The start of summer

It finally feels like summer has arrived here in Wisconsin.  Yay!  We Bashaws are looking forward to lots of fun this summer... so hopefully I will do a better job with this blog so you can all see what we're up to!  I am going to really really try to at least post a few pics every other week.

Little Emmett has finally outgrown his colic, has been successfully weaned off his reflux meds, and is sleeping better.  He's typically only up 1x/night to nurse and goes right back to bed.  I'm hoping that maybe once he's doing solids that he will sleep through the entire night, but I can definitely handle only one waking.  He is such a sweet and easygoing boy, and his smiles are incredibly contagious.  For the last 5 days or so, he's been pushing himself up onto all fours.  I am wondering how long it will be until he can crawl... I hope I still have a little time before he's mobile.  Yikes!  He's still working on being able to sit unsupported.  He is becoming more and more vocal... laughter, squeals, grunts, cooing.  He is putting his thumb into his mouth to self-soothe more and more often; thumb-sucking is probably the one thing I wish he wouldn't copy from his big sister, but there's not much I can do to stop it.  I can't believe how close the little man is to 6 months.  This first year is going so much faster with him even than it did with Miriam.  I love that he is becoming his own little person now, and I know now the second time around just how much more fun is in store as he gets older and older, but at the same time, sometimes I just want things to slow down... my baby needs to stay a baby for awhile!

Miriam is growing up so much.  Jason and I were just watching home videos lately from last summer.  At the time, we thought she was SO grown up and talked SO well... and now, she just looks and sounds like such a baby in those videos!  There seems to be nothing now she can't say... and she is usually talking a blue streak.  Sometimes my ears are tired at the end of the day!  Miri is a huge hit in the neighborhood.  There are  quite a few neighbor girls in the 8 to 11 years old range who just fawn over her and come over to play on a regular basis.  We should have no shortage of babysitters in a few years!  She loves being outside and sometimes it can be hard to get her inside without tears.  Miri just moved up to a new room in daycare; she's now in the "Big Twos."  She has 2 new teachers, Ms. Alexis and Ms. Lee, and she also has Ms. Ginger again, who was Miri's teacher back in the first half of 2012 when she was in the "Toddler 1" room.  Miriam continues to love school and her friends there, and she seems to be having a great time in her first week in her new classroom.  Somehow, this girl just gets more and more fun as she grows.

We are also extremely lucky in that our kids really really love each other.  No sibling rivalry... yet.

I will try to be more regular in updating this blog, especially with all our fun summer plans!  Someone keep me accountable!

Long overdue update

Oops... I have not written a blog post in a loooong time.  Can you tell we are a bit busy here in the Bashaw household these days?  Going from 1 to 2 kids doesn't make things twice as busy.  It makes things about 10 times as hectic!  At any rate, I will attempt to do a little bit of catch-up here and share some pictures at least.

EMMETT:  Emmett is 3 and a half months old!  I can't believe it.   At his 2 month appt on 3/1, Emmett was measured at 24.75 inches (98th percentile!) and 12 lbs 8 oz (60th percentile).  At his gastroenterology appointment on 3/21, he weighed 13 lbs 7 oz.  Which is more than Miri weighed at 6 months!  Needless to say, he is growing well!

Emmett continues to be plagued with nighttime colic, but we are hoping we're starting to see the tail end of it.  Nights are still not easy, but we do feel like things are S-L-O-W-L-Y but surely getting better.  He still has multiple fussy periods between about 9 PM and 7AM, but whereas they used to be full-out inconsolable crying which often escalated to absolute SCREAMING, now he is at least consolable much of the time with a pacifier and firm pressure on his chest.   Things definitely appear to be getting incrementally better, although it seems like we'll go two tiny steps forward and then a medium-sized step backwards.  We have also been dealing with swaddle weaning the past week, as Emmett can easily roll to his side now and it may not be long til he can get to his tummy, so obviously being swaddled arm-less is now somewhat of a danger, although it still helps him fall and stay asleep better.  But even with that being thrown in, it does seem the colic is decreasing. The pediatric gastroenterologist feels he should improve greatly or age out of it entirely between 4 and 5 months.  I hope this is all a distant memory soon.  He's such a happy boy by nature; it breaks our hearts to see him miserable at night and really not be able to do much of anything about it.

I am so incredibly smitten with this boy.  He has the BEST smile in the world!  It makes me so happy to see that gorgeous gummy grin, his dimple, and the way those baby blues light up.  I am obviously biased, but I think he is an exceptionally beautiful baby boy.  He coos and giggles now, both of which are just delightful.   He does quite well with his tummy time and can hold his chest and head up for long periods of time.  He LOVES lying on his back and grabbing at the dangling animals above his play mat.  He also gets a huge kick out of looking at himself in the mirror.  He has also enjoyed some babywearing with Daddy in the Baby Bjorn for walks on the few days it was decent enough to get out for some fresh air.

