Spring Things

Okay - I have not blogged in ages, but here are a few pictures of the kids from the spring that I really enjoyed. The first few are of Vivian playing at the park in Moorefield. She had a blast.

Then we have Phoebe - she plays until she drops - I really like her sleeping in the jumperoo.

And wearing Pop's hat.

And chilling in her swing. The kid has a great time:)

5 Months with Phoebe

Dear Phoebe,

These last five months have went by so fast. I am sorry I have not posted each month, but keeping up with you and your sister is a full time job in the evenings. I just wanted to post a little bit about you.

You have the best personality, when you are not feeling bad from teeth or upset belly. Your laugh is the funniest thing I have ever heard. You like laughing at Vivian and your Daddy when he tickles you. No matter what kind of day we may have had, listening to you laugh and watching the joy in your face always makes it better.

You started rolling over last month and now roll around all the time in your crib. I have noticed you pull your knees up under you belly so crawling cannot be too far off. You are wiggly for sure. I think we are getting close to teeth coming in and I am not looking forward to that - it really seems to bother you and I feel awful for you when you are upset.

And talk, my goodness do you talk - I would call it noise but it is really your early language - lots of different sounds and expressions. I think we are a little bit more tuned into language now and you like some of the same things we do with Vivian. Lots of singing and being silly with both of you and I am pretty sure it is encouraging you to be more vocal.



We started you on solid food towards the end of February with mixed results. Sometimes you are happy.



Sometimes you are mad.



And lately indifferent. Although you seem to enjoy your sweet potatoes more than anything else you have had.



You are an absolute joy and I love you very much. Love always, Mommy

Happy New Year - Time to Catch Up.

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I decided to send out 2009 by posting some of the pictures that I had not shared yet.

• These pictures are from a warm day (remember those) in November when we took one stir crazy kid out to play in the woods while her sister tried to get some sleep.

• Phoebe went to church for the first time on November 8, 2009. I hated waiting so long to take her, but we had to avoid having her around people during the first wave of the flu. She was a really good girl and slept the whole time. Kids, if you ever wonder why Vivian was not included in the picture it was because she was CRANKY and in her bed napping as soon as we got home and was unavailable.

• Vivian, Grandma, and I attempted a 2 year old photo shoot of Vivian out at Grandma and Pop's farm. It was a fun day and we got some neat shots. Vivian has to be on the run all the time so a picture of her sitting down is rare. Vivian wore her pink cowgirl boots for the first time and loved them. I see lots of shorts and cowgirl boot outfits come summertime.
  
  
  



• We got our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Rick wore his camo so that the tree would not see him coming. Seriously, I think Phoebe wonders why she got such strange parents. Vivian seemed to enjoy the Christmas tree farm and did not want to get back in the truck when it was time to leave. Vivian also really enjoyed the Christmas tree once it was home - I got to redecorate it daily. She is pretty good at taking ornaments off, she just does not put them back. She also enjoyed throwing her small toys into the tree, however, she did not want to reach into the tree to get them out - so she either kicked it or found something to use to poke the toy out with. Needless to say, the tree was missing some needles on the lower branches.

• Since the weather has been so nasty and Vivian has had a runny nose for what seems like forever, we have been amusing ourselves indoors. The bicycle helment has been a big hit - usually she just wears it to watch the t, as she calls the television.

Vivian also spends a bunch of time with her cat - Smokey. For some reason, Smokey has to be carried around our house at all times. Smokey is a pretty good sport, although Vivian does have a few scratches to show for her efforts.

• Phoebe is full of smiles and giggles now. She is growing so fast that it is hard sometimes to believe how small she was. She is a lot of fun, particularly in the evenings before bedtime when we hold her and she "talks" to us. She likes to interact and has so many cool facial expressions. Lucky for us she sleeps through the night most of the time and is an all around good baby.
  

• The big storm was a big pain. I ventured out on our porch to shoot some pictures. See that bit of gold sticking out from the snow - that would be my car. Nice. The other shot is looking north on High Street. After shooting these pictures I returned inside where I hoped to remain until all snow is melted and spring returns.
  

• So I did the kid's Christmas pictures this year. Quite frankly, I don't think we would do well at a portrait studio. Heck, we barely survived in our own home. I was so wanting another neat outside shot, but with the weather and the wee one, we had to make do indoors. I took 157 photos. I found three out of the bunch that were decent.

Then there was this picture - in retrospect I should have used it for the Christmas card. Rick had the idea that we do a family picture after Vivian refused to be still very long for a picture of her and Phoebe (or if you had her holding still, she was in tears - not good picture material). So we quickly threw on outfits (Rick is wearing shorts with his suit - pretty funny), and tried to take a picture setting the timer. Problem with timer shots is that Vivian is generally not ready when the camera is and has totally ducked out of this picture. It still makes me smile.

