The Orza Family

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Summer Festivites!

Lots of fun stuff planned this summer including our annual family beach trip! However, before we could leave town we had several fun things planned. I took Emery to Disney on Ice, we had (Emery and Elise's) great-grandparents come for a short visit along with Uncle Kelly, Aunt Linda and cousins Amanda and Delaney. Had Emery's end of the year party at school and Mother's Day Tea. As well as her first ballet recital at Brenau University on Mother's Day. That same day we had Elise dedicated at church. Made for a very busy Mother's Day for all of us! Emery had ballet Princess camp the first week of June. And then Elise's birthday the second weekend in June. We finally left for a week long trip to the beach mid June and it was well deserved! It was Elise's first "real" trip to the beach since she could walk this time (her first beach experience was in California when she was 5 months). She loved it and after a few times putting sand in her mouth realized it wasn't food lol! We brought grandma and pop with us and that helped alot! Had tons of fun just relaxing on the beach (if you want to call it that--not easy to do with two small children haha) and doing lots of fun activities. Took Emery paddle boarding at Watercolor and it was a first for all of us. Very easy to do and we loved it. We also rented a beach kayak and Kevin and I managed to paddle along with a pod of dolphins coming through. Very amazing experience! We also fit in a trip to PC Beach to do the boardwalk shops and ride the rides there and got our annual pics done with our photographer. We already can't wait to get back!

Celebrated Father's Day at the beach!

Elise's 1st birthday party!

We celebrated Elise's 1st birthday on June 8th with a party at our house. The theme was pink lemonade and Kevin and Pop built a lemonade stand just for occasion.

Even Emery got into the making of the stand. She helped paint it! Everything went great for the party...perfect weather and lots of friends and family to celebrate with. Here are some pics from her special day:

Her party invitation Here are some pics of the party decor:

Is everyone here for me??? :)

Messy, messy eating her cake but she loved it!!!!

Getting some help opening her presents!

Emery and friends had a great time playing with the lemonade stand! All in all I think her birthday party was a great success...everyone had a blast! Still can't believe she's already 1....where does the time go!!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

8 months old....where does the time go??

So trying to up date my blog here....8 months later! Elise has been doing great adjusting to our family life. She's such a good baby, very easy going. Big sister Emery is doing good with her too though we do have our moments. Elise sleeps very well and has been in her own crib upstairs since about 2-3 months now. She stands up and cruises on everything she find, including the dogs! It probably won't be long till she's walking. She's still a little peanut though and only weighs about 17 lbs. When she born she was 8 lbs. 9 oz. Definitely not following in big sis's footsteps as Emery was already pretty chubby by now. Her eyes are staying a gray/blue/hazel color so not sure what color she's end up with. She's got a bit lighter hair too. She's very vocal and has a little bit of temper when she doesn't like something. She's not a big screamer/crier but will grunt with unhappiness if she's stuck somewhere like highchair and doesn't want to be in there. lol! She likes to eat little pieces of food vs. purees and likes chunkier foods rather than smoother. Some of her favorites are chunky sweet potato, zuccini, pieces of rotisserie chicken, steamed carrots, peas, watermelon, and she absolutely loves yogurt! She's a pretty good eater though she prefers actual food already to her milk in a bottle. She also drinks from a sippy cup already and will also sip from an open cup as well. She sleeps through the night mostly every night and rarely gets up. However, she did just get her first cold (bronchiotis) and ear infection and that had her up a couple times a night poor girl. Both her and Emery got ear infections and have been recently on antibiotics this winter. Emery just celebrated her 4th birthday, unfortunately she was sick the weekend of her party though. I brought cupcakes to her class on her actual b-day (Thursday) and then daddy and I took her to Toys R Us to spend her birthday money. She ended up with a small carebear stuffed animal and some new legos. She crashed in the car on our way home as it was a long day for her :) Then that Saturday we had family over (both Grandma's, both Grandpa's and Cousin Alyssa and Aunt Lisa) for lunch and cake. My poor girls were getting pretty sick though so we didn't have the best of attitudes and in fact no hardly any smiles. Emery's little nose was soooo red I felt terrible for her. Her party with her friends was Sunday and was at a Gymnastics place. I almost cancelled it but she had no fever and seemed a little better by that morning. She had a lot of special friends at her party, a couple girls from our neighborhood, her friends from playgroup (Sam, Nick, Carson) and a few good friends from school (Presley and Hailey). She looked like she had an amazing time but we still didn't get a whole lot of smiles. The kids got to jump in the foam pit, bounce on the trampoline, and Emery got to take a special swing way up high in this harness. Looked like so much fun! Then the kids had pizza and cupcakes and ran around the room till it was time to clear out. All in all a big success! She got lots of fun presents too from both friends and family. Mommy and daddy got her a mobi go (handheld game thingy), grandma's got her a Barbie house (with an elevator--her request!) and lots of puzzles and color wonder sets from her friends. My big girl is growing up so fast! Update on me....after Elise was born a noticed a freckle on my lower leg/calf. I brought it to the attention of a dr. during a physical and they recommended seeing a dermatologist. I was able to see a dermatologist and get it biopsied. I got the call during my first week back at work from maternity leave that the biopsy came back and that it was melanoma. Time stopped for me and I really couldn't even comprehend what she was saying after that. Thankfully it was caught very early and was only a .4mm spot. I scheduled the surgery. After the surgery, I was left with a pretty big cut/stitched area. Being so active with a baby and child, I had a hard time resting my leg and it became a little bit infected. I was put on antibiotics but they didn't seem to help. The dr. then switched me to a pretty strong antibiotic and after 12 days or so and removal of the stitches I did see some improvement. The scar is pretty large though and still didn't heal well. Five months later and I am seeing another dermatologist to check it. Hope my next appointment goes well and I have no more spots to remove. NOT a pleasant experience I want to go through again! Wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self to STAY OUTTA THE TANNING BED! Oh well... from here on out I plan to take the best care of my skin as I can.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Elise's birth story

