Christmas 2010

When Kian was coming down the stairs on Christmas morning, he was expecting Santa to be there...maybe to hand-deliver our gifts. Kian participated in leaving a dairy-free sugar cookie, glass of soy milk, and his own sippy cup of apple juice for Santa the night before, so he was aware that Santa would be visiting. Before he reached the bottom of the stairs Kian said, "Maybe he's not here yet" and wanted to give Santa a hug.


Kian received quite a few books for Christmas this year, and especially enjoys pointing out which Sandra Boynton books he now owns. Pointing to the pictures of the book covers on the back of one book, he states, "I have this one, this one, this one....all of them!" Maisy pop-up/ pull-tab books are also a favorite.


Sage tests out her new toys from Santa. Graspable and brightly colored...what more could she ask for?


Kian is amazed by the stars projected by this turtle night-light. It's supposed to help kids overcome a fear of the dark at nighttime...and provide over-stimulation while they are trying to settle in for bed! Thanks, Santa!


Sage chills out in her swing at Grandma and Grandpa's house, while the rest of us chow down on delicious Italian food for Christmas dinner.

Sage is Three Months Old!

We love Sage's chubby cheeks and "rubberband bracelets" and delight in her coos and bright smiles. She has slept for 5 hour stretches at night several times and even treated me with going 7 hours between feedings once. (More typical is waking every 3 hours to nurse, though.) Unfortunately, Kian has taken to waking up at night, too, so daytime naps are still a must for me. My saving graces have been Ryan holding Sage late at night after Kian has gone to sleep so that I can get a head start on sleep and my mom coming over a couple times a week to hold Sage for a few hours during the day so that I can nap. Actually making myself take a nap is the challenging part because there are always so many other things I want to get done. Sage sleeps well after she is kept upright for quite awhile and gets multiple burps out of her system. Otherwise, she typically wakes up shortly after being put down because she has yet another burp. Fortunately, she has found her hands and has begun to attempt to self-soothe at night. She cannot quite get her thumb into her mouth, but she does try to suck on her fist to put herself back to sleep. Unfortunately, she is not taking a bottle despite valiant attempts by everybody and four different types of bottles. This poses a problem when I return to work part-time in January! We have a couple more weeks to persuade her to give the bottle a chance. Otherwise, it looks like my mom will have to bring Sage to the school where I work so that I may nurse her during my lunchtime, and she will have to go longer stretches of time without eating on demand.



Sage sits upright in front of our Christmas tree wearing her new candy cane dress.



Sage checks out studly Henry O'Claire, who is about a month older than her.



Henry begins to cry because he is moved by Sage's beauty.



Jack Evanson and Sage are stylin' in their hats and sweaters while out to lunch with their moms.

Snow Day!

Kian enjoys staying home from school and exploring the snow.


Kian loves pretending to drive Grandpa's red pick-up truck, which is currently parked at our house.



This video shows Kian's first impressions of the snow.


Sage stays bundled up inside, shown here with Mama in the Ergo carrier from Nana.

Sage's Growth from One to Two Months Old

Just as we've done for Kian, we are taking photos of Sage with a bear - this time a panda - to show her growth every month. It's obvious, but the top photo is at 1 month (Oct. 17th) and the bottom one is Sage at 2 months old.

At her 2 month well-baby check-up, Sage weighed in at 12 lb., 4 oz. (85%ile), 22 1/4 inches tall (56%ile), and about 50%ile for head circumference. Clearly, she is eating well!


For comparison's sake, at 2 months Kian weighed 14 lb., 3 oz. (93%ile for boys his age), was 23 1/4" tall (60%ile), and 40%ile for head. Here is Kian's 2 month photo:

Sage and Kian looked SO much alike at 1 month old!
This one is Kian, and scroll back up to see Sage at 1 month....

Toy Store

Kian loves to request going to this toy store after school in order to play with the toys that they have on display.

Here is Kian at one of the many areas he likes to play. There is also a train table and dollhouse that he enjoys playing with.

Sage goes along for the ride. Notice her chubbier cheeks! She is nearly two months old in this photo taken on November 10th.

Sleeping Beauty

"REALLY, Mom?!! Do you have to use the flash?"

