There Was a Little Girl.....

...who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
She stood on her head, on her little trundle bed,
With nobody by for to hinder;
She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled,
And drummed her little heels against the winder. Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys
Playing in the empty attic,
She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares,
And spanked her, most emphatic.

I am certain these words were written for my Annabella.  It is her so exactly!!

I have to be honest and say that with the birth of little Beatrice I have been mourning in a sense.  Mourning the loss of my "little" Anna, as I often referred to her.

This tiny little pixie who was so sick and we had no idea, who has truly suffered the last year and a half, who has shown amazing bravery and resiliency, who we cried for and worried about, who grayed our hair and made us laugh, who brought us down paths we never thought we would travel.  She was our baby who required such intense attention, care, and energy.

And with absolute suddenness I have realized she is no longer that tiny, frail, little baby.  She is downright BIG!!  She is nearly as tall as her 4yr old brother, and her hands and feet seem enormous, she talks to me, she no longer fits easily into my arms.......she is no longer my baby.

At Last....Born January 17th

Our sweet and beautiful Beatrice Rose was born at 2:02PM on January 17th.  7lbs2oz.  She shares a birthday with my dad!  And my birthday was the next day on the 18th. 

I want to write down details about labor and delivery so that I will have it here to look back at.

Her due date was Sunday the 15th and I went into to see the OB on the 16th.  My fluid had been running high and the OB thought it was better off to deliver than continue on feeling miserable.  I hopped on the option to be induced.  She was able to get me scheduled for that night.

We went in around 8pm and got all settled in and set up.  At around 3am I woke up in labor and the contractions quickly became quite intense.  I thought for sure the baby would be born in an hour or two....just like it was with Anna.  But as they wheeled me into labor and delivery my water broke.  It was the most incredible feeling of RELIEF LOL!!  The fluid was putting so much pressure on every part of my body that it was just incredible!  With all that pressure gone the contractions slowed down a lot and decreased in intensity and from there labor was QUITE slow, but steady.  Other than a few times when her heart rate dropped the labor was uneventful and she was born with just a push or two at 2:02PM.

She seems so tiny and dainty!  She has been a mostly content and sweet baby.....not as ridiculously easy as Ben, but generally more content than Anna was.

Ben and Anna love her and want to consume her most of the time.  Both have been pretty good and well adjusted with the baby in terms of their own behavior.  Anna definitely is needing more snuggling and loving....and Ben will do silly baby talk now and again.  But all pretty minor.

She is definitely a sweet and lovely addition to our little family!

Anyday Now...

Got this extraordinary picture of the baby yesterday at the OB. I think you can even see her eyelashes! So perfectly formed.

Anyday now we should be holding her (and saying, "Oh my gosh she looks just like her picture!")

Hmmmm, should I be concerned?

I mean the likeness is uncanny, no?

39 Weeks....

I realized at 39 weeks that not one single picture had been taken of my growing tummy. I have several of Ben and Anna's pregnancies. So Cla quickly snapped these two pics. I truly had no idea how enormous I looked LOL....hopefully the baby will be here soon! Sunday is my due date.

Yarn Along - Nemo Mittens and Dishcloths

Finally jumping in to join Ginny in her Yarn Along again!

I have been working on a pair of Nemo/clownfish mittens for Ben.  Almost done with the first mitten.  Just working on the thumb.  Each mitten also requires a fin and a face, but I think I will wait and finish the second mitten and then do both mittens at the same time.  Whenever I take this out to work on Ben asks, "are you knitting just as fast as you can??"  LOL....I tell him yes, but I am just a ridiculously slow knitter and me and dpns......well, let's just say, I am not all too fond of them!  Notice I didn't take a close up LOL....I am a sloppy knitter when it comes to the dpns.  And normally I would say practice makes perfect, but I would prefer no more dpns and to just leave it at that! LOL  of course I have promised my husband a pair of fingerless mits and after searching high and low for a pattern that was not done on dpns I have resigned myself to one more project in the round.

The project with the blue yarn is just a very simple dishcloth.  I have always wanted to do a dishcloth and just never did, but I am LOVING this pattern.  It can truly be done without any thought and works up super quick and can be picked up and put down easily without losing your place.  It is just an excellent sort of thing to have lying around to do while you are waiting for water to boil, or computer to boot up, or pictures to load up, or while you supervise kids in the bath etc..I am using this pattern.

