Sisters

 One of my biggest worries with having a baby was how Adelyn was going to react to the change.  The last few weeks of my pregnancy she was super clingy to me.  She didn't even want to go to Travis.  I was really concerned that she would hate the new baby and get really jealous!

I read all sorts of blogs and articles about introducing toddlers to newborns.  Many of them suggested having the newborn in the nursery when they arrive at the hospital and have the toddler go get them.  I wanted to do this so that I could spend a few minutes with Adelyn first.

Travis, Adelyn and my mom arrived at the hospital while they were doing rounds so the baby was in my room.  As Adelyn walked in, she had a really serious look.  I excitedly said hi and all she kept saying was baby while looking around.  I was sad that she didn't even care about seeing me.  She found Lila and got super excited!

Travis handed her over to me and put Adelyn up on the bed.  She was a little timid at first but was really intrigued.  She would gently touch her and say baby.

I asked if she wanted to hold her and she did, but only for a second.  I love how she is looking at me in this picture!

 She was so proud of herself and loved seeing her baby sister!

 Gigi(my mom) finally got a turn holding Lila.

 Adelyn loves to hug and kiss Lila.  She is the sweetest sister!  She has really proved me wrong in my worries. 

I already know that they are going to be the best of friends!

Welcome to the family Lila!

Lila Rae Birth Story

Before I forget, I wanted to document Lila's birth story.  I was scheduled for an induction on April 9th.  Travis and I got up that morning, got ready, had a good breakfast and headed over to the hospital.  Everything was so calm and comfortable and almost unreal.  I was feeling great both mentally and physically at that point!  It wasn't until we were checking in that it hit me that I was actually about to have a baby.  It was a totally different feeling than when my water broke with Adelyn and I knew it was go time.

This is when we first got to the room!  39+ weeks and very large!

We got checked in, they did some bloodwork and got me started on pitocin at 8:45.  Travis and I spent the next several hours trying to find something to do to pass the time.  They would come in occasionally to check my progression but not much was happening and I wasn't in much pain.  My doctor finally came in at 12:30 and told me he wanted to break my water to see if that got things moving.  I was nervous, but agreed.  Almost instantly the contractions began to get stronger. He said the nurse would come back and check on me.

Waiting for things to get moving and obviously not in too much pain.  I still have a smile!

 Travis trying to get ahead on sleep while he still could.  I requested the air to be turned on because I was dying but Travis said he almost froze to death!

Finally after what seemed like forever, my nurse came in and I let her know that I was ready for my epidural.  She came back to let me know that not one, but both of the anesthesiologists were in with c-sections and not available.  I was in pain, but it was bearable if I was squeezing Travis' hand!  Ok, actually, it was terrible!  Every time someone came in my room I would ask for an update.  After 45 minutes of strong contractions I began to freak out!  I knew that something was happening and I could see my window of opportunity closing!  Travis said that at this point I turned into a crazy lady!  I kept telling him I couldn't do it without an epidural.  Really, it was so stressful!  He laughed at one point and I nearly lost it!

After an hour had passed, the anesthesiologist came in and I heard a choir of angels sing!  I told him he had the best job because everyone is so happy to see him!  He laughed and got to work.  With Adelyn I felt relief almost instantly, but wasn't so lucky this time around.  After he left, the nurse said she would be back in an hour to check on me.  I questioned an hour because I felt like I had probably progressed since the last time she checked but I went with it since she is the professional.  Travis decided that it would be a good time to take care of some paperwork and billing.  When he said he was going to go, I asked if he was sure and he assured me that we had plenty of time.

After Travis left, I suddenly felt really weird.  I feel like my brain got kind of fuzzy and I was super nauseated.  I didn't think much of it until a couple nurses came rushing in.  They put oxygen on me and turned me on my side.  I remember talking, but don't really remember what I was saying.  Apparently Lila's heartbeat dropped super low.  The nurse decided to go ahead and check my progression.  She said I was at 9.5 cm and ready to push.  The weird feeling was from all the work my body was doing so quickly.  They paged Dr. Horlacher and I somehow managed to text Travis to tell him to get back immediately!

They got there at about the same time and it was go time.  I remember telling them that my left leg/bum really hurt and I thought there was something wrong with the epidural.  Turns out that it was the baby's head bearing down and the epidural wasn't in full effect so I felt a lot of the pain.  After a few big pushes and less than 15 minutes she was out!  I remember pushing really hard because I wanted the pain to end!  Dr. Horlacher said he didn't think I would breathe if he didn't tell me to.  I was determined to get her out!

