Happy 3 to Elise!!

Birthday morning!

Cute little 2 1/2-year-old Elise. We all just loved her--although she would be quick to correct you if you called her that. "No, I'm big!"

Yes, Sweetie, you are big.

Bigger than her years. Elise will confidently strike up meaningful conversations with anyone--not letting her small stature deter her from speaking as an equal, and asking real questions. She understands patience and sharing better than most kindergarteners. Her sense of humor keeps us laughing with her, not at her. Elise keeps up with the big neighbor girls and Kalina's friends, completely clueless that she's kind of too young to really be able to do that very well.

"Happy birthday to me!"

No, in fact, Elise seems to have no idea that for many people, 2 1/2 means tantrums, whining, making giant messes and breaking stuff. Not that she's not capable--she simply has many better things to do. Most of the time, anyway.

And now she's three! For us, that's meant three years of pure sunshine in our house. Elise is about as pleasant a little person as one can be--sweet, sincere, easygoing and pretty much hilarious.

The ever-helpful big sister. 

And what else? Elise's jumping skills are unmatched, as is her arm strength, as is her smile. She can count to 18, as long as she skips anything after 12. She takes singing and dancing very seriously, often solemnly making up words to songs about upstairs and downstairs, puppies, and more, as well as performing "ballet." She "reads," "writes" and draws pictures using much more imagination than realism, but the realism is certainly on its way. Elise loves to participate in any project or activity--but she also knows when to ask for help, including from God Himself. She knows how to follow rules, but also thinks it's pretty entertaining to break them--even if Mommy doesn't. She loves people, and is comfortable with kids and grownups of any age, except, possibly, pre-verbal toddlers, who she likes to chase relentlessly (we're working on that). But she's equally happy playing on her own--or, more likely, with her animals or her favorite little doll, Ellie. And she'll listen to stories for more time than I usually have to sit down and read them.

Were you wondering what was in the
dog-shaped package in the first picture?
It's Hoppy Bunny!

Elise loves a little bit of adventure, but not too much. Some of her best adventures happen in her mind with Pink Bear--they duo is often known to catch a family of snakes, deer, bears, etc. on their way home from work and put them in cages. Or drive to a hotel for a vacation. Or fly to the moon.

In fact, as you'll find if you ever have a conversation with her, Elise and Pink Bear have lifetimes worth of experiences and adventures spanning every possible topic. She'll confidently tell you stories to match and surpass anything you've ever done. So if you rode in a hot air balloon, she probably did too. And ate ice cream while on board, and talked to a bird, and then it turned into a boat and they went under water and saw a shark. And Pink Bear was scared, so they hid, and then threw purple rocks at the shark. And so on.

Kalina took this picture of me
and my birthday girl!

She's happiest when pretending to be a baby animal--usually a kitten, bear or penguin, and can spend entire days "in character," happily indulged by her big sister.

And, in fact, Elise is very often happy! She always has been, and I hope she always will be.

Elise at three often lives in two worlds--the "big kid" world and the "little kid" one, which often involves stretching back into babyhood on soft pink blankie, holding soft pink bear and recharging. Aw!

As you can see, we've so much to celebrate in little Elise!

A tea party with the new tea set!

And it was quite the celebration. Marked by Grandma and Grandpa's arrival in town the night before, the morning launched us into a flurry of activity as we opened a present (a "Hoppy Bunny" Elise can bounce on), welcomed Grandma and Grandpa, and got Kalina out the door for preschool. And for a few hours, Elise had Grandma and Grandpa all to herself. The weather not being particularly friendly, Elise decided she wanted to take them to the mall play area, where she showed off all manner of tricks, particularly her amazing jumping skills.

A low-key afternoon of playtime and purple-frosted graham crackers led into evening, when Daddy's return home from work kicked off the big celebration. And what are the top two things on any 3-year-old's mind when it's her birthday? Presents! Cake! She dug into both with little restraint and few manners, which I probably hadn't done a good enough job preparing her for. There's always next year--or Christmas--right?

We all enjoyed sitting back and watching her, except good-natured, ever-helpful big sister Kalina, who easily forgets that Elise really is big enough to help herself to her gifts. Not that I can blame Kalina--after all, the gifts were every big as exciting to a 5-year-old as to a 3-year-old. Elise weathered the "help" in stride, as did Kalina weather the gentle admonitions of, "It's Elise's birthday, Sweetie!"

And fortunately, when you share a house with your favorite playmate, you know that you'll get to share in the spoils when it's all over. My favorite comment of the evening: "Kalina, we got some Little People!" Because isn't everything more fun with a sister?

The fun could've lasted all night, but we weren't about to let it, knowing we had several big grandparent-filled days ahead--and a rainbow kitten pony party with a couple little friends!

Elise and friends at her party

Nothing says 3 like rainbows, kittens and ponies--not, at least, according to Elise. We'd planned her party for Saturday morning and invited two sets of sister, all roughly near Elise's age (actually, one is almost Kalina's age but gets along great with Elise). The night before, the younger of each set had to bow out due to illness. With enough distraction, however, Elise was still excited.

Now, why would I be crazy enough to let my 3-year-old have a themed birthday party with friends despite the fact that there's a newborn in the house? I'm not sure of any reason other than that I probably am a little crazy. Besides, it's not really any harder to plan a tri-themed party than a single theme, and lots of the supplies and activities (and even the playlist) could be reused from Kalina's.

