2 months and Baptism

On November 20, Joanna was baptized! She also turned 2 months old. It was a wonderful day; we celebrated with our family and friends after the service at church with cake. Joanna was worn out after being passed around all morning and took a 4 hour nap that afternoon.
She hasn't changed too much since the last post. At her 2 month appointment, she weighed 12 pounds 2 ounces (80th percentile), and was 24 inches long (98th percentile). Our doctor noticed that she is going to be chatty just like her brother. :) Its true, she loves to talk and smile! She also loves to hit her toys and is getting better about being more intentional with her movements. She doesn't really like tummy time but she does tolerate it longer than Orrin ever did. She has had her first cold for the last several days, which means neither of us has gotten much sleep. But before the cold, she was sleeping 7 to 8 hours at night. Hopefully we can get back to that soon! She is still very happy and easy going, and just a joy to have around!

Spot is very protective! :)

So precious.

Quickly becoming Daddy's girl.

Talking to GG before the service.

You can't really tell but I totally missed the baptism because I was fighting to keep Orrin with me, he really wanted his water all of the sudden and was loudly protesting.

Being presented to the congregation.

If that a looks a little funny, its because the cake originally said "God bless you, Joanne!"

With cousin Jake

Sleeping on Grandpa.

So pretty in her dress (which was handmade just for her)!

Funny how the next two pictures were taken just seconds apart (she's smiling in the bottom one). Orrin didn't want to be left out. :)

1 month

Well, its about 3 weeks late, but I'm going to try and keep up with the monthly posts like I did for Orrin. Joanna is growing like crazy! I don't know how much she weighs, but at her last doctor appointment (at 3 weeks old) she was up to 8 pounds 12 ounces (that was 2 pounds gained in two weeks!) and 22 inches long. We'll have her two month appointment next week. I would say she's well over 11 pounds now, but that's a wild guess. She's getting quite round and starting to outgrow 3 month size clothes. (A side note, wouldn't it be awesome if I could lose the baby weight at a rate proportional to her weight gain?)
She is sleeping well. On an average night, she'll go 5 to 6 hours before getting up to eat. She goes right back to sleep after eating, however she keeps Scott and I up some nights with gas issues. She will grunt and carry on for hours sometimes. We try gas drops, massage, and leg pumping. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not. One of these days we'll get her sleeping in her own room and she can just keep her noises to herself. She's not such a big fan of her crib yet, and we're not quite ready to take the video monitor out of Orrin's room yet, so it might be a little while.
She is such a happy and content baby, though! Most mornings she will lay under her hanging toys and coo and squeal at them while flailing her arms and legs. She has been smiling for a couple of weeks, and will even try and "talk" to us a little, too. She does get a little fussy in the afternoons - usually right when I'm trying to cook dinner of course. And she LOVES to be held. And doesn't really like to not be held. So she rides in the wrap often. That is pretty much the only way she will take a real nap, except occasionally in the swing. If I set her down asleep, she will wake up within a few minutes. If by some miracle she stays asleep, her brother has a real knack for waking her back up. He just can't resist kissing her or sharing toys with her or covering her with a blanket. Its hard to get upset with that!
The most fun thing lately is that she will copy me and stick out her tongue. Its pretty cute. Currently she is staring very intently at Scott while he works.

Some pictures:

I can't believe how small she was here. Its hard to even remember.

Baby in a pot.

She has a crooked yawn just like me.

Maybe the sweetest picture ever.

Cozy in the wrap.

Sunday nap.

Happy under her toys.

With cousin Layla.

Another one in the wrap - seriously we both love that thing!


Example of why she doesn't nap well, Orrin found her brush and decided he needed to use it.

Two peas in a pod.

A double chin already at 7 weeks! Not the best picture, but this was the first time I put her in a dress type thing. She doesn't look so thrilled, but it was cute! Its still hard for me to get used to girl clothes.

First smile that I was able to catch.

