Gwendolyn

In May we found out we were finally expecting our 4th child. I had a rough first trimester and slept my way through to July. Addy was great and took naps with me and Dilly didn't get into too much trouble when I slept. Summer came and in late July we pulled both Elnorra and Cordelia out of school after 1 day for a week long trip to a family reunion in the Bay area. Anni, Ben's sister, and I were pregnant at the same time and got to compare swollen feet and the trials of traveling while pregnant. In late October I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and had to be very careful what I ate and remained diet controlled. In November we traveled to Anni's house in Anaheim, CA and I came home with a slight cold that turned into 4 weeks of disability (I even got a temp handicap permit initially meant for the lousy parking lot at CPAC (Center for Performing Arts), where both my bands rehearse) and more than 6 weeks total illness. I don't think I have ever been that sick for that long, I was so sick being 7 and 8 months pregnant were the least of my worries. I recovered in time to watch my diet carefully and only cheated on 2 parties during the holiday season and the start of Birthday season in our house. 3 days before my due date when I was still hopeful of a natural birth at the birth center (I had been driving nearly and hour for each prenatal appointment on hopes of delivering there, I had a 3rd ultra sound to check the baby's growth, the tummy was measuring 41 weeks and the head 39 weeks and some days so a doctor I have never meet and has only seen my limited medical record tells me not only can I not deliver at the birth center that if I am a week overdue they will simply do a C-section and that my kids defiantly couldn’t be there due to hospital policy. I had spent 8 months of preparing my older children what to expect at the birth. I was devastated, I had worked so hard to stay healthy and keep my blood sugars under control (1800 calories a day? couldn't even break 1000 when on a strict under 100 carb per day diet} I stared my pregnancy chubbier than I wanted at 192 but ended at 198 after making it to 208 at one point. My in-laws drove down from Provo, UT to Sahuarita, AZ for the birth. They arrived the night before my due date. Monday morning the 7th of January 2013 I puttered around, finished up a tuba chem clean, decided to go out and play tourist with the in-laws and walked all around the Biosphere2 with them, nothing doing. Tuesday had a normal check up, meanwhile my van stopped starting and I had to jump-start it to get to my Thursday appointment where my blood pressure was high so they sent me to the hospital. The midwife of the day asked me if I had my bag in the car since I lived so far away, I said, “yes, it’s been there for two weeks” and she gave me a hug and said “good girl.” The Tucson Medical Center (TMC) security guy came and jumped the van to get us from the birth center to the hospital (via Burger King). After finding the maternity ward and being assigned a room I told the midwife how sad I was that my kids couldn’t be there and she said of course they can come. My mom was so excited that instead of waiting 20 minutes for school to get out she picked up my big girls early. At 1:30 pm the midwife, Maya Adams, (my favorite) broke my water, in 2 hours I was in true labor and for all the worry about shoulder distortia Gwendolyn Marie Shaffer came at 5:41pm in a single push. Elnorra was a wonderful doula and I was happy to have my husband, daughters, mom and in-laws present at the birth. My sister pulled into the parking lot the same moment baby came. After the in-laws took the tired and happy girls with new baby dolls of their own home I lost a lot of blood and was hemorrhaging so badly they give me a lot of coagulants and kept me in the delivery room a long time. I was given medicine to numb while the doctor checked for pieces of placenta. Because of the blood loss I stayed in delivery room longer than normal with actually meant I had baby with me the whole time and she was not sent off to the nursery until 24 hours later. I had massive bruising from the first attempt at an IV port, which then had the blood pressure cuff automatically going off causing the bruising to become horrendous. The second IV location didn’t allow me to bend my wrist and the 3rd was good until day 3 and the second dose of Iron (I didn’t accept the offer of a transfusion because I really felt stable and much better on day 2). 3 months later I still have a small mark where the IV iron left it’s entrance mark. The security guy jumped the van again to get us home, several days later I just bought a new battery, who would have thought that the battery would just die suddenly and just when I was having my baby when we bought the van expecting it to be reliable just for that occasion! Murphy’s law. The hospital kept giving my high carb foods with ice tea and dairy. I even waited to be discharged for the lunch that came very late and was macaroni and cheese, even though I had told them every time that I had gestational diabetes and was lactose intolerant. The good news is that the turkey sandwiches they always had on hand in the ward fridge were fabulous and I was hungry! The midwife said once I delivered it should be over so the system did not list me as a diabetic patient, but I was loopy and my blood sugars through the roof, and my body took a few weeks to even out again. After having such a disappointment about thinking worst case scenario 3 days before my due date I was very happy with the birth experience and it was worth the long drives to have a midwife in the hospital where we were all given the natural healthy experience with needed medical intervention. With the exception of the blood loss it really was an ideal birth.

