Suters in New Orleans

The Suters are hanging in there as we cross the one month mark this weekend with Cole.  He's doing super well and has had great reports at all three newborn checkups.  He currently weighs 10 lbs 8 oz and is 22 inches long.  Just in the last few days he's started smiling at us.  Can't tell you how much seeing him smile makes us want to do cartwheels to see more of them.  His first real smile (unrelated to food or gas) was for his sister -- which I just love!  So everything is going well.  He's a healthy boy -- we just wish he would sleep more at night and less during the day.  We can't keep him awake for anything in the middle of the day -- he is checked out.  

Cole Joseph Suter was born two weeks ago Wednesday July 1st at 6:53 pm weighing 7 lbs 12 oz and measuring 20 1/2 inches long.  These two weeks have flown by so quickly -- he's such a great baby and has been a champ at eating.  We took CJ to his first doctor's appointment 5 days after he was born and he had already regained the weight he lost since birth.  

So we try to write down or keep up with the things Natalie says as her vocabulary develops.  Our list started out with "pips" for chips and "pis" for "kiss".  As she goes she is learning how to say things correctly, but now we get full sentences, sometimes they make sense to us and other times only a few words. 

The biggest thing for Natalie now is making deals with us..."just one more time,"..."this is the last time."  Picture her little face with her index held up in front of her..."just one more time." 

All her stuffed animals and dolls are now named after everyone she knows.  Friends from school, teachers, friends from church. In fact, "kitty" from the last entry is now named "Phoebe" as of today. Named after our friends' dog, I'm sure.  Two identical Strawberrry Shortcake dolls are named after our neighbors Martin and his wife Sarah.  We're not gender specific at this point.  But we're getting there. 

More Natalieisms...."p-tuz" (because), "listen to me", "give me a huv", "don't worry", and "I'm a princess" (whenever she has the occasion to wear a dress). 

I also confess that I hear a bit of a southern accent from Miss Natalie Joy and I realize that I'm the only one in her life that she could be getting it from.  Hmm. Sounds cuter on her, for sure.

She is full of compliments, if she knows something to say, she'll let you hear it.  At bedtime, after saying "goodnight", you can hear the full rendition of "The Hills are Alive..." from the Sound of Music sung at the top of her lungs.  I'm sure her stuffed animals and baby doll friends appreciate the moonlit performance that's just for them. 

On the subject of baby brother, we've been reading stories about new babies and talking about his birthday coming up.  There's a space made in daddy's office just for him with the bed set up and changing table.  There's even a song we've made up about baby brother coming to play with and love on Natalie.  She is pretty protective of the bundle in mommy's big belly. Hopefully she'll be as excited when he's actually here. 

kitty

When Natalie was born she spent 8 days in the NICU.  The first 12 hours of her life she wore an oxygen hood that resembled an astronaut's mask.  That was the first time I saw her after they wisked her away.  She was sleeping and breathing and the condensation from the H2O had dripped onto her hair and face making her even that much more pitiful and sweet looking. 

She improved and progressed quickly and as we visited and held her we became even more grateful for God's healing and protection on her little life as so many other babies in the same unit fought for their's. 

An angel, some sweet stranger, placed a stuffed kitty cat in Natalie's crib early on.  That kitty has been somewhat of a permant attachement to our little girl.  Some babies rely on a pacifier, Natalie had her entourage: kitty, blanket and baby.  All three had to go everywhere for a little while.  Note: first words after "dada" and "mama" were "baby" and "kitty". We'll have to highlight baby as some point, who finally has a name after a year and a half: "baby Kyle".  ?

Looking at Natalie's baby photos, as we look forward to the arrival of her little brother, I realized that "kitty" has really been loved on and doesn't look quite the same as he did those first days as Natalie's companion in the NICU. 

Growing up, I loved the story of the Velveteen rabbit who finds encouragement from the skin horse who had also been well loved.  Perhaps this "kitty" will have the same sweet future -- dearly loved and precious to our "twinkle, twinkle little star" singing girl.

Baby brother, we look forward to your birthday and all the adventures you have in front of you as well.  Keep getting fat and happy and we'll see you in a few weeks! 

By the way, we'll most likely update our Facebook status to communicate baby's progress as he arrives.  But more to come here as well.

Here we go, ready or not!  I had another appointment with my doctor today.  All is well and we're 1 cm dialated, so things are starting to happen. 

Summer is in full swing here in New Orleans.  We've had several snowballs and a few dips in the pool so far.  The Campus Crusade team gave us some passes to the zoo and aquarium so that will be on our list.

We had a visit from my folks over Memorial Day weekend which was really fun.  Natalie especially enjoyed all the attention from 'G'mama, Papa and Aunt Amanda.

Adam visited CA for a few weeks to hang out and catch up with friends and family before the baby comes.  He brought some presents home for NJ.  One of which was a "tinkerbell" outfit from Ms. Michelle.  When Natalie put it on, she said, "I'm a princess".  Reminded me of our friend Sally's little girl who wore a similar costume daily for a little while. 

All in all, things are going well.  Journey is giving us a baby shower this weekend and I have a feeling they are planning to spoil us rotten.  Such a great group of friends! 

Five more weeks and our family of three will be changed forever!  I've sort of freaked out lately that all of a sudden we're here on the brink of knowing another little Suter.  It seems like I notice every little thing Natalie does lately and I can't help but think back about where we were and what we were feeling before we met her. 

Natalie is excited about her baby brother.  She has fallen more and more in love with her own babies in recent months, dressing them, bathing them, feeding them which always results in a big mess but she loves playing babies. 