Not sure I've ever seen him prouder.

In fact, Elise has been planning her party ever since Kalina started planning hers, a fact that not only pretty much forced me to give her a party (because how could you tell a 3-year-old who thinks she's 5 that she can't have a birthday party even though her sister did three months ago?), but ensured the rainbow paper chains and extra party hats didn't get tossed. I began stocking up on pony napkins, kitten plates, and more, making sure each theme was well represented. Easy-peasy.

We'd filled treat bags and made lemon cupcakes, and pretty soon we were welcoming guests. Our first activity was to fill pony necklaces with layers of rainbow-colored sand. Rainbows and ponies. Check and check.

Pinning the tail on Rainbow Dash,
and winning!

Then we moved on to Pin the Tail On Rainbow Dash (a favorite My Little Pony pony). Daddy provided the stunning artwork for this activity, a feat he was as proud of as his thesis. And rightly so! The only mistake, according to Elise, is that Rainbow Dash wasn't purple like she'd wanted. Because Rainbow Dash isn't, in fact, purple. And then we did the Rainbow Walk--back by popular request.

After some pizza, we pulled out the cupcakes. The kids' cupcakes were topped with My Little Ponies, courtesy of ebay. And the uproar began. Each child singled out a pony they wanted, and while there were no arguments, the sugar-filled treats' desirability rose exponentially.

We could barely convince the girl that we needed to put candles on her cupcake, light them, sing to her, and have her blow them out before she could begin the process of choosing her cupcake, plucking off the pony and licking the frosting off. (Appropriately, this is how each girl claimed her pony. She licked it.) How do you convince the birthday girl to wait through all the once-fun-now-tedious traditions before claiming her prize? Certainly not with a timeout. We barely managed. And the house didn't burn down, either. Elise sang Happy Birthday the loudest of everyone there before digging in.

Order of operations: 1. blow
out candles. 2. take
cupcake.

After a few presents and some final playtime, it was time to say goodbye. Another great year, and another great party!

Special thanks to Grandma for holding the baby in a dark, quiet room the ENTIRE time so that Mommy could join in Elise's ENTIRE special party--and Naomi would survive it germ-free! We saved her a pony.

Special thanks, also, to Kalina, who patiently watched as Elise received all the attention, most of the gifts and the first turn for everything, and who mostly politely allowed other people to choose various goodies she'd earmarked, and who through it all, once I believe choking back disappointed tears, managed to smile graciously and help her little sister enjoy a lovely third birthday.

Does Elise feel 3 yet? She does not. "I still feel like I'm 2 1/2." Elise mentions every so often that she's still growing into 3.

I suppose when 2 1/2 is so much fun, there's no hurry to be 3! I'm not in a hurry, either.

Happy birthday Elise, love you!

World's Cutest Baby version 3.0
1 month old!

Pediatrician visit!

Naomi had her 1-month appointment! (1 month of sweet newbornhood--gone. 1 month of new baby smell--gone. 1 month of sleep deprivation--gone. You win some, you lose some.)

I've learned that Naomi does not like the car after all. Not even a little bit, as Elise would say. Naomi is happiest (read: the only time when she is not crying) when she is swaddled and held while the holder is actively walking around and possibly bouncing; or eating, or asleep. She also doesn't mind the five minutes after a diaper change. Unfortunately, these conditions describe a car ride not at all, unless she happens to be asleep, which she finds mighty tricky unless she's swaddled.

As we'd been to preschool twice and Target once already before the appointment, Naomi had had a stressful morning (as had I).

She didn't mind the scale, and she didn't mind the exam table too much. The rest of the trip, except for the brief amount of time I was able to get her to sleep in the waiting room, she minded very much.

Especially the shot, as everyone in the entire office and waiting room soon found out. A sympathetic stranger helped carry the carseat while I tried to console my littlest and wrangle my middle away from rolling around on the germy floor or hurting my oldest. Success eluded me. This was not a shining moment, but it was a very long one.

All the misery aside, Naomi now weighs an even eight pounds and is 21 inches long. Growing like a champ, but still in newborn clothes (cute!). Her mean diaper rash has finally found a solution. The doctor wondered if she'd smiled, yet, and I think she has--a couple days ago I noticed a grin that I couldn't quite attribute to just gas. Or maybe it was just because I really, really needed it to not just be gas.

After her shot, Naomi took a giant nap or two, and was finally back to her usual self by evening, when I held her for five hours straight (minus diaper changes) to keep her happy. And when Naomi's happy, we're all happy!

Elise's first preschool! And so much more...

Elise the preschooler!

About a month ago, we bought Elise a backpack. It's just her size and looks like a puppy. She (reluctantly) takes it off to bathe and sleep, and also to pack and repack several times a day. And last Tuesday, for the first time, she wore it to preschool!

Elise's teacher had requested that a parent accompany each student on the first day, and it almost killed me not to be the one to attend. Considering, though, that the germs in a 3-year-old classroom could do quite a number on the newborn, it wouldn't have been responsible. So Daddy got to go to preschool instead!

Here's the official report:

No, I did not bribe them.

