It is amazing how similar my babies look to each other.

I am going to have a hard time telling them who is who when they grow up.

Eden at 2 weeks old.

Haddie in the same outfit a little younger at exactly one week old.

The video of haddie rocking eden

Hadassah is getting use to sister.

Haddie has had to adjust to having a baby around 24/7. Tuesday marks 2 weeks that Eden has been home with us from the Hospital. Haddie was not so sure of Eden at first. She would say "baby" and point out her nose and eyes, and then she was done and would push her away.Nana and Papa did well to distract Hadassah while I was feeding Eden, but now that Nana and Papa went home, Haddie does not like the idea of me feeding Eden. She would walk over to me and put out her arms for me to hold her.

I would have to say "No," which would make Haddie upset and she would either throw herself back and cry or whack Eden in the head and then throw herself back and cry.

However, each day gets better. We still have to say gentle over and over again when she comes to see "baby," but she is becoming more friendly with her.

Today, Eden was in her carrier hanging out in the kitchen with Mama, when Haddie came up and began rocking her. She was getting a little rough, so I said "gentle," at that Haddie slowed her pace. She also bent down and started jabbering to her in a higher pitched voice, like when I talk to Eden. It was so precious.

I soon had to feed Eden, but Hadassah didn't mind. Instead she went and got one of her stuffed bears and put her in the carrier and began to rock the bear.

But the bear kept moving out of position, so she would stop and reposition the bear and then began rocking the bear again.

She even grabbed Eden's blanket and tried to put the blanket on the bear, like Mommy does to Eden. It was the most precious site.

She is such a sweet little girl and she makes my heart melt so many times. She seems to get sweeter and cuter everyday.

Haddie learns to walk

Friday, I went to a residal at church and was telling a friend how stuburn Haddie was about walking. "She can walk but refuses to walk with out a hand to hold, watch, I will ask her to walk to me and she'll just shake her head." At that moment I asked Haddie to walk to me and SHE DID!! She proved me wrong! She walked to me 3 times and twice to her Daddy.

Saturday, she was even more willing to walk between paul and I or the couch and one of us.

Sunday, she took off. At Church Paul was showing someone her new skill and she started walking to him but a very long distance. He excited came to show me and she started walking to him, only to turn and walk back to me before she got to him. When we got home she walked around the room not wanting to go to anyone, but just walk.

Eden Elizabeth Vanderveer

After several days and nights of false labor and thinking this would never end. Finally, Sunday at 5:00 pm my contractions were coming 5 minutes apart. They were getting strong, but were coming irregular, so i wasn't sure if this was it. But when i had to stop and breath through them, i couldn't help but get excited. Paul decided that if they are still getting stronger at 8, we'd go to the hospital.Well, 8 o'clock came and I was still having to stop and breath through them, so we called Alison Marshall, the secretary at the church, to come and get Haddie. Once she arrived we were off.

We got to the hospital got hooked up and the contractions quickly stated coming every 2 1/2 minutes. This was it!!

I was dilated to a 4 and after receiving my epidural I quickly dilated to a 6. Once I dilated to a 7, I stayed a 7 for a very long time. I told them, "the same thing happened with Haddie and I didn't progress until they broke my water."

They called my Dr. at midnight, but she said to give me Pitoson and see if having stronger contractions would break my water on its own. No luck. Finally my Dr. came in at 4:30 in the morning to break my water. Once she did I quickly became a 10. At 5:40 I was good to start pushing.

Paul told t

hem that I only pushed for 25 minutes with Haddie. The nurse said to give some practice pushes to see. I did and immediately she said, "okay, stop, I will go get the dr."

Two contractions later, Eden was born at 5:55 am Monday morning. She weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz. and was 19 inches long.

She looks so much like her older sister.

It is amazing how you forget how small they are.

She is so precious, and soo very little.

Even though I am having to wake up every 2 hours, I am constantly reminding myself that this stage does not last very long. Before I know it she will be sleeping through the night and like it or not she will be turning one too soon.

Miss independent

Haddie loves doing things on her own, especially when it comes to eating. Once she learned to use a fork by herself, she now grabs the spoon or fork from me so she can do it. This is something that is hard for me at times, because she makes a huge mess when she feeds her self. But she is so proud of her self when she successfully puts a piece of food in her mouth using a fork.

The other day I was having ice cream. She asked very politely if she could have some. However, she didn't want me to feed it to her. She wanted to do it herself. I was feeling adventurous and so after most of the ice cream was gone I gave her the container and spoon.

Needless to say, she had a blast getting every last bit of that ice cream!

Haddie and her cute ways

Haddie is very much a talker. She will be playing and just be chatting away using her own little language. She cracks me up, because sometimes she’ll come over to me and start talking to me, again, using her own language, and go on for a long while chatting to me like we are having a conversation.

She is such a precious little girl and it amazes me almost daily the things she can do and say. She is looking so much more like a little girl rather than a baby. She has got a large vocabulary for her age. She may not walk yet, but she sure does talk. Where, or where does she get that from.

Her main word for most foods is “Crackie.” It is a comb

ination of “Cracker” and “cookie,” I think because in giving her animal crackers I would interchange the word when offering her some. She knows that Animal crackers are “crackies,” but she will also ask for “crackie’s, “ but not want animal crackers.

She can say and sign:

please (“peas”), more (“mow”), all done (“aa dan”), Water (“wawa”), Night Night (“ni ni”), Hi, Bye (“die die”), and No.

She also says:

Daise = Mazie; Dough = Dog

Pappy = Puppy; Daddy

Mama Nana = Bananna or Nana

Papa Grraw = Granny

Abby = Abigail or most everything right now, its her new favorite word

Kitttttty (rolling of the t’s) = kitty

She also makes animal sounds:

She can say woof, woof for dog

She will lift her arm from her nose and make an elephant sound

She roars for lion

Mow for kitty

She will hit her chest and say ahhhahhha for grilla

And wave her arms and say oo oo aahh ahh for monkey.

But, my favorite thing she does is when we are out. She tries to get anyone’s attention and will flirt with them until they smile or say hi to her. When we are out to eat, it is like she has a game to see how many people at surrounding tables can she get to say “oh she is so cute.” She is quite the ham at times.

It amazes me that I can now ask her if she wants something and she will shake her head and say "no" or nod her head and then sign please.

She refuses to walk with out support. She knows when you are going to try and get her to walk, she will lift her legs and not even stand up. If you ask her will you walk to me she will shake her head and say “no.” then she will laugh.

She will walk by holding your fingur, pant leg, or anything, She’ll even walk by holding Abigail’s hand. Abigail is 2 years old, and does not help her balance at all. Haddie is such a stinker. I think she refuses to walk because she can crawl soo fast. She must think she doesn’t need to walk when she can get there faster by crawling.

Paul and I are constantly laughing at her. Sometimes when she is crawling she will shake her head back and forth. It reminds me of the girls that make their pony tail sway as they walk. She also will start dancing and even sometimes sing whenever she hears music.

She loves music and loves playing the piano. She will bounce, sway, and sometimes sing as she plays the piano. When she is finished she will turn to me and say "all done" (while signing it). If paul is playing the piano, or any musical instrument, she usually stops what she was doing and goes over to where her daddy is and dance to the music.

I love her, she is so precious and such a wonderful blessing to our lives.

I look forward to see what Eden will add to the mix, and what her personality will be like.