Growing, Growing!

I can't believe how fast Natalie is growing!  She is 3 1/2 weeks old, probably close to 9 pounds, and wearing 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers already!  It seems so crazy to us, because Avery was only about 6 1/2 pounds at this point, still wearing preemie or newborn clothes and diapers.  Natalie is getting to wear a lot of the cute summer clothes that Avery never got to wear (since by the time she could fit into them, it was already Fall/Early Winter), so that makes me really happy!  Here are a few new pictures...

 First bath in the baby tub... we still couldn't get her completely wet, since her cord hasn't come off yet!

 Love this cute little outfit from Aunt Kathy!

 Sweet Girl

 Starting to work on holding her head up!

This is hard work, Mommy!

Sisters

About a week ago, I made an attempt at getting some pictures of the girls together.  Oh the joy of trying to get a picture of a 22 month old holding a newborn!  Thankfully, noone was injured (ha!), and I got a couple of decent ones to add to to the photo album.  Maybe in the next couple of months, we can try again, and get some better ones...

 Sweet Little Sister Natalie

 Big Sister Avery holding Little Sister Natalie (squeezing her just a little bit too hard!)

 A quick kiss for baby Sissy

Avery was more interested in playing with all of Natalie's toys...

Honoring Our Great Dads

We are blessed to have some great Dads in our lives.  Yesterday, we took time to honor them and all that they do for us!  My girls have the BEST DADDY in the world!

He is FUN and PLAYFUL!

He is comforting.

He loves playing and spending time with his girls!

He is helpful and patient.

He adores his girls.

He is gentle and kind.

He is affectionate.

I knew I married a great husband, but I had no idea what an AWESOME Daddy he would be to our girls!  We are so incredibly blessed to have him in our lives!

 We are also incredibly blessed to have my Dad in our lives.  He is not only an wonderful Dad, but a very present PaPa in our girl's lives.  He loves his Grandkids, and they definitely LOVE him!

 He is fun and energetic. 

He is helpful and loving. We are very thankful for him on this special day!

 Additionally, we are blessed to have Ted's Dad in our lives.  He is also a wonderful example to us.  He is not only a great Dad and Father In-Law, but a very present Grandpa to our girls. 

 He is both caring and fun!

You can really tell that he loves being a Grandpa, and our girls are lucky to have him in their lives!

 

22 Months and 1 Week Updates!

Yesterday, Avery turned 22 months old!  I guess we should start thinking about planning her 2nd birthday party, since it will be here before we know it!  She has soooo turned into a toddler over the past few weeks.  And now that her little sister is here, she really seems like a GIANT! 
She still weighs around 26 lbs, but is definitely much taller and leaner.
She still wears size 4 diapers and 24 month clothes.  She now wears size 6 1/2 shoes.  She LOVES shoes!
She talks and sings like crazy!  She has such a huge vocabulary now, and talks in small sentences most of the time.  She is a little sponge, and will say anything we tell her to.  She loves doing flash cards and naming objects in her books.  She has gotten so smart!  She loves singing all her little songs, like Jesus Loves Me, the ABC's, Old McDonald had a Farm, The Wheels on the Bus, and many more! 
She has learned the dreaded word "MINE".... we have a typical Toddler!
She loves blowing bubbles, playing outside in the water, going to the park, doing art work with stickers and crayons, jumping, and reading her books at night. 
She continues to love "school."  She learns so much there and has a good time with all her little friends.  They have water day every Tuesday during the summer, she loved it yesterday! 
We started introducing potty training to her about a week or two ago, and she has really caught on!  She has pee-peed in the potty several times now, and is so proud of herself when she does it!  When she moves up to her new class at school in the next few weeks, they will really start doing consistent potty training, so hopefully she will be trained sometime around age 2!  YAH! 
Avery LOVES her baby sister!  She is really starting to get used to having her here.  The first thing she says when she wakes up or comes home from school is "Hi Baby" and wants to see her and kiss or hug her.  When she doesn't see her, she asks "Where's the baby?"  She knows her name and says it so sweetly. 

 Cooling off in this 100 degree heat (in June!).

Nothing like drinking water from the hose!

