Tea Time

With Baba. What could be sweeter?

First Day of School - Take II

On Thursday the 16th Bob went back to school for the 2nd time. Let me tell you what...when you have a newborn who has flipped her days and nights you are THANKFUL that you don't have to go back to work!!

Proud daddy of TWO beautiful daughters.

Round Up Parade

Etta got all decked out for the Rodeo Parade. But by the time we got down there she wouldn't put her cowboy hat back on...She sat contentedly in the chair the entire time. Wouldn't even get up for candy. But that was fine with us!

Her own little chair from Grandma Cynthia.



Check the pink boots!

Sleeping Babe

While I am not taking nearly as many sleeping pics of Mae as I did of Etta, I am still suckered in. Is there anything as cute as a sleeping baby?

Makes her legs look looooooong.



Lovin' on Auntie Christine.



Post-feeding. Best naps ever.



Cuddle bug.



Using the boppy.



And the Baby Leggs from Aunt Molly. Thanks Aunt Molly!

Coming Home

So the next few posts are probably going to be all out of order. Oh well.

Coming home from the hospital this time was so much different than last time. We knew more of what to expect, I was feeling much better physically, and well, it was just different I guess.

Getting ready to load up.



Loaded. So much different than this. Check the bottom pic.



Ready to hit the road.



We're home!

Budding Photographer

Thanks for the camera Aunt Molly! Etta loves it.

While we were getting ready to bath Mae we were trying to keep Etta occupied. The camera! Perfect. And she needed her own towel of course. But every time that Bob tried to get a picture of Etta, Etta wanted to get a picture of Bob!

So how does Etta like her?

Pretty darn well...

Wanting to be right by baby sister all the time.

After waking up...



When we read...



During bath time...



More reading...



While playing...



While having "alone" [unheld] time...




And at the Round Up parade!

Lewiston Grandparents

So I thought I should post these pics before Montana Grandma and Gramps get here next week...

Baba Steve's first glimpse. He stepped out during the pushing, but stayed close by.



Three generations.



Grandma Cathy's first hold. She was hanging out with Etta so she didn't get to be there right away.



And he did get to hold her! After Christine made him.



And sharing the joy together.

Because...

I can't seem to do a real post.

She Mae's hospital pic here

I'm a Big Sister!

Etta has been waiting quite awhile to be a big sister. Although the closer the date came, the less sure she was.

But the day arrived, she went to Grandma's house and was ready the next day to meet her new baby sister.

Her first peek was a bit tentative...



But she started to warm up.



And after a quick walk with Grandma around the hospital...



It was true love.



And one for comparison...

Etta Grace, Big Sister



Mae Victoria, Little Sister

The Arrival

So I guess that maybe I wasn't over-dramatizing Tuesday afternoon. Mae was just really ready to join the family.

To celebrate the first day of school and taking one last family-of-three date (we didn't realize just how last time it was actually going to be!) we went up and tried out Spot On Yogurt. Also swung by Petco to pick up a few things. I started having some contractions but just figured it was the end of the day, we were walking a lot, I was tired...the same old contractions I'd been having for the last six weeks.

The nurse had told me on Tuesday that if I was having contractions to lay down on my side. If they went away it wasn't labor.

So when we got home I stretched out on the couch. Bob bathed Etta and I started reading her books to get her ready for bed. Well, the contractions did NOT stop. They started increasing in intensity. To the point that I could barely read through them. Bob was again being super husband; bathing the dogs, putting toys away, getting annoyed with me when I wasn't doing anything...I started asking at about 8:00, "What minute does your watch say?" After three times asking he finally snapped. "Do you just want me to GIVE you my stupid watch?" (Remember, it was the first day of school!)

I called my friend Michelle who promptly said, "I am NOT the one that you should be on the phone with!" So I called labor and delivery to tell them the contractions were 7 minutes apart. "Call us back when they are 3-5." Next call to Christine. She picked up and immediately said, "Are you okay? Is it time? I'm coming over right now!" And hung up.

While waiting for her to come over I decided to get up and walk around. Again, they didn't stop. Christine called Cathy to fill her in on the situation. She said, "Yes, it would probably be good for you guys to come down and pick her [Etta] up right now." And a little voice called out from her room, "YES! I'm all packed up!!" Etta was ready to go!