Travis got to cut the cord and then they handed her over to me.  She was 7 lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches long.  She has Adelyn's cute little button nose but did not get blessed with much hair!  It is weird looking at a bald baby after Adelyn having a head full of hair!

 Leisy left me and moved to Japan, so I didn't have anyone taking pictures this time.  Travis snapped a few though in between me squeezing his hand off and supporting my leg for me!

Holding Lila for the first time!  She looked so much like Adelyn at first.  It was weird because I felt like it really was Adelyn.  I was a lot more involved with this delivery.  I helped hold the cord out of the way while Travis cut it, I got to see her head before she was completely out and I held her before they got her all cleaned up.

  The official weight

 This picture looks alien-esque, but I strangely like it!.  I will post cuter pictures with her all cleaned up later.

 While labor was a lot more painful this time, recovery has been AMAZING!!  I feel great!  I did not get an infection this time and it has made a world of difference!  I feel like I am ready to run but my mom keeps reminding me to take it easy and that my body is still recovering.  It is amazing what our bodies can do!

Basketball and Tents

A little while ago I posted that I didn't have any updates on Travis.  Like I mentioned before, he is working long hours and then he comes home and works some more.  He is often doing things with the Scouts at church as well.  Luckily he gets along well with the other Scout leaders and has formed some lasting friendships!

A couple weeks ago, BYU was playing here in Dayton.  A lot of his friends here went to BYU so they all decided to get tickets last minute.  They ended up getting great seats and having a blast...until BYU lost. Travis was so excited to go so I am glad he took the time to have some fun. 

 Then this past weekend a few of these same guys took a ride to Columbus to go to an REI garage sale.  Travis LOVES REI and was so excited to find one not too far away.  I don't think I have ever been, but it is his favorite store.  It sounds like it is similar to Cabellas, but it requires a membership to go in.  They have all kinds of outdoor sports and recreation gear. 

We have been wanting a new tent for a while so Travis looked up all sorts of tents and reviews before he went.  Since it was a garage sale, there was no guarantee of finding a certain product.  He was lucky to find the exact tent that he wanted at almost 50% off!  It was brand new, but was moved to damaged goods because the bag had about a 3 inch tear down the seam.  He was so excited to get it and set it up.  Adelyn loved it too!  Looks like they will be going camping soon!

Adelyn Turns 2!!

Adelyn's birthday was last Sunday so we began birthday celebrations the day before.  I was probably looking forward to it more than she was.  Travis has been SUPER busy lately so we decided to have a family day instead of inviting friends over.  It was so nice to spend an uninterrupted day with just family!

The night before her birthday was the first night we let her sleep in her big girl bed through the night.  She always takes naps in her bed, but I have not been ready to give up the crib at night.  She did amazingly well though!  She woke up so happy with the freedom of being able to get herself up!  We were up and able to catch her as she walked out her decorated door! 

 I have heard so much about COSI, the discovery museum in Columbus and have wanted to go for a while.  It was the last day Adelyn would be able to get in for free so we made the trip for her birthday.  She was in heaven the whole time!  She loves being out and discovering new places and things! 

 

We literally spent hours in the toddler area.  I think she would have stayed there all day if we let her!  This table was my favorite!  There were tons of magnatiles to make creations with and they sat on a lit up table that projected images onto the wall.  It was pretty fun to watch!

 Travis was a trooper and was down playing with her pretty much all day.  I am starting to move really slow and couldn't always keep up with her energy! Here they are at the water table.

 There were all kinds of tree houses to climb on, a barn, a kitchen, a rock climbing wall, a helicopter and more!!  She really was all over the place exploring everything.  She took a minute to rest on these blocks as she watched another dad stack them as high as he could. 

 Once we got home and she had a nap, she got to open a few presents.  I have to laugh at her gifts this year.  I always imagined my girls to be super girly and love everything pink and princess related.  Instead of getting dress-up clothes and jewelry she got a tool kit, basketball hoop, train and we are still searching for a train table.  She loves everything and plays with it all every day!  It just makes me giggle because they aren't the girliest things but she loves them! 

 Since we didn't do a party, we did have a couple friends over for dinner on Sunday.  Adelyn loves having people over and didn't know any different that it was her birthday. 

 While she was napping, I made cupcakes for her.  She came downstairs as I was frosting them.  She kept saying, "ooooh, yummy!"  She loves anything with sugar!  I let her put the sprinkles on.  She had the hardest time waiting until everyone got here to eat one!  This is the best picture I got of us singing to her.  I was fighting with my camera.  It kept focusing on the cupcakes so her face is blurry.  :(  She loved having everyone sing to her and clapped at the end!

 Finally the sweet reward!  This little munchkin is such a blessing in our lives!  She brings so much joy and happiness!  I can't wait for her to be a big sister!

