Elsie at 1, 2, and 3 months

I wrote down individual posts for Elsie's monthly milestones, but, somehow my notes were lost. (Sorry, #thirdkid.)  Combined with blogger making it difficult to upload pics (I will try to link some later) this post will be a bit drab. But I do want to document Elsie's milestones to save my memory, so, here we go!


1 month - We had a rough first month with nursing. But by the end, we're doing pretty well and despite exclusive bottles most of the first week, she still nurses wonderfuly! Also loves her pacifier. Elsie has great head strength and is adored by her brother and sister.
2 months - Sleeping much longer at night. Like 11-7 with only 1 wakeup. Smiling, especially at her sibilings.
3 Months - batting toys, laughing, rolled over once or twice from tummy to back. Plays really well by herself in her bouncy seat, swing, or other plethora of baby toys scattered across the house. She is a super good baby. (Each one gets easier!)

Isabelle is 2 years old!

Isabelle just celebrated her 2nd birthday. She is a SPITFIRE. She cracks us up.  Her current antics include:
  Claiming she's "just pretending" when she gets reprimanded for something she shouldn't be doing.
  Saying, "What's that mean" instead of "what is that" when she is asking questions.
  Exclaiming, "This is my favorite!" about all sorts of things.
  Obsessed with her black mary jane shoes, her new birthday shoes, Mickey, and copying John.

She can sing a large portion of the ABC's, count semi-reliably to 20, loves to sing songs, dance, do puzzles, read, color, snuggle, play legos, and play with her plush kitties. She's a great eater (both in food choices and in feeding control...compared to John at the same age when he still painted himself with yogurt.)

Her birthday party was a small party hosted at Chick Fil A with a few families, Mickey themed, and she had a great time!

Love you Izzy!

Stats - 23 lb, 32 inches

Introducing our third child, a girl!

Elsie Marie was born to us on January 22, 2017 at 2:10 PM.  She was 6lb, 5 oz and 19.29" long.

The day (and weekend) was record rainy. I thought we might wash off the road trying to get to the hospital!

With Elsie's birth, I had a lot of fears. Since John's was quick (4 hours of "pain") and Isabelle's was under 2 hours having slept through most of it, I had NO idea what to expect.  I did know that the doctors wanted me to get some antibiotics during labor this time since I'd missed it the last two times (to prevent Strep B). Isabelle's birth was FAR more painful than John's, and I knew Elsie was in the same (posterior, "sunny side up" where her face points to the front of me instead of the rear) which can be an incredibly painful labor situation AND make labor take longer.

So I was really focused this time on getting to the hospital on time. I woke up the morning of the 22nd with some contractions at night and started timing them. When they got bad, around 3:30/4, I woke up Zach to hang out with me on the couch and help me make decisions about the pain levels and when to go in. (The weekend before, I had contractions 3 minutes apart but mild and had driven myself to the hospital for monitoring because I didn't want to wake the kids...and he didn't remember me waking him up to tell him. So I figured this time, we could endure this together.) At 4am we decided we would track for an hour then consider going in. Contractions were really getting painful. At 4:52AM I couldn't stand it anymore and told Zach to get ready to go and I'd call our nanny.  But at 4:57 I couldn't bear to call her before 5am so I told myself I'd ride out ONE more contraction, then call after 5.

That contraction never came! Seriously! So, we both went back to bed until 7.  We decided not to go to church because I was really tired and the kids had questionable runny noses.  Around 10 I was getting pretty testy with the kids and 10:30 started getting a lot more testy and started timing the contractions that had started up again. It was raining but Zach took the kids outside in rain gear to get them away from me and to burn off some energy. At 11:30 I texted our nanny that she should probably come over.  "Shall I come at 12 when church is over, or now?" she asked. I opted for right away.  By the time she arrived (around 12) I was not breathing through contractions and in a lot of pain. At some point I think I called L&D at the hospital and told them we'd be in as soon as our childcare had arrived. They advised (based on my history) to come ASAP, BUT, to drive safely. The rains were torrential at this point!

So I think we got to the hospital around 12:30. Zach dropped me off and I hobbled to L&D while he parked the car and caught up with me. This time I knew were I was going. (With Isabelle I got lost in the hallways. Oops.)  Our L&D room was ready for me and I suggested they check me pretty quickly so we could evaluate where I was at before we made any pain management decisions, etc. I was only at 6cm and contractions were fierce.  I was really scared of an epidural, but also scared of labor pain, so I figured since we made it in time, I'd go with the epidural. They had it in quickly, along with the antibiotics I needed.

15 minutes after the epidural was in (sweet pain relief, except the IV burned so badly), I was ready to push! We'd been there for about an hour, tops. Elsie was born at 2:10 PM. She was born "in the caul" meaning her water didn't break until her head was coming out.  I got to see her being born because they got me a mirror (not in time to see the bag of waters though). It was really amazing.

