7 weeks

Gemma is 7 weeks old. We had to get a little creative as we weren't at home today. Where are we? Stay tuned. I'll tell you tomorrow. Probably.

6 weeks old

Chatting with my baby

3 kids, 3 things

How did this happen?  She started with her head in the center of the blanket and her feet near the RIGHT side of the picture frame.

*In no particular order:

1.  Gemma is a wiggler.  A wiggly, wriggly wiggler.  On Wednesday,  I left her on her blanket with some toys to look at while I fed kids and then chased them into clothes.  Gemma was very content for awhile and then started to complain (note: this wasn't crying.  She would squawk and then settle down.  A few moments later she would squawk again.)  I ran around and finished the critical tasks before going to rescue Gemma, taking possibly 3-4 more minutes.  When I came to get her, I found that she had scooted across the floor on her back 2+ feet.  She might have gone further, except her head was pressed up against the coffee table and probably why she was complaining.

2.  Amelia is finally potty trained during the day (also: HOORAY!) and she has been somewhat consistent with staying dry all night.  This means we are still using diapers at night until we are confident we won't wake up to a pile of wet laundry.  This is also new enough that we haven't set up the routine each night to make sure she goes potty right before bed.  We're working on it.

So, when she wandered into my room yesterday morning while I was feeding the baby, I didn't drop everything. Roughly fifteen minutes later, I chased Amelia into the bathroom and discovered.....we forgot to put a diaper on her at bedtime last night, my heart sank.  Luckily, she was dry.  Unluckily, she knows that she didn't wear a diaper last night and it might be a battle to get her in one tonight...wish us luck!

3.  We were driving to swimming lessons on Wednesday morning and William was reading the street signs to me.  We passed Oak Street, Elm Street, etc, etc.  We turned onto Main Street, which gave us the opportunity to discuss the definition of intersections and why streets go where they do. William announced the last street before the pool "Chestnut Doctor".

I was first reaction was to be impressed that he correctly read and pronounced Chestnut as I am certain this was an unknown word for him and the sign was only visible for a brief moment.  Without thinking, I automatically corrected him and the following conversation took place:

Me: That sign said "Chestnut Drive". 

William: No.  It didn't. It said Chestnut Doctor.  Dr. is a nickname for someone who is a doctor.  That sign said Chestnut D-R.  That means Chestnut Doctor.

Me:(...thinking...impressed by the logic......)

William: Right, mom?

Me: Weeellllll...See, sometimes things can have more that one meaning.  Dr can mean "doctor" or "drive" depending on the situation they are in.  If I see Dr. on a sign, I know it means drive.  If I see Dr. 

William: That is silly.  They should just use one nickname for one thing.  Why don't they do that?

Me: Hey look!  We're at the pool! (Or: I don't have a good answer, do you?)

*I started this post on Wednesday and when I went to finish it Thursday morning, it was gone :(  How frustrating to have to go back and retype everything.

A bonus picture of our smiling girl!  There are four people who live at this house that will now do utterly ridiculous things in order to see this gummy grin!

3 things, 3 kids

Sent from my iPhone

Shopping With Amelia

Uh oh!  Grandpa is alone with Amelia in the store....and our girl LOVES to shop for pretty things!  She tries to sweet talk poor Grandpa into a number of different things.

Things to listen for:
Amelia knows her size (fours and threes) - the way she says '4' is so cute!

Grandpa saying "Oh Golly"- nothing makes me giggle like my dad saying "golly"

At the very end:
G:  "I think I hear your mama calling"
A: "Oh no, not again!"

And my girl knows her mama wasn't going to go for any of the huge pile of clothing she had picked out.  That brings a smile to my face too!

William hits a home run!

Here is William hitting a home run during his Tball game several weeks ago.  Usually each batter advances one base after they hit the ball - because William was the last hitter in the line up, he got a home run every time at bat!

5 weeks!

Gemma is 5 weeks old today! I'm making it my goal to do the weekly picture for at least the first 12 weeks. We'll see if I can stick to it!

