Aria is 1 Year Old!

Aria's birth story

My pregnancy with Aria was much like with Luc's. I had severe morning sickness (Hyperemesis Gravidarum) from week 6 until the very end. But since the doctors knew I had this with Luc, I was able to start taking Zofran at week 7 with Aria (instead of week 16 with Luc). I therefore didn't loose as much weight in the beginning due to the endless sickness. I only gained 28 pounds total (just like with Luc).
Aria's due date was Wednesday, December 31, 2014. Awesome. What is it with us and holiday babies? We were all hoping that she wouldn't make her appearance on Christmas, and she didn't. Whew! As a precaution, we had Christmas Eve dinner with Frederic's parents at our house so we would be a lot closer to the hospital in case anything happened.
Monday, December 29th I was up early not feeling well, the usual. I got Luc up at 6am to get ready to go to Grandma's for the day. After Frederic left, I went upstairs to get ready for work. While getting dressed I felt a little icky and crampy, but didn't think too much of it.
Around 9-9:30am at work, I started to feel little contractions. I paid attention but kept doing my work. Then around 10am I started counting how far apart they were since they weren't stopping, even though I didn't really think it was real labor. I texted my mom because I wasn't sure if they were real or not (How do you know the difference? With Luc my water broke then contractions started. Those were definitely labor pains). She told me, when they stop you in your tracks and start to take your breath away, they're real. Ok... not long after they started doing just that and my mom told me to call my doctor. Of course the doctor on call is not the one I like, he told me to drink water, rest, keep counting and of course, wait until they're 5 minutes apart. By 1pm I got my stuff together and left work to go home. Shortly after being home, I lost my mucus plug. I texted Frederic that and he dropped everything and made his way home. My mom packed up Luc and got to the house as well.
We just sat around, staring at me, writing down how far apart the contractions were, trying to breathe through them. Dinner time came around and we ordered Chinese. I kept mine plain because I remembered with Luc, I kept throwing up with each contraction I had, so I didn't want to eat anything that would be too disgusting coming back up.
While eating dinner, they started to get closer together and hurt even more. I don't think I even ate half my dinner. By 7pm I was in our bedroom trying to get a hold of the doctor on call (the one I didn't like and was liking less and less with each minute waiting for his call back). When I told him they were 4-5 minutes apart, he asked how far we were from the hospital (10-15 minutes depending on red lights), to make our way in, no rush. So Frederic decided we should still put Luc to bed as usual and then go. My mom stayed over to look after Luc.
By 8:30 pm we were at the hospital being checked in. The contractions were intense and I was only 3 cm dilated upon arrival. I thought I was going to be there forever and Aria wouldn't be born until way into the next day at this rate. How could I be having such contractions since the morning and only be 3 cm dilated?
I finally finished with Triage and got a room. Having previous success on moving labor along by walking the halls, I dragged Frederic with me to make a few laps until the contractions were so painful I couldn't even be on my feet. Sitting in the chair wasn't much more comfortable either. Frederic's job was to tell me how to breathe when I had a contraction because I literally would forget how to and would want to hold my breath.
I think I was about 5/6 cm when I caved and asked for an epidural (Again, I wanted to try doing it naturally but the pain seemed a million times worse then when I was in labor with Luc). While waiting, me and Aria were being checked by the nurse when all the sudden my water broke. Or should I say, burst. The nurse to came over to clean it all up and noticed that there was some of Aria's poop in my water (not good.). She paged the doctor and the NICU team. By the time the doctor on call (same guy I do not like, and liking even less right then!) finally crawled his way into my room to check things out, I was 10 cm dilated and could not get the epidural. Bah!
He walked out of the room thinking I still had time before pushing, and the nurse turned to me and said, tell me when you feel pressure and need to push. A second later, I told her I need to push. She rushes out to find the doctor...again nowhere to be found. Maybe 5 minutes later, he crawls in again with about 20 nurses and the NICU team. Not really listening to him telling me how I should push and wait and blah blah blah, I pushed once. The nurses said to take a breath. I pushed a second time knowing I could get Aria out in that push, but everyone screamed at me to stop and take one more breath before getting her out. Ugh! The ring of fire is no joke, I quickly took a breath and pushed Aria out on the third time.
Because of the poop in the amniotic fluid, the NICU team cut her chord and rushed her to the baby station. Frederic followed. She got a clean bill of health and did not need to go to the NICU for observation. Yay!
Aria Marine Jacqueline Hairson was born at 10:28pm on Monday, December 29, 2014. Weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces. 20 inches long.  She had all 10 fingers and 10 toes and a head of fine, golden, silky hair.

