Welcome Baby Anna!

Jay and I are so excited to announce the arrival of our new baby girl, Anna Jayne Davis! She was born 8/27/10 at 12:24pm and weighed 8lb 14oz and was 19 inches long. Most importantly she is a beautiful, healthy baby girl. She looks exactly like Emma did when she was born - a big girl with lots of dark hair and blue eyes, although she is a bit smaller as Emma weighed 9lb 3oz.

Aside from some high blood pressure issues that kept me in the recovery room a bit longer than normal, I am recovering well. I have quite a bit of soreness, but Jay has been really helping around the house and with Emma. We have already had our first outing to the pediatrician and she checked up well and has gained an ounce since leaving the hospital. Jay and I were both amazed how long it took us to get the entire family ready for the day, fed breakfast, and out the door.

Anna has been a great baby and sleeps most of the day, waking up only to feed. She has had a couple good nights since being home waking only every 2-3 hours to feed and immediately falling back to sleep. Last night she decided to stay awake between 4-6am, so we are a bit tired today. Emma has been taking her presence extremely well. She LOVES to push her in the swing and bring her toys. She always asks to kiss baby sissy and wants to hold her too. So far she hasn't exhibited too much jealousy, although that could always change.

We feel so blessed to have two healthy baby girls! We are also thankful for all of our loving friends who have stopped by to visit. We also have a wonderful bunch of neighborhood friends who have been bringing us dinner every night - thanks to all of you! We appreciate it so much (we all know Jay is not the best of cooks!) They also helped to take care of Emma while we were in the hospital. We are also looking forward to all of the grandparents visits that begin this weekend for a couple of weeks.

I have TONS of pictures and posted just some of them below. I am also trying to upload videos with some difficulty so look for those in another post.

Prior to the c-section

Daddy getting ready for the surgery

Welcome, baby Anna

Proud new parents

In the recovery room holding my new babe for the first time

Finally in our room with Anna

Emma opening her gift from Anna

She got a new Mermaid Barbie!

Mommy with her two girls

Our family of four!!

Our first visitors - Jamie and Kim

She already likes to suck her fingers, just like her big sister

In her going home outfit - the same one that Emma wore

First trip in the carseat

Welcome home!

The following are pictures from my friend Jamie's camera - high quality. Thanks for taking them!

Birthday Party WHOOO!

Last weekend was one filled with birthday parties for Emma. Saturday we went to the jump zone to celebrate Emma's friend Cielle's 3rd birthday and Sunday took us to the local gymnastics club to celebrate Chase's 3rd birthday. Emma had a GREAT time at both parties and her dad managed to get her hyperactive by waking her in the mornings hollering "Birthday Party WHOOWHOO!" Emma soon followed suit and was hollering the same thing throughout the house and at the actual party. She loves birthday's and is often found singing "Happy Birthday to You" even when it isn't anyones birthday.

The biggest excitement for mom came at Cielle's party who happened to have a Dora birthday cake. I noticed Emma eyeing up the cake early on and she kept talking about the "Dora cake". As we were sitting and eating our lunch Emma promptly got out of her seat and made a mad dash for the cake. I saw it coming and chased after her as fast as I could (imagine a 9 month pregnant lady and how fast she can actually "chase" after a two year old). I managed to reach her just as her hand was touching the Dora car on the cake. WHEW! It was only milliseconds away from being a disaster! Good save, mom!

This week we have been counting down until baby sissy arrives. The big day is finally here tomorrow! We are so excited to meet her and a bit nervous for the c-section and all of the big changes about to take place! Can't believe my next post we will be a family of four!

I have also thought of a couple other phrases that Emma is found to say often - an addendum from my last post:
1. "Bess you, mama". She says this whenever I sneeze for bless you. It is adorable.
2. "Scuze me, I bupped". This actually means "Excuse me, I burped."
3. "Min alone". She says this when going potty and she wants a "Minute alone."

Also, today during nap time I heard her singing upstairs. I went up to listen to what she was singing and she was singing "Happy Birthday Baby Sissy" over and over! It was the cutest thing ever. We kept telling her that baby sissy's birthday is tomorrow and she was singing to her!! These are the moments that make me so thankful to be a mom!! Enjoy the pictures below.

Chase's birthday at the gymnastics club - it was so much fun!!

All of the kiddos - Emma in front with the two pink bows
Emma getting swallowed up by the blue styrofoam blocks

Run, run, run!!!

Crawling under the balance beams

Almost 38 weeks in this picture

Sitting in the big blow up chair at the jump zone birthday party

Emma next to Cielle - the birthday girl

Playing air hockey with daddy

Their opponents - Avery with her daddy

Emma at 2 years 3 months

Wanted to post a little update about Emma and her behavior before baby sissy arrives and time gets away from me. Here is a list of things most likely to come out of her mouth:

- "Momma, momma, momma." I swear she says this a thousand times a day. She is constantly seeking for my attention.
- "No, momma, no!" She has hit the stage where she wants to do everything herself. She will say this before I even try to help her do something in anticipation that I may interfere.
- "What's that?" She has hit her inquisitive stage and wants to know what everything is. I am sure that this will soon be followed by "why"
- "Buzz, Jessie, Woody later?" Her favorite movie is now Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and is constantly asking to watch it.
- "Lexie, Chase, Avery?" These are her bff's that she always wants to play with.
- "Baby sissy coming soon." We have been trying to prepare her for the arrival and she talks about it all the time.

