A Very Purple Christmas

We’re not exactly sure how he did it, but Santa brought Bella quite the surprise for Christmas: a purple door and two gallons of purple paint! He was so quiet about painting that door that not Bella, nor her Daddy or I heard him painting it. Santa really is magic!

The two days after Christmas, Daddy worked on “the project Santa left for him,” and got Bella’s room perfectly purple-y. She loves it loves it loves it. And we do, too.

the door

Bella helps out with the painting

…and done!

Two Months with Sera

 

I cannot believe that it has already been two months! I suppose that the holidays made the time go by more quickly, but it hardly seems possible that Sera has been with us for two months already. I cannot get over how easy-going she is. I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. So easy.

Motherhood the second time is so much different. When Bella arrived, I was so set on doing everything right. It had to be perfect. She had to sleep.in.her.bed. She had to eat every.three.hours. Her binkie had to be sterilized every.time.it.fell. I didn’t want to hold her too much. I wanted her on a schedule. Truthfully, I wanted everyone to see what a great mom I was. And, truthfully, I didn’t really enjoy the time I had with her.

I’m proud to say that I’ve learned my lesson. I now rock my baby whenever I want to. She sleeps in my arms, in her bouncy seat, on the couch between us at night, and *gasp* in our bed in the wee hours of the morning when she’s just been fed and I need just an hour or two more of sleep. She eats when she’s hungry. We have somewhat of a schedule. And I don’t really care if I’m doing it right in the eyes of the world. I’m doing what’s right for me and Sera. And I’m enjoying every minute of my time with her.

At two months, she’s still not the most exciting little thing on the planet, but she has mastered a few skills:

• fist sucking
• drooling copiously
• randomly hitting her butterfly or ladybug toys
• sleeping in a sleep sack in her crib in her room for up to 6 hours a night
• making her sister make silly faces
• raising one eyebrow
• cooing
• flashing her dimples
• social smiles for her peeps

It’s been a fantastic two months. I really am the luckiest mom around.

4 weeks

Four weeks ago, I held a brand new baby girl in my arms. Since then, life around here has definitely changed. Before I say any more, I must take a minute to recognize what a team my husband and I make. Honestly. I don’t always acknowledge it or even say it out loud, but I’m really lucky that we chose each other fifteen years ago. Having him in my life makes hard times easier, decision-making clearer, sleepless nights shorter, and my attitude better. I’m so glad we’re raising this family together.

As with Bella, nursing has been a bit of  a challenge with Sera. We started out like gangbusters, but her weight gain was not as it should be (did you know newborns are supposed to gain an ounce a day? wth?). So, I made an appointment with a lactation consultant. A week after our meeting, Sera still wasn’t gaining appropriately, so I am now officially a mama cow until we can meet with an OT to see if she has oral-motor issues. Fingers crossed that all of this works itself out. And if not, I’m really okay with that, too. I knew that nursing was not a strong point for me last time, so this time I made relaxing about it a priority. So far, so good.

Aside from the eating “issues” (really, this has been the hardest thing for us), Sera is the easiest baby around. She is content to hang out on the bed while I fold laundry. She puts up with her sister’s prodding and singing and endless hugs and kisses. Her cousins run around her, hollering and carrying on, and she just sleeps. We hit the jackpot! Within the past week, she’s found her “witching” hour — between 8 and 11 PM… which means we have to hold her  a little more, offer her food a little more, and bounce her around a bit more. But the complaining ceases and she falls asleep contentedly. How did I get so lucky?

Since Sereneda’s arrival, we’ve been quite busy away from home, as well. I completed my Ed.S. degree. My nephew premiered his first short film, The Universe II. And we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Georgia extended family. I’m learning how to maneuver getting a preschooler out the door and manage to get myself and Sera ready on days we have doctor’s appointments or other places to be. Z is learning how to survive three women in the house.

As we gear up for Christmas and I gear down from the stresses of graduate school and work, I’m looking forward to doing a lot more reading for pleasure, finally getting into some scrapping again, and making friends with George, the treadmill, again.

The other thing I’m going to try is this. Got the idea from here. And maybe a little of this, too. Regardless, I’m going to enjoy every minute of this holiday season with my family.

Swinging

Things are definitely swinging around here! We’re all learning about ourselves and how our relationships are changing now that we’re a family of four. I’m working on patience. Bella is learning how to share her parents. Z is just getting used to all the estrogen in the house.

It was a perfect day to get outside for a hike — fresh air, time together, and some exercise. I’m moving more and more each day, albeit slowly. We dive into solo Mommy tomorrow — with Grammy on call in case we need some back up.

For right now, I’m enjoying these two:

And doing a lot of this:

Life is Good.

What’s in a name?

A week ago today I was wrapping up last minute business at work, laughing with all of my coworkers who shook their heads at me as I waddled through the halls, anticipating a call from the hospital that a bed was ready for us to begin induction. This experience was a whole new ballgame for me; Bella’s birth began with my water breaking at home and holding out as long as I could before driving to the hospital. This time around, labor would begin chemcially, in the hospital already, with two very unsure parents — not unsure of how the birthing process works, but unsure of what to expect from the actual labor this time around.

