2 months

Getting big.
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Happy Birthday

...to one hot daddy.

I love you!

Viewer Discretion Advised

Here's what you get when a little girl observes her mother nursing:

(Elyette, 2 years old, when Jack was 2 months old)

Here's what you get when a little boy observes his mother nursing:

True Nature

So the photos from the previous post are rather deceiving. When snapping shots of the kids, this is more of what we REALLY got...

Can you say "VOGUE"

This is probably my favorite

Don't mess with Charlotte!

or Jack.

Dorks...

More dorks here

Easter Ensembles

K, time to share this years Easter/Spring ensembles. Rather after the fact, yes... especially since I made them BEFORE Charlotte's arrival (unlike my amazing sister, Elisa, who made her 3 daughters' Easter dresses right AFTER the arrival of her 4th daughter last year!)

Up first:

Jack
- Cotton tie: Adapted from a pattern found at Ottobre Design (scroll through the pic to find the necktie- this tie is rather narrow and only big enough for a baby boy I think, so Jacks is a wider, longer version, but the method the same)
- Daddy got a matching tie from the scraps (Not pictured, sorry- used an old tie as my pattern and swiped the interfacing from it too). BOZ's request, NOT mine. I'm a dork, but not so dorky I'd expect my husband to wear a matching clown tie with his son. They looked cute though.

Elyette:
As always, she was the inspiration for all of their Easter digs. "Twirlability" is a must and she wanted Aqua blue, so that, cream and peach were my color palette. Ridiculous ruffles is what we ended up with :)

Ruffle Dress: So basically I have this one simplicty pattern (#2989) I almost always as my "base" (like for this, this, and this dress), so of course I used it again, with adaptations of course. I love the fabrics I found to use. The blue is a swiss dot with embroidered ends and the floral is a larger swiss dot. Love the textures.

Bolero: Again used the bodice of that simp pattern to get the size right and winged it from there

Flower headband: These flowers were fun and EASY. Maybe I'll have to do a tutorial for them sometime.
Charlotte:
I was excited that this actually fit her! And I went all out, complete with bloomers and booties (that of course always fall off)

Slim Jr. Dress: Adapted from another basic simplicity pattern (pattern included bloomers-sorry couldn't find it online anymore for a link)

Flower headband: Same as Elyette's. I made the flowers, added beads and attached to an existing headband of stretch lace (anyway know where I can find some of that stretchy lace?)

Booties: Made from Heather Bailey's bitty booty pattern.

Pay Day

One Month!

(For size comparison)

My thoughts on the transition to 3 so far: Lots of time and work? Well, yes obviously. What newborn isn't? But really, what would I have done with out these 2 And I don't mean the monkey on Dude's back (pardon the pun).Elyette scooped her up when she was crying last night and sang her to sleep (a song she made up:)). It was pretty sweet... and HELPFUL!

Ah, yeah... I have some pretty GREAT kids!

Elyette: Mom, what's it called again when animals sleep in the morning and day and awake at night?
Mom: Oh, nocturnal.
Elyette: Oh yeah... Charlotte's nocturnal.

...Ha

Cute animal :)

What's it called when someone gets almost no sleep?...

Farewell to Ray

On Wednesday, April 14th Boz's little brother Ray left on his mission where he will serve as a missionary for our church for 2 years in the Texas McAllen Mission, Spanish speaking. Wednesday morning he flew to Salt Lake City to report to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo where he'll be for the next 2 months. If you feel so inclined to send some encouragement his way is address there is:

Elder Ray Millar

mtc box 274

tx-mcal 0616

2005 N 900 E

Provo, Ut 84604

When I explained to Elyette that she'll be about 6 1/2 years old when Ray gets home, she realized how long it will be before she sees him again. At random she'll say "Mom, I'm going to miss Ray". She adores her uncle Ray and is very excited for him too. Jack also LOVES Ray and has been talking all week about him becoming a missionary and how he's going to be a missionary too! He's pretty excited himself.
We got to see Ray off at the airport and Jack ran after him for one last hug (and almost got grabbed by security when he started to take off running when he saw me coming to retrieve him). When ever we hear a plane Jack exclaims "That's Ray!".

