Day 1

This event is so different from when we had Nyssa. Nyssa was a blur, I was exhausted and spastic and in the end I didn't remember anything. Yesterday, was a nice day. Pretty much we sat around and napped, I watched TV, and played with Leila (pronounced Layla), Nyssa came to visit twice. She was a visiting Champ! Although maybe not the most gentle champion ever, she is more gentle than most.

Both Katy and I were surprised by how excited she was to see BB Leila. Nyssa has been, for the most part, ambivalent about learning about the baby, hardly ever bringing her up, but yesterday she ran in from the parking garage. We'll see how long the cooling down process is.


So, the way it went down was that Katy was spitting out her mucus plug on Friday afternoon and we had a Appointment with the Midwife, who thought Katy would have 3-12 more days (she said 7-12 and then 3-4 after the fact) and when Katy said she was having contractions, "Oh, those are
normal they could go on for a long time." We went home had dinner with our friends Zach and Darci and their baby Oscar, and Katy's contractions were getting to the point where she could bugged her. They left, Katy got ready for bed and was like, "I'm going to have these contractions for 12 days?" and we called our friend Jess, "Would you like to come up and try a test run, because we are feeling contractionish, but the midwife said it was a no go for today," because now they were painful enough to stop here. Jess said no, but she would come up for waffles and hamsteak in the morning. We were like, lets see what happens and I went to sleep. About 45 min later Katy said, lets go to the hospital so we called Jess and told her to come up. She was so great, spending the night with our dogs and her dog on our sofa. And then spending most of yesterday playing with Nyssa. We wouldn't have been able to do it without her.

After only 3 hours of hot and heavy hospital labor we had Leila. Katy was a baby bearing champ. She doesn't know it, but she has a high tolerance for pain and discomfort. For instance, today she is already complaining about taking 4 ibuprofen, thinking she's done it 3 times and should now only take 2. I am really proud of her.

Here we are in the hospital bed, all one big family. What strikes me is how happy and excited Nyssa looks. I have seen lots of photos of her, and these smiles are genuine.

One palliative step we took was to have baby Leila give Nyssa a gift when she came to visit her at the hospital, so we gave Nyssa a wash and play doll. Nyssa loved the present, but was visibly confused about how Leila could have given it to her. She's tiny after all.

For myself, I have mastered the art of looking far more tired than I really am. as a way to get people like Sarah Muermann to feel sorry for me. Because if you can make her feel sorry for you, you can get sympathy from anyone!

Really, I am just happy to be here, excited to learn about what baby Leila is going to do and watch the relationship between her and Nyssa grow. It is my fervent wish that they becomes allies and friends.



And, because the technologies allow it so easily, a video:

3 hours old

A final photo before the baby came out. After this smile, everything came fast. Katy was great to watch, trying to be proper and polite while swearing like a docker.

This was a totally different experience than Nyssa's birth, which was an all day affair, where we were able to work out a rhythm and work as a team.
With Leila, Katy was so nausious and hurried, that she was more like a women you'd see on TV, "Gordon, brush your teeth." "Gordon, don't touch me like that...Like this!"




Just seconds after she was born, I've not even cut the umbilical cord yet.








































I take one quick nap, and my bloody and sticky daughter turns into a movie star. I've not yet held this clean darling, (I was only given the moister swaddled version) but I can't wait.










Katy and Leila are sleeping next to me, they are both doing wonderfully. Katy has been up and out of bed, she's eaten a little, and is in great spirits.
now for some video's


Oh! Her numbers:

Born 9.27.08 @ 3:30 Am (on the nose)
weight 8-15 Length 21 inches

She's a big girl, and already has feet about Nyssa's size.

September is the month of Birthday's. Most of Nyssa's friends have birthday's in this month,
here she is at her friends Tratin and Cainin's party at the splash park.















We never really dressed Nyssa in rosess and leather and took birthday pictures of her, however, it feels like we have been celebrating her birthday for the last 2 weeks. Those pictures are still on our camera, but I'll try to upload them in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, here is a photo of a cheerful and sweet girl who you'd love to give a present to.



















And now one with her mother, who is about to give Nyssa a present she may not want.















I really hope Nyssa is a happy big sister, right now she seems ambivilant at best. Nyssa really has a remarkable memory, and seems to understand a lot of what is going on around her. the topics she enjoys she returns to again and again, and she never really brings up Baby Leila.















But hopefully baby Leila will put the stars in Nyssa's eyes.

Everytime you goto a party you get a gift bag and every gift bag has either a pair of sunglasses or bubbles. Sometimes both.

We'll have to settle for some older photos

Nyssa is far more advanced today than she was when these photo's/video's were taken. She will be 2 in 15 days, and I have been struggling to decide whether she is behaving like a 1 yr old or a 2 yr old? Lets just say she bounces spasmodically between sweet as sugar cane and as whiney as aged vinegar.




Katy is in her final stages of pregnancy and everything is going well. She has a giant beach ball attached to her stomach, but it appears that her belly button will not pop out for the 2nd time in a row. She feels well, except for the indigestion, back aches and spasms, and spasmodic waffling between constipation and rapid release.



School has started for me, and i am also doing well, except for the indigestion, back aches and spasms, and spasmodic waffling between constipation and rapid release. Only mine wont be over in a couple of weeks.

