Operation Bottle

Well, aside from Eva smiling all the time and sleeping though the night she has one little issue. She will not drink from a bottle. She has gone 16 hours without eating on Sunday and she goes up to 5 1/2 hours between feedings while I am at work. I leave work twice to nurse her. We have tried 9 different bottles. We have tried formula. My mom has tried cheer leading for 1 hour straight. Dave has tried marching with her singing "The Saints Go Marching In" while feeding her. Since I returned to work I thought her day care provider might have some luck. She is known as the "baby whisper." She told me on Thursday that she feels like a failure. I am still deciding how to proceed with this situation. Here is Eva on her 16 hour fast. She would cry with the bottle in her mouth and was much happier with no bottle.

Here is Dave feeding her with a silver spoon. It worked better than the eye dropper, syringe, and tippi cup.

Luke's First Week of School

Well, this week started out rough. Luke cried violently for 30 minutes on his first day of school. That episode made me feel so bad that I decided that I would never leave Luke again... no more church, working out at the health club, working as a physical therapist, etc. Luke had enjoyed three and one half solid weeks of time at home with me and extra time with Dave at the holidays so the only thing he wanted to do was, "Stay at Luke's house."

Fast forward to the end of the week.... Now Luke has a special glow in his eye when I pick him up from school. He is so proud and he talks about how much fun he had. He is already applying many of the things he is learning. He has gone from basket case (that may be a word only my family uses) to marching in straight lines and saying "more brusselsprouts!"

I was a little worried about Luke having to conform to too many rules and standards with the Montessori process. It is a amazing way of learning however they are very particular. For instance, when doing an activity you must lay out a work matt, then take the activity off of the shelf with two hands and place it down, then get on your knees, and then use three fingers to remove the pegs. If you sat instead or used two fingers you would be corrected. (It is a wonder that these teachers never say no. They can influence children by modeling instead.) There are other things I was worried about also. Could he go three hours without running or being silly? Can he carry glass plates and dishes without dropping them? Can he stay dry when he is in a new enviornment? Can he say, "Good morning Mrs. Smyczck" and shake her hand as they must do as they come in the room? Can he even say Mrs. Smyczck and Mrs. Ashwini Manjul?

I think that Luke may have the best teacher he will ever have until he gets to college. Here is her bio:

Mrs. Laura Smyczek, Lead Teacher.Mrs. Smyczek received her Elementary (ages 6-12) AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) Diploma from the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee in 1994, followed by her Primary (ages 3-6) AMI Diploma from the Midwest Montessori Institute, in 2000.She taught in a Lower Elementary class at Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, Illinois, and during that time, she was featured in Paula Polk Lillard's book, Montessori Today, and was invited to be a speaker at an AMI/USA National Conference on grace and courtesy.She has lived in France and Italy and has studied and played the piano her entire life. She also earned her B.A. in Art History from the University of Dallas. She brings her love of art and music, and her appreciation of beauty, to all she does.

Eva's pictures at 28 days

Below is a photo of Luke at 28 days.

I took Luke for photos at 28 days and I have cherished those pictures ever since. So I took Eva for her own matching set at 28 days. I was so amazed with both children that there eyes were open, that they were not crying, and that they actually looked at the camera that I was a great Sears customer for each of the photo sessions.

She is already growing way too fast so I have these pictures to never forget her first days. She is so sweet and loving.

Merry Christmas

The entire time I was pregnant I looked forward to having a baby by Christmas. It made the end date seem real.
I love having kids plural for the holidays. It was fun to watch twice the presents being opened. Luke loved his school bus, puzzles, leap pad, and toboggan. I enjoyed opening all of Eva's presents which included rattles, cute new outfits, and some clothing that my sister and I wore when we were Eva's age. There were two things sewn by Eva's great-great grandmother and two things sewn by Nana. These outfits were accompanied by a trendy outfit from Aunt Jackie that called her "Daddy's Honey Bunny."

This is the first picture of the four of us on our camera! We couldn't even get the four of us captured together for our Christmas card so we did the 2 photo collage.

Luke liked being pulled in his new toboggan both indoors and outdoors. It is quite an upgrade from his rummage sale toddler sled.

This is Christmas morning. Luke is still young enough that he has to be told to open his presents on Christmas morning so we had time for a picture before presents.

Luke with his cousins and great-grandy. Bennett, Andrew, Boden, Grandy, Aaron, Ethan, Eva, Luke, and Sam in front.

The two day snoman

Luke loved building a snowman that was bigger than him. His main contribution was adding carrots to the torso in all different positions. Dave and Luke built the snowman in the driveway because the snow was too deep in the yard. Dave then had to carry the snowman to the back patio.

Potty training is complete! (As long as Luke stays in the house and only wears undies.)

Eva in one of her many cute outfits.

Luke just goofing around.

Christmas Card

Well, I feel like the luckiest woman. I am not pregnant any more; I have my daughter; and I put her in her first dress. I love celebrating the holiday season with two children. I love being at home in the cosy house as it snows outside. I love Luke walking around saying "Merry Christmas," or "It's Christmas Time."

Eva and mom are both outfitted by Walmart.

This is Luke's new smile where he is actually trying to smile. It is not as cute as the spontaneous smiles he has, but it makes my heart go out to him because he is trying so hard.

My two favorite men.

