One Year Old!

Indigo turned one last week. She is such a big girl! She started walking just a few days before her birthday. Today we bought her first pair of shoes. I didn't feel weepy about her turning one, but the shoes have me tearing up a bit. Here are some photos of Ms. Personality. Dress by Grammy.

Unfortunately, I have no photos from her birthday party, as I was wielding the cake. Granna will have to fill in the photo documentation. I made a kitty-cake from an Applesauce Cake recipe, but had a near-disaster with the icing. I was rescued by Jeff who begged new icing bags from the Alberston's bakery. As I said, photos of the Thoroughly Iced Kitty Cake will be here soon!

Almost One and summer stuff

So many things are happening for my kids this summer, and there is never time to blog about it. I'm getting lots of photos (thank you iPhone) and frequently posting to facebook, so the fam can stay up to speed. Although we haven't had much summer weather, we are still out and having fun whenever possible. So what if we have to wear long sleeves to the beach, less sunscreen used, and less chance of burning our alabaster skin- I say!

Indigo-she will turn one this month. The past year has been a whirlwind!

1. Almost walking. Will turn anything into her personal mode of transportation. Easel, trash cans, etc.

2. Has the cutest bent pointer finger thingy. Will try to photograph again tomorrow. Her finger is straight, the bend is at the wrist. She points at EVERYTHING!

3. Her loves: Birds, cats, babies, dolls, Nordy (a stuffed shoe horn toy from Nordstrom), giving kisses.

4. She enjoys finding her reflection in things: the trash can, the dishwasher, the mirror. Such a smiley happy girl most of the time.

Ryan

1. Transitioning to the big potty for poops. This has taken a lot of work on my part. He is not a fan of the noise it makes hitting the bottom of the pot.

2. Playing soccer. We had a major meltdown at one of the practices. But he came to enjoy his time running and playing with some new kids.

3. Creative play is starting to get interesting. He is making up stories about things, and is great at rhyming and making up songs. Gets that one from me. :)

Indigo's Affections

At 10 months, Indigo has developed a myriad of kissing techniques.

We have:

1) The nose kiss. She basically gives a raspberry using her nose. Sometimes there is an inhale with the nostrils attached to your cheek, and almost always, there is an exhale. With her current cold, I am enjoying this display of affection less and less. And my throat is starting to hurt. Darn petri dish children!

2) The real deal: This kiss is so sweet, she is trying to pucker her lips. So there is a suction sound as she makes an O shape with her mouth and touches it to my cheek.

3) The Lick: This kiss was an early form for her, and is becoming more rare as she gains skills. I'm starting to miss it. (weird I know)

4) The Head Butt. Just today I noticed her attempting to bonk people and things with her head. She mostly uses her forehead, but there was a reverse throwing-herself-backwards maneuver today that was a backwards head butt for sure.

Other milestone updates: She has FINALLY managed to say Mama. It's good to hear it. :) She is trying to walk. Using laundry baskets and toys for support, she is beginning the cruising stage. She will walk with me for a few steps with hands held.

Today also marks Ryan's Half Birthday. His big news is that the #2 training is going VERY WELL. It has been more than a week since his last party foul. He will be rewarded soon with a date to the new Cars 2 movie. My dad made him a fabulous potty chart to keep track of it all. We filled in spot 9 of 15 today!

6 Month Old!

Indigo is just a sweetie. Her personality blossoms more everyday. The clip below shows her temper, but she has that sense of humor with it. I can't help but laugh at the raspberries when she gets really upset!

She is sporting one tooth and a swollen spot for #2 on the bottom middle already! I haven't been bitten...yet. She has several nicknames: Tiddle Widdle, Baby Bird and Baby Buh-lee (sp?) bestowed by her brother, and Milk Breath, from Mommy Dearest. She flaps her arms like wings when she gets excited, the more excited, the faster they flap.

She rolled over a couple of times for her Granna this week, she gets really mad when on her tummy-still.

Indi has started reaching for me when someone else is holding her. We will be dealing with separation anxiety soon. She squirms with excitement for Daddy too and kicks her little legs very fast.

The bald spot is disappearing from the back of her head, but I've also found that all of her long hair is centered like a faux hawk down the middle of her skull. It's long enough to get in her eyes, so barrettes are becoming more of a necessity than just a fashion statement.

She's up from Nap #2, time to wrap it up!

