...And duo makes four » Pregnancy

Pictures anyone?

esther — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:58:34 +0000

As soon as I finish getting my online course up and running I will upload John’s birthday pictures (warning: this may not be until after I take Hazel’s birthday pictures!).

I think we can all agree that I am no longer a very diligent baby blogger- I suppose that’s what happens when the babies turn into toddlers

Exciting Weekend!

esther — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 02:01:45 +0000

Snuggly babies…

And hilarious toddlers- on the way home in the car this evening Hazel said she was going to drink all of John’s milk. We asked her what John would drink if she drank all his milk, her reply, “Ice Cream!”

Hazel turns two tomorrow- pictures of the entire weekend (family birthday party tomorrow at 2 and Hazel and John will be baptized Sunday evening, busy, busy, busy!) should be up by Monday or Tuesday. Jered and I got a little time to decorate Hazel’s birthday cake tonight, which was a fun way to celebrate our little girl turning 2- we made a pink robot cake that turned out super cute. Hazel has decided that she loves robots, and she decided this quite out of the blue (another back seat conversation that went a little something like this (completely randomly, too)- “Hey Mama! Hey Papa! I LOVE robots!!” So excited for this big weekend!

He’s Here!

esther — Fri, 28 May 2010 00:49:27 +0000

Tuesday night:

Wednesday morning!:
Duo is here! May 26, 2010 John Miles Benoit was born at 11:57 am.

He weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces, is 20.5 inches long and has quite a bit more hair than his sister had when she was born nearly two years ago!

This delivery was so different from the last and we are so thankful for that.

We got to the hospital this morning at 8, started IV fluids right away and tried to calm my nerves. We were scheduled for 10 am, but we got bumped by an emergency C-Section, so I didn’t walk myself into the OR until shortly after 11:30. Once in the OR I was prepped and given a spinal, which was a much much better experience than I could have ever imagined. I numbed up almost immediately which was such a relief to me. One of my biggest worries was that I wouldn’t numb up and would have to be put under general anesthesia again. Once the spinal was in, my legs and feet got nice and warm and heavy and I was helped onto the operating table. This was my most nervous moment as I wasn’t sure just how numb I would get. The anesthesiologist, nurses and doctors were all very reassuring and soon enough I was informed that the doctor had just pinched me really hard and I was none the wiser!
Once everyone as convinced I wouldn’t be feeling anything, Jered was allowed back into the OR. I was so happy to see him that I had a little pre-baby cry right then and there.
Once Jered came in it took about 10 minutes for John to be born. Hearing his cry was the most amazing experience of my life. Being awake to hear my son take his first breaths (and let us all know how he felt about those breaths) was a true gift.
John had a little trouble breathing at first so we weren’t able to see him right away, but after about 5 minutes they brought him over to us and I got to give him a few quick kisses before he and Papa headed over to the nursery.
While they finished me up, Jered and John got to spend a little time getting to know each other in the nursery- and got to share the news that our little boy is not really all that little!
Unlike last time I didn’t have any problems with bleeding during the surgery and everything went very smoothly. After about 40 minutes I was wheeled into a recovery room where I was monitored for about an hour. Jered came in to tell me how John was doing, but I wasn’t able to see John until a few hours later because of some breathing issues he was having at the time. Fortunately his breathing slowed down and he was doing much better by the time our post-partum room was ready.

By that time Omi, Paul, Clayton and big sister Hazel had arrived at the hospital to visit. Hazel did really well, although I think she was a little overwhelmed and confused about why she couldn’t get up on the bed with mama.

Oma came into town from Germany last night as well, so before we headed to bed to get some much needed sleep we were able to introduce Oma to her newest great grandson. Needless to day it was a very eventful day. John has been nursing well, and has spent a bit of time in the nursery to give mama and papa time to rest up. This morning he was whisked away for his circumcision and we are waiting to see him again soon.
What a wonderful, beautiful experience this has been. We have two beautiful children and each other, we could not be more blessed.

Twas the night before…

esther — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:10:34 +0000

Tomorrow at this time we will be in the hospital with our new little baby, scheduled to make his or her debut tomorrow morning around 10 am. It is so hard to believe that two years ago we were preparing for Hazel’s arrival and tomorrow we will meet our second child. In many ways this pregnancy has been similar to my first- I have felt very good throughout and haven’t had any complications. In other ways, though, this pregnancy has been completely different. For one, with a toddler to keep up with there hasn’t been nearly as much time to focus on the pregnancy itself. With Hazel I read all the books, knew exactly what was developing during which week, how fast she was growing and all of those details (which you may recall I posted to this blog on a very regular basis!). The second time around we have been so much busier with the activities of living life. We haven’t been any less excited about this little one’s development, but the luxury of pondering his or her in-utero development hasn’t been one we’ve been afforded! In a way this has made tonight even more meaningful because tomorrow this baby will become a very real part of our family- one we can’t wait to meet.
Jered and I dropped Hazel off with Omi tonight after a fun-filled afternoon as our last day as a family of three. It was bittersweet to drop her off because I know that things will be so different starting tomorrow morning but we are so excited to let our love grow, grow, grow as our family grows. Our little girl isn’t so little anymore and this little baby is getting too big for my tummy (as Hazel has said many many times today “Time to come out, Baby!”). Tomorrow begins a new chapter in our life as a family and I can’t wait to share it with you all.
For old time’s sake, a picture of vintage Hazel- gets me all excited just looking at her newborn sweetness. Send thoughts and prayers tomorrow- I’ll be steeling my nerves all night!

