Grateful!

Sydney is now over three weeks old! We have been so blessed the last three weeks! Starting with her early entrance into the world, we've had so much help. My mom immediately took the day off work to drive me to the hospital. Robin and Laura came over and cleaned our house and did some laundry to make sure Sydney would have some clean clothes to wear. And cleaned her carseat since we hadn't washed it since Maddie used it. It was so nice to not have to worry about that!

Also, we've had so many friends and family drop off dinner to us- almost every day since we came home from the hospital! I haven't had to cook for 3 weeks. 

A lot of people brought sweet gifts for Sydney and Madeline too. Maddie has really enjoyed seeing everyone. So much so, that every day when I pick her up from school she asks who is coming over. I told her Friday that it was just us and she said, "Why?" Haha.

THANK YOU to our friends and family for the clean house, delicious meals and gifts! 

Maddie had a great week at school so I took her to the tot lot at Oxmoor mall on Saturday am. She dressed herself and was so excited to go!

The tot lot is a new indoor play place--Maddie loved it!

After some playtime and shopping, we stopped and had lunch at Auntie Anne. 

I underestimated how much she would like the pretzel dogs. I thought we could share a bucket of 12, but she ate about 8 of them. No kidding!

Fun morning with mommy!

As for my other girl, she is busy being a baby! She is starting to be awake more through out the day so that is fun. She has also had her first real blow-out! I DID NOT miss those, but they come with the territory I guess. Fortunately, she is so cute, so I don't mind doing her laundry! Here she is doing some tummy time!

Newborn pictures, cousins, and a three week old!

Tomorrow, Sydney will be 3 weeks old! I cannot believe it. I am also devastated a little sad about how quickly my maternity leave is going! It is flying by this time!! 

Our photographer came over last weekend and got some pictures of Sydney, Maddie and our family. I cannot wait to see how they turned out! I took a few on my phone. They are so cute so I know all of Bethany's pictures will be great!

Sisters!

Look at that pointed toe! 

We kept asking Maddie to do a bunch of things (lay down, look at Sydney, kiss Sydney, etc) so I jokingly said to Chris, "Be a lion, Maddie." She heard me and then we got this face.  Hilarious.

Connor and Preston came over to meet their newest  cousin. They held Sydney for a little bit but spent most of the morning chasing Maddie around.

We took a cousin silly picture and Panda photo bombed the shot.

Madeline continues to do better and better with her adjustment. We send her to school in the morning and then I pick her up in the afternoon. I spent my days snuggling with sweet Sydney so that I can really focus on Maddie when I pick her up from school. She loves to bake with me!

Stealing a lick!

She loves her tia!

After Maddie goes to bed, I go to bed too. Then, daddy sneaks in his snuggles.

Pretty girl enjoying this beautiful weather!

Every night we read to Madeline- a lot of books! She has her favorites and I really enjoy this time with her. This is one of Sydney's more alert periods and she seems to enjoy story time too!

Looking forward to a great weekend!

Life at home!

It was really great to get home and have Maddie with us. We missed her while we were in the hospital! She is doing pretty good with adjusting. She LOVES her sister and wants her around all the time. She likes to help us change her, bathe her, etc. BUT, her behavior has been a little spotty. I know it's a big adjustment for her and we're all working through it together.

My sister sent me this the other day and I couldn't believe it. She and I went shopping the week Sydney was born. I had stopped to text Chris and she took some pics of me.

It really is an amazing miracle!

Daddy had to run out and buy Maddie's "big sister" present. We knew just what to get. She's been asking for this panda from Costco for weeks!

SO EXCITED!

Maddie picked out this outfit for Sydney--leopard print with a pink hair bow. Sydney is a really good sport!

Snuggles are better with two girls!

We got Maddie out of the house for a lunch date with her boo.

We LOVE our double stroller and have been walking several times a week. 

Spending some mommy-Maddie time.

She always wants her little sis close by!

Relaxed.

We are getting more and more periods of alertness!

Finally, we celebrated my mom's birthday on Friday! Love you mom!!

