Airplane going to Hawaii. Now associates airplanes with Tricia going to Hawaii.

Hears a train from miles away and says, "train!" amidst all of her constant chatter.

Reports what everyone is doing: Daddy going work! Mama feeding Annika (actually more descriptive - "Annika eating Mama boo-boos!"

Tricia's going daddy's black car.

Daddy driving Mama's white car.

Serena puts and sorts blankets on Annika

Toey's! Wants to see Annika's toes.

Put on her own new shoes.

Misses her 3G's - brings them up often when we say, "who will be at..." Also randomly talks about then going to the airport. January 15, 2006

January 15, 2006

Annika is one month old

This morning Serena counted to 9, while knocking on Annika's door with her hand inside an oven mitt.

We were watching Baby Einstein in Spanish yesterday and Serena was repeating the Spanish names of the animals like this, "blub blu blub bluh."

I may have experienced my first real live tantrum from Serena last night. It started because she wanted to be locked into the baby swing. Then she'd want out. Then immediately she'd put the tray down to lock her back in. After three rounds of this and asking her which she wanted to do, I said, "Okay, you're staying out then." She totally freaked out. Crying and following me around. They tell you to just ignore the behavior, but it is sooowedx hard to do that! I just wanted to have a rational conversation with her - explain how she could do whichever she wanted but I wasn't going to stand there while she cried when I opened the swing as well as when I shut the tray. It's just not a rational thing she's going through, though, is it? The bummer is, the aftermath lasted throughout dinner, bath and bedtime routine. I was exhausted at the end.

It's 8:48am and Annika is still asleep. Of course, she went to sleep last night around 11:45pm. While she's a good sleeper and when she wakes to eat it's only briefly, she's a noisy sleeper. She grunts and chats and stretches around during various periods so loud that I can't sleep.

January 14, 2006

Serena likes to report on the things going on around her. This morning she said, "Daddy taking shower.", which he was. She just said, about the picture below, "Ha-Kaa's taking bath." She also has just started singing the ABC's song. Mostly we sing a few letters then she fills in the letters we leave off on. She sings it very quietly and the letters and words still just vaguely resemble the actual song, but she can fill in pretty much anywhere, including singing the last part, "now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me."

Thanks to Teletubbies (who says tv programs are ALL bad??), Serena loves to march around the house, lifting her feet and knees high. She also does sideways walking, stand up - sit down, reach up high... all from her Teletubbies DVD.

I asked Serena what she dreamt about last night and she said, "Hawthorne", which is her toy bear Papa gave to Annika when she was born but Serena adopted. We couldn't find Hawthorne for bed last night or this morning, so apparently she either dreamt about Hawthorne or he's just been on her mind.

January 13, 2006

Annika and Dad take their first shared bath

Afterbath

January 12, 2006

I recently heard a pregnant woman say, about the impending birth of her second child, "Having a new baby is like falling in love. I am looking forward to falling in love again." I play that quote in my mind every day since Annika has arrived. It feels exactly true.

To everyone who told me that there is no need to worry about loving your second baby as much as you love your first - you were so right on. I am amazed at how much love this one body and spirit can hold for these two little human beings. It is at once an intensely vulnerable feeling - and a blissful one.

January 11, 2006

Annika is four weeks

Serena is 19 and a half months

I know you're not supposed to do comparisons between your kids, but let's face it - you just do! I mean things like comparing their features - do they look alike? Are one's eyes set further apart? She has a rounder nose... or she has fuller lips... Here's a side by side set of pictures. The first is Annika at almost a month and the second is Serena at around five weeks. Unfortunately, Serena's picture is darker. Our new camera is much better.

They are certainly both super-cute, aren't they? Am I allowed to say that as the mom? Really, it has nothing to do with me! They just showed up that way!

At four weeks, Annika is a pretty good sleeper. She wakes a couple of times at night to eat but goes right back to sleep. It's relatively uneventful because she sleeps with us so I barely wake for it, unless I need to change her diaper. She has a fussy period around 5-6 or 6:30, then goes back to sleep until about 8. Jim gets up with Serena around 7 and lets Annika and I sleep. I wake around 7:30, pump (so we have milk for all of my outside of the house adventures I plan to do someday!), then get up with Annika and we join Jim and Serena for eggies (Serena's scrambled eggs) and morning chatting.

Papa came to visit for a few days. He took Jim and I (and Annika, who slept through the whole thing) to dinner at Staccato, a new restaurant here. It was scrumptuous! I had halibut cheeks (I didn't even know halibut had cheeks!) with fried balls of mashed potatoes. Here's Papa cuddling with Annika.

January 10, 2006

Grammy and Annika, both beautiful in blue.

Graunty Jeanne and Serena in a crazy hug-tickle-tackle.

January 6, 2006

Really, you wouldn't believe the shows Serena puts on for her 3 G's! She walks into their house and TA-DA, the show begins! She hides then peek-a-boo's, and they all just scream, laugh, show enthusiastic surprise... it's just over-the-top fun. Here, Annika is just hanging onto Graunty Tricia for dear life while Serena "hides" in Graunty Tricia's apron.

Just nonstop fun and games. Serena is even napping earlier, she's so exhausted from all the wild fun.

