Friday, December 10, 2010
Dad update
I just wanted to say thank you for your prayers. I think it's really a miracle that my dad is still here. He went home last night and is still on oxygen and requiring a walker to get around - he's just weak from being so sick. I think he'll be doing some physical therapy to get his strength back.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
My Dad
(Here's my dad with Finn about a year ago.)My dad is at Vanderbilt right now in the ICU due to sepsis and multiple organ failure. His kidneys are shutting down, his lungs have shut down and are filled with bacteria and his heart isn't doing great, either. He's sedated and seems to be aware when we're there talking to him and has communicated some through shaking/nodding his head and moving his hands and feet.
It is pretty dire right now and we would all appreciate any prayers you have for him. Please pray also for my family. My dad's wife, Elizabeth, just moved here in June and doesn't have her family/support network here, and my 13-year-old brother is having a very hard time with everything. Of course Erin, Lindsay and I are scared and upset, too.
I'll try to update the blog as anything changes and I thank you in advance for your prayers - we need them.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Settling in with our little lady
We're just settling in here! This transition has been easier to get used to than going from one child to two children. I think I'm just used to being exhausted all the time! Mealtimes and bedtimes are pretty hectic, but during the day things are pretty smooth.
Like all of my other babies, Carolina doesn't love her car seat, which is a huge pain during the two hours we spend in the car Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays driving Maggie to school in Franklin (thirty minutes each way in the morning and afternoon). Luckily we just started carpooling with a boy who lives down the street from us, so we'll have to make that trip half as often now.
She still sleeps 3-4 hour chunks during the night, which is pretty manageable. I'll be excited when she drops a feeding though!
I think having Carolina has really brought out the best in Maggie. She wants to hold her all the time and she loves doing little things to help with her. I think if we had had another boy this would not be the case. She's sooooo excited to have a little sister. And check out Carolina's dress in the photo above. My friend Elizabeth MADE IT! I'm so impressed. She even has her own labels to sew inside.
Here's a photo of Carolina that I took with my Hipstamatic app for my iPhone. I love the way it makes it look vintage-y (is that a word?!).
Here's another Hipstamatic of Finn, sleeping in his car seat. While I hate it when he falls asleep in the car (messes up his nap), I love taking photos of him sleeping. I think my kids are awesome and super cute when they're awake, but when they're sleeping...the cuteness takes me over the edge!
Finally, these last two photos are in the "Little Lady" photo series:) The way she has her hands folded under her chin just looks so ladylike. What can I say?! We're already working on her manners.
Here's the second in the series. First of all, she always scrunches over so that her face is right next to the edge of the bassinet. I guess she's trying to recreate the tightness of the womb? Anyway, I went in to the room while she was sleeping and found that her feet had escaped from the swaddle. To me it looked so ladylike to have her tiny feet crossed, especially with the Mary Jane socks she's wearing.
We all know Carolina is a big baby. She was 9 lbs, 3 oz at birth and at her two week appointment she was already up to 10 pounds. I think Maggie was 3 months old before she weighed that much! It's so weird to me to have had one baby girl be so little and now one that's so big. I think she'll probably even out down the road, but everyone always comments that she looks older than she is because she's so big. One of my friends saw her and said, "That's a big lady you've got there," which just makes me laugh when I think about it. So I guess I should start calling her my big lady? On second thought, "little lady" just has a much nicer ring to it. I think I'll stick with that.
Like all of my other babies, Carolina doesn't love her car seat, which is a huge pain during the two hours we spend in the car Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays driving Maggie to school in Franklin (thirty minutes each way in the morning and afternoon). Luckily we just started carpooling with a boy who lives down the street from us, so we'll have to make that trip half as often now.
She still sleeps 3-4 hour chunks during the night, which is pretty manageable. I'll be excited when she drops a feeding though!
I think having Carolina has really brought out the best in Maggie. She wants to hold her all the time and she loves doing little things to help with her. I think if we had had another boy this would not be the case. She's sooooo excited to have a little sister. And check out Carolina's dress in the photo above. My friend Elizabeth MADE IT! I'm so impressed. She even has her own labels to sew inside.Here's a photo of Carolina that I took with my Hipstamatic app for my iPhone. I love the way it makes it look vintage-y (is that a word?!).
Here's another Hipstamatic of Finn, sleeping in his car seat. While I hate it when he falls asleep in the car (messes up his nap), I love taking photos of him sleeping. I think my kids are awesome and super cute when they're awake, but when they're sleeping...the cuteness takes me over the edge!
Finally, these last two photos are in the "Little Lady" photo series:) The way she has her hands folded under her chin just looks so ladylike. What can I say?! We're already working on her manners.
Here's the second in the series. First of all, she always scrunches over so that her face is right next to the edge of the bassinet. I guess she's trying to recreate the tightness of the womb? Anyway, I went in to the room while she was sleeping and found that her feet had escaped from the swaddle. To me it looked so ladylike to have her tiny feet crossed, especially with the Mary Jane socks she's wearing.
We all know Carolina is a big baby. She was 9 lbs, 3 oz at birth and at her two week appointment she was already up to 10 pounds. I think Maggie was 3 months old before she weighed that much! It's so weird to me to have had one baby girl be so little and now one that's so big. I think she'll probably even out down the road, but everyone always comments that she looks older than she is because she's so big. One of my friends saw her and said, "That's a big lady you've got there," which just makes me laugh when I think about it. So I guess I should start calling her my big lady? On second thought, "little lady" just has a much nicer ring to it. I think I'll stick with that.
Friday, November 12, 2010
For my mom and Christin
Here are Jude and Finn again at 6 and 9 months, respectively (taken December 2009):
And here they are at 15 months and 18 months, at Gentry's Farm (taken October 2010):
And here they are at 15 months and 18 months, at Gentry's Farm (taken October 2010):
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Happy 5th Birthday, Maggie!
Maggie is into all things fancy, and since everyone knows that anything French is extra fancy, we obviously had to have a French-themed birthday party for her this year. Here's her invitation, made by Grant:
And here's the tres jolie birthday girl:
So for this fancy, fancy party (not really) we reserved a park shelter at Sevier Park on a beautiful day the first weekend in October. I was technically on bed rest during the party which was a bummer because I had to ask for lots of help (which my family graciously gave) and I didn't get to run around as much as I would have liked. It was a lot of fun despite my limitations! We borrowed a 3 ft Eiffel Tower and a life-sized standard poodle from my friend Tiffany (lucky for me she just happened to have both items) and used them for table decorations with balloons tied to them. You can see the tower in the following photo of the kids eating their cupcakes. That's me in the back right corner. For some reason most of Maggie's girl friends couldn't make it but there were lots of fun boys (who maybe weren't the best ones to enjoy a girly French-themed party!)
We played pin the tail on the poodle.
For prizes the girls got pink scarves for their necks and the boys got stick-on mustaches. They were so cute with those mustaches and they mostly humored me with leaving them on for a photo!
We also had lots of time to just run around and play on the playground, which Finn loved.
Maggie's cousin Jack had fun playing, too.
And Maggie got lots of cuddles and hugs from two of her uncles:
After the "friends" party we went back to our house for a family birthday dinner. Maggie loves to play with Grant's musical instruments and we thought she'd love to have one of her own so we bought a ukelele for her. It's perfect for her because of its size and Grant can teach her how to play it. They've had a few lessons already which she loves because it's one-on-one time with Grant. It's a really sweet little ukelele - not a toy, but a real instrument! This is just the first step of the Howard Family Band that I've always dreamed of.
It's hard to believe she's five. She still keeps me laughing all the time, sometimes drives me absolutely batty, and always makes me count my blessings, of which she is a huge part. Did I tell you that during Carolina's birth she called herself my doula and rubbed my back and gave me sips of water through a straw? And here's one final little funny: the other day she asked me, "Mom, are mermaids for real?" I said, "Nope" and she immediately responded, "Ohhhhhhhh mannnnnnn!" I was sorry to be the bearer of such bad news but I don't want to shield her from life's harsh realities :)
And here's the tres jolie birthday girl:
So for this fancy, fancy party (not really) we reserved a park shelter at Sevier Park on a beautiful day the first weekend in October. I was technically on bed rest during the party which was a bummer because I had to ask for lots of help (which my family graciously gave) and I didn't get to run around as much as I would have liked. It was a lot of fun despite my limitations! We borrowed a 3 ft Eiffel Tower and a life-sized standard poodle from my friend Tiffany (lucky for me she just happened to have both items) and used them for table decorations with balloons tied to them. You can see the tower in the following photo of the kids eating their cupcakes. That's me in the back right corner. For some reason most of Maggie's girl friends couldn't make it but there were lots of fun boys (who maybe weren't the best ones to enjoy a girly French-themed party!)
We played pin the tail on the poodle.
For prizes the girls got pink scarves for their necks and the boys got stick-on mustaches. They were so cute with those mustaches and they mostly humored me with leaving them on for a photo!We also had lots of time to just run around and play on the playground, which Finn loved.
Maggie's cousin Jack had fun playing, too.
And Maggie got lots of cuddles and hugs from two of her uncles:
After the "friends" party we went back to our house for a family birthday dinner. Maggie loves to play with Grant's musical instruments and we thought she'd love to have one of her own so we bought a ukelele for her. It's perfect for her because of its size and Grant can teach her how to play it. They've had a few lessons already which she loves because it's one-on-one time with Grant. It's a really sweet little ukelele - not a toy, but a real instrument! This is just the first step of the Howard Family Band that I've always dreamed of.
