I Dont Want to Forget a Thing

The other day I had a moment where I freaked out a little bit- I realized that I will probably never have another newborn.  Even though I am completely at peace with my family size, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I will never have that moment in the delivery room where I see my baby for the first time.  I will never feel a baby kick inside of me again.  I will never have the first day of my babies life back. And I realized that I don't want to forget a moment of this.  Sure, I would love for my baby to be born sleeping through the night (wouldn't we all?!?!), but that is also part of the joy of having a newborn.  Here is a sampling of what I don't want to forget.  

... the moment they laid Everly on my chest

... newborn milky smell

... the feeling when Everly first latched on

... rubbing my hands through all of the fuzzy, brunette hair

... perfectly manicured fingers and toes
... changing her first poopy diaper (what can I say, that is love)

... smiling while she drifts off to sleep

... grunting in her sleep

... the way her head flops (always to the left side)

... watching Emma smother her with kiss after kiss

... the way she arches her back when I wake her up to feed her

... watching her curl her legs into the froggy position

... snuggling after a feeding session
... watching her eyes roll back in her head as she drifts off to sleep
... Everly's chapped upper lip from nursing
... the first bath
... clenched fists
... watching fingers and toes fill out
... watching her when she startles herself- fingers and toes are out wide!
... the drunk milk look
... how tiny her legs were when she was born
... how much I despise the spitting up stage
... how much I love the first smiles and coo's
... how light weight she feels compared to a toddler
... how much I love breastfed poopy diapers
... how I love to take her picture in every single bow/headband I have purchased
... repeating over and over "hi Everly, I am your mommy"
... the moment they focus their eyes on you and you realize they know you are their mommy

There is no better feeling in the world than being these two girls mommy.  I am so blessed :).

Letter to Everly: 1 Month

Height: 21 3/4 inches
Weight: 10lbs 7.5oz (I think I may have finally gotten my chunky baby :))

Sweet Sweet Everly,

How are you 1 month already?!?! Time is flying by way to fast.  When you came into our lives one month ago, you completed our family.  We are still trying to figure you out and you, likewise, are trying to figure us out (especially that blonde hair sister of yours :)).  You started out the first month of your life with your days and your nights confused.  After a couple of weeks, you have finally figured it out and you will now have one part of the night where you sleep between 4 and 6 hours.  

You, sweet baby, love to do two things: eat and be held.  I feel like we nurse 100 times a day.  Daddy makes jokes that we nurse every 30 - 45 minutes.  That is ok with me, Everly, there is no better way I can imagine spending my maternity leave than breastfeeding you.  It is the best bonding in the whole world.  That and smooching the heck out of you which I tend to do right after we nurse.  You prefer to be held throughout the day especially when you are napping- occasionally, we oblige :).

You have been so many places and experienced so many things in your first month of life.  We are definitely not afraid to get out and about with you and go someplace everyday so that your sister has an "activity".  You have been to the zoo (twice), rode the trinity train, been to several different parks, several different malls and several different grocery stores (I think you agree with us that Central Market is your favorite).  You have also been to the doctor's office more than I can count.  Between your checkups, mommy's mole removal and your hearing tests- we have spent several hours in doctor's offices in August.

The best part of your first month is how much you have been able to hang out with your extended family.  You have seen both sets of your grandparents and your great grandpa several times.  Everyone that meets you- loves you :)

You have the best hair and so much of it- you take after me ;).  You gave us your first coos and smiles this month- I swoon every time you do this.

I want to soak in every single newborn moment of you- I love you dearly.

Love Always,
Mommy

1st Bottle

So far, all of Everly's firsts are just as exciting to me as Emma's- and that was no exception when it came time for Everly to have her first bottle.  Emma had her first bottle at exactly 2 weeks old- the pediatrician told us we could go for it, so we just decided to go for it.  I wasn't really planning on Everly having her first bottle that early, but due to my mole removal surgery we knew that moment would come sooner rather than later.  So at 2 weeks and 2 days we decided to prepare Everly for my day of pumping and dumping.  It was a sad, bittersweet moment for me as a breastfeeding mommy so of course I made Wes give Everly her first bottle.

I pumped the bottle to order so it would be the same temperature she was used too- she fussed around with it for a little bit and then took it like a champ.

Of course, Everly cant do anything by herself without her other half looking on bothering her.

And just like that, we were all set for our day of pumping and dumping :).

In case you were wondering, Everly did fine on the pumping and dumping day; I, on the other hand, shed a few tears the first time I dumped 8 perfectly good ounces of breast milk down the drain.  I am happy to report that Everly latched right back on the following morning and our breastfeeding journey to date has been smooth.  Now, I feel like I should go knock on some wood :).  

