Allie- 5months

Age: 5 Months

Clothes: Size 3 diapers. Depending on the brand she is wearing 6-12 months clothes. I am also making an effort to dress her more girly because she has been mistaken as a boy way too often.

Favorite Foods: She loves her bottle, and Hallelujah she can hold it herself! We also started rice cereal and she tolerated that, but in the last couple days I have given her squash, and girlfriend LOVES it. Eating is pretty serious business around here. I'm making my own baby food this time around and it's actually been pretty fun, and very easy, and obviously extremely cost effective.

Words: No words, but lots of babbling and cooing

Activities: She is loving her Excersaucer right now and also just laying on the ground and wiggling. If I have her in the Moby wrap (which I do a lot, because when you have a toddler you need two hands, am i right?) she must face outward so she can smile at everyone and kick her legs.  She naps 3 times a day for 1.5 hours, but is pretty flexible if we are out an about and can skip a nap and catch up later.

Favorite Things: She loves stuffed animals that she can squeeze and chew on. Her Sister. Cuddling 

Signature Moves: She loves to be on her belly. She sleeps on her belly, and when she is playing she rolls over pretty quickly to her tummy and kicks and squirms. This week she started getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth.

Mom's Proudest Moment: This has been my favorite month so far. I could really see the light come on and her personality is developing. I got her to really giggle yesterday over and over. There is something so addicting about baby giggles. I could sit there for hours making her giggle.

Dad's Proudest Moment: From Andrew "Her big smile when she sees me walk in the room"

Allie 4 months

16lbs 12oz
26 in
Head= 42cm

My happy little baby.
Allie is always smiling at everyone and is very content playing on the floor.
She is rolling over all over the place.
She loves chewing on her sisters stuffed animals, which does not make Dani happy.
We tried squash for the first time the other day, and I am not sure any of it actually made it to her stomach.
Dani is absolutely in love with her baby sister. There have been a few times when we have left Allie with the grandparents and Dani has started crying because she didn't want to leave sister. and kept talking about how much she missed her.
When it's time to get Allie up from her nap Dani always wants to be the one to run in and get her.
They love to snuggle together on the couch or in bed.
Dani is an awesome helper when it comes to sister. I am so excited to watch their relationship grow as they get older. I pray that they are always best friends.

Dani 3 years old

Danielle:
Age: 3 years old 35 lbs 39 in tall

Clothes: Currently she is all about the "beautiful" dresses. Luckily she has a few that she loves so I can rotate and wash them:) The past couple weeks it's been all about the ballerina dresses with TuTus. She has also decided that she loves my old wooden clogs from when I was her age. They have hand painted geese on them and she calls them her Goose Shoes.

Favorite Foods: Pizza, Mac and Cheese, Chicken Nuggets, French Fries, rice and "Foofies" (smoothies). And of course anything with sugar.

Words: She is becoming so articulate! It completely amazes me some of the things she says. We've been working on putting words to her emotions and it is so hard not to smile when she looks at me and says "YOU. MAKIN. ME. ANGRY!" the other day I asked her to please put her dishes in the sink a she looked at me and said, "I'm too busy right now."

Activities: Her favorite thing is going on walks and riding her bike. She loves going to the park, baking cookies, and still plays babies all day long.

Favorite Things: Orange is her favorite color. People are her favorite, especially her family. Going on adventures with her daddy. 

Mom's Proudest Moment: I always tell Dani that I love her, but I have never told her to say it back. I always wanted her to figure it out and say it on her own. Just the other day we were snuggling on the couch and she looked at me and sad "I wuv you" and I melted into a little puddle on the floor

Dad's Proudest Moment: It was a hard year, where Dani went through a stage where she was really mean to Andrew. But after getting some counseling and being very intentional, they were able to work through it and now he is her favorite person. They love to play together and go on adventures.

Wedding Season

My gosh we have had a ton of weddings this summer. I think we have gone to 6 or 7 since June. Most of the weddings were kid friendly so we were able to bring Allie and Dani.

