Announcing: Matea Marie Schneider!

Melissa and I are very excited to to announce the birth of our
daughter, Matea Marie Schneider! 

Matea ("mah·TAY·ya" -- Hebrew, "Gift of God") was born on Wednesday, June 18, at 9:49pm.  Both Melissa and Matea are doing great!

Matea was born at 39 weeks, but was little for a full-term baby!  She weighed in at 5 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 18 inches long. She has a full head of dark brown hair already though!

Melissa had quite a fast delivery:

Left for the hospital	8:46 pm
Arrived at hospital	9:04 pm
Matea is born!	9:49 pm

Only an hour between leaving for the hospital, and having our baby!

Melissa had a sense that she might be in labor throughout the morning and afternoon, with mild contractions every 8-10 minutes, but she wasn't "sure" until after dinner; Jon worked a full day (through 5:00) that day. After dinner, things sped up quickly, and we got to the hospital in the nick of time.  We spent a total of only nine minutes in the delivery room before Matea's arrival!

Matea is little but perfect, and we are enjoying getting to know our little peanut!

38 weeks . . . she's almost here!

Well, I'm 38 weeks along now with our little girl, and since Eli was born at 38 weeks I'm guessing that it won't be long now! Last week I was already dilated to 1 centimeter and 70% effaced (the thickness of the cervix), so the doctor doubted I would go full term. Who knows? I don't think the stats really mean much, but I can tell that the baby is a lot lower than she has been, which is giving me quite a bit of discomfort this last week. So I figured I'd better record some of my thoughts and experiences of this pregnancy while I'm still actually pregnant!

I haven't blogged much about the pregnancy this time around, being with busy with Eli and everything else, but once again I think I've been blessed with a great pregnancy. I was much more nauseous than I was with Elijah, and lost my appetite for pretty much the first four months of pregnancy, but then I really felt fine after that. I haven't gained that much weight either - only 17 pounds so far (I gained 19 with Elijah). I've been more uncomfortable this time around though, and had more what they call "round ligament" pain. My muscles low in my abdomen are split apart from my last pregnancy so they don't hold things up quite as well this time around! And man can I tell.

Our newest little bean has been much more active than Eli was, so I'm interested to see how that relates, if at all, to their personalities. I felt this baby move earlier, and once she started she didn't stop it seemed like! Peak hours are 10:30 pm or so until about 12:30 am in the morning, and she can usually be counted on to do lots of interesting things during that time frame! Up until about a month ago she really liked to do flips, which took my breath away a lot. Then she settled down in to a lot of going side to side and kicking. it's only been in the last two weeks that the movements have calmed down as she's running out of room in there! Eli had the hiccups almost every day, but this time I have only noticed them maybe twice a week. Jon got to see and feel a few of the episodes though, which he thought was pretty cool (Eli always had hiccups about 3 in the afternoon, so Jon never got to feel them).

I look more pregnant this time around than I did with Eli, but I'm still not one of those super-cute baby bump pregnant ladies (who I dislike more and more the closer I get to my due date). God gave me big hips and my babies seem to just settle in and not show much. And I'm carrying low again, with plenty of room near my ribcage. I should be happy since that means I rarely have a hard time breathing or have indigestion, like a lot of pregnant women do, but I also don't have that cute baby bump think going on because of it.

I don't even look pregnant most of the time . . . phooey.

Jon and I finally decided on the spelling of our little girl's name (we have had the name for a bit but couldn't agree on the spelling, so I never blogged it as that requires spelling it!). We've christened her Matea (muh-tay-ah), which has a Hebrew origin and means "Gift of God." She will truly be our special gift, so we thought that was appropriate! And it is just adorable to hear Eli say "Matea" or "Tea" as he often shortens it to. Eli's ready for his sister to be here and keeps asking when Matea is coming.

Just yesterday Eli saw a few surprises on the bed that "Matea" bought for him (some trains of course). We explained that they were from Matea and she would give them to him when she was here. So all day long today I've been fielding the "Is Matea ready to come now, Mommy?" question, and the "I want Matea to come out so I can have my prizes!" statements. He told Grandma and Grandpa all about his surprises at dinner tonight, and then gave his pouty face and said he was ready for Matea to come out NOW! We asked him what would happen when Matea came out and he told us that, "Mommy will take off her shirt!" I think we'll leave the mysteries of childbirth unexplained at this point, so yes, Eli, Mommy will take off her shirt and Matea will come out! :)

Anyway, things are counting down to our little one's arrival, and we are all very excited. Eli may be more excited about the trains he's going to get, but even he is ready to see his sister and is looking forward to meeting Matea. I'm going to miss being pregnant (well, maybe not the last two weeks), but can't wait to see our little girl too (and put something pink on her)! :)

Eli funnies

In our next installment of "Eli funnies," our brave hero, Elijah, continues to incite laughter with his silly antecdotes . . .

• The baby was moving kind of funny the other day so I was pushing on the side of my stomach to persuade her to not do that anymore when Elijah noticed what I was doing. He gave me a rather cross look and said, "Mommy, don't squish her!" Trust me buddy, from the way the baby was moving, Mommy was the one getting the worse end of the bargain!
  

