Expanding her playtime activities, including rolling over!
Talking
Staying awake (Mommy doesn't seem to like this one)
Being a Texas girl
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Three Months
Ava is three months old, and I can't imagine what it was like before she came. Here's a few things she has been working on in recent days.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Hands! Toys! Dresses! Oh my!
Ava has reached some new milestones recently. It's all going by so fast, and makes my heart happy and sad all at the same time. If anyone could have told me how much I'd love having two (despite the utter angst and stress I feel many days) I wouldn't have believed them. But, I truly am enjoying my kiddos even more now that there's two.
First, Ava has found her hands, and realizes how fascinating they are. She loves sucking and chewing on the them, and especially both hands at one time!
Secondly, she has discovered toys and how to hold them, talk to them, and hit at them! I am so proud of her!
Thirdly, I have discovered how much fun it is to have a little girl! DRESSES!!!
First, Ava has found her hands, and realizes how fascinating they are. She loves sucking and chewing on the them, and especially both hands at one time!
Secondly, she has discovered toys and how to hold them, talk to them, and hit at them! I am so proud of her!
Thirdly, I have discovered how much fun it is to have a little girl! DRESSES!!!
About a boy...and his socks
Kameen is obsessed with socks, and especially likes to mix and match them. A side effect of this is that I now find lots of random socks, none of which match or have a partner, lying around the house. I just pick them up and throw them in the laundry. Eventually, they come together with their match.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Memorial Weekend
We finally took Ava on her first visit to East Texas on Memorial Weekend. We took Kameen at 5 weeks, but hubby (not me, because I didn't want to take him at 5 weeks) was a bit smarter this time around in knowing to wait a few more weeks. Ava is not a big fan of the car or car seat. She is not easily lulled to sleep in the car, but typically cries and cries whether the car is moving or not. So, I took some preventive measures to help ease the trip, which thankfully, is only about 5 hours (4 when we didn't have children). Ava has been sleeping well when swaddled. At first, I was swaddling her in my thin, cotton bathrobe. But, for the trip I knew I needed a travel swaddle blanket that would fit around the car seat straps. The blanket worked well. She did not (like Kameen, surprisingly) sleep the whole way, but the blanket helped keep her calm, and so did I, who ended up in the backseat squished between both kids. For the most part, she did great!
Ava was a much better visitor than her brother was at this age. She let her Grandmama, Grandpa, Great Granny, and Aunties hold her, for the most part. She was sociable and talked to them quite a bit, once she got her good nap in for the day. She even let Grandmama bounce her to sleep on her shoulder! We scrambled to take some pics of her while she was happy. I stayed away so that the sound of my voice didn't upset her.
Kameen had a great time of course! He was determined to stay with his Grandmama, and told me and Chris to go home and he was staying there. We are highly considering sending him to stay very, very soon! He played hard from the time he arrived, and really wore himself out, which was great because he slept in a queen size bed for the first time. He's had practice at his Meemaw's house here in Austin, but it's a half bed and it has a tent on it, which makes it feel like a crib. He did fine. I laid with him the first two nights until he was asleep. He also got to make some cookies with his Grandmama, which he thought was pretty great, and I did too.
Finally, he got to ride with Grandpa on a tractor! He was quite impressed. If I ever learn how to upload video, I'll show some footage of the event. Until then, here's a picture.
Ava was a much better visitor than her brother was at this age. She let her Grandmama, Grandpa, Great Granny, and Aunties hold her, for the most part. She was sociable and talked to them quite a bit, once she got her good nap in for the day. She even let Grandmama bounce her to sleep on her shoulder! We scrambled to take some pics of her while she was happy. I stayed away so that the sound of my voice didn't upset her.
Kameen had a great time of course! He was determined to stay with his Grandmama, and told me and Chris to go home and he was staying there. We are highly considering sending him to stay very, very soon! He played hard from the time he arrived, and really wore himself out, which was great because he slept in a queen size bed for the first time. He's had practice at his Meemaw's house here in Austin, but it's a half bed and it has a tent on it, which makes it feel like a crib. He did fine. I laid with him the first two nights until he was asleep. He also got to make some cookies with his Grandmama, which he thought was pretty great, and I did too.
Finally, he got to ride with Grandpa on a tractor! He was quite impressed. If I ever learn how to upload video, I'll show some footage of the event. Until then, here's a picture.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Nine
...years ago that is. On June 2, 2001, I said yes to a wonderful man. We are so different, yet so much alike. He is my backbone, my human strength. I see God in his love everyday, and I am overwhelmed and amazed. It brings me to tears sometimes to think upon my blessing that is my husband. I love him with all my soul, and I can't wait to continue on this journey with him.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The First Two Months
The first one taught me how to be a mama. The second one is showing me how much I love it...
Ava is a happy girl. She loves to talk, and talks so much more than her brother. She smiles, she has a drama cry, she sleeps much, much better than big brother. The first two months with her have gone so fast. I am better this time. I don't take her cries so personally. I know what she needs faster than I did the first time. I know when to let her cry and when to make it better. I love having two!
