She's Here!

I woke early in the morning on 12/8 with labor pains that were regular, though 10-15 minutes apart.  I progressed slowly through the morning, hovering between 8 and 10 minutes apart for several hours. The pace picked up quickly right around the kids quiet time though and we headed off to the hospital.  A quick check determined that I was 4.5 cm dilated and we would be staying!  We were quite happy to hear that after a few false starts.

 They didn't have a labor room for me, so we spent a few hours in the small room where they determine if you're actually in labor or not.  My contractions started getting harder and we were having a hard time figuring out how to help me cope.  By the time they moved me to the labor room I had progressed to 7cm and was entering transition.  I asked for an epidural at that point and thankfully the anesthesiologist was right next door. The epidural worked better on one side that the other and never really got a chance to take full effect, 45 minutes later I was ready to push.  8 minutes later our healthy, beautiful baby girl was born!

Named for my sister, Margaret Jade was born at 8:22pm on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  I had a special devotion to St. Anne during my pregnancy so it seems rather fitting that Mara be born on the day that celebrates Anne's conception of Mary.  Her nickname, Mara, means "Mary" in Hebrew.

She weighed in at 8lbs 5oz, our largest baby by far!   

In the past week and a half she has proven to be a wonderfully cuddly baby, with eyes like deep pools, and the ability to make everyone coo adoringly. 

Her brother and sisters are absolutely enthralled with her.  They're quick to go to her when she cries, and offer help whenever asked. 

Gabe seems especially taken, coming to her several times a day to give her cuddles and kisses saying, "I love you, baby,"

Our parents have been wonderful, coming almost every day to help out as we all adjust to daily life with a newborn.  The frequent lack of sleep can be painful, but mostly we're all just adoring this beautiful gift God has given us.  

How truly blessed we are!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoying our sweet treats.  :)

I also wanted to share how to make these awesome pretzel shamrocks. I found the idea in Family Fun magazine... I think. Not a lot of effort, and a super fun snack.

Lay out three yogurt (or white chocolate) covered pretzels and arrange them in the shamrock shape. Break off a piece of another pretzel and place for the stem. Melt some vanilla candy wafers according to package instructions.  Pour melted candy into a piping bag with a small round tip and squeeze onto center joints of the pretzels, filling in all the gaps and making sure everything's stuck together.  Let dry.

Tint some decorator icing green and pipe a line around the edges of the pretzels and down the stem to make the shamrock. Press down into a bowl filled with coarse green sugar.  Allow the icing to set.

Voila!  So easy and the kids love them. 

Our Little Artist

 Put a marker in her hand and she's golden.  Her favorite color? 

"Puh-poh."

Wordless Wednesday

When did this happen?

Our baby girl is one!  (Look at the picture, "I'm one" she says!) Her birthday was actually yesterday, but the cupcake smashing is happening today!!  Will post pictures soon.

She sleeps!

Ana's been sleeping a longer stretch at night, from around 8 to 3. It's been wonderful. She nurses once or twice more after that but sleeps (mostly) until close to 8. She's also been taking her naps in her co-sleeper instead of in swings and bouncers, another improvement. I'm hoping to get a crib set up for her soon, though she may still stay in our room. It would be nice to make use of our mobiles.

Happy

Our nickname for this baby.

Funny Faces

She was obviously startled when I began snapping pictures. A good 1/3 of the pictures I took had this expression actually.

Happy Chubs

Bored to sleep?

I had been rocking a fussy Juliana for 20 minutes or so when I stepped into the kids closet to pick out their clothes for the day. I placed her on the floor in front of me so I could grab what I needed and pick her up again quickly before she became too upset. Except she became very quiet, studying the white walls, rubbermaid drawers and rack of clothing hanging above her (impressive, I know.) After roughly 2 minutes her eyelids began to droop and she promptly fell asleep. Not wanting to move her for risk of waking I let her stay there, konked out while the kids and I played in their room. Whatever it takes.

Weekend Getaway

Steve, the baby and I took a trip down to the beach this past weekend to spend time with friends, to relax and celebrate a birthday (which is actually today, Happy Birthday, Mell!) Juliana was wonderfully cooperative; sleeping well, and adjusting to the new surroundings with lots of people and noise. She started cooing and smiling some this weekend, too. Something my friend Mellanie was able to capture on film. (Picture coming soon!)
We headed out to the beach on Saturday and were able to stay for a few hours. It was quite windy which was good for keeping cool in the shade, not so good for keeping our shade in place. But it worked out fine. Juliana sat in her car seat with the shade up and my light nursing shawl draped over the front to block some of the wind and sand. She was quite content for a good while, alert and looking around for a time and peacefully napping a bit later.
The rest of the vacation was spent visiting at the house and playing Rock Band. I was intrigued when I first heard of the game and this was really the first chance I'd had to play. Taking turns on the drums, guitar, and singing we all had a great time. (I can't wait to try the Beatles album, when you know the songs well it's easy to lose yourself in the game; rocking out on the drums, popping the guitar and belting out the lyrics.)
In all it was a wonderful, relaxing trip. It was great to spend the time with our friends and have a much needed break.

