Gavin & Miriel

Faces

2011-10-14T21:52:00.001-07:00

Miriel has been adding a few new facial expressions to her repertoire lately. This one: "The Furrowed Brow"

Playing

2011-04-23T20:51:00.001-07:00

We've been busy getting our house on the market (see it here) and haven't taken the time to blog.

I took a few photos while Gavin and Miriel were playing outside in Gavin's mustang today and in the bath tonight. They are enjoying playing together more and more and love each other so much. It makes my heart glad! Enjoy!

Oh, and the basic new things to blog about are that Gavin is reading very well - he 's read all of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (by Dr. Seuss) all by himself several times and pretty much reads whatever he sees. And Miriel is walking - she started about a week or maybe a week and a few days ago and is really good at it. Hopefully more on those later...

Happy Birthday Miriel!

2011-02-08T21:21:00.000-08:00

A year ago today my sweet baby girl was born. I can truly say it has been a delightful year of enjoying her easy, smiling disposition and watching her grow into the fun and curious little girl she is. Parenting two children rather than one has certainly had its challenging moments, but the change has come so much more easily for us than when Gavin was born.

We celebrated today with a little cake, a few gifts and some decorations. Balloons are Miriel's very favorite thing right now, so we made sure to get a few. Without further ado, the sequence of birthday events:

Happy Noises

2010-12-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was making dinner, and since I was hearing happy baby noises somewhere in the house, I didn't think much of what Miriel might be doing. Chad decided to check on her and discovered this little mischievous girl having a grand old time in the bathroom. We all laughed and now we shut the bathroom door, or at least put the toilet paper roll up on the counter when it's not in use!

the dog and the cat

2010-10-31T22:43:00.001-07:00

Gavin and Miriel were a dog and cat for Halloween. We took a few photos and visited a few neighbors but didn't spend much time on Halloween other than that. They were super cute, though, and Gavin was excited about being a dog and knocking on doors to get candy. We'll see if he asks tomorrow if he can do it again... (he did last year!). We also saw our friends the Laceys and the Austins and took some photos of all our kids in their costumes together (Ella, Charlie, Miriel and Gavin). Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, so hopefully I can snag a photo of theirs in the near future!

Pumpkins

2010-10-30T21:03:00.001-07:00

We went to Kreuger's Farm a couple weekends ago and enjoyed picking out some pumpkins, the corn maze, some tasty treats and the tractor ride (thanks to a gift from our sweet friends the Closners!). Everyone had a fun time and we enjoyed the beautiful, sunny day. I don't really have much else to say about it but I do have a couple photos.

In other news, Miriel is now CRAWLING! She's been at it for about a week and seems to get better (and faster!) by the hour. And here's a funny video of her "dancing" to Gavin's backhoe music.

Snapshots, for Real

2010-10-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

I took these today, so they are real snapshots of life right now. Enjoy!

3 years 2 months, and 8 months

2010-10-09T20:59:00.001-07:00

I am not going to try to even think about summarizing the 3 months since I last posted. Instead, I just want to take a snapshot of right now. Gavin is 3 years and 2 months old, and Miriel is 8 months old. Gavin, please forgive me for not posting anything anywhere about your third birthday. We really did have a fabulous time celebrating you and we love you very much.

Miriel is overall still a super happy and cuddly baby, though she's a little crankier than she was a few months ago. She still smiles a ton (although she's not in this photo... sorry!) She has been teething since before 6 months but still has not cut a single tooth. The doctor and I even saw the two bottom middle teeth just below her gums at her 6-month appointment (and she was 8 months yesterday).

Miriel is still totally in love with me. She likes Chad and Gavin a lot, too, but she will always come to me from anyone else and desperately wants me when she is tired, hungry or generally unhappy. She has been up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth for at least a month now, and I keep thinking she is going to take off crawling at any moment. Today she was somehow managing to propel herself forward to get something she was interested in, so we will see how much longer she is (mostly) immobile. She loves her food but is a little particular about texture and not too fond of several fruits. We pretty much don't feed her purees any more and just give her soft cooked foods. We also have to be very careful about keeping her from getting constipated, so although she loves bananas and puffed rice, she rarely gets to eat them. The newest things she likes are tiny chunks of prunes and halves of freeze-dried blueberries.

