(Un)Happy Holidays

Our attempt at a Christmas family photo resulted in some rather unhappy children...

but at least Dave and I look good!  Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and safe New Year!

One Month and Change

 You may not be able to tell here, but she's about to...

 scream!

 Awww, cute Adella we love you red eyes and all!

Last Friday Adella turned one month old on the 7th.  She is already out of her newborn size clothes and diapers.  Her legs fill up size 3 month pajamas perfectly and she's able to fill her size 1 diapers just as well.  At her 2 week visit to the pediatrician she weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz. (which is what Suzie weighed at 1 month - Adella did have a 2 pound lead on her to being with though) and I was reassured that she is indeed getting all she needs from me while nursing.  Since her weight was so good we were told a 1 month visit was not necessary and just to come back for her 2 month one.  You don't have to ask this mommy twice to skip a doctor visit!  I feel lucky and blessed that nursing is going so well and that our sweet baby girl is growing bigger and stronger every day.  So strong that at only 7 days old she rolled over from her tummy to her back!  I could hardly believe it.  Dave said he thought as she got bigger she wouldn't be able to move the weight of her body quite as easily, but she's still going strong and rolling over during tummy time.  I'll upload a video soon - I know a claim like that need proof!

Sadly, the typical 2nd child syndrome (in our case 3rd child) has taken hold already.  I have yet to fill out a single thing in her baby book, her first holiday (Thanksgiving) went completely undocumented and I will be lucky if I'm able to document, in photos, her growth each month of her first year of life as I did with the twins.  She'll be 5 weeks tomorrow and I'm just now getting this post out of draft format and finally published.  While I do want her to grow up knowing she was just as cared for and loved as her older siblings I understand that there are no two ways about it, certain things will have to give and my expectations for myself will change as my life with 3 children under 14 months evolves.  So pardon the blurry iPhone photos (sometimes it's all I have handy to snap a quick pic) and overall lack of photos in this post and future ones.  

Our beautiful blue eyed girl

Adella-Bella-Boo (or Bella-Boo for short) and Addie Mae are the two nicknames we have been using so far, but mostly Dave and I just say Adella.  We still feel the name suits her so well and I'm glad we made the change when we did.  Little Miss Adella has some strawberry blonde tones to her hair and I'm hoping it stays that way.  My mom says she reminds her a lot of what I looked like as a baby.  There are parts of me I can see in her, but mostly Dave and I feel she is her own person with a look and personality unique to her. 

Ian and Suzie are starting to notice her a bit more than before, but luckily still no resentment that mommy is with the baby more than playing with them these days.  Ian is fascinated with her pacifier and anytime he is in striking distance he will try to snatch it away.  He has also developed in interest in sticking his finger in her mouth.  Needless to say she remains in my arms, in her bouncy chair up on the table or in the pack & play where it is harder for Ian's curious fingers to reach her most of the time.  Suzie is quite the opposite from Ian in that she will very gently touch Adella's leg or arm then giggle then walk away to playing with something a bit more interactive.  

Dave and I relish our time in the evenings with just her after the twins are in bed.  Two doting parents focused on one baby - its a new concept to us and we're loving it!  I turned to him one night and said, "This must be what it's like to only have one."  Imagine.  Adella already has Dave wrapped around her pinky.  He loves having her close to him - sleeping on top of his chest, wearing her in the Moby, laying on his lap while he comments of every facial expression she makes.  It is a joy for me to see how much our sweet baby girl is adored by her father.  

My connection with her is quite different that what it was with the twins as newborns.  During their pregnancy I knew the genders, thought about them and talked about them with Dave by name, knew the differences in their heartbeats (I was paranoid during the 1st trimester and bought a fetal heart monitor which I used often throughout the pregnancy) and was able to develop a close bond during that time.  Having delivered them via c-section there was a bit more separation during their first hours of life than I wanted and a few other details that just result as the nature of having twins - especially as your first.  With Adella, not knowing the gender during pregnancy AND having two children to focus on and be occupied by made me feel a bit more disconnected with her during the actual pregnancy.  We had names for each gender, but still always just called her, "the baby" or "baby #3" since that's what she was to us.  I also did not have all the opportunities to see her through ultrasounds  that I did with the twins since this was not a high risk pregnancy.  But being able to deliver her via VBAC, have the skin-to-skin contact and the opportunity to nurse her right away created such a strong bond that I'm still amazed by it today.  I love the time I have with her.  I love breathing her in as she sleeps on my chest.  

I love hearing her noises as she's dreaming.  

I love washing her beautifully perfect newborn body with her long fingers and toes.  

I am soaking in this precious time that I'll only have once with each child.  Not so long ago she was still in my belly and now she is here in my arms.  The wonder of that always leaves me in awe.

Out Numbered

I have to be honest, the transition from 2 kids to 3 has been hard.  And it just may be that has something to do with the fact they are all under 14 months old -- three kids in diapers, three kids with feeding and nap schedules, three kids at home all day long, three kids in cribs...you get the idea.  It's been a big adjustment to figure out this past week and a half what the "new normal" for the Traxler Tribe is now that I'm on my own.  

I have to say for never being a family of 3 and having 2 kids to start with Dave and I got pretty good at tag teaming.  Schedule and routine are also things we quickly learned to embrace and make our friends all in the name of saving our sanity.  Even when it was just the twins and me and I was technically outnumbered I never felt too much out of control.  Difficult things would come up, but somehow it always worked out to just find a way to deal with them.  So now that our one on one ratio is no longer there are situations that arise that make certain things a bit more difficult.  Cast in point - last night...

After Ian and Suzie finished dinner it was bath time.  Adella was upstairs sleeping so I decided to help Dave bathe the twins.  Right in the middle of bath time Adella woke up and started crying, I check my wonderful iPhone app and saw it was time for her to nurse again.  I left Dave to finish washing and rinsing the twins while I went to nurse Adella.  A few minutes later I hear Dave shout from the bathroom, "Oh no!  Ian pooped in the tub!"  I told him I was still nursing and wasn't really able to get up and help him out.  When giving the suggestion to scoop up the poop in a cup and dump it in the toilet Dave informed me it, "it's not that kind of poop," ewwwww.  So he had to lift Suzie up and rinse her off then do the same for Ian.  Next thing I know I see a wet naked Suzie walking into our room followed by a wet naked Ian.  Dave was trying to salvage the bath toys that weren't dirty yet and quickly rinse out the tub.  Meanwhile I'm still nursing Adella and Ian and Suzie are walking around our room checking things out.  Ian comes over to stand by my side of the bed and Suzie finds a spot she likes in front of our dresser.  It wasn't until Dave came in (couldn't have been more than 2 minutes later) that he, exclaimed, "Oh no, they both just peed!"  At this point all we could do was laugh.  Now this is the really funny part - Suzie squatted down when she peed and left a manageable spot to clean...

Ian on the other hand remained standing by my side of the bed the whole time and just let loose, resulting in the bed skirt, sheet and carpet all needing to be cleaned.  Ahhh, boys!

We are just at the beginning of our journey of being out numbered and it's become quite clear - you win some, you loose some.  On this one we lost.