Toddlers and Tiaras

Twice in 7 days, Addie has been to a birthday party that involved getting all dolled up like a princess. It's rather freaky in a JonBenet sort of way, but, no surprise, she loved it. Both times she was dressed as Princess Aurora.

Here she is at Disneyland's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique


And at a neighborhood party place that was decorated with your Aunt Mimsy's doilies, dolls and other creepy crocheted relics. In addition to the silk roses glued to the ceiling, there was a talking, taxidermied deer head called Princess Deeriana and a bust of King Elvis. Again, she loved it.










Princess Deeriana. Creepy.

2 Months

XQP is 2 months today!

As you can see, he has started smiling which makes him just that much more cute! He continues to be a sweet baby and is much adored by his older sisters. Eliza calls him Baby A-vier and insists on holding him first thing in the morning. Addie fawns over him, whispering to him how beautiful he is. She said she loves him so much that she cries sometimes. I overheard her explaining to him that one day he would be old but not to worry because he would be young for a long, long time.

Happy 2 month birthday Xavier!

Our Kindergartener

Addie has been settling into kindergarten quite well. There were no tears - from her or me - on the first day although right as Cap and I left her classroom, I knew she had on her bravest face. After our goodbyes, I couldn't get out of that classroom fast enough. In a stampede for the door, I was pushing and shoving through the other parents with their kids in iron-armed hugs. Move it lady or my daughter is going to start crying! With the exception of one boy from her Montessori school, it is all new faces. We love her teacher Mrs. Carman and Addie was their first Happy Helper in the classroom. She got to sit in the teacher's chair and everyone in the class drew a picture of her and gave it to her in a booklet at the end of the day. I'd like to think she was selected because of her maturity and leadership skills but it could just be Adelaide is the first in her class alphabetically.

We took these photos before we left for school and Addie wouldn't let anyone, even Nana and Pop-Pop watch. It was a private photo shoot. I volunteered to take headshots of her classmates later that afternoon which gave me the opportunity to stop by their classroom again before the end of school. I took pictures of the girls and another mom was in charge of the boys. I can tell who is the chatterbox and who is, what Addie has since identified, the bad kid. I've got my eye on him.

I'm excited to get involved in her school. Beyond being a co-class photographer, I've volunteered to be a Room Parent and am on the Thanksgiving Food Drive organizing committee. I've offered to help prep classwork and signed up to read a book to her class in a few weeks - a luxury I wouldn't be able to do if I wasn't on maternity leave and had Papa Mit available to watch Xavier. Assuming we stay in this school district (a big assumption), I could have a kid in this elementary school for 11 years. I'm ready to take on the school system! (spoken like a true delusional, naive parent of a kindergartener who will have to return to a full time job soon)

Happy Birthday Eliza!

Happy Birthday Eliza Wren!

Today we welcome Eliza to the twos, terrible and not. Saturday we celebrated with a birthday party in our backyard with family and 4 of her pals from Montessori school. It's amazing that with only 4 kids on the invite list, we had a total of 21 people when you include siblings and parents. It definitely felt like a party. With Eliza being the bouncy little gal that she is, we had a bounce house, bubble machine, punch balloons and balls of all sizes to play with in the yard as well as a polka dot ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins (thanks Nana and Pop Pop!). Eliza was in heaven.

This morning we presented her with a balance bike which is a tiny bit too big but she had me zooming down the hallway with her on it anyway. Tonight, Addie and I are going to make cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday on last time.



You can see more pictures from her bouncy bash here.

First Haircut

Bangs and a bob.

Addie's first haircut was around her second birthday and we thought it was about time to do the same for Miss Eliza. She was not happy about getting her hair trimmed but after crying for a bit eventually resigned herself to the scissors. I think she looks rather cute - too bad she also wasn't in the mood for getting her photo taken either.





This expression is so Eliza. It's her mad face when she doesn't like something. When I showed her this picture, she made the same face.

First Bath

Five weeks old and we finally give the dirty little dude a bath. The girls both oversaw the cleaning of their brother which lasted long enough to rapidly shampoo and rinse his head as the water drained out of the sink. We need to find a secondary drain stop.

Eliza also had her first hair cut and Addie starts her first day of Kindergarten tomorrow. A week of firsts!

1 Month

Happy 1 Month Birthday XQP!

Xavier is a pretty mellow baby - thank goodness! With three kiddos and me recovering from surgery, not to mention just being really sleepy, I'm oh so thankful for his laid back demeanor. I'm also thankful for Gran and GranJanne's visits and excited for my sister's arrival this week and Nana and Pop Pop's visit the following week. Xavier eats and sleeps like a champ for the most part and is rarely cranky unless he's hungry, at least he has been. As Cap said yesterday, Xavier is coming out if his newborn stupor and with this new alertness we expect increased fussiness. Growing up is tough.

