A Letter from Mommy- Genevieve

Dear Genevieve,

It is crazy to think that you have officially been a part of our lives for 2 months already. You arrived 5 days early, although I was ready for you to arrive a week or so ahead of that.   You must have thought that I needed a pedicure, because you waited until after a girls day at the spa with Grandma and Aunt Megan.  The nurses commented on my pretty colored toes.   Although the contractions were hard, your delivery was quick (10 minutes of pushing!)   You were a big baby, although not as big as your older sister.   Like Eleanor, you were born with full head of hair that everyone comments on.   You gave us a little scare with your umbilical cord wrapped around your neck, but you were fine once you got out.   With only 10 minutes of pushing, you did not wait for Aunt Megan to arrive so she could be there during your birth.  You can tell people you had your first visitor in the middle of the night (Aunt Megan could not wait to meet you and was there at 2AM).   I loved having you in my room during the hospital stay, it gave Daddy and me time to get to know you before we took you home.   Your big sister was really excited to meet you and has loved you since day one.   She always wants to help in any way she can, and lets Daddy and I know if you need anything.  

The first month was a little rough since we were dealing with your reflux.   You were eating every 2 hours during the day, pretty much all the time in the evening and waking once or twice in the middle of the night (sometimes wanting to eat off and on for 3 hours).   By week four I needed a change, so we went to eating every 2.5 hours during the day.   It was amazing the difference that made.  You started sleeping longer at night and are now sleeping 7-9 hours straight!  You may not have been as good of a sleep as your sister in the beginning, but you are at the same point she was at this age.   It is like you knew I was heading back to work and decided to take it easy on me.   I do miss our middle of the night cuddle times... sometimes.

You are a great eater and it shows!   Breastfeeding with you has been a breeze from the first time. You are pacifier specific and did not want to take one until you were a month old.   I think you surprised the doctor at your 2-week appointment with how much weight you had gained.  Growth has not been an issue with you.   Like your older sister, our guess is you will be topping the charts on weight and height.

You are like your cousin, Liam, in the sense that you don't always like to be held and you are not a fan of being swaddled.  You like to lay down and check things out on your own, with your legs and arms free to explore.  You love your changing table and crib.  Your changing table is your 'happy place,' if you are not happy there, you are not happy anywhere (including Mommy and Daddy's arms)   The fan and mobile are some of your best friends. Like your sister, car rides put you to sleep, but you would rather not be in your car seat if you don't have to be. You are a long baby, enough so that none of your 0-3 month clothes fit (and the majority of them have not fit in a month).   You have slept in your crib since night one and have never had a problem with it.   I love cuddling with you after your morning feeding, I have missed it since going back to work in the mornings.  

The smiles you started giving us a few weeks ago have melted our hearts and make our day. It thrills your sister when she can make you smile... your Mommy and Daddy love it as well.  Your day-care providers have loved you from day one and miss you when you are home with Mommy in the afternoons.  They will be happy to have you all day starting next week.  You sleep in your crib like a champ at day-care, and have initiated two of the three providers with your reflux issue.  

You hardly cry and are content with being dragged around from place to place.   That is a good thing since your big sister does not like to stay at home.  You do pretty well when I put you in the Moby or Ergo baby carrier, this helps a lot!

You really are a great baby and we could not have asked for a better second child.  Your sister set the bar very high, and you have managed to top it!

I love you more than I ever dreamed imaginable, and look forward to watching your grow-up (but not too fast please). You are the greatest gift God could have given to your Daddy and I.

Love,
Mommy

Newborn Pics: Mommy and Daddy

We didn't forget to get a couple of just Mommy and Genevieve, as well as Daddy and Genevieve.  I also though it would be fun to have a picture of her little feet with the symbols of marriage and love that started it all.

Playground Time

With the beautiful weather, we have made a few trips to the park.   Genevieve tends to sleep, while Daddy or Mommy and Eleanor play.   Our house is right behind Nick's head... very close to the playground!

Time to Go Home

All ready to head home from the hospital!

