Four Months and early Easter Pics

Elizabeth had a great visit to her pediatrician for her four-month check up. Well, I thought it went well overall; she did not appreciate the shots! She was 14 pounds, 1 ounce (50th percentile), 25.125 inches (75th percentile), and her head, much like her brother's (without all the hydrocephalus worry), is big and in the 80th percentile.

Pop-Pop and Gamma Jan came this past weekend, and we had a lot of fun with an early Easter egg hunt, good meals, and lots of snuggles for baby E.

Some Pictures

Elizabeth turned four months last week, I went back to work a month ago, and it's hard to know where the time is going. In the interest of getting something on the blog before it all leaves my head, here are some quick milestone and recent photos and videos:

Elizabeth's milestones to date:
6 weeks - smiled purposefully (lots of sleep smiles before that)
8 weeks - laughed
11 weeks - rolled over tummy to back (repeated 4 times in a row and only sporadically since then; getting close to back to tummy - if only that darn head didn't weigh her down! :))
4 months - finds her feet - what fun!

A little bit of snow in Raleigh; I think this is it for Winter 2011-12

Our big guy loves his bike!

3 Months Old!

Go devils!! (until next year...)

Feet!

Bear Photos

Here are our cuties with their bears. We'll photograph Elizabeth each month for the first year and every 6 months thereafter, like Jake. As you can see, Elizabeth's bear is quite a bit bigger than Jake's. That seems only fair - given the 7 pound head start she had on him in life. :) Here's to growing!!

Three and a half years old!

One Month!

Two Months!

I've read a fair amount about parents worried about comparing their kids. I think it's inevitable and unavoidable, and I think it's fine - as long as you aren't trying to make one out to be "better" or "worse" than the other. For us, the size comparisons are, not surprisingly, the ones that come up most. And then we also compare how "easy" it is to have a full-term infant vs. a preemie. (Not that I'm saying full-term infants are easy!) I used to think that having a full-term infant first would have made the preemie experience a lot easier. I now fully believe that the opposite is true. With Jake, Jeff and I only had a vague notion of what "normal" was; we didn't really know what all was different. Now that we've had a full-term baby, we fully understand how coming home on six different medicines (all on their own schedules), needing to feed every 3 hours and then be held up for 15 minutes for reflux, going to multiple doctor's appointments in one month, and all the other things we did with Jake were different. And we realize all over again how hard they were and that we all made it through and are so grateful to be where we are now.

Finally, a little headshot of Elizabeth after a bath. She's normally very smiley, but I was mostly trying to capture the hair - it's so curly when it's wet!

Elizabeth Marion Walker

Baby Girl joined us on 11/11/11 at 11:08 am. She was 9 pounds, 2 ounces and 21.5 inches long. 10 fingers and 10 toes! Her middle name - Marion - is a family name, just like Jake's middle name is. "Colorado Grandma" was Jessie Marion, although everyone called her Marion (if they didn't call her Colorado Grandma :)), and sharing a name with such a special person means a lot to Jeff and me. We learned later from my Great Uncle Al that Elizabeth is a family name on the Robinson side. Elizabeth's great-great-great grandmother was Elizabeth, as was her great-great aunt (Uncle Al's and my grandmother Helmling's oldest sister). We always called her Aunt Dee so I'd forgotten her name was Elizabeth. As for a nickname, we haven't given her one besides Pookie (or Pokey as my dad started calling her as her due date came and went). Stay tuned to see if she becomes Liz or Betsy (or Zab or Eli or any of the other names that have been suggested).

Very happy Mom and Baby after delivery.

Snuggle with Dad

Meeting big brother

Wheeled out of the hospital with our "take home baby." Incredible moment for us (even if Elizabeth cried for the whole walk :)).

We are adjusting to life as a family of four, and I'm hoping to chronicle some of our family happenings so that Elizabeth has something of an electronic baby book/blog like Jake does.

October Fall Fun!

October was a pretty busy month as we got ready for Baby Girl to come, Jeff and Jake took their first guys' trip, and we took part in a lot of the fun things that seem to pop up around town before Halloween.

