Christmas Vacation

Our holiday...in pictures.  Leading up to the holiday we spent our time relaxing, watching Frosty, talking about Santa, and singing a lot of songs.  Sawyer stayed home from daycare Thursday and Friday, and will stay home a few days this week so she gets some quality time in with us.  She's still very loving to her sister, but has some flashes of jealousy as well.  I have a great picture taken about a minute after the one below where she has the biggest frown on her face - together they capture the two sides of Sawyer's feelings for Isla.

In the days Sawyer has been home during the day I've tried to keep her busy helping me with projects.  She seems to do best when kept busy.  So we have done painting projects, she's helped me clean, and do some cooking.  We snapped this picture as we were making a few desserts together in preparation for Christmas - on her last day of school they had a reindeer parade, so she put her antlers on, but kept asking us where her red nose was. 

Grandma and Grandpa came on Christmas Eve to spend a few days with us. They were great sports playing with Sawyer who would often tell them to "Come on" and "Let's go to my playroom". They may go into withdrawl at home (or really enjoy the silence) because she talked their ears off and each time says "Grandma and Grandpa", so she had to have said their name 500 times while they were here.

Christmas morning was lots of fun.  Sawyer was excited and told us Santa came and brought her presents when she got downstairs.  Santa did not wrap his presents so she could see/play with some of her toys immediately.  The kitchen has been a huge hit, but surprisingly so has her little phonics computer.  She imitates us when we are on the computer, and even puts it away in the same spot as us when she's done with it. 

The present unwrapping was a relatively slow affair - we let her open a present and then play for awhile so it probably took about an hour/hour and a half to get through them.  She did think ALL the presents under the tree were for her, and didn't like when I told her if something was for Isla or Mark or me.  It was always met with the response "No, Mine"...as if I was going to let her open mine...not so much little girl.

After a big ole breakfast, Sawyer went outside with her Grandpa and Mark.  We had a white Christmas here in Chicago - nothing crazy, but a few inches and enough to have to shovel the driveway.  Since Santa brought her a shovel she was more than happy to "help".  What I really love about this picture is she does it with style.  Despite being in her jammies, she's rocking the Polo boots and coat...all style.

While we pretty much just relaxed on Christmas Day, Grandpa did surprise Sawyer with her very own Frosty.  He's sitting right outside our kitchen so we can go see him whenever we want and not have to go outside. 

Other than that we just fooled around and played with new toys.  Mark put Isla into his stocking, and she fit perfectly...our perfect little Christmas present. 

Hanging out in her Santa outfit.  Isla often finds her hands to suck on, and I think I caught her just before they went in this time.

Cooking with Grandma.  Many of her presents were kitchen related (pots and pans, food, plates/cups) so she was making sandwiches and soup all weekend for us. 

 Tired from all the Christmas activity.  At one month old she's just about grown out of Newborn clothes.  Our little peanut.  One month doctor's appointment is this week, and we can't wait to see how our girl has grown.

Finally - Sawyer's first ever dress up clothes.  She's trying to wear Isla's hat instead of the crown here, but has put this outfit on a few times today.

All in all - it was a great first Christmas at home.

Monkey See Monkey Do

Week has been winding down nicely and we are ready for Christmas.  We've got the meals all planned out, the groceries bought, presents wrapped, and Sawyer's new kitchen put together (which was no small feat).  We have some house cleaning to do tomorrow before Grandma and Grandpa arrive but other than that plan to spend the next few days relaxing together.  I know not a whole lot different from what we have been doing but atleast we'll eat well.  She keeps telling us Grandpa Terry will make her blueberry pancakes.  We didn't plan on putting him to work but I think it's unavoidable now.

We'll post some pics of the holidays but in the meantime, here's Isla getting a bath (in the kitchen sink).  Some days she likes it, others not so much.

 Of course my little helper is always by my side. 

And the decided it was her turn.  Of course she'll fit in the sink.

