Thinking of a title is hard work.

Today Zoe is a couple days shy of two months. I cannot believe how Charles and I lucked out. Lucy was a very good natured baby and we are learning that Zoe is quick to follow her sister's lead. She is soooo unbelievably sweet. Her temperament is wonderful; she is smiley, she coos all the time, and she loves to be held and cuddled, but doesn't mind being put down. She began sleeping through the night last week (a delightful surprise as Miss Lucy was still moonlight snacking up until 9 months). Don't get me wrong, she can wail like any other baby, but getting her settled doesn't take eons. She truly has the best disposition.

My sister Sue and I were postulating that due to her, uh, "advanced" size at birth and now (as demonstrated in the fourth and fifth pictures below), she bypassed the newborn stuff pretty quickly. Seriously, if you heard this girl break wind, you'd think there was a grown man in the room. There are some serious bragging right there for when she gets older... But most likely it's the afore mentioned in conjuction with the fact that I'm no longer a frazzled, anxiety ridden first-time parent. Either way, I'll take it and thank my lucky stars.

Enough tooting my own horn. Onto the stuff you're here for: pictures.

Aunt Peg and Uncle Jim visited us on their road trip back from the entertainment capital that is Branson. Zoe enjoyed the attention. Unfortunately someone (Lucy, not Charles) needed a nap and was cranky until they laid down, so they missed most of the visit. I was sad to see them go, but Saturday their loyalties laid with their little pooch (as they should) at the kennel and they were off. I wish they lived closer.

We celebrated a belated Mother's day with the entire family (minus KB) at Samurai Chef. Even though Lucy knew it was Mother's Day she insisted on giving most her love to her pops. We've taught her the concept of closed mouth kissing, but she's just not into it. I told her that her right now her friends aren't into that stuff and when it's time to be, that kind of kissing equals a grounding until she's thirty-five.


Our family picture... Doesn't Adam look deceptively tall?


What you can't see in this picture is the very prominent double chin and mammoth pot belly. It translates much better in person. Today at the dentist someone emphatically stated, "Oh my, what a healthy baby!" Emphasis on the healthy part. Yeah, we get that a lot and yes, we know.


Seriously, those cheeks are too much. I've been sick this week, thank you family, and it has taken everything I've got to not kiss her. She is sublimely squishy and soft... pure heaven.


Today my Lucy had her last day of PDO for the school year. I don't know who will be affected by this most, Lucy, Zoe, or myself, thereby affecting Charles. It will be nice to get to sleep in again though.


I cannot articulate how going to school two days a week for three hours a time has transformed this girl. She adapts much more quickly and easily in social situations. For anyone who knew how shy Lucy was before, they know this program has truly been a blessing. I am so thankful.


One of the reasons I don't post often is because I am horrible at taking pictures. I never remember to take my camera with me and when I do, I'm either too lazy to take pictures or the pictures I do take are hit or miss. Also, as soon as I take out the camera Lucy is all over me like ice in Antarctica. She would rather play with the camera than pose for the camera. Today I figured out that if I turn the screen around so she can see herself while taking the shot, she is an eager participant. Not the best, but it clearly demonstrates how children love themselves. It takes Lucy to make Lucy smile like that.



Last, but definitely not least, my best friend Amy and her hubby, welcomed their twins Jacob and Alexis into the world early Monday morning. Many congratulations and much love to them. If you get a chance or are just curious (and I know you are) check out their blog, because you can, after all (much to our husbands' occasional chagrin) we are the last of a dying breed that are crazy enough to keep public blogs.

Telephone

Remember the game of telephone you used to play when you were little? Everyone would sit in line and the first person would whisper something to the second person, who would then whisper what they heard to the third person, and so on. The last person would announce what they heard and everyone would laugh because it would be something completely different that what was originally stated.

Well, as adults we can call this game a few different things, but I will say it's mere miscommunication. This is precisely what happened to my birth story. A couple weekends ago at Sue's baby shower a friend of mine asked me to recount my birth story because they had only heard bits a pieces from a few different people. I got to almost the end and this friend then asked, "And is that when you let out a blood curdling scream?" I laughed thinking it was a joke, but most assuredly it was not. I asked who she had heard that from, and she listed four people the information passed through, the first being my eldest sister who happened to be in the delivery room when Zoe was born. Isn't is crazy how quickly misinformation passes? Before this I had even heard I had two, no three blood transfusions while in the hospital. Oy.

