How to Lose a Tooth: Told in Pictures

Birthday and First Movie

Annika's 6th birthday was this past Friday. I've never been a fan of the number 6 (yay 48!) but it suits the little girl. I think she's determined to be a "big girl" and has slowly but surely proven herself capable of more an more. Some of her latest tricks include:

- Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night without assistance. No, she's not peeing the bed...she gets up to go to the bathroom.
- Buying a wallet and storing her cash in it, and asking if she can pay for stuff. She wanted to buy Declan a book this weekend, and she's also offered to help us out with dinner. This is a very helpful development.
- Getting dressed and ready every morning - without an alarm clock. Before I can say "coofffeeeee" Annika is fully dressed, with teeth brushed and hair combed. I need to bottle some of that energy up and sell it to myself. And pay for it with Annika's money.

I'm just so proud of this little girl...Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Separately, little Dex finally got to see his first movie in the movie theater. We;ve been prepping him with non-stop encores of both Kung Fu Panda and Cars at home, with both Chris and I debating about whether he was ready, and if so, which movie would be be more likely to sit through? We opted for Kung Fu Panda, because honestly, I can only take so much of Larry the Cable Guy.

He did very well for the first half of the movie, but started to get a little antsy towards the latter half. I mean, I was crying like a baby (the panda loves his goose daddy!) but Dex was wandering around the front of our seats like a trapped animal. We had to silence him a few times - he loves to talk at that big screen - but overall, it was successful. I won't do it again for a while, though.



This picture is taken with the Cars 2 poster for 2 reasons - 1) Declan is obsessed with Lightning McQueen and 2) there was no Kung Fu Panda 2 poster. So there.

Incidentally, Annika's first movie theater movie was the first Kung Fu Panda...Too bad there will NOT be a Baby #3 for Kung Fu Panda 3.

First swim of the summer

First word alert!

Declan has officially said his first word............

Is it?: Dada, Mama, ball, doggie....

No; it's: Cat.



He'll say Kitty cat or cat when confronted with either a picture of a cat or an actual cat. (Hi, Tom Cat!)

He's also a genius in case you were wondering. The other day he was trying to get a bottle of ketchup off a table, so I tried to distract him with a spoon...he used that spoon to try and grab the ketchup! Genius!

Declan opens

Declan opens his first ever Christmas present. Enjoy the spectacle.

Baby's First Christmas

...and Annika was there, too.

- Annika leaves Santa his homemade cupcake and the reindeer a few carrots. (Only four because she said they had to share).


- Getting into the spirit.


- Dutiful Big Sister teaches Baby Bro how to open the bounty.


- Looks like he figured it out.


- The end.

Food

He stares at us all the time when we eat. Now he can have food too! Except it's baby oatmeal and not anything like the pastrami sandwiches and ice cream he stares at with such lust.

But...baby steps. (Ha! Get it?)





Annika loooved feeding him and he loooooved getting fed. The beginning of a beautiful friendship....

Some Declan

My parents keep complaining that we don't write enough about Annika in the blog these days, so here's some pictures of Declan.

First time in a high chair:

And here's just a cute picture of him:

Annika's first soda

We're pretty strict about Annika's fluid intake - she can pretty much eat anything she can get her grubby hands on, but I'm weird about drinks. No juice, unless it's a special occasion and definitely no soda. She gets chocolate milk about once every 6 months. It's milk and water for her, and she's actually ok with that.

Two of her favorite shows, Catscratch and SpongeBob romanticize root beer. Main characters in each show crave root beer and go to great lengths to secure it. She talks about it a lot - what is root beer? what does it taste like? why is it special? I told her that root beer is soda, and she's not allowed to have soda - so that's why it's special. She really never presses the issue.

We went shopping yesterday and wandered into the soda section. I thought to myself - be a hero! - so I plucked a 2 liter of Safeway's best (we can work our way up to the name brands) and announced she could try it. She was super excited and a little nervous (maybe I made her afraid of soda?).