It's hard to believe she's five. She still keeps me laughing all the time, sometimes drives me absolutely batty, and always makes me count my blessings, of which she is a huge part. Did I tell you that during Carolina's birth she called herself my doula and rubbed my back and gave me sips of water through a straw? And here's one final little funny: the other day she asked me, "Mom, are mermaids for real?" I said, "Nope" and she immediately responded, "Ohhhhhhhh mannnnnnn!" I was sorry to be the bearer of such bad news but I don't want to shield her from life's harsh realities :)
Saturday, October 30, 2010
She's HERE!!!!
I'm happy to announce the arrival of Carolina Pearl Howard, born Sunday, October 24, at 8:42 in the evening. She weighed 9 lbs, 3 oz (!) and was 21.5 inches long. I do feel a little bit like I deserve a medal!
It's been a busy week since she was born but here's the scoop. Also, it's pretty long so I'm going to break it up with photos even though they won't be pictures of what's happening in the story.
So, being on bed rest from weeks 35-37 I thought that I would just go into labor the minute I was taken off bed rest. But obviously that didn't happen. Since I had been having contractions for weeks and I have a history of fast labors, combined with the fact that my amazing midwife, Susie, lives about an hour away, at 38 weeks Susie decided to do an exam to see if I was dilated (while OBs often do cervical checks routinely, midwives often do not as it doesn't necessarily tell you anything useful and can sometimes lead to infection). I was 5 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. Since I had walked around for a while at 6cm with Finn I didn't necessarily feel like I would go into labor at any minute (although I did hope I would!).
Then on Thursday, October 21, I had some harder contractions throughout the night so I called Susie that morning to let her know. She was attending a birth in Springfield (about an hour north) so she told me to lay down and not do anything to get things going! As soon as that birth was over, around 4pm, she and her assistant, Cindy, came to the house. She checked me and I was 8cm and 80% effaced. The baby was still high up so we started lots of natural/homeopathic things to get labor going. (At this point I still wasn't having any timeable, painful contractions, just the same mild cramps I'd been having all along.) My best friend, Tiffany, and my mom and sister, Erin, came to the house and it looked like the herbs, etc. were working and from about 8pm to 11:15pm we walked up and down the street, around in the house, got on hands and knees, got in this crazy pretzel position to bring down the baby, and even had to lay down in bed for an hour or so to concentrate on getting through my contractions. As it got closer to 11:15 the contractions just started fizzling out. Finally Susie tucked me into bed and said I should get some rest. I told her, "I really don't think there's any way I can go to sleep but if you say so..." and then the next thing I knew, it was 5:15 and there was a houseful of people sleeping on my floor, couches, etc! Susie checked me again and things had not changed AT ALL.
Everyone went home and I felt really discouraged. I kept taking the herbs and trying other things to get my labor started again but nothing helped. Friday was also Susie's birthday and she said she hadn't delivered very many babies with the same birthday as her so we were really hoping it would be that day. Friday passed with virtually no contractions. Saturday we went for a hike at Radnor Lake, hoping that would stir things up. Nope.
Finally on Sunday morning as we walked around the neighborhood with the kids we called Susie and asked her if she'd come over after church and see if anything had changed. We attend the same church but she said she was planning on staying home because 3 of her 5 kids were home to celebrate with a birthday lunch. She said she would come over around 4pm. We went to church in the meantime and enjoyed getting out of the house and being with people. Once the kids were in nap/rest time I resumed the herbs, pretzel position, and hands and knees, hoping to help bring her down. By the time Susie arrived at 4pm and checked me I was 100% effaced and the baby HAD moved down. Hooray! So we called back the troops and my mom and step-dad, Benton, took Maggie and Finn for dinner and we kept doing all the same things. I think this would be a good time to tell you that the herbs I took, tincture of black and blue cohosh, taste like dirt dissolved in nail polish remover. One time when I took it it was so nasty that I immediately threw it all up. I took about 15 doses of this over the course of four days. The kids came home at 7 in time for Finn to go to bed, which he did, and then things got going.
Erin and my mom and Tiffany came back to the house. Right at 8pm Susie checked me, said the baby was low enough that she felt comfortable breaking my water so she did! About a minute later I had a VERY intense contraction that lasted about 2 minutes. Thirty seconds after that I had another CRAZY-long, CRAZY-hard contractions. Okay, this was for real now! So from 8pm to 8:40pm it felt like one long contraction. It was a little hard to manage because the contractions were so long (4 minutes!) with a very short break in between, and sometimes one would start to wane and before it was even all the way gone another one would start. I never get rude or mean in my labors but I do remember getting mad at Grant that his back rubs didn't seem to help. I didn't say anything but I was mad at him, even though I knew it wasn't his fault. After a little bit I started feeling like I was going to throw up and I wanted to push. They called for Maggie to come in and she did. Even in the middle of it all I had the presence of mind to try to convince her to stay, that I was working hard but it was okay. She stayed approximately 5 seconds and then turned around and left! Oh well. I pushed for about 5 minutes and then I was holding her in my arms! Tiffany was there the entire time and took so many great photos, and then as soon as Carolina was born Maggie, my mom, and Erin all came into the room so it was just like one big love fest for Carolina.
My best friend Tiffany, who is a wonderful artist and photographer, took some amazing photos that Grant will put together in a slide show so I can't wait to post that.
Meanwhile we've had my mom here for the first week and my in-laws for the second week and it's just been a sweet time with our family. Carolina was pretty jaundiced, requiring us to go to the hospital overnight, but she's doing great now. The big kids are having fun with the various grandparents staying here and Maggie thinks she's won the sibling lottery. Finn's having a little harder adjustment but he's really doing pretty well, too. I just don't know how I got so lucky to get to mother all these wonderful children. Thank you God!
Here's a photo of my sweet little guy to finish off the post.
It's been a busy week since she was born but here's the scoop. Also, it's pretty long so I'm going to break it up with photos even though they won't be pictures of what's happening in the story.So, being on bed rest from weeks 35-37 I thought that I would just go into labor the minute I was taken off bed rest. But obviously that didn't happen. Since I had been having contractions for weeks and I have a history of fast labors, combined with the fact that my amazing midwife, Susie, lives about an hour away, at 38 weeks Susie decided to do an exam to see if I was dilated (while OBs often do cervical checks routinely, midwives often do not as it doesn't necessarily tell you anything useful and can sometimes lead to infection). I was 5 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. Since I had walked around for a while at 6cm with Finn I didn't necessarily feel like I would go into labor at any minute (although I did hope I would!).
Then on Thursday, October 21, I had some harder contractions throughout the night so I called Susie that morning to let her know. She was attending a birth in Springfield (about an hour north) so she told me to lay down and not do anything to get things going! As soon as that birth was over, around 4pm, she and her assistant, Cindy, came to the house. She checked me and I was 8cm and 80% effaced. The baby was still high up so we started lots of natural/homeopathic things to get labor going. (At this point I still wasn't having any timeable, painful contractions, just the same mild cramps I'd been having all along.) My best friend, Tiffany, and my mom and sister, Erin, came to the house and it looked like the herbs, etc. were working and from about 8pm to 11:15pm we walked up and down the street, around in the house, got on hands and knees, got in this crazy pretzel position to bring down the baby, and even had to lay down in bed for an hour or so to concentrate on getting through my contractions. As it got closer to 11:15 the contractions just started fizzling out. Finally Susie tucked me into bed and said I should get some rest. I told her, "I really don't think there's any way I can go to sleep but if you say so..." and then the next thing I knew, it was 5:15 and there was a houseful of people sleeping on my floor, couches, etc! Susie checked me again and things had not changed AT ALL.
Everyone went home and I felt really discouraged. I kept taking the herbs and trying other things to get my labor started again but nothing helped. Friday was also Susie's birthday and she said she hadn't delivered very many babies with the same birthday as her so we were really hoping it would be that day. Friday passed with virtually no contractions. Saturday we went for a hike at Radnor Lake, hoping that would stir things up. Nope.
Finally on Sunday morning as we walked around the neighborhood with the kids we called Susie and asked her if she'd come over after church and see if anything had changed. We attend the same church but she said she was planning on staying home because 3 of her 5 kids were home to celebrate with a birthday lunch. She said she would come over around 4pm. We went to church in the meantime and enjoyed getting out of the house and being with people. Once the kids were in nap/rest time I resumed the herbs, pretzel position, and hands and knees, hoping to help bring her down. By the time Susie arrived at 4pm and checked me I was 100% effaced and the baby HAD moved down. Hooray! So we called back the troops and my mom and step-dad, Benton, took Maggie and Finn for dinner and we kept doing all the same things. I think this would be a good time to tell you that the herbs I took, tincture of black and blue cohosh, taste like dirt dissolved in nail polish remover. One time when I took it it was so nasty that I immediately threw it all up. I took about 15 doses of this over the course of four days. The kids came home at 7 in time for Finn to go to bed, which he did, and then things got going.
Erin and my mom and Tiffany came back to the house. Right at 8pm Susie checked me, said the baby was low enough that she felt comfortable breaking my water so she did! About a minute later I had a VERY intense contraction that lasted about 2 minutes. Thirty seconds after that I had another CRAZY-long, CRAZY-hard contractions. Okay, this was for real now! So from 8pm to 8:40pm it felt like one long contraction. It was a little hard to manage because the contractions were so long (4 minutes!) with a very short break in between, and sometimes one would start to wane and before it was even all the way gone another one would start. I never get rude or mean in my labors but I do remember getting mad at Grant that his back rubs didn't seem to help. I didn't say anything but I was mad at him, even though I knew it wasn't his fault. After a little bit I started feeling like I was going to throw up and I wanted to push. They called for Maggie to come in and she did. Even in the middle of it all I had the presence of mind to try to convince her to stay, that I was working hard but it was okay. She stayed approximately 5 seconds and then turned around and left! Oh well. I pushed for about 5 minutes and then I was holding her in my arms! Tiffany was there the entire time and took so many great photos, and then as soon as Carolina was born Maggie, my mom, and Erin all came into the room so it was just like one big love fest for Carolina.
