Our little Steelers fan borrowing Mommy's jersey

I love my cousin Sean!!!

How cute are these two monkeys?

Anna and Brynn share a secret

One week old Brynn

Mom and I spent Brynn's 1 week birthday shopping at Babies R Us and the best maternity store in Richmond, It's Hip to be Round. Brynn had a successful out of house nursing day! Luckily both of the stores had special nursing places, but my goal is to be comfortable nursing wherever we go. At the maternity store, I found a beautiful sling and nursing cover, which I can't wait to open on my birthday! They match my Vera Bradley backpack I've been using as a diaper bag so perfectly. Thanks Mom!!

Brynn is spending more time awake and alert, and it's so cute to see her eyes cross in and out trying to focus. Tonight she "watched" Anna take a bath and Anna enjoyed showing her how she brushed her teeth. I can foresee some "Let's show Brynn how you...." moments in the future!

Last night it was, "Let's show Brynn how you eat your dinner."

Going shopping

Because 90% of Brynn's things are hand-me-downs of Anna's, I thought it would be nice for her to have something new and girly of her own. I found this car seat cover (to cover Anna's old car seat) on SmallSprouts.com, and LOVE it. It's a lavender toile with lavender minky middle and reverses to lavender minky fabric. The toile scene has little kids playing and even has a golf scene!

Brynn's first Halloween costume

If you look closely, you can see a vertical line down her body, where the right half of her body is red, and the left half is paler. This is called the Harlequin effect, and it's only found in some newborns for a temporary period. It's one of those weird things that happens and there's no problems associated with it. We noticed it the other night when she was nursing on her side. The bottom side turned bright red and the top was pale. When we flipped her over, she went right back to normal. Maybe we should change her name to Harley or Camille (chameleon).

Sleeping in the swing, mommy's newest best friend.

This picture was taken moments before I experienced Brynn's first rocket poop. I decided it would be easy to change her diaper on the couch, and that I could be quick enough to prevent any accidents. Boy, was I wrong! In between the diaper change out, Brynn managed to shoot poop about a foot (maybe more!) out of her little body, all down my leg, and all over the couch. It was not pretty, and all I could think of was, what do I do? No one else was here, Mom was on her way to pick up Gigi and Mac for a visit, and John and Anna were out on a 7-11 run. The second thought I had was, "this will make a great post for the blog". But then reality set in and I had to clean up the couch, myself, the baby, and her clothes, and the camera wasn't readily available. It was impressive, though, to say the least!

Gigi and her 7th great-grandbaby

Learning to touch gently

Our first day at home

We were so glad to get home and attempt to get settled on Thursday. Anna stayed home from school, and enjoyed greeting her little sister and showing her to her new room. Brynn is the typical newborn with her days and nights completely switched. The first night she was awake more than asleep, and has had varying nights of 30 min-2 hours of sleep since. Of course she sleeps very well during the day! Yesterday was our first day out and she slept soundly through our Kohl's and Chick-fil-A trip, barely waking enough to eat! Last night we tried putting her in the swing to sleep, and she slept for a good 2 hours at a time before needing to feed again. So that was a great relief to know that she WILL sleep, it's just a matter of finding what works right now.

Tuesday Morning

7:00 am

Tuesday evening

6:19 pm

Here she is!!!

After a 13 hour labor and successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean section), Brynn Elizabeth Barrow joined our family, screaming mad and pink as can be. She weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces, and was 20 inches long. Her apgar score was 9, 10 (and I don't think that's just because I'm an L&D nurse). She nursed within the first hour and has continued to nurse very well since. Anna loves to say "Big Sister" and "Baby Sister", and while she tends to be a little rough "patting" Brynn, she did help burp her this afternoon and did a nice job!

Anna meets Brynn for the first time

More pictures to come!!

It's 3 in the morning. I took a Tylenol PM last night to help me sleep. Next time I'll take 2. Contractions and cramping are obnoxious but not enough to call my OB (every 15 minutes or less). I'm waiting to see what happens in the next hour. Anna's restless in her crib, which I find interesting. I have to say I love our new video monitor! We can tell if she's really awake or not, and we had no idea how long she actually was awake once we put her to bed! Sometimes she's in there playing for an hour! I never would have known it before getting this monitor. She just got up, turned her crib toy on, and now is back on the pillow. Too funny.

