Big Sister Dixie

Since this is my "baby book" for both Dixie and Lucy, I thought I should tell the following story, for the record, you know...

Last Sunday at church we were in the lobby for sacrament meeting (as per usual), along with all the other mothers of toddlers. Lucy was sitting unassumingly in her car seat, when Max, who is 13 months old, took Lucy's pink blanket off of her. Dixie immediately gave Max a very angry face and said in a very angry voice, "Beebee, Beebee!", afterwhich she snatched the blanket out of his hands and promptly returned it back to Baby Lucy.

Sean and I watched this encounter and it just warmed our hearts for our baby girls. Dixie has taken on the "big sister" role so willingly without any jealously thus far, and she really loves her baby sister Lucy. Every morning the first thing she wants is to do is to go see the baby. During the day when the baby is sleeping in the other room, she wont stop talking about her, all i hear is "Beebee, Beebee!".

We hope they'll grow up as best friends, always watching out for each other in the face of life's bullies!

S*A*H*M

Just as I thought to myself, "Self, I think you're getting the hang of this" (in regards to staying at home and caring for 2 babies under 2), Dixie went and tumbled down the cement stairs in my apartment complex. I had Lucy strapped to me in the bjorn, so while I was able to get to her quickly, i could not physically carry her down the stairs, so i had a nice man do it for me, as Dixie cried bloody murder.

It's totally my fault she fell. I am always so careful with her, but tonight, i let my guard down. This other chatty neighbor, whom I dont know well enough to leave mid sentence was talking my ear off. You know the type... you cant seem to get a word in?? Well, I did my best to keep Dixie in sight while also listening to Mr. Chatty Kathy complain about the new apartment manger. I got nervous when she went for the stairs, but in an effort not to be rude to my chatty neighbor, I let him continue talking while I ignored my baby girl, ulgh. Then she fell and screamed, and my heart dropped. There was another neighbor (a daddy type) nearer to the stairs than I was, and he got there before me and scooped her up.

The good news is that she is fine. Its just cosmetic as she only fell down 1 stair, but they are concrete stairs, so had she really taken a tumble down the staircase, she would have gotten really really hurt. So, lesson learned-- My babies are far more important than my chatty neighbor's feelings, and I will be rude next time and leave mid conversation to stop my baby girl from danger. Im so sorry miss dixie, and Im so glad you're ok. I love you. XOXO

Here are a few pictures from the last 7 weeks, since the Arrival of Baby Lucy!



This is Dixie "organizing" the pantry. She loves to stack the cans up high.
Sometimes they fall on her little toes though, which doesn't make her very happy!




Baby Lucy with her name-sake Uncle Angel (Lucy Angel)



Grandma Werner giving baby lulu lots of grandma snuggles.




Lucy's first bath! This didn't happen until 5 weeks, as it took
forever for her cord to fall off. It smelt like rotting flesh by the
time it finally fell off! Little Lulu just LOVES bath time. She
doesn't complain at all until its time to get out.. then shes mad, mad mad!




This is dixie's tower of cans! Stack Stack Stack!
Hopefully she'll thrive on organization like unto her mama!



Daddy and Lucy snuggling. We just cant get enough of the newborn snuggles!




Auntie Poo Poo enjoying the newborn Lulu snuggles too!
This Auntie really saved the day when she came out to help
when Lucy was just 4 days old. LIFESAVER!




Cousin Sam and Baby Lucy! He was really good at holding
her and she just snuggled right up to him.



Auntie Adrienne, Ada & Sam with Baby Lucy



Mommy, Lucy and Dixie. I sure do love my little girls!

Forty Eight Hours Later

Sean worked a double shift over the last two days, which means I was solo with the girls for 48 hours. I know, I know, to some of you whose husband's travel regularly for work, this is probably no sweat. For me however, this is a big deal. I've only been a full time mom for 10 weeks now, so im still getting the hang of it!

Anyhoo... both girls are finally sleeping and I am about to join them. We had lots of fun, lots of messes, lots of books, a few tears and we all survived! But we sure did miss our daddy. We called in our pinch hitter (uncle angel)in the final inning tonight, and he came over for a couple of hours before bedtime to give me a hand, and he was wonderful! Thanks uncle Angel! You always know just when to swoop in and save the day.