MIRIAM:  Miri is officially 2.5 now and getting closer to 3 every day!  Despite being in the midst of the so-called "terrible twos," her terrible moments are pretty few and far between.  She is pretty much a constant ray of sunshine.  She is sunny and funny and sweet as pie.  I am still in awe of the enormous privilege of being her mom.  If ever I questioned that God has a plan for me, Miriam is proof.  The two years of disappointment and heartbreak while waiting for her are now just a drop in the pail compared to the tremendous amount of joy she's given us in the past two years.

Miriam continues to love going to school, and she continues to be loved right back by her teachers.  She tells us her favorite part of school is "circle time," and she loves to be the teacher and play circle time at home.  Which means she tells me or Jason to "sit criss-cross applesauce, zip your mouth, and click your ears."  And then we have to sit silently while she "reads" us a book while holding it up in such a way that we can see the pictures.  It is so incredibly cute!  She talks about her teachers and friends from school all the time.  Her best friend continues to be a little girl named Adelyn, whom she has been best friends with since the ripe old age of about 14 months.  Adelyn is always there before Miriam in the morning, and when Jason brings Miri in, Adelyn comes up to her and the two give each other big hugs.  So sweet!

Miriam is warming back up to me again.  I'm getting lots more hugs and kisses and smiles and invitations to play.  The scowls and rejections have dropped way way down, and we are really enjoying lots of fun Mommy/Miri playtime again these days while Emmett naps.  I am so glad to be back in her good graces!  As mentioned, she has really turned into a Daddy's girl now too though. She is so sad when Jason "goes to work" (i.e., the basement) and so incredibly happy when he "comes home."  And she is the most amazing big sister.  She loves Emmett to pieces and gives him lots of hugs and kisses.  She likes to show him toys and help him with his tummy time and even asks to be walked down to the infant room at daycare on occasion to visit him.  We are so proud of her.

VISIT FROM GRAMMA AND G-PA:
Right before I went back to work, Gramma and G-pa came from SC for a visit!  It was G-pa's first time meeting Emmett, since he had the flu and was unable to come with Gramma in January.  We had a very lovely visit; it is always so great to be able to be together.  It is tough living so far away, but it sure makes the time together all the more special.  Both kids were super happy for lots of playtime, stories, snuggles, and more with their grandparents.  Since it was the weekend before Easter, Gramma and G-pa got to be here for Miri's first Easter egg dyeing.  She was a big fan of that!  Art + eggs (one of her favorite foods) = happiness for Miriam!

Miri and Emmett even got to have ALL of their grandparents over at the same time!  There was no shortage of attention for either kid with 4 doting grandparents!

EASTER:
We had a lovely Easter weekend.  On Saturday, we enjoyed a visit with Adam, Rochelle, Kaden, and Charlotte.  We hadn't seem them since Christmastime, so it was obviously really great to get to spend time together and, of course, to introduce them to Emmett!  It is going to be really fun for Emmett and Charlotte to grow up as buddies, since they are only 12 days apart.  And Miri is absolutely enamored with her big cousin Kaden.  When we had to say goodbye, Miri was yelling "Kaden, I love you!  I love you, Kaden!" for several minutes in the direction that she'd seen them leave.  Can't wait for our next visit with the Rymer family!  Also congrats to them on their new home, which they closed on and moved into last week!  I'm hoping we will be able to figure out a weekend to visit them in MN this summer and see their new crib (complete with swimming pool!).

Easter Sunday was a ton of fun, although a quiet one spent just with the 4 of us (oh wait, 5 of us... we were dogsitting Izzy while my parents were in Key West, lucky ducks).  Miri had been so excited for WEEKS for the Easter Bunny, and the Easter Bunny did not disappoint!  The Bunny was good to us again this year, even Jason and me.  That Easter Bunny even carefully selected dairy-free treats for me, as I am currently on a total dairy elimination diet in an attempt to help lessen Emmett's reflux and colic.  What a thoughtful Easter Bunny!  Miriam sooo enjoyed hunting for her eggs and checking to see what the treat/ surprise in each one was.  She showed great perseverance and found all 24 eggs!  Jason and I then managed to get all 4 of us dressed up and to the church on time for Easter mass, and both kids did a great job behaving themselves at church.  That felt like an enormous success!  Ever since then, Miri has decided that the hymn "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" is a great lullaby and frequently asks for it as her lullaby.  :)  It was a very blessed and wonderful day.

