Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

Well, I made it out of the house today AND I got the girls and myself ready!  Definitely something to be celebrated!  Special thanks to my sister Steph, who graciously agreed to help me take the girls to see Santa!  Chloe was totally excited to see him all day long and kept saying "Sit on Santa's lap by myself?"  She's taken the Santa thing pretty serious since we explained to her that he would be bringing presents on Christmas, but only if she was good.  She'll pick up a present from under the tree and say "Need to tell Santa thank you?" and when I tell her yes, she says "Oh..."  I wasn't sure how well sitting on his lap would go, but she sat there without a fuss.  She wasn't her usual crazy self, but answered his questions politely and even told him Merry Christmas.  He was the cutest Santa ever and was super sweet.  He even guessed within a week how old Avery was.  I love Chloe's face in this picture...she looks totally bored!  It's not the best picture quality because I couldn't bring myself to pay $20 for two pictures!  Merry Christmas!

A Little Update...

 Decorating the Christmas tree in an outfit she picked out herself!  Glad we got it up before Avery came!

 Bundled up to go to the tree lighting ceremony at the park

 At the ceremony (the night before Avery was born).  She buried her head in Ronnie's shoulder every time the Grinch came around.

 Leaving the hospital

 She has Ronnie's toes!  Her toenails are exactly like his!

 She's always fighting to stay awake and this is the face she always makes when she's doing it.

 Love the carseat shot to remember how tiny she was :)

If you couldn't tell, Chloe LOVES being a big sister!  She also loves posing for pictures and is always saying "Wanna take a picture of me?"

 I was a little worried about doing this pose, but Chloe did great!  There are a few pics where she's totally about to lose her though...

Chloe seems to have quadrupled in size since Avery was born!

 Love having her here :)

 One of my favorite sights :)

 Bath time!  Avery's always moving her arms around and putting them by her head/scratching her face.  She always has the blanket pulled up by her face.

She likes to lay by the mirror and just stare.  She also loves her mobile and will just stare at it.  We have our good days and bad days, but overall, we're really happy and things are going well!  Avery is such a little sweetie and Chloe is (usually) such a good helper!  Avery is such a little piggy!  I'm nursing and pumping and supplementing with formula here and there.  She does so great switching around and already loves her binky. She usually takes about an hour to nurse, then she'll act like she's going to sleep, but will wake up 10 minutes later for another 2oz!  If anyone has any ideas on how to break that little habit, let me know!  Not lovin' it!  I have to watch something while I'm nursing, so I think I'm about halfway through the season of Eli Stone on Netflix.  I'm getting pretty tired of watching TV, but it's hard for me to nurse without a distraction!  Chloe LOVES her baby sister and loves helping me.  She's acted a little extra needy and for a while was throwing fits all the time, but hasn't taken anything out on Aves.    She's really good about grabbing things for me while I'm nursing, but still has a hard time going to the bathroom by herself, which is a challenge when I'm feeding Avery.  We call Avery Aves a lot, or baby Aves and Chloe calls her baby Gabes :)  Avery already likes to be swaddled and almost always has to have her binky, just like her big sister.  At 2 weeks old she usually has a few hour long periods of awake time where she checks everything out.  We're starting to get a schedule going for afternoon naps where both girls sleep aka I force Chloe to take a nap as soon as Aves falls asleep.  Avery fooled us for a few nights by sleeping from midnight to six, but she now sleeps from about 10-2 or 12-4 then usually again at 7.  It still varies from day to day.  Ronnie is busy busy busy working full time at Canyon Media Group, trying to open his shop and still taking computer clients!  Even though he's gone a lot, he's still really supportive and helpful!  Love my little family!

Avery's Birthday

Outside of Paradise Cafe, leaving for the hospital

Our amazing nurse Melanie

LOVE my doctor :)

