The Story of Effie Clarissa

They say that every baby is different--and every pregnancy, too. They're not kidding.

Effie's story would have to begin with morning sickness that totally wiped me out for nearly three months. Like, I was puking several times a day and my doctor had to get me pills to get it under control. So I knew from the outset that I was in for a very different ride.

Of course, we soon found out that we were having a little girl.

And we were thrilled.

Even though I knew that this pregnancy would not be exactly like my first, I couldn't help but imagine it playing out more or less the same. And this time I decided that I would be prepared in case she came two weeks before her due date like her brother had done. So a month before her due date I was freaking out and decided to pack up towels, changes of clothes, baby outfits, etc and put them in the trunk of my car. I had a doctor appointment on a Monday and used some of my time off to gather these things together. Wednesday after work I stopped by CVS to add toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant to my stash. Thursday, I took this picture:

Later that day, my water broke. At lunchtime. In the breakroom at work.

I really hadn't expected her to come so early but I was glad that, when my manager asked if there was anything she could do, I was able to hand her my keys and ask her to get the clean towels from the trunk of my car.

Bill picked me up and we went to the hospital. Our doula, Lindsay, and my mom met us there. My doctor, however, was on vacation. The nurses had to keep deferring to the on-call doctor for direction. They also informed me that I had tested positive for some bacteria and they needed to give me antibiotics. It took several tries--and an oxygen mask to keep me from passing out--to get the IV set up. It was around this point that I realized my contractions had stopped. This was just not how it was supposed to happen. I was so upset.

I sent Mom home. Lindsay spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying everything she could to help get contractions going again, from yoga to pressure points to essential oils. But nothing worked, so we called in our nurse, Kharisma, and had her negotiate a deal with the on-call doctor that I could have until 8 in the morning to rest before they gave me Pitocin to induce labor. Lindsay went home and planned to come back at 7 am to give it one last try.

I woke up around 11 to some painful and frequent contractions. I woke Bill up to help me time them. We agreed that we needed to call Lindsay back in. She got there around midnight as contractions were getting very strong. We called Kharisma back in too, and she brought a birthing ball for me to try sitting on. I did that for a while with Bill and Lindsay holding me for support, and then I said, "I think something is coming out!"

Lindsay had me stand up for the next contraction and she announced that she could see the baby's head. Everyone agreed that I should get back up on the bed at this point. Not so easy when you're pushing out a baby. I managed to get onto the bed, but only just. Two more pushes and Kharisma caught Effie with a towel, then handed her to me.

All I could think was how tiny she was and how much hair she had! At that point, we snuggled up and waited for the on-call doctor to come and cut the cord. Easy peasy!

Our Effie Clarissa was born at 1:47 am.

5 lbs, 10 oz., 19 in.

Just perfect.

There were some concerns with her coming 3 and a half weeks early. Her blood sugar levels were very low, so we had to give her formula and they had to keep pricking her every 2 hours to check on her glucose levels. But we managed to get it up to the acceptable level. And she was a real champ about all of the pokes and pricks. She passed all of her other tests with flying colors.

Enzo got to come later that day and meet his new sister. She was pretty cool, but the bed that moved up and down was even cooler and he liked sitting in the bed when he could.

She's home now and we are a family of four. So in love with our little girl.

Two Weddings and a Two-Year-Old

The other day I remembered that I used to have a blog.

Haha.

It's been a big year for us. Not really, it's been a year of downsizing for us; it's been a big year for our families. And we've been able to spend a LOT of time with our families, which has been great.

This summer began with my brother's wedding. Enzo was very proud to his Uncle Jim get married to Aunt Lena and took his job as ring bearer very seriously. It involved walking down a lot of steps, which was a lot to ask. But he did a great job. He knew his Uncle Jim NEEDED THAT PILLOW.

Then we were able to spend time with Bill's family at their reunion. We were so excited to see Bill's grandparents again. And Enzo had a blast with his cousins!

We came home in time for Enzo to help his Uncle Eddie and Aunt Natalie get married. And I even had my first gig as a bridesmaid.

 

Enzo was an old pro the second time around,and he was a little more relaxed. He had seen his first breakdancing at Uncle Jim's wedding and decided he could breakdance too. We had to drag him off the dance floor. Several times.