One month!

Quick post from Mama Bashaw here...

Our little Emmett is now over 1 month old!  Although "little" may not be the correct choice of words... at his 4 week weight check, mommy's little piggy weighed in at a WHOPPING 10 lbs 9 oz!  He gained 33 oz in 23 days.  Our pediatrician said he'd normally expect a breastfed baby to have gained 17 to 18 oz in that amount of time.  Dr. Esser thinks Emmett is trying to match his weight to his long length.  So funny how two kids from the same parents can be so different.  Emmett weighed more at 4 weeks than Miri did at 2 months!  At any rate, I doubt Emmett is genetically destined to end up as a linebacker, but it's always reassuring as a breastfeeding mom to see your kid growing so well. 

On a less fun note, he was also diagnosed with reflux this week.  We started seeing the all night grunting, squeaking, stridorous noises almost 2 weeks ago, and then he started becoming inconsolaby fussy ALL.THE.TIME. My best mommy bounce, ninja swaddling skills, and paci-pushing couldn't settle down this poor guy.  He just seemed in horrendous pain all the time.  It is so hard to see your baby so miserable.  It was eerily similar to our experience with Miriam.  At any rate, our pediatrician has been proactive with us, and Emmett has now been on Zantac for 3 days.  It appears to be working.  He is much happier now, except for his "predictable" fussy times of 5-8 AM (ugh, not fun) and 5-8 PM, and it's becoming much easier to soothe him to sleep for naps and over night.  The awful nighttime grunting has also been much improved the last 2 nights. 

Miriam has been adjusting beautifully to big sisterhood.  She absolutely adores Emmett.  She's been nothing but loving and gentle to him.  We haven't really seen any jealousy or sibling rivalry directed towards Emmett yet, although I am getting the cold shoulder a bit, which I'm guessing is her reaction to me having to spend so much time feeding, soothing, etc with Emmett.  Overall though, Miri has totally taken this in stride, and we can't believe how well she's doing with such a huge change.  Just more proof about what an awesome kid she is!  Poor Emmett has big shoes to fill... good thing he's got big feet, ha ha!

Same day, different place, but just as good

Location

6 years ago today: Sunny beach of the Riviera Maya

Today: Snow-covered ground. Wisconsin.

Accommodations 

6 years ago today: Full turn down service complete with towel animals!

Today: We had time to change our sheets today! (No towel animals.)

Lunch 

6 years ago today: 5-star international cuisine

Today: Mac-n-cheese. From a box.

Daytime activities 

6 years ago today: Margaritas and pool!

Today: Milk and poop!

Day spent with 

6 years ago today: 30 of our closest friends and family

Today: Raggedy Ann, Bear the stuffed bear, Elmo

Dinner 

6 years ago today: Japanese steakhouse (yum!)

Today: Mexican carryout (ok, this is yum too!)

Evening activities 

6 years ago today: drinks, music, dancing all night

Today: sparkling grape juice, 30 minute sitcom, try our hardest to get in bed before 10pm...9pm would be better.

Highlight of the day 

6 years ago today: Marrying the love of my life, Allison!

Today: Spending the day with the loves of my life, Allison, Miriam, and Emmett. Wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy 6th Anniversary!

Happy New Year!

Well this year started off with a big bang...or little bang to be more accurate. Emmett Greyson was born on 1/1 at 1pm. He was 8lbs 7.8oz and 21 inches tall (so I guess big bang could have worked as well). We are just so happy to have the little guy join our family and we are all in love!

Emmett certainly surprised us all coming a few days earlier than expected. Alli was SO SURE she was not going to go any earlier than her scheduled c-section date of 1/4 that she pretty much had me convinced as well. And then came New Years Eve. We attended a wonderful masquerade ball at a downtown hotel, followed by bottles of Dom Perignon at an exclusive club...who am I kidding?? We had fried pickles and mozzarella cheese sticks, and watched half a Netflix movie with plans to go to be well before midnight. Well, between dinner and said Netflix flick, Alli's water broke. Now just a few days earlier, Alli went through a similar situation that proved to be a false alarm, so we weren't exactly running red lights at 90 miles per hour to get to the hospital. In fact, we didn't even walk out the door until probably 9am the next morning. That's right, Alli's water broke so we decided to go to bed and try to get a nice night's sleep. Not exactly like the movies, right? With Allison being in the medical field, she did the quick math and realized that they would not be doing a c-section anytime soon with all those fried pickles in her belly, and since she was not having contractions, it was considered best to rest up for a big day ahead.
The next morning Gammy and Grandpa Rymer came over to watch Miri and we casually drove to the hospital obeying all traffic laws. They did some tests and determined that yes, indeed her water broke and we would have the baby that day. We were low priority compared to one mother having twins and another experiencing heavy contractions...so they stuck us in a room to watch The Hangover...the ENTIRE thing. Including commercials because it was on TBS or something. It was a LONG time. But I guess our New Years morning was probably spent like many others'...laying around watching a dumb movie after a late night. All we needed was some greasy fast food!
Just as The Hangover was ending and the Bowl Games were starting, Alli was sent into the operating room to get prepped, and I was soon called in. I sat next to where Alli laid, held her hand, and then we waited. We were so excited, wondering what we were about to have. It seemed like the longest wait...suspense was killing us. And then they said, "It's...a..." (it really was drawn out like this). "BOY!"
We could not have been happier. There were tears of happiness shed (...I may, or may not have, shed a couple of those...ahem...umm...back to the story.) I was back and forth between our baby boy and Allison, taking pictures, sharing pictures with Alli, looking at the baby, telling Alli what he was doing, and then finally holding the baby and bringing him over to see his very happy Mommy.