Back to sleep....

Halloween 2010

Kian, the duck!

Sage, the pumpkin!

Our neighborhood community center held a kids' carnival on the Friday evening before Halloween, so we checked it out. Kian's favorite activities were going down the slide, jumping around in the bouncy house, and eating a watermelon-flavored BlowPop (having a total meltdown when we took it away once he reached the bubble gum middle).

We wonder what Kian really thinks of being a big brother. So far, he's been very gentle with Sage, offering sweet kisses on her head and "snuggle-snuggles", which is Kian's general term for cuddling, either little nuzzles forehead to forehead or hugs. However, we have had some night-waking issues and loud protests of "MY mama!!"

"Daddy's little pumpkin"

All geared up, ready to go trick-or-treating at shops in the West Seattle Alaska Junction in the torrential downpour. Sage stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa.

Kian loved all of his Halloween lollipops, which we gave him to replace the many milk chocolate candies he received since he still has a dairy allergy.

A few photos from Week 2 with Sage

Our Family of Four

All (sleepy) smiles with our two-year-old and two-week-old kiddos.

Welcome, Sage Chow Liddell

We are overjoyed to announce that our beautiful baby girl, Sage, arrived at 8:23 pm on Friday, September 17, 2010. She weighed 6 lb., 9.5 oz., measured 19 inches tall, and was delivered via VBAC (darn right, I'm proud of that!) at Swedish Hospital in Seattle.


Here's how it all happened...

9/17/10

12:30 pm - Althea calls Ryan at work to let him know that contractions are getting a bit stronger and are now about 5-6 minutes apart, so Ryan heads home!

1:30 pm - Kian requests that Mama reads stories at naptime, so Althea breathes through a couple books and then lets grandma take over.

1:45 pm - Althea lays down and keeps track of contractions...and now they are really starting to hurt at 4 minutes apart.

2:15 pm - Ryan and Althea decide to begin driving to Swedish while still on hold with the ob/gyn office, knowing that they would say just head straight to the hospital.

2:30 pm - We arrive at triage and document this step with a smile (in between contractions).


2:30- 2:50 pm - Althea's contractions are monitored in triage, cervix dilation is checked and reported to be 4 1/2 cm., and a birthing suite is ordered up.

2:50-3:15 pm - Ryan coaches Althea through breathing exercises as we impatiently wait for the room to be ready.

3:15-4:15 pm - Two nurses unsuccessfully try to find a vein to hook up an IV. This is a necessary step before receiving an epidural and relief from pain. Althea powers through very intense contractions, nearly breaking down with the fear that this could end up being a natural childbirth.

4:15 pm - The anesthesiologist arrives and saves the day with the IV and an epidural. Unfortunately, the pain medication hasn't had time to soak in much, so Althea feels the epidural needle and has never before tried so hard to remain still and has never before looked so intently into Ryan's eyes for strength.

The 4 hours in between the epidural and the birth consisted of discovering that in just a couple of hours - between the triage exam and the birthing suite exam - my cervix had gone from 4 1/2 cm. to fully dilated and effaced....waiting for a couple more hours for contractions to naturally move the baby down the birth canal... and the pushing itself lasted for just 40 minutes.

The ob we had seen for all prenatal visits, Dr. Judy Kimelman, was not on call (again...she didn't end up delivering Kian either), so the dr. who delivered our baby girl was Dr. Susan Harvey. She was incredibly encouraging, optimistic, and wonderful.

Mother-daughter bonding just moments after birth.

My rockstar breathing coach holding the fruits of our labor.

Here are more pictures of Sage, when she was less than 24 hours old, taken by the professional photographer associated with the hospital...









More snapshots in the postpartum room....

Grandma and Grandpa bring big brother Kian to meet Sage.

Our first baby...where did those two years go?!

Kian "holds" his baby sister.


Kian checks out the new addition to our family.

Kian thinks that Sage's sneeze was funny.

This little baby is entertaining!

Uncle Max visits Sage in the hospital.


A rare look at Sage with her eyes open.

Basking in the Seattle sunlight in the arms of papa.

One final snuggle on the hospital bed before going home.

So tiny in the car seat...buckled up and ready to head home!