My best friend Tiffany, who is a wonderful artist and photographer, took some amazing photos that Grant will put together in a slide show so I can't wait to post that.Meanwhile we've had my mom here for the first week and my in-laws for the second week and it's just been a sweet time with our family. Carolina was pretty jaundiced, requiring us to go to the hospital overnight, but she's doing great now. The big kids are having fun with the various grandparents staying here and Maggie thinks she's won the sibling lottery. Finn's having a little harder adjustment but he's really doing pretty well, too. I just don't know how I got so lucky to get to mother all these wonderful children. Thank you God!
Here's a photo of my sweet little guy to finish off the post.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Still Pregnant! (37 weeks)
Here's a photo! I guess I'm brave :) I think my stomach looks a little lopsided here and I'm not sure if it really looks like that or if I'm just turned slightly to the side! I also think I look kind of like a zombie here.
And here is a photo of my two handsome boys:
We've had an eventful last week and a half. We had Maggie's 5th birthday party (scheduled early for convenience - her actual birthday is 10/12 so we'll be celebrating with her at home tomorrow). Then she got a stomach bug, which sent our house into freak-out survival mode trying to prevent any of us (especially Finn) from catching it. The photo above was from when Grant took the day off of work to help me since Maggie was sick. We were trying to keep the kids apart as much as possible and it was really hard because I was on bed rest and Finn just wanted to be wherever Maggie was. So Grant took Finn on lots of outings - Radnor Lake, Costco, etc.
So we were hoping the baby would be born yesterday on 10/10/10 but that didn't happen so now really any day would be fine. Since I made it to full term I'm off bed rest and have been running all over town, vacuuming, and doing lots of walking around.
I also had my best friend, Christin, and her adorable little guy, Jude, who's the same age as Finn, in town for the weekend. We had lots of fun and I had been looking forward to her visit as the light at the end of the tunnel! She's moving from New Jersey to Vermont in November and since she lives so far away we don't get to see each other that much. Needless to say I LOVED having her here.
The last time they were here Finn and Jude were about 9 and 6 months and didn't exactly play together so it was fun to see them interact more.
(Back in December)
Hopefully this little girl will decide it's time to be born soon and I look forward to sharing photos and stories with you!
And here is a photo of my two handsome boys:
We've had an eventful last week and a half. We had Maggie's 5th birthday party (scheduled early for convenience - her actual birthday is 10/12 so we'll be celebrating with her at home tomorrow). Then she got a stomach bug, which sent our house into freak-out survival mode trying to prevent any of us (especially Finn) from catching it. The photo above was from when Grant took the day off of work to help me since Maggie was sick. We were trying to keep the kids apart as much as possible and it was really hard because I was on bed rest and Finn just wanted to be wherever Maggie was. So Grant took Finn on lots of outings - Radnor Lake, Costco, etc.So we were hoping the baby would be born yesterday on 10/10/10 but that didn't happen so now really any day would be fine. Since I made it to full term I'm off bed rest and have been running all over town, vacuuming, and doing lots of walking around.
I also had my best friend, Christin, and her adorable little guy, Jude, who's the same age as Finn, in town for the weekend. We had lots of fun and I had been looking forward to her visit as the light at the end of the tunnel! She's moving from New Jersey to Vermont in November and since she lives so far away we don't get to see each other that much. Needless to say I LOVED having her here.
The last time they were here Finn and Jude were about 9 and 6 months and didn't exactly play together so it was fun to see them interact more.
(Back in December)Hopefully this little girl will decide it's time to be born soon and I look forward to sharing photos and stories with you!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A slightly different kind of count down
At 34 weeks and 5 days I had a sign of early labor and was put on bed rest by my midwife. It's been almost a week and I'm still pregnant! It's been really dull having to lay around the house all day but on a positive note, not being very active and not carrying/holding my 27 pound baby has really relieved my back pain!
We've been so fortunate to have our wonderful church family bringing us meals and lots of people are helping with childcare - although I've been able to just stay home with both kids most of the time. I lay on the floor in Finn's room and play with them, and when they're bored with that we move into Maggie's room, where I lay on her bed and play, and then we move into the living room when we're tired of that! So I'm really getting relaxed in every room.
As of today I'm 35 weeks and 3 days. I just need to make it to 37 weeks which hits officially on October 10, so if you could just pray that she stays put until then, that would be much appreciated! If I go into labor before then then I'll have to go to the hospital and I won't get to have my sweet home birth that I'm looking forward to.
In other baby news, everything is pretty much ready! Her room is really close to finished, I'm almost done with the owl mobile I'm sewing for her, we have all of the baby gear and clothes we need, and now we just need that sweet little girl! Grant said yesterday that it just hit him that she's almost here and we get to see and hold her. This whole pre-term labor/bed rest thing has made us realize how close we are. I personally am DYING to see if she looks just like her siblings, who look just like each other, in my opinion. AND I can't wait to see if we got another red-headed little girl. Fingers crossed!
We've been so fortunate to have our wonderful church family bringing us meals and lots of people are helping with childcare - although I've been able to just stay home with both kids most of the time. I lay on the floor in Finn's room and play with them, and when they're bored with that we move into Maggie's room, where I lay on her bed and play, and then we move into the living room when we're tired of that! So I'm really getting relaxed in every room.
As of today I'm 35 weeks and 3 days. I just need to make it to 37 weeks which hits officially on October 10, so if you could just pray that she stays put until then, that would be much appreciated! If I go into labor before then then I'll have to go to the hospital and I won't get to have my sweet home birth that I'm looking forward to.
In other baby news, everything is pretty much ready! Her room is really close to finished, I'm almost done with the owl mobile I'm sewing for her, we have all of the baby gear and clothes we need, and now we just need that sweet little girl! Grant said yesterday that it just hit him that she's almost here and we get to see and hold her. This whole pre-term labor/bed rest thing has made us realize how close we are. I personally am DYING to see if she looks just like her siblings, who look just like each other, in my opinion. AND I can't wait to see if we got another red-headed little girl. Fingers crossed!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Countdown
The countdown has begun! Today I'm 34 weeks (and 3 days, but who's counting?!). All of my previous babies have been born anywhere from 37-38 weeks so I'm REEEEAAAALLLY hoping that I'll go around that same time again this time.
I had a midwife appointment today (at my house...awesome!) and everything looks good. I don't have any swelling (which is a miracle considering my first two pregnancies, and taking this insane heat into account). My blood pressure is low (100 over 65 - am I alive?). I'm measuring right on track with everything else and baby is head down. Now all I have to do is survive for 3-4 more weeks.
I have everything needed for my home birth now except a roll of paper towels! I have all the baby things I need (except I could use one more pink hooded towel - gotta get to Target!).
And Finn is officially sleeping in a pink room. Poor guy. I have a feeling he hasn't noticed though.
If I can work up the nerve I'll post a picture of myself. Lord, help me.
I had a midwife appointment today (at my house...awesome!) and everything looks good. I don't have any swelling (which is a miracle considering my first two pregnancies, and taking this insane heat into account). My blood pressure is low (100 over 65 - am I alive?). I'm measuring right on track with everything else and baby is head down. Now all I have to do is survive for 3-4 more weeks.
I have everything needed for my home birth now except a roll of paper towels! I have all the baby things I need (except I could use one more pink hooded towel - gotta get to Target!).
And Finn is officially sleeping in a pink room. Poor guy. I have a feeling he hasn't noticed though.
If I can work up the nerve I'll post a picture of myself. Lord, help me.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Another family video
Grant made this video for me back in May, for Mother's Day. It's really silly but funny (the last part where Grant has Maggie in slow motion makes me crack up every time). It makes me miss the days when Maggie had long hair and Finn would just sit still for a few minutes! But not really - I do miss Maggie's long hair but the stage they're at right now is pretty fun.
Anyway, enjoy!
Anyway, enjoy!
Maggie Sings- mothers day 2010 from Howardyoudoing on Vimeo.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Finn's turn
Since the last post was predominantly about Maggie I thought I'd devote a blog post to the sweetest, most handsome little boy I know: Finn.
You know how everyone thinks their own child is the smartest child they know? Well, I'm no exception:) I think Finn is SO smart!
He loves to point out the objects he knows when he sees them in books, for instance, the moon. Whenever he sees a moon in a book he points to it and says, "Moon." He does the same for dogs, babies, apples, cars, buses, and several other things. When he hears a dog barking he stops what he's doing and says, "DOG! Ruff, ruff!"
He's also at that stage where he turns everything into a phone and holds it up to his ear. He says, "Yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah...bye-bye." I know where he learned that behavior from and I'm a little embarrassed but I can think of much worse things he could copy from me. But don't expect me to give any examples.
He's also a little bit of a tease. Today I was getting ready in the bathroom and he came over saying, "Up! Up!" I squatted down to pick him up and I said, "Hold you? Up?" and reached out for him. He ran away, laughing, and saying, "No, no, no, no, no!" He came back and the exact same scenario was repeated at least ten times.
Have I written about his Power Move yet? He must be watching some WWF wrestling when we're not looking. He'll walk over to one of us when we're sitting on the floor, put both of his hands up above his head, and then slam his whole body down on us. It's pretty funny, but he's a stout little guy and there is some power behind his Power Move!