Here's a video of Jake with the ladies at dance class. He usually takes gymnastics, but he had some makeups to do so we gave dance a try.

That's a lot of bubbles!


Jeff and Jake took off for Colorado in early October to go to cousin Cassie's wedding. I got some nice quiet alone time at home! Jeff went minimalist on the trip, so I don't have many pictures to share! I hear the wedding was beautiful, and Jake still talks about Cassie's pretty dress and all the fun he had that weekend with Pop-pop, Gammy Jan, Aunt Shanda, MacKenzie, Aunt Georgia, and Uncle Denny. And of course, cousin Todd. We miss them all!!


The Durant Halloween Nature Trail was very cool and I predict it becomes an annual tradition.

Hay ride (and the terrible fake smile)

Artsy...

Making pipe cleaner spiders...

Always fun with Aunt Kat and Cousin Lily!

Jake finally decided on the clown costume for Halloween; he thought about being a pumpkin, a dog, a bear (again), and a deer. This is the same costume I wore 31 years ago that my mom made. Sweet Chloe is so good with Jake, even as she shows her age...


We also went back to Hill Ridge Farms ("the pumpkin patch" as Jake calls it). He LOVED the new inflatable pillow. A bounce house without walls or a ceiling. Very cool.



He's growing!


Giant slide was a hit (at least with Jake - apparently it's corrugated on the inside too - fun for Dad!)




Jake was a model at the March of Dimes' Precious Preemies Fashion Show at Saks. He was not so into it at the time, but then told Dad "That was fun! That was fun" when he got back to the dressing room. However, he just now told Gramma B "it wasn't very fun and that's why I didn't like that." Maybe he won't be following in Aunt Jen's footsteps.

In his green room. :)

Likes the outfit (no, we didn't pick out Polo! Saks did)

Looking good!

Ready to go!

Not so ready to go...

Finally we had a cold, rainy Halloween, but that didn't stop our little clown and Green Lantern from getting some candy! (nor Aunt Kat, Aunt Jen, and Dad). I sat on the porch and waited on trick-or-treaters (and baby girl) to come!

27 weeks, 6 days...30 weeks

So here's what I wrote 2 weeks, 1 day ago:

"We've made it. Pookie and I are at 27 weeks, 6 days which means I'm now more pregnant than I've ever been. The last four weeks have been nervewracking - especially when I gained 3 pounds in 2 days a few weeks ago and thought for sure I was taking on excess fluid again. Alas, I was back down 2 pounds 2 days after that and my ultrasound revealed totally normal fluid levels. We will gladly take all the normal we can get.

So, so grateful today and starting to breath a little easier..."

And then I failed to post it. So, now you'll get a bonus belly shot of me - 29 weeks, 5 days pregnant and a few random pictures from this summer.

Here Jake is finishing up the Spring semester at the Little Gym. He'll be back in the fall, as his pediatrician has told us to keep him in gymnastics until he screams and yells and tells us he hates it (gymnastics is one of the best things we can do to continue to develop his core strength and gross motor skills). Luckily for us, he still loves going!





Festival for the Eno is a(n almost) yearly Fourth of July weekend tradition for us:



Fourth of July fireworks with Lily and Aunt Kat. So nice to have family here!! But I guess Jake was a little more freaked out than we realized. ;)




On the plane to Papaw George and Gamma B's making his best Papaw George face (Papaw did this one day on skype and it has since become "the Papaw George face"):




At the awesome playground by my parent's house in Indy. He's the little guy at least two stories up:


Licking the beater after helping me make zucchini bread using Colorado Grandma's recipe and GG (Grandma Helmling)'s mixer:


First nap in his "Big Boy" bed. The first night in his big boy bed he woke up crying at 2 and I instantly caved and put him back in his crib. Second night he woke up and I went and laid with him (fell asleep on his bed because I'd already been up over an hour - thanks pregnancy insomnia!). Third night and every night since he has slept all night and done great!!


Up next, some photos from our week on Bald Head Island and maybe a video of a baby turtle making his way to sea...