Answers

Here are a few answers to some burning (ha ha) questions from the comments of the previous post:

How has Lily adjusted to a sibling?

She is doing really well.  She is obsessed with the umbillical cord.  It ranges from disgust to total fascination.  She loves to kiss Noli's head and stroke her hair.
I really think that week 3 will be the test.  The novelty will have worn off, the attention will still be mostly shifted toward Noli, Chris will have been back to work and Lily will, I expect, start to feel the real brunt of the change.  As for now she has been showered with attention from Grandma, friends, relatives, etc.  so it probably doesn't seem to bad for her. . .yet.  She was a little disappointed when she came home from her BFF's house today to find that I had not cleaned her play room.  What?!  Hmmm, little miss needs a lesson in responsibility I think. 

What was in the gift basket?

Soaps, lotions, scrubbers, luffahs, bath things.  All in a horrible, super-strong cherry scent.  Who wants some?

For Claudia:

Yes, that is exactly why Claire's doll got that name.  I think I spelled the doll's name "Nolie" if I remember right.  Chris REALLY wanted it to be Noli (no e) and as a nod to my bestie Angi and her daughter Addi, I thought it was a great idea.  I hope Claire doesn't mind sharing the name.  I hope Angi doesn't mind that we blatantly stole her spelling ideas.

Who does Noli look like?

She looks like me.  She actually looks a lot like my sister, Tori, when Tori was a baby.  When Noli was very first born and was all puffy, she looked like a toad.  Really.  I was worried.   Incidentally, Tori's nickname growing up, was Toad.
Lily looked exactly like Chris when she was born.

Baby Story

We went to the hospital Wednesday, June 16th for our scheduled C-section.  It was different this time, having everything planned.  I thought it would be easier.  I thought it would be more calm.
When they strapped me to the table, numb from the chest down and started the surgery, I had a sudden feeling of panic.  Maybe it was the normal nasea that the doctors said would occur, maybe it was the fact that although I could not feel anything, I KNEW they were cutting into me.  I don't know but I had to consciously keep my head and arms from ripping down the blue sheet isolating the sterile field.
Luckily the feeling was fleeting and surgery was fast.  When the doctor called out "It's a GIRL!" it was okay.  It was perfect.
Only four people that I asked to guess the gender of baby number two guessed a girl.  One of those people was myself.  One was my husband.  Even though some claimed to have special gifts and knew it was a boy, this little flower is certainly a girl.

Magnolia Nilsson
June 16, 2010
8 lbs 1 oz (I know, holy cow!)
21.75 inches long (again, HOLY COW!)

Yes, I have giggled at families with 'thematic' names for their children.  Yes, I am really eating my words and openly accept all mockery.  Still, 3 years after first hearing the name, 'Magnolia' and working on Chris to come around to the idea (he black listed my other top girl names of Gwen and Felicity), I am blessed with my own little southern flower.
Noli is a sweet little baby.  She sleeps a lot, eats a lot and has really won our hearts.  It was really hard for me to believe that I would love a baby as much as I loved Lily.  I was actually quite worried I wouldn't.  Turns out, I do.  The heart never can be so full as to not have enough room for a baby.   I was really grateful for the four days in the hospital to have with just me and and little baby Noli.  It was great to bond with her and have some special (and I am sure what will turn out to be rare) one on one time with her.

When Lily was born Maui experienced the biggest earthquake it had had in (I think) over 30 years.  It was a wall shaking, ground moving experience.  It was pretty scary with a newborn.  Not to be outdone and proving that sibling rivalry can start within the hour, Noli saddled up with a ground shaking experience of her own.

