Joyeux Noel!

True to Taber Tradition we are moving again. We loved our time in London and wish it could have been longer, but it is time to move on to our next adventure. Fortunately, Chris had earned enough hotel & Eurostar points that we decided spend Christmas in Paris before crossing over the pond (again).

We only have free internet access in the lobby of the hotel, so this will be a short entry but we wanted to make sure you knew we were thinking of you and are grateful during this season for a loving Heavenly Father who sent his son as a newborn babe to be our Saviour. May we keep Christmas all year long in our hearts through our actions and efforts, striving always to follow His perfect example.

With love from from Chris, Anne, Isabelle, Chase & Heather

Lights on the Champs Elysees

Taken from the top of the North Tower at Notre Dame Cathedral just outside the bell tower

(255 steps up a narrow spiral staircase after which, we climbed another 120 steps up an even narrower spiral staircase to the very top)

A Few Days of Heather...

When the world was created, the hillsides were bare, and it was decided that a plant was needed to beautify the slopes

The giant Oak, strongest of all trees, was asked but he declined saying that the soil was too shallow for him to take root and flourish

Then the yellow-flowered Honeysuckle was asked if she would spread her beauty and fragrance throughout the hills. She, too, refused because there was nothing in the inhospitable terrain against which she could grow.

The Rose, sweetest of all the flowers, was the next choice. However, she explained that she would not be able to survive the hillside’s bitter winds and driving rain.

Then a small low lying green shrub with tiny petals, some purple, some white, some pink, was chanced upon.

It was Heather!

The Heather was asked, "Will you grow up on the hillside to make them more beautiful?"

The Heather reflected on the poor soil and harsh climate and was not sure whether she could do the job; but to the delight of all, she replied that if they wanted her to try, she would do her very best.

They were all so pleased with the Heather that they decided to bestow three gifts upon her.

• The strength of the Oak – the bark of the Heather is stronger than that of any other tree or shrub


• The fragrance of the Honeysuckle – the Heather’s gentle fragrance is used to
  perfume soaps, potpourris, and cosmetics.


• The sweetness of the Rose – the sweetness of the Heather makes her one of the bee’s favorite flowers

And to this day Heather is renowned for these three gifts as she fulfills her task.

---

I have been wanting to post more photos and descriptions of things as they have happened since the labor, delivery and birth of Heather, but we've had a few hiccups along the way. Now that it's Monday, things are a little calmer, so here are some new photos and videos of Heather, Chase & Isabelle...

A few hours after Heather's birth Chris picked up the children from friend Trina's house and brought them to the hospital to meet their new sister.

When babies are born to diabetic mothers there is risk of low blood sugars, which was the case with Heather. After breastfeeding her, waiting awhile to see if her sugars would go up and determining that they weren't going to, the midwives tried to give her a "top-up"* of formula from a bottle. She was not having it. After trying several times to get her to drink the formula, the pediatrician said it would be necessary to use a feeding tube. She didn't much like that either and fought (with Hulk-like strength) against their attempts to get the tube in. After two tries, two different midwives, Mommy lying in bed trying to pretend it wasn't happening, Daddy closely supervising the midwives, and big brother and big sister patiently (and calmly) standing out of the way, they finally managed to get the tube in.

It really wasn't so bad -it's a tiny tube, and it did get her blood sugars up. And by the middle of the night the tube was out (I swear I didn't pull it out on purspose - really, it was an accident) and she was maintaining her blood sugars on Mommy's milk alone. This is one of the first times I saw her with her eyes open and looking around.

While Mommy took a shower and tried to make herself look like a real person again, Daddy gave Heather her first bath and styled her hair, "Oooh, that's feels goooood."

"Whew! My spa day was really exhausting!"

Isabelle and Chase missed school on Thursday so they could meet their new sis, but Friday Daddy took them to school and picked them up again (of all the school uniforms in the world, wouldn't you choose these colors first? Gryffindor of Hogwarts it is not!)

When it was Chase's turn to hold Heather he began singing Hush Little Baby and Chris managed to capture it on video. He told me later that on Thursday before coming to see the baby for the first time, Chase and Isabelle went home and listened to the song on Isabelle's iPod until they had every word memorized (including the additional verse of humming at the end). Chase has now been enlisted as the official soothe-by-singing technician when Mommy needs a minute or two before she can nurse the baby.

The Girls waiting for the cab to pick us up from the hospital to go home.

Daddy and Heather watching football.

Warning: the video is probably only cute to watch if you are the mom, the dad, or one of the grandparents. Otherwise you may get slightly bored. It is filmed in real time and has not been slowed down.

