Benny & the Jets, I mean Girls

Poor Alex. We've been getting the girls excited for the arrival of their baby sibling, and then the minute he arrives, Alex gets a fever and cough and is quarantined away! After keeping them from getting too huggy/touchy all week, yesterday they finally got to "hold" him.

Alex loves his little hands and nose.





Dani, our baby crazy little mommy, could barely contain herself.







Here's a few more close ups of the new Wei. Ben has been a pretty good sleeper so far. I love when he gets his left arm free from the swaddle. This was the arm that had his IV in it, so maybe he's used to it being out to his side!

Yes!

We have a baby! "He came out!" as the girls have been saying all day. Benjamin Mason Wei arrived thursday April 17 at 9:11pm weighing 8 pounds exactly (8 is my lucky number!) and measuring 20 inches. It was an easy delivery for me, but a bit of a rough time for him - he had the cord around his neck which the doctor promptly removed, but it caused him to have trouble breathing at first. He was breathing very fast and it was taking a lot of energy to do it, so he was whisked off to the NICU and was observed, without needing oxygen, for our entire 48 hour stay. But after the first night, it was clear he was very strong and was definitely the healthiest kid in there. He outweighed his neighbors, the twins, by leaps and bounds! Every time I visited him, that sesame street song played in my head... "One of these things is not like the other..." So he was able to come home with us right away with a clear bill of health and we're overjoyed to be here with him. The girls met him finally this morning and were giddy with excitement, especially our resident baby expert, Dani. Alex unfortunately is running a fever and coughing, but she mustered as much energy as possible to meet her brother and give him adorable pats on the head. Fingers crossed for everyone else, especially Ben, to stay healthy.

Anyway, it's almost time for another feeding (As Jean used to say, "Mom's Diner: food's great, service is slow" LOL), so here are a few early pics. Many MANY many more to come!

Maybe

Well, yesterday (which was just 5 hours ago) was my due date and nothing looked imminent on the newWei front. The OB found the baby in a transverse (sideways) position AGAIN on Monday, for the second week in a row, and there'd been no change in anything to show the baby was ready to come. So the doc pushed Baby head down again to see if he/she would stay this time, and as of last night I was sure he/she was not thanks to the double mountainous shape of my belly instead of the nice cone shape I took after the appointment. But all night I've been having some pretty good contractions, so we'll see if this could be it. I figure if I'm not sleeping I might as well sit at my computer! So here's a poem. Like many sentimental things lately, it made me teary the first time I read it. Maybe at least my preggers friend SHB will appreciate it. :)It was not credited when I found it on the walls of my OB so, sorry out there to whoever wrote this.

These Last Few Hours
It is important to me
that I spend a part
of the next few hours here
alone with you in the darkness

You and I
will never be this close again.
By morning
you will be a tiny person
all your own

No longer the kicking, demanding
bulge in my body
that I have grown to love so well

I pray that God will safely guide
you on your journey tonight
and I ask Him for the strength
to help you all I can

Again, you signal
your impatience to be free

Time to wake up your daddy.

Watermelon Sisters

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, so we ate snack outside. The girls had picked a mini watermelon at Trader Joes and they were excited to try it. They were guarding it closely from Plato, and at one point, Alex was trying to keep him away from his sister's piece. They look out for each other now and ask for each other. It's adorable to hear them say loudly, "Where are you?" and the other calls out, "I'm right here" from another room in the house.




Today was a "school day" and the note written on Alex's paper was the cutest we've ever gotten from their teachers:
"Alexa and Danica are best friends. When they talk to each other they smile and hug, run in the playground and hold hands."
Awwwwww!

Daddy makes good videos

He always catches the cutest moments. 

This one speaks for itself:

Dani is baby crazy (she and Alex and going to be good big sisters!):

Alex is the Queen of Silly Walks. Here she is getting ready to "paint" Bob Builder:

Pit Stop

We acquired two Cozy Coupes a few weeks ago and it's finally started warming up enough to vroom around on the driveway. The girls LOVE them, and so does Mommy because I can help push them without bending down very far! Dani and Alex decided to do some "fixing like Daddy" and asked for tools for their new cars. They spent 15 adorable minutes tuning up their vehicles!

Doubled up on fun AGAIN!

Just like our double holiday celebrations, we had double the birthday parties. With a visit from Gramma and Opa last weekend, almost the whole family (we missed you Uncle Michael!) was here in Indy for the girls' birthday dinner/Easter egg hunt. Dani and Alex are already pros at opening presents and eating cake and it was definitely amazing to see how much they've grown in one year. Here are a few memories from last year:




This year we started with an egg hunt and they were actually able to look on their own and find almost all the "easy" ones we hid. Being 'I Spy' aficionados has definitely helped their hide and seek skills!
Alex finds one:

Dani too:

Alex looking at her stash:

Dani's first peep:

Dinner and cake followed.

Alex, by Dani's request, got to have her birthday song sung first this time:

Then Dani got her turn. They both, eventually, blew out their own candles this year, but Dani did quite a bit of the ole' bottom lip blowing up into her own hair technique before hitting the candles:

This year, for cake, they were using FORKS!

Presents galore followed. They now each have their own aprons (mini versions of Mommy's new one!) and they seem to like them - the next day they helped make ham balls for Easter dinner.



It's hard to believe it's been 2 years since that snowy day in Tucson (that's right - it SNOWED in Arizona the day they were born). Year 3 will hold many more surprises, I'm sure. In a few weeks, they'll be big sisters!

Just 5 more weeks to be preggers

We finished painting the new nursery this week (pictures to come) and it's feeling very real now. So I guess I'll post the first professional maternity photos I've ever had taken. Big thanks go to the lovely ladies at m cubed photography, aka my sister-in-law (and sister at heart) Jean and her talented business partner Nelly. May their new business grow as big as my belly has.

The Two are Two!

"I'm two!"


"I'm two too!" says Alex.


Ok, we're two and a day as of this post. Mommy is a bad blogger. But
here's our party yesterday. We blew out our candles really well. (Note
from Mommy: Listen close during the birthday song for Dani and you'll
hear Alex reminding everyone that it's her turn next.)

We made mini-pizzas!

(And cleaned up afterwards. Good helpers!)

Happy Valentine's Day...

And Happy Birthday to Uncle Mikey!

Bye Bye BaBa's

On January 27, the girls took their last drinks from their bottles for breakfast.



Then after nap they helped me put all their bottles into a box, tape it up, and they said bye bye. Then we had a bye-bye-baba party! They enjoyed cookies and juice and had a good old time being "big girls" with sippy cups while sitting on the counter. ;)

A new era is dawning - they now seem ok with being big girls. A few short weeks ago, when asked whether they wanted to be babies or big girls, they would answer "babies". Now they ask for big girl cups at dinner and they're progressing slowly but surely in their potty training. Dani went poo in the potty chair for the second day in a row today! Yeah Dani! And Alex is doing well too. They enjoy keeping each other company in the bathroom. With enough books on hand, they'd stay in there all day!