crazy, busy, fun weekend

I may be about to put you into photo-overload, so get ready. we had an AWESOME weekend. Actually, the whole week was just about perfect. Monday and Tuesday were hospital holidays (veteran's day + a "training holiday"), so i got to spend two extra days with the girls. there was a time (not too terribly long ago!) that i dreaded being home alone with the girls. I know that sounds terrible, but in August, after everyone finally was together in the same house, it just seemed so overwhelming to be responsible for both of them when i was by myself. Nova was still so tiny and needed constant attention, and Juneau was still adjusting to having a new mommy, a new sister, and a new house. Fortunately, being totally alone with them happened rarely, as i had tons of help from Cris, Betsy, and Sally. But there were some times it was just me and the girls, and it was terrifying. Now, for the most part, things are great when i spend the day home alone with them. I have even been brave enough to venture out on outings with them. On Monday (or was it tuesday?) I spent the day with the girls in honolulu. we ate breakfast at Starbucks, and then wandered over to the zoo, and then to the big fancy mall for a couple of hours. Our only purchase was the adorable little hat that Nova is modeling in the picture below. We had an absolutely fun day! As many other adoptive parents can attest to, we get blatantly stared at whereever we go. It usually starts with an "aww..cute baby" then the Phil and Ted stroller rolls by, and they notice the second baby, with a slightly darker skin tone, and the looks of puzzlement start. As crazy as it seems, we get a lot of "are they twins?", which baffles me, since Juneau is not only much bigger than nova, but also, clearly not Nova's twin. I think people must feel bad staring, so they just say the first thing they can think of. anyway, on to the rest of the weekend.
Our very dear friend, Jeremy (brother to our nanny Sally, as well as husband to my friend Tracy-who delivered Nova-are you confused yet?) was home on R&R from Iraq. He has been gone a full year, and has to go back again until February, but it was so wonderful to have him home for a short time. There was a huge beach party/pig roast thrown for Jeremy, and everyone had a fantastic time! Nova quickly became Uncle Jeremy's biggest fan, and i'm sure she also can't wait until february to see him again.

The guest of honor, Jeremy, with our friend Benny

Juneau loved the pig (both looking at it, and also eating it!)

Jeremy's party was held at a beach house right on the beach, and Juneau had her first true ocean experience. Let's just say, she's a huge fan. We knew she loved the water, but we weren't so sure how she would handle the giant North Shore waves. Well, there was no need to worry. She loved the ocean like she was local kine. We weren't really planning on swimming with her right then, but before we knew it, we were all drenched, and Juneau was diving face first into the waves and then laughing. The next day we had to go back up to the beach house to pick up some stuff we left behind, and as soon as we stepped out into the yard Juneau was pointing at the water and wanted to get back in. Nova was napping during the whole ocean fiasco, so she didn't really try it out, but something tells me with her dislike of anything cold, combined with the fact that the waves are kind of on the loud side (and we know how she feels about loud noises), i don't think Nova is going to be a surfer-girl any time soon.

after a bit of a "wipe-out"

Bring on the Waves!

And finally, here are some pictures to show some daily occurences around the Stickley house. Below is documentation of the nightly Bottle Ritual. We are trying hard to cut down on Nova's nighttime bottles, but as you can see, we have a ways to go. Every night we make a big bottle for nova to drink right away, 2 small bottles for the nighttime feedings, and another big bottle for her early morning milk, as well as a big bottle for juneau's early morning milk. Does it look exhausting? it is. seriously.

this one is for Grandpa and Grandma Stickley... Sweet Little Juneau can't wait to show you in December that she has learned to throw some Serious Fits!

But for the most part she is full of some serious cuteness!

It's a Dad Thing...

It’s amazing to me that there was a time not too many years ago that I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal if I never became a parent. In the days leading up to Nova being born, with the anticipation of bringing Juneau home within sight on the horizon, I knew that becoming a dad would be great. It turns out I was completely underselling the experience. It seems like every day I marvel at how great it is…definitely the greatest blessing of my entire life.