I'll be so glad when daddy comes home tomorrow!

XOXO
Eve

Bath Time Giggles

Dixie was making herself laugh hysterically tonight in the bathtub. She filled up a cup with cold water and poured it over her head which sent her into a fit of giggles. She did this over and over again, probably 20 times. Cutest thing ever (but i guess I say that about everything Dixie does!). She kept wanting more, more, more, and had a fit when bath time was over.

This reminds me of a game Patience and I used to play in our tubbies together when we were young, in the white house (which has since burned down in the big slave lake fire). We would take turns sitting on the inside corner of the tub, while the other sister would fill up a big bucket of ice cold water and dump it on the other's head. We would see who could last the longest without going back into the warm tub water. I hope Dixie and Lucy will play this same game together one day. Keeping all of the water inside the tub of course.

Lucy's 6 week birthday

Today Lucy is 6 weeks old! I wish i could tell you how much she weighs now... shes a solid girl. Lots of chub on her thighs that i just love to kiss! Shes a little different than Dixie was at this age... here are the highlights

Lucy LOVEs her mommy a lot. She really doesn't like to be held by anyone else. She has only recently warmed up to daddy, but even he can hold her for 5-10 minutes tops before she wants her mommy again.

Lucy will not sleep in her bassinet. She simply Refuses. She'll be sleeping soundly in my arms for a good half hour, then the minute i set her down in the bassinet she abruptly wakes up and screams in protest. This has lead to many nights of me and Lucy in my bed and sean on the floor. (he prefers the floor over the couch). Im really not a fan of "family beds", but im just doing what i need to do to get some sleep myself. Plus I dont mind cuddling her all night long...

Lucy Loves the outside air and bathtime. When shes being fusy, I just take a little walk outside and she calms right down and stares up at the trees. She must like the shadows that they make. She also calms right down in the bath. Dixie used to scream when we bathed her and Lucy is the complete opposite. Sometimes If dixie is in bed and i need a little break, I'll put lucy in the tub for a good 20 minutes just so i can sit and stare :)

Lucy eats pretty much all day long. Its hard to keep up with this girl's appetite. My mom has suggested that I supplement with Formula, and I've tried, believe me. She took a bottle once, and since then she just refuses. I've even had my good friend who is an OT specializing in infant feeding try and she wont take a bottle from her either. But, we'll just keep on trying because this mommy needs a break!

Well, i think the hardest part of baby bootcamp is over now. Im really hoping for some longer sleeping stretches and more smiles :)

Sisterly Affection

Can you say Lucy in Dixanese?

Just a couple of pictures from Lucy's photo shoot a few days after her birth

This photo shoot would not have been complete without Dixie showing how happy she was to have a little sibling to shower her affection on!

Lucy's Birth Story

Lucy Angel Werner
8lbs 7ounces
June 5, 2011 @ 2:56pm

Since I always love a good birth story, including all of the nitty gritties- I share with you mine & baby lucy's! So, if you're not into the nitty gritties, you should probably stop reading now.

It was Sunday morning and I was 1 day past Dixie's official due date of June 4. Since I thought she would come 3 days early, just as Dixie did, I was fully expecting her to come on June 1. So, by the time Sunday morning rolled around, I was going stir crazy with no baby! I thought I'd have a new born to care for by now, and since I'd already been off work for 3 weeks I was prepped and ready to go!

On Sunday morning, I had a lot of bloody discharge, so I thought, Yeah, Today is the day! I wasn't feeling any cramping yet, but because of the mass amounts of bloody discharge and the fact that i was 1 day over D-Day, I was willing it to be the day. I called Sean (who was at work), and Angel, and got my stuff together... which of course had been packed for weeks at this point. Angel and Sean came home, and we all just kind of waited for my contractions to start.

I started feeling contractions around 10:30am. They weren't that painful, but they were consistent, coming every 5 minutes for an hour, Sean and I headed to the hospital at 11:30am while Uncle Angel stayed home to watch Dixie. At this point, the pain was still completely bearable... but i really wanted this to be the day... so although they probably could have sent me home, I went anyways.

