Delilah is 3 months old!

-Just about out of her 3 months Carter's clothes, for sure the 6 month size is more comfy!

-DROOL DROOL DROOL!!!! Her bibs are totally slimy at the end of the day; we had to get the kind with the waterproof backing to keep her clothes from getting soaked. The days I don't use them, she's soaked to the waist in about 30 minutes flat!

-Chews on/plays with her hands all the time.


-Bats at her toys and is coordinated enough now to get a few into her hands to chew on, especially her rainbow wood ball.

-Prefers to be on her play mat, in her bumbo, or standing on someones lap. She REALLY doesn't like to be held cradled on her back in people's arms. There's too much to see to be laying on her back where she can't see things!

-Gave us her first "real" laugh on her 11 week birthday, and she's done it a couple of times since then (even for Granny and Granddaddo when we went to Arizona to see them this week!)

-Loves to scream and screech when she's happy! Loves to "talk" and let you know how much she is enjoying her day.

-Fights sleep like no one's business. She seldom falls asleep on her own, usually needs "help" which means nursing, getting patted, or being rocked to sleep.

-Out of the reflux wedge for bed! She's now in her crib, but a side effect is that she is waking up in the night again (which is actually more typical for her age anyway, but I will miss my 8-9 hours of sleep!). She usually wakes around 2 or 3 then again at 5 or 6. Eats and is back asleep in 15 minutes flat.

-Still pretty sleepy during the day, but she is starting to have more of a long nap and awake type schedule rather than short little cat naps and awake times during the day.

-Bedtime is around 9 or 10, so getting better!

-When she's fighting sleep, she rubs her hands all over her face (and drags them through the drool) then rubs her hair. She gets some pretty wild hairdos!

-Rolled over on her own for the first time on her 3 month birthday, this picture is actually right after she did it! Does pretty well with tummy time, seems to like looking around from that vantage.

-Her hair has grown about an inch since birth already! It's not really falling out, but it's growing in a golden brown color. It's going to look like she's had a bad dye job pretty soon-golden roots with dark tips! What kind of mom would DO that to their child! LOL

-Oliver loves her to pieces, but we have seen a bit of jealousy and rough play lately, which is normal but still makes Mama sad. For the most part though, he LOVES it when she is laughing or smiling and will often call Shawn and I over to see how he's making her smile or screech at him.

-His behavior has gotten much better with a bit of consistency with the rules (thank you Love and Logic!). He's at the point where we can somewhat reason with him, but is still having a hard time making good decisions the first time around. His mantra when he has to go to time out is "I'll be good NOW!!!" Poor kiddo, mom and dad want to raise an independent son who makes good decisions, is caring and thinks about his actions. Sure is tough to be 4!

-Oliver continues to crack us up. I really don't know where he comes up with some of his ideas and stories! He makes up his own words (did you know that your heart "reclecks" the blood and "shoops" it around until it's all "swiggy" inside your body?). He is so wonderful at wanting and giving hugs and kisses, giving compliments, and just overall being sweet. He has the funniest way of saying things; so adult and yet so "4" at the same time!

Miss D at 2 months!

Has it really already been two months? This goes by far too fast, especially when I know she'll be our last baby. :-(

At 2 months:
-Sleeps 5-6 hours a night (last night she did 7 1/2! Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but I sure appreciated it)
-Takes 3-4 naps, is usually still sleeping more than awake
-Baby party time is down to 9pm-11pm, so bedtime is creeping ever so slowly closer to brothers!
-Wears Carters 3 month sized clothes, although they are starting to get tight. 3-6 month sized in other brands
-Wears size 2 diaper
-REALLY talks and coos when she's being changed or standing on dada's lap
-Still seems to love brother the best!
-She'll kick up onto her side, but doesn't take the roll all the way over
-Sleeps in her wedge at night. Tried the bassinet once, woke up an hour later trying to suck on the sides, I guess she was still hungry!
-Loves her playmat, stares at the birds. Doesn't really grasp toys yet unless you put them in her hands, is just starting to bat at the hanging toys
-Music is good! She loves it just like her brother. If you sing to her the coos go nuts!
-Good at being out and about. Prefers her Ergo carrier to the carseat. I use the infant insert with her still, her legs are still too short to sit in the carrier without it. Makes her warm, but as we are usually outside when she's in it, that's a good thing. We are going to Leavenworth with Ryan, Cristy and Mackenzie this weekend, so the warm carrier will be just the thing for window shopping!
-Ollie continues to be great with her. We've been having some issues with attitude and refusing to follow directions, but it's always directed at Shawn and I, never Delilah (although, I did overhear him saying to her as she was in her swing "You're not that cute, you really aren't..." We had a bit of a talk after that one! It was hard not to laugh...)
-Oliver is so HUGE!!! I tried to carry him in from the car after a playdate yesterday; he was completely asleep. I pulled it off, but felt like I was carrying a teenager! His head was slumped over onto my shoulder and his feet were banging me below the knees. I know I'm no Amazon in the height department, but sheesh. This boy is going to be taller than me in 2nd grade!
-Speaking of school, I went to the Kinder info meeting at my school this week! Crazy to think that my "little" man is going to be in school this fall! We will be taking him to Creekside, and I'm really excited to think about all the good things that he will be learning! I ADORE my school, and can't imagine him going to school anywhere else.

