Princess Sienna is one month!

Our little princess is ONE MONTH OLD! It's been so fun over the past month to get to know her little personality. The first couple weeks she was so sleepy and new, that it was hard to tell. Now she has officially earned her title as the princess of the household. Little Miss Sienna earned her title, not by being fussy or anywhere near colic. She earned it by her incredible ability to communicate with us exactly what she wants and when she wants it. This girl is very decisive!

For example, she really knows how to tell Brett, "Dad, I know you want to watch this football game and watch your fantasy football team online, but I need to be walked and bounced at the same time."

She has this move strategy down to a science -

How to tell Mama I want to nap for hours in her arms only: Act hungry and fuss at Dada. Convince him that I am starving. Once I get to Mama's arms immediately give her a huge smile and fall asleep. If she thinks of putting you down, stick that lower lip out and let a cry out...

She does more crying than Brayden (the only baby I have to compare to) but is easily soothed by us playing the guessing game of what she wants (feeding, wants to be walked around, wants to be rocking, wants to only be held by mama, pacifier, etc.).

She is just as sweet as she is decisive too! Brayden was a wiggly little guy and Sienna loves to just snuggle in and stare at us. With the combination of "just waking up from a long nap" + "a good feeding" we always get some very happy smiles! She is a good sleeper too, just like her big brother. We started out, one good night, then one LONG night... Now we are down to about three good nights in a row, then we'll have another LONG night. A good night means a five hour stretch, a quick feeding, and then another five hour stretch.

During writing this post, our princess started out on my lap as we sat on the couch and I leaned over towards the computer on the end table. A couple sentences into it she decided she wanted to be laying on my chest, so I slouched and snuggled her and typed one-handed. That lasted a few minutes till she wanted to be walked and have a pacifier. Finally I took our tired little girl, who was due for a nap and put her in the swing. She fussed for a couple minutes (a.k.a. telling me, "Mama! I want to fall asleep being rocked by you!"), but I was busy pulling a pumpkin pie out of the oven and she conked out... :) Everyday we are making strides to getting her to be "okay" on her own, but, as I keep reminding Brett, you only get ONE time in your life to "act like a big baby".

Ah, both kids are down for their naps and I have about an hour or so to get something done around here!

Over the past few days...

Oh my, there is so much to catch up on. Our little girl is almost 4 weeks!

Time on the computer has been limited, but I am taking tons of pictures! We have been busy with family and friends visiting day and night, and loving every minute! I just did a "picture dump" from the last few days and here are a few to share.

Here is Brett after work, just another day in paradise... :)

Brayden really likes coloring and gets to do more "unsupervised" coloring while Mama is taking care of Sienna.

Sienna, napping in Brayden's room, as she often does (we have a video monitor in his room, but not in hers yet).

Sienna gives us smiles everyday (and has since two weeks old), but I have yet to catch it on camera until last week. We were trying to make her friend Oliver smile and we got a smile out of her! Oliver's mommy (Lindsey Pinch {Benton}) and I have been friends since we were this little!

Very Silly Boy, likes to sit in the infant car seat...

Brayden also found it quite funny to get into Michael & Kristina's bassinet too. Michael got some practice carrying a boy around in their bassinet. (Baby Jantzen due in about 4 weeks!)

Highschool Homecoming Football Game! Poor Brett got a migraine, so I packed up both kids and went. He was so sweet to text Michael, Mom & Dad to make sure I had help while I was there...

Brayden LOVED the football game. Especially the cheering and yelling!

A drizzly, fun day at the fair!

"Moo-ing" at the cows.

Brayden on the BIG tractor!

The highlight of the trip, CHOO CHOO TRAIN! Bray had a blast, but did not understand why he had to get off the train at the end...

So much excitement that he couldn't even stay away for the walk to the car. When he woke up, once we got home, when we carried him from the car to his room and couldn't stop talking about his ride on the choo choo.

Miss Sienna checking out her Dada...

Lovin' her evening bathtime...

Good Morning Mama!

