Sisterly Love

We are all so in love with baby Vera. Charlotte, who was already crazy for babies before she became a big sister, has a special love for Vera. And if you've ever had a newborn with little ones in the house, you know that protecting the baby from overly affectionate older siblings is a full-time job. Constant vigilance! Smothering a person with kisses and hugs is a real danger, and I mean literally smothering. So much love. I told the girls a couple of times, "Please don't clobber her!" And now Charlotte (who apparently doesn't know that clobbering a person is frowned upon) tells me, "I want to quobber her!"

Charlotte meeting Vera for the first time

Most of the time, she is so very sweet and gentle.

tummy time snuggles

no such thing as too close

I love it when they give Vera sweet kisses.

Charlotte loves to tell us, "She likes me." She also tells us when Vera needs a hug, needs a kiss, has her eyes open, is looking around, is asleep, is crying, spit up (you get the idea).
Charlotte is also a terrific assistant burper and pats Vera's back with me and says, "Burp, Vera, burp."

Charlotte even shares her very special butterfly blanket lovey. She loves that Vera has a big butterfly blanket of her own. "They match the same butterfly blanket!" is frequently repeated.

And sometimes she is sweet but not so gentle.

Vera probably sleeps better at night because this is what happens when she tries to sleep during the day.

Does it count as touching if she doesn't use her hands?

Charlotte told me, "I want to squeeze her cheeks and say chubby willy nilly." Don't we all, Charlotte?

Love these girls, all three of them. They are going to be the best of friends someday. If Vera survives all the love.

Pronunciation

We have had lots of inquiries since Vera was born about how to pronounce her name. Also, our last name can be difficult since it isn't spelled like it's pronounced. Here's a breakdown of our family's names and how we pronounce them. Hopefully this helps!

Vera is pronounced VEER-ah (not VAIR-ah).
Charlotte is pronounced SHAR-let (not SHAR-lot).
Elise is pronounced eh-LEASE (not ee-LEASE).
Blair rhymes with Claire (one syllable like Claire, but has no E at the end).
I think most people have no problems with the name Matt.

And our last name is Asay, which is pronounced like the letters A and C (rhymes with Casey). It isn't uh-SAY or assay (which means "the testing of a metal or ore to determine its ingredients and quality").

Don't worry if this confuses you more than helps. Just say our names however you want, and we will happily answer. :)

And because you probably just came looking for pictures of Vera . . .

Vera's Birth Story

I went to my last doctor's appointment on Tuesday, August 12th. Thirty-nine weeks and six days pregnant. I got indoors just before a strong storm started outside, with strong wind, rain, and hail. There was rain water coming in under the door, and the door kept blowing open from the wind. Still dilated to 3cm and 70% effaced, just like the previous week. I was a little frustrated about no change since I had been having lots more contractions, some of them pretty painful. We talked about induction, which I was nervous about since my induction experience with Elise wasn't the best (no epidural at first, I don't know what I was thinking). I called Matt, and together we decided on Thursday at 3am. The other options were that night at 8pm (we didn't feel like we could be ready in time) or Sunday (I didn't want to be pregnant that long).

My due date, August 13th, came and went. More rain. More, stronger contractions. That night after our girls were fed and bathed, we brought them to my sister Holly's house to put them to bed. We explained to them that in the morning we wouldn't be there because we would be at the hospital but Daddy would pick them up later so they could visit the baby.

We came home after they were asleep, got some things finished up, and went to bed. Two o'clock came too early, but we woke up and started getting dressed. Then, about 2:30am (we were going to leave for the hospital at about 2:40), Matt noticed a message on his phone. We called the hospital back, and they told us they were too busy to take us for the induction. They would call us when they could take us. They wouldn't give us any kind of timeframe. We went back to bed and woke up about 6:30am not feeling very rested. Elise and Charlotte were at my sisters house still. We hung around all morning. We even watched a movie. Feeling super guilty that we were at home with nothing to do while my sister juggled her own kids (Did I mention she has five, one of them only two months old at the time?) as well as ours, we headed to her house. We fed our kids her food for lunch, put Charlotte down for a nap that ended up literally lasting 10 minutes, and hung around some more. More contractions. No news from the hospital. We decided that we needed to get our kids home, fed, and to bed in their own beds.

