We've Got Snow, Yes We Do!

3 Months Old

And about 12 pounds, as far as we can tell. More official numbers will come at 4 months, when she has another checkup.

Magic!!

We've been lighting our Advent candles each night and doing some activities that Ethan got in Sunday School (there's a strip of red, green or white paper for each day and it has on it a Bible passage to read and some related activity to do, when you're done with each one, you create a paper link chain). Ethan really likes to blow out the candles, but because he blows through his teeth, he's finding that he isn't always successfull. So, he likes to take turns. Each of us takes a candle.

The other night, Rick was the last to go. Instead of blowing out the candle, he clapped over it, causing it to go out. The look on Ethan's face was a priceless combination of astonishment, fear, concern (he didn't want Daddy to "get brown"), and indignation. He put his hands on his hips and said, "Next time Daddy, you should blow it, don't do magic!"

Long or short?

Grammie and I were out doing some shopping with the kids. While in the car we had this exchange:

M: “Ethan, do you need to go to the bathroom?”
E: “No. I don’t need to.”
M: “Then why is your hand in your pants?”
E: “I was just trying to see if it was long or short.”
Grammie: “And which is it?”
E: “Long.”

Supressed giggles and eye rolls from the front seat. Ah. Boys.

Say "Cheese!"

So, in preparation for Christmas cards, and also to get some baby pictures of Lucy and a new family photo of all four of us, Rick asked his friend, Sharon Steinman Ellman to take some pictures of us. We decided to take the family photos at Frog Fountain at TCU. Also, they had just put up the big TCU Christmas tree, so that gave us an alternate backdrop for some Christmas card pictures. Well, it was COLD the day we did this. Poor Lucy didn't know what to think, and Ethan had a red nose and rosy cheeks most of the time.

After we were done at TCU Sharon came to our house and set up a mini studio in Ethan's room to do Lucy's pictures. We did a few, but she was hungry, so Sharon ended up taking quite a few of Ethan while I fed Lucy. Ethan has fallen in love with a Santa hat, and he was loving having his picture taken. Sharon was great, they included Ethan's favorite trains and had all kinds of fun. Here are a few shots from our sessions. (And if you're looking for a photographer, we highly recommend Sharon. You can find her at http://www.ellmanphotography.com/.)

Growing and Growing!

Here's Lucy at 1 month old:
Stats: 21.5 inches tall, 7 lbs. 7 oz.

and at 2 months:
Stats: 22.75 inches tall, 9 lbs. 6 oz.

And Then There Were Four

I know, it has taken me FOREVER to get this post up. But hey, I'm a little busy around here, okay? Lucy Buxton Waters arrived at 7:47 am on Friday, September 18, 2009. She weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. and was 20 inches long. A very petite little lady compared to her big brother (Ethan was 7 lbs. 8.8 oz. and 20.5 inches--not so much bigger, but on that scale, it makes a big difference).

It was a pretty wild day. Rick and I arrived at the hospital at 5 am (Grammie and Sir were at our house by 4:30 to wait for Ethan to get up and then to get him to school). Things really went very smoothly. The Spinal, which I was TERRIFIED about, given my bad experience with the epidural when Ethan was born, wasn't TOO terrible. Pretty uncomfortable at moments, but overall much less horrible. And man does it kick in fast. The had me lay down on my side once it was in ("quickly, quickly" they were telling me), and my toes were tingling by the time I was down. The surgery went well with no complications. I felt like this one took longer than it did with Ethan, and I got nauseated and uncomfortable several times, but Russel, my anesthesiologist who hung out up by my head the whole time, took good care of me and got me feeling better. I did ask Rick to stand up a couple of times to see where they were, especially once the baby was out. It just seemed to take FOREVER to sew me up, and all I wanted was to be sitting up (instead of laying down with my head angled to the floor) holding my new little girl!

Lucy was a very sleepy girl at first, so we had a hard time waking her up to eat, and she lost quite a bit of weight in the hospital. That continued after coming home, and she didn't make it back to her birth weight by 2 weeks, so I started pumping milk after her feedings and we would supplement her with a bottle. Since she was so sleepy, this helped her get more milk, since she could get it much quicker and easier from the bottle. This practice paid off and she started to gain weight.

Ethan has been a wonderful big brother so far. The first time he came to the hospital he didn't even really want to look at her too close, but each day his interest grew and then he even wanted to hold her. Since we've been home he's been nothing but sweet to her. He doesn't seem phased by her crying, and often tries to help calm her, saying, "It's alright Lucy, Luce." Such a good big brother!

We're struggling with sleeping, as expected, but are enjoying getting used to being a "Table for Four." :-) Here are some pictures from Lucy's first days.

"Twas the Night Before. . ."

So, here we are, the night before the big day. What started out as a relatively peaceful day of finishing up odds and ends around the house erupted in a flurry of activity when late this afternoon I got a call from the hospital asking if I could possibly be there at 5 a.m. instead of 11 a.m. Apparently some early morning spots opened up and the Dr. (who is on call anyway) wanted to move me up in the day. So, that cut our countdown hours about in half and certainly increased the nerves.