Christmas Cards

One of the things I love about the Christmas season is the cards that we receive in the mail.  I'm not a huge card person the rest of the year, and in fact totally stink at sending them to people at all, and most likely not on time.  Due to the timing of Isla's arrival, I made a birth announcement/xmas card and was pretty happy with the pics that I took.  99% of our xmas cards went out last week and so I'm going to post the pictures I took because I think they capture both my girls pretty well. 

These were the result of a little home photo shoot.  Sawyer has become quite the little poser and was leaning into her sister and kissing her all on her own - no instructions needed.

Time has really flown by and I am shocked that Christmas and Isla's 4 week birthday are this week.  We're looking forward to Grandma and Grandpa Harris coming to town and Mark taking some time off to hang with us.  I was just saying to Mark that I need to start taking more pictures of Isla because I think I had hundreds of Sawyer by the time she was 4 weeks.  However, I spend a lot of my time just holding Isla - for some reason during the day whenever I put her down she wakes up and will only stay asleep if I'm holding her.  Not that I really care - who doesn't love to hold a sleeping baby.  Thankfully this is not the case at night - she will sleep in her crib. 

The rest of my time I'm protecting Isla from Sawyer - either from her knowingly trying to inflict harm or unknowingly just flailing her arms/legs around or laying on Isla because she wants to be close to her.

Right now, Isla has beautiful blue eyes.  They are nice and big just like Sawyer's, and it looks as if she'll be blessed with a gorgeous set of eyelashes like her sister too.  While they're thinner and not yet jet black like Sawyer's are, you can tell they are quite long.  Isla is also rocking some funky mohawk hair.  She's lost some of what she was born with but the hair in the back has formed a natural little mohawk that kind of has a mind of its own.  While the back of her hair is brown, similar to Sawyer's color, the front has blond/red tones in it so I'm curious to see how it grows in.

Sawyer continues to want to help with all things Isla.  She insists on using the wipes on her butt when we change her diaper, pouring water over her head when we give her a bath, has fed her a bottle, and today came over and tried to pick her up out of my arms and carry her away...which was a bit of a surprise to me. She imitates almost everything I say, "it's ok Isla...don't cry baby...do you need a new diaper?...are you eating Isla?"  Miss Stephanie (Sawyer's teacher) also informs me that she takes care of the babies all the time at school, and will say she's giving Isla a bath, etc.

Sawyer is EXTREMELY excited for Christmas, and I'm hoping to capture her seeing the tree/presents on video because I think she will be very animated.  She understands that Santa is bringing presents, tells us that he says Ho Ho Ho, and has managed to learn all sorts of Christmas songs.  I seriously don't know how she picks them up so fast.  When we drive through town she excitedly screams "LIGHTS...MORE LIGHTS",  every time she sees a house decorated and lit up.  She has also taken a huge liking to Frosty.  We recorded the show on DVR and she watches it daily, getting so upset when it goes to commercial and barely able to wait while we fast forward. 

Her newfound love for Christmas has proved helpful to me as well - she is deathly afraid of Santa learning if she is naughty and every time I threaten to tell the elf or for Daddy to call Santa it sends her into hysterical tears begging that we do not tell Santa.  God I hope she believes in Santa for a VERY long time. 

First Haircut

That's right - it's taken almost 2 years and 3 months before it was necessary, but Sawyer has finally gotten her first haircut.  We found a kids cut place in our town and headed over there with Grandma before she skipped town.  Worked well having two of us because Sawyer was a bit unsure of the whole experience, though it probably only took 10 minutes...the novelty of the car lasted about 60 seconds before she was asking to get down.

The before shot...liking the car.

 The process begins...highly skeptical.

 Got a sucker...things are picking up.

 Finished product...still has a pussface on but looks cute in her barrette and didn't pull it out.

Not a whole lot to write home about other than that.  Grandma left on Wednesday, and Sawyer was sad to see her go.  She woke up Thursday, and her first question was "Where's Isla?"  followed by "Where's Grandma?"  She definitely enjoyed the attention my mom gave her.  I've had to try and give her lots of hugs and kisses lately because every now and then she gets jealous of me holding Isla and lashes out a bit either crying or trying to pinch/hit the baby.  Before Grandma left, we did some shopping and found some great Xmas jammies for the girls.  Isla got some warm jammies and a hat - love the bows.

