Photo Session

My friend Joanna came over a couple of days after we got home to take some pictures for us. Can you believe she actually thanks me for letting her do this. She is awesome. I have the coolest friends.

Here is a picture of a picture (look how tiny she is!):

And the results (some of my favorites):

She even got a few of the older kids and some of the whole family:

If you have the pleasure of knowing Jane personally, can you think of a picture that would better define her personality?

First Day Home

Paige and I took a little nap as soon as we got home from the hospital. Grandma Kim and Grandpa John had taken Adam and Jane to the museum, so I wanted to take advantage of a few last minutes of peace.

The kids were excited for us to be home and that "Baby Paige" (Jane's official name for her) was here to stay.

I was happy to be home as well. I really missed Adam and Jane.

Grandma Kim and Grandpa John were happy to get a little time with Paige before heading back to Michigan (they were so much help!).

The kids each enjoyed helping feed Paige a bottle of pumped milk.

Paige Jacqueline

Our Dr. called at about 10am on Thursday morning to let us know they had a room for me and we could come in. I have lots of pictures of me pregnant with Adam, a few with Jane, and just this one (taken in the hospital room) of Paige. I am sure this is just the beginning of a long line of injustices she will face as our third (and perhaps final?) child.

They broke my water at around 11:30am and we walked for about 2 hours without much progress. At about 2pm we started some Pitocin to get some steady contractions. It took about two hours, but I started to have strong enough contractions that I needed to breathe through them. It was then that I asked to be checked to see if I could get an epidural. The Dr. said I was only about 4-5cm so I said I definitely wanted an epidural since I thought that it was still going to be a while before she came and I was ready for some relief. Unfortunately, it was a busy day in labor and delivery and it took the anesthesiologist 45 minutes to come. At that point the contractions were coming very close together and I was in quite a bit of pain. I was checked again and I was 8cm. There was a brief discussion between the anesthesiologist and the Dr. and it was determined that there just wasn't any time for an epidural. I was only half paying attention to these proceedings seeing as I was occupied with intense pain, when the anesthesiologist said, "Congratulations, it looks like you're about to have a baby. It was nice to meet you. Good bye!"

"Nooooooooooo!"

I turned to Scott and assertively informed him that I did not want to have this baby without an epidural. Luckily, I didn't have much time to object because in two minutes and three pushes baby Paige was on my chest wailing like a banshee. If she looks a bit beat up below it's because of her Indy 500 race down my birth canal. She literally scraped her head on my spine.


I made sure to inform her immediately that she needs to be a bit more obedient in the future. I had plans, and they included an epidural!

It wasn't long before Paige was introduced to friends and family. Jane was very excited to see her and immediately sang her "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (being sure to give her a good jab in the eyes at the appropriate point in the song).

Grandma Dorothy:

Grandma Kim and Grandpa John:

Aunt Emily (or Aunt Mookie, as she is more affectionately called):

Adam could not get enough time holding her. Whenever someone else was holding her he wanted to know when his turn was. My favorite comment from him was, "She has teeny tiny everything!"


Grandma Kim and Adam:

Jane is very interested in Paige.


Mom of three:

I don't know how we got here, but it's going to be an interesting ride!

Janie

Jane has really blossomed the last few months. She talks a blue streak and has a vibrant personality. I try not to compare my kids but I have to mention how different they are, even at this young age, in their preferences and skills. Jane is quite girly (despite certain worm-kissing incidents). She already loves to pretend play and does this without any direction from me. Here are some pictures of her from our most recent museum visit:



She is obsessed with these two. She spends about 10 minutes outside the Berenstein Bears exhibit just kissing/talking to her friends. She loves to stand just like she is below. I think she likes to pretend she's part of their family. I'll try not to be hurt. I mean, they do live "down a sunny dirt road" and all....

We rarely visit the Sesame Street part of the museum and Jane was thrilled to discover the taxi. She was even more excited to find her good friend Elmo in the backseat:

It has been so fun watching her explore the world and develop into her unique little self. I am getting a little teary-eyed as I realize she is going to be replaced as the "baby" of our family tomorrow. I just hope I can continue to keep up with her and not hold her back as she develops into a strong and independent girl. I love you baby girl!!

An Eventful Day

Yesterday was Adam's first day of preschool. I went to pick him up a little early so I could catch some pictures of his first day. I think it's safe to say he had a great time...

After that it was off to his annual appointment at the ophthalmologist. You may remember what happened last year. You'll be happy to know that this year he didn't freak out when she used the pirate patch. He did, however, fail his vision test. It seems as though the eye without the cataract is compensating for the bad eye and the bad eye is weakening as a result. So, Adam gets to wear glasses!

Hopefully the glasses will just be a temporary thing until he has retrained his bad eye. If anyone has experience with toddlers and glasses, please share. He is supposed to wear them all day everyday. If this doesn't work the Dr. wants to patch his good eye to force him to use the bad one. So, we will be diligent about the wearing of the glasses (that and the $300 price tag are sufficient motivation for me).


So, be on the look out for a very studious looking Adam next week. I'm a little excited about his new look...

I have found, with both of my children, that having them say "good-bye" to places or objects makes the transition easier and I rarely have to drag them kicking and screaming away from something. I don't know what it is about the act of saying "good-bye" to something that makes it easier for my kids to walk away, but there it is. Jane has stepped this up a notch and now kisses things good-bye; like the water fountain at the children's museum.

Well, we were at a Labor Day picnic yesterday and Jane found a worm. Jane has absolutely no qualms about picking up little creatures and studying them. Scott had a fun time encouraging her to show her worm to Mommy (I, for the record, DO have qualms about touching slimy creatures). Anyway, it was time to go. Do you see where I am going with this?

I told Jane it was time to say good-bye to her worm.

So she obediently put him on the ground and said, "Bye-bye worm!"

And before I knew what was happening she was on all fours, face to the ground, kissing the worm.

Oh, Jane.

The Butterfly Garden

We have a yearly membership to our local children's museum. That place is my haven in the winter time when it is too cold to do anything else. Today it was my haven because it was too hot to do anything else (Adam swam the last 4 days and his eyes were so bloodshot I decided it was time for a break from that activity). Anyway, inside the museum is a butterfly garden which is basically like a fairy wonderland. Beautiful butterflies flutter around you and little pygmy quail scurry across the path; my kids love it. We go a lot, but here are some pictures from today's visit.

Adam loves to look at the cocoons and see the moths and butterflies that are hatching.

They are featuring a butterfly called the "blue morph", they are beautiful and they are everywhere.

Apart from the butterflies and quail there are also turtles, fish and these little tortoises. These little guys were awfully friendly and actually scared me with how they were climbing up the wall toward Jane. Jane, of course, thought it was awesome.

The museum saved the day (and my sanity) again.

Gardener

We have some lovely flower boxes located outside our bedroom window. Adam has been diligent about keeping them watered.

He likes to vary his delivery method. He has a watering can but found this bottle and wanted to use it instead. If you recognize it, please don't think less of me; I washed it, I promise.

I know this looks a little unsafe, but our porch roof is only about 2 feet down. So, if he falls, he's not going far.



If you're a regular reader of this blog you're probably getting a pretty good perspective on the varying designs of Adam's underwear. I'm sorry, it's a battle I don't fight unless we're leaving the house.