eat your heart out Zoolander!

{jolie~ 1 month & ella~29 months}

I can hardly believe that my little ladybugs are growing up so fast! Jolie turned one month old today and so I had to take some photos of course!  In addition to some photos of her and big sister Ella, I thought it might be fun to report a little bit about each girl at this stage since it seems like they grow simply too fast! I just love to share about my girls and how cute they are and all the “new” things they seem to do each day.

{ella}~ This girl surprises me every day! At 29 months old (almost 2 1/2 years old exactly) she speaks in sentences, follows multi-step directions, identifies at least 10 shapes, all of her colors, and almost the entire alphabet including the sounds of the letters.  She has recently taken to playing with playdough, putting jigsaw puzzles together, and painting with the easel. Over the holidays I thought it would be fun to record and watch the Bolshoi Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker with her and she instantly fell in love. She requests to watch it at least once a day and while it plays she quickly dresses in her tutu and ballet shoes and proceeds to study and follow the dancing…in her own little two-year-old way of course.  Watching her melts my heart and I wonder if she will always love to dance like this- will she become a “real” ballerina someday? The way she’s growing (almost 1 1/2 inches in just two months), she certainly could fit the description.  She has a ver compassionate heart and is so loving and nurturing.  She has been very understanding to the fact that mommy can’t lift her due to the c-section and is often checking in on me, “you okay mama?” “it’s okay mama”. Again, this melts my heart and I think about what a sweet soul she is.  She is the same way with Jolie as well. Very concerned for her sister and her well-being. Jolie doesn’t cry much, but when she does, Ella often responds faster than I do and is more eager sometimes to “help” her.  My favorite is when Ella looks at Jolie and says, “Ohh, she’s so cute!”. Where does she get this stuff?  Lastly, one of the newest talents Ella has shown us is her singing. She carries a pretend microphone almost everywhere and sings favorites such as “Twinkle Twinkle” and “Jesus Loves Me”. In the car, her favorite cd to sing to (and she knows almost every word to almost every song) is Raffi’s “Baby Beluga”- a gift from Auntie Katrina for her 2nd birthday. Hearing her sweet little voice singing can change my attitude from sassy to sweet in an instant and it is a constant reminder of how blessed I am to have such a special little girl in my life.   I love you Ella.

{jolie}~ Now, although Jolie isn’t doing as much other than eating,sleeping, and pooping, she certainly has her own little personality developing.  She is incredlibly laid back and is very content the majority of the time. In exchange for crying, this little girl grunts and squirms like no other baby I’ve ever met. So much so, I moved her into her own room at only 2 weeks old. This made me a little sad that she wouldn’t be in our room with us anymore (Ella was in there for at least a few months) but it was necessary in order for me to at least attempt to get more sleep.  I would wake up at every little grunt and groan and think she was waking to eat again but when I’d sit up, get my pillows situated, and went to pick her up to feed her I would shine my cell phone light on her just to see her sound asleep….grunting- not awake at all.  I’ve learned that she gets gassy and has a bit of reflux, which I believe is the cause of said grunting all the time, but I know this will pass once her little body matures more.  She is starting to be more alert between feedings each day and is clearly intrigued by her surroundings. She loves to stare at the black frame on our gray wall in our bedroom and she started smiling at me this week. Not all the time, but when I make fun sounds and talk to her- if she looks at me I will get some amazingly sweet smiles.  She is incredibly snuggly- more so than Ella was in some ways and loves to be on her tummy on your chest which Ella hated so it’s fun to be able to snuggle her like this.  I look forward to reporting more about Jolie’s personality and new milestones as she develops more and more. I have no doubt that her 2 month blog update will be filled with new developments and behaviors to share.

So here are the photos from the extremely quick, 15-minute photo shoot with my girlies for Jolie’s 1-month celebration! There are some that aren’t the best quality, but their sweetness of sisterly love that was captured was too cute not to share. Enjoy.

Jolie’s Birthday…and a few more weeks after too

I can’t believe it has taken me so long to write about Jolie’s birthday- I guess having a baby, a 2 year-old, and occasional visitors has kept me quite busy  Next to getting baptized, married, and having Ella, this day was yet again one of the best of my life. I can’t believe God has blessed me with another beautiful girl!

