5 days old and 1 week from 15 Months old

Hello again everyone, and Miriam says hello too! She's been exploring the big wide world the last few days. She's been from the hospital, to mom's office, off to church and bible study and of course spending lots of time at home. Most of her time is spent sleeping, otherwise she's likely eating, filling her tiny diapers or having another bout of the hiccups.

Her sleeping has been pretty good so far. She does spend most of the time sleeping as mentioned, but of course as soon as mom decides it's bed-time feeding goes into hyper-drive. So between about 9 and midnight she'll feed about 3 times before she finally will let us put her down in the play-pen to sleep. Once she gets really good at sleeping she can use her crib in her soon to be shared room with her sister, but for now she has a temporary spot in mommy & daddy's room. So once she's down she's been doing some pretty decent stretches of sleep, letting mom recover nicely.

One other thing that we've noticed is how much smaller she is right now than Naomi ever was. We had to invest in some smaller sleepers and onesies so she wasn't swimming in everything we put on her. But it's quite the adjustment now to go from nursing the little tiny baby to playing with Naomi as she climbs the stairs - she's made her big sister look so much bigger!!

Naomi has been being a great big sister. She has not appeared to be too jealous yet, not sure about sharing her receiving blankets though. She's been very curious about the new little addition that spends a lot of time on mommy's lap, only smacked her a couple times but not trying to hurt her, more exploring the new "toy". She has also definitely enjoyed having all the visitors around to play with her, she grabs their attention when they're not oogling over her new little sister.

Naomi has been learning lots of new things as well. From new words and expressions to exploring new things. She's learned more about "hello's", or cell phones as we call them, having fun with a couple fake/old ones of mommy & daddy's. Nanook and her have also become better friends, until she grabs her tail or foot. But enjoying chasing each other around.

Anyhow, that's all for now. Should probably go help deal with the two little ones instead of writing about them!

So Anna signing off to feed the littlest one while Grandpa gets ready to feed the older one and Gradma, Aunty Martha and daddy get some things done around the house.

Welcome Miriam Gloria Violet

Wow, what an incredible day! First off I want to apologize both for the delay in getting this up, and for any bad grammatical mistakes! It has been a long 24 hours! As was mentioned in the previous post we looked like all was good to go, so we packed up, loaded up, and then sat around waiting! Anna was most frustrated at getting all excited, and then for everything to grind to a screeching halt! After a shopping trip, dinner and playing bathing Naomi still nothing was happening.

Off to bed we all went around 10:30 - 11:00. At around 11:30 Anna started to have contractions. Both Grandma and Daddy were passed out quite soundly. Around 12:45 Mommy got up to have a shower to see what it would to to the contractions which were coming strong and solid about 10 minutes apart. In the 12 minute shower she had 3 contractions! Apparently she explained what was going on prior to the shower, and I (Adam) was suppose to get up and talk to Grandma about the happenings. I have no recollection of that conversation! Imagine my surprise while I had been off in dreamland only to be woken by a screaming pregnant lady saying we need to go. NOW!

After a number of phone calls around (thanks to all those who answered the phone at 1am!) we very quickly made our way to the car, and then to the hospital. I will not mention how long it took here on the web as it may incriminate me! We arrived at the hospital a little before 2 am. It was funny, upon our arrival the fantastic labour and delivery staff did not seem to think things were that serious. After a closer exam they discovered that Mom was at about 5cm dilated. They started to take it a lot more seriously! Within an hour Mom progressed to 8cm! The doctor was called and made it just in time to start pushing!

Anna did a phenomenal job! After a few good pushes we were greeted by a absolutely beautiful baby girl. What a change from Naomi's birth! From the time we arrived at the hospital to the birth it was 2 hours, not 20! Miriam Gloria Violet Kouwenberg entered into this world at 3:50am. She was very kind to her mother, no stitches were required! Miriam tipped the scales at 7lbs even. Because the delivery was all natural with only some nitrous oxide to cut the pain (or make mom fly high as a kite) Miriam was incredibly awake and alert. She took to nursing like she had been doing it for years! What a relief!

