Bundle of Joy

Eliana - what a sweet child she is! She is growing to be a bundle of joy, laughter, and goofiness. She loves to waddle about everywhere, but will often come and check where mama is, laugh to get my attention and give me a hug. As you can see, she loves to put our shoes on. She loves to dance and will start swinging her arms and swaying or bopping whenever she hears music. And she is still a cuddly baby (wow, do I feel blessed!). One of her all time favourite activities is to nuzzle her bottom into our laps and to sit and read books. Church nursery workers often tell us what a sweet personality she has and we sure do agree. Thank you Lord for this bundle of joy.

Winter and walking

Hoorah! I can finally update videos! Here is the most recent video of some of Eliana's tricks. Enjoy!

14 months

Wow, has it been 2 months since my last Eliana update? Actually, I'm not too surprised. The last 2 months have seen me out of action while battling that hard but blessed first trimester of pregnancy. I'm 15 weeks now and feeling much better. Eliana certainly makes this pregnancy much more tiring than the first. She is a little go-getter. So... here's how she's grown (and my has she grown!)

She is doing sign language for just about anything we teach her now. She just started saying "Dri" for drink and "no no" while pointing at things she's not allowed to touch so Nate and I have claimed that she is officially saying words. "Doh" for dog was her first word while we were around animals at Grandma's house for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving around extended family in Michigan and then church families in Louisville was a huge blessing. It really helped her learn to be ok around strangers. She still is delighted whenever she sees other children - especially the mobile ones. She loves to follow them and chase them.

She started walking the day before she turned 13 months. She then took about 3 weeks to fully walk and boy do I love that she can walk! No more crawling around on strange floors while we're out. I wish I could figure out how to upload videos on this because she is so adorable!

She is eating anything we eat now (although I tone the spice down for her - poor daddy). Yesterday I discovered that she LOVES peanut butter sandwiches.

Not too long ago I also discovered that you never turn your back on your baby while paint is out! Eliana is usually pretty good when I tell her not to touch something - but this green blob was too irresistible. I came back to find her shirt front, the floor and her teeth covered in green. Her poos where bright green for 2 days afterwards!

She finally loves to read books. She will only let us read books that have bright pictures and few words, (and gets cranky if we stop - even after 6 times through!) but she'll flip through anything on her own.The weather has turned very cold so it's hard for me to take her outside (I think I'm more afraid of the cold than she is) but we loved going for walks and bike rides together while the weather was still nice. We sure are looking forward to March!

1 year check up

Eliana had her one year check up a couple of weeks ago. Here are her stats compared to 9 months:

Weight:

9 months - 16lb 7.5oz/7469g = 10-25th%

12 months - 18lb 12oz/8550g = 10-25th%

Height:

9 months - 28"/71.2cm = 70th%

12 months - 30.5"/77.5cm = 90th%

Head Circumference:

9 months - 17"/43.18 cm = 25th%

12 months - 17.5"/44.5cm = 25-50th%

So, as you can see, Eliana had pretty steady growth except for a decent jump in her height! She has slown down a lot in how much she eats but apparently that's normal for this age. I weaned her from nursing a couple of days ago. I thought it would mean a lot of tears from me but, surprisingly, Eliana seemed to take it harder than I did! She got over it after a day or two though. Breast feeding, or more specifically, struggling to produce enough milk for Eliana, brought me more tears than anything else has in my life! Why did I keep it up? Because I absolutely loved it. It was so kind of the Lord to allow us to make it this far!

What else has Eliana learned this month? She's still not walking but took a few steps on her birthday (after great encouragement from and practice with her mama). I'm not sure she'll be walking any time soon but I'm lapping up the last of these 'baby' days. She has learned to sign "up" and "all done". She has been a constant finger sucker up until now but her 2 favourite fingers are calloused, dry and swollen so Nate and I have started saying "not now" and limiting finger sucking until bed time. To our amazement, she has been wonderful at obeying us in this area! She has spent the last month with congestion and coughing and colds (and fussiness). She is finally starting to get better and I'm so glad to have my happy girl back. I almost forgot how much fun she is when she is at 100%!

If you want to see more photos of Eliana's last 6 months you can go to this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=281097&id=543241773&l=fa43473c23

Eliana's Party

We had Eliana's 1st birthday party yesterday. I made her the red and white dress, hoping to have her look nice and summery, but had to transform it into a winter outfit at the last minute. It turned from 25C/75F and sunny in the morning to about 12C/55F and rainy in time for her 5pm party. We planned to have the party at the local park under cover and didn't have a wet weather plan as it hadn't rained for about 3 months. I guess we forgot there was such a thing! Praise the Lord for life giving rain :).

