Lainey 1 Month

Oh Lainey, 1 month old already! It seems like we have had you forever and yet at the same time it has gone by so fast.

Size: I'm not sure about weight/length since we don't go back to the doctor until your 2 month checkup. You are wearing newborn or 0-3 month clothes. Most 0-3 clothes are still too big but you are too long for your newborn sleepers. You wear size 1 diapers. We haven't started cloth diapers yet for you.

Likes: You like to be held, your paci, being swaddled (we leave 1 arm out usually), and sometimes your swing. You will lay on your play mat for a little bit, but not too long. You seem to like baths most of the time. We usually bathe you and Cambry at the same time - with you in the little tub.

Dislikes: You don't like it when we are holding you and we sit down. You prefer to make us work - walk and sway you all over the room. You get fussy in the evenings. Pretty much from the time Greg gets home from work until the time you go to bed (around 10ish), you are crying off and on and we have to hold you to calm you down.

Working on: We have been trying out bottles about every other or every third day. So far it has gone well. Although I am constantly scared you will suddenly reject them. It just seems so strange to have a baby that will actually take a bottle, ha! I was able to go to my doctor appointment all by myself yesterday and left a bottle with Gigi. You took it just fine. Craziness. I have just now started doing tummy time with you. You hate it but I only make you do it for a very short time.

Sleeping: You are doing really well at night. Lately your last feeding has been around 9 ish and then sometime around 10 or whenever we can get you to sleep we put you in the cradle in our room. You have been waking up around 2ish and late 5ish to eat. The first feeding is usually great - you go back to sleep very easily. It is the second one that is hard to get you back to sleep. And then it seems to always happen that just as you are going back to sleep Cambry is waking up. No going back to sleep for me :) Your daytime sleep is all over the place. Usually mid day is when you have long stretches of sleep. But poor 2nd child, you can never get any peace and quiet. As soon as you fall asleep Cambry decides to get out the loudest toy we own and play right next to wherever you are. Or she starts screaming and then blames it on Minnie Mouse and then puts her in time out. Sorry Lainey.

Eating: You eat about every 2 hours during the day. But you are such a fast eater is is unbelievable. Usually 5-10 minutes is all you will do. I don't see how you get enough during that time but you won't take any more when I try. When you take the bottle you take about 2 oz,  sometimes a little more.

We love you so much little one. You are precious and sweet and I love being your mommy!

Getting Out

One of the biggest adjustments for me now that I have 2 has been staying at home more. When it was just Cambry and I, we would be out and about all he time - play dates, library, Divine Design, music class, running errands, etc. Now that I have a newborn we have been staying home a lot more. Right now it is just hard to get everything ready and leave the house and take them both somewhere.

My first outing by myself with both girls was to Kroger 2 weeks ago. It was actually a very stress free trip... for the most part. I put Lainey in the Bjorn and Cambry rode in the cart. I couldn't find one of those car carts. As I lifted Cambry up to put her in the cart while wearing Lainey suddenly she did NOT want to go in the cart and would not cooperate by putting her legs in the seat. I was trying not to squish Lainey while wrestling my 30 lb toddler in the air. A stranger had to come to my rescue and put Cambry's legs through the holes. Goodness. But once we got past that everything was fine. Whew, first outing down.

Since then I have only taken them a couple other places on my own. One of them was Kroger again. On that trip I discovered the car carts actually have smaller baskets and a car seat cannot fit in them. So that was fun explaining to Cambry that we had to get out and go back to the car so I could wear Lainey so she could still go in the car cart. Lesson learned.

I went to Divine Design last week (kind of like MOPS). Cambry goes in childcare there and Lainey stayed with me. They have a couple "Mimi's" in the room to help take care of the little babies so the moms can participate. We made pie crusts that week. Yum.

I know that some people wonder what stay at home moms do all day. It doesn't offend me. I also wondered what they did all day before I became one. I knew they worked hard and weren't just sitting around all day, but I still couldn't really imagine what exactly their day would look like - just like I don't know what exactly Greg does all day at work and yet I know he works very hard.

