November was a busy month!

October flew by, with Halloween and Brick or Treat at Legoland being the highlights of the month. And November was a packed month with events. I also took Emi out of daycare about once a week to have a day of fun, since she should be able to take advantage of my maternity leave, too!

I took Emi to see a helicopter, since she loves Harold the Helicopter from her Thomas books. One of the moms in the group was a firefighter, and she arranged for us to go see her friends who man the one that scoops up water and drops it on fires. I thought Emi would love it, since we were allowed to get in and sit in the cockpit. But the noise of it landing scared Emi, and she didn't want to go near it. But we got some cute pictures of her wearing the helmets!

We then went on a road trip to Perris, near Riverside, to ride and see Thomas the Train. Emi still loves Thomas, and The Crack in the Track is still in the nightly bedtime routine. Scott says that he has the entire thing memorized, and can recite it without having to look at the words anymore.

And the highlight of the month was going to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live. Emi is absolutely obsessed with Gabba (she was DJ Lance for Halloween), and there are days when we watch 8 episodes or so throughout the day! Our seats were on the balcony and on the edge, and it was a little spooky to be up that high with Emi, but I think she had a good time. I think Emi was more in awe of the show than anything else, since she sat on Scott's lap the entire time with her eyes wide, and mouth slightly open. She didn't want to dance, but given how high up we were on the balcony, that was probably a good thing. For the next 2 weeks, Emi kept on asking if we were going to see Gabba Live again, so we keep telling her that we'll go again next year (if she thinks they are still cool by then...).

For all these events, Hana came and slept through them all. See, what did I tell you - easy baby! December is going to be a packed month, too. We already put our lights up, picked out a tree, and Emi helped decorate it. This weekend we are going to see Santa, we have a friend's bday party to attend, cookies to bake (Emi is taking after her dad and likes to help cook), and we'll end the year with Xmas and a visit from Theresa and family. Whew, here we go!

3 months already?

Time has been flying by since we had Hana, and I feel guilty for not updating. First, I want to say that having a second baby is not easier (as everyone says it will be) because you already know what to do. Breast feeding and lack of sleep is always challenging, no matter how many kids you have. We got off to a rocky start with feeding, and it was a similar experience to Emi's first weeks. Hana lost over a pound in the first 2 days, and milk supply seems to be an issue with me. But after weeks of wanting to quit, we finally got into a good groove and feeding is going well. BUT, things are going so well, Hana does not want to take a bottle now (as Scott found out on Friday when he was at home with 2 kids). The other big challenge was that Hana did not poop, and the longest stretch we had was 14 days. Everyone I tell that to falls out of their chair, but we are on track in that department now, too!

Hana is also a very different baby than Emi was. I thought they would be identical, for some reason. But fortunately, Hana is very laid back and relaxed, and she hardly cries (although the past 2 days have been a little off for her). She was sleeping about 6 hours a night in her 6th week or so, and now sleeps from about 9pm to 5am. Since I am staying up at night to pump, I am not getting as much sleep but I hope to phase that out in the next few weeks.

I go back to work at the beginning of the new year, and find myself trying to think of any and all options to either not go back, or keep Hana home with me. Maybe it's because Hana is an easier baby to take care of, but I am finding this transition much more difficult than it was with Emi (maybe because I was flying solo at that time, and the financial aspect also weighs on me). But it's looking like there is no way I can not work, so we are looking into how we can keep Hana at home for the first year or so.

I mainly came on here tonight to see when Emi rolled over for the first time. I see that she did it at 3 months and 2 days. Hana rolled over for the first time on Monday, and she was 3 months and 1 week. But, Hana rolled over from her back to her tummy, and then from her tummy back onto her back. It's neat to see that both girls reached that milestone at about the same time.

I can't wait to see what else Hana does in the next months, and I'll try to be better about updating, in case anyone other than Scott is reading :-)

Welcome Hana Rae

Dear Hana,
Your first name means "flower" in Japanese, and that is a name that both your dad and I knew you were going to be named since we found out you were going to be a girl. Something about it just clicked with us, and we knew that was your name. Your middle name is one that we both liked and thought flowed nicely with Hana.