We are so excited for you, Ray. Thank you for you wonderful example. We'll miss you. You're in our prayer! WE LOVE YOU!

-Boz, Maegan, Elyette, Jack, and Charlotte

(PROOF- Boz gave Ray a "real" hug)

Want Some More?

Here ya go Auntie Brooke :).... and everyone else who was thinking the same: "More Charlotte pics PLEASE"

We thought Charlotte looked an awful lot like Elyette when she was born (and not just because of the squished nose). Although there are obvious differences of course (like HAIR for example :)), we still think she looks a whole lot like her big sister. Still to early to tell if she got daddy's crazy eyebrows like Elyette, but that is for sure my nose.

We hear a lot of high pitched "OH, Honey... its okay sweetie" etc. around here. They love her! So do I!
And we're out... more to come soon.

And the Winning Name is...

Charlotte Nichole Millar Born Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 4:06pm
7 lbs 11 oz, 20 1/4 inches long

Its officially going on the birth cert... and it suits her, I think. We choose "Nichole" after Charlotte's aunt (my little sister) Marissa Nichole, with whom she now shares a birthday.

The Birth Story: -- feel free to skip ahead
As you know from the last post, we had a bit of a "surprise" induction on Tuesday. In a nutshell, here's the time log Boz kept of it:

1:30 - break water
1:45 - Start IV
2:50 - Start pitocin
3:35 - ask for drugs (7 cm)
3:40 - 9 cm
///wait for doctor
4:06 - born

My elaboration:
We checked in around 1pm. My doctor came to check me before we did anything at 1:30- I was at a 4 and he "poked" me to break my water. So I was basically very ready to go, so that was good (and expected....like I've said I had PLENTY of pre-labor prep). Due to my history of going fast (with the help of pitocin anyway) I was first started on IV and penicillin to make sure I had that in my system before starting pitocin. The Dr. wanted me to start the epidural early on to avoid a "Jack labor" repeat. -- With Jack I asked for the epidural way to late. I was ready to push before I even had enough IV fluid to allow one, but since my Dr. was 15 minutes away they gave me one anyway. And I was too out of it and freaked out by then to refuse. In order to get it to me faster they got a new guy who had never done one in the position (side lying) I was in with contraction that close together... the result: a NASTY spinal headache from him puncturing me which was only cleared up by a spinal blood patch (where they draw your blood and reinsert it into the epidural spot to patch the hole) over a week later and the blood patch resulted in back pain that kept me flat for days. Needless to say, it sucked and I didn't want that to happen again.

(1 hour before delivery)

By 2:50 they started me on pitocin and I talked "pain relief" with the nurse, because I wasn't so sure about an epidural for obvious reasons. I decided when the time came I'd try IV drugs first. The time came at 3:35 :). I had only had about 5 or 6 contractions since starting the pitocin, but each one was quite a bit stronger than the last, so I wanted to make sure I didn't ask to late again. Before getting the IV drugs the nurse wanted to check me during a contraction... yep still getting a lot stronger with each one, so I was starting to feel a little alarmed, I was at a 6-7ish she said. She left and I had an even stronger one that I felt some "bearing down" with. Ok, so I know how this goes, I was starting to getting very alarmed at this point since no nurse had ever taken us very seriously about this rapid progression thing. Well, thank goodness one finally did: She came back at 3:40 and started prepare my IV drugs and somewhat jokingly asked "no pushing contractions yet, right?". My answer "well actually..."- She got wide eyed and checked me... I was at a 9 and she set off some alarm...

