On Saturday we did a three-hour newborn and family photo session with Michelle Seltzer from Green Gate Photography. Michelle was well-prepared with a big box of cute baby accessories, blankets and swaddle cloths of different colors and textures, and a comfortable setup on a bean bag for baby to take her ‘glamour’ shots.

The photographer suggested I nurse baby beforehand, keep baby just in diaper, and turn off the AC to keep the house warm. When Michelle arrived, she set up a mini studio in our playroom to take advantage of that room’s natural light, and put on some classical music to create white noise. Arianne was totally zonked out for the first hour, which allowed Michelle to put her in some various poses on the bean bag and to take photos with different accessories. After that, we took family photos in the bedroom and with a backdrop of a blank wall.

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Gabriel turned 3 years old on January 31st. He seemed to understand a baby was in Mama’s belly and was coming to our house soon, as he started making representations of our family with 4 people: Papa, Gabriel, Mama, Baby. Before Arianne was born, he liked to feel her moving and to give her hugs and kisses.

He met her for the first time one day after the C-section. He looked like such a big boy when he came to the hospital carrying his own backpack! He came right in and said, “Little baby!” He wanted to look at her and then he promptly wanted to climb into my lap when he noticed the big belly was gone, however I couldn’t let him due to the pain from the C-section and recovery from pelvic instability.

Holding her at the hospital

We brought her home on Thursday, so now it’s been 5 days with both of them at home. He’s been really excited about her at some points, wanting to hold her, give her kisses, and help get diapers or whatever she needs. Other times he’s really been acting up and being stubborn; he knows I can’t put him in time out when I’m moving so slowly! One day he came home from spending the night with my mom and was yelling, “I don’t want baby!” D then asked him if he wanted the baby to go back to the hospital. I’m pretty sure he sniffled a yes before calming down and taking a nap.

The last two nights I’ve been able to go up and down the stairs slowly, so I’ve gone down to his room at bedtime to have some “Mama time” with him and to read books. He was great on both occasions (bedtime is often a struggle) so we’re going to continue that this week. My mom has also been spending a lot of quality time with him in the afternoons after school. I’m really grateful my mom is here; there is no way I’d be able to handle watching the two kiddos when I’m still recovering from the birth!

Eight days before Gabriel’s sister was born, my husband and I managed to pull off a backyard birthday party for him at our rented house in Saigon. Our house has a great yard next to the river, and I’d been wanting to have a BBQ or party back there since we moved in last June.

My dad had the experience of having twins (brother and sister) born exactly ON his second birthday, and he still remembers not having a cake and wondering where his mom was on his birthday. Hearing his story so many times growing up, I really wanted to make sure Gabriel had a special event before the baby arrived. This was the first year he understood what “birthday” and “party” meant, so it was pretty fun to tell him about the party and to make cupcakes together for his friends.

I hired Lollipop Face Painting & Entertainment to do face painting and make balloon animals for the first hour of the party. I also rented chairs and tables from them, and they set up some cool balloon decorations in the yard. The kids loved it; I would definitely recommend them for any kids party.

Gabriel was a bit apprehensive about getting any face painting done, but then when other kids started getting Superman motifs he was next in line. First he got one on his arm, then he got a Batman on his other arm, and finally he went for the forehead. I was afraid he’d want to sleep with it on, but thankfully he thought it was fun to rub it off in the tub.

We set up wine, beer, and juice outside. For the food, we got salad, pasta, and appetizers from Au Parc Catering and some pizzas from Al Fresco’s. It was the second time I’d used Au Parc and I was really happy with the food and service. Of course, I LOVE the hummus, breadsticks and feta cheese dip, so I ordered a lot and we did have some leftovers to snack on the next day.

Another favorite dish from Au Parc is the pasta with pesto, chicken and sun dried tomatoes. I ordered the same thing for my 30th birthday party last year, and I’d been craving it ever since! From Al Fresco’s we just ordered online using Vietnammm.

We set up our slide, a tunnel, and some toys in the yard which kept the kids busy when they weren’t getting balloon animals made or having their faces painted. Duarte and I were quite busy during the party, but it was really fun! Gabriel talked about “my party, my friends” for an entire week afterward. And then…the baby arrived! They are 3 years and 17 days apart in age.