jeans on babies

I can't be the only one who thinks jeans on babies is adorable. I also feel this way about cargo pants, sunglasses, jackets, and tennis-shoes. For some reason seeing a tiny baby in these things makes me melt.

trying to get home

We are "hoping" to leave on Thursday to go back home to Manila and Justin. I say hoping because we are still waiting on Arabella's passport with her travel visa. I'm so frustrated with the inefficiency that has been displayed in getting my daughter the correct documentation to get home. "It should take two days for processing" has turned into 10 days. I hate to say this but I shouldn't be surprised that it would take longer than expected at the Philippine Embassy. Inefficiency is the way of life in Manila. Anyway the visa taking longer than expected is just the tip of the iceberg. I am tired and stressed from being the squeaky wheel on the phone with people on the East coast. Stress and breastfeeding don't work well for me and it usually ends in lots of tears. Pretty soon I'm going to start smelling like a big pile of syrupy pancakes from all the fenugreek and blessed thistle I'll be popping. The bottom line is that my husband keeps me sane and helps keep things in perspective for me. He's my calm. Right now he's far away.

I'm allowed to whine once in awhile right?

On the bright side Bella is cooing and interacting with me all the time. She smiles and talks to me and it melts my heart. She's such a precious baby.

You know your a new Mom of 2 when...

-in the morning you wash your hair in the sink and skip the shower. Then later at bath time jump in the bath with your toddler to freshen up.

-you rub nipple lanolin on your lips as you run out the door as a replacement for chap stick.

-leave the house with a sweater on paired with flip-flops.

-eat the leftover lunch your toddler left on her plate and hope your appetite holds until dinner.

-you have a backache.

-most likely there is spit-up pooled in your cleavage (dried or fresh).

-you are bouncing back and forth whenever you are standing, even if you aren't holding your newborn.

-you aren't sure if the yellow smear on your shirt is watercolors or baby poop.

-you are asking God for silly things like; 30 more minutes of sleep, or a moment alone to go pee.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried folks. This is my real life. I'm loving it.

Rootbeer floats

I have craved root beer floats my entire stay in the States. I love them!!! They scream SUMMER to me. It's such an American dessert. This evening Addie had her first root beer float and devoured it. We sat on the front porch and watched the world go by with out treats. Addie was filthy and sticky and loving it. She was padding around in the yard barefoot and you can see what got stuck in her toes. I love seeing Addie filthy dirty after a long hard day of playing. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are bright and she puts a ring around the tub after her bath. As you can see, Bella enjoyed the porch too. Check out that head control!

Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)

also known as a pulmonary flow murmur. This is what my (otherwise) perfect baby girl has.

Our trip to the pediatric cardiologist today went well all considering. Unfortunately Arabella has more than an innocent murmur. ASD is when the small holes or shunts in the heart that are naturally present in utero don't close like they are supposed to. Bella has a little hole that has not sealed. The flap of tissue that is suppose to adhere to the other side of the hole is still flapping around letting the oxygenated blood flow out so it gets pumped back into the lungs, even though it's been refreshed with oxygen. This is of course inefficient and causes an extra whoosh sound that is heard as a murmur. Bella's hole is about 6-7 mm which is small to moderate in size.

The good news is that this is a murmur that probably won't cause her any harm. In fact we will hopefully never see any symptoms of the hole at all. In many cases (especially when the flap of tissue is present) the hole closes on it's own in the first few years of life. Even if it doesn't close it won't necessarily cause her any trouble. The worst case scenario is that the hole doesn't close but just gets bigger as her little heart grows and starts to cause an enlargement in a ventricle of her heart; we start to notice that she's short of breath during activity and more tired than other kids. This is when at 3 or 4 years old she would have a non-invasive surgery on her heart to close the hole using a catheter through her vein in her groin. Hopefully it will never come to that.

The really good news is that the cardiologist said this is nothing to be alarmed about. We should treat Arabella just like we treat her sister, no restrictions are needed, and just go on about life. We just get a check-up annually to see where we are and go from there. Since Bella is growing so well now it indicates to us that she will most likely outgrow the hole.

So the news isn't thrilling, there is still an error in my beautiful, perfect, little baby, but we can deal with it.

bikini in action

Happy Birthday Cousin Emme

Sunday was our cousin Emme's second birthday! She and Addie have developed quite a little friendship during our three months in the northwest. It's so sweet to see them play together. Aunt Jan threw a wonderful dinner party/birthday party for the entire family. It's a treat for me every time I get to see this side of the family because it happens so infrequently. The last time Addie had seen all these faces was when she was 7 months old two Christmases ago. You'd never know the way she so quickly adopted everyone as her new best friends. She was definitely displaying her happy wild side. All my cousins took a turn holding Arabella. She was in good hands and happily was passed around most of the evening so I could enjoy good food and even better conversation. It was a top notch affair.

The Birthday GirlGrandpa and Uncle JerryThe young cousins. Addie hamming it up.The grown-up cousinsAddie and Emme at dinnerBella and I in a quiet moment