at least i know it's august

yesterday someone asked me what the date was.

i thought it was the 3rd or 4th.

nope, totally the 10th.

i've lost time.

somewhere in between the diapers,

the naps, nursing and holding both my babies

i've completely lost track of my days and weeks.

 

i blame the littles.

but who can fault me when i stare at these faces all day?

 (our tiny peanut laid out on our king size bed)

 

 (B making play-doh cookies with aunt sheri)

 

 (hanging out on the deck while daddy makes us breakfast)

 

 (lazy days in our PJs)

 

 (purple pals - paige and reid)

 

 (playdate at the glover's)

 

(a little chalk art before nap)

 

 

and if you want to see some

adorable photos our newborn session is online.

its the same photographer that did brette's

and i love that ronnie got to come this time,

so we could even get a family photo!

 

go to www.m-mphoto.com

click on the link photo cart

click on the portraits box

our shoot is called 7-27 Brooke

when you click on our box it will ask you for a password.

type in cox

a big picture of reid will come up and underneath it will say:

click here to enter

click on that link and you should be able to view all her pictures.

 

i'm loving them.



life update

another week has come and gone

and things seem to be getting better and better.

brette is used to having "baby reid" around

and she asks to hold her, kiss her and she

HAS to help me change her diapers.

the only time i still see a bit of jealousy

is in the afternoons after her nap

when i'm nursing reid and i can't hold her too.

we're working through it and most of the time

i can make her happy if she sits next to me with

my arm around her.

 

reid is still in her newborn honeymoon phase.

she eats, she sleeps, she stares at us.

she doesn't cry very much and a lot of the time

its almost like she isn't here.

she is so quiet.

very unlike her sister.

my pediatrician told me that between 4-6 weeks

she will be awake more and a lot fussier,

so i'm taking advantage of these few weeks while i can.

nighttime has gotten a lot better over

the last few days too.

she goes down between 10-11,

sleeps five hours, nurses

and then sleeps until 7-8.

i can totally live with that.

i'm only up once a night.

of course, i'd love her to go longer,

but i'm not complaining at all.

 

ps- mothers of two... how do you go grocery shopping?

once i have the carseat in the cart and brette riding in the seat,

i have no actual space for food.

i hate leaving grocery shopping for the weekends,

but i'm thinking i totally need ronnie so we can have two carts...???

 

 

 

 

a piece of us

as you know,

i always try to have our thank you's done

before i go into the hospital because

after i get out of the hospital it gets way

too crazy for me to sit down

and actually write out cards to everyone.

when i had brette i made little "peanut" m&m thank you's.

they read - thank you for visiting our little peanut!

 

 

i wanted to stick with the candy theme with reid

and i like that it gives people something to snack on.

i found a version of this reese's pieces thank you's on pinterest.

i just changed the verbiage a little and i think

it's the sweetest little message to our family and friends.

 

 

 

 

and thank you.

thank you for coming to visit.

thanks for bringing dinner.

thanks for bringing clothes, books and 

treats for both my girls.

thanks for helping me with brette.

thanks for keeping me company while i adjust to

life with two kids.

and thank you to welcoming reid into our lives with so much love.

 

 

thank you.

thank you.

thank you.

one week

as of yesterday we have one week under our belts.

of course, the first week is probably the easiest one

since i didn't leave the hospital until friday.

ronnie was with me all weekend and half of monday.

(we had our newborn pics taken monday morning - can't wait to see them!)

monday night we had our usual family dinner so mom and dad cooked,

tuesday my parents took brette for the morning to hang out with

madeline and eden and i got caught up around the house.

plus i was able to make our first outing to the pediatrician.

that night shannon and her family stopped by and brought dinner.

finally on wednesday - exactly a week old - i was by myself with both girls.

luckily enough, my cousin brought us dinner and

i have to say, the stress of not worrying about food has been too nice.

i can't thank my friends and family enough for all the help.

i was stressing about being by myself these last couple days,

just because brette is extra needy and that makes things harder.

is reid wearing a dress?

then its brette's dress.

or brette's blanket.

or brette's pillow.

whatever reid has, brette wants.

is reid getting held?

then brette wants held.

i can't tell you how many times i've heard "hold me, mommy."

she even asked me to change her diaper because i was changing reid.

hello, you don't even have a diaper on!

she just needs some extra lovin' right now and

i'm trying my best to give it to her,

but i also know there will be tears and i'm just going

to have to listen to them and keep going.

but honestly, it hasn't been as hard as i thought.

lucky for me, reid sleeps like a true newborn.