Mommy's little baby.

Baby number 1 (Isabelle) only cared about eating every 4-6 hours and even then we had to strip her down to get her out of her warm comfy-cozy zone before she would wake up to eat. (DeeDee prayed she would outgrow that habit by Prom. I think we're out of the woods on that one). Baby number 2 (Chase) ate about every 4 hours, though did not need quite as much coaxing. This one thinks she needs to eat every 2 hours, but then she falls asleep two minutes into it and then gets mad if mom "closes the kitchen." So, Sunday afternoon, we decided to try giving her a pacifier to see if we could hold her off long enough to build up a better appetite so that feeding her was more productive.

Hmmm, I think she likes it!

Don't you just love those little fingers?

Bath time!

Daddy quote, "Oh! That's not cute at all!"

DeeDee, notice the soft cushy knitted blanket Heather likes to sleep on in the push chair.* Grandma, notice the redwork on the cloth.

*Noun 1. top-up - an amount needed to restore something to its former level

*Noun, British, Push chair - a small folding chair on wheels in which a small child can be wheeled around: escalators are difficult with pushchairs

Heather Londyn Taber

Please join us in welcoming Heather Londyn Taber to our family.

Heather Londyn Taber

I'll let Anne post the rest of the details tomorrow or Saturday, but for now, here are the basics along with a few photos.

Name: Heather Londyn Taber - We had originally been leaning towards Londyn Heather, but everyone, from Chris down to Chase said when they held her that she just seemed more like a "Heather Londyn" than a "Londyn Heather"

Born: 3:50 am on 11 September 2008. After a 24 hour delay due to no beds available at the hospital (first 12 hours of delay), then not enough doctors available if Anne's labor progressed quickly (ha! not this time! - second 12 hours of delay), Anne got started at 7:30 am and labored until almost 1:00am. Thankfully, she got an epidural at about 6:00pm and had a much better time of it after that. I'll leave the rest of the details for one of Anne's posts

Weight: 4.514 kg, or 9 lbs 15 ozs. For those keeping score at home, this is slightly larger than Isabelle (9 lbs 6 ozs) and much more than Chase (6 lbs 15 ozs).


Length: 22 inches. This is an unofficial measurement, since they don't measure length for babies born in the UK - they measure the circumference of the head - which I suspect most Moms would find a more useful measurement than length, but what do I know? (Of course, I forgot to write down the circumference measurement, so I'll leave that to Anne to share)


Hair: Yes. Lots of dark brown hair, similar to Isabelle when she was born. In fact, see if you can tell which is which from the photos below...


Eyes: Dark brown, though Chase and Isabelle are convinced they are dark blue. I will say that the light in the room where we were when the children came to visit was not the greatest, so this "stat" should also be considered unofficial.


Now a few FAQs from some of the emails and Facebook responses I've been getting from people over the past few hours, so I don't lose track of who asked which question when:

1. How is Anne doing? She's doing well - exhausted, but well. I took the children over to visit from 10:30 or so this morning until about 4:00, and then left for the day so that Anne could get some much-needed rest. I then fell asleep on the bus several times and Isabelle and Chase had to keep waking me up to ask if we had missed our stop - we hadn't. I'll go back in the morning after taking the children to school (they didn't go today) and hopefully they'll be able to come home then.



2. What was it like giving birth in the UK vs. the US? I'll let Anne give more details if she likes, but overall I think Anne had a fairly positive experience, though being far from family and not having any of them here this week meant that we had to rely on our extended ward family to help us out with taking Isabelle & Chase to school, letting them stay overnight, etc. - even laundering their school uniforms when we they had to stay a night longer than expected. They were absolute lifesavers!



3. What's the standard of care like in the NHS? Again, Anne can share her opinions, but one thing we were really grateful for was to be able to deliver in the newer Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea hospital rather than the older Hammersmith hospital which adjoins it(and we're talking WWII-era and looks like it hasn't been updated or cleaned since then). Probably one of the biggest adjustments was adjusting to the different names and terminology used. Anne's diabetes management had to switch meter readings from mg/deciliter to mmol/liter, two totally different scales where the adjustment factor between the two is to multiply the latter by about 18 to get the former, so lots of mental math involved. Diapers are nappies. Finger sticks (to check blood sugar levels) are referred to as BMs...took me awhile to figure out why they kept asking about that once an hour or so. Not all "doctors" are referred to as "Dr." So-and-so, but some are "Mr." or "Mrs.", while others are "Dr."... The doctors refer to the midwives as Sister So-and-so, even though this was not a Catholic hospital.



