Two minutes!

I've got two minutes and counting to blog . . ..
Kayla is in her swing which she doesn't really like very much, but my arms need a break from rocking about this time of day . . . .

the 4th of July was fun! Except for the fact that the inlaws were upset with Jeff and I because we weren't watching our cell phones for calls because we were busy with the girls. The decided to come up to town, but when we wouldn't answer our phones they decided not to stop by the house to visit.

Jeff was rather upset with them because they actually stopped by the house, looked to see that our vehicles were in the garage,
and left.

hmmmmm

Anyway, Alaina was rather excited to go buy "sprinklers and firetrucks." We went to Scott and Tiff's house to watch fireworks the evening of the fourth and the next morning Alaina asked,
"Can we go to Scott and Tiff's?"

"Why do you want to go to Scott and Tiff's Alaina?"

"You and me and daddy and sister can all go watch the firetrucks!"

kayla is starting to reject thw swing so I'll end with some pics.

Week Three

Well Kayla and I just returned from the Pediatrician with some disapointing/relieving news.

Kayla has Milk Soy Protein Intolerance, MSPI for short.

so good bye cookies, milk, most breads, cheeses, etc.

And hello fruits, veggies and meats.

Other than that, things are going great. The diet change for me while hopefully lead to a sleeping habit change in Kayla.

I'll try to get the pictures posted of Alaina with her pool that Jeff filled yesterday. I'm sure she'll be dying to get in it today, even if the water in it is freezing!

Week two down . . .

Hurray!

Kayla is two weeks old and I'm not nearly as comatose as I was with Alaina. Every now and they I lay down with her for a nap . . .of course that's usually the time that she wakes up after 15 minutes, but hey! I'm trying!

Now the only problem is deciding what I need to do the most during the 15 minute window that I usually get between feeding myself and feeding her.

Today I chose checking the internet and updating my blog.

I received a mystery package in the mail yesterday. My aunt and uncle (your parents OM!) sent me thins wonderful book titled "101 places you gotta see before you're 12." It is absolutely inspiring! First I had to go through and see if we had already taken Alaina to any of them. Then I had to go through and see how many I had seen. Finally, I went through trying to plan some future family vacations.

And . . .

uh oh . . .

The baby cries and mommy is signing off.

Its been one week already!

Welcome Kayla Marie!

Kayla arrived at 5:11 pm Thursday June 11th weighing 8 lbs and 4 ozs.

Her arrival was preceded by 7 hours of labor, the discovery of a penicillin allergy after an intense coughing/vomiting spell, the mysterious failure of an epidural machine, and a vomiting spell brought on by acid reflux when me medications wore off.

All in all it was about as intense as having the first child.

I was informed that I should stay in the hospital for at least 36 hours for the transition period for Kayla. Of course I still don't know what that means, but I was ready to come home after 12 hours in the "care" of the hospital staff.

I can home with only one 'injury' which was courtesy of the nurse who botched the 4 am blood draw on my first night there. She didn't even wait for my veins to pop to stab me. Even though I was tired and delirious I knew it was going to leave a mark. This is a picture of it today. (please note it has been a week, so this is when it looks better.)

The hardest part this time around was waiting for my milk to come in. I had a pretty low iron count when I left the hospital, low enough that my midwife was surprised I wasn't having horrible headaches and light headedness, but I attributed everything to the after affects of the epidural.

This last week has went rather well. Jeff and Alaina stayed home all week for family time, but I think Jeff will be glad to get back to work. Alaina has been having fun running the show, so going back to daycare should present a bit of a challenge. I'm just looking forward to being ion Kayla's schedule of eating and sleeping next week. This was my week to heal so next week I start doing yoga everyday to try to rediscover my abs.

Tomorrow!

7:30 am tomorrow I'm scheduled to be induced and I am scared out of my mind.

I'm getting more and more nervous about the state of the baby as we go past the due date, so I want to be able to hold her in my arms and know that she's alright.

But, I'm scared and a little unsure since my midwife wasn't 100% set on the idea of having me induced. The alternative is if I was still pregnant friday, I would have to go in for a stress test to check my fluids and other things that could be changing for the worse at this point.

one of the reasons that I want to be induced is because Jeff had to start his vacation time for the baby on Monday, so he's been home for the last two days just getting some honey-do list items done.

But I'm still going to try to get things going myself with stairs and walking, but since that hasn't worked yet . . . .

She said I probably won't have the baby until late afternoon with being induced, so don't expect to hear anything too early tomorrow.

And is it bad that we aren't telling anyone other than my immediate family that we are going in? We don't want family calling all day Thursday to see what's up while we're still at the hospital.

How do I love/loathe thee, let me count the ways!

Pregnancy is an experience. I can't say whether it is a good or bad one . . .but here are a few highlights before I have this baby and forget everything about the pre baby stage.

Pros
- I get to eat whatever I want, and I usually know exactly what I want. I have single-handedly consumed enough oranges to fill a grove, the same amount of avacados that Chipotle says they prep daily for guacamole, and enough slices of cucumbers to . . .well I have no comparison for that one.

- I get away with more things. I park in the visitor parking for the last few weeks under the pretense that if I need to go to the hospital or if someone has to drive me, its easier to find my van.

- I get to take naps.

- Someone is always there to help me.

- Strangers let me go first . . . sometimes.

- Six weeks off from work!

Cons

- I may know what I want to eat, but 90% of it gives me heartburn.

- Maternity clothes are not made with A-B cup, tall women in mind.

- People randomly stop you to ask questions, or just shout at you from across the mall. (Yesterday someone shouted at me from across the food court "GIRL or BOY?")

- The lack of energy to do much of anything in the first and last trimesters.

- Pains in places that shouldn't feel pains . . .

All in all, this pregnancy hasn't been the wonderful thing that I had last time because, well, the lack of new discovery isn't there. I know what's waiting at the finish line and I'm anxious to get to hold my new little girl!

I'm also anxious to get Alaina aquainted with being a big sister. We need to have this baby so that I can quite buying her "big sister" things. Yesterday I bought a digital camera with a gift card that a friend gave us with the full intention of letting her have it in the hospital as a big sis gift.

But like all the other big sis gifts, I give it to her right away because I can't wait to see her play with it. she took 105 pictures in about 20 minutes. It is pretty neat to look and see the world through her eyes.

What I've been waiting for???

So Jeff gave me permission to go into labor this morning. . .

Seriously.

He mentioned how perfect it would be if I went into labor about noon today or tomorrow so that we could be home by Saturday and be able to call both of our parents in time to pick Alaina up from daycare.

Seriously!

The midwife said last night that I was the only one of her patients that was close to being done that DIDN'T go into labor while she was on vacation last weekend.

SERIOUSLY!

Add all of these to the list of things I didn't want to hear today . . . . if I don't have the baby by next Tuesday, she said we could talk about inducing. Hopefully that day doesn't come.

But to help try to keep the smile on my face, here is a pic of Alaina and I making our princess hats this last weekend.

Do you see the button jar Aunt Stacey? This morning we woke up really early and Alaina spent 30 minutes looking at all the different shapes and sizes of buttons. It was like going back in time and watching us at Grams' house.