Constant Beginnings

We are now at the end of day #8 since we welcomed Mya into the world. She is doing well. Let me start by saying, this kid can eat. As a result, I went through a few very stressful days after leaving the hospital. Having pumped for 6 months with Claire, I was determined to not go through that again, but was set on giving her breastmilk. Mya nursed well in the hospital, but I couldn't stand feeding for an hour like she could eat. I stupidly attempted to do this for the first three days. It was exhausting, especially at 3 in the morning. Anyway, I devised a plan and so far so good, although Chris is less thrilled as it involves him waking with me each time. The bigger challenge was finding a bottle that she liked. We went through the 3kinds that we had with Claire to no success. I bought 2 more and finally found one that was good--Dr. Brown's. Amen for Dr. Brown. Now I am doing a combination of breast and bottle and feeling great. She's getting what she needs and I can have a ...

Having two kiddos certainly changes things. We've had such a busy week, but really done nothing. It has been awesome having my Mom here. She has been so good with Claire and helping us with whatever needs to be done. If only she could be here full-time, we'd be set. Mya had a doctor appointment on Thursday, so I gave her a sponge bath while Chris bathed Claire. Mya was not a fan. She screamed and screamed. Her doctor appointment went well. She has gained 2.5 ounces since leaving the hospital, weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz. We had to have her blood drawn to check her billirubin levels since they were 9.9 when we left the hospital. This kiddo is one tough cookie at only 5 days old. She didn't cry or even move during the blood drawing. Pretty impressive. The results were okay. Her levels are still elevated, but not enough to do anything other than feed and sunbathe her as often as possible.

chris and i faced a unique challenge with this pregnancy--coming up with another girl name that we both liked. it was difficult. with claire, we both liked it right away, but we struggled finding a boy's name. this pregnancy, we immediately had a boy's name, but struggled choosing a girl's name. mya was our choice simply because we both thought it was beautiful. the selection of her middle name was a bit deeper than that. my grandma arlene passed away in october 2007. she was so very special to me and represented so many qualities that i can only hope my daughters possess. my grandma was loving, kind, strong, independent, intelligent, and so very generous in every way possible. she loved to read, travel, garden, laugh and possessed a great sense of humor. she liked things to look just so and really strived to make everyone happy. i can only hope that these same qualities and joys are modeled and encouraged in our girls' lives. so it is with great love and admiration tha...

after one quick, easy recovery and the uncertainty of having assistance with claire since chris was in iraq, i decided early on in this pregnancy that i would deliver via a repeat ceserean section. it was nice having the day determined ahead of time. my mom was able to fly in to assist with claire and i was able to have everything wrapped up at work, even allowing myself some much needed relaxation before the big day. we dropped claire off at daycare, which was rather difficult for me. knowing i would be spending my first night away from her was sad. i couldn't help but tear up at the thought of not tucking in her or smothering her with kisses each night, even though i knew very well that she was in great hands. anyway, we said our good-byes and my mom, chris and i proceeded to the hospital. we arrived at 9:45, i changed into a gown and they began to monitor the baby. she was monitored for 30 minutes, they drew blood and started an iv. we sat and waited. it felt like an eternity as...

It had been awhile and my camera finally came back from being repaired, so I thought I'd better take a beloved photo before it is all over. It is far from beautiful, but what can I expect when I am as big as a house. Ok, in truth, I am the same size as I was with Claire even though I started out 10 pounds heavier, so I did pretty well. However, I can't wait to have my body back. Remind me of that when I am complaining about the gym. I stopped working on the 8th, which was a great decision. Although I have done nothing that resembles relaxation, I am feeling much better knowing that I am coming home to some organized closets and a clean house. Claire has stayed home with me the past 2 days, which has been a treat as well. She is a great helper and provides some excitement in my day. Today, we attempted to tackle cleaning the downstairs bathroom and although my job was primarily toweling up the flood, it was a bonding experience and one she truly enjoyed--cleaning, who would'...