Now we're looking forward to meeting two new cousins in the next few months and maybe--fingers crossed--a new house.

2013 and still going strong..

With all of the speculation swirling around 2012 and the end of times, I guess I lost some of my motivation to blog. Here it is February 2013 and I'm way behind!

First of all:

Our little boy is one year old! He's turning into a big kid! He walks, he climbs, he drinks milk. His pediatrician gave us the green light on all foods, including milk and peanut butter. It has been so much fun to share all of our meals with Enzo. And he's been keeping up pretty well. He still loves pasta and red sauce, pears, blueberries and Cheerios. But he also likes toast with peanut butter and banana slices, pineapple, salmon, and cottage cheese.

Also he's starting to build his vocabulary, which is soooo fun! He can say Mama, Daddy, up, hi, bye, and apple. He's showing a lot of interest in his books and likes to grab our index fingers and use them to point to the pictures so we'll tell him the word for what he sees. It's so thrilling to watch him work on making the right sounds.

Then, Christmas!

Christmas was so much fun. We were able to spend a lot of time with our families and Enzo LOOVED all of the attention from his grandparents and aunts and uncles and his cousin, Macie. We are so fortunate to have them so nearby.

One of my Christmas highlights was going to see Les Miserables on Christmas Day with Bill and some of our family. This was the first movie we've seen in the theater since Enzo was born, and to see such an epic movie on opening day was a huge treat for me.

And January:

Here's a video of our kiddo multitasking. He's sweeping the kitchen for Mommy while watching Wild Kratts on TV. He's a talented guy!

January's been kinda busy. Bill is involved in Cub Scouts, I'm involved in the Primary at church. Bill is also going to school. I am also getting a crash course in corporate tax returns(!) And Enzo has been participating with his Grandma in an adorable pre-preschool class, which is the brainchild of my friend, Alicia. I love that he has the opportunity to be with other only-slightly-older kids during the week and see their interest in words and books and songs and such.

Happy 11 Months, Baby

I don't really want to be one of those people that is convinced their kid is a genius. But, you guys, my kid is pretty much a genius! I think he's just amazing.

He has picked up several new skills over the past month. He is very good at waving and clapping. And he can now blow kisses. I need to get a video of that one because it's adorable. But I do have this little gem; he's become a pretty good little mimic and the changing seasons here in North Texas have brought allergies to many. This little guy thinks its so funny when he sees people sneeze, that I guess he decided to get in on the fun himself. Here he is making fun of Grandma's sneezes:

He is so close to walking for real. He's getting more and more confident. This is about as far as we've seen him go at once:

And we are so excited to see his two little teeth on the bottom starting to come in. He's just getting so grown up! He must think so too, because it's a real chore to get him to eat BABY food anymore. He wants to feed himself! REAL food! His favorites are still Cheerios, blueberries, bananas, Mum-Mums, pears, and pasta with red sauce*.
*Not pasta with baby food. I thought it sounded so yummy but he didn't want anything to do with it!

This was about as dressed up as we got for Enzo's first Halloween. Enzo was NOT a fan of Halloween. He didn't like any of the costume ideas we came up with and he certainly did not appreciate all of those strange kids ringing the doorbell and looking for candy right at his bedtime! Maybe once he's allowed to eat candy he'll like it a little better..

Bill and I both got our eye prescriptions updated this month and Enzo came along to up the cuteness factor while we all tried on glasses. With his genes, he might as well get used to the idea!

Anyway, that's my little Smartie Pants and I love him to pieces. 

Little Climber

Our sweet little boy is not quite exactly walking yet.

But, oh, how he loves to climb!

Happy 10 Months, Baby

Ten months, and this kid is just the sweetest, funniest, cuddliest, awesomest kid in the world. He is really so much fun. He cracks me up all the time. 

He keeps making this face where he sucks his lips in that makes us wonder if maybe he's teething. He does a lot that makes us wonder if he's teething. It really doesn't take much, though. Ten months and still no sign of teeth--of course we wonder when those teeth are going to show up!

 

But he's been doing pretty well without any teeth. We haven't come across anything that he couldn't manage to eat. Cheerios, bread, pasta, pizza, bananas, soup, sweet potatoes, cheese. He always wants some of whatever we're eating. He can't do much with apples, but he will suck on an apple half for as long as I'll let him.