Even better is the striped number and hat we found for Sawyer.  She LOVES these pjs, and wants to wear the hat all the time.  The picture makes her look a little silly, but they are so cute/funny in person.

On Friday, Isla went in for a two week check-up at the doctor.  Our little peanut is doing great and gaining weight.  She had gotten down to 6 lb 15 oz at her 4 day appt, but was up to 7 lb 12 oz this time.  Still only in the 25%, though she scored in 75% for height at 21 1/4 inches.  We met up with Mark for lunch after the appt but then headed home to hibernate for the weekend.  We stayed in all weekend - the weather has gotten cold and we had some blustery snow so it is far more enjoyable sitting on the couch in front of a fire.  Online xmas shopping and addressing the xmas cards was top of my list. 

Sawyer headed back to school and Mark took the car for work today so Isla and I are locked down at home.  The TV tells me it's 11 degrees outside before the wind chill.  I don't intend to go outside and check, but will trust the weatherman that I'd prefer to stay in.

First Week

The family is settling in with our new addition.  Isla has been a great baby - aside from just being healthy which we are very thankful for - she's been a calm, sleepy little baby.  Now this may be in part because she hasn't fully woken up but really she only cries when she's hungry or we're changing her diaper.  Like her sister Sawyer she loves to sleep on her boppy which lets her sleep kind of on her side curled up in a little ball. 

That was probably our biggest problem - she didn't want to sleep laying flat in her crib or pack and play, and i get nervous putting her on the boppy if i'm not awake next to her to make sure she doesn't slip down...so girl slept at my feet or on me for a bit initially.  Other than that, our girl has started to wake up.  On occasion Sawyer lets Isla use some of her "toys" - we practiced a little side/tummy time on her mat.

But Sawyer quickly took that back...surrounding herselft with all of "her" toys.

Caught in the act, and trying to scurry out..

Unfortunately, Mark came down with the flu this week and has been a bit out of commission.  He's on the road to recovery, but simultaneously Sawyer scratched her excema on her hands enough to break the skin and got herself an infection.  So we ended up at the pediatrician to get some antibiotics and have somehow managed to keep myself and Isla healthy...knock on wood.  Lucky for us Grandma came into town on Saturday and has been helpful in keeping one or both of the kids busy.  Sawyer has been loving all the attention and pretty much talks my mom's ears off on a daily basis.  It's like she's trying to remember every last think she knows and then tells my mom.  When Sawyer wakes up in the morning Mark usually gets her out of bed, and she runs in and makes me get up and come downstairs with her.  Since Grandma has been here, I've been in heaven because she bypasses me altogether...she says hi and then says she's going to find Grandma - cue the Alleluia singers because I was actually able to get an extra hour of sleep the other day.

Aside from that, we spend a lot of time just hanging out at home.  The weather is cold and we got our first snowfall this weekend, so we do a lot of fires and hanging out at home.  Sawyer continues to show affection for her sister - about 90% of the time she is very gentle -giving her kisses and hugs and wanting to lay next to her.  She loves to help burp her and to touch her toes, and especially loves to hold her.  She gets real sad-like and says "I want baby Isla" and climbs up on the couch.  Here's a picture of Daddy holding both Sawyer, who's holding Isla...his own little Turducken.

Hospital Pics

My three favorite photos from the hospital photographer.  Can't wait to start decorating and frame a few of these...

 In case you didn't notice, Isla loves to keep her hands up by her face.  She was like this in her ultrasound pictures as well.

 First family of four photo...

In other news, we have not been pushing Sawyer to get potty trained given all the changes in her life lately - new house, new big girl bed, new sister, new daycare...seemed like we should let her adjust on her own time. Well since her accident I wrote about a few weeks ago she stopped altogether - basically she became terrified of the potty. What she does instead is tell us when she's going to the bathroom and then insist we change her diaper immediately afterwards. However, last night I used my powers of persuasion to at least get her to sit on the toilet again (ice cream works miracles with this one) and today, I'm happy to report she went three times at school! We may be on our way!


