Jenna - 7 Months

I'm trying my best to mark each month of Jenna's first year with a picture of her and "Big Bear".  This Bear was actually a gift from my grandparents to me when I was a young girl (maybe 5 or 6?).  It has been fun to watch the progress/change.

First Day of Kindergarten

 

I'm so late in making this post, but wanted to document it all the same.

Katie's first day of Kindergarten went extremely well.  She requested to ride the bus, so we let her. And then I got into the car and followed the bus to her school --- no, I'm not joking!  And yes, Matt came with me.

When she arrived home and got off the bus she had the biggest smile on her face.  She loved her first day.  I asked what she did, and her response was "we walked in a straight line.  And we got our table assignments.  Oh, and I got to see the playground where we will have recess."  And that's her summary of the first day.

The first week of school was long, and by Friday Katie was completely exhausted!  She asked me on Friday morning "Mom, do I have to go to Kindergarten all day, every day?"  I said, "Yes, you do.  Why?"  She said, "Well, this Kindergarten stuff is really tiring!"

We are about 6 weeks into the school year now, and it is going so well.  She loves her teacher and has made so many new friends.  It is still rather tiring, but she seems to have adjusted relatively well to the longer schedule.  I'm happy we made the decision to send her --- at this point, I think it was the right call.  But --- time will tell.

Big Girl - 5

Katie is 5!  Crazy, but true.  We celebrated her birthday with 3 separate events.  Grandpa Alfred and Katie have a birthday exactly 1 week apart --- so we had a family celebration for them together.  Just a little cookout and some presents.  Her favorite (as you can see from her reaction) was the slip-n-slide that Uncle John got for her.

Katie's second celebration came on her actual birthday.  We made her favorite meal (spaghetti) and she picked out a cake boss cake.

Then, as a 3rd celebration --- she and cousin Claire had a mini-party together at Chuck-E-Cheese.  Katie had visited Chuck-E's once before, and it was the first time for Claire.  They both loved it!  Especially the ski ball games.  So cute to watch them together....and it truly completed Katie's birthday week.

I had to include these last couple of pictures.  Claire gave Katie a pair of rain boots and an umbrella for her birthday.  Katie, of course, had to model them for us as soon as we got home.  Thanks so much you guys!!

Jenna - 6 Months

Jenna's first year is already 1/2 over.  WOW!  What?  Wait --- Let me write that again.  Jenna's first year is already 1/2 over! Sheesh!  Below are her 6 month statistics/activities.

• Weight:  17 lbs. 7 ounces (80%)
• Height:  27 inches (92%)
• Head Circumference:  16 3/4 inches (60%)
• Clothing:  Outgrowing 6 month sizes.  Wears mostly 9 months, some 12 months
• Sits Alone
• Crawls
• Pulls to knees consistently
• Pulls to stand sometimes
• Claps
• Says random consonants

In terms of personality, Jenna is a happy-go-lucky, CHILL baby.  She laughs and smiles often and absolutely LOVES the outdoors.  She gets upset when you take mommy and her toys away ---- or when she's hungry and you don't get her food to her IMMEDIATELY. 

Her sleep habits could use some work.  She is a good napper --- usually 2 naps daily between 1 and 2 hours each.  At night, she still gets me up twice.  I would be thrilled if we could change that!

Jenna is officially mobile at 6 months --- and quite frankly into EVERYTHING!   

Below are a couple videos of her latest tricks/activities. 

Passage of Time

Time is passing --- far more quickly than I'd like.  I knew life would speed up once we had two little ones in our home, but the pace seems faster than I imagined.  I'm not sure if life feels more rushed because Matt isn't here with us, or if this is the new normal.  But, I woke up last weekend and I suddenly had a 6 month old, and a 5 year old ---- and I have no idea where the hours, days, months, and years have gone. 

Every parent in the world has said to me --- "Soak it up!  It will be gone in the blink of an eye."  It seems that having a baby in the house gives me more perspective into just how quickly phases pass.  I remember when Katie was learning to crawl, what a short time ago it was, and how quickly Jenna will be 5, and then there will be no babies in our home to snuggle up.