Saturday Update: 5 hour stretch and more

Since I didn't get around to a 5 on Friday post, here is a Saturday Update:

Genevieve decided that she would go 5+ hours between feedings last night, from 10PM to 3:20AM. I went to bed shortly after she was done feeding at 10PM, so I was able to enjoy almost all of the long stretch. Of course when she got up at 3:20AM she was up for two hours straight (I am usually back in bed in 40-60 minutes). Between eating, dirty diapers and being fussy there was no break. 5 minutes after I got back to bed, Ellie woke up crying (which is not normal for her). Since I wasn't fully asleep yet, I went into take care of her. 30 minutes after that I got to enjoy my warm bed again. I think in total I actually LOST sleep on the whole deal with Genevieve since she woke up again at 7:20AM (excluding the time spent getting up with Ellie). Not sure which I prefer, the consecutive sleep or the longer amount... a combo of both would be perfect. Thanks to Nick who let me go back to sleep after Neve's 7:20AM feeding. He tended to Ellie and her early 6:30AM wake-up (she has been getting up between 7:15-7:30AM lately). She only came in to see me 5 or so times... at least I felt loved.

Ellie is really into helping with Neve. She really enjoys helping change the diapers. She brings her step stool and puts it right in the middle of Neve's changing table so she can get in on the action. While I love that Ellie wants to help, it is a little difficult trying to change a dirty diaper with a 2 year old in the way. I guess I will learn to change a diaper in a different fashion so Ellie can be in on the action.

Ellie started visiting the next room up at day-care. She officially starts in the new room on Monday. We are excited that she is moving up to the next level, but we will really miss her teachers in the current room. At night one of us lay in bed with her and sing songs. Last week she wanted to sing a song that neither of us knew... she told us to "Ask Alyssa tomorrow." Alyssa is one of her teachers and I guess Ellie thought Alyssa should teach us the song. Alyssa thought that was pretty funny. When Alyssa goes home early (before Ellie) Ellie says, "Alyssa go home. I sad." It is cute. The teachers have done a wonderful job teaching Ellie her numbers, colors and shapes. It is amazing how much she knows!

Nick goes back to work full time on Monday. He used the time off to get things done around the house (and bike) so that he was able to help out the entire night once Ellie was home. It will be different without that extra time, but we will get used to it. Genevieve and I are going to start his first day back on a positive note and visit him at work. We will also stop and see my department while we are in the building.

We had a great Easter at my Aunt Janet and Uncle Steve's! Genevieve ate every hour, but we still had a great time and people got to see the newest addition to the family.

First Few Minutes

A couple pictures from the early morning hours of March 25th, 2012:

Genevieve Marie's Birth Day!

Daddy and Genevieve making sad faces.
Genevieve's lower lip cry looks exactly like Ellie's!

Mommy and Genevieve meeting for the first time.

Genevieve decided to arrive so quickly that Aunt Megan was a few minutes late to the actual birth. We did not want to make Aunt Megan hang around the hospital all night and the next morning, so we waited to call until we were further than 5cm dilated--- the next check was when we were ready to push! Less than 20 minutes from when we called Megan, Genevieve was born. Megan still got to enjoy the first few minutes of Genevieve's life... at 2AM! That is one dedicated aunt!

A few randoms

Reason # 357 that Eleanor is my daughter:

A calculator in one hand and cleaning tools in the other. Notice that she is happy about it.

Ellie is an artist. She loves to do any kind of art and comes home from day-care with tons of art work. Instead of buying pictures for her bedroom wall, we decided to frame her art work! Ellie is very proud of her 'art gallery.'

The other month Ellie had a cold and wanted her own box of tissues since she had been blowing her nose by herself. I wanted to encourage to keep up the good work, so I let her have a box by her bed. This is what I found the next morning... I learned that leaving a box by the bed is OK, but maybe not a brand new box.

37 Week Ultrasound

Yesterday we had the pleasure of seeing the little one on the ultrasound screen one more time. The Drs. wanted to determine approximately what size baby we were looking at since I had been consistently measuring big since week 28, and Ellie was on the large size and early.

