All the October Updates

Well, we've been in a busy fog over here, adjusting to being a family of four, relishing what a wonderfully sweet baby Summer is - such a great sleeper, calm temperament and very forgiving with her overbearing and very loving older sister.

Here were some highlights from that first month.

Visitors and Sophie being excited to
introduce her little sister

Having fun at the park with Auntie Kit Kat

Summer's first smiles

My mom's photoshop skills 

We had a lot of activity when Sophie's daycare was closed for a week and a half earlier this month. I wasn't exactly ready to face a day with a toddler and a newborn unassisted all day long, so we piecemealed together visitors and trips to help out. First was my mom coming for the day when we took a trip to the aquarium and stopped by Aunt Jann's house in the evening. We did Home Depot's kid craft one Saturday, and our family finally upgraded to a new/bigger car that will fit the two gigantic car seats that our kids now require.

Breakfast with Gangy

The Goodyear Blimp!

Sea lions

Octopus!

Sophie is obsessed with frogs

Welcome to a huge sunroof ceiling!

Decorating a racecar that turned out
a truly beautiful mix of lovely shades
of pink, blue and white

Kiwi also loves his baby sister

Later during the daycare closure, our family took a staycation down in Dana Point which was so much fun - we were staying in the honeymoon suite and walking distance to the baby beach, and it worked well with October being off season, but still warm enough to enjoy the pool and ocean.

Sophie got bored on the drive down
there and I turned around and this was
what I saw 

All of us chillin' at the pool

Sophie asked me to take this picture
of them two

Sophie happy to help out taking care
of her little sister

I didn't think she'd want to swim!
Hence why she doesn't have a bathing
suit on. Oops.

During this week, Summer also turned two months old!

We also got the family together to visit a pumpkin patch, and we made the most of it considering how warm it still was.

Sophie refused to take the annual
"How Tall This Fall?" photo booooo

Proof it's impossible to get them
all looking at the same time

Jayna pulled an absolute solid and was able to book a last minute flight out from North Carolina to come visit me and lit up my maternity life for a few days. Aside from just enjoying her company and being able to relax, I was also able to get so much done, plus we got to check out the French pastry shop I haven't stopped hearing about, and get my eyebrows done. It was such a treat.

Ahhh the peace at Fashion Island

Amazing finds at Buffalo Exchange

Meeting Summer early (She didn't
meet Sophie until she was just about 2 years!)

Despite our best efforts, couldn't
find a way to take a picture on this
together

The day that Jayna left, we had our Boo at the Zoo activity. I already planned our family costume and really hadn't anticipated Sophie coming home one day talking nonstop about being a witch for Halloween. I don't even know how or where she learned about witches but she was so excited about it, I decided to be *that* mom and spoil my child and also buy her a witch costume that she could wear to this event, and still be a part of the family costume on actual Halloween. (I also went out of my way to go buy her a witch broom that she was so excited about initially but then refused to have anything to do with it during the zoo event so that was... cool).

I love the way she eats her hand.
Can you see the candy in her little belly??

We met up with our friend Landon there!

We all rode the train together... excuse me,
the boofari.

Sophie was so stoked on the spinning 
birds nest, and was still excited about
it even afterwards. I guess she didn't 
get my motion sickness genes

And then of course, just our usual life around here. Enjoy these stills.

Sophie just loves her sister!

Summer worries when we let Sophie
take charge

Kiwi forced himself into my lap under
the feeding pillow and made himself
quite comfortable

The cats love Summer's stuff

Big stretches!

I suppose we really are in the holidays now at this point, so things will be getting crazy. Until next time...!

Baby Girl Summer

Our family was completed with the very swift, very surprising early arrival of our second baby girl, little Summer Emilija.

 Around 4a on the morning of Saturday, August 12, I experienced what felt like my water breaking. I was so terrified, I was in denial and went back to sleep. I woke up and, walking around, it was undeniable that my water broke, but I oddly had no other symptoms, no contractions, nothing. But, the water breaking is a big deal and after a call to the hospital, we were told we had to come in. Because I wasn't suffering in any way, we got to sort of leisurely take our time getting things together, saying bye to Sophie, and heading off.

Here's what was crazy: we confirmed my water broke, but nothing was happening. The nurse mentioned that it was therefore probably the "forebag" (who knew that was a thing) and that once the "real" bag broke, stuff would really happen. We checked in in the late morning, and around 4p, my "real" bag unmistakably broke. Summer arrived less than two hours later, with a total of 2 pushes. It was wild. It also happened so fast, with an almost failed epidural that there was some real laboring and some real fear there for awhile. I lucked out that it ended up taking effect in time and I had a very smooth delivery in the end.

We were transferred to postpartum quickly thereafter, and we had a shockingly restful night. This kid is, was, and continues to be, an amazing sleeper (fingers crossed it stays that way!!)

Eating the In-N-Out AJ brought

The next morning, we had visitors, bearing donuts and coffee, oh my God, so heavenly. They were even there as we were being discharged and got to give us a nice send-off.

At home, Sophie was napping, which was perfect for us to get set up for the Meeting of the Babies, so Kiwi got to be the first to meet the new addition.

Sophie woke up quickly thereafter, and watching them meet each other was so precious. 

Sophie was, and continues to be, a very loving, doting and helpful big sister. It's a Herculean effort to make sure they continue to get as equal as possible attention and not let the baby overtake our attention, but I guess we're doing an okay job of it because Sophie has (so far) not shown any resentment or jealousy and continues to want to include Summer in all of her activities.

So that's the life we're getting used to now. We're five weeks in and surviving but you know how it is with these suckers - once you think you have them figured out, they change! 

But, welcome to the world and the family, kid.