Not a whole lot else to report.  Sawyer goes to daycare during the week which gives me some nice time together with Isla.  We took her for her 4 day old appt today - she is down to 6 lb 15 oz and hopefully now back on the weight gain plan.  Mark, Isla and I went out for brunch in town after our appt - it was different being there with a newborn and our 2 year old no where in sight.  On a happy note - I think we found a great brunch place in the new hood - a significant find since it's my favorite meal.

Random story about Sawyer while I'm writing. We read to her every night and as part of her continued independence she must hold the book, and turn all pages.  Oddly enough she has also started to memorize the words.  I am not under any impression she can read - but she knows all of "Brown bear Brown bear", and when we read Sesame Street's Nighty Night, if we don't pause to allow her to say certain words she gets downright mad.  Sawyer says all the words in CAPS...
"When it's time to go to SLEEP, and rest your HEAD,
do you sometimes need your favorite TOY to snuggle with in BED

Elmo has a BUNNY that helps him get to SLEEP
The bunny is soft and COMFY and never makes a PEEP

Big Bird can sleep almost ANYWHERE
As long as he always has his favorite TEDDY BEAR

Bert snuggles with his BLANKY oh so very TIGHT
It keeps him safe and WARM all throughout the NIGHT

Now it's time for you to say NIGHTY NIGHT, what will you cuddle with when you turn out the LIGHT?

Isla Marie

Well the pedicure and movie day never happened on Friday because instead we had a baby! I'll try to keep the "story" to a minimum, but so I only have to tell it once, when I woke up on Friday I pretty much knew I was in labor - I had zero appetite (which was abnormal) and was having contractions every 6-7 minutes, though not terribly painful, not getting closer together, and not getting stronger. I had no idea how long that would last so we cancelled the day's activities and just decided to hang.  I was worried that we'd go to the hospital too early and they'd send us home so we hung out at home until after Sawyer's nap.

Got to the hospital triage center around 4pm and hooked up to the monitors.  I knew in the waiting area that the contractions had gotten stronger and sped up just on the ride in but was still surprised when the nurse told me I was 5 cm dilated.  Hoorah.  That meant that we definitely were having the baby that night, and we needed to get a game plan for Sawyer.  We took our friends Aimee and Jon up on their offer to let Sawyer come stay over/play with their daughter Reese, and are basically indebted to them forever because they made it so worry-free and easy for us (and Sawyer is still talking about staying at Reese's house).  So Mark made the call and took off for Evanston while I was getting formally admitted and sent upstairs for my already requested epidural. In the hour it took to get upstairs and get the epidural I had gone from 5 to 7 cm and was starting to worry as the nurses kept asking me how far away my husband was.  Turns out those nurses knew their stuff because the baby was born about 30-45 minutes after Mark arrived back at the hospital...just 2 1/2 hours from when we walked in the door.

Isla Marie arrived at 6:29pm weighing in at 7 lb 6 oz and 20.5 inches long.  She is a healthy little peanut who so far seems relatively calm.  She cries (kind of a cat sound) when she's hungry and when her diaper gets changed, but otherwise just kind of sits there looking around or sleeping. 
Mark stayed at the hospital with us on Friday night and got some good cuddling time in with his girl before heading out to pick Sawyer up.  Our girl LOVES to be held, and seems to sleep best on one of our chests (if we let her).

Mark brought Sawyer back for a quick visit on Saturday - she walked right into the room and said she was there to see her sister Isla.  Very cute indeed.  She wanted to lay next to the baby and touch her hands and feet but was also quite a bit skeptical.

 Mostly she just wanted to run around the hospital room and play with the buttons on the bed or look out the window at the buildings.

Mark and Sawyer left in the early afternoon to get her home for a nap.  That left Isla and I on our own until their return on Sunday to pick us up and take us home.  While they went out and got our Christmas tree, Isla and I rested and took advantage of all the nurses/hospital had to offer including pain meds, room service, and the nursery.  I managed to get some sleep and was a little sad I didn't have one more night in the hospital.