As far as sleeping goes, Miriel has been taking two or three naps a day, usually a shorter one (or two - about an hour) and a longer one (1.5 or 2 hours). If she takes only two naps then she goes to bed around 6pm, otherwise it's about 7pm. She wakes around 7am. Completely contrary to her older brother at this age, she likes to be set down in her crib awake so she can go to sleep by herself (and we are so grateful). She has been waking at least two times a night (and up to 4-6 for a few weeks recently) to nurse since she was born, but Chad has gotten up with her the last couple nights to help her get out of the habit (and it seems to be working with very minimal crying!). We are not hoping to eliminate night waking altogether just yet, but it would be so nice to be up only once every night instead of two or three times.

I am really enjoying Miriel and love that she likes to cuddle. Sometimes when she wakes up earlier than I'd like in the morning, she will lie beside me in bed and just suck her fingers and burrow into my side for half an hour. (OK, sometimes she claws my face, too, wanting me to open my eyes and interact with her, but I still like it.)

Gavin is not a toddler any longer and has really become a little boy! The transition happened in about a month, right around the time he turned 3, and we were actually aware of it at the time. His sentences became more complex, his imagination took on another level, he started asking why and how, he grew taller and his face became thinner. (He also started throwing massive, crazy, unstoppable fits. Thankfully, he eventually responded to our discipline and quit after a week or so.) Not that he doesn't continue to mature and grow and learn, but it was very marked then.

Gavin doesn't really sing (although he has started recently and has absolutely no pitch whatsoever!), but he loves music and has such an strong sense of rhythm. For a really long time (maybe since he was 18 months?), he has enjoyed walking around the "circuit" in our house on the hardwood floors, stomping his feet to "play a song." For the longest time it was da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM, with his right foot always a significantly harder slap than his left. Right around when he turned 3, it changed to da-da-da-DUM da-da-da-DUM, with his right foot alternately tapping normally and slapping hard. (This is really hard to explain with words. I should just get the video camera out soon and post a video. It's actually really cute.) The funny thing to me is that he does this every day, multiple times a day. Same with his "guitar" (which is actually a ukelele). I can't think of a day that we have been at home for a decent amount of time that he hasn't played his guitar since he got it for Christmas almost a year ago. (He is actually learning how to strum pretty well now.)

This school year, Gavin and I are doing a little tiny bit of "preschool" at home. We have been learning some basic math concepts (counting and subtraction at the moment) and using the book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" for reading. At the moment, he can look at a group of things with up to three items, recognize how many there are without counting them and tell me how many there will be when we take away one, two or three. Also, he sounded out and read his first word (that was not in the reading book) just a few days ago - it was "big." I am really enjoying teaching him and trying to make sure we are keeping it fun for both of us. It is so amazing to watch him learn and absorb new things!

(By the way, these photos aren't really a snapshot of right now because the previous two are from about 3 weeks ago when my parents were visiting and we went on a walk in Discovery Park in Seattle and this one is from a week before that when Gavin was picking flowers for me out of our yard.)

That's all for now!

As a sidenote, I've started a food/recipe blog. If you happen to be interested, come visit at http://thoughtfulkitchen.com.

2010-06-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

We took a few photos of Miriel today in order to get one for her passport (none of these are the passport photo, in case you were wondering). She is such a happy girl!

She Has Hands!

2010-06-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Miriel has found her hands! (It actually happened about a week ago, and I took some photos and was going to write a blog post but then got sick, and you know how that goes.) She's enjoying her play gym a lot more now that she can bat the toys around.

Along with using her hands to grab things, she figured out how to chomp on them, too. And when she figured out how to gnaw on her own hands, she realized that she wanted to gnaw on everything - our knuckles, her rubber giraffe, her clothes... pretty much anything that gets near her mouth.

At least one person in our household has been sick to varying degrees for the last month and will probably continue to be for at least another week or so. Chad and Gavin are in the beginnings of whatever I am at the end of, which lasted about a week and a half for me. We've been staying home a lot and not doing much. Hopefully that will end soon, as I am getting quite tired of the inside of our house.

But since we've been at home a lot, we decided now was as good of a time as any to conquer the dreaded potty-training! "We" does in fact include Gavin, since he was the one who asked to wear underwear in the first place. It's been about 2 weeks so far, and I am really happy with the progress we've made. He is both peeing and pooping in the potty with only about one accident per day and wearing underwear all the time (even to bed). He is also telling us when he needs to go most of the time, although we try to remember to ask him if we suspect he's ignoring the urge just to keep playing. The pooping has definitely been the harder thing to help him with, but he is learning and is really doing a great job. He has had a great attitude about the whole thing (most of the time) and loves to pick out new pairs of underwear.

