Catch up

As always, I'm a little behind.  The first month or so was pretty rough.  The first few days started off a little hectic as well.  The day we were suppose to leave the hospital, they told us that Hannah had jaundice and they wanted to keep her an extra day.  Meanwhile, my mom was at home with Hailey.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, she had lost a crown and been to the dentist for a temporary one.  Well on Saturday morning, she was feeling pretty crummy and had been waiting for us to come home so she could take some pain medicine.  Since she was alone with Hailey, she didn't feel comfortable taking anything.  So we called Stephen's parents and asked if they could pick up Hailey so my mom could get some rest, which they were more than willing, while we stayed at the hospital.  Sunday morning, while we're still at the hospital with Hannah, we get a frantic call from my mom saying she's headed to the emergency room because her mouth is infected and her tongue is beginning to swell.  They told her she had a viral infection and that she could hold the baby but should probably wear a mask.  Yeah well needless to say none of us were very comfortable with that sooo she left the next day to head back to Dallas.  The plan was for her to stay with us the first week then Stephen's mom to stay the next so we just flip flopped the two. 

They released Hannah from the hospital on Sunday.  Kay and David, aka Memaw and Papa, brought Hailey home on Monday and Kay stayed with us that week.  Well when they came home...Hailey had a cold, snotty nose and cough!!  So the first few days with both kiddos home was quite the challenge.  Hailey wasn't sleeping and neither was anyone else in the house.  Once she started to feel better is when the whining and drama ensued.  Our sweet angel no longer spoke, she whined everything.  She would also throw herself on the ground on her belly and literally "throw" a fit.  Fast forward to today and we are doing much better.  Hailey has returned to her civilized self with a relapse just ever so often but nothing like before!

Hannah Jane is here!!

For those of you that actually read this know that I am generally a month behind on all my posts.  I try to keep them sequential so if and when I decide to print these out for the girls, it makes sense. 

That being said, I didn't post much during pregnancy.  The 1st trimester was pretty rough.  I was really tired and felt nauseous for most of the time.  Then around 23 weeks my doctor sent me to a perinatologist because my belly was measuring too large.  They said the amniotic fluid was measuring just on the high end of normal.  I think the normal range is right around 24 insert unit of measure here, (never really paid attention to that) and I was measuring around 29.  They diagnosed me with mild polyhrdramnios.  This could mean a few things.  First concern was that there could be something anatomically wrong with the baby.  Second was that I could go into preterm labor.  So once a month I went to see the specialist and every time I measured pretty much the same.  And let me tell you that I my belly continued to grow...and grow.  I was asked almost on a daily basis if I was having twins or would be told, "oh you're not going to make it to your due date".  **Note to all the readers out there that may not already know this...please don't ever ask a woman if she is having multiple babies!!!  I had people question me when I would tell them no, "really, are you sure"!  Yep, I'm pretty sure!!!!** My regular ob told me that her goal was to get me to 35 weeks because most babies born at 35 weeks do not go to the NICU, (neonatal intensive care unit) and can go home with their parents.  That was a little scary.  Since I was past my due date with Hailey and had to be induced I just knew that I was going to be counting the days thinking it could be any time for months and end up going full term.  I didn't go full term but pretty close.  At my 38 week appointment my doctor decided to go ahead and induce me at 39 weeks because of other concerns should my water break on its own.  Since I was induced with Hailey, I was all about it.  I'm tellin' you, it's the way to go.  I didn't have to have all the labor pains waiting for them to become regular or any of that stuff. 

September 9, 2010 was when I was scheduled to be induced.  My mom came down on Wednesday, the day before, so she could stay with Hailey as we had to be at the hospital at 6:00 AM.  Well, she lost a crown the night before she left so we called a family friend that's a dentist in San Marcos and they squeezed her in, (this is an important part of the story - will tell in next post).  Thursday morning Stephen and I got up and headed to the hospital.  We got there on time and they ushered us to our room.  I got into my oh so lovely hospital gown and waited.  A nurse came in and told me that a student would be administering my IV.  Great, I thought.  She wasn't too bad but the instructor in my ear giving her step by step guidelines was a little unnerving.  My doctor showed up around 8ish and decided to go ahead a break my water.  This was the main reason I was induced so it was a little scary but thankfully everything went just as planned.  My doctor wanted to see if this would get labor going before giving me Pitocin.  It didn't so they gave me Pitocin about an hour later.  This kicked things into gear and shortly thereafter I was asking for the epidural as my tolerance for pain is pretty much nil.  Shortly after 3:00 PM it was time to push.  Can I just tell you how easy this was!!  The epidural was still pretty strong so they had to tell me every now and then that it was time to push.  In between pushes, we were chit-chatting just waiting for another contradiction.  It was great!  At 3:41 PM baby girl Harwell was born weighting 7lbs 5ozs, 20 inches long. 