They came back Sunday and Sawyer showed even more interest in her sister.  She wanted to sit on the hospital bed and insisted on holding her sister.  She would rub her head, her cheeks and kiss and hug her...sometimes a little tighter than we would like.  I was holding on to Isla the whole time as Sawyer would sometimes just drop her hands or push the baby away, and then cry because she wanted the baby back.   

We made it home and have since been getting Isla adjusted to home and Sawyer to being part of a family of four.  Sawyer definitely wants attention - she always did, but she now tries to imitate what the baby is doing. She's been sitting in the baby's bouncy chair, the car seat, laying on the boppy across my lap likes she's being fed, and today asked that I wrap her up in the blanket just like we do Isla. This picture was the result - one tiny and one giant swaddled girl. 

Snug as a bug in a rug...

I'm doing my best to give her attention, put her to bed, etc so we'll see how she continues to adjust...

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family!  While we had a gloriously relaxing day by ourselves this year, we definitely missed seeing everyone...well we think we missed you - we're definitely thankful for you, but god it was nice not traveling for once and being in our own home this holiday!  We spent half the day in our jammies and had a fire rolling by 10am.  I took these two pictures as we had a few quiet moments where everyone was just kind of chilling.

While we're usually dressed relatively early in the morning, today we let Sawyer hang in her monkey pj's till we went out on a walk around 11.  Since it was only about 30 degrees out today her and I bundled up and got a little bit of fresh air before her lunch/nap.  Turns out it did her real well because she passed out while we were out walking - took me a few minutes to realize she was no longer talking back to me.

We didn't have a very complex Thanksgiving menu, and with only three people in attendance, there wasn't a whole lot of needed preparation.  I picked up a few flowers and put out some holiday colored placemats which made it feel a bit more special than normal.  Sawyer's favorite part was the pumpkin candles and being able to use real cloth napkins - like a grown up she kept it on her lap throughout her dinner which I found quite cute.

Since this was my first real cooking of a turkey and big Thanksgiving dinner, I took a picture.  What can I say we've traveled for EVERY holiday over the last ten years (you're welcome) and have never needed to cook a turkey before.  I'm quite happy with how it turned out and give my mom a shout out for the on-phone support.  Clearly I bought a little bit bigger turkey than needed, but I have planned for turkey paninis and turkey noodle soup for lunch tomorrow - the broth is cooking as I write - so it will not go to waste.

Our spread...yes, we have a good amount of leftovers for the rest of the weekend.

In all seriousness, we do have a lot to be thankful for this year, and don't underestimate it.  With a happy and healthy girl, babe #2 on the way, and a new house, our little family has had more than our fair share of good fortune.  I have to admit, at one point on Wednesday night I started to become quite nervous that we were going to have a Thanksgiving baby.  Not that this would have been a bad thing, but while we have such great friends who have offered to help us with Sawyer when this baby does decide to arrive, I would have felt AWFUL if I had to make someone's holiday more stressful by adding our little 2 year old to it.  At any rate the contractions I've been having are only consistent for a short time and then subside.  So baby watch continues.  I'm technically due in two days, so maybe this girl just wants to be punctual.

Random picture of Sawyer - I snapped it because Sawyer was on her 3rd clementine orange in about 5 minutes.  She is such a strange little bird whose tastes really vary over time.  She seems to have a favorite food that she can't get enough of for a period of time, and I think we may have just moved to the next - clementines.  She did this with blueberries, bananas, apples, etc.  She'll insist on multiple servings a day.  I bought a box of clementines yesterday and she had three before dinner.  She woke up this morning and had three more.  No more will Mark complain that I buy these and don't finish a box.  At this rate, I'm going to need more before the weekend is over.

Not much else to report for us.  Mark and I are going to try and alternate getting out of the house tomorrow for some relaxation - pedicure for me, movie for him.  There's also some fun events in our town we may pop around for should this baby not arrive - there's the tree lighting tomorrow at dusk and then sunday there's carolers and Santa in town.  Sawyer has shown a serious interest in Christmas trees, but I'm not sure what she'll think of Santa just yet.