January 4, 2006

Serena's very own apron, to match Graunty Tricia's. The put them on, lift the hems and dance around singing "La, la-la-la... La, la-la-la..."

January 3, 2006

Wathercolor painting - which means mostly swishing the paintbrush around in the murky waterbowl then smearing the messy water onto the paper.

When I ask Serena, "How did you sleep?" She says, "sleeps and dreams." That's what we have always said to her when she goes to bed, "Have good sleeps and dreams."

Annika had a doctor appointment today - just the usual two week old appointment. She now weighs 8lbs, 15oz, which is a whole pound and seven ounces over her last weigh in on December 20th. She's also now measuring 21.5 inches in lenght. This girls is growing! Her head is 37cm, so it's even grown 1.5cm in that time. Weird.

January 2, 2006

Annika peapod

January 1, 2006

Happy New Year!

Annika is two weeks and three days

Here's how we spend New Year's now: It's 11:50pm and we're all hanging around chatting, sort of waiting for New Year's but also just visiting. Just as we realize how close it is to the New Year, Serena's voice comes over the monitor "Mama - Daddy!", crying. So, Jim goes up to take care of her. I realized with 30 seconds to go that we hadn't even poured the pear cider (yep, non-alcoholic pear cider) to cheers the new year! So, I spend the grand moment frantically pouring pear cider while Jim lays on the floor next to Serena's crib. Luckily, I got to toast the new year with Annika, Angie, Kirk and Matt - that part was cool.

We had a fun visit with Angie, Kirk and Matt - if too short. They were here less than 24 hours. We just hung around and caught up for a while. It was cool that Annika got to meet them so early in her life.

Uncle Kirk draws a "horsey" for Serena. If you pick up a pen near her, she'll usually request a horsey picture, in every color available.

Matt, Annika, Angie, Serena. Kirk's in the picture too - dutifully loading the car in the background (under Scout's watchful eye).

December 28, 2005

Serena is 19 months old

Annika in her cool train outfit from Grammy.

Serena got this hat (along with many other clever gifts for her and Annika) from our friends Pete and Debbie in L.A. When she puts on the hat she says, "Go Duke!"

December 27, 2005

Two days a week we usually go swimming for our activity, three days we go to the gymnastics center. Daddy often takes Serena swimming now that Annika is here. Grammy has been taking her to "the gym." Serena digs them both. Swim lessons begin January 9th.

Serena has been taking to Annika's arrival very well, overall. I think she does occasionally get upset that I am less available. For example, I used to be the one to take her to the gym and swimming all week, and now it's Daddy or Grammy most of the time. Sometimes she seems upset at Grammy and I think that's why. I heard the older sibling often takes out feelings of anger about a new baby on the mom, but I think it's getting passed to Grammy (though it's only occasional) because she's the one taking over so many of my usual activities. Serena has a really fun time while she is with Grammy at the activities, it's just every once in a while that she whines unnecessarily at Grammy.

December 26, 2005

Reading with her tubbie - and Daddy, of course.

Her tubbies go everywhere with her. When Grandma Chris brought those Teletubbies to Serena, you'd think she'd brought in a real live celebrity! She loves them so much. Grammy bought a special bag so we can load up the Tubbies to go upstairs for bed, downstairs when she wakes up, and over to Grammy's when she goes over there to play. She moves her "Tubbs" from the couch to the stairs, into the stroller... sometimes they even go in Scout's water bowl. That's not ideal.

December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas!

What more amazing Christmas gift can you imagine than this??

Grammy must have been busy cleaning or cooking or changing the oil in the car at this point...maybe she was taking pictures?

December 24, 2005

Look at those little bird legs!

December 22, 2005

Daddy and Annika doing the tongue game. First time was actually at about three days. Can you believe that it worked?! I promise! Jim stuck out his tongue and, after a few minutes of showing her, Annika stuck hers out, too! It is the most amazing thing.

Strong neck at one week. She's a physically strong baby. That's what I'm really noticing right now.

We took Annika to the Doctor a few days ago for a follow-up checkup due to the Group B strep thing I had at delivery. All's looking fine. She now measures 21" (could she really have grown a half inch? More likely it was a measurement issue - she's less scrunched up now than she was) and weighs 7lbs 7.25oz. She's right back to her birth weight, plus .25 ounce. I knew she was a healthy eater. Her head is 35.5cm. I'm not sure why they measure that, but they always do. It must tell us something, though they never say anything about it. I suppose if it was a concern, we'd hear. Dr. Bailey said Annika is very chatty for such a brand-new baby. She said that she will likely be an early talker.

December 21, 2005

Annika is one week old tomorrow

"Hmmm..."

There's both a familiar and different intensity in this little girl's eye contact.

Closeup

First home bath (this peaceful state passed - she doesn't like to be bothered with baths or diaper changes.)

December 20, 2005

We have no idea how she got to holding the pen like this. The power of modeling, I suppose - which we are reminded of every day as she mimmicks our every last word of a sentence.

Sweeping in Daddy's hat. Her work is never done.

December 17, 2005

Annika is two days old

"Lap! Mouf! (mouth)"

Franco girls, cuddlin'

December 19, 2005

As most of you know, Annika Maxine Franco was born only hours after that website entry on December 15th. For those interested, our detailed birth story is below. We spent the minimum required 24 hours in the hospital after her birth and we are now comfortably at home with our two girls- a family of four. Well, five with Scout, of course. Unbelievable.

