Sunday, April 15, 2018

Easter

We thought Kaymond would be old enough this Easter to really appreciate and understand Easter Egg hunts. What he really did though was find one egg at a time, open it, eat whatever candy was inside, drop the egg and then keep looking for a new one. Maybe he's on to something, but since he got only a few eggs at every hunt we did... I doubt it.

Nevertheless, he had an absolute blast spending time with his cousins celebrating Easter by eating copious amounts of chocolate and screaming "bunny!" at the top of his lungs. Goodness I love that boy. Diana slept through every hunt we went to, and of course only got chocolate via mommy- which just made her fussy. We'll try again next year :) But goodness I love this little girl, too!

The Easter Bunny has been here!

Running through the yard hunting for eggs. Ignore our trashed grass- we're working on getting the yard healthy for summer!




Other than chocolate ("chocky"), Kaymond discovered a love of jelly beans, which always brought a cry of "BEANSSS!!!" in his little voice. 

Baby Girl is 1 Month

So as I write this, Diana is actually 6, almost 7 weeks old. But we really did celebrate her 1 month! Her one month mark was actually my 28th birthday on the 28th of March. Diana was also born on the 28th (of February). I am 28, and my mom was 28 when she had me. 28 is just my number :)

At one month Diana is still running the show. She loves to be held and walked around the house. She does not tolerate being put down for tummy time or under her playmat for very long. Her napping and eating schedule is still all over the place, but fortunately she is a marvelous night time sleeper. I feed her around 10 and then go to bed, and she usually wakes for 2 night feedings before we start our day around 7:30 or 8. Nursing has been a bit more of a challenge this time around, but we are slowly working things out together and developing more trust in this mother-daughter relationship. It still blows my mind that I have a little girl. While she definitely has some Ray-like traits, she is certainly my daughter. My baby pictures look almost identical to the sweet little angel we hold today. It's amazing!

Ray's awesomely talented cousin took these pictures for us just in time to work for Diana's one month pictures. I am in love!






Welcoming Baby Girl!

Not long after welcoming 2018, we welcomed our darling princess: Diana Nicole.



We moved into our house when I was 36 weeks pregnant to make sure we were settled before she got here. Then we prayed and cross our fingers that I wouldn't go into labor while Ray was in NYC the week leading up to my due date. Suddenly, Ray was back home, the house was set up, my mom was here to help... and yet baby girl just set up camp.

I got to 40 weeks and 3 days and had my midwife strip the membranes (ouch!). I started having contractions that night. They weren't very strong though, so I laid down on our couch and bam- contractions completely gone. My midwife had said not to try to restart them if that happened and to just get a good night sleep. So I did. The next day I still had no contractions. I went to the gym around 2 to get on the elliptical to see if I could start something! My midwife called me as I was waddling away at the gym- she was just as surprised as I was annoyed that we still didn't have a baby here. She told me I could come on over and she'd check me again and discuss options.

So I went home and picked up Ray. Kaymond stayed home with my parents. We went to see my midwife and just prayed she'd have some good news of some kind. She did a quick check and said I was dilated to a four, then quickly stripped the membranes again. She told us to go on a long walk and call her when we were heading to the hospital. That was about 3 o'clock or so. We wanted to stay close to the hospital, but didn't want to walk outside in the cold- so we headed to Costco!

We roamed up and down the aisles of Costco for a while, and my contractions grew stronger and stronger. Soon I was having to stop in the middle of the aisle and do some deep breathing as I made it through each contraction. We ran into a couple friends there and enjoyed chatting with them. Of course we enjoyed all our samples too :) Finally I decided it was time to head to the hospital. We swang by the house really quick to pick up our pillows and say goodbye to Kaymond. I was checked in and in triage at 5 when they checked me and declared I was a 7 "generously rounding down" as the nurse put it. They walked me to a delivery room and got me all set up. I had an epidural around 5:30 and they told me to relax and let them know when I was feeling pressure. This epidural was not as strong as Kaymond's, and I knew exactly when it was time to push. It was a much different experience! I yelled a lot more as I felt and imagined her head, shoulders, body and legs leave me. At one point they point an oxygen mask on me because I guess they were concerned I wasn't breathing well? I don't know- I was just focused on pushing as my midwife told me baby girl's heart rate was dropping and I needed to get her out now.

So 2 hours after getting to the hospital, out she came- beautiful, healthy, and ready to take on the world. Diana has been a big adjustment for me. But we are settling into our routines and getting to know one another better each day. I had already forgotten how hard having a newborn is. And adding a newborn to a toddler has been a fiasco! I sure love my kiddos though, and am grateful for each of them every day. Diana was born with incredible dark hair and eyes that are sometimes the deepest blue, and other times are nearly hazel. She is such a mystery to us still! She loves sleeping and being held all snuggled up in a fluffy blanket. She is fascinated by her brother and the loud noises he makes all the time. Likewise, Kaymond adores his baby sister and loving strokes her soft head while saying "Oh Ana, oh Ana. So coot!"









Welcoming 2018

It's time to- yet again- play catch up on the blog!

Kaymond turned 2 this year on January 1st. We had an easy fun day by going to the Curiosity Museum with some family, and then having pizza and cupcakes at our apartment. Kaymond was overjoyed to spend time with his cousins. He knows them all by name now and requests them for playdates non stop!

At the end of January (and at 36 weeks pregnant!) we moved into our very own home. It was a marvelous way to start the new year, and we are loving having our own space to grow in. We are especially loving our big back yard and the park at the end of our street!

Cheese! He loves being the center of attention.

Kaymond also loves chocolate.

Cousins helping open gifts.

Uncle Ben!

Aunt Camilla 
Life isn't complete without a giant Costco bear.