Elise's version: "We had cookies for snack! With sprinkles!" It took a lot of prying to get anything more out of her since all other activities paled in comparison, but I did learn that she made a friend (Margot), and they did circle time, went outside and read stories about cookies. They did not do a craft.

Matt's version: "I have no idea how the teacher will be able to wrangle all those kids by herself."

Elise, for her part, was a step ahead in that she already knew how to stand in line without wandering away. This is a learned skill; it comes instinctively to very few toddlers, apparently. Matt couldn't blame her when she saw the other kids dashing off and considered, for a moment, joining them. I am already imagining the other bad habits she will have the opportunity to pick up.

Three sisters! Two smiles.

Elise has been yearning for the preschool playground ever since we first dropped Kalina off a year ago. As an official student herself, she finally got to play! She loved the tire swing, and had no interest in the sandbox for whatever reason.

Later in the week, I learned that the kids actually did do a craft--they'd glued paper chocolate chips onto a paper cookie. It fell out of her backpack, and that's the only reason I know.

Happy and awake at the same time?!?
Another one of those little-celebrated
milestones.

The girl can't wait to go back, and nearly cried when she learned she couldn't until the next Tuesday. ("Mommy preschool," which included baking cookies with m&ms and chocolate chips, however, proved to be an excellent diversion--and Naomi miraculously managed to sleep through the entire project). I'm not sure she knew, though, that Daddy won't be coming with her every time, and this revelation rendered her, in her words, "scared."

Elise's initial preschool success wasn't completely out of the blue. After all, she had a big sister to reassure her ("We can wave to each other if we see each other, and I'll play with you on the playground, Elise!"), and we'd played "circle time" at home, complete with backpacks and cubbies. (Playing preschool will be convenient, as I can already tell, since they let me be the teacher and they do whatever their
"teacher" tells them. "Now, class, it's cleanup time!" and, "Now it's teacher naptime!" I'm imagining the possibilities.) We've been taking turns and waiting patiently since birth. And really, what more do you need to know when you're not even three years old?
_______________________________

First day of pre-K for Kalina:

No tears. No tears!!! NO TEARS!!! Need I say more?

(Yes, I do need to say more: Kalina has a lovely teacher, and has had lovely projects already--like finding a nature item and writing clues about it, and getting every family member to trace their hand on a piece of posterboard. She's starting Spanish after school, and will continue piano lessons after school, too. Fortunately, school only lasts 2 1/2 hours three times a week, so we're not overdoing it.)

_______________________________

Tummy time on a blanket made by
a friend.

Second day of preschool/pre-K:

I knew I'd have my work cut out for me today. Not only would it be my first day completely solo, but I'd have to get Kalina to preschool, pick her up, rush the girls home for a quick lunch, rush out to the pediatrician's office, and return home in time for a late "downtime." All while dodging germs with a newborn. And letting the 2-year-old "help" carry the carseat through crowded hallways.

Yup, it was too much. We were early for Kalina's drop-off (yes, you read that right--early!), although we had forgotten her backpack and the favorite book she was supposed to bring. The book that she had remembered to pack all by herself. We were right on time to pick her up--with one exception. Spanish had already started! I wasn't the only parent who didn't realize they'd be starting Spanish on the second day of school when we'd only signed her up the day before. It threw me for a loop, I won't deny. Nevertheless, I was glad they were already digging in, and I reasoned we could still make it home in time for me to fix a proper "car lunch" of cheese, cracker and apple. Kalina was happy to see us, and we accompanied her to the Spanish classroom.

Naomi's first bath! The big sisters
helped make sure she had a few toys.

Naomi was hungry! No matter, Kalina's sweet piano teacher (who works at her preschool) whisked us into her classroom and let us hang out there. Elise spotted the large blue rug the kids sit on for music class, and immediately became a baby duckling. She swam and splashed quite happily while I threw her food (mostly Goldfish crackers and cake), and didn't want to leave when it was time to go get the diapering supplies from the car.

Clean diaper in place and dirty cloth one stashed safely away, we waited for Kalina's class to end. And waited. And waited. Don't get me wrong--I'm glad she's getting plenty of Spanish education. But by the time we'd returned to our van, we had exactly enough time for me to dash into the house, grab some crackers to toss at the big girls and refill my water bottle, and dash back.

Thank goodness Naomi loves to nap in the car, is all I can say.

By the time we returned home from the pediatrician, we were all ready for a good long nap. No one, of course, took one (except the baby, who was by now so stressed out from all her adventures that she spent the next day and a half sleeping, nights excluded.).
___________________________________

Does it look like Naomi's
smiling while Elise pets
her soft head?

Pediatrician visit for Naomi!

Naomi is growing cuter by the day (which is saying a lot--she started out pretty adorable!), and growing bigger, too! At her 2-week appointment, she weighed 6 lbs., 7 ounces (well over her birth weight!) and had grown an inch, to be 19 inches long. It's astounding to me how a baby can grow an inch in two weeks.

After we verified that Naomi does not like the scale any more than her Mommy does (or her big sisters at that age), we discussed the fact that Naomi was cosleeping because she won't sleep alone in her crib at night (and only on occasion during the day). The doctor frowned a bit and we discussed other options, but wouldn't she have frowned more if I'd told her the baby was crying by herself in the crib all night? Any veteran parent knows that the crib is where you put a baby to wake her up for feedings! Nevertheless, we're certainly making an effort, as Noami is no longer the quiet, peaceful sleeper she was last week.