Almost 6 Months

With Ryan, I was somewhat diligent about monthly updates on his doings. Poor poor second child, here's what's up with Indigo. She will be 6 months on the 19th.

LIKES:

Spoons, preferably large and metal for mouth exploration

Crazy dancing by Mom results in instant laughter

Loves her big brother, will watch him do ANYTHING

Tags on blankets, clothing, whatever. She is the baby that those Taggie toys got their marketing idea on. It's weird b/c her brother HATES tags.

Jumping on the bed and pouncing on Ryan. See above about sibling love.

HATES:

Riding in the car in the dark while awake (I have a theory that all rear-facing children go through this--mom inspired invention in my mind to remedy..)

Tummy time. Little Miss Thing has rolled over all of 5 times, and went on to sitting up. She really prefers to stand, but must have an adult assist in this maneuver. Will she skip the crawling? Only time will tell...

Celebrity Impersonations by Indigo

Maggie J Simpson and Cindy Lou Who. I found the camera, cord, and batteries, so you WILL be seeing some of what the Pavey family has been up to since November very soon. However, a shower takes priority today.

3 Month Rolling Baby

Don't these smiles just KILL YOU?? My favorite is the one where Ryan is asleep and Indi looks like she heard the funniest joke. She is the cutest little hand/finger sucker with thigh rolls Ever!

Indigo rolled from her belly to back three times tonight, and I realized that she is 3 months old, it's time to blog! Ryan cheered for her as she pushed herself over again and again. It is so sweet to see their relationship blossoming. He is truly proud of his baby sister, and she is always watching his every move, and beams at him. It is heart melting.

Ryan is starting to show some initiative with potty training. If he keeps up at the current pace, he will be fully trained by his birthday! We're running out of room for all of his potty prizes. I switched to gummy lifesavers two days ago, as long as he uses the potty when it is light out, he gets candy. After dark, matchbox cars. He hasn't quite figured out the distinction yet, he just knows that he can't have sugar at nighttime. :)

In other news, our house has sold! In this market, it is a real blessing that we were only on the market for a month. Now, we have to get our new house situation ready to roll for a just before Christmas move in. I've already started saying goodbye to this house, our first home. I get all sentimental about all of the hard work that has gone into making this a home for our family. But I know the next one will be even bigger and better.

Coming out of the Fog

My daughter has colic. What does this really mean? It means she screams for no apparent reason for hours every evening. It means my husband and I are at our wits end--emotionally and physically drained. It is so hard to hear your baby cry and not be able to help her. Both of us have backaches from holding Her Majesty in the appropriate position (on her side, bouncing non-stop-oh and you can't sit down, or she freaks out)

This has been going on for 3 weeks now. I removed all dairy from my diet, it has helped to decrease the LENGTH of her freak outs, but not stop them all together. Theories abound on why babies get this--the latest I'm believing has to do with immature digestion.

We have informed Indigo that once she is 3 months old that she must cease and desist all of these shenanigans. I'm so tired that the other night I made chicken for dinner and forgot to make any side dishes (noodles and veggies). Dare I say it, the last two nights haven't been too bad- are we emerging from this fog? Or have I just jinxed tonight's rest? Gotta run, she's screaming again.

Our Halloween

Here we are: Baby Tiger/Pumpkin, Dragon, Little Red Riding Hood, and the Big Bad Wolf. Ryan dictated everyone's costumes this year. He likes to sing the Hey there little red riding hood song. We taught him this one as the "Nursery Rhyme" to go with a puzzle. His howl is quite cute.

I'm a little late, as usual. We celebrated Halloween on the ACTUAL night, not anything fancy surrounding it. This year was Ryan's first Trick or Treating from door to door. We went with some friends up in Everett. Ryan and Hazel had trouble with the concept of knocking on a door but not going inside...a new idea for both of them. We only hit a few houses, so there isn't enough candy for Mom and Dad to yoink. That's ok, since I had to give up dairy for Indigo, chocolate included, this Halloween was a bit of a drag for me. Those of you that know me well understand the sacrifice I am making for this child by giving up chocolate. I will have to find some weirdo-hippie version without dairy to keep my wits about me!

How to soothe a colicky baby- Daddy Style

Her nickname du jour: Sack of potatoes

Two Months Old!