Things that start out right, sometimes go wrong: Toddlerhood

Things that start out right, sometimes go wrong: Toddlerhood

• Tooth Brush Troubles: Brayden considers brushing his teeth some sort of torture. Most days I am pinning him to the bed, telling him, "Good job! Wow, that feels good to be clean!" with a smile as he cries and waves his arms and legs around in attempt to escape. Today I got him a fun tooth brush with elmo and toothpaste that has Thomas the Train. He was overjoyed with his new found passion of teeth brushing. Woo hoo! - - - About 5 minutes later, Brayden realizes he needs more water on his toothbrush, runs into the bathroom.... Hmm.. Can't reach the sink, so of course, he swirls his toothbrush in the toilet and manages to get it right back in his mouth as I am running at a full sprint screaming "Brayden! No!". I still don't think he understands what went wrong with that situation. - - - Hmmm... Try again? Why not, it was a good distraction while I was feeding Sienna. I will just keep him right in front of me. About five minutes later, yep, I see him share his new toothbrush with our Golden Retriever... New Toothbrush Rule: Only can be used under CLOSE supervision while standing in front of the sink, once in the morning and once at night! :)

• Brayden has many interests. One of them is being nice to his sister. Another one is playing in the dirt outside. A few days ago, he was playing with his "diggers" (construction toys) outside. The "digger" was scooping dirt and putting it in little piles in other dirt areas. Everything was going smoothly. Until I heard him say, "for sissy!". As I look to see what he is doing, I see handfuls of dirt being thrown into "Sissy's" baby swing inside... After that I told him, "Brayden, that is a no-no" and he looked at me and said, "Oh" and then swatted himself on the bottom and ran outside! I couldn't help but just laugh out loud and the sight of him looking at me and giving himself a spanking! At least my point got across about not putting dirt in his sisters chair. :)

• When we first got Sienna home from the hospital, of course, Bray had a cold and fever. Four big teeth coming in and lots of drool! His kisses where pretty slimy... We would wake up and get him dressed and within an hour he would have drool on his shirt. I finally stripped him down to his diaper, so when I would wipe his nose I could just wipe his chin and chest too. This seemed to be working great! It was warm and he wasn't going through a new shirt every hour... We had some visitors in and out and I forgot to lock the door behind them. I sat down to nurse, shirt up, baby attached and I hear Brayden open the door and run outside. Like some sort of super hero I was off running after my "baby" who was in the front yard. I got to him as he was in the middle of our lawn and quickly realized what we must look like! Naked toddler in just a diaper and me, in sweats, shirt up and baby attached to chest. Wow... I did a quick scan, no neighbors out and we were back inside as quickly as I flew out. :)

Those are just a few of the comedic moments around our home and family. Things are still going good as we are getting into the swing of our new life, two kids under two years old! The other day Brett left for work and looked at me and just said, "I think we need a nanny!" The other day I had a major accomplishment of being home alone with both kids, and showering and washing my hair, gave Brayden a bath and all three of us were ready for the day, house was clean, laundry was done BEFORE NOON! Things that were so simple are now major accomplishments... :)

First day of MOPS today! Thanks to Grammy's (aka Mammy's) help in the morning we were able to get out of the door much easier. We especially appreciated her help as Brayden decided that he would wake up before 5:00am! He was so cute and chipper it was hard to be upset, but wow... we were up early. (Yep, newborn slept all night and toddler woke up at 2am and then was up for the day at 4:45am!) Brayden had a hard time letting me go as he went into the 2 year old class, but got over it quickly. Sienna was also very well behaved. Fun morning for all of us! Only to be followed by a three hour root canal... I grind my teeth and clenched so bad during labor that I cracked my tooth and a chunk fell out. So they repaired the tooth and did a root canal. Luckily Sienna took a bottle for Grammy and all went smoothly while I was away (Thanks Mom!). Onto the next day and we are loving every minute of this craziness. :)

Happy Girl & Proud Big Brother

Quick Update on Sienna & Brayden:

Sienna is doing great! Took her to the doctor on Monday and her Jaundice has cleared up! She is awake more and more everyday. For the most part, she is sleeping "through the night", meaning that she only wakes up to nurse. Typically we go to bed at 11pm, she wakes up at 3am to nurse for anywhere from a half hour to an hour. Then we are asleep till almost 8am! She smiles a lot in her sleep, but has given me a "real" smile twice now. She enjoys her swaddle blanket when she is tired, but likes to wiggle a lot when she is awake. Overall, she is a really happy and easy baby, but let's us know that she would prefer to be held, as opposed to being is her swing or infant seat which is something we are trying to work on with her. Although I am getting really good at doing things with only one hand free. :)