We learned that the cute but sometimes alarming squeaky wheezy noises she makes are simply her vocal cords adjusting. Better get them primed and ready, Baby, because you'll have two big sister chatterboxes to keep up with!

And that was all! We'll see the doctor again in a couple weeks for the 1-month visit.

At home, we've learned that Naomi might be a bit sensitive, but (new this week!) is content to calmly scope out her surroundings for a good five to ten minutes when her needs are met. She's starting to like lights, and loves being swaddled and riding in the car. She makes the cutest little almost purring/cooing noises when she feels the need to make noise, but not unhappy noise. The baby also seems to enjoy tummy time, which has been known to calm her down more than once. I believe she'd like to sleep on her tummy, but the mean doctor (who we actually really like) says she can't. She actually does not like pacifiers, however, so that might change up our sleep journey a bit, for better or worse. Stay tuned, because you know I'll keep you posted.

Naomi can also recognize the word milk. Twice now, I've mentioned the word to her and she's stopped mid-cry. She smiles in her sleep, and laughed in her sleep for the first time today.

As for sleep, she's getting better at sleeping in her crib during the day, but either she's scared of the dark or we're simply not patient enough to give her a good chance to sleep there on her own at night. Occasionally she has lots of trouble settling down to sleep, and will be awake and fussy for hours, but often when she does she'll sleep for a healthy amount of time and even settle herself a bit. Except when she doesn't. And other than dealing with pacifiers, I anticipate exactly the same ups and downs we've had with the previous two, despite the fact that we really are working to instill good habits from an early age.

Big sisters are still in love with her. What do they love most? Seeing the contents of her diaper. But they also enjoy keeping her company during tummy time, singing her little songs, and climbing on her crib and handing her toys while helping me put her down for her nap.
___________________________________

Nothing is ever quiet at our house! But it is very, very cute.

The first week home

Me and my birthday present!

Naomi is home! And we think she likes it! Even though she's spent most of the time sleeping (most of the daytime, anyway).

Day 1: We arrived home on my birthday! What a present! I'd celebrated myself last weekend--now it was time to celebrate Naomi. The big sisters had been kept up from their nap to greet their new little sister, and did so with appropriate exuberance. I learned that while I was away, Kalina had mastered Daddy's dart gun, which she could fire with surprising accuracy as Elise darted among the darts retrieving them. I was pleased to see that the girls were alive and well, although it took me a bit to get reacquainted with the fridge and pantry.

Ready to go home!

Day 2: Naomi's first visit to the pediatrician! At 8:15 a.m. Why this cruel timing? Because it's safer for the newborns to arrive before the germs do. I threw a few things in a diaper bag, and Naomi and I headed out just the two of us (our first mommy-daughter date!). We discovered that she weighed 5 lbs. 11 oz.--the same as she had the day before when leaving the hospital. But this was a good thing--many babies are still losing weight at that point. I no longer felt quite so bad about the long stretch of time I'd allowed her to sleep the previous night. Naomi is perfectly healthy! We discussed how to keep her that way, and the doctor advised me to be as pushy with hand-washing as a first-time mom. But he also said that now's a pretty good time to have a newborn--not to many germs floating around yet, and we can always go to a park if we need to get out. We scheduled a bunch more appointments (the next one is at 2 weeks), and headed back to the safety of home.

Home!!

Having slept relatively well the night before (owing to the ultra-sleepy newborn stage combined with the fact that since we're not first-time parents, we can nod and smile at the nurses' commands to wake our baby every three hours to eat), I began to put myself and the house back in order while Naomi slept, and slept and slept. I did wake her often to eat in the daytime, and I did hold her a lot. Who could resist?

And we hit a milestone! Not one that's on any of the books, but since it was cute, I'll write it down. Naomi started smiling in her sleep: big, goofy grins, no less! What was she dreaming of? Couldn't have been puppies, ice cream or snow on Christmas mornings, but it must have been something special to her. Milk? Being swaddled? The adorable outfits she's been wearing? Mommy???

The big girls continued to want to hold Naomi, the only downside being that Naomi cries almost every time they hold her. Both big girls are very understanding, however--even Elise knows that babies cry all the time. She is quick, however, to have me take the baby back. As is Daddy at times.

The baby is just hanging out,
happy and awake. I had to
get a picture.

With a sleepy baby and an extra pair of hands at home, I made dinner! Actually, Naomi woke up just as I was about to start, so I started dinner and directed Matt through the rest of it. Regardless, we had a real meal, and Naomi joined us.

Day 3: Daddy and the big girls went to church. Naomi slept, and I continued my quest to make the house look decent again. The big girls decided that diaper changes are worth dropping everything to watch, and that the swing makes music. Now, swing music plays on repeat for hours every day. They are not yet sick of it. Nope, not them.

I'd noticed that the baby, for the most part, spent her time during the day sleeping, eating or crying. There's more to life! I wanted to tell her. But for one of the first times today, Naomi's eyes were open and not tearing up--and in this moment, she noticed something really cool waving in front of her face: her hand! She was entertained for at least a minute, and I even caught it on film.

The baby first spots her hand
Cool, she thinks.

