Thursday, February 10, 2011

It's Only Been Three Weeks

It's only been three weeks but it feels like Ana has been here forever. I can already barely remember a time without her.

Sofia joined us for Ana's two week pediatrician appointment. Poor Ana did all the work and suffered through the exam, while Sofia reaped the reward of the lollipop.



Ana weighed 7 lbs. 6.5 oz. - she's up 7% of her birth weight which is great! And she had grown already 1.5 inches and is now 20.5 inches long. It is pretty remarkable how fast these little babies grow. And I'm not surprised because she's a great little eater - and far hungrier than I remember Sofia being as a newborn.

She's changing everyday and I swear I can see her little head growing before my very eyes. One of the first things I noticed about her was that she was a spitting image of her big sister. But in this short time she's changed so much already and I don't think she favors Sofia so much anymore. Her hair is much lighter and her complexion is more pink. It also seems that she has her Mommy's ears and her Daddy's nose, which is funny since Sofia seems to have her Mommy's nose and her Daddy's ears. But then again, who knows? She will continue to change and no matter what she's just going to be her - our little Ana!



We took our first family outing to visit Grandma's house.



Sofia loved showing Ana the baby toys she used to play with while at Grandma's and insisted upon putting together this play mat for Ana.





It was nice to see Grandma and very nice for me to finally get out of the house!

A couple of days later we took Ana on her first public outing to the Houston Museum of Natural Science so Sofia could visit the Butterfly Museum exhibit. (The camera was dead so I got no pics of it.) It was nice to get out again and I'm feeling better every day. I think it's sort of funny that Sofia's first outing was to the Galleria for a shopping trip and Ana's was to a museum.

We have loved having Daddy home so much during his break from work. Not only has he been so helpful to me but Sofia has had a blast playing with him. They're so fun - they even built the coolest fort in her bedroom which she kept up for three days. She even slept in it!





I looked at Sofia today and it actually dawned on me that she's not a baby anymore. She's getting so big - she's thick and strong and so, so smart. We started her in a new school, Immanuel Lutheran, just before baby Ana was born and she settled in right away. It's only been a month and she already talks about her new friends, sings new songs and comes home talking about all the new things she's learning there. She colors in the lines and is learning more and more Spanish. She's confident and self assured and we are so proud of her.



She's also a little crazy. She loves to sing and she loves to yell and run around like a crazy person. She's just a fun, little 3 year old - full of spunk. Here she is singing her new favorite song, Skima Rinky Dinky Dink.



She's like a little mommy, too. She's so proud of her little sister and takes the greatest care of her. She's constantly stroking her cheeks



and giving her kisses and she loves nothing more than to hold her and cuddle with her and she holds her every night before bed during story time.







She helped me give Ana a bath



and helps to change her diaper and I'm always astounded at how capable she is at such a young age. Can you tell how proud we are?

Now, not to say she hasn't had her moments of adjustment. In fact tonight when Ana's cries were interfering with her being able to hear her Olivia show she informed me, ever-so-seriously, that if I put Ana back in my tummy that she would stop crying.

She has also had a few moments of wanting to be a baby herself. I know she's trying to sort this all out so sometimes we playfully indulge her. I'll hold her and rock her and tell her stories of when she was my littlest baby. But sometimes we really have fun with her - like the day when Dan decided to swaddle her like a baby and even put her in Ana's bassinet. We were cracking up. Notice her sad face, that's to say that she's crying like a baby. She's so funny!





We've also had lots more visitors come to welcome Ana. We are so blessed to be so loved by some wonderful people.

My dear friend Lindsey came in from Tyler to visit her,



our family friend Ann stopped by too,



even the Ready twins came for a visit.





Things are good!

Friday, February 4, 2011

She's Here!

We welcome to the world, Ana Mercedes Coussirat.



This photo was taken by her proud Grandma when she was exactly one week old. But she made her debut on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 2:34pm,





weighing in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 inches long.





Her mommy was so relieved to hold her after nine long months,



and she is so loved by her proud Daddy and big sister.









So, if are you wondering why Dan's donning that sexy mask - he had the flu. He got it the day before Ana was born, which stressed me out beyond belief and made him feel not just sick and miserable, but sad and worried too. Luckily, we caught it in time and we were both so relieved that he could be there with me during the C-section to witness the birth of our second daughter.

Here's video of the first time Sofia got to see her. She celebrates around the one minute mark by eating a booger. I'm not kidding - but wish I was!



Lots of other family were there to welcome her as well. Thankfully, her Tia Emily was in town and able to accompany me to the hospital until Dan felt well enough to join us.



Grandma, Tio Louis and Emi were all on hand to meet her too.







She's two weeks old today and we've been home and enjoying every minute of this new little creature. She's eating well and every one is getting along great. I've felt progressively better with each day but have had lots of help from Daddy and Grandma and have yet to feel just what life will be like juggling these two little ones but I think we'll be just fine.

We've had lots of people come to visit. She finally got to meet her Bobo and Tio Louis came back to visit again.





Our friends Mel and Dee came by to see her,



and so did our friends Kendra and Bryant (who are having their own little baby girl any day now) which Sofia loved because they brought Ella!



Aunt Betty also came by but I somehow didn't get a picture of her. My former boss, Michael Strickland came by to meet her, as did Liuda and Gustavo. Sofia loved seeing Gustavo especially as he brought his harmonica and they played a little duet.







Besides feeding and changing diapers the rest of our time has been spent playing with Sofia and loving on our newest addition









snuggling in bed, reading stories





and trying on hats and bows.











We even took her on a short little walk one day before the ice storm blew in.





And taking lots of pictures. Even Sofia ran to get her camera out!







We are beyond happy and oh so blessed!