• Christmas was fun. Phoebe did not know what was up, but she was a pretty good sport. Poor Vivian refused to take naps and was exhausted by the end of Christmas day. Rick really messed with me and made me think I was getting a handgun that was on back order for my Christmas present. Then later that day he gave me my real present - a new camera (the Rebel T1i). I am pretty excited about it, just hoping for nicer weather to get out and get some great shots.

I hope to post some more Christmas pictures later. Blogger cut me off at two.

I hope 2010 treats everyone well. We already know that we will be meeting Baby Crawford II sometime April/Mayish and I am excited for you, Elizabeth. I am sure there will be lots of other good things in store for friends and family and I am looking forward to them. Best wishes everyone.

One Month

Phoebe,

Wow, one month went by quick. You have changed so much in such a short period of time. We have been really busy with both you and Vivian. Two kids makes for two busy parents. I have tried to take some pictures fairly often because you have grown so much. These pictures were taken when you were about two weeks old. I was hoping to get a good picture of all your forehead wrinkles. You used to be able to wrinkle up your forehead from above your eyebrows to way past your hair line - it was pretty funny, but not terribly cute. Luckily, some of the weight you gained made your wrinkles smooth out.

I know this is a little late for the one month post but I went back to work right when you turned one month old - of course your Daddy got the flu my first day back at work so he had to live elsewhere for two days until he got the okay to come back home and be around you. It was crazy, but we got through it fine. We also had to leave you at the babysitter for the first time. It was hard to do, but Rachael and Hannah are very good with both you and Vivian.

Your one month doctor appointment was an event because we also took your sister for her two year old appointment. Trust me, you were the good one. Vivian had done this before an knew what to expect. What we were really surprised about is how much you had grown. You went from 5 pounds 3 ounces at your last visit (about 4 weeks prior) to 7 pounds 7 - 1/2 ounces this visit. You still seem little to everyone else but compared to where we started, you seem like such a big girl to me.

You did Halloween for the very first time this year. I have to admit, it is not one of my favorite holidays, but we dressed you up and took you out to see Mimi (who positively loves Halloween). You were a cute kiddo and kind of scary.

I am so glad that you now sleep for at least six hours a night without waking up. However, you are still pretty fussy from 8:30 to midnight every night. Dr. McDonald seems to think it could be mild colic but he said this too shall pass (maybe by week 8) - I sure hope so. I love you kid.

Something to talk about

Speech therapy - I have blogged about it several times and during Friday's session, I had to get out the camera and take a picture or two. Every week Vivian is presented with a new activity and is encouraged to interact during the activity both verbally and nonverbally. Usually they just play with toys the speech therapist brings with her to the house, but with the H1N1 flu going around and since Phoebe is not able to be vaccinated, we are being extra careful and the activities have changed to include activities that are the least likely to introduce germs to our house (I would use the term clean, but somehow it does not apply). This week we had two sessions - Monday was homemade playdoh and Friday was fingerpainting with pudding. I did not grab the camera on Monday, but I had to get a picture of Friday's fun.

The pudding was better than paint because it did not matter if she had a taste, but boy was it messy. I am not sure of the benefits for your hair, I will let you know.

This is Speech Therapist Deb. Vivian really interacts with her well and enjoys the time they spend together. Although I do not know how Deb will top this week's entertainment.

Well, all good things must come to an end at some point. There was pudding EVERYWHERE - on the light fixture, our door, under the table, on the table, all over her booster seat, and of course all over Vivian.

I took the downstairs while Rick took Vivian to the tub - I did not see the bathwater, but Rick said it looked like she was swimming in a pond, you could not see the bottom.

It was messy, but it was fun. Vivian is making progress - at her pace, and having a great time doing it.

Two

Dear Vivian,

What a wild October this turned out to be. Two years ago we were welcoming you into our lives and our world changed, this year we welcomed Phoebe to our family and your world changed too. I really did not get much chance to prepare you for us bringing Phoebe home. I guess I was waiting until closer time to try to really talk to you about stuff, but God had other plans for us. I must say that I have been so proud of the way you have handled things. Although you are only two you seem to understand so much.

You have made great strides this past year in everything you do. I cannot get over how big you have gotten. I especially realize it when I hold your sister and see how small you started out. You are very strong and fearless. You love to play. You particularly enjoy playing with balloons or boons as you call them. You are doing well with your speech therapy, however I am amazed at how good your non-verbal communication is and how well you pick up on the non-verbal cues from other people. I love watching your facial expressions and it is so funny watching you figure things out. You have a real independent streak and want to try to do things for yourself.

You are also very meticulous. I really noticed this during your birthday week when you were opening your presents. You had to get your present out of the packaging, look it over, play with it, and then went back to check out the package it came in before you would even think about opening something else. You take so much joy out of the little things in life. I believe we can all learn a thing or two from you about that.

