Reality

It's finally catching up to me- a lot faster than I thought it would too. The reality of having two kids hit today, and it hit HARD!

The reality is:
- Living on only a few hours of broken sleep can start to impair the thinking. Then the headaches and tears set in.
- Having only one car in a 4 person family has more cons than pros.
- Packing up 2 kids (one of those being a 2 week old) and leaving the house every morning at 8am to take daddy to the Metro can get very old, very fast!
- Sleeping in is a rarity when you have more than one kid (but one that I look forward to experiencing tomorrow morning, having dad at home)!
- Errands to Target really should be done withOUT kids in tow.
- An older sibling can only be so sweet for so long. Pretty soon they'll start to feel neglected and need a LOT more attention!
- I'd take it as a sign that a child is not feeling well when they grab a blanket off the shelf at Target and lay down on the dirty black check-out mat.
- Then when given medicine, choke it up, throwing up in the process.
- Sometimes morning naps are a necessity for everyone!

Day Twelve

The party's now over, help has left, and real life has officially begun! My mom, dad, and Bobby flew their separate ways yesterday morning. Now as I sit here alone, in a quiet house, with both girls asleep, it feels as if the first days of Elle's life have been a total whirlwind. It's gone by way too fast and I find myself wishing I could freeze this baby stage forever. I love every bit about it. I love having a newborn- there's just something exciting about being able to say she's only DAYS old! I think my fast recovery has helped a lot too. With Madi I felt sore, tired, and unsure about how to do it all. This time I feel like an old pro- thankfully all the infant stuff came back super fast!

It was tons of fun being with family- having help entertaining Madi, people around to adore, cuddle, and hold Elle, and a second set of hands in the kitchen (thanks mom)! But I'll be the first to admit that I have problems relaxing when people come to visit. I'm sure I drove my mom crazy with insisting on being more than involved in all the housework, organizing, and cleaning. When they all drove away yesterday morning I found myself wanting to cry, wishing that I'd been better about sitting back and just enjoying it all. It's definitely hard being so far away from family and knowing that my girls will have changed so much by the next time they see their grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Thank goodness for skype- I have a feeling we'll be using it a lot more these next few months!

Elle's now 12 days old and I've already had 2 full days at home alone with Madi and Elle, and just today, a full morning outing with both girls. I remember being terrified of taking Madi places when she was a newborn. I was scared of her crying and petrified about having to nurse in public! Wow- I feel like such an experienced mom now! :) Before I share the success of my first outing with both girls, let me recap what we've been up to these past 12 days. . .

Day 1: Came home from the hospital. I was supposed to stay until Sunday, but both my doctor and Elle's pediatrician agreed that we were in great shape and could go home early! So, at 10:30pm, Elle and I were wheeled out of the hospital! It was really fun being able to take Elle home with me when I was discharged. Many of you may remember that Madi had to stay in the NICU for her first week of life :(. That was really hard for us. So as you can imagine, taking Elle home on time was a real treat!

Day 2: First sponge bath- which Elle wasn't the biggest fan of.

Day 3: First trip to the doctor- also not too happy about. Followed by Elle's first outing to the store. Monday afternoon Tisha, Bobby, Adley and Ani arrived from NC. After an evening of enjoying a new baby they all crashed here at the house.

Day 4: In the morning Tisha, Bobby, and Adley left to do some site seeing in NYC (per Bob's request since this was his first time out to the East coast), leaving Ani here to play with mom and Madi for the rest of the week. Putting mom on double toddler duty was quite the task. She organized daily activities for her and the girls to give me some quiet time at home. Madi had a blast hanging out with her cousin!

Day 5: Elle's first trip to the pool.

I couldn't resist going to get a few pics of Madi and Ani in their matching swim suits!

Day 6: Papa flew in. Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob also flew in and stopped by in the evening to see Elle.

Day 7: ONE WEEK OLD! Elle slept for 5 hours straight- giving me my first decent nights sleep! Tisha, Bobby, and Adley got back from NYC. To burn off some energy before their drive back to NC, dad took the kids on a nature hike followed by a picnic. Papa always knows how to keep the kids happy!