I think that's about it for now. Love my kids!

Comparisons

I know "they" say you shouldn't compare your kids (who IS this mysterious THEY anyway? And why are we supposed to listen to them?!?!), but it's not like I'm going to post "You know, now that we have Delilah and she is just so much more perfect than Oliver, we are giving him away" or "You know, Delilah really doesn't live up to her brother's mold, so away she goes"...This post is more about comparing looks and attributes at different stages in life. It's a way for me to hit memory lane with my son; was he ever as small as Delilah? The pictures say so, but when I had to carry him up the stairs today for "chill out time" in his room, I think the pictures lie...

Also, this is a way for me to participate in a long standing Smith/Fountain family ritual. Come on Smiths/Fountains, you ALL know what I'm talking about. It's "WHO DOES SHE/HE LOOK LIKE?" game. Drives my brother nuts when we all have get togethers and we start with the "He really looks like so and so" or "She has so and so's eyes". David has said on a few occasions "I look like me. Moving on..." Ha! Sorry brother, it's a genetic/behavioral imperative that we compare. Connects us to the past, to the people we are related to. So, I compared, especially with the help of Photoshop allowing me to find and put pictures together so easily. Hopefully, at some point in time I'll find and scan photos of Shawn and I at similar ages and let the games REALLY begin! (This activity is so vital to family wellness that I will be calling my mother after I post this to start hashing it out!)

For the sake of consistency, Oliver's photos will always be on the top or left, Delilah's on the bottom or right.

The official post birth weigh in. Something I noticed that hadn't really popped out at me before I did this was how PURPLE Oliver was. He spent the next 5 days on oxygen for immature/wet lungs, but I don't' think I realized the extent of his breathing issues at the start until I saw this! Also, he was so skinny! Delilah only had a pound on him, but he was longer. She also got about 4 more weeks to cook, so she came out screaming and pink. I remember thinking at her birth that they really didn't resemble each other. Oh how wrong that first impression was...

Daddy with his babies. Crazy how similar they are!

So, I officially make babies with a lot of hair who don't like to breathe...You all are pretty aware of Oliver's 16 day NICU stay, but might have missed our debacle with Delilah. When she was 4 days old, she decided to hold her breath while she was sleeping and turned white as a sheet. We brought her to Children's in Seattle where, after a 5 day stay, she was diagnosed with "apnea of prematurity". While she wasn't premature, apparently it's a breathing thing that can happen to kiddos until 44 weeks gestation. She was on caffeine until her 4 week birthday, and seems to be fine now. So, in some respects after Oliver's NICU stay we were pretty prepared for the Children's experience, but man, it sucks to see your kids hooked up to monitors and IV's, to be worried that they won't be well, that they hurt. All is well now, of course, but both of my babies are now on Premera Blue Cross's "expensive baby" list!

Going home! Delilah seems so much chunkier to me than Ollie was. It's also fun to see the difference between a summer baby and a winter baby!

This is a fun one; Oliver at 4 weeks, Delilah at 2. My dad noticed that she's got more "delicate" features than Oliver, ie somewhat the same nose, just smaller. I've noticed that her face is a lot rounder than his, but their expressions are soooo similar that it takes me down memory lane daily when she smiles just like her brother!

This one is the best! Same arms, same smile, just the same insane level of cute!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of "mama should really be taking Oliver out riding his bike on a sunny day, but instead she's playing with photoshop and the blog...."

Delilah at one month

This is Delilah's "4 week" picture, I'm taking weekly pictures of her next to her bear (Ollie named him "Squeaky" because baby sister is so squeaky!) and her bumper to watch how she grows this year. Yes, it is pink overload...Mama loves having a girl!!!!

