*more snuggles

*la leche

I've been pumping and giving Eden bottles since last Wednesday and it's been such a relief physically. I'm feeling less emotionally crazy about it too - probably having to do with my blood levels being back to normal, getting a little more sleep and realizing I needed more food/water with antibiotics/ibuprofen so I don't feel nauseated all morning. Also, I am so thankful for all my friends who've given me advice and been so encouraging. Seriously, this whole thing is hard and you need support and help. So when it's your turn, please call me!

Anyway, it probably will be a bit of a challenge to get her back nursing full time, but we can handle it :) And big sister looooves to give a bottle.

*home means nevada

...home means the hills...

I will gladly sing you the rest of the song if you ever want to hear it. I love my home state and wish you all a Happy Nevada Day yesterday!

::from our drive along highway 50 two summers ago - I love this picture::

*halloween

These are the worst pictures ever, but here they are in case you wanted to see Vera in her halloween getup. I know a princess is totally unoriginal and she is wearing a pink shirt and pink converse under it all - and I didn't have the motivation to find her a blue hair ribbon, but she was really happy and felt really pretty and had fun, so that's what matters, right? Her friend Bob the Builder was adorable - he felt he had to hold his hard hat on the whole time and it was so cute :)

This time last year I'm not even sure if she knew what candy was! sigh...

*twins

Vera was SO excited to get matching ballerina jammies with her sister : "I'm so glad!"

Edie was obviously real excited too, though only the tutu fits for now.

Thank you Heather and Nate!! What a perfect gift :)

*la bella durmiente

Vera started dramatically collapsing to the floor recently and I put it together that she was copying the scene from our Sleeping Beauty book. She was sooo cute and excited the other day when I kissed her so she'd wake up and so excited for me to go get Prince Dad to do the same.

*snuggly

We got a very unexpected, lovely gift in the mail. I can't believe how cute and comfortable it is, now that I've figured it out :) I tried our pouch sling last week and couldn't get it to feel quite right for some reason. I'll give it another go, but this one is sure to get a lot of use - it's from Sugar Sweet Baby. Edie is a little different from Vera and will actually let me set her down for small periods of time, but it sure feels good to be able to hold her close and move around with my hands free. I'm typing this with two hands, for example. Not sure if you check our blog, but thank you!!

*

I like these little scenes:

*17 dias

I wish I could say things are going "great"... here's a short list of the challenges we've had over the last week:

*Ben almost sawed off the end of his thumb and spent a few hours at the ER. Thankfully it happened 2 minutes before my parents arrived from Nevada [my mom had left and came back, then left again this monday]

*Vera had the flu Friday, Ben had it yesterday and I felt on the verge of it 2 mornings in a row.

*Edie wasn't latched on right the first week and so I have some severely sore, bloody, scabbed... nursing parts. It's so bad I was having major anxiety attacks before feeding her and crying a LOT. I finally went to my midwife yesterday [if you are in that situation DO NOT wait!] and got a prescription to hopefully heal. I also started pumping and giving her a bottle which is emotionally hard :( I am really determined to keep nursing and I hope it doesn't ruin it. Any suggestions?

*Vera continues to have a bedtime fit which has us at a complete loss as to what to do. We put her down and then she calls out for the next hour telling us she has to tell us something, can't sleep, is hungry, needs us to rub her back FIVEMOREMINUTES and freaks out when we try to tell her that's enough. Any ideas??

Like several of my friends have reminded me, none of these 'trials' last forever and I am praying for patience and endurance while it all lasts! Friends have been really helpful bringing us meals and taking Vera for a couple hours which has been so wonderful. It also helps that Edie is so stinkin cute and snuggly and is sleeping some decent stretches at night. Vera is also so helpful and loving with the baby and Ben has been amazing and wonderful in helping and supporting me even with the flu and a pretty scary looking thumb.

*

I'm really happy and grateful that Vera is so good with the baby, loving her so much and being so helpful with caring for her. However, she has been 'acting out' whatever emotional stresses she has in other ways including some enormous tantrums and a lot of difficulty going to bed. Today I got us all finally dressed and ready to go to the park [it was noon] but Vera threw a huge fit because I wanted us to take the blue stroller [as opposed pink one of course - I hate pink now by the way] which would be easier for me to push while holding the baby. I mean this was a HUGE fit resulting in no visit to the park. [btw it's not because I wouldn't budge on pink, it's because she cannot win a 'battle' that starts with her screaming and throwing herself on the ground, limbs flailing.]