Tired Girl

Tired girl.
Location : 1301 W Calle De Cobre, Sahuarita, AZ 85629,
Posted via Blogaway

Elnorra sleeping at grandee's on our date night.

Addy finally took her first steps a few days before 17months old.

 

Addy at 10 months old finally wore the toes out of the size 3m "footie" we received as a baby gift for Elnorra in 2005.

Adelaide is 6 months old! In the favorite pink footie and she has outgrown the cradle.

 

Adelaide is out of the hospital! On Tuesday Windy took Adelaide to the doctor because she was coughing a lot and had been sick for a few days. We became concerned about her when she seemed to have difficulty breathing. Much to our surprise and panic he recommended she go directly to the hospital by ambulance. After four days there she is much better. She had RSV which is a common virus only dangerous to small babies. Thankfully it was not anything more serious.

Adelaide's first smile

Elnorra's 5th birthday

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Adelaide Emily Shaffer on the 1st of January 2010! Happy New Year! Born at 2:20 am she weighed 8 pounds and 12 ounces (4 Kilos EXACTLY to the gram!) and was 21 ¼” tall.

Benjamin, Windy, Elnorra (nearly 5 years), Cordelia (2 1/2 years) and Adelaide (8 hours old)

The official due date..ready and waiting.

Phrases of the day:
Elnorra (age 4 and a half):
I took just the right much, I got 3 many, not 2 many.

Dilly (age 2 and a half):
This morning where me going?
Tomorrow morning where us going?

Elnorra at co-op pre-school at our house, making "C" for Cookie with cookie dough.

Baby #3 is healthy and active in the womb.

Dilly's Phrase of the week:
Silly me

Dilly's phrase of the week:
Where us going?

Baby #3's heartbeat heard today at the first prenatal appointment. 11 weeks and 3 days gestational age.

Dilly's phrases of the week:
Open this mommy
Come, Mommy

Elnorra's phrase of the day:

"Biting yourself is like spiders." Dilly bit her lip and was crying.

Dilly's word(s) and/or phrase(s) of the day:
Pizza
Me can (sound like Obama's campaign slogan?)
One buckled (pointing to an overall buckle)
Buckles

"My birthday"
"two"
"chocolate"

Important things for a 2 year old to say. *wink*

Play date for lunch, a nice nap and Peter Piper Pizza for Dinner-what more could a little girl want- oh yeah, the free Cold Stone ice cream (chocolate with M&M's)

2 Apr
Open mine
Swim
Under
Me cold (it is only April after all and water makes us all cold)

1 Apr
Library
Duck
Momma's car

31 mar
-Zoo trip-
Giraffe
Lion
Bird
Turtle
Mickey
Monkeys
Lion
Snake

30 mar
Box
Table
Yogurt
Shower
To pa par toliet paper
Toe
DD's car
My favorite phrase so far -"Help-zeeses"

29 mar
Bless you (daddy sneezed)
Church

27 mar
Pocket

25 Mar
Apple
Swings high
"El fant" elephant
Want this one
Done now

24 Mar
It's sinking
Nap
oopsie doodle (super cute)
More please

23 Mar
Ring
Yogurt

22 Mar
Cranberry
Book
Carrots
Snacks
Baby doll

Dilly loves to sing

We became members of the Tucson Zoo March 31. This is the first annual membership we have bought for the girls. They were so happy to see the animals and so cute telling us about their day. Elnorra said she would help "take care of [her] sister in case she saw any scary animals, like a tiger." They were also very excited to feed the giraffe! Windy, DD, and the girls had a great day and went shopping too. Too bad I had to work. -Ben. Elnorra told me all about it when I got home. Especially about the giraffe which grabbed his food with his really long tongue.

