She has a name!

And, on day 6 she got a name.

Lennox Joan.

Joan is my Gram's name, my mom's middle and my middle.
I REALLY wanted to have her middle by Cynthia after my mom (or Cindy since my mom goes by Cindy) but it just didn't go with many names.

Her nickname can be Leni. Yup, her belly name! ha.

Good thing Anika wasn't named her belly name: Guzzi! lol.

I went to the town hall this morning to "register" her. My midwife filled out the paperwork the other day and said we had 2 weeks to bring the paperwork and the baby to the town hall.  I even met my mom at the café across the street today to get a bite and coffee and then head over together. Andrew was at the emergency dentist- he has been dealing with some major teeth issues the past several days,  so that has also been a major distraction to the naming game.
Well, after stalling at the café, and then going to the post office and health store all on the same street, I got in my car to nurse Leni before heading into the town hall to give my forms for her birth certificate. My forms were mostly filled in- just needed a name for the child. ha.
I nursed Leni...and then I put her back in the car seat and left! ha.

I just couldn't decide.

I went home and waited for Andrew to get home and to go back with me. I wanted to talk him into Lennox. He loves it ONLY For a boy. He thinks its way too masculine for a girl.  But, he was ok with Leni as of last night.
I seriously almost posted on facebook 3 days ago that her name was Phoebe.
Then back to Philippa (Pippa), then to Pearl. Then Josephine (call her Josie or Jos).

 We just couldn't decide! Clearly.

We went into the town hall to name her Philippa late this afternoon. When people ask Anika what her sister's name is she says Lennox 8 out of 10 times. 
So- I asked Andrew one more time after I bought more time at town hall by registering his truck first, then going to the bathroom, etc.  ha.

He said fine, do what you want. Then I felt more guilt but we did it. We named our baby.

The town clerk asked him if he was forced, coerced or bribed and he said YES! And,  she looked at him weird- the question was in regards to a form he was signing that had to do with PATERNITY! lol. He thought she meant for picking a name. 

 

 

One of Anika's homebirth books talked about how they had a cake for the new baby's "Birth Day" - She has been talking about getting her sister a cake. Since we finally have a name, we had cake tonight and ANika sang Happy Birth Day to her sister

 

We had a girl!!

We welcomed our beautiful 2nd daughter at 2:37 AM Tuesday, the 19th!
Born at home and no name.

I worked on Monday. I left work mid day to go to my midwife apt and then went to my bio physical testing to check on my fluid and baby's movement since I was 41 weeks and 5 days. I went back to work after all that.

Around 4 pm while at work,  I felt crampy in my lower back but didn't think much of it. I did text my midwife that though just to see what she thought. She said it could be promising but wasn't sure. 

 I stayed at work and worked a little late. Then, I went to the grocery store to get some gelato before going home. I was SOOO thirsty and just wanted something cold to eat- not real dinner. 

I got home around 6 pm and Andrew and Anika were home. Andrew had stayed home Monday because the other option was to head to his new job site states away,  and he would be about 5 hours away from home,  not counting traffic. He had been about 4 hours away the weeks prior, but in a location with no traffic if he had to rush home. Plus at 41, 5 days we assumed this would be the week! Or, at least were hoping!

 

We got Anika ready for bed at 8 and I kept asking where my phone was and Andrew got annoyed asking me why I needed it. (He thinks I am on it way too much)  I said oh, I'm timing contractions on that app you put on my phone. He looked at me confused and said, you are having contractions? I said ya, but nothing too bad.

After Anika was in bed, I told him we should head down and get the birth tub ready and all the other birth stuff. I had it mostly ready, but in the guest room. I wanted to set it all up and clean the house up.

 

I had contractions through setting up and me cleaning the house.

Around 10, I needed to breath through contractions.
I tried to go to bed and listen to my hypnobirhting CD I had not listened to ONCE this entire pregnancy! ha.

I texted with my midwife a bit. Finally at 12:15 I told her to come. She was at my  house at 12:35.
She checked me at 1:15 AM and I was at a 4. I was sooo mad I was only at that. I couldn't believe it.
But you can do the math since the baby was born at 2:37 AM. It didn't end up being so much longer! ha. It was pretty intense.
There is lots to tell, but it will have to wait. As you can imagine its pretty busy here with a newborn and toddler, mom, midwife visits, friends, family, etc.