I swear he has also started to smile at me showing off his dimples which are usually hidden in his chubby, yummy cheeks.  "He is super duper cute!" exclaimed Addie. She and Eliza adore him and often fight over who gets to hold him in the morning. This seems sweet except it's 6:15 am and Cap and I are exhausted and pretending we can get a few more minutes of shut eye in bed.  When feeding, Xavier makes these purring inhalation noises which Eliza imitates, hhmmmm, hhmmmm, hhmmm. His eyes are turning blue too like his sisters and he has soft, fuzzy ears. Adorable.

I Heart You

Xavier is a strong baby -- and a big one! He is almost 12 pounds now putting him in the 90th percentile for weight and, at 22 inches, 75th for height.

While he's a healthy boy in general,  Xavier was born with a slight heart murmur. The cardiologist at the hospital told us if you are going to have a complication, this is a good one to have as it will probably close up on it's own. Of course we worry anyway.

This week we visited Xavier's cardiologist again. X was an excellent patient and slept through the tests. The  doctor couldn't hear the murmur anymore through the stethoscope but the echocardiogram showed a 3mm gap between his left and right ventricle. She was pleased with what she saw though and assured us that it would almost definitely close up on it's own and she didn't anticipate  any complications. Phew! We'll be back close to Xavier's first birthday for a follow up.

We sure love this little guy with all our heart.

23 Months

Why walk when you can run? Eliza always seems to be moving in fast forward. Her energy is boundless as is her affection. Eliza is intelligent, curious, affectionate, energetic and sensitive. Since returning from the hospital, Eliza will run up to me and pause, point at my tummy and say "Owie?" My Mom, who Eliza calls Dan instead of Gran, can't believe she's only turning 2 next month, not 3.

Gran heads back home tomorrow after 2 weeks of helping out with the girls, Xavier and me.  We are all going to miss her immensely, especially Addie who is going to miss baking with her. We are excited for GranJanne coming on Sunday followed by my sister in late August and Pop Pop and Nana over Labor Day week.  And we are all super duper excited that Papa Mit is moving from Pasadena to our neighborhood right across the street! Oh how we have plans for you Papa Mit!

Four Food Groups

Addie has been learning about the four food groups at school and brought this assignment home to finish. In the margins of the worksheet there were drawings of various foods, some of which she copied but many she drew from her imagination.

Can you find the cheese stick, artichoke, carrot still in the dirt with various bugs, ham sandwich, and the yogurt with spoon?

Our Family

Addie, spelling everything herself phonetically, wrote this at school when we were still in the hospital. Papa Mit and Gran were staying with the girls and got high billings here.

2 weeks

Xavier is two weeks old today. Hooray!

He's really such a sweet baby, totally mellow, and of course we think he's completely adorable too. We have been working on day/night reversal walking him up every two hours during the day with the hopes of getting 3-4 hours of continuous sleep at night. Last night was rather successful. His umbilical nubbin fell off so we are enjoying dressing him in his enormous collection of 0-3 month onesies with the anticipation that he may not fit in them much longer. He's already outgrown his newborn diapers which he never really fit in anyways. He's our big boy!

Happy two weeks X! We love you!

Adjusting

All in all, the girls are handling the arrival of their little brother rather well. Both love to hug and kiss him and pet his head which Addie has declared "as soft as a chinchilla."  While the girls were great when we were in the hospital, they definitely want to keep their parents in site now that we are home, especially their Daddy as Mommy is somewhat of an invalid. Eliza insists on being carried by Cap everywhere he goes and wails when he goes outside even for a moment.  Cap has been Super Daddy though spending as much time with them as possible including taking them for a spin on the back of his bike - a first for Eliza. She loved it. It's been an odd summer with my being enormously pregnant for the first half and then housebound for the second. It hasn't really felt like summer. Then again, maybe it's always summer in LA.  I can't believe Back to School clothes are already on the shelves in stores and that Addie will be starting kindergarten in a month.





My mom is still here with us for this week - thank goodness as she's been an immense help! She, Addie and Eliza are all bunking together, Addie enjoying the inflatable mattress. We've already kicked Xavier out of our room. He's shacked up in his bassinet in the office at night. Life in a two bedroom apartment!

Welcome Xavier!

Welcome Xavier!

Born July 26, 2011 at 7:44 in the morning
9 lbs 12 oz
21 inches


We are crazy in love with our little boy!

D-Day

Today is my due date. I'm 40 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby boy that may - or may not - weigh 11 lbs.

This has been some week. It started out with the stomach flu on Sunday night and contractions that made me pray I wouldn't go into labor under these circumstances. Thankfully Thor stayed in and I was feeling fully recovered by Tuesday when I painted our office with the thought that maybe we could make this the nursery. Then on Thursday I got rear ended driving to buy a baby album which resulted in my being completely hysterical after the accident, getting my blood pressure taken by an extraordinarily handsome fireman, minor damage to my car (the other guy's car was totaled), and a full fetal diagnostic at my doctor's office and then the hospital. Baby and Mommy are both doing fine and the nurse gave me some of that post-partum fruit juice nectar with the crushed ice that I remember so fondly.

