Baby Zanis' first week

11/8: Needless to say, it was a big day for us. Nik and I had been telling Baby Zanis to not be born on Friday, Zanis did his part and stayed well away from Friday.   On the way to the hospital, we passed a McDonalds and I told Nik that I wished that I had eaten at the house because I knew they wouldn't let me eat until the baby was born.  As it turned out, I didn't even have to miss a meal to bring this little man into the world, I was even more excited when I could eat and the insta-heartburn that I had been having was gone :)  Nik was able to miss his last day of his Neurology rotation, so we had Daddy all to ourselves for the first day. Daddy got to go pick up the new big brother from school and tell him the news.  When Raivis found out that he was finally a new big brother, he was pumped.  He siad "Today!?!"  Raivis had been asking when the baby would make his appearance, I kept telling him it would be a surprise, just like he was.  Meanwhile, Zanis got right down to the buisness of eating, he didn't dilly dally around like Raivis did. We had a great first day as a family of four.  Poor big brother wasn't  impressed that mommy had to satay at the hospital with the baby.  I think that daddy made it up to him though.  Daddy and Raivis got to spemd some nice time alone together, which doesn't happen super often. Our Zanis is so snuggly, his dark hair is super soft and delighful to nuzzle. Mommy got to soak it up all night. 

11/9: Zanis had a pretty good first night.  He is definatly a snuggle bug.  Early that morning, Zanis started breathing really fastly.  The nurse had to take him for observation for a little bit and they had to do some blood work to make sure that he didn't have any infections.  To get his respiratory rate to decrease it Mommy and baby got to have a lot of tummy to tummy time.  His breathing settled and his blood work all came back negative, which is good. 




Raivis came to visit after his school and nap.  Mommy was ready to get some much needed Raivis snuggles when he got there. Raivis and I shared a hospital dinner, which he thought was AWESOME.  He went home with Grandma Carol and went right to bed.. All of the excitement catching up with him. 








 Nik had to take a standardized test for the end of his Neurology rotation Friday morning (which was why Zanis had been instructed to not be born on Friday), so he was gone until after lunch.  He made it through his test and was glued to his baby boy for the rest of the day.

Zanis tunes right into his brother when he hears him.   I am sure Raivis' noise made it right to Mr. Zanis in the womb. :)

11/10: Zanis got to go get his newborn hearing screening done at 1 am on Saturday morning.  The nurse was kind enough to take a picture for me (I have pics of Raivis getting his done too).  It is sort of silly, but newborn hearing screenings are a big deal for speech and language.  It makes me so happy that they are pretty much universal these days. 

Unfortunatly Zanis didn't pass his screening in his left ear, so i have to get into an audiologist for another check.  It isn't something to worry about too much at this point, oftentimes babies who don't pass in just one ear have fluid in the ear still and it works itself out.  He does hear though, the little guy startles and reacts to noise the way that he should.  He is even pretty good at turning his head to find me when I talk.








After waiting all day, we finally got to go home around 3 pm.  I thiink that Nik was more ready to get out of there then I was. 

Grandma Carol and Raivis had the porch decorated for Zanis' homecoming with a cute wreath and balloons. 
















Raivis was napping when we got home, so the dogs got to meet Zanis on their own.  Grover stayed within five feet of the baby for the first couple of days, he even got out his bed everytime the baby got up at night (which is a big deal for the lazy bulldog).  Millie ackowledgeds his presence, but is mostly happy because there are extra pillows around.  Raivis was all about showing Zanis his things.  He played so nicely while I was feeding Zanis, I was so proud of him.  It has always been hard for him to share my attention with anything, all in all he is adjusting to that pretty well. 