Ohhhh...I just love that little guy. Although I'm worn out daily by the challenges of parenting, I count my blessings EVERY DAY. I'm so lucky to get to parent these amazing children (plus one more!)
Pregnancy Update-
As of today I'm 31 weeks along. Since I've gone 2-3 weeks early every time I'm DESPERATELY hoping that I'll do it again with this baby. If that does happen, then I'm about 5-6 weeks from NOT BEING PREGNANT ANY MORE!!!!!! I am over being pregnant. My sciatica has been horrible, probably due in large part to the fact that I'm still toting around a 25-lb baby much of the time. He's walking really great but still needs to be held/carried a lot (parking lots, uneven terrain, etc.). Two nights ago I couldn't fall asleep until 1am because the sciatica was causing my legs to go numb and I couldn't get comfortable. The baby kicks a lot and is very active, so that's a lot of fun. I love it when I'm rocking and singing to Finn before his nap and the baby kicks him. If only he knew what an ominous warning it was :) Let the countdown begin!
You know how everyone thinks their own child is the smartest child they know? Well, I'm no exception:) I think Finn is SO smart!
He loves to point out the objects he knows when he sees them in books, for instance, the moon. Whenever he sees a moon in a book he points to it and says, "Moon." He does the same for dogs, babies, apples, cars, buses, and several other things. When he hears a dog barking he stops what he's doing and says, "DOG! Ruff, ruff!"
He's also at that stage where he turns everything into a phone and holds it up to his ear. He says, "Yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah...bye-bye." I know where he learned that behavior from and I'm a little embarrassed but I can think of much worse things he could copy from me. But don't expect me to give any examples.
He's also a little bit of a tease. Today I was getting ready in the bathroom and he came over saying, "Up! Up!" I squatted down to pick him up and I said, "Hold you? Up?" and reached out for him. He ran away, laughing, and saying, "No, no, no, no, no!" He came back and the exact same scenario was repeated at least ten times.
Have I written about his Power Move yet? He must be watching some WWF wrestling when we're not looking. He'll walk over to one of us when we're sitting on the floor, put both of his hands up above his head, and then slam his whole body down on us. It's pretty funny, but he's a stout little guy and there is some power behind his Power Move!
Ohhhh...I just love that little guy. Although I'm worn out daily by the challenges of parenting, I count my blessings EVERY DAY. I'm so lucky to get to parent these amazing children (plus one more!)
Pregnancy Update-
As of today I'm 31 weeks along. Since I've gone 2-3 weeks early every time I'm DESPERATELY hoping that I'll do it again with this baby. If that does happen, then I'm about 5-6 weeks from NOT BEING PREGNANT ANY MORE!!!!!! I am over being pregnant. My sciatica has been horrible, probably due in large part to the fact that I'm still toting around a 25-lb baby much of the time. He's walking really great but still needs to be held/carried a lot (parking lots, uneven terrain, etc.). Two nights ago I couldn't fall asleep until 1am because the sciatica was causing my legs to go numb and I couldn't get comfortable. The baby kicks a lot and is very active, so that's a lot of fun. I love it when I'm rocking and singing to Finn before his nap and the baby kicks him. If only he knew what an ominous warning it was :) Let the countdown begin!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Some Funny Maggie Stories
I have a few funny Maggie stories for you:
(Maggie being coy at cousin Lily Kate's first birthday)
Maggie has an art desk filled to the brim with art supplies (all of which are inappropriate for a 17-month-old) and we keep it in our bedroom. Finn has figured out how to get in the room even if the door is closed and he always makes a beeline for her art desk. He loves to pull out every crayon, paint marker, and sticker, and they usually end up in his mouth. The first time it happened Grant and I were in the kitchen and we suddenly heard Maggie scream, "ART ATTACK! ART ATTACK!" She really has a knack for coming up with funny names for things.
Two weeks ago I had a craving for chicken noodle soup and so I made some despite the sweltering temperatures (I basically will make and eat soup year round, no matter how hot it is). I won't lie - it was pretty darn good. Maggie loved it and said, "I bet this soup is in heaven and God eats it every day. A great dinner for a great day."
However, her compliments and phrases have the ability to make people feel both great and terrible. For instance, she tells me, "Mama, I love you with ALL my heart. And I love Daddy with HALF of my heart." But Grant knows she loves him more than that :)
We love to tell both Finn and Maggie how wonderful they are and all of their best qualities. Last week, after telling Finn about how smart and sweet and handsome and strong he is and what a good walker he is (okay, he's 17 months - it's not like we can tell him he's good at art or something), he immediately proceeded to smack Maggie really hard. She said, "Finn! Use your powers for good, not evil!"
Maggie's really gotten good at writing and decided to make a sign for her door because she was tired of Finn coming in and pulling all of her books off the shelves. She painstakingly wrote, "No babies" on the sign and then carefully taped it to the door. Approximately two seconds later Finn pushed the door open and walked right in, heading straight for her bookshelves.
Maggie said, "ARGH! There's just one problem...FINN CAN'T READ!!!!"
Here's one last photo (Thanks, BW for the photos) of a bunch of my family at my niece Lily Kate's (in red/black) birthday party. This was about 2 weeks ago so I'm about 7 months pregnant in this photo.
(Maggie being coy at cousin Lily Kate's first birthday)
Two weeks ago I had a craving for chicken noodle soup and so I made some despite the sweltering temperatures (I basically will make and eat soup year round, no matter how hot it is). I won't lie - it was pretty darn good. Maggie loved it and said, "I bet this soup is in heaven and God eats it every day. A great dinner for a great day."
However, her compliments and phrases have the ability to make people feel both great and terrible. For instance, she tells me, "Mama, I love you with ALL my heart. And I love Daddy with HALF of my heart." But Grant knows she loves him more than that :)
We love to tell both Finn and Maggie how wonderful they are and all of their best qualities. Last week, after telling Finn about how smart and sweet and handsome and strong he is and what a good walker he is (okay, he's 17 months - it's not like we can tell him he's good at art or something), he immediately proceeded to smack Maggie really hard. She said, "Finn! Use your powers for good, not evil!"
Maggie's really gotten good at writing and decided to make a sign for her door because she was tired of Finn coming in and pulling all of her books off the shelves. She painstakingly wrote, "No babies" on the sign and then carefully taped it to the door. Approximately two seconds later Finn pushed the door open and walked right in, heading straight for her bookshelves.
Maggie said, "ARGH! There's just one problem...FINN CAN'T READ!!!!"
Here's one last photo (Thanks, BW for the photos) of a bunch of my family at my niece Lily Kate's (in red/black) birthday party. This was about 2 weeks ago so I'm about 7 months pregnant in this photo.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Finn's birth story - hopefully another birth story will be up here soon!
***Updated with photos!***
I guess I'm sort of getting into a reflective mood about my upcoming birth and I've been thinking about Finn's birth. I never posted it on here because of the hospitalization and then life was just so crazy trying to get used to mothering two children plus all of Finn's extra formula, medicine, etc.
So I'm going to post it now! I'm afraid if I wait any longer I'll forget the details. I know a lot of people are like me - birth junkies. I love to read birth stories, but if you don't, then just skip this post because you will not like it! Before I get into it, though, I have to share something about my past births. I remember reading in one of my birth books about how it's good to have a "labor project" to do in the early part of labor to keep yourself busy. The book suggested a sewing project or baking cookies to give to the nurses at the hospital, or some other hands-on project. My labors had gone so fast that I never really had the slow part of labor at the beginning where contractions are only coming every 15 minutes or so. I had told Susie, my midwife, at one point in my prenatal care about how I was disappointed that I never got to do that. I know it sounds stupid but it just seemed like a sweet idea to me (plus I love baking so I knew my labor project would be baking cookies). All right, now that we're all up to speed, here's the birth story.
I had started dilating around 36 weeks which freaked me out because if I went into labor too early I knew I couldn't deliver at home. Susie put me on semi-bed rest, basically telling me just not to exercise or do too much physical stuff. I didn't have to stay in bed or anything but I just had to take things easy. At my 37 week appointment she checked me and I was 4 cm dilated (in case you didn't know the first stage of labor is dilating from 1cm to 10cm, and then it's time to push). So I was almost halfway there without any contractions. This was good and bad for me because it made me feel like any minute I was going to go into labor, even though I knew with my brain that that wasn't necessarily true. A few more uncomfortable days passed and Susie wanted to check me again. I hadn't been having any contractions yet but I was just feeling like any normal 9-month-pregnant woman - tired, cranky, and huge, plus I had been having lots of cramps. Not contractions, really, but cramps. Susie came to check me again at almost 38 weeks, and I was at 6 cm...but still no contractions!
(Susie, the best midwife ever!)
With me feeling frustrated she promised to come back the next day and see if anything had changed. The next day, March 18, came and I decided I wasn't going to just sit around waiting to go into labor. I took Maggie to our downtown library for their wonderful story time. As I pulled up to the parking garage I saw a sign that said, "Lot Full." Now, it's normally irritating if the lot is full because parking there is validated and right next to the library. But in my mental and physical state I was just not about to drive around looking for a spot and then have to walk a ways to get to the library. I told Maggie, "Sorry, honey, but we just can't go to story time today." Of course she could sense I was stressed which made her more sensitive and she just started bawling. I felt sorry for her and, let's face it, sorry for myself, so I started bawling, too. We both just cried the whole drive home. I decided we would at least go do something fun so we stopped at a playground and played for as long as I could stand it.