Just like her brother, she is a sweet, content little baby. She loves her swing, and has started really looking at things in the last week or so. Oliver asks me to stop the swing to give her "sweeties", where he goes over and rubs her forehead while he says "oooohhhh, Sweetie!" Melts me every time!

Speaking of her brother...In the last month, I swear Oliver has grown 4 inches and 10 lbs! People always told me when you bring #2 home, #1 will seem so HUGE and they were right, LOL. He has been AMAZING. We worried he'd be jealous, but I think since he's a bit older, he totally understands when mom needs to feed the baby and can't be with him right that instant. He's heard the phrase "you need to wait" quite a bit lately, but he takes it really well. It's also forced us to quit doing so much for him and he's becoming so much more independent! He loves her to pieces, and likes to get down on her mat and talk to her. He LOVES it when she smiles at him (which she does for him more than anyone else!); I'm sure her first giggles will be from something Oliver does, not for mom and dad!

With A LOT of supervision, Oliver has been warming up to carrying sissy and holding her (it took him about 4 days before he'd hold her when she came home).

Delilah has grown so much in only one month! She's already in #1 diapers, 3 month Carter's clothes instead of her cute newborn outfits, is about 10 lbs. She's been smiling "real" smiles from about two weeks on, and just keeps getting cuter! At the one month mark, she's just starting to coo, and already knows how to melt her father with just one look. We. Are. In. Trouble...

Finally, yes, she is my personal little doll to dress up! I had a short moment of mourning for her cute newborn outfits that she's already grown out of...Shawn and I both adore this outfit; our cousin Kolby sent this onsie when Oliver was born and I loved it so much I kept it for baby #2. I added some cute little rainbow "BabyLegs", and now I have my own Rainbow Bright doll! (Yes, that is an 80's toy reference!)

We are so happy to have Delilah in our lives! This time around is so much more relaxed as we don't get anxious about "is she too cold? too hot? hungry? sleepy?" issues. We figured that the fact Oliver has made it to 4 years old bodes well for Delilah, HA! Now, if I can just get her to stop thinking 9pm-1am is baby awake/party time, life would be perfect. Actually, it pretty much is.

Delilah's Birth

I'm not going to lie, or sugar coat it...natural childbirth HURTS!!! But, it was also one of the most amazing and empowering experiences of my life.

A bit of background first. Oliver arrived a bit early, and his delivery had a bunch of interventions; pictocin, epidural, long bout of pushing, etc. We got the best end gift-Oliver-but it really wasn't the experience I "wanted" to have. I felt out of control the whole time and I was worried the entire time that he wasn't OK. Turns out my worries were justified; his heart rate didn't respond quite the way they wanted it to for the last 30 minutes before his birth and his trip into this world wasn't the smoothest.

Flash forward to preparing for Delilah...I knew this time I wanted to be more aware of what was happening, more in control of my body. The epidural with Oliver, while a GODSEND that day, was also the reason I couldn't push well and ended up with way too many stitches afterwards! I had the goal of NO medications this time, both the pictocin and the epidural. To help out with that, we hired our AMAZING doula, Tiffany (http://www.pugetsounddoula.com/).

By hiring her, we had a wonderful person to help us through our delivery; someone who would help us cope with the pain of labor. While we actually made it to a birth class this time, Tiffany was our "guarantee" that we would remember and use the coping techniques we learned. She is such a calm confident person, just right for our birth. I loved that during our pre-birth meetings she said she could just be Shawn's "wing doula", helping him to help me, which was just right for us!

10:00 pm Thursday the 8th, I was laying in bed reading. I felt a "pop", and as it had happened the same way with Oliver, I totally knew my water broke! Unlike Oliver's birth where I didn't go into labor after my water broke, Delilah had other plans...

10:10-called Tiffany, she said I should lay down and rest as we all thought it would be awhile before things got rolling. Shawn bundled up a sleeping Oliver and took him over to Kori's house (our WONDERFUL daycare provider, the Rileys are Oliver's second family!). He took his time getting back, getting gas and some food for himself. Meanwhile at home, things were getting serious...FAST

10:20-Couldn't rest, my heart was beating a mile a minute I was so jazzed/hyped about finally meeting my girl. Took a shower instead, and the contractions were already every 4-5 minutes.

10:45-Shawn got back, and I took one whiff of his food and demanded that he eat it quickly and go brush his teeth; there was NO WAY my stomach was going to handle taco breath, LOL! By the time he finished his meal, the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart.

11:00-decided that we weren't going to wait any longer, called Tiffany to meet us at the hospital. Extra bonus-she has an apprentice and Kattie was also going to help us out.