Indian Summer

Today feels like an Indian Summer day to me - maybe not quite "summer" but a great fall day.  I think it's almost 60 degrees out and meant that Sawyer was outside kicking her soccer ball with her dad, and picking up a bunch of fallen branches and twigs from all the recent wind to use in our winter fires.  No hats, no gloves, just comfortable.  I like it and am looking forward to the even warmer temps tomorrow.  I may even have to work on the deck tomorrow just to enjoy the weather. 

So as I'm sure you've guessed the baby has not yet come, but today I'm feeling ok about that.  Yesterday I was feeling tired, but today I'm feeling good and highly productive.  Maybe this is what they mean when they say nesting, I have no idea, but I go in spurts like this whether I'm pregnant or not.  The positive result is things get done and my life gets organized.  We started the weekend off pretty slow finishing off a long, busy week of work.  Prior to picking up the pizza for dinner, and her dad from the train, Sawyer managed to find her dad's stash of leftover Halloween Nerds.  She loves them.  Not really a good pre-dinner snack, but hey, I was making her eat later than usual, so I went with it and she provided me with a lot of entertainment eating them.

Saturday, while productive, was tiring.  Sawyer woke up at 5am with some seriously itchy skin and so the day started early. We did manage to get our girl her winter coat in anticipation of the cold weather and some time out in the snow.  Finally she doesn't have to play in just the super small deck off the front of our condo!  Lucked out that the store had a sale making me feel less guilty buying the more expensive super cute white puffy down coat I'd been eyeing rather than some all pink-pepto bismol looking thing.  Must everything be pink people? 

What started as some itchiness in the morning turned into a full body rash by mid day.  Meant that Sawyer didn't nap well either.  She woke up after a short nap, and since I was taking a snooze myself, Mark brought Sawyer down to the couch with him.  When I came downstairs this is what I found - our girl sleeping peacefully with her Dad.  After about an hour and a half he rolled out from under her, and she curled right up on the couch herself for another hour.  So precious sometimes.

Still not really sure what the cause of the rash was/is.  I gave her a baking soda bath last night followed by cortisone and some serious quantities of aquaphor before bed and she woke up with it almost all gone.  Still has a bit on her cheek and her seemingly always chapped hands, but thankfully she slept 12 hours straight without a peep and has been good all day today.  She keeps following Mark and I around helping with whatever the current project is - so she picked up twigs and sticks, helped Mark clean out the fireplace, cleaned the playroom, vacuumed, washed baby bottles, filled the laundry baskets and put the clothes in the washing machine, and even carried her dirty diaper trash bag into the hallway.  Perhaps that is why she went to her nap so easily today?  Hard labor...haha.

She's also spent a good amount of time playing with baby toys today, mostly laying on the baby playmat we brought out and turning the music/lights on.  She's also tried to open a pack of pacifiers and asked for her milk in a bottle today, so it'll be interesting to see how this unfolds. 

We snapped a few pictures today because Sawyer is rocking her new hand-knit sweater from Aunt Sue.  She LOVES the color - purple is her new fave since it matches her room, and she looks really cute in it.  She even agreed to wear a bib at lunch so we didn't get it dirty, which is an amazing feat in and of itself.  Thank you Sue (fits perfectly) - I hope we weren't supposed to save this for Xmas - we want to get as much use out of it as we can.  Can't wait to test out the booties on the babe as well.

Finally, we made two very exciting purchases today.  Mark went out and bought some firewood so we can take advantage of finally having a wood burning fireplace!  Knowing how much he loves fires we'll probably run out of wood quickly - he's already stocked the fireplace in anticipation of the weather turning cold again.  Second, and the most exciting thing for me, is that today we ordered our furniture for the kitchen and family room.  Yes, we have things there now, but while our condo furniture worked well in the limited space we had it is all wrong for our current house, and towards the end of its life cycle anyway.  We have about 2-3 months before delivery so in the meantime, we'll have both rooms painted to coordinate with our plans.  It was a little overwhelming pulling the trigger but I get so excited thinking about it!

With that, we'll head back on baby watch and keep you posted.  One last picture to enjoy - I don't know if Sawyer just watches her Dad like a hawk, or they are the same person, but I have gotten this exact same look from Mark many a time.