Isaac these days

Since my last couple of posts have been about Anna, I wanted to make sure to share what Isaac's up to these days! He keeps us on our toes. We love having a 2-year old. Isaac's imagination and sense of humor are really starting to shine. He loves to tease us, play with his sister, do puzzles, cook in his play kitchen, read books, and play outside.

The other day, Isaac wanted "Miss Anna" to do his puzzles. He showed Anna every single piece as he went and "Anna" told Isaac where to put them (via Javier).

We see his "squinchy smile" an awful lot - especially if we ask him to smile.

Javier really likes this picture - he thinks it's sort of a classic Isaac look. We can almost hear him saying "No mama, I don't like that" in this picture.

He's always loved being outside! Some friends of ours gave Isaac this truck that their son no longer plays with. He LOVES it! He wants to look for sticks every time we're outside to put in the back of the truck. This weekend we took some of the cleaned up sticks & spread them around the yard again just so he'd have more to pick up. :)

It can be pretty hard to get pictures of Isaac these days - he seems to run everywhere he goes.

Isaac's imagination is also really starting to shine. I don't know what he was doing here, but he brought each of these toys to this spot & made a little city of some sort. This kept him entertained for a while that day!

And of course, puzzles. A little over a month ago, Isaac really started figuring out how to do puzzles. He loves them!! Many mornings, it's the first thing he does after he gets out of bed. He really surprised us when he started doing them - I had no idea he was already ready for 24-piece ones! 

As I mentioned in Anna's post, we moved his crib out of his room last weekend. It was a little bittersweet - he's growing up!! 

I had also mentioned his sense of humor at the top of this post. One example is while reading books. He has lots of his books memorized & likes to "read" them. Sometimes, though, he wants to tease us & inserts someone's name in the place of a word in the story. For example - "Down in the big construction site" becomes "Down in the big construction Mama". He'll say this, then just bust out laughing! I can't remember if I posted this, but 6 or 8 months ago his version of a joke was to purposely say the wrong color. When we'd ask him what color his carrots were, he'd almost always say "blue" and give a big grin and laugh. It sure is fun to see him become his own little person! We love you, silly Isaac!

Anna: 4 months

Yikes, I'm terrible at keeping up! Anna's already 4 1/2 months!! Her personality is really starting to shine and she's so interactive these days. Just last week we found her ticklish spots - so fun!

She's grabbing her toes all the time! And this weekend we moved the crib out of Isaac's room into her room, so she has a real crib now instead of a pack & play.

She was really healthy at her 4-month checkup. She's 25.5 inches long - right around 90th percentile. She weighed 13 lbs, 12 oz, and her head circumference is 16.25". (See Isaac's 4-month stats here.)

Anna's name with embroidery hoops is my favorite part of the nursery. I've been waiting for the crib to be in there so I could take some pictures!

She still loves bathtime!

 Anna's started sitting in the bumbo recently. The doll is a special gift from my mom when Anna was baptized. We've named the doll Josie and Anna loves her!

Anna was baptized 2 weeks ago. It was a special day for our family to celebrate God's faithfulness! Both sets of grandparents were able to be here with us for the weekend.

She wore the same dress that my sisters & I wore, that my grandmother made.

Isaac has a "squinchy smile" that he makes a lot for pictures these days!

Anna is still really laidback & happy. She's pretty happy just to take everything in, and always has lots of smiles for us. We love you, sweet Anna!

Anna: 2 months

These are some cell phone pictures of Anna around the 2 month mark. Time sure is flying! We had her 2 month checkup last week and she's a healthy girl. She weighed 11 lbs, 5 oz and was 24 inches long. That's 98th percentile for length! She seemed like she was growing out of her clothes pretty quickly... now it makes sense. 

Some days I feel like she's a little doll baby & I'm just playing dress up with her. :) 

This is a little big still, but it was nice & cool for an afternoon at the pool.

BeBe made this dress for Susanna. Anna loves all her hand-me-down dresses!

Cute jammies from Aunt Emmy.

I was testing out a hairbow and she was smiling a little. It sure is hard to catch this little girl's smiles!

Big Boy

Prior to Anna's birth, we talked a lot with Isaac about "big boy" things. We would try to make something more appealing to him... like "Isaac, do you want to walk like a big boy?!" or "Do you want to sit at the big boy table?!" He'd generally get pretty excited about these big boy things, which has (mostly) been very helpful with baby girl around. (Except when he wants to walk like a big boy at the grocery store... sorry, buddy, not happening yet!)

Loves his tools

Just in the last couple of days, though, Isaac is really doing a lot of "big boy" things! Our little guy is growing up! We traveled this weekend & when we got home, on Sunday night, he asked to sleep in his "big boy bed". It lasted about 10 minutes before he wanted back in his crib, but STILL - he seemed so old lying there! Then he's continued to ask every naptime or bedtime the rest of the week. It hasn't lasted long any of the times... until today at naptime. He slept in his big boy bed for the entire nap! We celebrated with chocolate chip cookies. :)

Picking out his own clothes

He's also started sitting at the table in his booster seat without his tray... like a big boy. And he's asked to sit on his potty a couple times (although he still hasn't used it). We hear "no, I want to do it!!" many times a day, whether it's closing a door, walking instead of being carried, or picking out his clothes. I see a little boy more & more when I look at Isaac, and less & less of a toddler. It's so fun and rewarding to see more & more of Isaac's personality and to see him becoming capable of so much. He loves to laugh and tease - I love to hear him say "I teasing, Mama" with his nose turned up & squinty eyes with his "squinty smile". He's tender with his little sister, and if I ever say, "Isaac, what does Mama need?" he smiles & gives me a kiss. He gets so excited when Javier comes home from work and loves to spend special time with his dada. They go on runs or go to the dump or use their tools to fix things. Yes, it's fun to see Isaac growing up... but oh my, where does the time go??