It cleared up enough to go ahead with the outdoor bbq plan though. Thanks to all the troopers who turned up! We shared Eliana's day with 2 friends that just turned one, Eowyn and Grace.

Below we are blowing out their candles after singing happy birthday. I made Eliana a pumpkin cheesecake, as cheesecake is one of my favourite desserts (and I figured it had a tad bit more nutrition than a cake :). It didn't look the greatest but I guess it was a hit as I came home with an empty tray!

My champion husband mastered the bbq and faced the cold with bare arms as he selflessy lent his jacket to someone else. I love that man. It turned out being a really great time, despite our hopes and prayers for the weather to be nice. God always knows what's best :)

Happy Birthday Eliana

Thank you, Lord, for one wonderful year with our sweet Eliana.

May each year see her grow to know and love the Lord Jesus.

May she turn to Him each day.

May she know Jesus - the Way, the Truth, the Life - for no one comes to the Father but by Him. May she bear the fruit of the Spirit with a glad heart - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control.

Father, thank you for making her ours. Please also make her your own.

Amen.

Eliana 6-11 months

Eliana 6 months:7 months:8 months:

9 months:

11months: ( Apparently I never took any of her during her tenth month!)

Standing!

It is impossible for me to take clear photos of Eliana these days. She never keeps still! Frequently I've pulled the camera out to update her blog but have had zero success rate. Tonight, however, out of 43 shots I got one clear one! And it was the first shot I've taken of her standing on her own! She was fascinated enough with the flower to stand still for 5 seconds. She doesn't stand on her own much, so enjoy this rare display :)

It seems it's better taking videos these days, so you could see my girl on the go, but I'm unable to upload any of them. After my videos have uploaded it says 'error' and won't play them. Anyone else having this trouble? Any advice on how to rectify the problem? Hopefully I can figure it out soon because I have so many videos of Eliana that I know her Grandmas would love to see!

A bucket and a balloon

Eliana in a bucket:

Eliana and her 1st balloon:

11 Months

Eliana is almost 1 year old. We can't believe it. She is such a sweet little thing and still seems much younger to Nate and me. However, she is growing strong. There are a few things that we've been trying to teach her for a looong time it seems, that she finally got the hang of this month...

• she started clapping at the start of Aug
• she learned how to sign "more please" in the high chair (which is really the same as her clapping - she now uses that same sign any time she wants us to give her something or pick her up - it's so much nicer than whining!)
• she is eating many finger foods much better
• she is finally waving 'hello' and 'goodbye'

Each milestone is so exciting to us, but we are in no rush. Every day is so precious and we love watching her grow bit by bit. She has a sweet, bubbly personality. She loves to explore yet still loves long cuddles with her mamma. She is clingy in strange environments. She's great with familiar women but if a man enters the room she'll crawl to me as fast as her little legs and arms go and grab on tight to my neck! She loves playing with other children, and funnily enough, is always tackling them. At a sewing class last month, a lady observed Eliana playing with another child and laughed and said "The dainty one is the rough one!" I thought that was a good portrayal of Eliana.

Ten Months

Eliana turned 10 months yesterday.

There aren't many changes since her 9 month report. A few noteworthy are:

Teeth: Her two top teeth are showing more but are not all the way down yet. My, are they prominent!
Eating: Eliana has started feeding herself some foods. Blueberries have been great for practicing this skill. Banana is no good - she just squishes it between her hands!
Drinking: She has got the hang of her sippy cup now (thankfully because it is sooo hot here!). She needs us to hold it up for her to get water out but she guzzles water freely.
Movement: Still the same. I've noticed that she slouches when she sits, especially from her lower back. I thought babies were meant to have great posture? Any suggestions or tips from anyone on how to correct this?
Talking: I mentioned that at 9 months she may have called me mamma. It turns out it was just a coincidence because she's still not naming anything specifically. She loves to babble and squeal though, and calls to the eagles frequently :)

She is a true delight to us and we thank the Lord for such a joyful, bubbly girl.

Graduation

Eliana recently graduated from this bath....

To the big tub...

She was a bit unsure for approximately one second and then quickly began to take advantage of her new found freedom. It didn't take her long to learn what "sit down" means. She would climb the walls if I let her :)

She thought that it was so great that she asked her friend, Harper, to join her!

Standing?

Daddy told me that Eliana stood on her own for a few seconds today...twice! There is no photo evidence so we'll all have to take Nate's word for it. But to compensate, here are some crazy hair after bath pics:

Nine Months

On the 30th of June Eliana turned 9 months. To celebrate, we went to have her check up.

