Big Sister Lily

How is Lily transitioning into the role of a big sister?  She's done great considering how big of a mama's girl she is. Like I said before, she absolutely adores her baby sister but she has definitely needed extra attention and she only wants that extra attention from me. She was already pretty clingy to me, but now she wants to be held even more, especially while I'm nursing Lucy which proves pretty difficult. She's not happy with me reading books to her while she sits beside me, she wants to be in my lap. Haven't figured out how to nurse a newborn and snuggle a 2 year old yet. I try to let her help when I can and show her extra attention while Lucy is sleeping and some days go better than others. 

She hasn't tried nursing her baby doll yet but she's fascinated by the process of pumping.

Lily was weaned from her bottle by about 15 mo. of age, but for a couple of days she insisted on having one - normal I know, just glad it's not a permanent set back.

Lily & Lucy

Lily loves her new little sister- except I have a feeling that Lily still thinks she's a toy baby doll. She loves to give her kisses and constantly wants to hold her in her lap. Lily gets upset every morning when she is up before Lucy and therefor can't hold her.

Lily believes in tough loves - along with kisses and holding Lucy she also loves to pull her fingers as hard as she can, pinch her face and squish her. When both are in the same room my full attention is on them. Not much housework has gotten done this past week.

first week home

Jordan's favorite bonding activity

She has the same chubby cheeks as Lily!

Jordan is determined that this child will be a Daddy's girl, and it looks like he got his wish - she already smiles only for him.

Big happy baby

The arrival of Miss Lucy Rose

Both Jordan and I were convinced that this little princess would have made her debut prior to July 1st due to our experience with Lily. She measured 4 days big at her 20 wk ultrasound and came 14 days early. Lucy measured 9-10 days big at her 20 wk ultrasound, so we were thoroughly convinced that Lucy was coming before July 1st. So convinced were we that we sent Lily down to New Harmony thinking she would come at that time. 

However, after 2 1/2 weeks of false labor, I woke up on Sunday, July 10 (4 days before her due date) with what we think was an upper water break. Lucky we have wonderful neighbors who watched Lily early that morning until later in the afternoon when Lily's equally wonderful Uncle Justin came to get her for the remainder of our hospital stay. 

Labor was fast and easy (especially with the miracle of an epidural!) After Dr. Harrison finished breaking my water I went from a 4 to delivering within an hour. Lucy came out in just 5 minutes, but apparently wasn't quite ready to transition into this world because she refused to breathe!!!                           

She scored only a 6 on her 5 minute APGAR score due to her blue skin color. I remember looking over at one point to see her entire body was dark blue - despite all the rubbing and stimulation the nurses were giving her. The respiratory team and NICU nurses rushed in and got her breathing, however she was still showing signs of respiratory distress. 

9 lbs 5 ounces & 21 inches. No wonder she gave me more stretch marks than Lily! 

After she started breathing they let me hold her for about 30 seconds before they wisked her away to the NICU to be put on the CPAP machine to help her lungs open up. 

Along with grunting, tachydyspnea, and low oxygen saturation she had low blood sugar which meant that they had to put a central line IV through her umbilical cord for TPN (total parental nutrition - nutrition through an IV line) along with a arterial IV to better measure her vital signs. This meant that we couldn't hold her until Monday afternoon :(

All her IV lines and monitor cords were such a mess that I wasn't even allowed to switch sides for nursing without having a nurse there to help make sure nothing got pulled out of place. 

She was breathing on her own by Monday morning and she maintained adequate blood sugar levels at that time as well. However they wouldn't let us take her home until Wednesday afternoon because they wanted to monitor her as they weaned her from the TPN. I was discharged on Tuesday so luckily they had a little room on the NICU floor that I could sleep in and stay close to my little pumpkin.

She was by far the biggest baby in the NICU - her diapers weighed more than the majority of the babies in there! We are grateful for the wonderful hospital that helped our precious baby safely transition into this world.

a week long date

We sent Lily down to New Harmony to visit her grandparents and family for a week because we thought little Lucy Rose would come this week. Well, the week is up Friday, and it's Wednesday night. Other than some more false labor, Lucy isn't showing any signs of coming until her big sister is back.

It's been hard having her gone, but we know she's having a blast with all her cousins and her grandparents. 

We've called this week, "the calm before the storm" especially where Jordan had a 3 day weekend for the 4th. We've had so much fun together going to the dollar theater, watching the stadium of fire fireworks, walking to Burger King at 10 pm at night for their $1 chicken sandwhiches, 3 picnics, playing blockus at the duck pond, getting and keeping the house clean and just doing fun things together. However, we are ready for our munchkin back. I would trade a clean house for her fun personality any day.