We checked in and then we were sent to the observation room. The observation doctor asked my symptoms, and when i told her the pain was totally bearable she looked at me funny and asked in a rather rude tone, "So why did you come in?". I told her that my contractions were steady for an hour and a half at this point, so following my OBGYN's instructions, I came in. (you don't see your regular doctor at Kaiser HMO for Delivery, just who ever is on call for the day). So anyways, I felt totally stupid, until she measured me, and I was 6cm dilated and 100% effaced. She said, "well, you make this whole thing look easy", and then admitted me. Pheufffff.....I didn't feel so stupid after all.

At this point, I told the nurse I wanted an epidural. I had not been able to make up my mind about this for the whole pregnancy, as I figured I'd done it natural once, I could probably do it again?? But, 18 months was not long enough to forget the pain I felt with Dixie. The pain that can only be described as your body tearing in half from the bottom to the top....... and I just was not ready to deal with that again, so i told her to get me an epidural stat, as I would probably progress quickly. This was around 12:30pm.

The whole epidural process took a long freakin' time. They had to draw blood, send it to the lab, get an available anestheologist, ect ect. So by the time all of this was done, I was already in very heavy contractions coming every 2 minutes. But in the back of my mind, I knew that I wouldn't have to feel the worst pain of all (during pushing), because I'd have the magical epidural... so that got me through these contractions.

Then I Finally got the needle in my back and one tiny tinee "test" dose of medicine to make sure that the needle was correctly placed. At that point it was now 2:40pm, and i was LIVID, because the pain DID NOT go away and I was Feeling the exact same PAIN i felt with Dixie's labor. I was soooooo distraught... I abruptly asked the doctor and nurse... "So is this it? It's just not going to work?!?". The doctor answered as sympathetically as possible, that my labor had just progressed too fast for the epidural to take effect. So there I was stuck on the table, fully dilated and ready to push, with a needle in my back and NO MEDICINE. ARRGGGGHHHH!!! I remember saying a lot of somewhat mean things at this point. I was frustrated and ready to cry until I realized that I needed a new game plan if i was going to push this baby out.

So i focused and with the Nurses awesome coaching I pushed Baby Lucy out in 15 minutes flat, and she was born at 2:56pm. I do have to add that when the doctor realized how disgruntled I was with the fact that the epidural was not effective, she did give me unsanctioned doses of Fentenol via IV to take the edge off during the pushing phase. This definitely helped take the edge off. I still felt a lot of pain, but i was not screaming bloody murder this time around... and the nurse was a much better coach that last time, which also really helped me to push more effectively.

So then, Lucy Angel was born, and there was no more pain..... isn't it amazing how the pain just goes away so freakin fast, and then you have this cute cuddly baby to snuggle??

The only really great thing about this ordeal (besides baby Lucy of course) is that I didn't rip or tear from any orifice this time around... NO STITCHES!!!! I'm not quite sure how this happened, as Lucy is 1 lb 4 ounces larger than Dixie, and I did tear in various places with baby Dixie... which was traumatizing for many many months after birth. I think this was my little gift from god, since the epidural didn't work.

So thats it folks. The Down and Dirty. I dont think I'll be doing this again for a VERY long time... much longer than 18 months, I assure you! And next time, I will demand an epidural upon entry, and I will go to the hospital at the slightest contractions! I think people who do it natural are crazy. I've experienced this pain, and there is just no need for it. If you can get an epidural fast enough... do it. That's my 2 cents anyways... and that's coming from 2 almost completely natural births besides a hit or two of fentanol.


XOXO

Eve

Welcome to the World Lil' Lulu

Announcing the arrival of Lucy Angel Werner at around 2:56 PM PST on June 5, 2011. She weighed in at 8 lbs 7 oz and was 20" in length. Momma and new daughter are doing fantastic. Here are a few tasty pics to satisfy your appetite. Thank you for all the well wishes.

Eve is all smiles before going into labor....at least before we heard her potty mouth when her epidural didn't quite take the way she thought it should. And she let the doctor, anesthesiologist, nurses, and devoted husband all hear about it. Lil' Lucy just came too quickly for it to take effect.