Sydney's Birth, part two!

FRIDAY

Baby Sydney arrived at 3:20 in the afternoon. Norton is really big on the skin to skin bonding so we did that for the first hour. Chris's mom and my parents left for a little bit while we got transitioned to the mother-baby unit. 

Getting settled in, and trying out the bed. (He stopped smiling when it was actually time to sleep.)

My parents picked up Maddie from school and brought her to the hospital to meet her sister. At first she was a little hesitant.

Then, more interested. 

And now, she LOVES her!  (that's another blog post topic.)

The grandparents and tia took their turns holding her.

The nurses did their assessment of baby girl and gave her a bath. 

Having a baby at 3 in the afternoon sure beats having one at 9 at night (when Maddie was born.) All of the painful uterus checks and frequent vital sign checks are pretty much over before the night comes so we were able to get a little bit of sleep. (translation: about 2 hours at a time.)

SATURDAY

We had a few more visitors (Uncle Cory and Aunt Laura and Kyle and Danielle) that day but mainly spent the day snuggling with Sydney.

Chris had to do a little bit of work. 

Sydney passed her hearing screen!

Sunday

We were anxious to go home on Sunday and were dressed and ready by 9 am! Unfortunately, we had to get clearance from the pediatrician and ob-gyn. After all of the paperwork, we finally got discharged around one.

Last hospital shot

Sydney in her going home clothes. No matter how small the clothes are, the baby is always smaller!

Monday

My grandma came over to visit.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we took Sydney to her first well-visit check-up. 

So far, life at home has been pretty good! A little challenging, but still wonderful. We've had lots of visitors and are so blessed with great friends and family. We have almost 3 full weeks of meals planned for us. (Thanks Laura for coordinating that!)

Chris was home with me all last week which was awesome. He's back at work and Sydney girl and I are working on establishing our maternity leave routine.

Friday the 13th - Sydney's birth, part one!

On Thursday, September 12th, Chris and I had lined up all of our upcoming plans before baby.

The largest project of the year for Chris was due Monday so he worked until midnight Thursday and headed into to work about 6 am to meet his project team. I made plans with my mom to clean my house, scheduled a double date with Kyle and Danielle, a play date for Madeline, an optometrist appointment and about 6 other things. No kidding, it was going to be a busy few days!!

Maddie and I spent a lot of time together this past week since Chris was at work late every night. We did our usual fun stuff...

Gave ourselves some home pedicures

Took some selfies...

And talked a lot about the newest family member coming soon!

Thursday night I had some strong contractions but I assumed they were braxton hicks and went to bed. 

I woke up around 3 and went to the bathroom, where I heard the faintest of "pops." My initial thought was "was that my water breaking?" But I quickly shook it off, because I felt fine. And honestly, no one's water breaks anymore! (I think it's like 5-10% or something that actually spontaneously break).

So I went back to sleep. Around 6:30 Madeline started talking to me on her monitor. I rolled over to grab it and a huge gush of water came out. Well, that woke me up!

I made a panicked call to Chris (no answer) and then to my mom. I called Chris again (still no answer...he was working with his team intentionally avoiding my calls b/c he thought I just wanted to chat!) and got into action. I had no bags packed and nothing ready. I said a quick thank you prayer that I had shaved my legs the day before, got Maddie dressed as quickly as I could and got her into the car. 

I finally got a hold of Chris who remained calm for my benefit (I was in 100% crazy-lady panic mode at this point) but I could tell he was freaking out a little. 

Maddie and I picked up my mom. I took her to school and then we headed to the hospital. After a quick check in triage, they confirmed my water had broke. We had until 3 am to get Sydney out (24 hours after water breaks is the limit.) so I knew I would have a FRIDAY the 13th baby. Hmm. 

She actually came just a few short hours later. Everything about this labor was so much easier than Madeline. So easy, in fact, I am not having a third one. I think s/he might fall out at the mall or something. 

And here was our first look!!

Love her sweet sweet face! More to come on meeting big sis, our hospital stay and coming home!!