Kameen is a great big brother. He loves his Baby Sister, and wants to hold her often. I am probably a little too over protective because he is pretty careless around her, with his busy arms, legs, and feet that could cause her harm. But, overall, he is a proud big brother.
Daddy is doing better this time around. We are getting things together faster than we did the first time. We are staying closer than we did the first time. And, I am more laid back so we aren't arguing like we did the first time.
God is so good, and we are so blessed.
I often (sometimes daily) remind myself of some very wise words that Chris's grandma told me with Kameen, and it is very true.
Thanks Grandma Dot. That's the best piece of advice I've ever been given.
Ava is a happy girl. She loves to talk, and talks so much more than her brother. She smiles, she has a drama cry, she sleeps much, much better than big brother. The first two months with her have gone so fast. I am better this time. I don't take her cries so personally. I know what she needs faster than I did the first time. I know when to let her cry and when to make it better. I love having two!
Kameen is a great big brother. He loves his Baby Sister, and wants to hold her often. I am probably a little too over protective because he is pretty careless around her, with his busy arms, legs, and feet that could cause her harm. But, overall, he is a proud big brother.
Daddy is doing better this time around. We are getting things together faster than we did the first time. We are staying closer than we did the first time. And, I am more laid back so we aren't arguing like we did the first time.
God is so good, and we are so blessed.
I often (sometimes daily) remind myself of some very wise words that Chris's grandma told me with Kameen, and it is very true.
It's gonna get better. It's gonna get better and better.
Thanks Grandma Dot. That's the best piece of advice I've ever been given.
Ava's Birth
It was one day past my due date. I had a playdate that morning with a friend due at the same time. Neither of us were having any significant contractions. When would this be over? When I got home, I decided to make a cake. It was one of two I had planned to make during labor. While my 2-year-old "helped" me make the cake, I noticed some real contractions, very light, but real contractions. They lasted the rest of the day, but went away when I went to bed that night. The next morning (Friday), the contractions resumed. All day, much like Kameen's labor, I had regular contractions, but they wouldn't get stronger or closer together. My midwife came to check me, and I was 3 cm. She suggested I send Kameen with my mom on Saturday so that I could give myself "permission" to go into full on labor. (Yes, you can definitely hold a baby in mentally). I had contractions all that night, enough to wake me with each one.
By Saturday morning, I was pretty confident we would be in active labor before the day was done. Kameen happily went with his Memaw, and Chris and I got down to business, filling the birth pool, using homeopathy to relax my uterus, and preparing for the birth of our daughter. We watched a movie (Rush Hour 3), we ate, we talked, and we labored in our own home. My midwives went out for lunch so we could have some privacy. When they returned, I was pretty ready to get into the birth pool. We soon headed upstairs. I was at 7cm and had a little crying spell, which assured me I was in transition.
The water was absolutely wonderful! It was a huge relief from the painful "land" contractions I was having. I knew I could finish dilating with no problems. By 10cm I was ready to be done. And then, of course, came the pushing stage. I was apprehensive about this because it had been so incredibly exhausting with Kameen. The contractions were so much more intense then I remember the first time. I was so much more aware and alert, and not in the trance-like state I was in with Kameen due to being exhausted. It made it more painful, and I wasn't sure I could handle it. But, with each contraction I had no choice but to bare down and push. I remembered to breath this time, something that I had trouble with the first time. And then, thirty minutes after the urge to push started, Ava came into the world.
She was so very calm in the water. She didn't cry or shake. She just looked up at us, very alert, and so very pretty. She has been a joy right from the start.
By Saturday morning, I was pretty confident we would be in active labor before the day was done. Kameen happily went with his Memaw, and Chris and I got down to business, filling the birth pool, using homeopathy to relax my uterus, and preparing for the birth of our daughter. We watched a movie (Rush Hour 3), we ate, we talked, and we labored in our own home. My midwives went out for lunch so we could have some privacy. When they returned, I was pretty ready to get into the birth pool. We soon headed upstairs. I was at 7cm and had a little crying spell, which assured me I was in transition.
The water was absolutely wonderful! It was a huge relief from the painful "land" contractions I was having. I knew I could finish dilating with no problems. By 10cm I was ready to be done. And then, of course, came the pushing stage. I was apprehensive about this because it had been so incredibly exhausting with Kameen. The contractions were so much more intense then I remember the first time. I was so much more aware and alert, and not in the trance-like state I was in with Kameen due to being exhausted. It made it more painful, and I wasn't sure I could handle it. But, with each contraction I had no choice but to bare down and push. I remembered to breath this time, something that I had trouble with the first time. And then, thirty minutes after the urge to push started, Ava came into the world.
She was so very calm in the water. She didn't cry or shake. She just looked up at us, very alert, and so very pretty. She has been a joy right from the start.
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