My little Elise was due May 31st but didn't decide to make her appearance till June 7th. Being a week overdue, I knew she had to come quick or I would have to be induced. I tried everything: rocking my hips on the exercise ball, eating eggplant parm and pineapple core, getting some walking in and finally just taking a bath and relaxing with a glass of wine (what would it hurt at that point?!). Also, had a membrane sweep done at the OB's office (not the most fun procedure!). That next morning after all my attempts, I woke early with some labor pains and started timing them. I took a bath to relax and rest. The pains kept coming and getting more intense. Poor Emery kept trying to make me feel better sweet girl. We finally had her go to Grandma's house next door since I didn't want her to see me in pain. I had been seeing my doula Charlotte and called her. She told me to try and stay home as long as possible. I alternated between laying on my side and trying to rest and rocking on the exercise ball. My mom came over and after eating a bit and trying to rest, we all felt that it was probably time to get to the hospital. Once at the hospital, I got my iv in and did all my paperwork (gotta get your insurance down lol!). I opted to stay in my own clothing (didn't want that hospital feel) and kept the lights low. It was early evening by now and I was at about a 4-5cm. Charlotte came and put on some relaxing spa music. She was so great and massaged me and helped me do some exercise techniques on the ball (pressure on my hips while sitting on the ball) that helped tremendously with the labor pain. The nurse on call that evening was super supportive as well and left me alone to labor that night. While in a position on my knees, holding the headboard, I could feel baby girl slide down and engage and also could feel the bag of water bulging. However, after laboring for awhile the OB (Dr. Chua) noticed that her head might be off center (sunny side up) and it was causing a lot of pain. She broke my water with the hopes that her head would turn. Unfortunately it did not and I started to experience very intense back labor. Charlotte was wonderful. She helped me in the shower as well as trying a rebozo (long scarf used in laboring) around my hips while rocking them. Nothing seemed to work. The nurse had come in and checked me and said that I was at a 8-9 but after all that (maybe an hour) when she checked again, this time from another angle, she said she may have been wrong and that I was STILL at a 8-9. Basically going through transition for more than an hour or two. I couldn't take it any longer and begged for an epidural. I had to have IV of fluids before the epi so that was an extra 1/2 hour of agony!! The contractions were getting farther apart and when they had broken the water the OB noticed meconium in the fluid so we were getting a little concerned. When the anthesiologist came in to the epi, I could feel it kinda shock me down one leg and then the other. Very strange! But I was just glad to get some relief! I was exhausted! Once the epi was in, the pain was gone and I could finally relax and get some sleep. I got the epi in early that morning on the 7th and finally had Elise at 11am later that morning. It was just as I'd hoped it would be...calm and relaxed environment. It took a few pushes to get her out but she was really trying to work with us so that was good :) She came out fairly calm and alert! She was looking all around and just cried a little bit because the respiratory therapists had to look her over due to the meconium. She was/is perfect! Such an angel! Funny side bar story to the labor....my mom fell asleep in the chair while I was laboring and was snoring louder than I was moaning! lol! And the mama next door was having a natural birth and was screaming like crazy while I was in labor...not a good motivator for no drugs! hahaha! I did end up with some tearing and needed some stitches but felt ok afterwards. Elise stayed in the room with me and Kevin stayed the first night and then went home to put Emery to bed the second night. I felt so much calmer this second time around and the nurses were fabulous! The nurses that helped me with Elise were also the nurses that helped with Emery. So neat! All and all, although there was a lot of pain involved, I felt like it was a good experience and of course I got a healthy beautiful baby girl out of it so I couldn't be happier. Charlotte told me that how a baby comes into the world tends to reflect her personality and if that's the case. I think Elise will be a calm and happy little girl. I stayed two nights in the hospital and Emery visted the next day. She got a little present from her lil sis--a baby (doll) of her own wrapped in a hosiptal blanket and some other goodies. She was so happy and showed her lil sis her baby. Her face lit up so big when she held her for the first time. Made my heart swell to see them both together :) Emery will be a great big sis!