Life at Three Months

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Three months have gone by since I welcomed my sweet, sweet Sadie into the world. That day was phenomenal. So here are some things happening:

Sadie doesn't like to fall asleep. We bounce, rock, sway most of the day away. I'll put her in bed and 20 minutes later we're right back at it. It ususally takes me a few tries before she's finally asleep.
Ella is my easy sleeper. I put her in bed and she will sing to herself or lie there quietly until she's asleep. That was a long hard road when she was a baby, but i see now it was worth all the tears (mine AND hers).

Sadie is nursing (mostly. i have a milk supply problem so i'm supplementing 2-4 oz a day)
Ella is becoming a much less picky eater (due to mom and dad laying down the law at the table. it's hard work, but it is good for her)

Sadie is finally getting her voice. She talks and tries to laugh, but still hasn't quite got that part figured out. It comes out more like a cough.
Ella is fantastically smart. She can count to 20 (sometimes), count to 7 in Spanish, knows some sign language, prays for our meals, and loves referring to people by their nicknames. She calls me Paigerator most of the time and she LOVES her Grandazzle. :)

Sadie loves Baby Einstein. I can already tell that she loves music. She loves when I sing to her. She also loves being at church on Sundays. The music soothes her so much. (I think it's Laurie who soothes her. Connection, maybe?)
Ella loves baby Einstein. We spend many car rides singing Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Your Boat, Mary Had A Little Lamb, ABC's, Taylor Swift, The Zac Brown Band...pretty much anything we can think to sing. Josh just bought her a CD player for her room and she has the Taylor Swift CD that she can turn on and listen to it when she's getting ready for bed or waking up in the morning.

Sadie used to be a snugglebug. She has now decided she would rather have her own space.
Ella was never a snugglebug. I do get LOTS of hugs and kisses these days, though.

Sadie is FULL of smiles and she is absolutely a joy. We have some pretty difficult days sometimes, but she's an incredible addition to our family. I can't put into words how much I love that little girl.
Ella is also FULL of smiles. She even cooperates and smiles for the camera now! And she'll let me put her hair in a ponytail (sometimes). I can't believe she used to be a 3 month old. I don't remember when she grew up. I know one day I'm going to wake up and she's going to be 13. I don't want to think about it. She fills my heart with joy.

Sadie was a swing-baby. She would sit/sleep in her swing for 4 hours stretches. I called the swing my baby-sitter. But she's starting to move beyond the swing. She loves her bouncy seat right now. But mostly, she loves to be talked to and held. She will talk, laugh, and smile at you all day long if you have the time.
Ella loves play-dough, dancing, coloring, painting, dancing, reading, swimming, and dancing. Oh, and did I mention dancing??? We "get funky" in the car all the time. She asks me to find a funky song and we dance our little hearts out. I think the cars passing us think we have lost our minds. Or at least that I have. They probably don't see that I'm entertaining a 2-year old. More like she's entertaining me.

Life is great. I keep thinking something terrible has to be around the corner because there's no way I can get away with life being this good for too much longer. Josh is my rock. When I have bad days (yesterday) he swoops in and makes everything better. He started back to school yesterday. He's gone on Mon, Tues, Weds until 11 PM. It's difficult trying to figure out how to do this without his help. I'm not used to being outnumbered! Ella is so stinking easy these days. Sadie, however, is a muuuuuch different story. I'm sure I'll get a routine figured out sooner or later.

sisters

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

I felt so sorry for ella when I found out I was having another girl. I never had a sister. I never had to share my clothes, my friends, my room, my bathroom. I never really had to share anything. Having three older brothers, well they didn't care about having anything that was mine. So I felt sorry for her to have to share with her sister. It sounds miserable to me. Well, I don't feel sorry for her anymore:



Playing under the blanket together
Ella was explaining the cartoon to Sadie


My beautiful girls



Ella asks me all the time if Sadie can sleep in her bed yet



The first few days - Ella had no trouble welcoming her into the family
I love that they have each other and love each other so much already in these short three months. 

Sadie Emalyn Park

Monday, August 16, 2010

Sadie was born on May 20, 2010 at 2:49 in the afternoon. She weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. She *insisted* on showing her big sister up in the size department! All in all, it was a very easy labor and delivery. Aside from some epidural mishaps, it eventually started working after a LOT of pokes and everything was breezy from there. Laurie came and took pictures during the labor and delivery process. I was a little apprehensive about how the day would play out. When I had Ella, the only other non-medical person in the room with me was Josh. Those of you who are Moms know that labor and delivery are not a mother's finest moments. Things can get intense...and downright gross. Josh vowed to love me for better or worse almost six years ago, so he had to love me no matter what happened in the delivery room. Having Laurie there for the pictures was amazing. She was so awesome about making sure that I wasn't uncomfortable with her being in there and my Mom also was able to stay in the room. Getting the hear the very first sounds of a new baby's life is truly amazing. Laurie took some incredible pictures that I would have missed had she not been in there. I never realized that the baby gets it's hair washed and those are probably my favorite pictures. I missed a lot of those first moments with Ella because even though the baby is here, Mom's job isn't done. So I got to see what I missed through her pictures of Sadie. The two most incredible moments of my life were bringing my two daughters into this world. I am really looking forward to doing it a third time, just not anytime soon. Because I REALLY don't miss being pregnant.



