Spring has come!

The snow has come and gone (except for those few days in April and possibly even May that is always seems cold enough for more snow that melts before the day is over).  Things around here have been pretty crazy and exhausting.  Try as hard as I might I wasn't able to get the house in the order that I had wanted to before little Lillian came into our world.  It felt like I just could never quite keep up.  Of course Bri didn't really help out much as she was constantly pulling her toys out shortly after I put them away.  The life as a Mom I suppose.  When I was told that Lilly was breech I didn't know how to react.  We even went and tried a version (where they try and turn the baby to be head down).  It didn't work and was pretty painful!  So we scheduled a c-section.  Something I never thought I would need to worry about.  I'll admit that I was nervous.  I called my cousin Diana and talked to her since she has had 5 of them and will soon be having a 6th!  It eased my mind a bit however having never gone through one before I was still a bit on the nervous side!  Well about 5:15ish after Gavin's parents arrived to take care of Bri for the day we headed for the hospital!  We got there checked in and prepped for the surgery and about 7:15ish headed into the operating room.  There they finished prepping me by giving me a spinal block.  Holy Guacamole that stuff numbs you good and quick!  They raised the sheet and and Dr. Thorpe told me to start counting back from 10 and then let them know when I was ready for them to start.  I didn't know quite what to do with that cause in my mind I was thinking that when I've seen Doctors tell patients to do that in the movies they tend to fall asleep before they even get to one.  So I started giggling and the anesthesiologist said don't worry about it they've already started.  That made me giggle even more.  Well this was all around 7:30 and I could feel them pushing on my belly but could feel no pain.  Eight minutes later little Lillian was out weighing in at 7lbs 9oz and 20in. long.  They gave me a quick look at her close up.

I think the hardest thing for me was knowing that I wasn't gonna be able to hold her for right after or even for at least 20-30 minutes.  Little did I know that as they were cleaning her up that they noticed her shaking and had some troubles getting her to start crying/breathing right away but after some work she started crying/breathing.  Then they took her out of the room to finish getting cleaned up and Gavin went with them.  They finished stapling me together and cleaned me up and wheeled me back to my room.  Gavin had my phone and so I couldn't call or text anyone.  Gavin finally came into the room and let me know that our little Lillian had low sugar levels and that is why I still didn't have her in my arms.  They were trying to get them back up.  Thankfully because they knew I wanted to breastfeed they fed her with formula through a tube so that we could still get her to latch.  About 10:30 that morning I FINALLY got to hold my baby girl!

She is such a stark difference from Bri.

They look similar and yet so different. 

When Bri came in later that day she was definitely indifferent.  She said baby looked like she wanted to hop up on the bed with me but then refused to.  She just wanted to go and play.  The next day she seemed completely different and was excited to "hold" her baby sister.

She was so cute with her and she really seemed to actually be enjoying her sister.  Since coming home she has done really well with her.

She loves to hug her and be soft with her head.  Lilly has been such a sweetheart.  She is so much more calm and easy going than Bri was and that is such a huge blessing!  She sleeps pretty well.  Only wakes up about every 2 1/2-3 hours.  Very rarely will she sleep more than that at a time.  We sure are enjoying our time with her and I love holding her and try to do it as often as Bri will allow for it.

Bri on the other hand has been potty training.  

We are having some regression since bringing Lilly home.  However we are working on it with her and some things are working better than others.  We are looking very much forward to having the weather warmer for more than a day or two so that we can get outside and go play at the park and go for walks and possibly even bike rides.  Bri is also getting so stinking smart!  She can look at her "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom" book where the ABC's are and as I point to each letter she says them out loud (except for "L" she refuses to say "L" whenever I point to it).  It started out with her just knowing "O" and from there she has worked her way through the rest of the ABC's.  She is doing so well!  We are enjoying all the moments with our little Bri!  She really is a blessing to us and as upset as we can get with her or the things she does/doesn't do, we sure do laugh with her A LOT!

As for Gavin and I, we are doing pretty good.  We definitely could use more sleep but we know that with time we will get there.  We are learning how to deal with having two kids and how to best juggle them both.  We have bad days just like everyone else does but we love our girls and couldn't ask for better.

Free Zoo Day

Yesterday Bri and I went to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa B.  They have been doing the last Wednesday of the month as free day.  They only do it from November to February.  It was a bit colder than I was hoping it would be but not as cold as it could have been.  I didn't get as many pictures as I had hoped or planned on but I did get some.  Bri was pretty mesmerized by the animals and just wanted to stare and watch them.  It was fun going and watching her.  We are planning on going back again sometime this summer.  Marsha here is your proof!

Some Pictures of Bri!

This was my attempt at getting Bri her 2 year pictures back in January.  She wasn't extremely cooperative but she wasn't horrible either.  I even got a couple of smiles out of her.  All in all not too shabby!

