Sleepy Girl

How YOU doin'?

Well, it's day 10 since Allie was born. And wow, what a week it has been. Zachary, Todd & I all have ear & throat/chest infections. Allie had jaundice for a few days. And after a whopping 7 (yes, SEVEN) visits to the doctors, 1 bad shot of antibiotics, 3 rounds of daily antibiotics, 1 night of photo therapy & some potty issues (a 24-hour period where an entire pack of diapers was used) and a week of laying on the couch in our PJ's, I think we might survive baby #2...maybe. As you might guess, there haven't been many fun photo-ops. But, no worries, I'll have plenty over the next few months!

Allie has a little birthmark on her scalp. She also sleeps all day - literally. I actually called the doctor to ask about this. She laughed at me (remembering the first 6 weeks of Zachary's life when he did NOT sleep longer than 2 hours) and reassured me that most premature newborns sleep this much. Wow.

Zach & Daddy have had lots of fun laying around watching a mutually-compromised combination of Curious George and Golf. Zachary has impressed us with 2 new skills he debuted in the past week. We are thinking he knew he'd need a little something to showcase when the new baby came home! Anyway, he counts to 10!! (often he'll skip 4 & 5, but he gets it right otherwise) And he says a large portion of the alphabet - He skips d,e,f,g. We are super excited that he has accomplished both of these and love to see him take pride in learning.

Anyway, that's what's going on over here. Todd & I both agree that while it has been a very challenging and exhausting week, we love having two little ones. What a blessing they are!

Allie Marie

Here's our little girl! So pretty!!

E-4

Well, there are four of us now! On Sunday morning, 2-17-08, Todd & I headed to the hospital after a long night of sickness and labor. When we got there, they assigned us to room E-4. We both knew that was not a coincidence! After much deliberation, hydration, and postulation (!), the doctors decided that the labor was triggered by dehydration, stopped by 2 hours of fluids and therefore a false alarm. They sent us home around 2:00pm and said, "See you in a few weeks!"
After being home for 1 hour, my water broke...and there was no turning back. On Sunday afternoon, the weather forecast was terrible - tornadoes all over the place and severe thunderstorms . Needless to say, our 2nd trip to the hospital was like a scene out of a movie. I was holding the dashboard and screaming at Todd to slow down (because of the torrential downpour and dangerous driving conditions), but hurry up (because the baby's coming!)!!
Labor & delivery was fairly easy and after 2 1/2 pushes, she was born at 11:53 pm. Here are some pictures of all the excitement -

Everyone asks, "How's Zachary handling it?" Well, different and much better than we thought. He is very interested in the "baby" and wants to "hold yew" ("hold her" in Zacharese). He was super cute pointing out all her features - "nose, hat, eyes, feet, wips (lips)" and wants to "hep baby drink milk" and give her a paci. He was really sweet and gave her his blankie (just for a minute). He's been such a good boy.

As usual, we are blessed beyond measure! Praise God!

She's here!!

Allie Marie was born on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 11:53 pm. She weighed 6 lbs, 10 oz. and is doing very well!! Clearly, I am tired and recovering...but I will have pictures for the blog soon. Until then, Aunt Jen has some good ones - http://danandjennyh.blogspot.com/

SO much fun!

Zachary is always fun to be around. He even makes chores fun. I love his little personality! These are just some "caught-in-the-act" pictures Aunt Shell got yesterday. I couldn't resist.

"Modeling" Behavior

In psychology, there are lots of interesting theories about children and Observational Learning. We've noticed some times where Zachary has shown us that he knows how to do something based on just watching us...but never as evident as this.

Yesterday, we were playing outside and he said, "Zachy dwive car." So, we opened the door and let him climb in. I had the camera with me because we were taking some outside pictures...but as I watched him "dwive" the car, I marveled at how much he knew about "dwiving" cars...just from watching us. So the camera was clickin' and I was just watchin' and laughin'!

"Sungwasses" on.

"Dwive wheel."

"Keyss"

I think he's actually checking the rear-view mirror. Wow.

"Tee-bow meesick" ("tee-bow" is Zacharese for TV...which is also DVD...and therefore the CDs. "meesick" means music. So the literal translation would be "CD music.")

"Beep Beep" (Can you guess which parent models the horn-honking most frequently?!) Ha!

"Ahm in de-er"

In Zacharese, "ahm in de-er" means "Arm in there," or a new game where we walk around the house like a zoo-keeper with animals on our arms. This is so funny because he'll set his animals up on the floor and then stick his "ahm" under the legs while saying, "ahm in de-er" over & over. These two animals are the best because they have long legs with sand weighing them down. If you visit soon, you may join Zachary in this game...he wants everyone to walk around with him like little circus people, carrying animals by putting your "ahm in de-er."

Family Pics

We tried to get an updated picture of the 3 of us all together, but it didn't work (I know, big shocker that we couldn't get the camera timer & our toddler aligned!). So, here's our compromised version of a family photo!

Zacharese wake-up call

Sometimes when Zachary wakes up in the morning, he'll walk to his doorway and stand at the little safety gate. He can see in our bedroom from there...and he can see my side of the bed. This morning, I woke up to:

"Mommy's asweep right der....Wake up Mommy!"
(Translation: Mommy's asleep right there...)
I love it!