Daddy babysat Naomi for the first time on his own, while Kalina, Elise and I got frozen yogurt! All went well until it came time for Daddy to take off a Band-Aid the nurse had put on Naomi after her Vitamin K shot. Poor Daddy gets all the tough jobs. It was stuck tight (an alcohol swab helped), and fortunately I arrived home just in time to pick up the pieces.

Day 4: I was tired, probably having overdone it the previous few days, and so was the baby. While the more intrepid family members enjoyed a trip to the zoo, Naomi and I put our feet up and rested. We needed it: I'd been on my feet too much, and Naomi was, after all, less than a week old.

We've learned by now that Naomi prefers being held. Sometimes she's too sleepy to notice, but the rest of the time she'd like to be warmly cuddled in someone's arms. She's not too picky most of the time, but has been known to play favorites (sorry, Daddy).

I really like this hand!

We started tummy time, an unpopular attempt to make sure Naomi doesn't end up having to wear a helmet to reshape her head. She managed to roll herself over, having had enough of that silliness (you'll thank me later, Sweetie!). It doesn't help that anytime she's awake, she's hungry.

Nights had been deteriorating, so we may have purposely tried to keep Naomi up a bit in hopes that we could help her learn that daytime lasts from about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., not 4 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Day 5: Our re-education process may have paid off! Naomi slept several very healthy chunks of time last night all by herself. I slept so long (2 and 3 hours at a time!) I was almost disoriented upon awaking, and Matt got his third full night since the baby was born, a fact that he doesn't feel like discussing. :)

Nursery sweet nursery. Couldn't
resist doing a little decorating for my
newest little girl!

Matt, Kalina and Elise spent much of the day at Grandpa's house and a children's museum, while I tried to relax on my last day of "maternity leave." Naomi tried to relax, too, mostly in my arms.

Day 6: We decided that our first day without Matt should be a "Big Girl Fun Day!" We dressed Naomi in a cute outfit, made chocolate chip cookie bars, enjoyed a few "big sister" presents, had a friend over in the afternoon and ordered pizza for supper.

Naomi and I learned that newborn sleep is random. She spent a good 24 hours needing to be held in order to sleep (including the previous night), or simply not sleeping but choosing, instead, to remain in a "fussy wakeful" state. I spent about the same amount of time typing things like, "Newborn sleep patterns" and "Why should it be this difficult to get my 1-week-old to sleep?" and "WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?" into Google. I learned that it's me, not her. Newborn sleep is, for all intents and purposes, random.

In other news, Naomi's umbilical cord stump came off! It's no less weird and unsettling the third time than the first. Fortunately, the friend who visited is a nurse, and she assured me that everything looks great.

Day 7: Continuing the theme of random newborn sleep, Naomi drifted off to sleep in her crib, with only a little Mommy help, for her first nap of the day. I learned that she likes to be petted on the forehead, like a kitten, to help her relax and close her eyes. She spent the rest of the day peacefully napping acting like last night, another tough one in which we couldn't set the baby down if we expected her to sleep, never happened--I'm hoping it bodes well for tonight. When Kalina woke me up in the morning, it took me a good two minutes to realize she wasn't Elise. Ah, sleep deprivation--my old constant companion! But Naomi sure is cute. I dressed her for success in one of her most adorable outfits and carried on with the day.

The big girls visited their new preschool classrooms with Grandpa and met their teachers, a day I hated to miss but couldn't justify risking my newborn's health for. After all, what's germier than a preschool classroom?

Kalina and Elise remained excited about their new sister, and are always happy to check on Naomi, shush her, sing sweet made-up lullabies to her, wave toys in front of her face, swing her in her swing and turn on her infernal swing music (and, more often than not, leave the room right afterward and stranding me with it). Every diaper change is a spectacle sport, and the goodwill they feel toward their little sister has not yet faded into the jealous resentment I'm keenly watching for.

I'm grateful the weather is hot now (it switched from gorgeous to blistering as I entered the hospital) because it gives us a good reason to hole up inside. The girls are playing wonderfully together, and I even get to put my feet up now and then. Having nearly driven myself into labor with all the preparation I did in July and August, I think I've earned as much of a rest as I can possibly get. In fact, it's almost cozy having a newborn!

And that concludes our first week at home! Here's hoping they can all be so sweet!

Some of the highlights of Naomi's photo shoot in the hospital:

Welcoming Naomi Anne!

Naomi Anne! 

Naomi Anne is here! Earlier than any of us was expecting! And we're delighted to be graced by her presence all the sooner! And equally thrilled that by not entering the world on a Saturday, she's already shaking things up in our family.

It was a bright and sunny Tuesday and the big girls and I were going about our usual business, as I was pretty confident we'd have at least until the end of the week before our new little one made her debut. We enjoyed a park playdate with friends in the morning, then checking off a few more of the tasks on my, "Much easier to do pre-newborn" to-do list. This had me trekking through Target with a full cart, and may have contributed in some small way to our baby's appearance. I noticed myself feeling increasingly contraction-y and crummy (as I had been for a couple days prior), and enough so that I mentioned to Matt that we weren't necessarily not having a baby that night.