My check-in time was 5:45am and Dan and I were up at 4:30, showered, and out the door by 5:15am (yes, I showered, dried my hair, curled it, AND put make-up on). I was anxious but so excited at the same time. I think I felt like, since I knew what to expect after Ella’s birth, I was a bit more nervous.  The childbirth floor was very quiet and we were the only ones there checking in for a planned c-section, at least that early anyway.  We got all situated in the recovery room and got my vitals started. There were a lot of different people that would be in the OR who came in to introduce themselves. Before you know it I was walking myself into the OR. I got seated on the table and they began to prep me for my spinal. Once they got it in, they got me laying down fast- it begins to numb you so quickly it’s incredible!  Once laying down my whole right arm began to tingle really badly so they quickly tilted the entire table to the left. The tingling also made me feel a little nauseous so the anesthesiologist quickly gave me something to help. Once the tingling went away and I was laying flat again, I instantly felt a sort of warm and relaxed feeling. Next thing I know the doctor was telling Dan to get the camera ready- I had no idea they were already opening me up, I thought they were still prepping me for surgery.  I watched Dan start taking pictures so I knew Jolie was coming and then I started to feel them moving her around. It’s the weirdest feeling to feel the pressure of her moving around, but not really feel it at the same time. Next, I suddenly felt “light”- I could tell she was out and then I heard her cry. It was incredible to know she was here, in the world, and she was already so different from Ella.  As she cried and squeaked while they cleaned her up, weighed her, and checked her vitals, all I could think about was how I was going to learn her cry, get to know her cry, and how would I possibly do that?   Having a second child is so crazy since you feel like everything will be similar, and even though it is, it is so different too.  I instantly fell in love with this new little person- and began to imagine all the fun it will be to go through all the stages of life with her like I had already done with Ella (thus far anyway). The hospital has a new policy that the babies stay in the OR with the C-section moms the entire time and transfer when they do (as opposed to going to the nursery with daddy while mom gets ‘sewn’ up- which is what happened with Ella). I enjoyed watching her and snuggling her cheek to cheek while I got closed up and moved to recovery where I finally got to hold her skin to skin and nurse her for the first time. Nursing Jolie was like riding a bike- I had a great experience with Ella and Jolie was and has been no different. When they first handed her to me, she had her thumb in her mouth sucking away- one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen and she often will keep her hands by her face and mouth when she sleeps or is getting sleepy. I think it will only be a matter of time before she finds her thumb again.

When we finally got to our room, Ella and Holly (who had been watching her for us) came to visit. Ella instantly loved her sister and when she sat with Holly and held her for the first time she looked down at her, took her hand, and said, “Hi Jolie, it’s nice to meet you”. We all wished we had been video taping that moment, but at least we have a picture of it.  Later that day Jolie had her first bath and I of course put her in one of the 10 outfits I packed for her.  Jolie’s first night with us was great, but long. Dan slept while I literally nursed her non-stop for 6 or 7 hours.  Although I was exhausted, I knew this would help my milk come in and then she would actually get some food and it worked-by the next evening she was getting lots of milk and finally looking satisfied after a “meal”.   Over the next 2 and  a half days at the hospital we had many visitors and wonderful nurses taking care of us.  We left on Thursday evening so that we could see Ella when we got home, get her tucked into bed, then get ourselves situated once she was down for the night.

Our first night home was okay, but my cold that I had been fighting since before I had Jolie was in full force and had me feeling terrible.  I couldn’t breath and combine that with crazy hormonal  ups and downs, I thought I might have an anxiety attack.  Dan took me to urgent care the next day where I was prescribed steroid pills, steroid nasal spray, antibiotics, and cream for my hand (the dr. spotted my horrible exema I had been fighting on my right hand before I left his office and thought he could help with that too)- in addition to the ibuprofen I was to take every 6 hours and Oxycodone every 3 hours- I pretty much felt like I was in a daze the first couple weeks post partum, but thankfully my cold went away and I was feeling much better.

