The REAL new member of our family

When you read the title of that last post, you may have thought, "finally, we're going to hear something about Ellen!"  Maybe you even thought you'd seem some cute baby pictures of this now 9 month old child that hasn't been mentioned on the blog yet.  I know that's what I thought when I first read Will's last post!

Obviously we've been slacking a bit on the writing over the last year, but I know Ellen deserves some air time here.  We've definitely fallen into the pattern of "second time" parents -- taking a few less pictures and worrying a little less (well, at least Will is...I still do my fair share of analyzing and worrying).  There have been no spreadsheets tracking dirty diapers, sleep, or routines this time around.  Nursing was easier; sleepless nights were harder (having a toddler running around made it a little more difficult for those midday naps or sleeping in) -- and we're already far enough beyond those phases that I can reminisce about them fondly.

As I was sitting down to write this, I went back to read Anna's birth announcement here.  It's amazing how different the birth experiences were for our two girls.  Anna was born 11 days late after a scheduled induction; Ellen was born on her due date just minutes after we arrived at the hospital on a gurney in the ER...the craziness of that night/morning still makes me shake my head....

Looking back on it, I can see I was in labor all weekend.  I was having reasonably consistent contractions Saturday evening and night, but with our weekend activities, didn't really notice them too much on Sunday.  I went to the grocery store, made Halloween cookies with Anna, we carved our pumpkin....although it was the day before Ellen's Halloween due date, I figured I'd have these "minor" contractions for several more days, thinking she would definitely be born late again.

My contractions got stronger again Sunday night, but never met the "5-1-1" criteria to actually go to the hospital.  Ever the rule follower, and not wanting to go to the hospital only to be sent home, I stuck it out through the night.  Until just before 5am when they were finally so strong I was gripping Will's hand in pain and realized we needed to go to the hospital.  Will ran next door to get the neighbor, who we had just lined up the day before to watch Anna for this (lucky we even did that).  They spent sometime installing Anna's carseat in her car, I showed her what Anna would want/need for breakfast...I made one last pitstop until Will literally pulled me off the toilet and said we were going (lucky he did that also -- more signs of very active/late labor that didn't even occur to me in the moment).  Finally, our neighbor shoo'ed us out the door and I finally realized this was serious.

The memories of that car ride are surprisingly vivid for me...Will ran one red light.  He took one wrong exit off the highway, which then meant a left turn over a median.  And I remember very CALMLY asking him when he pulled out his iPhone to check a map what he was doing, did he know where he was going? (I thought for sure he was taking an alternate route I didn't know, but that wasn't really the case).  After quite a "detour", during which my water broke, and I insisted on the windows being down in the 35 degree weather, we finally arrived at the hospital.  I sat in the car while Will tried to wrangle a wheelchair and tried to pull me into it -- I say "pull" because at that point, Ellen's head was already born, and I couldn't really stand up.  A woman reporting for work ran over and thankfully took control of the situation -- calling for a gurney and help.  People finally realized what was happening and that I wasn't just an overly excited pregnant woman in early labor.  My second "push", and Ellen was born.  On the gurney, in the hallway of the ER.

I think Will took this picture before the nurses from L&D even got to us.

Ellen Rachel Hinshaw, approx 5:47am, October 31, 2011

The time listed on Ellen's birth certificate was the time the ER staff called L&D to alert them of the situation.

For two serious "planners", I think this was quite the wake up call.  I'm pretty sure Ellen is going to keep us on our toes

A New Member of the Family

There seems to be a new addition to our family. I’m not sure exactly when she arrived; we noticed her about 3 weeks ago. I don’t know how long she’ll stay either. As long as she doesn’t cause any problems, she’s really a pretty easy house guest. Well, except when I don’t see her and accidently step on her. Her name is Ditta. I’m told she’s four years old. Her favorite restaurant is Chick-Fil-A but her favorite food is cheeseburgers. That piece doesn’t make sense to me, but these are the facts as reported by Anna. Ditta sleeps in the “other bed” in Anna’s room,” the one by the dresser.” If you’ve never been in Anna’s room, there is no “other bed by the dresser.” But, that’s really no important. Ditta can sleep there anyway. After all, Ditta IS imaginary.


About three weeks ago, Anna started mumbling to someone. When we asked who she was talking to, Anna replied, “Ditta!” “Who,” we asked. “DITTA!” “Ditta?” “Yes. DITTA!!” Since our initial encounter with Ditta, we’ve seen Anna feed Ditta. We’ve seen Anna read to Ditta. We’ve seen Anna tuck Ditta in for a nap. We’ve been asked not to sit in certain chairs at certain times because Ditta wants to sit there. We even saw Anna use a chip clip to trim Ditta’s toe nails. (Granted, I had just trimmed Anna & Ellen’s toe nails.) Anna moved slowly along the bench on the deck, opening & closing a chip clip, chanting “clippy-clippy-clippy.” “What are you doing, Anna?” “Trimming Ditta’s toenails,” she answered ever so matter-of-factly. “OH,” I said.

Ditta comes and goes. I didn’t hear about Ditta for a couple of days & thought maybe she’d gone. (Where do imaginary friends go anyway when they’re not around?) But then, I found Anna sitting on the stairs by the front door. She said that she was waiting for Ditta to pick her up. She said they were going to the grocery store & she asked if I needed anything. Makes sense. If Ditta’s going to be hanging around, the least she can do is pick up a few groceries.

Onion!

So many of Anna's adventures involve food. It's likely mine & Traci's influence - so many of our own "adventures" are about food too - generally trying new things - the masterpiece recipe that flops or the great, new 15 minute meal discovery for weeknights.

Where food and Anna are concerned, we've left the chicken nuggets and fish sticks to school. Yeah, we shovel the ocassional nugget or peanutbutter sandwich in front of her. But, for the most part she eats what we eat. It's not exotic, but I would guess that it's atleast closer to exotic than average. Last night we had baked sweet onions stuffed with a ground lamb & spinach mixture. I thought they were a flop but Anna loved them. The irony is that Anna professes to not like onion. "I don't like onion" is the standard response for buying an onion in the store, chopping an onion, or finding even the tiniest minced onion in a dish. "I don't like onion." "I know, Anna. You don't like onion." It's a common, dinnertime conversation. I was fully prepared for her to hate last night's dish and loaded her plate with mashed potatoes to fill her up.

Earlier in the evening we had been reading the spanish translation of an Eric Carle board book. So, when Anna pointed at the baked onion and said "What is that is?" I thought quickly and said, "It's cebolla. It tastes sweet. Try it." Anna said, "ce-boy-da? It's sweet?" She popped it in her mouth & shouted, "I like it!" Traci & I exchanged a glance, thinking that we had pulled a fast one. We all continued to eat, talking idly about this and that, trying to get Anna to slow down on the cebolla and try some meat. About three quarters of the way through her delicious new discovery, she stopped. By now, we had forgotten about having pulled a fast one. Anna dropped her fork, looked up dramatically, and shouted, "Onion! It's onion! This is onion!" We all three laughed. Ellen joined in, laughing at us laughing, and Anna quietly said, "I like onion."