Happy Birthday Becca!!
6 years ago
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Basketball Lessons
This picture is the only picture we got of Charlie at his basketbal lesson because that is pretty much as far as Charlie got -- he pretty much spent the whole lesson sulking next to me saying he didn't want to play basketball and that he wanted to go home, until the coach said it was time to go, then he wanted to play. Go figure.
Amelia spent his lesson decked out in my lap oblivious to the world in her new Gap outfit:
Amelia spent his lesson decked out in my lap oblivious to the world in her new Gap outfit:
Family of Four
With Jessica gone, we are settling in to being a family of four (read: WE ARE ALL ON OUR OWN WITH TWO KIDS!!)
Yesterday we went out for the first time with just the four of us -- a modest outting to be sure; we took Charlie to get his hair cut, then had lunch at Panera and I snuck in a little shopping for Amelia.
Bedtime is still the tricky part; Charlie's bedtime routine takes over an hour between tubby, getting ready, stories, and then checking in on him so he actually falls asleep without getting up a thousand times. Amelia is still in the no-real-sleep-schedule phase; she generally does not settle down for a long stretch of sleep until between 9 and 10. So bedtime reminds me of a relay race, where we're bath constantly scurrying back and forth between one child and the other.
This week is my first week on my own with Amelia -- wish me luck that it is (somewhat) smooth sailing!
Yesterday we went out for the first time with just the four of us -- a modest outting to be sure; we took Charlie to get his hair cut, then had lunch at Panera and I snuck in a little shopping for Amelia.
Bedtime is still the tricky part; Charlie's bedtime routine takes over an hour between tubby, getting ready, stories, and then checking in on him so he actually falls asleep without getting up a thousand times. Amelia is still in the no-real-sleep-schedule phase; she generally does not settle down for a long stretch of sleep until between 9 and 10. So bedtime reminds me of a relay race, where we're bath constantly scurrying back and forth between one child and the other.
This week is my first week on my own with Amelia -- wish me luck that it is (somewhat) smooth sailing!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Parenting Lessons
This morning Amelia was fussing. Charlie came right over and said gravely, "Mommy, Amelia is crying. I think you need to change her diaper!" And you know what? He was right.
More Pictures of the Newest Robinson
Here are some more pictures of Miss Amelia, some from the hospital where she got to meet her cousin Dave and Aunt Sue, and some from here at home where she has been spending some quality time with both sets of grandparents. Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Amelia's Birth Story
(since I am still cooped up in the hospital and obviously don't have enough to do...)
I started having contractions when we were out to dinner Saturday night. The prevailing theory is that the onset of labor might have had something to do with said dinner; I had three glasses of raspberry lemonade, a bowl of chilli with a healthy serving of jalapenos mixed in, texas cheese fries again with a healthy dose of jalapenos, and last but not least -- you guessed it -- jalapeno steak quesadillas. Personally, however, I feel that dinner had nothing to do with it and that Amelia simply decided she did not want to share a birthday with Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, which she would have if she'd waited until her scheduled c-section on the 12th.
Anyway, I told Mike I needed to go home and lie down, assuming that my contractions were the usual Braxton Hicks that I'd been having for weeks. Once at home, I noticed that I was not feeling the contractions in the usual place -- instead of feeling them all over or up high, they were down low. I noted this to Mandy over the phone and she said "Cross your legs till I get there!"
After I put Charlie to bed I promptly went to bed myself, thinking that I would sleep off the contractions the way I usually did But I woke up an hour later to stronger contractions which I soon realized were coming 5 minutes apart like clockwork. I got up and got a glass of water, thinking that I would drink the water and then relax for half an hour, then call Sue if I still thought I might be in labor. I got through half the glass of water before being hit with the next contraction, which was considerably stronger than the others had been. At that point I realized that a) I was definitely in labor and b) it was going to take Sue a good hour to get to the house from Billerica so I had better call her now, which I did.
While I waited for her to come I haphazardly packed my hospital bag in between contractions -- so much for the methodical packing job I had been planning to do with Mandy Monday night. I forgot a few crucial things, and randomly packed a few other things. Then I came downstairs and Mike and I waited for Sue, with me sitting on a towel because I was afraid my water was going to break on our good sofa.