(I promise I did not try to get them both to open their mouths... I only noticed once the photos were on my computer!)

Gavin took this one...

Mother's Day

2010-05-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

I made this for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. (And got to have some myself, too.)

I also enjoyed this little sweet treat (and the other one, too, but he wasn't around for pictures).

Chad got up extra early and made me breakfast (eggs benedict) and dressed Miriel in a cute little outfit that he picked out all by himself. And by "all by himself" I mean that he took both kids to the mall the weekend before and looked through lots of stores just to find something that says "mommy" on it because she has tons of clothes that say "daddy" and none that say "mommy." How sweet is that? (Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the outfit - maybe later.) We went to church and then to my in-laws' where I got to make the aforementioned dessert and play with my camera and lights while doing it. It was a fun day!

Miriel's Birth Story

2010-05-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

My in-laws had a baby shower for me on Sunday, February 7, and on my way back home I stopped by the hospital where a friend had had her baby that day. I noticed that my stomach was funky and I wasn't feeling all that comfortable but otherwise I was fine. I went home, folded some baby clothes and went to bed. Around 2am I woke up feeling much like I did when I went into labor with Gavin - my stomach was unsettled and queasy, I could (barely) tell I was having contractions, they were about 3 minutes apart, and they didn't hurt at all. I figured it was a good idea to go ahead and get things in order just in case this was the "real thing" (even though it was 2 1/2 weeks before my due date), so we called my mother-in-law to come stay the rest of the night with Gavin and we headed to the hospital. I was feeling very putzy and not really in any hurry, and, unlike my labor with Gavin, things didn't get any more intense on our way to the hospital or during the admission process.

Once we were in a birthing room, the nurse hooked me up to the heart rate and contraction monitors. My contractions slowed down during the monitoring and the baby's heart rate was not all that great (a little high and without the preferred rhythm), so I rested for a while and continued monitoring. At some point fairly early on they checked me for dilation and I was at 4cm (I had been at 3cm a few days before at my last OB appointment). While I rested, my contractions pretty much stopped. Since I had tested positive for Group B strep, I needed to get an IV so I could have a couple rounds of antibiotics before delivery. The nurse tried a couple times to no avail, so she called in IV therapy, who did an awesome job and put the IV in a much more convenient place on the outside of my left arm. At some point, Chad and I both rested for an hour or so.

After about 30 minutes of walking and contractions every 3-4 minutes again, we put on the monitors and discovered that the baby's heart rate was actually much higher. I was pretty worried at this point and was convinced I would end up with a C-section, even though my doctor was not really even suggesting it (I am so thankful for an awesome OB). Even though I really did not want a C-section, I Really, Really did want a healthy baby and was mentally okay with and even thankful for the possibility. The nurse gave me some fluid through the IV, just in case the high heart rate was because of dehydration. (By the way, during much of this I had to pee about every 5 minutes. Very irritating when you're hooked up to a mostly-stationary machine.)

My doctor visited around 8am and said the heart rate pattern was indicative of the umbilical cord being around the baby's neck, possibly wrapped more than once, but assured us that many babies are born vaginally this way and most likely everything would be fine. I needed to stay hooked up to the monitors, though, to make sure her heart rate didn't get any worse and hopefully it would even out and get better. We agreed that he would come back around noon to see how things had progressed and break my water if needed. So after getting a round of antibiotics, I tried bouncing on the birthing ball and nipple stimulation to try to get my labor started again and my water to break. Sometime during this waiting period, Gavin came in for a few minutes to visit and Chad's mom's best friend, Mary Kay, stopped by for a little bit.

I had been praying much of the time but was still worried about the continually-high heart rate, especially since I wasn't having any more contractions but it was still high. Somehow, though, when I started bouncing on the birthing ball a sense of peace came and I stopped worrying and was able to truly put the whole situation into Jesus' hands. Not too long afterwards, the baby's heart rate dropped a little to the just-a-little-too-high range (similar to what it had been when we first got to the hospital) though the rhythm remained the same. Later I learned that many of our friends and family were also praying for us during this time.

