The Big Boy Bed!

Jude spent his first night in his "big boy bed" on Saturday night!  He made it through the entire night, though he was pretty crabby on Sunday, so I don't think he slept great.  He slept much better Sunday and Monday nights (based on his mood the next day), so I think he's now comfortable in his new bed!

Naps are another story.  He has slept in his bed for one nap and the other two he ended up taking in his crib after trying for an hour to sleep in his bed.  I'm hoping this will get better since I would LOVE to get rid of the crib for good.  We'll see.

His brain must be working overtime, because Jude also told us he had to go potty tonight and then made it to his potty and peed in it!  It's the first time that that entire series of events happened at once :)  Our baby boy is growing up!!!

Hide and Seek

I have another fun Jude story :)  I have to share how Jude plays hide and seek - it's so stinkin' cute!

When it is Jude's turn to hide:

1. Mom or Dad starts counting.
2. Jude runs and hides behind the fig tree (EVERY TIME).
3. Mom or Dad says "ready or not, here I come!"
4. Mom or Dad asks theatrically, "Where's Jude?"
5. Jude, while still crouched down hiding behind the fig tree, yells "I'm over here!"
6.  Game is over, Jude has been found.

When it's Mom and/or Dad's turn to hide:

1. Mom/Dad reminds Jude to count all.the.way. to ten (he's perfectly capable).
2. Jude agrees to count all the way to ten.
3.  Mom/Dad makes a mad dash for a hiding spot.
4. Jude says, "Two, Three, here I come!"
5. Jude looks for Mom/Dad in the location where they hid during the last round of hide and seek.
6. Jude can't find Mom/Dad and panics.
7. Mom/Dad yells, "I''m over here!"
8. Jude finds Mom/Dad and much laughter and excitement commences.

The Esther Baby

I am so overdue for an Esther post.  It seems I have more fun stories about Jude and more cute pictures of Esther, so I will definitely be adding pictures to this post!

Overall, I would say that Esther has been a great baby.  She slept through the night early, she napped really well as a newborn, and she wasn't colicky!!!  Her naps disappeared when she was 4 months old, but I think they are finally back (praise the Lord!).  She just started crawling last week, so the interactions between her and Jude are starting to get very interesting.  She also just got over her first cold, which ended in an ear infection and antibiotics.

I'm still trying to figure out how Esther's personality is going to differ from Jude's.  At 8 months, she's still mostly just a baby, but I know her individuality will be shining through really soon - and I can't wait :)

Ok, onto the pictures!

Her first time getting into a sitting position on her own in her crib (crib mattress got moved down a notch that night!):

Eight months old (and finally getting over being sick):

She just started crawling and she's already trying to pull up on things:

New Interests

We've owned wooden blocks since Jude was a few months old, but they've never held his interest for more than 5 minutes - until about 2 weeks ago.  It's like something clicked, and Jude now "gets" blocks and legos. 

He spent about an hour one morning building this:

Ok, so not the most impressive thing ever built, but Jude does love to line things up, and blocks are no different!  The funny thing is that he will just keep on lining (and occasionally stacking) blocks until they are all gone - every.last.block. 

I love watching his interests develop and seeing him begin to enjoy the imaginative toys more and the baby/electronic toys less.

Yoda

Tonight, while out for a walk, I wanted to show Gimpy that I had taught Jude his middle name.  Here is how the conversation went:

Me: Jude, what's your middle name?
Jude: William
Me: That's right!  What's Esther's middle name?
Jude: Yoda

The things that boy comes up with!  My newly two year old has been a great joy (and a great challenge!).  He cracks me up daily - and frustrates me like crazy with his willfulness.  I can't wait to see what he comes up with next :)

Jude as a Big Brother

Today, we went for a quick drive to Walmart.  Esther was crying in her car seat.  Jude pointed his finger at her and ordered, "Baby, stop!"

Esther, of course, did no such thing.

Jude then looked at me and said, "Mama, give the baby nuk."