When you suspect you're in labor the first time, you drink plenty of water, time contractions, rest up and Facebook your friends. When it's the third time around, you put in a load of laundry, run the dishwasher, straighten the house a bit, put fresh batteries in the camera, finish prepping the carseat and pack your hospital bag (after all, the baby wasn't supposed to come until the weekend). So it wasn't until my head hit the pillow at 10:30 that I paid much attention to the fact that contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes.

But the baby wasn't supposed to come until Saturday! Why do I keep mentioning this? Because both of my previous deliveries happened at about 39 weeks, laboring on Friday night and delivering on a Saturday. Like clockwork. This would've put me in labor on my birthday, I should add.

So I worked on getting to sleep, which I did succeed in for about an hour (more than for any of my previous kids). Not too long after I woke up from that, Grandpa was arriving and Matt and I were leaving for the hospital.

The weigh-in!

I was surprised to find that my contractions were still quite bearable. I was even more surprised when they stopped the second we walked onto the labor and delivery floor. And quite annoyed when I almost got sent home (after all, I'm a third-time mommy, I know when I'm in labor and as long as I'm going to be up all night, let's have a baby instead of doing this again tomorrow night!). Unfortunately, the monitor showed that the baby's heart rate was dipping occasionally, but fortunately, that and the fact that I was, actually, having regular contractions 3-4 minutes apart (just not very painful) made them admit me.

Newly born

The moon was full that night, and possibly not out of sheer coincidence (from everything Matt could grill out of every nurse he asked), labor and delivery was a hopping place. I was lucky to get a room, (and even luckier later on to get a nice recovery room). In very little pain, I dozed. This made my contractions go away again. I wondered if I should just go home.

But my doctor and nurse had other ideas when I consulted them a while later. For one, the weak contractions had actually made progress! They were real, they just didn't hurt much at all. The next news was that my doctor wanted me to go ahead and get the epidural, and start me on a trickle of Pitocin to get things going a little better. The baby, by the way, was doing just fine.

Look what I have! A baby!

The fact that I had a shot at a relatively pain-free labor actually took a while to sink in. I was opposed to the idea at first, having had much more painful labors than I'd hoped for with the first two. Could it really be this easy? Should it? Then I realized that I was the crazy one, not them. The anesthesiologist was in my room within 30 minutes.

Epidural safely in place, however, I briefly engaged in a somewhat alarming struggle against low blood pressure. We fixed the problem soon enough, and shortly after I was  reading, dozing and watching The Price is Right as the baby did the hard work of getting ready to be born. The attentive nurse helped keep me comfortable.

When it was almost time, my doctor arrived for a casual chat. She was early because she'd had several cancellations in her schedule. But in reality, she was just about right on time, and after less than 5 minutes of catching up about our kids, it was time to push.

At 5, Kalina is a lot more eager to
hold a newborn than she was at 2!

Naomi was out within 10 pushes, crying nicely (the only time I like to hear crying!), more than Kalina and less intensely than Elise. She had a short little umbilical cord, but it was enough to make her the first cord blood donor in our family (the other girls having been born on Saturdays where, in Durham, they didn't have anyone to collect the cord blood). Good plan being born on a Wednesday, Baby!

Naomi Anne was born at 1:30 p.m., weighing 6 lbs. 1 oz., and 18 inches long. The smallest of our three small babies! (But in her defense, the earliest!)

She has dark brown hair, very dark blue eyes, very light eyelashes and--most surprising--a dimple on each cheek! But where did they come from?

The big sisters (and Grandpa) descended upon us in the evening for dinner! Kalina and Elise were overjoyed to meet the new baby, and tossed around lots of "sweet!" "cute!" and "baby!" Kalina noted that the baby's feet looked cold, and expertly covered them up with a blanket. And Elise grinned proudly, ear to ear, the whole time it was her turn to hold Naomi. I wonder if little Naomi knows how excited we all are to have her join our little family!

The bundle is twice as big as the
baby!

We also worked on pronouncing Naomi, a name they distrusted at first, but quickly fell in love with. Thank goodness for the practice: otherwise, the poor girl might grow up thinking she's to be called, "Meeomi!"

Naomi's first couple of days have been lovely. She's perfectly healthy and perfectly beautiful. Her only hardship in life, so far, is that she seems to have been born with a tummy full of amniotic fluid that she spent her first 18 hours or so spitting up and enduring some tummy pain over. Poor thing! She still seems to have some gas pains, but hopefully they'll calm down as her tummy gets used to having something other than amniotic fluid in it. She also gets really fussy when she needs to sleep. But don't we all?

Pancakes, yogurt, fruit and a cookie,
our first meal together as a family
of 5!

I have learned a few things about Naomi already. First, the spasmodic tapping I felt coming from her in-utero is her foot. It just kicks like that sometimes. She likes to cuddle and thought being on her tummy was just the best for her newborn photo shoot yesterday (pictures to come--she's already proving herself extremely photogenic). And she slept well last night--I was worried she had adjusted her sleep-to-eating ratio a little too far toward the sleep end, but her final weighing at the hospital showed her weight at 5 lbs. 11 oz., which means she only lost 5% of her birthweight. The nurse assured me that was excellent!

And, as the best birthday gift ever, I got to bring her home today. No, I did not put a bow on her. Yes, I am tempted to.

Look at my beautiful eyes!

Kalina, when we brought Naomi home: "Ooooohhhh look at her cute little outfit! Isn't she adorable?!?"