Indigo is pudging up nicely. It's weird to have a "normal" sized baby after one who was so tiny. She is moving quickly through her brother's gender neutral hand me downs. I've been putting 3 month onesies on her because the looser fit results in less screaming than the tighter fitting 0-3 month size. She is cooing and squawking more each day. We've also been blessed with a colic diagnosis for her screaming fits. The record stands at 6 hours straight. We have a barrage of remedies that we throw at her when she starts up-usually around the time it gets dark outside. Luckily, she wears herself out and gets a good 5-6 hours of sleep afterward.

The picture of Ryan and Grandpa is from Granna's birthday celebration at our house. Unfortunately, I only have a photo of the partially eaten cake. I put 100 on the top with red licorice. She took it all in stride-Thanks for being a good sport Granna.

All of our family visiting is over for the year. We are hoping to manage a trip back to Indiana over Christmas, but it will be very pricey.

One Month Old

I'm a few days late with my post, but some people count 4 weeks as a month, and others wait until the day of, so whatever: my baby is a month old.

She weighed 8 lbs 6 1/4 oz at her check up, and was 20 inches tall. I don't think this counts as 1 1/2 inches of growth since birth, I just think the nurses are more able to get her legs to stretch our for a more accurate measurement. The lovely outfit was provided by Grammy and promptly scarred with a mega diaper blowout following this photo shoot.

Boys Versus Girls

Nobody warned me about the mess. This cute little baby generated the above pile of laundry in a mere twenty minutes! We were alone for a bit, and she came at me with a barrage of bodily fluids, taking out the bouncy seat and my clothing on the way. Ryan was never THIS bad. At least when he peed on me, it was a nice stream that I could dodge, Indi is more of a soak and submerge pee-er.

Due Date- 40 weeks

These pictures were taken on Sunday, August 29, Nugget's real due date. Yes, I'm behind on posts, but I have 2 kids now, so computer time is much less than it used to be. Give me time to adjust, we'll see if we can avoid second child syndrome with the photos.

Introducing Indigo Joy

The following post contains details of labor and delivery. Do not read if you will be put off by details, but I know many of you are interested in this stuff.

It all started at 5:30 AM on Thursday, August 19.

I went in Ryan's room to "tuck up" his covers which he had removed so he could go back to sleep. He has been asking for the baby's crib for the past few nights, and we have been accommodating. Maybe he knew that Indi was on her way. As I bent to cover him, I felt a flush of amniotic fluid, not a gush, just enough to get my attention. I woke Jeff, took a shower, and called the triage nurse. She said to head on into the hospital, even though my contractions were very light and more than 10 minutes apart. We took our time going, stopping for coffee and a scone from Starbucks on the way. Ryan does not like to get up in the morning, so we packed him up in PJ's and managed to forget his shoes at home.

We arrived at triage at 8:15 AM, my contractions were a bit heavier, but still not very painful. I just took some deep breaths and focused on whatever inanimate object caught my attention at the time to get through them. After assessment, I was declared "admitted" at 5-6 cm of cervical dilation (you have to be 10 to have the baby). We were escorted by soft spoken nurse Shirley to our room on the next floor. I had a few more contractions, and sat up in the bed as my midwife, Rebecca, came into the room. I felt a "pop" which I thought was audible to others, and the rest of my water broke. It was 10 AM. I went to the restroom and had a huge contraction. When I returned to my bed, nurse Shirley put an IV access into my arm-just in case. Nothing was hooked up to it, and she noted the time on the bandage, 10:15. I then had the worst contraction, which caused me to yell and cuss and ask for medication. I had another contraction and was yelling for meds. Rebecca said, "We need to check you first". Well, I had dilated to 10, and was ready to deliver the baby, so no pain meds for me!! Just yelling (enough that my throat was sore later) and crazy amounts of pushing. I delivered my daughter while laying on my left side. Poor Jeff was contorted onto the bed in front of me, supporting my top leg and helping my pelvis to maximize the stretch for Indigo to pass through. Rebecca placed my hand on Indi's head, and I pushed into my hand. It was surreal. Indigo was born at 11:01 AM. Our birth team was amazing. They followed my birth plan to the letter without question--no lights, no meds for baby, no bath, skin to skin contact as much as possible, and Indigo stayed with me the entire time.

Indigo has beautiful dark straight hair, and cloudy blue eyes. Her head is perfectly round, and her petite body is perfect in every way. We came home on Friday afternoon, and have been blissfully snuggling, bathing, and learning to eat since then.

Thank you to all our well-wishers and friends. We are a very blessed family of FOUR.