A few hours later Susie came by to check me and I was 7 cm! She said since there was a change in my dilation, given my history of very quick labors, that we would try some natural things to get labor started. Grant came home and I called my mom and my sister, Erin, to come over. We tried a few things. I took some blue cohosh (I think that's what it was) and it tasted like dirt but I was willing to try almost anything. We also tried a few other things - using a breast pump, etc., but contractions still weren't getting strong or regular.
(In labor, hanging out with Maggie)
Susie thought it would be good to get up and walk around a bit so we all ate dinner together (it was like a big party). After dinner Susie said, "Courtney, I think it's time for you to bake your cookies!" So Maggie and I put on our matching aprons and had a lot of fun making my mother-in-law's famous chocolate chip cookies. I think I got one batch in the oven before I got a little tired and asked Susie if I could go back to bed to rest more.
We went back to my bedroom and she checked me again...still 7 cm. Our concern was that my labors typically go so fast and Susie lives about an hour away that we were afraid that I might just wake up in the middle of the night with the urge to push (kind of like my mom's labor with me!). We talked about breaking my water and decided to go for it. But by the time she tried to break my water it had kind of retracted. She pulled her arm back and my water just broke on its own. Shortly after that my contractions started coming regularly and with some strength. I think this was around 7 or 7:30pm. Grant got on the bed with me and was rubbing my back and talking me through the contractions. They were getting more and more intense and around 9pm they started feeling like they were double-peaking and that one was coming right after the other, with very little break in between. I started feeling a little like I wanted to push. I remember at one point Grant was talking to Cindy, Susie's assistant, and I thought, "STOP TALKING! WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING ME?!" I think I said something more like, "Grant, I need you." I guess that's about as rude as I get in labor.
I still had a little "lip" of cervix left and Susie said I could try pushing a little and see if I could push past it. This was different for me because with my two previous labors I felt a definite strong urge to push; this time I wasn't sure and felt a little ambivalent. Anyway, after about 45 minutes of pushing (which, by the way, was way harder than my previous labors) Finn was finally born with his little fist up by his head. He came out like Grant, who I believe was also born with his fist by his face, except Grant had a little black eye when he was born! So manly:)
We were so glad to have Finn here and were surprised to find that he weighed 8 lbs, 14 oz, which was 1 lb and 10 oz more than Maggie and about 2 full pounds more than Elle!
(Grant and Cindy, Susie's assistant, weighing Finn)
(I think this was before his bath. Check out Maggie's get-up. She's wearing her pajamas under a new dress Grandma Howard brought her that night.)
(Finn after his first bath)
(Susie, getting a little snuggle)
After plenty of time to cuddle him, Susie and Cindy got Finn all weighed, washed, examined, and back to me for more snuggling. This was about 10 at night and even though it was getting late we had lots of family come by to meet him. I think about midnight everyone was gone, including Susie and Cindy, and we got settled into our house with our sweet little guy.
(Little sweetie)
(The next day, getting some sunlight to help with his jaundice. Can you see his face is bruised? He gave himself a black eye by being born with his hand at his face.)
(Getting sunlight with Grandma, Maggie, Aunt Erin and cousin Jack looking on)
(With Grant's hand)
I guess I'm sort of getting into a reflective mood about my upcoming birth and I've been thinking about Finn's birth. I never posted it on here because of the hospitalization and then life was just so crazy trying to get used to mothering two children plus all of Finn's extra formula, medicine, etc.
So I'm going to post it now! I'm afraid if I wait any longer I'll forget the details. I know a lot of people are like me - birth junkies. I love to read birth stories, but if you don't, then just skip this post because you will not like it! Before I get into it, though, I have to share something about my past births. I remember reading in one of my birth books about how it's good to have a "labor project" to do in the early part of labor to keep yourself busy. The book suggested a sewing project or baking cookies to give to the nurses at the hospital, or some other hands-on project. My labors had gone so fast that I never really had the slow part of labor at the beginning where contractions are only coming every 15 minutes or so. I had told Susie, my midwife, at one point in my prenatal care about how I was disappointed that I never got to do that. I know it sounds stupid but it just seemed like a sweet idea to me (plus I love baking so I knew my labor project would be baking cookies). All right, now that we're all up to speed, here's the birth story.
I had started dilating around 36 weeks which freaked me out because if I went into labor too early I knew I couldn't deliver at home. Susie put me on semi-bed rest, basically telling me just not to exercise or do too much physical stuff. I didn't have to stay in bed or anything but I just had to take things easy. At my 37 week appointment she checked me and I was 4 cm dilated (in case you didn't know the first stage of labor is dilating from 1cm to 10cm, and then it's time to push). So I was almost halfway there without any contractions. This was good and bad for me because it made me feel like any minute I was going to go into labor, even though I knew with my brain that that wasn't necessarily true. A few more uncomfortable days passed and Susie wanted to check me again. I hadn't been having any contractions yet but I was just feeling like any normal 9-month-pregnant woman - tired, cranky, and huge, plus I had been having lots of cramps. Not contractions, really, but cramps. Susie came to check me again at almost 38 weeks, and I was at 6 cm...but still no contractions!
(Susie, the best midwife ever!)
With me feeling frustrated she promised to come back the next day and see if anything had changed. The next day, March 18, came and I decided I wasn't going to just sit around waiting to go into labor. I took Maggie to our downtown library for their wonderful story time. As I pulled up to the parking garage I saw a sign that said, "Lot Full." Now, it's normally irritating if the lot is full because parking there is validated and right next to the library. But in my mental and physical state I was just not about to drive around looking for a spot and then have to walk a ways to get to the library. I told Maggie, "Sorry, honey, but we just can't go to story time today." Of course she could sense I was stressed which made her more sensitive and she just started bawling. I felt sorry for her and, let's face it, sorry for myself, so I started bawling, too. We both just cried the whole drive home. I decided we would at least go do something fun so we stopped at a playground and played for as long as I could stand it.
A few hours later Susie came by to check me and I was 7 cm! She said since there was a change in my dilation, given my history of very quick labors, that we would try some natural things to get labor started. Grant came home and I called my mom and my sister, Erin, to come over. We tried a few things. I took some blue cohosh (I think that's what it was) and it tasted like dirt but I was willing to try almost anything. We also tried a few other things - using a breast pump, etc., but contractions still weren't getting strong or regular.
(In labor, hanging out with Maggie)
Susie thought it would be good to get up and walk around a bit so we all ate dinner together (it was like a big party). After dinner Susie said, "Courtney, I think it's time for you to bake your cookies!" So Maggie and I put on our matching aprons and had a lot of fun making my mother-in-law's famous chocolate chip cookies. I think I got one batch in the oven before I got a little tired and asked Susie if I could go back to bed to rest more.We went back to my bedroom and she checked me again...still 7 cm. Our concern was that my labors typically go so fast and Susie lives about an hour away that we were afraid that I might just wake up in the middle of the night with the urge to push (kind of like my mom's labor with me!). We talked about breaking my water and decided to go for it. But by the time she tried to break my water it had kind of retracted. She pulled her arm back and my water just broke on its own. Shortly after that my contractions started coming regularly and with some strength. I think this was around 7 or 7:30pm. Grant got on the bed with me and was rubbing my back and talking me through the contractions. They were getting more and more intense and around 9pm they started feeling like they were double-peaking and that one was coming right after the other, with very little break in between. I started feeling a little like I wanted to push. I remember at one point Grant was talking to Cindy, Susie's assistant, and I thought, "STOP TALKING! WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING ME?!" I think I said something more like, "Grant, I need you." I guess that's about as rude as I get in labor.
I still had a little "lip" of cervix left and Susie said I could try pushing a little and see if I could push past it. This was different for me because with my two previous labors I felt a definite strong urge to push; this time I wasn't sure and felt a little ambivalent. Anyway, after about 45 minutes of pushing (which, by the way, was way harder than my previous labors) Finn was finally born with his little fist up by his head. He came out like Grant, who I believe was also born with his fist by his face, except Grant had a little black eye when he was born! So manly:)
We were so glad to have Finn here and were surprised to find that he weighed 8 lbs, 14 oz, which was 1 lb and 10 oz more than Maggie and about 2 full pounds more than Elle!
(Grant and Cindy, Susie's assistant, weighing Finn)
(I think this was before his bath. Check out Maggie's get-up. She's wearing her pajamas under a new dress Grandma Howard brought her that night.)
(Finn after his first bath)
(Susie, getting a little snuggle)
After plenty of time to cuddle him, Susie and Cindy got Finn all weighed, washed, examined, and back to me for more snuggling. This was about 10 at night and even though it was getting late we had lots of family come by to meet him. I think about midnight everyone was gone, including Susie and Cindy, and we got settled into our house with our sweet little guy.
(Little sweetie)
(The next day, getting some sunlight to help with his jaundice. Can you see his face is bruised? He gave himself a black eye by being born with his hand at his face.)
(Getting sunlight with Grandma, Maggie, Aunt Erin and cousin Jack looking on)
(With Grant's hand)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Home Birth Supplies
All right, since so many of you have said you're interested in the contents of the home birth kit and my other supplies, I thought I'd go ahead and put it on here. I don't think there's anything too gross, for both of my male readers :) But I won't be offended if you just skip this post.
