the other day, while my mom was here, an interesting thing happened...
isaac was upstairs playing by himself. i think anna was asleep (or more likely, my mom was holding/spoiling her). isaac started down the stairs with a small puzzle box in his hand, announcing he had a "special derivery" for me.
he knelt down in the living room and carefully removed the puzzle box top to display the contents of my delivery for my mom and i to behold. there was a little bowl inside with some wooden blocks with numbers on them. i noticed that it looked like there was water in the box, so i asked, "is there water in there?"...
to which isaac replied, "no. it's pee."
and it was.
i thought back to when he was coming down the stairs and he did, in fact, tell me that the box contained "numbers and pee". but, i chalked it up to his nonsense play world that he spends 90% of his waking hours in. unfortunately, this time it was real.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
siblings
one of the pictures in the "anna's first bath" collection reminded me of one of the pictures from isaac's first bath. i had to search long and hard for it, since i've organized and reorganized our photo collection a number of times (do i sort by age, year, event, etc??)...
anyhooo... here's the side by side (top to bottom) comparison...
(the top is isaac and bottom is anna).
anyhooo... here's the side by side (top to bottom) comparison...
(the top is isaac and bottom is anna).
Thursday, May 27, 2010
first bath
anna had her first bath, yesterday, while new gramma was here to help out. after the initial shock of being immersed in water for the first time, she rather enjoyed herself...
naked and ready:
getting scrubbed down:
pondering:
drying off:
naked and ready:
getting scrubbed down:
pondering:
drying off:
retraction
a few posts back, i made anna out to be a complete opposite to our sweet boy isaac. well, here it is a few days (weeks, even?) later and i'd like to retract some of that information...
isaac and anna are very very very similar. the main difference is that isaac cried all the time and anna does not. so, it's a pretty big glaring difference. but, it's still pretty much the only one.
lately, we've noticed that anna has a slight aversion to sleeping. she's a little better than isaac, probably because she's not frantic from so much crying. but, she likes to be awake, that is for sure. she has strung together some pretty long stretches here and there.
she's also ultra alert. i think this contributes to her disliking sleep. she likes to be checking things out. her eyes are constantly scanning her surroundings and honing in on where the excitement is. (isaac is her favorite viewing subject).
dear sweet anna is also not a huge fan of just hanging out. unlike other babies that i see (and exactly like our first), she does not enjoy sitting in her car seat or a swing or a bouncy chair for any length of time. she likes to be on the move. changing up her scenery. much the same as the boy. i thought he would never let me put him down. but, then once he could move on his own and change his scenery on his own, he didn't want to be held for the next 2.5 years. so, i'm not so worried about that with this girl. should i be?
finally, the last similarity is her strength. she's already pushing herself up on her scrawny little legs. lifting up her head and looking around. shoving herself forward on her belly during tummy time. it seems i've got another mobile kid on my hands. i was rather hoping for on of those chilled out babies that likes to hang in their car seat while their moms chat away nearby. i guess it's not meant to be for me...
so, to recap... the girl started out the opposite of the boy. but has morphed into pretty much the same baby. only on mute, this time.
isaac and anna are very very very similar. the main difference is that isaac cried all the time and anna does not. so, it's a pretty big glaring difference. but, it's still pretty much the only one.
lately, we've noticed that anna has a slight aversion to sleeping. she's a little better than isaac, probably because she's not frantic from so much crying. but, she likes to be awake, that is for sure. she has strung together some pretty long stretches here and there.
she's also ultra alert. i think this contributes to her disliking sleep. she likes to be checking things out. her eyes are constantly scanning her surroundings and honing in on where the excitement is. (isaac is her favorite viewing subject).
dear sweet anna is also not a huge fan of just hanging out. unlike other babies that i see (and exactly like our first), she does not enjoy sitting in her car seat or a swing or a bouncy chair for any length of time. she likes to be on the move. changing up her scenery. much the same as the boy. i thought he would never let me put him down. but, then once he could move on his own and change his scenery on his own, he didn't want to be held for the next 2.5 years. so, i'm not so worried about that with this girl. should i be?
finally, the last similarity is her strength. she's already pushing herself up on her scrawny little legs. lifting up her head and looking around. shoving herself forward on her belly during tummy time. it seems i've got another mobile kid on my hands. i was rather hoping for on of those chilled out babies that likes to hang in their car seat while their moms chat away nearby. i guess it's not meant to be for me...
so, to recap... the girl started out the opposite of the boy. but has morphed into pretty much the same baby. only on mute, this time.
just the three of us...
this morning, we put new gramma on a plane headed back to buffalo, ny (via newark, nj)and returned to our "normal" life. we haven't settled in enough to call it normal, but it is our new normal, i suppose. huh?
anyhooo...