I guess laboring at home is better than the hospital. I guess, looking back, it was nice only being in the hospital for 2 hours before she was born. At the same time, a little scary, thinking how close that was to a home birth/road-side birth had we waited any longer.

And so a precious little princess joined our family and made us four that day. Luc instantly fell in love with her (we did too!) and became the ultimate big brother.

One Year Later...

Weight: 20 lbs 7 oz (58%)
Height: 30.3 inches (87%)
Teeth: 8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on bottom)
Clothes size: 12-18 months (more 18 months, 12 month is getting small/short)
Diaper size: 3
Shoe: 4/4.5

Our little bundle of a quiet, calm, patient baby morphed into a cuddly, out spoken, feisty, spunky toddler girl.
She's smart, not so daring, very determined to do it her way and when she wants to do it, independent but attached to my hip in the next moment. She gets excited when things light up and play music. And then dances away to the beat. And when me or Daddy arrives, she runs over with a huge smile on her face, saying our names. She's always keeping tabs on Luc and looks worried when she can't find him. She's becoming more courageous with Cali and getting close enough to pet her and play with her whiskers. She copies a lot of what Luc is doing (how to vroom a car along the floor, trying new foods he's eating, opening and closing cabinets and banging on them, climbing, running, and using her voice to 'entertain' at unnecessary high pitches). She loves her Grandma and is a little weary of new guys until they flirt long enough with her that she's willing to let them hold her (as long as Mommy stays out of view). Unfamiliar women take a little while to warm up to, but she'll cuddle right in...for a few minutes. She loves to give kisses to her stuffed animals and dolls and lay her head down on the couch or a blanket.
She's a happy girl, until things don't go her way. She's always up for a good tickle on the tummy and toes. And 'Where's Aria?' is her ultimate favorite game to play.

Favorite foods: Mac n Cheese, cheese, veggies (especially tomatoes- though they may be aggravating her eczema on her back and arms; sweet potatoes, peas, spinach), Cheerios, ham, yogurt, fish sticks, chicken/nuggets/pureed, yogurt drops, pasta, crackers/bread, and many, many other things...

Least Favorite foods: olives, avocado

Favorite Things: playing in the water, going on walks outside, Christmas lights and all lights, music and dancing, hugs, snuggles, kisses, eating, chasing Luc, playing with people's hair, Cookie Monster, going to the playground to go on the swings and touch the spring bouncy animals, book: Sesame Street's" Bubbles, Bubbles"

Least Favorite Things: toys being stolen away from her, being told No, not being held when she wants to (all the time), being cold

New Words:
-Play
-Bye bye (while waving)
-Papa (for Daddy)
-Doggie (now sounds more like doggie than dadda)
-Thank you
-That
-Doll
-Down doogie. (as she threw her dog off the changing table and looking at the floor)
Animal sounds:
-Woof Woof (for almost every animal)
-Roar for Lion
-Hee-Haah for donkey
-Quack for duck

New Things:
-Can put the coins back into the Fisher Price piggy bank (with her left hand)
-Wave good bye
-Blows kisses
-Stand up on her own from sitting without pulling up on anything for help
-Likes to stand on the couch to look out the window, especially when it's dark to see all the Christmas lights
-Obsessed with lights
-Tries to hang the ornament back on the Christmas tree
-Kicks the soccer ball
-Loves books. Loves to look at them on her own, or have you read them and flip the pages for her. If she sees you taking a book to read, she'll run over to you to sit on your lap and listen.
-shakes her pointer finger "no no" (she sees that a lot!)