So far, Annika is a peaceful, sleepy, hungry, healthy baby. She has especially beautiful and strong hands and is already holding her neck up a bit. She makes the same humming sound while sleeping in the sling that Serena made - "huuuunnnnh.. huuuunnnnh..." Serena seems to like her and accept her as a regular in the pack already. She loves to talk about Annika's head, hat, fingers, toeys... in fact, that was her first response when meeting Annika in the hospital - "HEAD! HAT! BAABY!" Scout is occasionally intrigued, though generally indifferent. The rest of us are falling further and further in love each day.

Simultaneous to Annika's arrival, Serena has begun three-word sentences. Her favorite is, "Bless you, Annika (Ha - Kah!)" (and bless you to everyone else around, too - one by one.) She also seems to have doubled in weight, shoe size, vocabulary, and all big-girl qualities since Annika has joined our midst.

Speaking of joining our midst, on to Annika's birth story... this is for those of you who like the details (as I so love them in stories.) For those of you who don't, skip this next part.

The labor process began - sort of - on Saturday, December 10th. I was having what I thought were mild labor contractions, different than the Braxton-Hicks I had been having occasionally since week 20. I confidently predicted that we would meet the baby by Monday at the latest. The contractions subsided by Saturday afternoon. The same pattern of morning contractions and afternoon stillness continued for the next four days.

Wednesday afternoon we saw Mickie, our midwife, and got the 2cm dilation and 80% effacement report we shared below in our the December 15 update. At this appointment, Mickie stripped my membranes to increase the chances of starting labor. She said that if it worked, labor would begin within 48 hours. If not, we'd try again on Friday.

Thursday morning started much like the previous five mornings. I was having very mild contractions which would come and go as the day wore on. As afternoon neared, instead of going away, they were increasing a bit. Having been on this roller coaster all week, however, I figured they were just part of the long, slow ramp-up my body was doing. All I was hoping for at this point was that I'd have this baby before my mom got on her plane back to California on December 20th. We all ate dinner together as we had each night since everyone arrived. Dad was checking the TV guide for when The Apprentice was going to start. I noticed that I was having to stop to breathe through my contractions now, though I still wasn't willing to believe that labor might be starting. When I heard that the two-hour Apprentice was starting at 9pm, however, I suggested that Dad take our TV with him (he was sort of camping out at his condo here) because I thought I just might in the throes of real labor in a few hours... not sure, but I certainly didn't want to labor with Donald Trump, of all people, in the background.

It was a little after 8pm when everyone cleared out. As I was saying goodbye to my Dad, I had to hang on him through a contraction... I was starting to think maybe I really was going into labor. Would we possibly have this baby sometime tomorrow morning?! Everyone left and I drew a hot bath. I had fantasized about laboring in our big bathtub since early in my pregnancy. Funny how early in pregnancy, fantasizing about labor doesn't seem so strange. Once labor really gets kicking, "fantasizing" isn't the word I'd use around the experience. Anyway, I climbed in, ready to spend a good amount of time relaxing through contractions in there. My shoulders had hardly sunk into the water when I felt a strange "pop" in my low belly. Then... the gush... but being in the water, it was hard to know for sure if my water broke. Finally, we decided it had. What else could that have been?! I climbed out of the tub (after about one minute of use) and began to dress. Suddenly, I am on all fours hanging on the side of our bed. OH MY GOOOHHHDDDD... Jim called Mickie and told her we were on our way to the hospital.

As Grammy and Grandma arrived to stay with Serena and we headed out the door, I hung from the countertop in the kitchen through what seemed like a stream of three contractions with no break in between. It was all happening so fast. The drive to the hospital was surreal - like watching something happen to someone in a movie. Jim dropped me at the Birthing Center door. Just inside, I hit the floor on all fours with another contraction. Someone brought me a wheelchair. The hallway to the Birthing Center from the exterior doors is twenty-two miles long. In the triage room, all I wanted was for Jim to get the exercise ball into place so I could get on it. I survived through a baby heartbeat test and a progress check on the bed then hung out on the exercise ball while they did whatever they were doing around me - who knows. I was 4.5 centimeters dilated. Baby's heart looked good. The walk from the triage room to our birthing room was about 25 yards. Just outside the door to our room (though I didn't know where we were at the time), I hit all fours again for another contraction. I remember thinking, "Oh, I hope there are no early labor mom's on their way in right now. This will freak her out!"

In the birthing room our nurse began to set up my antiobiotic, as I had tested positive for Group B strep. She was really hopping, trying to get it done fast. They did a check of my progress and I was 8.5 centimeters. Suddenly, she got even more focused. The nurses were doing that urgent quiet-talk that people do when they are worried, "Did you call Mickie? Is she on her way?", one said to the other. Mickie walked in just a few minutes later. She had left home when she first heard I was 4.5 centimeters in the triage room. Thank goodness.