Anyway, the other day I actually made this statement to Greg. "I didn't have time to go on a walk today because I went to Kroger". Yep. True story. Time spent getting ready to go to Kroger: ALL MORNING. By the time Cambry had breakfast, I nursed Lainey, held/rocked Lainey off and on most of the morning, repeatedly changed both girls' diapers, had breakfast myself, got dressed, got Cambry dressed, nursed Lainey again, cleaned up breakfast, more diapers, wrestled Cambry to brush her teeth, packed the diaper bag, and nursed Lainey again...it had been so long since breakfast that Cambry now needed a snack. And this is important because you never want to take a hungry toddler to the grocery store. So of course eating a snack takes about 25 minutes, which results in more diaper changes for both girls. So we finally made it to Kroger. But by the time we got home it was late so lunch time and nap time ended up later than usual. Then by the time Cambry woke up from her nap, had a snack, and Lainey was fed, Greg was about to be home from work because he was getting home a little bit earlier that day. So there you have it. What do I do all day as a SAHM? Go to Kroger.

Cambry 23 Months

(poor thing you have several mosquito bites on your face)

Skills:  You are speaking more often in phrases or short sentences these days. Your favorites are "no like it", "mommy clean it up", "see you later", "I love you", and "thanks mom" (This one kills me! You are not even 2. It is mommy, not mom!). You can definitely express what you want. You seem to have a very good memory too.

Likes: We have been using a lot of your busy bags this month and you really like them. You will ask for specific ones after playing with them. You ask to go to the park a lot so you can "swing high". You love watching a show in the afternoon - lately it has been Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. You talk about it a lot and know what happens next throughout the show. You still love singing the Wheels on the Bus song and watching videos of it on the phone/iPad. You suddenly love your Minnie Mouse this past month. You have been playing with your mouse and baby all day long - changing their diapers, feeding, burping, rocking them, and hugging and kissing them goodnight. You like to help with Lainey too - giving her the paci, helping with diaper changes, helping burp her, etc.

Struggles:  Sharing and whining. Pretty much just typical toddler stuff. Oh and just in the past week or so bed time has been a struggle. You have been using a variety of stalling techniques. One of them includes giving hugs and kisses - to everyone (Daddy, Mommy, Lainey) and everything (doll, Minnie Mouse, night light, chicken barn toy, etc), This one is the hardest to pass up when we hear you crying from your room "Daddy kisssss" or "Mommy huuuuuuuuug".

Schedule: You usually wake up between 6:30 and 7:00 am. Nap time is somewhere around 12 or 1pm and it lasts about 2 hours lately. Bedtime is 7:30pm as usual. So far you haven't woken up much from Lainey's crying. I was so worried about it since our house is small and you can hear everything from any room of the house. But Lainey doesn't hardly cry at night and when she is fussy after you go to bed we try to keep her in the play room since it is farthest from your room.

I can't believe next month you will be 2! Where did our little baby go? You definitely seem to have grown up so much now that we have Lainey in the family. But you are sweet as can be and your smile melts my heart. I love to hear you say "I love you", and love it when you give hugs and kisses. I love to hear you sing and talk to yourself or your baby doll. Love you so much!

Picture Perfect

Well Cambry and I were sick earlier this week. Thankfully it didn't last long but now poor Lainey is all congested. We are trying to get it better (nose suctioning, sleeping with vaporizer, sleeping more upright, etc), but it is still hanging around. Thankfully she doesn't have fever, just a stuffy nose. Other than that, things are going well.

This morning we tried to take a family picture for our Christmas card. That went well. It was pretty warm today yet we dressed like it was winter outside. It was just us and the tripod. Nothing fancy, we just needed something of the 4 of us.

Got it.

Ok lets try one with just the girls. Perfect.

Tired

For the most part I have been doing ok on sleep. Tired, but not utterly sleep deprived. But tonight I am very tired.

