Everly Grace: 2 Weeks

Likes: finishing newborn pictures, nursing, meeting more family members and friends, sleeping through first pool party

Dislikes: 2nd doctor's appointment, PKU screening, taking a pacifier

Milk

For those that have been reading my blog for long know that I loved breastfeeding Emma.  I experienced major emotional issues when my supply dropped about two months into going back to work.  The day that my husband had to give her a formula bottle, I bawled.  I really felt like I was letting Emma down.  I was sad and confused as to why my body could not produce enough milk for her.  December 3rd, 2012 was our last nursing session.  I remember it like it was yesterday- although I have never blogged about that last day.  I was two months pregnant with Everly.  I sat in Emma's nursery and cried silent tears since I knew our nursing relationship was over.

Luckily, I already knew I was pregnant and knew that I would get to have this journey again.  It helped to ease the silent pain that comes with the end of a nursing relationship.  I knew I would try to do things differently this time around.  With Emma, I underestimated how much stored milk I would need when the time came and my supply dropped.  I thought I had so much breast milk stored up, but when Emma was drinking more than I was producing on a daily basis, I knew that the frozen milk would eventually run out.  This time around, I am more determined than ever to make it to a year of breastfeeding Everly.  To help with this- I knew I would need to start pumping immediately.

I will eventually get to Everly's birth story, but to cut to the chase, I lost a ton of blood after giving birth- it took the nurses close to 40 minutes to get the bleeding to stop.  As soon as I was taken care of, I was allowed to breastfeed Everly.  She latched on beautifully.  It was the start of this miraculous journey again.  I teared up just watching her nurse.  I love the personal photos that Wes captured of this moment.

When we got home, I started pumping (mostly to alleviate engorgement) immediately.  Everly is 10 days old today and I have 70 ounces already pumped.  I know that this journey will have lots of ups and downs along the way, but I am ready to embrace it :).  I feel so blessed that I get to experience breastfeeding all over again.

Emma: 17 Months

Skills: I have been struggling with writing this post- 17 months was not a huge month developmental wise and was kind of a blur since it was the end of my pregnancy.  18 months is a whole different ball game- she spent two nights away from me and I feel like she came back with a whole new vocabulary.  But we will focus on 17 months for now :).  I try to take notes on my iPhone throughout the month and the funniest thing that I wrote down that she said is "I will be right back, daddy" while pointing to him.  This was hilarious.  I didn't realize what she was saying at first, but once Wes told me that he always says this to Emma while shaking his finger at her.  She would say this to Wes and then run into the other room screeching because she thought she was so funny.

Likes: she likes the pool this month!  I am so happy to say that my baby is no longer deathly afraid of the pool and will actually willingly go in the pool by herself.  Also, when asked if she wants to go swimming, she says yes.  We have been putting a swim diaper on her late in the afternoon and just letting her splash around on the steps- twice, she even reached out for me to go in the big pool.  In addition, Emma loves bath time.  She shrieks and runs towards the stairs anytime we ask her if she wants a bath.  She still consistently likes strawberries, eggs and cheese although she will try most things that we give her for dinner.

Struggles: our biggest struggle is getting Emma to sit still at a restaurant.  It really is a case by case basis and one that we cant predict.  I have a feeling that we will discontinue eating out with Emma for the foreseeable future because it is just to unpredictable and embarrassing when she throws a fit.  That being said, the other thing we are struggling with is tantrums.  Emma bit me for the first time this month- in her defense, she didn't really know what she was doing, but we are still trying to teach her that this is wrong.  This also goes for throwing her plate of food on the floor, kicking her legs and hitting.  Oh the toddler years have already proven to be a little trying :/.

Miscellaneous: Emma is still wearing size three diapers and fitting into 12 - 18 month clothing.  At the end of 17 months, she has seven teeth and two molars.  She gives the best kisses (mostly on command) and when she is in the mood, she will give kisses over and over.  She loves to chase balls, pull out every toy she owns and read books.  Her wispy blonde hair is starting to fill in and she still has the best sparkling blue eyes.  We love this kiddo to the moon and back and enjoyed spending her 17th month with her as her last month of being an only child.

The Calm Before The Storm

Last Wednesday, July 31st, was our first night at home as a family of four.  Bedtime routines went ridiculously well.  Emma was exhausted from the prior days activities- I mean getting a new sister is all kinds of hard work when you are 17 months old.  She climbed up in Wes's lap, drank her bottle and went right to sleep.  I transferred her to her crib upstairs and she continued sleeping.  I came down and Everly was in her pack n play sleeping.  I went into the kitchen where Wes was and I told him, "I feel like this is the calm before the storm".

And it was.