All the while, Jim was rubbing my back and reminding me regularly, "down low" so that I'd keep my voice and noises very low and deep. There is nothing he could have done more perfectly because each time I brought the focus deeper and more guttural, the less the pain and the more progress I made. I could feel it. He was a perfect labor coach. I really don't know how I'd have made it without him. It would have been much more painful, and probably longer, that is for sure.

I was so relieved when Mickie arrived. She said, "You're going to have this baby very soon. It's happening very fast - within the next half hour." After two more contractions and the sudden urge to push, she said, "Okay, it's actually going to be about fifteen minutes." Annika pushed her way out in three tries - stright into the adept and loving hands of her daddy.

We had arrived at the hospital at 9pm. Annika was born at 10:25pm. (Though she wasn't actually named until the following morning.)

Even having gone through Serena's birth, and having seen her as she arrived in this world, I couldn't believe it when I saw Annika. There she was - a whole, little human being. The world was changed, right then. A whole new world exists now. Isn't that amazing?

Annika's first bath

Getting to know each other

So happy to meet our new baby girl

Grandma Chris

Grammy

Fun story: When we called our house to let the Grandma's know we had the baby, my dad answered. Apparently, he had come to the house to stay with Serena and let Grandma Chris and Grammy come to the hospital to wait in the waiting room.

At about midnight, just as they were probably settling in for hours of waiting, I walked out to the waiting room. They both looked like they'd seen a ghost. I said, "Would you like to come back and meet your grandbaby?" They just stared at me in disbelief. Finally, they stood and followed me into the room, saying things like, "Are you kidding? What? Michelle???!"

Papa came around 1am, after Grammy and Grandma went back to the house to stay with Serena. He thought he had a cold coming on so the nurse gave him a surgeon's mask.

The next morning, Serena meets Annika - "Nose!"

Footprints

Serena holds Annika - "HEAD!"

Twenty three hours and 45 minutes after birth. Goin' home. In 7 degree weather, freezing fog. The world looked like the inside of a glitter snow globe through the car headlights. Magical.

December 15, 2005

Just a quick update for those who may be wondering what's happening as we near our December 17 due date. I've been having contractions off and on for the last five days or so, sometimes in stretches that seem like they will begin labor. However (ugh!), they have dissipated each time. Today we are having lots of activity, off and on, but nothing that amounts to the required five minutes apart, lasting one minute and very uncomfortable (though some of them really are quite uncomfy!).

Our appointment with our midwife yesterday left us encouraged but without any real answers (is birth not one of life's greatest mysteries??) I am 2cm dilated, 80% effaced and all seems "favorable" for a nice delivery, whenever this babe wants to make his or her way into the world.

Grammy, Grandma and Papa are all here taking great care of us, delighting Serena, and anxiously awaiting with their phones poised.

Maybe in the next few days??? We'll let you know.

December 2, 2005

38 weeks pregnant tomorrow

Another new big thing is associations. For example, The Grammy string goes like this: "Brammy!" "Glasses." "Eyes." "Plane." And Papa goes: "Papa!" "shoes." (Papa wore his tan Merrell Mocs when he visited last and she has a pair just like them, as does Jim. Every time she puts on hers or she sees Jims, she says, "Papa!" They are now officially the Papa Shoes.) Or, "Papa!" "car." And she does families, too. Tonight the focus was: "Grant!" "Annie!"(Andy) "Lid!" (Lydia).

Tonight she started stringing colors and nouns together seamlessly and was just beside herself as a result - "Red Cat!" "Blue Doggy!"

Mostly, all day, she loves to find and name letters and colors, or hands us a crayon, names the color then requests that we write various letters.

The only downside to all of this fabulous fun is that she's having some trouble settling into sleep or putting herself back to sleep if she wakes at night. All of this verbal excitement seems to make it hard for her little mind to settle at times.

Today is the first day Serena has not asked for "boo boob" once. I am pleased and sad, both.

Tomorrow I will be 38 weeks pregnant. No more of this "we" are however many weeks pregnant! Clearly, I-I-I am the only one pregnant here! Last measure, my belly was 46.5 inches around. Jim has kindly gained a few pounds so that I don't pass him on the scale - but only by a hair, I'm afraid. Why does being pregnant make me want chocolate so much? (oh, right, I have always wanted chocolate a lot...) I'm so anxious to have this baby. Two reasons, I sooo want to meet this little being! I cannot wait to discover him or her in person. And, I'm frankly quite uncomfortable every day. It feels like my hip bones have all lost connection with one another. Sorry if that's too much information, but there it is. I am holding off until I really wish for the baby to be born, though, until Norma arrives next Wednesday. I really want her to be here to stay with Serena while we are in labor. That way we can just concentrate on birthing this new kid and not be worried about Serena at someone else's house. Once she arrives though, I'll be kicking in my birthing dance, or whatever might encourage this kid's arrival! I'll be counting on you all to send out your birthing vibes, too.

December 1, 2005

Serena's "Dean Boots". She got them from Dean for her first birthday and they are only recently close enough to the right size to stay on her feet.

First front yard snow adventure of the year. She LOVES it. She'll stay out in the windy cold for as long as you'll let her. Only suggestions of a bit of Teletubbies watching can entice her back in.

By request, here is our new (and might I add festive and beautiful?) Christmas Deer decoration. As if it's shimmery delightfulness weren't enough, it also moves it's head back and forth. I have been teased about wanting this deer from more than one person. I ask you, wouldn't YOU want this deer?? Imagine our winter yard without it!

