36/52 room for two

You’ll find the three of us like this quite often. This was right after dinner (yes, I wear an apron to cook) one evening. I hope to be able to squeeze them both on my lap for a long long time!

Here she goes…

Last weekend this little girl, Elle, gave Raelyn a book she no longer needed.

She brought the book to me and said, “Miss Stephanie, I don’t need this book anymore and it’s really cute. I want to give it to Raelyn.” Elle is 4. (She also told me that she “really loves baby boys” and she gave Max about a million kisses.)

All week, Raelyn has been obsessed with her new book. She has carried it with her, soaked in every picture, and asked me to read it over and over. On Monday afternoon she grabbed her book, marched into the bathroom, patted the toilet seat, and then came and got me to help her climb up. She has asked to sit on the toilet with her book at least 3 times a day since then. She even asks for a piece of toilet paper and uses it appropriately. She never actually “went” in the toilet but I didn’t expect that she would.

Today we bought Raelyn her very own potty. Here it is with the book Elle gave her.

We do not expect that Raelyn will be potty trained in the near future, but we do want to encourage her since she seems so interested in it right now.

We introduced Raelyn to her new potty chair tonight before her bath. She checked it out first.

Then she promptly sat down with her potty book. To our amazement, she peed! I think she was a bit surprised too. ;)

Her reward? The duck potty sang a song.

Our little Raelyn is growing up and apparently is tired of diapers.

35/52 first day of school

Raelyn started her Mother’s Day Out program at Church at the Crossing this week. She’ll be going one day a week from 9am to 2pm. Her first day was abbreviated from 9 to 10:30. Next week she’ll go from 9 to noon and the following week will begin the full time. When we arrived she found a toy and waved me off. I think she’ll do just fine!

A sweet fragrance

When was the last time you breathed in the sweet scent of your children? There is something so calming to me to take a moment and inhale my kids. They each have their own sweet scent and I hope they never grow too old for me to sniff them. ;) When I stop to think about it, they smell like life to me. New, fresh life!

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NIV)

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?

I pray they are always the sweet fragrance of Christ to others and I pray that for myself as well.

Family Zoo Day

Saturday we enjoyed an evening at the zoo, compliments of Roche. We started off at the dolphin show and then ate a tasty dinner at the “party pavilion”.  After dinner we explored some of the animal exhibits.

Tigers! Raelyn was not scared of those tigers. We think it’s because Sheba is almost as tall as this guy.

Bears!

Max had a lot of fun too. ;)

Rhinos!

The reason she was exhausted at bedtime:

Raelyn pulled daddy around from exhibit to exhibit, full speed ahead!

34/52 assembly required

Mark’s first big toy assembly project…Raelyn’s kitchen. It’s so cute and she already loves playing with it!

33/52 tummy time

Raelyn is being the supportive big sister as Max screams through his tummy time. You can see in the mirror that he isn’t really enjoying himself.  :(

2 months

Max is two months old!!

 

Here are his stats at 2 months old:

• Weight: 11lb (36%)
• Height: 23 1/4 inches (61%)
• Head circumference: 15 1/2 inches (37%)

Max had his well-baby visit on Monday and was quite fussy the rest of the day.

Quick facts about Max at 2 months:

• He eats 4.5 – 5 oz every 3 – 4 hours
• At night he sleeps in 4 – 5 hour stretches
• He has started giving smiles.
• He makes cooing noises.
• He is not a fan of car rides and will often cry until we stop moving. :(
• Max loves being swaddled. (Not just during sleep times.)
• He enjoys looking out his window while sitting in the swing.
• He wears size 1 diapers and 0-3 month or 3 month size clothes.
• He has beautiful dark blue eyes.

At the Splash Park

This afternoon we wanted to take advantage of the cooler weather and take Raelyn & Max to a park. We were planning to head over to Broad Ripple Park but then I remembered seeing something online about another park nearby that was supposed to be nice. We drove to Riverwood Park and to our surprise all of the equipment has been recently updated and they have a splash pad. The last time we took Raelyn to a splash park she wasn’t interested in it. Well today was another story! With cooler weather and Raelyn fully clothed she decided to run through all of the water. I wish these videos captured the pure joy on her face and in her voice. She was having such a wonderful time!

 

Thankfully we had a towel in the car so we were able to get her out of her wet clothes and hurry home to give her a warm bath.

The unexpected can be so much fun!

32/52 better luck next year

Our little garden didn’t do very well this summer. Here you can see that our cabbage has been destroyed by a caterpillar. It must have been Very Hungry. ;)

18 month stats at 19 months

Raelyn had her 18 month check up with Dr. Rob yesterday morning.

Raelyn’s stats:

Weight: 21lb 6oz (7%)

Height: 30 1/4 inches (58%)

I was surprised that Dr. Rob found an infection in her right ear since she hasn’t been rubbing it or crying out like she normally does. So, back on Omnicef she goes. After a look in her mouth we found she has FOUR teeth breaking through right now. I know those suckers are painful for her so I’m hoping she gets a teething break after these are out.

