St Patty’s Day

Dan ran a 5K…the Rex Lee Run, to support cancer.  His whole family ran in memory of their grandma who died of breast cancer when his dad was just 8 years old.  He did a great job.  Way better than last May when he ran with Chloe.  She really slowed him down. :) Other than that, we didn’t really do anything special.  But don’t you worry, those days will soon come once Gwennie gets a little bigger.  She did, however, have a really cute St. Patty’s day dress.

She looks so big in this picture.  I hate that she’s growing up.  The tiny phase really does pass way too fast.  But look at those cheeks and that double chin.  Does it get any cuter?

Beauty at its best.

10 days after little Gwen was born, I had some newborn photos taken of her, and they turned out fabulous.  She is such a cutie.  She slept the whole time and was quite a trooper as we were moving her into all these different and weird positions.  She is still such an angel, and I am loving being at home with her.  Some days are pretty rough, and I get overwhelmed, and frustrated, and I cry.  A lot. (stupid hormones)  But then I look at her, my heart melts and suddenly, everything just seems worth it.  She still hardly ever cries, and is sleeping so well.  She usually just wakes up once during the night, but sometimes twice.  She has made my transition into motherhood easy when I compare it to some others I know, and yet it is still a hard transition, so all mothers out there, you have my respect.  It’s a hard job…but so completely worth it.  Just look at these photos.  They are proof.

           

Baby Gwen

After one long week of braxton hicks contractions, a couple trips to the hospital, and a lot of crying on my part, our little angel finally decided to make her debut.  I was just laying in bed on Thursday, February 16th, when all of a sudden I felt and heard a big POP.  I couldn’t quite tell what it was, whether she had just kicked me really hard, which was not uncommon, or if perhaps my water broke and this was the awaited day.  A few seconds later it was confirmed that it was most definitely the second.  I was so happy I almost started crying. 

I labored at home for about 2 1/2 hours, before the contractions got REALLY intense.  I was planning on doing a natural birth.  I had taken a class, read some books and felt really confident.  I did pretty well at home, but I was all alone, and I was exhausted because of the prior week.  I had gotten nearly no sleep because of the contractions and the over all pregnant state of my body.  I finally had Dan come home from work so we could go to the hospital because the contractions were so intense, and coming every minute.  We got there, and found I was only dilated to a 3…which is what I had been all week long. So I continued to labor some more in the hospital.  About another 3 hours, and I was only a 4.  I was getting light headed and nauseous because the contractions were so intense, and so I finally decided to just go ahead and get the epidural.  It was good.  I could still feel every contraction, could feel and move my legs, just couldn’t feel the pain.  After that my body was able to relax and I was dilated to a 10 within 4 hours.  The dr came in to check me and said, “Oh, this baby is ready to come out.  Let’s start pushing” so I did, and 30 minutes later, out popped little Gwen.  She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was as beautiful as could be.  She was crying and as soon as they gave her to me and she heard my voice she stopped crying and calmed right down.  Right after she was born and wiped off, we did skin to skin, and she was so wide awake and so alert.  She was just laying there on my chest with her eyes wide open looking around and trying to understand what had just happened.  It was so cute.  Dan and I both fell instantly in love with her and all her dark hair.
After about an hour or so of skin to skin Dan took her to have her first bath while the transferred me down to mother/baby.  I was sad I didn’t get to be there for the bath and to watch Dan, but the nurses did take some photos for us.

This girl has got some serious cheeks on her.  They are so completely kissable.  Sometimes I think that is all I do all day long.  Just kiss her chubby cheeks.  Also, she has about 4 chins.  It’s adorable.  How come it’s so cute when babies are fat, but not when adults are fat?
 
I love this photo.  She looks so much like Dan.  They have all the same facial expressions, and the exact same furrowed eyebrows.  I love this photo because they have the same hair style, and the same look on their faces.  It’s adorable.  She loves him so much.  Dan loves to sing, and so he is always singing something, whether its made up or a song from the radio.  When I was pregnant, every time he would sing Gwen would start moving and kicking around. Now when he sings, she is turning her head every which way to find him and listen to his songs.  If he’s holding her and singing to her, she’ll just stare at him.  It is the cutest thing ever.