These were just taken on a Sunday before church about 3 or 4 weeks ago where she just looked so cute.  It is fun for us to see what kind of face she is going to give us when we ask her to smile...  Hey at least we got one smile!

Finally... Holiday's, Snow and More!

I know sooooo many of you are wanting an update!  :)  I am finally trying to get to that.  For the most part we have been really busy.  Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, sicknesses, Family Gatherings, more sicknesses, laziness/tiredness (mine mostly) and just plum enjoying our time with each other.

Sabrina turned 2 and I finally got around to uploading her birthday pictures and even an attempt at getting some 2 year pictures... She isn't very cooperative.  At least not yet, although she is getting better.  Her birthday was full of all sorts of fun.  Here are some pictures.

Thanksgiving time was very interesting for us.  My mom was in a bicycle accident the Monday before Thanksgiving.  She landed on her face and required surgery that following Wednesday.   We all pitched in with making our Turkey Lunch since Mom wasn't there for that.  I found it actually fun to be able to help Dad out and determine what we were up to making and what we could make.   She was well enough to come home later that day though which we were all very happy about.

December went by in a flash.  We had such a great Christmas.

Spent the 22nd up at my parents house for all of the festivities.  Bri had so much fun playing with her cousins and opening up her presents.

Christmas morning we opened up presents at home and it was fun watching the difference with how Bri would open presents.  Although she was a little bored of opening up so many clothes that by the time she got to her toy present she was pretty well done.

We then spent Christmas and the next 3 days up at Gavin's parents house visiting with them and Ashley, Corey, Noelle and Ivy.  We sure all enjoyed watching Bri and Noelle try and share toys.  Noelle was a bit better at it than Bri was but she is learning.  We also celebrated Gavin's birthday by going out to lunch that Friday.

That weekend Bri's cold turned into croup.  We missed out on spending more time with Gavin's family and didn't really enjoy spending New Year's Eve and New Year's in the after hours doctors office.  After about 5 days she did finally get better.

Bri and I went up to Logan on the 8th to visit my Mom for her birthday.  It was a surprise and I am so glad that we were able to do it.  I enjoyed spending time with her and watching Bri interact with her and my Dad.

Another week went by and Sara and Cordell flew into town.  Cordell came to do work and Sara to visit and play.  Bri and I picked her up from the airport and headed up to Logan.  We visited with as much family as we could up there and then Sunday we came home early that morning.  We brought Mom with us cause Dad wasn't feeling very well at all (figured out it was the flu).  We then had just about the rest of the family come over to our place that Monday.  All was great until Bri threw up all over her crib.  I called for help as I am not one that does well with cleaning up throw up.  Never have been and I don't think I ever will be.  It only lasted about a day or two.  Thank heavens.

 

About two weeks ago Sabrina got her big girl bed.  Thanks Larry and Karen for that.  She refused to sleep in it the first night.  I figured it wasn't going to be easy and would take some time.  She is however sleeping in it just fine now and seems to enjoy it.

On a side note we have picked a name for our newest little addition.  She will be known as Lillian Paige.  We are so excited for her to come.  I have been trying to get all things ready for her.  So far I have done pretty good.  Brought out the infant carrier and cleaned it.  Now I just need to get it in the car and see how we do with two car seats in my car.  This should be interesting.  I have also gotten the crib back to infant stage and now I just need to work on cleaning her clothes and de-staining them and getting the rest of the house in order.  We are really looking forward to our newest addition and our next adventure!

2 Years!!!

Here are some pictures of the year in review.  

12 Months (aka 1 YEAR)

13 Months

14 Months

15 Months

16 Months

17 Months

  

18 Months

  

19 Months

20 Months 

21 Months  

22 Months  

23 Months

24 Months (aka 2 YEARS) 

I am hoping to get her some 2 year pictures done in the next week or so.  

I can't believe that another year has gone by.  It has been 2 years since we were blessed with such an incredible little girl!  She has definitely brought us a lot of joy these past years and I am so grateful for every day that we have with her.

She is such a fire cracker.  So smart and knows exactly how to get us to do what she wants.  All she has to do is look at us smile and say yay, please or anything of the sorts.  We are working on discipline though when she misbehaves and don't worry we do say no to her too.

In the last few weeks she has begun just talking like crazy.  Sometimes we don't quite understand what she is saying at first and most of the time I do have to translate for her to other people not used to her jargon.  We have, I believe, gotten her to say all Aunts and Uncles and cousins names.  We will often start counting to 10 with her and sometimes she skips ahead and when we get to 10 she says "Yay" and claps.  I think her favorite numbers are 3 and 4.  She seems to say them often.

We celebrated her birthday on 2 different days.  One with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Larry the weekend before her birthday.  We went and ate Pizza and came back home and opened presents and ate the cake that Grandma Karen made for her.

We then celebrated with my family on Thanksgiving day.  Grandma Sherry even made it home just in time for all the birthday festivities!  She is starting to get the hang of opening presents.  She got very spoiled this year by everyone and thanks you all for her presents!