Tuesday morning around 11 I had a regular checkup and was scheduled to be induced sometime on Wednesday.  My appointment went great, I was a 4 and softening and then I asked if she would strip my membranes (I know, crazy) to see if we could get things going before I was induced.  The night before Avery didn't do her nightly routine of squirming around and hadn't moved very much that morning, so I told my dr. my concerns and she decided to monitor me for a little while.   After about an hour and half of being monitored, having nurses and my dr. in and out, and me getting sick because they spiked my blood sugar on juice (and then it crashed)to try to get her to move, she still wasn't moving as much as my dr. wanted her to (though her heartbeat was steady).  So Tracy (my dr. was getting a little repetitive) asked how I felt about being induce that day instead of the next and left to call Labor and Delivery to see if they had room for us.  She left the door open while she made the call, so I heard the whole conversation including the phrase "reduced fetal movement" which totally freaked me out (even more than I already was) and that they had room for me.  She came back in and cheerfully said "They have room for you!  Go get lunch and come back in 20 minutes!  We'll have this baby here before dinner!"  I walked out of the office dazed and anxious as a dialed Ronnie's number to let him know.  I thought I was freaking out, but it was nothing compared to Ronnie's reaction.  He was at work when I called him and I could tell he was totally flustered after I told him he needed to leave work and meet us for lunch before going to have our baby.  I could here him passing people and excitedly telling them "I'm going to have a baby" as I listed off all of the things I needed him to grab from the house for Chloe (packing her bag had been on my to do list for after my appointment).  When he got to the house he called so I could tell him everything one at a time and I could just visualized him running from one end of the house to the other in a chicken with it's head cut off fashion.  It was pretty comical listening to him. Meanwhile I met up with my mom and Chloe and we headed to Paradise Cafe for a little lunch, which was a big mistake because they were slammed (I know you told me so Mom!).  20 minutes turned into 45 (during which time I turned into a nervous wreck) before we were headed to the hospital and Tracy called on the way wondering where in the world we were (she'd shown up to break my water and I wasn't there).   They let us in and we were immediately met by a tiny, cheerful nurse named Melanie who'd been called in just to induce me, which made me feel awful since we were so late.  She got the IV in, all the paperwork out of the way, and checked me and I was a 5 and still soft (not sure what that means, they never used the term effaced).  Tracy came in I want to say around 3 'o clock while fluid was going into my IV to prep for the pitocin and was excited with my progress.  She then got out her little crochet hook and popped my bag of waters, which didn't hurt at all, but I hated the feeling of peeing my (non) pants over and over.  They had to change the little pad under me about 6 times because it just kept gushing out.  My nurse Melanie was amazed at how much water I had in me and she had to keep tightening the monitor around my stomach.  Every time they changed my pad, more would come out and I'd be sitting in a pool again.  After a little while the contractions started to come and before long I was at a 7 and feeling ready for my epidural.  I'm not sure at which point they gave me the pitocin, but I think it wasn't until after my epidural.  The anesthesiologist  came in and gave me the epidural (which was such a different experience than Chloe's since I was at a 9 + with her and only a 7 with Avery) and then shot the breeze with Ronnie while it took affect (he was actually a pretty entertaining guy).  My feet quickly went numb, but I kept feeling the contractions.  I hit my drug button a few more times, but the contractions never  fully went away and there was a spot on the lower left side of my stomach that was especially painful and sharp.  Melanie said it was called a "hot spot" and was actually pretty normal.  She checked me after the pain was more manageable and said that I was at a 9.  I didn't love feeling the pain, but it was kind of cool to be able to feel the pressure of everything working in my body.  Shortly after she left I started feeling A LOT of pressure down below, like she was about to come out.  I told Ronnie that we needed to have the nurse check me again, but we weren't really sure what to do because she'd just been in.  After a few more contractions with that kind of pressure, we called Melanie back in.  She checked me, asked me to push while she felt, and then said "We need to call Tracy," because I was ready!  A few more nurses came in to prep the room and before we knew it, Tracy was there and I was getting into the stirrups.  It all happened so suddenly that when everyone was gathered around me and she told me to push, I started laughing because I couldn't believe it was time!  I pushed through 4 contractions, all of which I could feel (thankfully painlessly) everything that was going on.  It was a really strange sensation to feel her crown, feel Tracy prepping me down there and then feel Avery slip out.  I was bent up so far when I was pushing, that I actually got to watch her come out of me (also a surreal experience).  This whole pregnancy has felt like a dream and I don't think I accepted it as reality until that moment.  She was born at 6:26 and Tracy was quick to say "See!  I told you we'd have her here by dinner!"  I'm not sure of the order, but they place her on me and she wasn't crying at all (which was a little scary) and Ronnie passed the camera off to a nurse so that he could cut her cord.  It took a little while, but she eventually started crying, then all of the routine cleaning, measuring and so on took place.  She was so beautiful and had her own little look about her, though she shared a few similarities with Chloe and all of the nurses kept saying "Oh, she's Daddy's girl!"  There's something a little unfair about carrying your baby for 9 months and then having her come out and look like Dad!  Atleast he's good lookin'!  I was especially interested to find out how much she weighed, since I'd been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and was ecstatic when they told be 7 lbs 12 oz (my "goal" (dream, wish, prayer etc...) was to have her under 8 lbs)! After all of the excitement died down, we called my parents and told them to bring Chloe over to meet her sister.  She was SO excited to meet her, but when it came down to it, she was pretty wary.  We sat her on my bed and she said "I want to hold sister" but shortly after we placed her in her arms, Avery started to squirm and Chloe quickly said "Please take her!"  It was so nice this time around to have my family join me in the hospital to share in the special atmosphere there (with Chloe there was the great "swine flu epidemic" so we weren't allowed any visitors beyond my mom).  A little after 8 we said our goodbyes (visiting hours were over) and they wheeled us to recovery, where we quickly ordered from their gourmet menu (not even kidding, it's the best food ever!).  We met our new nurse Andrea' (who kept me well stocked with pain killers and juice) and settled in for the night with our sweet little baby.  Sometime during the night, Avery started choking and actually stopped breathing, but thankfully Ronnie was awake and acted quickly.  It was such a scary experience to be woken up by my husband saying "She's not breathing!" and then having to call the nurses and have them rush in.  I'm so grateful that Ronnie was nearby and kept a cool head.  It turns out that she was having a hard time getting out all of the amniotic fluid out that she'd swallowed, which was also the reason that she didn't cry right away when she was born.