My oh my. I can't believe we are already at 22 months with Claire. It seems like just yesterday I was scrubbing the floors in preparation of Chris' mom coming to take care of Harvest while we were at the hospital. Now I am doing that again, but this time it is my Mom coming to take care of our little princess. Wow, time truly flies when you are having fun, which is exactly our life. Fun. Claire makes each and everyday wonderful--even when filled with moments of frustration. Hearing her say, "my momma," "cute," "hey," or "okay" fills my heart with such joy. She still loves to cook. I've been telling her that Grammy is coming to visit and that when she is here they are going to bake cookies. My Mom is great about doing this nearly every visit with our nieces and nephew and I look forward to her sharing this experience with our kids. Baking with my Grandma is something at which I look fondly back. Now when I tell Claire that Grammy is co...

chris and i went to my appointment today. it was an ultrasound followed by a visit with dr. t. love that man! the ultrasound went fine, although i was a bit annoyed as i saw the measurement for the left ventricle, but somehow she sailed right by with the right ventricle measurement. the rv was the one that was enlarged last time. anyway, we sat around for what felt like an eternity to see dr. t. he came bearing news. baby is approximately 8 pounds 6 oz. already. he is guessing she'll be about 9 lbs. 1 oz. when she arrives. right now she is in the 96th percentile. thank goodness i am having a c-section! her heartrate was 148 which is good and the measurements haven't changed. her rv is still at 11 mm, which is enlarged, but nothing to freak out over. basically her pediatrician will order a scan of her brain and we'll go from there. they will likely monitor her head over the next few months to make sure it is fine, but there is no other signs present that should make us worry...

whoa! times they are a changin. claire is growing up, just not out. she can finally wear 18 month clothes, BUT they are too large around the waist. lovely. maybe my mom can assist in fixing her pants when she visits next week. definitely a problem i'd love to have. she is getting to be a better listener, which is a relief to both chris and i. she still has her moments of outward protest, but we are doing many less time-outs. can't say enough, how happy that makes me. that being said, time-outs with claire are rather funny. she knows the chair to sit on and sits there until we have our little chit chat. claire is a quick learner. when we ask her why she is in time-out, her explanations always begin with "because," and followed by some jibber jabber, occasionally she'll have the right idea but generally it is jibberish. too cute. when we conclude our little chat with a friendly, "you need to listen to momma and daddy," claire ALWAYS responds, "ok....

chris has been so excited to take sophie to the beach since labs are supposedly water dogs. sophie did not disappoint. we went to wells beach in maine for the day. she loved the water. she was slightly sabotaged as chris forced her to run through a few puddles, but it was love none-the-less. claire, on the other hand, wasn't as quickly convinced that the big mass of ocean wouldn't swallow her whole. she whined for a bit and needed to be carried, but soon adjusted and began splashing her feet in the puddles and throwing sand. my big fear was claire getting clotheslined by the leash and tossed into the water as a result. chris claimed he had it all under control, but as you can see in the video, he didn't have much under control. we also met up with our great friends, josh and erin who have a dog son named hunter. he truly is like their son. that dog is treated better than i am! anyway, claire was smitten with hunter and the fact that she could hold onto his leash and take hi...

Sophie is definitely a retriever. Claire loves to throw balls, toys, etc. for Sophie to retrieve. Recently, Sophie figured out how to climb up Claire's slide. Granted, we don't allow Claire to climb up her slide, but Chris thinks it is okay for Sophie to do so. So...our evenings of playing outside look a little like this: Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com I received an early Mother's Day gift with a bit of encouragement. Chris said it is for my birthday as well, but I think there must be some rule that it cannot count as a birthday gift if given more than 45 days before the big event. Hence, it is a Mother's Day gift. Anyway, I got the new Flip video camera. We already have a small camcorder, but it is rather inconvenient to pull out for short random tapings. The Flip on the other hand, is awesome. It is the size of a cell phone and has a USB drive built in so I just plug it directly into my laptop. Love it! It even came with software to transfer the files,...