Thank you Thank you Thank you

(Veda and her friends Drew and Ella at the park yesterday)

I've said it before and I will say it again... and again... and again. I have great neighbors! Thanks to Robin for making us a yummy dinner last night. Feeding five over the past two weeks has wiped us out and we were having to get pretty creative with our meals... yogurt for dinner anyone?!

My parent's were a HUGE help. It's hard to imagaine how people can manage without help from friends and family. Thanks to my parents I was able to get much needed sleep and healing time and Veda was kept constantly entertained. Little miss Adele got lots of love and much needed holding time. I really don't know what we would have done without them. Thank you for giving up your life for two whole weeks!

The next batch of helpers arrives on Thursday for the Easter weekend. We look forward to introducing Adele to Didie and Grandpa Laabs and Uncle Chris and Aunt Kel. Veda is looking forward to stroller rides and trips to the park again. She might have to do without over the next couple of days while Todd and I tag-team to take care of the girls. Thankfully Todd will be home early tonight and will be staying home tomorrow to help out.

I will survive...

Nonie and Bull left town this morning and boy are things quiet around here. Todd took them to the airport at 5:30 so I was left to fend for myself. I managed to get Veda up and to daycare without incident. A new little one started daycare today so here is a pic of the three of them at snack time. Too cute! As long as Veda doesn't have any major tantrums I think I can handle this. Three or four kids seems like an impossible feat to me. For those of you super moms out there - you are amazing.

You might have noticed my Mom's title has changed from Nana to Nonie... Veda came up with it on her own and I guess she's in charge.

Pool Day

It hit the 80's today so we broke out Veda's new pool wear and water wings and hit the pool. She jumped right in and showed us she can't be trusted near the water. She is fearless and kept trying to go out on her own. We are in for a long summer!

We Love Visitors

Jennifer, Steve and Mr. Jack stopped by today with treats and gifts. Thank you! We forgot to get a picture with Jennifer and Steve but couldn't miss the opportunity to snap Jack playing with Veda's pink purse. Here's Adele's cute little 4th of July dress she'll be wearing the summer. I think Red is her color.

Baby

When Veda wakes up in the morning the first thing she says is "Baby" - when I come down in the morning the first thing Veda says to me is "Baby" - when I pick her up at daycare the first thing she says to me is "Baby". Veda LOVES the baby and wants to be with whomever is holding her. It can go either way though. If she's feeling a bit jealous she will throw a tantrum - self inflicting harm to get attention. She's getting pretty good at banging her head against just about everything.

Meet Dr. Silverman

This is my Dr. who delivered both of the girls. His daughter, Dr. Fine, assisted with the C-sections.

Adele Meets Aunt Melissa

Plagiarism

I stole this from My So Called Life's blog... it described my childhood to a T so I thought I too should document this for the girls. My blackberry and laptop are like internal organs... not sure how I made it through life paying outdoors. I would still rather play Atari though... these new age video games just confuse me! As for the carseat... I'm pretty sure we had one of those??? but Todd's parents tell about how he would ride along in the pick-up while standing in the front seat when he was just a toddler. A different world...

When I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!
There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk across the street and put it in the mailbox!
There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio.
There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless.
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
There weren't any cell phones either. If you left the house you actually had to be out of touch with your "friends."Think of the horror!
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss. You had to pick it up and take your chances!
We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You had to get up and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons.
And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky , you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

Some random pics from the last few days...

Veda is back in daycare for the week and living it up. I was glad to see the photo of her playing nice with the baby. We have a bedtime routine which involves kissing everyone goodnight before we head up the stairs waving and yelling "bye - ni ni." She now gets to kiss the baby goodnight too and it is so sweet! She kind of puts her cheek up next to her and I think she expects her to kiss back. I love the gangster picture at top... the best is that she is wearing her pajamas at daycare. I was still in the hospital so Todd was dressing her and just thought it was another outfit.

Congrats!

So my friends Cory and Angelica had their baby girls Reegan and Angelina yesterday via scheduled C-sections. I was so emotional when I heard the news. Congratulations ladies! I actually think I was a little jealous... I can't figure out why... maybe because they get to be in the hospital for the next fours days getting rest and VIP treatment... or maybe because I am really ready for number three... I'm going to go with the sleep factor.

Our First First

Adele had her Dr's Appointment with Dr. Kundell Monday morning. I forgot my camera to record the moment so thank goodness for the Blackberry. He was impressed with her weight gain - up to 6 lbs 14 oz from the 6lbs 9 oz weigh in the day we left the hospital. She is eating and "voiding" well... if we could just get her to sleep. She will not sleep unless she is being held which means I am EXHAUSTED. I slept sitting up in a chair with her for several hours the other night. I've been sleeping while Veda has been at daycare and Mom can serve as the bean holder. I'm already terrified that I will be on my own for a few days next week and am expected to be conscious while I care for my brood.

A Little Adele to Brighten Your Day

Reality Check

Teaguen (the four year old neighbor) to his Mom: "Oh, that's a baby."

