Feeding a Baby

Reilly: Mom I know why your nibbles are fat.
Mom: Why?
Reilly: Because they have all the milk in them.
Mom: Ahhhh..... uh huh.

Welcome...

It must have been a result of my eviction, because our third child joined us less than 24 hours after the post. We have been blessed with another daughter, Shea, to our family. Oddly, labor began at 3:30am when I woke to a pain (contraction); my eyes popped open to find Kate standing inches from my face stroking my hair. I was confused and thought it was a dream - Kate rarely is up before the sun. I brought her back to bed and went back to sleep - curious if this was the onset of labor... finally. About 30 minutes later I woke again to a pain, I opened my eyes and as I stared at the door, Kate came walking in once again. She knew... she just knew...

We all hung around the house as my labor progressed and I passed time upstairs while Dad and the kids hung out downstairs. I cleaned more than I had in months... I think Shad was wishing I went into labor more often. Somewhere around 8am I told Shad to "GET the kids to school". I called my MD who told me to come into the office at 11. I found that to be odd as I had not done that in the past, but I agreed. 11am finally came around and we went to the md office. I found some pleasure telling the woman checking me in when she questioned my appt time that I was "in labor". Shad and I walked up the three flights of stairs to my OB's office and waited for her to be free. She checked me and sent me to the hospital - I was 5cm. It was 11:30 by the time we were in our room and I was sitting on a ball in a hospital gown. Over the next 4 1/2 hours Shad and I breathed together, I screamed, and Baby Shea arrived. (of course this is the abbreviated version, email me if you want the full version) Her arrival was different than the arrival of the other two. Not better or worse, but different.
She has a full head of dark hair, and weighed 7lbs 15ozs. Over a pound more than the last two.

Eviction Notice

What I once referred to as the "home stretch" apparently was not at all. I'm sitting here like a butterball turkey still waiting for #3 to make his/her grand entrance into the world. I can think of a number of reasons this child has not made it's way through the tunnel, but I'm sure aside from the fact, it's just not time, there isn't a good reason. My theories, however, still are worth considering:

1. Because of my lack of patience and tolerance the child on the inside hears a lot of whining and crying from the siblings on the outside and a lot of dog barking and whining.
2. Again, because of my lack of patience and tolerance the child hears much yelling on the outside and wonders why he/she would want to be there to hear it on the "other side" at least from where he/she is sitting, it's muffled - perhaps like when you go underwater in the bathtub and someone starts talking to you.
3. Oreos won't taste the same through breast milk.
4. It's been snowing and it's cold outside - it's warm on the inside.
5. Christmas is just around the corner, why not wait.
6. The other two kids got to make their mark in different ways on their way to the "outside" world, so this one figures that 10-12lbs would be a good way to make sure he/she is always remembered.

Oh, perhaps it's a little bit of all those things - then again it's likely none of them.

The Home Stretch

#3 is almost here - technically he/she is not due to arrive until 11/30 but intuition tells me it may be sooner. The kids are getting pretty anxious and in some ways it is showcased through their uncanny ability to "not hear" Shad and I as well as their knack of mastering the art of "crying/whining" when they are not getting their way.
Shad and I are truly challenged with keeping our patience these days. It's been a test to say the least. Fortunately, for the most part, when one of us is feeling impatient the other is patient. I would tip my hat to me being more of the former than that of the latter.

The kids have both attended "sibling" classes at the hospital so they can have some insight into what is to come. It's funny when I think about it Reilly is always going to be the "oldest" no matter how many members of the family come - but we are creating that not so envious position of "middle child" with Kate. She will now become the middle child and will either be the only girl or will have a sister. It's really an interesting thing to change the whole family dynamic - for better or for worse.

Shad and I are looking forward to the coming weeks to understand how we have done so...

Chick Mornings

Shad has been taking Reilly to school for the past few months which means Kate and I can have our "quality bonding" time in the mornings. The past couple mornings I have tried to get her to lay in bed just a "little longer". Verbally she'll commit, but as soon as she lies down she says "I need juice" and I say that I'll get it in a minute - to which she then replies "and dinner - I need dinner now too."

We don't last more than about 20 minutes b/c the demands just keep coming and it defeats the purpose of trying to get an extra few minutes.

Perspective

So... Kate is into dressing herself. I let her get whatever she wants out of her draw and typically only provide climate driven feedback. So, some days she has on 4 shirts and other days she wears her pants backwards. Typically the clothing does not match but occasionally she get something that at least looks like a coordinate set - either way, she's expressing herself, so I think it's cool. Well... I did... until this morning. The shirt she chose has a quasi neck tie - it's a piece of ribbon that appears to allow you to close the shirt at the neck but it's truly an accessory and has no function at all. Kate asked me to tie her shirt, I did. Apparently incorrectly... she untied it and asked me to do it again. I took the two ends and made a bow... I was wrong...again. Repeated step #1 again, this time I created tears. I asked what she wanted and she said a bow... after about the 7th time I picked her sobbing body off the floor and started showing her the zipper on the sweatshirt she had chosen.

Thankfully the distraction worked b/c the shirt was fine from that point on. Phew....

