Eliza in action

Eliza still isn't sleeping by herself. We tricked her last night and left her in the car seat, where she stayed until 2am. Which is pretty good, but then she was awake, wanted to eat, cried, couldn't breathe, wanted to be held, didn't want to eat......until 8 am when Caleb woke up. Its torture, but I feel so bad for her because she is so miserable. Thankfully, I have the best husband, who sent me back to bed and fed, entertained and dressed the kids and I got to sleep until 11! what bliss.

I posted two pretty funny videos of the kids. We went to a new museum yesterday and they had a whole room on musical instruments. So Caleb got to bang on this old piano to his heart's content. Thankfully, it wasn't that busy, because he also sang (and made me sing) at the top of his lungs.

Lizzy has started smiling a bit and I was trying to capture it- here are the results.

catch up

So, it has been a very busy last few weeks. Not only do we have a new baby, but we had plenty of Halloween fun and a visit from Grammy. We're getting a long pretty well. Most nights we have dinner, our clothes are clean and we make the bed almost every day. We are missing a little sleep, but its getting better. In her short six weeks Eliza has been very active.

She has been to the Dinosaur museum and the Recycling museum.

She got to see a tiger at the zoo, and rode the carousel with Caleb.

She has been to two Halloween carnivals. At the second, her brother caught a goldfish, named goldfish, who lived on our counter for three days before he took a "nap" and mom flushed him while Caleb wasn't looking.

She took a train to NYC, rode the subway and saw Times Square. While there, Caleb and Brandon rode the ferris wheel inside Toy-r-us.

She went to a Halloween party and watched her brother go Trick-or-treating with his friends.

She watched a Black Hawk helicopter land at the playground and Caleb got to sit in it.

So far, life with a baby sister has been pretty good. We had some worries in the beginning because the peanut only weighed 5lb 15oz when we brought her home and she wasn't gaining weight. After giving her a few bottles, she was back up to almost 7lbs and she hasn't stopped eating since. Caleb did not take a bottle at all, so its nice to share the feeding with Brandon.

She is starting to smile a little and we can actually put her down for more than two minutes without her screaming. yeah! The swing and ergo carrier are worth every single penny we paid for them!

Caleb is doing well in school, painting, playing, reading books. He is even eating his lunch with his class at the table.

Grammy left this morning and we are sad, but tired. Its 10am and we still have on our pj's- she wore us out!

Eliza's first week

Baby Lizzy

Well, Lizzy made her debut on Monday morning. 21 days early, boy were we surprised!

Here's how it happened!

Sunday night. 2:15- I wake up with dreams about contractions. Realize this is not a dream, check the clock. Every four minutes, but not too harsh.

2:26 am- decide to call dr. he advises that four minutes not too intense, wait and hour and call back. I go downstairs to plug in video camera, as this is the most important item I will be needing.

3 am- Tell Brandon he needs to get up. He decides to shower. Seems like a long time, I am sure he is trying to remove the paint from his body and hair (Did I mention all kitchen cabinets are empty and wet? Counter tops are papered and taped over and all dirty dishes from weekend are on top of my table because we can't use out sink) and I am growing increasingly miserable and impatient.

3:10- After calling neighbors to tell them we would be dropping off Caleb, water breaks while in the linen closet trying to wrestle an overnight bag out of storage. (We were going to be induced, so of course no bags were packed.)

3:12- Become hysterical, yelling at Brandon to get in the car, forget the luggage, forget the car seat, but get the cameras :)

3:20- Finally in the car with Caleb, drop him off, exchange pleasantries with the neighbors (I honestly wanted to scream get out of my face, but we love them and they were doing us a huge favor!) and race to the hospital.

3:23- Have a heated discussion with husband about which hospital to go to. Ours is 25 minutes away, and there is another that is a lot closer. We end up at our hospital.

3:50- pull into parking lot after a 90mph car ride during which I was certain I was going to give birth in the back of the car.

3:55- Nurses ask stupid questions like my name, birth date, blood type- None of which I have the answers to, except yes! to the epidural.

4:00am- in bed, strapped to monitors, checked by Dr. get grave news there will be no drugs, we are pushing her out NOW!

4:18am - Eliza Michael Jones is born. 6lb 11 oz

4:20- Brandon runs to the car to get the camera!

Super Bunny!

Sometimes Caleb wears clothes, other times just a cape!

Fun with our cousin

So I finally figured out how to post a video (or jsut took the five minutes to think about it) , and you get this little jewel. Nate came to spend the night on Saturday and we had a great time. Lots of dancing and playing and Sunday morning we had bagels at the deli and threw rocks at the beach. We got a lot of great pictures.

labor, trauma, school and cupcakes

Such a crazy weekend! It was really Laborious, painting, painting and cleaning. And we managed to sneak in a visit to the playground and the beach.

Monday was a little traumatic with a trip to the ER. Caleb was upstairs settling in for his nap, when we heard a scream. I went upstairs to find him in a pool of blood. Of course, I freaked out and Brandon freaked out and we rushed to the hospital with a baby covered in a bloody towel and a crying mom covered in blood, only to realized that he had just bitten his tongue. The doctor sent us home with a bill and a pat on the head. Better safe than sorry, though!

Tuesday was Caleb's first day of school. (Just two mornings from 9am-12:30pm) We packed a lunch and carried his backpack and he went in with out any problems at all. When I went to pick him up the teachers all started cracking up because he had fallen asleep at the lunch table, with his little head slumped into his pasta. He had a great time and didn't miss mom at all.

In preparation for the new baby, we have moved Caleb out of the crib. I know we have a little while to go (27 days to be exact), but everything I have read says that the crib should be neutral territory for at least a month before a baby arrives, so here we are. We got new sheets and pillows and cupcakes to celebrate the milestone. Yummy! The first night he was so tired, he fell asleep during books, but the second night was a little tougher. He did not want to sleep there! So I ended up laying down with him until he fell asleep. Then at about 3am I woke up because I was so hot, well that's what happens when I little boy climbs into bed with you and snuggles up. I was able to put hims back in his bed without any problems. I sure we haven't seen the last of our great sleeper!

This will make you laugh.....Caleb obviously goes to the OB with me for my appointments. Because I don't trust him in the exam room alone, he goes into the bathroom with me. All of you moms know you have to give a urine sample every time. We were there yesterday and Caleb says, "here you go Mom, you need a cup" and hands me the specimen cup.

I really hope I'm not scarring him.