Out of 6 ladies delivering that day, I was the last to arrive and the first to deliver. Surprising? No. Ha ha.  We weren't positive on Elsie's name right away so we jokingly called her Stormy after the rain.

When she was born, they laid her on my chest and she was SO SO SO alert. These beautiful blue eyes were staring at this outside world as she quietly took it all in. We are so happy she is in our lives!

Elsie is named after a family friend and mentor who is a wonderful role model and Woman of God. Elsie's name also means "pledged to God" which is actually the same meaning as Isabelle's name. (Both names derive from Elizabeth,another name we love.) And we do hope both of our girls know God as we do and so we hope the name fits them well.

Apparently...blogger no longer lets me link to my google image account. So, for pictures, you'll have to find me on other social media. Sorry!




Note: I wrote this (and more posts) up previously but they did not publish/save so this is a recap. Sorry, Elsie!

We are still alive

I thought perhaps I should note some memories here or I will never remember any of them! It's been 5 months since my last post. In that time, I've taken the kids to Colorado (John still talks about Auntie Susie and the airplane rides), Izzy learned to walk and completely keep up with her big brother, we went to Lake Tahoe which the kids LOVED (can I say, so much more relaxing than the beach since there are no waves!) John turned 3 and picked a Cookie Monster cake from the grocery store for his family party. 

John is potty trained but still thankfully not too old to be still taking a nap. He loves letters and numbers and shows about words and reading. He loves reading books and his bible story at night. He loves to help in the kitchen. For a year his favorite breakfast has been waffles (whole wheat, don't dare buy "yellow" waffles) but lately has been in an oatmeal kick...the waffles may be on the way out! He is a good Duplo builder and has recently learned to ride his trike. He still loves puzzles and is up to 24 pieces with little help. 

Isabelle is nearly 18 months and so different in so many ways than I could imagine. She is so verbal. She will repeat anything you say and speaks far more than John did at this age. Except "yes." She says "mm-hm" which sounds like "nun-uh" so you really have to listen closely when she really does want something. She also loves helping in the kitchen, puzzles, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  She is adventurous and brave, tackling the likes of bounce houses and jumping off furniture like we've never known in this house. She is a great post-nap snuggler and quick to offer affection. She also loves reading. And playing Doctor.

The two kids together are their own little force. With the right energy levels they just feed off of copying each other which leads to great hysterics. They often have picnics together, play Lego city together (John builds the houses, Izzy builds the cars) or they cook pretend food, whatever...they get along for the most part really well. 

I hope this is enough of a memory to remind me of These two at this age for years to come when reviewing this blog. I love these two!!!

Isabelle is one year!

Our sweet girl! ONe year old! This last month has covered a lot of ground. 3 teeth sprouted up and we went on a long road trip, which you handled perfectly. We went to Disneyland and you loved all of it, music, rides, characters, food. You give kisses freely, are super chatty, love to brush your teeth, love goldfish crackers, and reading. You keep up with your brother as best you can and do it well.
You are 16.5 lbs and just shy of 30" long. You are going to be tall! Happy Birthday baby girl!!!
I'm posting this 2 weeks after your birthday and i wanted to add that you are now a full blown drama ridden toddler! When you don't get your way,  you arch your back and throw yourself down and scream. It's quite entertaining. But you also love adventure and will do anything John does. I'm so excited for you to enjoy being 1!

Isabelle is 11 months!

At 11 months, Isabelle is doing her best to keep up with John. She is so chatty and loves to make all kinds of sounds. She's learning to sleep longer at night too...yay! She has 2 teeth and loves yogurt melts and cutie oranges. 

I will paste in some other milestones when I have her calendar handy...

Isabelle is 10 months!

...in 2 days!

I cannot believe this girl is nearly 1. She is still my "baby." And compared to her brother, still small and babyish. I have very little memory of John at this age/stage, so I have nothing to compare to. But her little personality is really coming out and we just love her to pieces.

I think she's maybe 17 pounds, but long. She is finally crawling, and pretty fast at that. When she spots me sneaking out of the office and into the kitchen, she quickly abandons what she is doing and makes a beeline for the kitchen...saying, "dada!" No really. I'm about 50% mama and 50% dada. She also says ba ba (bye bye) when she waves.  She also signs "all done." John did none of these before 1!)  She loves to eat, string cheese being a big self-feeding favorite and probably also yogurt. She started drinking from a straw cup, so I can pump and give her milk in a cup now.  She is almost at the point of drinking milk after dinner and then going to bed without nursing...but still waking to eat at night...we are working on that! She plays with her ears when she is tired/falling asleep. She still uses the pacifier a little bit before sleep.

She loves to stand up but isn't quite cruising yet. She loves to go outside, and to play with cars. She definitely lets her will be known when she is denied John's toy or activity. She likes to repeat sounds to you make back to you (she used to do this months ago but took a break from it.) She's fun! She's also a bit more of an early riser than her brother...sigh. Oh well!