2 months worth of pictures (not really)

Time is flying by around here!  I realize if I don't blog about what is going on, I'll never remember it. Even with baby calendars.  I reread John's early months and realize tons of things I've forgotten. So maybe I can catch myself (and you) up on things.

1) Bubble guns are super cool. I don't know why we didn't really do the bubble scene much, but we got some and John thought they were amazing.  Now he really doesn't care and just pours the bubbles from one container to the next. But look at the joy on this face!  Note: It was an extremely cool June gloom week, full of low temps and rain...hence, long sleeves. Crazy So Cal weather.  Izzy chilled on the back porch in her chair and then took a nap. I guess bubbles aren't her thing.

2. On Memorial Day, we went to a you-pick blueberry farm with Zach's parents who were visiting. Isabelle did wonderfully, nursing than napping in a carrier.  (Perfect age to to on outings with her!) John "picked" berries from all of our baskets and in general ruined his appetite for lunch.  We all had a blast though!

3. Sibling Love...only if someone is there to take a picture.

4. 1 Month picture and a photobomb by big brother.

5. 2 month picture and a phototomb by big brother. (are you sensing a pattern here?)

At least he is loving about it!

6. We've had an amazingly fun long weekend. First we went to the beach (not pictured) and then for the 4th we went to a local high school with a bunch of church families.  John made several attempts to hula hoop and the video demonstrates his success.

Isabelle is doing really well, more alert and very smiley.  She still has lots of hair and is generally all around adorable.  John is talking more and more every day, even a few sentences.  My favorite though is when he is excited and says, "Alright, blocks!" (or whatever he wanted.)

New and Improved!

...meaning, a blog with pictures. I have had a heck of a time getting camera pics to the blog. Browser problems.

So I'm typing one handed, holding a stirring baby, while reminding a coloring toddler that crayons aren't for noses or eating.  That boy loooooves to color and it keeps him in his high chair, contained, so who am I to complain?

Onto pictures of course.  Just a few random ones.

I love my babies reading early. If she is awake and John isnt stealing the book.

Adjusting is...some days getting along ok, some days barely functional with the support of Sesame Street and chocolate.

John is exploding verbally.  He says sooo many more words now, and always knows what he wants.  We've had some tantrums but he loves his Izzy, or at least getting his picture taken while holding her...except when we actually hired a photographer.  In addition to coloring. he plays chalk outside and loves to sing along -and dance - to his musical dog Scout.  Still working on the videos of that.

Izzy is growing like a weed and sleeping all the time mostly.  She likes her pacifier and usually sleeps well at night too.  She enjoys car rides and being worn.

Zach has just wrapped a crew job on a movie which kept him extremely busy.  He has a different gig next week.

I'm living feeding to feeding (2:13 since last feed) and trying to feed myself and maybe bathe too. While this time is very tough, I know it will be more fun later.

Isabelle's Birth story (mostly Christy's labor story)

Isabelle's Birth Story

Here is the story of Isabelle's birth. I've come to realize, perhaps, I am a person in complete denial about being in labor and birth. She was born Monday morning, April 27th, but let me back up to the Saturday before to begin.  I attended a baby shower. When I put on my dress, I looked in the mirror and thought, "Wow! Is my belly that high and sticking out?!" But I didn't photograph it because...I don't know why.  Later that day I read John some books. As he insisted on sitting in the middle of my lap, my stomach was very uncomfortable and I wondered how I could last another 3 weeks with him sitting on my lap.  That night I visited some family and we unexpectedly ate at an oyster bar for dinner...I had a burger and a few fries. Immediately my stomach started cramping frequently, I was sick, I wondered if I could make the trip home without needing bathroom stop. I felt horrible.  John had a 24 hour bug earlier in the week, so in the middle of the night when I also started vomiting (I was already up and sick anyhow) I thought maybe I had what John had, or food poisoning. I was up a portion of every hour, cramping, contracting, emptying my body...not pretty.  The next morning I stayed home from Church and slept. I also texted 2 other moms - all of our kids had the stomach bug earlier in he week - and they both came down with throw ups, fevers, aches that day too!  So I figured, I had the flu, food poisoning, or maybe early labor but I didn't really believe the 3rd option.  But I had no fever, no aches, and after sleeping most of the day I felt great except very weak.  I went to bed thinking, "thank goodness I'm not in labor. I'm so exhausted. I'd never make it through."  I ate what I could but it wasn't appetizing or handled well by my body.

At one point Sunday, I checked my baby bump in the mirror. Unlike Saturday. It didn't look so high and sticking out. I thought it was a little strange, but knew second babies don't drop until before birth. I chalked it up to different clothes.

