12.21.2010

Ada Singing to Nellie

A morning well spent.

12.14.2010

Michelle & Ainsley's Shower

I'm headed home this weekend to attend my lovely friend Michelle's baby shower for her lovely little daughter, Ainsley Marie. I am SO excited to meet this new little girl and to introduce our two to each other. :D

This will be Nellie's first trip to Fergus and her first substantial car ride, so hopefully all will go well. I don't forsee any issues as she's such a sleeper, but who knows. The car is like the twilight zone for kids.


Ada will be staying back with Dylan for the weekend, I think they both are due for some much-needed Daddy-Daughter-Time. Hopefully the weather will be nice and they'll be able to go sledding and traipse around the Turtle River together. Either way, I know they're going to have a great time.

I'm looking forward to getting out of the house. I love spending time at home with Nellie, it's going to pass all too quickly, but I'm starting to feel antsy and I think this will be the perfect remedy.

I have yet to usher both girls out together by myself, I guess that's something that I can build some courage towards this weekend.

12.13.2010

Finally Up to Date!

And finally I am up to date with the blog! Our lives are pretty simple right now...well...as simple as it can be with a toddler, a newborn, a post-pregnant mother and a student during finals week.

Dylan and I spent the morning at Caribou with Nellie. Him studying chemistry and I updating the good ole blog. I even dared to breastfeed Nellie there and things went off without a hitch. Hurray for hooter hiders and multiple layers of clothing to hide any trace of post-pregnancy flesh!

Ada has been attending daycare faithfully throughout this new life change and I think that's helped her keep some form of normalcy quite a bit. Dylan and I have been trying our best to let her know that we still love her as much and that she cannot be replaced by a baby. She seems to be adapting to her big sister roll with relish. She loves to hold her, sing songs to her, pet her head and "share" her toys...although blankets are still another story. Luckily Nellie doesn't care which satin or fluffy or cotton blankie she uses...yet.

And Moses as usual could care less. Feed him, pet him and let him sleep in front of the air vents and he's as happy as a clam.

I'm looking forward to a laid-back Christmas this year. Nellie is going to be Baby Jesus for two of Hope's Christmas Eve programs--we'll see how that goes. Then we'll be spending time with the Dachtlers and Suttons. Christmas day we'll venture down to Fergus and see my parents and spend Sunday celebrating with the Beithon side. Lots of pictures to come I'm sure. :)

Happy holidays everyone!!

Dinner with Family

Great-Grandma Phyllis, Great-Grandpa Don and Cousins Dave and Ashley came over for a lasagna dinner a few nights ago. Great-Grandma sent me some pictures, so I thought I'd share them with you.

Dylan trying to be genuine in his smile...
We tried getting a picture of Great-Grandma and the girls, but I think we'll have to attempt again Christmas Eve since this was the best shot we got.
Sleeping as always.
Cousins...and Ada. Well, part of Ada.

Meeting the Suttons

Uncle Ben, Aunt Terrah, Lael and Lucy came to visit us for a quick stay in order to meet the newest cousin--Miss Nellie So.

Seeing all the girls together was surreal. Who would've imagined five years ago that this would be our life?

I still can't believe our luck sometimes. :)


The youngest girl cousins meet for the first time...I think it was a success. :)

First Sisters' Playdate

The first day home Ada and Nellie had some playtime on the floor in their soon-to-be-shared-room. (As of right now, Nellie sleeps in a portacrib in our room but as soon as she's only waking once a night or less, she's going into their room.)

Ada was VERY excited about showing Nellie all her toys and explaining each of the dangling toys above the playmat to her.

She's been such a good big sister! She's taking on her roll extremely well and has little acting out--knock on wood--as of yet. She loves Nellie. :)

Mas Hospital Pictures

A few more pictures from the hospital that didn't quite make it onto the last post:
This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of the girls since Nellie was born...it looks like they're sizing each other up. :)

Nellie's Birth Day!

Time has gotten away from me again.

My beautiful, little Nellie So will be two weeks old tomorrow and I can't believe that. She's been such a blessing to us and now that she's here, I can't imagine our lives without her. Funny how that works.

This birth was so different from the last--so much less complicated and scary. So much easier.

My parents arrived Monday afternoon and settled in--they stayed the week to help us take care of Ada and take care of the everyday house things to which we are immensely grateful! I don't think I could've managed the first day home by myself!! (No, Dylan didn't abandon me, he had school.)

We checked into Labor & Delivery at 5:30 am and they did some paperwork/went over the process of an elective c-section with us and then we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more until 7:15 am when my surgery was scheduled. They roused me from the bed and I went into the OR where they administered a spinal block and other such preparations. Dylan joined me shortly thereafter (husbands aren't allowed in the room during the prep as they are worried about fainters).

The atmosphere was so different this time--I cannot stress that enough. With Ada, everyone was rushing, it was so fast, it was so unknown, I was so scared and the doctors chatted about lunch as they sewed me up. This time I small talk with my anesthesiologists, my nurses and the doctors included me in on their discussion during the aftermath of the birth. It was lighter, calmer, friendlier and much less stressful.

Nellie So was born on November 30, 2010, at 7:50 am via C-section. She was 7 lb. 15.1 oz. and measured 20 inches long. The minute she was born she let us know who she was and hasn't stopped grunting, groaning, chirping since.

The following is her altru.org/nursery picture that they put up following her birth:
After recovery, they moved us into our room. I had my fingers crossed the entire three day stay so that I wouldn't have to have a roommate. Currently our hospital is remodeling it's Labor & Delivery ward and seven of the rooms available for recovering mothers were uninhabitable. AND there was a rash of births the first night and day after Nellie was born.

Mommy & Nellie's first pictures & video:
Ada wasn't sure what to make of me in the hospital attached to so many tubes. She was very uncomfortable with me being in the hospital bed and absolutely DID NOT want to sit next to me in it. I'm pretty convinced it's because she was remembering her last hospital stint. As soon as the tubes were out and the leg compressors gone (they're pretty horrible those things--used to help any post-surgery/pregnancy swelling to decrease), she was back to her monkey self.

These pictures and video are of Ada and Nellie's first meeting:
More pictures from our stay:
And there you have it folks. Nellie's Birth Day and our hospital stay!

I know, I know...

*Hangs head in shame*
I know.
I know.
I know.

It's been a LONG time coming--but finally, today, you will have some new posts to feast upon! I thought I'd start with a few of the pictures I had of Ada as an only-child before the onslaught of Nellie's first days photos.

The following pictures and video are of Ada. She likes to dress herself and make up songs and dance. I love this little girl more than my heart could ever convey.
Her new things are coloring and crafting. If you want to bring a smile to her face, a box of crayons or markers or pens or any drawing utensil and a coloring book will make her dance happy circles around you.

Doesn't she look so serious??
Coloring is a serious business.
A day and a half before Nellie was born, Dylan put up the tree and he and Ada decorated it. She makes sure to remind us everyday to plug in the lights and is even old enough this year to be semi-trusted to be careful with the handling of ornaments.