 

I will leave you with a few pics though.

 

Anika meeting her sister. She announced it was a boy though :) She said "HI I am your BIG SISTAH" so so so precious.

 

Holding her hand

 

 

 

My mom looking at her soon after. 

 

hours old

Anika didn't go back to bed. She was so excited. We all slept for like one hour early Tuesday morning but then were up all day until 9 last night. I slept from 9 last night until 2 when Leni woke up and then I was up with her from 2-4. Then we slept 4-6 and Anika came in and got cuddles.

 

My mom with Leni about 4 hours after birth.

Oh, and we don't have a name yet :)
We all have opinions but Andrew and I need to find a name we both like that fits her. 
I am doing fantastic!

Pregnancy update and Life still stays busy

HI!
I am 41 weeks +2 days.  Nothing happening yet- not that I expected it to. Even with Anika, I just always had a feeling my body would go late and I thought it would happen again this time. I was prepared for early, but I just  *knew* this is what my body does.  I know my dates precisely for both babies, so there is no mistakes. 40 is just an average and I'm above average- lol- well we all knew that, but you know what I mean.

I go for bio physical testing next Monday or Tuesday if no baby yet. They just do the stress test and fluid check. My blood pressure and all that is low and what it has been the whole time. This time, my patient profile has my patient history with Anika and we know my mom had her babies "late" too- so it all plays a role in my overall profile, so induction is not on the horizon for me unless the tests show something bad- like low fluid or movement, etc.  Leni's heart rate was good and steady yesterday at my apt.  Weight gain is high and steady. lol

Yesterday after my gym class and then after my shower.

 

IN other news, life stays busy. I am still working. Actually I have been really busy at work so my days FLY by. Just fly!

 

Anika got a new clock a few weeks ago. You can see it on her nightstand- my gram actually made that for her- well its an antique and my Gram painted it up.   The clock lights up green at 5 am which is the time we set it for- the time she can come in our room. She was sneaking into my room at all hours after I went to bed ever since we switched from the crib.  Most times I didn't even know she was there until I woke up in the morning, but we DID know when Andrew was home because 3 is just a crowd. He liked it for a while, but then he was getting kicked and laid on (He said he missed her since he is home so little so was down with it for a while).  Then, it was the fact that with the new baby, it would just be too hard and way too much. So, we talked to her one night about staying in her bed- we asked her why she likes to come in ours and her response: I Just love you guys SOOO much and want to huggle you.  UM, ya. Andrew looked at me and I saw Sucker all over his face. ha. Then, he didn't sleep well again :)

So, we talked to her and told her she needed to stay in her bed until the morning and THEN she could come in for huggles. She did great for several days after that first talk. She did yell from her bed "Can I come in now?" and we had to say not yet. Not until 5.   We chose 5 because on week days we get up at 6 so that gives a good amount of snuggle sleeping.
Well, she had heard our friend telling us about this Time to Wake clock and she asked us about it!  I looked them up and there were a few different options. I  read reviews and contemplated because the one that would best suit our needs and get the most long term use was $39.95 with amazon prime.  It seemed like a lot, but it would allow us to set the green light WITHOUT an alarm going off. We didn't want something waking her up, but if she woke up on her own, she could see the green light. Also,  the pricier one has features to help her learn to tell time- digital and with hands, so we splurged on it. SHE LOVES it! She wakes and says my clock is green.  We have had it for a couple weeks and there have been 2 nights she still asks before its green, but overall its been fantastic. She doesn't always wake up so early, but she does often enough.
This is the one we got. It also stays lit up all night as a night light. Not totally necessary, but its ok.

 

 

 

Anika loves to play tea party. She plays at the sitter, but we didn't have a tea pot until recently.  I picked one up at the 2nd hand store.

