Say Cheese

I've been trying really hard to get Kylie to smile for the camera.

She usually either:
a. ignores the camera completely.
b. tries to grab the camera and gets really upset that she's can't have it, so I end up with her making a screaming face or with her hand out reaching for the camera.
c. runs away thinking that we are playing a game.
d. smiles, but does it too fast and by the time I have taken the picture, she is doing something else with her back to the camera. What a tease.

So I've managed to take some good pictures of her, but I have to either:
a. be sneaky.
b. do a crazy fake laugh to get her to smile or laugh with me.
c. Shake something she likes beside the camera.
d. Take a million pictures, and hope that there are a couple good ones in the group.

The weird thing is, she has a toy Tinkerbell camera that she will pose for. The stupid thing only says "Pixie Perfect" or "I believe in fairies" when you push the button. I wonder how many perfect pictures she has taken that would have been captured if it were a real camera.

But today, she did the unthinkable. She came up to me, smiled, and WAITED for me to take the picture.

Here it is:

Isn't she beautiful?

My "big girl": continued...

Kylie is an excellent "babbler", but she doesn't have the greatest vocabulary yet. However, I am still very proud of all the words that she can say. It's so much fun to watch her learn, and I can't wait for that language explosion that toddlers are supposed to have. Yet sometimes I don't want her to grow up any more, because this stage is just so fun.

Anyways, I put together a list of words that Kylie says at fifteen months. I only included words that she says consistently: sometimes I'll ask her to say a word and she'll repeat it phonetically, but she really never uses it in the right context or she'll never say it again, so it's not a word she really knows. I put in quotation marks the way she says the word phonetically in case it's different than what it's supposed to sound like. Some of the words don't have this because I think she says it just "perfect" :).



So here we go:

· Yes (“Yah” This is her usual answer to all my questions. I think she thinks all questions are supposed to be answered with "yes.")
· Eye
· Nose (“Neigh", "new" or "no" depending on her mood)
· Mouth (“Mou”)
· Teeth (“Tee”)
· Ear
· Belly Button (“Bay Buttah”)
· Touchdown (“Tah-Dow". She also does the gesture by throwing her arms in the air. This is one of her favorites.)
· More
· Please (“Peas”)
· Thank You (“Tank Ou”)
· Milk (“Mill”)
· Banana (“Nana” or sometimes just “Na”)
· Kitty
· Dog
· Bird (“Bir”)
· Baby (Her favorite word, and by far the most understandable)
· Hi (You can always tell how excited Kylie is to see you based on how many “hi”s you get from her.)
· Bye
· Night Night (“Nie nie”)
· Ball (“Ba”)
· Shoe (“eww”)
· Daddy, Dadda and Papa (Jason taught her to call him papa, because he thinks she says it cute. I don’t think it’s fair that she has three words that she calls him and she barely calls me mama.)
· Mama (She only calls me mama when she’s upset about something)
· Grandma
· Grandpa
· Ray Ray (“Raw Raw” This is what she calls my sister Rachel)
· Three (“Twee” This is her favorite number for some reason. When we practice our counting, she uses it for every number. So counting sounds like this: “Twee, Twee, Twee…”)
· Two (Every once in a while, Kylie will throw in a “Two” in the middle of all those threes. It’s so cute.)
· Uh-oh (Another favorite. She says it all the time. Her favorite time to use it, is EVERY TIME I change the TV channel.)
· Tree (“Twee”. It sounds exactly like her “three”, but she only says it once instead of counting it over and over and when she says it, she’s pointing at a tree, so I can tell which word she’s saying based on the context.)
· Baah (This is the sound she thinks that all animals make.)
· Rock Rock (This is what she says when she rocks on the recliner or on a rocking chair)
· Wee Wee (This is what she says on a swing, or the baby swing, or a slide)
· Up (“uh”)
· Down (“Dow”)
· Pretty (“Petty” or just “etty”. This is the word we use for lots of things: bows for her hair, pretty socks, lights –like on a christmas tree, wall hangings…)
· Barney (“Bonnie” This is her favorite TV show and I figured out why: She loves live singing. She loves it when people sing and dance instead of just having music playing. The kids on Barney always have organized singing and dancing. She will ignore the TV, unless there is singing, then you can’t get her attention.)
· Yeah!! (What Kylie says every time she claps. The silly girl will clap every time she hears someone say “good job” or “yeah” or every time someone else claps.)