My parents and sister were in town this weekend and the spoiling that took place was unparalled and understandable.  She often says out loud, "I'm a princess" and she is for sure -- at least right now.  I worry about her feeling jealous, but at the same time, I can see her going crazy over having her very own real baby at her house.  She is protective of her baby brother already, especially when my sweet neighbor rubs on my belly too often. :)  "Don't touch baby brother!" she scolds.  So bossy.

At almost 2 and a half she loves school and all her friends.  Natalie has named all of her babies at home by her school or church friends' names.  Note: most of her friends at church are in their 20's +.  There have been at least a hundred funny things she's said lately that I want to share, I'll just have to keep a list and save them for next time.  When my family arrived late Friday evening, she was so excited and wound up that she immediately provided snacks and babies to my mom, dad, sister and me.  Miss Hospitality.  The snacks of course came from her fake food in her room, but everyone had something. "Okay, guys," she'd say, ready to play hard core at 9pm!

Anyway, all is well.  Doctor's appointments are weekly and everything seems great with baby boy.  I love my doctor and feel so blessed to be under his care.  Looking forward to a great labor and delivery.  Due date is June 28th! 

Natalie is learning so much in the few months she's been in "school".  We've had emergencies and good and bad notes sent home. But ultimately, she loves her teachers and is benefitting so much from this experience.  She comes home everyday singing a new song or playing "school" with her toys at home. 

My parents gave her an alphabet learning toy for the refrigerator that says the name of the letter and the sound it makes when she places the letter piece in the toy.  For example; A says "a" and A says "ah". Well today, while I was making lunch for the two of us, she put in the letter "W" and according to her "W" says "whoop!".  :)

I love it!  Lately she's also calling me "Babe".  She will come into the kitchen to ask for a drink and say, "hey babe, I want juice."!  Obviously, she's hearing Adam call me "babe" when he needs something.  But he has his own problems... Natalie calls him "Adam".  I think just hearing people at church and in the nursery call him Adam or Mr. Adam.  So last Sunday after church, she and I are waiting for him to finish talking and she yells in the sanctuary, "Adam!, Adam!"

So it's a blast seeing how much she's learning and speaking.  As we get closer to her baby brother's arrival, I think she is understanding more and also become more cuddly.  She's so concerned and aware of what's happening around her.  Worried about her Papa and Moo-moo who have both been sick the last few weeks.  

We celebrated Adam's birthday a few weeks ago and she was so excited about it for days beforehand, drawing pictures for him and singing Happy Birthday! 

So we're doing well, enjoying the warmer weather and the opening of snow ball stands around town.  Journey Christian Church has a new pastor and ultimately new friends for us to get to know.  The Spring semester is coming to an end so Adam is looking forward to concentrating on his trips this summer and planning for next year.  Like having a new baby won't be enough for us to think about.

So Natalie went to "school" today for the first time.  She has been so excited these last few days anticipating the big day.  When we woke her up this morning she was squealing and talking all about going to school.   So we get all her clothes and snacks and blankets labeled and packed in the car and off we go, 5 minutes away to the church where the school is. 

We walk in and she's marching saying "going to school".  She hesitates as we get to the door but just a few minutes and she's headed toward a puzzle.  We talk with the teachers and get all her stuff squared away all the while she's getting busy playing.  We stay just a few minutes more and then say goodbye.  Natalie whimpers just a little bit, but with juice and her blankie she's good to go. 

So the reasons we wanted to check out the school was to give Natalie some more stimulation and time with other kids and to give me some time to help Adam with Connect Missions and Crusade stuff. 

Adam takes me home and I get started with my "work day".  I'm pitiful, thinking about how she's doing.  Adam takes me to lunch and we peek in on NJ on our way.  At 11:30 today she's had lunch, which she didn't eat and she's laying down on her mat with her blankie and pillow -- she's only slept 30 minutes. 

We go to pick her up at 3:15pm and she's playing, and dancing to "Shout to the Lord".  She doesn't even notice us at first and hugs her teachers goodbye when she finally does see us.  We walk out the door and she's marching again yelling "let's go", "vamos", "let's go"!  I think it was a good first day.  Her two sweet teachers told us that she was very content, but quiet today -- she never cried.  Amazing.  When we got home, she turned it on.  Chatty Kathy and hyped up playing -- not at all what I expected, but I'm happy for her that she had such a good day. 

On my end, I was able to really get some things done for Adam which is a blessing for me.  So it's a win win so far.  She's so grown up -- good thing there's another one on the way.

Every day is more and more fun and interesting with Natalie.  As busy as we are, she asks "where's daddy?" almost all the time.  She's heart broken when anyone leaves, but when it's her turn to leave... "BYE!"  She's ready to go.  We've been having this conversation about "preschool" for months and now we're going to try it out. 

So we took Natalie to check out a school today.  She was so excited all the way over in the car. "Play with kids!".  When we got there, she was, of course glued to my leg.  She reluctantly sat down with the other kids for snacks and just watched eyes wide at the whole situation.  But as nervous and excited as she was, she seemed up for it.  Our little extrovert. 

We stayed about 45 minutes just letting her take it all in before we headed off to a check up with Dr. Amy.  But on the way there, she kept saying, "back to school?"  So it looks like we'll try it out on Thursday and see how it goes.  It's an all day thing 8:30 to 3:30.  I'm not sure I'll make it through the day without being a wreck, but she's ready for a challenge. 

This evening some friends stopped by and I asked Natalie to tell them what she did today, expecting something about school to come out.  We got the whole story.  "School," "play with kids", "dr. Amy", "no touch the poopie", "veggie tales", "music" etc. The poopie comment tells you that we're getting closer to full on potty training. 

Anyways.  So preschool here we come, sort of.  The extra time will allow me to help Adam with Campus Crusade stuff and ministry stuff more, which he is looking forward to.  All that to say we're in a time of transition in more ways than one. 

Pray for me Thursday that my heart doesn't break completely.