I hate to sound too cliché about it but time after time, the things I find myself loving most about being a dad are the stereotypical “dad” things…the stuff that, to me, just seems like time-honored “dad” traditions.

Here are my top 8 “Dad Things”:

8. Taking the extra trip:

In a typical scenario, we’re over at a friend’s house and it’s time to go. I start loading up the van and after a couple trips, we’re down to just the girls and we’re ready to say goodbye and each carry one out. Not that this is something I totally love, but at the same time, I like making the extra trip out to the car, into the house, etc. to unload baby stuff, get that last thing we forgot in order to be ready to make the trip, or whatever. Growing up, this was definitely a “dad thing.”

7. Buying them Star Wars clothes:

Okay, so this wasn’t necessarily a “Dad Thing” when I was growing up but what dad my age doesn’t revel in dressing their kid up in Star Wars clothes…especially this vintage looking t-shirt we found at the mall. Also, Juneau loves to show off her “standing” skills these days.

6. Throwing giggling babies up in the air and wrestling on the floor in the evenings before bedtime:

Up until recently, Nova has not been keen on the throwing into the air but I think she realized I wasn’t going to stop doing it so she might as well enjoy it. So, now she actually laughs in response. As everyone knows by now, Juneau loves to play rough and the higher I throw her into the air, the harder she giggles (or at least as close to giggling as Juneau allows herself to come). She also loves jump on me and wrestle and we also recently started doing this cool thing where she does a high speed “head over feet” flip in the air that I think actually panicked Emilie the first time we showed her. Juneau on the other hand just keeps making the “more” sign after each time we do it.

5. Shoulder Rides:

This is a no-brainer of a dad thing. Within the last 2 weeks, Juneau has figured out how to effectively ride without needing support to stay upright so now she rides on my shoulders constantly. She also loves to reach down and “hug” my head and go “ahhhh” while she’s up there. Too cute and sweet.

4. Not stop my child from doing daring (even dangerous) things because I’m actually so proud of her, instead I take pictures:

Juneau has become a total climber…combine that with the fact that she’s totally fearless and we’ve got our hands full. She loves to climb out the arm of the couch, reach across the 1 foot gap and vault herself up onto her highchair. Just tonight, we turned around just in time to see her complete that trick, stand up on her tray and fall to the floor. She cried for just a second but by the time I picked her up to check her out, she was ready to move on to the next thing…like completely climbing up on top of her busy beads table.

3. Making sure their love for the Buckeyes runs deep:

I remember getting in the tractor cab with my dad on Saturday afternoons in the fall and the radio was invariably tuned to the Ohio State football game. I had no choice but to be a life-long die-hard Buckeye so why should my kids get a choice J. Already, every time the fight song comes on, Juneau already knows to put her arm in the air and pump her fist in beat to: “Fight the team across the field show them Ohio’s here…” and we’re working hard on “O-H” although it will probably be awhile until Nova is able to learn “I-O”.

(I know we already posted this first picture but I love it so here it is again - My girls in their Buckeye jerseys. For those keeping track at home, Nova wears Troy Smith, Juneau wears Tedd Ginn, Jr. and on that day I was going old-school and pulled out the double-heisman winner, Archie Griffin)

2. Sunday afternoon naps on the couch:

This is definitely a HUGE “Dad Thing” from my childhood and is one of my favorite things in the world. Members of the Stickley family may say I am violating couch napping protocol by snoozing in a horizontal position since it seems to be a requirement that couch naps are undertaken in a seated position. I’m sure I will eventually develop this part of my genetic make-up so that I can pull this off but not yet. On a side note, Emilie took these pictures and they crack us up because they weren’t staged but actually some quality synchronized sleeping.

And the #1 “Dad Thing”…

1. Carrying sleeping baby girls up to bed:

On a serious note, the absolute best part of my day comes every evening when it’s time for Emilie and I to turn in. Nova has fallen asleep in her swing in the living room and I pick her up, give her a small “shhhh” to keep her from waking up and carry her up to her crib all snuggled into my arms. Other variations of this include being able to combine this one with #8 when we come home late and the girls are asleep in their carseats…I carry one sleeping girl up to her crib and then get to do it again with the other one. To me, carrying a sleeping baby from the car or the couch up to her bed is the absolute epitome of a “Dad Thing” and is my favorite by a lot.