Kylie picking her "neigh"

My "big girl"

Ever since Eve has arrived into our world, Kylie has seemed like she grew up instantly. She used to be my little baby girl and all of a sudden she has turned into my "big girl." It's hard to believe that just 15 months ago, she was just as small and helpless as her little sister. She has grown so much! And it's not only physical growth, she has learned so much and she has developed quite the personality. So, I would like to dedicate this post to my first born and talk about all the fun things she is doing at 15 months.

When she was younger, I thought her biggest strength would be motor development. She was always on the go, whether is was scooting, rolling, crawling, walking, or the latest: running. She was crawling before she could sit and she was walking at 9 months, so I definitely thought that was what her intelligence was: gross motor. However, as active as she still is, I think that we may have discovered a bigger strength or intelligence type: music. She has been dancing to music as soon as she could pull herself up at 7 months. I didn't think anything of it, because I've seen lots of babies shake and do the "baby squat" to the beat. However, her moves have gotten a lot more complex lately and she can always adjust to the beat. Her favorite type of music to dance to is slow music, the kind that reminds me of elevator music. It's too funny to watch. I think we are going to sign her up for dance class as soon as she's old enough. Yet, it's not her dancing that makes us think she's musically talented, it's her singing. It's very impressive how she can repeat tunes. She can't repeat the words of the songs, but when she repeats songs, the tune and pitch is almost perfect. Her favorite song to sing is the "ABC"s. I need to record her singing it, because it's so cute to listen to. She does sing other songs (she does a pretty impressive "E I E I O" of old McDonald) and we can always tell what song it is even without her singing the words. Kylie is such a little entertainer, that I'm sure it will make sense for her to have a career one day in the music industry. Look at me, I'm already planning her career at 15 months. :)

She is also doing very well at following instructions. Here are some instructions that she obeys 99% of the time:
*Bring me the _______. (insert toy, or another thing that she knows well.)
*Lay down so we can change your diaper. (She will go find the mat and lay down on it. It has made diaper changing so much easier lately.)
*Go night night (she won't actually go right to sleep, but she will lay down wherever she is. It's more of a game.)
*Go to bed. (She will run to her bed and wait to get tucked in. She loves bedtime and naptime. We are so lucky.)
*Where is the ________? (I guess this isn't an instruction, but she will help look for whatever it is.)
*Give _______ a kiss.
*Give _______ a hug.
*Sit (No, she's not a dog, but there are times when she stands in the bathtub or in the baby's swing and it's just not safe)
*Spin (she loves to spin around in a circle)

Now here are the instructions that she obeys 1% of the time:
*No (she thinks it's a game.)
*Come here

Coming up next: a list of words that my girl can say at 15 months. Right now, her sister is hungry.

Jason's job situation

Jason is going to his first day of work in Kansas City tomorrow... at Target. Obviously it's not the perfect job, but it's something for now! So we are grateful that he has someplace to earn a paycheck. I hope that I can survive tomorrow without him! My two little girls are sweet, but I know I'll be busy.

There is still another job possibility on the horizon. Jason found a church that needs an intern for church planting. The church is new, so the pastor there is more of a church planter instead of a permanent pastor. Jason has met with him and the other church leaders and they are now finding out about getting him a paycheck from the North American Mission Board. They have a program to pay seminary students for these types of internships. So, Jason would technically be a North American Missionary. We are very excited and hoping that all the pieces fall into place for this. Jason's first assignment would be to put together packets for visitors. They need someone to reach out to new faces in the church and that's what Jason's job would be. He would have many other responsibilities as time goes on, so this would be such a great learning experience for both of us! Please pray that we hear soon about the North American Mission Board paying him. That is the next step we are waiting on. According to the pastors at the church right now, it sounds very promising. We just need to trust God once again!

The only downside, (and this would be such a great opportunity that it's worth it) is that we would most likely need to be there on Easter Sunday. We had been planning a trip home for that day, since my family will be in town. But that's for us to worry about later. First, Jason needs to be hired.

So summary of the story... Jason goes to work at Target tomorrow, but there's a chance he might not need to be there much longer.

Bringing home baby

Well, I have lots of pictures to share, and it would take much too long to post them on here. So I'm going to post links to see albums on facebook instead. This way, if you don't have a facebook account, you can still see all the pictures of our happy little family.