Luckily Grammie and Sir are already here and will be able to come over early tomorrow to be here with Ethan and get him to school before joining us at the hospital. By that time Lucy will be here!!! I don't think reality of that has sunken in for me just yet. I'm trying not to focus on the details of how she's getting here thinking about spinals and surgery is kinda freaking me out these last few days).

Ethan has developed a little cough the last day or two, so we're trying to have a normal bedtime routine here tonight.

Next time I post, we'll be a family of 4!!!!

38 Weeks (5 days to go)!

Power's Out!

Oh no! What to do when a night of thunder, lightning, and heavy rains puts us without power? Well, take a bath by candlelight of course! Follow it up with a video on the portable DVD player. What? The battery isn't charged? Good thing I remembered to get the power cord out of the other car when it went in the shop. Now we can plug in and watch in the car in the garage! (It was a little warm out there for me, so Rick braved it with Ethan.)

37 Weeks (plus a few days)

Elbows

I wouldn't be at all surprised if this baby girl had 6 arms. All elbows this child! (And now she's elbowing me because I've been sitting to long and she needs to move. . . time to find another position.)

36 Weeks

We Have New Names

Well, we've already made the switch (mostly) from "Mommy" and "Daddy" to "Mom" and "Dad" (Ethan even called me "Mother" once--that was a trip!), but now Ethan has developed yet another way to describe us and I honestly don't know how to take it:

E: "You're a donut!"

and sometimes:

E: "You're a piece of pizza!"

These are interchangeable between Rick and I, and can even (apparently) be used at the same time. I have no idea where it comes from or what it means (is it a put down? a compliment? a "bad word" he uses when he's mad?). "Food" for thought I suppose. :-)

Healthy Snacks

Ethan before bed, "I need something from the kitchen."
Me: "What do you think you need?"
E: "Can you give me some choices?"
Me: "You can have an apple."
E: "I want something else healthy. Is a pear healthy?"

He got the pear. :-)

4 Year Checkup

Ethan had his 4-year-old checkup yesterday, and this time with a new pediatrician. His old one has retired, so we selected someone else in the group, and I think we're pretty happy after this first meeting anyway.

Ethan really doesn't like going to the doctor, but after talking about getting weighed and measured, and that they would listen to him with the stethoscope. He said, "Just like George?" (from a Curious George story), and he seemed to calm down a bit. He was actually great through the whole visit, talking with the nurses and doctor, having his hearing and vision checked, the whole deal. Then there were the shots. He had to get 4!!! One in each arm and one in each leg. He was a real trooper, but just couldn't help crying on the last two, and I don't blame him. Poor little guy. Rick and I decided that was worth a treat, so he got to go to the bookstore after school yesterday to get the "Troublesome Trucks" to go with his Thomas the Train set. He's also quite proud of all his band aids and is still wearing them today.

Here's the scoop on our 4 year old:
Height: 41.25 inches (around 75th percentile)
Weight: 34.5 pounds (around 50th percentile)

All in line with his patterns since birth. He passed his hearing and vision screenings, and named and drew some shapes for the doctor too (circle, square, triangle--apparently 3, 4, and 5 year old milestones she said).

Here's a picture of Ethan in the back yard with his paper airplane from a few days ago. Such a grown up boy!

35 weeks

1 month to delivery!!!

Crazy Hat Day

This is what Ethan wore to school for crazy hat day. Love it!

Unexpected

So, apparently while I was at yoga tonight, Rick was talking to Ethan a little bit about the baby coming and how she would get here. Because later, when I was putting Ethan to bed he looked at me and said, "The doctor is going to cut your tummy?"

I was a little stunned, but assumed they had been talking about it. So, I just said, "Yes, and then what?" and Ethan said, "Then Lucy will be here." So, he's got that part straight anyway. We'll see how much he likes it when it actually happens.

Pancakes and the Red Plate!

What does every boy need for breakfast on his 4th birthday? Cinnamon pancakes and the red, "You Are Special Today" plate! (He probably could have lived without the big mosquito bite over his eye though.)

Ethan's 4th Birthday Party

We had a really great time at Ethan's birthday party. Everyone came and enjoyed burgers and hot dogs, cake and ice cream, and a pinata for the kids. The kids really had a blast just playing inside and out and the grown ups enjoyed getting to catch up and see people we hadn't seen in a while. Ethan, when greeted with "Happy Birthday!" responded in kind with another "Happy Birthday!" and was thrilled to show everyone his big boy room and bed. We are so thankful to everyone that came and helped make it a really fun day.

Garage Sale

Last Saturday, before having Ethan's party on Sunday, we had a garage sale to clean out everything we haven't been using lately and make way for a new baby. I was lucky in that Rick's folks came up to help man the sale, so I didn't have to sit outside in the heat all day. I did get to have the fun of sorting and pricing though, and that went long into the night. Poor Rick ended up staying up all night--which was lucky since we had shoppers with flashlights showing up at 6:15 in the morning! Here's a couple of pictures of the preparation.

Highlights from Ethan's 4 year old photo shoot

Ethan is still not so sure about the big lights with "umbrellas" on them at professional photo places. So it took quite a while to get him in the room and comfortable sitting for his picture. The photographer was really sweet though, and was great with him, so eventually it all worked out. However, we still got quite a few pictures where he is looking very cautiously at the lights in the corners, waiting for them to flash. Here's a sampling of all the shots.