Weight - 16lb 7.5oz (10th - 25th %)

Height - 28" (50th - 75th %)

Head Circumference - 17" (25th %)

The doc was happy with how she is growing. So are we!

More growth news:

• Favourite foods: avocado, any fruit, egg yolk, chicken and peas, hommus
• Least favourite food: beef
• Favourite Activities: tackling mum, bath time, climbing on our bed, playing with other children, chewing on our lip balm, reading the animal sound book.
• Least favourite activities: nigh-night time, immunisations, losing the lip balm or finishing the animal sound book!
• Personal quirks: Eliana sounds like an eagle when she's excited. She still loves banging on the piano. She scrunches up her nose at Daddy whenever he puts her in the hot car. She lights up whenever Daddy gets home from work. Eliana gives amazing hugs. She likes to cuddle for a bit after nap time. Her smiles still melt hearts. She seems a very social baby. She takes a while to warm up to strangers, but once she's warmed up, she loves them!
• Movement: Eliana is a speedy crawler. She pulls up on things and scoots along. She will grab at anything within her reach, especially if it's unfamiliar. She is just learning how to grab finger foods with her pincer grip. She doesn't put food in her mouth yet, but she'll put anything else in there! She prefers drinking water out of a cup if we hold it, rather than using the sippy lid.
• Feeding and sleeping: She still prefers 3 naps during the day but she's slowly adjusting down to 2 naps. She sleeps great at night. I nurse her 5 times a day. I now wake her up for a feed at 10pm to try and help my milk supply. She eats solids 3 or 4 times a day.
• Teeth: She has her 2 middle bottom tooth and the other day, daddy discovered that her 2 top teeth are cutting through.
• Sounds: Along with her eagle call, she repeats the sounds babba, dadda, mamma. I think that she may have even said mama to me today - she was in someone else's arms, looked at me and said "mama" ... but it could have been a coincidence :).

Pulling Up

Eliana pulled up for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Below is camera proof of her first successful attempt. I didn't get to witness it though. She decided to do it with lots of people in the room, except for her mama. How ungrateful! :)

She pulls up all the time now and so the other day I naturally thought I could capture a video of it. Not a chance. But I uploaded the video anyway because I thought that if your name is Grandma, you'd like to watch Eliana in action as much as I do.

A Day Difference

Today Eliana and Abigail were playing together. Abigail is one day older than Eliana. I think Abigail has been riding the 100th percentile on the growth charts while Eliana has been surfing the zero percentile. Note the difference in the size of their legs! The weight difference didn't stop them having fun together though. They loved stealing each others toys!

Eliana gets her 9 month check up next week. I wonder if she'll still be riding the low waves?

Water Baby

A friend had a pool party recently so we took Eliana to have some fun in the sun. I had tried taking Eliana in the pool a month or two ago. I was keen to have her quickly grow bold in the water so dunked her a few times. It didn't go down so well. I was a bit afraid that I'd turned her off swimming for life.

But as you can see, she forgave me and the water and she had a ball splashing around!

Expectations vs. Realities

Parenting is such a journey of discovery. My latest enlightenment is that my expectations of the crawling stage have turned out to be opposite of what is true (for now.) I thought that crawling would mean chasing Eliana everywhere. It seems that really, I can't get away from her! She chases me around everywhere. Toys are second rate when there is a mum to torment! There is definitely a sweet aspect to having Eliana sit at my feet while I sew or crawl to the kitchen outskirts to watch me wash dishes.

But I'm also subject to daily savage attacks during our mum and bub times as she delights in crawling and drooling all over me, pinching, head butting, and tackling me, and (her favourite, I think) pulling my hair. I tried doing a pilates home DVD during Eliana's wake time the other day. I now think "the hundred" and other floor routines are best confined to nap time!

She daily makes me laugh as I see her unique personality coming out more and more. I thank the Lord that on this journey of discovery, my expectations of parenting have been far exceeded by the wonderful realities.

Eight Months

Eliana turned 8 months old on the 30th of September. She is going well with her crawling. If you visit the Schoen household these days, it's highly likely that you would be greeted by the sound of Eliana excitedly breathing in and out as she explores new territories of the house.

I was a little concerned that the crawling phase would be more exhausting but I had nothing to worry about. Perhaps more effort is required on my behalf, but I haven't even noticed it. Each day with Eliana just gets more fun. She's not pulling up yet, and doesn't seem interested in it. But she does LOVE standing at the piano and bashing away. Hmmmm, a future musician? (No pressure though, sweetie :))

Crawling!... kind of...(:

Ok, so she's not skedaddling across the room like Speedy Gonzalas, but what first time mamma wouldn't call this crawling?