11/11: We spent most of Sunday just settling in.  We did go on a family outing to Target, then we all had to come home and take a nap.  Raivis is all about making "carwashes" these days.  I love watching his imagination work when he builds a carwash.  I tried to get a picture but I missed it buy a second. In this pic, Raivis is using my pewter vases as brushes in a car wash, he really wanted Zanis to see how it worked. Zanis was impressed and Grover took the opportunity to sneak in a sniff and christen the baby with a good bulldog snot (YUCK!). 








11/12: Monday morning, Mommy was able to get herself sort of ready and Raivis ready to go to school.  We did pretty good and we were just a little late.  I did cheat and left the baby at home with Grandma.  It is such a big help to have Grandma Carol here, she has made this transition so much easier on all of us. 

I almost got Raivis to hold his brother, but I had to settle for the boys just to be close. I'll take it! Pretty good looking boys I think!


 
11/13: Tuesday, Zanis had his first doctor's appointment.  My smallest monkey is already back up to his birth weight!  The doctor said that he looks good. 

Nik had to start the first of three night shifts to kick off his pediatric rotation Tuesday night.  It is so funny to have him work nights again, I have gotten spoiled during the first two years of medical school, having him home every night.  Before he left, we got to play a great game of airplane.  Raivis declared Zanis the piolet and we took off. We flew all over, from Savannah to Seattle.  Again, I love seeing Raivis' imaginaton grow.  He is such a silly boy. 

On 11/14, some good friends brought over some yummy chilli, corn bread, and the yummiest pumpkin pear bread EVER.  Raivis got to play with his little friend and we had a great visit.  I haven't gotten any of yesterday's pics off of the camera yet... you'll have to forgive me this time.  Zanis is such a good baby, he is very relaxed most of the time and has a short fussy time from 7 or so until 10.

That brings us to today, his due date and he is offically one week old.  We are at that point that it is hard to imagine life without sweet baby Z.  I can't wait to see how he changes and see if he is going to keep that dark hair. 

He is HERE!!

Nik, Raivis, and I would love to introduce you to someone pretty special!

Meet Zanis Leroy Sirs!

Most people need to hear how we came up with his name, so here is the brief explanation.  His first name is Latvian, just like Raivis' is.  The "a" in Zanis is said like the "a" in awesome (Zaw-nis) and is a version of Nik's paternal grandfather's name.  His middle name is my maternal grandfather's middle name. 

He made his arrival a week early (just like his brother did), on Noveber 8th at 6:32 am.  I woke up at 2 am and tried to will it to stop so that I could finish up things at work the next day but Baby Z had other plans.  When I could no longer deny that it was go time, I got up and finished things online for work and started timing contractions.  Nik and I left for the hospital at 5:15 and got there about 5:40.  By the time I got to the labor and delivery room it was 6:00 am and 30 minutes later we got to meet our beautiful son. We cut it a little close on the time, which wasn't the plan but we made it safe and sound.

Zanis weighed in at a hefty 9 pounds 7 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.  He is super squeezable, kissable, and snuggly.  He has a lot of dark dark hair, big hands and feet (according to the nurses), and a sweet little mouth.  He is a very relaxed little guy, when he does cry he has a funny little screech. 

Raivis was so excited to meet him and marveled at how little his ears are.  So far Raivis is doing pretty good with the changes, he is being a good helper and isn't to sure about this whole "mom has to sit in one spot and feed the baby thing."  He doesn't want to hold him but he insists on giving baby brother a kiss before bed. He did tell me this morning that it is "a little hard to have two boys here." 

We are so happy to have him home and I am super excited not to have a 9 pound baby rump sticking in my ribs. :) We are settling in wonderfully, enjoying this precious time that goes so fast. 

The crud

Along with almost everybody else, we too have been battling the crud.  It has been a rough snotty with big coughs couple of weeks.  I think that we are all on the mend, one by one.  Poor Grandma Carol was the last one to get it, she is still in the thick of it. 

 


While trying to get well we have been busy getting ready for baby.  I think that we have pretty much everything ready for our little bambino.  It took me a while and a lot of moving stuff room to room but I think that we managed to squeeze everything into our space. I have the crib in Raivis' room and we had to move his bookcase into the hallway.  It is a little tight but I think it will do.