About an hour and after Noli was born and after hanging out in labor and delivery for a little snuggling, the nurses said we could move to our room on the second floor.  Still numb and motionless, they let me hold Magnolia on  my chest as two CNA's and Chris moved my bed down the hall and into the elevator.  The doors closed and we started our 2 floor accent.  Suddenly, the power went off and the elevator started shaking, violently, up and down.  We all screamed.  Then, the elevator stopped.  Still with no power and stuck between floors, the CNA's started to become hysterical.  They were both trying to call people on their walky-talky things and then picked up the emergency phone.  Then, more shaking.  The elevator moved up and down, several jerky feet at a time and we all braced ourselved against the walls (or, in my case, the bed) for a quick desent ala every cheesy action movie you have ever seen.  I closed my eyes and tried my best to stabalize Magnolia's neck.  I was actually worried about shaken baby syndrome at that point.  I was too scared to scream the second time.  I just prayed.  Hard.
Everyone was trying to talk to us at the same time, through 2 walky-talky units, the phone and the CNA was texting someone.  We could also hear the maintence men above us telling us the cables were holding and were strong so not to worry.  Too late, buddy.  I asked if they could take the baby through the roof.  They said that it probably wouldn't come to that but they were keeping that as an option for all of us.  "All of us that aren't paralyzed from the chest down" I thought.  After 20 minutes or maybe 4 hours, they were able to get the elevator to return to the lower level to Labor and Delivery.
Relatively calm compared to the frantic nurse's aids, Chris and I were a little emotional as the doors parted.  I refused to get on any elevator and they wheeled me back into the labor room.  After a few hours, and still paralyzed, they told me I had to go up to my room.  I started getting a little teary but after the director of the women's unit came and said she had personally tested a different elevator 4 times and would accompany us sans psycho CNA's, I reluctnatly agreed.  I didn't breathe the whole 37 seconds we were in there.
Later, the director brought me a gift basket and apologized profusely.  My story quickly became legend throughout the hospital and was being referred to as the "Tower of Terror" story.  A couple of days later my nurse was talking about it and I said "that was ME!"  It really was one of the scariest experiences of my life.  If I wasn't before, I certainly am now, a stair girl.

My babies are earth-moving, ground-shaking, rock-and-rolling girls.  Next time I give birth, I will issue a state-wide warning.  I mean, just imagine if it had been a boy!

I should mention also, that I lost my voice the day before Magnolia was born, which made the birthday interesting.  Every nurse asked me at least once if I was a smoker.  The labor and delivery nurse asked me three times.

Harvest

My brother asked me if I was prepared for the baby to be removed.  Always the sensitive fellow, he continued to refer to the day as "harvest day".  Having worked in agricultural research, 'harvest' seemed appropriate.  It is definitely the hardest and most time-consuming (and, duh, most important) part of farming. 
I guess with a scheduled c-section "baby removal" and "harvest", though un-emotional are accurate.  It is very strange knowing the exact day and time that my baby will be born.  It is strange knowing that I will have very, very little to do with it.  I just lay there, strapped to a table, numb from the chest down, and wait.   With Lily, I had no time to think about it.  After 13+ hours of labor, once they decided to do a c-section, it was over in 15 minutes.  I remember the green tile walls and the sound John Mayer in the background overlapping a nurse's conversation about what she had for lunch.  It was very real.  Not at all romantic and dramatic like the dimly lit scenes of the OR on TV. 
This time I have time to think about it.  It will be slower, I think.  Maybe even more strange. 
There are obvious advantages to having a schedule.  It is always nice to know things in advance and have a time to prepare.  Also, being completely unable to birth a child the "normal" way is actually comforting.  I don't feel guilt about the c-section like I did with Lily.  After her birth I kept thinking, 'what did I do wrong?'  and 'why couldn't I just do it?'.  It is nice to have a reason.  It is nice that the reason isn't just that I couldn't hack it.  Still, it is weird.  Weird to think that tomorrow, at 12:00 I will have a baby.  Outside of me.  Born.   Breathing.  Mine. 
What a miracle.  What a life.
Now. . .what to name this kid?

Truth

Truths that do NOT hold up during pregnancy:

Lemons should not be peeled and eaten like oranges.
Pop tarts are disgusting.
Chicken is a food.
6 cucumbers should be enough for one person in one week.
Also, 3 lbs of celery should be enough for one person in one week.
Walking through Costco is not a work-out.
My husband's 36" boardshorts are HUGE.
10:00 am is too early for lunch.
I currently do not have 7 loads of clean laundry waiting to be folded.
Sitting down doesn't hurt.
Standing doesn't hurt.
Sleeping doesn't hurt.
Waking up to pee 7 times in a night is excessive.
Brushing my teeth 17 times in a day because I want to eat my toothpaste is a bit concerning.
Changing bra sizes every other month is not normal.
I have thin hair.
I can remember important things like appointment times, days of the week, and names of family members.

Things I have discovered this pregnancy:

If you crave toothpaste and so you brush your teeth 17 times a day, you still crave toothpaste.  And you worry about your enamel (don't even get me started on the lemons!)

Costco sells a hand dipped ice-cream bar for $1.50!  How did I not EVER notice these before?  They are amazing.

It is kind of funny the first time your mail lady asks if the baby is due yet.  Every day after that for 2 months, it gets a little annoying.