The Negretes came for a visit that evening and after dinner I asked her if she was ready for her glass of root beer. Oh, she was! Check out the twinkle in her eye before the big moment:



Then the big moment:



And, finally, the sickening realization that this stuff did not taste right (check out Nico's terrified expression in the background):



She continued to make horrified faces for 2-3 more minutes and wouldn't be talked into trying another drop. Ha! Great news! My kid hates soda...I wonder how I can apply this to her candy habits?

So I asked her today why she didn't like root beer, and this is what she told me, "It was too sour and too bubbly. Actually, I think the bubbles caused the sour trouble."

Declan: one month

Declan will be one month on Monday, and to celebrate we went to the doctor's office today for his first well baby appointment. There were streamers and everything! (not really)

You can check all the percentiles here, but the 411 is that he's generally smaller than Annika....especially in head size. She was always in the 90th percentile for head circumference, but he's between 50-60%. Chris says he has a pinhead. I say he can wear hats made for his age!

Other stuff he can do right now: hold up his head, kinda smile (mostly when gassy, but sometimes when Chris kisses his chin), cry, eat, not sleep that much. (I am tired).

The stats:

Length: 21.75 inches

Weight: 11 pounds

Head circumference: 15 inches

Before I forget

I'm going to be a little indulgent and tell the story of my labor (of love) for Declan. I usually love to hear friends' tales of birthing their children because through the inevitable similarities each experience is unique and so special. Of course, I know a few people who birth their babies just a little too easily...you know who you are! I'm not jealous. (Yes I am).

On May 4 at 6 am (just around the time Chris's alarm went off for work) I started to feel what I thought might be

contractions. "You thought they were contractions?" you may be asking...."haven't you had a kid already?" Yes, I have. But I swear those early ones aren't so obvious.

Chris got ready for work and I contemplated telling him what I thought was happening. I knew he still had a few things to wrap up at work and I also knew that even if this were the "real deal" it would be a while....so I let him go to work.

I laid in bed for a while, then started to time the pangs. I eventually upgraded them to contractions since they were coming at fairly regular intervals (5-7 minutes apart) and lasting about 45 seconds. At that point, I knew I needed to take a shower and tie up my own loose ends (clean the kitchen, pack Annika's bag and make sure I had everything in my bag).

While I was in the shower, my in-laws called to offer to pick up Annika that morning...she was scheduled to go to their house for the day, and I had already decided I could probably drive (it was fiiine!) but they have a sixth sense, so I gratefully agreed and they said they'd be o

ver in 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Annika finally woke up and hung out in my room while I got ready. A few minutes before her grandparents arrived, I finally told her: "Sweetie, I have something to tell you....the baby will probably be born today!" She sort of looked up at me, then looked back at the TV. Maybe I wasn't clear?

I finally decided it was time to call Chris. The last two weeks, every time I had called him at work he answered in a slightly panicked voice. So I told him I would text him first with a heads up, then make the call...I did just that. When he answered, I could hear the smile in his voice and he promised to come as soon as possible.

Chris' parents picked up Annika and Chris arrived shortly afterwards. The contractions were getting a little stronger, but sticking around 5-7 minutes apart and lasting between 30-45 seconds. They tell you to call the hospital when you're 5 minutes apart and they last about a minute for at least an hour. Plus, being the second kid, I wasn't in such a rush to get to the hospital. Uncomfortable beds, monitors, poking, prodding... that could wait.

I wanted to be sure that I was in active labor, so Chris and I took a walk in the park. As we neared the end of the walk, it was harder to talk and walk...so I was sure we were getting close. When we got back to the house, the pain increased and I finally said to Chris "it's time to call the hospital." It was about 1 pm.

The hospital agreed to have me come (thanks!) and we packed our bags and left. We got there, were admitted (mid-contractions....a very comfortable experience) and were put into the "observation room" which means "you don't get a room until we're completely sure you're in labor and deserve a real room." The doctor checked me within 20 minutes, and announced I was at 4.5 centimeters. Woo hoo!