While getting Thor checked out, I learned from the ultrasound that he is measuring 10 lbs 12 oz already. My doctor strongly recommended that we schedule a c-section to avoid any possible risk of shoulder dystocia associated with delivering a big baby which could result in paralysis of his arm. Tuesday is the Big Day. This was a tough decision as people have big babies all the time that pop out healthy and the ultrasounds notoriously overestimate the size, but this is a decision between my doctor and myself in the interest of bringing my healthy baby boy into the world. I don't much care for risk. After much worrying and deliberation, I found the many stories and words of encouragement from other c-section mamas to put my heart and mind at ease.  Now, what I'm most anxious about is no longer the surgery or the recovery but being away from my two little girls for 4 nights. Cap's dad is taking on the monumental and saintly task of watching both girls while I'm in the hospital before my Mom comes on Friday night and I get released on Saturday.

Unless I go into labor before, we'll be celebrating the birth of our baby boy on July 26. Til Tuesday . . .

Pre-Baby Maternity Leave

With Addie I worked past my due date. With Eliza I took a week off and then she came 6 days late. With this guy, I promised myself I would try to take more time to relax and get ready. With two wild little girls I need this. Of course I don't know when the big guy is going to make his debut, but the plan is to take 3 weeks off before my due date.

While on pre-baby maternity leave, I was expecting more time lounging around the house in my pjs watching daytime TV but that hasn't been the case - yet. I guess that's for when the baby is here and I'm a slave to a milk sucking podling. Instead, I've been busy checking things off my To Do List, going to the doctor and, yes, seeing a lot of movies in the theater. This has been a priority.  I've seen 6 movies, the last one being Super 8 where I was the only person in the entire theater. I've been loving the time to myself.

I've taken the girls out of the aftercare program at school so I pick them up at 3 and pretend I'm a stay at home mom for a few hours. Also within the two weeks I've been off, Addie was home sick from school one day last week and then Eliza today (no movies for me). Maternity leave isn't reality though as no one expects me to "keep house." If this was my job, going to the movies every day probably wouldn't fly. Right now, I'm carrying a gigantic baby (more on that below) and can barely walk across the house without needing to sit down so if I want to go to the movies, I go to the movies.

One of the activities we've done at home is painting Mommy. We bust out the face paint and I let the girls use me as a canvas. It's win-win. I get to sit down for a while and they can exercise their creativity. In this belly masterpiece, there are two flowers and a girl with long, long white and silver hair that circles my stomach.







So about this big baby. Today my doctor gave the baby a label - macrosomia - perhaps a  term you have heard used in the news lately in regards to a particular record-breaking behemoth of a baby born in Texas. Am I freaking out that I'm going to have a 16 pounder? No, but there are certainly health risks involved if the baby is larger than normal. My doc said he thought everything would be fine and I'd have a normal delivery but he did warn me that if there is any concern, he would do a c-section. I'm going in for another ultrasound next week where we'll know more. He told me some horror story about a baby getting stuck and it's shoulder becoming dislocated resulting in paralysis of that arm. No thank you! I want the baby out in whatever manner ensures his health and safety, and mine. My doc also thought the baby wouldn't come early. Looks like I might get another week of movie going.

22 months

While baby brother hasn't emerged yet, this is the age that Eliza will become a Big Sister - 22 months.

Eliza continues to grow into a joyous and confident toddler. She talks so much more often now, although I think only her teachers and family get to hear it. Right now, she should have been asleep an hour ago, but she's alternating between singing and shouting Happy Birthday from her crib. Other favorite songs include ABC and Patty-Cake. She wants to do everything her big sister does, and we are hoping this will mean getting potty trained early. I'm not holding my breath.

She has taken a fondess to the baby doll, which Addie named Freddie when she was 2. Eliza changes Freddie's diaper, gives her a bottle and races her around the house in the stroller. I'm hoping she'll be as caring to her little brother because she is going to be in for a big surprise! Currently, I think she believes that my belly button (which she calls a belly butt) is named Baby Brother.

Happy Fourth!

This weekend it really started to feel like summer. We swam, played in the backyard, hung out with friends and ate cupcakes. Let me tell you, floating in a pool at 37 weeks is a treat.

I miss fireworks, something I've found ellusive in LA, but otherwise it was a fine holiday weekend.  Ironically Addie insisted on having a tea party on Independence Day.

I'm also grateful that Cap decided not to attend his 20th high school reunion in Oregon this weekend as we all rely so much on his help and support as baby Thor makes it harder and harder for me to get around. I went to my doctor today and was told that Thor decided to flip around and is now feet first - not good. I'm pretty sure he did that yesterday as I felt like a bobcat had been trapped in my gut. I go back for an ultrasound on Thursday and am hoping he'll decide to rotate on his own again before I go into labor.








We stuck the slide in the splash pool in our backyard.


And I wonder why we keep finding leaks. Eliza insisted on wearing her sister's swim cap in our yard.