I think I am really ready for #2 to show up. We have a name and we are announcing it to friends, and perfect strangers for that matter, but I'll not use it on this page until "baby sister" has decided to pop out. I am getting excited for her, I do not know how I'll handle the lack of sleep and all that, but I think I know I think it will be fun.

We've don a lot of the transitional things we'll need do to get the house and Nyssa's room ready for #2. Nyssa is in her tiny Big Girl Bed. We've stolen her changing table and dresser and moved them into #2's room, and gotten aqll of the Brown Bats out of the house. All the Brown bats that we've been able to find that is.



I do not know how to characterize Noodle Rose's feelings about Baby Sister. She knows she is in (and soon to be out of) her Momma's belly (so she understands the physical realities of childbirth about as well as I do...I honestly have no idea what goes on in there...which is funny, but Katy doesn't either and that is funnier.) She sorta knows Baby Sisters name, but mostly refers to her as Baby Sister. My biggest worry is how rough she might be with #2. If Noodle treats her like she does the dogs, then we'll need to have a mighty resilient baby.

More Vacation Photos

Everyone I know is pregnant, was pregnant, or will/wont be pregnant soon. And even though I am pregnant too, I feel a little left out. Maybe that is because I am not focusing so much on my own pregnancy. They are such delicate things. I think most of us are afraid to look directly at a pregnancy for fear that, like the black dots that swim in you eyes, they will disappear upon close inspection. Oddly it is not all that different once you have the real and present baby. When Nyssa was an infant she was such a perfect and pure thing (original sin is a total piece of shit, and teh idea of it is probably responsible for a lot of negative things in this world...I am pretty sure Nyssa has yet to sin... which is not to say she's not a demanding handful.) I was terrified of tainting her and convinced that she could decide in a snap that she was done with me. But my own parents are not that easy to get rid of, so how could I be?
What I am getting at, poorly, is that there are so many myths and mores that it is almost impossible to have a true conversation about pregnancy, birth, or childing. We all talk at angles and in code and I guess maybe it is necessary, and I guess maybe it is sometimes infuriating. Everyone I know is pregnant, was pregnant, or will/wont be pregnant soon, and some of them wont talk about getting pregnant or not, about their births, what sex it might be, or what name they are going to give it, there are hundreds of things people wont talk about, but they'll read loads of books that don't talk about it either.

For those of you unfamiliar, this is what pregnancy (and progeny) look like:



What? No nudity yet?

Here is Nyssa with her best friend (and arranged marriage partner) Baby Jack Frohnauer. This is an older photo, but they got to spend Friday and Saturday together and had a lovely time.



Even Annie is thinking about babies:

She Reads and Sings and Talks

I'm not the first to say it, but that a great thing about kids is the way they are able to produce some new skill out of thin air. Here Nyssa shows her momma how she is able to read chapter books, where the day before she showed no interest in them whatsoever.





Another new trick Nyssa is starting to perfect is singing. Although she doesn't show it here, I think this is a great example of her willingness to participate.





And finally, this video was taken just moments ago when she decided her changing mat was a cot. Although I prompt her to utter certain pro-Chicago phrases, I want to point out that she began saying those phrases on her own, with absolutely no coaching from me. Had it been otherwise, it would not be noteworthy.

A montage

We are up in the Northwoods and having a really nice time.
I'll put some photo's and junk up in a couple of days.
But for right now here are pictures I took with my camera over the last
year.

I've fallen in love with Joe Strummer, the Guitarist and singer from The Clash, and I think you should too! His solo work is dynamic, reminiscent of The Clash at their mature best, but still expansive and experimental. I never really realized how vibrant a voice he had.
Here is a You-Tube video of a great song off his last, I think, record

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEgKpTjWCRw

Here is a picture of him from his Clash days:

Here is a photo that our friend Zach, baby Oscar's dad, took with his cell phone.



Nyssa really loves this family, she talks about baby Oscar and his crazy hi-jinx all the time. He is about 8-9 months old and really getting ready to walk. He pulls himself up on everything, and is just about ready to stand up without help. he's reminding me, and his babymomma Darci, about one of the best things about kids: you don't have to worry about teaching them things, they just learn them.

Here, Oscar is learning that KatyFullin is a Rock-star!














The other great thing, about Nyssa anyways, is that they support local radio:

















We are having a ton of fun here in Ames, just now, and are looking forwards to our vacation up in WizConSin, which may or may not involve a trip to see Warren Nelson. If the last weeks sample of naked Nyssa pictures is any indication, there will be nudity in the north woods pictures here, pretty quick!

Also, and, the plan calls for naming of baby #2 durring one of the long and interminable car rides of the next week. And while Ulla-Ulla is apparently off the board, there is still hope for Taka-Taka.

Weekend Fun

Here are 2 video's of Nyssa telling stories.
In one she "reads" from "Brown Bear Brown Bear" She was sitting and reading as we folded laundry, of course when I tried to video it was not a smooth of a recitation.




Here she recounts a situation from Mid-May, which we have not talked about since,
All of the sudden this morning, it was in her head.





Now just a few pictures showing just about what we've been doing this weekend.















We had our frined Kim up for dinner, so Nyssa had a snack of Cookie and asparagus while she waited for the main course.















Katy is getting cuter and cuter. Here she looks springy and just about ready to pop. But she's still got about 2 months left to go.




















Nyssa made a short trip to Indiana with her new doll 'ella, it must have been some trip because when she returned 'ella required 2 bandages, but luckily no stitches.