All of these things make being a dad so much fun…so much fun that I can’t wait until the day I can do the ultimate dad thing and race into the living room and ask:

“Did someone change the thermostat?”

Happy Half-Birthday Nova!

Nova Joelle,

Yesterday you turned 6 months old! It is unbelievable how fast the last 6 months have gone by. I already miss the days of holding you when you only weighed 7 pounds and couldn't even hold up your head! I know I talk about it all the time, but you have the sweetest personality. You are always smiling and giggling and making the cutest faces. You are now sitting up completely on your own. In fact, you don't even like to sit in your bumbo any more because you can sit up by yourself. You also know how to get places on your own. We're not quite sure how it happens, but we will set you down in one place, and in 5 minutes you are completely on the other side of the room. You are so close to crawling. You will get completely up on all fours and then kind of lunge and rock until you make progress towards getting where you want to be. Today you actually pulled up to standing several times. It really cracked you up, so you kept doing it. You try to eat some baby food, and you are definately interested in whatever food we are eating. You also really want to drink out of a sippy cup but you haven't quite figured it out yet. You still like your swing, but you really go crazy when we put you in your jumperoo. You are finally gtting brave enough to let daddy throw you up into the air without getting scared. You love your sissy, even though she hits you on the head with some type of hard plastic toy at least 3 times a day.

Here are some cute pictures of you over the last few days.

6 months is definately my favorite age so far, and i absolutely adore every second watching you grow from a tiny baby into a sweet little girl with her own personality.

Nova and Aunt Betsy's Best Part of the Day - Naptime!

Sitting up in the big girl rocking chair

No matter where she starts out in the living room, somehow Nova always ends up underneath the pack-n-play

Soon to be crawling

We can't stop taking pictures of Nova because she is so stinking photogenic. Every picture we have she is looking right at the camera with this huge grin. It's so cute!

In other news, the girls will be making another trans-pacific trip in a couple of weeks when they come to Las Vegas with me for the Cosmetic Gynecology Conference. No, they won't be learning how to do tummy tucks, but they WILL be exposed to some serious spoiling since Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Becky (and Hopefully Uncle Drew!) will be joining us in Vegas. I can't WAIT for everyone to meet June-bug and get to see Nova again. It's going to be Awesome!

Halloween 2008!

Halloween was a blast! The girls did great. They were in a great mood, and Juneau definately was catching on to the idea of getting something at every house. She didn't exactly graspe the concept of candy until later in the evening when she had her very first piece of chocolate - a KitKat. excellent choice, Juneau. Nova was really more of an accessory piece to the costume since she had no clue what was going on, but she had fun anyway.

So, without further ado, I introduce Thing 1 and Thing 2

Since we were a little on the White Trash side last year, this year we opted for a more wholesome theme. Here we are in our very aunthentic Amish Costumes purchased from an Amish garage sale near my parents home.

Betsy was Amish this year too. Her Ballet class at school all wore costumes. Isn't she cute?

weekend full o' fun

In spite of a rainy muddy day, we all had a blast at the University of Hawaii football game! Both girls are big fans of tailgating (or at least they are fans of the constant doting and attention from our friends!). Juneau loved the football game. Well, she loved the first quarter before she fell asleep. Nova, on the other hand, isn't really a big fan of sporting events quite yet. She kept trying to fall asleep, and then as soon as the fans started cheering she would totally jump out of her skin and get terrified. This happened at least 30 times before we finally descided her little nerves had had enough and we left in the last quarter. poor little sweet nova. she wants to be tough, but she is just a sweetie at heart. We always joke that while Juneau's 1st birthday theme was "Juneau Rocks", Nova's first birthday theme will be "Nova: I'm afraid of loud noises".

seriously, everyone is really going to die when i post their halloween photos. i broke out in uncontrollable fits of laughter yesterday at nova, and she was only partially costumed.

and here are cute pictures of our cute girls.