Last weekend we went on our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  We got to meet up with some good friends, we had a great time.  Raivis was all about picking up as many pumpkins as he possibly could and of course he needed to be in charge of the wagon






















 

The Church Hill trees have been putting on a glorious fall show for us.  As we were walking to dinner the other evening, Raivis and I took a little extra time to play in the leaves.  Poor Daddy had to wait an extra 30 minutes before we got to dinner, but we had fun.

 My belly has completely taken over.  I am holding my own though despite the fall crud.  I will have to get a picture of the belly.  I am not sure if I am close to ready but our due date is already only 3 weeks away.  The baby and i have made a deal that I will be able to catch everything up at work before the big day.  Wish me luck on that one :)

Baby Face

We had our 34 week ultrasound today.  

 

Baby is looking good, its head is pointed the right way and is just under 6 pounds right now.  That means that baby is on its way to being as big, if not bigger then Raivis.  I thought that I had already agreed with baby that Raivis would be the biggest by a lot.  Gee, kids just don't listen!  

 

I am feeling good. My belly has officially taken over... I am not sure if I can handle it getting any bigger but bigger it will get.  I told people at work that I would be huge by the end of my pregnancy, I don't think that they believed me.     

The above picture is of baby's face, the forehead is to the right, the chin is to the left, and you can't really see the left eye.  (hope that helps make sense of it).  Nik and I both think that baby already looks a lot like Raivis.. we will see!

Pretty soon we will be a party of four!

Congratulations are in order!

The following post is a little sappy and became much longer then I intended... I apologize but I can't help but brag a little. :) So for those that don't want to suffer through my ramblings, just look at one of my favorite pictures of my family below and move on to something else :)  Look at my little butterball!  There is no guessing who his daddy is!

When Nik told me that he wanted to go to medical school, I was a little hesitant.  It wasn't that I thought Nik couldn't do it, because I knew that Nik could do anything he put his mind to.  It just seemed like a lot work.  There was so much that needed to be done to get there.  Nik had to take several prerequesit classes, he would have to take the MCAT, we were getting ready to start our family, we would have to try to sell the house, we would have to move, I would have to get a new job, we would have to find a new place to live, not to mention the trials of medical school itself and the financial burden.  As we talked about it, hearing his reasons for wanting to do it, seeing his determination and inspiration, I knew that it was the right thing for our family.

My husband has tackled each step in our medical school journey head on.  He jumped right back into school at the University of Northern Colorado, he went to tutoring sessions, joined clubs, studied hard, and even went to professor's office hours, while working more then full time (nights) as a respiratory therapist.  We would go days without seeing each other and if we did it was for about 10 minutes.  He got all As, in all of those classes he took at UNC, getting the top grade in biochemistery and organic chemistry (both classes are notoriously difficult, the weed out classes for pre-med students).  All of the while, he continued to support me unquestionably in my own studies as I finished graduate school and began my own career. 

The next hurdle was the dreaded MCAT, the test that you have to take to get into medical school.  As a non-traditional student with a less then desirable GPA from his undergrad studies at BSU, he knew that he had to blow the test out of the water.  He developed a VERY strict study plan and adhered to it.  As a result, he did, in fact, blow the test out of the water. 
 
With the same dedication he tirelessly researched medical schools that would be the best fit for his scores and our family.  He was eventually admitted to 7 schools before pulling his application and we began the process of making a decision.

I won't lie and say that our move to Richmond was easy, the stresses of relocating, finding a new job, adjusting to a new schedule, and raising our son were hard at times to cope with.  However, because of Nikolas' steadfast support, patience, and ability to stay focused on what he needed to do, moving to Richmond has been a great thing for our family.  We have grown even closer during our time here in Richmond and have discovered that the "east coasters" aren't really that bad.  :)We have a new Richmond family that we love and I couldn't imagine life without them. 