Lucy immediately after birth having her umbilical cord clamped

Eve happy to be stealing cuddles from a newborn and sporting a big smile as her pain is a distant memory

Proud Papa Bear holding his brand new baby girl

Mama and daughter sharing a special moment together

Toddlerhood

Dixie has quickly acclimated to toddler hood. There is nothing baby about this girl anymore, except for maybe the diapers... but even they have decreased substantially with the drop of the bottle.

Dixie has been picking up a lot of words... these are the words she is saying (that we can understand) thus far. Its really only been a week and she already says the following;

Nana (banana)
Dada (dad)
Mama (mom)
Bubble
Mo (More)
Ruf Ruf (what sound do doggies make?)
Ball
Ni-ni (night night)
No
Dis (this)

Dixe is up bright and early (6am) everyday and ready to go from the moment she wakes. She is super active and is always eager to start a new activity. Since each activity keeps her attentio for 5 or less minutes... this keeps us on our toes!

Dixie loves to bake with mommy. She puts on her own apron and has a special chair that she stands on to watch the baking process. she even gets her own little bowl with flour, water and a spoon to make a big mess with while mommy does the real baking.

Dixie loves to dance. Whenever music starts she starts grooving to the beat and usually puts her hands in the air, like she just don't care! We often have dance parties in our living room.

Dixie puts on lotion like her mom. She will sit for 15 minutes at a time pretending to lotion up her legs, arms and belly. I fear for the day when she figures out how to actually get the lotion out of the bottle. I foresee big greasy messes in my future.

Dixie plays with her baby doll and smothers her with blankets. She feeds her a bottle and carries her around, patting her back (like a burp). I hope she is this good with Lucy... less the smothering part of course.

Dixie is a social butterfly. She just loves playing with other kids and just beams the moment she realizes that we're having a play date. There is a family with 2 girls (2 and 4) that live in our complex. Whenever I hear them outside playing, I take dixie outside to join them. This is a great way to kill an hour in the middle of the day without destroying the house!

Finally, Dixie just loves to read. Or rather, be read to. We read stories at least 3 times a day, and at least 3 books each time. She has her favorite books which generally change each week, so i end up reading the same book for a week straight. Right now her favorites are the Potty book and the Jungle book. She even knows what snakes say.. " Ssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeee". She usually kisses every page in the book. She is a little love bug. Seriously she is pure sweetness. At a birthday party we attended, I was helping her hit the minnie mouse pinata, and she was so distraught about hitting minnie mouse that she burst into tears. This girl is nothing but love.


Well... only 3 days till D Date. Any bets on when Baby lucy will come? Sean is hoping for tuesday so he can get a few more days of work in and save some vacation time (for a real vacation, rather than baby bootcamp).... while I am a little sick of being a pregnant elephant that cant touch my toes and I cant wait to start weight watchers.

XOXO

Eve

The S.F. Zoo and a Visit from Iris

Mommy keeps Dixie from stepping on the peacock's tail
(Dixie was chasing the peacock to the bird's chagrin)

Mommy and Dixie sharing a relaxing stroll at the zoo

Penguins enjoying the beautiful spring day
(According to the teachings of Eve, penguins say "tweet, tweet, tweet").

The two grizzly bears on a leisurely swim

Iris and Dixie on the swing

Dixie posing with the giraffe and other animals in the background

Dixie telling Mommy and Daddy where to go

Dixie showing Iris some of her freaky dance moves (or is it the other way around?)

Dixie steals a taste of raw eggs (yuck!)

Dixie teaching Iris all about giraffes

Goodbye to My Childhood Town

To those of you who have not heard, my hometown of Slave Lake, Alberta is in ruins after a wildfire swept through town. I will probably not know the extent of it for another day or two, but all reports have been pretty grim. They even had to evacuate the firefighters out of the area on Sunday evening. Here is a picture of me and Dixie at the lake last summer (Thanks for the photo Betina). Our prayers go out to all our family and friends who are up there.

Dixie's Buffet Menu

Here is a list of Dixie's choices as we went to an all you can eat salad, soup, and bread place called Sweet Tomatoes.

Appetizer - Dixie's healthiest choice all night, a pickle

Entree - Macaroni and cheese topped with lots of shredded cheddar cheese (Dixie created this combination herself, much to Daddy's chagrin)

Dessert - Garlic breadstick dipped in chocolate/vanilla swirl ice cream

Random Pictures of Dixie

Dixie and Ada at Ada's 1st Birthday


Daddy and Dixie on the Strawberry ride going in circles
(Unlike her mother, Dixie doesn't get motion sickness!)