We also discussed Raelyn’s “regression” in speech since Max was born. She has basically stopped using all the words she was saying before, including Mama and Dada. :(  Dr. Rob said that it is normal after bringing home a new baby but that if she still isn’t back to talking with real words in another month that we should work with him to come up with a plan. I’m assuming that will mean speech therapy of some sort. (I’ll be emailing you soon, Danielle.) Besides that, she is doing wonderfully! She’s inquisitive, smart, and very active.

Raelyn having a tea party with Max:

And here Raelyn is showing off her dance skills before breakfast (please excuse all of the Sheba towels in the background):

31/52 sunday best

How adorable is Max wearing a “tie”? Thanks to Auntie Peeper for the cute outfit!

30/52 new friends

Raelyn had her first play date with her new friend, Jack. Jack’s mommy is my long-time friend, Jen, who was also my matron of honor. We are so happy that they have moved to Indy and we are finally living in the same city. Welcome home, Bute family!!

29/52

This week Raelyn has taken an interest in coloring. I’ve found this is a great activity toward the end of the afternoon when she is getting restless. She colors with both her right and left hands.

1 month (July 14, 2011)

I feel like I’m still partially in the newborn fog. I can’t believe it’s already time for his first month update! Having done this once before I know how quickly each month comes and goes so I truly am trying to soak up each moment. I had a wise friend tell me to cherish this time with my kids. I only get this one chance to enjoy them just as they are today so that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I even try to cherish those 2 am feedings because I know those quiet moments alone with Max won’t last much longer.

Here are Max’s stats at 1 month old:

• Weight: 8 lb 11 oz (26%)
• Height: 21 1/4 inches (41%)
• Head circumference: 14 3/4 inches (35%)

At his 1 month appointment with Dr. Rob he was a trooper. After his exam, he was declared perfect and healthy! We already know he’s perfect. ;)

Here’s a few quick facts about Max at 1 month:

• He eats 3oz every 2.5 – 3 hours
• At night he sleeps in 3 hour stretches
• He sleeps a lot during the day, but is beginning to have longer awake periods
• He loves to be held, especially by mommy
• He enjoys bath time and the water seems to calm him down if he’s a bit grouchy
• He’s wearing newborn size clothes & diapers (not much longer)
• He likes to be swaddled much of the time
• He doesn’t cry or fuss much unless he’s hungry or needs a diaper change

While in the hospital, I told Max that he was my little turtle. He was so tiny and his neck looked long since he didn’t have a pudgy face. When he cried he kind of stretched his neck out and it reminded me of a turtle. (Remember that Raelyn is our little birdie.) Once we got home, Mark started calling Max “frog-man” because of his long skinny legs that he like to curl up. Poor guy, he’s not going to know if he’s a turtle, a frog, or a baby! Most of the time I call him Max but several times a day I throw out a Bud or Buddy. Who knows if any of these little nicknames will stick.

On Max’s 10th day, we had a photographer come over to take his newborn photos. It’s a lot of work to keep a newborn asleep and happy plus reposition him for each photo!

Now, looking at these at 10 days old and the photos I took at 1 month old I can see how much he has changed! His cheeks have really filled out! I told Mark that all of Max’s weight gain is going straight to his cheeks and double chin (his legs are still skinny). :)

Click here to see Max’s first photo shoot.

18 months (July 9, 2011)

It was quite difficult to get photos of Raelyn sitting in the chair. She is constantly on the go and when I have a camera in hand she would prefer to see the display instead of posing.

She will sit still to read though. The girl LOVES her books! The one you see above is a current favorite and we read it everyday before nap time. She really enjoys all of her books. Raelyn is constantly pulling out her books to look through. This may play a role in her fascination with words. She points at every picture in her books and looks at us to say the word. We now ask her to point to the picture of certain words. “Raelyn, do you see the bunny? Point to the bunny.” She is great at this game!

Like I said, Raelyn is usually go, go, going! She enjoys dancing, twirling, running, being chased, etc, etc.  Here she is twirling (the photo is blurry, but you get the idea).

Raelyn “talks” all day long but it’s her own language. She still says daddy and mama and on occasion she’ll throw out a duck. We think that she’ll explode with words once she is ready. She definitely understands everything we say. I can name any one of her toys and she’ll go get the right one. When we play with her blocks we can say, “Can you find the bee, bzzzz?” And she can find every block that has the picture of the bee. It doesn’t matter if the bee is face up or face down she knows every side of that block. During her bedtime prayers I’ve always drawn out the word amen at the end. Something like, “Aaaaaamen.” She has started saying amen (“men”) after I do. I love it! 