Elise: (sniffing her little sister) "She smells like a baby!"

Now, we're all taking turns holding the cuddly little bundle, and she's alternating between tolerating and enjoying the attention.

 We're all so grateful to God for this newest little blessing! We can't wait to see what life has in store for her--and what she has in store for us!

An Interview

We raised a luna moth!

The kids have so many great things to say, every hour of every day, that I thought I'd see what they do in an actual interview. I had to interview them separately so they wouldn't give all the same answers/fight over answers. I also occasionally tried to get more clarification, but, perhaps because of the pressure, the girls were a bit less prolific than usual. Here's the transcript:

Elise:
If you could be any animal, what would you be? A penguin. Because I like penguins. Because they're black and white, some of my favorite colors. Because they go in water.
What would you like to be when you grow up? A mommy penguin that has baby penguins in her tummy. Anything else? No. [Previously, she'd wanted to be an astronaut mommy--the person who cooks for all the astronauts. Because even astronauts need mommies, right?]
What does Mommy do all day? Work.
What does Daddy do all day? Work.
What would you do if you could do anything you wanted for a day? Play and do work. Fix dinner, play with toys. Go to the Magic House, and the places where we go and I ride in my carseat. The Magic House, the grocery store.
Where are your favorite places? The Magic House, the mall
If you could do anything right now, what would you do? Go to the mall and bring this snack. [Goldfish]
What makes a rainbow?  The sky
What's your favorite holiday?  All of them. I just like holidays.

Sometimes the girls make me take
pictures of all their stuffed animal
setups. Cute!

What makes you the happiest? Ice cream. What's your favorite flavor? Chocolate.
What makes you the saddest? Being hurt
When are you the most scared? Because of the woods. What are you scared of about the woods? Bears. Sometimes I'm brave. If I was by myself I would be brave. And I would take a flashlight!
What do you do when you're afraid? Pray. Does it help: No. Only being inside.
What will you be doing one year from now? Going to preschool.
What would you do to make the world a better place? I don't want to talk anymore.
[At this point, we took a little break. I managed to get her started again, though:]
What's the funniest thing you can think of? Jokes. A pig having no home! [smiles--this is a classic joke from a few months ago] When Kalina gets hurt I'll think of some jokes. [To cheer her up]
What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Ice cream
What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Read and eat ice cream.
What do you love about Kalina? Playing with her.
What are your favorite foods? Goldfish, eating strawberries and chocolate and fruit bits and cooked carrots if you give me them, and Feta cheese.

Matt and the girls like to dig for
worms in the compost pile.

Kalina:
If you could be any animal, what would you be? A kitten. Because I love them.
What would you like to be when you grow up? A mommy. Anything else? No. [Just a couple weeks ago she told me she wanted to be a piano teacher for kids ages 3 through 7 1/2.]
What does Mommy do all day? Work and play with the kids.
What does Daddy do all day? Work on the fish tank and sometimes play with the kids. Today he went to Lowe's with me and Elise stayed home. [Matt has been building an aquarium stand!]
What would you do if you could do anything you wanted for a day? Eat ice cream, go to Grandpa's, have all the treats I wanted, and then take some naps, and then play with Legos. [Elise was listening in and mentioned that she would do that too.]
If you could do anything right now, what would you do? Play with Legos.
Where are your favorite places? Piano lessons, the Magic House, Home, Anna's house. Have you ever been to Anna's house? No. Why do you like these places? They're so fun!
What makes a rainbow? When it rains, there's a rainbow!
What's your favorite holiday? Easter and Christmas and Valentine's Day. Why? On Valentine's Day we get treats, and people love us. Christmas, because there's snow to play in sometimes and a lot of people come over, and there's a Christmas tree!! And Easter, because we get to search for Easter eggs.

Look how big I'm (not!)
getting! 37 weeks.

What makes you happiest? When I'm eating treats!!! What kinds are your favorite? All of them! Except the really spicy ones.
What makes you saddest? When I get hurt.
What makes you the most scared? When I go to bed, because I'm afraid that monsters or something scary will come into my room.
What do you do when you're scared? Pray. Does it help? No, but a little. What helps? Being with Mommy, or Daddy.
What will you be doing one year from now? Playing with Barbies if you allow me, I don't know. I hope to be learning how to sew, and sewing a bunch of stuffed animals for me and Elise. [Sure, she can play with Barbies, just not at my house if at all possible. Blech.]
What would you do to make the world a better place? Eat treats more often. How does that make the world better? Just because treats taste good.
What's the funniest thing you can think of? If a giraffe went running around in the hallways.
What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Do Dashy and Mountain King. [This is where we play two specific classical music pieces, and the girls run around in circles on the rug. There's some choreography to it, too.]
What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Build with Legos and play the zoo game.
What do you love about Elise? That she's my little sister, and that she is a baby penguin. I love that she is a penguin.
[Kalina got a few extra questions because her attention span was a bit longer.]
What's your favorite memory? When I was in my wedding. What did you like about it? That I looked pretty. [She's referring to being a flower girl in Aunt Laura's wedding, just before she turned two. Not sure if she remembers the wedding or the photos from it...]
What do you like to do with your friends? Play fairies and look for black rocks.
What would you do if you had a million dollars? Buy treats. Buy stuffed animals. That's all.
What are your favorite foods? Applesauce, beans, strawberries, watermelon, pancakes. Favorite for snack is Goldfish.