Some of the highlights:
Dani loves a good party so she was so excited to see all her friends and she could not be dragged off the dance floor. She twirled and jumped to her heart's content. One wedding even had a balloon animal guy. Dani lined up and got herself and orange puppy and a pink crocodile. Her favorite animals in her favorite colors.

Andrew was invited to a wedding by one of his sub contractors at work. This was a full on Mexican wedding that started at 1 and went until midnight (or later, we did not make it that late). We had another party that day so we decided to skip the ceremony and just go to the reception. According to the invitation we showed up to the reception an hour late, but the place was almost empty, but a couple of hours later it was standing room only and the party really got started. It was so cool to experience a wedding from a different culture and in comparison, American weddings are super boring.
After the garter toss all the guys try and knock over the bride and groom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozwnPtw642A

After they knock him over they throw him in the air:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5w0rmQsFOw

After they they throw him in the air they carry him out to the funeral march and then he came back in wearing an apron and sweeping while the bride was whipping him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5w0rmQsFOw

Dani getting her groove on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bt5nloKR54

We have a wedding coming up in November that Andrew and I are in and Dani is a flower girl. I am so excited!

July 2015

July was a pretty awesome month.

We spent 4th of July at the beach like we have in years past. This is probably one of my favorite holidays. We always trek up to Washington the weekend before to load up on the fun fireworks:)
Once we are the beach Andrew and Ben transform into little boys and begin blowing up anything they can get their hands on. One tradition in particular, they go to BiMart and pick out a plastic toy car, plane, boat or whatever. Then they come back to the house and go to their separate corners and "arm" their toy with as many explosives as they can.
Then we go into the backyard and take turn lighting them off. with the goal being to see whose in the most destroyed at the end. There is usually lots of running and screaming and hiding behind the house to avoid the shrapnel.
Once it got dark we lit off all the little Oregon fireworks for Dani and she LOVED them, but was not a big fan of the ones that made loud noses. So we put her to bed before we busted out the big ones.

This month I also stopped watching Timmy, and although I miss him, it has been so nice just being me and the girls. I have taken advantage of the extra freedom, and have gone to library story time, the zoo, the park, and saw the reptile man (Dani was so excited that she got to pet the King Python. Ew.)
Of course Allie just gets toted along on all these outings with very little say so it's a good thing she is a pretty chill baby.

I took Dani to see her first movie in the theater. We saw Inside out, which was super cute. I was concerned about how she would last since she usually keeps up a running commentary whenever we watch movies at home. But I bought her some popcorn and soda and she climbed up in my lap and sat their silently through the whole movie. Now every time we drive by the theater she yells "dats mommy daughter date!"

Allie has become quite the talker and is such a happy little baby. She rolled over for the first time the other night but has yet to do it again. She has gotten pretty good control of her head and likes to sit in her bumbo.

I have been playing Softball this summer for the 3rd year and it is one of the highlights of the summer. It's one of those things that is just for me and I love being able to get out and play and be active. We had our last game last night and I'm sad to be done and looking forward to next summer.
I have also stared taking classes to get my real estate license, basically so that I can be Andrew's personal realtor.
Speaking of...
Andrew is still looking for his next flip house. and sounds like they are close to getting another one. We will see, the market is so tough right now.

Birth Story

3 Months late but something I want to remember.

My due date was Monday April 20th, and my last day watching Timmy was going to be Thursday April 23rd.

We met with the Dr on Monday and she asked what we wanted our game plan to be. I told her that I was having a hard time deciding, because on one hand I was totally fine with waiting and letting Allie come when she did, on the other hand I only had a limited amount of time off and wanted to maximize it and not waste a week or two still pregnant. We decided to schedule my induction for one week from that day and go from there.

I made it through Thursday and said good bye to Timmy for a couple weeks and went to bed that night praying Allie would come the next day.

I woke up at 4am with my first painful contraction. I laid awake and monitored them. The contractions were definitely growing in intensity and becoming more frequent. Andrew woke up and started getting ready for work and by 8:00 when he needed to leave I was ready to go into the hospital. We decided that he should go in just for an hour to wrap some stuff up and then he would come back to get me.