Dixie with two happy heads of lettuce

Dixie in her chariot being pulled by one of her servants

Dixie showing that she can drive just as fast as Daddy

Dixie and Sarah at the Childrens Discovery Museum

On the boat ride all strapped in

Dirty Little Secrets...

So at dixie's 12 month appointment my doctor asked me if Dixie was still taking a bottle, to which i replied "yes". Then she asked me if I put her to bed with a bottle, to which i Lied and said "No". My doctor. informed me that at 12 months she should no longer be on the bottle, and you should never ever put the baby to bed with the bottle for fear of cavities and the association of milk=bed time.

So anyways, since then I have been living in shame, as we regularily put dixie down for both naps and bedtime with a bottle. She just loved it so much and it soothed her little soul into a nice sound sleep without a single tear shed.

Sean took Dixie to her 15 month appointment, and when asked these same questions, he lied again and said, no shes not on the bottle , and no we definatly do not put her to bed with it! Sheesh, what kind of parents do you take us for?? Hee hee.....

Well, we can finally quit lying to our doctor about our dirty little secret, because Dixie is officially OFF the bottle! No bottle at naps, no bottle at bedtime, and no bottles in between! She pretty much took herself off the bottle though, so I cannot claim any Parental awards for this. For 2 days in a row her bedtime bottles were left untouched in her crib. So we decided to see what would happen if we didn't give her a bottle. There were tears shed for 10 minutes the first night, then 5 minutes the second night and tonight I had a victory, no bottle and No tears! Yippeee! Im so glad she got off before baby Lucy is born.. because I know i wouldnt have the mental strength for a bottle war while tending to a newborn, counting points and not sleeping.

Go Dixie!

Funniest Story Ever…

Ok, so you might want to cross your legs now if you’re preggers, because if you proceed reading without doing so, you might just pee your pants a little bit like I did. Sean and I made a trip to Costco last night (family date night). I was carrying Dixie through the parking lot as Sean yelled “crap, my flip flop just broke”. He then attempted to shuffle along through the busy parking lot, and he looked a little how do you say… “Challenged” while doing so. I made it to a safe place off to the side and I just stood there laughing hysterically with Dixie in my arms. I was laughing so hard that I was crying. I;m sure it looked like quite the sight. Big Fat Pregnant lady holding toddler in parking lot crying her eyes out! So, I finally calmed down a little when I looked over at Sean and he shouted “my other one just broke too!” I completely lost it at this point, the tears (of laughter) were streaming down my face, my pressurized bladder was how do I say “leaking”, and even little Dixie was laughing! (She will often start to laugh when Sean and I laugh… it’s the most darling thing ever). There was another couple who witnessed the whole event, and the lady was laughing out loud as well! It was seriously the funniest thing. So, Sean continued to shuffle through the parking lot on his busted flip flops. In-between breaths, I told him he should just toss them and go barefoot, to which he refused. I guess he’d rather look a little “challenged” then like a bum! So we finally make it into Costco and we headed straight for the footwear sections. Sean then asked me, “Does Costco even sell flipflops?”. I told him that beggars can't be choosers and to just pick out a pair of shoes from their limited selection! Well, that’s the end of the story. I hope you found it at least a little bit funny…I mean who breaks 2 flip flops at the exact same time??

Dixie relaxing on the couch with the remote after an exhausting day

Cute story #2

So I’ve mentioned before that Dixie no longer hates having shoes on, because now she associates shoes with outside, meaning the park, which she loves. This afternoon after she woke up from her nap and had played for a while inside, she grabbed her little shoes and brought them over to Sean demanding that he put them on her. After he did so, she grabbed his shoes (yes, his giant manly shoes), and brought them back to Sean for him to put on. She then walked to the door and started banging her little hands on it, signaling that it was time to go to the park! My baby girl is getting so smart! I love how she communicates with us even without words.