From In His Hands Birth Supply:
16 Chux Bed Underpads, 23x24 (you know, those big blue absorbent sheets they have at the hospital?)
12 Chux, 23x36 (not sure why the two sizes)
1 Peri Bottle (you moms know what this is!)
1 Povidone, 4 oz (I think this is an antiseptic cleanser)
1 Lube Jelly, 4 oz (yikes!)
12 Gauze Sponge, 4x4, 12-ply (not sure what this is for)
1 Scrub brush, dry (to wash/comb baby's hair)
1 Bulb Syringe (snot sucker for the baby)
2 Plastic Cord Clamps (for the umbilical cord, duh)
6 Alcohol prep pads
1 Quick Heel Lancet (I think to draw blood for the newborn screening test)
1 Herbal Cord Care, golden seal and Oregon grape (at the hospital they use alcohol, this is just a homeopathic option)
2 Infant hat
2 Stretch briefs, unisize (Moms, you know those crazy mesh undies you get at the hospital? Well if they're your thing, you can order as many as you want from this website :)
1 Tape Measure, infant
a bunch of sterile gloves
2 Plastic backed sheet, 40x72 (who knows?)
Vitamin K, .5ml ampule, 8" needle (for the baby's Vitamin K shot at birth)
And the best part...
2 flexible drinking straws! I think this one is funny but even funnier is the fact that they include them for free.
So the whole kit costs about $70, not too bad.
There's not too much weird stuff in there but when I was looking online to see what else they had I found some scary/strange things. Curious?
How about the mess?
I have to admit, this was a big drawback for me for a while. I just thought, "I do not want to have a big mess in my house or be cleaning stuff up right after I have a baby, thank goodness for the hospital!" But I didn't clean up a thing when Finn was born and the mess was really no big deal! The midwives take care of everything. It was about 1 load of laundry, and nothing was ruined. There were also about 2 bags of trash (all the disposable Chux pads, etc.). And this was a little strange - they wrap the placenta up in about a million bags and put it in the freezer. There are some women who do things like plant their placenta or eat it (GAG!!!!) but most women just throw theirs away. Apparently it's technically considered a bio-hazard and therefore can't be thrown away in the trash, but we just kept ours in the freezer until the morning of our trash pick-up and then stuck it out there, wrapped in its million bags. So the mess was really a non-issue.
Didn't you miss being in the hospital and having the nurses help?
No way. When I was in the hospital with Maggie I barely slept because I was so anxious about Maggie. I was afraid someone would try to steal her and every time they had to come get her I was so worried that something would happen to her when she wasn't in my sight. I was also a little nuts about the whole "attachment parenting" thing and thought if I wasn't with her for every single minute that she would grow up to be a psychopath or something. I don't think she left our room for more than 30 minutes at a time, no more than 1 or 2 times. I really had an actual anxiety problem; it wasn't just new-mom jitters. But being at the hospital was so stressful for me.
When Finn was born Susie (my midwife) and Cindy (her assistant) stayed for several hours after he was born, taking care of both of us and making sure we were okay. They got us all in bed and then went home. It was great. Also, Grant's mom stayed with us that first week (it happened to be her school break so it just worked out that way. My mom came the next week.). I was able to rest so much easier in my own bed, with my own, regular house noises and smells, and no anxiety!
What about the possibility of this baby having Isovaleric Acidemia (IVA), like Finn? Won't that be a problem with a home birth?
This actually isn't a big deal at all. Even if Finn had been born in a hospital, we would have been home by the time his symptoms (lethargy, failure to thrive) showed up. We do have a 1 in 4 chance of this baby having IVA (in the general population it's more like 1 in 300,000) but we'll just take the baby to Vanderbilt when she's 6-12 hours old and have them draw some blood to look for the IVA. They'll be able to let us know in a couple of hours and we'll put her on the medical formula and supplements if it turns out she has IVA.
What if something goes wrong? Aren't you worried about not being at the hospital?
This one is kind of interesting. I think some people think since we lost Elle that we should be lined up at the hospital at 9 months pregnant, checking everything and making sure she's fine. But first of all, that's not really my personality, but the bottom line is, it didn't make any difference with Elle. She was born at the hospital and there wasn't anything they could do to save her.
But more generally to home birth, things don't usually happen like they do in the movies, where one minute everything is fine, and the next minute the baby's dying and they have to do a C-section to heroically save mom and baby. Typically there are signs long before a big dramatic moment, like mom's blood pressure keeps going up, or baby's heart rate isn't recovering well, so if Susie sees something that worries her, everyone goes to the hospital. When she has her hospital transfers (which do happen occasionally, and aren't the end of the world), it's well in advance of a true emergency. We're about 10 minutes away from the best hospital in town and we feel really comfortable with that.
There's (more than) everything you ever wanted to know about home birth! If you stuck with it for the whole thing, kudos!
From In His Hands Birth Supply:
16 Chux Bed Underpads, 23x24 (you know, those big blue absorbent sheets they have at the hospital?)
12 Chux, 23x36 (not sure why the two sizes)
1 Peri Bottle (you moms know what this is!)
1 Povidone, 4 oz (I think this is an antiseptic cleanser)
1 Lube Jelly, 4 oz (yikes!)
12 Gauze Sponge, 4x4, 12-ply (not sure what this is for)
1 Scrub brush, dry (to wash/comb baby's hair)
1 Bulb Syringe (snot sucker for the baby)
2 Plastic Cord Clamps (for the umbilical cord, duh)
6 Alcohol prep pads
1 Quick Heel Lancet (I think to draw blood for the newborn screening test)
1 Herbal Cord Care, golden seal and Oregon grape (at the hospital they use alcohol, this is just a homeopathic option)
2 Infant hat
2 Stretch briefs, unisize (Moms, you know those crazy mesh undies you get at the hospital? Well if they're your thing, you can order as many as you want from this website :)
1 Tape Measure, infant
a bunch of sterile gloves
2 Plastic backed sheet, 40x72 (who knows?)
Vitamin K, .5ml ampule, 8" needle (for the baby's Vitamin K shot at birth)
And the best part...
2 flexible drinking straws! I think this one is funny but even funnier is the fact that they include them for free.
So the whole kit costs about $70, not too bad.
There's not too much weird stuff in there but when I was looking online to see what else they had I found some scary/strange things. Curious?
- Organic Ultrasound Gel, in case conventional is just not good enough for you :)
- Enemas (!!!!!)
- Donut Ring (Lord, may I never need one of these!)
- baby t-shirts that say "I'm special, I was born at home!" Okay, I'm about as big of a home birth advocate as you'll find but even I think that's a little obnoxious.
- Bed pan
- Water birth net (to remove debris from the water birth tub - which if you know me well you know that's something I'd never need. Baths do not relax me, I think they're disgusting, and I can't imagine being in a tub or pool during labor.
- SHOULDER-LENGTH GLOVE!!!! When I first saw this one it totally freaked me out. I couldn't imagine why anyone would need a shoulder-length glove but then I figured out that it was to fish stuff out of the pool. Glad it's not for use on a laboring mom!!!
- 2 older pillows, 4 older pillow cases, 2 sets of cotton sheets (fitted and flat), 2 older blankets
- 6 large flannel-backed vinyl tablecloths (2 for bed, 4 for floor)
- 6 bath towels, 4 hand towels, 6 wash cloths, 2 beach towels
- 1 pkg baby wipes and 1 roll white Viva brand paper towels
- 2 large bowls (for the placenta and not sure what else)
- 2 gallon ziplock bags
- 4 plastic grocery bags
- 1 kitchen-size plastic bag-lined trash can with 4 extra bags and 4 large black outdoor trash bags, 1 plastic laundry basket
- crock pot and small table to set it on and extension cord (Cindy, the midwife assistant joked that this is the 21st century version of "boil the water, the baby's comin'"! It's to make warm compresses for the pushing stage of labor.
- Digital thermometer with covers
- Flashlight with fresh batteries (A lot of women like to labor in low light, I guess that's what this is for)
- Duct tape (Hmmm...)
- Camera if desired
- Heating pad and extension cord
- 2 bottles of Recharge Juice by Knudsen, or equivalent (for after labor - like a natural Gatorade)
- Ice
- Chicken soup, eggs, bread, fresh fruit
- Red Raspberry Leaf Tea (I skip this one. Tea? Gross.)
- Medium-size table
- X-Strength Tylenol
- 1 new small bottle of olive oil (for the last stage of labor)
- Sanitary pads
- For Midwives: (This is my favorite part!) caffeinated coffee, 1/2 and 1/2, real sugar, food, a resting place (if needed)
- 2 cotton onesie undershirts
- 2 cotton night gowns or sleepers
- 4 cotton receiving blankets
- 2 pairs booties or socks
- 2 small cotton hats
- 1 baby towel, 1 wash cloth, baby shampoo/soap
- 24 q-tips (not 23, not 25)
- Newborn diapers (at least 1 pkg disposable, even if you're cloth diapering)
How about the mess?
I have to admit, this was a big drawback for me for a while. I just thought, "I do not want to have a big mess in my house or be cleaning stuff up right after I have a baby, thank goodness for the hospital!" But I didn't clean up a thing when Finn was born and the mess was really no big deal! The midwives take care of everything. It was about 1 load of laundry, and nothing was ruined. There were also about 2 bags of trash (all the disposable Chux pads, etc.). And this was a little strange - they wrap the placenta up in about a million bags and put it in the freezer. There are some women who do things like plant their placenta or eat it (GAG!!!!) but most women just throw theirs away. Apparently it's technically considered a bio-hazard and therefore can't be thrown away in the trash, but we just kept ours in the freezer until the morning of our trash pick-up and then stuck it out there, wrapped in its million bags. So the mess was really a non-issue.
Didn't you miss being in the hospital and having the nurses help?