Baby is still a girl (not that we were worried she wouldn't be) and is measuring approximately 7 lbs. 9 oz. as of Thursday afternoon. Gaining a half lb. a week (which babies do on average the last few weeks of pregnancy), that would put her not that far off from Ellie's 8 lbs. 15.4 oz. at birth if we went close to full term. That I can do, and I was excited to hear she had not passed the 8 lb. mark yet!

In other news, my blood pressure came back good as well!

I had false contractions all day on Thursday and into the early morning Friday (I was finally able to fall asleep around 3:30AM). They were getting stronger at night, but nothing consistent or any decent length in time that would justify waking up Nick to keep track of them. The Dr. says false contractions help your body prepare for the real thing, so I guess I should view this as a positive. I don't mind them during the day, but could go without them when I am trying to sleep. 2. 5 hours of sleep when I have to work all day the next day is not what I call fun. Since baby tends to move around at night I have been trying to wake her up during the day (my sleep training while in the tummy routine). Maybe this is her way of trying to sleep train me, and let me know that going on 2.5 hours of sleep is going to become the norm. If so, we are going to have some serious talks when she actually arrives. Until then, she is winning and my sleep is suffering. At least it is almost the weekend and since I cleaned most of the house yesterday I will be able to relax and take naps during nap-time.

2-Year Photos Continued...

Mommy's New Toy... or is it Ellie's?

Nick completely surprised me with a Kindle Fire for Christmas. His reasoning was that I could use it while I was nursing/pumping after the new baby was born. Less than a week earlier I had mentioned to him that I was going to start saving up my money and get an iPad next fall/winter. This was a few weeks after he had ordered the Kindle. He told me if I wanted the iPad instead, I could get it now. So... after a little research and testing I ended up with the iPad. I love the larger size and the faster processing compared to the Kindle. And in the long run, I think the iPad will suit my needs a little better. Although, the Kindle Fire is an awesome tablet and it was a touch decision.

Since I got the iPad I have read 4 books, checked out from the library, and am absolutely in love. I am not the only one:



Someone else in the household calls it "her's" and get upset when we have to take a break from it. My co-worker suggested downloading an Elmo & Grover book and Ellie loves it! Of course she also loves to watch "ABC's" and "Baa Baa" on YouTube as well. What expensive taste our little girl has.

New Furniture

I called Homemakers on Saturday to check on the status of our furniture order. The first group of items were supposed to be in this week sometime. The second group were not due until April. The wonderful customer service rep I talked to said everything from the first delivery was in except for a couple of nightstands (which will fit in our car if they are not in before delivery on Friday). And when I went to set up delivery, they asked if we wanted the second group of items delivered as well, or if we wanted to wait for the last counter stool to come in. I asked the lady to repeat herself, since I was not expecting the items to be in for another 3+ months. Sure enough--- everything but one counter stool has arrive (and the counter stool will fit in the car very easily!) So... our furniture is set to arrive sometime on Friday!!! All but those three small pieces. I feel like a kid the week before Christmas.

This also means that Ellie will have her first night in her big girl bed on Friday, and we will have all weekend to work on keeping her in bed before we have to go back to work/day-care. I am nervous- but given how wonderful she has been with all the other changes it will probably be easy (and if not, we are about due for a difficult venture). AND she will get to use the new bedding I picked out for her! I have been eying the bedding since we first found out we were having a girl almost 2 1/2 years ago! When they were discontinuing it this past fall I finally broke down and purchased it. I hope Ellie likes it as much as I do. I know, she probably won't care, but I can pretend. When the day-care lady asked her what color her new room was (when we first moved into the new house) she said purple... it is currently green. Now she will get the purple room she wanted! Pictures to come once we get everything set-up.

*And once we have Ellie's furniture we can set-up the baby's room and I can start unpacking the bins of tiny little girl clothes that are in the basement! Lots of fun to keep me busy for the next 10-12 weeks.

Baking

Ellie and Mommy had baking morning the other week. Then had a baking evening a few days later. Ellie LOVED to 'help' in any way she could. As you can see by the bottom pictures, she was a very good 'taste tester'. I think that was her favorite part.