while she was here, my battery in my laptop was mostly dead, because she's an avid fan of disconnecting the power supply and then leaving it open for hours on end. my laptop is pretty old, so it only takes a few minutes of being unplugged. so, i haven't posted much by way of blog. unless i used my phone...
while she was here, we went on a couple of adventures with the boy and the girl. it's a lot easier with two sets of grownup hands, that's for sure. anna slept through most of her adventures, which made it even easier. so far, she seems to like riding in the car (isaac didn't), so that's great.
i think that i have a lot of my mom, holding the girl and/or entertaining the boy. so, when i think of it, i suppose i'll post some...
anyhooo...
while she was here, my battery in my laptop was mostly dead, because she's an avid fan of disconnecting the power supply and then leaving it open for hours on end. my laptop is pretty old, so it only takes a few minutes of being unplugged. so, i haven't posted much by way of blog. unless i used my phone...
while she was here, we went on a couple of adventures with the boy and the girl. it's a lot easier with two sets of grownup hands, that's for sure. anna slept through most of her adventures, which made it even easier. so far, she seems to like riding in the car (isaac didn't), so that's great.
i think that i have a lot of my mom, holding the girl and/or entertaining the boy. so, when i think of it, i suppose i'll post some...
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
first park trip
yesterday, we met the mielke's at the park for anna's first trip. she slept through most of it. isaac and luke played in some imaginary land that only they have access to. it was good to get out of the house...
here's a shot of anna hanging with abigail...
here's a shot of anna hanging with abigail...
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
kristin boone does it again...
kristin boone came over to take some pics of the girl last week. of course, she did a marvelous job.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
7 years of marriage deserves...
towels!
last year, we went to hilton head island for a sweet long weekend beach trip. this year, well, we had a baby a week before our anniversary, so we knew we weren't going to go on any fantastic voyages... so, instead we splurged on towels...
our old towels were from when we got married and they weren't doing so hot, so off to target we went for our big purchase...
i'm actually pretty excited about them. derek... not as much. :)
last year, we went to hilton head island for a sweet long weekend beach trip. this year, well, we had a baby a week before our anniversary, so we knew we weren't going to go on any fantastic voyages... so, instead we splurged on towels...
our old towels were from when we got married and they weren't doing so hot, so off to target we went for our big purchase...
i'm actually pretty excited about them. derek... not as much. :)
Monday, May 17, 2010
on our own.
derek went back to work today.
surprisingly, it was much much MUCH easier to manage the two kids on my own than it was the first time around with the one kid. the girl is just so chill. it's awesome.
isaac is really great with her. he talks to her and entertains her when i've got my hands tied and she's getting a little fussy. he is always available for shoving a pacifier into anna's mouth, should the situation necessitate such measures. he's a very good big brother.
this afternoon, derek's mom swung by and picked up the semi-neglected boy. now, with the girl fast asleep and no boy in the house, i feel a bit weird. if i nap, i'll feel awful when i wake up. but, it's not like i can start a major project. perhaps some couch vegging is in order...
so, that's all.
surprisingly, it was much much MUCH easier to manage the two kids on my own than it was the first time around with the one kid. the girl is just so chill. it's awesome.
isaac is really great with her. he talks to her and entertains her when i've got my hands tied and she's getting a little fussy. he is always available for shoving a pacifier into anna's mouth, should the situation necessitate such measures. he's a very good big brother.
this afternoon, derek's mom swung by and picked up the semi-neglected boy. now, with the girl fast asleep and no boy in the house, i feel a bit weird. if i nap, i'll feel awful when i wake up. but, it's not like i can start a major project. perhaps some couch vegging is in order...
so, that's all.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
sweet track for thomas
fellow battery powered engines.
about the girl
well, the girl is one week old today. it has been the fastest week of my life. of course, it could be relative, since the previous 2 or 3 weeks of pregnancy dragged on forever...
one week ago, we were kicking off the pitocin party in the hospital and contractions were just showing up on the scene. here's the rest of the story of the girl's life, so far...
labor
around 11 am, i was about 5 cm and they kindly broke my water. this kicked up the pain level of the contractions, so i requested my epidural. :). with isaac, the epidural was relatively pain-free, but my blood pressure dropped like crazy right afterward. this time, getting the epidural was pretty uncomfortable. the doc kept hitting nerves and such on the way through, sending shooting pains down my back and legs. good times. then, to keep my blood pressure in check, they started with a pretty low dose and worked up. which was fine, except for two things. my contractions were moving into high gear quickly AND the epidural was missing a spot on my left side. another doc came in and helped get me fixed up, but until she did, i questioned my toughness and wondered how women had babies in the pre-epidural days.
around 1 pm, the nurse checked me and i was about 6 cm. the epidural was cranking through my lower half and i decided to rest up for the last 4 cm long haul. we turned the lights off and i managed to doze a bit here and there for the next hour, or so. something about knowing you're going to have a baby soon makes it hard to sleep. :)
delivery
sometime after 2, the nurse and my doctor came in to check me again. the doctor had me push just a little, i guess to see what would happen. what happened was, he said, "we're going to have this baby now". so, while he got suited up in his baby delivering clothes, we called our parents (at 2:31 and 2:32 - i checked later)... and we got ready.