New Baby

And for once, I am not talking about Everly.  I started my maternity leave on my due date which left us with two weekdays before Everly's arrival.  On Friday morning, at 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant, we decided to head to the zoo to see the new baby elephant, Belle (and ohmygoodness, baby Belle was adorable and precious and made me long for my little one to arrive).  We stopped at Starbucks on our way to the zoo- I figured a little caffeine might make my own baby come- no dice.

It was raining pretty hard when we got there and we debated whether we should even go or not, but we just decided to go for it.  Daddy and Emma braving the rain.

Emma's favorite animal noise to make is the elephant- so we knew she would be excited to see one!

Mommy and Emma :).

The baby was hiding behind her mamma at first (you can see her right there in the middle- she looks like a fifth leg).

But then she came out to play!

She was so itty bitty in person- truly amazing!

My favorite moment was watching her nurse- I just couldn't wait for Everly to be born so I could be nursing her :).  It was one of those little heart melting moments.

The rain had stopped and Wes had gone out to the car to get our "real" camera.  Emma was holding onto me pretty tight when he got back- it was like she knew that in a few days she wouldn't be the only baby anymore ;).

After that we headed over to the reptile exhibit so Emma could see the fish in the aquarium.

Emma was pretty nervous, but she also "petted" a snake.  Here is Wes showing her the ropes.

I didn't catch the actual moment on my phone, but she touched the snake right before I took this picture.

After that- we headed home in order for Emma and I to take naps.  It was a great day spent as a family of three before welcoming our very own new baby a few days later.

Everly Grace: 4 Weeks

(note: lack of outfit due to 1st blowout during our 4 week old photo session :))

Likes: first coos to mommy and daddy, sleeping for six hours straight (hooray!), first trip to Starbucks, wearing her first party hat at Grandpa George's birthday, first Prochaska family walk (4+ miles)

Dislikes: taking a pacifier for longer than 5 minutes, not being fed every 45 minutes ;), being in her car seat while not being in constant motion

I Became THAT Mom

... you know the one that tries out different pacifiers just to see if her baby will take one.  Yes, I really never thought I would even have to become that mom.  With Emma, we registered for NUK pacifiers, that is what we were gifted and she took it flawlessly.  When we were preparing for Everly, I stocked up on some new 0 - 6 month NUK pacifiers.  Imagine my surprise at the hospital when Everly wanted nothing and I mean NOTHING to do with the pacifier.  I thought all kids liked pacifiers and it never crossed my mind that she wouldn't take the NUK pacifier.  After three weeks of failed attempts at taking the pacifier, Wes researched pacifiers and we headed to Target just to buy the soothie pacifier- it is supposed to mimic breastfeeding the best.  I anxiously waited until Everly woke up once we got home to see what the verdict would be.

Spoiler alert- she didn't love it, but she does take it.  And, she gets really frustrated when it falls out of her mouth which happens about every 20 seconds to five minutes.  So the pacifier saga continues.  Some people have asked me why I want her to take a pacifier so badly- the thing is I want something that will soothe her that is not breastfeeding.  A pacifier is what worked for Emma so I just assumed this will work for Everly too.  I feed Everly around the clock during the day and I know she is not hungry some of the times, but it is the only thing that will soothe her.  Baby girl needs another soothing mechanism :).

On a happier note, on the same Target trip, I bought Everly her first piece of clothing that is just for her (i.e. not a hand me down).  Another spoiler alert- this cute outfit cost less than the pacifier experiment ;).

Sometimes You Just Have to Say Yes

Last Saturday morning, Wes was out cleaning the pool since we were having his family over to go swimming later on that day.  Emma spotted him and wanted to go outside with her daddy.  I opened the door and went out with her, not thinking much of it since she was in her full, zippered pajamas.  Well as soon as I let her through the pool gate, she headed straight for the water and went right in with her pajamas and everything.  Since she was already wet, I decided to just strip her pajamas (and diaper) off of her and let her "swim" in the water even though it was not even 8 in the morning.

I am so glad I just said yes to her and let her go in- she had so much fun splashing around in her skives. 

Happy girl!  This is the classic Emma face right now- her left eye wide open and her right eye squinted.  

One of her favorite words- ball!

And a nice break from our routine of swim diaper and sunscreen before mom allows her anywhere near the water :).

Small Moments- Watermelon

The other day, Emma and I enjoyed our morning watermelon on the backyard porch  in our p-jammers while daddy was snuggling Everly.

It was one of those moments that you ask yourself, does life get any better than this?!?!

In that moment, the answer was no.  My big girl was eating one of her favorite foods and getting the 1 on 1 attention that she craves :).

It was also one of those moments where you are super grateful that the iPhone was invented to capture it all :).