That boy cracks me up!  He has this whole baby sister thing all figured out :)

Esther's Birth Story

Esther's birth story actually begins about 2 weeks before she was born.  I had an uncomplicated pregnancy and was very much looking forward to my second home birth.  At my 36 week appointment, my midwife said she thought that Esther was breech.  She recommended that I have an ultrasound done to make sure because if Esther was breech, my home birth would not be a possibility.

We scheduled the ultrasound and, sure enough, my baby girl was butt down instead of head down like she should have been.  After consulting with the midwives, we decided to try a version with Dr. Steele in Green Bay (the breech baby expert).

Ray and I went up to Green Bay on Thursday, May 17th and Dr. Steele tried three times to turn Esther into a head down position, but she was having none of it.  Our only two options at this point were to attempt a breech delivery with Dr. Steele or schedule a c-section.  I easily decided that I wanted to do the breech delivery.  Dr. Steele said she was going to be out of town the upcoming weekend, but that she would make sure that the only other doctor who does breech deliveries would be available in case I went into labor over the weekend.

At 1am on Monday, May 21st, my water broke.  Contractions started soon after so Ray and I called Berd to come watch Jude and drove up to Bellin Hospital in Green Bay.  By 5am, we were settled in at the hospital and waiting for contractions to pick up and Dr. Steele to come in.

At 9:30am, the nurse came in and said she had bad news.  Dr. Steele was in Seattle, WA and wasn't going to be back in town until evening.  The other doctor that did breech deliveries had been on call all weekend and wasn't able to stay for us.  We had a 12-hour window where no breech doctor was available, and that was the time that Esther decided to come!  The nurse said that we couldn't stay at Bellin unless we were willing to schedule a c-section with the doctor that was currently in.  We needed to make a decision fast.

I frantically called my midwife and asked the nurse to call ThedaClark and St. Elizabeth's to see if any other doctor around might be willing to deliver our breech baby.  The nurse found that a Dr. Kaldas at ThedaClark would do a breech delivery, so we made a quick decision to drive back to Neenah.

We got settled into ThedaClark late in the morning and soon after both my mom and my midwife, Jill, showed up to help.  We met Dr. Kaldas.  He didn't have a good bedside manner and didn't leave us with a very good feeling after talking about our circumstance with him, but we felt like he was our only shot at a breech delivery at this point.

By late afternoon, contractions were really picking up and I was feeling really good about the whole thing.  I didn't have the back labor that I had with Jude, and labor was progressing a lot faster than it did with Jude.  I was actually enjoying my labor experience!

Dr. Kaldas came back in to see how I was progressing.  He thought I was 8 centimeters dilated.  Yay!  He left and I continued to labor.  Shortly after that, some nurses came in and said it was time to move to the operating room.  I knew I would have to deliver in the operating room because of Esther being breech, but I was no where near ready to deliver yet.  We firmly told them that we were not ready to move to the operating room.

Dr. Kaldas came back a little later (having been told by the nurses that we were not cooperating!) and said that we could continue to labor in the room, but as soon as I was ready to push, I had to go to the operating room.  We agreed.  Then, he checked me again and asked me to do a "practice push".  He said Esther was still way up in my uterus and not dropping down like she should.  He said we would have to do a c-section.  We were completely shocked and said we needed time to discuss things.

By this time, Dr. Steele was back in Wisconsin.  Jill spoke with her on the phone and told her what Dr. Kaldas said to us.  Dr. Steele agreed with us that there was no reason for us to not labor longer and see what happened.  We fought with Dr. Kaldas until he issued the ultimatum that we could either check out of the hospital and drive back to Green Bay, or we could get into the operating room for a c-section.  I was having really strong contractions at this point and there was no way I could make it back up to Green Bay.  We felt we had no options left.

Into the operating room we went.  Esther Jo Froehlich was born at 8:15pm on Monday, May 21st.  She was a troublesome little thing to get into the world, but all was forgiven the moment we laid eyes on her.  Who could resist such an adorable little girl?