(i was quite surprised. when it took 2 hours to go from 5 to 6 cm, i thought we were in for a long afternoon.)
anyhooo...
on the first contraction, i pushed a couple of times and baby anna ("the anna baby" as isaac calls her) was born. at 2:39. awesome.
hospital
while anna was away being scrubbed up and examined, derek went out to get me a quizno's sub, to spare me the hospital food. they brought the girl back and we hung out with her for a bit, before sending her off to the nursery for the night so we could rest. the next morning, she arrived, sleeping away. we were stunned at the difference between isaac and the girl. even in the hospital, isaac screamed and slept very little. it was miserable. anna, on the other hand, slept and gazed back at us and cried very little.
we had some pals come to visit. mark, allison (and almost born babydunc), kerry and jude all popped in to meet the girl. as did isaac and derek's parents. isaac was amazed at how small she was. he asked to see pretty much every "tiny little" part. cute.
we sent the girl off to the nursery for the second night, derek came home to make sure all was ready for the arrival of the girl and the mom. i got a nice solid night of sleep, as did derek, i presume. in the morning, we collected our new kid, our belongings, lots of freebies from the hospital (and by free, i mean expensive) and rolled on out. we picked up the boy, who was very happy to have us back and headed home...
about anna
anna has been an amazingly "good" baby. of course, we only have isaac to compare her to. and he was definitely challenging. she sleeps lots. eats well. doesn't really cry, well, pretty much ever. it's crazy what a different baby experience we are having with this one.
i'm thankful to have had isaac (and survived to tell the tale), because it makes me much more appreciative of how it's been going so far with anna. AND, i think i would rather be bringing home the easy baby to an assertive 3 year old. so, i'm glad we got the difficult one out of the way first. even if i thought i was going to go crazy and we would never consider having children ever ever again...
so, that's the story of the birth of anna. it's not for you. it's for me. because i know in three years, i'll never remember how it all went down...
one week ago, we were kicking off the pitocin party in the hospital and contractions were just showing up on the scene. here's the rest of the story of the girl's life, so far...
labor
around 11 am, i was about 5 cm and they kindly broke my water. this kicked up the pain level of the contractions, so i requested my epidural. :). with isaac, the epidural was relatively pain-free, but my blood pressure dropped like crazy right afterward. this time, getting the epidural was pretty uncomfortable. the doc kept hitting nerves and such on the way through, sending shooting pains down my back and legs. good times. then, to keep my blood pressure in check, they started with a pretty low dose and worked up. which was fine, except for two things. my contractions were moving into high gear quickly AND the epidural was missing a spot on my left side. another doc came in and helped get me fixed up, but until she did, i questioned my toughness and wondered how women had babies in the pre-epidural days.
around 1 pm, the nurse checked me and i was about 6 cm. the epidural was cranking through my lower half and i decided to rest up for the last 4 cm long haul. we turned the lights off and i managed to doze a bit here and there for the next hour, or so. something about knowing you're going to have a baby soon makes it hard to sleep. :)
delivery
sometime after 2, the nurse and my doctor came in to check me again. the doctor had me push just a little, i guess to see what would happen. what happened was, he said, "we're going to have this baby now". so, while he got suited up in his baby delivering clothes, we called our parents (at 2:31 and 2:32 - i checked later)... and we got ready.
(i was quite surprised. when it took 2 hours to go from 5 to 6 cm, i thought we were in for a long afternoon.)
anyhooo...
on the first contraction, i pushed a couple of times and baby anna ("the anna baby" as isaac calls her) was born. at 2:39. awesome.
hospital
while anna was away being scrubbed up and examined, derek went out to get me a quizno's sub, to spare me the hospital food. they brought the girl back and we hung out with her for a bit, before sending her off to the nursery for the night so we could rest. the next morning, she arrived, sleeping away. we were stunned at the difference between isaac and the girl. even in the hospital, isaac screamed and slept very little. it was miserable. anna, on the other hand, slept and gazed back at us and cried very little.
we had some pals come to visit. mark, allison (and almost born babydunc), kerry and jude all popped in to meet the girl. as did isaac and derek's parents. isaac was amazed at how small she was. he asked to see pretty much every "tiny little" part. cute.