Serena says SERENA - "SerAYna". She also loves to take the magnet pictures of her cousins Katie and Wendi off the fridge and walk around saying their names. Those magnet pictures are a really good idea. It's the surest way to get your kids displayed on family fridges.

November 28, 2005

Happy One and a Half Years Old, Serena!

November 26, 2005

37 Weeks pregnant - "Full Term"

It's been over a week since we stopped breastfeeding. Since she only nursed once or twice a day, it hasn't been as hard as it might be if we were trying to wean from a regular schedule and use bottles. Especially since Serena simply never took a bottle. The most routine nursing we'd do was in the morning, so now Jim gets up each morning with Serena and they hang out for about an hour. He gives her breakfast so that she's not hungry when she sees me. She still asks about "boo boob", but we can usually distract her with something else.

If you say, " And a goose-step goose-step goose-step" in this certain sing-song/marchish kind of way, Serena will skip her feet around in place then yell "PAPA!" It's so funny what sticks with her. When my dad was here, he said that to her five or six times and did that little foot dance. Now sometimes she'll do the dance to encourage us to say the "Goose-step..." thing. Then she'll yell, "Papa!"

We all went to Juniper Swing Center for Parent-Tot open swing. They have a big duck slide, which has steps from the water that she loves to go up and down, up and down, up and down... then sometimes she "SIZES" down! All day now, Serena yells "SA-WIM!!"

November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had an uncharacteristically quiet Thanksgiving. We are usually in Ohio for Thanksgiving and enjoying yummy food and fun company with Jim's family. Given that our due date is three weeks away, three plane rides didn't seem like a wise idea this year. While we missed spending the time with everyone, it was a lovely change to spend Thanksgiving at home, just the four of us.

Are we allowed to say that our turkey was just awesome?! (I suppose we're already a bit over-the-top by putting a big picture of our bird on the website anyway, aren't we?) Not having cooked many birds ourselves, we were quite impressed! It might also have had something to do with the delicious Terragon-Citrus recipe we took from Better Homes and Gardens. Funny coincidence (we didn't know we were both doing it), my mom also cooked the very same recipe and hers turned out delicious, too.

And (why not just go all out with the self-praise?) everything else turned out really delicious, too. It was probably better it was just us since we talked about the food for about a half hour that day. In case you're wondering (which likely only a few of you are), we also had Creamed Spinach, Brown-sugar pecan yams, Sage Stuffing, mashed potatoes, crescent rolls and Pumpkin Pie.

We made Serena a special chair at the table and she sat and ate with us like such a big girl.

November 23, 2005

We did the ring test to see what sex our baby might be. First we hung the ring over my hand to see what movement it created - circles. Then we hung it over Jim's hand, where it clearly made a straight line (back and forth swinging.) Over my belly, it clearly went back and forth in a straight line. So, if that particular test is accurate (which there is no real evidence that it is, by the way), we're having a boy.

November 21, 2005

My belly is 45.5 inches around.

November 19, 2005

The things I'll do to keep Serena happy while I try to cook or bake. Yes, she stuck a big handful of plain flour in her mouth. I think she only did that once, though. Unlike when she stuck a big handful of brown sugar in her mouth then cried for fifteen minutes because I wouldn't let her do it again.

November 18, 2005

We've decided to start weaning. We have started once before then abandoned efforts when she was still requesting "boo boo" after a week without. It just felt like she wasn't ready. I guess I wasn't really ready either.

Now, I'm ready. Every time I get near her, she says, "boo boo" and yanks on my shirt. It has made cuddling virtually impossible.

November 16, 2005

Finger (and foot) painting. We're going to use these works of art for Christmas wrap this year.

I forgot to post a picture of Serena in her Halloween costume. By request, here she is! She's a gypsy. I made the skirt and vest with fabric from our friend Maya. The beads were the inspiration for the costume.

We spent Halloween with our friends Heather, Brandon and Elijah in Sisters (about 20 minutes from our house.) Eli and Serena had a lovely time, wheeling around in their strollers to the various shops downtown Sisters that set up to pass out candy to kids. Serena had her first actual candy - it was one of those candy cane type sticks that come in fruit flavors. Surprise - she liked it. Is sugar the only universally loved food? (Does sugar qualify as a food?) Then they went to the park and played with the hundred or so other kids burning off their candy-highs.

November 15, 2005

Serena is 17 and a half months old

Now, Serena says almost any word she hears, when she feels like it. The list from a few days ago is totally outdated. It's crazy how it works. It's like someone flipped a switch and now she just talks and talks!

Our unborn baby seems to wake between 6 and 6:45am. The flips and acrobats are getting pretty comical now that he or she is literally busting out of my belly. I am so anxious to see if the activity translates into a more active baby outside, too. I don't want to do too much comparing between Serena and this new little one, but frankly, it's hard not to. These are clearly two different little kids so far!

Oh, I forgot to share this video of Serena expressing her wishes during lunch back in October. It's funny, and indicative of her growing ability to share her desires with us.

November 13, 2005

Kisses for the baby.