Flamingos







Our little 1 legged flamingos.

Dilly's word(s) and phrase(s) of the day:
"cinn-mon" - cinnamon

Dilly's words of the day:
Table
Stickers

Dilly's words and phrase of the day
Nuts
Rice
Purple
Shirt
Map
Our car

Dilly video

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
More Milk
My _______ (it's all about possession)
Stop

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Tuba (after seeing just my mouthpiece) makes her momma proud :}

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Tuba- after seeing a mouthpiece

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Dice
Hunny

Dilly's Words of the Day:
Salt
Seed

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
My bubbles
Pooh pooh
Pee pee
Potty

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Share
BA BA-bottle
Ride- piggyback
Sound

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Money
See hat- as she put a stool on top of her head
Ta da
Gum

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Spicy

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Soap
I love you

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
I see you
Blue
Red
Green said to wrong colors was repeating what are heard

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Two
Braids
Here go mommy
Wait
Reach
Bounce
Sock

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Broke
Hands
Share

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
On
Off
Water

Dilly in mommy's shoes

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Snake

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Cookie
Milk

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
BlackBerry
Rasberry
Blueberry

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Shoes
Drink

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Fish- pointing at the lake in Patagonia, AZ
Boats

Elnorra "I am full, can I have candy?"

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Pants

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Dress as in to get dressed
Knife
Light
Juice

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Dress as in article of clothing

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Rock
Eat

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
A mouse
Mean
Share
Star
Day
Berry

Dilly's Word(s) or Phrase(s) of the day:
Walk

Dilly's words and phrases of the day:
Soap
Hide
Wall-E
Wipe
Pants
Park
Bath
Peas Please (they were actually beets, but it was so cute and at least it was a vegetable)
Thank You Mommy

Dilly's words of the day:
Clock
Nose
Hi

Elnorra's 4th birthday party

Dilly's words and phrases of the day:
Cake
"ank ooh" Thank you

Dilly's words of the day:
Teeth

Dilly's words and phrases of the day:
Yuck
There you go

Dilly's word of the day:
Hat

Dilly's words of the day:
Candy (sounds a lot like daddy so sometimes I willfully misunderstand since she's currently throwing all out tantrums if I don't give her candy and I don't want her to eat candy ALL the time.
Dark

Word explosion:
Car
Ball
"I cold" I'm cold
"key" binky (passifier)
Elnorra
"It here" It is here
I love you

Dilly's words of the day:
Clock
Slide

Dilly's words of the day:
"Be-boo" belly button from Sandra Boynton's "The Belly Button Book"
"pop" Popcorn

Phrase of the day:
"ere go" Here you go.

Dilly's phrase of the day:
"ere go" Hear you go

She is now saying whole sentences with the correct inflection, but I can't understand, but she obviously is saying something.

Mommy says "Say bubbles"
Dilly says "pop"

Dilly's words of the day:
Pizza
"pop" popcorn
water

Dilly's Phrase of the day:
"ery is-ms" Merry Christmas

Dilly's word of the day:
Windy

Today Dilly climbed out of her crib several times. Yipes! Now we have to convert the crib to a toddler bed wheather I like it or not! I'm not ready for her to have this freedom...

Dilly's word of the day:
Mine

Dilly's word of the day:
Baby

Dilly's word of the day:
Paper

Dilly's Phrase of the day:
Bring me to mommy.

Dilly's word of the day:
"ank" Thank you accompanied with sign

Dilly's First verbal apology

"orry" Sorry coordinated with her sign language sorry.

Dilly's Phrase of the day:
"And That"-She wanted the cheese with her cracker.

Dilly's Word of the Day
Grandpa (Grandpa Shaffer is visiting for Thanksgiving)

Dilly's word of the day
"unk" Skunk

As it is Thanksgiving, she does say thank you in Sign language all the time, she also signs food, pacifier, done, sorry and please.