When my room was finally ready we got ourselves comfortable. This hospital was built in 2006 so everything was pretty nice. Though I didn't understand the wallpaper. I told everyone that would listen that I would be partaking in an epidural. They all agreed that was fine, but anesthesiologists are busy guys. They offered me a narcotic to "take the edge off" and the nurse who offered it to me said it was like having a pitcher of margaritas. That was definitely a strong selling point, but I also knew that narcotics affect the baby while epidurals do not...so I declined. That was the hardest thing I had to do the whole delivery (just kidding).

Epidural came....for those of you who may remember (and you probably don't, because why would you?) when I had an epidural during Annika's delivery, it didn't work on one side of my body, and I felt the full force of those contractions on one side of my body for much of the labor. I told the anesthesiologist about this, in case they could avoid that this time, and though he sympathized. he didn't think it would happen again. He also said that this time they have a wonderful little button that allows the epidural to get stronger each time you pressed it. AWESOME. I pressed that thing about 30 times.

Unfortunately, the one side pain thing happened again...but this time the nurse suggested that I lay on the "bad" side because gravity often helps with this situation. It did help and for a while, I was quite comfortable. Especially after hitting the button a few times for good measure.

They came to check me again around 6 - about 5 hours since I made it to the labor room. As the doctor put it, "Hopefully this pain has been for something!" Of course we should have known that would curse us. I was still at 4.5.

The doctor then offered me pitocin to "help" me to progress. Again, my ridiculous knowledge of the labor & delivery process (thanks BabyCenter and TLC!) reminded me that pitocin may speed up labor, but also makes the contractions stronger - and more painful. The only reason I would need the labor to speed up would be to avoid a Cinco de Mayo birthday for the little boy...too many visions of college "birthday" parties danced in my head...so though I wanted to avoid that, I didn't want a drug to attain that goal. I declined the pitocin and though the doc clearly disagreed with my decision, she was ok with it, and said they would check me in about an hour to see if I had made any headway...and if not, I may get the drugs anyway.

I was disappointed that things weren't moving so quickly, esp since I was in a decent amount of pain, but doing well enough. However, just like with Annika's delivery, the little guy started to have heart decelerations with each contraction...which can be a sign of stress. The bad news: if that continued, I may need a C-section; the good news: luckily I had declined the pitocin which might have bothered him more since they increase the strength of the contractions...so Jenn: 1; Doctor: 0.

The other thing that was not at all awesome was that the pain on my left side was getting worse, and they wouldn't let me lay on my left side since the baby seemed o do better when I was on the right. It hurt!

They came to check me as promised in about an hour's time, and I made it to...8.5 centimeters! Everyone cheered; I grunted. Pain...was....getting...worse. I kept pressing that button at Chris's urging. It really only helped a little.

In about 20 minutes (it's about 8:15 at this time) I started to feel a lot more pressure. I told my nurse who got the doctor who confirmed I was fully dilated. Wow! This was so much faster than Annika. They are right that the second kid is a lot faster. Unfortunately, he was still having issues with his heart rate, but they kept a close eye on it and let me continue on.

The doctor left so I could start pushing with the nurse. She asked me how long I had pushed with Annika and I said 4 hours...she raised an eyebrow, but just said "OK, we'll see how this one goes." She got me all set up, asked me to push and.....told me to stop! S

he said "Yeah, we'll be getting the doctor right now...he's pretty much here." Again...not at all like my stubborn daughter. A good sign of things to come?...

The doctor came about 10 minutes later. They asked me to push. I did. They said "stop stop!" I guess he was halfway out? Then they asked me to push one more time...and he was here!!! 9:11pm. They plopped him on my belly and he was just beautiful!! Also, I asked to cut the cord (when would I ever get to do that in my life?) and they gave me the scissors and I did. (It was squishy and I was scared I was going to cut him).

