Plus one!

Since the last post (which has been wayyy too long) we've had a new addition to our Lee household - Blair Mallory Lee. Blair arrived on August 10 at 4:40PM. We waited at the Overlake Hospital from 9:30am because my water broke around 8:00am but I drank an entire bottle of water (I had to replenish all the water I lost). The doctor wanted wait for at least 6 hours to perform a cesarean. It was a good thing we waited because I started to choke a bit while I was being operation on and it was not fun not being able to cough. Our very nice anesthesoligist told us that it would have been worse if we hadn't waited for 6 hours.

Blair came out crying and wanted to nurse as soon as I was ready in the recovery room. Unlike her brother Ely, Blair cried right away because I didn't have any milk for her. We had to tube feed her right away to keep her from crying.

Big brother Ely has adjusted to the arrival of his sister. In the beginning he was very sad because I was in the hospital and he still had to go to school. When we arrived home from the hospital, Ely observed Blair and was very cautious and gentle.

We weren't able to hold Blair much when we arrived home because Blair had Jaundice and she had to be couped up inside a light therapy machine for a few days.

Big Brother Ely

It was hard for Ely to go to school knowing that Blair and I was home. Daddy was home too but daddy told Ely that he was going to work and Ely was going to school so Ely wouldn't feel even more sad knowing that everyone got to stay home. For an entire week Ely cried on the way to school crying for mommy and Blair.

Ely memorized his sister's name quite fast and was very proud to share her name with people. It took Ely awhile to let people even near Blair. Ely was a very protective brother and told people that Blair was "his sister" and to "stay away".

Ely has grown up so much. He is talking a lot and very vocal about everything and very bossy. Sometimes he screams at me because he doesn't want me to put a hairclip in my hair or want me to wear a certain pair of shoes. Luckily he likes my glittery Toms shoes so I get to wear a lot of it. :)

A few weeks or so before Blair arrived, Ely climbed out of his crib. Ely was always a good sleeper since he was very little and slept from 7:30pm to 6:00am. However, his climbing out of his crib plus my letting him sleep with me while daddy was on a trip to Las Vegas caused us to toss the good sleeping habits out the window. Once Blair arrived we didn't want to have Ely sleep by himself in his room in case he would feel neglected. So there we were, all four of us sleeping in the same room for nearly two months. Finally we got Ely a big boy bed and he and daddy built it together over one evening. Now Ely sleeps in his own bed (for the most part - at the least in his own room) and we just have to stay in the rocking chair until he falls asleep. Ely now sleeps very late around 9:30pm. He does take a long nap but I don't think he will be falling asleep at 7:30pm anytime soon.

Ely's new fasination is playing with a cash register. We set up boxes of "mac cheese" (as Ely says it), load it up in our shopping cart, ring it up at the register, and bag it in brown bags. I pay using a credit card and Ely gives me "two dollars" back. For some reason Ely is insistent about giving us back "two dollars". He also asks for "two minutes" of extra playtime every night while he holds up his two little fingers and nodds his head up and down. He also has his eyes open wide too. I think it's really him commanding us rather than asking for permission.

Ely has been throwing tamper tantrums lately at home and in public. We've been letting him have his own way when Blair arrived because we didn't want to hurt his feelings but now he got so accustomed to it, he wouldn't really listen to us at all. It had gotten so bad we had to enforce the "bear hug" one evening and even though Ely absolutely hated it, it has helped Ely from going into the "red zone".

Baby Blair

Blair is 7 weeks old and already her personality is very different from Ely. Blair likes to be held and refuses to sleep during the day unless I hold her in my arms or a baby carrier. At night, she sleeps nestled in my arms. Since 3 weeks or so Blair smiled and even laughed. Now she does that even more often and coos with her arms and legs wiggling around in excitement.

Luckily Blair nurses much better than Ely did and sleeps from 11pm to 3-4am! Having Blair reminded me how much I miss when Ely was little too and how quickly our little boy is growing. Our time with Blair seems much more precious and rewarding because we know Blair is going to grow up very fast too. Even the late night feedings and hysterical cries aren't as bad as it was with Ely because it'll soon stop too and we will even miss it.