Two contractions in the car REALLY sucked-the only position by this time that I was able to cope well in was standing, leaning over a counter, and rocking my hips so the car was TORTURE.

Arrived at Evergreen, I went in to check in and poor Shawn got locked out and couldn't find his way in, HA!

Unlike our l&d nurse with Oliver, ours this time was so sweet and helpful! Emily was cracking jokes the whole time, and really knew when and how to get her tasks done without making it too hard on me. Tiffany arrived, and away we went. I labored quite a bit leaning on the sink counter, Tiffany got cold wet cloths for my neck and kept reminding me to drink. I was somewhat coherent between contractions, but totally out of it during them. My main coping technique was a lot of moaning and rocking.

Shawn, as you can see in these photos, was my ROCK STAR. I couldn't have coped without him. He used his hands and fingers to put pressure on the points of my back where the pain was the worst. Tiffany told me after the birth that she's never seen a mom be able to say "up, left, down, right there, etc" during transition as well as I could. It was all in the name of pain relief, LOL!

Shawn was working so hard that the next day his hands and fingers were totally sore and cramping up on him!

This picture below shows you how hard he was working-seriously having to put some major muscle into squeezing my hips. We figured out later that Delilah was probably coming down into my pelvis face up instead of face down, so it was causing some major back pain.

I remember one moment of lucidity (the contractions from 11:30 on just never left off-sometimes I'd get a minute between, a few crashed down on me in a never ending wave, a few blessed ones let me have 2-3 minutes in between) when I looked up from the bed where I was leaning over pillows and rocking, and there was the nurse, her charge nurse, the two doulas, the doctor and Shawn all staring at me waiting for the next contraction. "Oh, HI! What are you all doing here?" HA!

Since Shawn and I were getting ready for bed when my water broke, we had both taking our sleep aids-the Tylenol PM was making me so woozy and sleepy in between contractions that I felt pretty out of it. Hindsight now though, it let me actually get good rest between them even though that might only be a minute or two. I remember looking up at the clock around 1:30 and thinking "Wow, this is going really fast!"

Tiffany, Kattie, Emily and Shawn were all such amazing cheerleaders. No one was loud or frenzied, just a lot of calm, quiet affirmations. Their "You're doing great" and "You are so strong" comments might sound cheesy to anyone else, but were just what I needed to hear, and I could tell they were so sincere and concerned about me that I felt very safe and cared for. I needed it!

I kept feeling a lot of pressure, like I had to go to the bathroom (sorry, TMI, but that's the way it is!), and said so- I just KNEW it wasn't the baby that I was feeling. Tiffany laughed and said that the baby was coming down and I'd start feeling the need to push soon. Yah right I thought...

Let me tell you. Unmedicated labor is NO joke-when you finally get the urge to push, there is NO stopping it. You absolutely cannot help yourself. It's like my friend Carrie L said-it's like when you are sick to your stomach and your stomach muscles take control. My body totally took control and let us all know it was time to get up on the bed.

I started pushing leaning over the back of the bed on my knees, but the back pain was still pretty brutal. Shawn's arms had had it by this point in time, so Tiffany and Kattie were on either side of the bed pushing on my hips. I got pretty loud by this point ("my back!!!!"), and Emily told me later that my next door neighbor was pretty worried about me, she wanted someone to help me!!!

Tiffany suggested that I lay on my side to push as it was becoming apparent that Delilah was turned wonky and wasn't really progressing much. I totally recall being on my hands and knees, my rational brain was saying "Oh, that makes sense" and my pain brain moaning and saying "no! don't make me!!!". Tiffany won out in the end, thank goodness!

I flipped onto my side, Shawn held up my leg while I pushed. At this point, I was breathing so fast that I was dehydrating myself, so they gave me an IV to get some fluids in me and also put the oxygen mask on me. That actually helped quite a bit, and after 45 minutes of total push time, Delilah arrived at 2:35 am!!!

It was CRAZY how instantly the pain was gone. Like it never happened. Post-birth endorphins are AMAZING!!! I had always read about the "birth high" and man oh man was it great!

Seriously, I love my husband soooo much. I can't even image this experience or really, this life, without him.

7 lbs 12 ounces, 20.25 inches of cute! She cried like a champ, and started nursing within 30 minutes of birth or so. As a testament to how fast she came down into my pelvis after switching to my side, her head wasn't coned at all!

Thank you to everyone who made Delilah's birth such a special and amazing experience for Shawn and I!