After that, things were pretty calm!  We decided to stay the full two days at the hospital and it was the best decision ever!  It was so nice to be waited on and to not feel any obligations past feeding and changing Avery.  Nursing went really well, besides having my male nurse when shift changed and the intense after pains.  I seriously felt like I was in labor again and had to keep reminding myself that it was my uterus shrinking and I WANTED that!  It was fun to have lots of visitors this time around and especially nice when my Mom brought me some Coldstone!  It was fantastic being able to eat sweets guilt-free again!  Thursday afternoon we packed everything up to go home.  I wasn't feeling very well (besides the whole giving birth thing) and was pretty light headed, so we took our time.  When we eventually made our way down to the car, the tire was low, but we decided to try and make it home anyway.  Ronnie got into the freeway lane and I asked him if he was sure it was safe with a low tire, and he assured me it was.  Uh hu.  Yup.  About halfway home I started to hear a funny noise so we pulled over.  The tire was totally shredded!  Ronnie got everything out to put the spare on, but discovered that the previous owner had put a special lug nut on it to discourage thieves, and we didn't have the tool to take it off.  Thankfully we were close to my parents house, so my Mom came and grabbed me and Avery while Ronnie waited for the tow truck (glad we decided to go with roadside assistance!).  Finally, we made it home!!!  My Mom was fantastic and stayed the night (and the next couple of days) with us, taking care of the girls, cooking and letting me rest while Ronnie went to work and my sweet mother in law came to help too.  I'm so grateful that everything went so well and that we are blessed with such a beautiful family!  Thank you to everyone that stopped by, cooked for us, and has taken Chloe!  We really appreciate the help and support!

Silly Girl

Our Chloe is one silly, jabbering girl!  Just wanted to write down a few things she's done lately:

*Last night Ronnie took her with him to drop off a computer to a client and left her in the car while he went to the door.  He left the heater on and bundled her up, thinking she would fall asleep.  He talked to the client (still on the porch) long than he anticipated and when he got back to the car, Chloe's face was streaked with tears and she said "Daddy, I was screaming in the car.  I was sad.  I'm happy now!"  That broke Ronnie's heart, so to make up for it he told her they'd go get some ice cream.  When he told her that she said "Ice cream in the freezer at my house.  Eat ice cream with Mommy at my house."  Such a little smarty :)
*Yesterday she shut the door to the room we were in and I told her "Uh oh!  Now you're stuck!"  She quickly said "Door's locked...I have a key!" and started digging around in her pocket.  She eventually found her pretend key after checking all of her pockets and got it out to unlock the door.  She pretended to open it with the key and when it didn't open told me "I have a pink key.  Here's a key for you.  Put it in your pocket!" and gave me my pretend key.
*Ever since Thanksgiving she likes to pretend that she's her cousin Mailey.  She'll say "Mom, I not Chloe, I Mailey!"  then I'll respond "Oh no!  Where's my Chloe????" and she'll say "At AJ and Cami's house!"  Not sure where she came up with that one, but it's pretty funny.
*Another one I'm not sure where she got is that she'll rub her hands in Ronnie's hair and scratch his head and say "I'm looking for bugs in your hair!"

