Sisters

For the most part, Emma has been ignoring her little sister since we have been home. This is pretty much what we expected from her. However, yesterday Emma asked me if she could hold Audrey and then asked for me to take her picture! I got my camera out and quickly snapped away. It may be weeks before she asks to do that again!




After the photo shoot, Emma stripped herself down to her onesie, put on her shoes, and told me bye. I asked her where she was going and she said “Emma going shopping”. I am glad one of us got to go.

This is what you look like after a nice trip to the mall!

First Days At Home

We came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. So far things are going well with the exception that we have our second baby with jaundice who is also under the lights! Our doctor said since we are already two for two we can pretty much count on all future children to have jaundice as well! Great! Just what we were hoping for a cute little baby that we can’t even snuggle! We have been going to the lab everyday to have her levels checked and are praying to be off the lights tomorrow. Since this is our second time around, we are a little bit more familiar and more comfortable with the lights. I have her set up on the ottoman next to the couch so I can semi cuddle her all night! Here are a few shots of the first few days at home. You can really tell how jaundice she is in the photo with Emma!

Stretching

Big Yawn

Audrey looks very similar to Emma with the exception of her platinum blonde highlights in her dark hair! It is the weirdest thing! I did get my hair done three days before I had her so I guess maybe she got a little bit of my hair dye! :) You can see the blonde patch in the back of her hair in this picture of her and Adam.

Hospital Time

Our time at the hospital went by very quickly. We opted for a scheduled induction to fit our hectic tax season schedule a little better! Adam dropped me off at the hospital on his way to work on Friday morning around 8. I felt so weird walking through the hallway with my suitcase by myself. I called Adam and said “I feel like I just got dropped off at the airport instead of the hospital!” Adam came back to the hospital around one that afternoon and little Audrey was here at 2:25 p.m.! It was all very quick and I am almost embarrassed to say but all very painless! Thanks to those epidurals, which I asked for mine before I was even in pain and therefore never felt any! My grandma told me that it is impossible to have a baby without pain but I can now say it is not! Just about five minutes of intenseness when we were waiting on the doctor to come catch the baby (literally, he didn’t even have time to change his clothes!) and our little girl was here!

So now that you know the delivery story, here are more photos of our time in the hospital. Adam and I were the only ones at the hospital for the delivery and the rest of that day so we do not have near as many photos as we did with Emma. I know that is the story for every child that is born second! I am going to try hard to keep up on Audrey's photos though in the future! I am also a second child and there is no record of my life until I am about 6 days old!

Here is our sad attempt at a family photo. Emma is really into coloring, drawing, and using stickers right now and was more interested in her artwork than our family photo session! Audrey is starting to show her jaundice and I am looking very swollen. Adam actually looks pretty decent though!



Here is Emma decorating the nursery crib with stickers for Audrey. We didn't even bother to peel them off. I am sure the nursery workers loved us!

A shot of my mom and grandma with the girls…..

And our visitors……
Grandma Jarvis

Papa Jack

Grammy and Pops

Uncle Eric

Great-Grandma Hull

Cousin Catherine

Aunt Caren and Cousin Catherine

And finally, a special photo for my friend Peggy from work to prove that I was actually pregnant with this child! Since I would never raise my shirt up for her at work, she said she needed some hard evidence that I wasn’t pretending so Adam took this one on our way to the hospital. I decided for everyone’s sake to keep my shirt down and not show any skin!

Audrey Catherine

Our sweet little baby girl is here! Audrey Catherine was born on Friday afternoon and is doing great! She weighed 7 lbs 4 ounces and is 20 inches long. She looks very similar to what Emma looked like at birth. So far she is a good little eater and a good little sleeper! I am sure the sleeping part will be changing soon, probably tonight! Here are a few shots from her birth and some hospital pictures. We are home now so I will be posting more pictures soon!

A few shots right after she arrived…..