4. How do British and American hospitals differ in their philosophies on childbirth. Agin, my male-oriented observations only at this point, but it seemed to me that this time around, Anne was really encouraged to take things as slowly as possible, whereas in the States, sometimes it seemed like "OK, we need you to move along now, so we're just gonna do this with your medications, etc."



5. Will the baby have dual US-UK citizenship? Most likely not. Everything I've read seems to indicate that since 1983, the UK does not automatically grant citizenship (or the right to dual citizenship) to babies born here. In order to claim dual citizenship, we'd have to either show that the baby's grandparents were British Citizens or that we had a reasonable expectation to remain in the UK indefinitely, neither of which are true (though my father's mother was born and raised here)

I think that covers the most frequent questions we've been getting, so if I missed one, leave a comment and I'll try to respond.

April and May

Number Three

Okay, so I admit it. And here it is in writing: I was wrong. I've been anxiously awaiting my 21st week of pregnancy so that I could go to my ultrasound and find out for certain whether baby Taber is a boy or a girl. I have been convinced for a number of reasons that it is a boy, but evidently child number 3 is a stinker and has a cunning sense of humor. For over a month now, I have tried to look at both boy and girl clothes, and the second I look at girl clothes I've felt this child say, "Nope. Not gonna wear that." For over a month now, I've been testing out a name (one that cannot go either way, i.e. is stricly a boy's name) and this little spirit keeps telling me, "Yup, that's it!" So, today I went in for my long-awaited ultrasound and was shown (and it was quite clear) that it is a little girl. I even made the sonographer check again. She's a girl. Don't get me wrong, I am quite happy to have another girl. I am just stumped by her choice of practical joke. It isn't even April Fool's (or maybe that's when this all started and I just didn't get it). Is this a telling sign? Will all of my historically successful parenting tactics blow up in my face? I am almost certain that the answer is a resounding YES! Great. Just what I was hoping for. (Spoken in a monotone voice:) I am so pleased to be faced with this new challenge.

Anyway, here's a photo of the little stinker:

I may still call her "Hulk" - just to get back at her.

Living in London

As for the last few weeks, I am finally able to say I am enjoying living in London. I am at a good place in my pregnancy, and the sun has been shining everyday for over a week now, so as a result I have been out on more outings lately and visiting with more friends.

Primary trip with Isabelle and Chase to the London Temple:

Visiting the "secret garden" and Queen Mary's Gardens at Regents Park:

Family Reunions

We will eventually post some photos and video from Alan's 60th Birthday weekend, but until then suffice it to say that we had a wonderful time with family and friends. DeeDee was a wonderful hostess. Auntie Lynn (Alan's 1st cousin) and Uncle Russ visiting from Australia brought yummy sweets and flattered us with flip flops. Aunt Katie coutured our coiffs and Aunt Polina helped Isabelle host the First Annual Taber-Extended-Family Olympic Obstacle Course. Participants inlcuded Daddy (Chris), all the Uncles (Mark, Drew & Carson), Aunt Katie, Grandpa (Alan) and surprise couple-contestants Uncle John and Aunt Pam (Alan's sis). Video highlights to be posted...well, eventually.

Before the rest of the family flew in Chris, Isabelle and Chase and I spent a day in Morgan Hill and Gilroy shopping at the outlets, eating Mexican food and visiting with old friends - all luxuries we miss when we're in London. We definitely have some very fond memories of the time we lived in Morgan Hill.

And before traveling up to the Bay Area, the children and I enjoyed visiting with family on the Turner side. We stayed with Uncle Eric and Aunt Cindy and their children (Spenser, Corbin, Chandler & Kadyn) and enjoyed sunny weather and family fun with them (and Mexican food and A&W rootbeer - another luxury we just can't get in London for under $40!). Grandma Colleen joined us for a few days and we also enjoyed an afternoon of food and fun with Uncle Craig and Aunt Robin and their four boys (Nathan, Evan, Ryan, and Darren). Aunt Robin delighted the nieces with girly gifts. Eric and I learned some creative parenting tricks from Craig* , I enjoyed catching up with everyone (Althea was there too and Aunt Esther phoned).

*Parenting by Craig and Robin

• Behavioral consequence: "You owe me two squares." Craig showed us a two foot square he'd made of PVC to be placed in the garden and said, "That's how much he has to weed." Brilliant!


• Friendly reminder or warning: "Wanna owe me another square?"

• And, "Go sit in the tub." No angry tone. No water. Fully dressed. Just "go sit in the tub until we're ready to talk to you."

If only I could get my kids to hear me when I speak with a soft tone...