Orrinisms

Here are some of our favorites lately:

Meer = More
Buff = We have no idea, but he says it ALL the time
Fart = Floor and Throw - kind of embarrassing in public
Jo-Nauh = Joanna (which has made Scott and I sometimes call her Jonanna)
No, My Fine = response to just about any question about him (eg. "are you tired?")
Fot = Spot
Mine all done, Mine do it = two favorites
Sing songs? = anything related to music
Boom Band = band aid
Jesus = Jesus or Aunt Lisa (actually he says Lisa now, but for about a month he called her Jesus)

If one of us yawns, Orrin will say "mommy tired?" And if I say yes (and I always do), he'll say "mommy happy?" Or if we mention that we are tired, he'll say "daddy (or whoever) happy?" I'm not sure why those two things are related, but every single time, he asks both questions.

I should add that he can count to 20, and knows his abc's. He will break out in the abc song quite frequently, and also knows the words to Jesus Loves Me (all 3 verses, which he sings with Scott every night before bed), the Wheels on the Bus, and If You're Happy and You Know It. He can correctly recognize most letters, most of the time. He loves watching Super Why on PBS and pointing out the super letters. :) And of course he loves Sesame Street, too.

Joanna

Welcome to the world Joanna Christine, born September 20 at 9:35am. 7 pounds 3 ounces, 20.5 inches long. I know, I'm a little late with this, life is a lot more crazy with two kids! And since I'm not good at keeping a baby book for either one, I need to record it all here, so bare with me.
Joanna decided to come 3 days late, not so bad. I went into labor monday night, about 20 minutes after falling asleep. We went into the hospital at about 2:30am after mom M came to stay with Orrin. I wasn't dilated far enough even though my contractions were every 2-3 minutes, so Scott and I walked laps around the hospital in the middle of the night. It was kind of fun, almost like a date if you don't count the contractions. We got back up to Labor and Delivery at 4:30 and got admitted. Joanna decided to come out with her hand up by her face, so labor progressed kind of slow. My Dr. was off that day, but came in to the hospital for a meeting. He saw I was there and poked his head in and said if I was ready to push at the end of his meeting, he would stay and deliver the baby for us. I was and so he did. We loved him before, but even more so after that! Delivery was pretty quick after some pushing help from the dr because her heart rate was dropping (cord around her neck).
So since we have been home, Joanna has been growing like crazy! She was 6 pounds 14 ounces at her first doctors appointment (6 days old), and 8 pounds 12 ounces at 3 weeks old (and 22 inches). She is a super easy going baby! I hardly ever hear her cry except for when she is hungry. She is up a few times at night but has just started doing one 4-5 hour stretch, which is heavenly for me! She is just now starting to be interested in toys hanging over her head, and I think she may have smiled for real once or twice. A couple days ago she spent some time cooing at one of the toys, so cute!
Big brother Orrin is smitten. He loves to talk to her and be involved in all aspects of her care. Even after four weeks, he hasn't asked me to send her back yet or anything. He did decide to stop sleeping when she came home but that seems to slowly have been resolved.
So far we are settling in well. Scott was home for a week and a half, which went by way too fast. I was sad to see him go back to work, and a little scared, but we have had lots of help and meals brought over. That has been wonderful! And I've managed a few days all by myself now and its been ok. Difficult to find time for anything beyond meeting the needs of both kids but hopefully that will get better as Joanna goes longer between feedings. (Right now she seems to eat constantly.)

Some pictures:

the Simple Things

Orrin is absolutely obsessed with buses lately (and anything that resembles one in any way is a "bus"). So last week we were walking through the Meijer parking lot and he saw a UPS truck. He was pointing and squealing "BUS!" "BUS!". The driver must have seen him because he stuck his head out and waved at Orrin. I've never seen such a look of pure joy on his face - totally made his day!