Monday morning, 3 am. Woke up to pee, with a contraction, like I had a million times recently, went back to bed without a second thought.

5 am. Woke again to pee, contraction, and I thought it was weird that this time, I really didn't have to pee. I said a brief thankful prayer that John was still asleep and went back to bed. 

5:02. Wake. Try to pee. Contraction. Sleep.

5:04.  Wake. Try to pee. Contraction. Noticed that it seemed like this just happened 3 times in a row really fast.  Still bleary minded, I checked on Zach, who was getting up for work (he had been banished to the guest bed when I started throwing up). He got in the shower and I decided to count contractions. 4-6 Braxton Hicks in an hour and I was supposed to go in for monitoring,  was it 2 or 3 contractions I already had? I wasn't sure. I sat through a couple more. I had to gasp and concentrate on breathing through them. Naturally, I did what every laboring woman does next and facebooked a friend about it. As I wrote about the pain level, still referring to them as BH, I realized BH contractions are not usually THIS painful, just uncomfortable.  It was maybe 5:20. By 5:30 I told Zach he couldn't go to work, we needed to drop off John and check me for monitoring first "just in case."  I threw a few last minute things in my half packed hospital bag.  Thinking past what I needed wasn't on my radar, so nothing got packed for Zach. Wife of the Year right there.  I got teary over not finding specific pants I wanted to wear. I packed John's diaper bag for his day at school/sitter.  All the while contracting regularly.  Zach put his digital watch on me so I could time them but I couldn't really operate it mentally.  Contractions were no more than 3-4 minutes apart and still very painful.  

545-6 I called the sitter, who I knew rises very early, and told her we had to go to the hospital. "Bring John now," she said, right as he started to wake. I packed him a breakfast and we rushed him into the car.

6:15ish For me, sitting down in labor is my nemesis. It makes things so much more painful. I hummed through the pain and newly forming back labor pains while Zach essentially threw John into the babysitters arms (traumatic " DADDEEEEEEE!!!" Cries followed) and drove me to the hospital. 

6:30 I estimate this is when we arrived. I asked Zach to drop me off at valet, I was in so much pain I didn't want to walk from the parking lot.  Dumb idea to leave the girl who couldn't choose pants alone. I went in the wrong entrance and couldn't find Labor and Delivery. Luckily I was headed in the right direction and as Zach came out of the elevators, he led me to be right spot. I got teary again about not being able to find the right spot. We strolled in and I was feeling a LOT of pressure with each contraction, not like a head coming out, but enough pressure that almost felt like relief.  The nurses casually called the doctor as they busily got me ready - mind you I haven't even done the pre-work of hospital check in paperwork yet- so I'm not even really in the system. Oops.  Have I been exposed to Ebola? Is that important right now? After what seems like an eternity but was maybe only a couple contractions, the doctor appears. Everyone is still moving like molasses but he checks me and I hear (for the second time in my life) " You're at 10 cm. Time to move you to delivery." 

WHAT?! AGAIN?!  So we move to the delivery room. This time I can exit the room without them prying my hands off the bars of the bed. They quickly set up the delivery room and put my legs in the stirrups, which made me extremely cranky and uncomfortable. I remember saying, "these are hurting me!" And other such nonsense that only a laboring crazy woman would say. 

I remind everyone profusely that Zach is announcing the gender. The doctor breaks my water and tells me to push and I do, with a less intense version if the grunting I made with John. Except this pain was far different. The grunt escalated to a cry, to a scream, to a panicky high pitched wail as I pathetically (his word, not mine, but I agree) looked at Zach and was screaming as high as I could.  I had no idea how I could do this again with that kind of pain. The pain with John was different, still bad, but different.  I think I had another contraction/push like this then the doctor told me he was going to inject some numbing something and give me a small episiotomy. He wouldn't say what degree, just held up his fingers.  Ok- whatever, do I even have a choice? Then he told me I could push between contractions for relief. This felt really good.  I think Zach said something about the baby coming, or seeing it, but then one big push and I happened to be looking at the doctor and I saw him lift a baby right out, up and high from between my legs. The baby was dark colored but covered, really covered, in white vernix and around the umbilical cord I saw it was a girl. "It's a girl," I said before even giving Zach a chance to see. Oops again. Sorry, Babe.

As it turns out, she was sunny side up (posterior position) which is probably why the labor felt so different and I needed to be cut.  Also why the doctor pulled her out the way that he did, which was an amazing sight I hope never to forget.  Also explains the back pain during labor.

