The Process of Becoming Siblings

The thing I was most looking forward to after delivery was introducing Aliza and Josiah to their new sister. The night before my c-section we told Aliza and Josiah our baby's name and that Uncle Joel and (Aunt) Brandi would be at our house in the morning because Mommy had to be at the hospital "while it was still dark." Aliza burst into tears. By morning she was fine, but she didn't make things easy on me! When Jeremy called Joel to tell him Anna was born, he heard Aliza in the background saying, I know my baby sister's name, but when I open my mouth it doesn't come out! (She forgot the name.) After I got situated in my room and Anna was cleared from the nursery Jeremy brought the children to the hospital.

This is how well it went:

They were, by far, more interested in the traditional fishing pole gift from Grandad than their baby sister. I had no idea, but apparently Aliza was expecting me to give birth to her 6 month old cousin, Renee. The one who can laugh and sit up and interact a bit. She told Grandma and me that her sister is not her favorite. Renee is. We didn't react. We just realized that she was surprised by how small and "uninteresting" a baby is.

Two days later:

The night we came home from the hospital Aliza asked to hold Anna and she was very very happy. She still declared that Renee was her favorite. That story has changed now. She wants to hold Anna several times a day and gives her hugs and kisses. Aliza peeks at Anna while she sleeps and says, She is soooo Adorable.

This is the only time Josiah has wanted to hold Anna. He likes to touch her head and check her out here and there, but for the most part he is busy pretending with his tractors and tools. The other night Anna was crying at bedtime. Josiah wanted to check on her and came back to his room crying alligator tears because Anna was crying and that made him sad.

So here is the first and only picture I have of my 3 children together. Aliza holding Anna's hand and Josiah giving her a kiss.

4 year old Perspective

As of 24 hours ago Aliza had no idea that Mommy's produce milk to feed babies. Last night she saw me feeding Anna and did a double take. She kept talking and then started asking questions. So I gave her a simple explanation with proper anatomy language. Her summation, So, Mommy, you drink milk and it comes out your breast?

While we were driving to my parent's house for Thanksgiving today, Aliza was in the back seat of the van and making up a song on her perspective of babies. One line was "Babies grow in Mommy's tummy and come out very tiny." Another line was, "Babies drink milk out of Mommy's breast."

Then I was feeding Anna just before we came home. Anna's eyes were open which really mesmerized both Aliza and Josiah. Just as I was getting ready to feed Anna, Aliza goes screaming out of the room, "EVERYBODY! COME QUICK! COME QUICK! YOU ARE GOING TO MISS IT!" Breastfeeding was a spectator event that she wanted everyone to witness.

It hurts to laugh, but I couldn't help it.

Anna Elizabeth

Anna Elizabeth Heslop
8lbs 40z 20 1/2 inches
Born at 8:04am on November 22, 2010

She is beautiful. She is content. A good eater, a good sleeper. We are so thankful that she is part of our family.

Anna and I came home from the hospital today. I have so much to be thankful for. I did not get a spinal headache!!! Praise the Lord! I had no idea I could come home and actually function. My other personal little miracle is that I started having contractions at 1:30am the night before going to the hospital. C-section or not Anna would have most likely been born on Monday.

Now I must sleep. Happy Thanksgiving!

Just Some Thoughts

I've thought about blogging this week, but I haven't quite known what to say. I'm still not sure my thoughts are collected enough to write anything coherent. I'll go with the bullet-point-random-thoughts style of writing for tonight.

• I can almost count hours instead of days until delivery.
• We have to be at the hospital at 5:30am on Monday. Neither Jeremy or I was thrilled about that schedule change.
• Yesterday's mental/spiritual challenge was to be content rather than throw a pity party for myself.
• Most people have unique birth stories for each of their children. I can tell you exactly how mine will go. However, I am praying for joy in the journey despite still wishing things were different.
• Besides a healthy baby, please pray that my spinal will not result in a headache and that I will have a quick emotional bond with the baby (that goes back to my other birth stories).
  
• I am most excited about Aliza and Josiah meeting their baby sister. I can't wait to see their reaction and how they respond.
  

In other news....

• Aliza is really into cutting with scissors. She has a craft table in the kitchen where she has been cutting out the tiniest pieces of doll house furniture and paper doll clothes which she printed on the computer. This has resulted in a paper takeover of the kitchen floor.
  