As I was walking to get my coffee this morning, I glanced at my reflection in a window. I couldn't help but giggle at my profile reflection! Especially in this pink velour lounging outfit. When I got home I told Jim we had to get a picture of this. So here it is. Look at that belly! (Scout's such a good dog, isn't she?! She's just perpetually ready and waiting for something good to happen.)

Today was SPA DAY! Lydia, Maya and I went to Shibui Spa in Sisters for a full day of massage, pedicures, lunch, and lounging. Amazing bonus: my massage therapist didn't have anyone scheduled after me so she gave me an extra half hour of massage! I like deep work and sometimes have a problem finding someone willing to work deeply enough on me but that wasn't a problem today! Apparently, they call my therapist Helga at the spa for her hefty hand. It was excellent.

After my massage, I got a delicious pedicure. When I got home and took off my shoes, Jim exclaimed in surprise at my purple toenails. Serena has since been mesmerized by them, following me around and giving kisses to my toes. She talked so much about them, then would look at her toes that I finally decided to put a bit of polish on her toenails. While I didn't have matching purple polish, she is very, very pleased with the resulting sparkly neutral color dressing up her sweet little feet.

November 12, 2005

Thirty-five weeks pregnant

We went to a memorial service for a friend from church today. While it was sad that he's gone, it was really a cool service. Two of his granddaughters sang "Wind Beneath My Wings", the family created a very cool slide show with important events and people in his life, there were heartfelt, honest-sounding (he wasn't perfect, but he was so big in personality, passion and commitment to his causes and family) speeches. Aside from many thoughts about Mike, I walked out of there with two personal thoughts: 1) I want to somehow make sure that each person I love knows (at least in general) what I would say at their memorial so it doesn't only get said when they're not there to hear it (though even that statement may not be true, depending on your beliefs), and 2) I hope people have a really good, laughing time at my memorial service. I don't want anyone to have too many of those moments where you're laughing and enoying at the service then you have this sudden, heavy guilt feeling because you're having a good time.

Serena was great at the service, entertaining and keeping people smiling during the reception while she ran around sticking out her belly with her arms thrown behind her back. Was she imitating me??

Kisses from Scout (a long time coming) - even better in Daddy's giant, dirty workboots.

November 11, 2005

The Children's Discovery Museum's got nothing on our home-version of the "bean table" (except a much easier area to clean and people to help clean it.)

A sampling of Serena's latest word list: flower (flouw), teeth, shoes (soos), toes, boob (booboob), nap, eyes, boots, ears (eewes), knee, beads, socks, more (mawr), up, out, please (peeeez), clock, boo, woah, uh-oh, slide (size), weee, car (cawr), vroom, papa, Tam, Mama (Mamum), Daddy, (DadEE), Scouty (Dowee!), Go! (Doe!), two (you say "one", she says, "two!"), yellow (low), No nope (shaking head)... every day there's at least one new word.

Plus, to our amazement, a few weeks ago she started busting out her alphabet letters. We have foam letters and numbers she plays with in the bathtub. First she started with M and N, those were her favorites. We thought it was specific to the bathtub letters. Then one day I'm reading the newspaper and she points to an "M" in a headline and says, "M!" Since then, she has begun saying and recognizing, mostly accurately (some a bit more reliably than others), ABCDEFGHKLMNOPQRSTUVX. We have been in shock with each new letter! One day, she isn't saying a thing, then the next day she just says it and says it, as though she has always said it.

November 8, 2005

Lydia and Heather (another good friend) hosted a Baby Blessing for our new baby on Friday evening. I had heard about baby blessings but hadn't been to one. It was really cool! Lydia made gorgeous, delicious food like mini salmon and dill quiches, stuffed mushrooms and individually decorated spiced goat cheese balls with fig. Is your mouth watering? To top it off, Maya brought some decadent bread pudding with homemade caramel sauce (and I made a cheesecake that wasn't too bad either!) After we ate and visited for a while, we had a bead ceremony then made "Baby's First Book" pages.

For the bead ceremony, each person brought two beads: one for me and one for the baby. Each person spoke a bit about each bead and why they chose that bead, then they gave the beads to me. It was really cool to hear each person's process for choosing the beads and see the beautiful diversity of beads. Heather gave me the wire and crimp beads to create a strand. Now I have the beads to take with me for the birth as a reminder of all of the love and support I have out there during the exciting - and difficult - birthing process. And beyond, of course.

It was suggested that I ask others who are inclined to add to my bead strand, so they can add supportive energy. I love that idea.

I would LOVE to add your bead or beads to my strand, if you want to send them!! If you do, please send me a quick note telling me about the beads you chose.

For the Baby's First Book, Heather and Maya brough a bunch of crafty materials (beautiful papers, scissors, pens, fabric, even leather pieces from Maya's handbag creations, and children's books for inspiration and cutting out pictures) and each person made a few pages to be laminated and bound in a book for the baby. The pages are so amazingly different and creative, I cannot wait to see it all bound together! I'll post a picture once it's done, which won't be until the baby is born because Heather will add a picture of the baby and birth stats as the first page.

It was a small gathering of really great women, made even more special by the fact that Tamara (my forever friend from high school who lives in LA) was here for the weekend and could be there. It was just a really cool evening.