By this point we were starting to get pretty frustrated, and I was getting pretty uncomfortable. We ate dinner, bathed the girls, and put them to bed. I kept going back and forth about whether or not we should go to the hospital since my contractions were getting stronger. Once the girls were asleep, we finally decided to call our friend Sierra so she could come stay at our house with our girls while we went to the hospital. The people at the hospital took our information, checked me in triage, and decided to keep me there. They sent us back out to the waiting room for over an hour (busy hospital). It was after 11pm when they finally brought me back to a room. I was GBS positive, dilated to 5cm and contracting, and I had had an appointment for an induction, so they couldn't really send me home. They started me on penicillin. Crazy burning sensation in my hand I don't remember having with the other girls, but apparently that's normal. I got really shaky. I really wanted an epidural at this point. They gave me an epidural (hallelujah!), and I finally got to relax. Matt was super tired; he doesn't do well on little sleep. I was tired too, but feeling much better after the epidural.

I didn't relax long. A little before 2am, I finished getting my first dose of penicillin. Ideally, they want you to get 2 doses, 4 hours apart, just to be safe. The nurse told me to pull myself up in the bed so she could check me, and when I did I thought I felt my water break. I was right, and things happened quickly from there. I was at 6cm when my water broke. The doctor arrived shortly after that, and before I knew it I was ready to push. Just a few short pushes, and Vera was born! It was a little after 3am, so almost exactly 24 hours after my original appointment for induction and two days after my due date. No tearing or stitches. No complications. Just a beautiful baby girl.

Vera Helen Asay was born at 3:04am on August 15, 2014. She was 9 lbs 1oz and 21 inches long. Healthy and perfect. We love her so much. We have been so richly blessed.

my whole world

beautiful baby Vera

I love this moment.

best big sister

Our girls are lucky to have this man for their Daddy.

My sister Holly and I had babies just two months apart.

I love baby yawns.

so very alert, right from the beginning

love

going home

"Trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!" -William Wordsworth

Elise These Days

Elise is getting so grown-up lately. She will be four years old in a couple of months, and I can't believe it. She is growing into such a beautiful, smart, fun, helpful, energetic, independent little girl. I've never known anyone as enthusiastic about life as this kid, and I love that about her. Her smile makes me happy, and her laugh is contagious. I love her more than I can say.

She is my big helper, always willing to do little jobs for me and constantly finding things to fix and put right. We were in Old Navy recently, and she spent the time while I was browsing putting flip flops back on mannequins and picking up stray tags from the floor.

wearing her favorite shirt
She wants to wear it whenever it is clean.

I am cherishing her artwork and beginning writing. Seriously, I can't get enough of her creations--so cute. She has also began reading, and she is already pretty good. She is working her way through a big book of Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel. I'm so proud of her for working so hard at reading.

drawing a rainbow all on her own

She loves a good mess, and all sensory activities are her favorite. Silly putty, wet sand, mud, water, play doh--you name it. If it's messy and/or fun to touch, she loves it. She still loves to chew on everything, which is pretty typical for a sensory seeker like herself. She often chews on chewy tubes, which we encourage, and her nails and various other things, which we discourage. I love to watch her during sensory play because she gets so excited and seems to be enjoying herself so much.

Fourth of July, playing in wet sand

She is also a climber, and she is getting really good. She would climb trees all day if we let her. After getting all dirty in the sand on the Fourth on July, she headed right up a tree. Best morning ever!

I love Elise's silliness. She loves to laugh, and she always seems to be having so much fun. She also has a terrific imagination. One of her favorite activities lately is to arrange something randomly and then decide what it looks like; snacks and play doh often get this treatment.

This picture was 100% her idea.

She is also very curious, sometimes even a little mischievous. We were staying with my sister for the night, and she came downstairs in the morning with purple nails. She painted them herself first thing, before anyone knew she was awake. I was just glad she didn't spill any on their white carpets!

Don't worry, we make sure she is punished accordingly when she gets naughty. (Just kidding, this picture is from our visit to the Museum of Natural History.)

Elise is such a little fish! She loves the water. Swimming is definitely a favorite activity. She spends the bulk of her time repeatedly jumping into the pool.

at the splash pad

 Here's another example of Elise's love for climbing. She was so proud that she got to the top by herself.

Elise wants to do everything for herself, all the time (which is nothing new, I guess), and she is surprisingly capable for a child who is not yet four. She dresses herself, pours her own cereal (while supervised), buckles herself into her carseat, cleans up toys and books. She is going to be the best to have around when her sister is born, both because she will be such a good helper and because she will love her so much (hopefully not to the point of putting the baby in jeopardy, but we'll see).

I love our Lisey, and I am so glad she calls me Mom. She is such a blessing to have in our family.