We met you on Saturday, August 27th, 2011 at 1:26pm. I started feeling something that morning at about 5am, and actually thought it was just gas pains. The feeling was very low in my pelvis, and didn't feel like the waves (aka contractions) that I felt with Emi, so I figured this was something different. I started timing them, and they were anywhere from 15 minutes apart to 8 minutes apart, so nothing consistent. Emi actually came into our room a little after 5am (which is early for her to wake up), so maybe she had a feeling you were coming before I even knew! Your dad decided to take her back to her room, and since I was wide awake I decided to start packing a bag to head to the hospital since I figured you would come this weekend sometime.

I was still feeling the "gas pains" at 8am, so we decided to skip Emi's swim class that morning. I had a list of things to get at Costco, and your dad had a Men's Warehouse credit certificate that expired that day (I was not going to let a $100 free cash certificate expire!), so I told Scott and Emi to go out and run some errands and then check in on me to see how I was doing. Maybe that was not the best idea, but your dad got 4 very nice ties without spending any cash!

After they left, I decided to lie down on the couch and try to rest and watch some TV. I downloaded a contraction timer app for my phone, and was noticing that I was having irregular waves, anywhere from 8 minutes apart to 4 minutes apart, and that they were all about 45 seconds long. After about an hour on the couch and not being able to take a nap, I decided to take a shower. Once I stood up, I noticed that they got a bit stronger. Every time I had one, the most comfortable position for me to get into was to bend forward and lean on something (the bed, the sink, my knees, whatever there was to lean on) and gently rock side to side. I didn't think I needed to put in my Hypnobabies CDs yet, and each time I had one I just said "Relax" in my mind, and rode them out until it was done. I am guessing it was about 11am when Scott checked in, and I told him to come home right away, and that I was calling my parents to come over and watch Emi for us.

Your dad got home all stressed out because there was construction traffic and it took twice the amount of time that it usually takes. He called my parents to avoid that street, but they forgot the cell phone at home and got stuck in it too. In the meantime, I paged the doctor on call (Dr. Zaid, who also delivered your sister) and told her what was going on. I still didn't think I was in labor, and she said we should go to the hospital and they would call her if she needed to come in. Once my parents got here, we loaded up the car and left for the hospital.

I put my Hypnobabies CD in for the car ride there (with earphones), and closed my eyes and tried to listen and relax. With my eyes closed, I could still follow all the turns and pretty much knew where we were, but it seemed like a quick ride and was actually surprised when Scott said "we're here" and helped me out of the car. We walked into the L&D wing, and as soon as we walked through the doors, I had to lean on my knees and ride out another wave. A doctor came out of a room at that time, and was up at the registration desk when we got there. I gave them my name and told them that I was having waves about 3 minutes apart, and he looked at us and smiled and said "Sounds like it's coming soon!". Duh. We checked in at about 12:15pm.

They put us into a room, and found that I was about 8cm dilated and that the baby was very low. They called the doctor to come in. I told them that I was starting to feel "pushy", and they said to just breath through them. I had my earphones in and was concentrating on relaxing and breathing, so the majority of this is what your dad described to me. While we were waiting for Dr. Zaid, the nurses said that you would be here very soon. When he asked for a more specific description of "soon", they said probably within the hour. At this point, I was having waves every 4 minutes, and they were about 2 minutes in length. It didn't feel like they were that long, it still felt like they were only 45 seconds long. Dr. Zaid arrived and started setting things up. I told her that I really felt like I needed to push, so she checked me and said it was ok, and to follow what my body was telling me to do, and she started putting her gown on. She also said that you were in a position that would be better if I rolled onto my right side. As soon as I did that, I felt the next wave come and you crowned. The nurse said "Doctor, there's the head, you better hurry up!". With the next wave, you were born. You had your hand up by your cheek, and that's how you joined the world, and I still see that's a favorite place for you to put your hand. Your were born at 1:26pm, and I am shocked and amazed at how fast your birth was. I am also in awe of the human brain, and that I was able to do all this drug free, without constantly listening to my Hypnobabies CDs (like I had to when Emi was born). I didn't even have time to switch to the Pushing Phase track!

