eric was holding Maya, I was sitting next to him, and we were all laughing as we watched Ellie play in the water. She continued to splash around and beckoning for us to come join her ("cwon, cwon!). It was lovely. Before long I didn't feel pain and I drifted off to sleep. By the time I woke up the epidural had kicked in enough to cancel out the catheter.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">At 7 am I got new nurses who delivered the news that I was complete and we could start pushing. Dr. Carn came up and we got started. They gave me instructions on how to push, which I ignored. I wanted to try the way I'd learned in class. I pushed while the doctor tried to gently turn the baby into a more favorable position. Half an hour later and I'd made almost no progress. Maya didn't want to turn and that was stopping me up. The doctor suggested half an hour of rest and descend to see if the contractions would turn Maya on their own.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOYMBN86Ek4NjHOwOsUdTQUV3R0P5izyQS2iUUE848p4h2bYRhI3DmP3TsYWCriHrx0hsEG4yL8_JWerkrURHNsDa-Q-V6M16J87TaBAQt5LgNnq91HtBLbQhMboUEVBL03w0RmOTaoEqK/s1600/SNC10692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOYMBN86Ek4NjHOwOsUdTQUV3R0P5izyQS2iUUE848p4h2bYRhI3DmP3TsYWCriHrx0hsEG4yL8_JWerkrURHNsDa-Q-V6M16J87TaBAQt5LgNnq91HtBLbQhMboUEVBL03w0RmOTaoEqK/s320/SNC10692.JPG" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">At 8 am the doctor, nurse, and nursing student came back in. Maya had not turned and there wasn't a lot of progress. We worked on it again and Maya finally decided to get herself into a better position. Things moved along better after that...for a while. No one knew why it was taking so long and being so difficult. My epidural started to wear off and that was a bad thing. I was already sore up high in my abdominals from pushing, as well as from Maya pushing her feet up from the inside. The nursing student thought it was cute and fascinating how Maya's feet were right there and easy to feel. I didn't think it was cute; I thought it hurt and made it difficult to push. By that time I'd been pushing for over two hours <i>after</i> the break to rest and descend. I was out of gas and knew that the slow progress of the delivery was going to outlast the epidural. The doctor saw that, too and asked about using forceps. I was nodding my head before he finished offering. I know my body well enough to know what it can and can't handle. I really had nothing left. He told me the risks involved (which I already knew) and I agreed to it. The nurses grabbed to anesthesiologist to get me a redose of epidural so I could be comfortable through the forceps. He was surprised I needed it, but juiced me up, anyway. Fifteen minutes later I was feeling dandy and Dr. Carn came back in with Dr. Dayton. He'd asked Dr. Dayton to use the forceps, as Dr. Dayton is an OB and Dr. Carn is family practice. When they came in Dr. Carn pointed out to the nurses that I had "swollen a little." More on that later. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b0vHL0zWE5iZy7l5DyvCYplrb61EvKWbXXEOpCJKuxer51YPYMeL3ItzKCST_s0714CrF3yXVXNOBpuq2XODrPdpmOfMmNGK_glrmfHtU8Fi8dROQ6-MyZaWXbWI-r1IUU-kGC5rONTd/s1600/SNC10717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b0vHL0zWE5iZy7l5DyvCYplrb61EvKWbXXEOpCJKuxer51YPYMeL3ItzKCST_s0714CrF3yXVXNOBpuq2XODrPdpmOfMmNGK_glrmfHtU8Fi8dROQ6-MyZaWXbWI-r1IUU-kGC5rONTd/s320/SNC10717.JPG" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Dr. Dayton pushed around on my tummy and predicted an 8-8.5 pound baby and an easy forceps delivery. He gave me an episiotomy (which still works better <i>for me</i> than a tear) and slid in the baby tongs. I pushed while he pulled and the head was out in seconds. I guess Maya came with her tongue sticking out. Dr. Dayton moved out of the way and Dr. Carn helped deliver the rest of Maya. She had a very short umbilical cord (that might explain why she was reluctant to get herself out) and it wasn't long enough for him to show her to me, let alone put her on my tummy. I watched her little foot. Maya was having some trouble getting to breathing, so Dr. Carn worked on her while she was still down below my line of sight. When that didn't work well he cut the cord and they took fluid out of her lungs. They thought they should call the respiratory therapists to evaluate her and they did that. They brought Maya over for skin to skin time while they waited for the therapists to come. Maya calmed right down when Eric and I spoke to her. I let them do a quick weigh and measure. The 8-8.5 pound baby turned out to be 9 lb 1 oz. No wonder I had problems getting her out. We were all pretty surprised at her size, especially considering that her sister was 7 lb 8 oz.