Gemma is starting to be so much fun! She is a wiggler and has started moving around, pivoting on her belly. She has no idea she is doing it, but she wiggles and wiggles until she has made her way to a new spot. She makes her move on both her front and on her back!

Gemma enjoys and occasionally tolerates tummy time. She pushes up on her arms and looks around. She loves to have company talking to her and tracks pretty well with her eyes, although they still cross sometimes!

Gemma is working hard at vocalizing. Her arms and legs will go and go and go. Suddenly everything else will stop moving and she'll push her tongue in and out several times before saying "goo". Or "gah!". It takes a LOT of effort on her part, but it is very cute!

The sleep continues to be hit or miss. Some nights she'll go 5-6 hours at a stretch and then the next she won't go more than 3. I'm ready for a little more sleep!

We did a cloth diaper trial this week an Gemma is still a little small for our diapers- which resulted in a mess. This means she is still in size 1 diapers. She is also wearing size 0-3 - but I've already had to put away a few of the outfits that were on the smaller size.

Amelia and William continue to find Gemma adorable and wonderful. Even when she is crying- they are so sweet with her. They pat her, sing to her, shush her, and delight in everything she does. They have been remarkably understanding and patient with Gemma and me! I just wish they'd use a little of that goodwill towards each other lately!

Helpful hubby

I have a helpful hubby- I'm a lucky girl!

Don't get me wrong, he makes me crazy on a regular basis. But, he has taken on most of the meal prep and bedtime routine for the bigger kids without complaint. This is the hardest time of day fir our family. Everyone is tired and less patient. The home stretch between 6pm and 8pm can be rough. His non existent free time has dwindled to using the restroom by himself and whatever quiet he can get at work. When he is home, he is a daddy on duty.

For a change of pace, I offered to bathe the big kids so he could have some baby time. He broke out our friend Mr Bjorne (name brand of carrier) and vacuumed. Can't be that, can you?

Swim time!

We are doing swimming lessons this week! What a great way to beat the heat every day! Except poor Gemma and Mama who just have to watch...

Gemma's one month Pictures

I finally have the new blog uploading picture thing figured out.  No promises that I will use it more often because it still requires two hands (current blog time is while I'm feeding a baby with one hand and blogging on my phone with the other hand).

We did a very small photo shoot yesterday to celebrate Gemma turning a month old.  It was a super busy day full of household chores, shopping, swimming lessons and dinner guests.  Next time I take this photography approach I need to remember to iron my fabric!  I am happy to put that fabric to good use though since I haven't had a minute to sew lately!

What would you call this face?

Baby Blues

This picture is the closest I have managed to show Gemma's eye color.  It is a dark, dark blue in person.  I'm certain the color will change - but how?

Can you tell?

 Which baby is which?  Can you tell?  Does Gemma look like any of her siblings?  Take a look and see!

Baby #1

Baby #2

Baby #3

Baby #4

Baby #5

Baby #6

Baby #7

Need some help?  Here are two clues.....

Clue #2: There are 2 Williams, 3 Amelias and 2 Gemma pictures










Answers:
Baby #1,#2, and  #5 are Amelia
Baby #6 and #7 are Gemma
Baby #3 and #4 are William

June 10, 2012 OR what's in a name: Gemma Josephine

Naming a baby is hard for us.  We are indecisive and a name is something that sticks with someone for (potentially) their whole life.

Before I forget, here is how Gemma's name came to be:

(back story)

I came across the name Gemma in the middle of 2008.  It was in the online journal, much like this one, of a friend of a friend of a friend.  Someone I will likely never meet who lives in another state.  I liked the name immediately and when we got pregnant with Amelia, I put it on the table as a possible girl's name.  John didn't love it.  He didn't even like it.  He didn't outright tell me he didn't like it, just changed the subject when the name came up - which I didn't especially notice as I am easily distracted.