November 5, 2005

Tamara brought Serena many gifts from fancy-shopping LA. This lovely little strappy number (though big on Serena), is by far her favorite. She says, "Shoes! Tam! Shoes!" every time she sees them. She insists on wearing them, in spite of our freezing weather. Luckily, she doesn't yet know that socks aren't the right fashion choice for these shoes, so we at least don't have frost bite problems so far.

We took a ten minute drive up the mountain and found all of this gorgeous snow. Serena LOVED it! It was bitter cold, with freezing winds and she couldn't stop grinning and laughing! She cried when we put her in the car. Tam, on the other hand, waited in the car. It was a far cry from her Los Angeles winter beach sunbathing.

Peek-a-boo cracking up with Tam.

October 28, 2005

Serena is 17 months old.

Drinking broccoli soup - using "two hands"

Quality sweeping of our new patio and deck.

Dean came over for a few hours today. They both like to "talk" on the phone. Luckily, we have two that are identical, avoiding phone wars..

October 25, 2005

On our walk to downtown this morning with Grant and Lydia, we decided to get out and play in the amazing plethora of fall leaves on the ground at Drake Park. Serena and Grant were literally giddy! (Maybe we were all a bit giddy, actually.) We kicked, rolled in, tossed around and ran through leaves upon leaves. We even made piles for them to flail around in. Quintessential childhood scene. It was blissful.

Prego update: I am 32.5 weeks pregnant and I measured my belly at 44 inches around. Hwonk!

October 24, 2005

We are trying to take advantage of the last semi-warm days on our brand new lawn. She loves her slide.

Crayons, pens, pencils - anything that makes a mark - are a big hit. It's fantastic! I can even walk around a store for a few minutes and shop if I give her some crayons and a pad of paper. I won't even tell you how many new pads of paper and crayons I've purchased in the store because I forgot to bring them with me and I needed to do some shopping. Otherwise, she says. "Up! Out!" the whole time, throwing her leg up on the side of the cart trying to get out. Danger.

Serena is not a fan of sharing her toys with her friends when they come over, suddenly. Every time Grant or Dean start to play with one of her toys, she walks over to take it. It's pretty hard to explain sharing at this stage, so it all gets kinda awkward. It's hard to know what to do when this happens. Do you let them work it out themselves? Or, do you begin the process of teaching them to share by walking over and giving the toy back? I guess I'm inclined toward the second, at this age, but it's beginning to mean a lot of monitoring.

A new fun game is that Serena holds up an item and waits for us to name it. We do it with everything, all day long, practically. It feels like she's just sponging things up, though she doesn't always repeat the name of the item. It's like she's storing it for future use.

October 22, 2005

We had our pumpkin carving party today.

Our neighbors, Mark, Susan, Catherine and John brought their dog, Lola. She is the kind of dog kids can lay on, tug at, and poke while she just hangs out as though nothing is happening. Serena was taking full advantage of the opportunity to point out Lola's "eeyees!" and "eewwees!" (ears). Poor, sweet Lola.

Pumpkin posing.

Some of the pumpkin party with pumpkins.

October 21, 2005

Ever since Papa left, Serena and I have been having this conversation a number of times per day (often many times in a row):

Serena: "Papa VROOM!"

Me: "Yes, Papa had to drive to California."

Serena: "Car"

Me: "Papa drives his car to California."

Serena: "Dad Dat!"

Me: "Daddy had to go to work."

Serena: "DowEEE!"

Me: "Scouty went to work with Daddy."

Serena: "Car!"

Me: "Yes, Scouty and Daddy drove Daddy's car to work."

Serena: "Papa VROOM!" (and we say it all over again - and again...)

October 19, 2005

Serena is suddenly into a new and interesting stage. She is really beginning to decide what she wants and doesn't want. And, if she doesn't want it (a diaper change, her hair brushed, food), she will really let us know with her cries, or running away, or pushing the item away with her hands. Seems every new stage takes a totally different type of parenting. It's like you have to relearn over and over again how to parent. Luckily, it's balanced with a wonderful stage of verbal learning so we get to hear all kinds of new words and she makes so many fun sounds. She's beginning to be able to tell us what she does want. It is really fun to watch her divulge more and more of who she is.

October 18, 2005

Just a few minutes ago, as I was looking at a book with Serena while she wakes up from her nap, I somewhat half-consciously patted four times on the side of my belly. The baby kicked back in the same spot, hard enough you could SEE it through my shirt - FOUR times! It was simultaneously very cool and kinda creepy! It's like communicating with the beyond, in some way... I laughed out loud as tears filled my eyes. This whole thing is just crazy wierd in so many ways. I know it happens all over the world to millions of women since the beginning of time (let's not get all technical here about what exactly is the beginning of time and all that - you know what I mean) but I still can't believe how miraculous the whole pregnancy thing is.

October 17, 2005

31 weeks pregnant

Papa is visiting for a few days. We're having a lot of fun and, as always, being treated to many lovely meals out. I really like to eat out (or have take-out, in). I'm just not that great a cook - and, if you think about it, shopping, prepping, cooking then clean-up really do take a lot of time. So, it's just lovely sharing time and getting to eat out both.