Time of birth, 6:47 someone said. They said we checked in at 6:36 but it seemed like longer than that. Maybe 6:36 that we got to the delivery room. Whatever it was, it was fast. 

There were so many surprises at once - delivering almost 3 weeks early, the speed, etc that the gender surprise wasn't as huge as I expected.  But I'm still glad (now) that we waited, although lack of agreement on the name made it difficult because she just didn't "look" like our top choice names.  Ironically, the name Isabelle was my first choice initially in the pregnancy, I had just forgotten it in favor of other similar names.  But I love her name, and calling her Izzy, and it's a name John can easily say.  

So there it is.  Despite the episiotomy, recovery this time (last time was allegedly minor tearing) has been a lot easier.  I've been less emotional ("less" but not non-existent) and a lot more capable than previously.  Which is good because John still needs me! Amazing how our bodies do what they need to do!

Oh and so Isabelle Jean, born 4/27, weighed 6lbs 1 ounce and was 19.25 inches long.  

Now at 9 days old, she weighs 6-4 (yesterday) and her favorite activity is sleeping. I can barely get her to eat on both sides and I have to wake her at night sometimes to avoid milk supply problems. She is so different from John in so many ways.

Second post coming for John and Baby: Davenports are a family of 4 at home saga.

Before I forget!!

Updated to add a couple more pictures and 2 videos to the end!

So, it turns out, the ONLY baby milestones I can now recall are those I reread on the blog. What signs did John know around 1? How long did it take him to get used to milk? When did he get molars? All. Gone. From. Brain. Except I happened to scroll backwards a bit and got a nice reminder. SO, before baby #2 wipes away my remaining brain cells, I better get a little more documentation out here!!

First of all, projects. My goal is to put my sewing machine away before baby arrives. That means finishing a SLEW of projects first. And that means if we have a girl, trucking it out again afterwards with new fabrics for headbands.  Unlikely. But, I've got burp cloths, teethers, key rings, paci clips (maybe) all in the works.  And lots of people to gift them all to!  And other things I want to make like marble mazes, tons of stuff. Maternity leave cannot come soon enough (May 4th).  Sewing machine lives in the dining area, though, so it will be nice to clear that area when we have the craziness of newborn going on in our house. In fact, that will probably be the baby station since the floor is no longer safe but full of books, strewn toys, jumping toddlers, etc.

Second of all, HUGE BABY. They told me baby was 5 lbs 14 oz a week ago. I can only hope and pray the ultrasound estimation is wrong. John was born at 6-11 and with 4 more weeks to go that puts this baby over 8lbs likely. OUCHIE.  Other than that, everything looks superb. No heart problems, no growth issues, proper amounts of fluids everywhere. Praise God!

John. 18 month sleep regression. *Moan.* Adorable except for the fits of not sleeping.  Frequently signs for "more" when we are tickle playing, playing hide and seek - anything that sends him into fits of laughter - more, more more.  He still prefers to sign over speak but does say quite a few things.  Loves to color lately, although got pretty upset when his last "whole" crayon (the yellow one) finally broke - had a LONG conversation with me at dinner discussing trying to put it back together. Despite all the other crayons (jumbo sized) being already in 2-3 pieces.  We have new crayons in reserve for when (big) baby comes, along with a new coloring book. Hopefully he'll like Veggie Tales!  Right now his favorite is Sesame Street and he loves to look for Oscar's coloring pages.  Oscar = "O-tee"...don't ask why.   Still into his books, although slightly less -- probably means I need to rotate them or hide some toys.  I've been too tired to parent extremely closely lately, so maybe I just haven't noticed.  We've finally got all 4 molars and canines at least partially showing, so hopefully we have a teething break for a LITTLE WHILE.  I busted out some chalk for the backyard and he's been enjoying that immensely (Can we say Target clearance + Cartwheel deal for 61c chalk?! woo hoo!)

Zach. Working on an independent film most of the next month. Including my due date. And most dates around my due date.  Yikes.  I think 5/10/15 is an easy date to remember for a birthday, which he conveniently has off. That sounds good, right? Now to alert the baby of my superior plans.

Household: Would be suffering, if not for all Zach does. I seriously lucked out.  This week I finally got back on the meal planning bandwagon, although I forgot to defrost and marinate our chicken 2 nights in a row so tonight was (uber delicious) breakfast burritos. I could eat those every day. John didn't have any complaints either, which was nice.  Once I'm on maternity leave, I'll be able to cook and freeze some stuff for post-baby.  What easy meals are other people eating these days? My favorite go-to lazy chicken is to throw chicken in the crockpot and cover it with salsa, cook on high 4 hours. Makes perfect shredded chicken for tacos, enchiladas, etc.