When my doctor came around 1pm (he was a little late), my water still had not broken and I was only half a centimeter more dilated. We had a good talk about what was going on and decided that this baby definitely needed to be born sooner rather than later. He recommended that he break my water and then I get a small amount of pitocin to get my labor going again. Active labor would push the situation one way or the other - most likely the baby's heart rate would get better and I would have a natural vaginal delivery, or possibly it would get significantly worse and I would have an emergency C-section. He broke my water, and the nurse gave me about an hour to see if labor would pick up naturally. It didn't, so at 2pm she gave me the smallest dose possible of pitocin. My first "real" contraction (meaning it hurt some and I could tell the contraction was productive) came around 2:15pm, and I was so incredibly thankful. The nurse upped the pitocin to the next notch to get the contractions to be regular and they started coming around every 3 minutes. I think she turned off the pitocin after that but I'm not sure - I pretty much zoned out into labor land soon afterward and don't remember much of what happened around me.

After a few regular contractions I decided the birth ball was the best place to be, so I sat there and leaned back on Chad. He rubbed my lower back during contractions and was generally calming and reassuring. I found that vocalizing in a low sighing hum really helped me get through the contractions. They were painful but I was doing fine and able to relax through them to keep the pain as minimal as possible. I could feel the baby progressing downward past my tailbone and truly was so happy to be finally in labor that I appreciated the pain because I knew it was productive. The baby's heart rate dropped a little more into the "good" zone, too. I remember actually talking through the last third or quarter of a couple of contractions, and one particularly intense one that looked different on the monitor screen.

[Please note that the rest of these events might not be quite in order since it was definitely a blur.] After an hour or so (?), I had to use the bathroom and was feeling more pressure and overall ickiness. Right around the same time I felt like bursting into tears, and I told Chad I was pretty sure I was about to go into transition. The nurse checked me when I came out of the bathroom and I was at 7cm, so she called the doctor to let him know. I started having very intense and close-together contractions and knew transition had begun. I was sobbing through the contractions but also knew that it wouldn't last long and was actually still doing just fine. Transition lasted maybe 20-30 minutes and then my body started pushing. The baby was coming fast, and nurse told me to try to keep from pushing since the doctor wasn't there yet. I (kind of) did for 2 or 3 contractions, which were still only a few minutes apart. I knew I couldn't keep the baby in any longer (and certainly didn't want to) and the nurse called other nurses in for support. Just then, my doctor walked in and my body was quiet for a couple minutes. The next contraction started and I reached down and felt the baby's head crown with my hand. A few seconds later she was born at 4:45pm.

The umbilical cord was indeed wrapped around her neck, twice, but she was perfectly fine. She had Apgar scores of 9 and 9. My doctor placed her on my chest and I held and cuddled with her. A few minutes later Chad cut the umbilical cord, which was huge (maybe as big around as a silver dollar?) and barely fit in the clamp. My doctor said that her giant, healthy cord was the main reason she was fine despite the double nuchal. She latched onto my breast right away and sucked for an hour straight while I delivered the placenta and was stitched up (I had a third degree tear).

Chad brought Gavin in from the waiting room so he could be the first (besides us) to meet his little sister. He loved seeing her and was so sweet. We went home from the hospital on Wednesday after an uneventful stay. Miriel was nursing well and I felt pretty much fine (although I did keep taking ibuprofen for a little while). We have adjusted well, I think, to having her as part of our family, and we all love her very much.

Out of the whole thing, the worst parts for me were the two failed IV attempts and once when I got a little too much antibiotic concentration in the IV and it burned going in my veins. I'm sure those were bad moments partially because I was worried about Miriel and definitely not relaxed while all that was happening. The contractions during transition were really not high on my I-want-to-do-this-again-tomorrow list, either, but it was totally different because it felt natural and somehow good even though it was painful. Oh, and getting the local anesthetic in order to get sewed up afterward was certainly not fun. It was such a different experience than Gavin's birth - easier physically, but harder emotionally because of the waiting and worrying. I was more coherent and significantly less exhausted when Miriel was born, though, and felt like I bonded with her much more easily and quickly. It has also taken a lot longer for me to heal from tearing than from the episiotomy I had with Gavin - Miriel is 12 weeks old and I am just now almost healed (it was a fairly bad tear, though).