My new playset

John is working on a great playset that includes a slide, a swing, a fort, a sandbox, and some other features that will be added once Anna is old enough to use them. Right now the slide is a HUGE hit. I took a video of it, but silly me turned the camera sideways so the video is sideways...not sure what I was thinking other than I was able to get the whole slide in view without moving the camera!! Anyway, she loves sliding and doesn't mind the static electricity associated with it! If the mosquitos weren't so bad, we would stay outside forever playing with this!

18 months

Hard to believe that this little girl is already a year and a half old! Time really does fly by. New words this week are "Stuck", "Excuse", and "Tractor". She's gotten to the point where she'll try to repeat things you say if you ask her, but some words come on their own. One of the funniest words she's saying is "Butts" sometimes instead of "Bus". She's gotten better at the correct pronunciation, but it was hard not to laugh when a bus would go by and she'd shout, "BUTTS!" She's also saying "Bye Bye Daddy/Mommy/Tractor" instead of just saying "Bye". It's cute.

18 month stats

Height: 34 in (97th percentile!)

Weight: 25 lb 15 oz (75th percentile)

Dr. Terry says she's tall and slender, and he's pleased with her language skills and social skills. We were given handouts on sibling rivalry and bringing the new baby home, and instructed to keep discipline in our house at all times, so she knows "the rules" and feels secure. I'm so eager to see how Anna will react to having the new baby in the house. While she LOVES babies, baby dolls, etc, I don't think she's going to love sharing Mommy and Daddy. It should be interesting!

Mommy at 34 weeks and Anna

October 7, 2007

Mark your calendars!! This is the day we've picked to bring Baby B into the world. Due to John's busy work schedule (and the potential for him not to be able to get off of work should I go into labor) and with my history of quick labor, we've scheduled an induction for that Sunday. Also, with an attempt for a VBAC, I'd like to be in the hospital, on the monitor, for all of my labor! Of course Baby B could decide she wants an earlier birthday just like her sister! We'll just have to wait and see!

Talking up a storm

Anna seems to have a new word in her vocab every day. Yesterday she perfected MILK, when she was trying to delay bedtime, she knew that after bedtime prayers with giraffe she would be put in her crib. So she signs and says "MILK" with these pitiful big blue eyes. What parent in their right mind would delibrately dehydrate their child? She had been saying "MILP" for milk, until last night. She also started saying DARK, BUS, PIGGY, and really likes to enunciate CUP. She's working on SISTER "sista", SCHOOL "scoo", and OUTSIDE "side". It's funny how toddlers need interpreters for their language!

Chair climbing is a new favorite sport

I think this was an attempt at "cheese"

Contractions, contractions

Baby B is getting us prepared!! Monday around noon I started having some very uncomfortable contractions while Mom and I were shopping (of course for the little monkey!). We came home, I hydrated well, laid down, but didn't get any relief, so off to the doctor we went. I ended up in L&D for some monitoring and a medication called Terbutaline *yuck*. Not 5 minutes after the initial injection I felt like a racehorse on speed. My heart rate was well over 110, and I was shaking like I was really cold. Luckily it knocked the contractions out completely, so I was free to go home. I took one more dose of Terbutaline and decided that the side effects were not worth the benefit of stopping labor. SO far, I haven't had too many painful contractions to make me think about taking it again. I would be more worried if I wasn't over 34 weeks pregnant, and even my OB was hesitant to give me something to stop the contractions. So if they come again, then we'll be ready! My bag is officially packed, and all I have left to do is wrap Baby B's present for her big sister.

Happy 95th Birthday Gigi!

Yesterday we all got together to celebrate Gigi's birthday. Her 3 children, 7 of 8 grandchildren, and 5 of 6 great-grandchildren (with 2 more on the way!) were there to help celebrate, as well as one of her late sisters' husband and his family. It was great to all be together even for just a few hours. Anna and I went over today after church to help set up the birdbath we gave her, eat lunch, and have some more yummy cake. She is such a special woman, and I think Anna knows this, as she willingly shares her lovey and Lila with her when she comes to visit us, and Anna will not do that with anyone else!

A monkey reunion

We were so excited to see cousins Sean and Braxton on Saturday!! This is one of the few pictures I have with all 3 kids in the same frame! It's so hard to catch these kids still!

Funny what a kid will find to play with...maybe this means he'll be an Ear Nose Throat doc when he grows up?