And a few photos of the new sisters together! Emma is stepping right up to her role as the oldest child. Audrey was crying during a diaper change and we heard Emma whisper “don’t cry sissy”! When we got home Emma carefully explained to Audrey whose toys were whose! She said several times “this one Emma’s” and would get right in her face to make sure she understood! I am sure they will be great friends one day and it will be so neat to watch their relationship grow!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is always a busy time of year for us due to tax season but we did manage to squeeze in a few things related to the day! Last weekend we made some cupcakes. This was Emma's first time using sprinkles and she got a little carried away! We ended up having to get the vacuum out to clean up the mess!

Here are a few shots of Emma with Adam and one with her gift from us. She spent the morning yesterday making her dad a card. She used almost all of her princess stickers for it. I had to do the writing since her words are not yet words and she was sure to point out to Adam every part that I did! She would say "Mommy write this".

Emma also loves the show Super Why on PBS. We watch it every morning after we watch Sid the Science Kid. I found these character dolls from the show and we gave them to her for her Valentine’s gift. I wondered if she would recognize who they were when she opened them up and she did! She was yelling “Super Why!” She was also pumped about the Sesame Street gift bag they came in! She carries them around in her bag saying “Mommy Daddy Thank You!” I guess she liked the gift!

Also, here is a shot of the roses Adam gave me. We had agreed not to buy gifts so I only gave Adam a card. I felt bad so I made him a strawberry smoothie last night and some heart shaped pancakes for breakfast to make up for it!

Just A Post

Life around our house has been pretty boring lately so there really has not been much to post about. Adam is busy already in tax season and Emma and I have just been hanging out at home.

The quality of this photo is not the greatest but it makes me laugh. While I was getting ready Emma was going through our closet and she came out with all of this gear on. She has on one of Adam's hats and some football gloves. I love how she wears the hat backwards! She has been really into picking out her clothes/socks/shoes/hairbows lately. She even has an opinion about which diaper she wears (Zoe, Elmo, Cookie, etc!) It is always interesting to see what she comes up with!

Adam painted the new nursery a few weeks ago. We almost have everything ready. I will be posting pictures of it soon!

Emma loves to play hide 'n seek. She says "Emma seek". Here she is in one of her favorite hiding spots!

Working on her Valentine's Day Cards!



Emma watching TV...

Sesame Street Live!

On Saturday we took Emma to see Sesame Street Live. She had seen the commercial on TV and came running in the kitchen saying to me “Mommy Elmo Abby COMING!” We figured if she was that excited about the commercial that she would like the show too! She was wired to say the least! We were there early so we got some popcorn (Emma’s first time eating it and she loved it!) and a Sprite (which Emma knocked over three minutes after sitting down – what a waste of $6!). By the time the show started Emma was bouncing out of her seat! She had the biggest smile on her face the entire time. After intermission we moved from the crowded floor seats to the less crowded elevated seating. We were hoping she would be easier to contain but instead she went into super excited mode and was trying to propel herself over the seats down to the stage! Adam and I were exhausted when we left!


Screaming “HI ABBY” and waving!

Emma eating popcorn for the first time. She loved it and wouldn't slow down! I am sure this is probably a choking hazard for toddlers but she survived!

More shots from our night....

Emma fell asleep on the way home but unfortunately we had to wake her up to put her pajamas on her. We tried to just sneak her into her crib but she stood up and said “Emma snack”. The kid has an appetite out of this world. So she had to have a late night snack with Daddy and watch some more Elmo on TV before going to bed!

Emma Shots

Just a few shots of Emma from last week!

Emma's Ponytail

The other day I put Emma’s hair all up into a ponytail. She has so much of it that it is hard to keep fixed! When I showed her what she looked like in the mirror, she immediately said “Cackrine” (meaning Catherine). I guess she thought she looked like Catherine! Now every time I tell her that I am going to fix her hair she says” Emma Pony Cackrine”. Here are a few pictures of the new style.

And this is what she looks like when she doesn’t fix her hair! She loves to lounge on the couch and watch all of her new movies. She lays there for about 10 minutes then picks out a new one to watch. This goes on for about four or five movies. It will be nice when she learns how to work the DVD player herself and we don’t have to keep getting up to change the movie!

And finally, just some shots of Emma after church on Sunday.