Kids say the cutest things

Maya cracks me up on a daily basis. Kids really do say the cutest things. She imitates so much, but also generalizes to other situations. Some of the latest:

I'm a big sister!
Goodnight, sweet dreams, baby!
I Comfy! I Cozy!
I don't think so!
Daddy/Uncle Mikey stinky!
Daddy/Uncle Mikey juice! (refering to beer)
Baby's try to poop.
Baby Gorgeous!
Baby Savavah!

She is starting to recall past events. Just the other day she said, "I go apple picking" and named some of the people she went with including her cousins Sarah and James. This was something she did while I was in the hospital with Savannah. I couldn't believe that she was making conversation this way. Today she told me that she went to the playground and she had fun with Daddy.

Thank goodness she loves her little sister so far! My biggest worry is that she will squish her while she gives her a "big huggie," so we are really working on "little huggies" and giving space. Not too much terrible twos yet, but definitely a few mini tantrums. I know kids regress a little when a new sibling arrives, but so far we have only seen this in the food department. She who was once quite an independent and fairly neat eater has regressed to let's squish my food, throw it on the floor, and put it in my hair. I am sure this will pass.

Maya is generally a self-motivated kid. We really haven't pushed to potty issue, but offer it to her on occassion. Yesterday she asked to go on the potty three times and went pee! She was so proud of herself and we were, too! We love watching her learn and discover. She is fascinated with zippers and yesterday engaged and zipped a zipper on her vest. Dan and I have showed her a few times, but she was so determined to do it herself. This is such a great age!

Savannah Joy

Savannah Joy Magner was born on September 25th weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces and measuring 19 3/4 long. Not a bad size considering she decided to make her entrance into the world about 3 weeks early. I was shocked when my water broke around 9:15 in the morning on the 25th - well more like in denial is more like it. My contractions didn't really start until about 1:30, so Maya and I were just hanging out while Dan tied up loose ends at work. They started to intensify around 3:30ish and Savannah came not long after 6:00. I was not too surprised at the speedy arrival because I think it would have been the same had Maya not been in wrong position.

Unfortunately shortly after the birth we transported Savannah to the hospital because her breathing was not quite what you would expect. She had what is called Transient Tachynpnea of the Newborn (TTN). She developed jaundice, which wasn't much of a surprise, and our stay was prolonged to a long 9 days in the NICU. I was able to stay at the hospital with her for that time which tore my heart out being away from Maya, but she was of course with her awesome Daddy who made sure sh had lots of fun and they came to visit often. As hard of a decision as it was to stay overnight, I needed to be there for many reasons. The hard part was that I always felt like I was missing an arm because I was away from Maya and hardly got to hold Savannah.

It was all a surreal experience, but looking around the NICU at all the teeny tiny babies make you count your blessings and I tried to focus on finding the joy in small successes and hurdles past. We are all thrilled to be home together and life seems normal. Well that is the short story...I have started to write the long story which is already 4 pages long! Here are some pictures of the first two weeks.