She has had tea cups in her room since she was 1 or so. I always had one on her little table. She picked out more this past summer at yard sales. They are real, but she knows they are delicate and she knows that if she is rough with them, they will no longer be there. We have always used glass with her, so its her normal. Its actually a big proponent in Montessori schools- allowing small children to use "REAL" stuff to learn.  She uses her tea cups for her water at night. hA. She will only drink water from her tea cups when she is in her room. The bathroom is right outside her room and she fills up her pot and then pours and pours ...and drinks lots of her "tea"

 

 

 

Ha- the other day, I had a ton of errands to run and Anika was just NOT being her normal independent self. She has been asking to be a baby a lot lately! YUP- she knows what is coming! I bet it will get worse after the baby too.  I had my ergo in the car and told her I wasn't carrying her, but she could ride in the ergo on my back. She said ok.  I couldn't get it on in my car very well and I Just did the best I could.  We walked through walmart so I could get a dust buster/handheld vacuum for all the wood particles that get tracked in the house with woodstove season.  TONS of people were staring at us and one lady asked if she could fix Anika's dress. I guess it was UP to her chest lol.  And she had lost her shoes.  And, this was on all wrong.  I went to use the bathroom and got this pic- this was after a lady tried to help fix Anika in it.  I kept waiting to see us on People of walmart.

This is a shelf down in our basement where we keep a lot of the toys. ITS not really a play room- it has all MY STUFF in it- my crafts and wrapping stuff and photo books, scrap books and STUFF, but the other half is Anika's toys. She does go down and play alone and so far she has never gotten into my craft stuff, so its been really nice to have this space. But the bottom shelf needed another shelf in it to put toys on instead of just stacking them.  So very simple- just nailed 3 pieces of wood and voila- one extra shelf for the big bottom shelf- above before and below after.

The bottom shelf of the other shelf is also for her overflow books and puzzles so I got a puzzle organizer. Not all puzzles fit in it so not sure if that was the best purchase! ha.

The other night Andrew was putting Anika to bed and it was VERY quiet for a long time.

I went up and found this. HA.

 

Last weekend was my dad's birthday.  When I had been organizing Anika's shelves, I had gotten caught up looking at old scrap books.

Photos of photos- Above me and my dad in St. Martin when I was a sr. in high school. Note my dad always has something on his head.

A forestry helmet- he must have been out cutting trees. ha

A bandana - he must have been riding his bike? Idk!

 

Then last Sunday, I was antsy so Anika and I went out for a walk up our street. It was a boring walk. Not much to look at around us.  ha.

 

I told Andrew we needed to get out, so we went to town  and went to our local thrift store.

He can browse for hours. Anika had fun trying on shoes.

She picked out a kids necklace set and we said she could get one thing. She carried it around the whole time.

THEN, we saw a rack of dance costumes. And she wanted to try the small one on.

And she said she had to have it, So she went down to return her previously picked item to its place in the kids section.

And she wore that outfit out of the store. lol. We had to stop at the store after and she proudly wore it.

The fell asleep on the way home and Andrew plopped her in our bed while we got ready to head out for my dad's bday dinner.

We woke her up when we had to leave and she said she was wearing it to my dad's dinner. I knew he would get a kick out of it, so we said that's fine. Actually, I pretty much allow her to wear what she wants...if its totally not weather appropriate I just bring weather appropriate clothes for when she comes to her senses.  She has so many nice sweaters I LOVE and she is refusing all sweaters. Im sad about that, but I HATED sweaters as a kid too. AND, my mom and family members made me so many nice ones.

The infant base is all set up in the car- she likes to put her dolly car seat in the base for now. ha.

At dinner. She loves her cousin.

These are dark and blurry, but cute of her and my dad.  She was being little miss riding hood she said. At one point she got a little into her make believe when my dad said he was the big bad wolf and she got down and started running through the restaurant "THE BIG BAD WOLF IS COMING"

haha we had to explain to her that game is NOT for restaurants. She obliged. ha. I do kinda blame my dad. he gets her wound up in the wrong places.

 

 

 

I saw this on FB and I like it. True. very true for me :)

 

Showing all her stuffed animals where Neverland is on the globe- she loves the Peter Pan books. ha.
Talks about them a lot.  Then she told me she was showing them where New Hampshire and New Zealand are. You really cant even SEE NH on this globe. Its like a dot.

My husband the gardener getting the garden ready for next season.  That shit really is a lot of work!!  I could never do it. I have no desire. He says he really enjoys the gardening and yard stuff. Glad he does. no thanks! I wouldn't have had one crop this year if it wasn't for him.

Watching a rugby game with dad.  She asked him which one was him :)

I also thought this was funny in my feed.

My little ham.  A snarky little girl she is.  Definitely gives me a run for my money lately.