No matter how uncomfortable, big, sick, tired or annoyed you get,  no matter how many times in a week you have to go to the store to buy more celery, no matter how many times the mail lady says you surely must be carrying twins and no matter how many times you have to go to the bathroom in a day, you are still grateful to have a healthy baby growing inside you.   What a blessing it is to live in this time of modern convenience and medical technology.   What a blessing it is to be a mother.

And, what a blessing it is to have a week left to prepare.
One week and counting.
Any advice for the second time around?

And Speaking of Chickens. . .

This Easter season I did something I have been thinking about for a long time.

I dyed eggs.

Without dyes.

Start with this:

Add some vinegar, five 3 year-olds, and let sit for. . .a bit.

Then, you get this:

We used blueberries, tumeric, carrots, spinach, onions, chili peppers, and beets.  My favorite results came from the berries, onions and beets.   Try this site for some instructions to try it on your own.  I really want to try some natural dyes for cake frosting.  Maybe this weekend.  Chris has a birthday coming up. 

The girls loved it (almost as much as I did) and had only slight issues in choosing which eggs to take home.  I am definitely doing this next year, it was way more fun than regular food dye (which is just so. . .predictable!).  Plus, I had little tasting bowls of all the ingredients for the kids to snack on while we dyed each kind.  Well, I skipped the tumeric bowl and hot chili bowl.  I know, so boring.    Next time I want to try orange peel, grass, some flowers (maybe dandelions?  The kids could pick them in the yard. . .if we celebrated Easter in May. . .hmmm) and herbal tea. 

**Oh and a tip:  if using carrots or spinach, you really should boil them.  As per the instructions.  I got bored of boiling stuff.  They didn't really work well.  The carrots were really faint and the raw spinach did nothing. 

The Nilsson's Welcome Baby Juliette. . .

And Rosie, Minnie and Tulip.  Sorry about the continuing jokes about the baby!  I just cannot help myself. . .bwah ha hah!  It is just to easy to make jokes when you are in your final weeks.  But the real announcement is:  We finally got our chicks and they are so cute!  Lily loves to check on them everyday and I am starting to think this was a really good transition to prepare her for the baby.  We loved picking out the little babies and Lily loved playing with the Mama's and Aunties on the 'chicken farm'.  For now, we have the chicks inside (hence the weird heat lamp picture) but soon they will be able roam the yard and sleep in the new coop (still to be completed).  We hope by the end of summer to have some nice, fresh eggs in a rainbow of colors.

40 Days and 40 (sleepless) Nights

If I do one a day. . .it just might happen. . .

1.  Buy a carseat
2.  Buy Lily a bed.
3.  Set up Lily's bed.
4.  Set up crib for baby.
5.  Wash baby clothes.
6.  Paint bedroom.
7.  Move Lily's clothes to. . .somewhere?
8.  Move dresser to closet and fill with clean baby clothes.
9.  Prepare for preschool yardsale.
10.  Make slideshow for preschool graduation.
11.  Clean . . .EVERYTHING.
12.  Convert tri-folds into all-in-ones (cloth diapers, people)
13.  Organize closets, mostly mine.
14.  Mail Mother's Day gift to my Mother-in-Law (sigh. . .late)
15.  Dig up daffodils.
16.  Get my hair cut.(it has been since last July)
17.  Order my favorite baby soaps and lotions.
18.  Clean out the kitchen lazy susan cabinet.
19.  Clean behind the fridge.
20.  Clean behind the stove.
21.  Put weed barrier down in "The Pit".
22.  Set up the baby swing.
23.  Sterilize bottles and pump.
24.  Clean out fridge.
25.  Clean out freezer.
26.  Buy a stroller that fits the carseat from #1.
27.  Organize storage area and find the rest of the baby gear.
28.  Buy some pacifiers in hopes that this kid will take one.
29.  Buy tile for the cabin (more on this later!)
30.  Buy tables, chairs for the preschool.
31.  Paint the small wall of the preschool.
32.  Plan the first few months of preschool.
33.  Fix the towel ring in the upstairs bathroom.
34.  Sew shower curtain for downstairs bath.
Nag Chris about the following:
35.  Finish the chicken coop.
36.  Dig and bury cement barriers to keep the neighbor's nasty dogs out of the chicken coop.
37.  Secure the slide in the backyard.
38.  Put boulders down in "The Pit".
39.  Move furniture out of the preschool.
And, last, but not least,
40.  Pick a name for this baby.