She's Here!

She's here! She's here!  She's here!  And she is perfect!  Sadie Jane was born Monday at 10:51.  She weighed 6 lbs 5oz and was 19 inches long.  She is dainty and soft and perfect.  She has the softest nose I have ever felt in my whole life.  Oh yeah, and a head full of hair too.  
The whole c-section experience was completely different than with Doodle.  This time around I managed to stay awake!  I really tried to take it all in.  As they yanked that kid out from the top of my abdomen, I got my first deep breath in months.  She really had been pushing my lungs and making it hard to breath.  And just a second after I got that breath I heard the most beautiful sound a mother ever hears, the first cries.  That sound that lets you know they have arrived in the world.  As the doctor held the purple scrunchy faced baby over the drape for me to see, I lost it and just started bawling.  They took her over to clean her up and do her apgar (8 by the way) and she screamed the entire time.  Then the nurse brought Sadie over to me and laid her on my chest.  What a difference it was to meet my daughter minutes after she was born instead of an entire day later.  (Doodle was wisked off to the nursery and on oxygen so she couldn't leave the nursery. I was sick and couldn't leave my room for 24 hours so we didn't get aquatinted with each other for what seemed like forever.)  Having her little naked (but thoroughly cleaned)  body laying on me was pretty amazing.   I looked at her face and then looked to My Favoritest.  Through tears I chocked out " She's fine right?  No downs right?" And My Favoritest smiled at me and said no, she looks perfectly normal.  And then I really relaxed and enjoyed the moment.   Enjoyed it enough that I forgot I was in the middle of surgery.  After about 10 minutes they took her to the nursery and My Favoritest followed.  I dozed in and out of sleep and intermittently listened to the doctor teaching the medical student about closing a c-section incision.  The rest of the morning was pretty much run of the mill post delivery stuff.  
Once we got settled into our room, Doodle and Bubbie and Zayde arrived to meet the newest member of the family.  Doodle was so proud to walk in the room.  She was wearing her Big Sis shirt and couldn't wait to see the baby.  She was so gentle with Sadie and with me.  She held her, helped feed her and then played on my phone.  She was the perfect big sister.  After she was done holding, Bubbie and Zayde got their fill of newborn loving.  The whole thing went down just as I imagined.  It was the  perfect welcoming into our world.  Here are a few pictures from Sadie Jane's first couple of days!

Last preggo picture 39 weeks 2 days

July 9 (354/365)
She screamed and screamed and screamed!

And then she calmed down!

First Family Photo

Dr Pound... The man responsible for her safe entry into the world!

And before I finish this post, I have to share 2 more pictures.  I have wonderful friends.  Landlord and Sisterwife brought Sadie her own Birth Day Party!  Okay, so she is too small to enjoy it, but we sure did!  They delivered Sadie's first hand decorated cake (made to match her elephant bedding), sparkling cider, party plates and cups.  It was so sweet.  Although I couldn't eat the cake that night, it has been fantastic to have a sweet treat at my disposal! And having my VA family share in Sadie's first day in the world was priceless.  The best part was the two of them couldn't figure out a solid enough plan for kidnapping Sadie, so they had to leave her with me:)

Kidnapping plotting!  They didn't even have the good graces to do it out of my ear shot! 

Sadie's first custom birthday cake!

Missing fish

 Last summer, when I started really working on this blog, Doodle was in swimming lessons.  Well, we came full circle and she is back at it.  I must admit, I was a little sad to see that my fish had lost her fins over the winter.  Totally my fault, I didn't take advantage of the indoor pool available to us.  But, hind sight is 20/20 and hopefully I will be a better swim mamma this winter.  We decided to go the laid back route this year.  The YMCA has recently taken over management of our local pool, so we gave it a try. The first few classes were great and I thought we were making progress.  

June 13 (328/365)

Then it wasn't so great and I am confident we regressed.  Doodle was terrified of the water.  She even lied to get out of her turn!  Even worse, she was trying to teach Jayburb how to get out of floating on his back!  We were heading down hill quickly!

June 19 (334/365)
Notice how relaxed she looks!

