Just an Update

Bath Time- kitchen sink for Mila-- with shaving cream for Sophia. She needed a morning bath due to a certain explosion- so Ross got ready for work in her bathroom and of course she had to do what Daddy did.

To start: A bunch of pictures

So we're alive. Like really alive. Like I've gone out in the car twice and taken at least a few showers. :) Feelin' good.

I really thought I'd still have plenty of blogging time, and that I'd be desperate to do so seeing as I have a new little model to photograph. But I have to say-- my obsession with getting a digital SLR camera has made taking pictures with my normal camera much less exciting. And my morning blog time is spent making my toddler feel loved. Yes I'm somewhat concerned still with the transition. She's super sweet to the baby...a little too sweet considering she loves to give kisses and has the remnants of a cold. But me? Well she's in a phase where she likes to beat me up. She intentionally scratches or hits me (WHAT?!) and just smiles and nods when I ask her if she wants a time out. She does it when she's perfectly happy and sitting on my lap-- not just when she's throwing a fit. Sigh. Lots more to say and advice to ask for... but don't really feel like writing more on that.

Besides that... we're great! My sister, Melisa was going to come help me on Monday and Tuesday but her little Heath had too gnarly of a cold- we figured it was best not to bring him around the baby. I was nervous to be on my own since I was still feeling the c-section and 'they say' not to lift your toddler for six weeks (right.) We got through Monday fine and Ross came home early so I could get to my post-surgery Dr. appointment. I did my hair and put on some eyeliner for the first time in a WEEK, left both girls at home with Ross, got my bandages removed and then went to Trader Joe's-- all in all, felt HUMAN (minus the left over swelling and several unmentionables.) It was nice. Tuesday we actually all loaded up in the car and went to a friend's house so Sophia could play with her girls. Since Kodi reads this sometimes, I should confess that the drive is all of 3 miles or so... and all I did was sit and hold Mila while Kodi waited on me hand and foot. Thanks Kodi. But still... we left the house- all three of us! And yes I expect lots and lots of comments on what a trooper I am. Kidding really. But again- good to feel human.

Ross' mom got here late Tuesday night and has been so great. I was able to take Mila to her first Dr.'s appointment (she's now 8 lb 8 oz... and healthy as can be) and take care of a couple of other errands while she watched Sophia and gave her a whole bunch of attention (seems to be important these days.) Again. Felt human.

Besides that-- all I really do is paint on color-wonder paper, build towers out of blocks, and cuddle with Sophia as much as I can when Mila's sleeping... and when she's not? Take in as much of my precious newborn as I POSSIBLY can- kiss her softer than soft face, smell her sweet little head, and stare at her perfect little turtle expressions and her perfectly arched bundle of a body when she stretches (I LOVE that.) In those moments-- feel better than human.

Sophia's home!

Pictures of the girls :), Sophia enjoying pumpkin cookie batter (just had a frozen one Michelle - YUM!), and the starts of Christmas decorating in our home. Tonight we listened to Christmas music while digging through the decor. I fed Mila while Ross and Sophia marched around playing the drums with wooden spoons on our Christmas tins to Little Drummer Boy. It was a good day as a family of four.

We got Sophia back Saturday morning... and watching her with Mila has been all I'd hoped for. She likes to nuzzle noses with her, kiss her forehead, and she loves it when Mila kisses her cheek (well, you know, she's, rooting... but, close enough.) So far so good. I cannot believe how big Sophia seems (I think she may have put on a couple pounds off my mom's good cooking too :)) and changing her diaper is CRAZY after a few days of looking at Mila's tiny, tiny, tiny bum. Maybe natures way of encouraging potty training?

I'm Thankful For:

She's Perfect

Mila Grace

8 lb 4 oz., 20 1/4 inches long

Where do I begin? Lacy, Joe, and my parents came out on Saturday so we could enjoy a couple of days together pre-baby. They cooked us a FABulous Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night, seeing as we were going to be missing the Thursday celebration, and filled our house with family, noise, wonderful chaos, yummy smells, and holiday vibes. It was a perfect day-before-the-big-day.