Also, wanted to show off my knew knitting accessories.  I got the orange knitting bag and the red and black needle organizer for Christmas.  The knitting bag is humongous and PERFECT.  It holds ALL of my knitting supplies...a lot of my spare yarn.  And this freed up an entire shelf in my kitchen which now can be used for something else.  And in a tiny house with virtually no storage that is of momentous excitement!!  I used to keep my projects in a pocketless tote bag and I would have needles swimming around getting stuck in yarn and pulling apart the balls.  My patterns would get all wrinkled and scrunched.  I could never find my scissors or my place markers or my tape measure.  Those days are gone!  I have complete knitting organization!!

As for what I am reading.  I HAD been reading The Wilder Life about a woman's (the author) interest in and adventures in the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I was really enjoying it too.  But I got my copy from the library and because it has been reserved it was only a two week loan.  I read even slower than I knit and I read only before going to bed.  So after two weeks I was only halfway through and had to return it.  The reserve list is a mile long.  So I will see if I can get back on it but it might be another 6 months before I can finish this book.  So last night I picked up  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  It has been on my shelf for decades but I have never read it.  And it is just the sort of largeish print, easy reading I like before bed.

And what's a morning without a quick pic of the kiddies??  This is the face Ben made when I asked him to give me a "real good smile".  LOL  This kid totally cracks me up lately.  Last night I was getting ready to leave for my knitting class.  And so he was trying to convince Daddy that they needed to take baths (Daddy just doesn't do baths unless absolutely necessary).  So he said, "Ohh, I was told we need to take baths tonight!"  And so Cla asked, "Oh?  Who told you that?"  and Ben points to our nativity scene and says, "Alllllll these WONDERFUL saints told me that we need to take a bath!"  LOL....can't argue with that can ya??  Cleanliness is next to Godliness they say!

And Little Miss Bella Bean who had her 4th straight night of vomiting made a quick appearance for some yogurt and mint tea before asking to go take a nap.  The poor thing is just totally worn out from night after night of sickness.  So please keep praying for this little soul who endures these things with great spirit, but, like everyone, has her limits.

Preparing for Baby and How This Improves Fine Motor Skills

We have slowly been pulling out all of the baby paraphernalia we have tucked away in the scant storage areas around the house.  Not so much so we are prepared, but more to be sure we could actually locate everything!

Both kids have been very interested in all of the items...wanting to sit in bouncy chairs, to explore long ago tucked away toys they had forgotten, but most of all they are just loving this little activity mat.  They will lie on it together and separately and play with all the accessories.  Ben will use it as an ocean for his Playmobil Pirate Ship and Anna mostly likes to look in the mirror.

But Ben in particular is really enjoying removing each of the toys from their hook, rearranging them, and reattaching them again.  It requires quiet concentration and dexterity and is giving him some excellent fine motor skills exercise which he could definitely use!

I pray that once the baby comes they are still as interested to play....by interacting with the baby and her toys (as opposed to being possessive about the toys).

I am still finding Ben's love for the space in front of our heating vent irresistibly adorable.  Whenever he hears the heat start blowing he gathers up his lovies and whatever else he wants and runs for the vent.

Today it is the beloved Playmobil ship (he just got this from my inlaws for Christmas and it has been played with for many hours already) and a box of animal crackers.  What more could a boy want??  He is looking away because he told me he didn't "need" his picture taken today.

Anna is not around to join him today.  She went down for a nap very early after another rough night of vomiting.  We are taking her to the pediatrician today.  Prayers for healing and wellness in the house and especially for little Anna.

Where We Have Been...

Oy, what a month it has been...and it seems to be continuing...

This is the scene from this morning:  lounging with best lovies, PBS playing cartoons, completely zonked.

The kids have just been stricken by one bug after another after another... They are currently suffering through a really strange and somewhat horrendous stomach bug.  This after colds, sinus infections, virus, double ear infections, and tooth extraction!

 We could definitely use some prayers here for wellness!

Thankfully we had a short reprieve between ear infections and stomach bugs to head down to Virgninia to spend Christmas with my dad and stepmom.

For some reason we never take many pictures while down there but I thought these pics of the kids very patiently waiting to open gifts were just too cute.  

 They were all wide eyed and amazed when they came upstairs to see all the gifts put out under the tree.  But they just sat and waited until everyone was ready.

 

I love Ben's little pile of lovies there (he totes around a cat, a doll, a pillow, and a really soft blanket with a bunny rabbit in the corner)

Even little miss compulsive disaster maker didn't dare touch until it was time LOL...

I think this is the only pic I got of an open present. I just love that little face. Both kids got lots of new toys that they are very excited about. And we had a lovely time in Virginia. Now we are *tick tock* waiting for the new baby to come! Two weeks to my due date and I am praying praying that she is not super late like her sister!!