Alexia's First Haircut. I Don't Wanna Talk About It

It all started a couple weeks ago. Two days in a row Alexia woke up from each nap with fistfuls of hair. I’m talking fistfuls. After hearing her cry out during one of her naps, I found her psychotically pulling at the hair falling over her eyes. So sad, yet creepy. So that very night I impulsively decided I was going to cut her bangs. Unfortunately, Ryan was on the phone and had no idea what I was up to, because maybe he could have talked some sense into me. I sat Alexia on the kitchen floor and let her go at it with my purse. I quickly took the scissors and attempted to cut her side-sweeping bangs. Why is it that you always go overboard and cut that last chunk waaaay too much? As I was staring at the small curl in the palm of my hand (Alexia still rifling through my purse), Ryan walked in and gave me the saddest look, making me finally snap back to reality and realize what I had just done. I have been an avid bang-hater for girls (sorry if your girl has bangs). And I had just given my daughter bangs. I also simultaneously made her look like a toddler more than ever! I honestly didn’t want to talk about it for a couple days. I made sure her hair was up in a ponytail or a barrette at all times so no one else would notice, because I really just didn’t want to talk about it. How is it possible to feel guilty over a haircut?! It’s like I singlehandedly took away some of her cuteness. Sigh.

Okay, enough with the drama though. The new haircut is growing on me. Or maybe I’m convincing myself it was “practical” and “necessary” as our daughter was inflicting pain on herself in order to get the hair out of her eyes. So here are the before and after shots of the new ‘do.

Before:

After:

A Daddy's Girl

Alexia is a daddy’s girl through and through. If Ryan is home, his attention must be on her at all times. If he dares to go out of the room, she takes off in a speed crawl after him crying the whole way. There have been many instances where I am ready and willing to hold her or play with her until he gets back, but she keeps right on going – crawling past me – crying for Daddy. Low and behold, one of her few first words included “Dada”. She literally follows him around wherever he goes, so much so that we call her his “sidekick”. Although, she's more like his shadow. If she could be permanently attached to Ryan, she would.

Here they are gardening together (Ryan has the green thumb in our family):

So for Father’s Day, I gave Ryan a baby bike seat so the two of them can have some quality time together.

And here she is crying, because she wants Ryan to hold her:

It’s funny, there haven’t been any jealousy issues with me taking care of Naiya, instead the battle is for Daddy’s attention.

Our Green Baby

This sticker came off of a gift for Naiya (Alexia is actually sporting the gift: pj bottoms) - 100% Organic. This reminds me of something I did when I was a little girl...I stuck a Chiquita banana sticker on my forehead and earned the nickname "Banana Head" which I am still referred to as by my aunt, uncle and cousin.

Day at the Beach

The girls and I have spent a few afternoons hanging out at the beach outside Ty and Jenna’s place down the road from us. It has been surprisingly relaxing, even with both the girls. Alexia is good about staying on the beach towels, but we have to keep an eye on her in order to avoid her eating handfuls of sand.

As a side note, I love to tell the story about the contrast of her and her cousin Sterling in regards to sand (dirt, etc.). While Sterling was walking around waving his sandy hands saying “ew!”, begging his mom (Tanya) to wipe them off, I look over at my little girl just in time to see her staring at the sand covering her hand, and then licking the sand right off her palm.

This particular day shown in the pictures, Alexia stood on her own for the first time. Auntie Jenna was feeding her pickles and Alexia didn’t even realize she was performing the next milestone until we started screaming “Yaaaaaay!!” and clapping our hands. She then continued to perform for us about 20 times in a row, every time saying “Yaaaay!” at herself and smiling back at us. She has since then stood on her own at her own leisure, but has no desire to walk yet. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying my ability to keep up with her for now.