And this is the trick she was trying to teach Jayburb... If you reach around with your arms you can hold on the the teacher and she can't let go of you!

 I was wondering if more of the same or something different was what we needed.  It broke my heart to see her fearful of something she truly wanted to enjoy.  Truth be told she would be happy floating around on her noodle all day long!  Low and behold, the end of lessons arrived and we had made enough progress to get back where we started from!  Which was really no where.  I was disappointed, but determined.  
And by determined I mean obsessed with making her like the pool again.  So Sunday afternoon we took a family trip to the pool.  We packed a picnic lunch and met our friends.  My Favoritest even graced us with his presence, which is how I got these pictures of the fish transformation!  She jumped off the stairs and went underwater.  She jumped off the side without me holding her hands.  My little fish was back!

She was having so much fun, she wouldn't eat lunch, only wanted to swim.  Which is when the tragedy happened.  The whistle blew.... 20 minutes early.  Why?  It starts with a P and and ends with a P and this one was not a floater!  More importantly it was not left by anyone in our crew (although almost all the kids have closed a pool at sometime in their short lives).  It did however close the pool and break my daughters heart.  We loaded a crying and pouting kid into the stroller and headed home.

June 24 (339/365)

And just in case you were wondering, here is a picture of me and Sadie and the big sister to be:)

37 wks 1 day

Pretty Piggies

I love my kid.  I really do love everything about her.  But I am not to proud to admit her faults.  One of those faults is that her toenails have only just recently stopped looking like knarly infant toenails.  They grow funky and are generally just icky.  I blame her daddy's genes for those nails:)  In the last 6 months or so they have finally gotten long enough and normal looking enough to ask her if she wanted me to paint them.  Each time I asked I got either a horrified look or a laugh and she would say "that's sill-eeee".  She even commented on Ms. Beth at the Little Gym and what color her toes were.  Still, no interest.  Well, the other morning I was painting my toes (Be impressed I could get around the belly), and she asked me to paint her toes.  I jumped at the chance.  We slapped some paint on those toes and she was so excited.  Jayburb came back from the beach and spent the morning with us.  She tried to show him her toes at least 3 times..... he was unimpressed.  But she was loving them!

June 3 (318/365)

When there is nothing else to take a picture of I tend to look around the room for inspiration.  I found none.  But I did find my ever expanding stomach with my painted piggies peeking out (if I leaned forward a little).  In reality I can no longer see my feet due to the fetal girth, but I just loved the way this looked.  Reminded me of those feet you can stick on the bottom of a balloon.  

June 4 (319/365) 34 weeks

Twice as Nice

Mother's Day... The day we should tell our mothers how important and special they are.  A day when mom gets a break.  A day to spend together as a family.  These are all the things I think of.  None of them happened on Mother's Day.  My Favoritest (who was not my favorite person that day) slept until 9:00 then napped from about 10:00-11:45.  I was so angry.  He was so oblivious.  I attempted to storm out and take Doodle to the arts and craft show in the park, but by the time I got to the top of the hill I was tired and hot and lost all my steam.  We came home.  My Favoritest offered to take us to lunch.  I made the mistake of mentioning a new restaurant with a playground to Doodle.  That was where we ended up.  It was not so great.  I came home and cooked dinner.  All in all a craptastic Mother's Day.   All I can say is at least Doodle enjoyed the playground.

May 13 (297/365)

Flash forward to the following Sunday.  My Favoritest (who was once again my favorite person) decided to try and make up for his epic fail the week before.  He took us out to lunch at one of our favorite placed Devil's Backbone.  We had a yummy lunch.  Doodle enjoyed being outside.  We even got to watch a helicopter take off.  We spent the day together as a family.  It was great!  

Doodle checking out the fish pond

With both my girls:)  32 Weeks

May 20 (304/365)
Doodle climbing on the rocks

Watching the helicopter take off! 