16 Months

My “Baby” girl is now 16 months old. This past month has been huge for emotional development. Our little Dixie Mae is officially a TODDLER! According to babycenter.com, this happened at 12 months, however, at 16 months I see a real difference in her thought and behavior. Dixie has displayed the following Toddler behaviors this past month;

Mini Tantrums

Yes… they’ve already started. Not to a huge degree, but I think they are forecasting the future. When walking with Dixie and forcing her to hold my hand, if she doesn’t want to go in the particular direction we are headed, she will use all of her might to pull her hand away from mine, she stopped walking and sits down on the sidewalk. Yes… I know, its probably pay back for my toddler years, as my dear mommy has so lovingly reminded me.

Memory

Dixie is like a little elephant! She has an amazing sense of direction (which she gets from her daddy, that’s for sure). We were at my work having lunch, and outside on the patio there are lovely water fountains surrounded by café tables. It was a particularly sunny day, so we headed to the fountains to start our lunch time walk. Well folks, this was a terrible place to “start” the walk. We should have finished the walk there, as Dixie did not want to leave the lovely water fountains. She was dipping her entire arm in, and taking drinks of the stagnant water. Luckily I have not seen any signs of diphtheria (yet). Anyways, we carried her away from the fountain (again, throwing a mini tantrum in the process), and walked at least 100 yards away before we set her down, and immediately she turned around and found her own way back to the fountain (which was not in sight). She did this 3 times in a row from different starting points! The girl can find her way back to the water fountains blindfolded.

Sense of Humor

Dixie loves to laugh, and has the cutest little giggle I’ve ever heard (although, I’m biased of course). After she’s done eating, she gives me the quick hand sign for “All done”, and then immediately starts to throw any leftovers onto the ground, and she giggles hysterically while doing so with a mischievous look in her eyes. I usually can’t help but laugh at this… which Sean scolds me for, since laughing only reinforces this type of behavior. I can’t help it though… she’s so darn cute! In this way, I am just like my mom, who has a very hard time keeping a stern (or even straight) face when witnessing misbehaving kiddos. Dixie also giggles when her daddy plays the “monster” game, in which he chases her around “roaring” like a monster. She always comes running straight to mommy. I try to play the monster sometimes, but it just doesn’t have the same effect as when daddy is the monster. She never runs away from me! We finally found a way to brush Dixie’s teeth (which she is fiercely protective of). We had to turn it into a game, otherwise there was just no getting in her mouth and with 2 new molars on the top, I was getting worried about cavities! So, I hold her upside down, she giggles, thus unveiling her pearly whites and I have about 5 seconds of access to her mouth. I know… 5 seconds probably doesn’t cut it…. But it’s the best I can get out of her for now! Any tricks or insights you might have for toddler teeth brushing would be greatly appreciated. Dixie might just end up with a gold grill by by her 3rd birthday.

Books

Dixie loves to flip through books. She brings a variety of books to us all day long, and sometimes she goes through the pile of books to find her favorite book. Her favorite is a counting book. She likes the number nine the best… this is the page with “9 big trucks”. I don’t know why she Loves trucks so much, but she does. Sean thinks that she gets to play with them at her babysitter’s place (who has 2 boys, and thus lots of toy trucks). I should probably get her some trucks to play with too, especially since she’s been stealing trucks away from other kids at the neighborhood park! Anyways, back to books, sometimes I catch her all on her own flipping through the books and just looking at the pictures for a few minutes at a time. A few minutes in toddler time equals an episode in adult time.

Attachment

Dixie is all about her mommy these days. When I am home, I cannot be in another room.. Dixie will find me. She follows me around from room to room, and is usually at my feet asking to be held. This means no sleeping in, no solo showers, gosh I can’t even eat a meal without Dixie tugging at my legs begging to be held! This melts my heart that my little girl loves her mommy so much. Daddy is ok too…. But is always second choice to me J. I wonder if she’ll still love (prefer) me this much when I am home full time while on maternity leave??

We sure do love our little toddler girl. She’s got such a nice little spirit in her, and our lives have been truly blessed since her arrival, 16 months ago.

Dixie's Dirty Dancing

Just a little footage of Dixie dancing with her bunny rabbit in her homemade apron. We need to teach Dixie some simple social etiquette: that you are not to throw, pull by the ears, or violently discard your partner at the conclusion of the dance.