A few new things that she does:
- Loves to dress herself. This is often where the "no, momma, no!" comes in when I try to help her. She does a good job, although it takes her a while. I also have to help with things not being backwards/inside out which often ends in a battle.
- Recently started getting in and out of her carseat herself. She can climb all the way up into my 4Runner, which means I need to be more diligent at keeping it clean so that she doesn't get filthy climbing in.
- Climbs up into her booster seat for meals.
- She now likes ketchup eats it on her hot dogs and chicken nuggets. She often asks for it on other food too.

She continues to be a very picky eater. She lives off from chicken nuggets (she asks for these every meal), oatmeal, macaroni and cheese or as she calls it "roni cheese", hot dogs, waffles with peanut butter, yogurt and fruit. I try to cook her decent meals with veggies and she refuses to eat them. By refuse I mean she will literally spit it out or "gag" it up. She has this voluntary gag thing now to spit up her food. At first I thought she was choking but soon realized that she has total control over it. She will be happy to not eat anything at all if I only offer healthy food. This is the biggest source of my frustration, along with the fact that she lolligags at every meal and they take 30 - 45 minutes. I feel like I fight with her every meal time. UGH! She also loves ice cream and of course cookies.

She has a new favorite stuffed animal - "Teddy Bear." It is a teddy bear that has been sitting on top of her bookshelf since she was born. She recently started asking for it and I gave it to her. She carries it everywhere including to bed at night and meals. She loves to play with her stuffed animals and babies and is often found putting them down for a nap on her bed with a blankie on top. She also feeds them and occasionally tries to put a diaper on them. She likes to put them in the baby swing too and turn it on.

She has been coloring a lot lately, but has had a hard time learning her colors (where I feel everything else has come so easily for her). If you ask her what color something is she will go through the list of colors until she happens to be right. She is not consistent at all with them. She can also now count to 15.

She loves to read and is often found reading by herself. Her favorite book this week is "Moo, Baa, La La La" by Sandra Boynton. She asks for me to read it over and over at night. And then she will "read" it to me.

That's all for now. We are on baby watch. I went to the doctor today and I am already 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. She could come at anytime! Her estimated weight is 8lb already! We can't wait to meet her!

Potty Training Update and Emma's Big Girl Bed

I am happy to announce that the potty training has taken a turn for the better!! Yay for Emma and yay for Mommy!!! After purchasing the "froggie" potty chair Emma really started taking an interest in using the potty. At first she would only go tee-tee on froggie and resisted going poo poo for almost 2 weeks. I was getting frustrated with this because I would take her to the potty and try to bribe her with Hello Kitty stickers to go poo poo and she wouldn't go. Not even 5 minutes later she would go in her big girl underwear! UGH! It took bribing with Elmo stickers and watching Toy Story movie to get her to go poo poo. One day it just clicked in (or should I say the bribery worked because I am positive she knew what she was doing) and she has been using the potty ever since! We do still have the occasional accident which most often happens when she is playing too hard or intently watching a movie and "forgets" that she has to use the potty. As my friends warned me, she also LOVES using public toilets. Whenever we are out and about she wants to go potty over and over and over. Of course she then wants to touch everything and loves to flush it - YUCK! Those first couple weeks were really rough, but I think we are on the right track now which is really nice!

Emma also recently got her "Big girl bed." Her toddler bed converted back to a crib and was moved to baby sissy's room. Emma got a new twin bed with trundle, nightstand, and dresser. The delivery men were here one night until 9:30 at night setting up her bed. I was about ready to put her to bed in the pack n play (the crib was already all set up on the highest level for baby so she couldn't sleep in that) but she was beyond ecstatic that her big girl bed was here. She wouldn't leave the men alone who were setting it up and she kept screaming giddily "Emma's big girl bed, Emma's big girl bed." It was absolutely adorable. She was throwing her stuffed animals up onto the bed as I was trying to put the sheets on it so that she could go to bed! She did great the first few days, but did fall out yesterday during nap time. She fell out on Daddy's watch and he called me to say that her head was bleeding!! We aren't sure what she hit her head on since the nightstand was a long way from the bed. It must have either been the side rail or the trundle that was sticking out 1/4 of an inch. We have to monitor her now and if she keeps falling out we might get side rails.

I have been organizing and getting ready for baby sissy to arrive. Can't believe that our family of three will be a family of four in less than two weeks! Her room is organized, bottles are cleaned (although I will be nursing), car seat is installed, name picked out (FINALLY), clothes are put away, and I have begun packing the hospital bags just in case. I have my last ultrasound tomorrow to check on baby and her growth/weight. I have been feeling good, but the heat is killing me. Can't wait for fall and for this baby to come!

Enjoy the pictures below. I plan on posting a little update on Emma's behavior/growth before I go to the hospital.