You still love everything about nature. Outside is by far your favorite place to be. Lately you have been entertaining yourself with black walnuts - leave it to you to find the messiest thing in our yard (and in Grandma & Pop's yard) to fall in love with. You love to have us smell flowers you pick and you also like the occasional gravel or small rock. I guess the neat thing about you in the outdoors is that every trip is an expedition for you and you are always so disappointed when it is time to go inside.

These past two years with you have been such a blessing. I am so happy to be your Mom and I love you very much.

Phoebe Jane Ruddle Pownell

Hello sweetheart and welcome to our family.

You were born on October 3, 2009 at 5:47 pm and weighed 5 pounds 1 ounce and measured 18 inches long. You are small but mighty.

Now the story. As many of you know I was scheduled to be induced on October 15th. At our doctors appointment on Thursday, I had a NST and a growth scan and both were fine however, my blood pressure was a little high and had been on the high side for me for the previous two appointments. Dr. McMillan said that if I was not feeling good to go have my blood pressure checked and call in to the office if it was any higher than it was during the appointment.

On Friday I went to work and felt okay early in the day, but by lunch time I felt really light headed and then got a bad headache. I decided to go home at lunch and went to get my blood pressure checked when I got into town. It was higher than the day before so I called it in to the doctor's office. He called back and wanted me to go on to the hospital to be monitored. Friday night was spent in the hospital doing a urine test, checking my blood pressure, and monitoring the baby.

At about 9:00 Saturday morning, Dr. Merski stopped in to talk to me about what the tests were showing. Basically it looked as though I may be pre-eclamptic based on the sustained high blood pressure numbers and he thought it was best not to wait two more weeks but to go ahead and start inducing the baby that day (I was 37 weeks and 3 days). So, I started on the medicine that morning and prepared to wait it out since last time it took almost 20 hours from the time I was induced until I had Vivian. Rick went home for a few hours after they started the induction to get some things organized there. So for most of Saturday morning and early afternoon I was just hanging out.

Around 4:00 pm, I was hooked up to the baby monitors and I felt like something was a little weird - I did not think my water had broke, but something was definitely wrong. I rang for the nurse and she checked me out. Turns out I was bleeding pretty bad and immediately the whole room began to fill up with L&D nurses and then Dr. Merski came in and told me that we had to do an emergency c-section because I had a placental abruption as a result of the high blood pressure and the baby had to come out soon. At this point, Rick still was not back yet and I could not get him to answer his cell phone. My nurse Julie was really great at keeping me calmed down and promised to sit with me if he did not make it in time. Finally, as they were ready to wheel me out of the room, I called him one last time and he was at the hospital in the parking lot and he made it to the OR in time to go in with me.

C-sections are a strange experience. I was pretty freaked out anyway by the whole ordeal and the fact that this was a rush job made it worse. Everyone was in a hurry, of course everyone but the nurses had been called in from their day off for the surgery so it was strange. After they got me numbed up and started the c-section, I just kept praying and waiting to hear the baby cry and after what seemed like forever, the doctor announced that he did not know if it was a boy or a girl, but it did have a whole lot of hair. Finally, I heard a little cry and then they told us we had a baby girl. It was very cool and I started to cry because I was just so relieved that she was here and safe. They moved pretty quick with her so I only got to see her for a minute as they were taking her out to the nursery. Then the good drugs started and I do not remember much else about the rest of the c-section.

The night was pretty long for all of us. I went to recovery and Phoebe went to the nursery to be hooked up on about everything they had. She had a couple of issues. First she had swallowed a whole lot of amniotic fluid and the pediatrician was really afraid that her lungs were also full of it and bad as a result of her gestational age. She also had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice which is why there was such a delay in getting her delivered (I am very thankful that we were not able to make the induction work because I would have probably ended up with a c-section anyway and labor would not have been good on her at all). I was a mess too because I had a really bad allergic reaction to the medicine in the spinal block and my skin itched all night long and I was just miserable. And then I was really angry because I could not see Phoebe at all that night particularly since they told me that they would try to get me up at 3:00 am to go see her.

By the next morning I had enough of the waiting and demanded to see my daughter. Linda - a really great L&D nurse made it happen and got me up and going well enough to go take a wheelchair ride across the hall and into the nursery to see Phoebe. It was the best feeling in the world to finally see her and to see that she was okay. During the night she had been removed from the oxygen tent, her lungs were clear, and her stomach had emptied most of what she had swallowed on the way out. By Sunday afternoon she was able to come into my room with me for visits and I got to feed her for the first time.

We got to come home on Tuesday and the house was all decked out in Phoebe's honor - thanks Grandma.

Phoebe got to meet her big sister Vivian. So far, so good.

I am feeling a little run down, but not terrible. Phoebe seems to have stopped losing weight, but she still is not where the pediatricians want her to be so we go back to the doctor with her on Monday.

All things considered, we had a great outcome to what could have been a really bad deal. Dr. Merski, Dr. McMillan, Dr. Simmons, and all the L&D Nurses at AMC are the best.

I am so thankful and so blessed to have Phoebe in my life. I love you little girl.