Enna- 2 month letter

Enna,

You are actually 10 weeks old today and Mama is way behind on blogging due to the fun you have brought to our everyday life. :)

You have mellowed out some in the past month. You are smiling all the time now and love to be talked to. You definitely get A LOT of attention around here--sometimes too much for you to handle. You are the most smiley and talkative in the early morning and when you get your diaper changed.

You started sleeping longer hours in the night when I took you to PA this month for my cousin's wedding/Grandma's birthday. You traveled well on the plane, but HATED the car ride from Philadelphia to where we were staying. Most car rides were rather screamy, but you learned a little flexibility while we were there. You have tolerated the car much better in the past 2 weeks.

Now that you are only waking about once a night, I am starting to feel more rested, but look forward to a full night's sleep happening in the next few months. You are not easy to wake for a dream feed, so your longest stretch is usually from 7-8 pm until 3-4am. I wish you would start that stretch at 10 or 11, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

You love to be outside and like taking walks in the stroller as long as you don't have to be in your carseat. You like baths and your bouncy seat. And, you stay pretty content sometimes just lying on your back on the bed looking around.

You are super alert and have great head control which is something that people notice right away. You are soaking up the world around you and wanting so much to interact with it. I think that is probably why you struggle to nap during the day sometimes.

You are sleeping in your room all the time now and sleep on your tummy. You like to suck on your fist and pacifier to sleep. You don't put yourself to sleep very well, but prefer to be rocked or held. You also like to have your bottom patted. You are finally letting me sit when holding you when you are tired, so that is an improvement. There has been a lot less crying/screaming in our days and that makes me very grateful. You also love to sleep in the baby carrier. If you are having a rough day I strap you in there and you usually go right to sleep.

We are enjoying you so much. I sometimes feel sad that I don't always have as much time to spend loving on you, but I think you don't mind too much.

Love,

Mama

You weighed 11 lbs. 9 oz. and were 23 in. long at your 2 month checkup. That puts you in the 50th percentile for weight and 70th for height.

Nora's 3rd Birthday

Nora's birthday was on September 10th, but we celebrated a few days early with our family by going to the Old Settler's Day Parade and then going back to our house for a light lunch and cake. It was fun little time and we enjoyed celebrating Nora.

The kids loved the parade and enjoyed sitting by the curb. The rest of us sat under the shade of a tree.

Enna did great and slept pretty much the whole time!

I made this birthday banner the night before. I cut the letters out with scrapbook paper and then glued them onto card stock and strung it up with twine. I hope to use it for years to come. 

Nora requested a heart cake with pink icing and sprinkles. I saw something similar on Pinterest, so I gave it a shot. 

Nora: 3 year letter

Nora Cadence,

My sweet big girl! I feel like you have suddenly grown up overnight and I hardly recognize this little person you are becoming. When did you stop being my little baby?

You are such a fun person to be around. You are so full of life and personality and I love the things that make you so uniquely you.

You love to play, and play, and play. You spend hours and hours in your own imaginary little world. You love to play with your little princesses and little dollhouse people, but you also play with lots of other things: Aidan's castle men, pirate figures, animals, food etc... You love to play that your food is talking...especially things like cookies and grapes, but I've even caught you having conversations with two pieces of grated cheese. Your imagination is endless! You still very much like to play on your belly, but your new spot for playing is the kitchen table. You line everything up and sit there for hours. You also love playing with Aidan and you both have started really relating well in the past couple of months.

You are a free spirit. You don't mind your hair being wild and in your face. You love to pick out your clothes. You take off your clothes at all hours of the day and walk around in just your undies. You make messes. You laugh with your head flung back. You sing at the top of your lungs.

One thing that I especially see in you is a love for music. You catch on to songs quickly and have started singing along to Audrey Assad (your current favorite music!). You say, "Oh, that's my song!" or request different songs to listen to and immediately belt it out when you know the words. You are not a quiet singer, but you stay pretty well in tune and sing loudly and confidently. It makes us all stop and listen to you.

You don't really care to learn things from me. You have no interest in learning your letters or doing any type of formal "school." You do tell me you want to go to school, but you don't want me to teach you anything right now. I think I was a lot like that when I was a little girl too.

You are still very affectionate and sweet. You love to be held, to cuddle and to hold your fleecy blankets. You suck on your tongue as a comfort measure, but I am hoping you will break that habit eventually. The other day you were having a rough time after your nap and you came to the couch to sit with me. I cuddled you up in my arms and held you for a little while. Eventually you got up and I said, "Thanks for sitting with me." You turned and said, "Thanks for cuddling." Hands down one of the best mom moments of my life!

