Sam's Big Brother moment

Thus far, the boys love their baby sister--but they look/play/touch her for 2 minutes before running off.  Sam is always the first to ask "Where baby sister go?" when she's not in the room or not visible--so they know she's here to stay!

Last night after baths, I asked Sam if he wanted to hold baby sister and he was so excited! (When we asked him on day 1,  he just walked away).  So we propped Julia in his lap and had to take a few snapshots...

 

It's amazing to me, that January 20th, Sam seemed so small to me--he was my baby!  Then when I came home from the hospital with Julia, suddenly he is HUGE! (as evidenced by these pictures)

So far, Julia has been a great baby.  She sleeps in decent stretches, is nursing well, and is generally easy to pacify.  She's much sleepier than either boys were (they were wide awake and alert from day 1--Charlie happy as can be, Sam usually crying).  Last night she only woke twice--and slept from 4am-8:30am so we all got a nice stretch of sleep!  She also sleeps well on her own--wrapped in a blanket or swaddle in  her bouncy seat.  We're in love!

Charlie and Sam meeting "baby sister"

Since we didn't decided on a name for Julia until several minutes after birth, the entire pregnancy we have been referring to her as "baby sister" (and still have to make an effort to say "Julia" as old habits die hard).

Scott with Julia just before leaving the hospital--we didn't even get a family pic as the nurses didn't offer and we forgot to ask!

 

After being discharged, we went to my parents to pick up the boys.  In this picture, Charlie is actually saying "high five", as he sees Julia's outstretched fingers.  Sam, so not sure what to think...but he did tell me that his friend Evie is on the (pretend) phone.

 Charlie was pretty fascinated.

 The boys--super excited to unwrap the present they gave Julia (the same one they wrapped in the morning)

 Charlie says, "Mom, wait until you see it.  Julia will just love it" (he's so grown up!)

 Fancy socks!  Just what Julia always wanted :)

 Holding baby sister for the first time--it lasted just long enough to take this picture.

 Checking out her hair--we have been guessing eye/hair color for months.

Sam wasn't interested until after we got home--he sat on my lap WHILE I nursed Julia (those pictures won't make the blog!) and held her hand.  We've had a very busy few days and we're excited to be home!

Julia Jane

Our beautiful baby girl has finally arrived.  Following in Sam's footsteps, she was 10 days past her "estimated" due date and kept us all on pins and needles for weeks!  My labor with her was so different from Sam's!  The day before my due date, I woke early morning with contractions.  After having several, I decided she was coming that day, got up and started packing the hospital bag.  Within an hour, the contractions faded and left me a bit disappointed!  Over the next 10 days, we had a few other "false alarms" (I never had any false alarms with Sam!).  I have to admit I felt a bit discouraged at times but usually the feeling passed pretty quickly.

Sunday morning, January 20th, I woke up to contractions around 2 or 3am.  I kept trying to sleep through them, as they were 10-20 minutes apart.  I finally got up and did the whole "packing the suitcase" routine and they never got any closer together (or any stronger).  We decided to just go about our day--a few errands, including playtime for the boys at the mall and lunch at Jason's Deli.  After naps, we took the kids up to Gymboree to celebrate our friend Tripp's 4th birthday.  The contractions continued, still spread apart but strong.  After the birthday party we went to my parents for dinner and decided to leave the boys for the night- at this point I was convinced she would be here soon!

Contractions became a steady 10 minutes apart, and a bit stronger.  When Scott and I got home, we finished up a few things around the house.  Around 9:30, things had slowed again and I was exhausted so I decided to try to lay down for a bit--and my body actually cooperated and let me get some much needed rest!  I woke around 1:30 with a contraction...then another...and another...strong and coming 2-3 minutes apart.  I got up and they kept coming so we dressed quickly and left for the hospital.  When we arrived at triage (after having completely forgotten to call the doctor on call--fortunately he was already there for another mama!), I was 6cm, 90% effaced and the contractions were getting stronger.  We were moved to our labor & delivery room around 2:45 and the nurse put in my hep-lock (quick access to the vein in case of emergency) just as things started to get crazy.  

Julia Jane was born at 3:36am, weighing 7lbs14oz (I estimated 6.5lbs before birth!) and measuring 21.75inches--bigger than both of her brothers!  My labor was amazing, with less than 20 minutes of it being "unbearable".  This picture was taken 2 minutes after birth.  She latched on and nursed like a champ.