After your birth, they put you on my chest and you looked at us and eventually fell asleep. We held off on weighing you and giving you a bath, but we later found out you were 8 lb, 2 oz. I'm glad you came on your own, one day after your due date. The doctor was guessing that you might be 9 lbs when you got to be one week overdue, so maybe you knew this and decided to just come now (if so, thanks!). Plus, I could finally stop the high protein diet I got put on at 36 weeks to keep you from putting on too much more weight.

As I write this, we are home and you are sleeping in your pack and play next to our bed. It's the middle of the night, and I can't sleep. It's cute to listen to you breath and the little noises that you make while you sleep. I can't wait to see you grow up, and see how you and Emi are similar and how you are different (you look just like she did when she was born), and I hope you two become the best of friends. I wish the very best for you, and a lifetime of love, smiles and happiness.

Love, Mommy

Growing up, and the big girl bed

I never thought of myself as a sappy person, but these days I can't help but look at Emi and realize that she's not a baby anymore and get all emotional about it. I see her talking more, starting to understand the world around her, and wanting to do things by herself without my help. She sits in booster chairs at restaurants now, rather than a high chair. She knows the dogs are not supposed to be on the couch and tattles on them when they get up there. She know that cars can go "crash" (that's a Scott related story for another time - no worries, not his car), that the stove is hot, and that the juicer is loud. She's in a big girl bed.

Knowing that we'll need the crib for Baby Z2 in a few months, we decided to get Emi a twin bed. We let her pick out her own sheets (she wanted Thomas the Train), and we set it up on Saturday. I was expecting it to be a long and sleepless weekend, good thing it was a holiday!

Saturday night, we put her to bed, and she didn't want to go to sleep. I'm sure it was strange for her. She cried for about 15 minutes, and when she was asleep for about 15 minutes we left the room. At about 11pm, Scott and I were downstairs watching TV. We heard a big thump (Emi falling off the bed), then little feet running, then another louder thump (Emi running out of her room and smack into a wall). When Scott ran up to see her, she was lying in the hallway holding her head and crying "owie, owie". Am I horrible to think this is funny? Emi, when you are old enough to read this, I'm sure you'll be laughing, too.

The following morning, she woke us up at 6am by coming into our room (this is the part I dreaded) and was ready to play and start the day. That day, we went and got a bed rail. The rest of the weekend wasn't bad, but she does seem to have a wacky internal clock that has her coming into our room at 6am on the dot.

On Tuesday night, she fell out of bed, even with the bed rail. The instructions say that you have to leave a 9 inch gap at the top of the bed (where the pillow normally is), but she managed to fall out of that 9 inch gap. I put her huge Pooh stuffed animal there to catch her, and Wed night she was very concerned about Pooh being in just the right place to catch her. I also stuffed a blanked under the sheet in that corner to hopefully prevent any more falls. No falls last night, but she did wake up on and off all night until about 1am and came into our room every time.

Hopefully she'll be in a routine in about a week, and we can all start sleeping through the night again. But for now, I'm glad that she still wants to cuddle and sleep with her mommy and daddy. At least she still needs us...

Baby Z #2 - first trimester thoughts

We had an inkling that I was pregnant in Dec, and mid-Dec I took a test and confirmed that I was pregnant. So we got through the holidays not telling anyone, and I only took a sip of wine here and there so that no one would think I was acting odd and call us out on it. Xmas week, I got sick with a cough, sore throat and a runny nose, and it was hard not being able to take any medication. So the cough stayed with me for what seemed like 3 months (ohoh, whooping cough thoughts definitely entered my mind). I felt pretty horrible, and don't really know if it was just from being sick, or if it was pregnancy related at all.

This second pregnancy so far treated me worse than the first (again, I don't know if it was just because I was sick and it lingered so long). But I didn't feel like eating anything at all, all day long. I felt bloated, had cramping, and actually felt nauseous the majority of the time (but no sickness, thank goodness!). I knew I had to eat something, so i felt like I was forcing myself to eat every day. The only thing I felt (after the cold went away) was drastically thirsty all the time.