The best parts were certainly holding Miriel in my arms and feeding her the first time. But other things were good, too - the feeling of peace as I bounced on the birthing ball and truly trusted God for the health of my baby and whatever happened with the birth, my thankfulness and relief when that first "real" contraction started, the satisfaction and even happiness I felt that my body was doing what it was meant to do as the contractions came. Even an hour after Miriel was born, I remember thinking to myself and mentioning to someone "This wasn't so bad - I could do this again." (That was not the case an hour after Gavin's birth - I distinctly remember thinking "I'd bet I'll think that this wasn't so bad in a few weeks, but right now I really don't relish the thought of repeating this ever again.")

For Mimi and Papa

2010-04-27T15:55:00.001-07:00

My parents sent Miriel and Gavin some cute outfits recently, and I put the little dress they sent on Miriel today and snapped a couple quick shots (don't look too closely - a couple are a bit blurry).

Fabric Softener

2010-04-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

... makes my husband look like this (and worse), all over his body, for at least a week. And apparently it feels worse than it looks. Ugh. Somehow when I purchased the all-natural, 4-ingredient, new laundry detergent (Ecos) I didn't realize that the coconut-based "softener" in it was the same thing that he's allergic to in Downy (which is, by the way, mostly made out of a derivative of sheep, cattle and horse fat). Unfortunately, we've had the new detergent in our home for a few months, and I used it here and there before we ran out of the other detergent last week and then did 5 loads of laundry in the new stuff. That means I have no idea what actually got washed in the Ecos detergent, and now I get to wash everything in our whole house, twice, with second rinses and adding vinegar, to make sure there is no residue on anything. At least now I'm pretty sure of what it is that he's allergic to (the actual "softening" ingredient - quats) and I will make sure to avoid it at all costs from now on!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

We hope you had a wonderful Easter full of the love of Jesus and the celebration of His wonderful gift of life! Unfortunately we weren't able to make it to a church service today because Gavin has a cough and runny nose, Miriel has a cold, and Chad broke out Saturday night with a nasty rash from an allergic reaction to our new laundry detergent (after we had finally gotten all 5 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded and mostly put away - ugh). We did get to enjoy time with family today, though.

Miriel is full of smiles lately (see the photo at the top of the page) and likes to make adorable cooing noises every once in a while. She's not even really upset with having the cold (yet, at least), just sleeping more. We are so thankful! Gavin continues to be full of fun and energy but has been a little more difficult lately, probably due to his top 2-year molars coming in, his cough and generally not getting enough sleep because of those things.

Here are Gavin and Miriel sporting their Easter garb!

Friends

2010-03-21T15:32:00.001-07:00

Gavin and Miriel have added quite a few babies to their group of friends recently! I had a fun time photographing two of them, Ella and Charlie, who were both born in January. These were the first newborns I have photographed, and the first time using a 2-light setup (Charlie's photos only) so it was definitely a learning experience! Both babies are about 2 1/2 months old now, but these photos are from when they were about 2 weeks old.

Ella belongs to our dear friends Jason and Amy. They have a special place in my heart for lots of reasons, but most recently because much of their experience with Ella so far is similar to our experience with Gavin when he was a baby. It is a difficult time for them but they are persevering and doing an amazing job loving their beautiful baby girl, no matter the circumstances. My favorite thing right now about Ella is her adorable cooing! Those little happy noises just get my heart.

Charlie belongs to David and Amber. We have known David for a while but have only known Amber since they moved to Portland last summer. It has been fun to watch David as a father, and I have really enjoyed Amber's friendship through our pregnancies and now as we both have newborns. I really love Charlie's forehead wrinkles and how much he looks like his dad!

Happy Spring!

2010-03-20T21:03:00.001-07:00

~~Yesterday~~ Saturday was a beautiful, warm day in Portland. (I originally started this post on Saturday night, then finished most of it on Sunday and now am finally posting it on Monday. The life of a mom, I tell you - nothing ever gets finished in one sitting). Despite the fact that there are a million things we could have been doing at home, several of which desperately need to be done, we decided to take advantage of the weather and go on a walk. We walked to the MAX station, rode the train downtown, went to Finnegan's toy store and got Gavin a 48-piece puzzle (because he has mastered all the 24-piece puzzles we have for him) and had an early dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery. It was so nice to be outside! It did take us a good 1.5 hours or so to get out of the house, but that's faster than the 4 hours it took me a few days ago (without Chad) to leave for a dentist appointment. (No, I don't have pictures. I didn't take the camera because we were carrying enough to clothe, diaper and feed an army already.)