Tailgating in the Rain

Daddy and his girls

Nova in her new big-girl bath seat

Aunt Betsy's favorite thing to do when she watches the girls is dress them up in pretty dresses and take their pictures.

I finally got a picture of our room arrangement. We decided this weekend to move Juneau to her own room because she has been waking up when we wake up at the ridiculous hour of four-thirty a.m. That wasn't really working out, so we moved her over to the nursery. I had to take a picture of what our room has looked like for these last few crazy months.

The first night of our new sleeping arrangement was somewhat of a catastrophe when cris checked on Juneau (who is being treated for swimmer's ear) and she was burning hot. He took her temperature and it was 104! he repeated it at least 10 times, and it kept reading around 103.7 and other scary numbers. We gave her some tylenol (which brought her temp down to 101) and kept her in our bed for the night. She is now on topical ear antibiotics, as well as amoxil for a presumed external as well as middle ear infection. poor baby! She is already acting so much better, and is nearly back to her usual self. Today she really started trying to stand on her own, and is even trying to take a few very wobbly steps. Nova on the other hand is looking like she wants to crawl at any second. we may soon have 2 mobile babies on the loose. sounds like major trouble is headed our way soon!

i'm about to embarrass myself

2 halloween's ago cris and i dressed up as Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth. My mom's friend at work is going to be Dog this year, and wanted to know if i had any pictures so that she could give her friend some ideas....so, in the spirit of halloween, here ya go mom! This picture would make any mother proud.

if you are still reading, and haven't already thrown up a little bit in your mouth, stay tuned next week for AMAZING first halloween pictures of the girls' AWESOME costumes. and they are even partially homemade.

Adopting Juneau is definately one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to our little family. We love her so much, and she fits in so perfectly. Every once in a while cris or i will comment on how it seems like she has always been a part of our family. I know everyone who adopts a child looks at things a little bit differently, but we look at Juneau's adoption as a one-time event. what i mean to say is that adoption is the way juneau became our daughter, but now that she s here she is just our daughter, not our adopted daughter. That being said, there have been a couple of things that have come up lately that have made me realize that i am probably handling things with her a little bit differently because she is adopted. For instance, Juneau is a typical one year old when it comes to going to sleep. Basically, she doesn't want to do it. Usually we take her up to her crib, lay her down, and then sit in the room with her until she falls asleep, which could sometimes be a VERY long time. The same thing at nap time. I want to get to the point where we can lay her in bed, and then just leave and let her fall asleep. The problem comes when she cries. I want her to know that we are going to be there for her, and i worry that by not going to her when she cries she will feel like she can't trust us. I think i worry about this more than usual because i'm not sure how things were for her in the orphanage for the first 10 months. I'm torn between wanting her to develop the habit of being able to go to sleep without someone sitting right next to her, and wanting to be there for her any second that she might need her mom or dad. I wonder how long it will be before i stop worrying that aspects of her behavior are related to her adoption. i worry so much about little things that probably have a lot more to do with her personality than her adoption. For example, Juneau isn't really a "silly" child. If you make funny faces, or talk silly to her she just kind of stares at you like something is seriously wrong with you. she doesn't have those giggle fits that a lot of little kids have. She seems happy overall, but doesn't really laugh a lot. I think she just has a very serious personality, but the contrast between her and Nova (who breaks into incessant giggling at random times) is striking. It's hard not to worry about her being unhappy or not well adjusted. it probably sounds like Juneau is ALWAYS serious and NEVER laughs. that isn't true, she does love to play, and definately laughs and giggles when Cris is playing with her, i think i'm just overly analytical of the situation because i want everything to be happy and wonderful for her.

The Magic of the Simultaneous Nap

"What? I meant to sit backwards in the bumbo. i can get out of this situation any time i want"

We like to say that Nova is an easy audience. She'll pretty much laugh at anything you throw at her.


Does it look like mass chaos in the Stickley home? Because it certainly feels like it!

addendum: i was just reading through this post, and I realized that neither Cris, Nova, or Juneau are wearing shirts in any of these pictures! that's a little embarrassing! I swear, the babies don't just run around in diapers only! They have a whole closet full of adorable clothes....seriously!