We had a lot of visitors in the hospital, and it was fun to see everyone loving on our sweet baby, but by the time I was able to go home, we were ready.  Ready to be back at home and in our own bed, and get started on our life with our girl.  She was such an angel.  She had a bit of jaundice, so for the first week of her life I had to take her back to the hospital every day to get it tested.  Luckily she never had to be under the lights, and finally it was under control so I didn’t have to take her back to the hospital anymore.  She is so sweet.  She hardley ever cries, unless she’s hungry or has a bubble in her stomach that needs to come out.  Otherwise, she is content to snuggle, or lay on the couch or blanket by herself and look around, or sleep.  She loves looking at colors and if there is something in front of her to look at she really has been entertained for hours just staring at the colors.

She is so sweet and we feel so blessed to have her in our family.  We really couldn’t ask for a more perfect baby.  She is an angel and we are loving getting to know her and having her sweet spirit in our home.  Also, Chloe loves her.  Dan has taught Chloe to check on her.  He’ll say, “Chloe, where’s Gwen?” and Chloe will run to her and look at her, then run back to him.  If ever I get home and I put her car seat down without getting her out right away, Chloe will run to her seat and nudge the cover up so she can see her, then she will sit right there watching her until I get her out.  It’s pretty cute.
Could she be any cuter?

I’m a little behind.

So, needless to say I am a little behind in my blogging, but that last month of pregnancy was rough, and I didn’t have much motivation.  But let me catch you up on what’s been happening.  First of all, let me tell you that I am no longer pregnant!! It’s practically the best feeling in the world, besides of course, that my belly feels like jelly.  But I will do a separate post on my little angel.  Let me just catch up on all the events leading up to the grand event.

I had a few baby showers, and it was so fun!  While my sister was here over the holidays she and my other sister and mom threw me a shower with my extended family and neighbors.  I got a ton of stuff, and I am so grateful for everyone who came and got me practically everything on my registry.  The theme was “Carlie is about to POP” and they naturally went crazy with the food.  We had “pop”corn, cake “pops”, snap crackle, and “pop” rice crispies, soda “pop”, amazing spinach dip that some how related to the pop theme, but I can’t remember how. :)  Then we had a “pop” quiz, and at the end everyone got to pop a balloon and get a prize.  It was so much fun!!
 



My sister Natalie is pregnant, and due on April 1st,(we got to be prego together for most of our pregnancies, it was nice to have someone to sympathize with) so that picture in the top left is me and her, and my sister Tara, who as you can tell, is ecstatic NOT to be pregnant.  And let’s be honest, she’s got every right!

Next up, my dear friend Michelle threw me another shower with my friends.  It was so much fun, and I got so many cute outfits!  I can’t wait until my little peanut can wear them all.  Well, actually I can, because that means she is getting bigger, and I am already having anxiety about that, but there is more to come on that matter later.  We had so much amazing gormet food, and she even made homemade macaroons.  They were melt in your mouth delish.
I was pretty bad at taking photos, so here are the few that I do have, and I didn’t even take any of them.  Thanks Michelle for taking photos and throwing me this amazing shower!!

Also, you are welcome to all who stood next to me to take a photo.  I made you look super skinny with my gigantic-ness.

Lastly, Danny’s sisters and my sisters-in-laws threw me a shower.  I realized after the shower that I had not even taken one photo…so I grabbed one on my way out with the balloons.  It was a brunch shower and once again, there was amazing food. I got a lot of cute outfits, toys, blankets and everything else you need when you have a baby.
and when I got home, I found out that Chloe knows how to jump in the baby’s crib.  Oh great.  Luckily I think she forgot she knew how cause she hasn’t done it since. 

Next up:  LABOR & DELIVERY!!  Stay tuned peeps.