Collage

The Hermansons sent Natalie a photo collage of pics taken when Aunt Miriam was here visiting. I wanted to post it to the blog as it contains a lot of cute pictures.

Next set of visitors

I forgot to mention earlier that Natalie's cord fell off while Aunt Miriam was here. It was looking quite disgusting and we were wondering if we couldn't just pull it off as it was really just hanging by a thread. But it did finally fall off on its own. Unlike Aunt Miriam, though, I did not want to save it. We just threw it away.

We had a good time with Miriam - Lexi, in particular. Lexi definitely enjoyed all of the one-on-one attention she got from her. Mom enjoyed her help in the evenings. Natalie is eating about every 3-4 hours so I was able to get some good sleep. There was a 3 day gap between when Miriam left and Stephen's parents arrived so Stephen spent the afternoons with us girls which helped preserve my sanity. One afternoon, we met Stephen at his office, went to lunch and then visited my office. So at least my immediate finance colleagues got to see the whole family.

Baba and Lolo arrived late last week and whisked Lexi off to NYC where she had a lot of fun (stories to be posted soon). Lexi is finally back in school this week so Baba and Lolo have been helping me around the house and spending time with Natalie. She hasn't been too keen on sleeping on her own during the day so there has been lots of cuddling with a sleeping baby. I finally got her to sleep on her own for a good stretch this afternoon so I was able to prep dinner while Baba and Lolo are out shoe shopping with Lexi.

Growing

Natalie is definitely growing..she is starting to smile (or at least, we like to believe she is smiling at us) and her eyes are tracking us more. She continues to be a good eater though eating only every 3-4 hours now. She seems to have several "stages":
1) sleeping like the dead - no movement, arms up by her ears, not disturbed by being moved or noises
2) "fake" sleeping - she falls asleep in your arms but the minute you try and lay her down, she wakes up
3) awake and looking around (this is the stage she spends the least time in, I think) and making some noises
4) Miriam also caught her in a stage I haven't really seen - awake but quiet and really still

Unlike her sister was at this age, Natalie is a burper and gets the hiccups a lot. She also seems to notice when her diaper is wet which Lexi never complained about.

Lexi is doing a great job of holding Natalie and loves to give her kisses. Sometimes, too many kisses, I think Natalie says!

Weight gain and crabby sister

Natalie and I went back to her doctor today. She gained a lot of wieght back - now she is at 9 lb 8 oz so just 5 oz. down from her birth weight. Hoorah! Doctor was pleased.Now she is sleeping away - and has been for probably 3 hours now.

Her big sister also took a long nap today - over 2 hours. Lexi was quite cranky and the nap seems to have really helped. Hoorah for that as well!

Tomorrow is the last day with Granny and Grandpa and then they leave on Thursday and Auntie Miriam arrives. We are looking forward to seeing her as well as Dad will be in Kentucky Wednesday through Saturday midday.

Late starts

Yesterday morning, I wanted to run some errands. Lexi wanted to go along and since I wasn't sure how long it would take, Natalie needed to come as well as the grandparents. I fed Natalie, got dressed, had breakfast. Then realized that I needed to get a few more things together before we left. One thing led to another and then Natalie needed to eat again. We ended up leaving the house about 1 hour later than I had planned.

Lexi's friend, Vera, was coming over to play today. She arrived about 30 minutes late - they walked over and Vera was dragging her feet. So even 4 year olds can cause delays.

Lexi outing

Lexi and our friend Michelle went to the National Book Fair 2 weekends ago. This was Michelle's report of the afternoon that I wanted to keep for posterity:

Hello Family,

I thought you'd enjoy some photos from my adventure w/ Lexi at the National Book Festival yesterday afternoon. She was, as she reported later, very "brave" and met a number of PBS Kids characters and even posed for photos with them.

We met at my apartment, where we had some peanut butter toast for a snack. While I was getting the toast, she was sitting at the table and all of a sudden she said, "Hello Woman!" I started laughing. She said she learned how to say this from Dad. "I'm a woman," she declared.