Brayden loves being a big brother. He has started carrying around a blue teddy bear (that Grandma Lois got him when he was born). He never seemed to notice this bear before and now it goes everywhere with him. He even took it on a walk the other night, and held it tight in his stroller. I was telling mom about this the other day and she quickly caught on to this new phase and told me that he was mimicking me when I carry around Sienna! I have Sienna and he has his light blue teddy bear. Today he showed me the bears "bottom end" and said, "Poo poo! Gross! Yucky! Diaper?" So I got him a diaper for his bear. We proceeded to practice taking the diaper off and putting the diaper on, over and over, until Brayden was confident he could do it on his own... Every time I would walk away, he would cry, "Diaper, help me?". :)

Brayden will also sit on the couch, put his hands on each side of him and ask, "hold baby?" Actually, today he asked, "hold baby, watch choo choo?", which meant he would like to hold Sienna and watch Thomas the Train. He is really good at holding her now (but only does it under close supervision). We have taught him to sit all the way back on the couch and put his hands to the side until she is in his lap, then he can support her with his hands. She doesn't seem to mind sitting with him either.

We have really enjoyed the last two weeks as a family of four. We have been so blessed to have so many people come to visit our daughter Sienna (I think we had around 50 visitors her first week home!). We also had wonderful friends that have been bringing us dinner every other night since we have been home from the hospital, and some others dropping off frozen meals and fresh baked bread, etc. It was been so helpful for us! Thank you!

More pictures posted soon. We had some maternity pictures done by a family friend Angie Gruener (still waiting on CD). Auntie Kik did some great pictures in the hospital on the day she was born that I will have to share when I get them. My good friend Kristal did some really cute newborn pictures when she was just 10 days old. You can see those at:

http://kristaljoyphotography.blogspot.com/2010/09/overfield-family-i-newborn-photographer.html

A couple "firsts"... (Bath & Outing)

Sienna had her first bath after she got home from the hospital. Believe it or not, but this is the happiest face she made during the bath! She didn't like it. Since then, she has had a couple other soaks in the tub, just before "bedtime" and she has learned to enjoy it. :)

On Saturday we had our first outing! I have been feeling great and was ready to get out of the house. On Saturday, Jacob & Julie came down and spent the morning with us. Then they mentioned that they were heading back to Dad & Mom's to watch the Huskies Game and have dinner. Julie & Jacob were signed up, on a meal rotation list, to bring us dinner that night but we opted to go to Dad & Mom's instead. It was so nice to get out!

Sienna Stats - Newborn Check Up

My pregnancy size with Sienna was very similar to Brayden, same weight gain & same belly size (the dr. measures your uterus during each visit).

She was born and weighed 8 pounds & 8 ounces. She also measured 20 inches long. She was four days early and Brayden was two days late, coming in at 8 lbs & 11 ounces. They were pretty similar in size, and might have been the same if she was closer to her due date like her brother. However, Brayden was 21 inches long.

At Sienna's newborn check up at the doctor she was measured 21.5 inches! I had them remeasure three times, I highly doubt she great and inch and a half in just under a week, so it seems the hospital measurement was off. She also weighs 8 pounds & 7 ounces, which is great! Normally it can take two weeks for a new one to get back up to their birth weight. She has been eating great and pooping a LOT, so we weren't that surprised.

8 pounds & 7 ounces puts her at 85% for weight.

21.5 inches puts her at 95% for height.

Her little head was measured at just 25%, an inch smaller in diameter than Braydens was at his newborn check up!

She has a darker complexion, which is partly due to Jaundice. They noticed it at the hospital and then the Doctor confirmed it at her newborn visit. However, on the "Jaundice Scale" she is about an 11. They don't treat it or get too concerned unless it gets to an 18, so she is doing good overall and should be cleared of it soon, but it is something we are keeping an eye on.

Sienna has been an overall happy baby so far! Except for she does not enjoy diaper changes and clothes changes. About half of the time we do change diapers or outfits, she will cry. So as you can imagine, being stripped down and put on cold & hard scale was not enjoyable for her...

Tall baby girl slept a good amount during her appointment.

Dada helped her calm down after a heel poke test.

Sienna Marie & her arrival story

Sienna Arrived on August 31st at 3:38am!

Here are some details of the moments leading up to her arrival...