Welcome to the world Declan!

But...he wasn't really crying and I knew he had passed some meconium. I realized he had probably swallowed some, and even worse, probably aspirated some...they whisked him away to his little bassinet and I waited.

Chris was with him as the nurse suctioned his little lungs and nose. He wouldn't cry. I could hear them saying his oxygen saturation was lower than they'd like. He tried to cry...it sounded sad. The bassinet was directly in my line of site from my bed and I kept staring at it, willing myself to be calm. And he just wouldn't get loud.

Chris was taking pictures and looking over at me and giving me thumbs up...I make fun of him about that now because at that point, nothing was ok...but he was trying to reassure me. It worked...a little.

Then the nurse finally asked for a doctor from the NICU to come. I could feel the panic welling, but just kept it locked in a box. I was terrified.

Chris told me later that for the first 8-10 minutes, his oxygen sats were 78-82...a healthy baby should get 95-100. My poor sweetie. But the nurse never gave up on him and kept working on him - I could see her calm fear from across the room, but I could also sense that she was willing him to breathe...and just as the doctor arrived, he was up to 100. The doctor reassured us all immediately that he was fine since he was at 100 at that point. He said that his nose would be swollen for a while since she was shoving tubes down it for a while, so he might snort a bit (and did he!) but he was fine. I had never ever been more relieved in my life.

They finally brought him back to me and he was so serene and beautiful. It is true...you have enough room in your heart to love all of your children, and that love is limitless. I can't wait to get to know him better.

Stats:

Length of labor with Annika: 25 hours

Length of labor with Declan: 15 hours

Annika's birth weight: 8 pounds, 1 ounce

Declan's birth weight: 8 pounds, 10 ounces

Annika was born 10 days passed her due date

Declan was born 6 days passed his due date

How much weight Annika lost in her first week: 1+ pounds

How much weight Declan lost in his first week: maybe an ounce?

Day of the week Annika was born: Friday

Day of the week Declan was born: Monday

Baby's first hot chocolate

Downing her not-too-hot, just right, hot chocolate:



"Uh-oh!" it's (predictably) on her shirt:



And yes, we still call her baby.

Please turn off your cell phones

Annika saw her first movie a few weeks ago. It was a big deal because Annika loves the sound of her own voice. Loves it so much, that during the viewing of most any television program requiring more than 15 minutes of her attention, she asks question after question. Sometimes, I think she cares about the answer, but to be honest - I think she just likes asking. Maybe to get us to participate in the show with her? Maybe just so she can continue to babble?  Who knows...but we never thought she'd make it through a movie.

The movie in question was Kung Fu Panda. We were worried about this movie for two reasons: 1) It was longer than 15 minutes and 2) it had a scary subplot involving a snow leopard. Proving to us how much she's grown up, the length of the movie seemed to be of little consequence to her...but her fear of the danger that Kung Fu Panda and his friends encountered during the course of their journey was almost too much. She asked after the first "scary" scene, "Can I go home now?" And that quickly turned into "Can I leave?"

To paint a picture for you, Annika was sitting on Chris's lap for about 85% of the movie. Her little body is still too light for the 'old school' theater chairs, so she had to sit on one of us. During the height of her fear, I took her and cuddled her and promised her that it would be ok. She would settle for a bit, but then cry out in fear, "Please!  I want to go home!"

It was too much for me to bear, so I told Chris that we needed to leave (having had earlier made the unholy parental pact of  'it's ok to leave if she freaks out even though we're wasting 40 bucks') and he shook his head. I said, "No..seriously."  And he said, "No."

He went to the concession counter and purchased some "incentive." Every time the scary snow leopard came on screen, she was given a piece of candy. I thought it was genius...positive reinforcement to face her fears!

It was rightly pointed out to me later by a friend, "Yeah, now she'll turn to food whenever she needs comfort in the future."

Woops.