Way Behind

Well Scott says I need to update or else our daughter will hate us for neglecting her. So I guess that's the first update! She's due in mid-september. And I learned my lesson last time, I'm not even contemplating the possibility that she would come earlier (or even on time for that matter). She seems to be healthy and growing. Its a little scary to me because she seems way bigger than Orrin at this point.

Orrin is also healthy and growing. He's always been a talker, but I think the biggest developments with him the past few months has been transitioning over to real words and sentences. He's been stringing two or three words together for about a month now, and we got our longest sentence ever a couple days ago - "I don't wanna home go" over and over as we walked home from the playground. :) Its really fun watching his little brain figure all of that out.

Some of his current favorite things are letters and numbers. One day a few months ago I sang the alphabet song to him and he said a couple of letters at the appropriate time - I had no idea he knew any of them! So once that happened, we started singing that more, and I got him some magnetic letters for the fridge. So far he can pick out the A, E, H, I, and L correctly every time. He loves pointing out letters in books and anywhere else he sees them. And of course singing the alphabet song. He'll even sing along to the "now I know my abc's" part at the end. We started counting steps with him when we were on vacation last month and it just sort of stuck. So now he can count to ten, getting all of them almost every time. He loves to count everything!

He's definitely about to turn 2 - with the attitude to go with it! Now that he can communicate what he wants and doesn't want, its like living with a small dictator. It doesn't always go over very well when we don't immediately meet every request, but he does get over it pretty quickly. Overall, though, he's still very good natured, and lots of fun to be with!

Ok, enough with the words.

One of Orrin's favorite passtimes is still watching elmo videos on youtube. He gets this big cheesy smile that cracks me up. Of course, now anytime he sees a computer he asks for "elmo"


He is working on his art skills. He likes to color, but gets bored of it pretty quickly.
Giving kisses. He is definitely becoming a very empathetic kid. I had a foot cramp the other day and as I was writhing around in pain, he came over looking very concerned and kissed my foot.

He came with me on a trip to visit friends in Ann Arbor a while ago. Here he is with Joyce's dog Charlie (who was a very good sport about sharing his crate).

Another obsession is rocks. We have an abundance out front that he loves to play in, but also we have to stop and pick up any rocks we see on the sidewalk or parking lot. He generally likes to have one in each hand whenever we are outside.

He is a very hard worker, too. He loves to sweep the garage.

Found this at a garage sale for a few dollars, and he loves it! As well as a small plastic wagon that he likes to push (yeah, I can't convince him that it would be easier to pull) around.

Working again, helping daddy water the flowers. They do this a few times a week.

Helping daddy with a puzzle. Orrin is absolutely a daddy's boy! He loves to do pretty much whatever Scott is doing.

Like fishing! He sat in the boat with Scott when we were on vacation for a couple hours at a time without complaining. Scott was ecstatic to realize that he will have a fishing buddy!
Orrin's first fish!

If you ever call our house and talk to Orrin, I cannot guarantee that he isn't doing this... (I went downstairs for something and came back up to find that he had dragged both of these out into the living room)

We finally got his sandbox set up (with a little too much sand, oops). He likes it almost as much as his pool.

Helping Scott re-assemble the crib in the baby's room.

Because he got a fabulous toddler bed (thanks Eddie and Amie!) for his room! It made me sad when we first moved everything because his room looks so grown up now, no more changing table or crib. One of these days we'll get around to decorating the walls a bit. But the toddler bed went over very well, he doesn't try to get out ever, and he's only fallen out a couple of times. Much less of a battle than we thought it would be!

If you are wondering what to get Orrin for his birthday coming up, I think he'd like one of these...
Or maybe just a lake in the front yard. He just loves the water!

Yet another one of him helping. This was a great moment for me as Orrin vacuumed the kitchen and Scott got the rest of the house!


Well, maybe someday I'll update on life for Scott and I - he has done a ton of work on the landscaping and garden, and we've done some fun projects inside as well.