I had decided shortly after Zoe's arrival I would not post my birth story because pregnant women are so inundated with scary stories and I did not want to be another story to freak them out. I know a lot pregnant women right now. Well, that went out the window because the birth story going around is much scarier and gorier than what actually happened. Here it is in a very condensed version:

Charles and I arrived at the hospital the morning of the induction. I was already four cm, so at 5:30 the nurse hooked me up to a pitocin drip set at the lowest setting. Two contraction free hours spent watching Dan in Real Life later, the doctor came in to check me. I was the same so he upped my dosage and broke my water. That did the trick because two hours later I was a six. I sent Charles to the gift shop for magazines. By 10:30 the contraction were two minutes apart, and Star magazine no longer interested me. 11:15 I am 7 cm and get an epidural. All is right with the world and I relax enough to sleep. 12:30 I wake up to feel, well nothing, at least from the waist down. I call the nurse and she asks me to wiggle my toes. I can't. She checks me and I'm 9 1/2. She pages the doctor. He comes in and explains that I need to have "some feeling" to aid in pushing. He said they could turn down my meds, but unfortunately they were already at the lowest setting. They page the anesthesiologist and he tells them to turn it off completely.

The good thing about an epidural is that the meds take a while to leave the system. The bad news is when the finally do, you feel everything. One hour later I can move my left leg. Two hours later the epidural has completely left my system and I feel the urge to push. And by urge, I mean you push because it's the only relief available. After about a half hour of vomiting between contractions and hearing "You're doing great" I want to hurt someone. And I would, but I am already exhausted. An hour and a half into pushing I am delirious from fatigue and pain. The doctor can't understand why the baby's head won't descend further. We find out why later. She finally gets down far enough for the doctor to use the suction. No tears or stitches, thank you very much, and at 4:41 a very healthy 10 lb 4 oz baby girl was born.

This is where the story probably gets mixed up. My placenta would not expel on its own and the doctors only have a limited amount of time to get it out. He has to physically extract it with his had while with the other hand he massaged my abdomen. This hurt worse than childbirth and between moaning, and blacking out between three and four times, I lost quite a bit of blood. The next morning I recieved two units of blood from one transfusion. We even went home on the scheduled day, albeit a little bruised and exhausted.

I hope that this clears up any misinformation, as funny as it's been to hear. Sorry my prego friends. The birth was still a great experience and wouldn't have changed a thing. Seriously. Okay, maybe I would have preferred a fully working epidural the entire time, but that's it.

I know, I know.

Miss Zoe had her first non-well baby visit last Wednesday. A few weeks ago she started projectile vomiting after her afternoon feed. I assumed it was due to the fact the girl has no concept of satiety. She is just like Charles and me, except when we eat until we're stuffed we don't vomit, we just sit around whining about how uncomfortable we are. The frequency increased and soon both Zoe and I had to be completely covered in order to sit down for a feeding. She was always content afterwards and never cried or seemed upset, so I wasn't too worried, but in order to be safe, we took her in. Not only did she catch the horrible cold Miss Lucy was kind enough to pass on to the entire family, but she has reflux. The doctor classified her a "happy spitter". So now, three times a day the poor child has to take liquid Zantac. The bad news is she does not enjoy it and getting her to nurse afterwards has been tricky. The good news is she hasn't vomited once since she started her meds, so hooray for Zoe!

Better news, even fighting a cold and reflux this girl hasn't been lacking nutrients. Our baby now weighs 15 lbs 3 oz! Can you say BEEFCAKE ?!? She officially peaked on the growth scale at 100%. Let me remind you all she is only 6 weeks old.


Big sister, little sister. Not sure which is which, but aren't they cute? It's taken a while but, Lucy has really come around and has been such a great big sister. When Zoe and I go pick her up from nursery school Lucy either runs over to Zoe and gives her kisses (big wet slobbery, snotty, germ spreading kisses, but hey, it's a start) or she rocks the carrier. She is so loving.


And she's already a great teacher. See how she's pointing the camera out to Zoe? Either that or they're planning their attack on me. Check out Zoe's muscle-man bicep curl. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that...