By the time she was 6 hours old she had spent more than a third of her life eating! We hope this trend continues for a long time! Through out the rest of the day she was wonderful, sleeping great, eating great, and she even got to have her first bath!

It is now about the same time that we went to bed yesterday. Here is hoping that tonight will be less adventurous that the last!

A very proud and tired Mommy and Daddy going to try and get some rest in the hospital, a exhausted big sister and Grandma sleeping back home, and a beautiful baby girl sleeping like a log, saying a very good night to all!

Waiting to go to the hospital

So the thumb twiddling begins! Managed to get some decent sleep last night despite the odd contraction, slept from about 11pm until 5am and then rested between contractions that were about 10 minutes apart, but quite painful. Made arrangements for the day and plans to head to the hospital, got the car packed up and had a light breakfast then contractions stalled again. So now we're waiting for them to pick back up and we'll head in. At least it looks like we won't have to worry about morning rush hour traffic!

Anna signing off in hopes of a contraction soon, while Grandma makes some coffee, and dad plays with Naomi and Nanook

38.5 Weeks

Hello everyone! So things are finally progressing from waiting to pop to actually getting close to popping...sort of... Had a lot of trouble getting to sleep last night, heartburn galore. Ended up sleeping in the lazy-boy so I could be propped up to keep from getting heartburn, but that put more pressure on baby, so started getting minor contractions. Managed to doze off for 1/2 hour to an hour from 12:30-1:30 ish and then dozed off and on again until about 4:30 or so...got too uncomfortable so moved back to bed and didn't get any sleep after that, was having very regular contractions that wouldn't let me sleep. Adam fortunately was able to sleep eventhough I was not, so hopefully he can be strength for me!

I spent most of the day having contractions every half hour or so, depending on if I was trying to do anything or just relaxing. Some times the contractions were 5 minutes apart, some times 1 hour...but regular throughout the day. But thanks to Oma/my mom being around I was able to relax, fold laundry, and not have to have contractions while chasing around a 1 year old. :) Thanks!

Anyhow, just watching the biggest loser then heading off to bed with hopes of at least getting some sleep - we'll see what happens! But need to get some in so I have more that 3 hours sleep in 48...I know last time my lack of sleep was a huge problem, so hopefully we can change that this time! Anyhow here's hoping for a good night...

Anna signing off with hopes of lots of time to dream, Naomi hopefully dreaming away, Adam unpacking last minute baby purchases from Wal Mart and Nanook on hyper-protective alert status nearby...

14 Months in 1 Week and 35 Weeks

Talk about a busy few weeks, wow! For mommy, pumpkin and of course Naomi and Daddy. The biggest adjustment has been since mid-week last week. Mommy was put on "bed-rest" (not super strict but told to take it easy and not over-exert herself) and of course this all happens during the busiest month of the year for Daddy. Mom's being doing well, taking it easy thanks to a very amazing Grandma that has come to spend time with us for a little bit to help. Our house went quickly from chaos to organized - thanks!

Naomi has been rapidly working on expanding her vocabulary. She is excellent at mimicking and can repeat many words, not knowing what much of it means, but happily repeats. She has said things from kitten to turtle. Ones that have stuck though that she seems to be using correctly are "up" (as she starts to motor up the stairs) or "baby" as she taps Mommy's tummy. Who knows if she realizes she's referring to a baby inside or just a large tummy!

Her pulling herself up and small movement has turned into full on furniture walking - with confidence! There's been a couple times she'll be up and not really holding on. One time it looked like she was going to walk away from something but then realized it and sat down. So almost took a real step by herself - scary! She can take her time with that, her crawling is getting fast enough! But the coffee table has been essentially fully emptied and the plant/fish that used to live there has relocated...

Pumkin continues to grow! Mommy as always is wondering how her tummy could possibly get any larger and how in the world there is space for all the acrobatic and karate that Pumkin is practicing...every time we read the updates on the "baby centre" website it says that the baby should be running out of room and start moving less...we've yet to see that happen! And of course Pumkin has a different sleep schedule than Mommy - napping is near impossible now. Oh well.

Anyhow, that's all for this edition, hopefully we'll get one more in before the baby comes - and hopefully that gives us 5 weeks in which to do that!

