London Yvonne - 2 1/2 Years Olds

Weight: 30 lbs (70%)
Height: 38 1/4" (97%)

London joined us for Sydney's 6-week well baby visit and first shots. I had scheduled her to get the flu mist and she could get one immunization so that starting at 3 years old she only gets one shot a year. And since she was there, they decided to do her stats as well. Kinda crazy to have one kid standing on the scale and standing to be measured while the other is in the little car seat scale and making marks head to toe on paper to measure her height.

London did great with the flu mist and was so brave for her Hep A shot. This was only the second shot she has received in the arm. London didn't shed even one tear, she was so brave. Both Cameron and I were quite proud of her. 

London has grown developmentally in leaps and bounds since she turned two. Her vocabulary has increased exponentially and she can string sentences together quite well. Just last night she clearly communicated that she wanted me to sit next to her at the dinner table. And she remembers information quite well, including the fact that grandma and grandpa live in Tucson. 

Cameron and I definitely think the new daycare has a lot to do with this progress. She's even slowly getting potty trained by them. Now we just need to focus on it at home. The delay is thanks to Cameron and me not being ready, otherwise London probably would be. I think we will be ready soon, once we are getting some proper sleep again. I've read takes a lot of patience which is a bit short these days. Right now, we are really working on getting London to focus on tasks at hand and not getting distracted when we really need her to do something, like walk through the front door so we don't run her over because we can't see her over the car seat with Sydney in it.

~ Sarah

Sydney Lee - 6 Week Stats

Sydney Lee - 6 Weeks

Weight: 11 lbs 4 oz (80-85%)
Height: 23" (90-95%)
Head Circumference: 14 1/2" (15%)

Yesterday, Sydney turned 6 weeks old. Today, we went in for her 6-week check-up and for her first shots. Poor little girl did not enjoy those two needle pricks, that's for sure. I wanted to cry right along with her. Everything checked out good, though, and we have another healthy, growing little girl. 

Growing is understatement. At 6 weeks, Sydney has already outgrown her footed pajamas. Glad I didn't invest in too many 0-3 month PJs. Actually, when we did go shopping for her, I tended to get 3-6 month sized clothing as I suspected Sydney would be a lot like London. London outgrew these PJs at 2 months, so in some ways Sydney is on an even faster track. 

Sydney is coming into her own and beginning to look less and less like London's mini-me, but I don't think there will ever be a question the two are sisters. 

We've had our challenges with Sydney. While in the hospital, we started her on the formula available there, Gerber GoodStart. This was the same with London, but when London was 6 months we switched her to Enfamil, as we could purchase it at Costco. London didn't have any issue with it. When we got home from the hospital we switch Sydney to the Enfamil Newborn. We quickly determined Newborn was not the way to go for Sydney so we switched her to the Enfamil Infant. Things seemed to be better, but over time we have determined its just not right for her, making her especially gassy and uncomfortable, so we are back on Gerber Good Start. We made switch on Tuesday and already are seeing some promising changes. Sydney is finally ok with wiggling on the floor for more than 2 minutes, and I have to say I think the gassyness was a reason why she didn't like this position. 

Given the girls are 6 months apart in the time of year they were born as also proved interesting. While we mainly dressed London in onsies and used thin blankets with her, with Sydney we have found the thicker blankets are much more necessary as are the footed PJs. And Sydney getting congested so quickly in her young life was worrisome - so much so I insisted on taking her to the doctor last week just to be on the safe side. He said not to worry, it would work itself out, which it did. That's also how we know she has gained a whole pound in just a week and a half! 

Sydney is still sleeping in our room and boy is she noisy! We'll probably be moving her into her own room next week if not tomorrow. I just need to get a few things up on the wall and raise the bed first. Cameron and I are both looking forward to her sleeping longer stretches as well. Right now, Sydney falls asleep somewhere between 10 and 11 at night and makes it  to 2-2:30, but then is up again between 4 and 5 and again at 6 or 7. And after she wakes up at 4 or 5 she is usually restless until she wakes up at 6 or 7, eats a little and goes to sleep more soundly afterward. I am hoping this changes when she is in her own room and by the time I head back into the office in January. I'm definitely living off Diet Pepsis and not drinking enough water. 

~ Sarah

Introducing Sydney Lee Cenedella

Sydney Lee Cenedella - 10/24/12

You know that saying "The days are long but the years are short"? It is so true! As hard as it is for me to believe, Sydney has been with us for 6 weeks already! We took her to the doctor for her first shots and second round of growth stats this morning, but I'll save that info for another post (which will hopefully be soon!). For now, let me get you caught up on her arrival and first month. 

