Betty - 1 Month

It's hard to believe that Betty is a month old!  At the same time, it's hard to imagine life without her.  We all love Betty and are really enjoying having her in our family.  Here's what she's up to:

-She still has her signature 4 or 5 a-choo sneeze.  It's pretty intense.  It's also pretty cute.

-Such a sleepy little girl!  I feel like it's really been in just the past week that her feeding times have come up to what I feel comfortable with (12-17 minutes total per feeding vs. 3-5 minutes in the first week).  She's definitely growing, so that is what's important!

-She loves baths.  The warm water just puts her in this blissful, calm state.

-Has a sweet and super sad little cry. We hardly ever hear it.  Really, it's just reserved for times of hunger and unintentionally pokey displays of affection by a big sister who is just bursting with love for this little one.

-Sleeps 4-5 hour stretches at night.

-Such a LOUD sleeper.  Grunting, moaning, and more recently a choking/coughing/scream/cry sound. Sad.  By this age, we'd kicked Clara out into her own room... but with the room sharing plan, we're still trying to figure out what the best option is.

-I can tell she's a content little soul, but sometimes she seems pretty uncomfortable in that little body.  Poor thing!

We love you, darling Betty!

Clara - 26 Months

Clara is 26 months old now!

She's a loving and (mostly) gentle big sister and wants to see and hold Betty first thing when she wakes in the morning and after a nap.  She loves to show Betty her toys, make sure she has a blanket, and help her learn all of her body parts.

She must have hit a growth spurt, because for the past two weeks she's been falling asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.

Started sleeping with a pillow!  My mom makes the grandkids cute pillowcases for each holiday, and made Clara her first one for Valentine's Day.  After a week she told me, "mama, this pillow is too tight."  So I found her another pillow that was a little more fluffy.  No complaints since then!

Loves snow!  She'd go out and play in it everyday if I let her.

Still loves nursery and loves singing.  She invents her own little tunes in addition to her ever-expanding repertoire of hymns, primary songs and kid's songs.

LOVES the hokey-pokey.  It's so silly and cute to watch her dance.

Her latest most common phrases are, "hold you, rock you!" (when she's asking me to hold/rock her), "what was that?" or "what was that noise from?" and "just a minute, I'll be right back!"

Yesterday we were playing in the living room and she sat on the floor by her teddy bear and said, "Mama, I'm hanging out."

She loves to count things and can get into the teens, but gets the order mixed up after twelve.

Is so expressive and animated.  We love all of her faces.

Favorite foods right now are quesadillas ("mama, I need to go to cafe rio for a quesadilla"), slices of cheese, applesauce, pears, and peanut butter on ritz crackers.

She's definitely into doing things by herself.  If she drops something and I pick it up for her she'll get angry and put it back on the floor so she can pick it up herself.  "I DO IT!"

Refers to herself all the time as "Clay-wa" and more recently as "Clay-we" (I call her Clarey a lot)

When she wants something and she knows she can't have it, she'll ask/demand it and when I tell her no or not right now, she'll try changing the tone of her voice to ask again. Hard to explain, but so funny!

Is a really happy, up-for-anything girl and we love her!

Some cute things she mis-pronounces: elephant (elpha-naunt) basket (swacket) washcloth (cuack-wash)

She's so verbal and loves to talk on the phone, to her animals (her "guys"), and to people she knows.  When less familiar faces come around, she gets shy and makes the cutest little frowny smile with an extra puffy pouty lip on the bottom.

She just woke up from her nap and is saying, "mama, I need a hug!" So I better go... :)

Mollie's Visit

While I was still in the hospital, my sister Mollie asked if it would help if she came out for a few days to help me with the new baby.  Since I'm the youngest and my sisters both have their hands full with the responsibilities of their own families, I never anticipated that I'd get to have one of them around when I had this baby -- so of course I jumped at the chance!  She came out from the 6th to the 10th of February and made lots of arrangements to have her family at home taken care of and brought her youngest along.

Unfortunately, Clara's tummy bug, Levi's cold, and Mollie's visit all overlapped.  No one was too eager to have a nine month old with a cough and cold hanging out with our super new baby (not to mention the fact that we'd just gotten over about two months of straight colds at our house), but Mollie still managed to be a big help.  She was able to stay at my parents' house and come out for several hours each day.  Levi napped or played in the basement and Betty stayed on the main floor.

While she was here, Mollie helped me take some photos of Betty (we like to help each other out like that), but mostly I wanted her to take a few of me and my girls.  She got some great photos that I am so thankful to have.  I love to take pictures of my girls, and get quite a few of Spencer and the kids too - but I knew this was a rare chance to capture a little bit of my role as a mother.

Happy Birthday Balentine's Day

Lately when the topic of birthdays has come up (which it has a lot, with Betty's, Spencer's, and Grandpa Bob's all within less than three weeks) Clara says, "Happy Birthday Christmas!"  Her birthday is on Christmas Eve, so the confusion is understandable.  As is the fact that Valentine's Day stands on it's own.  And starts with a V.

February 12th was Spencer's birthday and I did a really dismal job of helping him celebrate.  With having a two week old and it being busy season for him, I just couldn't get my act together to make it a very special day.  Plus, he ended up having to go to a Jazz game for work at the last minute, so he didn't get home until almost 10:00.  On the 13th we finally had some cake together, and on the 14th he came home a little early (around 7:15) so we (Clara) finally got to sing to him and blow out candles.