Day 8: My parents went with Spencer, Bobby, Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob to Baltimore for some site seeing at Fort McHenry. This was actually my first afternoon with both girls- but didn't really count though since they were both sleeping for 3 hours of it.

Day 9: Elle was blessed here at home by her daddy, with my dad, Bobby, and Spencer's uncle Bob in the circle. Stacey and Scott Musgrave also joined us. That evening, Spencer, Bobby and my parents went into the city to see the monuments at night (something I highly recommend doing).

Day 10: Happy Birthday Bobby!! 

Mom, dad, and Bobby spent the day in the city doing the DC thing. With Spencer at work, this was my first official full day at home with the girls. Everyone got home in time for dinner. Per Bobby's request, I made tacos and butterscotch dessert!

Before putting Madi to bed I discovered she had a fever. LOVELY!

Day 11: Spencer drove everyone to the airport at 7am, leaving me at home again- without a car. Luckily he came home from work a little early due to being completely exhausted from a sleepless night and a very early morning. The girls and I braved the humidity and ventured out on a walk to the park. It might be time to start thinking about a double stroller. By the end of our hike up the hill, to the swings, past the pool, and back home, Madi was dying. I ended up carrying her part of the way home while pushing Elle's snap-n-go.

Finally this brings me to today- our 12th day with Elle as a part of the family.

After dropping Spencer off at the Metro this morning, we hit up the grocery store and then headed over to the doctor at 9:30am for Elle's 2 week check-up. She's now back to her birth weight (8 lbs 5 0z) and even grew half an inch to 21 3/4 inches long! What a big girl! Unfortunately, Madi wasn't able to live up to her big sister duties at the doctor's office. She lost it when they called us back and kept crying over and over, "I don't want to go to the doctor!" Then as Elle started to cry (after pricking her to draw blood for the PKU test) Madi finally got ahold of herself. She coped with this tramatic situation by throwing Elle's blanket over her head! From the doctor's, we hit up the library where we spent the rest of our morning. I was pretty proud of myself for conquering regular daily errands with 2 kids! I'm sure every outing won't be this easy, but today was definitely a success!

Proof!

This is me at 2 days old! Madi grabbed this picture out of my baby book and exclaimed, "Baby Elle!" Made me laugh- so of course I went looking for a picture of Elle at 2 days old to compare the resemblance. 

This is Elle at 2 days old! Crazy! Yep, she's definitely my child!

Oh, and all that beautiful dark hair I had was blond by 18 months old. I'll be interested to see how Elle's changes. My mom and I were laughing last night as we compared Madi and Elle's baby pics. Elle has more hair now than Madi had at 8 months old!

Blessing Day

With my mom, dad, brother, and Spencer's aunt and uncle here in town, we decided to have Elle blessed yesterday. Being only 9 days old, we opted out of the traditional church blessing, and did it at home instead. I couldn't have been happier with the small, intimate gathering we had. Without all the distractions in a regular sacrament meeting, I was able to focus and enjoy the blessing that much more. 

This is the dress I was blessed in, as well as the dress all of my girls will wear to be blessed.

Daddy's baby girl

The four men in the blessing circle L-R: Spencer's Uncle Bob, my brother Bobby, Spencer, and my dad

Our first family picture (I'm still kicking myself that we never got one of all 4 of us in the hospital)!

Gram and Elle

Elle with her Papa

Stacie and Scott also came to support (thanks guys)!

Elle's Story

I'm back! Big thanks to Spencer for updating the blog with a few pictures while I was preoccupied in the hospital and then sleep deprived at home these past few days. Actually I've been feeling surprisingly great! I've had a much faster recovery this time than I did with Madi. Now that I've been home for a few days, I've been itching to get Elle's birth story recorded. It's amazing how if you ask any mom the details of each kids birth, they always seem to remember exactly what happened- no matter how many kids they've had. Even so, I don't want to forget any details- since this will be added as the start of Elle's blog book which I'll have published for her first birthday. If you're not one to like the labor and delivery details just skip ahead and enjoy all the pics!