She comes up with the silliest things and is very in to pretending.  I cannot believe that she's barely two and comes up with these things!

Dirthday Girl!

 

Last Saturday we celebrated Chloe's 2nd birthday with a Rapunzel Party!  I've been telling her about her party for a while now, so the whole week leading up to her party she could tell you that her birthday party was on Saturday and that it was a "Punzel party" and that she was going to have a "Punzel cake".  I almost didn't have the courage to pull it off because of being 38 weeks prego and all, but my awesome sister and mom volunteered to help, and of course Ronnie helped, along with his brother Christopher.  With all our powers combined,  the party was a success!  Especially since I didn't have any major melt downs...sad but true...the perfectionist in me can sometimes turn me into a monster, but not this time!

The kids had fun coloring Flynn and Rapunzel pictures while we waited for pizza (Chloe's our little pizza fiend), then we had them play Pin the Frying Pan on Flynn Rider.  It was so funny watching them play the game and they all wanted to do it over and over.  They loved saying "bonk!" because that's what I told them Rapunzel did to Flynn in the movie.    After that we opened presents and I was very surprised at how well Chloe took the other kids digging into her gifts.  She was very patient and let everyone help her open them and was great at being surprised and delighted at what she got.  Last we did the cake, which was a little tricky since we discovered a couple of weeks ago, at the LeBarons, that she is deathly afraid of candles/fire.  We did a b-day cake for her over there and she was literally crawling up me to get away from the lit candle.  This time we put the candle on and sang without lighting it, which was a little anti-climatic, but still fun.  We passed out all the Pascal cupcakes (made by my awesome sister) and a little ice cream and then just let them do their thing.  I was very pleasantly surprised that we didn't find neon frosting ground into the carpet after they all left.     Chloe was such a little sweetheart the entire time and you could tell she loved having all of her friends there!  She is definitely a ham and loves to be social (with people she already knows...)!

Here are a few awesome things about Chloe at age 2:

• She loves music!  She knows most of the words to I am a Child of God, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, and walks around repeating the lines "Mother knows best" from Tangled or "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....hey!"
• She's getting very into pretending.  She'll fill up her tea cups with pretend tea and serve it to you and drink it herself or bring you some medicine and a bandaid and fix your owie.  She loves pretending to call her Papa and have conversations with him and then tell me what he said.
• Still gags and will sometimes throw up if she smells something stinky.  Whenever she throws something away she'll cover her mouth and say "Garbage is stinky!"
• LOVES Christmas lights!  Whenever we pass them she'll gasp, opening her eyes wide with her mouth in an "o" and scream "Christmas lights!!!!"  She can spot them from a mile away!
• Is potty trained (as of now...she pretty much was on her birthday too)!  She does really well and has only had one accident in her bed!  She has an accident every now and then, but usually only when she's busy playing.  She gets a Punzel treat every time she uses the bathroom.
• She'll tell if you if she doesn't like the music that's on the radio.  She'll literally say "Mom, I don't like this music." or "Turn off music!"
• Will hold my pregnant belly and say "Avery come out!  Come play with me!"  or "Mom, I wanna hold baby sister" and then come put her arms around my belly.  She's SOOO excited for baby sister to be born!
• Whenever she gets out of the shower or the tub, she'll come find me and say "Mom!!!!  I a naked bum!!!"
• She can name all of her colors and shapes (star, triangle, square, circle, flower, heart)
• She can count to 5
• She mimics my counting to three to make her do something.  We'll be in the store and she'll say, while pointing her finger at me "1,2, "free"....now!  You in trouble Mom!  Go to time out!" If I ask her why she'll tell me because I was naughty.  She doesn't respond to my counting anymore.
• Ronnie told her that she was so cute and she responded "Jesus made me cute!"
• She still loves the temple and going to see Jesus and having him talk to her
• Sings her own version of the ABC song
• Still loves Rapunzel, but will now to choose to watch Dora over Tangled.  She sings the Dora theme song and loves saying "Swiper no swiping!" and then she'll say "Mom, say Oh Miaaaaan!" and after I say it she'll say "Say it louder!!!" just like the show.

Chloe is so goofy and sweet!  She is speaking really well and even uses correct grammar most of the time!  She makes silly faces and we give each other "fishy kisses".  She loves being outside, riding her bike,  drawing with chalk, playing airplanes with dad, going flying with dad,  and her Rapunzel toys she got for her birthday!  We love our funny little girl :)