Grandma Time and Corinne's Silly Ears

After Corinne came home, my mom was able to stay another week to help out.  It was great, and she and the kids spent a lot of time in the pool.  Evan learned to kick, Elise learned to do the "backstrobe", and Connor learned to dive.
  

Elise is showing off how deep she can stand in the water.

On the Monday after Corinne was born, our air conditioner suddenly gave up the ghost.  We had been warned that this would happen due to problems in our ductwork, but we didn't listen.  Too bad for us, because the house got up to 90 degrees for the next week and a half.  It's been two weeks now, and we still don't even have anything scheduled - all the AC companies are swamped due to the heat wave.  The funny thing is that you do get used to it, to a point.  80 degrees seems great to me right now, whereas two months ago I'd have been on the verge of tears.  Oh, plus we put our old window box unit in the living room, so there was always one comfortable place to go.  Well, two, if you count the pool.
  

Napping by the A/C
  

"Air!"

 
Corinne is just so tender.  We love her.  She seems to be taking after her sister in terms of temperament - she's what we'd call a "sensitive" baby.  That means she's bad.  The first picture I sent out to people was pretty accurate.  
  

Corinne's First Facebook Photo

She loves to be held and to eat and to be carried, and she's pretty strict about that.  Happily, though, I love holding and feeding and carrying her, so it all works out!
  

Connor took this picture.

First Tub Bath

When Corinne was born, one of her ears looked like she had been sleeping on it funny - it was squished and/or pinched at the top.  Basically, the cartilage hadn't fused properly.  The pediatrician said that this is pretty common, and that they used to have to wait until the child was older to either grow out of it or do surgery.  Now, though, they have ways of splinting the ear to correct it early.  So, we took her to an ear, nose, & throat doctor when she was a week old, and he used a combination of wax and tape to hold her ear in place (you can see it in her bath photo.)  It didn't look very effective, though, and it kept falling off, so we took her all the way to Santa Monica to see a specialist (who the pediatrician recommended in the first place.)  She used these high tech (expensive) devices called Ear Wells, which basically glue to the baby's head and hold the ear in the correct position with a variety of molds and plastic pieces.  Whether or not it works, at least it looks really impressive. The doctor recommended doing both ears just to make sure they match at the end.  We think she looks like a water polo player.  Or a Russian Cosmonaut.  She has to wear them for six weeks, after which her cartilage should have hardened and her ears will stay straight.  Well, they might.  If not, oh well - she's cute anyway!
  

This looks worse than it is.  They shaved her hair and covered her with glue, then some hair stuck to the glue.

She was actually really quiet and well-behaved while they were doing all this.

  
After her appointment, we went out for breakfast, wandered around REI, and drove up the coast until we stopped at a roadside beach (Ryan had the day off and came with us.)  I told the kids not to get wet, so they soaked themselves and had to ride home in pajamas.
  

Baby Corinne!

My mom had been planning on coming down on the 7th, and spending a couple weeks helping out, but she decided at the last minute to come a day early.  It was inspired.  Mom arrived Monday night, we spent Tuesday running errands, and Tuesday night she watched the kids so Ryan and I could have one last date night.  (We were boring, we just went to Star Cafe and walked around a bunch, but it was awesome.)
   
Anyway, that night around 4am I started having contractions, but nothing worth mentioning at that point.  Ryan went to work at 6:00, and after I showered and did a few chores I was certain that this was for real, so I called him around 8:00, and we were at the hospital by 9:00.  Just like the others, she was a very convenient baby.  
  

