Just playing photographer

I have been taking advantage of the sleepy baby stage and my wonderful camera that Mike got me for Christmas.  Sorry for the picture overload!

After Raelynn went down for her nap, Lilly asked me to take some pictures of her.  Of course I agreed and she then proceeded to pull the black blanket down off the couch and set it on the floor like I had it set up for Raelynn’s pictures.  So I tried my hardest to get her to take a picture laying on her tummy with her head resting in her hands.  It is really hard to explain that to a toddler, I got her laying on her tummy, I got her head resting in her hands but not at the same time.

 

Some how the blanket ended up with Daddy…

 

Raelynn 1st days in the hospital

Ok now that everyone is napping I think I’ll post some more pictures of our new bundle while we were in the hospital.

Raelynn showing off her LPC gear!

This is the same hat Lilly wore in the hospital when she was brand new.

Baby Fingers

 

“Bunny Rabbit” from Lilly

Big baby!

 

Lilly meeting her sister for the first time

I think Mike was actually restraining Lilly from jumping on her sister at this point she was so excited!

Amaw holding Raelynn

 

Raelynn came with gifts for Lilly

Apaw holding Raelynn

Mimi, Lilly and me eating goldfish from Raelynn

I was getting my much needed cuddle time with “buggy” I missed her so much!

Daddy and his little girl

They love to cuddle, and they even have the same color hair!

Apaw helping Lilly give Raelynn kisses

 

Big yawns

Ok enough pictures!

 

My little bundle of joy!

I still can’t get over how much she looks like Lilly!

 

 

 

Here is Lilly in the hospital

Here is Raelynn in the hospital same hat, exactly 2 years and 3 weeks later.

Welcome to the family!

**This is going to be long I want to share my birth experience**

I would like to officially welcome Raelynn Grace to our family! She was evicted on April 29th at 12:37pm.  Yes I said “evicted.”  I really wanted to try to have a VBAC with this baby, since my last labor and delivery was not so great.  I ended up having a c-section with Lilly 4 days past my due date and 12 long hours of active labor and 2 even longer hours of pushing.  With Raelynn I was prepared to go past my due date and my doctor was going to let me go 2 weeks as long as she was doing well.  At a week past my due date, Raelynn was still doing well and I was having contractions every night but they were not doing anything.  So I decided to schedule a c-section on the 29th (10 days past my due date).  After being pregnant for almost 42 weeks I was very ok with going the c-section route, because I truly felt like I gave her every chance to come out on her own. 

I was able to talk to the nurse manage before hand and we talked about my previous c-section and what I would like to happen differently this time.  I was very upset that I didn’t get to hold Lilly on my chest when she was born and that she was in the nursery for about 30 minutes before I got to see her in the recovery room.  So we came up with a plan to make this c-section better than my last.  I wanted them to drop the drape so I could see her being born, I also wanted to hold her right away, (not normal procedure at our tiny hospital here in LaPlace), and I wanted her in the recovery room as soon as I was in there.  Everyone was ok with my plan as long as Raelynn and I were stable. 

It was strange to be awake and not totally exhausted for the surgery, I kept saying, “I don’t remember this from last time.” and Mike would add, “you were exhausted I’m surprised you were even awake.”  He was right I was so tired after laboring with Lilly that everything for the first 12 hours or so were a total blur.  After about 10 minutes of joking with Mike in the OR the nurse asked me if I was ready, and she dropped the drape so I could see Raelynn being born.  I didn’t see anything until she was totally out so it wasn’t as gross as it sounds, but I did get to see her open her eyes and take her first big breath then start to scream!  After the doctor commented that she was bigger than Lilly , then they cut her cord  and brought her over to me and placed her on my chest!  She was perfect in every single way, we stared into each others eyes for a while and then I asked Mike to take her because I started to shake pretty bad from the epidural and I was afraid to drop her.   After the surgery I was able to hold her skin to skin on my chest in the recovery room for an hour or so, then I finally let my mom and Mike hold her. 

Raelynn Grace weighed 7lbs 15oz and 20.5 inches long!

And a comparison to Lilly when she was brand new. 

I’ll add another post soon with more pictures of Big Sister Lilly  meeting her baby sister.

Hoo-hoo-hoo Lilly’s 2!

To say that Lilly has an obsession with Tigger is an understatement.  She loves her Tigger so much it’s crazy.  “Little Tigger” sleeps with her, goes in the car with her and is carried around the house all day every day.  So it only made sense that I make a Tigger birthday shirt and cake.  We have not had a birthday party for Lilly yet, Momma is way to pregnant to deal with party planning right now.  But we did have a special Lilly day on her birthday.  Lilly even gave Momma and Daddy a nice present and slept until 8:45!  We started the day with a visit to Dr. Wendi, for Lilly’s 2 year well baby visit.  I knew this visit would not entail any shots I didn’t feel too bad scheduling it on her actual birthday. Lilly weighed close to 29 lbs, in the 50%tile, and is in the 25%tile for height.  We kind of expected her to be short since it seems like the tall gene skipped over her parents!  Dr. Wendi even sang Lilly “Happy Birthday”

 

A big smile from my now “big girl”

 

 

Lilly’s Tigger themed shirt, I guess it could be confused with a Halloween themed shirt if you’re not aware of the Tigger obsession.

Lilly got a tricycle and helmet for her birthday, of course Tigger had to take the maiden voyage with her.

Lilly’s Tigger cake.  She asked for chocolate with strawberries, so I used the rest of the strawberries from our visit to the strawberry patch in the cake.

She did a great job blowing out the candles, which amazed me!

 

And of course ate more cake than she should have but hey, it’s her birthday!

 

I can’t wait to see what this year brings for our family!! 

First encounter with the ice cream truck

Maybe I’m a little behind on this first, but I am not a fan of messes at all!  I have been feeling a little guilty that Lilly won’t be an only child for much longer so I want to do some super fun stuff with her before Raelynn gets here.  Lilly and I were playing outside and heard the ice cream truck, I decided to be brave and let her make a mess.  Lilly picked out a red popsicle (with Momma’s help), stripped down to her diaper and played in the back yard while Momma had an anxiety attack about the red stick mess that was taking over her toddler!  Take a look at Lilly’s super cute cloth diapers while you are at it.  I used one of of these pictures as a photo entry in a cloth diaper contest about spring. 

 

That popsicle made her so happy, I think we may be doing this messy popsicle stuff more often!  After the big mess, I tried to hose Lilly off, but the red would not come off!  Cue another momma anxiety attack, we promptly went inside and took a bath, and with some scrubbing the red dye finally came off! 

Strawberry Patch

Do you remember last year when we went to the strawberry patch?  I still can’t believe how much Lilly has changed in a year!  I wasn’t able to get as many pictures this year, due to Lilly being way more mobile.  And this year we went took Daddy with us. 

Lilly is ready to be a country girl, I think it’s time to move out to DeRidder!

Lilly has an obsession with bugs, I was ok with her playing with these they were pretty.Here is what we picked. 

Lilly probably ate a pint of strawberries right off the plant while Momma and Daddy did all the hard work picking the strawberries to bring home.  

It’s spring time!

Well spring time here in Southern Louisiana really isn’t spring it’s more like summer, but oh well.  Lilly and I have been trying to spend time outside before Raelynn gets here and before it gets crazy hot. 

Peek a poo!!

Lilly delivering my coupons!

Riding her bike