Cambry has woken up about 5 times since we have put her to bed tonight.

I am holding Lainey now trying to get her to sleep so I can go to sleep,

Today while Cambry sat on the couch next to me watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse I leaned my head back and dozed off a bit.

Poor Greg was up with Cambry last night then couldn't fall back asleep and ended up being awake for an hour and a half.

We are going through diapers at an alarming rate.

I am hungry all day long.

We have tried giving Lainey a bottle 3 times now. It has been fairly successful so far. Hoping it continues!

My mom treated us to Chickfila today, yum!

I am tired. The end.

Lainey's Newborn Pictures

These are the pictures from the photo shoot we did with Lainey when she was 4 days old. It took a few attempts, but we ended up getting some good ones. We only got a couple good ones of both girls, but hey, at least we got those! And we may or may not have used m&m's as a bribing tool for Cambry's cooperation.

Life With a Newborn

Lainey is 2 weeks old! Although it feels like we have had her much longer than that. Taking care of 2 is an adjustment! Thankfully I have had lots of help so far. Greg was off work for the first week, and then my dad helped out a lot the second week. This week my mom is helping a couple of days.

Lainey sleeps a lot during the day. She usually has her longest wake times in the evening and gets fussy during that time. She eats every 2-3 hours (sometimes less) and only takes about 10 minutes to eat. At night she has been doing a 4 hour stretch, followed by two 2-3 hour stretches. She is pretty good at going back to sleep quickly.

She is starting to like bath time...or at least tolerate it. At first she would just scream and cry the whole time but her most recent bath was pretty peaceful. We tried giving both girls a bath at the same time a few nights ago. Cambry was in the tub and Lainey was in her small plastic tub resting on the sides of the big tub. Complete disaster. They both cried the whole time. We may wait a while before attempting that again.

At Lainey's 2 week checkup she weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. (71%), was 22 in. long (100%), and her head was 14 in. (57%). 

Yesterday I took Lainey out for the first time by myself. We went to Target while my Mom stayed home with Cambry. Then I took Lainey that evening to the HMB contributors meeting. She was fussy off and on but thankfully the restaurant was pretty noisy. I haven't been brave enough to take them both out my myself yet but I will report back when I do.

I have been practicing wearing the moby wrap but so far it just frustrates me. I really want to like it, but it just seems so difficult. But I am not giving up yet. Cambry likes to wear her babies in a wrap when she sees me practicing.

I love both my girls so much. Lainey is just so sweet and tiny. I can hardly remember when Cambry was that small. I love just snuggling with such a tiny baby. Love you Lainey bear!

Lainey's Birth Story

Warning: this is very long. I don't want to forget anything. I have gone back and read Cambry's birth story many times and I know I will read Lainey's story many times as well. I want to cherish every moment and thank God for all the details of that day.

Lainey's birth story starts on Sunday, October 20th. I was 4 days past due and so ready to meet our baby. We had gone to church that morning and then just hung around the house the rest of the day. Greg smoked a chicken and made us a good dinner.

9:15 pm - Contractions start 

A little after 9 pm I started getting ready for bed. By the time I was done I realized I had felt 3 braxton hicks during that time. I had never had them that close together so I thought, hmm maybe I should time them. So a little before 9:30 pm I started timing them with an app on my phone. 

They were coming about every 6-10 minutes. I wasn't sure if they real since they felt the same as braxton hicks, which had been uncomfortable for me lately. I also started getting a little shaky, which I read was a sign of early labor.

Part of me was trying not to get too excited in case it wasn't true labor. But part of me felt excited and nervous already because my labor with Cambry was fast and I knew this one may be fast or faster. Greg was getting excited and was already getting some things ready. Since I was already past 40 weeks and I had never had contractions this close together, I decided I would assume it was real labor unless they slowed down or stopped.

