Did you know...

...it's pretty hard to update a blog when your baby refuses to be set down? That's my excuse, anyway.

To be fair, I do set her down sometimes. But I use that precious time to do things like eat and shower. And when Chason gets home, he holds her of course, but then Romelie is home too so I'm trying to spend some time with my family. But I have lots of updates to share, so I'm going to attempt to do so with Cori resting on a pillow on my lap. Let's see how well this works...

...okay, I started this blog on Saturday afternoon. It is now Monday morning. So that's how well it works. Sigh. Cori is downstairs in her blue bouncy chair featured in this picture, and the dishwasher is running. I swear, when we first got our new dishwasher, I couldn't believe how loud it was...now I'm very grateful, cause it's apparently very soothing. My dishes are the only thing in my house that are always, always clean.

So updates. We have had so many wondeful visitors in the last three weeks, which has been fantastic. We've also been on a few outings with one or both kids. We took Cori and Romelie to visit my grandparents so they could meet the new baby, and Cori has been to work with me twice now (nothing like breastfeeding in front of your co-workers...I try to be discreet, using blankets and such, and everyone politely looks away, so hopefully no one has been offended!).

Speaking of breastfeeding, it is FINALLY going well. I had pain for the first three weeks, which was actually worse than with Romelie. I don't know if Cori sucks harder (insert immature giggle), but she really did some serious damage. I used the breast shield for about 2-1/2 weeks, only nursing without it once or twice a day. Finally last Wednesday I just got sick of washing it every time and not losing it, not to mention Cori's extreme reluctance to latch on to it at all, and I just started nursing the normal way. And all is well...thank goodness. I'm also pumping once a day to pre-emptively keep my supply high for when I go back to work (one week from today!) and to store a bunch up. Who missed reading about breastfeeding and breast milk on this blog? Everyone.

On to our wonderful visitors. After Gramma Carol left, we had Grandmommy Diane here from Nov. 6-13, which was fantastic. Romelie was excited to see her (Grandmommy took her to the zoo to give Chason and me some quiet time with baby), and Diane got to spend a few days enjoying our unnaturally warm fall...until Saturday rolled around and it snowed. Not that mid-November snowfalls are unexpected, but it was nearly 70 degrees three days before the snow came. Romelie loved it, though.

With Monday came Romelie's 3-year check up with the doctor. I'm happy to report that Romelie is 36.8 lbs and 40.5 inches tall. Which puts her in the 90th and 96th percentiles, respectively. According to children's ibuprofin, she is the size of a 4-5 year old.

Cori came along too (much harder to maneuver life with two kids versus one! It gets easier, right...?), so I took an opportunity to snap a picture of the girls with their pediatrician and my long-time doc, Dr. Dukinfield. Cori complied, at least!

And on Tuesday, my beautiful Romelie Ann turned three years old. Happy birthday, little monkey!

Gramma Carol came down to celebrate, and I'm very proud of the Winnie the Pooh birthday cake I made (insert "oohs" and "ahhs" here). Romelie got some fantastic gifts including all of the fairies from the Tinkerbell movie, some books, clothes, Dora toys, and other fun stuff. We gave her the choice of going to Nickelodeon Universe to ride the rides or going to Chuck E Cheese to play games. She chose to stay home. Ah, my kid...takes after her homebody mom.

And then last weekend, Papa Steve and Nanny Angel came to visit! It was absolutely freezing while they were here (sorry, guys!), so we weren't able to relax outside as we have on previous visits, so we hung around inside instead! Then Saturday night, they bravely agreed to accompany the girls to the Mall of America with us. Oh, what a crowded place. We brought Romelie to Nickelodeon Universe for a delayed birthday celebration, and she had a great time on the rides, most of which she rode with one of us grown-ups. She got to meet Dora and Diego, which I thought was pretty cool. She was shy at first, but ultimately gave them both hugs. And then came the main reason for the visit...Santa!

I love this Santa. We've seen him three years in a row now, and he's awesome. Unfortunately, everyone else knows this, too, so we had to wait almost an hour to see him, even with an appointment. Try asking a 3 year old to wait to see Santa. Didn't go super well. But we had four adults to take turns keeping her distracted as best we could, and ultimately we got to see Santa and got an adorable picture. Love this guy. And though Romelie wasn't fully cooperative, I managed to get a pretty cute picture of Nanny and Papa with the girls. Merry early Christmas!

And speaking of the holidays...happy Thanksgiving, too! I failed to bust out the camera, but we had a delicious dinner at my dad's house and are still enjoying the last of the leftovers.

Finally, some info on what this new baby is like, for those who've yet to meet her. She's pretty chill, as long as she's being held and/or fed. We are still co-sleeping, and I got an awesome little bed for her on craigslist to keep her safe. She's not as curious about the world around her as Rom was, but she makes the greatest faces of any baby I've met. These are two of her classics...I also love her Blue Steel look in the picture towards the top of this entry (that's a Zoolander reference, and if you haven't seen that movie, you should!). She is also a professional spit-upper. We both have the delightful odor of sour milk no matter how often I shower or do laundry. She's also thrown up three times already (I think due to some nasal drainage, not a virus) and it's so forceful it comes out her nose. Horrifying. She's ridiculously loud. I don't mean crying...she squeaks, grunts, sneezes, hiccups and snorts constantly, and she's louder than most adults I know. I have a tough time sleeping when someone in the room is snoring; imagine sharing a room with a baby alternating between echoing hiccups and bed-vibrating belches. And like her sister, she prefers sucking on a finger to a pacifier, which is either more or less convenient depending on the situation.

There's more to say of course (Romelie's had some truly gem soundbites that need to be shared!), but Cori's been awake and sitting on my lap for the last few paragraphs (darn you, end of the dishwashing cycle!) and I've been typing with one hand. Which is both time consuming and obnoxious. More later!