Nora, I can't wait to see what the next years of your life hold. You are so much fun and I am so very blessed to be your mother.

Happy 3 years!

Mama

Life these days...

Life with a newborn....wow. I forgot how demanding and exhausting they are. But they are oh so cute at the very same time. I have been walking around like a zombie, nursing every 3ish hours and cuddling this little nugget a lot. Apparently, I am the preferred napping spot (although she is finally getting accustomed to her bed-PTL!).

Our life is a 3 ring circus...or something akin to that. There are moments of peace and then moments of chaos, with the latter being most present. I find that either nobody needs anything, or everybody needs something at the same time.

My table is a constant mess of random toys, food, homeschooling materials etc... Nora has her own little imaginary world set up here each day with a variety of characters. I am so glad that she is so easily entertained and pleasant when she is stuck in her own world. 

This is kinda random too...but we got a fish. We acquired him a couple weeks before Enna was born. The kids were excited for about 2 days and then pretty much slacked off on wanting to feed him etc... They have bursts of interest so it hasn't been a complete waste of time to care for our new "pet."

Aidan is pretty obsessed with Enna. Nora is starting to love on her more now too. They love to talk to her now that she is more aware. They can be a tad overwhelming at times and I think she wants her space, but she seems to like them for the most part. She is starting to move her head in the direction of their voices, so she definitely recognizes them more and more.

All in all, it's busy around here. Hence, the lack of blogging, or even taking pictures. :) I hope to do some more writing as I find some here and there because I have been processing a bunch of stuff that I hope to write about soon.

Haphazard Homeschooling

So...Aidan started Kindergarten a couple weeks ago. He is going to "school" (enrichment program) 2 days a week from 9-2:15. The other days we are teaching him at home.

His first day went pretty well, but I was thoroughly surprised when he was less than excited (and even a little tearful) about being left at school. I thought he'd be jumping at the chance to be independent, but he clung to me and didn't want me to leave (probably a first for him). He was totally happy and talkative on the way home and just a tiny apprehensive the 2nd day. Since then, he's been totally fine. I think it's been really good for him and he seems super grown up now...except when he throws a fit about something silly (which is still kinda common these days).

I haven't been spending too long with him on the off days. It's been hard with a newborn. But we are getting things done slowly and I'm not too worried that he won't know what he needs to by the end of the year.

Nora wanted her picture taken on Aidan's first day. She looks so grown up too! I can't believe she turns 3 in just 2 weeks!

Enna Rhys- 1 month

Dear Sweet Enna,

It has been a little bit of a whirlwind since you came into this world a month ago.

You are so very precious to me and I am so grateful for the gift that you are. Your name (Enna) means "renewer" and Rhys means "enthusiastic." I am so excited to see how God uses you in the years to come.

This month has been an adjustment for us all. You have had to get used to being the 3rd baby and not always getting your every need met when you want. You have also had to go along with whatever plans we have for the day (you have even been to the zoo twice already!). While you don't seem to be the most flexible baby, I hope you adjust to our busy life.

You have the loudest cry/scream. That was one of the first thing I noticed when you were born. You are quite possibly a match for your older brother in that department, although you tend to give up on screaming a lot sooner than he ever did. You also have the cutest little lip quiver which accompanies the crying...but also happens when you are happy and looking around--cutest thing ever!

You don't  like the carseat, which is typical for a Simmons baby and scream/cry in the car most of the time. You don't really like to be tired either, and have a hard time settling down to sleep unless rocked, carried, shushed, patted, walked around, given a pacifier, or none of the above. :) You are not always very easy to figure out, but we are getting there.

You are an excellent eater and have grown so much this last month. You weighed 9 lbs. 5.5 oz and were 21 1/2 in. at your one month appointment. You nurse about 7-8 times a day (about every 3 hours). You wake up a couple times in the night to eat too, but I am hoping as you pack on the weight you will start sleeping longer stretches because I am so very tired these days.

You sleep on your tummy during the day (or in our arms) and we swaddle you at night and you sleep in our room/bathroom in the rock n play. I am ready to soon move you to your room at night though. Your naps are sporadic. Sometimes you sleep great and sometimes you are awake and fussy. There is really no way to predict what it will be. I think you and Nora must have some sort of secret club, because when one of you sleeps, the other doesn't.

I am really looking forward to getting to know who you are as you grow. Even though you've been fussy, you've still brought me so much pleasure. It is such a wonder to hold you and nurse you. I know that someday I'll miss all the extra cuddle time we've had this first month.