Given that I felt differently this time around, I started to think that maybe it was going to be a boy - "This boy is already making me feel miserable, and it's not even born yet." But in the back of my mind, I think I was hoping that it would be another girl. I liked the idea that there would be no surprises. We already have a girl, and know what the first year is going to be like. I know, everyone says that personalities are drastically different and you won't experience the same thing - but at least I won't have to buy an entirely new wardrobe for the baby, and I won't need to buy the peepee teepees if it's a girl! I think that's what I'm scared of the most - changing boy diapers, getting peed on, and cleaning IT. But just to be on the safe side, I started buying Emi all gender neutral colored clothes/shoes, and even looked at blue and brown PJs with footballs on them for her (but didn't buy the PJs because I realized I getting extreme).

Scott went with me to the first trimester screening, and everything looked right on track. The only item that we had to watch was the location of the placenta, which was low and covered a bit of my cervix. In cases like this, you normally have to have a C-section, and I would have to have an amnio to make sure the lungs develop fully. My doc said that 99% of the time it corrects itself, so she wasn't worried and said I shouldn't either. This was also the cause of the cramping that I was feeling (whew, at least nothing really serious was causing it). We'll just check again during he 2nd trimester screening.

For some reason, I'm not as excited to be pregnant this time around. One day, as we were talking about a possible work trip in July, I forgot that I was pregnant. Scott had to remind me that I would be 8 months pregnant in July, and probably couldn't go. I guess it's because the experience isn't new anymore, that the giddiness isn't here. I am not researching baby things on the Internet 24/7, and not telling everyone on the face of the planet that I am pregnant. AND, I felt like I started showing in the second month and started wearing my maternity jeans (it might be holiday weight... but hey, at least there is no guilt about pulling out the pregger clothes and feeling obligated to go on a diet!). I did have a little apprehension but the possibility of a miscarriage. I don't know why, but the thought was always in the back of my mind (don't pick heavy things up, don't exercise, just in case...). Maybe that's why I didn't really want to tell anyone that I was pregnant, at least not until we get past the first trimester.

So, Baby Z #2, coming in late August. My guess date is August 26th (hmmm, Emi was July 26th and she didn't come till August), so I am thinking it's going to be a Sept baby. We'll see!

What a difference a year makes!

Sorry I haven't written in so long. I can't believe the last time I wrote was August. It seems like such a long time ago, yet really nothing significant has happened since then.

I had a girl's weekend in San Antonio in October.
We dressed up as garden gnomes for Halloween.
Emi took her first trip to Vegas in November. She didn't do too well at the slots, but Scott did!
We had a great Thanksgiving and Xmas, with a lot of face time with Scott's family.
We had a very uneventful New Years, with me falling asleep on the couch at about 9:30pm. Scott woke me up at midnight, and then I promptly fell back asleep.

What I couldn't help thinking tonight is what a difference a year makes in the life of a baby. Last year, Emi was too young to really appreciate Xmas. This year she was still a tad too young (I think next year is going to be a fun one), but she was at least able to play with toys and really enjoyed the cookies that Papa made. Last year she was eating baby food, and this year she is almost eating everything we eat (although she is a picky eater). Last year, getting her to sleep was pretty painful with lots of rocking and singing and crying, but now it only takes a few minutes to get her to sleep. She might cry a little bit on a rare occasion, but after 5 minutes she's usually fast asleep. And the biggest difference is that she's walking, and running, and trying to communicate (in the form of whining mainly).

The one thing that strikes me is how little she's gotten sick this year (knock on wood, since it's still the middle of winter). Last year, it seemed like we were at the doctor and on antibiotics almost every other week. This year, she got a runny nose and seemed pretty congested prior to Xmas, but other than that she's seemed really healthy. Even with molars coming in this fall, she did great.

Parenting has not gotten easier, but I think Scott and I are more comfortable with it. Everyday is something new, and right now the excitement of all the positive changes (I can't wait until she talks clearly!) outshine the negative (like when applesauce ends up all over the dogs after a bowl chuck).

So we had a pretty good 2010, and I look forward to a fun and exciting 2011. Happy New Year!