I'm going to share some of my favorite pictures from Sadie's journey into this world. And don't worry, I won't share the gross ones. :)





This one is funny to me:






she's perfect - finally posting this!

It's funny to go back and read this. Ella was so easy then, then she got crazy after Sadie got here, and now she's easy again. It's crazy how cyclical kids are! It's always changing. I was so worried about Sadie's arrival being a negative thing for Ella, but it's been the best thing for her. She absolutely loves being a big sister. It's like I gave her the best present ever. She doesn't resent me at all for having to take care of Sadie, she takes it all in stride and she's so helpful. She is an amazing, perfect little girl and I love her so much!

5/6/2010

I have the easiest two year old right now. It's perfect timing, considering I'm about to have a newborn. She may regress when the baby gets here, but she and I have been having so much fun lately. She hardly ever gets into trouble. When we're at home, she tells me "Mommy, I want to take a nap" and so we go upstairs and about thirty seconds later, she's in bed and I'm on my own for the next 2 to 3 hours. She sleeps so well at night, she's potty trained (mostly), and we hardly ever have to discipline. She's good with her please's and thank you's and she's hardly ever moody. There are some times when she's so hyper that I get completely unnerved by it, but it's not so often anymore so that's good! She's still not good at sharing with other kids, but I figure that's because it has always been just her and she hasn't had to share yet. She's also the only girl in her class at Little Hands, so I'm sure she spends a lot of time defending herself from the boys! We've been having a lot of fun mommy/daughter time lately because I'm so worried about how she's going to react to Sadie's arrival. I already have to compete with Daddy so much as it is, I'm nervous that when I'm tending to a baby all day long, she's really going to resent me. My plan, as of now, is to include her in as much as I can and hopefully she will enjoy being my little helper.



We got down the bouncy chair, the infant car seat, and the swing last night so that I could strip them down and wash the pads. It's weird seeing all of this stuff again and remembering that Ella used to be small enough for all of these things. I still can't believe how much they grow up and you watch it the entire time, yet you don't realize it's happening. I love being a mother. I love my little Ella and I am so thrilled about our upcoming addition. I keep wishing it would happen, but I guess I need to work on my patience. Ella asks me a lot if Sadie is here yet. We're both ready! :)

I miss you, miss you

One year ago today was one of the saddest days of my life. Late on the night of the 15th we learned that you died. It was the most shocking phone call I've ever received. I remember where we were, what we were doing, who called, where I was sitting, who I was with....I remember it all. But it didn't really hit me until the next day. You really were gone. The timing was tragic. The circumstances were awful. You, one of my best friends who was so full of life, was suddenly in an instant taken from this world. You were such a big part of my life. You were there through high school, an annoying sophomore always begging for rides home from school :), you were there through my crappy boyfriends, you were there for me when I was really wrecking my life to bring me back on course, you were most of the reason I finally found Josh and you helped us make it through our rough patches, you were there for me through both deployments to Iraq even though you were the one at war and I was still in the comfort of my own home, the tattoo parlor when we got matching tattoos, you were there at my wedding, you were there through all my crap. I hope I was there for you as much as you were for me. You always brought me down to earth when my hot-headed self would get a little crazy. You took good care of me. I was telling Josh the other day how I never worried about you when y'all were in Iraq. I always worried about Josh, but I always just knew you were going to be fine. You were larger than life. It's still unbelievable that we lost you. Afghanistan is a shitty country. I hate that that's where you took your last breath. I still have dreams about you. Usually they consist of some weird circumstances where I am trying to take care of you (during a hurricane). I'm not much into dream analyzation, but I assume it is my need to control what happens in life. I couldn't control the reality of your life, so in my dreams I try. I can't imagine how hard it is for Nicole and Addy or for your parents. We were just friends and I'm still devastated by your absence. But I know where you are today. I find so much comfort in that. Your dad said some really great stuff at church yesterday and it was really helpful for my healing to hear how he and Andrea have been healing. We can find joy and happiness in the fact that we will all be reunited with you again one day. I look at Addy growing up through pictures and she looks just like you. I wish I could just sit and hug her. She is the closest thing to you left on this earth. We had a family picnic on Saturday so we could all get together and remember you in our own ways. We rented one of those moonwalk waterslides and all I could think about was when Wally bought one of those and we busted it really late at night. And since Wal-Mart was 24 hours, Wally went and bought another one :) We were some crazy kids. Your dad and Andrea came to the picnic. I love getting to sit and talk with him because he has your laugh. He laughs and I am taken back into all of the wonderful memories with you. I miss you every day. I think about you all the time. Rest in peace, my friend. I will see you again someday.

The night will go on, my little windmill.