This was the day of pregnancy, right before we left for the hospital.

 Stephen's parents and us in the labor and delivery room.

One of the first things the nurses and doctor said was, "look at those lips"!!!

Proud papa!

Family of 4

Grandmom,(my mom) holding her 5th grandbaby.

Hailey checking out her baby sister. 

Philisa and Kori meeting baby girl.

This was from her hearing test.  Notice the date of the test was 9/10...her birthday was 9/9.  Also notice that it says "Baby Girl Harwell" that's because we still hadn't picked her name!  It was down to three names: Hannah Jane, Peyton Riley or Avery Michelle.  Stephen finally just decided that it was going to be Hannah Jane and I'm thankful he did cause who knows how long this poor child would have been known as baby girl Harwell.  People would ask us if we had a name yet and we would say, "not yet".  Everyone thought we were just holding out...no we really hadn't decided.

We had to stay in the hospital an extra day because she had a little bit of jaundice.  We had to keep her on these lights all the time.  She was our little glow worm. 

Still a little yellow here.

The day we left the hospital.



Cuteness!

I thought Hailey looked really cute in her little dress so I wanted to take some pictures. She however did not want me to take them.

Later that day we went to Home Depot to get some supplies for a project that will be going in Hannah's room.



Hailey and Brady

I've posted pics of these two cuties before.  Stephen and Brady's Dad, Collins, went to high school together so we've known these guys for quite a while.  Brady and Hailey are about 2 weeks apart and the new babies are about a week and a half apart!  We went over there to let the kiddos play and get out of the house for a little while. 

They were about 6 mos old here.

Getting ready for baby sister

It took me forever to decide what I wanted to do with the baby's room.  When I finally decided and ordered the furniture, it was of course on back order.  Thankfully we did recieve all of the pieces a few weeks before her arrival.  Here are some pics of Hailey and Daddy putting together Hannah's crib and then Daddy and Decker putting together Hailey's crib.



1st Ice Cream Cone

I was about 36 weeks pregnant and it was HOT outside so we decided we would take Hailey to get her 1st ice cream cone.  I'm glad she was wearing a white shirt because we got her chocolate ice cream.  Remember, this was our 1st ice cream cone so I didn't really think about the mess this would produce.  It wasn't too bad though, nothing a little bleach and baby wipes couldn't fix!

Big girl bed!

The Monday night after the baby shower we had an incident.  I put Hailey to bed in her crib.  I had no problem leaving her in her crib for quite some time.  Her crib turns into a toddler bed then the front and back can be used as a headboard and footboard.  I also have no problem letting her "cry it out" for a little while before I'll go back in her room. 

Well, Monday night (a while ago) I put her to bed and shut her door.  She started crying which she sometimes does but generally stops after a few minutes and falls to sleep.  My mom was still in town from the baby shower so her and I were watching TV in the living room, something that apparently Stephen did not want to watch because he was in our room watching TV.  Next thing I know, Stephen is walking into the living room carrying Hailey.  She FELL out of her bed and was standing by  her door crying!!!  She was very upset and just keep saying that the door was shut and she couldn't get out.  It was so sad.  What happened was that she was throwing a temper tantrum in which she threw her "nini" aka binki out of her bed.  Well she decided she wanted it back and was leaning over the crib trying to reach for it on the ground when she fell out on her head!!!  At least that's the story she told us and it makes perfect sense.  Bless her little heart though.  She didn't care one bit about falling on her noggin however she was very distraught about the door being closed.  She talked about the door being closed for at least a week after it happened. 

So the next night and a month before the arrival of her sister, we converted her bed to a "big girl bed".  She has done great!!!  I was so worried about a major change on the cusp of the baby coming but it worked out quite well especially since I was enormous pregnant and it made it much easier to put her to bed at night. 

Below are some pictures of her first night in her big girl bed. 

Baby Shower for baby sister

I'm obviously a little behind on blogging sooo I'm going to pretend that I'm blogging in the present tense until I catch up which I plan to do very soon so I can get to the pics and story of baby sister who does have a name now but didn't until day 1.5 of life.