Overheard (and some excuses)…

esther — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:42:58 +0000

I’m going to do the usual overheard post today but I have to start with a round of excuses first- I have been meaning to update the blog with pictures, videos and general words for a couple of weeks now, but we have been so busy getting ready for duo to make his or her appearance, between that and having Grammy J here we’ve been having too much fun to sit down at the computer for any length of time. So… I am going to try and post all the photos that are currently sitting on the camera as well as all of the latest videos (we’ve got some really cute ones of Hazel building “houses” on the couch with blankets and pillows). This will hopefully happen before duo makes his or her grand debut- I’ve got to clear off the camera so that we can take pictures of the new little gal or guy!! But, Hazel is awake right now, so all I have time for is a few things I’ve overheard this week- I will try and upload photos and videos tonight or tomorrow.

Overheard just now as Hazel plays with her fisher price play house, “Oh No! Mama fell off chimney- another boo boo, I kiss it- Mwa!” (good to know the kid has an imagination)

“Cold outside today, where my jacket go?”- on the way to the car in the rain this morning.

“I love you too, Mama”- completely unsolicited love at lunch time today.

“Ouch- I got a boo boo, it hurt, Oh no… another one- knee hurt. Owwwww” – said with much drama- her new favorite thing is talking about boo boo’s- you’d think the kid was accident prone, but everything is a boo boo right now and she’ll talk about it forever!

“Hey- that’s Bammy picture! Hello Bammy- come back home!” Looking at a picture of Grammy who was here last week and who Hazel wishes would come back to live in the baby’s room (which she will be thrilled to learn is happening for the next few nights!).

“Mama- Bammy sleep baby room!” Informing me at 6 am that Grammy was, indeed, sleeping in the baby’s room. Good to know.

Overheard…!

esther — Sun, 02 May 2010 00:15:05 +0000

Reading Curious George and the Pancakes tonight at bed time, “Hmmmm Mmmhmmm, George the Monkey, Yes, Pancakes, Thank You!” (she was flipping through the pages and pretending to read to us- it was so cute I almost exploded)

Trying to go for a ride in the bike trailer or her tricycle “Yellow Helmet, Me! Let’s Go!”

Tonight, upon returning from a ride in the bike trailer with Papa she told me that they had been to the, “Playground, Me swim soup (swimsuit)” She took a ride to the playground and was wearing her swimsuit.

“Let’s go, Let’s go! Beach time!!” What I get to hear almost every morning when she sees her bucket or her sun hat or her swim suit…

She’s also started to say her full name when she draws (we’ve been showing her how to write Hazel and identify some of the letters in her name and she gets a big kick out of saying and “writing” everyone’s full name)- She will draw intently as she says emphatically, “Hazel Laleline Noyt!”

My favorite this week, “I Love Loo Too Mama, I Love Loo Too Papa”- this has become part of our bedtime routine just after we say I love you and do a family kiss (where she grabs our heads and kisses both mama and papa at the same time, quite funny).

And on another sweet note, Hazel has taken to putting her hands on my belly and whispering to the baby, “Come out now, Baby! Come on out!”

Overheard…

esther — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:32:36 +0000

I think I may start doing “overheard” posts more frequently since we are hearing the funniest things here lately!
On the way home from our picnic at the beach tonight, “Home, home- no dirty, bath night!” (she knew it was bath night and she was feeling a little sandy)

Looking for deer on the parkway, “Deer, are you? Snack time deer!” (we always tell her the deer are out for their bedtime snack)

At the vet with Oscar this morning, “Oscar smell bad, stinky doggie, Bath, Oscar, Bath!”

After Oscar gets his bath today, “Oscar nice, No Stinky, Hug Oscar” (apparently this kid doesn’t hug stinky dogs- smart kid!)

As Jered was getting ready to leave for work, “No Work Papa, Papa Home!!!” (she points to the ground when she says home, as if to say you better not even think about leaving this house!)

