2 Weeks Old

Ruby is about 2 weeks old now! It's been a nice 2 weeks with its ups and downs, but it's mostly been wonderful. Ruby is still a sweet, sweet baby. She really only cries when she has gas or is hungry. She's spending more time awake with her eyes open watching everything that is going on.

Here she is on a gorgeous quilt that Emily's Aunt Gretchen made

Maia's been adjusting pretty well. She definitely loves her sister, and gives her kisses and hugs all the time. She likes to say hello to Ruby and watch Ruby having her diaper changed. Maia has been acting out a bit; I think it's a combination of being almost 18 months, breaking 4 eye teeth, and realizing that Ruby is here to stay. Aleks and I know that right now things aren't very fun, but in about a year, it's going to be so amazing to see these two little girls play together.

Here's Maia in a hat and sweater that Aunt Gretchen crocheted. So cute!

And here are the two girls in matching outfits that Grandma and Grandpa Kyhn bought for them. Maia calls Grandma "Baba" and Grandpa "Poppy".

Maia meets Ruby

Here's a little video of Maia meeting Ruby for the first time in the hospital.

Ruby Ann

Ruby Ann Sternfeld-Dunn is here!

She was born Sept. 9, 2010 at 10:26 am.

Weight: 7 pounds 4 ounces

Length: 19 1/3 inches

Ruby has wonderfully big feet with long toes and beautiful, long, slender fingers. We are looking forward to introducing her to the piano and organ.

We've been home about 5 days now and are adjusting to our new four-some. Aleks' parents were here for the days surrounding the birth, and Emily's parents arrived just after the birth. Tomorrow marks the start of doing it without any help!

The good news is, Maia loves her sister and is generally a great help.

Ruby sleeps really well, eats well, and has the sweetest temperament of any newborn I know. She truly is a blessing to us.

Here I am the night before Ruby was born.

Once I can figure it out and am not so sleepy, I'll post a video of Maia meeting Ruby for the first time in the hospital, it's pretty cute!

Playground fun

With the new baby coming in only 10 days, I've started to feel panicked that I haven't been taking enough pictures of Maia. So, I've been taking the camera with me when we go to the park.

This is my absolute favorite picture. She's so gorgeous and dirty and perfect all at once!

We got some new shoes, which Maia has been adjusting to pretty quickly. They're helping her climb up and down the playground stairs really well. However, they slow her down on the slide.

After going down the slide 20 times, her hair usually looks like this.

Blackmail

Here's a little video that I'm going to keep and use as blackmail when Maia is a teenager!

And a cute picture I took the other day while we were at work.

Ah pregnancy

Here's how it went last night:

Emily: Aleks, I'm going to lose weight after I have this baby right? I'm not going to be big forever.

Aleks: (rubs Emily's belly) Of course! You're not going to have a big belly for the rest of your life.

Emily: (exasperated) Well, I know that! I'm not worried about the belly, it's this part that's growing too (grabs butt and thighs).

Aleks: (laughs) Yes. You'll lose weight once you're done being pregnant.

(Emily goes to the bedroom to change into her gym clothes and comes back out)

Emily: Aleks, do I look fat in this?

Aleks: (glances up from cooking) No, you look great.

Emily: You always look at my face! Look at the rest of me!

Aleks: (amused, but getting frustrated) Fine, do a 360. Come on.

(Emily slowly turns and shakes her booty to combat the insecurity she feels at having her husband critically examine her)

Aleks: Do you want the truth?

Emily: Yes.

Aleks: Well, you definitely look pregnant.

Emily: What does that mean?

Aleks: You have a belly.

Emily: But does my butt look pregnant?

Aleks: (rolls his eyes) No. You don't look gigantic.

Emily: So, not gigantic, but big.

Aleks: (laughs in exasperation)

(Emily realized at this point how ridiculous she is being and leaves for the gym.)

Thank you God for my wonderful husband who puts up with his crazy pregnant wife.

Only 6 1/2 more weeks honey!

4th of July!

On the Wednesday before the 4th, Maia went to bed with a low grade fever. We gave her some medicine to bring it down. She woke up at 4 the next morning, crying with a fever. We gave her some water, more medicine and cuddled with her on the couch. Now "cuddling" is a loaded word in our house. It means snuggling with mommy or daddy on the couch with a pacifier (something she usually only gets if she's in bed or the car), her blanket, and watching tv. We limit her tv watching, so it's a treat that she loves. Needless to say, we kept an eye on her temperature kept encouraging her to drink fluids and cuddled all day.

Her favorite show is on PBS called "Sid the Science Kid". If you've never seen it, you're missing something special. We had DVR'd 3 episodes and so we watched them over and over all day. Now that Maia is feeling better, the tv has been off more than it has been on, but Aleks and I are still singing the hits, such as, "My Best Guess" (about estimation), "I Love Charts" (A chart is a handy dandy scientific tool...), and "I'm Looking for my Friends" among others. I must warn you: Teacher Susie appears to have had some "work" done, the kids run like their pants are full, and Gerald is something to behold.

Youtube it. You know you want to.

Anyway, Maia's fever never got over 100 that first day, so we didn't feel pressed to go to the doctor. However, that night, her temperature got up to 103 and we were concerned. We called the doctor and he said to keep an eye on it through the night and it if was still bad in the morning, to bring her in. The next morning it appeared that her fever had broken and we were so relieved. But by 10:30 it was back to Aleks took her in to see the doctor.

It turns out that she has a slight ear infection and we immediately put her on anti-biotics. Within 24 hours her fever was gone and each day she's feeling better and better. Poor thing is also cutting 4 of her molars. Growing up is hard!

All this to say, that by July 4 Maia was feeling better and we ventured out Sunday morning to Johnson to see their annual parade. It was a true taste of small town Americana.

A tractor had this cool contraption attached to it. The kids are riding toys horses that go up and down on the back of it. This was one of the highlights of the parade.

Maia's BFF Owen was there too. His mama, Chelsea is having her baby in 10 days!

Maia conked out that night early and I did too. Aleks had bought some fireworks, so he headed over to his friend's house to shoot them off. It was a good day.