Maternity Leave To Do List

I know I am already 3 weeks into my 12 week maternity leave, but here is my to do list (or activity list) before I have to go back to work. I feel like it helps to write it all down to keep us focused- as you can see in the picture below, the first day we were at home, I pushed Emma around the house in the stroller so we were in desperate need of a list :).

... take Everly's newborn pictures

... celebrate Wes's birthday

... find Emma's Halloween costume (an elephant), Everly will most likely be the monkey

... take Halloween photos at the arboretum

... go to the zoo with Wes's family

... Central Market Hatch Festival

... have my mole removed

... eat at the Fort Worth food truck park

... take Emma to a splash park

... visit the park by our house at least five times (1 out of 5)

... on hot days take Emma to the parks at the mall  (3 times)

... celebrate 3 years of being married to my hubby

... take Emma to bouncing babies at the library
... take Emma swimming in the afternoon (at least 2 days a week)- she loves this!

... order pictures of Everly

... take Emma and Everly to Fort Worth Day in the District

... frame the prints I bought for the dining room

... visit Bobbob once a week (so far we are 3 for 3)

... take Emma to her first day of preschool

... order 75% of the prints for the gallery wall in our newly designed living room

... share those prints I ordered on the blog

... write Everly's birth story (remember this took me nine months to complete for Emma)

... keep up with Everly's weekly pictures and posts (and figure out if I am still going to do the calendar pictures)

... take Emma on a pony ride at the church picnic
... finish the other half of the family gallery wall
... order a new engineering print with Everly in it
... keep snapfish up to date
... go to the state fair
... lunch with my sisters in Dallas
... take Emma on a 1:1 frozen yogurt date

... celebrate Everly's baptism with a bar-b-que at our house

... take Emma to the petting zoo in the stockyards
... squeeze in one non-anniversary date with my husband

... get quotes on repainting the cabinets in our kitchen

... in the same light, research and scout cork flooring options for our kitchen

... take Emma to toddler time at the trampoline park

... enjoy the extra time that I get with my husband and my two babies :)

Everly Grace: 3 Weeks

Likes: 1st visit to the zoo, 2nd visit to hatch festival, taking first bottle, snuggling Kelli on Sunday afternoon, taking baths with Emma, 1st non-sleepy smile as a reaction to my cooing, passing hearing test

Dislikes: being hungry, taking a pacifier, the 7pm to 9pm timeframe

Everly's Tree

As you might remember, I blogged about the tree my dad bought Everly before she was born- a Bloodgood Japanese Maple.  Before Everly got to be too old, I wanted to get some pictures of my dad and Everly next to her tree.  Right now, the tree is much bigger than Everly- although you have to look close fro the tree in these pictures since it is not very leafy right now.

Love seeing these two together!

But, just like Emma's tree- she will be standing next to it before we know it :(.

Emma halfway wanted to get in on the action- but in true toddler fashion, she didn't want to smile for the camera and this was the best we could manager of the tree of them.

Thanks for the tree Grandpa George- Everly loves it :).

Evolution of a Smile

I had just finished nursing Everly and laid her on her lap since she was unusually alert right after a nursing session.  She was deep in thought at first.  I was deep in thought trying to determine what her eye color will be :).  Here they actually look a little blue to me, but for the most part they are a steel grey.

Then, she started drifting off to sleep and I was so happy I had my phone nearby to capture these different stages of her smile.

Is there anything better than seeing your daughter smile?!?! I don't think so :).  She finished up her smiling session by sticking her tongue out at me!

Love you baby girl!

Everly with Family Favorites

I am still working on sorting through all of the hundreds of birth photos in order to write Everly's birth story, but in the meantime here are some pictures of Everly meeting different family members in the first few days of her life.

I was the first one that got to hold Everly!  This was the part that was infinitely better than my last birth- they placed her on me as soon as she was born!

The first time that daddy got to hold his brunette baby :).

Daddy and Everly :)- melts my heart!

And just because I can't get enough of these two!

Other than Wes and I, Emma was the first one to meet Everly.  Wes brought her into the hospital room first (and by herself).  She was a little timid and shy at first, but has really warmed up to her sister :).

Nonni and Everly.

Grandpa George and Everly- love my dad's facial expression here.

Ally and Everly- moments after we asked Ally to be Everly's Godparent.

Nonni, Grandpa George and Emma came to visit us at the hospital on the second day too- love this picture of me and my girls (as a side note- can't believe I can say girls now!!).

Austin, Craig and Everly :).

Bobbob and Everly.

Bobbob with both of his great-granddaughters- also melts my heart!

Celeste, Shelley, Abigail, Emma and Everly :).

Looking through all of these pictures just reminds me how blessed we are to have a family that loves Everly (and Emma) so much.  Lots more pictures of Everly with family and friends to come!