September 27, 2011

Katherine (Kate) Naomi came to join us over 3 months ago, and I am just getting to these pictures now, geesh. Besides producing a healty baby, Kate's birth was everything Ella's wasn't. It was a long, spontanious labor, we had supportive nurses, midwives and doctors that acted like they had time for us, we had an amazing doula, I felt strong. Although there were moments of me being super pissed off (like arriving at the hospital after laboring at home for 12 hours - contractions 5 minutes apart - only to find I was only 1 cm dialated, which I was 5 day prior as well or when my "last push" ended up not being my last push) it was the most amazing 35+ hours of my life. A successful VBAC. If I wanted to be a parent to more kids, I would do it over and over again in a heartbeat.

40 Weeks and 4 Days

One of these girls became a big sister a few weeks ago. The other one is still waiting. . .

Marykate and Ella were born 5 weeks apart and it is likely the next set of Suter cousins will be almost exactly that (give or take a week). The relationship these two girls share is fun to watch grow. This time they interacted more, while still engaging mostly in parallel play. Of the time they played together, they were often trying to get the same toy or making loud obnoxious noises. The above picture absolutely warms my heart. Ella loves nothing more than to be chased, and Marykate kept coming after her to tickle her. Both girls laughed and laughed. (I thought I was taking a video only to realize when I meant to turn it off, I was actually turning it on. At least Grandpa got this picture!)

40 Weeks and 1 Day

Another thing about Ella that brings me joy is her love for water. With the crazy heat this summer we hit up many kiddy pools and splash parks. Newton, in my opinion, has the best splash park I've seen, and every town with summer heat should get one. I am in love. The splash park has lots of different apparatuses and holes in the ground that spray water. What I love about Newton, is that they don't all run all the time. So. . . you can be standing in a particular spot that is not being sprayed and then, boom, you get hammered. There of course is a predictable order they run in, but for the mother of a child that doesn't mind being surprised (or maybe even likes it), it provided me with good entertainment. (Another thing I love about a splash park is that this pregnant body didn't have to get in a swimsuit and I could still enjoy the spray.)

40 Weeks Today

I'm going to take my mind off today being our 2nd little girl's due date thinking about some of the things I really love about the little girl that is no longer inside me.

For today: Language
Ella's language has really exploded recently. There are so many things I could say about it. I'll just name a few or this will never get posted. She'll use words for things I had no idea she knew. Like "hang" when she was pointing to where I should put her jacket. Or "band-aid" which was nearly indecipherable except she pointed to her knee and said "ouch" - although there was nothing there, and then ran to the bathroom and pointed to the drawer where we keep the band-aids. Thank you for the clues, Ella. There are certainly things you say that I don't yet understand. Keep trying.

 She puts words together, not always in a sentence but as a complete thought. Here are some recent examples:

*As she pat my belly last night, "come. . . come. . . play. . . me."
*As I was tucking her in for her nap, "Mama. . . go. . . away." (Sigh. Little Miss Independent. Isn't she too young for that? I was sure she wasn't going to sleep right away, but she did!)
*If she wants to be chased, "Get you!"
*When she sees our neighbor's cat run out of our backyard, "Meow. . . Millie's. . . house. . . go." (and, yes, she does use the possessive form of words sometimes. I don't know how these little people absorb and apply so much.)

For a month or so at the beginning of the summer, if she was ever asked to count it was "two. . . two. . two. . " Then one magical moment she counted to ten. Jon and I both were blown away. Ever since that day,  it has been "One. . . three. . . one. One. . . three. . . one. . ." Huh.

Not the Cheapest Find at the Grocery Store

I'm glad we didn't have to pay for her again. 

After Ella helped unload the bags, she got super excited about getting IN the bag. Daddy got super excited about lifting her up. (Mama may have done a little bit of scolding in there somewhere for endangering our daughters life. All survived.)

Not Quite Current

I know this picture is say . . . 15 months old, taken when Ella and Jack were about 5 months old. I just rediscovered it on my sister-in-law's blog, and I couldn't resist. This picture makes me smile! (and wonder what sort of trouble the pair of them are going to cause in the future.)

(Here's a more recent photo for anyone interested - still cute if you ask me!)

Ella's First 50(ish) Words

At the advice of another mom, I started a list of Ella's words as she added them to her vocabulary. . . for no other reason than it is fun to see what is important and notable to Ella. She started "(w)oof"ing at about 10 months although it took me a while to know for sure if that is what she was doing. I don't consider that her first word except now she calls a dog a "(w)oof" and a duck a "quack", so I think her animal sounds make it into the count. The list is more or less in order over the last 8 months and much of it would require translation. I know it isn't inclusive either; there are surely one's I'm forgetting (and I'm intentionally leaving off the "uh-huh" accompanied by a head nod I'm pretty sure I heard the other day because I'd like to believe she hasn't learned improper grammar already.)