Watching Nik go to medical school has been wonderful.  He has managed to not only go to all of his lectures and be involved in all things medical school, but he is an amazing daddy and husband as well.  His passion for learning, understanding, and applying knowledge has grown exponentially.  He has gotten extremely good grades on all of his tests and, not surprisingly, performed amazingly on his Step I boards. 

As a result of his dedication and hard work, Nik has received Junior AOA.  Junior AOA is the honor society for medical school and is given to the top 8% of each medical student class after their second year.  Having AOA on your resume is a very nice perk, it opens doors to a lot of competitive residency programs. To put it simply, he is among the top 8% of all medical students his year in the entire country. 

I am so proud of Nik! There are not many people who are able to dedicate themselves so completely to both a medical education and to his/her family.  Not only has he succeded but excelled.

As we start looking forward to the next phase in our family (the addition of our second child) and the next phase of his medical education (residency), I know that he will contine to be the best of the best and be a fabulous role model for our children.  I couldn't be more privilaged and honored to support him in this endeavor and call him the love of my life.

CONGRATULATIONS NIKOLAS!!

A few totally unconnected stories

• Raivis has become very observant lately.  We were watching football last Sunday after his nap, after observing for a while he says, "Hey, that football team has two girls on it."  He had noticed the players with long hair coming out of their helmets and decided they must be girls.  Nothing gets by this kid.  

 

• Our grocery store has a car-cart.  I have become a true believer in the power of the car-cart.  When we are lucky enough to get one, Raivis is the best shopper ever.  Aside from occasionally yelling, "Stop it's a red light!", you hardly hear a peep out of him.  LOVE IT!

• A couple of Wednesdays ago, Nik and I both got home early so we ran off to the park.  After playing for a while, a little boy came driving up in a powerwheels jeep (it was originally a barbie jeep but they had made it a little tougher with colored duct tape and stickers).  It was HILARIOUS to watch all of the little boys drool over that thing, they even checked to see what was under the hood.  As we were leaving my sweet boy says, "Momma, it would be really fun to have one of those some day." 

• It was time to invest in some new undies for the boy, so off we went to Target.  After careful consideration we picked out some Thomas undies and we noticed a pack of boxer brief undies and thought we would try those.  I was sure he would hate them. As usual, my boy proved me wrong, he LOVES them.  He calls them his "undy-pants", as soon as he gets home from school, his shorts come off and he hangs out in his cool "undy-pants."  Yesterday, Raivi and I had a cleaning day around the house, we tackled the linen closet and the scary coat closet.  Raivis was a super good helper in his undy-pants and snow boots.   

• I love our neighborhood.  We have been here for two years and I think that I see something new every day.  Down the road a few blocks is one of our favorite neighborhood walk destinations, Libby Hill Park.  There is a monument to Confederate sailors that overlooks the city.  One of the beautiful evenings we had last week we walked (well, I waddled) down there.  The picture doesn't do the view justice but it is one of the most beautiful views in the city.  The weather has been so nice, even the bulldog has gotten to go out walking with us again. 

• I love the things that Raivis picks out when we are at the store.  While I was looking at mattress pads, Raivis was admiring all of the blankets in the isle, he proclamed this one his favorite and REALLY liked the pink sequin pillow that matched.  

Carter Mountain

It is officially fall for the Sirs family here in Virginia... we made our annual trip to Carter Mountain, outside of Charlottesville, VA, to pick apples.  The drive up was beautiful, the leaves up there have started to change and it was the perfect temperature for apple picking

I cannot believe that we have been here for 3 falls already.   Our medical school time is flying by and our boy has grown so much! 

    October 2010 (one of my most favorite pics)

    October 2011

This year, we were all excited to get up there pick some apples, eat way to many apples, and the most important part, eat apple cider doughnuts. 