Charlotte at 18 Months

at the Phoenix Zoo

Charlotte's baby stage has gone by in a flash. I can't believe how grown up she has gotten, especially lately. She is definitely a toddler and not a baby anymore. At 18 months, Charlotte is 26 lbs, 35(!) inches tall, and her head is 48 cm.

snuggling her favorite little blanket

She is tall, usually eats more than her older sister, climbs on everything especially chairs, and is getting more sure-footed every month. Her blond hair has really started growing lately, and she has the sweetest baby curls. She just got her last molar, and her canines are coming soon, I think. She sucks her left thumb, and she carries around a little blanket with silky edges.

She often climbs into this shopping cart and gets stuck.

climbing at the playground

The swings are her favorite.

She loves, loves, loves books, songs (especially Wee Sing Children's Songs and Fingerplays), and the zoo. Honey Nut Cheerios, peanut butter on a spoon, crackers, strawberries, broccoli, beans, and cookies are all favorites. She loves baths, washing her hands, and playing in water; eats crayons and loves to draw; loves nursery rhymes; and thinks drinking water by herself from small bathroom cups is the best thing ever. Every time we pass flowers she wants to pick one, and every time we pass by gravel she wants to pick up rocks.

favorite cereal

seeing the zebras at the Phoenix Zoo

picking flowers

enjoying the water fountain and licking the nasty water off her fingers

She is talking like crazy and will repeat anything and everything. Recently, she started repeating us to "say" a prayer. The first time we tried this, I had her repeat my words one at a time. When I said "for," however, she said "five." I guess she thought we were counting? Charlotte just learned to count to 11, and she practices all the time. She also tries to sing her ABC's, and she can sing several chunks of the song pretty well. She has an awesome memory, and she picks up new words like crazy. She knows most of her body parts, and will tell you just where to kiss if she ever gets bonked ("bonk-a-chin" and "bonk-a-toe" are a couple favorite phrases).

Charlotte knows several animal sounds, but if she doesn't know what sound something makes, she just says that it says "hee-haw" like a donkey. Matt asked her recently what sound a bell makes, and she told him hee-haw. She has really started stringing words together, and she often uses 3 or 4 word phrases like "walk, outside, mail" if she wants to go check the mail, or "monkey climbing trees" when she wanted to talk about the monkeys we saw at the zoo. She definitely knows what she wants and gets upset when she knows you understand but won't comply with her requests. I can tell her two-year-old independence is starting to creep in.

favorite reading spot
She is usually surrounded by all the books, which she loves to pull off the shelf, but this was first thing in the morning, so she didn't have a chance to pull them all down yet.

Charlotte loves looking at books on her own.

She loves to do puzzles and is getting really good at the ones we have. She has started to pretend a little bit, like when she uses the toy stethoscope as a phone or pretends the umbrella stroller, folded up, is a vacuum and will roll it back and forth across the rug. She is a super messy eater, very intentionally, and will throw and smear food like crazy. She also won't keep a bib on, so every time she eats she has to be undressed down to her diaper during the meal. She especially likes to smear peanut butter on her chest and belly and sometimes in her hair. She has cracked a sippy cup because it got thrown a few too many times.

favorite dress-up clothes: firefighter hat and "glass slippers"

typical peanut butter smeared chest at lunch

Charlotte loves gorillas, especially since her obsession with the book Goodnight, Gorilla. She loves to snuggle the big stuffed gorilla we have. She currently can't get enough of the book Duck on a Bike and thinks the goat eating trash is endlessly amusing.

This picture is from a couple of months ago, when Charlotte's Goodnight, Gorilla obsession was in full swing. She still loves that big gorilla.

She falls asleep much better for Daddy lately, but she is usually more of a Mama's girl when it isn't time to sleep. She is obsessed with the moon and whether it is day or night outside. She is always happy to brush her teeth, or at least to chew on her toothbrush. She can't understand why we don't eat treats much more often, and she has a tremendous sweet tooth. She drinks mostly water, and will occasionally take sips of juice, milk, or lemonade but usually won't drink much (unless it's chocolate milk, which she chugs). She also knows what chocolate milkshakes are, knows how to ask for one, and likes them a little too much.
Chalk is fun to eat and draw with, pencils work great on paper or on the tile floor, and crayons and play doh are interesting to taste. Chapstick is great for licking off, especially the strawberry kind. The Itsy Bitsy Spider gets her excited, and Teach Me to Walk in the Light settles her down. She loves Finding Nemo and SuperWhy!, and she'll usually keep bringing you books to read, one after another, until you tell her that's all we can read right now. She loves to look at books on her own too.

I could go on and on (obviously) about this sweet, spunky, vivacious, smart, beautiful little girl, but I think that's enough for one post. We sure do love our Charlotte girl!

first official day of Nursery