Within the last month (I'm not sure if a bad habit was started when she was sick before Christmas), Aria has wanted to be held during the night to sleep. I've read around this age of separation anxiety occurring where the baby has no concept of time and so doesn't know when you'll come back. They wake up in the middle of the night and want you, and they know that crying will bring you back. So they cry. So Aria cries. For two weeks I continued to take her onto the couch with me to sleep the rest of the night. But my neck was hurting and I wasn't getting any good sleep. I'm lucky if I get 4 hours straight, not to mention at all. So Frederic and I decided to play tough love (this worked with Luc, but much easier) and let her cry it out. I check on her every couple of minutes, but we let her cry. She cries her angry cry. Most doctors say this should last about 45 minutes before they tire themselves out enough to fall asleep. Aria is setting the record for 1.5-2 hours straight.
A few days before her first birthday, we started mixing in a little whole milk with her formula. She loves the taste- no problem with that. And sometimes she'll now finish the whole bottle, unlike before when she left a third of it. She doesn't like formula in her sippy cup though. I'm not sure if it's because it's not the right temperature or she's confused and thinks certain sippy cups are for water only. I will find one cup to use for milk and see how that goes. I cannot wait to be finished with formula! 

We're really in shock that a year has passed so quickly already. It went by so fast that some days I feel like I slept through months of her life and don't remember what she did each day. Having two kids now diverts my attention from being solely focused on her like I was with Luc. That makes me sad and at the same time I come to realize why as a second child you have less photos and your baby book isn't filled out (I'm not doing that though!). It's hard to give your undivided attention to one thing at all when there's so much to watch and get done. But I make sure we get in our extra cuddles, tickle and teasing time before bed, and one day- shopping trips with just the two of us.
I love seeing Aria's personality come out more and more every day. I can't wait to see what's coming next!

Luc Says the Sweetest Things...

Frederic hurt his wrist, or aggravated the carpal tunnel in his right wrist. I told Luc I was going to read to him that night since Daddy's hand hurt too much. I was getting Luc dressed for bed when Frederic comes in and sits on his bed, clearly in pain. Luc leans over and whispers in my ear, "That hurts my heart." [that Daddy is in pain]
After we read his book, I told Luc, "Let's say a prayer. Dear God..." Luc continues: "Please make Daddy's hand feel better for tomorrow. Amen."
When I came back upstairs to get into the shower, I heard Luc talking (the usual as he sings/talks himself to sleep). I creeped to his door to hear what he was saying, and he was repeating his prayer to God to make Daddy's hand better.

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Luc, Monday morning after Christmas when I got a new perfume:"I wish you would pick us up from Grandmas-well you do, but take us there too."
Me: "Why?"
Luc, snuggling up to me and holding my arm, takes a sniff of my shirt: "Because you smell so good."

Aria's First Christmas

Aria celebrated her first holiday season and Christmas this year. She is in such awe of Christmas lights. Whenever they turn on, or she sees some outside, she excitedly "yells" OOOOOOooOOOOO!!!! And starts bouncing to get closer. She's spent long periods of time touching the lights on the trees with her little finger. She also loves to pull ornaments off the tress, but she does try to put them back on all by herself.

In the evenings, I leave the blinds open on the front window so Aria can look out across the street to see the lights. As well as the blinds to the deck door because the neighbor in the condo behind us has lots of lights on their front "lawn" that you can see from our house.

Our house decorations

 We had a busy Christmas season starting with my parent's Annual Christmas Party. We then helped them put up their Christmas tree, a week after we put up our own. Then the next day, we helped Bonne-Maman and Bon-Papa put up their tree.
Christmas Eve we spent with Bonne-Maman and Bon-Papa. Luc had a blast helping Bonne-Maman prepare the appetizers.

And Aria got tired out from all the anticipation....

Christmas Day, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Uncle Dave was there too! -After we opened presents under our tree that morning.