Jolie continued to eat and sleep well, but I quickly noticed her color getting more yellow each day. Even though she was normal in the hospital, 1 week postpartum she was definitely looking jaundice. When Diane came to visit she agreed that she was looking pretty yellow so we took her in to get weighed and hopefully be seen by a nurse. She had gained 6 oz. since leaving the hospital (was 7lb. 30z and was 7lbs. 9oz. at one week old).  They agreed that she looked jaundice and decided to get her heel pricked to check her bili levels. They called later that day to say she was a level 18 (she was a 4 when we were in the hospital), and that we would need to come back the next day to have her checked again. She ended up being the same level on that Tuesday after she was born, but since her levels weren’t increasing and the fact that she was alert, active, and eating every 2-3 hours (waking herself to eat, not acting lethargic), they weren’t concerned about her levels. By Friday, I was still feeling worried about it (Diane too, which made me worry more since she is a nurse) so I took her in one more time.  They still weren’t concerned so they had her heel pricked one more time, and had her pku test done too, which she would have had done on Monday anyhow when we came in for her 2 week check up. She was still at a level 18, but they reassured me that everything was fine, a doctor took a look at her and reassured me the same thing- again, because she wasn’t “acting ” like a jaundice baby.  Her two week check up the next Monday went well and the doctor said she was just fine- she had even gained more weight and was up to 7lbs. 14oz.! Already bigger than Ella was at that age- I think it will only be a matter of time before she catches up with her older sister- perhaps they will look like twins? We will see!

Here are a few photos from Jolie’s birthday and her first few weeks of life.

Ella the Eskimo

The snow finally decided to show up and Ella has been thrilled! Grandma Diane was here to watch her get bundled up and play in it and Dan was sweet enough to go outside with her to play.  She had so much fun and cried when she had to come inside. To help ease the transition, she insisted on getting a bowl to bring some snow inside with her. She enjoyed eating her snow as an after playtime snack. I just love this girl and all the character that she has developed- never a dull moment!

Announcing….

Jolie Clare Mills

Her announcements are done and will be in the mail soon! Until then, here is a sneak peek!

The Year of the Dragon

Holly and Aldo came over tonight to bring us dinner, but also to help us celebrate the Chinese New Year! Aldo made a delicious meal of homemade orange chicken and his ‘famous’ fried rice. It was amazingly yummy and I may have had a few helpings of each dish.  They also brought Ella her first Angpau in a cute red envelope.  She wasn’t quite sure what this was, but had fun getting a gift none the less.  When she opened it, she found $2 and again, had no idea what this was, but it was fun to see her with her Auntie Holly and Uncle Aldo celebrating an important holiday for them.  Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

39 Weeks….the LAST BELLY POST!

39 Weeks! LAST BELLY PIC!

How far along: 39 weeks! The end for me!

Weight gain: 45-50lbs! Can you believe this!? When did this happen…what happened to my 25lb goal?  I guess I let the elastic wasteband in my pants take over during the holidays…they were just too comfy I guess. I am excited to lose it all!

How big is baby:  a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (We will find out in a few hours!!)

Maternity clothes: yep, but this morning I’m sporting some comfy Gap lounge pants, a tank top, and a cardigan– I’ll be changing into a hospital gown which should be pretty comfy…ha ha!

Stretch marks: yep- it’s hard to see them now, but as soon as they take her out today, I’m sure I’ll be able to see them much better again.

Sleep: Well, considering all the excitement of the last few days leading up to the c-section today, I have been sleeping okay, it’s just a matter of getting to sleep at a decent hour.

Best moment this week: Spending time with Dan and Ella before the surgery. Yesterday we took Ella to Sky High, and the feed store to see all the animals. She had so much fun and it was so fun for me to see Ella and Dan jumping together at Sky High. She adores her daddy, which is great since he will be spending a lot of time with her over the next few weeks while he is home.

Movement: yes! It’s like she is as anxious to make her debut as I am! She was moving a lot yesterday, I could hardly believe it!

Food Cravings: none, in fact the opposite. I’m getting nervous and anxious so I’ve actually been not wanting to eat much at all.  This should be helpful in my immediate desier to lose all that baby weight….(just kidding of course)

Labor Signs: nope….looks like she will be making her scheduled arrival TODAY at 7:15am!!

Belly button in or out: in

What I miss: being able to cross my legs when sitting in a somewhat uncomfy chair. My belly has become so big that even when I do cross my legs, the top leg just falls down…annoying >.<

What I’m looking forward to: holding Jolie girl TODAY!! I can hardly believe that today is the day, I get to meet her, see her, hold her, love her…..I CAN’T WAIT!!! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about becoming a mother of two, but knowing what an amazing hubby I have and the help we have coming our way from Seattle and from our friends here, I know everything will be great, and I will adjust, just as I did with Ella.  Yes, I’m ready for sleep deprived nights, and becoming a food source around the clock– these are things that only last so long and I know, after having Ella, how precious this time will be with Jolie as she will be a toddler like Ella in NO TIME!! Be watching the blog for posts and updates and if you are a personal friend, be watching facebook- we will post updates there

HERE WE GO!!!!!