Our other little girl turned 1 week old on Monday!  Natalie is such a sweet, laid-back baby.  The only time we have really heard her cry is during her couple of sponge baths that I have given her.  Otherwise, she just makes the cutest little noises when she is hungry or needs to have her diaper changed.  During her first week, she sort of had her days and nights mixed up, but over the past 3 days it has gotten so much better!  She is staying awake more during the day nursing about every 3 hours, and is going 4-5 hour stretches between feedings at night.  YAH!  We are all adjusting to life with a toddler and a newborn.  Having a baby is definitely a lot easier the second time around... we know what to expect and feel more comfortable with her.  It's the added excitement of a toddler in the house that makes it a little crazy sometimes.  Avery is very sweet to her little sister, but we still have to watch her closely since "her sweetness" is sometimes a little rough.  Having 2 kids definitely takes a lot of team-work!  Thankfully, Ted and I make a great team! 

 We've had lots of sweet visits this week from family and friends.  Here is the Conlee family! 

 Justin brought Natalie a "traditional" fishing pole!  Avery has one too, so hopefully Daddy will take his girls fishing in the near future!

 Uncle Brad and Aunt Shana meet Natalie for the first time!  We can't wait for their little man to arrive in October!

 Natalie - 1 week old

 First time in a little dress!

Sweet Girl!

Introducing Natalie Faith!

It's funny looking back at my last post, because our plans were to induce labor on 6/6/11 with expected arrival of Natalie on 6/7/11.  We went to church, we took those pictures, I updated my blog, cleaned the house, we went to a kid's birthday party at a gymnastics place, Avery had a ball as we chased her around the place, we went out to dinner with our friends, and my car got backed into as we were leaving the restaurant.  As you can see we had a very busy day!  And it had only just begun!  Natalie had big plans of her own!  I was having my usual contractions at the birthday party, so I didn't think too much about it, but while sitting at the restaurant, they started to become more regular.  I started to wonder if I might be going into labor.  I joked about it with our friends.  Well, by the time we got home at nearly 8pm, my contractions were about 7 minutes apart.  I started writing them down, still in disbelief that I was in labor.  We gave Avery a bath, put her to bed, and then at 9pm I decided to call labor and delivery.  They told me to go ahead and come in.  We called my parents, so they could come down and watch Avery.  I started packing bags, cleaning the house (again!), sweeping like a crazy woman, and then noticed at about 9:30 that my water had sort of broke.  By the time my parents got here, I was in active labor, starting to hurt.  So, off to the hospital we went!  On the way in, my water finished breaking, and at that point I was really starting to hurt.  They checked me out in triage, and said I was only 2cm dilated, and it would be a long night.  However, my contractions kept getting stronger and closer together.  I was having them about every minute at the time they finally moved me to a labor room.  Thankfully, I got my epidural at about 11:30, and had instant relief.  They went ahead and checked me again, and suprisingly I was already at 6-7cm.  They called my doctor, who arrived within 10 minutes.  I transitioned really fast and they were once again suprised to find that I was fully dilated and ready to push at about 1:40am.  My doctor explained that I could be pushing for about 2 hours, and not to get discouraged.  Well, once again, Natalie had plans of her own!  She was out within 15-20 minutes.  She arrived on 6/6/11 at 2:07am, weighing in at 6lbs, 15oz and was 19 inches long!  She looked perfect!  And I felt great!  I was so grateful to be able to experience a regular birth and avoid another c-section, it was the most incredible experience I have ever had.  I was also extremely thankful for the epidural and the fast labor... it couldn't have gone any better.  Recovery has also been so much better.  I am thankful to be able to hold Avery and get around the house without any problems.  I was a little scared about attempting a regular birth after previous c-section, but I am so glad I decided to go for it.  It was definitely a success. 

 Holding Natalie for the first time.

 Sweet angel.

 First Photo as a family of 4!  (Avery looks like a Giant now!)

 Avery meeting Baby Sissy for the 2nd time (it went a lot better this time!).

 Hugging baby Natalie (so sweet!).

 Sweet Natalie

 Daddy and his 2nd girl!

 Mommy and Natalie

 Leaving the hospital on Wednesday.

 I had fun taking some newborn pictures of Natalie yesterday (5 days old)

First little innocent smile!

 Little Sister

Natalie is such a wonderful addition to our family.  We feel so incredibly blessed to have our 2 little girls.  Life will be crazy for a while, but it will all be worth it in a couple of years.  I pray that we will raise two very special girls that grow up loving eachother, their family and friends, and most of all the Lord. 

I will do my best to keep you updated!