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The respiratory therapists got there and thought she was borderline, so they took her to the NICU to put her on the machine, just in case. Thankfully I wasn't really worried. I wasn't excited that she had to be gone for an hour, but I wanted her to breathe properly. While she was up there the nurses had me try to use the bathroom. That was pretty funny. I could hardly walk and, once I got to the bathroom, I found out what "a little swollen" means. I thought the doctor had been talking about my feet and ankles. Nope. I went to blot dry and nearly dropped the paper. I thought, "Those aren't mine! Is there a 700 lb woman down the hall who traded parts with me? Holy crap!" You know that part on the newest Star Trek movie where Kirk looks down at his crazy swollen hands and yelps? That's an adequate representation.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Anyway, it was a difficult delivery because of Maya's size, so I'm very happy I decided to get the epidural. There was almost 3 hours worth of pushing out a nine-pounder and I wouldn't have been successful without relief. Maybe it would have been different if it wasn't back labor, but we'll never know. What didn't occur to me before when I was curious about if the epidural was making my body do weird things was that I could try another epidural and see if something strange happened. Now that I know it isn't the epidural I'm sure I'll get drugged up every time. It makes me happier.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLp82t2rOzJj7njEU3jdQ9DOAtVmRGPHqJG3VSQpS-2tKU4ZK35hzJOFy58qLQU3VJKXF8uksli67xZvZq4wXfvzSNvWbfU3MC9ijgGCaGm3675KQKtOBj1eFBi1Ev2GtSbyb7L5Ozndsw/s1600/IMG_1866.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLp82t2rOzJj7njEU3jdQ9DOAtVmRGPHqJG3VSQpS-2tKU4ZK35hzJOFy58qLQU3VJKXF8uksli67xZvZq4wXfvzSNvWbfU3MC9ijgGCaGm3675KQKtOBj1eFBi1Ev2GtSbyb7L5Ozndsw/s320/IMG_1866.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Maya is doing beautifully and we all love her to pieces. Ellie is sick, so she doesn't get to come too close, but she's totally entranced with Maya. Our newest girl is very mellow and that's a new experience for us. The video below shows Ellie meeting Maya for the first time. I haven't gotten around to editing it, so the whole thing is there for your viewing pleasure.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy0TF3-X3Egbayno-r6_Fhqj-rLaZ-ufoaIe77HzB_ejo3LQBoYO7jQb2wJDzq1YLR5hE0pphuGw_AaztOY5A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div></div></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-23259127391459405272010-09-18T15:46:00.000-06:002010-09-18T15:46:05.171-06:00Non-Labor of LoveWell, today's the day. Sort of. Not really. Unless something changes drastically in the next few hours. Today is Maya's due date. I never expected to get this far. Experience has told me I would go into labor early. Ellie was six whole days early and labor started all on its own. Not so with Maya. We've stripped the membranes twice and done accupressure or reflexology or whatever it is on my ankles in an attempt to get this beautiful little girl to enter the land of sunlight. No luck whatsoever.<br />
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If this were my first pregnancy I probably wouldn't be so disgruntled. I wouldn't know that I'd already delivered early or that my body is now further along than it was when I was admitted into the hospital. I'm at 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced as of four days ago. I have another appointment on Monday and we'll see where I am then. There is a fear in the back of my mind that we'll discover my cervix has decided to close up tight and my daughter has decided to make a permanent residence of my esophagus. Not a happy thought.<br />
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It has been a bit of a relief that she hasn't come yet because my doctor is out of town. He'll be back Monday for my appointment. However, at this point I almost don't care if i deliver on the side of the road. I even have stuff in the car just in case that happens.<br />