Speaking of getting out of the house, that's something I feel like we don't do much of these days. I've chickened out of taking both Gavin and Miriel to the grocery store multiple times now, mainly because just the thought of getting everyone to a point where we can walk out the door is overwhelming, not to mention how to manage them when we finally get to the store (especially if it's Trader Joe's, where the carts are small and, although they will hold the carseat, they won't hold anything else). And the time, too - at least 1.5 hours, if we don't try to shower. If I want to be clean, probably more like 2.5 hours. Or 4+ if Miriel is fussy, needs many diaper and clothing changes, and everything ends up taking so long that we then have to make and eat lunch, like a few days ago. I totally agree with my friend Kate (who also has two little ones), who says it's the logistics that get you with two. The getting-out-of-the-house thing is especially confounding when Miriel cries or wakes up within 3 minutes of me putting her down (I would say that this happens nearly all the time, except that it hasn't been happening consistently for the past 2 days, for which I am incredibly grateful. Edit - we're back to Miriel needing to be held most of the time again). Thankfully it's still March and often rainy, so I don't feel compelled to leave too much, and Gavin is pretty happy playing inside or in the back yard most of the time, too. And I am ever so thankful that Chad is home a lot and lets me go to the grocery store by myself. (Another edit - I went to the grocery store today and took Gavin. It's amazing how easy it felt to take just him - and not be hugely pregnant - now that I could be taking two!)

(About that 48-piece puzzle - after doing it the first time with Chad, Gavin did it mostly by himself the second time, with a few hints here and there from me. And today (yes, Monday) I did very little helping and he finished the whole thing. I guess we'll be back at the store for another one soon... maybe 80 pieces next time?)

By the way, I did in fact take that photo of Miriel I said I would take. I even took some of Gavin, too. (And then the next day I took some more, because I wasn't satisfied with the first ones.) Here's proof:

And the next day's photos...

2010-03-13T22:03:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I don't write because it's been so long that I feel guilty and obligated to catch up on everything from the last post until the current. Yes, that's ridiculous, but it happens. Just like I feel guilty that I haven't taken a single photograph of Miriel (who is currently 4 1/2 weeks old) since she turned 1 week old and therefore feel like I need to take lots of photos of her when I finally do get out the camera, and good ones, so I don't end up getting out the camera at all since it's a big task. Well, today I am writing in this blog, at least a few sentences about each of my wonderful children, and tomorrow (when she is awake) I will take at least one photograph of Miriel and not obsess about it being a spectacular one.

Miriel continues to be overall a mellow and happy baby, and we are so thankful. She's the cutest to me when she's awake and alert, looking around and making faces. I love to see her smiles, even though they're not predictable and I cannot manage to elicit one no matter how hard I try (yes, I know it's really too early for that anyway). She loves to cuddle and be held. In the last few days she has gotten baby acne (or possibly a rash). When we weighed her at my in-laws on Thursday, she was 9 pounds 3 ounces - almost 3 pounds more than when she came home from the hospital 4 weeks before. The last week or so she has been a little more fussy and less happy to be put down, anywhere or any time, so I have been getting considerably less done. (But it's hard to get "considerably less" done that what I had been doing, since that was very little to start with - which, by the way, I am not feeling guilty about.) As far as I have read, though, this is normal and she'll start getting less fussy and develop more of a sleeping pattern in a couple more weeks. (Miriel so far has pretty much followed the general pattern of what is "normal" in the baby books, very much unlike her brother.)

Gavin's most recent development is his imagination, which has completely taken off in the last month. He has been coming up with all kinds of amazing comlex things lately and never fails to give us a good laugh. One of his favorites right now is to look for lions and tigers and wolves in the bushes (any bushes, anywhere) with a stick (and yes, he came up with this all by himself). What he really wants is for one of us to look with him and then say "roar" loudly and grab his shoulders, scaring him a little, and then he giggles and wants to do it all over, again and again. He has tons of energy and fills our days with life. Along with his exploding imagination he has also started to become afraid of things in his room at night, which has been interesting to help him deal with (and we haven't quite figured it out yet). Learning how to discipline him as he gets older is always a challenge for us but so far (at least recently) it feels like a good one, keeping us on our toes and helping us to grow and learn as parents.

