We've had a couple of wonderful days.

A day in the life

The days are all running together now. Everything is going well...mostly. Dalia is struggling from day to day, but Mom and Dad are making regular adjustments, including our expectations of her, and this seems to help. Due to a toddler-sized insistence to not take a nap, our evenings have gotten much shorter and a little crazier, and while Dalia is sleeping earlier in the evening, little Eloise likes to keep me up until about 10 and then, of course, a couple of times throughout the night, but thank goodness for television! Dalia's quiet time in front of the television is a much needed break for me, and most of the time Eloise sleeps or nurses.

We feel, even through the haze, so completely blessed for these beautiful girls and are learning everyday how to manage our own desires for a break from the chaos, knowing all of this will last for such a short time. I was thinking today about little Baby Dalia just learning to stand up. And now she's this beautiful, precocious and creative little girl. I was watching her play a song on her piano (which was followed by an interpretive dance), surrounded by her paintings (signed, of course) and am so excited about her creative spirit. She loves her sister, but is conflicted by how much her Mommy needs to hold her and take care of her. Thankfully, she has such a loving and compassionate Daddy to fill in many of the new gaps. Not to mention her incredible Gigi. And all our friends, even though currently they are all sick.

Here are some randoms from the past couple of weeks.

Eloise still sleeps so much


reading with Pops

One of Eloise's favorite pillows: Gigi!


First glimpse of smiles - she seems so big compared to just a few weeks ago


Dalia literally slumped over on the couch one late afternoon after refusing (as usual) a nap
Dalia swaddled


Little Eloise roots for num nums on Mommy's nose

my girls and their dad

love. chaos. exhaustion.

Happy New Year

We're so thankful to be beginning the year with two healthy, hearty daughters, no ailments for us this year so far, a home, a job and great friends and family. The holidays have been fun, and totally crazy. We're so thankful that Eloise joined us a month ago. She's still thriving and changing and growing everyday. We are, too. Dalia and Mama are learning new ways to be together and Dalia is easily accepting her loving Daddy's attention. Eloise is quite agreeable and very mellow. She often falls asleep just by holding Mama's hand and loves to snuggle and gaze at her Daddy. We've tried a bottle a couple times now and she's taken it like a champ. We've also been out with her to dinner a couple of times and she pretty much just sleeps. While Mommy is getting used to not sleeping much (Dalia's nap has effectively dissapeared with the arrival of Eloise), we are all doing really well. Happiness reigns. We've really enjoyed having Daddy home for the most part this past month and are all blessedly grateful for a sleepy, mellow baby (albeit very noisy grunter) to keep our routine from being completely upset. We are all totally in love with our new little girl. Dalia can't wait to come in and see her in the morning and Eloise seems quite pleased with her sister's attention.

It's been way too long since I last posted. I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll just do a sampling from the last month.

This is Dalia's family tree

Dalia and Dad went to Zoo Lights and it snowed

Dalia's tree

Dalia got to pick out the Xmas tree this year. We planned to go cut one down, but a certain little someone decided to come early, so Mark and Dalia went up the street and picked out this cute little thing. Dalia enjoyed decorating it and kept saying, "Merry Christmas!" I think she's confused about why it's not Christmas yet. As I write this she's with her Gigi decorating her tree. She's surprisingly into Santa this year.

new photos

Eloise rocks! We all love her and are transitioning pretty easily so far.

Big Sister

Dalia became a big sister a month early! Eloise Orr Vermeys was born at 7:28 am on Sunday, November 28. She weighed 6 pounds 2.4 ounces at birth and measured 20 1/4 inches. Mom's water broke after a day of early labor on Saturday. She spent the night laboring at the hospital with Daddy, her wonderful doula and awesome labor and delivery nurse.After a long night without medication, Mom entered that last, difficult stage (as if any of it's easy) of labor and asked for a dose of medication that got her through, taking the stress out of contractions, letting her make it the rest of the very short way through pushing (for about 10 minutes) and meeting Dalia's baby sister without any major intervention. Even though she is early, Eloise is healthy and robust, feeding great, breathing great, looking great. Mom is doing wonderfully, too.

Dalia is very proud and excited to be a big sister now, can't wait to hold baby and take pictures of and with her. She would rather her sister be named Blackberry, but has started to call her Eloise already.

The name Eloise came to us the moment baby was placed on mom after birth. Orr is Juli's family name and was her middle name prior to marrying Mark. In Greek, Eloise means "sun", which we can sure use to get us through the winter.

Mom and sister com home tomorrow. Dalia chose to have her wonderful Daddy home with her tonight after a couple of fun sleepovers with her Gigi. Life will never be the same and I think we all are thrilled we get to spend a whole extra month with our little Eloise.