Alana's "switch" has turned on, and Ava is becoming more and more of a "Big girl"

So it has been a millennium since the last time I posted, but one day fades into the next and it all seems the same as the day before until you look back over a chunk of time and think, "WHOA, what happened?"

We just got back from a trip to see all of the family and the girls did great with everyone and had a blast.  Ava even got her first haircut from her Aunt Tina.

Alana has changed SO much in the last 2 weeks.  It is like a switch turned on and she went from a crawling smiler that only said "mama" on occasion to a super fun, engaging, climber that talks!  She now says "mommy" and "daddy!!!"  She can now climb stairs (thanks to my parents house and stairs in the living room).  She lifts her arms over her head if you say, "So big!," and she also lifts her hands over her head when she is done eating (her way of signing "all done" I guess).  She walks around while holding your hands and is standing alone for longer and longer periods, but still no steps.  She now waves and SAYS "bye-bye."  She will "shhh" back at you if you tell her to "shhh.," she will blow back in your face if you blow in hers, and she loves to blow raspberries.  Just today she started saying "uh-oh" if she drops something.  She has said what sounds like "ball" and "gog" for dog when asked, but I am not as sure about those.

Ava is becoming more and more of a big girl.  We have cut back paci use to just bedtime and naptime.  She is completely daytime potty trained now, and is doing really well and bedtime and nighttime at being dry when she wakes.  She didn't do as well with that while we were on vacation, but now that we are back home she is back in the swing of things and doing great.  Much to my sorrow she is starting to lose a lot of her baby talk and sound more like a big girl.  She no longer says "meek-du" for music, and instead says "muskicks."  One super cute thing she does say though, is "magic sticks" for gymnastics.  She does say "pih-nan-o" for piano, but that is about it.  She will be 3 at the end of March and our plan is to take the paci and the diapers away then.

Ava comes up with the most adorable and elaborate excuses.  Just tonight, she came out and said she wanted to "sleep in mommy's bed because in her bed her feet keep getting smaller, but in mommy's bed they would get bigger and she doesn't want them to get smaller."  WHAT?!  At my mom's house she came out to the top of the steps (she was supposed to be sleeping) and when I told her to go back to bed she said, "I need you because I just love you so much mommy."  She is too cute for her own good, or mine.

The girls get along really well for the most part, although now that Alana is mobile enough to get into Ava's business Ava gets upset and says, "no, no, Lana"...often.  They are so much fun and we are enjoying them immensely.

Alana is almost 9 months....and I haven't posted in FOREVER!

Been an incredibly long time since I last posted anything, but since Alana has recently started moving and grooving I figured I should get it down.

About 2 weeks ago Alana started pulling up on things and cruising around furniture.  Every day she gets just a little bit better.  Just yesterday she started crawling and she does a very similar crab crawl to what Ava did, and sometimes does a bear crawl with both legs extended and her booty in the air.  We were sure she wasn't going to crawl until after she walked since she wasn't making any effort to crawl, but then yesterday she just took off.

Alana's two bottom teeth came in the last week of September, but still not top teeth.  Lots of teething going on, but she doesn't want me to put my fingers in her mouth and if I try I get bit.  Man those little teeth are like razors!!!

She doesn't sleep well, but that is apparently just the way of it for our DeVito babies.

What to say about Ava...she is 2 1/2.  And everything that entails:

• Jumping, running, climbing, non-stop moving all the time
• Can't make up her mind 
• I want PB&J sandwich - I make it - no, I want grilled cheese - well, mommy just make PB&J so you have to eat that - commence meltdown
• Doesn't listen well, and often starts crying anytime she is told now like it is the end of the world
• At least she sleeps through the night....until 5 in the morning...unless she has a nightmare

Well that about sums it up right now.  J is SUPER busy between classes and working on a paper for publication so is more often than not having to work in the evenings just to keep up.  I have become  super crafty and love it!  I sewed two peasant dresses for the girls to wear at Christmas time with matching flowers for their hair.  That is all for now.