Tummy time with baby sister

Swordfighting with Dada

Anna's birth story

Anna's birth was SO different from Isaac's birth. I kept comparing the two labors (even in the middle of it), which was why the whole time I was in labor with Anna I kept doubting that it was for real. Looking back on her story, though, I love seeing how God's timing is perfect!! And He provided so much for us at each step of her birth.

Leading up to Anna's birth, I was really preparing myself to be late again. I hadn't had any real signs of labor, and it just seems like babies are born later than average in my family. We had decided to plan for a natural birth again, even though it hadn't worked out with Isaac. And this time, we asked the doula that we had met with Isaac to help with the birth.

So, Thursday April 10, just a few days before Anna's due date of April 13th, I had a regular checkup. I wasn't dilated & the midwife started doing her routine talk about induction. I was a little discouraged, but not too much because like I kept saying, this baby would just be late, too. I had been really tired all week & had been trying to rest since I didn't know when baby girl would be born. Other than that, though, it had been a normal week.

Friday night I went to bed as normal with a few plans for Saturday. As much as I was hoping to go into labor, I was still really surprised to wake up about 2:30 AM with contractions. And they were decently strong contractions! The biggest thing I had learned from Isaac & from our birth class 2 years ago, though, was to not get excited at the first contraction & to do everything possible to rest. So, I laid there & tried to go back to sleep, but the contractions were coming about every 10 minutes. I ended up getting up & going to the den to read some of The Housekeeper and the Professor to try to relax and get my mind off the contractions. Javier heard me up about 4:30 and asked what was going on, so I told him but also said I wasn't sure they were real contractions & he should go back to sleep.

Saturday morning, we all got ready for the day. We had some Hardee's biscuits for breakfast (yes, I know, not the healthiest but it sounded soo good!). I had also learned with Isaac to eat while I still wanted to and to really try to stay hydrated. Javier left to go to a workday at church, and I took Isaac to an Easter egg hunt at Lowe's. (Yes, our Lowe's had an Easter egg hunt in the parking lot - it was really cute & every time we drive by there now, Isaac tells me about the egg hunt.) I was still in denial that baby girl was coming soon & just kept waiting for the contractions to stop. I had gotten in touch with our doula to give her a heads up, though, and had told my parents they might want to pack & make plans in case they were coming that day.

A friend was at the egg hunt, too, so after the hunt we decided to go to a park for a short walk. At some point at the park, I realized the contractions were pretty strong & coming about every 6-8 minutes and I should probably head home. I called Javier to tell him he should probably come home, too.

Getting a hug from Isaac before he leaves.

Some friends picked Isaac up shortly after lunch, and I am so thankful they offered to get him from us instead of Javier taking him to their house!! This is one of the places where I look back on the day & see how clearly God was taking care of us. About the time they picked Isaac up, I was really having to focus on the contractions. I'm pretty sure contractions were roughly 5 minutes apart then. I think this was also about the point I realized our baby girl was coming that day or the next. I was hoping for a quicker labor than Isaac, but had no idea how quick it would actually be!

Javier was running around the house, finishing packing things for the hospital, showering after the work day, and fixing us lunch. Our doula came over around 2:30 or 3:00 and was such an encouragement to me. I've had several people ask me what a doula does exactly. If you're curious I'd love to tell you details, but basically she was able to offer a ton of support and encouragement, and I know she was a huge part of why this was such a positive birth experience for me. I'm really not sure I could have made it without her!

The contractions got more & more intense, but I still didn't know how to know when to go to the hospital. My labor didn't progress normally with Isaac so I just didn't really know what to trust this time around. We decided to go about 4:30 or so, and by the time we were in the car & got there, it was close to 5:00. They took me into triage & asked to monitor my contractions, but I really didn't think I could lay there for 20 minutes. I told them that, so they just checked me instead. I was so excited I could not hold back my tears when they told me I was 8 cm! They got a room set up really quickly for us & my midwife arrived about 10 minutes later. I think she was in the room about 5-10 minutes before I was ready to push. It's all a big blur, but I think it only took about 4-5 pushes before Anna was born!

Brand new baby girl!

Anna Josephine arrived at 6:12 pm, a healthy 8 lbs, 2.5 oz, and I was still a little in shock at how smoothly everything had gone! My parents were still on their way to pick up Isaac from our friends when our doula called & told them to just come straight to the hospital instead. I really can't imagine that Anna's birth could have gone any more smoothly and I'm so thankful for all the great help from our friends, family, doula, nurses, midwife, and everyone else who helped out on this special day.

Love these bright eyes

Less than 10 minutes old

Beans

Pouring & scooping = lots of fun for this 2 year old!

Anna: 1 month

Anna has already passed the 6 week mark, but these pictures were taken at 1 month. She's a fantastic baby and has been really easy so far. She's sleeping great at night & is in general very laid back. She generally eats 7-8 times a day, takes 3-4 naps, and wakes once in the night to eat. She enjoys getting lots of kisses from big brother & cuddles from Mama & Dada. We love our sweet baby girl!