A Look Back...Ella Rose

What a lucky little early birdie my Ella Rose is! Ella's birth wasn't as nice and planned out as Grace's was. Ella was born about 6 weeks premature, on June 18th, 2007 at 5:32 pm. She weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs. 14 oz. and was 17 in. long. She, too, was born at Barberton Citizens Hospital where I work.

My pregnancy with Ella was nothing short of eventful. I was a gestational diabetic, which means I had to inject myself with insulin several times a day. Also, I had a lot of contractions and preterm labor, so I had to take medicine every day to try and stop those contractions. Well, around 34 weeks gestation (a normal pregnancy is 40 weeks), Ella decided it was time to make her appearance. I went to Dr. Kovacevich's office that Monday morning for a routine test and, again, I was having contractions. Jesse took me from the office right over to the hospital and I was monitored for a few hours. I knew something felt different with my contractions that day, but we really didn't expect to be having our baby! Well, as it turns out, I was in true labor. So, to the OR we went...again!


Ella Rose was born by c-section at 5:32 pm. She screamed and cried right after delivery just as much as her full-term, much larger older sister did. But, shortly after her birth, Ella started having respiratory difficulties. Her lungs weren't fully developed and she wasn't able to breathe effectively. The Akron Childrens' Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit's transfer team came to Barberton Hospital to evaluate her and take her to the NICU across town.


Ella strapped into the isolette for her ambulance ride to Akron Childrens Hospital.


It was very sad knowing that I would be in the hospital after my surgery for 3 days while my new baby girl was at a hospital across town. I didn't even get to hold her before she left in the ambulance.

The next day I was able to leave Barberton Hospital for a short time and visit Ella at Akron Childrens. It was difficult to see her with IVs, a feeding tube, and machines hooked to her. She actually did very well, though. Ella was in the NICU for 6 days after her birth and came home on June 23rd. We went to see her every day that she was there. Grace even went to visit her a few times. The day we brought her home from the hospital she only weighed 4 lbs. 2 oz. She was the tiniest little baby!

The day after Ella was born.


Nena and me with Ella in the NICU.


Grace meeting Ella for the first time in the NICU.


All ready to go home!


Ella is still tiny for her age, at almost 2 years old she weighs 20 lbs. Grace weighed 20 lbs. at her 1 year check-up. She still wears 12 month clothes, too. However, her development has been spot-on target ever since she started walking at 12 months. You would never know she was a preemie if she wasn't still so tiny! Ella talks more clearly than Grace did at her age and she runs, jumps, plays, and fights back with the best of 'em!


Ella at one month old.


Ella at 6 months.


Ella at 12 months.


Ella at 18 months.

A Look Back...Grace Josephine

Our first daughter, Grace Josephine, was born December 14, 2005 at 4:37pm. She was born at Barberton Citizens Hospital, on the maternity unit where I work! This is a look back at the day she came into the world.

After a seemingly endless pregnancy of 39 weeks filled with a weight gain of nearly 60 pounds, overwhelming bilateral lower extremity edema, and long nights of Butterfinger bars and Mountain Dew, I was schedule for a labor induction at 0600 on the morning of December 14th, 2005.
Shortly after my admission, Pitocin was started to bring on the contractions. Then, around 1100, Dr. Sutter broke my water and my labor was officially under way.

I was so swollen that my face didn't even look like it was mine anymore. My nose was huge! This was a wonderful photo of me after laboring for about 5 hours already. I was epiduralized and getting pretty tired already.


After my water was broken, Grace's heart rate kept dropping significantly after every contraction, called " persistent late decelerations". Unfortunately, she wasn't moving down into birth position and I just wasn't progressing very quickly. After interventions to help bring her heart rate up didn't work, it was pretty evident that an urgent C-section was the best option for everyone.

Before I knew it, I was in the operating room around 4pm. Poor Jesse was so worried and nervous!


This is me as I was lying on the operating table waiting for Grace to be born. Jesse was right next to me the whole time taking pictures.



Here she is! Grace Josephine arrived at 4:37 pm, weighing in at 7lbs. 3oz., 19 inches. The first thing Jesse said when he saw her was, "She looks just like me!"



Grace was wide awake after she was born. She was pink and chubby with a cute little birth mark shaped like a butterfly right between her eyes. The one thing that everyone commented on when she was born was how long her fingers were! People still tell us that, too. Maybe she'll play piano or guitar some day...

The whole family was there when Grace was born. Everyone was waiting for her when Jesse carried her out of the OR to the nursery.


Our first family photo.



Aunt Renee, Chaela, Steve, and Nena (my mom), watching Grace through the nursery windows.


Grace's first bath while I was in the OR. My friend at work, Denise, cleaned her up while Jesse took pictures and our family watched through the nursery windows.


Back in my room after the C-section, I got to hold Gracie for the first time. It was the best feeling in the world!


My Dad's first photo as a Pap Pap with his new granddaughter.