Preparing for Baby

We are slowly getting ready for the arrival of Sadie Jane.  Since we have already been there and done that, there isn't much that we need to do.  Between the bulk of thinks we have left over from Doodle and the impending move the instinct to nest has been put on the back burner.  There are a couple of things that we needed to get ready for number two.  One was a stroller to hold both girls.  I know, Doodle is going to be 4 in october, but remember she has short legs and they tire easily.  Besides, as I learned from my dear friend Matt Saw Abear you aren't done with strollers until one collapses on you going up the curb:)  So, we purchased a new stroller that can be a single or a double.  Here is Doodle modeling her new ride.  She loves it because she can climb in by herself!  We will see how much she likes it when she is on the bottom!

April 27 (281/365)

Bonus Belly Pic 29 weeks

Because there are a few other odds and ends that we need to get, I emptied my friend the piggy bank!  We don't spend change in our house, it all goes into a piggy bank I painted years ago during a visit with  my younger more fun mom:)  It's missing an ear, but still holds a ton of change!  My plan is to take that bag of money to the coinstar machine, get an amazon gift card and finish picking up the odds and ends that we need.

April 30 (284/365)

I Know This Much Is True

As the belly grows,

April 17 (271/365) 27wks 3 days

I am realizing how quickly time is flying.  It is definitely a mix of emotions for me.  I am over being pregnant, but know Sadie needs to cook more.  I am also aware that the closer we get to baby time the closer we get to move time.  Throughout the craziness of this pregnancy and transition, I have held on to a couple of personal truths.  First, everything happens for a reason and I cannot control it.  Second, God never gives you more than you can handle.  Nothing made me realize this more than a recent morning at Doodle's preschool.  As we walked into her hallway, I noticed a gift bag hanging on her coat hook.  When I looked inside, I found a sweet note from Doodle's former teacher Julie.  The note was wishing us well in all our upcoming adventures.  The end of the note said the she hoped the gift would keep us warm during our first PA winter.  Below the card, were 3 hand knitted sweaters and a beautiful lilac baby blanket.  A little love and warmth for everyone in our family.  I immediately teared up.  When we got home, Doodle immediately started playing with her scarf and of course had to show her special scarf to the dogs.

April 18 (272/365)

What I realized that day was that during our time in Virginia I have learned another personal truth.  God puts people in our path and even if we don't realize it at the time, there is a reason for them being there.  Julie is definitely one of those people.  When Doodle was in her class, she immediately understood my quirky not very verbal 2 year old.  She got what made her tick and was able to push her and help her to grow.  Julie always had something to share about their day, a funny story, a growing moment, or something for us to work on.  Because of their relationship, I often ended up chatting with Julie and we developed a bit of a school house friendship.  
As the school year began and Doodle adjusted to her new class, I continued to chat with Julie while waiting to pick Doodle up at the end of the day.  We swap kid stories, and adventures.  She was thrilled when we shared the news of a baby.  She was also one of the few people who immediately realized our dilemma regarding due date and moving.  She quietly reassured me (sometimes daily) that everything would work out.  When we got the results from our quad screen and we were faced with the possibility of Downs, Julie was one of the few people I shared with.  In some ways because we weren't super close it was easier to open up to her.  She had also shared some pregnancy difficulties with me, and I knew she would understand.  Throughout the weeks until our anatomy scan, she kept tabs on me, and encouraged me.  I don't know that she realized how much it meant and continues to mean to me.  The morning after our scan she oohed and aahhed at the sonogram picture and reassured me yet again. I know that she was put in my life for just this purpose, to help me remember what is really important.  I am so grateful for her constant presence, and the wonderful educational start she gave Doodle.  I will miss her greatly next year! 

Doodle's Future Job

One of the hardest things to adjust to during this Fellowship adventure has been the lack of control over My Favoritiest's schedule and the lack of give and take.  When he was in private practice, he worked long hours.  But he also got random days off.  He stayed at the hospital all night long then too, but I didn't have to wait in the waiting room to see our pediatrician.  And oh yeah, there was the monetary compensation that made all those long hours bearable.  In the almost 3 years we have been living the life of a Fellow, I haven't found many "perks" to his job.  Well, I finally figured it out.... access to an ultrasound machine:)  Pediatric Cardiologists have to learn to do fetal echocardiograms.  So.... they have to use the fancy ultrasound machine.  For me, this has meant a few extra ultrasounds so My Favoritest could practice his skills.  It has also meant that Doodle got to go with us and "see" her baby sister on the TV.  Doodle is interested for about 30 seconds and then is more interested in watching TV on the phone.  The last time we went, she decided that she was going to use my phone to document the event with pictures.  I ended up with lots of pictures of the floor, my water bottle and these two gems of My Favoritest and I.

