Sweet New Baby...

Alek came home from the hospital last Monday. He has been home with us for one week now, and it is so much fun! At night he sleeps with me on our sofa, and Chancellor sleeps with aaron on the bed. Someday I'd love to get a bigger bed so we can all fit on there together. (of course, a little bed just for Chancellor would be just fine, if she can ever sleep through the night).





Chancellor loves her little brother! That's a picture of her going up to give him a big, wet kiss. She kisses with a big gaping mouth, and her tongue sticking way out. She likes to bring him his bottles, and make a little pretend eating noise. She'll get his diapers for me. She'll yank his hat off and touch his head. She likes to find his eyes and nose, and poke them. She always tries to pick him up, but we make her settle for a hug. It's so cute watching her lay her big(comparatively) head down on his little body for hugs!





I think Aaron's having fun with his little boy. They'll be cute together as Alek grows up. Aaron picked out his name, Aleksandr, because he likes Russia so much. And Edward is Aaron's middle name, and his father's, and HIS father's. If it weren't for Alek, the Umberson name would die with Aaron, because there aren't any other boys. He's a very important little guy.

BABY BOY!!

I gave birth to my son on Thursday, January 28th at 1:39pm.

When I first arrived at the hospital they noticed that he had an arythmia(no idea how to spell it). So when he was born, I held him for a brief moment before they rushed him off to the NICU. As for now he is still there. His heart sometimes slows down, to 85 or so instead of the usual 130, and beats with an irregularity. However, it is still doing the job it needs to do. His heart just does it in its own slightly unusual way. Hopefully he will get to come home to us tomorrow or Tuesday.

He was 7 pounds 5 ounces, and 19 3/4inches long. He looks just like I did when I was a baby. He's got gorgeous dark blue eyes. Not very much hair, but what little there is is blond. His name is Aleksandr Edward Umberson, aka Alek, and I love him very much.

Yesterday he started having his eyes open more often. He likes to look around and practice moving his neck. He looks like a little turtle.

I can go visit him whenever I want, and stay as long as I want. I get to hold him and breastfeed him. Whenever I'm not with him I pump and freeze my breastmilk so I can bring it with me next time I go visit him. He likes eating the good stuff.

He's got the softest, puffiest cheeks I've ever seen! They're squishy and squeeze-able!

Best of luck to this little boy of mine. I know he'll be home with me soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANCELLOR!!

Tuesday was Chancellor's 1st birthday. My little girl is one year old! And now that she is so big and grown up, here are some of the things she can do...

walk around in REAL shoes
feed herself small pieces of yummy food
say "dog" and "ba ba ba" when she hears one barking
say "ma ma ma ma ma" when she wants me
fake cough
blow her nose
blow bubbles into water
pick up the cat (or "ta") to give her hugs
give big, wet kisses
drink from a straw without spilling on her shirt
take small things out of a big thing, then put them back
turn the pages of her favorite books
pull her socks off of her feet
put both arms into her jacket when we're getting dressed
try to put the little bottle or sippy cup up to the mouth of her doll
point to my nose, eyes, tongue, hair, and ears on request
get down safely from the sofa or bed, all by herself
nod yes to most questions
wave hello and goodbye, and blow kisses
rock in the rocking chair by herself while singing "raah rah" (rock rock)
say "pah" as she's pooping


We had a little birthday party for my darling girl. Here are a few pictures, all involving cake.


I made her a birthday cake! Funfetti, to be cute. I decided a while ago that Chancellor's colors are pink and green. I never write anything on cakes, so it was a pretty big deal.


Chancellor and Papa blowing out the candle!


This was her first taste of anything this sweet. Her first real dessert, something with absolutely no nutritional value. She LOVED it!

Baby's First Christmas!

Weird to say, but oh so true. My almost 12-month-old baby just had her first Christmas!

I started out the holiday season feeling not very excited. I'm tired. I'm pregnant. And I just hoped people didn't get her presents that would annoy me.
So I went to bed on Christmas eve, just like it was any other day. But I found that whenever I woke up during the night (which is often with a baby in the bed) it was hard to fall back asleep. I had that weird feeling of excited anticipation that you get when you're a kid. Just waiting for Christmas morning to finally arrive. At any of those moments when I awoke, I could have been up for the day. I was awake and excited, and had to force myself to go back to sleep.
I woke up before Aaron and Chancellor, went to the bathroom, and when I walked back into the bedroom I see my beautiful little girl wake up and smile at me. I think she knew it was a special day. We were such a happy, excited family!


After breakfast, we went and opened some gifts. (MY favorite gift this year was a rocking chair from my husband. Nothing has ever been more needed or appreciated). Chancellor got some pretty nice stuff. grandma and grandad got her some really cool toys, and Aaron and I got her some all right things. She had a lot of fun figuring out that after the fun of ripping paper is gone, there's a toy to play with under it. This girl loves paper, and was sooo excited to see the colorful toys it was hiding.


That's Chancellor opening up her very first Christmas present! She had just ripped off a piece of wrapping paper and was handing it Grandma. She's very good about sharing.





That afternoon we went to Aunt Rosie's house. Chancellor got a couple more presents, and we got to eat yummy food and play games and just visit with family that we hadn't seen in a while.
53 years ago, my grandma made Raggedy Anne and Andy dolls for her sister, Rosie. This year, Rosie gave them to Chancellor for Christmas. I never got to meet my grandma, and don't really have any of the wonderful things she made, so it's really awesome that Chancellor has something to treasure. She is not allowed to play with them.






We took a few family pictures at Rosie's house, but it turns out I had the camera set on "flower" instead of "mountain" so they came out kinda blurry. That was the best we could get.



The next day we went to the Umberson house to exchange gifts on that side of the family. We got some really nice things. Chancellor got books and toys, and cute little shoes! Grandpa Trick got her this cool little car. She really likes to play with the "gear shift" part of it.







So it turned out to be a really nice first Christmas for my little girl. It's good to see how happy it makes everybody to have a baby around. Makes Christmas just a little more special again.

boy takes the win

5 votes for boy, 4 votes for girl. It will definitely be exciting to find out who it is in there!

I think something is gonna happen...something that requires people, or children. Something is definitely going on. I know five other people who are pregnant right now. And I think only 2 of them were "planned." What's going to happen that the world needs all these babies? I know I was definitely MEANT to have this baby right now, or else that birth control would have worked. Maybe we all just need someone to keep us even busier.

It's crazy I haven't gone to the doctor yet. I must be pretty far along. Oh boy do I hate medi-cal! I sure hope I can find a doctor who will take me! My last doctor is definitely a last resort...but I know she'd be my doctor if I wanted her to be. Which I don't. No. I do not. Anyway...everybody pray that things with medi-cal get straightened out asap so I can find a doctor and see how my baby is doing!