Dilly's word of the day
eye-responding to a game with daddy, he said eye, she pointed to her own eye and clearly said "eye"

Dilly's Word of the day:

"Mon-kee-ee" Monkey (Reading Curious George with Grandee)

Dilly's words of the day
Bowl
Book

Dilly's word of the day
"boon" Balloon

Dilly's wrist is much better and the pediatrician didn't find mention of a fracture in the Urgent care's formal report and Dilly was acting like it hurt her so much less that we took off the splint, she has a bad infection on the side of her hand where the splint had pinched it and that took an additional 2 weeks to heal but she's backup to full speed now.

Dilly's word of the day:
Up-wanting to get out of her crib first thing in the morning.

Words of the day (Dilly):
"He" help
"Gra" Grandee

She was even singing her own quite version of the ABC song...

So cute, and she does hear it a lot from her older sister.

Her favorite song is "The Wheels on the Bus" as no matter how loud she is crying and for how long, that song always calms her down (at least while we are singing....) She also knows several of the hand motions that go with the song.

Word of the day:

Cup "Cu"
Cracker "Cra"

Mischief and trouble...

Elnorra went down for her quiet time quite nicely, except that she didn't really go down, in fact she woke up her sister and took her out of the crib and started playing with her.

Dilly was outside playing and decided that a cactus looked like a nice thing to touch. She's already woken up several times in the night to voice her discomfort.

I have used tweezers and scotch tape, and I'm sure I've improved the situation, but I just read a medical journal online (http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol7num2/unknown/cholla/cholla2.html) that says that tape can make the situation worse by only breaking off the top, not removing the barb. This article recommends removing the tiny cacti spines is to first use tweezers and then use Elmer's glue, let dry completely and then peel off. Now that's a good idea, but just how am I going to keep a 19 month old still long enough for the stuff to dry? Sneak up on her while she's sleeping and wake up to find it in her hair an everywhere else she's flopped! Trust me she moves a lot when sleeping.

Dilly's words of the day:
Dog
Cat

Dilly's Word of the Day:
"Boon" Baloon

Phrase of the day (Dilly)
Tha i "there it is"

Word of the day (Dilly)
Oh-oh

Phrase of the day (Elnorra)
"What can I do to help?"

Dilly's finally talking. She's been babbling for a long time and has used her favorite syllable "that" as her all purpose word/sound for many months. Today she finally repeated after me: say momma "mommy" then say daddy "ba-ba". Ah ha! The light of comprehension has been lit. Or she's just willing to lower her intellectual standards to finally humor her parents. Within the last week she's been saying Mommy, Ba-Ba/Da-da/Daddy as well as "owwie", dog and cat, but refused to repeat to let us know she's really comprehending and deliberately saying things. With her hand in a splint I though I even heard her her say "owwie mommy" ...

I'm excited that mommy is the first "official repeat after me word" as Elnorra took over a year of talking before she said "mom" in any variety!

1-2-3-4-5-8-11

Learning to count. Elnorra has a lot of fun singing numbers, she has 1 to 5 down and then skips to 8 and then goes to 11. Repeating 8-11 as her favorite combination. She also throws in an occasional 82.

She's almost grown out of saying eleven-teen. But it's so cute I have to mention that it was a common occurrence for a couple of months.

The vicissitudes of life

First trip to the Urgent Care

Our first medical trauma. Friday night, seemingly without any cause Cordelia started crying and holding her wrist. When she still seemed to be in real pain after dinner and a snuggle with mama we figured that she was probably hurt badly enough to warrant a trip to the urgent care. We took her and they thought it was probably a fractured wrist! Well, we have been keeping it in this splint and icing it often. She has had some bad swelling and pain but now, two weeks later, it is beginning to seem comfortable again. Her pediatrician said that he cannot confirm an actual fracture, which is good news I suppose but now we are just playing it by ear and trying to encourage her to go easy on it. Here is a picture of her napping (the only time lately she can hold still) with her splint.

Cordelia's first hair cut! Just a trim of the bangs to keep her hair out of her eyes.

Glass-Glasses

Dilly does not yet have any words, but really understands a lot of what is going on. Today Grandee wanted to know if she liked the new drinking glasses she bought. She asked Dilly about the glass and Dilly immediately pointed to Grandee's reading glasses. Well at least she's making a connection. This reminds of the time when Elnorra brought me a straw when I was talking about STRAWberries.

Quiet time, Jaden's mommy and Sweet Sisters.