During Amelia's pregnancy, I paired Gemma with the middle name Josephine.  My great grandma's middle name was Josephine.  I love the G/J sounds together AND I loved and respected my great grandma very much.  She had so many admirable qualities and had such a strong character, I am proud to name my daughter after her.

As we all know now, Amelia was a girl and we put 3 names into the hat to choose from, including Gemma's.  Out came Amelia from the hat.  There is more to that story, but this one is about Gemma's name.

(Gemma's story)

The first day with our new baby, we introduced her to her Grandpa Kevin, Grandma Kim and her siblings.  We talked on the phone to a number of people and posted on this website and Facebook.  We kept saying "we need to talk about what to name her" and nurses, drs, and family would interrupt us.  John napped and I admired the baby (I was supposed to be napping too, but just wasn't able to).  That first full night (6/9), we started talking about names and confirmed the two candidates were the only names on the table.  John leaned toward one name and I leaned towards the other name (for the record this is so very much typical of us.  We agree on big and important things and rarely agree on the smaller stuff).  As we talked, it became clear that we both needed to sleep in order to have such an important discussion and be coherent.  So, we went to bed.

Grandma helped the kids bake a birthday cake for Gemma's birthday and brought it to the hospital!  They loved it and so did I!

Grandma meets the unnamed baby

Grandpa meets unnamed baby

Or, that should say: John went into a coma like sleep and Kelly fed the baby every 2 hours* for the next nine hours.  John had helpfully set an alarm on his cell phone to go off every three hours and set up a chart in his notebook to track feedings.  John would not. wake. up.  The poor guy had worked all day on Friday (up at 5am) and then was up for close to 24 hours to welcome our baby.  I was not sympathetic.  At one point, the alarm on his cell phone alarm went off for close to 20 minutes (it was set to remind us about when the next feeding time was supposed to be).  Right next to his head.  He did not hear it at all.  I did, as I had just finished feeding a baby and was trying to sleep.  No calling, throwing of objects, turning on lights or other tactics worked to awake my exhausted husband.

I think in total, I got roughly 2 hours of sleep that night in no more than fifteen minute chunks.  In between, I grumbled in my head at my (loudly) snoring husband.

 Because it was John's birthday and I knew how tired he was,  I let him sleep in until 8:30am.  But, I also had a secret agenda: I wanted to go home early.  We were scheduled to go home on Tuesday morning.  I was ready to go home.  It was John's birthday and William had a Tball event that evening.  I wanted to eat at home with my family and have William get to Tball.  Most importantly, I was ready to sleep in my own bed.  We had to get moving to turn in the birth certificate paperwork, have pictures taken, Gemma needed her hearing tested and we both needed to get doctor clearance for us to leave.  To fill out a birth certificate required agreement upon a name. 

As is our tradition, we put both our names into a hat and drew one out.  Gemma Josephine came out**.  Paperwork was filled out, pictures taken, doctors cleared and by early afternoon we were on our way home.

Mama, Daddy and Gemma on our way home from the hospital

At home!  Several items to notice: 1.  I am so SO glad we got rid of the other storm door on Friday night.  This is such a better picture with the newly painted door.    2.  I am wearing John's pajama pants because I neglected to pack any pants for myself.  I had lovely shirts to choose from, but not ONE pair of pants.  I totally rocked the pajama pants.

*Somehow, the way newborn feedings are tracked, they count the START time of a feeding, not the ending.  So, I fed her every two hours from the BEGINNING of one feed to the BEGINNING of the next feed.  Newborn babies are not good at feeding yet, so feedings can take 30-60 minutes.  Even though it may appear there was some time for sleep between feedings, there was not.  In between feedings, I was changing poopy diapers and talking to nurses who came to check on us.

** For the record, this is the name John preferred***.  He went from disliking it three years ago to preferring it to our other name choice.  I find this hilarious.

***So far, John is three for three****.  He has gotten his name preference from the supposedly neutral hat three times.  I have always agreed upon the final name candidates, but never gotten my preference.  I strongly doubt we will test this a fourth time.