Literally as soon as he drove off, my contractions stopped. Nothing. I was so frustrated because everything pointed to this not being a false alarm. I texted Andrew and told him I was pissed, but there was no need for him to come back home. Then I laid down on the couch and fell asleep while Dani watched a movie. I woke up feeling less exhausted and feeling some light contractions again. I figured I might as well straighten my hair to keep my mind off whether this was the real deal or not.

The contractions started to get really painful and having a 2 year old climb all over me was not helping. I knew that Andrew had an appointment that would be over around noon, and I figured I would make it until then. I sent him a text saying when he was done with his appointment I would like him to come home and take me to the hospital.

12:00 rolled around and my patience with the contractions and the 2 year old was wearing thin. Andrew called and said that his appointment was over, but the homeowners wanted to stay and look around the house for a little while longer, so he was just doing some paper work in the car. My response? went something like this, "No. Go in there and tell them that your wife is in labor and they need to leave, then get your butt home and take me to the hospital." In a moment of perfect clarity Andrew simply said "OK" and hung up.

He got home and we told Dani we were going to the hospital to get her baby sister and left. We got checked in and they monitored me for a little while and then I labored on my own for a little bit. Said, enough of this, and called for the epidural around 5:00.

After that it was just a relaxing evening of waiting until it was time to push. At about 9:00 the Dr came in to see how I was progressing and decided that Allie was going to be there soon. and about 4 pushes later at 9:11pm she was here in all her 9lb 5oz 20in glory. She was absolutely perfect and it was love at first sight.

Pictures:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101594840653538.1073741836.19718118&type=1&l=c668b9396d

First ER Visit

Last night was in the bedroom with Allie when I heard Dani start crying int he front of the house. I didn't really think anything of it since 1) She can be kind of a drama Queen 2) Andrew was out there with her.

Then, suddenly, I heard Andrew scream out my name. I came running out to the kitchen as Andrew came carrying Dani inside literally covered in blood and dripping all over the floor. We got her to the sink and started running water over her hands in an effort to figure out where the bleeding was coming from and how bad it was. She was holding her hand closed and it took a little bit before I was able to get her to relax her hand. As the water ran over it I saw a large chunk of skin flap open and immediately said "We need to go to the ER, grab a towel"

Now I am going to pause the story here to set the scene so you can understand the chaos that was happening.

Ben and Nakalan were home and the 2 dogs were inside, they had to stay inside because the chickens were out roaming the backyard.

Allie, in my haste, was abandoned on my bed in the back of the house, and Timmy  (the little boy I watch was sitting in his high chair enjoying a snack, he was getting picked up shortly).

OK back to the chaos.

By this time Ben and Nakalan had come upstairs to see what was going on. While Andrew was running around trying to find a towel, Nakalan said "Go, I'll watch the kids"

Andrew grabbed a towel, wrapped Dani's hand and scooped her up to take her out to the car. I barely remembered to yell out where Allie was as we ran out the door.

He sat in the back with her on his lap so that he could hold her in his lap, and keep pressure on her finger.

As I was climbing into the van, Uncle Ben ran up to the door and chucked some Otter pops into the car saying "These will make her feel better!" Which later totally made me laugh, that in the chaos he thought to run to the freezer, grab popsicles, and get them to Dani before we pulled out.

I go tearing out of our neighborhood and naturally there is a cop parked a block away, (probably God's way of keeping us from all ending up in the ER due to my driving) I slowed way down and apologized as I passed him and prayed he would have mercy on us and stay put. He did. We passed another cop on the way further driving home the point that I needed to drive careful. Thanks God, message received.

We got the ER and Andrew carried Dani who was still screaming and covered in blood. As soon as we stepped in the doors the ladies at the desk said "Dad, room 1. Mom over here." So Andrew took Dani into triage while I answered all the questions and got insurance figured out. Then we were taken to a room where they looked at her finger and started figuring out what they needed to do.

