Biggest Sister

Sadie is thrilled to be the "biggest sister". She asks to hold Camille all the time. Now that Millie is getting a bottle or two each day Sadie wants to feed them to her, but she gets burned out after a couple minutes and "lets" me finish the job. Sadie is usually happy to fetch a diaper or lay by Camille during tummy time. This morning we played pretend that she was the mom, I was the big sister, and Elise was the middle sister. Pretty much real life except she was in charge instead of me.

Becoming the biggest sister has not come without it's bumps. Behavior has been very inconsistent. Sadie has bit Elise 3 times in the past month, with the most recent bite leaving a bruise on Elise's cheek. We have no idea where this came from, but it's kind of funny because the last person she bit was Elise, when Elise was a newborn. 

Mimi

As I was nearing the end of my rope with Camille sleeping worse and worse at night, Mimi arrived from Texas. She was just what we all needed. She made meals, took turns with a fussy Camille at all hours of the night, cleaned our whole house, and kept the bigger girls occupied. It was amazing. I thought we wouldn't need too much help since Daniel hasn't been working a lot, but I just sat back and let Carolyn pretty much take care of everything.

During her visit we had our busiest week yet. 

First up was Camille's 2 week and Elise's 3 year check up. At this point I was thinking/hoping that Camille needed more food, and this was the reason for her terrible sleeping. She weighed in at only 7 lbs 4 ounces, so still 3 ounces from her birth weight. I was kind of relieved that there might be a reason for her bad sleeping and not just that she had her days and nights mixed up. Camille is 21 inches, which made her 90th percentile for height and 20th percentile for weight at 2 weeks old.  We have been supplementing with formula and she is definitely adding some ounces now. 

Side note: even though it seemed like a good idea to schedule these appointments together so I didn't have to make 2 trips, it was terrible. Camille needed to eat and Elise was climbing all over everything. When we left they offered to make Camille's 2 month and Sadie's 5 year appointments at the same time and I said "NO WAY". Especially with Sadie having to get her Kindergarten shots that she has been terrified about for months. 

Another big event was Sadie's dance recital and the multiple 2 hour practices leading up to it. 

The recital was two nights and I felt like we needed to be there both nights in case Sadie got super anxious and cried (like she frequently does). She did great both nights, although on the first night she went the wrong way at one point and she has still not forgiven herself about it. I am so proud of her for working hard to learn the dances and then performing them really well. 

We went to dinner at Ron and Lani's house and Camille got to meet some of her relatives from Carolyn's family. Sadie got to play with her beloved cousin Jack, who she hasn't actually played with a ton, but she always asks about him.

We started to get Camille awake more during the day. 

We also attended the homecoming of my cousin Karen, who just got back from her LDS mission in Thailand. Sadie couldn't remember exactly who Karen was but once she saw her she gave her a big hug. We introduced Camille to the extended family that was there. 

Mimi took the girls to the park a few times. She brought them to a new park with a purple dinosaur, which they now talk about every day. 

 

Mimi left yesterday and we are all sad about it. My girls are infinitely more bored with me running the show at home. Camille had another difficult night last night. She is missing her Mimi. 

Can't wait to see you again in August!!

Reality

So around Camille's 1 week birthday things got a little more real. Sadie and Elise started to get annoyed at how much time and attention Camille was taking. The whining and tantrums from them increased substantially. The weather took a dive so we were cooped up inside. Daniel needed to go to work more. The exhaustion of a newborn set in. I had multiple delirious nights of a wide awake Camille. 

 Asleep during the day....

 And wide awake at midnight!

Some cuteness from the big girls. Putting on tacky make-up together. 

A rare spell of awake time while the sun was up

 But then it was right back to sleeping

So Long Salazars

Three days after bringing Camille home from the hospital Hillary and Ben moved out. It was a fairly hectic few days. Both of us were dealing with really busy things- us with a newborn and them with moving- but neither could really help each other. So we co-existed in our house while both concentrating our respective busy things. 

Following those busy days, on Saturday morning the Salazars brought breakfast over and we had a relaxed morning. It was a nice ending to the 9 months we cohabitated. Before they moved in with us I pictured they would live in our basement and we would hang out constantly. It turned out that we were all very busy with essentially opposite schedules so it frequently felt like we'd go a while without even really interacting besides Hillary babysitting two mornings a week. 

We are going to miss the Salazars a whole bunch. Sadie frequently got confused this year when trying to describe who was in her family. Hillary and Ben were often included. in drawings of our immediate family. She knew they were relatives but the fact that they lived in our house made her think there was something extra there.

 It really is the end of an era. Hillary arrived in Utah as a BYU freshman 1 month after Sadie was born. She has spent countless hours watching my kids over the past 5 years. She and I have become good friends, when we didn't know each other very much before. 

We love you, Ben & Hillary. We hope Detroit is more than you could ever dream of! 

Home Again

The first week we were home was great. Sadie and Elise were so excited about Camille. The weather was amazing. Most days were spent with the girls running in and out from our backyard and Daniel working to get our yard looking like people actually live in our house. I laid on the couch and kept Camille fed with clean diapers. Things felt good. I was tired but happy to have Camille here and healthy.
Enjoy a bunch of pictures. 

