Sunday, May 29, 2011

A lot can happen in 2 weeks

Hadley Rose at 1 week. Sweet, plump and bright-eyed.

Big brother taking very good care of little sister.

First bath.

A little newborn face.

Sleeping beauty.

Tummy time together.

Mommy loves everything pink!

Snuggle time.

Shooting hoops outside.

Miles' big acting premier at his first school program.

Our little Rosie.


Taking a snooze during tummy time.

The three cousins.

Love!

If I had blogged last week I would have said that our transition to a family four is hard. I wasn't feeling well, we're adjusting to fewer hours of sleep, Miles was having a hard time when all attention wasn't on him and was testing boundaries and having more meltdowns. None of this has changed this week except I'm feeling better, we're adjusting to our new norm and we've had a chance, especially this weekend, to spend time enjoying our new little family.

Hadley is a wonderful baby. She let's out a little lion cub cry when she's hungry but otherwise doesn't cry. She also is starting to sleep 4-5 hours in a row at night. The few hours a day that she's awake she is so alert - her big blue eyes love to gaze at me, Mike and Miles. Her head and neck are already strong. When she's snuggled into our shoulders she often lifts her head to gaze at us. Hiccups plague our sweet girl a few times a day. Hadley already has a few nicknames - Hads, Haddie (this is what Miles calls her), Mini Mike (because everyone is telling us she looks like Mike), and Rosie. Since her arrival we've had many visitors and have never eaten so well with all of the meals our generous family and neighbors have brought to us.

At her 2 week newborn well-baby visit to the pediatrician she checked out to be a very healthy girl. She's such a good eater she had already surpassed her birth weight! Her stats:
  • Height: 20 1/4 inches (50%)
  • Weight: 9 lbs 9.5 oz (90%)
  • Head: 35.9 cm (50%)

We're not sure if it's the transition to being a big brother or he's just entering the two-year-old phase but Miles definitely is testing boundaries more and has a few moments, when both Mike and I are occupied with the baby and other things, that Miles seems a little stressed and has more meltdowns. We've decided that having a toddler is much more difficult then having a newborn. It's not that Miles is difficult - 98% of the time he is a sweet, funny and wonderful boy - it's the 2% of the time when he's testing boundaries that are hard. I think Mike and I just have to figure out a good strategy for setting limits for our toddler. He has been an absolutely wonderful big brother to Hadley. He's always asking about her - "Where's the baby?" "Baby doing?" He gives her lots of kisses, hugs and when holding her he is so gentle and protective. They are adorable together!

Miles recently had his first school program. He marched in, holding his animal figures high in the air and was doing so well until he saw me in the front row (rookie parent mistake sitting in the front row!). He burst into tears and sat on my lap for the rest of the program. Although his dramatic debut only lasted a minute we were so proud of him and know that there will be many more school programs in our future.

We're so happy to have Hadley in our lives and Mike and I can't believe that we're parents to two!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Next week...

I was battling a fever Sunday night - so no blog this week. I'm feeling much better now and will have extra pictures and stories to post next week because life with Hadley and Miles is great!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Welcome to the world Hadley Rose!

Welcome to the world Hadley Rose! Thursday morning at 2:00 am I was feeling some pressure and discomfort and read my book to try to fall back asleep. At 3:30 I got up to go to the bathroom and as I stood up my water broke. I quickly woke up Mike and as I called the hospital and we packed our bags I started to have strong contractions. We arrived at the hospital at 4:30 am and were taken into a triage room where they wanted to verify whether or not my water really had broken. At that point I was dilated to 5 cm and confirmed with the nurse that I wanted an epidural. She left to take the test to the lab and my pain quickly increased. I told the nurse that I was feeling a lot of pressure and she checked me again and I was dilated to a 10. We quickly moved to a birthing room at 5 am and I optimistically asked if I could still have an epidural. Of course at this point it was way too late and the nurses were scrambling to get everything ready for delivery. The on call OB arrived at about 5:10 am and at 5:27 am our sweet baby was born and I had a completely natural delivery.

Her stats:
  • Weight: 9 lb. 6 ounces
  • Height: 19 1/4 inches
  • Head: 14 inches
  • Chest: 14.5 inches
  • Apgar scores: 8 & 9
She's a very healthy girl! So far Hadley is a sweet and laid back baby - hardly ever crying except when hungry and boy does she have an appetite! Nursing is going well so far. When she is awake - which is mostly at night - she listens and is so attentive to me - her big eyes look into mine and my heart swells. One of the moments we love the most with our newborn is when she snuggles to us - her little bundled body molding to ours.

We had another positive hospital stay with many loving family visitors. Unfortunately, on Thursday Miles came down with a fever. Today his fever finally broke but it's been difficult and stressful trying to keep him away from the baby when we want him to enjoy and celebrate the arrival of his sister as much as we are. We believe he is on the mend and have vigilantly been trying to protect Hadley from exposure to his illness. This of course is probably easier said then done. Yesterday morning as Miles was crying and Hadley was crying my confidence as a new mom of two was definitely wavering. With all of this though I couldn't be more proud or happy to be a mom of two!

We want to say a special thank you to my parents for taking care of Miles while we were in the hospital. Taking care of a toddler is never easy - much less a sick one. They took wonderful care of him and we're greatly appreciative for all of their support and help.

Meet our new little one!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

A Lucky Mama

Still no baby girl but we enjoyed another lovely weekend as a family of three. FINALLY the weather has turned spring-like and warm so Friday we headed to the arboretum to walk amongst the tulips and daffodils. Miles was fascinated by the fountains and the ATVs the gardeners were driving around.

We took advantage of the sunshine and bright, beautiful flowers to take our Mother's Day pictures. I realized that even though we're over the moon to add another member to our family I haven't exactly wanted my big belly to be photographed - so here's a rare photo. Notice how Miles just snuggles perfectly on top of my baby bump.

I swear Miles loved the arboretum and was delighted by all of the sights, sounds and smells. He looks very serious in all of these photos - taking it all in.




Saturday, sunshine day, was spent all day outside. At the beginning of April our yard was driving me crazy and I was despairing that it would never look good again - Mike mowed the lawn and Miles, my mom and I planted flowers and it looks lovely. Miles is a good, little helper.

Here the little busy man is enjoying the fruits of our labors.



Mother's Day started off with a bang - Miles falling out of bed. He was fine but our day was started a little earlier than normal. After that Mike and Miles allowed me to sleep in and even brought me breakfast in bed. Miles and I thoroughly enjoyed our bagels and all crumbs were left on Mike's side of the bed. They also surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a day of relaxation and rest at home. My favorite moment was snuggling with Miles for at least 15 minutes when he woke up from his nap. He was so satisfied just laying his head on my shoulder, cuddling. Love it! We then enjoyed dinner with my parents and Mike tested out his new grill. Spending the day with my favorite men and my mom made for a wonderful mother's day.


To all the mom's in our lives - Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for being living examples of how to be a great mom.
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