And he loves to walk around holding onto our hands. It is absolutely his favorite pastime. His favorite destinations are the stand alone mirror in our bedroom (he likes to look behind it) and the air return vents for the a/c in the hallway (he likes to brush his hand along them like a harp). 

But he loves outings too, and so do Mommy and Daddy. We bought Enzo his first pair of real shoes so that I can feel more comfortable when he wants to walk around in public places. He likes them! And Enzo loves to be outside. The weather has been so nice lately that it's easy to oblige him. We go for a stroller ride around the neighborhood. If it's too dark or cold or hot outside, we like to stroll around the mall and look at all the people. Sometimes Enzo and Grandma will hang out on a blanket on the front lawn and just watch whatever goes by.

I kept thinking last week that maybe by the time I wrote this blog I'd have a video for you of his first steps. We're not quite there yet. But he's SO CLOSE! In the meantime, we've got two other super new skills to add to Enzo's list of accomplishments:

Clapping

Waving

This waving video cracks me up. Waving is his newest skill and one we're still working on. Watching this, I'm not 100% sure that Enzo understands it is supposed to be a greeting, and not a way to say "I'm busy doing something else right now, do you mind?"

I have to give props to my mom for helping Enzo with these and taking the videos.

We are having so much fun with our little guy. He's going to be a toddler pretty soon--not a baby anymore! And while he already does so many things like a toddler, when he's still enough to let me hold him or rock him to sleep, he's my little baby boy. (I think he always will be.)

Happy 9 Months, Baby

Nine months. And our little guy shows no signs of slowing down. At all. Ever.

He's crawling like a pro and scooting himself along the edges of all of our furniture, climbing as best he can on whatever he can. Even if that means trying to climb on the dog WHILE SHE'S MOVING.

He loves water. And always wants to sneak over to the dog's water pail, stick his little hands in and splash around. He loves to drink water too. He likes to drink it out of a cup. And what's the dog's water pail if not a really big cup? Oh yes, he tries to drink it. LOVES bathtime. And the bathwater? Yes, he'll try to drink that too.

He loves to go for walks in his stroller outside. Thankfully the past month has brought much more pleasant weather, so going outside is starting to be a lot easier to do.

One new development that I LOVE is that he has been able to eat pretty much everything we've given him to try. I was a little nervous about going from pureed baby food in little teeny containers to actual food that normal people eat. Because, you know, he still has no teeth. But he's been doing great! And now we have a CHEERIOS-eater!

We started with the little baby puffs that dissolve really fast in your mouth. Then we discovered Mum-Mums (love them!). We tried chunks of actual fruit; avocado, banana, steamed carrots, peas, sweet potatoes. And just in the last week or so, we've felt comfortable enough to let him eat a few little things from our plates when we eat dinner. Then we went out to use a giftcard we had at Macaroni Grill..and gave him pieces of that yummy crusty rosemary bread to chew on. He loved it! What a great kid! Then we went out for Mexican food and he ate some rice! Then we had lunch at a Greek place and he chewed on strips of pita bread! This is so awesome. I am so proud to go out and show off my little guy who can sit in a high chair, drink from a cup, and eat real people food.

Honestly, I am amazed at how much he can get into and how he is constantly pushing his boundaries. Kinda like those velociraptors in Jurassic Park. (What? Did you say something about not pulling the keys off of Daddy's laptop? Does that still apply? 'Cuz that was like ten minutes ago. And also about 8 times a day for the past two months. So, just checkin'!)

But he is so much fun!! I'm sure I'm already paving the way for him to be a totally disruptive kindergartner. We love to crawl around chasing each other. We jump. We yell. We blow raspberries and make fart noises. Just today while we were crawling around on the floor being generally noisy, he burped. We both paused, made surprised faces and then we laughed. I tell myself it's okay because he's a boy..and with his dad, this kind of behavior is probably inevitable anyway.

We laugh a lot. I love his little voice and his sweet belly laughs. One day I know he's going to be a big hit with the ladies. Every woman loves a guy who makes her laugh. (Especially when that guy is her baby boy!)