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The part that really gets me is that I got a heads up about this a week or more ago. I woke up with a feeling, almost a voice in my head, that this baby was going to be late. That's not anything I want to think about. It's irritating. You can't really plan to do anything or go anywhere because "the baby could come any time now." I've been in "the baby can come any time now" mode for the past three weeks because of what my body has been doing. It's wrought havoc on my meal planning and preparation. We have a freezer stuffed full of meals for after the baby comes. In the fridge we have milk, eggs, and half a watermelon because I don't want to spend money on food I won't be able to prepare because "the baby could come any time now."<br />
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It's also frustrating for me because the closer I've gotten to my due date and the longer I go past it, the more likely it will be that I'll need to be induced. I don't want to be induced. I've prepared for an unmedicated birth and adding Pitocin to the mix will seriously diminish my desire to skip the epidural. I really want to see if my body will freak out like it has the past two times if I don't have an epidural. It's one of those things that I should probably know because I plan on having more kids. Eventually. If I get delusional again and think that I like being pregnant.<br />
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Anyway, when I got the feeling that Maya would be coming late I had to deal with it and accept it as a possibility. I did that by telling myself that there's still some part of development she's working on and I'd better leave her to it. I'm getting to the point that I want to tell her she's had her chance and she can finish on the outside. But I don't. I still sit here and wait, letting her stay snug in her little home. But all bets are off if she still likes it in there after the 28th. If she's still in there after 10 days I'm kicking her out.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108339130913589325.post-72335690733748361842010-09-07T17:57:00.001-06:002010-09-18T15:24:59.381-06:00ProgressAt my doctor appointment last week I was overjoyed because I was dilated to 3 cm and 80% effaced. With Eliana that did not happen until I was in the hospital being evaluated for labor. All last week I expected to go into labor at any moment. I didn't. Poo. However, I got over it and decided that it would be great to hear today that I was 5 cm and could just go to the hospital if I wanted to. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, the doctor told me that my body seems to be perfectly ready for delivery, we just need contractions to get everything going.<br /><br />I've been having contractions quite a bit...just not the useful ones. They have helped me learn to relax through them, but I wish Maya would let them move her down. There must be something oddly comforting about my ribs, because Ellie never wanted to move down, either.<br /><br />So it looks like I'm dilated to 3+ cm (almost to 4) and am still 80% effaced. The doctor seemed to keep his fingers up there for a little while and started to push down on the baby. It's not the most pleasant experience, especially when you don't know why he won't take his fingers away. The doctor asked me if it hurt me and I said that it did. I wanted his fingers out, what else was I going to say? He asked if it hurt badly and I said, "Yeah, kinda" in a fairly exasperated tone. I really wanted his fingers out and that did the trick. What I didn't realize at the time was that he was working on stripping my membranes. We had talked about doing that at my last appointment, so it wasn't an ambush stripping. I just thought it was going to be different or that he would say something first. I had given my consent at the last appointment, so I probably should have suspected it. It wasn't until the appointment was over and we were talking about doing a more "vigorous" membrane stripping on Friday if I hadn't had the baby that it dawned on me. I asked him if that was what he had done when he asked me if it hurt and he told me it was. If I'd known that I probably would have let him keep stripping away. We'll see if we get results from it. If not, then we'll try again Friday. I'm convinced that if Maya isn't ready to come yet she'll ignore everything we do until we crack out the Pitocin. I'll have to go over my due date before we try that, I think. Pray for me; I can't wait to be done with this pregnancy.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1