2 months old!

Another month goes by and our little girly is another month older! Here's all the vitals...


Weight - 10lbs (28%), I was so sure Eva would be heavier. Ethan was 10lb 4oz at his 2 month checkup.
Height - 20 3/4 in (4%)
Clothes - newborn, she could probably start wearing her 3 month outfits, but I'm still in denial :P
Diapers - size 1 disposeables and the smallest setting for cloth
Sleep - nighttime sleeping is still going well. When we put her down the first time, she usually throws a fit, but she does go promptly back to sleep after her midnight feedings. She's slept as long as nearly 7 hours, but nothing too consistent yet. We typically get a good 5 hour stretch, followed by a 3-4 hour stretch.
Eating - averages about 3 hours between feedings. We're up to 3oz bottles but Eva prefers her milk fresh from the tap!
Likes - being held, play mat, stroller rides, shopping with mommy, pooping for daddy (just ask Chris), smiling at Ethan
Dislikes - diaper changes, bath time, sleeping in her crib (I really need to work on this one!),bottles
New tricks - this one is really new, but Eva likes pulling her blanket over her head (we cover her with a light blanket because she hated being swaddled) like she's playing peekaboo - I need to get a picture of this one!


A post isn't complete without pictures!

Sitting in the Bumbo like a big girl!

Sibling love <3

Kisses from Ethan

2 months old! The sign is a little lopsided, but that's what happens when you have a little wiggle worm!

Yet another sibling picture :)

My beautiful girl with her big eyes!

Easter Festivities

Egg decorating, egg hunts, farm visits, Easter bunnies...Ethan and Eva had a good Easter!


Our family goes to Heritage Prairie Farm almost every Saturday for the farmer's market - the weekend before Easter, they had an egg decorating event as well, so we took Ethan! Ethan was very good with the dyes and following directions - he was very careful in picking just the right color :)

A little blue

A little yellow

A little green

The 3 eggs in front are my boy's!

The Wednesday before Easter, Whole Foods had an Easter egg hunt, so I took Ethan! He was a little bit confused because he kept trying to pull groceries off the shelf, but luckily mommy found a stash of eggs for him. At first I was avoiding the Easter bunny (thinking of past very bad encounters with Santa Claus, McGruff the crime dog, Curious George and various other costumed characters), but Ethan was insistent on meeting "that big bunny", so we waited our turn and it was great! Ethan hugged the bunny, gave him a high five - all without tears.

Waiting in line like a good boy

Easter bunny

Ethan and the Easter bunny

Happy boy

Since Ethan had so much fun at the farm decorating eggs, I bought a little dye kit and decorated them at home. Again, Ethan was very good about following directions and I didn't have a mess to clean up.

Sporting one of Eva's clips (put in with Chris's okay - trying to keep his hair out of his eyes!)

Very carefully putting the egg in the green dye

7 very beautifully decorated Easter eggs

For Easter this year, we went out to Grandma and Grandpa Barber's for dinner and a mini Easter egg hunt in their family room. 

Sleepy princess pre grandparents

Busy hunting eggs - once we explained the color coding (each kid had 2 colors), he was very good about giving the colored eggs to the right person!

Cousin love :)

April Arts and Crafts at Home Depot!

Very few things cheer Ethan up more than the mention of doing arts and crafts - the boy loves his arts and crafts and according to this mommy, he's quite talented ;)

This month at Home Depot he made a window bird feeder, although I'm not quite sure how it is one. Oh well, he had fun and that's what matters!

Ethan loves to hammer things!

Carefully painting

Beautiful :)

One month old!

Eva is 1 month old!

Weight - about 8lbs (measured on my kitchen scale, hehe)
Height - at least 20 inches
Clothes - newborn, 3 month outfits are still way too big for the princess!
Diapers - newborn disposeables and the smallest setting for cloth
Sleep - the nighttime sleeping part is good, she is now going 3-4 hours, with the occasional 4+ stretch thrown in. This mommy likes only having to get up once or twice at night!
Eating - every 1-4+ hours, I'm guessing she's going through a growth spurt because she's gotten a lot crankier lately and will occasionally want to eat an hour after having been fed! We've also started the occasional bottle and she's taking about 2.5oz of milk in a feeding. 
Likes - snuggles, singing, being held, mommy's boobs :P
Dislikes - being disrobed, sleeping in her crib (thank you for the Rock n Play, Uncle Mikey and Aunt Jen!)
New tricks - pooping as soon as you get a clean diaper on her, hence earning the nickname Princess Poopy-pants! Also, Eva can wiggle all the way off her play mat if she is not wearing a footed outfit!

Sleeping Beauty at 3 weeks

Eva's first bottle

Anger is a powerful force that propels Eva off her mat

4 weeks old already

Bonding time with Ethan

Eva is 1 month old!

2 weeks old!

Eva is 2 weeks old!


Weight - 7lb 2oz (14th percentile)

Height - 19 1/2 inches (16th percentile)

Clothes - newborn, I think we will able to get a good amount of wear out of our newborn wardrobe! 

Diapers - newborn size diapers when she's in disposables (overnight and when we take her out), otherwise she's on the lowest snap setting in cloth diapers 

Sleep - I am lucky to have such a good little sleeper. Unlike Ethan, Eva nurses fast (15-20 minutes) at night and goes back to sleep afterwards. Occasionally there is a poopy diaper change thrown in there, but she still sleeps like a charm. She wakes up to feed every 2-3 hours at night. We are also lucky that she never had the day-night confusion that many babies have!
Eating - took to nursing like a pro :) She usually wants to eat every 2-3 hours, occasionally she'll want to be fed again an hour after eating, or she'll even go 4 hours between feedings.