(If you're understandably not keen on watching a 5 minute video of Eliana - skip forward to 3 minutes 20 seconds (: )

A birth story

I've been meaning to write out Eliana's birth story for 7 months now... so here it is:

Eliana's due date - October 1st, 2009

Eliana born - September 30th, 2009, 9:14am - 8lbs

Monday, September 28th, 2009

I went for a swim that morning and had an ordinary day. In the afternoon I felt on and off cramps - something I hadn't felt for 9 months. I walked into the kitchen and told my sister and mother, (we were all living under the same roof at the time) and they seemed pretty sure that this was the beginning of labour.

I slept fine that night, but woke 4 times to use the bathroom. Each time I felt a "contraction" and at about 2am I had a "show". My sister assured me later that if you can sleep through contractions, they're not really contractions:)

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

The contractions got stronger throughout the day but I could still breath through them easily. I went for a long walk before lunch. Nate called from work while I was out to see how I was. He got a bit worried to find that I went out on my own. I was great, however. I sat by the ocean enjoying God's creation and praying for our little 'he or she'. It was midday when I got home and the contractions started stopping me in my tracks. It felt better getting on my hands and knees to breath through them. I was very glad when Nate got home at 4pm. My contractions were 5 minutes apart by now, and lasting about a minute. I'd had many "shows" through the day and they continued right through until Eliana was born. I was very calm and thinking that labour was a breeze. (Ha! Did I have a lot to learn:)) Nate cancelled his tutoring session and I rang the hospital. The midwife probably heard my calm voice and told me to take a bath and ring back when the contractions got stronger and closer together. "Stronger and closer?" I thought, "do they get stronger than this?" I was a bit upset but realised that the midwife probably knew what she was talking about. She sure did!

By 6pm I couldn't eat dinner with everyone as the contractions were incapacitating me. Nate rang the hospital for me. The midwife asked to speak to me but I started crying (more from fear of rejection than the pain). After asking Nate a few questions, she said it would be a good idea to come in. We arrived in the birthing unit about 8pm. I started crying again but the midwife told me that the baby would be hours yet. I again doubted this, but of course, she was right.

They checked my dialation and I was only 3 cm dialated (you need to get to 10cm before you give birth). I was sure that I'd be 8cm! This was very disappointing for me but they let me have a room anyway. Contractions continued to increase in intensity. I could still breath through them but only just. I would drop to all fours and my champion husband tirelessly rubbed on my lower back, which helped a lot! The midwives changed shift. My new midwife came in. Did you ever have a very strict, over worked, unsympathetic teacher in school? I think that's how I would describe my new midwife. She checked my dialation at midnight. I was still only 3 cm dialated. Oh, how this crushed all 3 of us (I was blessed to have both Nate and my mother in the labour room with me). My strict midwife told me that I really should be at home but that she'd let me stay because it was 1am. She told me to take some every day paracetamol (it was like putting a band aid on an amputated leg, if it did anything at all!) and try and sleep. I obeyed like a good student. My contractions were varying anywhere between 2 minutes and 6 minutes apart. My faithful husband was at my back with each one. I tried to cat nap between each one (there was no sleeping through these babies!). I could no longer breath through them and would generally moan "Ohh Nate, it hurts." I threw up after one because of the pain. We were all very exhausted.

I commanded Nate and Mum to try and sleep while I had a shower. Amazingly, the shower helped a little. Whenever my midwife came to check on me, she reminded me that I should be at home and that the baby might not come for days. This didn't help. She didn't bother checking my dialation at 4am. I asked for happy gas (like what the dentists use. They use happy gas in Australia because it has no side effects and wears off as soon as you stop breathing it). She turned me down and basically told me that my contractions were too irregular for me to deserve any pain relief.

At 5am it was time for a new strategy. I had been trying to relax for my mum because she had all four of her babies under 3 hours and relaxing was how she did it. This wasn't working for me so I started bouncing on the swiss ball. Nate asked to take me for a walk but I was too scared in case I saw my strict midwife frown on me. I started crying again. Nate and mum convinced me to not worry about anyone else. We walked the hospital corridors, stopping for my very painful contractions. After one particular intense one I had to rush back to the birthing unit and throw up again. I only just made it!