The next contraction sent me over the top with the urge to push and I knew it was too late for anything, but holding on till the end. Back-up came into the room and they called my Dr. (who was much closer than mine with Jack was, thank goodness). After the next contraction I asked if the pitocin was off. It wasn't so we took care of that ASAP, which at least did help with each contraction not being ridiculously stronger than the last. My nurse set about, stretching me (the burning didn't seem that bad compared to everything else) and trying to keep me calm and not "blast" Charlotte out (as she kept saying). Um, yeah, that's hard. I just kept thinking "doctor, doctor, he'll be here soon, hold on" as the nurse called for nursery twice and said "we're having this baby any second". I'm pretty sure I convinced her that she just might be delivering this baby.At 4pm my Dr. walked in. HALLELUJAH! He walked over and just as another contraction began, he started adjusting his stool and I thought "AH! SIT DOWN Doc, she's a comin'!". He did, thank goodness, and gave me some little snips. I was instantly bummed 'cause I thought by your 3rd your chances for not tearing are pretty good, but I guess not with babies that want to "blast" out. It was odd, because while the snips were not at all pleasant, they were almost welcome. Like a distraction from the other pain. After that contraction and before the next the Dr. had me push to ease her out. That felt MUCH better and with the next contraction I had to resist again as he kept saying "take it easy, take it easy", but I just couldn't fully resist and gave in to the urge and POW. I felt the crown of her head "pop" and a HUGE rush of satisfaction and relief came as I felt the rest of her just instantly slither through. It was 4:06pm.
Sorry if that was too graphic, but this whole birthing thing is pretty stinkin' amazing. I expected more pain to come with delivering the placenta and everything, but I didn't notice in comparison and I had my sweet Charlotte on my stomach ( and not in it...ahhh). She hardly made a peep and was just looking around. Just then I got really dizzy and felt like I was on laughing gas. Turns out that was the IV drugs kicking in... hahahaha. Great. Thankfully those wore off in an hour, I got to hold and nurse Charlotte and my dinner came :).... Not a bad afternoon, I'd say.

My favorite thing of all that afternoon was watching Boz. He claims he's not really into the "newborn phase" (understandable) and while he loves his kids, its much better for daddy when they get to a more playful state :), but I'll tell you if you could see the look of pure admiration and love on his face when he peers at his children for the first time, you'd know better. That look can't fool me, he adores his Charlotte. And I'm quite fond of the moments I've been frequently getting that look too.

I had to giggle when I first saw Charlotte, cause already she's proving to want to be just like her big sister :)
Nice crooked noses, eh?

Charlotte's Home:

Since all was well with the two of us, Charlotte and I got the go ahead to go home the next day. We got home around 4pm on Wednesday (would have been more like noon if we could have gotten my non-existent nurse to see us once in a while. Not to bad mouth nurses, I love and appreciate them all, and my nighttime nurse was awesome, but this one just wasn't so much. It was REALLY good to get home and finally get some real rest and see what Charlotte's temperament is really like when she's not getting poked and prodded.

Charlotte, or Charlie as Elyette likes to call her, is a very sweet and calm baby. She doesn't cry a whole lot and when she does she seems to calm herself quite well for a newborn. She's much more patient than her 2 older siblings were :). I hope that doesn't change. She likes to listen to her family's voices and has given her mommy a 5 hour stretch of sleep 2 nights in a row (and from about 12:30pm-5:30am both times). Lets pray that keeps up!
Jack and Elyette couldn't be more pleased with her. Jack just coos at the sight of her "oooo, her cute ... cute ears, cute eyes, crooked nose" (haha). His favorite is to play "she eating me" with her and likes to sit nose to nose just staring at her. He's very sweet with her and I foresee a very protective big brother in Charlotte's future.
Elyette is of course the second mommy we knew she would be for Charlotte. And to an extent I wasn't anticipating. She even pesters me to wake her up to feed her when she thinks Charlotte's hungry. Apparently its "Elyette Mommy" who knows best, not me :). Elyette will even loose sleep to watch her and wait to hold her. Newborn feedings are long and boring I'd say, but Elyette will be there every moment. Supervising probably. Its hard to get her to do much else than just looking at and talking to Charlotte. She also likes to read to her and tell her stories. It was Sleeping Beauty she told her in this pic (she pretended the card was a book)Aside from Jack and Elyette fighting over who gets to sit closer to Charlotte (and what to call her, etc.) its been very fun watching the 3 of them together. I love my sweet little family!

Thank you all for your love and prayers. We're doing GREAT!

Today's the Day!!!