At this point I realized that I had forgot my phone, but apparently things didn't calm down after we left. Andrew's Aunt Showed up to drop off some stuff around the same time that Timmy's mom came to pick hime up. The chickens were still out and refusing to go back into the coop and by this time one of them had escaped through a whole in the fence into the neighbors backyard. It was like everything that could have gone wrong did, all at once.

Back at the ER, the Dr came in and checked out Dani's finger and decided she needed stitches. The nurse got Dani cleaned up and put in the orders of everything they would need. Dani started shivering and shaking pretty badly, so the Dr brought in one of those awesome warm blankets and wrapped her up and she soon fell asleep in my lap waiting from the medication.

After a little wait they come in with the first narcotic and gave it to her up her nose. Some more cuddling while they waited to see if it was working. The Dr came in and looked in her eyes and decided that she was still too aware and decided to give her a dose of another pain medication.

Once he was sure she was feeling good they came in and gave her the wonderful and awful shot. You know, the one that makes her whole finger numb so she doesn't feel the stitches, but has to be administered by sticking the needle directly into her wound? Yeah.

They cleaned it all up and it was pretty gnarly looking, and I wish i had my phone so I could have taken some pictures. The Dr started stitching her up and about halfway through, the happy medication REALLY took effect. She started giggling and sticking her tongue out and making weird noises and swing her feet up in the air. It was pretty funny. Everyone in the room was laughing along with her.

In the end she got 8 stitches and the nurse let her pick out a stuffed animal from the treasure chest (she picked a puppy covered in hearts, naturally). As we scooped her up to carry her out she said "That fun, I do dat again." Yes, we probably will, but hopefully not for a little while.

Here is her finger the next morning as I was changing the Band Aid

June Recap

Allie: She had her 2 month check up. Weight= 13lbs 3 oz Height= 23.5inch Head=43cm
She is such a happy little girl and her favorite thing is just to look at people. Anytime you make eye contact with her she lights up with a big squinty eyed smile. She is really good at holding her head up during tummy time, but no rolling yet.

Dani: We have been working on her 2 year old propensity to be self centered... We went to a wedding earlier this month and there were flowers lining the dance floor. Towards the end of the wedding she wanted the flowers and was getting pissed whenever another kid tried to get one. To try and get her to focus on others I told her she needed to find a girl in a pretty dress and give them a flower. She turned it into a game and was running around giving all the women at the wedding a flower. She can be the absolute sweetest and most giving little girl, sometimes she just gets stuck in her small 2 year old world.
Her best friend, cousin Canon, came to spend the week in the valley with Grammy and Guapo. I don't think she has stopped talking since her has gotten here. Saturday they spent 8 hours playing together and then Sunday she cried all morning because she wasn't going to see him that day:) Right now Grammy, Canon, and Dani are out riding the tram at OHSU and then riding the trolly around portland. She came running into my room this morning to wake me up so she could go see Canon.

Angie: I have become that "park mom," the one that shows up with way too much stuff. But I have everything I need to camp out there for several hours. I love sitting at the park while Dani runs around getting her energy out and the best part is that my house stays clean:)
I just found out that the little boy I watch is moving to Vancouver so I will be done watching him in the middle of July. It's been a year of me watching him and we will miss seeing him every day:(
Andrew and I haven't figured out yet what we are going to do moving forward. Either I can find another child to watch, or see if there is something else that I can do from home. We are praying about it and will see what God has in store for us.

Andrew: Is currently looking for another house to flip with Darren and Alan, while still working at Polygon. Not much going on but lots of family time:) He did buy a small fishing boat yesterday that he is super excited about.
For Father's Day I took him to a fun restaurant we had never been too. Brazil Grill. SO much fun! basically you pay one rate for all you can eat and then they have a waiter that walks around with a bunch of different BBQ meats. You can have as much or as little as you want, and you get to try everything. The food was awesome:)

May 2015 Update

The other day someone asked me what Dani's first word was and I could not for the life of me remember what it was. Clearly I have an awful memory and it scared me into updating my blog. So I am committing to posting once a month.