By the time Sue arrived the contractions were still about 5 minute apart but they were now strong enough that they demanded my full attention; I couldn't walk or talk through them but they were still very manageable. We left for the hospital with barely a 'hi' and a 'bye' to Sue. By the time we got to the hospital the contractions had kicked up another notch and things like driving over bumps and laughing in the middle of the contractions became annoying.
The admitting nurse had entirely too many questions for my liking and by the time they got me in a room and hooked up to the monitors my contractions were between 2 and 5 minutes apart and I was definitely feeling that they needed to streamline the whole process a bit and cut right to the part where they cut me open, or atleast give me some pain relief.
When they finally did send the anaesthesiologist up to see me she was my new best friend until she informed me of several things: 1) She did not want to give me an epidural because of the problems I had with the epidural at Charlie's birth; I would have to have a spinal, which is what they prefer to use for c-sections anyway because they are more reliable and take effect instantaneously. 2) Because the spinal takes effect instantaneously they administer it right in the OR directly before the c section -- I could not have it ahead of time, and 3) My OB was tied up with 2 other births and I would have to wait until she was done with those before we could go down to said OR and proceed with the spinal and c-section.
So I was forced to labor through increasingly horrendous contractions while we waited for the green light to head to the OR. By that time the contractions were so bad that I was violently nauseous in between them and fighting to stay conscious during them and pretty well wondering how the species continued for the 1.6 million years it did until adequate pain control methods were developed.
Once in the OR they somehow managed to get the spinal done in short order, thanks to the nurse who basically single handedly held me upright while the anaesthesiologist worked. And I do have to say the spinal did pretty much work instantaneously -- I felt one more contraction as they swung me onto the operating table and that was it.
By the time they let Mike in I was still shaking from the adrenaline of the last few hours but otherwise in much better shape than when I had left him, and I was beginning to get curious again about whether this baby who had just caused me so much trouble was a boy or a girl, whereas 15 minutes before I would not have cared if it was a two headed alien, I just wanted it out.
Mike stood up to watch the delivery; the first observation that everyone made was that the baby had a lot of hair. The second observation, from Mike, was that no, the baby did not have Charlie's big lips. Then when they pulled her out: "It's a girl!!"
I flat out did not believe him: "It's not a girl -- is it really a girl?" The doctor had to assure me that she was looking too and that it was indeed, a girl. A 9lb 1 oz girl, to be exact.
And that, in a lot more than a nutshell, is the story of Amelia's birth :)
If all goes well I and my beautiful girl will get to go home tomorrow! Which means... I need a new title for this blog!! (And hello, some updated header pics would be great...)
I started having contractions when we were out to dinner Saturday night. The prevailing theory is that the onset of labor might have had something to do with said dinner; I had three glasses of raspberry lemonade, a bowl of chilli with a healthy serving of jalapenos mixed in, texas cheese fries again with a healthy dose of jalapenos, and last but not least -- you guessed it -- jalapeno steak quesadillas. Personally, however, I feel that dinner had nothing to do with it and that Amelia simply decided she did not want to share a birthday with Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, which she would have if she'd waited until her scheduled c-section on the 12th.
Anyway, I told Mike I needed to go home and lie down, assuming that my contractions were the usual Braxton Hicks that I'd been having for weeks. Once at home, I noticed that I was not feeling the contractions in the usual place -- instead of feeling them all over or up high, they were down low. I noted this to Mandy over the phone and she said "Cross your legs till I get there!"
After I put Charlie to bed I promptly went to bed myself, thinking that I would sleep off the contractions the way I usually did But I woke up an hour later to stronger contractions which I soon realized were coming 5 minutes apart like clockwork. I got up and got a glass of water, thinking that I would drink the water and then relax for half an hour, then call Sue if I still thought I might be in labor. I got through half the glass of water before being hit with the next contraction, which was considerably stronger than the others had been. At that point I realized that a) I was definitely in labor and b) it was going to take Sue a good hour to get to the house from Billerica so I had better call her now, which I did.