• Josiah learned a new word this week: excited. He runs in circles around the house saying, I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm excited.
  
• Aliza also informed us of a new word she learned. Ominous. We asked her what "ominous" meant. She said, "something is going to happen. Thunder and lightening are ominous." She told us that she learned that on Martha Speaks. (I guess some TV makes for smart kids!)
• On that note, Netflix has saved my sanity this week. I'm afraid it will for the next several weeks....or months.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just days away. I really can't wrap my head around the fact that I will be home with a new baby by then. We are going to my parents house for Thanksgiving. I've reserved a bed there! I hope I feel like eating some turkey.

Jeremy will post on Facebook and I'll ask him to write a quick post for me (with a picture).

The Last Prego Pictures

The good thing about Jeremy taking pictures is that if the children act like they did today we didn't waste any money or someone else's time. The bad thing is that it is next to impossible to get Jeremy in the picture. Amid the crying, uncooperative spirit, and Josiah insisting on having his "saw" in the picture we got 2 good ones.

Officially 38 weeks. The end. No more pictures of me! I'm tired of eating and tired of gaining weight. I've gained a good 60 pounds. I'd appreciate a nice big baby to show for it!!! =)

I wanted everyone's hands on my tummy. Not too bad!

Now the funny face and the saw.

Look at Josiah's smile! We can rarely get a smile in a picture. Daddy told him to say cheesy-cakes and he did!

Yup, I'm going to be a busy Mom. I have busy children. I'm ready!

While We Wait

We enjoyed a quiet morning as a family. As THE day approaches I cherish these moments with our family as we are now. Of course once I hold our baby I won't be able to imagine our family without her! That is the beauty of family. I had my camera close by and I just took a few pictures of some of our little moments.

Craft Central. Aliza spent lots of time today cutting and gluing.

Snuggles around my tummy.

Lots of playing in the leaves. It was a comfortably warm day and we took advantage of it!

Josiah found something to use as a drill to make holes in the piles of leaves (looking for bugs). He used his little tractor to push leaves. He used his lawnmower to mow the leaves. Finally, he used Daddy's shovel to scoop leaves.

Aliza hopped up on Daddy's lap and asked him to play with her hair.

Special Weekend

My weekend started and ended with some fabulous girl time! First off was a baby shower brunch at Bob Evans Restaurant.

Janell set up a pumpkin theme (maybe since I painted my belly? haha). The tag on the favors thanks the guests for celebrating with Jeremy and I as we anxiously await our little pumpkin. Inside the bag was a Pillsbury mix for pumpkin bread. How cute is that??!! Meghan painted the pumpkins for table decorations. I LOVE them!

I think I can....I think I can....I think I can....make it 2 more weeks. Contractions are welcome to start any time though!

That would be my dessert.

Sunday afternoon my sisters and Mom got together and watched the documentary movie Babies. It has been a very long time since we have done something with only the adult girls. I enjoyed the movie especially looking at it from a cultural perspective. It is so easy to judge other cultures based on our own comfort levels and experience, but every culture has something beautiful to offer. We ate out and enjoyed an uninterrupted meal and adult conversation. I vote that we not wait years before we plan to do something else! Yay for great husbands who watched the kiddos!

Me

I was sitting there and I thought, "Man, I look really big." I took a picture.

This Evening

All I felt like doing this evening was laying. After about 1 minute I had two other little people laying with me. I'm pretty sure there will be many more of these moments in the weeks to come. Of course, there is room for one more little one!

I think Daddy was getting tired of the same hiding places for hide and seek. Now that it is dark in the evenings hide and seek is a daily game.

Little Man

All his tools in his pockets.

Proud of the tomatoes and peppers he picked from Grandad's garden.

It is November!

We will have a new baby this month! I put the baby book calendar page on the refrigerator today. I have made a year of calendar pages that I will keep on the fridge and record baby's milestones. The calendar pages will then go in the scrapbook.

There are so many emotions and thoughts swirling around in my head as I anticipate the coming of our baby. Many are not bloggable! I can say that change is not easy for either me or Aliza and that is a concern that is on my mind a lot.

It would be nice if Aliza and Josiah could be well behaved and "easy" these last couple weeks. Today did not start that way. Meghan called me this morning and about 2 seconds into the phone call I was crying. The day did not get better. Maybe the end of pregnancy insomnia will relent tonight so I have a chance to pull myself and my patience together for tomorrow.