Obsession With Ice

So it is nearly impossible to enjoy a nice, cold drink of ice water around Alexia because of her obsession with ice. I have actually recently switched to drinking water withOUT ice in order to avoid her choking-prone habit. There are exceptions to where I will let her indulge herself, like when we’re with family and her cousin Sterling is all but submerging himself into the ice cooler. But for the most part, the anxiety I get while watching her eat (and sometimes choke on) ice is not worth it. I must say that if I could get over my fear of her choking, ice could be a great alternative to a babysitter. Given the opportunity, Alexia would quietly feed herself ice for hours on end (I’m really not kidding) as you can see in these pictures, where she sucked on a huge block of ice until her cheeks were on the verge of frostbite and fingers purple.

Look Who's Walking

Look Who's Talking

One Month Old Comparison

Alexia 1 Month:

Naiya 1 month:

Maybe She's Not So Bad After All

Reasons Alexia is learning to love her baby sister:

1. She can store and eat Cheerios off Naiya at her leisure
2. The infant car seat has made a comeback and is now a jungle gym
3. Giving Naiya kisses earns major brownie points with Mom & Dad
4. There are even more fuzzy blankies around the house now
5. The nostalgia of the “pacie” (pacifier) has led to secret sucking sessions when Mom isn’t looking
6. Alexia gets even more of Daddy’s attention since Mama has to take care of Naiya

Happy 1st Birthday Alexia! 05.22.09

Click for more photos from Alexia's 1st Birthday Party

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Us girls snuck in this picture and used it to make a card for Ryan. Two girls by the second Father’s Day, that deserves a celebration.

Yes, Alexia...She's Staying

So in response to your question, “How is Alexia handling the new transition?”. This picture was taken shortly after Daddy had to put Baby Naiya on the cold, hard ground in order to accommodate Alexia’s jealous tears.

“Dear Alexia: We PROMISE there will be enough love to go around. Love, Mommy & Daddy”

It's A(nother) Girl!

Click for more photos from Naiya's Birth

Naiya May joined us 14 days early on Thursday, June 4th at 7:45 a.m. She weighed 7.6 pounds and was 20 inches long.

This time around, I switched to a midwife center late in my third trimester. The midwife on-call was Dona, a friend of our family since having delivered both Tanya’s (Ryan’s sister) boys, and she goes to our church. She was fabulous and made me so thankful for the last minute switch from OB to midwife. She was in the room throughout my whole labor (also keeping Ryan company while I slept through the end of my labor), and allowed Ryan to “catch” the baby, announce to me “it’s a girl” and cut the umbilical cord.

Naiya spent her first day being called “Baby Girl Grossman” as Ryan and I balked on the name we had agreed on a couple weeks earlier. Ryan actually was online searching for baby names while timing my contractions that morning at 2:30 a.m. And during my labor (while I was medicated and resting) I heard him going over names with Dona, trying to get her opinion. Alas, we settled on Naiya, a name conjured up from Ryan liking the name Maya, and my hearing and liking the name Anaiya while overhearing a mom calling her daughter’s name at the grocery store. And May is Ryan’s grandmother’s (on his dad’s side) middle name. Our newest baby girl is now lovingly referred to as “Naiya Papaya”.

Now you see the belly...Now you won't!

HALLELUJAH!!!!!! Who knew one of the first things I would be excited about in the labor and delivery room is that I’M NOT PREGNANT ANYMORE! Yes, I was thankful for a healthy baby girl, for a 6 hour labor, for only 20 minutes of pushing, but after being pregnant for two straight years I would have jumped up and done a little dance had the epidural not turned my legs into jelly. Reality check that it’s time to get on some kind (any kind!) of contraceptive:

Doctor: “Mrs. Grossman, when was your last menstrual period?”

Shan: “Um, August 2007.”

Guess Who's Back

Okay, back by popular demand (no, not really), I have decided to take another stab at the blog world. Funny how a year goes by and I try again. What is this, the 5th time now? I think it’s because I’ve realized my time is limited now with two little girls under 13 months, and my ability to keep in touch and update those we love is even less than it was before! But there is so much I want to share about our transition to a family of four, so here I am again. Enjoy.

28 Weeks

Here I am at 28 weeks. I find myself longing for summer to be here (or at least a warm spring), so I can sport cotton skirts and gouchos. As much as I love my maternity jeans, they are becoming slightly uncomfortable to wear as an all-day outfit.

