Reason to Rejoice

I love this picture of Rachel and I (and Lauren all tucked safely in my belly). This was one of the days that Brice's parents brought Rachel to visit me in the hospital while I was there for what seemed like an eternity waiting to have Lauren. Fifteen days is a long time to be in the hospital to have a baby!!! But anyway, I love this picture.... Greatest thing to me is that I don't look half bad 37 weeks pregnant with a 9+ lb baby in my belly...must have been a good day!! =)

SO....we don't watch a lot of movies around here. There are obvious reasons but more than anything we just don't take the time to do it. It is something that we have both always enjoyed but we just do other things instead and most of the time if Rachel is awake we are watching Dora! We even have a Netflix subscription and let me just say that they make money off of us!! We keep movies for months at a time with the intention everytime we get a new one of "watching it and sending it back quickly!" Hmm...never happens! I have not even been to the movie theater since I was pregnant with Rachel...I think it was "The Devil Wears Prada" maybe or "The Lake House" not sure which. Anyway, here are two movies that I have seen in the past week...one of them is our latest Netflix movie! =) About a lady who is emotionally distraught after losing her husband and decides to move from Germany back to New York with her 6 year old daughter. They are on this ...

Thanks, Teresa for Tagging Me...you wanted to know about me, so here ya go!! Here are the instructions for 8 Things: * Mention the person that tagged you * Complete the list of 8 things * Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends * Go tell them you tagged them 8 Things I look forward to: Going back to church after being on bed rest, hospital and then home with newborn Losing my baby weight!!! Rachel being potty trained Disney World in October Meeting Melody sometime in May (but not too soon, Baby Girl)! Dessert night at Melting Pot tonight with great friends Getting Lauren on a schedule Paying off debt 8 Things I Did Yesterday: Went shopping with Krista, Chelsea, and Lauren Watched TV (mostly Dora) Played Play Doh with my 2 year old Fed the baby Got dinner from Chick Fil A Took Rachel to Parent's Day Out Pumped Check the mail (I KNOW!!! This makes me sound EXTREMELY boring!!!!) 8 Things I Wish I Could Do: Understand the stock market Dance Be more organized Be the best mom ever! Not g...

Product Review: Sand and Sea Table (by request): We love this thing!!! We have played with it yesterday and today and Rachel LOVES it! She only gets minimally dirty. We contemplated getting the large red crab sandbox for her to sit in (that holds 6 bags of sand!!!) and Brice thought the table would be better for cleanliness as well as interaction from us. He was right. We can play with her and we only get sand/water on our hands. It isn't a messy thing at all. She enjoys moving the water to the sand to make castles and then the sand to the water...I guess just to make it dirty. We love the umbrella that is attached because it keeps the sun off of her for the most part. The table comes with accessories and it only holds 1 bag of 50 lb sand. We like it so far. It was also super easy to put together!! It has been a few days since I have posted about breastfeeding so it is time again....I just cant get the hang of it...I want to say that I am a pro at 6 weeks but...I'm n...

Well, I don't like it. There, I said it. I don't think that it's a huge surprise to everyone that I don't like change. I hate it, actually. It's scary and uncertain and it totally gets me out of my routine...wonder where my children get the whole thing of needing a routine....guess we now know!!! We are going through changes.... Obviously the biggest change we have gone through lately is having another baby. That was a major change but good. It was challenging at first but I had months to prepare myself and it was a planned change. We are adjusting and life is good. The newest change that we are going through is that my husband is changing jobs. He has been with Ernst & Young Accouting Firm for 12 1/2 years...got the job even before he was finished with graduate school. It is all he has known and he has absolutely loved working for them. He was at the top and doing well. They were a great company to work for. He had great benefits and they were super...

I need help from my blogger friends.... So, as you can see, I still have the "Rachel's Mommy" thingy at the bottom of each of my posts. Well, I AM still Rachel's mommy but I am also Lauren's mommy and I would like to take that off until I can make another graphic to go there. Problem is....I can't remember how I got it on there so that I can go back there and take it off!!!! =) Does anyone know how?

I wish I could tell you how many times I have heard this phrase! Mostly, in my experience anyway, it has come from older generations of people...people that I love and admire and very much heed their advice and wisdom. However..... I woke Rachel many times when she was an infant and I wake up Lauren too...for several reasons. Rachel was SUCH a sleepy baby. I mean, I don't think we saw her eyeballs at all until she was a month old...seriously. That is why she had to spend time in the NICU. She was lazy! Anyway, at first, she would have never eaten had I not woken her up. I think she would have slept through the night the first night home if I hadn't woken her up. Then, as she got to be about 2 months old and still waking up and staying awake frequently during the night, I decided I had to try and keep her awake more during the day in order for her to sleep at night. Yes, babies sleep a lot but not 22 hours a day and she was choosing to be awake when I wanted to be asle...