Already two!

Our little little Ely isn't so little anymore. He has a mind of his own and is stubborn as ever. He does however, he still remains a sweet little boy and even when throws a temper tantrum, if you ask him to give you a kiss or a hug, he doesn't hestitate to give you one. He once asked a little girl for a hug when he was leaving for the day at school and she didn't want to. He pushed her and knocked her to the ground. Since she started to cry, Ely felt bad and helped her up. Afterwards he gave her a big hug.

We celebrated Ely's birthday at Dizzy's Bus in Bellevue. Lots of friends were able join us to celebrate. It took Ely a little

time to warm up since he was sleepy on the car ride there but he had a lot of fun playing.

Our litte friends ate after playing.

Afterwards we enjoyed a bus cupcake. The little ones had blue and green icing all over their faces. The cupcake was supposed to be heart shaped but it didn't turn out quite right.

Ely took a long nap once he got home after the party. He was very excited to open the presents.

Thank you to all of our friends who came to the party and gave us so many cool gifts!

Hawaii!

While we tried to do a "test flight" after our very horrifying experience on our way home from California, we had a wonderful flight to Hawaii. We had two carry-on bags full of Ely's toys, ear drops, and lots of candy. We were ready to give him a special massage around his ears if his eardrums didn't pop. He was able to tell us if he has a "boo-boo" so he would point to his ear when the pressure would build up. At least that was what we thought he was telling us.

The first two hours went very slowly. Each toy we got Ely lasted only 15 minutes but we were able to use it again later. The tape and highlighter games were a big hit!

We had candy too. Ely didn't finish any one piece of candy. He got a kick out of opening the bag and tasting all of the candy.

Then Ely peeped around to find the other kids around our seat.

After awhile Ely got sleepy and we made room so that he could sleep between mommy and daddy. He slept for two whole hours. We were worried that he would sleep too much because the last time, he slept too long and his eardrums couldn't adjust to the change in cabin pressure when the airplane was getting ready to land. Luckily Ely woke up before we landed and we played a few more games.

Too bad when we landed we were greeted by a storm. Ely was probably wondering what were doing back where we started after so many hours in the airplane.

We stopped by a Hawaiian restaurant to grab a quick bite and Walmart to stock up our room. Once we got to our condo, we went out to the beach to check out the view. It was beautiful, despite the stormy weather.

Once we got to the condo, Ely was very tired and was ready for his bath-time.

We spent 7 nights in Hawaii. Ely loved checking out the gold fish in the pond at our condo. They were huge!

Ely loved playing at the Kaanapali Beach but the waves were much too big and Ely's spirits were no match. He wanted to dive into the beach but he didn't realize how big and strong the waves were. While the beach was beautiful, it wasn't quite right for Ely. The waves were much too big.

We checked out an aquarium but Ely was too tired and cranky to enjoy it. Much of the exhibit was under construction so it wasn't very amusing.

We found the perfect beach "Baby Beach". Ely was able to walk up to his chest although we had to discourage him from being so brave. We also made a huge sand castle.

We had so much fun in Maui. It was a very relaxing trip. Ely loved going to the pool and eating lots of icecream.

A week went by so fast. Ely and I caught a bug towards the end of our trip and we were ready to come back home to Seattle. I was getting a heat rash and wasn't able to enjoy the sun much. Our flight back home was pleasant. Ely took a long nap and we had lot of toys for him to play with. He even had a projectile vomit incident (Sung was showered with it) and we were able to get Ely changed without anyone noticing. Ely is usually very angry after an inicident like this but he didn't seem to mind it at all. We enjoyed a nice sunset on our way home and was greeted by nice cold Seattle weather.

Once we got home, Ely ran (literally ran) to his train table and played with his choo-choo toys (that's what Ely likes to call it).

~We're slowly adjusting back to the PNW time zone. The two hour difference (instead of three) has been helpful.