PJ's for one month

We started potty training Luke in the beginning of December. This experience was the hardest thing in parenting so far. One can't force a child to learn how to go to the bathroom and accidents are typically difficult to clean up. Most of Luke's pictures in December are of him in his pj's because we did not leave the house for the entire month. So here is Luke in his "Thomas Coat" and in ghost long underwear and daddies shoes. Dave really wanted a train under the Christmas tree for Luke. So after they went to five stores they came home with this train set. Luke loves it. Dave likes it too, but he had to add a muting mechanism over the speaker that says "All Aboard, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding." He used a little foam to buffer the noise and then covered it with duct tape.

I thought it would be cute to take a picture of Eva in the garland. The picture did not exactly turn out how I thought it would but I still like her in her "Babies First Christmas" sleeper.

Eva at four and five weeks

Well, life finally seems possible with two children. Luke has discovered that having a sister isn't too bad. He is acting like himself again. I have been enjoing the love two children. Eva and Luke look at me and love me in such a wonderful way. I have no desire to do much for myself anymore. I just like spending time with them. Dave and I are discovering how to get a few things done while having two kids that want to play. Eva has been the nicest baby so the transition to two children has been better than I had expected in many ways.

Eva's second week

Here is Eva with Great Grandmother Evelyn (95 years old). Grandma loved the visit from Eva, her 19th great granchild.

Eva loves to smile and interact.

Luke on Halloween. He went trick or treating with his cousins but he was actually scared by some of the kids costumes. He liked looking at the pumpkins at every house. He still asks to wear around his dinasour feet.

Welcome Home Eva

It feels good to be home. On Saturday, Jackie and Dave's parents came to visit. Luke did much better meeting his sister at home. He still wasn't too sure about the whole situation, but he was at least acting like himself again. Jackie gave him a big brother gift which made him feel special. After all the visitors we were left with just the four of us at home. We are now learning what it means to be a family of four. Dave is going to take two and one half days off so we can continue the time together.

Happy Birthday Eva Lorraine

We welcomed Eva Lorraine into the world October 23, 2008 at 10:48 pm. She was seven pounds and one ounce and was nineteen and one-half inches long. We are so excited and so blessed.

Labor and delivery went well in retrospect. It never feels easy or fast while it is happening. On Thursday I had a normal day. Luke was actually at day care so I was finishing up my to do list. I test drove cars big enough to hold a double stroller, went out to lunch with Dave, trimmed the bushes, cleaned the house, and organized the closets. When I picked up Luke I felt some contractions, but I thought that was normal when you are lifting a toddler while pregnant. I made dinner and was planning on taking Luke trick-or-treating in downtown Hartland. Dave was going to meet us at 5:45pm. He called to say he was going to be there at 6:00pm and then he called saying he was going to be there at 6:10pm. Now during this time I was feeling contractions every 4 minutes but I didn't know if it was real labor. I thought it could be when Luke started breathing along side of me while he was eating his fish sticks. I called my sister around 6:05 and asked her if she was home and able to watch Luke. She was actually right at the middle school and she said she could be there in 30 minutes if I could wait that long.

When Dave got home he ate dinner and packed his bags and we decided it was not a night for trick-or-treating. Dave called his parents so they could pick him up from my sister's at 8:00 pm and take him for the next two days. As I was packing, cleaning up dinner, and holding Luke the contractions got to be two minutes apart. I was a little nervous but felt good once we got Luke taken care of. Once in the car the contractions were back to 4 minutes apart and then they progressed back to 3 minutes while in the hospital.

I was admitted once we filled out the paperwork. They were very busy so they said, "Make yourself at home. Since you are still smiling I think you are going to have your baby on the 24th and they walked out of the room." That was the last time I saw that nurse. She was busy with someone else, so I got the head nurse to take care of me. She was an excellent nurse; just the person I would want to help me deliver.

The contractions were worse then I remember with Luke, but I know you are supposed to forget all the hard parts of labor. One of my patients told me to do the "hula" during the contractions and that helped with about one of the contractions. I started at 3 cm when I was first arrived at the hospital and then progressed to 6cm. I asked for the epidural because my water had not even broken yet. The doctor was doing a c-section so he was delayed in coming, but I got to have the effects for about one hour before starting to push. During this hour we called my mom and dad and let them know the state of the events. My doctor arrived at 10:30 and I thought I could try to push. Since the hospital was so busy there were only three staff in the room during the delivery. It was a very laid back delivery. I pushed for about three sets and couldn't really feel anything, but then we had our beautiful baby. I was thrilled that everything went well and that I finally had my girl. (Nine months is too long to wait.)

The name Eva is from the Latin name Eve. It is derived from the Hebrew name meaning "life" or "living one." It conveys that God created woman special, significant, strong, beautiful, and having an irreplacable role in God's creation. Lorraine is my grandmother's name, my mother's middle name, and my middle name. We wanted to continue the tradition for 4 generations. We also wanted to honor each of those women in the process.

My mother and Eva.

My cousin Erin and Aunt Jill.

My sister-in-law and brother and their son.

My sister and her kids. Those who are missing from the photos are Luke, my dad, and Dave's parents. Things were a little crazy when Luke came to visit. Just put it this way, it was not a photo opportunity. He just held onto Dave and wouldn't look at me or his sister. Once I put Eva down and held him, then he just put his head into my shoulder and still wouldn't look at his sister. The rest of the time Luke spent in the play room and running in the hallway.