Part One: Leading Up To Labor

Little Sienna was RIGHT ON TIME, according to Dada and Mama. Most of you know, the week before we had rented our house out for a golf tournament that took place at Chambers Bay Golf Course (one mile from our house). We stayed with Dad & Mom for a week and went back to our house on Friday (Aug. 27th). Auntie Juju and Uncle Jacob took Brayden from Thurs. - Sat. which was so nice because Brayden had so much fun with them and we were able to get home, clean and run a lot of busy errands before he came back. He had so much more fun with his Auntie and Uncle! We really appreciated it. Sunday we relaxed together at home. On Monday, Grandma Lois came by. It was a nice sunny day and she and Brayden played in the backyard, while I did all the little girl laundry and packed our hospital bag. That evening Brett came home and we had dinner together and then Brett & Brayden mowed the lawn together. He came in for bathtime & bedtime. By 8:00pm he was fast asleep and I ran to the grocery store (in Brett's truck) while Brett installed the infant car seat in my car. Got a weeks worth of veggies, fruit, ingredients to make a couple dinners and some snacks for the hospital stay. When I got home, we realized the garage door had woken up Bray, so I went to lay down with him...

Part Two: I think I am having contractions

As I lay there with Brayden I start to feel a contraction. It felt a little like a labor contraction, but it didn't alarm me as I had felt these a few days ago as well. I only felt two of them as I laid there for ten minutes or so. I went downstairs to put away the groceries, and as I did, I kept feeling them and mentioned it to Brett. By this time it was about 10pm and I told him that we don't need to start counting or anything, they could just go away. As I put away groceries, they kept coming, so eventually we started timing and sure enough, they were 5 minutes apart. Now I have also been told, if you are going into labor, but still able to sleep, do so! It's best to rest if you can for the long night ahead. But there is no way I could rest, in my mind the house MUST be spotless. Every dish had to in the dishwasher and that load of laundry in the dryer must be folded and put away. So after the house was spotless (still, contractions every 5 minutes) we decided it was time to go to bed. I called Dad & Mom to give them a heads up (@ 11:22pm) and then went to bed. Contractions kept coming as I laid down, but only every 7 minutes. Brett and I "googled" when to go to the hospital. All the answers we got were when contractions are five minutes apart, however, the contractions were getting really strong. At 12:35am I couldn't talk during contractions and Brett called Mom to see what we should. They were still 7 minutes apart, but really painful. She said meet her at the hospital and that dad was on his way over. Dad got there very fast (to stay with Brayden through the night) and shortly after, we were on our way! I called Julie at 1:15am and said, "I think we are having the baby but will call you when we get to the hospital to let you know for sure". I was remembering when I went to the hospital, pregnant with Brayden, 7 hours into painful labor and they told me I was only at 3cm and I could go home and wait.

Part Three: You mean I get to stay?!?

We finally arrived at the hospital (after construction detours & a minor panic attack on Brett's end, contractions were 3 - 4 minutes apart in the car) at 1:30am. We get checked in and find that I am at 5 cm. I immediately asked, "Is that far enough? Do I get to stay?" and the nurse told me that there was no way I was going anywhere and that I would probably have the baby before breakfast. Suddenly my mood went from, "Do I get to stay?" to "Oh no! Do I have to stay?" It hasn't even been two years since Brayden was born, so all the feelings of labor and deliver came rushing back to me. It was then that I turned to Mom & Brett and said, "I for sure want an epidural!" More time went by, I was checked into a delivery room, they did paperwork, tried to get an IV in me but failed (OUCH!) and went to get someone else to do it (You have to have an IV before the epidural). Contractions were coming stronger and more frequently. A really strong contraction hit and at 2:40am my water broke! They continued to be extremely painful and frequent. I was check shortly after that and found out that I was at 8cm and that our baby girl would be here within an hour!