While I waited for her to come I haphazardly packed my hospital bag in between contractions -- so much for the methodical packing job I had been planning to do with Mandy Monday night. I forgot a few crucial things, and randomly packed a few other things. Then I came downstairs and Mike and I waited for Sue, with me sitting on a towel because I was afraid my water was going to break on our good sofa.
By the time Sue arrived the contractions were still about 5 minute apart but they were now strong enough that they demanded my full attention; I couldn't walk or talk through them but they were still very manageable. We left for the hospital with barely a 'hi' and a 'bye' to Sue. By the time we got to the hospital the contractions had kicked up another notch and things like driving over bumps and laughing in the middle of the contractions became annoying.
The admitting nurse had entirely too many questions for my liking and by the time they got me in a room and hooked up to the monitors my contractions were between 2 and 5 minutes apart and I was definitely feeling that they needed to streamline the whole process a bit and cut right to the part where they cut me open, or atleast give me some pain relief.
When they finally did send the anaesthesiologist up to see me she was my new best friend until she informed me of several things: 1) She did not want to give me an epidural because of the problems I had with the epidural at Charlie's birth; I would have to have a spinal, which is what they prefer to use for c-sections anyway because they are more reliable and take effect instantaneously. 2) Because the spinal takes effect instantaneously they administer it right in the OR directly before the c section -- I could not have it ahead of time, and 3) My OB was tied up with 2 other births and I would have to wait until she was done with those before we could go down to said OR and proceed with the spinal and c-section.
So I was forced to labor through increasingly horrendous contractions while we waited for the green light to head to the OR. By that time the contractions were so bad that I was violently nauseous in between them and fighting to stay conscious during them and pretty well wondering how the species continued for the 1.6 million years it did until adequate pain control methods were developed.
Once in the OR they somehow managed to get the spinal done in short order, thanks to the nurse who basically single handedly held me upright while the anaesthesiologist worked. And I do have to say the spinal did pretty much work instantaneously -- I felt one more contraction as they swung me onto the operating table and that was it.
By the time they let Mike in I was still shaking from the adrenaline of the last few hours but otherwise in much better shape than when I had left him, and I was beginning to get curious again about whether this baby who had just caused me so much trouble was a boy or a girl, whereas 15 minutes before I would not have cared if it was a two headed alien, I just wanted it out.
Mike stood up to watch the delivery; the first observation that everyone made was that the baby had a lot of hair. The second observation, from Mike, was that no, the baby did not have Charlie's big lips. Then when they pulled her out: "It's a girl!!"
I flat out did not believe him: "It's not a girl -- is it really a girl?" The doctor had to assure me that she was looking too and that it was indeed, a girl. A 9lb 1 oz girl, to be exact.
And that, in a lot more than a nutshell, is the story of Amelia's birth :)
If all goes well I and my beautiful girl will get to go home tomorrow! Which means... I need a new title for this blog!! (And hello, some updated header pics would be great...)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Stick A Fork In Me..
.. I'm done! With work, that is :) Managed to get through my last day and I am now officially on maternty leave till April 7th!!
Monday, January 4, 2010
'Catching Pole'
A few weeks back Charlie woke up in the middle of the night, came into my room and said "Mommy, I need a catching pole!" By this, he means a fishing pole, for those of you who do not understand Charlie-speak. Since then, Charlie has not forgotten about his 'catching pole', asking for it atleast once a day and handling a fishing pole enviously at LL Bean the other day.
I have tried to explain to him that it is the dead of winter and that, not being a family of ice fishers, we are not going to go fishing any time soon. I tried to console him last night, telling him that I would get him his 'catching pole' for his birthday and that we would most certainly go fishing this summer.
This morning he came into my room and asked, "Mommy, is today my birthday?"
It is going to be a long 4 months...
I have tried to explain to him that it is the dead of winter and that, not being a family of ice fishers, we are not going to go fishing any time soon. I tried to console him last night, telling him that I would get him his 'catching pole' for his birthday and that we would most certainly go fishing this summer.
This morning he came into my room and asked, "Mommy, is today my birthday?"
It is going to be a long 4 months...
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