all. the. time.

we put her down for the night about 11:00,

i nurse her at 3:00 and then again at 6:00.

brette wakes up at 7:00 and i get to spend a couple

hours just me and her.

i don't do chores or anything - which is unlike me,

but like i said, brette is desperate for some mamma time.

we snuggle, eat, get dressed and play until reid wakes up about 9:30.

i am relying a lot on cartoons and our playroom when i have to nurse.

i need about 30 minutes of down time where brette doesn't need me.

i'm sure i'll be nursing on-the-go by the end of this year,

but i'm also trying to get some relaxing one on one time with reid too.

its truly a balancing act.

i read that when you have a second baby your time is divided,

but your love is multiplied.

it couldn't be any truer.

 

so far i feel good about how things are going.

this morning i managed to get both girls, dressed, fed and out the door.

we went and visited my work and

even made it to the park for some playtime.

of course, we've had a few rough moments,

and don't ask how my hair looks,

but overall, i think we're gonna make it.

 

 

 

 

 

reid elizabeth

i was nervous.

like really, really nervous

because most everyone i talked to

had a bad experience when having

their second kid.

s o m e t h i n g made it more miserable than the first.

and i had myself convinced that if you have an easy pregnancy,

then labor would be bad.

you don't get lucky twice.

since this pregnancy was way easier than brette's,

i figured that meant my labor would be the bad part.

especially since they were inducing me early

and practically forcing my body to have this kid,

ready or not.

but

i'm here to tell you,

i was dead wrong.

it is possible to have an easy pregnancy

with an even easier delivery.

and i thank god for that.

let's go back...

on tuesday i spent the day with brette.

we met up with my mom and brian's girls

to do some shopping, go out for lunch and

play at the park.

it was nice.

after brette's nap, ronnie got home from work

and his sister came over to pick her up for the night.
ronnie and i the night to ourselves.

we packed up our stuff and

went out for dinner.

i loaded up on pasta since i didn't know

the next time i would get to eat.

we were at the hospital by 8:30 and checked-in.

they started me on cervidil by 9:30

and basically took my blood pressure all night long.

i didn't get much sleep, but i was ready to get started the next morning.

they started me on pitocin at 7:00 and by 8:30

i was asking for my epidural.

(yes, i only lasted an hour and a half of pain)

my ob came to visit before the anesthesiologist got to me

so she broke my water and that really made my contractions worsen.

luckily, the anesthesiologist showed up within the next 15 minutes and

we got started on my pain meds.

unfortunately, the epidural only took to one side,

so i couldn't feel anything on my right,

but i was still getting contractions on my left.

they had me roll on my side for the next 30 minutes to

help the medicine move over and it worked.

i was finally pain free.

we made brette a little "good morning" video

and sent it to sheri,

then i decided to take a nap.

at 11:30 my nurse came in to check me,

but i told her i didn't think anything had really happened yet,

because with brette i felt an enormous amount of pressure,

and i still felt nothing.

well i was wrong.

i was 10 cm dilated and reid was ready to make her entrance.

they paged my doctor,

a few more nurses and

got my room set up for delivery.

ronnie gladly stepped out of the way this time

and didn't even try to be close.

i told him i'd rather have pictures,

then a passed out husband.

he agreed.

they had me do a "trial" push when my next contraction started

and we were ready to go.

when my next contraction came,

so did reid.

and that was it.

easy.

painless.

fast.

 my little baby girl was here.
 

here she is yesterday,
4 days old and helping in the kitchen.

 

now announcing

when you're at the hospital you have lots of time,

but somehow it goes so fast and between the

check ups, nursing and trying to get a nap in,

i haven't really thought of breaking open my lap top

to share our wonderful news.

 

Reid Elizabeth

born july 22nd, 2015

12:01 pm

7 lbs.

20 1/4 inches

 

and she's pure perfection,

so of course we've taken a few (hundred) photos.

everyone says she looks like ronnie,

but she's a complete surprise to both of us.

she has much more dainty features, a bigger nose

an actual jawline and red hair!

she looks nothing like brette - - well, to me, anyway.

i can't wait to see how this one is going to change and grow.

what a doll.

we're all so in love with this little lady

and i think we've decided to keep her and take her home.

 

now the adventure begins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it keeps going and going and going

i'm off having a baby

but i never got to post my newest

addition to this little photo journey

we've been going on for about 3 years now.

 

first picture is back in september of 2012

and the last one was taken over the weekend, july 2015.

can't wait to add another one with BOTH girls.