The next two hours were glorious.  Wes and I ate bagels that Austin had brought us, watched TV and reminisced about the days activities.  Wes moved the pack n play upstairs to our room just in case she didn't want to sleep in her crib. I woke her up, fed her and transferred her to her crib.  She slept for about 30 minutes and then the squawking began.  I rushed to go feed her so that Emma wouldn't wake up.  This continued for the next four hours.  FOUR hours- I ran back in forth from our room to her room.  Everly didn't seem to remember that her stomach is only as big as a dime so she spit up my milk for four hours straight!

Then, at 3am, what I was afraid would happen, happened.  Emma woke up crying.  Wes goes to get Emma. He cant get her to go back to sleep in her crib so he brings her to our bed.  Everly and I move downstairs for the night.  The crying and squawking continue for the next hour.  Wes said Emma was really upset that I wasn't in bed.  Finally, around 4:30 we all make it back to sleep until 7 (Wes and Emma upstairs, Everly and me downstairs).  Those two and half hours of sleep were glorious :).

Since the first night at home, sleep has gotten a little better each day.  Emma finally slept through the night last night.  Everly is still in our room so that I can rush to nurse her when she wakes up crying.  It is in these moments of chaos that I try to reflect on how incredibly blessed we are to have two happy, healthy baby girls.  I mean isn't she precious?

And try to remember that we will sleep again- even if it takes us a year to get there.

Everly Grace: One Week

Likes: nursing, being held by daddy, kisses from sister, meeting family members, being alert during church, smiling in her sleep

Dislikes: sleeping at night, having a dirty diaper (who can blame her), most attempts at getting her to take a pacifier

Mixing/Matching Patterns

Have any of you seen the new (or at least new to me) trend of Instagram shopping?  At first, I was enticed by all of these cute outfit pairings.  Then, I realized that these moms were going to Baby Gap, getting 40% off the clearance price and then selling the items to you at the clearance price.  Of course, they need to be compensated for their time and shipping, but I thought I could do this myself.  It was really the first time that I started thinking about mixing and matching patterns.  I mean when else am I going to be able to put Emma in "mis-matched" outfits and still get compliments on her outfit!?!?  Here is some of what I have been trying out- am I on the right track or is this a little too over the top?

Grey elephant leggings (Old Navy) and striped tee (Gap):

Black and white patterned leggings (Old Navy) and coral tank top with butterflies (Old Navy): 

Blue and white striped leggings (Old Navy) and floral top (thrifted).  When I asked Emma to pose- she asked me to put the diaper on her head, so I agreed :).

Then, yesterday, Emma wanted to mix and match some patterns and seasons on her own.  She went for the tank top/diaper/fur boots (in August) look:

I have a feeling that Emma and Everly will be living in patterned leggings this fall :).  

Everly's Nursery

Everly's nursery looks a lot like Emma's nursery with the exception of a new crib, new sheets, new curtains and we removed two items off the wall.  While I will say it is almost complete, it is not quite finished.

Here is the view from when you walk into the room.  We added new curtains to the room!

Here is a close up of the changing area- we took down the gold 'LOVE' print above the dresser so that we could move it downstairs.  I am looking for a round mirror (but not too round- with some sort of design) that I can spray paint gold to hang above the changing table and then that area will be complete.  Baby Starbucks and the riding horse have stayed in the nursery.  However, sheepy has been moved downstairs since Emma loves riding him.  

New curtains- really, these are not new, I had six panels in my office.  We moved two panels into Everly's nursery and two panels into Emma's big girl room.  It is not a coincidence that the walls in my office, Everly's nursery and Emma's big girl room are all painted the same shade of grey!

The animal heads are still on the wall- they were a huge hit with Emma and I hope that Everly adores them too :). 

A close up of the pink crib and the abacus that my father-in-law made.  Don't worry, the stuffed animals have already been removed from the crib- they were just there for the pictures.  

A close up of the new sheets- so happy that I splurged ($10 ;)) and got new sheets- I think the grey chevron plays nicely against the bright pink crib.  I had pink sheets on the bed, but I wasn't really pleased with how they looked- the grey is much better. 

Moving onto the closet- sweet baby girl clothes awaiting Everly!

A look at what the closet floor looks like- we were so blessed by all of the diapers that we received :).  

On the outside of the closet- we had this awesome 'E' for Emma, but I had Wes move this to Emma's big girl room early on- way before we knew Everly's name.  At this point, I also "knew" that we would not have two baby girl names that began with the letter 'E'.  Was I wrong or what?!? Anyhow, right now we have a game from the my work baby shower that is hanging up.  I have Wes hunting down another vintage/industrial 'E' on Ebay.  

As we move to the left side of the room, the bookcase and the picture frames are exactly the same as they were for Emma.  The pink frame and the diaper cupcake stand are from Everly's baby shower.    

We will definitely have to change out some of the pictures now that Everly will be living in here! And yes, I will be moving the 'I Love You Blogs and Coffee" print to my office.  I already have a replacement frame just waiting for a new picture or print.  Sorry about the flash in this picture- I took them late at night!

Love you Everly- hope you love your nursery!