By far, Papa gets the most nose bumps out of all of us. Pretty much every time he asks, he gets one. When we ask, there's at least a 50% chance we'll get an energetic, "nnnoooooowwwww" with a head shake and turn away.

October 16, 2005

Scout needs to have her teeth brushed. She actually really digs the poultry flavored toothpaste we use, so she's happy to do it.

Serena was helping.

When Serena thinks about or sees Scout, she yells a high pitched, "Doweeeey!!"

We went to the Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze in Prineville today with Grant, Lydia and Andy. It was just full of fun! There was a petting zoo...

... mini tractor...

...fun Snoopy character picture boards...

... and, of course, lots of pumpkins. We got our pumpkins for the Pumpkin Carving Party we're having next weekend at our house.

as well as a hay ride pulled by beautiful Clydesdale horses, kettle corn (YUM!), a safari train ride built of little animal shapes. The corn maze was really extraordinary. It even had a cool, long slide in the middle which Serena went down all by herself. I think she was a bit stunned by the speed half way through but she busted into a big grin at the end.

Here's an aerial view of the maze:

Serena was apparently just exhausted trying to navigate the complexities of the maze. (Actually, funny little bird, she just likes to lie down in various earthy (read: dirty) places regularly - like sand piles, puddles with mud, etc.)

October 15, 2005

Serena is 16 and a half months old

The lawn is in the front yard now, as well as the back, and Serena and Scout are just beside themselves with the glory of it! Here Serena was chasing Scout around the yard in the crisp morning breeze. Scout was frantically running back and forth, carrying a stick. Every time Serena got close and Scout took off again, Serena would full out belly laugh until she was off-balance standing. Even we didn't know that lawn would bring such immediate and unabashed pleasure.

Click here for some video of Serena laughing while she and Scout play.

Serena loves to help feed Scout. This means, she mixes her food for about five minutes (which drives Scout crazy, I'm pretty sure) then, when Scout only eats a bit or doesn't eat right away, Serena walks around with her bowl trying to get Scout to eat it right then.

October 9, 2005

We had a little get together at our house for a few families from our UU group that are all due to have babies in the next few months. It was a fun time, and one of the rare opportunities to just talk pregnancy and birth as much as you want without boring a bunch of other people. You know I dig that!

Unfortunately, the party started out with a not-so-great-bang as Raina's car, parked in front of our neighbor's house, was hit by some guy who ran the stop sign going about 50 miles an hour. For added drama, he was cuffed and taken away in the police car for "suspicion of driving under the influence." Really, there is nothing that makes me more angry (and horribly frightened) than people who drink and drive. It is absolutely unacceptable and horrific. If Raina and her three year old little girl had arrived THREE minutes later, and been getting out of their car as they had only THREE minutes prior, he very likely would have killed or badly hurt them both. How do you live with that as a person? And how do you ever make up for it? And worst of all, how do the people who love the innocent victim get over such a senseless, unnecessary act?

Whew. Okay, I'm moving on... anyway, in spite of the dramatic and unfortunate start to the party, we all had a really lovely time. I found this cool webite that had ideas for Baby Blessing parties (which this wasn't, but we did have the baby thing in common) so I made a centerpiece that had sprigs of wheat (for strength, flowers (symbolizing conception and opening), an avocado (for softening (it suggested a gord, but I couldn't find one. I thought avocados soften beautifully, don't they?), and sea shells to symbolize the amniotic waters. I added a candle for each person to take home and light when we hear of one of the births or labors of someone else who was there. I really like the idea of lighting a candle in celebration and support. We also ate from our yummy collective food bounty and the kids played all over the house.

From left to right above, this is: Diane at just over 39 weeks (Due October 15th), Raina due in January, Amy due November 11, and me due around December 17th.

Just as the party was beginning to draw to a close, the kids found Serena's play tent upstairs. They had a rousing last ten minutes of screaming play. Really - screaming. Serena would wail out an occasional random scream the next day, in memory of this tent play. Check out Serena's static hair.

October 8, 2005

31 weeks pregnant

Daddyback riding.

October 7, 2005

As eating skills become refined and perfected, Serena is moving on to more complex challenges. No wonder she's so teeny.

Something about the chance to just sit and watch a treat-bit of TV (video, actually) with a little snack every so often is just so fun for her. I guess that's true for us, too, so why not for her? Check out her crossed ankles! Big girl.

October 5, 2005

Apple snack and chat.

The 29.5 week belly (and my new "mom" hairdo.)

We went to the rock store to pick out pavers for our patio. Serena loves little rocks. She likes to pick them up and have "raining rocks" then she likes to find one or two for each hand and just carry them around with her. Doesn't she just look pleased with all the choices here? And that's just the gravel floor - not to mention the bins and pallets of pavers and rocks all over.

The other night Jim and Serena were hanging out while I was at a Simplicity meeting. While Serena was eating dinner in her high chair, Jim was walking back and forth to the TV, watching baseball. Every so often, as he often randomly and unconsciously does, he would do a golf swing while he watched the game. Out of the blue, Serena starts laughing. He looks over and she pulls out a golf swing while sitting there at her high chair. Here's a video clip. It's dark, but you can still see it.

October 4, 2005

Serena and Scout love to play basketball together. We have many a popped ball, but the fun they have is well worth the investment in $2 hoop balls.