 Neither of us love parades enough to get there at the crack of dawn to get decent seats, so we decided to instead walk up to Bridal Vale Falls and play Frisbee on the morning of the 4th instead. Let's just say Jordan was not impressed by my Frisbee skills.

38 wks + 5 days pregnant. I am starting to get a lot of "wow, you are ready to POP!" comments along with the waddling comments.

As much as we love Lily, this 4th of July had to be one our best days ever. We spontaneously went to a movie at the dollar theater, because for the first time in 2 years we could do something sponaneious. Then we headed out and sat out on Denny's lawn to watch the Stadium of Fire's fireworks while devouring our new favorite chips - Kettle Cooked Sharp Cheddar. Amazing. 

After words we walked down to Burger King to get $1 chicken sandwiches because they were advertised during the dollar movie and since I'm pregnant, they sounded good. And you can't go to a fast food joint without getting french fries, even if it is 11 pm.  Jordan walked and I waddled all around downtown Provo that night hand in hand - Like I said, one of my favorite days ever. Thank you Justin and AJ for giving us this time alone. 

The sock box

I love how easily entertained Lily can be. This is one of her favorite toys - the sock box. It's an old wipe container that I throw all her socks in. I did it so that her socks would all be contained within her drawer, and I just randomly draw two out of the opening on top in the mornings. I do believe there was one day this year that both Lily and I had socks that matched (the sock on the left foot was the same as the right). My mom would have been proud. Anyways, it turns out that it's also Lily's favorite toy - to pull all the socks out and then put them back in. Endless entertainment.

clean time = play time

Lily loves loves loves to "help". From mopping the floor with me, to putting clothes in the wash, she has to be involved. Okay, involved is not enough, she has to be doing exactly what I'm doing with the exact same supplies. 

 

I don't actually put dusting spray on her washcloth, but I make the spraying noise and that seems to pacify her for now.

 

Vacuuming is the one thing she doesn't try to help with, probably because she has just gotten over her fear of the vacuum. Although every Sunday when I pick her up from nursery she is always using their cordless/soundless vacuum. 

Even when I do vacuum, it doesn't stop her from playing! If you notice her froggy shirt - thanks to Hopkins from Signing Time she loves frogs (and penguins for some reason), but this is her favorite shirt. She's had temper tantrums because I couldn't get her out of the bath fast enough to get the froggy shirt on! 

The daily playdate

Easily one of the best parts of moving to Provo has been our awesome neighbors and their two little kids. Their daughter, Chloe is just 6 months older than Lily and the little Lily-kins adores both Chloe and her little 3 month brother Clinton. If we are outside Lily is always trying to knock on their door and if she so much as hears little Chloe while we are inside she jumps up from whatever she's doing and runs to the inside of our door and knocks on it (she associates knocking on doors with them magically opening). 

Of their favorite activities to do together is play with sidewalk chalk, push baby doll strollers up and down our long drive way or just run up and down the drive way. Running is what Brittany (Chloe's mom) and I prefer since it best uses up their seemingly endless amounts of energy while we just sit on the front porch.

My love of their friendship is a bit selfish since I look forward to my almost daily adult conversation with Brittany. I guess both Lily and I are benefiting. 

Lately this is the special look Lily gives her friends when she feels she is saying something important to them (it is reserved for those 3 years old and under). Usually it sounds like gibberish to me, but maybe Chloe understands her.

"you told us to smile" smiles. I'm still working on teaching Lily to sit like a lady.

Silly little Chloe

The little patch of grass we call a yard

One of the biggest perks about our new apartment (besides the charcoal grill that came with it) is our little front yard! It's not much, but a little patch of grass for Lily to run around on that's a good distance from the street is priceless. A huge improvement from living on the corner of two busy streets where there was only a parking lot.

Lily is by far happiest when she's outside and it is second thing she asks for in the mornings (chicken nuggets for breakfast is #1).  I would love to get Lily a little kiddie pool to play in but I have no idea where I would store it so in the meantime she gets to splash in the puddles that form while playing with the hose

"Hi there"

You and I both know she is not actually watering the flowers, but please do not tell her that. When she does aim right and get the flowers she keeps the hose on one particular flower for several minutes with the water pouring down on the petals. So, for the safety of my flowers we will continue to let her think that watering the grass is just as good as the flower bed.

Lily's first flower experience this summer was with a white topped dandelion, and now she thinks that you're supposed to blow on all flowers.

Our sweet neighbors gave Lily this chair that their daughter has outgrown. We've had it for about a month now and she still gets the biggest grin on her face as she sits in it and says, "Chair!"

These are videos of Lily pronouncing my favorite words. She's not just repeating what I'm saying, these are words in her everyday vocabulary. The 3rd video is my favorite sign that she does, and is one of her favorite animals.