One Month - Time Flies!

It has already been 1 month since Emily was born!  The weeks have flown by, and it is amazing how much this little girl has changed in just a short amount of time.  She is getting so big - Mommy's milk is the best!  She is going to be a little chunky monkey just like her brother was.  I love seeing the baby rolls get bigger and bigger each week.  We went to the doctor yesterday and she is just perfect.  I can happily announce that she is still a great little sleeper.  Sleeping most of the day away, and thankfully, most of the night as well.  She goes for pretty long stretches of time, but when she is awake, she may stay awake for up to 2 hours at night - that is definitely the hardest part and what is contributing to my lack of sleep.  She is sleeping in her bassinet in our room, so every little peep and grunt wakes me up.  She is a much better sleeper than Andrew was, but I have yet to get more than 4 hours of sleep in a row. 

Last week was definitely the most trying week for me.  Brent went back to work, so it was just the 3 of us during the day for the first time.  It was a long week!  Andrew must have been starving for attention because he was very clingy and very whiny.  It was great on the days he went to school because it gave him a chance to get out of the house, and me a chance to just relax.  The weekend finally came and I survived!  Brent and I even got to go out on a date on Saturday night while my Mom watched the kids.  What a treat!

I am a little over-paranoid of Emily getting sick (it seems like everyone and their kids are sick right now) so we are pretty much on house lock-down until she gets her 2 month shots.  After everything that happened with Andrew this summer, I just can not risk Emily getting sick and having to spend time in the hospital.  Needless to say, this makes for some pretty long and boring days, but I think it is a small sacrifice to make to ensure I have a healthy child.  I have had some breaks, my Mom and Mother-in-Law have come over to watch the kids while I get out of the house for awhile and my Sister came over several days this past week and spent lots of time with us and even took Andrew to the zoo.      

 It has been a great first month!  She started smiling at me today, which just makes it all worth it!  I can not wait to see what next month brings.

Emily's Here!

It has been 1 week since Emily was born and I just couldn't be happier right now.  Sparing all the details, I can say that her labor and delivery went as smoothly as I could have hoped for.  She came faster than Andrew ( 5 hours) and was born in just 2 pushes!  That's my girl!  She was born on Thursday, September 8th at 3:55 pm.  She weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 inches long.  We all came home on Saturday, September 10th.

My wonderful Mom had been staying at our house with Andrew while we were in the hospital, and it was so refreshing to come home to a spotless home, a stocked fridge and a delicious home cooked meal.  We had quite a few visitors the first few days of being home, which I loved, but it has calmed down now. 

I know it has only been a week, but Emily has been a dream baby so far.  She sleeps about 22 hours a day, eats every 2-3 hours and is sleeping a lot at night.  She took to breastfeeding like a champ - she was on the boob less than an hour after being born and perfected that in less than a day.  I know I sound like a new naive parent right now, but I know that this is all going to change and in a couple of weeks I may not be singing such high praises.  But I am definitely enjoying this easy, breezy parenting right now!

Andrew is adjusting to life with a new baby pretty well.  Aside from a few incidents, he has been very gentle and loving to his new sister.  There is definitely a little jealousy there, but he is very sweet with Emily.  He asks to hold her a lot and has lots of kisses to give.  One of my big fears was that he was going to get really upset when he saw me breastfeeding her, but he is actually totally ok with it.  He knows that she is drinking Mommy's Milk and always asks for a cup of milk too.  I do often worry that maybe I am not showing enough attention to Andrew and sometimes I feel like I am not showing enough attention to Emily.  I think these are "normal" feelings for a new Mommy-of-Two, and I will learn how to balance it all with time.  So far so good!

Due Date - 40 Weeks

Brand new baby!  7 lbs 5 oz

Daddy is so proud!

Sleeping soundly

Andrew meeting Emily for the 1st time

Being held by Grandma CC and sucking her thumb

Grandbaby #3 for Grandpa John

Andrew being silly in the family photo

Sara with Emily, Mary Kathryn, Alyson and Me

Aunt Rachel loves her new niece!

Emily got some beautiful flowers!

Going home on a beautiful day!

He needs some help holding her head, but he loves holding his sister!

38 Weeks - Still pregnant and potty training

Emily is due in exactly 11 days.  I really hope she wants to come early as I am so over being pregnant!  Why oh why do I have to be 9 months pregnant during the hottest summer ever on record??  We literally had the hottest day EVER on record this past Saturday in Houston - 109 degrees!  And we have set the record this summer for most days over 100 degrees - I think it is over 30 days now.  Needless to say - I am feeling pretty miserable these days and I don't leave the house unless it is absolutely necessary, and I really try not to go anywhere past noon.  I think I can hang in there for about 2 more weeks, but that induction is starting to sound better and better!

I am going to the doctor tomorrow and we will make a plan of action if Emily does not come on her own before next Thursday.  I also will ask if he can do an ultrasound and make sure she is still in a good position.  I know she is head down, but she keeps pushing against some nerves in my left leg (upper thigh area where my leg meets my torso) and it hurts so bad I can hardly walk when it's happening, and she usually stays there for quite awhile.  It is pretty uncomfortable for me, and I start to worry if she is in a bad position.  My doctor told me that it is probably just her shoulder pushing against my leg, but I want to take a look just to make sure everything is ok in there.