  

During the week prior to Valentine's Day we worked on making some Valentines together for family members.  Clara did all of her own work and was totally into it.  When the 14th finally rolled around, we woke up to a front door covered in hearts!  The sweet young women in our ward "heart attacked" us and left some fun treats.

I made Clara a special lunch featuring lots of hearts and pink and red.  I wasn't entirely sure that she appreciated my efforts until we had quesadillas again later that week and she requested them in heart shapes.  Clara was showered with Valentine's Day treats and gifts from her family: a special Valentine's Day pillow case, a new book, a plastic Valentine cow that dispenses treats and a bouquet of Valentine's Day balloons.  
 

In the Hospital

After Betty was born around 2:30 in the morning, we finally got settled into our room a little after 5:00 am.  I called my parents to tell them about the delivery and they wanted to come in right away.  They said they'd leave around 7:00 in the morning to come meet our baby.  It was still snowing a lot that day and the morning commute was very messy.  Add a flat tire to my parents' journey and they arrived around 11:30 am.  Spencer headed home mid-morning to pick up his mom and Clara and most of the family converged at the hospital around lunch time.

We had spent a lot of time at home talking with Clara about how I would go to the hospital to have the baby, and how her grandma would stay with her while we were gone.  We also told her that she would come to the hospital to meet "baby sister" and that she could get a special drink while she was there (knowing that sprite is available on tap to patients and visitors in the maternity ward).  She seemed to totally get it and I was anxious to see her reaction to everything when they finally came.

Well, to my surprise - Clara really did "get it."  I wondered how long after giving birth she would still want to hug and kiss my tummy and call it "baby sister."  Not once.  She's transferred all of that love once aimed at my abdomen to her tiny baby Betty.  She ran over to her as soon as they arrived at the hospital, anxious to meet this little one and touch her tiny fingers and toes, eyes and nose.

After Spencer, Clara, Daddy and the grandparents went home for the afternoon, I found myself alone in the hospital with our little baby.  She was such a sleepy little one that she would only nurse for a minute or two at a time (which was a huge contrast to Clara as a newborn).  Thankfully, the doctors, nurses and lactation specialist were all quite encouraging and sure she'd eventually wake up and be a great eater.  Spencer decided it would be easier for everyone if he stayed home with Clara that night instead of coming back to the hospital, so I enjoyed our "celebratory dinner for two" (compliments of IMC) with Aunt Carol who came after work to meet our new baby.

On day two, Spencer and Clara returned for more Lorna Doone's and Sprite... and to hang out as a family.  The hospital is a difficult place to rest or relax, but I loved those first sweet moments together as a family.  The excitement of having a new little baby certainly outweighs the annoyances of being uncomfortable and frequently interrupted.  My doctor said I could go home on Tuesday night if I wanted, but I really wasn't ready to get into "mom mode" yet, and wanted to make sure things with our baby and her feedings in particular were squared away.  She had a little fever that afternoon as well, so I wasn't too anxious to take her out of a setting where I knew she could get immediate help if it were needed.

Just me, or does she look just like Elder Holland here?

Everyone was very anxious to know what we were going to name our baby, and by Tuesday morning we thought we might have figured it out.  We considered naming her Florence Betty, but weren't ready to make it official.  By the late evening, I was feeling really unsure and we kind of felt like we were back to square one.  We had talked about Beatrice for a lot of my pregnancy, but planned to shorten it to Betty (my grandma's given name).  I liked Eloise.  We both liked Florence.  We wanted her name to have some significance and not just be something we liked; a story to tell, a person to admire, a character in a great story or someone who made a difference historically.  We prayed and slept and by morning (about an hour before going home) she was Betty.


Betty Florence Evans.

Lately

Betty is nuzzled into my chest, Clara is napping, and I've got one hand to type with... so why not update the blog?

We are all still adjusting to life as a family of four, but I think it's going pretty well.  Betty is still a super sleepy little baby, but I've decided to stop worrying about that and just roll with it.  At her two week appointment (at 11 days old) she was back up to her birth weight, so she must be getting enough to eat. She still nurses in short spurts - usually 7-12 minutes total - but I'm pretty sure the milk is more plentiful than it was for Clara.  Betty is so sweet and we all just love her so much.

Clara is an expert at sharing.  Here she told me she was "building a fence" around Betty.

She's also a rock star.

And most recently, a toy-box diver (yes, that is a kix cereal stuck to her bum).  Lately she's into getting every single toy out every day.  I think she wants Betty to be well aware of our current toy inventory.  She probably figures that as the newest and smallest in the family, Betty's got the edge on making any special requests right now.

Last week Clara got a stomach bug.  She was happily playing, then suddenly made a gagging face and said, "I need to go take a nap, right now!" I rocked her for a few minutes before she ran back to the living room to play and a moment later I found her gripping the ottoman with both hands and throwing up everything her little tummy could hold (which is surprisingly a lot).  Five more episodes that morning (and blankets and pairs of pajamas) and I finally called the doctor.  They said not to really worry unless she became extremely lethargic and/or went eight hours without a wet diaper.

We spent the day sipping pedialyte by the teaspoonful and watching Curious George.  At about 8.5 hours without a wet diaper I started to get really worried and the nurse basically said I needed to take her to the ER to get an IV.  Thankfully, I didn't take her advice (Clara was still laughing and playing and had lots of energy) and within an hour she had a wet diaper.  All of this while tending to a one week old baby and a husband that gets home a few hours after bedtime.  I'm considering this my (first?) baptism by fire as a mother of two.

Two days later, the tummy bug struck again in the middle of the night.  Several times.  This time, Spencer was home and gave Clara a blessing and she's been all better ever since.