More Pics of Bundle of Joy, Jenna and Big Sis, Julianne

Sweet sisters. Tired Parents.

Jenna Elizabeth is here!

JENNA ELIZABETH CHATIGNY ++++ 9 POUNDS, 1 OZ++++20.5 INCHES++++10/2/09

One week ago tonight, my water broke - it was not this huge gush that people talk about, but a slow trickle that got bigger and bigger. After waking up Justin, paging the doctor, adding a few things to my hospital bag, then telling Justin it was a false alarm, then calling the doctor again, then telling Justin it was time to go to the hospital - we grabbed our 3 year old around midnight and headed for Memorial Hermann. Mimi and Papa met us there to take Jules back home and Justin and I went in for a long night in the Triage room. I was hooked up to monitors to check my contractions as well as to monitor Jenna's heartbeat. We waited in that room from midnight until 7 am (being told that 3 other mothers had to deliver before me for urgent reasons). The contractions did get to a point where I needed pain meds and so I was pretty loopy when they wheeled me in to deliver. The main things I remember are: Justin's teary and excited eyes that I stared into while they cut me open, hearing the 2 docs and nurses go "WHOA" as they delivered Jenna ("She is huge!!!" and "Look at that head!"), and hearing her sweet cry that seems to take forever to come. I remember feeling that sweet relief of having that huge baby out of my body. Her apgar scores were 9 and 9 and that made me feel good too. While in the recovery room I was not impressed with the 2 nurses tending to us and for some reason I got fixated on that - the one caring for Jenna and checking her out had this huge frown on her face and she seemed very put out and I kept asking, "Is she OK? Is everything OK???" and then she would look at me like I was crazy. The other nurse caring for me was being way too stingy with the pain medication and I basically felt like my incision was on fire until she gave me a bit more...I mean, it is not every day you have your abdomen cut open! Our stay in the hospital was very good overall and our main challenge was and continues to be Jenna learning to latch on to the breast feeding routine. Oh and the little oinker eats every 2 hours, so no real down time between feedings. We are struck by how much more calm and comfortable we are this time around.

We feel very blessed to have 2 beautiful, healthy girls and our family feels complete now. Big sister is doing very well and we are trying to give her special attention time as we can. I know she is ready for mom to be able to do normal things again like go to the park and pick her up, etc so I am anxious to get healed and start living again!!!

Hope to have more pics soon.

OH, and our other family news is that we are moving to Dallas. More on that later, but picture this: New job for Dad, New House, New Baby, New City. Could we please have a little more change in our lives?

Love, The Proud Mom of Julianne and Jenna

Prego Picture

I got this picture from Lauren's blog and thought I would show how gigantic I am. This was taken at Jenny's Houston baby shower. Jenny is about 7 weeks behind me which is fun. Everyone thought Lauren was glowing, but it was not a 3rd baby on the way - just sweat! I am way bigger than this now. This was about a month ago. The Subway sandwich cashier asked if I was carrying twins. I can't breathe. I need oxygen. Julianne thinks I am an invalid. I just cannot wait to have this baby. I don't care if she screams all night long for 3 months - I just want her out of my body. OK, I may regret saying that. God, please give us a good baby! Healthy first, then a good baby is what I mean of course...Looking back, Julianne really was a "good baby." She just had some medical issues that prevented her from sleeping (reflux and horrible ear infections). The ear infections ceased completely right after her 2nd birthday once we got her tubes. We should have had tubes around her first birthday, but decided to see how the year went - big mistake, but you live and you learn. Granted that was 2 years of not sleeping, but that is behind us. She still has reflux and it still wakes her up, but she knows now that "the burn in her throat" is just food or milk and can go back to sleep. Otherwise, she really was happy and very easy to play with/distract/etc. Being the 1st child, she is pretty demanding of our attention....saying, "Wanna play with me?" about every five minutes....but if we tell her that we can't or that we are busy she can play very creatively alone for a good long time.