Do I wake a sleeping baby who has been asleep for 7 1/2 hours to feed her or do I pump????? Something has to happen or I literally might explode! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful for a good night's sleep but it takes some getting used to with this new found occupation of mine: dairy cow!!!!!

I hope not to jinx anything by writing this post but I think that Lauren is getting the whole "sleeping at night" business down! She has gradually gotten better and I thought at first it was because she was sick but last night she slept from 11:00 until 5:45. Rachel woke up at 5:15 screaming (she had a rough night). I woke up in almost a panic because Lauren hadn't woken up yet. I was hurting and thinking about what to do as far as feeding her because she was not even stirring. I went ahead and pumped after debating what to do. She woke up about 5 minutes after I pumped...go figure! I pumped 6 oz!!! I am a dairy cow!! Anyway, I let her nurse for a little while and then gave her some of the bottle. She didn't eat much but was wide awake so I took to her bed with me. I am a little concerned about what happens when/if she starts waking up in the middle of the night again and my body isn't producing enough milk to feed her. This breastfeeding thing sure do...

Glad you asked!!!! Well, the question and comments have been "Do you think Lauren looks like Rachel?" and "OH my goodness, they are identical!" Here is what I think.... I think Lauren looks like Lauren and Rachel looks like Rachel. Yes, I am their mother and I have a want for them to be their own person. HOWEVER, I do think that they favor and I do think that in certain pictures it is very hard to tell which one is Lauren and which is Rachel. I posted a bathtub picture not too long ago and they look almost identical. Here are some other pictures of them at the same age. Rachel Birth Lauren Birth Rachel 2 weeks Lauren 2 weeks Rachel 1 month Lauren 1 month The main difference to me is that Lauren has more petit features. Her facial features are smaller. I also think they have different eyes. YES, I know they do look very similar but they are sisters!!! =)

This is going to be a post full of pictures....I am playing catch up. The first ones are of us dying Easter eggs on Saturday. Rachel had a blast. The second pictures are of Easter Sunday. And the last set of pictures are from the professional photo shoot today. Lauren cried for most of it...amazing how they were able to get any good pictures! Rachel was an angel. She was so excited about getting her picture taken.

I got the girls' pictures taken today and I will put them and Easter pictures up later. I am so behind!!! Gotta feed the munchkin. Out....

I am sicker than sick!!!! I am not sure why I was the last to get "this" and now am sicker than anyone else!!! Doesn't make sense! I went to the OB today for my post partum check-up. Everything is great! She released me so I can workout again and go back to work (in May). I do have mastitis which might be cause for some of my cold symptoms...fever, chills, etc. I am on an antibiotic. It is always kinda sad for me to when I deliver and then realize that I will only being seeing the doctor once a year. I know that sounds weird but you develop very close relationships with your OB/GYN. I saw her every month, then every two weeks, and then every week, and at the end twice a week for 9 months! She is a great doctor and I hope that if we decide to have another baby she will be around to deliver that one too!! Now....to figure out what is safe to take while breastfeeding for this cold!!!!!

I have a sick baby!! My 1 month old (today) has a stuffy nose, cough, and watery eyes. We are all under the weather, actually. I have a sore throat and runny nose, Rachel has a nasty nose, and Brice is coughing. It is hardest on the little one though because she has a hard time eating and sleeping. I think I will call the doctor in the morning just to make sure she doesn't want to see her since she is so little. I took pictures today of the girls that I will post later.

It's been a little bit since I have posted....here is the update! Rachel We had an appointment with an endocrinologist at one of the children's hospitals on Monday. She did VERY well at the appointment. She really liked the doctor. He was very knowledgeable and I felt confident that he absolutely knows his stuff. He took an x-ray of her hand to track her skeletal age. He basically (using a lot of fancy words) said that she is big. He said that he isn't really worried about it since her weight has sort of plateaued since November. She is still 41 lbs and that's how much she weighed at her 2 year well child checkup. She is 38 inches which is the 95th percentile! She is just big overall. He mentioned something about early puberty which completely took me off guard since she is TWO YEARS OLD!!! He said that rapid growth can be a sign of that but he didn't see anything that indicated early puberty. He also did some blood work to make sure she doesn't have diabe...

So, what does the term "baby friendly" mean to you? Well, there are a lot of different things that come to my mind but I heard this used during my recent hospitalization to have my youngest child and when asked what it meant, this was the response I got..... "This is what we refer to when talking about breastfeeding. We are trying to be "baby friendly" and encouraging all moms to breastfeed as opposed to bottle feeding." Let's back up... We were getting discharged from the hospital to take Baby Lauren home and our nurse (who utterly irritated me about several things) said, "Oh, since we are baby friendly now, we don't give patients diaper bags anymore so here is a lunch bag." She continued to tell me something else which I totally tuned out because I was still stuck on this whole "baby friendly" idea. I stopped her and said, "What does baby friendly mean?" Her response is above after she said, "Oh, I can'...

Got my hospital bill yesterday (well, not really a bill but telling me what they are expecting insurance to pay)..... $29,000!!!!!!!