Teaquen's Mom: "Yes Teaquen, remember that Kathy was going to have a baby, this is Veda's new sister, Adele."

Me: "Remember Teaguen how my stomach was really big and how I told you the baby was in there and now it's here."

Teaguen (while pointing to my stomach): "Well what's still in there then...?"

Nice Glasses, Nerd

Veda thought it was sooo funny this morning that Mom was wearing glasses, so she had to put them on...very nice.

Rebuttal

For the record...only a nurse can get you ice water (you can't get it on your own)...after 3 days of drinking no water, it was becoming a dehydration hazard, so I caved and asked for water (actually we asked the nurse to fill "2" water jugs for Kathy).  Regarding my bed, it was stuck at a right angle....I slept for 3 hrs that way, then flipped to the end of the bed with my feet straight up in the air for another 2 hrs...finally Kathy asked for maintenance to come (I never asked - I would have slept like that for 3 days out of principle).  Lastly, the TV is true...that's just cruel and unusual punishment not having a TV in the hospital.....

Tiny Person

Adele just looks bigger in all the pictures than she really is. She is sooooo tiny. She weighed 6lbs 9oz when we left the hospital yesterday. I still get nervous changing her diaper, cleaning her and nursing her because she is so fragile. We didn't get much sleep last night and I'm now blogging at 11pm which is a sign that we might not get much sleep tonight either. Luckily I have lots of help and was able to take an afternoon snooze.

The pain from my incision has been minimal and the recovery has been much easier than I remember it the first time around. Both times I left the hospital a day early. I would have opted to stay this time around just to get some rest but they gave me a roommate two hours before I was discharged. They had 29 babies in the maternity ward on Wednesday night and that's the most they've ever had - they ran out of rooms and really I'm lucky that I made it through my stay without having to share. I really love the hospital and the care I received but I don't know if I would opt to go back there knowing that the rooms aren't guaranteed to be private.

The good news is that once again Todd got to sleep in the bed next to me. On the first night of our stay we had to call maintenance twice. First because Todd's TV wasn't working on "his" side of the room and second because his hospital bed got stuck in an upright position at 1am in the morning. I'm sure the nurses had better things to worry about so I found it comical that we had them taking care of Todd... and getting him water. In his defense he felt like a jerk asking them to call maintenance again so he actually tried to sleep in the reclined bed for a bit with his head at the end of the bed and his feet elevated in the air.

One for you - One for me

We needed to get out of the house today. We were all getting stale and Veda was getting restless. We decided to take her to the park with the duck ponds that she had visited with Jenn and Ella. This was also Adele's first official outing. Jenn had reported that Veda was eating the Ritz crackers that they were feeding to the ducks so we decided to use plain crappy bread instead. Apparently she doesn't discriminate. We estimate she ended up eating at least two slices of bread herself and the ducks got the rest.

Gifts Day Two

On our second day home from the hospital we gave Veda a baby stoller. Another HUGE hit! She would get angry anytime anyone tried to touch HER stroller. Thankfully she hasn't tried to give Adele any rides yet. So far so good - the distraction technique has worked perfectly and we have been introducing Adele in small doses.  I can tell that Veda is a little confused as to why the new baby is still hanging around.

Veda's "Baby Shower"

So with the introduction of Adele came gifts to keep Veda distracted. On our first day home from the hospital we broke out the water table. I knew this would be a big hit - the big moment was when she wanted Nana to help her undress her baby doll - which she did. Veda then proceeded to give her baby a bath in the water table. Funny stuff but I'm especially impressed that she thought to undress the doll first. This last picture showcases Todd's ingenuity. Veda kept getting soaked so he wrapped her in a dish towel and clipped it together in back with a chip clip.

More Adele pics from home

        

Coming home from the Hospital

Very tiny person riding in the car seat...I forgot how hard it is to strap a new born into a car seat.  The buckle was the size of her entire chest.  Good thing she won't be riding in here much over the next several weeks.

Adele meets Veda - ready or not here she comes...

Veda meets Adele

Veda showed little interest in seeing Mommy after she realized there was a baby present in the room. I guess I don't have to worry about her wanting to kill her baby sister but she might yet hug her to death. I think they will be fast friends.

Tiny Feet

I just liked this picture...very tiny feet.

March Madness

    

Day 3 in the hospital is a little more action packed than yesterday.  When Veda was born, it was right in the middle of the 2008 Olympics....well luckily we have March Madness this year.  I even let Kathy fill out on of my work brackets so she could follow along.  We have quite the set up, multiple computers + one tiny TV.  So far, Kathy's bracket is doing well...

Adele (part deux)

Some more pics of Adele from Day 2 in the world.  Grandpa & Grandma Sayre stopped by for a visit this afternoon.  They've been the primary care givers for Veda this week while Kathy & I have been spending the majority of time at the hospital.  That's been a real life saver.  We can already tell that the second child is going to add a lot more work.

BTW, you pronounce Adele (a-dell) - like "the farmer and the dell."  As I say that, I'm not really sure what a "dell" is (from that song), but the name seems to work : )