Mommy signing off to help with dinner as Grandma and Naomi get some vegtables ready, Daddy tidys up the backyard and Nanook happily observes.

1 Year 16 Days and 30 Weeks

So Naomi is growing in so many ways! She's already blown past her 1 year mark - which mom and dad can't believe has come and gone already. She's very slowly starting to talk (slow as in amount of words - not quantity in which they're used!), she's gotten about 5 words under her belt now. The standard "Mama" and "Dada", "Wow" has shown here and there, she's learned the "uh-oh" game and also just likes the word randomly for fun, and her newest one is "hi". "Hi" was practiced very much on Monday when she went shopping at Costco with mom and Grandpapa - she said "hi" to anyone and almost everyone! Very cute.

Naomi has also progressed from pulling herself up on furniture to doing it with confidence on walls, furniture, pretty much any time she's in her playpen...all the time. After just standing in place all day on Tuesday as soon as Dad came home and mom went to do a couple of things around the house she decided it was time to start moving while up. She walked from one end of the table to the other! When mom came back she just smiled and moved on over to show off more - but dad still saw it first!

Pumpkin has been growing tons - despite mom not really gaining much weight lately. Mom's been snacking like crazy, but not according to the scale! The tummy's doing all the growing and apparently taking from other areas. Mom's definetly feeling the bulge though. Gravity has really been obvious lately. Never thought I'd say it, but I think I actually miss my support belt that I had last time. I've had to start doing my exercises from last time too...the pelvic pain is starting to rear it's head again, oh well.

The doctor was happy at our appointment yesterday with more than just mom's weight. Pumpkin has gone to the head down position and is a great size. If Pumpkin is on track then Pumpkin should weigh about 2.5 pounds right now and be about 15 inches long. But, all this growing is really being felt on Mommy! Cramping has been a daily discomfort and add to that the kicks and stretches, wow. Some times the movement is fun, hiccups make me laugh, but there are some time when it just hurts.

Anyhow, that's about all the new stuff for now...my brain has fallen asleep anyhow, so we'll sign off for now...

Anna signing off to head to bed, Nanook already catching some "z's" in her chair, Adam plunking away on his computer, Naomi well into dreamland and Pumkin just keeps dancing...

12 Months in 3 days and 27 Weeks

Hello again everyone! I always feel like it hasn't been that long since I've written, but oh well! A busy few weeks to say the least! Family visiting from out of town for my dad's wedding, back at work still of course, and all kinds of fun stuff. And Naomi's been having a blast with it all! Everyone loved her dress she got to wear to Grandpapa and Grandmama's wedding - she was our blue puff-ball princess!

Naomi has gone from pro crawler, yes, still an "army" style crawl mostly, to pulling herself up to stand. She has yet to take any steps with her feet while standing but she can get up. She has found a whole new world of stuff on the coffee table, entertainment unit, and that sort of thing. And she loves the view from standing in her playpen! Of course there's a whole bunch more messes she can now make, but that's okay, mom and dad will clean it up right? And our Lily in a betta bowl may have a couple bent leaves from being tugged at...

Other than mobility Naomi has also been working on getting her vocabulary and sounds up. She can say 4 "words" now, still using, but more correctly, mama and dada but has added "wow", and "uh-oh". Very cute of course. She's loving it! She's made a few different sounds too, starting to do and "s" sound, "t" sounds, and a few other letters are starting to get in there too. Very proud of her progress!

Now the other little one...growing leaps and bounds all the time! According to the website we're subscribed to pumpkin is about 2 pounds and 14 inches long - wow! And we can definitely tell it's growing by looking at mommy's tummy! The tummy's moving around a lot more now too, pumpkin is definitely practicing acrobatics in there frequently. Still very much seeming like an easier pregnancy than Naomi, but of course Naomi also keeps mom from having time to think about it, so that may help! Although could pass on the extreme heat of the last week, that's been a bit much. Mid twenties is better than high thirties, that's for sure.

Anyhow, that's how we're all doing for now. As always, hope to write again sooner than last time!

Anna signing off as Adam tinkers with a computer, Nanook enjoys the finally cooling house and Naomi snoozes away...and Pumkin kicks/punches away!