The first two weeks were a bit of a blur for me, between the hospital stay and the drugs, and it took us some time to establish ourselves as a family of four. Having a second child is a big adjustment as it is, and we have also been adjusting to Cameron's new job and the travel schedule it brought in the beginning. Did I mention we all came down with a cold, even poor Sydney got the sniffles. 

Sydney arrived at 8:11 AM on October 24, 2012 as planned. I did, however, go into labor while we were waiting for the c-section. When they hooked me up to the monitors at 5:30 AM that morning, the nurse was quite shocked at all the contractions. I wasn't feeling any of them at the time. But around 7 AM I did start to feel them. Luckily, they never got painful before I walked back to the OR and received the spinal block. I do have to say that was a bit more uncomfortable than I expected until the drugs took affect.

Sydney weighed in at 7 lbs, 15 oz and measured at 20 1/2 inches. She scored two 9s on her APGAR tests. As soon as I heard Sydney cry I was transported back to the day London was born. And she looked just like London, at least to me, though more like London after the swelling of the trauma of her birth had gone down.

The whole experience for me was much better than last time as hoped. The anesthesiologist was great as were my surgery nurses. My nurse did a good job of distracting me during the spinal block by getting me to talk and letting me squeeze her hand. The anesthesiologist did a great job of explaining every thing to me before and while he was putting the spinal block in and was great at explaining to me what was going on throughout the delivery. He even said that I would be feeling people touching me, and he assured me I would not feel the cutting of me - he was correct. And I didn't need the Demerol shot afterward as I didn't shake. I was, however, sick to my stomach and would be for most of the day. I also itched like crazy. All side effects of the medicine to numb me. When I mentioned the itching to the anesthesiologist when he came to check on me later that morning, he quickly prescribed me Benadryl to help alleviate the discomfort. The rest of the day was pretty much a blur. I remember my parents coming with London for a short visit. I was still very sick to my stomach but did my best to act as normal as possible for London. And she took seeing me hooked up to IVs and such in stride. I also remember Vicki and Joe visiting but I don't actually remember seeing them. I was so sick at that time I had to be laying down with my head to the side and my eyes closed to keep from loosing anything that may have been in my stomach at the time. Poor Cameron had to keep his lunch outside the room as the smell of it didn't add to my comfort.

We were saddened to learn that the nursery was no longer available to us. Apparently, Mercy felt they were sending too many first time moms home without having spent a full night with their new baby. Problem with that is they are then sending first time moms and dads home sleep deprived. I can't say I got more than two hour stretches of sleep in and was quite ready to go home by Saturday morning.

Sydney is settling in, and London has accepted her amazingly well. London even acknowledges that I am Sydney's mom just like I am her mom. We're currently getting up about 2-3 times a night with Sydney, with a few bad nights thrown in there. And we have had some issues with the formula, but we think we have it all figured out by now.

Sydney looks a lot like London, especially with the expressions she makes. But Sydney is also very different. For one, she has a lot more hair than London had. And London's eyes were grayer and lighter - Sydney's are quite blue still. We'll see if that color sticks - London's really didn't turn brown until she was almost 1. Sydney also has gotten her chubby little cheeks sooner than London and is continuing that trend in the weight department, despite spitting up a lot more than London. Some of that can be attributed to the stuffy nose she had for a while.

Stay tuned for her 6 week stats.And make sure to click on her album to the right to see all her pictures so far.

~ Sarah

Completed: The Out-of-State License Plate Challenge

Last summer Cameron and I began tracking all the out-of-state license plates we were seeing when we were out and about driving. We would leave each other one word messages with the new state when we couldn't get a hold of each other. You could always hear the excitement in our voices too.

We debated on starting over at the start of 2012 but eventually decided to just keep going until we saw all 50 states. Along the way, we saw out-of-country plates like Turkey, plenty of Canada, Argentina and El Salvador. And we didn't always note some of those on the tracker we kept on this site. And then for the longest time we were at a stand-still. All we needed were Delaware and Rhode Island. We began to think that the residents of these states didn't travel or move.

Finally, last month I saw a Delaware on my way home from work. And, on Wednesday of this week, as Cameron was exiting a restaurant with his new boss and a rep from a company he now sells product for, he saw it. Rhode Island! Of course, he called immediately and had to explain to his boss and the rep why he was so excited to see a Rhode Island license plate.

I think for now we are done with the game. Maybe we will start over in the 2013, but given it took almost a year and a half to get all 50 states, we're a bit burnt out, to be honest. The one word voicemails were fun though.

~ Sarah

Baby Bump Wednesdays - LATE: Week 38!