   
I was unusually anxious about labor this pregnancy.  I guess having done it three times already, I know how hard a natural delivery can be, and I was kinda terrified.  But, looking at it now, Heavenly Father sent me so many little blessings that made everything work out fine.  For one, I didn't have the stress of worrying about my other kids (thanks, Mom!)  Labor started at an easy time, my birth Hypnosis training totally kicked in, both during the easy part and at the worst moments, and I was comfortable lying down this time around (I could never stand it before,) which meant I was better able to rest and focus.  The nurses were awesome, and the doctor (unlike my previous one) suggested breaking my water to speed things up, which was soooo the right thing to do at that point!  I probably only pushed for two minutes, and I had my sweet, fat-faced baby girl.  Oh, and it was a blessing I didn't know how big she was.  The ultrasound from two days before had said she was around 8 pounds, not 9 lbs 5 oz!
  

Corinne Paige Brown, born at 12:54pm August 8, 2012

  
That evening, Ryan went and brought my mom and the kids to visit.  They were all so excited, it was adorable.  Plus they brought cookies!
  

  
On day two at the hospital, a "baby photographer" managed to con us into buying $60 worth of newborn photos.  I mean, they're nice photos, but everybody knows newborns are not at a high point in their overall cuteness.  Poor Corinne's face was bruised and a bit swollen, so her cheeks look even bigger than they really are.
  

  
We spent the night and most of the next day at the hospital.  There was a heat wave (it was almost 100 degrees outside), and we had the Olympics to watch, so it was as comfy there as anywhere.  I didn't want another sleepless night in the hospital though, so we headed home as soon as it cooled off outside.
  

  
I can't believe our baby girl is here.  We love you, Corinne!
  

Waiting for Baby

Most of our summer after school let out was pretty uneventful.  I was too pregnant to take any long trips, and most of our weekends were used to work on projects or get ready for the baby.  For example, we stacked Connor and Elise's bunk beds and moved Evan into a toddler bed in their room.  Of course, when he realized he could get out of bed whenever he wanted, it became the greatest game ever for a few nights.  Then I discovered that if I threatened him with the crib, he'd hurry to bed and stay there.  It was kinda cute.  One morning we found him like this:
  

 
Ryan had been working with Elise in the pool to help her overcome her water-in-the-face phobia.  I hadn't scheduled her for swimming lessons because I figured it would be a waste of money until she calmed down a little.  By the last week of July, she was able to put her face in the water (mostly) for a few seconds, blow bubbles, and tolerate being splashed (although she hated it.)  So, when we were told there was a last minute opening for a week of lessons, we took it.  She was a lot braver for her teacher than she was for us, and she was really proud of herself.
  

 
Of course, there were all kinds of kid-initiated projects and games, as usual.  My children are pretty good about entertaining themselves.  Oh, and you can see that Elise had her first short-ish haircut.  I think it's super cute.
  

Elise made each member of the family, and taped them to the windows.

Skeleton

It's a very tall skeleton.

  
Last year we met a friend of ours for lunch at In N Out.  With her order, she got a chocolate shake, with the excuse that she was having a baby in a week, so she deserved it.  Well, this made a great impression on Elise.  She made me promise that, if we were to have another baby, we would get chocolate shakes a week before.  She frequently reminded me of this long-standing promise throughout my pregnancy, so of course I had to honor it.
  

Joy School Graduation

My children now expect that anything amazing they do be captured for the blog, so they like to make sure this happens.  Here are a few examples:
  

"Mom"

Treasure Chest

Ceramics Class at School (He made a bunch of stuff there.)

Elise graduated from her two years of Joy School!  I've really loved doing that program.  It's a great preschool curriculum, but more importantly, it's helped my kids and me make great friends.  It will be weird not to have Joy School next year!
  

Andrew, Sarah, Andy, Charlie, & Elise

I've been rotating my kids' toys for about a year now.  I have clear plastic boxes in the garage, and the rule (although it's frequently ignored) is that they have to put a box back to get a new box out.  When we got the toy food back out after a year-long absence, it was a huge hit with everyone.  Actually, it caused a lot of fights and tears.  So, we put it away again.
   

  

Evan saw Elise making paint footprints (on paper) outside, and decided to join her.  My children always do their messiest projects right in front of our sliding glass door.  The cement there is still painty, actually.