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

At 6am we were all extremely exhausted. I was feeling discouraged from the constant reminder that my baby was going to be days away. Each contraction floored me and all I could do was moan. Nate was always at my back and trying to encourage me to breath. I had really wanted a natural birth but sleep sounded better at this time. I could hear the lady in the next room SCREAMING. It made me think "I can hardly bear my contractions now, and I still have days to go - and I still have to experience that kind of pain... I think I need an epidural so that I can rest." I asked Nate, who was hesitant but consented. I started crying again from exhaustion and being down hearted. My Mum rang our family and asked them to pray.

At 7am the midwives changed shift again. In came midwife Leanne, sent by God. After reading the report from my strict midwife, she told me that she would ask the doctors at 8am if they could break my waters, otherwise the baby may be days. My contractions were still irregular - from 2 - 5 minutes apart. I asked her for an epidural so that I could sleep. She said no because my contractions were still irregular and I hadn't even tried gas yet.

The next series of things seemed to last 5 minutes.

Leanne hooked me up to the gas and checked my dialation. "This isn't working!" I quietly and calmly (not) told Nate as another unbearable contraction engulfed. Leanne checked my dialation and said - "Woah, you're not going anywhere! You're 6-8cm dialated!" Eliana had also 'done a meconium' inside the womb which made Leanne worry. She broke my waters without waiting for a doctor's consent and said - "O.k. you're 10cm dialated - you're ready to push!" That was the end of the gas. It was 8am.

"Praise the Lord!" I cried out! After being told an hour ago that my baby may not come for days, but now being ready to push was an absolute, wonderful miracle to me. Leanne told us that she was a Christian too and asked if she could pray for me before I started pushing.

Somewhere in all of this my strict midwife came in. She had been held up by another difficult birth and came to say goodbye before she left. I thought she had given up on me long ago. She looked down on me proudly as I was preparing to push and simply said, "Good girl." I felt a gush of pleasure. It's funny the type of people we long to please...

Pushing was by far the hardest part of the labour for me. One, because I was spent of all my energy, and two, because I thought it was meant to be the easy part. It wasn't. I had Nate and mum by my side. I started pushing with all my meager might and screaming at the same time. Apparently that's not the way to do it. Leanne taught me how to position myself, and to concentrate my energy on the pushing, not the screaming. Oh, it was tough. My mum later told me that my face went beet red and the veins by my temples looked about to burst. Nate and Mum were so encouraging through all of this. I think I would have given up without my amazing husband's strong and loving affirmation that came each time I needed it. After an hour of pushing with each contraction, then snoozing in between (I was sooo tired) a little head came in view. This was good news.

15 minutes later, at 9:14am, that longed for sound could be heard. The sweet cry of a new born.

Nate pulled the baby out and cut the cord. They put the baby on my breast. "What are you?" I asked. Nate looked and told me she was a girl. God had given us the perfect little Eliana Ruth.

The story only half ends there though. A lot goes on after the baby comes out! The best of it was that Eliana was healthy and never had to leave my room. The worst was that I lost just enough blood for it to be called a hemorrhage but it was too much blood loss for my body to handle. Women can lose more blood than I did and be on their feet in a few hours. I still couldn't get out of bed the next day. I had tried twice the day Eliana was born. The first time Nate had to catch me as I fainted in the shower and the second time the midwives had to catch me as I fainted while trying to get in a wheel chair. The midwives allowed me to stay in the birthing unit, which was wonderful because it meant that Nate could stay the night with me. He was still tirelessly caring for me and even held Eliana to nurse on me while I slept. The next day a doctor tried to get me up. He apparently thought I was a softy and wanted to show everyone that I was fine. He had to catch me too.They ended up giving me 2 blood transfusions. After this I was tip top and on my feet.

Thank you to everyone who prayed. Thank you to my Nate, who proved to me again through the whole labour that he is the most amazing husband who ever lived. And thank you to my Heavenly Father, who allowed me to give birth in Australia, to have my mother with me and family around me, and who gave us Eliana Ruth. 7 months later she still gives me so many reasons to praise our mighty Creator.

Baby Sitting

Eliana still hasn't worked out the crawling motion but today she figured out how to go from her tummy to sitting up. Here is the end result:

She is such a sweet baby. I see her Grandma Larter in her a lot (and somehow her Uncle Baz, too!)

Toothy Pegs

Eliana is doing much better at sitting up now. She gets on her hands and knees all the time but hasn't figured out the forwards part. She can almost go from hands and knees to sitting up but one leg gets stuck behind. It's fun watching her trying to figure out how to get out of stuck positions or new ways to move.

Look at that straight back! Whatever happened to our posture???!

I finally got a shot of Eliana's teeth popping up. Look closely:)