April 29 (253/365)

Fast forward a couple of days and I am sitting on the couch.  Doodle tells me "open your belly mama" as she starts to pull my shirt up.  She has a flashlight in one hand and very serious look on her face.  She proceeded to put the flashlight on my belly and then with great concern looked at the tv and said "but mama, it's not working."  I was puzzled and couldn't quite figure it out.  The Bubbie was here and she immediately knew what Doodle was doing.  She was pretending to do an ultrasound on the baby.  

March 1 (256/365)

Catch Up!

I am still rocking the claw hand so I am going to keep the words short and just share some pictures!  

February 29 (224/365)

The weather has been so crazy.  Everyone is confused!  Even the flowers!

March 1 (225/365)

I do have a little to share about this next picture.  It is actually a picture of the first gift that Doodle gave to Sadie.  She put the sticker on my belly and said it was for Sadie.  The baby must have been appreciative because the next morning she gave Doodle a little kick!

March 2 (226/365)

Our whole house has been fighting off the funk for the last 6 weeks or so.  As a result, we have resorted to using toilet paper for tissues.  The day this picture was taken, I had gotten into the shower while Doodle watched TV in our bed.  When I got out, this is what I found:)  She was trying to get some to wipe her nose:)

March 3 (227/365)

Doodle loves to try on shoes.  When I took this picture it was just because she was cute.  When I downloaded it to the computer I was intrigued by the perspective of the picture.  I'm not sure if it looks like a little person in average size shoes or an average size person in giant shoes.  I guess it looks so cool because there is nothing else in the photo to give you any idea about the size of the model:)

March 4 (228/365)

And finally the final picture in this photo montage!  We got more snow.  Doodle was super excited.  She went down the big hill on the sled, had a much faster paced snowball fight, and thought about making a snow angel.  All in all she was thrilled with the snow until....... I told her it was time to go home.  And then the pouty penguin appeared!

March 5 (229/365)

Times They Are A Changin!

If you read this, you know that sunset and sunrises are one of my cop-out pictures.  If I haven't taken a picture one day, they sky is my model.  There will come a time I am sure when I will run out of things to say about these paintings in the sky, but I am not quite there yet.  With Baby Sadie growing away, and Doodle getting older and older everyday, I looked at this series of pictures and immediately starting humming "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof.  It was sung at our wedding, and always seems to resonate with the changing stages of my life.  I am constantly amazed at what is happening to our little family.  

February 23 (217/365)

Doodle got a package a couple of weeks ago. Inside were a pair of shoes and a blanket.  But not just any shoes or any blanket.  The shoes were to wear with her flower girl dress.... and they have a tiny little heel.  The blanket was mine as a child.  Bubbie sent it to Doodle to play with and use for her dolls.  As I looked at the shoes and the blanket sitting together on the table, I got a little sad.  When did my baby get old enough for heels (even if they are tiny).  And, at the same time I was saying a silent prayer that she love to play with dolls, and trucks, and toys, and use her imagination, and keep her innocence for many more years to come.  I don't want her to grow up too fast!

February 24 (218/365)

Like I said before, Doodle isn't the only one growing in this house!  I am too.  Thankfully, not as steadily or as quickly as I did when pregnant with Doodle, but growing just the same!  I wasn't really good about taking belly pictures with Doodle, so I am trying to be better this time around.  Since My Favoritest wasn't home, I tried to get a picture by myself.  It is kind of a fun picture, because it is a mama's eye view:)  Sadie is about 20 weeks.  At the time of the picture we were half-way cooked:)

February 25 (219/365