My observations:

1. Treats make quite the impression.
2. So if both my girls want to be mommies (even if a different species), and mommies work all/much of the day, then why is it so hard to get them to help clean up? Sheesh.
3. If we're ever relying on my girls to make the world a better place, we're probably out of luck. But we will have plenty of ice cream.
4. My children could stand to dream a bit bigger. You could do anything you want for a day and you'd work and fix dinner? And you could do anything you want right now and you'd play with Legos? Or, maybe, they're being raised with realistic expectations? At least their dreams are achievable?

We'll keep up with them as they grow. Stay tuned.

Ready or not?

This is why I love having
girls.

People often, kindly, ask me how my pregnancy is going, and whether or not I'm ready for a new baby. It's such a big question, that second one.

So I'll answer the first one first. The pregnancy is going fine. I'm only just entering the achy, insomniac stage--a month or two later than last time, for which I'm grateful every day. That doesn't mean I don't have my share of weird symptoms and issues (why is my foot swollen and hurting? Why all the indigestion? Why do the kids need something, or try to crawl on me, every single time I sit down?!?)

I had a doctor appointment Friday, and brought the girls for the first time since the big ultrasound. Except for the super-annoying, super-common chant of, "I'm bored, I'm tired, I'm hungry," they behaved like princesses (the good kind, not the snobby kind) and enjoyed seeing Mommy in the hot seat for once (I wonder if they wished I'd gotten a shot).

College friends!

I was rather charmed that when the doctor pulled out the tape measure and the heartbeat thingy, and two smiling faces peered over the table. The girls, up unprompted off the chair they'd been nicely sharing under threat of having to stand instead, were pretty excited to check on their baby sister! It was their favorite part, of course, aside from introducing their stuffed animals to the surprisingly interested nurse and the doctor.

I'm measuring 32 weeks (I'm 35 along) and didn't gain weight despite my food tour of Durham with Aunt Nancy. Has the baby dropped? Is it just because it was morning and I'm smaller in the mornings? I'll have an ultrasound next time to make sure everything's okay; I'm not really worried.

And onto the second question: are we ready?

ISU: the next generation.

Are we ever ready? Is it even possible? The truth is, we are definitely not ready in a practical sense. Definitely not. If the baby comes now, she'll be sleeping in a drawer, wearing outfits that have not recently been washed and wearing her sister's size 5 diapers (they're just for nighttime), plus whatever we can nab from the hospital. Oh, the horror.

The children have stopped asking me if I'm going to have the baby today, but they'd probably better start up again in the next few weeks. And we've been working a lot on getting ready for the little one.

For instance, we've thoroughly scrutinized photos of Baby Kalina and Baby Elise, read a few "I'm a big sister now" types of books, ensured that the baby has a "soft blankie" (this is a big one for Elise), covered "baby etiquette" in minor detail (so far), and stocked her room with a few presents people have given us (Elise is very protective of the baby's things for her).

We took our houseguests to the
botanical garden!

Still to do:
-Take a picture of my growing belly
-Fill the freezer
-Get the baby's room, clothes and diapers ready
-Track down all the baby equipment that's scattered throughout 3 different areas of the house
-Clean, clean, clean
-Visit the zoo, the children's museum and all the other fun places for the "last time." (Ever?!? I can't help but wonder)
-Finish all my freelance work to the best of my ability
-Give kids a crash course in all the "self care" items I've been neglecting for months
-Pack the hospital bag
-Finish Elise's and Kalina's baby books (eek! but I have this blog, right?)

In short, it does feel like I'm preparing for the end of the world. "It's not the end, it's the beginning!" I try to tell myself. We'll do it all in August: there's time, right?

The kids are getting ready in their own ways, which includes asking lots of good questions (Will the baby have hair? Kalina thinks no, Elise and Mommy think yes. "Will the baby fall on the floor when she pops out of your tummy?" -Kalina) and making lots of assumptions ("If the baby crawls toward bath water that's too hot, I will scoop it up and pull it away!" -Elise "I will catch the baby when she pops out of your tummy!" -Elise). They are excited for the baby to walk, run ("It'll be the slowest runner!" -Kalina), talk, toddle, sing, laugh, smile, eat mushed-up food, eat birthday cake, and all the rest. Me too. Kalina has also just begun to be on the lookout for things the baby shouldn't put in her mouth. I have a feeling she will be an annoyingly vigilant big sister (much to her mommy's delight). They do anticipate her being very cute--a unanimous sentiment in our family.

They're prepared to laugh at the baby's antics, from expecting her to "sing cute little songs" to swing in the baby swing. They anticipate that a highlight will be having her grab their fingers (they're not far off, honestly!). Elise also anticipates a lot of waaah-waaaaahing (as she calls it). 

[Elise, as an aside, also has a baby in her tummy. It used to be Ellie, her doll, who was born on her birthday (so the story goes), but now it's a boy baby. Ask her if you can feel the baby move sometime...]

And they're already starting to bond. They like to say hi through my tummy and, occasionally, into my mouth (they think that'll help the baby hear them). 

But I don't think they have any idea how much their world will be changed (they think they're tired now!). Oh well, they like surprises. Right??