• Eli was doing something brilliant (of course) and I asked him, "How did you get so smart? Is your mommy smart?" To which he replied, "No, Mommy's not smart. Mommy's cute."
  

• Jon was asking Eli what the "distinguishing characteristic" of an elephant was (I don't know why either, so don't ask) and Eli thought for a second and then said, "Big." Wow, very good Eli! Then Jon asked Eli what Mommy's distinguishing characteristic was. Eli again thought for a minute and said, "Big!" Hmm. I'd like to argue, but presently I can't since it really is the truth. :)

• Eli was a bit under the weather a few weeks ago but still had his priorities in order, since he came to me and said, "I don't feel so good, Mommy. We better go to Lexi and Tori's house." Playing with cousins is better than any medicine apparently and the cure for whatever ails you!
  

• Elijah picked up the word "puke" somewhere and at his birthday party delighted everyone with his self-composed song, "I am puke." Only three words repeated over and over, but with lots of expression and musical up and downs. Grandma Amanda found the song funny and once she started laughing Eli kept going and going, and then Grandma Sherry started laughing too. Since then Eli will bust out his "I am puke" masterpiece every once and a while, while I try to ignore it, hoping this behavior will simply go away. One day I got sick of the puke song though as he was singing it over breakfast, and explained to him that most people don't like puke, but somehow he did. Eli just looked at me and said, "I'm a boy, Mommy. Boys like puke." I couldn't help but laugh at that one. A few days later he did something that I said was gross and he said, "Yeah, I like gross." I was hoping to wait a bit longer on the fondness for puke and gross things, but apparently age 3 is when it's starting for Eli!

Elijah's Three Year Old Stats

We had our first visit with our new pediatrician a few days ago and everything with Elijah checked out well! The doctor said that Eli was in excellent health, seemed to be developing ahead of schedule as far as colors, numbers, letters, etc., and looked great overall!

Eli was a little quieter than usual, which I expected with a new doctor and someone poking him and asking questions, but he did pipe up when the doctor asked him what he liked to eat and drink. She asked specifically if he liked milk and he said, "No, I like trains!" That was his answer to most things . . ."No, I like trains!" I really liked our new doctor as well and I hit it off with her right away which was a nice bonus.

Anyway, enough rambling, I know everyone wants the hard facts and silly percentiles we mothers find fascinating. Elijah weighed in at 33 pounds (he was close to 29 pounds at 2), and that put him in the 50th percentile for weight again. So he's staying consistent in that area. He grew like a weed over the last year, going from 36 1/2 inches tall to 40 1/4 inches tall. So he's back in the 95th percentile for height.

Eli has really been growing the last two months, going in to a 3T pants during that time, but now outgrowing a lot of those as well. He's so skinny though that the 4T pants, even with the adjustable waists they have now, don't quite get small enough for him. Pants too short or pants falling off, those are our choices. So if you see him walking around with high water pants now you know why!

Interestingly enough, at three Jon was 36 pounds and 40 inches tall. So he outweighed Eli but was about the same height. Jon's Mom sent me a Height Predictor that she found online, and it said that Eli will most likely be 6 foot 2 by the time he's 18. Looks like Eli may be headed for gianthood just like his Daddy and Uncle Jeremy! :)

Our tall, skinny, and very cute Elijah!

Elijah's first REAL train ride!

Besides Elijah’s birthday party over Memorial weekend, we also had the opportunity to take a scenic train ride. Elijah’s first REAL train ride!! The trip was one of Elijah’s gifts from Grandma Amanda and Grandpa Terry, so on Sunday Grandma, Grandpa, Jon, me, and Elijah, headed over to the Walled Lake Scenic Railroad to have a one hour trip. We showed up at the depot in time to see the Michigan Star Clipper Dinner Train leave the station too. Elijah had gone to see that train at the depot a few weeks ago when Grandma Amanda and Grandpa Terry watched him while we were packing, but this time he got to see it leave the station! He was a little scared at first – the train blew a very loud whistle – but then fascinated by it, especially since it crossed the road, changed lines and then came back past us a second time!

When it was time for us to board our train we first explored all the cars, and then Elijah got to choose his seat. While we waited for departure we all took turns reading “Happy Birthday Thomas” to him – a book that Grandma and Grandpa bought him at the depot before we left. And Jon took our picture from outside the train (with Eli yelling, "Daddy, get on the train!").

Eli thought the train ride was pretty cool and spent the first half mostly looking out the window as we passed things. He wanted to spot all the, “railroad lights,” as we went through the crossings, and when we went through one really big crossing where there were gates and lots of cars waiting he thought that was great.

Eli wasn’t so sure about walking around while the train was moving, but Grandma Amanda finally convinced him to give it a try. Then he loved it! We headed back to the food car and he got a chance to play with a little toy train they had back there, and also pick out a snack (Oreos, that’s my boy!). The train ride was just the right length, with Elijah only losing interest in the last 10 minutes or so (he was fading fast for naptime). He loved his choo-choo train ride and that was the first thing he told Grandma Koorndyk about when he got home on Monday! Thank you Grandma Amanda and Grandpa Terry for a great birthday present! You made a little three year olds dream come true!