Now, its not all sunshine in roses.  I couldn't tell you what 8 consecutive hours of sleep looks like.  And at this point, I think my body would revolt it if happened.  But, I'm doing everything I can not to rush it.  To try and just ENJOY the madness --- and to remember how fortunate and blessed we are in the midst of the chaos.

Part of my realization is a commitment to blog more --- document more!  This is most likely an INSANE commitment given my time constraints.  But, I'm going to try.  I logged into our blog today and realized I've missed 2 months.  2 MONTHS!!!  Yikes. 

Newborn/Family Photos

While I was on maternity leave, we decided to have some family photos taken to celebrate our new family of 4.  It was intended to be Jenna's newborn pictures, so most of the pics are of her.  But she was already one month old when these were taken, so no real sleepy baby shots.  Oh well.  I'm in the process of getting caught up on my blogging and thought I would share a few...

As I look back on these, I realize just how dark her hair was when she was born.....and how much of it has fallen out.  She's practically bald now.  LOL!

Art Night

I started this blog post about 6 weeks ago, and never posted it.  Oppps!  :-\

Katie's preschool has a Spaghetti Dinner/Art Night fundraiser each year.  It is a chance for the kids to make/display/show-off some special art projects which they have made during the year.  They also decorate their room and show it off as a surprise to parents on Art Night.

Uncle Mike was visiting and we were able to leave Jenna at home with him.  This was a wonderful chance for us to give Katie our full and undivided attention for a couple hours.  She hasn't been the soul focus of the house as much lately, and I wanted to give her a full night in the spot light.  Thanks again Uncle Mike!!!

Before we left, Katie looked at me and said "Mommy, I think we should get dressed up for this special night!"  And so we did.  It was the first time since Jenna's birth that I'd gonna dressed up for anything.  :-)

Here is Katie giving one of her teachers a big hug.  We are so going to miss First Presbyterian and all her wonderful teachers and administrators!!

Jenna - 1 Month Old

Jenna recently had her 1 month well baby check up.  Below are some of the statistics from her appointment and generally what she was up to at the 1 month mark.

Weight:  9 lbs. 3 oz.
Height:   21 1/2 inches

• Jenna gave us her first "social" smile at 3 weeks
• She slept as much as 5 hours straight during the 1st month
• She usually woke at 1 AM and 4 AM for eating
• She usually was awake between 6 and 7 AM --- ready to start the day
• She is on absolutely NO schedule

Jenna's first month went rather smoothly.  She fusses when she is hungry, tired, wet, or has the hiccups.  Otherwise, she is a pretty calm baby.  Just putting that into print makes me nervous....like I'm going to jinx myself or something.

A few firsts...

This posts is for a few of Jenna's firsts.   Her first bath and her first bottle.  And one of her first smiles caught on camera.  Her first bath went as expected --- she cried the ENTIRE time.  Fortunately, she now really likes the bath.  In fact, the girls do bath time together and its one of my favorite parts of the day.  I'm not sure if I really enjoy the bath time, or the fact that everyone is almost in bed and I can relax and possibly sleep too.  Ha!

Poor Jenna --- she still looks traumatized a good 3 to 4 minutes after we got her out of the bath.

Katie had begged to feed Jenna a bottle since the day we brought her home.  I held off for a few weeks because lactation consultants advise against bottles the first month.  Big Sis did have the honors though of giving Jenna her first bottle.

Jenna started smiling at 3 weeks, but we were able to catch it on camera until she was 4 or 5 weeks.  Here is one from my camera phone (not the best pic).

Historic Snow

Don't have much time, but I wanted to post some pictures from the snow storm that arrived 3 days after Jenna was born (February 12/13).  Our final measurement at the house here was between 20 and 21 inches.