I convinced her that she didn't need the stroller, so we walked in the direction of the Navy Memorial/Archives. She played around the Navy memorial, remembering the water fountains from an earlier visit last year. While we were there, she spotted a friend from church, Dylan and his parents Greg and Enid. We walked to the Mall together, but Dylan was lagging behind. As Lexi and I passed him, Greg called out, "Dylan, hurry up! Let's go!" Lexi chimed in, "He's awfully slow." He caught up to us, but then lagged again. This time, Lexi noticed that he had stopped. The adults were in forward motion. Lexi called out, "Guys! We have a problem." Then when we were crossing the street, Lexi and I decided to run. Dylan ran along with us, but we were a little faster. Enid told Dylan, "Look, Lexi is a little faster than you." Dylan looked at Lexi and me, and with a poker face he declared, "Lexi ran faster because she was holdin' on to another person."

We went to the PBS Kids tent to see the characters. Lexi was talking about SuperWhyy! and was excited to see the character. But when we got up close, she got scared/shy and didn't want to get too close. The first photo shows this! Later, after a ride on the carousel, some lunch, a "ride" on the Wells Fargo stagecoach, and a visit to a couple more tents, she got her courage and decided she wanted to see the characters again. This time, we walked up to see Curious George. We watched from outside the lane, but then she said she wanted to meet him. So we did. She was a little tentative, but Curious George was patient and let her touch his hand. "He has soft hands," she said later. And after that, we were round and round to meet all of the characters that were out. By the time we met the last one, Super Whyy!, she was a real pro and quite relaxed.

My cousin-in-law, Alysia, met us at the Festival. Lexi clicked with her. Was holding her hand and talking to her like an old friend. After meeting the PBS characters, we left and went to the Smithsonian Natural History museum to get some ice cream. Lexi chose vanilla. "You know what's the best flavor of ice cream?" she asked. "Chocolate?" I replied. "No! Vanilla!" she declared. Alysia got mint chocolate chip and I got chocolate, so when we sat down to eat, Lexi said, "I win! I got vanilla!" It was funny.

Alysia gave us a ride back to Stephen & Sarah's. While riding along, Lexi pulled off a round sticker, a Wells Fargo agent badge, and put it over her eye. "I'm a pirate!" she said. "Arrgh! I'm a PIRATE!"

It was all quite funny. She is a great buddy and I'm looking forward to more outings.

Love,

Michelle

Doctor's visit

Natalie went to the pediatrician yesterday. She had lost 1 lb 1 oz from her birthweight. My milk has finally come in though so we are hoping she will start gaining a bit of that back. I was to monitor her feedings and wet diapers for 24 hours and then report back in to the Dr. late this afternoon. Based on the stats, we will either have to go back in to be weighed this week or wait until next week Tuesday for the next appointment. So this child is going to be fed as much as possible. I still don't want to go the formula route.

Otherwise, the doctor thought she looked good. She also thought her cries that we are associating with gas might be more hunger cries. I don't quite buy that but as she hasn't been crying as painfully in the last 24 hours, maybe that was the case. She still has gas but it doesn't seem to really be upsetting her now.

First days at home

Natalie and I finally arrived home at lunchtime on Saturday. We were officially "cleared" to leave at 10 but it took a while to get the final paperwork done. Stephen and Lexi came to pick us up. It had turned cold here while we were in the hospital so Dad had to bring us some extra warm clothes.

Saturday night, Stephen and I split night duty. It was kind of a tough night - Natalie didn't want to sleep much. Since then the grandparents have taken over night duty with me as Stephen is working most days(some full days, some half days) - plus, he has a hard time when his sleep is shortened at night. Sunday night and Monday night were so-so. I did get a little more sleep than the previous nights and actually took a nap and slept yesterday. Napping has never been easy for me. Even Lexi has been up at night some - reacting to Natalie's crying is part of it though she also seems to be having dreams. We are currently a household of sleep issues! :)

Natalie is having some digestive issues we think. We have tried gas medicine and that is partially helping. Hard to tell when she can't tell us! Her first doctor's appointment is today so we will see if the pediatrician has other thoughts. I am also worried that she hasn't gained any weight back (she was down 10 ounces when we left the hospital). The pediatrician had mentioned possibly supplementing the breast milk with formulas which makes me nervous - nipple confusion and all that. But maybe it's not as bad as I think. We will get through this just lots of nerves involved.

Natalie Andrea!

Stephen and I went to the hospital at 8 AM on Thursday, the 29th, to be induced. From the first round of medication until birth, it took just over 11 hours - fairly fast they tell us for induction. The actual delivery was quick - not too much pushing and Sarah was much better able to handle the pain. Of course, she had had the epidural which took forever to wear off. Having legs that you can't lift is very bizarre.

We are all home now. More on our first days soon. Mom needs to try and sleep as Natalie finally is.