Danielle: Dani is becoming such a fun kid with a huge personality. I love to just sit and ask her questions and see what she has to say. I love to hear what stood out in her memory and what was special to her.
Right now she is all about riding her bike and going "swimmin."
She powers along on her balance bike and is really getting the hang of coasting with her feet up. She loves to go down hills and she can last for some pretty long rides.
With the weather getting nice she is always asking to go to the park and run through the "sprinkles." I am looking forward to spending many days at the park this summer soaking up the sun while she runs around.
I signed her up for preschool last week and told her that since she was getting older she was going to start going to school, and she got so excited! She will have a hard time waiting for the fall.
I asked her the other night what she learned at church and she started clapping her hands and singing "Praise Him Praise Him." I was totally impressed that she knew the whole song.
Another super sweet thing that she was on Sunday at church, she walked up to Rhonda and touched her dress and said "This is a pretty dress." I love that she tells people how pretty they are:)
Dani has also LOVED being a big sister. She is always wanting to help take care of Allie in any way that she can.

Allie: I can't believe she is almost 6 weeks!
She stared sleeping 8 hrs at night at 3 weeks and to am slowly working on stretching that out. It's amazing how much more doable life seems when you can get a full nights sleep.
She has also become really interactive. She will look at you and get this big smile and start cooing and when you do it back she gets excited.
Girl loves to eat. Whenever I start getting ready to feed her she knows the routine and starts almost hyperventilating and wiggling all her limbs, and then as soon as i put the bottle in her mouth her whole body just relaxes.
2 week stats:
9lbs 14oz 89%
22in 98%
Which is great considering at her one week check up she had lost too much weight and we switched her to formula.

Andrew: Has begun his real estate empire. Hopefully this week he will close on his first house flip, and he has been searching for his next. He also is part owner and manager of a duplex with his Aunt. He has been gathering investors and looks like this could really start to grow. He is still working full time at Polygon, so very busy.

Angie: Slowly getting back to reality. It's really hard struggling with the guilt of feeling like i'm not keeping the house clean and cooking dinner, but at the same time I know this is just a short period of time where Allie is this little and dependent on me.
I am really looking forward to this summer and spending days at the parks, and hopefully lots of trips to the beach:)

Week 28 1/2

Today I had a check up today which included the Glucola screen. I'll find out the results later today. Dr. says everyting looks great and on track. She did not seem as concerned as me that I gained 15lbs in a month. In fact she was happy about it. She also said that I am measuring a little ahead of schedule, but considering the size of my last child, she is also not concerned about that.

How far along: 28 Weeks

Total weight gain: 18 lbs

Maternity clothes: Most def. But since I don't leave the house, most days it's PJ pants and Tank Tops.

Stretch marks: Nope

Sleep: I started getting headaches again and waking up stiff so i now need to shove a pillow under my belly for support so it doesn't put strain on my back. Still sleeping through the night for the most part though

Best moment of this week:Baby girl got the hiccups. Dani would get them every day multiple times a day so it was a nice connection. I watch a little boy during the week. He is 9 months and Dani is in LOVE with everything to do with him. It has opened a whole new world of baby play for her. She watches everything I do with him and then she copies it with her babies. She puts her babies in the highchair and gets the baby spoons and feeds them. Yesterday she pulled out her bean bag chair and sat across from Timmy and sang him songs. So excited for her to have a little sister of her own

Miss anything: Being able to get up off the floor without making awful noises. Being able to take ibuprofen for headaches.

Movement: She is very twitchy. The movements always feel like full body spasms. We also get into little battles as she tries to nestle up under my ribs and I try and push her back down so I can breathe.

Food cravings:Bagels. Milkshakes, Milk, Sugar, 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really

Have you started to show yet: I feel like I should be bigger than I am with how I feel at the moment

Gender: Girl! 

Labor signs: Sometimes when I go from sitting to standing I'll feel some tightening but nothing consistent

Belly button in or out: getting shallower, I can see the bottom

Wedding rings on or off: On

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Delivery Day. I'm weird and I love the whole labor process.