Week 6

Gettin' Pudgy

First tub bath

The first real bath was just after the three week mark. I can't say if she enjoyed the bath or not but there was no fussing and she seemed fairly relaxed in the warm water. She handles new things well, this one.

Making faces

Meeting Juliana

Born on July 7th, Juliana Rose came into the world at 11:27 am weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and measuring 18 inches long. These past 3 days have been hectic but also very joyous. She is utterly precious and thus far a very content and sleepy child. (I know the latter won't last long, but it's been nice during the transition home.) Her cry is quiet but high pitched and a little raspy (Steve says he thinks this must be what Kathleen Turner sounded like as a baby.) She looks so similar to Addie when she was born it's uncanny, just a beauty. She seems to have inherited some traits from her Aunts as well, her looong fingers from Aunt Jenny and toes from Aunt Margaret. This kid will scale trees one day....

The twins seem to be adjusting with almost no problems at all. They are both very interested in her, saying hello whenever she's brought into the room and kissing and patting her goodbye when they leave. The like to lean in close and gently point out her facial features and pet her baby fine hair. Today Addie brought out her baby doll (Dolly) and wrapped her in a blanket and carried her around everywhere. Mom was holding Juliana on her lap in the boppy lounger so Addie sat down on the couch with the boppy pillow and placed her blanket-wrapped dolly on top, asked for some milk to give her, patted her and put on her headband. When we eat Ana lays on the lounger behind us in the kitchen and Gabe always offers her his food. They haven't exhibited any hostile behavior or acted out at all. I think it helps that they have each other to play with, and since Steve is home and mom and dad have been here helping out there's always someone to give them attention.
Overall we couldn't have asked for a smoother transition and are so thrilled to have this new little girl in our lives.

Sweet, sick babe

This past Saturday evening Steve took Gabe to the hospital. He'd had a fever for 2 days that was hovering in the higher-than-we-like-but-he's-doing-ok area. That evening though it shot up to 104.5 so daddy whisked him off to the ER. He was given a dose of tylenol and a bit later one of motrin and his fever started coming down. He was put in a gown and given a bracelet and stayed in a private room with daddy for 4 hours as the nurses kept an eye on him and ran some tests. As to be expected he charmed all the nurses with smiles and waves, exploring the whole floor and making every nurse go gaga. I mean really, have you ever seen something so precious?

All the tests came back negative and he was discharged around midnight. The Dr said that most likely this was a delayed reaction to the vaccines he'd received about a week earlier, that we should keep an eye on him but he should be fine. He slept better than he had in days and the next day he was full of smiles and giggles. Today was another good day and he seems to be back to normal.
Addie is most happy to have her playmate back. While he was sick he spent much of his time laying with me on the couch and Addie spent much of hers coming up to bring him sippies, pat him on the back and nuzzle her head next to his. This evening she was sitting near his head while I was changing him for bed. I asked her if she'd like to give Gabe a kiss and she gave a big smile, leaned over and kissed him 4 or 5 times, both of them giggling.

Stuffed loves

In the mornings, as Daddy heads out to work, the babies run over to the gate for kisses and hugs and then hop up on the couch to wave goodbye out of the window. We've done this everyday for a couple of weeks now and the kids seem to really enjoy it, sometimes waving for a solid minute after he's left the driveway. This morning though, kisses for them weren't enough. Oh no, Monkey needs a kiss, too. Addie holds him up giggling. *Mwa* She drops the monkey and leaves to get up on the couch. Gabe runs over, scoops up the monkey and thrusts him in the air for even more loving.

They're in love with their new stuffed lion, too. He's great to sit on to read a book, to sprawl across, snuggle, and pet. Thanks for sharing, Aunt Margaret!

Spaghetti = Good

Notes from the week

The kids are interacting and playing together more and more. I will frequently see them settled down, back to back, reading books or passing toys back and forth. They are very interested in what the other is doing, so it's no surprise that when we are "punishing" one of them (sitting them in a corner for 15 seconds and holding them just so they can't get away) the other will come up and sit down next to the guilty party. ("What'd ya do?") Or if they can't get past me, they'll stand as close as possible and try to "talk" to them. This was the first way they really showed concern for each other, but not the last. The other night the babies and I were up in their bedroom getting ready for bed.




Addie had found a paci and was happily sucking away as I was trying to change Gabe.
He is not a fan of getting dressed and was letting everyone know it, crying hard and waving his hands in the air. Addie stopped walking around when she heard him cry, came over to us, looked down at Gabe... kept looking... then popped her paci out of her mouth and handed it to Gabe, who promptly took it and forgot he had ever been upset.





Games of peek-a-boo take place anywhere and everywhere. Addie will pull anything up over her face, robes, blankets, washcloths.... I think hiding is her favorite part, at times she seems almost annoyed at being found. She will pop out to surprise you on her own time and she'll be very animated about it too. She has also started hiding during meal times, putting her balled up fists over her eyes then raising them up to peek at you. Hiding in a fort is the best though, they love to crawl in with us and read books or just lounge around on a big fluffy robe... or an obnoxiously green monkey.






Gabe loves to drape things on his head as well, but prefers to wear them like a veil so he can see. Seeing Gabe look so silly always starts a game of chase as Addie runs after a giggling Gabe.