Can you hear me now? Good!

We took Ben in for a hearing test today. He's 28 months old and, although he babbles up a storm, he has yet to really start speaking a language that we know. This is the first step to finding out if there's anything wrong, or if he's a late bloomer. Fortunately, his hearing is fine. Unfortunately, the audiologist told us that his verbal skills should be much better at this stage and she isn't sure if he understands as much as we think that he does. We're going to hear from our pediatrician soon to find out how we proceed, it will certainly involve waiting lists for specialists and more tests. For me, this is hard because although I've been worried, I've also been trying to believe that he'll just sort himself out. Now, I'm concerned that they're going to diagnose him with some strange syndrome that requires drugs and therapy, when he may be one of those kids who just needs more time to figure language out.
It's also Naomi's 1 month birthday, and although Steve already posted this pic, it's too cute not to put up here as well.

Winter is here

At least for this past week. According to the weather reports, we're supposed to get a few days of mild weather and rain, then back to snow. This was a perfect week to try out Ben's new snowsuit. He didn't really enjoy playing in the snow last winter because it was hard for him to walk through the snow. This year, he's making up for it! Check the photo to see a few more.

Naomi loves the toy dog from Terence and Irene.

It's been a hectic couple of weeks. Babies sleep a lot, but it always seems that when you need them to sleep, they're wide awake and hungry. What is it with babies and shower radar? They always know when you're about to step into the bathtub. Then there's the growth spurts. She hit one on Monday and nursed from 11am until 11pm nearly non-stop.

Naomi's a lot like Ben, she likes to sleep on people, which is cute, but she really needs to sleep not on me more so I can get things done and take care of our other kid. I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to cope with both of them when Steve goes back to work.

So, so far, so good and Naomi is so beautiful and Ben's a fantastic big brother.

Thanks Lisa, Paul, and Jack!

We received a great package in the mail today which included awesome Green & Black's dark, milk, and white chocolate, Cadbury goodies for Steve and Ben, fun kids' magazines for Ben, and the cutest outfit for Naomi and a fuzzy reindeer hat and Christmas bibs. Pics of the reindeer hat will follow.

Updates

Whipped
Steve and Naomi at 2am:
Naomi: Waaaaaa
Steve: Yes, sweetie, shhhh, it's ok.
Naomi: Waaaaaaaaa
Steve: Ok, ok, yes, you can have a pony.
Naomi: WAAAAAAA
Steve: Ok, two ponies.

Baby poop
After Naomi was born, I started remembering all the baby smells and getting nostalgic. When she was two days old, I was holding her and got a whiff of something that reminded me of Ben when he was a baby. I happily took in the baby aroma. It was only later that Steve pointed out that that smell was baby poop. When you move to toddler diapers and solid food, you forget that by comparison, baby diapers are a field of roses.

Ben and Naomi
Ben has been very good to his sister so far. He likes to look at her and honk her nose. Last week he gave her a kiss and I got all teary. So far he's had a lot of attention from grandparents and both his parents. I hope that he's so understanding when everyone's gone and Steve goes to work. I think that this morning he started saying "Nomi", but he could also just like saying that sound.

Nursing
Nursing is going pretty well. It took a few days for everything to come in, but Naomi has a suck like a suped-up hoover. She's had a few all day feeding sessions that have been difficult, and she still likes to stay up at night and sleep during the day, but we're coping. In another proud parenting moment, Naomi burped while nursing the other day. She's making her mommy so proud!

Weight
One week after she was born, I was down to my pre-Naomi weight and wearing my old pants. Of course, I never lost my Ben weight, so I'm still mumble-mumble pounds over, but it's nice to be back where I started in February.

Naomi, napping

Naomi, napping
Originally uploaded by dina the m and o.

Is there anything cuter than a napping baby? I think not!

Girl!

Girl!
Originally uploaded by dina the m and o.

We have a girl! Naomi Christel was born October 31, 2005.
Whee!

Where'd I go?

My site seems to have been down. I didn't notice, because we had a pumpkin on Monday. I have tons to post about that - more soon!