July - 5 Months and 28 Months

Realized I want to keep up with a monthly snapshot on the girls.  So here goes:

Ava - 28 Months

Favorite TV show: Dora
Favorite thing to play:  Doctor with her Doc McStuffins kit
Favorite food:  Hot dogs/corn dogs and corn on the cob
Favorite Book:  Little Q's "Learning ABC's: A to M" it was my book as a kid and I don't have the other letters...lol

Fun things she says:  "Meek-du" - music; she calls a stethoscope a "heart" and an otoscope a "stethoscope"; calls a computer a "com-pee-u"; and she calls her sound machine a "washing machine."

Still loves the paci.  Fully potty trained when "nuddie," about 25% when either a diaper or panties are on. Sleeps very well on her own now.

She is an ADORABLE 2 year old, who says the funniest things.  Just today she ran into the room while Jason was putting Alana down, slammed the door, leaned against it and said, "whoo that was a close one."  We have no clue what she was talking about :)  She randomly runs up and hugs my legs.  When she has to go potty she has to announce it to the whole house...no matter where she is she starts yelling, "I have to go potty."  Cracks me up :)


Alana - 5 Months

Just rolled back to front on Sunday 7/21
Favorite toy: Jumperoo
Almost sitting up without assistance
Just started formula/bottle feeding....it is an adjustment
Started sleeping in her crib, no longer in the rock n play sleeper
Likes to stick her tongue out and blow raspberries :)

Overall a very happy baby!!

2 years and 2 months!!

It has been several weeks since I posted last and we have just been trying to find our rhythm as a family with 2 little girls.  Some days are much better than others.  Just having a two year old who thinks everything is a challenge to climb, and who can't sit still for more than 3 seconds is challenging  but throw a newborn into the mix and chaos ensues.

I have been greatly blessed by the fact that Ava loves her baby sister and kisses all over her, talks to her, tries to get her to smile, tries to help her when she cries (give her a paci :) ), and often wants to hold her.  Alana is also a great blessing, she is a happy relaxed baby who doesn't cry much unless she is hungry, poopy, or overtired (which thankfully isn't too often).  She can put herself to sleep if I lay her in her crib when she is really sleepy (hallelujah!!).  She is fairly consistent with bedtime already and goes to sleep sometime between 6:30 and 7:30pm.  She has been a much easier baby than Ava was.

Alana is already rolling over from her tummy to her back.  She did that for the first time on March 31st, just shy of 2 months old, and has done is many times since.  She has been smiling since mid March and smiles more every day.  She wakes 1-2 times a night to eat and then goes back to sleep.  She currently likes to play on her play mat looking up at the toys and hitting them.  Ava likes to lay down there with her and play too.

Ava is at such a FUN age.  She is such a joy to play with and has really started to do the pretend play.  Today she was watching an episode of Bubble Guppies (current favorite tv show) about pirates and she pulls out her doll mirror and walks around covering her eye and saying, "Arrrr."  It was so cute.  She also had to cover Alana's eye so she could be a pirate too, always thinking of "baby sister."  She likes to sing along with songs she has heard before or theme songs (like veggie tales).  She is going to sleep on her own for naps and bedtime with some protests, but nothing crazy.  She is also now sleeping through the night 5 out of 7 nights a week.  AWESOME!!!  She also likes to hop around the house and say. "ribbit, ribbit."  She speaks very well and I couldn't write down all of her words and phrases if I wanted to.

No go on potty training.  She has no interest at all.  If I put her in panties and she starts to go she will stop and let me put her on the potty, but she doesn't seem to care really.  So that is on the back burner for now.  I think I will try again after we visit family this summer.

Had well check-ups last week for both girls so here are their stats:

Ava
32 inches tall
25 lbs 8oz

Alana
22 inches long
9 lbs 15 oz

I think Alana is going to be bigger than Ava.  Both girls were about 6.5 lbs at 2 weeks of age, but Ava was only 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches at 2 months.  I guess only time will tell.