Love, Mama

Enna's Birth

This is the account of Enna's birth, written mostly for my own memory's sake. Some details may not be appreciated by all audiences, so be forewarned. :)

Like all my pregnancies, I started having contractions in my 8th month of pregnancy. With the other 2, I spent a night being monitored in the hospital (was put on bedrest with Aidan for 6-7 weeks, and had my "labor" stopped with Nora at 33 weeks, only to deliver her a month later). This time, I was determined that wasn't going to happen. I didn't want the unnecessary monitoring or hospital bills.

Around 34 weeks I started having episodes of regular contractions. They were mostly annoying and I knew not to expect anything to come of them. They didn't get much worse in intensity until about 37 weeks. By my 38 weeks appointment (when my last baby was born), I was pretty ready to get the show on the road, and I had my midwife strip my membranes as I was already 3cm dilated. With Nora, this kicked labor in within 24 hours. However, that would not be the case with this one. I had strong contractions for several days and would have episodes that would get more regular and harder, but then go away. It was exhausting. At my 39th week appointment, I was more than ready (4cm and 50% effaced) and decided to follow through with an induction 2 days later.

We went in at 6am the morning of the induction. I was having strong contractions on and off, but pretty spaced apart like they had been for days. 

 Here is the last picture of the belly. It felt so funny to be so nonchalantly going to the hospital to have the baby since my last experience was very quick, chaotic, and in the middle of the night. I was at ease, and actually feeling much calmer about delivery than I had felt the whole pregnancy.

My midwife came and broke my water at 8:30. I was 4cm and 80% effaced. I got up and walked a little to see if I would go into labor. I even visited a friend of mine who had delivered 2 days before me. Contractions were still irregular, but very strong, when I had one.

Finally, around 10:30, I asked for some pitocin. I was getting tired of waiting around and walking wasn't really helping at this point. They started my pitocin somewhere between 11-11:15am. I started having contractions shortly after and by 11:30 they were coming regularly and  just about 3-4 minutes apart, so they turned off the pitocin. 

I had planned from the beginning to get an epidural if I was going to be induced because I had pitocin with Aidan and delivered him naturally and it wasn't all that fun. I just didn't want to experience it all again and had a lot of anxiety about the pain this time around.

The contractions started really picking up and I think I asked for the epidural somewhere a little before noon. They got there and started the process, all while I was having hard contractions and wondering if I had progressed from a 4 or not since I hadn't been checked after they broke my water. The epidural process went smoothly. I had no adverse affects from the epidural, which was my biggest fear after having so many bad experiences with anesthesia and pain meds. After they got it in, they checked me and I was about 8cm and 100% effaced (so that's why I was in pain!). Finally, around 12:30, I was feeling no more pain and things were good. 

I was amazed at how calm everything was and how great it felt to be in labor, but not feeling any pain. I could still tell when I was having contractions though. It was surreal and so different from my last two experiences! I kept laughing and saying, "I can't believe I'm having a baby!" I may have even said I'd have another one (that was the epidural talking for sure!)

Not long after that I felt a lot of pressure, but wasn't sure what I was supposed to feel because the urge to push when delivering the other 2 was so strong that I couldn't help but push. This time I just wasn't sure at all. Nurses were in and out and my midwife was still on her way so they told me to try not to do anything sudden. They checked me and her head was right there. After my midwife got there, she got everything ready and it was all very leisurely. I was amazed at how slow and calm everything was! I even decided to use the mirror to watch this time since I was more aware and wasn't pushing like my life depended on it. :)

Not sure how long I pushed, but it wasn't that long. And Seth got to help pull her out and hand her to me. Kinda graphic picture, but a great moment captured. She was screaming like crazy and peed all over me. I checked to make sure it was truly a girl and just sat there smiling and feeling great.

I couldn't believe she was finally here and it was so easy. She was born about 2 hours after I went into labor. And I only felt pain for the first hour!

She weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 in. long. My smallest baby by an ounce! 

The downside to the epidural for me was the fact that it didn't wear off for a few hours and I hated the numb feeling. I could kinda move my legs, but they felt tingly and heavy. I wanted to move around more like I had after Nora's birth. But it was still really nice not being in pain at all.

The kids got to come in shortly after she was born and it was fun seeing them meet their little sister for the first time. Aidan was definitely the most interested in her and wanting to hold her and love on her. 

We spent just 24 hours in the hospital before heading home. I felt pretty well and my recovery hasn't been so bad. I think all in all, I am really happy to have had the epidural experience, but am still so glad that I had natural un-medicated childbirths for the first 2. I wouldn't trade either experience and have found it pretty hard to compare them to each other. They all have been unique and special in their own way and I am pretty blessed to have had such quick labors without complication.