From my last post, you already know that I was scheduled for an induction on Thursday, July 16th at 9am. After a morning of waiting around for a call from the hospital (since apparently every expectant mother in Montgomery County, MD was in labor), I got super annoyed and we headed off to the pool. It was two hours of pure relaxation and exactly what I needed. It made me feel better about having wasted the rest of the day away.


We got home, showered off, and just as I sat down on the couch for what I thought might be another couple of hours of waiting, the phone rang! Five minutes later Spencer and I were waving goodbye to Madi and Gram. We checked into the hospital at 6:30pm (only 9 1/2 hours behind schedule:)! As much as I protested, Spencer made me smile for a picture outside the labor and delivery wing.


At 7pm my IV was in and I was feeling great! Of course we weren't the only ones excited for Elle's arrival. Back at home, my mom told me that Madi was playing with her toys and singing, "My sister Elle is coming" (over and over again)!


Finally at 8:50pm they got my oxytocin drip started. I had the feeling that this was the beginning of a very long night. Luckily Melissa stopped by at 9pm. It helped to break up the monotony of sitting in that bed. A little after 11:00pm I could feel the contractions coming on stronger. That, coupled with a pounding headache, made me very uncomfortable. I figured I must have been 5cm dilated by then, but after getting checked, I was disappointed to find that I was still only 3 (almost 4cm). At 11:25, right after a painful contraction, I felt a 'pop'. It was a weird feeling and I asked Spencer if he heard it. It wasn't until I felt the trickle down my legs that I knew that my water had broke! Naturally, contractions started coming on stronger and I put in my request for the beloved epidural. A little after midnight the epidural was in and starting to provide some relief. This epidural didn't seem to numb me up as well as my last one did though. I could feel a lot of pressure with each contraction whereas with Madi, Spencer would have to tell me when I was having a contraction. The left side of my body was definitely less numb than my right side. At 2:20am I was feeling some very intense pressure while feeling that unmistakable need to push! I called for the nurse who quickly checked to find that I was fully dilated, and commented that she could "feel the baby's head"! WOW! I started stressing out, thought for sure that this baby was gonna come flying out! No such luck- at 2:25am I started pushing and continued the grueling task for the next hour! Since my first experience w/ labor (with Madi) only required 3 pushes, this whole 'pushing' concept was new to me. I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but wow- WHAT A WORK-OUT!!! After an hour I was exhausted! My legs were cramping, the pressure was incredible, and I could tell Elle was right there, but kinda stuck. Being what the doctor called, "sunny-side up" (aka- posterior-her head facing up instead down), they knew that just pushing might not get her out. I'm sure the doctor could tell I was tired and unable to keep it up much longer. I gave another push, he made a little snip, and with a help from a suction, Elle came shooting out! What an incredible feeling! 

Here's the team (minus Spencer) who helped bring Elle into the world! What a fabulous doctor and nurse. I couldn't have been happier!

After I was settled into my postpardum room, Spencer headed home to get some sleep. Then he, Madi, and Gram came back a couple hours later. Madi instantly fell in love with her new baby sister. I've been amazed at how gentle Madi is with Elle and how willing she is to help do anything.  We spent the remainder of Elle's birthday just enjoying all her sweetness! Mom and Spencer took turns keeping me company at the hospital. 

Favorite postpartum nurse! Elle and I were fabulously taken care of!

Melissa stopped by (between packing) to visit and of course snapped a couple of adorable shots (along with the first and last pics of this post)! 

Gotta love those lips!

After spending Friday night spent alone, and itching to get home to be with everybody, I asked to be discharged on Saturday instead of Sunday morning.  I got the ok from my doc and the pediatrician and we both came home at 10:30pm.

Since then, "mom instincts" have kicked in and I've been surviving on about 4 hours of broken sleep every night. For someone who usually gets 7 or 8, I don't know how I'm functioning. But I am and feeling quite well, too. I'm sure I'll crash- and probably soon, but with company at the house, it's been hard for me to sit back and let my mom do everything. 

Welcome to our family Elle! You are incredibly loved! We couldn't be happier to have you with us!