****Do I love that he always gets his way?  No.  I do not.  Do I dislike any of the names? No.  I love them. 

1 month old!

Gemma is one month old today!

Quickly:
-she is getting big!
-probably weighs around the 11-12 lb mark- AMAZING!
-smiles, a very rare giggle
More awake than before... Stating to see some awake/ sleepy routines starting to emerge.
- some spit up this week
-size 1diapers
-size 0-3 still fitting
-sleep at night is going well (knock on wood)
-adored by her siblings
Growing growing!.

Sent from my iPhone

Amelia

So much has been going on here, I haven't told you some exciting news! Amelia is using the potty!

As expected, once she decided SHE wanted to do it, it was a done deal. The timing wasn't great for me- I have been working hard with her since January without success. Much to my disappointment, I decided to let it go until later this summer at the end of May.

Do you know what my girl did? The Thursday before John went back to work, she decided she was ready. We worked hard with her over the weekend and she did SO well! However, this presented a problem for me! John went back to work on Monday and left me with a newborn, a newly potty trained (also:stubborn) 3 year old, and a 5 year old with scheduled events to get to on time. I can now report that is was stressful and I do not reccomend potty training with a 2 week old in the house! This Mama needs her sleep to maximize her patience!

Giggles and a funny

1. Over the last two days, Gemma has started giggling just a little bit in response to our ridiculous attempts to get her to smile. It is a tiny, fleeting sound- but it's there!

2. Yesterday John took the kids to get an algae eating fish for our fish tank. When the kids and daddy came home, they were so excited to tell me about their trip to the pet store. William's reported

"We went to the store Mama and got an allergy eater!"

Sent from my iPhone

Houdini?

Gemma has always been a wiggler. Since she was inside, she is almost always in motion.

Several days ago, I put Gemma down going north south in her pack n play by our bed. In the morning, she was facing east/west. In her sleep,
She wriggled and wiggled her way around in her crib while sleeping until she was facing 90 degrees the other direction.

This morning found a new level of wiggliness. She was all swaddled up in the our most strait jacket like swaddler. Yet, she was able to wiggle both hands free AND an entire leg from a pretty deep pocket and a flawless swaddle! You can see from the picture how proud she is from the little smile she has on her face.

4 weeks old...what?

Gemma is 4 weeks old today...what? She is growing so fast! Everything seems a little bigger and stronger. Earlier this week I noticed that Gemma is either losing her hair or her head is growing so fast, her head cannot keep up.

She is also having more awake and alert times during the day. The night sleeping is coming along. Not quite where I want it to be, but hopefully soon. She is up once or twice a night most nights and generally goes back to sleep.

Not to worry, pictures were taken to document. Who know when I will get to downloading from the camera and uploading here. For the time being, you'll have to make do with a picture of our strong girl doing a push up, one of me taking pictures of my girl, and a picture of her beautiful AWAKE smile!

Baby push up!

Look at how strong I am!

More 4th of July

Here is daddy with his girls on the 4th of July!

2 years

Here is the dress I made for Amelia last year! It was HUGE on her then and is still a little big on her. Will we get another year out of it?

PS. No. She can't just hold still and smile, I guess.

Guess what I got today?

Isn't it cute? The last one is just plain funny! And yes, she is asleep here and sweetly smiling away. Even if it is gas....I'll take it!

3 years

This was a worthy investment of time! My sister in law and I made this shirt/hat combo for a family reunion 2 years ago. I picked a shirt on the bigger size, but I didn't think we would get 3 summers of wear out of it! The blue/orange shorts were of William's own choosing- and nothing could change his mind...

Happy 4th!

Here we are at our town's 4th of July parade! It was just over a mile walk there and it was close to 95 degrees at 9am. The kids handled it very well, the grown ups not so much. I ended up taking Gemma home early- there just wasn't a good way to protect her from the heat. Daddy and the kids followed soon after. I don't think we saw the whole parade, but it was enough to check off my "summer to do list" the parade!