So we excitedly (but still cautiously) started packing the last minute stuff for our hospital bags. I had already taken a shower that night, and although I didn't wash my hair it was still fixed from church that morning. I did put on make-up. Go ahead and judge me but I didn't want to look hideous in all my pictures on this very important day :)

10:00 pm - Call parents

By 10:00 pm contractions were still coming consistently and getting more uncomfortable. Even though it hadn't been very long, we went ahead and asked my dad to come over and stay with Cambry. My parents were so excited to hear this! Greg called his parents and I texted a couple people.

My dad arrived around 10:30 pm and by then the contractions were around 6-7 minutes apart and getting painful. My doctor had said to come to L&D when they were 7 minutes apart (for a 2nd labor). I called my doctor's office before I left to tell them I was coming. 

We hopped in the car and headed out. It felt oh so familiar. Here we were about 2 years later, driving at night to have a baby. It was great having no traffic again!

11:00 pm - Arrive at hospital

We arrived at the hospital around 11pm. It didn't take them long at all to check us in and get us to a room. My mom and Ashley got there shortly after we did. They were so excited!

The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and started asking me a thousand questions. One of which I remember was "which method helps you learn best? Reading, hearing, or doing?". I remember looking at Greg and mouthing "irrelevant". I mean, I am having painful contractions here and you are documenting my learning style?

My OB was not on call that night, but Dr. Tejml, another OB in the practice was and had just finished up with a surgery. She came by to check me and said I was 3-4cm and 80% effaced. I was hoping I would be a little further along since contractions were very painful, but at least I had made some progress. They said once they had taken my blood and done a few things I could get an epidural. I was glad to hear that!

12:20 am - Epidural

When the anesthesiologist came in I was so happy to see him! The epidural seemed to hurt a little more than last time, but still DEFINITELY worth it! I think it was because my contractions didn't ever get quite as painful as last time since my water hadn't broken yet. Once the epidural was in place, after a couple contractions it kicked right in and I could barely feel them. They checked me again and I was at 5 cm dilated.

1:45 am - Water breaks

Suddenly there was a popping sound we all heard and then I felt a gush of warm. I said, hey I think my water broke! I asked Greg to check since I was pretty numb from the epidural and he confirmed yes. I called the nurse who came in and also confirmed it. She checked me and said I was a 7 and that I had a little bit of bag left. She said she wouldn't check me again until I felt pressure.

2:30 am - 10 cm

Well 45 minutes later I started to feel something. It was down low and only on the left side. I thought it might be a "hot spot" where the epidural had not taken. I wasn't sure if it was pain or pressure but I could definitely feel the contractions there. I called my nurse in to see if I should lay to one side or do something about it. She checked me and said - you're complete. Wait, what?? I am at a 10?? Yep. She said she would call the doctor. Wow. I couldn't believe it was time to push already.

Dr. Tejml had gone home so we waited for her to come back to the hospital. My nurse had me do a practice push to see if it moved the baby down. After the practice push she told me to cross my legs and not let the baby out, ha! Luckily since I had the epidural I did not feel that overwhelming urge to push so waiting was not a problem.

More nurses flooded in and began to set up for the baby. I think there were about 5 different nurses in there. Greg and I just kept looking at the warmer and saying how we couldn't believe that soon our baby would be laying over there. It was so surreal. My mom and Ashley were still in the room and stayed for the birth.

About 30 min later Dr. Tejml arrived. It didn't bother me at all that my normal OB would not be delivering Lainey. My OB, Dr. Fogiel, is great. She delivered Cambry and I would have loved for her to deliver Lainey as well. But I had seen Dr. Tejml once and she seemed really sweet. I was just so excited to meet little Lainey that I did not really care who delivered her.

3:00 am - Start Pushing

I started pushing around 3 am. With Cambry I could not feel anything at all, but with this epidural I could feel some pressure. It was a good amount of feeling without being painful. The good thing about having lots of doctors/nurses in there was that I had a huge cheering team while I pushed. That really helped encourage me that I was making progress. 