Several people have asked how it's going getting adjusted to having two children, and I really have felt so far that it is a much easier experience for us than having the first one was. Emotionally, I am not wrung out by an always-fussing baby whom I can't figure out what's wrong with or how to console. Instead I have a happy and fun toddler keeping my mind occupied and a cuddly baby to snuggle with. Not that Gavin doesn't ever throw fits and Miriel doesn't ever cry or have gas or just get uncomfortable and fussy, definitely to the contrary! But it's not all day every day. And I have perspective. We made it through the always-fussing never-happy baby to get to the energetic smiling toddler. Nothing lasts forever, and when Miriel gets gassy and irritated or I get 5 hours of sleep divided up into 3 segments because Miriel wanted to eat 3 times during the night and Gavin was up twice, I know because of experience that we can get through it, the gassiness will pass and every night won't be like that. And I also know that, for this newborn stage, two weeks from now things will likely be quite different from how they are at the moment. Miriel will probably be sleeping for longer stretches at night, at least sometimes, and her digestive tract will be more developed. I think this time around I am getting the opportunity to enjoy having a newborn, being present in and thankful for the moment. Not that I always do, but I often do, and that is such a blessing.

Welcome Miriel Salome!

2010-02-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

Miriel was born a week ago, February 8, weighing 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 inches long. Her birth story will come soon, but for a quick synopsis, she was born naturally (but with the aid of a tiny bit of pitocin) after 2 hours of active labor and was healthy despite the umbilical cord being wrapped around her neck twice. We are so thankful for a quick and healthy delivery! Miriel is a happy, content and sleepy baby and, so far, cries only when she's hungry or gassy (which is not often). We are all in love with her, and Gavin is so tender and loving with his baby sister.

When considering her name, we first decided on her initials, MSY, which are the same as mine. When I was born, my dad gave me his initials (MHS) and, although she will likely change her initials someday, I wanted to continue/start the tradition on my side of the family. Also, my dad's mom and grandmother both had first names starting with M (they were both Margaret), so we are continuing the M names. Miriel (pronounced to rhyme with "cereal", and a spelling derivative of Muriel) was a name that Chad and I both ended up liking (a major accomplishment) and Gavin approved of and even remembered for two weeks without being reminded.

We actually decided on her middle name first (pronounced sa-lohm), because it means "peace." (Miriel means "sea bright, so together, if you finagle the words a little, Miriel Salome means "bright sea of peace.") Peace and it's source, Christ's authority in my life, have been major themes for me in the last few years, especially after having Gavin and going through the first 6-ish months of his life when he was fussy and generally unhappy all the time. Although I had/have no wishes to have a similar experience with this baby, I have learned to trust that God will give me the grace to go through whatever it is that He has for me, and whatever He gives is actually the best and perfect gift, fashioned especially to grow and shape me exactly in the best way. It doesn't matter what her disposition is or will be because trusting in Christ's perfect plan and love for me is the source of peace. (I have been pleasantly surprised so far, though, to find that she seems to like the meaning of her name and is quite glad to be peaceful.)

Photo of Gavin

2009-11-19T21:04:00.000-08:00

I've been tinkering with "photoshop actions" in Photoshop Elements and came up with this photo I thought I'd share. That's all! Maybe more interesting things to come.

Tender Moments

2009-11-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

Gavin and I were both extra cranky today. He's been lacking some sleep lately and was hungry without my realizing it several times. I seem to have a little extra dose of pregnancy hormones helping me to be moody and irritable for a few days (well, hopefully it's just for a few days!). So putting our two ornery selves together made for a rather frustrating day for both of us. But God gently reminded me tonight what a rewarding and wonderful experience this being-a-mother thing is, even including the daily grind of discipline and teething, sleeping and eating.

When Gavin was a baby (maybe a month or two old) I made up a simple song to sing to him while he nursed before taking a nap or sleeping for the night. Whenever he got old enough to have and express a preference, he started telling me not to sing the song (probably because he knew it meant he had to go to sleep!), so I got out of the habit of singing it to him. Tonight as I was rocking him (for the second time) I decided to try it again, and to my surprise he listened closely and looked up at me while I sang. He asked me to sing it again another 3 or 4 times (it's kind of long!) and then pulled my face down to his and gave me kisses for a minute or two. Then when I put him in his bed he pulled my hand to his mouth and kissed it, too. It was so touching for him to spontaneously express such love to me in the ways I usually express it to him. (I have to say I'm also relieved to know that my song doesn't seem to bring tortuous memories to him since he almost always cried before going to sleep!)