No way. When I was in the hospital with Maggie I barely slept because I was so anxious about Maggie. I was afraid someone would try to steal her and every time they had to come get her I was so worried that something would happen to her when she wasn't in my sight. I was also a little nuts about the whole "attachment parenting" thing and thought if I wasn't with her for every single minute that she would grow up to be a psychopath or something. I don't think she left our room for more than 30 minutes at a time, no more than 1 or 2 times. I really had an actual anxiety problem; it wasn't just new-mom jitters. But being at the hospital was so stressful for me.
When Finn was born Susie (my midwife) and Cindy (her assistant) stayed for several hours after he was born, taking care of both of us and making sure we were okay. They got us all in bed and then went home. It was great. Also, Grant's mom stayed with us that first week (it happened to be her school break so it just worked out that way. My mom came the next week.). I was able to rest so much easier in my own bed, with my own, regular house noises and smells, and no anxiety!
What about the possibility of this baby having Isovaleric Acidemia (IVA), like Finn? Won't that be a problem with a home birth?
This actually isn't a big deal at all. Even if Finn had been born in a hospital, we would have been home by the time his symptoms (lethargy, failure to thrive) showed up. We do have a 1 in 4 chance of this baby having IVA (in the general population it's more like 1 in 300,000) but we'll just take the baby to Vanderbilt when she's 6-12 hours old and have them draw some blood to look for the IVA. They'll be able to let us know in a couple of hours and we'll put her on the medical formula and supplements if it turns out she has IVA.
What if something goes wrong? Aren't you worried about not being at the hospital?
This one is kind of interesting. I think some people think since we lost Elle that we should be lined up at the hospital at 9 months pregnant, checking everything and making sure she's fine. But first of all, that's not really my personality, but the bottom line is, it didn't make any difference with Elle. She was born at the hospital and there wasn't anything they could do to save her.
But more generally to home birth, things don't usually happen like they do in the movies, where one minute everything is fine, and the next minute the baby's dying and they have to do a C-section to heroically save mom and baby. Typically there are signs long before a big dramatic moment, like mom's blood pressure keeps going up, or baby's heart rate isn't recovering well, so if Susie sees something that worries her, everyone goes to the hospital. When she has her hospital transfers (which do happen occasionally, and aren't the end of the world), it's well in advance of a true emergency. We're about 10 minutes away from the best hospital in town and we feel really comfortable with that.
There's (more than) everything you ever wanted to know about home birth! If you stuck with it for the whole thing, kudos!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Still alive...
What can I say? It's summer and we're busy! I promise I'll post more...soon?!
Quick update - Finn took 6 steps by himself to his Poppy and then 10 steps (again to Poppy) on Friday and has taken about 3 more in a row since then. Obviously he is physically able to walk but just isn't that into it. Grrr.... He still makes us laugh all day long. He loves to tease - he'll put out his hand like he wants to give you five and then he'll pull it away at the last minute. He also loves to purse his lips in a ridiculous pucker and then makes an awesome smooching sound.
Maggie- Sheesh. If she weren't so adorable, amazing, and smart we would have sold her to gypsies by now. I don't know why but the last two weeks have been really hard - maybe it's the heat or maybe it's just getting back to life after so much disruption (travel, etc.). She's been very defiant and acting like a ...gasp...teenager. On the good side, she always says things that either astound us or make us swoon with her adorableness. Tonight she and I went to a birthday party for my sister-in-law and she left one of her dolls (Peter) in the car. When we got back to the car it was dark, and she sighed and said, "Well, at least Peter got to see the beautiful sunset."
Grant just finished a music video for Andrew Peterson and it's so amazing. I don't want to build it up too much so why don't you just watch it for yourself?
This upcoming weekend he's working on the 48-Hour Film Festival where he will be randomly assigned a genre and then will make a short film in, you guessed it, 48 hours! So basically it will be at least 48 hours before we see him, but it's such a fun challenge for him.
The baby and I are doing great! She's moving a lot and growing. I'm about 6 months along now and entering the home stretch. It's a little overwhelming to think of all we have to do. Just for fun I'll make a bulleted list.
All right, now that I've bored you to death with my lists...gooodbye! I promise not to drop off the face of the earth.
Quick update - Finn took 6 steps by himself to his Poppy and then 10 steps (again to Poppy) on Friday and has taken about 3 more in a row since then. Obviously he is physically able to walk but just isn't that into it. Grrr.... He still makes us laugh all day long. He loves to tease - he'll put out his hand like he wants to give you five and then he'll pull it away at the last minute. He also loves to purse his lips in a ridiculous pucker and then makes an awesome smooching sound.
Maggie- Sheesh. If she weren't so adorable, amazing, and smart we would have sold her to gypsies by now. I don't know why but the last two weeks have been really hard - maybe it's the heat or maybe it's just getting back to life after so much disruption (travel, etc.). She's been very defiant and acting like a ...gasp...teenager. On the good side, she always says things that either astound us or make us swoon with her adorableness. Tonight she and I went to a birthday party for my sister-in-law and she left one of her dolls (Peter) in the car. When we got back to the car it was dark, and she sighed and said, "Well, at least Peter got to see the beautiful sunset."
Grant just finished a music video for Andrew Peterson and it's so amazing. I don't want to build it up too much so why don't you just watch it for yourself?
Dancing in the Mine Fields from Grant Howard on Vimeo.
This upcoming weekend he's working on the 48-Hour Film Festival where he will be randomly assigned a genre and then will make a short film in, you guessed it, 48 hours! So basically it will be at least 48 hours before we see him, but it's such a fun challenge for him.
The baby and I are doing great! She's moving a lot and growing. I'm about 6 months along now and entering the home stretch. It's a little overwhelming to think of all we have to do. Just for fun I'll make a bulleted list.
- Buy a minivan.
- Choose bedding
- Paint the nursery
- Buy another infant carseat as Maggie and Finn's was "expired". Did you know they could expire? It's true - after five years!
- Choose a name! We're having a bit of a hard time but I think we may have settled on something.
- Start cooking meals to freeze.
- Buy my home birth kit and additional supplies. I should put the contents of the home birth kit on here just for laughs. There's some funny/weird stuff in there.
- Buy some clothes and things for the baby. We gave all of Maggie's little baby stuff away and a lot of it was thrown away because of stains. So I need to get mostly the teeny baby things like gowns, pajamas, and some pink waffle blankets we like to swaddle with and some pink baby towels. Obviously the towels aren't a necessity but I don't want to use Finn's blue ones on her. Yes, I know that's stupid.
All right, now that I've bored you to death with my lists...gooodbye! I promise not to drop off the face of the earth.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
The Vile Stomach Virus
I know I promised Greece and TX photos but we've been a bit busy around here. We returned from TX on Sunday night, spent most of Monday and Tuesday recovering from travel and trying to get back to normal, and then Tuesday night...the vile stomach virus hit Finn.
He was sick all day Wednesday but was able to keep some Pedialyte down. I checked his pediatrician's nurse triage and they said he didn't need to come in but we should come if he vomits bile. Well, the next morning, sure enough, he was vomiting bile (sorry if this is too graphic for you). His pediatrician sent us to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital ER and shortly after being there they admitted us. His geneticist wasn't on call so we had to take the doctor who was. I'll call her Dr. MacMeany. About two hours after we got there and shortly after meeting her, Dr. MacMeany told me, "I hate metabolic patients. They can go to fine to dead in four hours." Seriously? What kind of thing is that to say to the parent of a metabolic patient?
Also, because he was so dehydrated they had trouble getting an IV in him, so the poor guy was turned into a pincushion and was poked and pricked dozens of times. At this point Finn was drinking Pedialyte from a cup and keeping it down (they had given him an anti-nausea medication at this point). We decided that Grant would stay the night at the hospital, Maggie was staying with my mom and step-dad, and I went home by myself. Sometime in the middle of the night, despite the fact that Finn was improving steadily and had been drinking from a cup hours earlier, Dr. MacMeany decided that she wanted him to have a feeding tube to get a continuous amount of his medical formula. So our little sweetie had to withstand having the feeding tube put down his little nose and then was so traumatized and irritated by it that he hardly slept the rest of the night. Ugh.
We begged and pleaded with Dr. MacMeany the next day to get the darn thing out and after about 24 hours it came out. We think that a lot of her actions were basically covering her butt and she felt a little out of her comfort zone taking care of Finn (she specializes in birth defects rather than metabolic disorders like Finn has). It was just beyond unfortunate and this hospitalization was really hard on Finn - trapped in his room in case it was a contagious GI virus, a million blood draws and IV attempts, the feeding tube, the successful IV, and the inability to rest due to being bothered by drs and nurses around the clock. He got to the point where he would cry if a nurse or doctor even came in the room. Needless to say it was hard on us, too. Dr. MacMeany reiterated her fear of metabolic patients again a few days later and told me AGAIN, "One minute metabolic patients are fine and the next minute they're dead." I told her, "You should NOT say that to parents of a metabolic patient." Her response? She said, "Oh, well, I don't mind taking care of Finn, but..." Rest assured that we'll be bringing this up with our regular genetics team at our next appointment.
We ended up staying for four days and were released around 7:30 on July 4th (or as I called it, "Independence from the Hospital Day").
Although we hated being at the hospital we're very grateful that Finn got the help he needed, and while we were there I gained a lot of gratitude for my children's health and empathy for families of children with frequent hospitalizations or dealing with something like cancer. Wow. Vandy is such a great place but it's just so sad to think about being there for weeks or months at a time.
All right, go hug your children and thank God for their health!