Here is the official final size of the belly. So we went in bright and early (and SO thirsty) on Monday morning. Fasting the morning of , for a 7:30 surgery shouldn't be that big of a sacrifice, but seeing as I've needed multiple glasses of water to get me through the night these last few months, the lack of water was nearly enough to distract me from the fact that my abdomen was about to be cut open. So we arrived at the hospital at about 5:45 am, got prepped and wheeled off to the operating room at about 7:00. They dressed Ross in his cute white jumper, gave me my spinal, and Mila was born at 7:49. She was 9 days early, 8 pounds 4 oz, 20 1/4 inches long, and had what seemed like a ton of brown hair! They wrap her up, let me kiss her face once, and then scoop her off to the nursery while they hide me in recovery for like 2 1/2 hours. That's one of the bummers of the c-section. Everyone gets to know her before I do. :( But doesn't she looked loved? :)

With her daddy, Nana, Papa, Lacy, and Joe (Lowdogg if you didn't know.)


That day my family came by in pieces and brought Sophia down to meet her baby sister. That first visit, she pretty much seemed oblivious to the new baby, just a little thrown off by the whole hospital thing. She wouldn't say a word, cuddled with Ross and then with me in the bed, and shared my popsicle. Eventually she got a little chattier and left with her normal nonchalance. "Bye! Bye mom!", happy to leave the creepy room with Nana and Papa.


Tuesday morning she came by again and this time, stared at Mila, said hi to the baby, gave her head a sweet, soft stroke, and jumped and danced around the room with Ross. She was excited about her new baby sister. Cross your fingers for me-- she's in SD with my parents until Saturday-- I just hope she's still "happy" about our new little addition when she comes home.













So we stayed at the hospital Monday night and got discharged about 2 pm on Tuesday. We've spent the last two days enjoying uninterrupted time with our new little one in our own home, missing Sophia to DEATH, but trying to take advantage of the peaceful time for each other and our sweet little Mila... and some movies and naps. :)



I can't believe how tiny they start... she was swallowed up by her luscious pink car-seat... love it.

One last Hoorah...

I had to snap a few with the coveted borrowed camera before it's returned to it's rightful owner... even if my poor, sweet girl is suffering from a runny nose and chapped red face.

If you haven't noticed, my daughter doesn't "smile" for the camera like other little ones seem to. So I get what I can.

A Backyard Wedding

This past weekend, I got to attend the lovely wedding of Lachelle... my babysitter! What are the rules with this... can I still ask her to watch my little one even though she's a Mrs.? Not sure. They didn't have a photographer and since I know NOTHING about photography and DO NOT yet have a nice camera, and am ready to birth a baby at any moment, I decided to offer up my services. :) Just wanted to make sure they had someone, even someone who didn't know what they were doing, snapping photos all night. And maybe I wanted an excuse to borrow a friend's Nikon and try it out. Thank you so much Cort and Shalaine, I'm not really sure it's appropriate to ask to borrow someones brand new $700 toy. Hope you're still up for friendship and scrabble tournaments. I'm even more convinced I need the camera. And at least two lenses. So this is just an excuse to look at a few of the pictures. Chanel, thanks for helping... especially on the squatting shots... (like the cake) I lost those muscles a while back.

Countdown...

One week from today. We'll be a family of four. Holy cow.

We'll have girls. As in "the girls and I are going to the park" or "Ross, hurry home, the girls miss you" or "let's take the girls to yogurt for family night" (I've been really into frozen yogurt this pregnancy and try to use family night as an excuse for a special treat), or like Ross can say "my girls" and be referring to all three of us. I love it.

Is it just me?....

Or does life just keep getting more expensive? Here are two of the upcoming "necessities" in my life. :)

The Phil and Ted's sport buggy (jogger) with double seat attachment: Anyone have it? It just seems brilliant to me to not have to jog pushing something wider than most European cars. First concern is always whether the kid in back will mind his view. All I've heard is that they love it and usually fight over the back seat... apparently the peripheral view is plenty.

Other cool features: One of the seats can lay down flat for sleeping baby or car seat can attach (that one might now allow the second seat to be on at the same time- not sure.) I'm sold though. I just wish I'd bought it with Sophia so my first jogger wasn't completely wasted.



And the Nikon D40:I'm going to need some kind of education on the machine before I can work any magic I'm sure. But I'm dying to be in the gorgeous-photos-of-your-kids club, and I figure I may as well get it sooner than later so we can get our use out of it in those first months when I'm still ridiculously obsessed with snapping endless photos of my quickly changing newborn and maturing little girl. We're thinking perhaps a family Christmas present. Cross your fingers for me.