Katie and Daddy had a blast playing, shoveling, sledding, etc. Jenna and I mostly stayed indoors, although I did venture out a couple of times just to experience 20+ inches.  Matt and I remember a snow storm in Philly that was between 17 and 18 inches, but this one was the largest he can ever remember.

Originally I was schedule to be induced on Tuesday the 11th, and sent home from the hospital on Thursday the 13th.  What a mess that would have been!  I'm very grateful that Jenna came on Sunday instead of waiting for induction day.

Jenna Cole Barnes - Birth Story

 

On Sunday February 9th at 8:28 PM, Jenna Cole Barnes made her grand appearance.  Jenna weighed in at 6 lbs. 7 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long.  She was 3 days late, smaller than we thought, and the absolute picture of health.  Below is her birth story --- something I will certainly forget if its not written down.

I woke up Sunday morning around 4:30 to contractions.  They were about 15-20 minutes apart, so I thought --- no big deal.  I had been having contractions off and on for several days.  By 7-8 AM on Sunday they were as close as 8 minutes apart, but then then stopped.  I told Matt when the contractions stopped that I might as well just give up on this baby coming naturally.  My doctor had planned for me to be induced on Tuesday if the baby did not arrive before then.

We went about our normal routine that Sunday and I continued to have random contractions.  By about 1 PM, I told Matt I was going to skip lunch and just lay down because the random contractions were getting annoying/tiring.  At 2 PM, I got up from bed because the contractions were getting stronger, but not closer together in frequency.  By 3:30, my contractions were coming every 5-7 minutes.  I decided I had better call the doctor's office.  The doctor on call instructed me to come in to the hospital.

We called my mom who was out at Target and asked her to come back to the house to stay with Katie.  I packed the last few toiletries into my hospital bad and we left by around 4:15.  We arrived at the hospital around 4:30, and guess what --- my contractions had stalled again.  The doctor checked me and despite the slow contractions, I was at 6 CM dilation.  He said --- and I quote --- "Well, since you aren't contracting frequently you can go back home if you'd like.  However, you aren't that far away from having a baby in the car if you leave."  Matt looked at me and said --- "We will be staying!"  LOL.  Pretty sure he didn't want to deliver this one on his own.

We were admitted around 5 PM and I thought a few laps of walking around the delivery ward might help get my contractions going.  It worked.  By 6:30 my water broke.  I immediately asked for my epidural because I remembered how much more painful contractions are AFTER your water breaks as compared to before.  Good thing too, because I was already at 8 CM by that point.  I got my epidural --- and proceeded to tell the anesthesiologist he was my FAVORITE person that day.  No joke!  He was my favorite, until around 8:28 PM.

Things were going great.  Right?  But you know --- you can't have a birth story without a little drama.  It wouldn't be normal.  So, a little after 8, I told Matt that I didn't think it would be much longer.  I suggested he get the camera out and ready for when the baby was born.  He took out the camera and was taking a test picture when --- UH OH!  No camera card in the camera.  I went CRAZY!  Certifiably CRAZY!  I told him to leave immediately.  He HAD to go to CVS/Walgreens/Target --- WHATEVER.  This baby was NOT going to be born without pictures.  He tried to tell me the iPad and iPhone pictures would work.  Okay, that was NOT a good idea.  It just made me more NUTTY.  He kept saying "I'm not going to miss the birth because of a camera card."  I told him I would try to hold off until he got back.  (Yes, he was far more sane that me at that moment).  Poor Matt!!

Our L&D nurse (Whitney) overhead the discussion.  She said the hospital had a camera and we were welcome to use the hospital's camera card.  Phew --- boy did she save the day.  Poor Matt was rescued from his insane wife.  LOL!

In the midst of the camera card madness the doctor came in to check me.  Around 8:15/8:20, the doc said "Its time."  So, with one camera card meltdown and a very quick labor --- Jenna Cole Barnes arrived at 8:28 PM. She had an APGAR score of 8/9 and was pronounced perfectly healthy. She looks a bit like her sister Katie, but has Matt's dark hair.  We are so very blessed!