Alright, snapshot over.

Snapshot: 23 Months and 1 Month

The end of February marks the end of Ava's 23rd month and Alana's 1st month.  I now have two daughters, yeah that hasn't hit me yet.  Since this is just supposed to be a snapshot post let me get to it :)

Ava:

1. Now recognizes all 26 letters :)
2. Knows the sounds that about half of them make
3. Knows words that start with some of the letters: Jump, Cold, Nana, Kick
4. She recognizes her name when written down and even knows how to spell it!  She will say: A-V-A AVA!!
5. Just in the last week or so she has started singing songs: wheels on the bus, theme to veggie tales, theme to bubble guppies, ABC song, etc.
6.  Knows the numbers 1-10, but doesn't recognize them yet and will often say 1-2-3-4-7-8-9-10...not sure why 5 and 6 get ignored so often
7. Knows most of your basic colors: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, pink (sometimes purple is also pink), and black
8. Has started sleeping through the night most nights (of course she does this AFTER Alana is born so it isn't like I am getting any more sleep)


Alana:
1. Holds her head up for 30 seconds or so
2. Is awake more now
 - That is it, she is a newborn after all :)

Some things to remember about Alana, and A couple funny things from this week!

Like I have said before, Alana is a very different baby than Ava, which in most ways is good, but has some downsides as well.  She is a very noisy sleeper.  She "talks" a lot in her sleep which makes it very hard for me to sleep at night.  Also, she is up from 9:30pm until at least 11 and as late as 1AM every night.  During that time she is fussy and will eat off and on.  We need to work on her sleep/wake times.  Since Ava wakes around 6AM for the day this makes for a very sleepy momma.  During the day though, she is great!  She looks around with her big eyes, and has a very expressive little bird mouth.  She is a lot more gassy than I remember Ava being.  I may have to spend some time editing my diet, which I never had to do with Ava.  Unlike Ava, she can be content being awake in the swing or just on your lap.  She doesn't fuss/cry constantly throughout the day like Ava did.  So, if we can get her days and nights fixed she is looking to be an easier baby than Ava was.  She is already smiling even when awake which is super cute :)

Exhausted mommy funny:  My mom had been holding Alana and she started fussing and wanted to eat so she handed her to me and I started to nurse her.  About 2 minutes later I start looking around for the baby, I look at my mom and she doesn't have her, I look to Jason and he doesn't have her, I look and she isn't in the swing, so I start to panic.  I interrupt their conversation and say, "where is Alana?"  They both looked at me like I was nuts, so I looked down and she is nursing.  WOW!!!  Obviously, sleep deprived.

Funny Ava moment today:  She didn't want to do something Jason wanted her to so she said to him, "I don't want to three."  I guess "want to" sounded enough like "one two" to her that she had to fill in the three.

I guess that is all for today's snapshot  :)

Birth and how different two babies can be

So she is here!  All 5lbs 12.2ounces and 18.5 inches or 19.5 inches depending on whether you go by the hospital or her first doctors appt...I don't think she really gained an inch in 3 days :)  So much for an over 7lb baby!  She is a beautiful, lighter version of her big sister.  She has lighter eyes (the doctor even thinks they may be blue!!) and lighter skin.  She does have a mongolian spot (dark spot on the back or buttocks of babies of color - Jason's grandmother was Japanese), but it is a very tiny/light one whereas her sister's is larger and much more obvious.

At my doctor's appointment on the 31st I had still not made any progress and my doctor said that I would likely not go into labor on my own.  In his words, my "cervix sucks."  He did an ultrasound and noticed that Alana's weight had begun to fall off the curve, although not enough to be concerned (by ultrasound she was 7lbs 2oz).  He suggested we go into the hospital and do a 24 hour prostaglandin gel prep followed by an induction the next morning.  He said that if we chose to wait another week that it was fine, but that we would just be having the same conversation the following week.  Since my mother and father had come into town that day we decided to go ahead and go for it.  Saturday morning we arrived at the hospital bright and early to start the gel.  The doctor had told me that I wouldn't feel anything with the gel, that I may contract but wouldn't really tell that I was contracting.   Well, that was wrong I started having strong contractions almost immediately.  

