Wednesday, December 30, 2009

December in pictures


Our blizzard



































Getting a picture of both girls smiling and looking at the camera is like hearding cats.  ...nearly impossible.  :)
















This is a picture of Katen (left) at the same age as Ana (right) for comparison









Ana is much bigger since she wasn't a preemie and has more hair.

Ana's Growth Chart

Ana's Growth Chart

Birth: 7lbs,12oz  20 inches long
2 weeks: 9lbs, 10oz  21.25 inches long 50th percentile for height and weight

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We have a one month old and a two year old big girl

Ana is a month old and I don't know where the last month went! It's been such a whirl wind of holidays and visitors and getting to know one another. I think we're finally into our groove now though. Every family member knows what to expect and has settled into their new role.

Ana has really bad acid reflux, so she's sleeping in her swing and on me these days. That's about the only way that I can get two consecutive hours of sleep at a time. Even propped up in the swing, Ana still refluxes and the milk from her stomach comes up into her throat and nose and chokes her. She sputters and chokes and wheezes and screams until one of us picks her up and clears her airway. It's really pretty frightening sometimes. I look forward to the day when she grows out of it so that we can get some sleep, she's not in pain, and so that we can put her down for more than five minutes without her wailing. Katen was the same way at this age. Thank goodness she turned into a pretty cool kid eventually.

On the positive side, Ana is definitley more alert now and spends more time awake. She's smiling a little bit and is especially fond of her daddy. He gets the most smiles.  :) She'll also coo a little bit if you catch her in a good mood.

Katen keeps herself busy while Ana eats by sitting next to me reading books, playing with toys, or coloring. The tag jr. and little touch leap pad have been wonderful for nursing time as well. The interactive storybooks are great at keeping Katen's curious mind engaged!

She's also learning some new songs. In her playlist is:  Row, Row, Row Your Boat,  ABC's, Little Teapot, 5 Green and Speckeled Frogs, the "Hot Dog" song from Mickey Mouse, and a few random songs that her toys play. It's really cute to hear her playing along and singing to herself. So sweet!

Christmas was a good one. We had another huge winter storm so we weren't able to make it to my family's Christmas but we did go the night before to attend the church service. I always enjoy singing the Christmas songs. Ana did okay. She only fussed a bit and then fell asleep for a while. Katen did okay until the candle lighting began. Everybody got a candle and passed along the flame. Of course Katen wanted a candle too and I flinched more than once as she whizzed past the family members in our pew narrowly escaping having her wild curly hair catch fire. Oy! Shortly after that "Mamo" Deb took her out to run back and forth across the church kitchen. A nice lady even gave her some cheese. Ha!   (Mamo is Katen's word for Grandma.) After church the drive home got a little yucky with slick roads and more snow falling but we took it slow and made it safe and sound.  All of our other Christmases were great too. It's always good to see family and share some yummy food.

Here are some of the funny phrases Katen is throwing around this week. It seems like each week she learns something new. 

Oh Wow! (this has been one of her favorite phrases for a while now, only second to "Yeah." which she says to nearly everything. )
Nice!
das Dangous (dangerous)  -not surprisingly we have to tell her not to do things because it's dangerous a lot
Okie Okie (okey dokey)
obendit  (open it)
bouce (bounce) she bounces everywhere, all the time! I'd blow out a knee.
Ana's kankey  (Ana's Cranky)   :)  Ask Katen how Ana is doing and that is what she'll tell you.
No way!
Way cool!
Bic girl  (big girl)
Das Mossy (that's messy)
... and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. I love her little "toddler-ese" language.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Oven funny

Katen loves to help me cook and now has a couple of play ovens of her own. One of them is inside her little play cottage and she invited me in for some "tea" tonight. She put her teapot into the oven (not on the burners), warned me that it was hot, and then proceeded to whip out her snow mittens to take the tea out of the oven with. I had to laugh. :)  Very resourceful.


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Friday, December 11, 2009

Welcome Ana!

On November 25th at 2:41am, Katen's little sister, Ana Elise made her arrival.

Contractions started around midnight and right away were about 3 minutes apart. We decided we'd better get to the hospital since labor was short with Katen's delivery, and arrived at the hospital shortly after 1am. We could tell the nurse was skeptical that I was truly in labor because we were pretty calm. She decided not to put an IV in and told us she'd "check back in an hour to see if anything happens." By the time she checked back I was almost ready to deliver and really working through a lot of pain. By the time they finally got the paperwork to us that we needed to fill out in order to put the IV in, Mike had to fill them out because I couldn't. As soon as the IV was in, my OB arrived and broke my water. Immediately I felt the urge to push, so in two pushes Ana arrived. (If she hadn't had such broad shoulders it would have been one.)

Ana weighed 7lbs, 12oz and was 20 inches long. Due to the fast delivery, her face was bruised and swollen but she's still qite adorable. She's got some light brown hair and looks a lot like her big sister at this age.
After begging the OB and Pediatricians, Ana and I were released from the hospital a day early so that we could be home for Thanksgiving.

Recovery has gone extremely well and Katen is great with her little sister. She's very gentle and a big helper. Katen has been a little extra naughty trying to grab some additional attention but now that Ana is two weeks old, even that is starting to fade. Each familly member is starting to settle into their new role. So far, so good!


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Oh the weather outside is frightful...

We are recovering from a pretty wild winter storm today involving near record amounts of snow, frigid temps, and high winds. Thank goodness for a warm home and good company!

This is adapted from an article in our local paper---

There was nowhere to hide from the monster low pressure system coming out of the west. After a small two-inch dusting Sunday night, the state braced for a blizzard. The record December snowfall started on Monday night, and piled up over 16 inches before moving out. Then came the winds. Gusts of up to 50mph formed drifts, morphing cars and houses into giant snow mountains. Nevermind the wind chills reaching -20 and highs in the negative numbers.


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