Love my husband - he will do anything to make me feel better and make me smile

How far along: 38 weeks
What Fruit or Vegetable size is Baby: Leek/Pumpkin (my guess is she will be nicknamed pumpkin, too)
Average Size: 18.9-20.9 inches, 6.2-9.2 lbs
What’s going on with Baby’s development: Sydney should have plumped up over the last week and all her vital organs should be in good working order. She also should have firm grasp which we will get to test out soon!
Total weight gain: 38 lbs.
Stretch marks: There is just no hope – I’m sure there are new ones and the old ones are not happy these days. I actually have had to switch to hydrocortisone 1% ointment, as my belly is itching so bad and the doctor noticed I was creating a rash because of the itching.
Sleep: If it’s not one thing, it’s the other. Between Tulley, Kelsey and London, I guess I won’t be getting much sleep until I am in the hospital. And then who knows how much I will get given I will want to be woken up for my pain meds. I will, however, take full advantage of the nursery.
Best moment of this last week: Cameron coming home and the two hour nap I got in on Sunday.
Miss anything: I just want my energy back and my body back to myself. I’m tired of sharing it.
Movement: Plenty and ready for that movement to be outside of me. It hurts! The girl wants to stretch out so badly. My bet is she will be taller than her sister at birth.
Food cravings: Sushi and sweets.
Gender: Girl!
Labor signs: None. 6 Days! 1 1/2 work days!
Belly button in or out: Out
Wedding rings on or off: Off - hopefully it will be back on soon!
Mood most of the time: Tired. So ready for the 24th to be here.
Looking forward to in the next week: Seeing Sydney!

It’s a little hard to believe that the day is almost here whiel at the same time I am saying FINALLY and want the day to get here as quickly as possible! I am definitely ready to have Sydney join our family outside my body. This last weekend was really rough on me, even when we didn’t do all that much physically. My energy reserves seem to be completely gone. I can hardly wait for the weekend, with my parents arriving Friday afternoon who I hope will allow me to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe even Monday and Tuesday. The big thing is just getting through these last few days of work.

We were a little worried Sydney was planning a surprise early arrival over the weekend. It seemed my energy levels completely disappeared. Of course, we had planned activities, but they weren’t long or exhausting. But by the time we made it home each day, I was zapped and couldn’t get much of anything else done.

This was driving me nuts Sunday night so I was trying to push through. Cameron wouldn’t hear of it and forced me to sit down and relax instead. That’s when we noticed how on top of me Jake and Tulley were. And when we thought about it, Kelsey had moved to sleeping on top of me versus next to Cameron snuggled up in her favorite green blanket. We began to wonder if I wasn’t about to go into labor. 
 
As a precaution, we texted Lynde an FYI and called Vicki, just to keep their phones close in case there was a need for us to run to the hospital in the middle of the night. Thankfully, that has not happened and as much as I am ready for Sydney to be here, I want her to bake as long as possible and I would prefer to not experience labor this time around. Only time will tell if that becomes the case or not.

There are still things I want to get done around the house before she arrives, but I’ve come to terms that these things may or may not get done before next Wednesday, and I’m ok with it. I’d rather put things on hold versus sending myself into early labor. People are so shocked that I am still working. If I were at home I’d probably push myself too much so it’s better that I get up and go to work, where I sit and work, and get paid for it, versus being physically active at home trying to get other things done. Plus, I’ll have 4 days to get some of it done before we head to the hospital. And since Monday I have had a beautiful bouquet of flowers to look at when I’m struggling to remind me that I need to take it easy and be at work. All thanks to Cameron.
This post is a day late, as I wanted it updated with the latest doctor visit as well. Our last appointment was yesterday afternoon. I only gained 1 lb in the last week. Weight gain has definitely slowed down. I may not hit th 40 lb mark after all, if just barely not hitting it. All is well with Sydney from what we can tell. The doctor gave us a run down on what to expect at the hopsital when we check in at 5:30 AM Wednesday. She said we will probably be ready for visitors around 10:30 AM or 11. We will definitely want some time to rest once Sydney is here.

Other than that, she suggested I take a Benedryl before bed to help with my itchy tummy and to help me sleep. I've gotten puffy in the last week and between my tummy and ankles I've been itchy. The other night not only were my ankles itchy but they were swollen and red like they were sun burnt. Given Sydney is moving plenty and my blood pressure is perfect, there isn't much to worry about, its just the increased histamines in me causing the issues. I do I have to admit I slept pretty well last night on the Benedryl.

When I write the next time about Sydney, it will be when she is here. Can't wait!

~ Sarah