Exercise: We joined the local YMCA. They have free childcare. :)  And a pool! It is SO nice to get back into the water, even though its an indoor pool.  I am stoked to be getting back into some shape before having this baby. And excited to take John to open swim this weekend, hopefully!!  And when I'm on leave, I can take him to a couple toddler classes they have for baby signs and music.


Wow...I have really not uploaded pictures to Picasa lately. Oopsies. Here are a couple. John preferred his soccer ball to any egg hunting on Easter. Here is celebrating his "touchdown."

And this was...I dunno...around 34 weeks? Seemed bigger than the 35ish one I could find of me with John.  Somehow I can't find most of my last pregnancy pictures for a good comparison.

Ok, well, I think thats all I can bore people with for now.  Thanks for reading the whole thing! Ha!

Addition: John reading the "Doggies" book, and dancing, and a couple more pics.

Updates

I thought I better get some stories and pictures up here for the great Grandmas.

The Superbowl for John was a milestone event. The television was on for 3 hours, and Mommy and Daddy did lots of cheering and yelling.  Almost on a daily basis, John will still point at the TV saying, "go go go tosdow!" and cheer.  He will also do that whenever he sees any sports player in a picture (like a football player we have in another picture frame elsewhere in the house.) His sporty uncles are very proud.

We broke down and got the kid his first real haircut. I had trimmed his bangs a couple times but was at a loss as to what to do about the curls we hoped to keep.  Luckily, we had a really nice experience and his hair is still curly and a lot better shaped than before. And she was fast.  He really didn't even notice she was cutting his hair!  After the haircut we found out the place we went to (kids place) that the arcade games were all free.  If we had known that...we would totally have played them during his haircut...haha...yes, us parents are very grown up!

Is feeding a child always a battle? No matter what stage they are in? Sheesh.  We had a few rough months with dinner time...mostly John barely eating then being starving very early the next morning.  Sometimes he eats a ton, sometimes almost nothing...like toddlers do.  I've found he does best if a few favorites are all out on this segmented plate (oh, what we do to get them to eat!) He does love using a fork or spoon though and is pretty good with both. We will definitely repeat Baby Led Weaning as a feeding method with kid #2.

Our family really loves our sunglasses.

Being silly.  

John is super into books.  And his push-cow toy.  And his play kitchen. And playing outside. But definitely significantly books.  He has several Sandra Boynton books (fellow moms recognize that author immediately) and these books are all particularly linked. On the back cover of each one in the series is a picture of ALL the books in the series...we have like maybe 5 of 8 or so. John will intently study the back cover of one book, looking at all the pictures, then point out which book he has that he wants read next.  I'm hoping to find the rest of the collection...instead of forking over $ for new...I know, cheap mom.  Plus there are several different collection/series, but luckily John is mostly only interested in one so that is the only one I am trying to "complete." LOL.

Pregnancy #2 (oh you didn't know? You didn't read the back of our Christmas card? Don't worry, apparently no one did) is coming along, nearly at the end now.  There have been a lot of challenges with this pregnancy and I am more than happy about being done with it, come May. I won't go into detail because no one wants to WebMD this stuff.  John thinks my big belly is funny but generally won't pay attention to it.  We are trying to teach him to say "Baby" but he will only sign it.   He is quite verbal but not great with annunciation - and doesn't' like repeating "B" words since he can't say that sound.  But he seems to be developing normally (just not verbally advanced!) so we aren't' too worried.  He prefers to call for Daddy almost all the time, which is just fine with me at 6am when we hear from his crib, "All Done. Daddy. Dad-deeee!!!"  Hey Babe...he wants YOU! Ha ha.

I'm planning a St. Patrick's Day supper with one of Zach's local cousins, corned beef, etc and Black and Tan brownies.  Yum!

Other stats I might be interested in remembering later, at 18 months John was 31 inches and 22.5 lbs. Sleeps 7-6++ usually plus a 2ish hour nap. Favorite foods are cereals for breakfast (usually also a waffle because they are fun to make), peas, salmon, potatoes, cheese, yogurt but especially smoothies (hello Sweet Tooth.)

Ok...so we are still alive...thats all I have for now. :)

Better late than never (?)

Well, I can probably say I've lost all readership except people who might still have this on their automatic feed.  I have had many, many moments of thoughts and funny stories I've wanted to share here, but when I sit down to write them, I can't remember a thing. Zach also worked long hours AND had the computer with him...usually I blog (as I am now) on the laptop while he isn't home because otherwise we are watching TV or I'm beating him at Triominoes. (Ok...he wins often also.)  