When trying to find our car in the parking lot, “Mama Car, are you? Three apples mama, three apples- otherside car!” (the Passat has three little apple stickers on it and we’ve told her that is how we find our car- we found a Passat without apple stickers on it and she called it the otherside car)

Spring has sprung

esther — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:49:45 +0000

We’ve been fortunate to have some very lovely weather the past couple of weeks and we’ve tried to make the most of it by getting outside as much as possible. In addition to a garden/backyard makeover, we’ve also found some new fun activities for Hazel to do outside. With the warmer weather coming, we started looking for a water table for her to play with in the back yard. On a recent trip to Costco we found one and for quite a steal, too. I posted a few videos of Hazel playing with it in the previous entry, and I’ll post a few pictures below, too. She sure does love that thing! Last weekend it got up to almost 80 degrees and she played with it until her hands were pruney and her clothes were soaked- 3 hours later we had to beg her to come in and get out of the sun for a while! I think we will glad we got the water table when it starts getting really hot around here this summer. With the way our backyard is set up, we’ll be able to take the new baby out and hang out under the big umbrella while Hazel plays. We’ve planted quite an assortment of flowers, fruits and vegetables for the summer too- a raspberry bush, roses, assorted wild flowers, watermelons, tomatos, green beans and more herbs than I can even remember off the top of my head- the garden should be in good shape this year!

As I write this post I’m uploading the latest batch of pictures from the camera and realizing that the pictures I add here will make for an all-over-the-place kind of update, but that’s just fine with me- bear with me! You’ll also find some more pictures of Hazel’s finished room- we took a few more once we got her shelves and pictures up. She loves being in her big girl room, especially since she now has free reign to read as many books as she wants for as long as she wants as long as she eventually falls asleep. She loves books…maybe even more than her mama, which is saying something!

In other news, we got a rocking chair in the mail from Grammy and Grampy last week. Hazel uses it quite enthusiastically, rocking herself and various “babies” in her chair. She likes to say “Roooock, roooock, roooock” as she rocks. It’s also become her favorite tv watching spot- she loves that she can rock while she watches Elmo or Barney or Super Why… and when she pulls that chair up to the coffee table she’s really in heaven- snacks in reach, rocking in her chair, watching her show- talk about a happy kiddo!

I realize I haven’t posted much about duo recently, and that is not for lack of excitement. Thankfully all is going smoothly with this pregnancy, and while I may not post about it much, we are just as thrilled, excited and anxious to meet this little one as we were when we were expecting Hazel. It seems that having a toddler at home just makes little luxuries like sitting down at the computer to type out an update a bit less common! My last appointment was last week (I still have bruises on my arm to show for it!)- I am now in my third trimester with about 9 weeks left. I had my routine blood work, glucose test and rhogam shot done last week and everything went very well- no gestational diabetes, which is wonderful since I’ve been craving sweets with this one (with Hazel I craved salt, so this is new for me!). The baby is measuring right on target, putting our due date around the 30th of May. We learned two appointments ago that I am not a candidate for VBAC (unfortunately), because of the way my incision was done during Hazel’s delivery, and thus we will be scheduling a c-section for this baby. I have to say that I’m a bit bummed that I will be having another c-section as you can only safely have so many c-sections, and that does put a limit on the number of our own children we can have, but, in the end, I will be happy to have a healthy baby, no matter how he or she gets here! I am also looking forward to having a scheduled c-section this time, as I hear they are much easier to recover from, and are generally less traumatic than the craziness we experienced last time!!! I am so excited and curious to meet this new baby. I find myself wondering what the new baby will be like- will it be bald as an onion like Hazel, or will he or she have a head full of hair? Will we have a laid back, easy baby, or an up-all-night rambunctious one like baby’s big sister? Girl or boy? One thing, I do know, is that this baby better be ready for lots of love- Hazel is fascinated with babies right now (thanks in part to the sweet little baby Aunt Joanna and Uncle Matt sent her for Christmas)- and I know that she is going to love being a big sister. The only thing I really know about duo right now is that this baby moves like crazy! I can see my stomach shift around when duo moves- something I wasn’t able to see at all when I was pregnant with Hazel. The kicking is especially feisty after I’ve eaten something sweet (read: chocolate), maybe I’ll be able to capture this baby’s antics on video this week- in class on Tuesday night, the students in the front row saw my belly move. Yeah- it’s that crazy!
Our next appointment is April 5th- more updates on duo as we get them!

And now, for the pictures. We’ll start with Hazel’s room and end with the most recent shots from around the house/yard.

This pictures needs a disclaimer… Hazel gets grumpy when I make her wear hair bows- but she really needs to wear them because her hair gets in her eyes without them, so, here you see a cute, albeit grumpy, Hazel.

Oh! We get to go outside! = instant attitude adjustment

Overheard

esther — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:15:56 +0000

Listening to Hazel read herself to sleep this afternoon… “One puppy, no, two puppies…no, all of them puppies” (she has a puppy book out from the library right now)

While playing in the garden “Rocks, rocks, everybody eat rocks- Oscar, eat rocks!” (tries to feed Oscar a rock)

Looking into what Hazel thought was an empty pizza box, “Ohhhh!!!!!! More Pizza!!! Alright!!”

And at bedtime tonight, “Night Night, Mama… you you in the good morning” (we always say see you in the morning at bedtime)

I absolutely love this age- her language is just exploding and she is communicating so well! It’s incredible the things we hear around here!

Snow Day Part II

esther — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:56:34 +0000

And Finally… After we came in to warm up… This is how Hazel felt about coming back inside: