mama's girls

dear girlies:
i love you.
especially when you let me shove a camera lens in your face.
thanks for being so awesome.

ps. kate- you're doing so great at dressing yourself and burping the baby. keep up the strong work. next  is babysitting so mama can go get pedicure.

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week 5: recap

last recap! 

i now consider myself officially caught up.

[until i go back to work in april and neglect everything except my kids and my sleep]

sigh.

i really shouldn't complain since my job provides our family with health insurance that has great maternity coverage.

a much appreciated fact considering my bill from the hospital [that didn't include the bill from the anesthesiologist or evelyn's care] was more than $13,000!! 

so working my full 1 year contract is totally worth it.

week 5:

and that was week 5.

the zoo and that gummy smile were the highlights of our week.

in current news:

evelyn has had reflux ever since she was born.

it seems to be a horrific genetic curse since i had it as a baby, kate had it and both my sister's kids as well.

but evelyn's is much worse than kate's ever was and it had me concerned.

i talked with our pediatrician today about possible causes and solutions.

we think it's just reflux and nothing worse but he wanted to be sure.

so we took ev for an ultrasound of her stomach to make sure all is in working order.

much like we suspected, everything appeared normal.

i think the next step will be to try some medicine but i'll know more on thursday when we follow up.

i'm glad nothing seems to be terribly wrong with my baby but it's still quite frustrating.

every feeding means a change of clothes [for her and me].

bibs don't help- we have to use blankets instead of burp cloths to try to catch it all [and we never can contain it all. she seriously spits everywhere.]

the carpet and furniture have stains on them.

and she constantly stinks like spit up.

 today she urped in the car while i was taking kate to school-

i was just cruising along and i heard:

 'urp, splash... urp, splash... urp, splash... urp, splash'

that's her normal routine- to forcefully spit up at least 4-5 times.

she soaked her blanket, bib, clothes and the car seat.

she doesn't appear to be in pain and she's gaining weight, for which i am very grateful.

but it's frustrating nonetheless.

these are such minor complaints in the scheme of things.

i know how lucky we are to have a healthy child.

but still, i'm tired.

i just want to feed and snuggle my baby without getting a breastmilk shower. 

and that is that today.

complaining finished.

one more gummy grin?

ok, i'm not frustrated anymore.

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week 4: recap

katers:

 you stole the show during week 4.

while clicking through pics i noticed that majority of my pics were of you.

it took me a minute to figure out why i didn't have photographic evidence that you even have a baby sister....

then i remembered that was the week evelyn lost her hair and had really bad baby acne.

not her best look. 

hence the lack of photos.

does that make me a bad mom?

probably.

but then again i've given up dr pepper for evelyn's sake so maybe that makes up for it??

[thank heavens for caffeine-free pepsi since that's become my fall-back while nursing]

so back to you, my first-born.

you know what i love about you?

your sensitivity.

you want everyone to be happy and when you notice someone who's upset you try to fix it.

this is most evident with myself or evelyn-

when i cry [which i often do. dang roller-coaster post-partum hormones] you're always right there asking,

'what's wrong mommie? your tears are falling?'

and then you hug me and say,

'be happy. i wuv you'

and then i cry harder.

because i'm a sappy mother who's so incredibly blessed to have you as a daughter.

hot dang, i love your guts.

it should also be brought to attention you're increasing independence.

i'm constantly torn between frustration and pride with this new phase.

i love watching you dress yourself and put your shoes on.

but it drives me batty that your shirts are inside out and your shoes are on the wrong feet.

i'm working on this.

i even let you wear an self-picked atrocious looking outfit to school the other day.

yeah for baby steps!

oh hey look.

a rare picture of baby E.

glad i took the time to document this exocist-ish moment.

this probably should've been a recipe for disaster-

paintbrush+dark paint+toddler.

but oddly it wasn't.

you stayed right by my side and only painted the area i said to.

you rock.

and then there's this.

your obsession with breast-feeding baby elmo.

i'm just going with it for now.

spring has arrived in yuma.

and by spring, i mean summer.

mid-eighties everyday means after church patio parties with friends.

you're too young to remember this party but let me assure you it was awesome.

except for the part where you cried the whole time because the other kids wouldn't do exactly what you told them to. ummm, that sucked.

bossy much?

thankfully krew and ty [your 3 yr old partners in crime] forgive and forget easily.

not only is evelyn your spitting image [she gets called 'kate' about 50 times a day],

she also has your sausage toes.

before ev was born, we promised you a trip to sea world.

it's all you've talked about for nearly 2 months.

well, next weekend all your hopes and dreams will come true.

we will spend the weekend ensuring that you have the best time ever.

thanks for being such a peach.

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week 3: recap

ev- 

i'm already a little foggy on the details from the end of february [should've blogged sooner. curse my horrific memory. curse it.] but let's do this anyway...

kate decides baby sisters aren't horrible inventions and enjoys kissing you constantly.

and we decide it's high time we kick the finger-sucking in the butt.

[she's now only allowed to suck her finger when she sleeps. there is nothing funnier than watching her sprint to her bed at bedtime while yelling 'i get to suck my finger!!' ah, kids.] 

your newborn grunting got out of control and was keeping both your dad and i awake at night.

once nana left [sniffle, sniffle, sob- we miss nana!] we moved you to your crib.

everyone slept much better after that.

you have a stork bite birthmark just like your big sis.

wonder if all our kids will have this?

monday night ritual-

snuggles, pizza and the bachelor.

and more sleeping. 

sorry this isn't more interesting.... 

oh hey look! 

it's us having a diaper change/nursing session in old navy's family dressing room.

my apologies to the 2 other shoppers- we hogged the room for 35 minutes.

our life really is wonderful.

my days are spent snuggling and feeding you and playing with kate.

i feel incredibly lucky to have 2 beautiful and healthy daughters.

i just wish maternity leave lasted 6 months.

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