Sean at almost 19 months- all my pictures of this little guy have major red eye issues! I'm so bummed! He is such a character, with his own creative language and all! If only they came with an interpreter!

Braxton at 17 months

Waiting patiently for dinner...this is before the tablecloth was shredded....

We can't wait to have the monkeys together again at Thanksgiving!

Another new favorite toy

Anna LOVES to push her stroller (with either Lovie, aka "Sessa" or "Tessa", Lila, or some stuffed animal in it) around the house. She will do laps through the living room, dining room, and kitchen, practicing to be a great big sister. (Not that she'll be pushing Baby B anytime soon in that stroller!)

I love this next picture because it looks like she's doing lunges. Work it girl!

When the kid's away, the CATS will play!

Anna's newest toy, the Weeble Castle, is a big hit at our house with both the human child and the feline ones. Rye particularly likes to fish for the weebles as they spin around the moat, and he's even batted them around the floor. It's funny to see my 8 year old cats play again!

Sisterly love

Anna loves her baby sister. She likes to pull my shirt up to expose my belly, give it kisses, and "gentle" pats. Sometimes I wonder if Baby B will have bruises on her or if she will flinch when she sees her big sister coming once she's here!

If you leave a toddler alone in a room with a bag of closed Doritos...

She found them, opened them up, and proceeded to help herself...

And then...

Lesson learned.

John's newest lady

So I can't validate the gas mileage, but I have to say it's a very comfortable ride! The DVD player will be nice once Anna pays attention to movies, and the heated seats will be super nice in the winter!

New Room Pictures

These aren't the greatest, but at least you get to see the pretty walls! I will take more when we have some more decorations. I'm still searching for that perfect ladybug comforter/valance combo!

So far, Anna has slept very well in her new room- this afternoon she took a 2 1/2 hour nap in there and even slept through a huge thunderstorm!

The new room

This past week and weekend John put a lot of hard work into painting Anna's new room. It was our goal to get Anna moved in the month of July. The room still has some decorating issues (like window treatments, wall decor) but I'm so glad that Anna is sleeping in there right now, it doesn't matter! I think it's helped that we've been talking to her about her new room and had her play in it while we (John) fixed it up. John painted the trim, the walls, the door, the closet doors, put new fan blades up, hung new blinds, and moved furniture in and out. Right now we just have the crib, changing table, and two dressers in there. It looks so empty in the middle! I guess it's good to keep it simple, though. Once Anna starts climbing out of the crib it gives her less stuff to get into!

It is a very strange feeling to walk by the empty nursery now that Anna is asleep in her new room- it's a big reality check that there will be another little person in that room soon and it's kinda exciting but frightening at the same time! Thank goodness Baby B is a girl because I can use most of Anna's stuff for her. I did buy her own little loveys the other day, and I plan on getting her a special blanket as well, so that she can have SOME of her own things!

I learned Monday night/Tuesday morning how much my pregnant body can handle as far as errands, and it's not much. I spent most of the day casually shopping for Anna's new room, and then paid for it by having to go get monitored in Labor and Delivery (where I should've been working). I didn't think about how Baby B is going through a growth spurt at the moment and how tired my body is because of it. Tuesday morning around 3am I woke up with the feeling that Baby B was trying to kick her way out, and it started making me anxious about having a preterm baby. So then I couldn't sleep, got up, drank some water, and then proceeded to start contracting. I didn't want to be one of those patients that had problems because of dehydration, so by the time 8am rolled around, I had 2.5 liters of water in my system. I called my OB then, because I was contracting every 5 minutes and had been for an hour. I spent about 4 hours in the hospital, had some tests done, and the contractions slowed down enough for me to go home. Thank goodness for Lola, who picked up Anna from daycare and kept her until John picked her up. I was able to get a decent nap in, and still get to spend some time with her that afternoon.

I feel ambivalent about having Anna in daycare full-time now. She used to go 3 days a week, and when I started working 4 days a week, it got stressful trying to figure out her care for that 1 day. Now she can go every day, which on one hand is great because I can drop her off and get some errands done, but on the other hand, I miss her like crazy and feel like I'm letting someone else raise my baby. Plus it never fails that she comes home with a new bump, bruise, scratch, or filthy clothes. I feel like her new classroom just lets the kids run wild without much attention. Maybe I will get used to that, since she IS a toddler, and that's what toddlers do, but still, I just hate picking her up and inspecting her body for the latest wound. :(