So anyway we had an incredibly lovely and sweet night that was so welcome and needed. It started out with Vera deciding to make Edie a birthday card all on her own. I think even Ben teared up a little at her final product.

She asked me the letters and did it all by herself! Right to left.


and inside, "me and Edie! That's my crown."

Then she decided she wanted to have a cozy tea party in front of the fire, which I was later invited to. We would take a sip of tea and then give each other a big hug and kiss. It was very sweet and I kept blinking back tears, I love this little girl so much.


Then I was treated to a dance show set to Elizabeth Mitchell's music. Meanwhile Edie slept peacefully. Thank you Lord - strength for tomorrow.

*

Various shots from this first week and a half...

a daddy and his daughters:

cute little g bottom:

first time in the bjorn:

looking at some itty bitty toes:

baby trying to eat vera's neck:

*primer baño

There's going to be lots of "firsts" posts around here.

It was easier I realize with Vera having her in August. It's a little chillier now and so all 4 of us crowded into the steamy bathroom.

hurry, hurry!

All warm and snuggly, dressed in jammies for the first time [she's been swaddled in a t-shirt and diaper pretty much all the time]. Ben and I were really attached to these bunny jammies [is that weird?] of Vera's and it was so fun to see Edie in them.

*el shopping

On Friday we took our first family outing - to the brand new 1-mile-away Target. I feel like I've read somewhere that a high percentage of babies' first outing are to Target... Anyway it was really a lot of fun - especially with a generous gift card :) Edie was so cute - eyes open all the way there and for most of the shopping trip. Vera was super excited too looking at all the fun things to buy. My favorite: "A Tinkerbell bed?! Oh how can I believe it?!!!"






It was a little too much exertion for me, however, and on arriving home my back hurt so badly and I was so tired that I literally burst into tears. Anyone else cry a lot after having a baby??

*la pequeñita

♥ 5 days old


I love these little wide-eyed moments

*hermanitas

We were eating dinner a couple nights ago and heard the sweetest thing coming from our room - Vera was saying a little bedtime prayer - something like, Dear God thank you for my baby, please keep my baby safe, please help her to sleep well... I went in and she was letting Edie sleep with Bunny and was starting a bedtime story. I have a feeling watching this little sister-sister relationship develop is going to be one of the biggest joys for us.


Do you know what this is? That's a square. Do you know what this is? That's a circle. Do you know what this is? -Mom, what is this?- That's a rectangle.

*Eden Violet Siu-Lan Cater

Born 2:14 am - Monday, October 11, 2010

Violet is Ben's grandmother's name and Siu-Lan is his sister's middle name - it means beautiful flower.

 

We got home today and at the moment everything is peaceful!  She's sleeping in her bassinet and Vera is having quiet time.  I'll write more later, but here's a couple pictures from just now before *the girls* went down.  Vera is already so helpful, fetching me my phone and water and shushing the baby when she cries.  She also made us some cookies and taught Edie a bunch of signs, "sewed" her a little shirt out of a string and sang us songs while she nursed.  I'm resting now on the bed [should be sleeping rather than computing...] and am so grateful for everything.  Much more later!  ♥

She keeps saying, "I'm so glad my baby is here" and "I'm so glad I'm a big sister!" and "I love my baby!"

Vera's also our little photographer...

*not pink

I bribed her to wear this cute outfit yesterday, saying she could have a dum-dum on the way to the Farmer's Market if she cooperated. I thought she looked so adorable - though in a strange who-is-this-child? kind of way.

[watching the hula-hoop girl]

She changed immediately on arriving home - putting this little outfit on and calling herself "Pinkergirl."

*listos

It's been a slow process getting things ready - a bin here and there coming out from the garage, clothes finally sorted and put away, itty bitty diapers all lined up so cute and the girls' room finally set up. It's funny how little you really need for a baby yet how much you seem to acquire! I've probably mentioned my favorite motto used to be something like "everything I own I can put in a hankerchief over my shoulder." Something like that - see I even forgot how the quote went. Anyway, regardless of if you need all these things, they sure are cute! and we got a cute new storage system to help organize it all [thank you Myers and Caters!].

Ben set up the crib the other day and my mom fixed the bedding that I had almost ruined by drying it on high. Seriously, one huge reason I wanted another girl was so I could use this cute bedding again :) I picked out the fabrics at a shop in Missoula and my mom sewed it up. I wish I hadn't deleted the pictures from when Ben set up the crib and furniture before Vera was born - it would have been fun seeing them next to these 3 years later.

Wait, I got my tools!!!