After 12 hours they came in to take out the first gel and give me a break before putting in the second.  I thought for sure after all the strong contractions that I may have made some progress, but nope still 1cm and now 40% effaced instead of 30%...woo hoo :/  After a shower and some dinner they placed the second gel and gave me something through my IV to help me sleep.  The contractions continued to get quite a bit stronger so sleep (even with strong meds) was not going to happen.  At 1:30AM I felt like I may have pee'd myself and so got up to use the bathroom, on the way back from the bathroom my water broke all over the floor.  We called for the nurse and they came in and checked me and took out the gel since with my water broken it wouldn't stay in.  I was only 2cm and 50% effaced at this point...woo hoo :/

At this point they said I could have an epidural if I wanted and they would call and talk to the doctor.  He asked them to place a scalp clip on Alana, but I told them no since she was staying on the monitor fine and there was no medical reason to have it placed.  The times for things get a little hazy at this point as I was exhausted from the sleep medication and lack of sleep due to the contractions.  But sometime around 2 or 2:30 AM I asked for the epidural and they placed it for me (after a couple unsuccessful tries :( ).  It worked for about 2 hours and then quit working entirely on the right side.  They started pitocin at about 5 AM and placed a scalp clip on Alana to monitor her heart rate better since she had dropped her heart rate a couple of times.  

Around 6:30AM I talked to the nurse about options for pain management since my epidural wasn't working and I was getting very uncomfortable.  She checked me and I was 3cm and 80% effaced...still making slow and steady progress.  They also came in a bolused my epidural with something stronger...it worked for just under an hour before it completely wore off.  I called the nurse in and she said my only option at this point was to have the new anesthesiologist come in who came on at 7AM and place a new one.  She asked if she could check me again since I seemed to be much more uncomfortable and when she checked me I was 8.5 cms and 100% effaced....WHAT?!  I just went from 3 cms to 8.5 in one hour (this was at 7:30)?!  Well, no time for a new epidural...le sigh.

Woke Jason up and he jumped in the shower.  They called the doctor and he said he was going to jump in the shower and then be on his way.  While Jason was in the shower I was in a lot of pain and when he got out of the shower I called for the nurse.  I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure and she checked me and sure enough I was complete!!!

Now where was that doctor?  He was apparently still on his way and since I didn't have a working epidural I seriously had the urge to push.  They just told me to blow through the contractions...ugh!  That was awful.  The anesthesiologist showed up and gave me a bolus again but warned me that it probably wouldn't work until after Alana was born...great!  So then the doctor runs in the room and gets me set up and two contractions and 5 pushes later she was out.  She was born at 8:07AM just an hour and a half after I was 3cms.

That last couple hours were CRAZY!!!

Now she is home and it is apparent that she is a very different baby than Ava was.  She will sit awake and just look around, she also will sit in her swing awake and not cry.  She even nurses different.  Ava would nurse for an hour and then sleep for awhile.  Alana was nurse for only several minutes and then sometimes fall asleep right away and sometimes not.  She also nurses much more often.  Just different babies I guess :)  Ava is very cute with her and other than the first day home from the hospital, which was rough, she hasn't shown too much jealousy.  Ava likes to give Alana kisses and hold her.  They just melt my heart.  Jason has really had to step up and cover a lot of the slack since I can't do everything for Ava anymore.  And, he has.  He is such a great dad to both girls...I love watching him with his girls :)  Having my mom here has also been a big help.  I know when she goes home I will have to find a balance while Jason is at work, but for now the extra pair of hands is great!  So thanks mom :)