Later that day Gammy and Grandpa brought Miri to the hospital to meet her little brother. They said that all through the hallways on her way up, she kept telling everyone she was a big sister now and that she was going to see her little brother, Emmett. What a proud big sis! Upon meeting him, she wanted nothing more than to shower "her baby" with hugs and kisses!

What an amazing day, and what an amazing (but tiring) almost 2 weeks we've had since then! I'll leave you with a few more pictures from the day we welcomed our Baby New Year, Emmett Greyson, to the world!

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 highlights in pictures!

It was a WHITE CHRISTMAS!  Miri loved playing outside with Daddy on Xmas Eve Day.

 

 

We got to meet our brand new niece/ cousin!  Charlotte Sue Murphy Rymer was born 12/20 at 12:28 AM at 20 inches long and 6 lbs 12 oz.  Adam, Rochelle, and big sis Kaden were troopers in that they decided to make the long drive from Minnesota to Wisconsin for Xmas when baby Charlotte was only 4 days old!  They are real troopers!  But we were so glad that they did, because we were all very excited to meet this little blessing.  She is so beautiful and a very good baby.  We are very happy for the Rymer family, and Jason and I are super excited to have yet another new niece.  Miriam was EXTREMELY interested in and affectionate with Charlotte.  She loved holding her and gave her lots of soft gentle kisses and touches and told me numerous times how much she loves "Baby Charlotte." It definitely makes me hopeful that she will take to her new baby brother or sister with so much love and affection!  Here are some pictures of us Bashaws with Charlotte.

Miriam did agree to sharing cookies and milk with Santa (and carrots for the reindeer):

Santa Claus came!  As requested, he left Miri's gifts out on the back deck though, and Mommy and Daddy brought them in and arranged them under the tree for him.  Miriam really did not like the idea of Santa coming in her house while she was asleep and was emphatic about this.  :)  He wrapped her wrappable gifts in beautiful pink and purple paper, also as requested numerous times by Miri.  This year, her big gift from Santa was a play kitchen, complete with dishes and play food.  Boy, Santa picked the right present for this girl!  She has been having sooooo much fun with it, and I can easily see this being a favorite for years to come as her play skills and imagination continue to develop.  This little girl must have been good this year because she was definitely spoiled with gifts, not just from Santa, but also from the rest of her family and relatives!  She is in love with so many new toys and books and has a bevy of cute new outfits to show off!

I had to make sure to include this paper so that you can all see the awesome Justin Bieber wrapping paper that the Thompson family wrapped gifts in!  Ha ha ha!

As soon as Miri had opened all her presents at our house, we headed off to Gammy and Grandpa's house.  We had a lovely breakfast and more gifts with Adam, Rochelle, Kaden, and Charlotte before they had to leave for their next Christmas destination.  Then Miri got to play all day with her grandparents and great-aunt Mary, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner with them as well.  It was truly a very beautiful and magical Christmas.

The funniest stocking stuffer ever, an adult bib that my Dad received a few years back, made a reappearance at Xmas dinner, when Miriam decided Grandpa should be wearing a bib too.  Grandpa is an amazingly good sport!  :)

Now Christmas is over and a very quiet New Year's Eve is upon us.  No parties or champagne this year!  Our Gummi Bear is slated to arrive Friday Jan 4, unless he or she decides to make an appearance before then.  Unless something happens dramatically and quickly in the next 7+ hours, it doesn't look like we'll get another tax break for 2012 (to J's dismay)... but that just means there's even more to look forward to in 2013.  Next blog post should be a happy announcement of our new son or daughter!