we sent the girl off to the nursery for the second night, derek came home to make sure all was ready for the arrival of the girl and the mom. i got a nice solid night of sleep, as did derek, i presume. in the morning, we collected our new kid, our belongings, lots of freebies from the hospital (and by free, i mean expensive) and rolled on out. we picked up the boy, who was very happy to have us back and headed home...
about anna
anna has been an amazingly "good" baby. of course, we only have isaac to compare her to. and he was definitely challenging. she sleeps lots. eats well. doesn't really cry, well, pretty much ever. it's crazy what a different baby experience we are having with this one.
i'm thankful to have had isaac (and survived to tell the tale), because it makes me much more appreciative of how it's been going so far with anna. AND, i think i would rather be bringing home the easy baby to an assertive 3 year old. so, i'm glad we got the difficult one out of the way first. even if i thought i was going to go crazy and we would never consider having children ever ever again...
so, that's the story of the birth of anna. it's not for you. it's for me. because i know in three years, i'll never remember how it all went down...
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
the arrival of anna d.
well, the girl has arrived.
she was born at 2:19 on saturday, may 8th, 2010.
weighed in at 8 pounds 3.5 ounces.
and, she's 21 inches long (tall?).
she is doing quite well and we're pretty smitten with her.
even isaac.
we got home today around noon and we're just adjusting and settling in. i'll try to get more pictures up after i sort through all of the iphone pics and real pics that were taken of the new baby girl...
she was born at 2:19 on saturday, may 8th, 2010.
weighed in at 8 pounds 3.5 ounces.
and, she's 21 inches long (tall?).
she is doing quite well and we're pretty smitten with her.
even isaac.
we got home today around noon and we're just adjusting and settling in. i'll try to get more pictures up after i sort through all of the iphone pics and real pics that were taken of the new baby girl...
Friday, May 7, 2010
T Minus 7 Hours and 14 Minutes.
had high blood pressure at the doc's today.
it didn't go down enough to make them happy, so i'll be heading in to be induced at 5:00 am tomorrow. actually, we'll be heading in at like 4:10 to be there at 4:30 to check in to be induced at 5:00 am. which is fine with me, since i've been up most of the night for the last few nights anyhow...
isaac is at his gramma's house. he sort of knows what is about to go down, but really has absolutely no idea how much his happy little existence is about to change. i think he'll be a good big brother and helper. that's what i keep telling myself, anyways. :)
it was a weird feeling sitting around tonight, knowing how different things are going to be. it's not like we didn't know it before, but having a set date and time makes it so real.
we ordered a pizza. clicked through some terrible friday night programming. decided that going to bed was a better idea. straightened up a little. and here we are...
it didn't go down enough to make them happy, so i'll be heading in to be induced at 5:00 am tomorrow. actually, we'll be heading in at like 4:10 to be there at 4:30 to check in to be induced at 5:00 am. which is fine with me, since i've been up most of the night for the last few nights anyhow...
isaac is at his gramma's house. he sort of knows what is about to go down, but really has absolutely no idea how much his happy little existence is about to change. i think he'll be a good big brother and helper. that's what i keep telling myself, anyways. :)
it was a weird feeling sitting around tonight, knowing how different things are going to be. it's not like we didn't know it before, but having a set date and time makes it so real.
we ordered a pizza. clicked through some terrible friday night programming. decided that going to bed was a better idea. straightened up a little. and here we are...
overdue day number 2.
well, here we are.
still pregnant. much larger. much more tired. out of things to clean. in a constant state of limbo. waiting.
i guess this means that the girl is either really stubborn or really laid back. i'm hoping for laid back, since the role of the really stubborn child is currently being played by the boy.
i head to the doc in a few minutes. i'm hoping they'll tell me i'm ready to roll. but, i'm realistically expecting them to give me a high five and have me back next week.
i did have a delightful (hopefully last pregnant) day hanging with one, jude to the p-sall. we dined on chipotle and took the little ones to the park for some swinging and playing in stagnant water. (and i just came to the realization that blogger has changed the way pictures get uploaded and i don't have time to do it the new and "improved" way... so, no pictures of toddlers and stagnant water for now)...
ANYHOOOOO, that's the story.
:)
still pregnant. much larger. much more tired. out of things to clean. in a constant state of limbo. waiting.
i guess this means that the girl is either really stubborn or really laid back. i'm hoping for laid back, since the role of the really stubborn child is currently being played by the boy.
i head to the doc in a few minutes. i'm hoping they'll tell me i'm ready to roll. but, i'm realistically expecting them to give me a high five and have me back next week.
i did have a delightful (hopefully last pregnant) day hanging with one, jude to the p-sall. we dined on chipotle and took the little ones to the park for some swinging and playing in stagnant water. (and i just came to the realization that blogger has changed the way pictures get uploaded and i don't have time to do it the new and "improved" way... so, no pictures of toddlers and stagnant water for now)...
ANYHOOOOO, that's the story.
:)
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
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