Pictures from the hospital:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2253323&id=17016340&l=7d1faa5103

Pictures from the first week:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2254259&id=17016340&l=c0b2cd330e

We are all doing well. Kylie is a good big sister. She either ignores the baby or gives her kisses. She does not like it when the baby cries, it usually makes her do the same. However, Eve is a very quiet baby and hardly ever cries. She still has her head full of dark hair and her eyes, although they do have the new baby blue tint, are still very dark. Her eyes make her look so different than Kylie, since Kylie's eyes were shaped just like her daddy's and Eve has almond shaped eyes. When she was first born, they didn't have the folds yet, so I thought she looked oriental. Of course, I was still in a stupor from giving birth the natural and horrifying way, so my brain could have been a little off. She had folds over her eyes the next time I saw her. Her little face is very triangular shaped and very petite. Kylie had really big lips for a newborn and all of Eve's features are a lot smaller. It will be fun to read these first impressions years later when Eve looks nothing like what I'm describing. Like how my sisters and I have more similarities (looks-wise) the older we get. We all looked so different as children, but now I notice more and more things that look the same.

Eve is here!

I already posted this same post on facebook today, but for all of our families who don't have facebook... enjoy!
If you do have facebook, I just copied and pasted this, so you won't find anything new if you read this.

Here are the basic stats:
*Eve Solène Marsh
*03/11/09
*9:52 AM
*6 lbs 12 oz
*19.25 inches
*Full head of dark hair
*Absolutely perfect and beautiful

Here is the story:
I woke up around 5 AM with a contraction. I usually can sleep through contractions, so I woke up to see if I'd have any more. I had maybe two more contractions that hour, so I got out of bed and went to watch TV for about an hour. Between 6 and 7, I had a couple more contractions, but they weren't regular, so I decided to go back to bed. When I laid down, I had a couple more contractions and they were just strong enough that I couldn't sleep. However, there was no pattern at all to them. I decided to get up and make sure our bags were packed just in case. Kylie usually sleeps in until after 8, I thought we would wait for her to wake up before going anywhere. Jason thought we should go to the hospital just to see if anything was happening right then instead of waiting until 8. So we woke up the Kylie bear. By the time we got her ready, packed up the car and arrived at the hospital, it was right at 8 o'clock. I had only had one significant contraction that whole time, so I just wanted to turn around and go home. I really thought they were going to think I was crazy for thinking I might be in labor. I was obviously not in any distress and was not having lots of contractions. Jason had to talk me into going into the hospital. So they admitted me, checked me and put a monitor on me to check my contractions. When they checked me at 8:15, I was dilated to a three and only 75% effaced, so still not in active labor. I also layed there for a full twenty minutes or so before I even had a contraction. I wasn't sure if they were going to keep me, but they decided to wait a little longer since I had a history of fast labor.

Finally, the contractions came out of nowhere and hurt worse than I could have ever imagined. They checked me and I was dilated to 5. That's when they knew I was staying. Jason called Sarah Winn who came and picked up Kylie. I know that it was after 9 AM when Kylie left, because we had sesame street on TV for her to watch. After that, things were so fast and furious that everything was a blur. They were waiting on blood work to come back before they would give me an epidural even though I was screaming for an epidural during every contraction. The pain was intense, I was progressing so fast. Every time they checked me I was dilated 2 more centimeters, and they were checking me often. I was crying during each contraction, because I seriously thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to be one of those people that die during childbirth. It was so different from when I had the epidural with Kylie and I could relax. I was trying to zone out to sesame street (we never bothered changing the channel) but I couldn't possibly tell you what sesame street was about today. It was time to push and the doctor said the baby was dropping so fast that she was going to be here in only a couple minutes. I told her I didn't want to push without an epidural, but when I reached down, I could seriously feel her, so I didn't have a choice. Pushing was awful, I'm sure I screamed so loud that the whole hospital heard me, but the doctor was right, she was born with the next contraction (which were coming every 30 seconds). So, I experienced natural childbirth and not by choice. I really wanted that epidural. But the pain went away immediately when I held my new baby girl. I know that some people really want to experience natural childbirth, but I do not suggest ever doing so!! It was the most painful thing I have ever done. My doctor told me my contractions were extra intense since they were coming so fast and dilating me so rapidly. If you notice the time, Eve was born before Sesame Street was even over, so I pretty much labored during an episode of the show.

Jason's birthday is 12/11. He shares the month with Kylie (December) and the date with Eve (the 11th). Kylie will be 15 months on Sunday, so they are just barely under 15 months apart.