Waukee WinterFest

The other week we went to Waukee's Winterfest with our friends, the Beltman Family. It was a little cold outside waiting in line for Santa- but was still really fun. Ellie was only a little afraid of this Santa. I think it helped that her friend, Sophia, talked to Santa first. It was neat going to our first town gathering now that we officially live in Waukee.

Ellie and Daddy hanging out waiting for Santa.
The line is slowly moving... lots of people to visit Santa.

Ellie did not want to sit on Santa's lap, but was OK sitting on Mommy's.

Iowa Orchard

This is my favorite picture from Ellie and my trip to the Iowa Orchard pumpkin patch last weekend.

Ellie's Message

So 'tomorrow' means three days from now in a "moving in a week, totally overwhelmed pregnant ladies" mind.

Baby Liam!

Pictures of my sister and brother-in-law's little bundle of joy:

The only downfall--- there is a good chance he will be an ISU fan. To each their own.
Ellie meeting Liam for the first time. Yes Ellie, Liam does have a 'nose' and 'eyes' and 'mouth'. We had to hold her back from pointing out those features on him.
And a few days later when I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with him.
Such a sweet little guy!

Baby Shower Decorations

Last month I had the wonderful opportunity to throw a baby shower for my sister and future nephew/Godson. It was one week after my big exam, so I tried to make it as simple as possible. This is what I came up with...

I found this super cute graphic from http://www.etsy.com/:

This little guy quickly became the theme for the shower, and I used him as much as possible.

I knew I wanted to make a diaper cake. What a great way to provide the new mommy with tons of necessary things, have a cute decoration, and be able to use it as a game. First, I made the diaper sections (followed by two additional layers not pictured):

Then I added some ribbon and the various goodies I had picked up:

Although it isn't the greatest picture, here is the finished product (see the very bottom for a better picture):

I think I had a total of 20 different items on the cake. Mainly items that came recommended by Ellie and her parents (excluding the ISU hat that is on the top- that was not recommended by us at all.)

I printed out the giraffe graphic and made circles to be used on various items.

As part of the party favors, I did mini water bottles with the giraffe head.
Then I made sugar cookies using baby blue sugar.
Which was then packed like this:
And set out at the party:
To make the expectant Mommy's life a little easier, I had people address their thank you card envelopes, and printed out thank you cards that went with the theme (super easy and very cost effective vs. buying thank you cards in the store).
I wanted something else for the guests to do while they waited for everyone to arrive. I had originally tossed around the idea of making a cloth ABC book and having each guest color a letter page... but then Megan's 4th grade class did an ABC quilt for her--- so that idea was scratched.

Instead we did "Words of Wisdom for the Mother" cards.

For games we played "Time to Eat". You taste/smell each food and try to guess what it is made up of. I also removed the diaper cake from the middle of the room when we were playing "Time to Eat". Then we played the "Memory" game, trying to remember what was on the cake.

We also played "Name the Baby"... can you guess the baby names for these animals?

Goose Goat Swan
Owl Whale Tiger
Monkey Eel Skunk
Giraffe Crocodile Kangaroo

Of course there were the prizes for winning the games. Every new Mommy and Daddy need a little "Energy." And since new parents tend to wash their hands like crazy, this Bath and Body Works hand soap is perfect. (A friend of mine gave us this as a baby give and we loved it!!)
No baby shower can be complete without food.
I took the easy way out and ordered these cake balls for the dessert. They came from here: http://www.abiteofcake.com/ I have only had the strawberry one, but it was yummy!
Using my little giraffe heads again, I topped a few of the cake balls with the decoration.
And here is the final spread:

Thank you Costco for making it easy on me (see pre-made fruit bowl and veggie tray!)

And of course, a picture of the Guest of Honor, our mom and myself before the guests arrived (and a better picture of the baby cake).

Can you believe that the baby cake has 156 newborn diapers in it?!?!

I loved throwing this shower, and coming up with various ideas. I know this post is REALLY long, but I wanted to share everything (and have a record of it for myself). I think Megan and Bunky had a great time, I know I did.

Scotcheroos

Ellie helped me make scotcheroos the other week...

Her job was to taste test after I was done with the spatulas.

She approved.