He was sick all day Wednesday but was able to keep some Pedialyte down. I checked his pediatrician's nurse triage and they said he didn't need to come in but we should come if he vomits bile. Well, the next morning, sure enough, he was vomiting bile (sorry if this is too graphic for you). His pediatrician sent us to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital ER and shortly after being there they admitted us. His geneticist wasn't on call so we had to take the doctor who was. I'll call her Dr. MacMeany. About two hours after we got there and shortly after meeting her, Dr. MacMeany told me, "I hate metabolic patients. They can go to fine to dead in four hours." Seriously? What kind of thing is that to say to the parent of a metabolic patient?
Also, because he was so dehydrated they had trouble getting an IV in him, so the poor guy was turned into a pincushion and was poked and pricked dozens of times. At this point Finn was drinking Pedialyte from a cup and keeping it down (they had given him an anti-nausea medication at this point). We decided that Grant would stay the night at the hospital, Maggie was staying with my mom and step-dad, and I went home by myself. Sometime in the middle of the night, despite the fact that Finn was improving steadily and had been drinking from a cup hours earlier, Dr. MacMeany decided that she wanted him to have a feeding tube to get a continuous amount of his medical formula. So our little sweetie had to withstand having the feeding tube put down his little nose and then was so traumatized and irritated by it that he hardly slept the rest of the night. Ugh.
We begged and pleaded with Dr. MacMeany the next day to get the darn thing out and after about 24 hours it came out. We think that a lot of her actions were basically covering her butt and she felt a little out of her comfort zone taking care of Finn (she specializes in birth defects rather than metabolic disorders like Finn has). It was just beyond unfortunate and this hospitalization was really hard on Finn - trapped in his room in case it was a contagious GI virus, a million blood draws and IV attempts, the feeding tube, the successful IV, and the inability to rest due to being bothered by drs and nurses around the clock. He got to the point where he would cry if a nurse or doctor even came in the room. Needless to say it was hard on us, too. Dr. MacMeany reiterated her fear of metabolic patients again a few days later and told me AGAIN, "One minute metabolic patients are fine and the next minute they're dead." I told her, "You should NOT say that to parents of a metabolic patient." Her response? She said, "Oh, well, I don't mind taking care of Finn, but..." Rest assured that we'll be bringing this up with our regular genetics team at our next appointment.
We ended up staying for four days and were released around 7:30 on July 4th (or as I called it, "Independence from the Hospital Day").
Although we hated being at the hospital we're very grateful that Finn got the help he needed, and while we were there I gained a lot of gratitude for my children's health and empathy for families of children with frequent hospitalizations or dealing with something like cancer. Wow. Vandy is such a great place but it's just so sad to think about being there for weeks or months at a time.
All right, go hug your children and thank God for their health!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
I've Been Gone!
Sorry everyone! We've been gone for over two weeks and I'm just now even plugging the laptop back in.
Grant and I took a trip to the Greek island of Santorini with some of my family while the kids were in TX with Grant's parents. Then we headed back to TX and stayed there for almost another week before heading home.
I'll definitely post some photos soon but they're all still on Grant's camera. I just wanted to make sure you knew we were still alive!
In family news...please pray that Finn walks soon! He is 15.5 months and is very close but isn't walking just yet. It's causing me to have some sciatica pain because of my pregnancy. I need to not be carrying that 25-lb baby everywhere (although I love it and he gives the best snuggles and hugs!).
All right, see you soon with Greece and TX photos!
Grant and I took a trip to the Greek island of Santorini with some of my family while the kids were in TX with Grant's parents. Then we headed back to TX and stayed there for almost another week before heading home.
I'll definitely post some photos soon but they're all still on Grant's camera. I just wanted to make sure you knew we were still alive!
In family news...please pray that Finn walks soon! He is 15.5 months and is very close but isn't walking just yet. It's causing me to have some sciatica pain because of my pregnancy. I need to not be carrying that 25-lb baby everywhere (although I love it and he gives the best snuggles and hugs!).
All right, see you soon with Greece and TX photos!
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Family News
We have lots of new to report around here. First of all, Finn is finally doing baby sign language. We enjoyed doing this with Maggie and I think it eased temper tantrums because she could communicate with us before she was verbal. Of course, she was so verbal so early that it didn't last for long but it did help. With Finn we haven't been as consistent in teaching him so it's no surprise that it took him longer to pick up on it. Here's a photo of him signing "more" for purple hull peas, a Southern delicacy that we eat lots of around here.
In Maggie news, she has started playing the violin. Well, not really playing, it's more like holding the violin.
Grant's parents brought his from when he was a child and she loves getting to hold it and pretend to play, and Grant will play a little bit and let her slide the bow across the strings. When she's older we'd love for her to learn to play. Actually, I'd love for her to learn the guitar, banjo, violin, and mandolin. Basically, I'll live out my musical dreams vicariously through her. Maybe we could even have a little family band. Maggie on violin, Finn on guitar, and I guess we'll have to have another baby to play the banjo. Which leads me to our next news...
We're having another baby. Yes, another. And...it's a girl! She's due to arrive sometime near the middle to end of October (actually her due date is October 31 but I don't put much stock in due dates, especially since all of mine were about two weeks "early"). We're planning another home birth with our same wonderful midwife. This wasn't planned by us but we know God knew about this baby long ago. Although it took us a few weeks to get over the surprise of it, we are crazy excited about having her in our family. We had our ultrasound this past Tuesday and I had a feeling it was a girl, but Maggie was so sure that it was a girl that she told me all day, "Mama, you don't even need to go to the ultrasound. It's a GIRL!" Sometimes it's scary how she's right about things. She's beside herself with excitement about having a little sister. Poor Finn has no idea. Our house is pretty small so we're going to move Finn in with Maggie and the baby will have a room to herself. And we're going to have to bite the bullet and get the dreaded minivan (which I'm told I'll love once we get it).
So stay tuned for more baby updates!
In Maggie news, she has started playing the violin. Well, not really playing, it's more like holding the violin. Grant's parents brought his from when he was a child and she loves getting to hold it and pretend to play, and Grant will play a little bit and let her slide the bow across the strings. When she's older we'd love for her to learn to play. Actually, I'd love for her to learn the guitar, banjo, violin, and mandolin. Basically, I'll live out my musical dreams vicariously through her. Maybe we could even have a little family band. Maggie on violin, Finn on guitar, and I guess we'll have to have another baby to play the banjo. Which leads me to our next news...We're having another baby. Yes, another. And...it's a girl! She's due to arrive sometime near the middle to end of October (actually her due date is October 31 but I don't put much stock in due dates, especially since all of mine were about two weeks "early"). We're planning another home birth with our same wonderful midwife. This wasn't planned by us but we know God knew about this baby long ago. Although it took us a few weeks to get over the surprise of it, we are crazy excited about having her in our family. We had our ultrasound this past Tuesday and I had a feeling it was a girl, but Maggie was so sure that it was a girl that she told me all day, "Mama, you don't even need to go to the ultrasound. It's a GIRL!" Sometimes it's scary how she's right about things. She's beside herself with excitement about having a little sister. Poor Finn has no idea. Our house is pretty small so we're going to move Finn in with Maggie and the baby will have a room to herself. And we're going to have to bite the bullet and get the dreaded minivan (which I'm told I'll love once we get it).
So stay tuned for more baby updates!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Finn update
Now that Finn is 14 months I thought it was time for an update. He has changed so much even in the last two months. He's not walking yet but he's SO close. He'll stand up and just hang out for a minute without holding on to anything. It's hilarious because he'll clap for himself and checks to make sure you're watching him. He's so proud of himself. He can sometimes drink from his sippy cup all by himself (something I am really looking forward to).He LOVES his books. Every time we get him up from his nap the first thing he does is reach for his book shelves. His favorite book is Goodnight, Moon and he loves to have it read to him and loves to hold it himself. He's been doing this for a while now but he loves to turn the pages and if he forgets and I ask him, then he'll do it.
He hates having his diaper changed. He rolls around and when I have to hold him down to finish it, he cries like I'm holding him down with barbed wire.
He also has had a big dietary change since his last genetics appointment. I wrote earlier that his protein intake jumped from 7-9g/daily to 17 g/daily and as of two weeks ago he's up to 22 g/daily. It's actually really, really challenging to get in this much protein every day without giving him high-protein foods like meat, soy, cheese, etc. He ate a whole cup of Greek yogurt the other day (11g of protein) which was awesome but now he won't have anything to do with yogurt. He loves fruit but has started getting pickier about vegetables. He does love purple hull peas, so I can tell he's a true Southerner (anyone NOT from the South even know what these are?).
He says "dada", I'm pretty sure he's saying "mama", he still says "nana" for banana, and "daca" for cracker, and he's starting to say "ow" for "out". He "talks" all day long and I can tell he has a lot to say.
Here are some photos from the zoo two weeks ago. We're members because a)it's great and b) we live so close. Every 2nd and 4th Mondays throughout the summer they have "member mornings" where members get in an hour before the zoo and can enjoy free carousel rides, an uncrowded playground (this is a really big deal) and can sometimes watch the animals being led into their habitats. It's really fun. Anyway, these photos were from our 3rd or 4th carousel ride two Wednesdays ago. Finn LOVED it and Maggie liked it but preferred the animals that don't move up and down. She was really interested in the mechanics of the carousel though.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Hipstamatic
Here are some recent photos:
Finn happy in his high chair (he must have just eaten - if he was waiting for his food you KNOW what his face would look like!)
Here's one I took of me and Maggie:
Maggie and her "BFF," Riley:
Finn happy in his high chair (he must have just eaten - if he was waiting for his food you KNOW what his face would look like!)
Here's one I took of me and Maggie:Maggie and her "BFF," Riley:
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