By the time we got that all straightened out the contractions were 5 minutes apart and we headed in to the hospital. We walked into labor and delivery and the first nurse we saw said, "You aren't here to have a baby are you?! We have TEN babies on the floor and two other women already in active labor!" I tell you what - I was not leaving.

After an incredibly slow start - like so slow that they wanted to send me home - they finally decided to admit me at 2:00 a.m. At that point I decided to take a jacuzzi. I had the shakes horribly and was freezing. That was the best/worst (???) decision all night. Good in the sense that it dilated me two centimeters in about three contractions and bad in the sense that it dilated me....well, you get the point. I was the SCREAMING woman at the hospital that night!

Since I had gone in to natural labor there was some question whether or not I would be able to have an epidural. Thanks be to God that they decided it was safe. At 4:00 a.m. I got my pain drugs and felt MUCH better. But even through all of that my water still hadn't broken.

At about 6:30 the OB came. I was dilated to a ten and had "bulging waters". She broke my water and we waited - more. The nurse kept asking if I felt like pushing. "Nope. Not really. I think that I'm good." Christine finally said, firmly, "How about we just try pushing on the next contraction?" I got in three good pushes on that contraction. The nurse said, under her breath, "This may take awhile..." Second contraction, pushed once, pushed twice and the nurse said, NOT under her breath, "Stop pushing!! I have to get the doctor!!!" Then there was much rushing around while everything was prepared. The doctor got in place, I gave one more good push and there she came...



This labor went so much better than Etta's. Less painful, not any bleeding and no baby distress. Therefor I got to hold Mae, skin to skin, right away. For over an hour. It was truly magical.



Overall it was a truly incredible experience. I will be putting up big sister/little sister pics in a future post. Must try to go and see if Mae will wake up for at least a few minutes to eat. She sleeps a lot! (Isn't there a "like" button or something for comments like that?!)

First Day of School

The first day of school today was rainy. Bob's comment, "It doesn't feel like a Hawaiian shirt kind of a day...". Which is okay too I guess.



[Etta is pointing at baby sister if you are wondering...]

And even though we've been talking about the end of summer vacation, that daddy has to go back to work - to make money, etc. Etta was still kind of bummed today. She played well and didn't really seem to notice. But we went to Whitman for lunch and she, "Want more daddy!", "Daddy come home now", and "Etta wants fourth grade! Etta wants Janene! Where is my Janene?" Okay, so it's not all about Bob I guess. She looked very cute and ready for school sitting on the riser with the music text book in her lap. So ready for her own first day of school. Um, I'm not quite ready for that though. I know it is going to go fast enough!

This is my third (!) non-first day of school. Still a little bitter sweet but not really as noticeable. I think that the very impending birth of this baby is taking up the main part of my brain. That and trying to figure out the difference between "real" contractions (ie: labor) and just more, more, more Braxton Hicks.

Not being "at work" is kind of hard though. Hardest I think when we drive by Jenifer and Etta says, "That's mommy's school!" Bob thinks that he may have mentioned it once. And yesterday she said, "That's mommy's school! That's Jenifer!!" Seriously? I don't remember ever saying that. But I probably did. I know that I only taught there for six years, when will it stop feeling like "my" school? The "new" teacher has now already taught guitar class longer than I did. It's really not mine. I need to just let. it. go.

But I would not trade this time for anything. Really. Truly. Honestly. Completely. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to try to pry your kids out of bed so, so, so early so that you can get them to daycare and to work on time. I can't imagine not being here to see her come out from nap all wild-haired and sleepy-eyed. I can't imagine missing all those little things that you would never know that you missed. At the rate the economy is going I will "get" to work for probably 40 years after my kids are gone. Lucky me.

So for right now I am taking it easy, praying that Mae doesn't make an even earlier arrival, and oh yeah, after my (probably over-dramatized) "close call" yesterday afternoon, packing my suitcase!



[My clothes in the suitcase on the left, Mae's on the right and Etta's "going-to-Grandma's-house backpack on the far right. Hoping now that we are completely ready Mae decides to wait!]