Yesterday she said 2 funny things:

To my Dad, "Papa, do you wanna play for heaven's sakes?!?!"

To Justin,"My name is not Julianne. It is Big. Sister. Chatigny"

We do have some big changes in our family that I can report more on after this Friday.

Big Sister

Well, my camera's wireless card is on the fritz so I cannot download new pics right now, but I do have some cute stories about Julianne. She is SO excited to become a big sister and talks about it daily. I think she senses big changes in our family with mom's growing belly and just the stuff that goes along with getting ready for a new baby - washing little clothes, wiping old toys down, setting up baby books, having diaper showers, etc. My diaper shower will need to be a separate post when I can put pics up, but it was so lovely and perfect. Thank you Jenny, Lauren, and Mom!

So here are some things Julianne is saying:
*I am going to be the first one to hold Jenna - no one else can hold her
*I am going to take care of Jenna - bathe her, put her little clothes on her, get her some toys, feed her some milk
*Mom, when Jenna pops out - I will be the one to catch her
*Mom, can you and Dad go upstairs and let me take care of Jenna by myself?
*I love my little baby Jenna

You get the idea - she is already in love with this little person and wanting to help out. Call it her age or just her inherent sweetness, but I think she is going to be a great big sister and helper!

Random, but we always have really interesting conversations in the car on the way to school and today she asked me,"Where does our voice come from?" and "What is beneath our skin?" When I told her bones, and muscles, and blood, she goes - "Oh, I like blood!" Lol.

Also, she has lately been telling Justin and I that we have 3 or 4 choices and will list them off with her fingers (You can either have popcorn or a popcicle or.....while counting down on her hands).....

And to report on activities, she is enjoying her pre-school which is T and Th from 9 to 2 and taking ballet/tap on Wednesdays. She loves it and I cried when they did this little mini routine for us. She had her hands on her hips and was shaking back and forth and had this little shy/embarassed look on her face that was priceless. As all of you parents know, the pride and love is just overwhelming at times! There are a few little bullies in her class at school and I have already conferenced with the teacher about them - yes, I am one of those mothers. :-)

Ok, more later and I hope for more pictures soon!

Some Pics from this Summer

During Gamma and Gumps visit, I came upstairs to the gameroom to find my bra suspended between the 2 gameroom doors. When I asked Julianne, "What is that?" she very calmly replied, "it's your bra mom. the one for your bobbies." I had to chuckle.

Great visit w/ the grandparents from VA~! Much fun was had playing with Gamma's new curlers - note there is one in each person's hair in this pic.

A play date with my cousin Lana and her 2 precious Kiddos - Ethan and Alyssa.

Great pic of Jules and Papa

Julianne and Jack at Safari Stop.

Major Birthday Party Event

Ethan Shapiro had his 4th birthday party at the Houston Zoo and it was quite an event! As you can see Jules got to have her face painted with anything she wanted. She chose a butterfly which may have something to do with the fact that her "Big Girl" Room (newly painted pink) is a butterfly and flowers theme. The kids got to meet a few animals up close and personal - one being a huge garden snake that had teeth, but no poison. Gamma and Gumps joined us at the party as they were in town for a few days and a great time was had by all. It's all about giving our kids experiences, right? Well, this was a great one. Thanks Robyn and Rob!

The Birthday Boy, Rob, and Jules

Let's get one more picture of that butterfly! She kept feeling her face for it long after we washed it off.



The snake talk

Mom, it feels "Oooookey!"

Observations

I just read on my friend Kacy's blog that one of her girls thought she saw Jesus (well, it was a Middle Eastern person dressed in traditional garb). This cracked me up beyond belief and reminded me of a few observations Ms. Julianne has made lately:

*"Mom, you have a big, fat belly" (which she does kiss often)
*When she sees overweight people she asks me, "Is that man full?" or "Does that lady have a baby in HER belly too?"
*"God made us all different colors, mom! I am white and pink!"
*"Why does that boy have on earrings?"
*"I like that boy, he is so cute." Justin loves these comments!