Oh, and nursing has gone very well so far. Eve is one hungry little girl.

Doctor's visit: 3/06/09

I had a doctor's appointment this morning. The doctor didn't check me to see if I was dilated or effaced any more. She said we already know that I'm starting to dilate and it's really no indication of when labor will happen, since I could be dilated for weeks or not dilated at all and go into labor anyways. So it didn't seem that eventful. However she did ask me if I wanted to be induced next week. I've thought about it but I'm torn about it. On one hand, if I'm induced, I know what day it will be, I can make arrangements for Kylie and I don't have to worry about labor being too fast that I can't make it to the hospital. My labor was so fast last time that it makes me a little worried. On the other hand, labor was so fast and easy with Kylie that I don't know if I could handle a long laboring experience that would most likely come with induction. I loved how easy it was when it happened naturally. I told her I didn't know, and we made a doctor's appointment for next Wednesday. She said that if I decided I wanted to be induced, we could schedule it to happen next Thursday or Friday. I'm still torn, although I AM starting to get a little impatient.

I did forget to mention a funny story that happened at my last doctor's appointment. They had to check my iron levels since I've had low iron. Jason and Kylie were there also, so Jason could meet my new doctor. Kylie had just had her finger pricked the day before to get her iron levels checked and of course she had hated it. So when the nurse pricked my finger, Kylie freaked out. She started screaming and crying, and she had been in such a good mood previously. Needles, blood and pricks don't bother me at all, so it wasn't as if I acted like I was in pain or anything. Kylie just remembered it happening to her. As soon as it was over, my sweet daughter gave me the biggest hugs and kisses and cried big crocodile tears for me. I love my Kylie Bear and how she is so worried for her mommy!

I'm shocked!

A couple of weeks ago, I set up Kylie's "big girl bed" in her room. I just wanted her to get used to it, plus we don't have any room for it anywhere else but in her room. When we play in her room, we'll sometimes play "night night" and lay down on her bed. It's been a fun game, I'll say "go night night" and she'll drop down and lay down on the bed immediately and say "night night."


Well today, at right around 8 PM, when it's her bedtime, I said: "Kylie it's time for night night. Let's go to bed." Usually she runs back to her room right away. I don't know why that girl loves bedtime so much, but she gets really excited. She'll wait by her crib, and I'll pick her up, put her in bed and we count the blankets, give each other kisses and she goes to sleep right away. Our bedtime routine is very simple. If we have a long routine, she gets too distracted and won't go to sleep for a while.


Well tonight when I told her it was time for bed, she ran back to her room and climbed on her toddler bed instead of waiting by the crib. I thought, "well, she's a little young, but she already climbed in bed, let's see what happens." So I gave her her normal pillow and put a blanket on her, said "night night", gave her kisses and left the room. I came back 5-10 minutes later and she was sound asleep on her toddler bed. She knows how to climb down, so I was so shocked. I really didn't anticipate her to stay there. I only let her stay there since she put herself there in the first place.


I took a quick picture, but I didn't take anything up close because I didn't want to wake her up. I have no idea if she will stay in her bed all night or even if she will fall asleep in her toddler bed in subsequent nights, but we'll see what happens!

Doctor's visit: 02/26/09

Here's the scoop on my latest Dr.'s appointment. I made a big deal about it, so I might as well fill everyone in.

I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Eve is head down in the right position, but she isn't settled down very far yet. I was 1 cm/50% with Kylie for 3 weeks before she was born. I know that every pregnancy is different, but it doesn't give me much hope that I will go in labor soon!

My iron is still low, and I was given a prescription for iron pills. My iron always seems to be low, so I'm hoping that I'll have more energy if I take these pills. Plus since I'll lose blood during labor, it could be dangerous if I don't have enough iron in my blood.

They also looked at my sonogram notes from the doctor's office in Manhattan. They decided to push back my due date because of it. So my new due date is March 18th, which doesn't really matter, because I don't want to be induced anyways. For some reason, in Manhattan, they decided to only push my due date back to March 13th even though the sonogram said it was March 18th. So so far my original due date was March 10th, then it was March 13th and now it's March 18th. So if I have to get induced, it won't be until after the 18th. I don't know if I could handle going much later since for the longest time I had March 10th stuck in my head.

I'm kind of hoping that Eve will be born March 15th, because then Kylie and Eve will be exactly 15 months apart. It would be kind of cool if their birthdays were both on the 15th.

Next visit: on Friday (03/06/09)