I Finally Finished It

A few weeks ago, that is. This is one of those books I heard about (through Sarah and Rebecca's blogs actually) and since I only WISH I was as literary as the two of them, I figured I should follow suit and read. Unfortunately, I read it slowly and sporadically over a month or so, interrupted by life, Babywise, and the Twilight series, and then lost interest about half-way through, confirming what I already knew about myself: I might just be the Nicholas Sparks, simple-sentence, linear-plot, sweet-story, happy-ending reader. And I'm pretty sure I'm OK with that. Nick's got a lot of nice things to say.

But the reason this is blog worthy? Well it's in the title.

No I don't feel any smarter. But proud that I finished a book that didn't MAKE me turn the pages instead of putting it out of sight where it can't inflict "are you ever going to finish me?" guilt. And I do feel like I need to branch out more often. This is why I need to join a book club to make me read books I might never pick. Because the thing is, I really did like it. Liked the ending and really glad I finished it. Perhaps I'll remember that the next time I read half a book... slowly....then retire it for some good old Bridget Jones or Jemima J.

Obscene or just...Interesting?

I'm not sure if I want anyone to answer that... obviously I decided to put the naked belly shot against Ross' facial expression that said a thousand words and my better judgment. I could have sworn we took one that day with my shirt down, but... none to be found. Maybe the battery ran out right then. I chose "small" for a reason. Do yourself a favor and don't pop out.

So these are not an even comparison. But that's what's so scary. Don't I look about the same? And yet, the first one is the DAY we had Sophia at around 37 weeks. The second is a few weeks ago when we went to the pumpkin patch which puts me at a little past 33 weeks. Almost a month's difference. YIKES! (I don't think I've ever used that word in writing... or speaking, but it felt appropriate.) I'll be 37 weeks on Thursday, so I'll have to check it out then. All I know is the response this time to my growing bulge has been much more dramatic, a lot more gasps, stares, empathetic eyes, and comments like "you must be due any day!" and "how do you not fall over?!" (I put that in here just for you Lisa :)), and "That's a BOY!" ... (Apparently you stick out farther with a boy? And everyone's a doctor of course. That one's been making me a little nervous since we only had one ultrasound this time as opposed to the three with Sophia confirming her gender... hmmm.) Anyway, the overall response makes me think my belly must be a little more shocking on the eyes than when I was pregnant with Sophia.... we'll see with the next comparison.

Halloween

So Monday before Halloween we did the official pumpkin carving with some friends. We didn't take any pictures of the action but this is what the little s did while the s frantically created faces in squash and pretended it was somewhat for the kids. I think it's the first time we've carved pumpkins since we got married. Ross thinks we've done it before. He's all about tradition and mentions it every year and somehow we never get around to it. I'm sure in some way it's my fault. I hadn't really done my jack-o-lantern research and didn't have any ideas for special carving. Ross tried out the shaving technique (where you don't cut all the way through) and he poked all the holes in mine from a bat pattern so I could carve it out. He let me know he was sorely disappointed in my pumpkin carving creativity. And I wish I were an artist..... pfffffff.

Halloween started with a lunch potluck/trick-or-treating party at Ross' office. Here's the best I got of Sophia and Tanner enjoying their suckers.

The rest of these are from our Ward Halloween Party later that night. One of Sophia with some of her cute little friends all dressed up... ,one of Ross failing at the doughnut on a string contest (I say that with love Ross, as I'm not ashamed to have a husband that wasn't exceptional at downing a chocolate doughnut with no hands,) one of Sophia playing the game with hands... or rather just enjoying more sugar, since she hadn't had enough, and one of my dinner in the car on the way to the party: a desperate attempt to curb the heartburn (that felt like it might kill me) I got just from looking at all of the candy, ok maybe I had a piece or two. Yeah I'm still pregnant, and to my dismay, the "symptoms" still attack on holidays. :(

17 days of heartburn, sciatic pain, p. bone pain, sleep deprivation, weight gain, stares from strangers, multiple potty breaks per hour, swollen ugly feet, no wardrobe, and overall being too huge for your body pains... to go! But I will miss the baby movement. Love that.