Upon getting a belly, I was warned by many friends that random strangers would find it their duty to rub pregnant bellies. However, I haven’t really had this happen just yet. Although I was caught off guard while at the grocery store, when a middle-aged man saw me rubbing my sore belly and commented, “Rubbing it for good luck?” To add to this, Ryan now likes to use endearing nicknames, such as this morning, his “little pot-bellied pig” (he also assured me many people have pot-bellied pigs as pets because they’re so cute). But don’t worry, before anyone decides to jump in on my behalf, I am aware he does this all in fun (most of the time I know this), and he makes sure to tell me frequently that he thinks I am a beautiful pregnant woman.

My biggest discomfort right now is the middle of my back. Torture for me is to be stuck in the car for too long. Especially in other peoples’ cars, where I usually don’t feel the freedom to accomodate myself to the more comfortable position of laying on my side. My sleeping routine now includes waking to go to the bathroom a minimum of two times, sleeping with a pillow either in between my legs or tucked underneath my belly, and then a constant switching of which side I sleep on (Ryan complains that the nightly result of this is that I steal the covers). If you would have told me I had this to look forward to, I would have dreaded it. To my surprise though, I don’t complain too much, because I usually wake up feeling rested each morning. And this, I truly make a point to appreciate, because I know I don’t have much longer to claim that I feel “rested”.

’Til next week…

27 Weeks

I made my second cross-country trip being pregnant. This time I had a great experience flying to my hometown San Ramon, California. I had a direct flight from Baltimore to San Francisco, 5 hours each way, and it was fabulous! That’s the way to fly cross-country. I flew United and the time flew by with free movies and sitcom shows (The Office!). Both ways I also had the middle seat free too.

My reason for going home was to attend a baby shower my girlfriends from high school threw for me. So sweet. I stayed with my aunt and uncle since my dad now lives in Idaho. A huge blessing was that my cousin, Jason, and his wife, Sara, coincidentally planned to come home the same weekend. So it was so nice to spend time with both of them, because it had been over a year since seeing them last (they now live in Seattle, WA).

The shower was such a fun reunion of all of my high school friends and some of their moms, some of whom I have known since elementary school! A few of them made the trip up from SoCal, contributing to the day’s meaningfulness. Of all my girlfriends, FIVE of us are pregnant! So fun. Here are some pictures from the wonderful shower. Cute decorations of onesies and booties (which I got to take home with me) and an amazing cake to match the nursery:

And here are all the girls:

And the preggos:

(L-R): Mel (12 weeks), Shan (27 weeks), Kristina (25 weeks), Nicole (12 weeks)

26 Weeks

Not too much has happened since last week. Our baby is still active as ever. In this picture I’m sporting my first maternity shirt, given by my Aunt Debbi. I received it for Christmas and found it hard to imagine actually fitting into it properly. Oh, what a few months will do!

25 Weeks

I officially feel like my belly is big. But I’m enjoying it, and finding it hard to comprehend how I still have more than three months to go. I can’t imagine how lopsided I’m going to look pretty soon! I’m hoping being “belly heavy” isn’t too uncomfortable for me to bear. I’m also learning about myself, mostly how I really don’t tolerate being uncomfortable too well. Oh well. Ryan likes to remind me that it’s “mind over matter”. Whatever.

I’m still enjoying feeling the baby move, it’s always a race to get Ryan’s hand fast enough to my belly to feel it for himself. Usually, our baby is done entertaining by the time Ryan can get there.

No other news to report at this time…

24 Weeks

Thought it would be fun to show week by week progress of my growing belly. Ryan and I often feel it grows overnight!

At 24 weeks, I’ve been feeling a lot of movement. Not so much kicking, but it feels more like a muscle twitch in my stomach. I was worried movement would be uncomfortable, but it has actually been an enjoyable experience. It’s one of the few things that make me feel especially connected to our baby. Otherwise, I often forget I am pregnant. I consider that a good thing however, since it is a reflection of how great I am feeling at this point of my second trimester.

I’m sporting my first pair of maternity jeans in this photo. Although I was probably all too eager to transition into elastic waist bands!

Until next week….