Yep, we're having a baby today (unless she really stubborn and takes longer than that). At about 9:30 this morning I got a call from the hospital I'm delivering at. Apparently I was scheduled by my Dr. for a 5am induction this morning!... WHAT?!?!?! No one bother telling me this! We never even talked induction, though I was in favor of such shortly after my due date thanks to already have 40+ contractions a day for the last 3 weeks- have had 2 just while writing this (not very strong of course and most not BH). I was begininng to think my body would just keep doing that for another 8 weeks then she'd just pop out :)... needless to say I've been a little nuts and already acting "overdue".

Anyway, of course I called the Dr. office and they admitted to it being entirely the Dr.'s fault and asked me to come in for my regular appointment which was scheduled for this afternoon anyway. Shortly thereafter the Dr. called and told me he'd like me to go in to the hospital today when I can anyway. I agreed and there you have it. I'm on my way in.... wish us luck!

Nesting

I wish my nesting instinct was to scrub down the whole house and disinfect everything, but when the energy spurts come, I sew. My excuse is that deep cleaning is just too physically difficult and exhausting at this point to make the effort, but then moving around on the floor to cut stuff out definitely got a bit more challenging the last few weeks. Anyway, here's something I did before the "I've fallen and can't get up" phase hit:We've been making over Elyette's room with a bunch of fun projects (just 2 more little ones to go... for now :)... and then we'll share our efforts). And since she's excited to share a room with her baby sister we went on a mission to find or make baby bedding that would coordinate with her room. It was actually a much more stressful and challenging task then I thought, but after weeks of hunting (online and in stores) we found some fabric that we finally felt worked well enough (and in my budget!).

I made the crib sheet using this tutorial (FYI- if you try it, I recommend making it just a tad bigger), the bumper I made as a slip cover for the existing one I had for Jack and the quilt I HAD to splurge a little and border and back it with minky fabric... ah SO SOFT!

So anyway, there you have it, the "baby's nest" of Elyette's room... soon to be "the girls' room" :). Hmm... thanks to this and few other "girly" creations, Lets hope it really is a girl! haha... Anyone in want of some handmade baby girl items if not?

Spider-man and M.J.

We've been rather obsessed with spider-man around here these days. It all started a month ago with a box of spider-man fruit snacks... they hadn't even seen the movie ('til about 2 weeks ago).

Now Jack must wear stripes/plaid almost daily (he thinks they look like spider webs I think), unless he decides to be the green goblin instead, and Elyette, aka "spider-girl" (or as Jack would say it "spider-man girl") always makes sure the front door is locked to keep Dr. Octopus out. Sometimes he has keys-- it's rather frightening!

Today spider-girl is M.J.We had some fun with my straightener on Elyette's hair this morning. When we where done, Elyette grinned and said "Hey, I look like that girl on Spider-man!" :) - Yeah, I can see it.
And though Jack woke up the green goblin, After breakfast it was: LOOK OUT! Here comes the spider man! Yes. A plaid collared shirt just screams spider-man...

Well at least after I combed his hair (not pictured), Elyette said he looked like Peter Parker. That's about right.

Missing Fabmo

If you're in the Bay Area take advantage of Fabmo for me! Fabmo, in a nutshell, started with a couple up in Palo Alto taking discontinue fabric samples and such from the interior design community and offering them free of charge to the public for re-purposing. Its pretty awesome.

Thanks to my last visit to Fabmo before moving I have a new rocker for only $12! And I also got to use my new staple gun Boz got me for Christmas!

Before: (old, cheap, blah, rocker, we picked up at Walmart for $75 when we had Elyette)

Now a bit more appealing: (though I have to be honest and admit I don't find rockers to be "good looking" chairs by any means, but it does the job)

Though I scored on finding a sample large enough, I still only had enough Fabmo fabric to cover the front of the chair so I had to buy some fabric for the back. Here's the tab:

Blue Fabmo Fabric for front: $0
1 1/2 yrds clearanced blue microsuede for back: $4.50
Extra batting for added comfort :): $7

Accent pillow was also made from fabmo fabric and I stuffed it with batting from an old pillow I kept on hand. Not bad, eh?