At the beginning of August some of my very dear friends threw me a baby shower.  It was so much fun.  They know me too well and catered to my crafty side.  They bought a ton of onesies and iron on applications and everyone got to make an outfit or two for our new little bundle of joy, still had not decided on a name at this point.

One of the hostesses was due a week before I was: she was due 9.9.10 and I was due 9.16.10. This picture was taken on 8.7.10.  We met at an old job over 10 years ago and have remained close even though she moved to NYC for several years.  Good thing she did because that is where she met her wonderful husband!

My sister-in-law made the girls matching outfits with tutus!!!  Since we hadn't chosen a name yet, I only got part of the gift.  Can't wait to see the rest!!!

Hostesses with the mostestes!!!   (4 of the 5 of us are pregnant, 3 girls and 1 boy)!!!!

Thanks ladies!!!  I love you more than you know!!! 



Fun with Memaw and Papa

Hailey spent the night with her Memaw and Papa the week after her birthday.  She loves playing outside at their house.  Papa has a motorcycle that she likes to play on. 

Hailey and Papa on their way to check out the cows and donkey that live on the property behind their house.

Hailey and Memaw on the motorcycle.

Memaw turned the motorcycle on!!!

The opening of the presents.

After the party we came home and opened all of her presents and there were a lot.  That is one thing that's nice about her birthday being in the middle of the summer...since Christmas and her birthday are space right about 6 months apart, we don't ever have to buy in between toys.  At this age they developmentally grow out of their toys pretty quick but most of them last 6 months! : )  Sorry, got off subject there. 

We were trying to wait until Stephen's parents got there so they could watch her open presents too.  Well there was a large bag with tissue paper that she got a hold of which contained a giant tent!  This was from Angie and Edward.  As she pulls it out of the box I hear Stephen say, "holds up to 6 kids", well I thought he was being a smart alec...but oh no.  This thing was massive!!  It's absolutely adorable but we have a small house.  This thing takes up the entire room but hey, she likes it so that's all that matters...right?

Sporting her Tinkerbell slippers and Dora suitcase. 

As we opened each present she of course wanted to play with it.  Here she is sitting in her new chair, wearing a hat she got, next to her new baby doll and stroller, playing with her "pooter" while daddy feeds a baby lion cub with a set of bubbles at his feet!!! 

Feeding Abigail, her Cabbage Patch.  For those of you that grew up with Cabbage Patch dolls, they still smell the same!!!  I love it. Brings back fond memories.

So three posts later, I have finally wrapped up Hailey's 2nd birthday.  (Oh and we had another birthday that Sunday too).  It was a busy weekend but we had so much fun. 

Thank you to all our friends and family that celebrated with us and for those that couldn't make it, I hope for once my long winded posts made you feel like you were there.  We missed you.  

Birthday party!

With Hailey's birthday falling right smack dab in the middle of the summer and considering I was 7 months pregnant at the time...we decided to have her party somewhere other than our house and somewhere with AC.  Her 1st birthday was at the house and it was a lot of work and it seemed the our AC could not keep the house cool enough to handle everyone coming in and out.  Soooo this year we had her party at My Gym.  She went to a 2nd year old's party here several months ago and loved it.  I loved it too because I didn't have to clean or "host" anything!!!  All I did was show up with some cupcakes and goody bags and go home.  It was wonderful!!!  I think Hailey enjoyed too.  She was running around with a big smile on her face the whole time.  We invited all of her friends from "school" and all of our friends as well. 

Playing in the ball pit with her friends from school and Grandmom.

When we got there they had all of these blue lines hanging from the ceiling.  Of course the guys had to ask how much weight it would hold and test it out.  Apparently each line holds 250 lbs!!!  At one point they brought out all of these swings and attached them to said lines.  I didn't really get a good swinging picture but Hailey looooooves to swing.

This little train was awesome!  They had a track that went in a circle.  The kids got on the train and just pushed a button to go around. 

One of many attempts at a group 2 year old shot!  Ha! 

She wasn't real sure what to think about everyone staring at her right now.

Waiting patiently for a cupcake.

Let me apologize to the mother's of the children I stained.  Sorry but this is only my second go around with this whole kid birthday party thing.  I didn't think about the logistics of the cupcake eating.  I merely wanted them to match the cake.  I can only imagine how long it took for these little girls to get this stuff washed off.

On the same note, who ever gave my child the yellow cupcake...God Bless you!!! This was not intentional but did work out well for us.

After the party we went home for even more birthday party fun...the opening of the presents!!!