Likes - snuggling with mommy, daddy and Ethan, feeding, songs, playing silly games with mommy

Dislikes - tummy time, bath time, diaper time, not being the center of attention

Cuddling with Ethan

1 week old!

Ethan telling Eva everything is okay

Tummy time

2 weeks old!

Ethan at 2 1/2

My precious boy is growing up! Here are the highlights:


Weight - 27 lbs
Height - 35 1/2 inches
Clothes - mostly 2T now, but tops can range between 18 month and 2T. Ethan can fit into 3-6 month pants though (think bike shorts)!
Diapers - no more diapers! Ethan is working very hard on potty training and is very good at telling us when he has to go poop. We are now working on staying dry!
Sleep - he is continuing to be a good sleeper, even with a newborn in the house. He goes to bed between 6:30 and 7pm and we usually don't hear from him until 6 am'ish the next morning. Sadly, he's starting to refuse naps at home.
Eating - with how frequently he eats, Chris and I are quite surprised he's not wider than he is tall. He loves his carbs (breads and cereals), fruits and veggies (broccoli and carrots are his favorites!).
Likes - eating, the taste of plain black coffee (decaf), playing with his trucks and Thomas the Tank Engine train set (he's got quite the little imagination), helping mommy in the kitchen, and more recently, helping with Eva!
Dislikes - blowing his nose, naps, being told to focus (I've been attempting and failing to teach him how to write his letters) and chocolate
New tricks - doing chores for "monies". He will vacuum (with a real vacuum) and then demand that we give him "monies" to put in his piggy bank. Thank goodness a penny or two is adequate payment ;)


Here are pictures of some of Ethan's favorite things - 

Helping mommy make muffins

Reading to his good friend Pooh Bear

Carrots!

Molly - Ethan's first girlfriend

Shoveling when there's no snow

Shoveling when there is snow

Playing in the "house" that Grandma Barber help Ethan to decorate

Playing with play doh

Making his own peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast

Mowing the snow

Picking out his own outfits - only a 2 1/2 year old would think a blue striped sweater goes with brown corduroy overalls!

Arts and crafts at Home Depot - I got a lovingly decorated jewelry box out of the February arts and crafts!

Vacuuming with the real vacuum

Kissing mommy

Holding his baby sister

Eva's birth story!

It's been one heck of a week - one week ago, today, Eva FINALLY decided to come out and play :) The prior week was rather traumatic - 3 false alarm trips to labor and delivery for regular contractions, and going home to cry for an hour (on a good day, more so on bad ones). 


The last false alarm trip to labor and delivery was on the Saturday before Eva was born. When I was sent home, I was an emotional wreck. Chris decided to be helpful and we went on a long drive in his car in search of bumpy roads - just so you know, there is a severe shortage of bumpy roads by where we live!


Fast forward to Sunday morning...I slept pretty well, but as soon as I woke up, the contractions started. This time they felt different than they had the previous 2 weeks - they were stronger, more regular (6-10 minutes apart) and more intense. Not wanting another false alarm trip, I informed Chris that I would not call the doctor's office or want to go to the hospital unless the contractions started coming closer together.


We then went about our normal Sunday morning routine - breakfast, crappy children's dvd's, going to Target :) It was a good thing I was in charge of the cart, because I started having more intense contractions that were making me bend over in agony. We did manage to finish our shopping and went home, where I promptly collapsed on the couch and began timing my contractions. They were coming regularly (still 6-10 minutes apart) and I could feel one building (it began in my back and then migrated around to the front). After an hour or so of this, I called my parents to let them know that depending on how things went, Ethan might be paying them a visit.  


15-20 minutes later, the contractions had gotten so painful that I was in tears. When Chris found me on the couch like this, he immediately got Ethan's jacket and shoes on, and I managed to stumble my way to the car. We dropped Ethan off at my parents, which consisted of handing a crying child over to my mom, and went to the hospital. 


At the hospital, the lady who checked us in took one look at me - and took me back to labor and delivery, where I was put in the same room I was in the day before. The nurse came in a few minutes later, checked my dilation and announced that I was in active labor as I was about 7 cm dilated by this point. I hadn't dropped from the day before (still a -1), but at least this time it wasn't a false alarm! I was officially admitted to the hospital around 11:40'ish.


Things went down pretty quickly from here - they paged the OB on call, who got there, checked me out, and let me labor on my own for the next hour or so. I had dilated to 8cm by 12:30 pm and the contractions were coming 3-6 minutes apart, so there was a mad dash to get all the proper equipment in the room. I was asked if I wanted an epidural, which I turned down. I had Ethan without anything (other than pitocin), so I saw no need to have one now. Plus the thought of that needle going into my back isn't exactly a pleasant thought! About 20-30 minutes later, the OB broke my water and started me on a little bit of pitocin to make my contractions more regular. Not too much later, I was ready to push.


Two pushes later, at 1:43pm, Eva Marie Barber was born. She came into the world crying, flailing and as soon as she got on the warming table, peed all over! The neonatologist (the OB paged one because Eva was borderline premature - she was born at 37 weeks and 2 days) gave her a clean bill of health and after a half hour or so of washing and measuring, she was handed to me, where I promptly fell in love with my girl :)


Please enjoy the following pictures!

About to be weighed and measured!

Big girl - 6lb 8oz and 19inches

Princess Eva right after her first feeding

Little chunker being monitored in the nursery

Ethan sees mommy and meets Eva for the first time - poor little guy is a little scared and confused!

What a peaceful little girl...

Daddy in love with his new little princess

What a good big brother - Ethan is holding and kissing Eva!

Ready to go home, and yes, the bow is nearly bigger than her head!