Wednesday, October 28, 2009

2 Weeks Old

I can't believe my little Chloe is already 2 weeks old. It really doesn't seem like 2 weeks has passed! Chloe is a really good baby so far. Still likes to spend the majority of her time sleeping and that's perfectly fine with me. She's rapidly gaining weight although she still seems so tiny to me. She makes lots of funny grunting noises and sounds in her sleep which I find funny until they wake me up in the middle of the night! But so far, I feel blessed that she has been such a good baby so far. Hopefully it continues!


Last week we were able to have two different sets of visitors come and help us out. First was my Aunt Kelley who traveled from Vancouver, WA to stay with us for 3 days. It was wonderful to have her here to help! She was Ellie's constant playmate and helped me keep the house running completely and let me squeeze in some naps and showers as well. Ellie is still talking about all the fun she had with Kelley. Kelley gave her a new little present each day she was here starting with a toddler size backpack that Ellie loves sticking her treasure in.

Ellie found a package of "fuzzies" and these kept her entertained for days. Although I'm still finding them in random places throughout the house. She loved playing with them and even slept with them!

Kelley kept us supplied with stickers too and one night after finally getting Ellie into bed, I found her asleep and covered with stickers. We got a good laugh about that one!


We took a visit to the park to feed the ducks and play. Ellie was completely terrified of the ducks and was holding onto Kelley for dear life. I had Chloe in my sling and she slept the entire time we were there. I think Ellie spent most of the time at the park on the swing - she loved it!



We were so sad to see Kelley go home. We loved having her and wished we lived closer!

My dad, Debbie and Kevin came into town for the few days after Kelley left. It was our first time seeing Kevin since he returned home from his mission to Korea. Ellie was about 6 months old when he left but quickly warmed right up to him. And of course loved being with Grandpa White and Grandma Debbie. They took her to the pumpkin patch (I stayed home so I'll have to get pictures from them later), took Ellie shopping for new fall clothes (thank goodness since we dropped 20 degrees in temperature since yesterday) and spoiled her rotten. They brought us back a few presents from their trip to Korea/China.

Ellie got some cute silk pajamas, slippers, and a panda backpack and loves all of them.


We celebrated my dad's birthday when he got into town as well and Ellie helped blow out candles.

We were able to take advantage of the pool at the condo they stayed at and Ellie enjoyed swimming with Uncle Kevin and Grandpa White.




Once again it was sad to see them go. Times like that I really hate living so far away from my family!

Ellie is still loving being a big sister to Chloe. She constantly asks to hold her and will run and wash her hands and get into position. I don't think she holds her for longer than a minute but they did take a nap together last week that I captured on camera. Ellie is really sweet to Chloe and has taken to calling her whatever nickname I happen to call Chloe that day and a lot of times just calls her "Sweetheart" and talks to her in a cute voice. She is very concerned that I pick Chloe up right away when she cries. And loves to be constantly near her sister but is very gentle with her.





On the flip side, she's also learned that she can get into a lot more trouble now that her sister is here. Just this week I've caught her climbing onto countertops and getting into things that she shouldn't, coloring on the walls, getting out things she is not allowed to touch, etc. And of course a huge increase in tantrums and time outs. It's amazing the extremes that happen in the day of a 2 year old!

But we're surviving and I'm slowly but surely figuring out how to balance being a mom of two. Of course I couldn't do it without the wonderful friends and family who came to help and who have offered to take Ellie for a few hours for me.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Welcome Chloe!

For those of you who haven't heard, we had our little girl on Wednesday, October 14th at 4:07 a.m. We named her Chloe Tenae Bodine and she was 6 lbs, 3 ounces and 20 inches long.

The short version of the birth story:
I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday night but they ran out of room at the hospital so we had to go home and wait for them to call. Meanwhile I'm having tons of horrible contractions but didn't want to be sent home again so I just suffered through them. We got called back close to 2 a.m. on Wednesday and the nurse told me I was already at 5 cm dilated and in active labor! My doctor was in the hospital at the time so he broke my water. I wasn't too happy to be feeling the contractions even more! But I got my epidural 15 minutes after that. By 4:00 a.m. I was ready to push and 3 pushes later she was born. Sounds like such a fast delivery but I think it's because I did most of the laboring at home without planning on it!

I'm not sure if Rob is going to remember much of this birth. Since Tuesday he had been dealing with a root canal/infected tooth issue and spent most of Tuesday night in a great deal of pain and wasn't really with it. I think he woke up for the birth and then went back to sleep. And then spent most of the following morning getting his teeth fixed and the following two days dealing with the infection aftermath. Not such a fun time for him! And horrible timing.

Chloe doesn't look a thing like Ellie. It's kind of funny to us as parents! Ellie looked so much like Rob and Chloe definitely takes after my side the family. It'll be interesting to see what she looks like more grown up! Chloe has been a great baby so far. She hardly makes a peep and sleeps a ton. In fact the biggest complaint is that she sleeps too much and I have to spend a good deal of time trying to wake her up to eat and keeping her awake to eat!

Ellie loves being a big sister so far. She is very proud of her little sister and is really good about just looking at her and petting her head. She will hold her for 2 seconds and then be done for awhile. She's not quite sure how to share the attention nor does she understand that I can't really get up to help her when I'm feeding the baby and she has some slight jealousy issues...but nothing that I didn't really expect. And hopefully all of this will get better as we all learn how to have this new addition in our family!

A few pictures (I'm sure there will be many many more to follow!)

Last pregnancy picture








Wednesday, October 07, 2009

The Waiting Game

I keep being asked for updates on the arrival of baby girl number 2... but I don't have much to report. And surprisingly I'm doing okay with that! The best thing about going clear to 40 weeks with Ellie, is that I really don't expect to go any earlier with this one. I would take it if it happened though - don't get me wrong! And I will be posting updates when we do eventually make it to the hospital.

Pretty much I'm just having lots of contractions and trying to get as much sleep as I possibly can when I have to wake up to go to the bathroom numerous times and also trying to get comfortable with this big belly! It's not always successful. So I try and join Ellie for quiet time each afternoon (even if neither one of us fall asleep).

People keep telling me that I look like I've "dropped" but I'm not convinced yet. Although my belly is definitely change shape and growing really fast these last few weeks! But here is a picture from 37 weeks and then from 38 1/2 weeks. You be the judge.

37 Weeks

38 Weeks



We've been enjoying the amazing October weather and Ellie and I are spending lots of time outdoors. And we've been working on getting ready for Halloween. I love Halloween! I already have costumes ready for Ellie and her little sister (even though the little one will probably not even be leaving the house that night). We've made lots of pumpkin bread already and will probably get started on the pumpkin cookies and sugar cookies too. We made little ghosts to hang from the trees in the front yard. It looks a little funny since we ran out of material to make more but Ellie loved making them and hanging them so we'll probably keep them up for the month (even if they look silly). And we've made some Halloween necklaces too. I was able to get a ton of Halloween craft projects on 75% off clearance last year so we do a new project every few days. Ellie loves it and it's good for me since I'm not creative enough to come up with these projects on my own! I should probably be taking a few more pictures but it's hard to get up and grab my camera these days.