All Natural For the Price of an Epidural: Camille's Arrival

So.....Camille Christine Nielson joined our family on April 29th. I chose to be induced the day I was 39 weeks. I was dilated to 4 cm and more than ready to be done with pregnancy. On April 28th I got a call from the hospital letting me know I was up to 1st on the induction list due to other women having their babies, so I should arrive at the hospital at 7 AM. Inductions are kind of funny. It's weird choosing potential birthdays for your kid. I resisted the induction with Elise, but finally gave in at the end and then I kind of liked it. No stress of wondering when the baby will come- shower, pack everything, have babysitters all ready, and go to the hospital all calm and orderly. I may have waited longer on the induction this time if Elise's birthday wasn't on May 7th. I wanted to keep Elise and this baby's birthdays as far apart as possible. Is that dumb? Probably.

Anyway, back to Camille's birth. I decided I was going to try waiting to get an epidural and see how it went, but I wasn't very committed to it.  I got hooked up to monitors/IV's/pitocin with my water broken by 8:20 AM. My nurse spent the next 1/2 hour trying to get the right balance of pitocin because my body is really sensitive to it and the baby's heart rate was dropping with the stronger contractions. An hour after the pitocin started I began to feel uncomfortable. Around 9:50 I had my nurse check my progress and I was just at 5.5 cm. I told her I wanted to get an epidural. The pain wasn't unbearable but I knew if the contractions were close together I would be struggling. I figured I had a while until the baby came since I had only progressed 1.5 cm in an hour. From that point on I was done with any pain and wanted it over. Well during the 20 minutes that the anesthesiologist took to arrive I struggled through more and more painful contractions. I was at just over 6 cm before he attempted to place the needle. It took 10 or 15 minutes, but it felt like forever trying to sit still through contractions. I was so anxious to get the relief of the epidural. When I laid back down I was at 7 cm. At that point I was completely checked out mentally. I was bracing against each contraction and holding my breath. I had no control over the yelling/moaning coming out of my mouth. A couple minutes later I had what I call a super-contraction, during which I yelled super loud and a nurse came running in from the hall. I knew at that point I looked like a crazy lady but I didn't really care. My nurse checked me and I was at 10 cm. So I went from 5.5 cm to 10 cm in a little over a 1/2 hour. It took another 10 minutes for my doctor to arrive. Two contractions and 5 pushes later Camille arrived at 10:38 AM. She was smaller than I expected at just 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 19.5 inches. And I did it without an epidural because it didn't have time to kick in, but I still get to pay for the epidural since everything was in place if we'd had another 10 minutes to wait. 

Held by mom and dad shortly after birth

Looking exactly like newborn Daniel in this picture

After a bath
Camille was immediately calm. Barely cried. She and I had a calm stay in the hospital. She slept well and we got lots of mother-baby bonding. My recovery was the fastest and least painful I've had. Daniel didn't stay in the hospital with us, which he has done with our other kids. I was feeling good enough that I could easily get up and around. Daniel did come and visit with us a lot while Hillary and Ben watched the girls- thanks Salazars!

Day 1                                          Day 2
The most frenzied times were when Daniel brought the older girls to visit. Sadie was SO excited about all things baby. She wanted to know everything about everything. She wanted to hold Camille as much as possible. The first day Hillary came with the girls and Sadie lectured her about being careful with Camille. Elise was a little sick so we tried to keep her away.



We headed home Wednesday night after the big girls were in bed. The time in the hospital was so calm that I almost stayed there for the full 48 hours but that dang hospital bed is so uncomfortable I wanted my own bed. 

Birthday Girl

Elise is 3! Unfortunately her birthday is getting a little bit ignored this year, with the whole baby arriving 1 week ago thing. Perhaps I will blog about our third child soon. Today we opened a few presents and ate carrot cake, which Elise picked out from Costco. She has been talking about her "carrot birthday" for the past 2 days but then she didn't take a single bite of it today. We might throw Elise a party in a few weeks or maybe give Elise and Sadie a joint party this summer.

Some facts about Lou:
-gets called Lou more than any other name
-loves to snuggle
-is hilarious. Enjoys doing impressions and telling knock knock jokes.
-has become a crazy climber. We found her the other day on the second floor--on the outside of the stair railing just looking down to our entryway with wood floors below. Scared me to death.
-likes to push Sadie's buttons, especially when Sadie is grumpy

-wears dress up clothes more than half of the time at home.
-still naps about 50% of the time. In her crib.
-does not know how to speak quietly. Today I was feeding Camille in my room on the second floor and I could hear her playing (by herself) in the basement. She isn't terribly behaved during church, but she is VERY loud. 
-has a great imagination. The majority of her days are spent pretending to be an animal or a Disney character. She will play for hours in her own world, talking to herself.
-the biggest food mooch ever. If anyone is eating around her she will ask for some.
-passionate about Dora. She answers the questions during the show with such enthusiasm.
-favorite person is her nursery leader, "Brubber Lambert"
-desperately wants to take gymnastics or dance class like Sadie
-not outgoing or shy- seems to be a little socially unaware. We'll see if that lasts.
-lately drinks all of the milk out of cereal and leaves the cereal.

-constantly tells Camille in a high squeaky voice that she is "tiny tiny" and introduces herself repeatedly as her "big sister, Louie"
-not potty trained. I haven't really attempted
-when she gets excited she jumps up and down and/or says "wahoo!" with one arm up

Happy birthday Elise! We love you so much.