 The scales have switched to metric...apparently 3.56kg equals 7lbs14oz :)

 First bath (clearly not a fan)

 Proud daddy

Grammy came to visit, without the boys

  "Aunt" Maggie

 I can't resist the pink bows...

 

Julia nursed most of the day--and took a few good naps.  She rocked her first night--slept from 10pm-12am, 1am-3:15, and then 4am-7:45 so we were able to get some much needed rest!   I'm up, about and feeling great (aside from the "deflated balloon" feeling--all you moms know what I'm talking about!)

 

Due to the flu outbreak, children under 18 were not allowed in the hospital so the boys could not come visit.  We did Facetime with them and they enjoyed seeing their sister...and had a blast staying with grammy and grandpa.  Due to the visitor restrictions, and ease of delivery, we requested (and were granted) 24 hour discharge--we are all settled at home!  In addition, I'm feeling extremely blessed as all 3 children have been sleeping for the past 3 hours! (Hence, me actually doing a timely blog post--might be the first time ever!--and possibly the last time too)

Pictures of the boys meeting Julia coming soon...

A failed experiment

As a child I read and re-read the Laura Ingalls Wilder series and clearly remember when they made maple sugar candy by pouring hot maple syrup onto fresh snow.  I decided to google how to do it and put some of this snow to good use!  As a disclaimer, I have no "candy making" experience, nor do I have a candy thermometer or any other gadgets--I figured I could do it the old fashioned way following this website.

Charlie was thrilled with the idea (candy??!) and I put him to work watching the maple syrup as it simmered in the pot.  The instructions were very easy--maple syrup in pot, heat at just barely boiling/simmering,  until it changes color/texture based on the pictures on the website, then pour into a pan of pressed snow and let it harden.

Well my maple syrup didn't seem to want to get to the look of the last picture, so I decided to turn it up a bit.  Result?  Rapid burning (as in, within 20 seconds), the whole house smelling terrible, and a hard black tar I had to clean out of the bottom of  the pan.  Charlie was so sad I felt I had to give it another go...(and I was a little sad as pure maple syrup is not cheap, haha).  So we tried again...and because I was so fearful of burning it again, I ended up dumping it on the snow too early.  I was hoping for hard maple syrup candy, what we ended up with was really gooey stuff (and some melted and mixed into the snow).  Charlie and Sam both ate some of it (and begged for more) so it wasn't a complete failure...but I didn't have the energy to try again.  Maybe next snowfall!

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Christmas Dinner

With Scott's sister living in town, I got the easy end of the deal--preparing/hosting for Christmas Eve/morning but getting to "show up and eat" for Christmas dinner.  The Collevechio family has a tradition of always opening poppers before a holiday meal, and then wearing the crowns (and reading the jokes out loud).  Sam didn't quite understand or appreciate the tradition, but Charlie was a good sport!

 Family picture--in non-matching reds (oops!)

The boys are both fascinated with Cole and I love that they get the experience of a newborn before their baby sister arrives.  They loved watching him play on his playmat, and were eager to watch him get a bath.  Every time Kyle poured water on Cole's chest, he would kick and splash with arms/feet and got water all over the counter--which sent the boys into fits of laughter.  Won't be very long before we have a baby of our own!

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas morning

I video-taped the boys as they came into the front room on Christmas morning.  The two biggest gifts (golf clubs for Charlie and a kitchen for Sam) were not wrapped so I expected the boys would run straight to them.  They ran in the room, past the tree and presents and went to check to see if Santa had eaten the cookies/carrots.  When I tried to direct their eyes to the open presents, they saw the stockings and FINALLY the presents.

 

 Had to include this belly shot picture...

 Helping Pops open his present--a floating cooler for their boat/lakehouse

 Sam opening accessories for his kitchen

 Christmas morning breakfast (to carry on a Wells family tradition): Egg/Sausage casserole, banana bread and fruit

 Baby Cole didn't get to enjoy the breakfast but he liked the lights/sounds of the bouncy seat!

 Coco reading to the boys

I was a bit surprised that after 2 or 3 presents, the boys lost interest and actually went to play in their bedroom (and we had to call them back out).  I think I even ended up opening a few of their presents.  I say it every year, but next year I swear I'm just buying one present and then filling stockings!  Charlie later reported that his favorite present is his golf clubs, but seeing as we have almost a foot of snow outside, it'll be awhile before he can try them out.  Sam really likes his wooden firetruck, and played by himself in the playroom with it for 20 minutes, driving it around and putting the people in and out.  We relaxed the rest of the morning, re-arranging the playroom and just enjoying family time.