St. Patty's Day

It was just 2 years ago on this day that I was hoping for my first baby girl to arrive.  Today I sit here dreaming of when my next baby girl arrives, although I don't want her to come until April.  We are so excited for her to join our family!

One of my favorite things about having a child is that we get to celebrate holidays together!  I didn't go all out with the leprechaun messing up our house or anything, but we did wear green.

She is so hard to take pictures of these days!  I have to bribe her with marshmallows just to have her sit still for 2 minutes.  She is such a little rascal, but I think she is a cute one at least! 

I think she is starting to look so much like Travis!  Not so much in his baby pictures, but like him now!  They have the same mouth and facial expressions! This is totally a Travis smile!

 I have been hard on her lately about whining and not sharing, but she really is a good, happy baby!  I realize it is part of the growing and learning process and I have to teach her how to deal with these emotions.  Luckily she is happy-go-lucky the majority of the time and loves life! She has spoiled me with how good she really is.  She is going to be such a great big sister!

Sledding

This winter has been really cold!  We have had way too many snow/calamity days!  It hasn't snowed much and honestly it has been too cold for me to want Adelyn to be out in it for too long anyways.  She begs to go out every day!  Last week we finally got a decent amount of snow and it was warm enough to go out so we took advantage!

We drove down the road a little bit to find a good sledding hill.  Adelyn was in heaven!  She loved every minute of it and did not want to go home!  It was her first time really sledding so I had to get some pictures!

The path that we followed leads down into a tunnel and comes out on the other side of the road.  We were surprised to see that it was frozen over!  We are guessing that it was about 3-4 feet deep.  We couldn't even stand.  Adelyn loved skating back and forth!  It was a great workout for my legs/bum!

Travis went up first to check things out and make a path.

 Her first ride down!  I love how she is covering her eyes!

 I even went down a few times!

 Throwing snowballs! 

We came home and tried to make a snowman, but the snow didn't pack very well so we didn't get one done.  I am hoping that Spring is here and we will have to wait and make a snowman at the end of the year! We had a blast! 

Travis and Projects

I realize last post seemed whiny so I just want to say how grateful and excited I am to be pregnant!  I really am feeling great these days.  I am just ready to meet this little lady!  

I haven't given an update on Travis lately.  That is because I mostly don't see him.  Work and church are keeping him really busy!  He is still working in Columbus so he has the hour+ commute each way that is taking up lots of time.  He loves working at the office there and doesn't mind the drive.  He just wishes he could see Adelyn more.

He is still working in the young men's program at church and is the Venturing crew captain for scouts.  They are often doing service projects and activities.  They haven't been on many campouts lately with all the snow though.  He has also been coaching the basketball team.  It has been a good experience for him to learn patience.  :)  They just had the tournament games on Saturday and his team came out the champions!  I am glad to get him back on Thursday nights and Saturdays!

When he is home, I have him busy working on projects!  Something I did not know about him when we got married is how good he is at building things.  I am taking advantage of his talents and giving him lots of projects to do.  He loves doing them, but can be somewhat of a perfectionist.  His lack of time and perfectionism means that he can't keep up with my list!  Here are just a couple of things he has done around the house!  I love them all!

This is the "dining room."   Since we never sit down formally, we have decided to make it into a sitting/music room.  Travis just finished painting the walls a taupe color and put up the wall paneling.  I love the way it turned out!  Now we just need to get some furniture to go in there!  It is pretty empty right now with the piano being the only piece of furniture. 

 

This is one of my favorite projects he has done!  We needed a kitchen table and I found one that I loved, but it was waaaaayyy out of our price range.  Travis mentioned he could build one.  I found two different sets of plans on anawhite.com that I liked.  He combined the top of one table and the bottom of another and adjusted the size to fit our wants.  I LOVE it!  It can easily fit 10 people! He also built the bench.  At some point I want to get tufted chairs instead of just using these hand-me-down chairs.  

Here is the other wall project he did for the playroom.  The great thing is that I see a vision and he follows through with it!  I usually tend to stick with neutral colors.  I figured that our kids will only be little once so this was the perfect opportunity to try something crazy.  It is bright and fun and totally different! You can't tell, but that is white trim outlining each box.  He is way more patient than me with little details like that and getting them perfectly lined up. 

 Next up on our list is the baby's room.  We want to do bead board with a chair rail.  I need to hurry up and get crib bedding so that we can decide on colors!  I think we are going to try using a textured wall paper instead of paneled wood for the beadboard.  I have found lots of tutorials and it looks pretty similar at a fraction of the cost.  I will post updates when it is done!