Part Four: Epidural Drama

They STILL had not had the 2nd person in to try to get my IV set. My epidural was NOT in! Right after they found I was at 8cm, the nurse told me it is probably to late to try for an epidural and that I was progressing extremely fast. Panic immediately hit as I flew back on the bed and started sobbing. I looked at Mom & Brett and said, "This is so dumb! Every time I plan on an epidural and it doesn't happen!" I then told the nurses, "Why didn't I have an epidural an hour ago?! What is taking so long?" (Keep in mind I had only been in the deliver room for about an hour... but in my mind I had been there forever and they were all moving much too slow). Brett, Mom and the nurses tried to tell me that she will come really fast and that I would be okay without one if that is how it had to be. That was the LAST thing I wanted to hear! The nurse said we could try an epidural and see if it takes before I deliver and I said, "Yes, let's try it". But then I informed her of my new conditions on the situation. I demanded, "I want an epidural, but DO NOT use a needle." Yes, I was serious, it seemed like something they could make happen at the time. Well the nurse and I went back and forth and finally she convinced me that I would have to choose either the epidural plus the needle or nothing at all... Hmm... I finally agreed, "Okay fine, use the needle, but we can't waste any more time!" The anesthesiologist was in shortly, I informed him of my fear on needles and he could see my panic. He remained really calm and it only took a couple minutes for him to do the epidural. I sat there with my knees to my chest, upright on the table. All the nurses giggled and said, no one 9 months pregnant has ever sat like that! But the anesthesiologist said, "Don't move, this is a perfect position for me to do this!" On his way out he smiled and commented, "You really put the pressure on me, that was a personal record for my fastest one!"

Part Five: Oh no! I want to push!

Before I had even laid back down from my epid

ural a felt this huge sensation to push (I never got the urge to push with Brayden). I exclaimed, "Oh no! I want to push! How long till this kicks in?!?!" Before I knew it the doctor was in, legs are up and everyone is yelling to push! I resisted and kept saying, "How long till this kicks in! I am feeling it all!" Every time they would yell "Push!" I would give it about 10% effort. I had made a secret plan that I wasn't telling the nurses, doctor or Mom. (At this point Brett was laying on the ground, pale as a ghost and another nurse was bringing him juice). My secret plan was to not have this baby until I didn't feel it. I went through 3 - 4 pushes, giving it about 10% effort and in extreme pain. I think the doctor knew my "secret plan" and he silenced Mom & all the nurses and looked me in they eye and said, "Give me ONE good push and I promise she will come out". Okay, fine, I liked that idea too, so next contraction, I did one push and gave it 100% effort and that was all it took! Sienna Marie was born at 3:38am!

(Just a few minutes old, Sienna Marie)

Part Six: Not quite done yet... (don't read further if you don't want to hear about placentas and blood, etc.)

Placenta came out afterwards and

the Doctor (Dr. Nickels, who was on call during the night and delivered her) noticed that it was not a WHOLE placenta. He needed to manually remove the rest of it. Meaning, his hand and arm (up to his elbow) had to spend about 20 minutes fishing out every little piece of cord and placenta out of my uterus. I was so happy that my epidural kicked in for that part. However, it was still terrible! Quite a few people have said, "Oh nice, so you didn't feel it because you had the epidural". But it was still just as painful as pushing without an epidural. Less work because all I did was lay there, but equally as painful and uncomfortable. If I hadn't had the epidural, they would have had to knock me out completely to do that procedure (that's what the nurse told me). I was chatting with my good friend Lizzy and she had the same thing, tried to deliver natural with petocin, then after HOURS finally got an epidural and had her beautiful baby girl, then had the placenta manually removed. She described the manual removal with an epidural, just as painful as laboring naturally with petocin.

Julie showed up just in time for that part of the show, she was hoping to make it for the delivery, but it happened to fast. When she walked in and saw the doctors hand and forearm disappear into my uterus and all the blood that was surrounding the situation, she had to immediately lay down. She got a peak at her new niece, snapped a few pictures and then laid on the bench by the window and had the nurse bring her juice.

Once that was taken care of I was on an IV with petocin and had different meds to make my uturus contract (it was "boggy" as they call it and the bleeding wouldn't stop, same as what happened with Bray). Antibiotics, due to risk on infection with the manual removal of the placenta.

Part Seven: A couple days at the hospital

Once the bleeding was under control, we were moved into our room where we would stay a couple days. We got to the room around 8am and about a minute later, Brett was sound asleep, ha! I was wide awake and ready to have family visit and meet our new daughter! I stayed awake and just held her while Brett rested up. At noon, he was finally ready for visitors. :) Then we had a whirlwind of a couple days consumed with many visits, not very much sleep, nursing, diapers and lots of just staring and this beautiful little baby

girl that we were finally able to hold in our arms. Both Brett and I are so happy and feel so blessed to have overall a safe delivery and healthy baby girl. :)

(Proud Dada & Mama, with 9 hour old Sienna)

(Our perfect Sienna Marie, just two days old and ready to go home from the hospital.)