We hit it at the perfect time this year and got some Fuji and some Jonagold apples.  In years past we have missed those.  Raivis was all about the picking, he was a great helper and ran back and forth between his Daddy and I to get the apples in the bag.

The biggest change this year?  Raivis didn't wear his Broncos hat. :(  The boy is his father's son and has quite the collection of hats these days, I believe he has 6 (two of which are BSU hats).   He has become quite particular about which one he want to wear and rotates them frequently.  I'm glad for the variety but it makes me realize how big he is. 

Bronco hat or not, the doughnuts did not disappoint, they were delicious as usual.  Grandma Carol couldn't come up with us this year, so we made sure to save a doughnut for her too!

Now we have to decide what to make with all of our apples!

Beautiful!!!

70 degrees, sunny, breezy, fall in the air... Can it get any better?

Free Weekend!

 I had to go to jury duty on Monday... I didn't get picked to serve on a jury but I got to come home and hang out with my little man a little early.  Our weather here in Virginia has been GLORIOUS.  It has been nice and warm but cool enough to go outside and romp around.  After our nap, Raivis and I took advantage of the great afternoon and went to one of his favorite places, "the park with the orange slides."  We had a lot of fun playing, talking, and being silly, my kind of afternoon! Then all of a sudden it was late in the day and I hadn't even started dinner... oops.  I hate it when I feel like I have all of the time in
the world and then BAM it is gone.

 The rest of the week was busy.  Raivis and Daddy got to do the school thing and I worked a ton.  One of these days, (hopefully sometime before November) I will get caught up at work... We are going through a change in administration at my work, so work has been extra fun lately.  Change, even good change is always hard.  It is amazing to see Raivis grow and change since he has started school.  He has become quite the little man, full of opinions and confidence.  He can almost spell his name (I've been working on that for a while, but 2 weeks of school apparently is all he needed :) ).  He says, "R-S-I-V-I-S".  I am not sure what the extra S is about but I am still impressed.  As always, he is quite the ladies man at school.  We were waiting for the doors to open and he says, "Hey, there's Willow, I'm going to show her how I can jump."  Then proceeds to wow her with his sweet jumping moves. 

Nik finished his surgery rotation this week!  I think that he loved every minute of his surgery rotation but we both are ready for different hours for a while.  Since he took his surgery test on Thursday, we get a free weekend (meaning Daddy doesn't have to go study!). 





















To celebrate, we headed out to the beach.  We like to go to a public beach, Sandbridge, that is a little bit south of Virginia Beach.  It was a super super windy day, almost Oregon coast caliber wind.  The warm air saved the day though and we had a blast. 
 
 We haven't been to the beach since July, and boy was Raivis ready to live it up.  He dug holes, played with his sand trucks, jumped in the water, ran, wrote letters with his shovel, made sand birthday cakes, fed the seagulls, and snuggled in between to take a break from the wind. 

Try not to look at my legs in the picture below ( you may come away blinded), but the baby and I had a great time at the beach too.  Somehow, I managed to miss putting on sunscreen on my right knee.  As you can imagine from the whiteness of my legs... I have a lobster colored knee... I think that i am blaming the baby :).






Raivis was exhausted and passed out on the way home.  We took the back way home so that we could 1) avoid the craziness of the interstate and 2) go to the Virginia Diner.  The Virginia Diner is a little tourist stop in the heart of Virginia pig and peanut country.  We were mean parents and woke the boy up for dinner.  He was pretty crabby for the entire time we were there but perked up for chocolate cake of course.  The people watching was great at the Virgina Diner and we got some pretty good Southern style comfort food too. 

Today, Nik pulled the crib down from the attic and we started the task of squeezing another being into our little house.  I think we have it sort of figured out, but it is definitely a work in progress.  Raivis is ready though, he says that he can't wait for "his baby to laugh at him."  I assured him that Raivis will be the baby's favorite.