She makes this face that I call the crinkly nose face. She does it when she knows she’s being funny or doing something cute. Sometimes she does it because she’s done something she isn’t supposed to and knows the face melts my heart. At least I think she knows. When the photographer was here for Max’s newborn photos she caught the crinkly nose face on camera!

Can you hardly stand it?

She is just so fun right now. She holds our hands to lead us from one room to the other. She gives the best bear hugs. She loves forehead kisses. She stomps her feet when she is mad or isn’t getting her way. She is just the perfect little 18 month old girl!

And her eyes…

…her eyes. Oh how we love this girl!

28/52 splash park

We took Raelyn to a nearby splash park one evening to try and cool off in this heat wave. Look at those thighs! I just want to pinch them. :)

Max’s Arrival

It took me 4 weeks to post Raelyn’s birth story so it’s only fair that it took me 4 weeks for Max too. Maybe it just takes me that long to get in a groove and to process my blessings. ;)

I can’t believe it’s been 4 weeks since baby Max was born. In some ways it’s gone by so quickly. In other ways it seems like a lifetime ago that I stepped into that operating room. It’s amazing how in such a short time it’s already difficult to remember what life was like before he arrived.

One last maternity photo from the triage room.

We arrived at the hospital on our scheduled date, Tuesday, June 14th, two hours before surgery time. Registration was a breeze since they were expecting us and then we were escorted to a triage room to prepare for surgery. My triage nurse started my IV and attached a monitor to my belly so we could hear Max’s heartbeat. I remember telling Mark, “This is the last time we’ll hear his heartbeat from the womb.” I think it was starting to hit me that this pregnancy was coming to an end in a short time. While in triage we met the anesthesiologist and the nurse who would care for Max and me post delivery. The staff was in and out of the room as they checked our vitals, drew blood, explained what would happen, etc.

Around 11:15 am, I sent Mark off to grab a quick lunch knowing that he wouldn’t have time to eat for several hours after delivery. The nurse told him to hurry in case the doctor arrived early. He made it back in plenty of time and even moved all of our things to my permanent room. At 11:55 am the nurse walked me to the OR and Mark waited in triage while the nurses prepared me for the c-section and the anesthesiologist administered the spinal.

The OR was full of nurses and they were all busy getting me ready. They were so nice and worked to keep me at ease. I could feel my nervousness start to set in. It was still hard to believe that I would be meeting our baby very soon. The staff asked if we had a name picked out and I finally felt like I could share. These were the people who would see his face first, after all. There was a collective, “Aww” when I told them, “His name is Maximus and we’ll call him Max.” From them on, they referred to him as Max instead of “the baby”.

The anesthesiologist explained what she was doing as she administered the spinal and she let me know that I would feel pressure as I was poked and prodded, but not pain. It was such a strange sensation. I had this desire to move my legs or wiggle my toes but no matter how many signals my brain sent, nothing was moving. Mark came in wearing a scrub gown and cap. He sat at my head and held my hand through the whole procedure.

Dr. Voelkel arrived and the next thing I know she had started the c-section. I watched Mark the whole time and I remember asking him a few times if he was ok. The anesthesiologist kept whispering in my ear what was going on and I remember at one point she said, “You’ll want to see this later” and then she grabbed our camera and started snapping photos of Dr. Voelkel pulling out the baby.

At 12:35 pm, Maximus Bruce Wood Repko was born and shortly after that Dr. Voelkel lifted him over the curtain and I got my first glimpse of my son.

I couldn’t control the tears falling from my eyes. They quickly whisked Max away and all I could do was watch from the operating table as they cleaned him and did a thorough exam. I remember thinking that all I wanted to do was hold him, yet I could barely see him from that distance. 

Mark went back and forth between Max and I. He brought the camera over at one point to show me close up pictures of Max. My first real look at our son was through our camera. He looked beautiful!   It seemed to take forever before I was put back together and they were done weighing, measuring, and checking out Max. When they finally brought him to me I was overcome with emotions. Here was my son. The baby I carried inside of me for 39 weeks.

I was so happy to finally have him in my arms. Did I mention that he is absolutely perfect?

The rest of the day is a blur to me, but I do remember our very first visitor meeting her new baby brother!

This is only day one in Max’s story. Just like Raelyn, we pray that he’ll make a big impact in this world.

James 1:17  "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (NIV)

27/52 sweet boy

Just a photo I took of Max this week. No story behind it, he’s just a sweet boy.

3 Weeks Old - Max

For Max’s 3 week “birthday” Amazon delivered a new bouncy seat. He’s beginning to have more awake time and I can’t hold him constantly, as much as I would like to. I’m hoping the bouncy seat will allow Raelyn, Max, and I to have some good playtime in the living room together.

Raelyn helping Daddy put together the bouncy seat:

Trying out the bouncy:

Max just hanging out:

Max back in the box:

 

I sure do love these kids!