Jadzia has been waiting all winter for us to get enough snow that she could make a snowman. Finally the moment arrived. She and Ludi came out with me and we began working on a snowman. But the fun didn't last very long.
Well, I've been a bit under the weather since last Friday, so I've been away from the computer more than usual. I have some stuff I wanted to post, but just haven't had the time/endurance to do it. Ludi seems to be teething, so she has been a bit fussy since yesterday, and Jadzia had a weird episode last night. Not sure if she was imitating Ludi/me, or genuinely not feeling well. Today she seems fine.
In any event, I do think I'm feeling better, and so hopefully we can enjoy these last 3 days of "baby vacation" before I head back to work.
Yoli has been doing well, but obviously has a ton on her plate. Josie is nursing well and growing more beautiful all the time. She has given us 1-2 hours of screaming the last 2 nights, but after those periods has slept much better.
Click here to see a few photos of Josie taken by the hospital baby people.
There have quite a few bits of life that I intended to post about here, but with Christmas and work and girls and babies and everything, I never got around to it. Now I am making up for lost time, and here are some photos we took when we visited the renovated Magic House on New Year's Eve Eve with my friend John. Unfortunately the lines to get in were far longer than we expected them to be. But the girls had a lot of fun once inside (and thankfully it was totally freezing outside).
So we've gotten through the first night with three girls. It has been a bit strenuous keeping up with all these girls. The older two are more than enough to keep us occupied, for sure. But they have given us some brief periods of tranquility from time to time.
They are very curious about the baby and like to touch her (or slap her), kiss her, look at her, etc. So far Josie isn't capable of doing anything to raise their ire. However, the baby is quite a capable crier and pooper. She really kept us up last night. Thankfully, though, we are getting a bit of daytime napping in the last 2 days. In fact, I am quite thrilled to report all four of my girls are still sleeping right now!
Because Josie still doesn't "do" very much, life in the house in many ways is very similar to what it was before. We still have the same problems of girls getting picky about eating food, fighting over toys (or fighting to have space on the carpet in which to dance), screaming, doing things we just told them not to do, etc. But when we see Jadzia and Ludi have nice sisterly moments, it does give us a hopeful glimpse of what life might be like for these three girls in the future.
We had a brief incident at the hospital yesterday as we were leaving. Yoli was sitting in a wheelchair holding Josie, while a nurse stood by. They waited for me to bring the car around and come in to the lobby with the car seat. Josie was dressed in two layers of clothes (too big for her tiny body) and a beautiful white blanket made by Maud Lawrence, one of my Nan's relatives. I came in toting the car seat and two little rolled-up blankets to support Josie's head. A lady standing nearby came over to tell us that the baby wasn't dressed warmly enough for the frigid temperature outside. I told this woman that the car itself was warmed up and that there were more blankets inside, but this didn't assuage her. She began accusing us of child abuse and berating the nurse who was helping us, as her husband stood by quietly. She said she would call security, etc. It blew my mind. In any event, the nurse was quite kind with us and knew what she was doing, and got Josie installed in the car seat quite nicely.
What a great way to welcome a new baby to the world. And what a wonderful feeling it gave Yoli and I as we prepared to start our new life with this new addition. Seriously, I'm sure this lady's intentions were good, but her execution left much to be desired.
It goes without saying that Josie survived the drive home.
Here's the second of two videos I shot on Wednesday. This one shows my parents, my brother, sister-in-law and nephews when they came over to the hospital to meet Josie. With four toddlers/preschoolers running around the room, there was potential for much havoc. Thankfully, serious damage was avoided. I'm so glad that Justin and Becca could come up with the boys.
Here's the first of two videos I shot on Wednesday. This one shows Josie right after she was born.
After a while I took Jadzia and Ludi to meet their new sister, Josie. We told them that Josie had arrived with gifts for them: an apron for Jadzia, and sunglasses for Ludi.
Both girls were very interested in holding Josie and touching her. Ludi especially. Ludi was giving her kisses. But she was also treating Josie more like a doll, repeatedly pushing in her nose and saying "nariz" like she would with the doll she got for Christmas.
So here's a bit more about our new girl, Josie Míriel Renaud.
Yoli began having her serious contractions in the night. She woke me to let me know what was happening, but said they were still very irregular and that I should try to sleep. I did eventually, but I had a hard time of it because of adrenaline. Around 6 a.m. we called my mom and asked her to come over. Thankfully she was able to leave right away, despite the fact that Wednesday is normally a Café day for her.
As soon as she arrived, we set off on the long journey to St. Luke's. Unlike the last time we had a long trip to the hospital for a baby, Yoli didn't spend the whole trip pushing. But she was still very close to being ready to deliver.
I can't say enough good things about St. Luke's. They took us right in at the ER and wheeled Yoli right into her room. The nurses attended her and helped her get going, without bogging us down with a ton of paperwork.
The birth itself was natural and pretty fast, like the other two. Actual pushing took around 15 minutes. I think Yoli was hurting a lot right at the end, but she seemed very relieved and relaxed as soon as Josie was out.
There were a few little hangups at the beginning getting Josie to nurse, but it sounds like she is an old pro as of this evening.
I'll have more photos and videos posted in a while, so keep watching.
Already I can tell that it's not easy juggling three kids!
Yes, that's right, the third child arrived early this morning -- 7:49 a.m. to be exact (that's for you, Caesar) -- at St. Luke's Hospital.
At the moment the girls are upstairs; Jadzia is watching Mr. Rogers and Ludi is eating cereal. So I only have enough time right now to say that the delivery went very well. It was hard for Yoli, but it was short. Both mamá and bebé are in good shape.
Our new baby is a girl! She weighed 7 lbs and was 20.5 inches long. Her name is still a work in progress. Hopefully this evening we will have decided and I will post it here.
This is something I put together for a Young Life / Student Venture reunion a bunch of us had right before Christmas. It's about 140 photos set to songs we used to sing at club around 1996-98.
If you'd like to copy this slideshow to your own computer, just right-click this link and save it.
But a warning: it's a BIG file -- about 160 megabytes!
To just watch the video without saving it, click the "continue reading" link below.
One of my new year's resolutions: get caught up on video editing. Yesterday I imported all the video thru Thanksgiving, and hopefully I can get most of it edited before the baby arrives and life gets more complicated!
Anyway, here is a video I shot of Justin and Dad throwing the football around at Thanksgiving. I am sure they will be happy to see it.
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