Looking over the loot

Aria also knew exactly what to do when a present came over to her. She would get excited, bounce, and start looking for a tab of paper to start ripping. Not really interested in the wrapping paper like most babies, she would tear the paper apart. She would hold up each piece she ripped off herself and hold it up for everyone to see and say "OooOOo!".
Out of her stocking from Santa, she loved the foam ball with Disney princesses on it the most. From her presents from Santa and Mommy and Daddy, she loved her singing Cookie Monster and Leap Frog oven. Her presents from Bonne-Maman, Bon-Papa, and the Beestons she loves as well. She knew right away to take the baby and try to feed it it's bottle in it's open mouth. And the other doll, she took her shoes off and tried to put them on her own feet. She loves to give her new dolls hugs and big kisses.

Getting ready to feed the baby

From Grandma and Grandpa's, she loves her tea set from Uncle Dave- which again, somehow she knew to hold the tea cup and pour the tea from the kettle into it. How did she know that?!? She's enjoying the BeatBo singing/dancing robot the most.
It was magical to see Aria and Luc loving Christmas this year. And it was so much fun, while very exhausting, to celebrate Christmas with our families. It was also really great to be home as a family of four for four days and spend time together, making memories.

Ready for Christmas lunch!

One More Month til One Year Old

Aria is 11 months old. I really cannot believe she will be a year old soon. I feel like she just got here and joined our family. Where has this last year gone?
She's no longer acting like a little baby anymore. I see her transforming into a toddler more and more every day. I in no way miss the middle of the night feedings, pumping, cleaning endless bottles and diapers every 3 hours; but I do miss her being so tiny (which seemed to not last long with her anyways) and sitting in her swing looking like a little doll. On the other hand, she's so spunky and sweet. And it really fills my heart and makes it expand (think the Grinch in the Christmas movie) to see Aria and Luc love each other in their own special ways (hugs, face snuggles, playing chase or tickle games). The older Aria gets, the more she can interact with Luc, and that is just awesome to see.

Aria is standing, walking, still crawling at super speeds, feeding herself with her hands, trying to feed herself with a spoon and fork, uses a sippy cup, wants her bottle less and less, wants pureed food less and less as well, and sleeps better through the night (sometimes). She recently figured out how to climb up one step and how to climb onto the couch if someone is sitting there for her to hang onto and pull up on.

She has discovered the art of shaking her head 'No'. At least she can answer me when I want to know if she's full, but she also uses it to protest what I'm trying to feed her and get her to finish her bottle.
Her new game is pretending she has something to eat in her hands (or pretends to pick up something off the floor) and offer it to you. You take it and pretend to eat it and ask for more. Sometimes she'll "take another piece" and give you more, other times she'll shake her head No, that there's no more to give.

She's also able to communicate more to us, in her own ways. She wanted to go up for a nap at Grandma's, so she went over to the basket where Grandma keeps her nap blanket, grabbed it and carried over to Grandma and held it up to her. It was her naptime afterall.
If she wants you to read her a book, she will pick it up and shove it in your face. If she wants you to read it again, she takes the book, and shoves it in your face again.

When she wants to eat something that's already out, she'll take her pacifier out of her mouth and hand it to you in a way of asking for the food. She will also spit out her pacifier when you tell her, "take it out" so you can give her food.
When you ask Aria to point to a dog or sock, she will correctly go to the right picture.
She's also started giving people and toys real kisses. You ask her to give a kiss and she'll lean over with her mouth wide open, press it up to your cheek and say "mWAHhh". It's the cutest thing ever.

Aria can put all the rings back on the stem, with her left hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stats

Aria has 7 teeth as of now (four on top, three on bottom).
She is wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 4 shoes, and size 3 diapers.
She eats three meals and 3.5 bottles a day.
She takes two naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon; anywhere from 1-2.5 hours each. She then sleeps from about 7: 30pm til, on average, 6 am (I wake her at 5:45am during the week).

New Words:
She's trying to say Doggie, but it comes out like Daddy.
She will "hum" talk to mimic a word I told her (i.e.; monkey, Aria: Mm-mmm)
She has started to say her own name, which sounds like: AaaEAaa, and Uh-Oh!






But life isn't always perfect. And Aria isn't always happy and content:

But, Mommy, hold me!