Andrew stayed with my mom for a few nights last week and my mom decided that she was going to start potty training him.  We have worked on it a little bit over the past few weeks at home, but my mom went in full force.  He wore pull-ups and was going in the potty all weekend.  My mom used M&Ms as a motivation tool: he gets 2 M&Ms every time he goes pee-pee in the potty.  He did such a great job, so I continued the training when he came home.  He is doing really well and the M&M trick seems to be working great!  It is kind of stressful potty training a 2 year old while I am 9 months pregnant as it involves a lot of bending over and sitting on the floor/edge of the bathtub, etc., but it will be so nice to have Andrew potty trained once Emily is born.  And just think of the $$ we will save on diapers! 

Emily's Nursery

It's finished!  It came down to the last minute, but we did it!  Andrew spent the weekend with Grandma CC and Grandpa Rick in Tiki, so Brent and I had some quite time to finish Emily's nursery.  We are very happy with the final result! 

 

 

 

37 Weeks and Counting

I am 37 weeks pregnant today, which means that I am officially full-term.  Yay!  I originally thought that this baby would come a little early, but I am starting to have my doubts.  Maybe it was just wishful thinking.  Although I have so many people tell me how fast my pregnancy seems to have gone by, I could not disagree more.  I feel like I have been pregnant forever!  Thinking back, I took an at-home pregnancy test on Christmas Day 2010, and now there are Christmas decorations for 2011 showing up in Hobby Lobby stores nationwide! 

I am going to the doctor weekly now, and I am starting to dilate (about 1.5 cm) and efface (50%).  My doctor said that we could schedule an induction at 39 weeks if I want to, but I am not sure if I want to yet.  I was induced with Andrew and everything went great, but I kind of just want to wait it out and see if things happen naturally.  Hopefully I won't have to make that decision, but if this baby doesn't come by her due date, I will probably end up scheduling an induction for the day after her due date, which would be Sept. 9th.  That way we won't run the risk of going into labor on 9/11.  But let's all keep our fingers crossed for her to come a little early!!

I am feeling a lot less stressed these days.  I spent the last couple of weeks running around and getting most of the things we need for the baby.  The nursery is 90% complete, and we are planning on finishing it this weekend.  I have a photographer on stand-by to schedule a newborn photo shoot right after she is born.  My hospital bag is packed and ready to go.  I have even started filling out some pages in the baby book!  We are all ready to meet our sweet Emily!

37 Weeks

Baby Sprinkle

My best friends and my sister threw me a little Baby "Sprinkle" this weekend.  It was so much fun to get together with my family and all my girl friends and celebrate little Emily!  The girls did such a great job decorating with lots of pink girly stuff, made some delicious food and Emily got so many cute new outfits!  I have the best friends and family in the world!  Here are some pictures from the party:

Delicious candy bar with Sugarbaby's cupcakes.  My favorite!

Watching the slide show of my baby pictures and pictures of the girls in our family.

The beautiful painting that will hang in Emily's nursery.  Thank you, MK!

Just one of the adorable outfits for Emily.  Girl's clothes are so much more fun than boy's.

A beautiful tea set from Aunt Rachel

 

My Mommy Friends

Katy is due just 3 weeks after me!

My beautiful sprinkle hostesses!

Christen, move back to Houston!

Posing for my pregnancy portrait

Mary Kathryn is the best!

Goodbye 20s

Ugh.  I officially turned 30 this week.  I was not very excited to say goodbye to my 20s and being 34 weeks pregnant definitely did not add to the excitement.  But I actually did have a very good birthday, thanks to my wonderful husband.  He made arrangements for Andrew to stay with my mom all weekend, scheduled a massage, mani and pedi for me on Saturday, booked a fabulous room at Hotel Zaza and made reservations for a delicious dinner with just a few friends on Saturday night.  I guess if I have to turn 30, that was the best possible way for it to happen!  

I can not believe that little Emily is due in less than 6 weeks!  While I am physically ready for her to be here (I am so over being pregnant), Brent and I are nowhere near ready for this baby!  We have not done a thing to the nursery, we don't have a mattress for her crib, no diapers, barely any clothes, all our baby stuff is in storage somewhere - we have a lot to do!  I know it will all get done in time for her arrival, but I just hate having all this stuff hanging over my head.  Thankfully, Andrew will start going to school two days a week starting next week, which will give me a lot of free time during the day to get some baby prep done.

Andrew is doing much better since the cancer scare a few weeks ago.  He is back to being his normal, happy, highly energetic self.  The infection is not having any bad affects on his physical health, and he is taking his medicine everyday.  We have had some follow up blood work done through our pediatrician's office, which has come back normal and we go back to see the Infectious Disease doctors in about a week.  I am just so glad to have that terrible time behind us.
  
We have a lot of exciting things up ahead, so I am going to try to take these next few weeks to get ready for baby, and maybe relax a little before the craziness begins!