Really, it wasn’t much different. The pitocin drip began around 8:30 on Friday morning. This time, I was able to labor longer without the epidural, but finally gave in around 6:00 PM. Three and a half hours (and a nap — thank you Dr. Anesthesiologist!) later, our beautiful Number Two entered the world. We named her Sereneda Gianna.

We’ve gotten many questions about the origins of Sera’s name. In June, we learned we were having a girl. From there, the name game began. We knew that after naming Number One “Isabella Gianna” we couldn’t have a Molly or a Jennifer or Jane this time around. For the next 5 months, we researched names, trying to find one that would suit our daughter and that would be just as ethnic sounding as Bella’s name. We tossed around Cecelia, Franceska, Anya, and others that were equally different. Sereneda kept coming up. We knew it was Z’s grandmother’s name, but no one called her that: the world knew her as Sally. Unbeknownst to Z’s parents — or anyone, for that matter — we chose to name our #2 Sereneda. We discussed it with Bella, and she wanted to share her middle name with her sister… hence the Gianna.

But when she arrived and we asked Z’s dad for the proper spelling of Sereneda’s name, we found out what made her name even more interesting and special. As it turns out, Bella and Sera’s great grandmother Sally was named for her paternal grandmother, Rosaria. Sally’s mother did not like the namesake or the name, so she called Sally “Serena.” In Italian, the diminutive form of Serena is Serenedda, which is what Sally’s mother called her. After some discussion, we decided to drop the second ‘d’ and spell it “Sereneda,” calling her Sera for short.*

This week has been full of adjustments and learning about each other. Bella is loving every minute of time she has with her new baby sister, and I’m loving watching the two of them together.

Wow. We’re a family of four.

*Bella knows nothing of the story of her great-grandmother Sally’s name, yet, strangely, she insists on calling her sister Rose. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide…

The Swing of Summer

I’m happy to say that instead of blogging about my summer, I’ve been enjoying time with my family this summer! Between the pool and swim lessons, carpet picnics, trips to the park and the library, nail painting, and plenty of snuggling and naps, I feel like we’ve had a pretty successful summer so far!

Bella is quickly becoming  a fish. She loves our time at the pool and has gone from clinging to Mommy to swimming with a paddleboard quite independently. She’s discovered her “underwater wings” and is venturing into the world of holding her breath and diving for toys.

I had the most amazing reunion with three of my closest friends from childhood/high school in late June. We met for a late lunch, sat down to eat, and it felt as though there weren’t 15 years separating us from each other. Love these women even still!

I’m sitting here on the eve of week long class and early mornings (boo!), and I’m still reeling from my scrappy day yesterday. Sadly, my pal Jessica*Bree is moving west, away from us, and taking her fast talking, music and TV loving, and creativity with her. We had a fantastic day yesterday scrapping the day away, talking, laughing, singing, and creating. It was the perfect sendoff for our dear friend.

(Bree is in the gray and white dress, you can see my BIG baby belly growing, and those are my ScrapGals! *photo credit to Colleen/Laura*)

Someone is enjoying her vacation!

Received some photos today of Miss Bella and her dad, Grandpa, and Grandma having a spectacular time. So glad my girl is having a blast!

Five on Friday

1. It’s the first Friday of the Summer. The house is so quiet; it’s strange. I’m really not used to this. I never lived alone. Like EVER. I’m sure the shiny newness of quiet, alone time will wear off soon. And I’m sure, too, that I’ll miss it when Z and Bella return in 10 days.

2. Miss this face:

3. And these boots:

4. I’ve been spending a lot of time doing this and that and not enough time getting things done. Yep. I’m blogging instead of cleaning, folding, or, oh I dunno, analyzing data for my thesis.

5. I’m looking forward to seeing this face again in a week and finding out if our sweet Number 2 is a sister or a brother:

April, May, and Early June 2011

Since my last post, we’ve had a so many things going on in our household:

1. Graduate school has taken over my life. In a big way. I have 4 more classes to go and then I’m done… so, watch out November 30th! You’re on my list.

2. November promises to be a big month at our house since Bella is going to be a big sister — sometime around 11/11/11. As it turns out, I was pregnant when I ran the 5K, who knew?… and it’s been a roller coaster ride ever since.

3. Z has been crazy busy with work — and this is a GOOD thing.

4. Bella finished her first year in preschool. We are so grateful to my SIL for recommending that we do it, and for being her teacher this year. My child is even more amazing because of her time at preschool this year!

5. My parents celebrated their 50th Wedding anniversary, and once we ironed out all the kinks, we had  a great time celebrating together as a family.

6. Someone turned three! Mommy has yet to write the Third Birthday Letter, but it will come very soon! Bella has celebrated twice already — once with her friends from school and once with her Georgia family. She gets to celebrate with her Oregon family very soon.

Instead of attaching picture upon picture of everything that’s happened, I’ve created three collages. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: it doesn’t get much better than this