woof      moo      roar       Da/Da-ee        Mom(momomom)         eye       nose      bye     Sneetch    mouth     bird     down    baby      hi      Jack     Marykate     no     ball     sock    shoe    banana    more    hot    milk    hat    cheese    poop    car    inside/outside(both "side")    bubble    meow    baa     water    moon   go   balloon    blueberry    rock(the verb)    help    book    door   knee   keys    quack   toes    hop(her name for a rabbit)    please    Opa    tower    clock    sun     cold   taste    ouch    leg    nest    towel    wash    pool    splash    

Quilts for My Babes



Ella's (nearly) finished quilt



     Sad to say that it took getting pregnant for me to get into gear and finally finish Ella's quilt. My mom bound it for me the summer before she was born, and since it was mostly done, I moved on to the quilts for my niece and nephew (that were born within a month of Ella) and never looked back . . . until this week. Not to say we haven't gotten a lot of use out of this quilt, it just had about 10 blocks around the outside edge that were not quilted yet. Now thanks to a glorious week of Oma stealing Ella away for walks, feeding fish/ducks, swinging. . . I am within a block of being finished with Ella's and I have the top for Wee Wiebe #2's quilt completely pieced! (Yes blogging world, there is another one on the way. I figure anyone who reads this knows everything about my life already, so I forget to mention such important things.) I'm going to try hard to get moving on this one, because I can't imagine working on a quilt once there are two little ones in our house. To top it off, my sister is expecting their second baby in two months. I've already warned her, his quilt might be a 1st birthday present.

    I chose the same pattern for both my girls' quilts because I like the size, the variety of fabrics, the lack of having to match many corners. . . the list could go on. I think they look very different already and I will probably quilt the second one in a different way.



Wee Wiebe #2's quilt top



Sleeping

    Ella spent her first 6 months sleeping wrapped up as a burrito. I would highly recommend a swaddler with velcro to any parent of an infant (or several in case said infant happens to pee on one during a diaper change in the middle of the night. A swaddler might have been so important to us, that one of us might have just wiped the pee off with a towel - thank goodness for fleece that doesn't absorb quickly - and put it back on her.)

   By six months Ella was able, although rarely, to roll over while still swaddled. I was still reluctant (not safe, I know) to ditch the swaddler. Then, by accident, I forget to take one along on a trip to Oklahoma. She didn't seem to mind, so we've been without a swaddler ever since!

   

   She quickly adapted and often slept in the (adorable) fetal position. I was thinking to myself recently though, that I don't have any pictures of her sleeping since she was a newborn. I crept in right after she fell asleep the other day, and had to laugh at my luck. She had removed both of her socks, and put one on her hand. I wonder what goes on in that little mind.

   Oma put Ella down yesterday and left her sitting on her haunches, playing with Steven (the monkey). I went up to check on her a few minutes later, and found her like this. She must not have played very long because she looks like she just collapsed forward, too exhausted to even get into a comfortable position. I've never seen her legs tucked under her like that. Oma has kept Ella very busy, and she's been sleeping well all week.

Helper

Whether it is with baking, hanging up laundry, scrubbing floors, unloading the dishwasher or doing yard work, Ella wants to be right in the middle of it.

At the mere mention of making zweiback, Ella will run to the table and pull the chair over to the counter. As you can see, her "helping" makes things take a bit more time to clean up, and we end up with less in the bowl by the end. Since this first bread making excursion (which may have been pizza dough or bierrocks, I can't remember) I've learned to let her hold an 1/8 tsp rather than a cup when working with flour.

Ella has been very interested and persistent with latching buckles. This has provided her with many minutes of entertainment at a time. Unfortunately, she has gotten much more proficient at it, and asks much more frequently for "hewl" (help) to unbuckle them so she can do it again, and again, and again. . .

Ella helped me plant the pansies, and ever since she is all about being in the dirt and watering the flowers (or just the dirt as you see here - there is nothing but weeds growing in that pot, but boy, are they growing thanks to her!)

Yep, that would be a power tool she is reaching for while daddy is looking the other way and mama is taking a picture. We are great parents.

Zoo

In February we took a trip to the KC Zoo with Dave, Jen and Jack. They are great to have around and it was a blast to see the kids all excited about animals. 

Here Jack and Ella are enjoying the polar bear. 

Here is Ella in the petting zoo. Once she warmed up to the animals she was very excited about touching the ends that would not sniff or look at her. Needless to say, she did not touch a lot of animals.

Here is Jack. He is a happy fellow and walking quite well. 

Let's Pretend . . .

. . .that it hasn't been almost two months since I've posted anything. Here are some photos of one of our celebrations of Ella's first birthday. It was a small "party". Ella, Dad, Mama, Oma and Opa. We will have many years to go all out (or at least further out), but while the birthday girl doesn't care if there is a big shindig or not, we'll keep it small. 

Opa helping Ella put her shoes on.

The library bag I made for Ella. She proceeded to carry it into the living room where she "snuggled" it. (She snuggles her stuffed animals by wrapping her arms tightly around them and then laying right on top of them on the floor. Interesting kid.) I'll take it that she likes it. 

Ella carrot cake, cut into the shape of carrots. 

Eating the cake. Frosting was okay for a couple bites; who wouldn't be intrigued after never really having sugar before. Though soon it was cake = good, and frosting = bad in her book.