New sign in Emma's room - which is still a work in progress

Her dresser



The "big girl bed"

Emma testing out baby sissy's vibrating chair

All the neighborhood kiddos at the ice cream social last weekend

YUM!

Her hair can now be french braided! I love having a girl!!!

She loves her braids and always ask to "look mirror" when I finish them. She also wants hair spray when she gets her braids.

Ahh.. a helper in training!! She really wanted to help vaccuum the couch and what mom would say no to that?!?

Sitting with her pal Lexie

The Potty Training Saga

Last week I decided to tackle the ever-looming potty training issue with Emma. I thought she was more than ready as she would often bring us a diaper to change her when she was dirty. She could say "poo poo" and "tee tee" and was very interested when anyone would use the potty, especially her friends. Also, with her baby sister being born in just 5 weeks I thought it might be nice to have just one in diapers.

I had prepared a bit for the big day - I had Elmo (her favorite, of course) rings to put on the big potty, pull ups for bedtime, M & M's as reward for her successes, and also read a short book about how to train your child in just three days. We planned to go cold turkey and put her big girl underwear on throughout the day (no pullups) and then to use the pull ups at night. Wednesday came and I eagerly raced upstairs to get Emma out of bed. I had her help me "throw away" (technically we saved them for her baby sister) all of her diapers. Then we went downstairs and immediately sat on the potty and talked about how much of a big girl she was. I let her pick out her "big girl underwear" to put on and of course she chose Dora. I told her over and over to tell mommy when she had to go potty and that Dora wanted to stay dry. Let's just say we had one success that day and about 10 or 12 accidents. All I heard all day long was "Dora's all wet" and "Dora's sad." Mom was frustrated at the lack of success on day one.

Day two comes with renewed enthusiasm. However, the results are more of the same. One success with 10-12 accidents. Mom gets sick of hearing about Dora and Mickey Mouse being "all wet". Emma starts crying when I try to take her in to the bathroom to go potty. She also starts having temper tantrums and crying for no reason throughout the day, which is very unlike my normal happy child. I realize that this is a lot for a two year old to take in, but don't want her to feel like going on the potty is punishment. It should be exciting and rewarding for her. Lots of people, including the book I read, said that it often times just happens on day 3. Emma had tested my patience to the limit that day, especially at bed time. She fought me tooth and nail to put her pj's on, then screamed when I tried to brush her hair, and wouldn't let me brush her teeth. Mom lost it (I will admit - normally I have a lot of patience but tonight I lost it) and hollered at her to get in her damn bed and we will NOT be reading a book tonight. I walk downstairs and all I hear on the baby monitor in a sobbing voice "Read book, read book, read book." I have to go outside to calm my nerves and let her fall asleep. I go to bed exhausted, tired of cleaning up messes, and feeling sick of being homebound for 2 entire days. I will admit that I like to get out of the house everyday.

Day three arrives with skeptical enthusiasm as to whether this concept will magically sink in for Emma today. It doesn't. Not one success today. Lots and lots of crying when I try to take her to the bathroom. I even begin to try and bribe her with the M&M's (which I read you shouldn't do, but at this point I could care less). Mom has definately lost her patience as not only is Emma not successful, but she throws more temper tantrums for no reason. Dad gets home from work and he senses my frustration and tells me to leave the house. I happily oblige. It was like heaven to leave the house that night. I had come up with a new plan - I was going to Target to buy a little potty seat (instead of just having the rings to put on the big toilet) and try it out the next day. I had resisted buying these because I think cleaning them out is gross. I know millions of moms have done it before me, but I thought I could do it without the little potty seat. If she still threw temper tantrums with the new seat and cried at having to go potty then I was going to bag the whole concept until after baby was born. I didn't want Emma to associate potty training with punshment and I couldn't take much more.

Day four arrives and I immediately march Emma into the bathroom and show off the new "froggie" potty seat that I bought. She laughed and giggled and said "froggie" over and over. We sat on it and she immediately went tee tee! She loved it! We were successful 8 times on day four with just 2 accidents!! Hallelujah! She even came to me a couple times to tell me that she had to go potty. We got out of the house that day and went to the pool with friends, which was good for both mommy and Emma's sanity. I think she was also getting tired of being couped up in the house.

Things have been going well ever since we introduced froggie. She has a couple accidents a day. Mom had to scold dad yesterday because he yelled at her when she had her first accident at about 6pm. I had to tell him that she is just learning a big concept and she is going to have accidents. Daddy apologized to her and admitted it was probably a good thing mom was in charge of the potty training. He couldn't handle cleaning up the messes all day and couldn't understand why Dora has to be wet all day!

All in all we are coming along. I am still amazed at how naive I was thinking this would be easy. I guess you live and you learn! I am also having a hard time at not being able to get out of the house much. She is still in the early stages with accidents everyday and I am nervous to take her out and about yet. I know eventually I will need to just get over my fears. We did go to the neighbors for a short time yesterday and promptly returned home because she had an accident there (sorry Kim!!) I will keep you updated on her progress. So long for now.