What's new in Kate's World

So Kate has her own way of speaking... a sampling of her words and expressions are below:

Darn It
You okay Rye
Top Tarts
Tolka Dots
Tay doh
Teese Car

Things she loves to do:
I go to ballet class.... Friday
I color
Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See? I see a Green Bird looking at me?
I go with you?
I do it
I get my clothes
I brush teeth
I read books... train books

Mine Rye... it's mine. Das my Mommy.

I want my Mommy.

Photo Day

Reilly proudly selected his outfit for today and styled his hair. :-) Kate just went along for the ride.

He appears to be the next Alex P Keaton... or maybe Troy Bolton. Who knows.

Shrinkage

Mom, if I put this shirt in my draw for a really really long time, it will shrink and then it will fit.

But the pool is closed

Around 10:30 the other night, the kids had been in bed for a few hours, Shad heard someone walking upstairs. He went up to find Kate standing in front of her dresser with her bathing suit on. "I want to go swimming."

Shad put her back to bed and let her know the pool was closed. She had nothing to do with his opinion and insisted on asking me. I let her know the same - oddly she fell asleep after my confirmation.

2 versus 3

These past few weeks have been a big test for us. Reilly has adopted a new personality that involves crying and sobbing at many corners. We attribute it to being back in school, our best friends moving out of state, darkness coming at 6:30, the impending third child among other things. Kate has been having her challenges too - if Shad even looks at her the wrong way she screams and comes running to me. (much like I did with my Dad) If I'm around she's attached to me - and wants to do everything with me. (which I am loving) Nonetheless, we are being tested in ways we have not been tested to date. It's been challenging as of late.

At dinner the other night they both hated what we having. Reilly was sobbing uncontrollably about it (we are working hard on the diet and the mealtime in our house) and Kate was just sitting quietly observing. Reilly walked by her chair and she leaned over and hugged him... patted him on the back and said "you okay Rye?" Shad and I just watched for the ensuing 2 minutes where they just embraced. It was the cutest thing and it made us truly appreciate our family and that we have two kids that are learning to love one another.

Kate was so perceptive to know that Reilly was sad. Reilly was so happy to have someone to give a hug to that wasn't Shad or me.

We're excited for number three to arrive, yet still nervous at the same time.

Finally... it's gone....

Well, that flu that swept through our house has finally taken it's toll on the entire family - minus the dog (knock on wood). It's been a long week of buckets and bathroooms. Thankfully it didn't last more than two days for each one of us. Ugh... it was a killer though. And, it was Reilly's first experience like that - he was a bit amazed and proud about the noises his body can make. Actually he hasn't stopped talking about it. I guess this is where boys become boys!

Ewwwwww..... Gross

Reilly and I were headed to preschool the other day and this was our "fruitful" conversations.

Reilly: "I just burped and my juice came up"
Me: "oh"
Reilly: "I swallowed it again and it was warm"
Me: silent... disgusted... but empathetic

Some kind of bug

Shad woke up to sounds of choking last night and ran into the kids bedroom where he found that Kate had vomited ALL over the place. I walked in seconds later to a stench (got to love that sniffer during pregnancy - can you say magnify x100!) that was as foul as they come. Upon some sheet changing and pajama removing we realized the vomit was cold - and she had obviously been sleeping in it for some time. We went into divide and conquer mode - since it WAS 3am. I put Kate in the bath and Shad stripped the bed. It seemed the entire bottle of febreeze wasn't going to help the smell. GROSS!

I stayed home with Kate today - we had one close call where she almost lost it on my new work laptop. Otherwise she was good and she slept a lot. Both Shad and I agreed though we smelled the smell ALL day!

Hopefully tonight goes a little better.

dehdehdehdehdehdehdeh bagel

This is Kate's latest way to have a long conversation. She gets on the phone and says "Nannie... dehdehdehdehdeh coming over?" OR "Mommie.... dehdehdehdehdeh Reilly's hat". Normally I can piece it together and figure out what she's getting at - but it cracks me up b/c she has been speaking in complete sentences for a while. I think she's itching to have more focus on her and wants to feel as long winded as the rest of us. (Especially her Dad!)

Labor Day Weekend

I'm thinking that Kate is not learning from Reilly - you tell me if you feel otherwise.

We did a little hike up to Lonesome Lake in the White Mountains this weekend. Reilly hiked all by himself and Kate hiked about 1/3 of it. We had a great time!

Josh Baskin

Hey... what's wrong with this picture?

No He's Not 16

but he thinks he is....

I wonder how long Kate will want to be his passenger, I suspect not very long.

Dog versus Fish

When Reilly and I went to talk to his new fish Ella last night he asked if we could take her out for a walk.... ummmmm....

She's not really like Nandi Reilly. I don't think a walk would be what she wants.

Ella's in the HOUSE!

Reilly got a belated birthday present from Auntie Amber, Ella and Grace today. It is a one gallon fish tank. We set it up today and went to the store to pick out a fish. Reilly and Kate are just so excited - Reilly named his fish Ella and after only about 15 minutes has Kate calling the fish Ella too. Here is another one of our infamous phone photos of her.