I also have not been in a good enough mood to write happy things.  There.  Things are good for us, very blessed, but overall the last several months have been a challenge.  John is so fun though, he truly makes my day. And Zach is a wonderful mate who takes great care of me and doesn't mind when he has to make dinner almost every night. I am truly blessed.

So I better document some memories or this kiddo of ours will never have a scrapbook because there is nothing recorded. (I did have a special baby tracker for 12 months...long over...I'm sure "there's an app for that" and maybe I should consider getting that!!!)

Halloween 2014. We kept John out past bedtime and trick or treated with friends. It was so fun! His original costume was a dragon, but he kept tripping on it, so he had his Batman shirt on underneath.  Later it got cold and he wore his Lion jacket. So yeah, 3 costumes in 1 night. He loved walking up to the houses and grabbing candies from the bowls. Since he does baby signs (soooo many more than my last post!) he would say "thank you" which looks like blowing a kiss.  He had many adoring fans blowing kisses back and one woman who let him in her house to see her (gated) dogs.  John and his pal rode in the wagon to keep up with the big kids.  Mostly they just traded candy from their bags back and forth. 

John has 2 of these push toys and very much enjoys pushing them around the house.  He also really likes building with his Mega Blocks (just recently he can use most of the pieces and not just the singles) and still likes playing with his play kitchen and anything that will make noise.  We got some wooden ABC blocks he likes to dump on his head.  I'd say his favorite thing to do though is reading. I love this. :)

I love this picture of the two of us. He's riding on my back in my favorite carrier, Beco Gemini. I had wanted one for our next kiddo then found one 1/3 price at a consignment sale. Score! I had put up my hood for warmth but he thought I was playing peek a boo and kept pulling it down and laughing at me.  Crazy kid.

Here's some reading...

And we finally had a weekend with good weather so this guy got to explore his backyard again. He spent a huge amount of last summer playing outside and still loves it, but doesn't get out there as much since he goes to daycare during the day.  And if we play outside in the evening, it is usually in the front where he demands that the garage door go up and down, up and down, up and down, much to his never ending delight.

John is an accomplished runner and weighs in at 21.2 pounds.  He wears 12 month size still, except when I run out of clothes (or lose his jacket) then he rocks a baggy 18 month look.  He loves cheese and milk.  He loves to get a chance to watch TV but his shows and opportunities are limited...mostly to when there is only one parent available and that parent needs to cook. :)  Or if he is super grumpy.  Because these Parents are Tired.  Tired!!!

So if you scrolled down this far, I'm just going to say it...you'll get far more updates on Instagram.  Even more than facebook.  Look for me at cmdaven and request an add!

13 for 13?

You guys, this is bad. I barely remember my blogger password.  Ok, not officially continuing the monthly kid updates but lets see if I can squeeze out 13 facts for this 13 month old. Someday I may blog about something non-kid related. Believe me, the thoughts are floating around in my head, I just haven't reigned them in yet.

1. Thinks getting a baby carrot from the fridge is the greatest treat ever. Related: Seeing the fridge opened, period, is the greatest thing ever.
2. Claps excitedly when you ask if he wants to sing Patty Cake.
3. Is (mostly) a pro at signing "please" but at the expense of all his other signs, which now he doesn't use. Why do people use this again?
4. Likes the box his birthday slide came in more than the actual slide.
5. Has been fighting 2 naps a day this week and I hope this is just a phase, he was sleeping wonderfully before this!
6. Eats like a fiend. Tons of food. I think he gets out of the high chair out of boredom, not due to being full, because he will continue to snack on whatever he can find when he gets down.
7. Loves to scare people by popping out of the shoe closet.
8. Still is obsessed with nursing and doesn't really like cows milk despite multiple attempts per day.
9.  Really likes Elmo songs, because we basically copy all of Anna's best kid entertainment tricks.  He thinks that after he wakes up from his second nap, he gets to take all day nursing, then pull my phone OUT OF MY POCKET! and get to watch 1-3 Elmo songs. He is usually right. Because he is so cute when he says "please."
10. Helped me put the silverware away today. And by "helping" I mean, helped me go a lot faster because he kept trying to load silverware into the basket.
11. Likes to play under the kitchen table in his "fort." Dinner making for the win!
12. No longer likes to look and smile at me when I have the camera out. Usually ignores me. Cue drastically fewer adorable photos. Sad.
13. Just cut his 6th tooth. He likes to take his time with these such things.

Wow...still severely lacking in the picture uploading department. Here are a couple...