I pushed through 3 contractions (3 pushes for 10 seconds on each one), and after the 3rd set they were all yelling keep going, your baby can be born!! I was confused at first if I was supposed to wait for the next contraction, but they said go go go! So I pushed more and then I heard an immediate cry! And I heard them talking about her eyelashes before she was even all the way out!

3:12 am - Lainey born!

Our little Lainey Reese was born at 3:12 am on Monday, October 21. She was so perfect. She made us wait 5 days past my due date but she was absolutely worth the wait!

I love these pictures by the way. LOVE. Greg did such a great job. They may be a little too much for some people but I think it just shows the miracle of life. One moment the baby is inside surrounded by fluid, and the next moment she is outside breathing air and crying. Praise and thanks to God, the creator of life! What a miracle!

Once again it was just so surreal. I didn't cry, I just took it all in.

They laid her on me right away. I couldn't believe all her dark hair.

She weighed 7lbs. 10oz.! I was expecting her to be in the high eights. I was so surprised that she was a whole pound lighter than Cambry. She was just as long though - 21 inches.

We love our beautiful Lainey!! I could not be more thankful for such a smooth, quick, and healthy delivery. 

Since she was born at 3:12 am we didn't sleep that night except for maybe 10 minutes. And things have changed since I had Cambry. Now the baby stays with you the whole time. They don't take them away to the nursery for hours while the check temp, bathe, give shots, run tests, etc. It is great that the baby gets to stay with you the whole time, but I have to admit I was kind of disappointed when I heard they weren't taking her away. I was exhausted and I was thinking I could get a couple hours of sleep during that time! Oh well, I got to snuggle with our baby so that was better :)

Later that morning my dad brought Cambry up to visit. We had Lainey in the little cart. Cambry didn't even notice her at first. Greg held her up and introduced her. Cambry smiled and was very sweet. But then she was more interested in all my "bracelets" (hospital wrist bands) and my IV. 

Greg's parents drove in from Waco that morning to meet Lainey. They stayed for the day to visit with us and drove back later that afternoon.

My sister and her 2 boys flew in that day and she and Kyler came up to the hospital late that afternoon.

That evening Greg walked across to the mall and got us Beck's Prime for dinner. Delish! We were exhausted by night time since we hadn't slept at all the previous night, but didn't end up getting much sleep Monday night either. The hospital now really encourages you to keep the baby in your room at night. They don't offer nursery as an option unless you request it, and then you feel like a bad parent for not wanting your baby in your room. So we kept Lainey in the room with us. Between her nursing every 1-2 hours and nurses constantly coming in we hardly got any sleep. We were supposed to be discharged Wednesday but we asked to be discharged Tuesday instead. We knew we wouldn't get a ton of sleep at home either, but at least we wouldn't be constantly woken up by people coming in. All the nurses were so sweet and helpful, but it just made it hard to sleep.

Tuesday we had family visiting throughout the day. Cambry came again to see us. At first she gave a little bit of cold shoulder but then quickly warmed up and had fun playing with Lainey.

First picture as a family of 4.

We left the hospital around dinner time on Tuesday evening. I can't believe we are a family of 4 now. I am so thankful for my 2 beautiful girls. I am so glad Lainey is finally here. She is beautiful and sweet and we love her to pieces!

My Little Bumble Bee

Cambry dressed up as a bumble bee for Halloween this year. She did not want to wear her antennae earlier in the day and I forgot to try again for the picture. Oh well, she still looked so cute.

We walked over to a couple of our neighbors houses and then headed off to hang out with our small group. It was fun seeing all the kids in costumes. We didn't ever get to attempt a group picture of all the kids because it was just a little too chaotic. We also didn't end up trick-or-treating because by the time we all got over there and everyone finished eating it was getting pretty late. Oh well, the kids all had fun just playing and I think they are too young to know what they missed out on.

Poor Lainey did not even get her picture taken! We were already running late and Lainey was sleeping and then needed to be fed when we got there. Anyway, somehow I forgot about putting her cupcake hat on to take a picture. Maybe I will just add it to this post later. Sorry Lainey!