Thank you, Jesus, for these beautiful gifts in the midst of the daily struggles of being a mother that help me remember to be thankful for the amazing blessing my child is to me.

Halloween

2009-11-01T18:06:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we took Gavin trick-or-treating to friends' houses in our neighborhood and then to Grandma's house, where we spent the night (so Gavin could potentially get some sleep, which didn't happen since he was up from 1-4am - thankfully the second 1am and not the first, so *just* 3 hours. However, we didn't find out about this until morning thanks to a very kind Grandma who stayed up with him and probably majorly needed a nap today). Anyway, a few weeks ago we went looking for costumes a couple times and finally found a tow truck costume at Goodwill, which Gavin was quite thrilled about. He was also pretty thrilled to actually wear the costume (at least after we were out the door) and quickly got the hang of knocking, saying "trick-or-treat" and picking a piece of candy. This morning as we got into the van to come home, he asked "where are we going to trick-or-treat?" It was fun to watch Gavin enjoy himself, and we enjoyed getting to see friends and family (several of Chad's aunts and uncles were at his parents' house).

Sugar and Spice...

2009-10-07T12:19:00.001-07:00

... and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of!

Absence explained

2009-09-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

You might have been wondering why my blog posts suddenly and (almost) completely stopped. Well, a very tiny little baby suddenly caused a dramatic change in my daily life - tiny, meaning, at the time about the size of a lentil, and now something like the size of a turnip. We anticipate meeting this little one at the end of February :). I've been feeling baby movements since about 13 1/2 weeks and Chad got to feel the baby for the first time today (17 1/2 weeks).

Unlike my pregnancy with Gavin, this pregnancy has pretty much knocked me out of the normally-functioning world for a good 2 1/2 months, so blogging was one of the first things to go (soon after were washing the dishes, menu planning, cooking, pretty much anything involving food or the thought of it, cleaning the house, etc. etc.). Perhaps I'll be back to it soon, although the bathrooms are a little higher priority than the blog at the moment...

Random Events

2009-09-06T20:54:00.001-07:00

Here are a few things from the past week or so that I found funny and didn't want to forget:

On Wednesday, Gavin was in his crib for "nap time" (though it was really just "alone time" that day since he was not interested in sleeping, which is a fairly common occurrance) talking and playing for about an hour or a little more. Suddenly I heard his bedroom door open and he walked into where I was saying, "I got it!" (meaning, he finally figured out how to get out of his crib). Thankfully he didn't hurt himself climbing out! On Thursday, he climbed out again after about half an hour and managed to bruise his chin (mildly). I was firm that time about getting back in the crib and staying there (the first time I couldn't quit laughing), so hopefully he won't keep up the trend. (We were away for the weekend so he hasn't had the opportunity to try it again.)

Early Thursday morning, Gavin climbed into his high chair, so I asked him if he was hungry. "What would you like for breakfast? Pancakes?" The reply, in a most serious voice: "jellybeans." (We ended up settling on grapes and avocado instead.)

Today Gavin was, again, asking for "trail mik" for a snack as we drove home from eastern Oregon. Although we have pronounced "trail mix" for him so he could easily hear the last sound and he usually pronounces nearly everything extremely clearly, we've not been able to help him understand that the sound is "ks" instead of "k" at the end of "mix". Chad told me he finally figured out that when Gavin says "trail mik", he's not stubbornly mispronouncing it - Gavin actually thinks he's saying the singular form of "trail mix" (and that "trail mix" is plural).

Speaking of mispronouncing, Gavin saves his stubborn mispronunciation for the word "jar." His little "computer" has a game on it where it asks you to press a letter on the keyboard, and when you get it right it says something like "Wow, cool! A is for apple!". In this case, J is for jar. Gavin first repeated the word as "yar," and because we know he is perfectly capable of correctly pronouncing J (like in "jump" and "jellybean") and actually likes to get the pronunciation right, we said, "actually, it's jar. Can you say jar?" Somehow he found the mispronounciation funny and now finds great pleasure in saying "yar!" loudly every time the game asks for J, looking around to make sure we are paying attention.