Jesse's sister, Roberta, now more commonly known as "Aunt Sis", holding Grace for the first time. Grace is named after Roberta; they have the same middle name, Josephine.



One day old.


One month old.

Six months old.

12 months old.

18 months old, with a newborn little sister.

24 months old.

2 1/2 years old.

3 years old.

Grace is an amazing, smart little girl. She is an awesome big sister and we just love her with all of our hearts. I love watching her grow and learn every day!

Spring Pictures

We took Grace and Ella to get Spring pictures last week and they turned out great!

Happy Balentime's Day

As Grace says, "Happy Balentime's Day!"












Grace showing me the princess magic wand that she made. I bought them a neat little magic wand kit made from foam for Valentine's Day. They got to design and create their very own wands! It kept them busy for a while.











Ella running around like a crazy woman, as usual.

Grace and Ella showing me their Valentine's Day cards that Nena sent them. They were so happy when the got letters in the mail.

Maynard Sleeping Gene, Harris Ingenuity

As a member of the Maynard family, I have always prided myself on being able to fall asleep anytime, anywhere. My dad, James (or Jim or Peanut as some may call him), has passed that wonderful gift on to my brother and myself. Recently, I have learned that I have passed on that wonderful Maynard gene on to my firstborn, Grace. As little as she likes to sleep, she has proven to me that when she is tired, she can and will sleep anywhere she pleases.

Now, if it means being creative to ensure her total comfort, she will throw in a dash of "Harris Ingenuity". Take for instance this particular afternoon when she wanted to take a nap but did not have a blanket. I was busy cleaning the kitchen and kept telling her I'd get her a blanket "in a minute". Well, Grace was cold and ready for a nap "wight now!". After she left me alone for a couple minutes I assumed she had fallen asleep, but I never dreamed she'd solve her problem of being cold without a blanket in the way she did!


Yes, this is a couch cushion. She took it off of the couch, unzipped it, and curled up in to keep warm as she fell asleep.


Grace actually slept in the couch cushion for about an hour and a half!

January is over already?

Gees, I really slacked on my blog in January! I guess there was just so much going on that I didn't have time to post many things. The month just seemed to fly by and before I knew it, it was gone!

Grace is back in swimming lessons at the YMCA and doing pretty well. She is the smallest kid in the class, of course, but she does great. Grace is easily distracted by, well, everything. She would rather swim around the pool by herself than have to stand by the wall and wait her turn. I am hoping that having to go to an organized class with a teacher and other kids will help her learn how to pay attention and follow directions, especially since she will be in preschool this fall.

Ella and Grace go to the YMCA for Wee Tumblers class on Tuesday mornings with me. It is really nothing but a gymnasium full of obstacles and games for them to play with, along with other kids, for a half hour. It is nice, though, because it gets me out of the house with them and they get to meet other kids their ages. I think it has helped Ella become much more social. When we went to the first class last Fall, Ella wouldn't let go of my leg. Now, she can't wait for me to put her down so she can run around!

Here are just a few pictures of the girls from this month...mostly just running around the house.


Grace had a barely-visible scratch on her face and insisted on wearing a SpongeBob SquarePants bandage on her face all day. She was very proud of it and kept asking me to take her picture with it on.


We played "Wizard of Oz" dress-up last week and Ella wasn't quite sure if she was a 'good witch' or a 'bad witch'. She wanted to wear the wicked witch's dress with Dorothy's dress over it. Whatever makes her happy, I guess...


I was spinning Ella around on the kitchen floor by her pantleg, (cheap entertainment and non-stop giggles, by the way), and we took a break to have a little photo shoot.


When I tell you she has so much energy she could climb the walls, I'm not kidding! Grace decided to show off her ninja moves on the refrigerator and cupboards. And I wonder why we always have 4000 handprints and smudges on the stainless steel appliances...

Christmas 2008

I just can't believe Christmas came and went so fast! This really was a great holiday season for our family. Grace and Ella really enjoyed opening their gifts this year. We also got to spend time with just about every branch of the family, too. Grandpa Clyde and Grandma Connie visited with Aunt Alyssa, Na-Na, PopPop, Aunt Sis, Uncle Scott and the boys visited, Uncle Justin from California stayed with us, Nena and PapPap stayed overnight on Christmas Eve, and Uncle Jay came over on Christmas day. Plus, Steve, Chaela, and Lilly celebrated New Years Eve with us! Our house was a busy place for a couple of weeks.

Everybody got all the gifts they wanted this year, too. Grace got her swimming puppy, Ella got her talking Elmo, Daddy got new shoes, and Mommy got a new pocket camcorder! Everyone made out pretty well. Of course, Grace and Ella got so much stuff it is hard to remember all of it, but we want to thank everyone for getting them such great gifts this year, and for just being able to celebrate the season with us!

Ella and Grace putting Santa's cookies out on Christmas Eve.


My living room after opening most of the presents. Nena was helping Ella open gifts while Harley (Nena and PapPap's dog) was wondering what the heck was going on. PapPap just lounged on the couch and watched all the fun.