Easter

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year.  We've been really busy getting ready for our big move, and getting this house ready to sell, so it was so nice to have a day focused on something different.  Mady had not one, not two, not three, but four Easter egg hunts this year.  She definitely racked up on the eggs, and the candy!  Looks like Easter has become the Halloween in Spring, candy speaking of course.

Happy girls after getting their eggs

He had no idea he was at his first Easter egg hunt

Seriously, how cute is this?!

This girl was on a mission

Mady with her besties!

On Easter we kicked it off in the morning with an awesome service at our church.  Seriously, if you are looking for a church home, check out 121 Community Church.  I am going to miss this place so much.  We then stopped for a milkshake, and headed to the Airport park to kill time before heading to see one of Mady's favorite people lately, Uncle John.  We had such a nice time having lunch and visiting with the family, and Mady had a blast hunting for more eggs!

Some happy kids

We have been quite busy, but this past Sunday was a sweet time with family, and remembering how fortunate we are for what was sacrificed for us, and the good news that came after.  What an amazing gift we are given, if we choose to take it.  God's plan for us has been so evident lately, and I'm excited to see how it unfolds.

Now, I did fail as a mother because the only good shot I got of my two little ones on Easter was this one.  Not exactly photo frame worthy.  Maybe next year!

Annual Bluebonnet Pictures

Yes, we are those people that go out every year when the bluebonnets are blooming to take pictures.  We found a field of them close by that we have gone to the past few years.  There was nobody else out there so, unfortunately, we couldn't get a family picture.  We need to get a tripod.  Anyways, I think we still got some pretty cute ones!

This should belong on the "Pooping on Bluebonnets" Tumblr  I saw, haha

2 Months Old

We have hit the two month mark now with our little guy.  He had his two month appointment on Thursday and he is doing great.  He got his shots, which he was not a fan of, but he was a champ and did not have any negative reactions to them.  He got extra cuddling time too!  Here are his stats:

Head size: 15.75 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 13lbs 10 oz (90th percentile)

Height: 23.5 inches (50% percentile)

He's our little chunk!  He's in 3 month and 3-6 month clothing right now, although they are starting to fit a little snug. Owen is smiling quite a bit and we haven't gotten a laugh yet, but I feel its close because he will give us this little laugh/grunt sometimes.  He is not a fan at all of tummy time, but he is doing great at holding his head up and he is starting to lift up more on his arms when he is on his tummy.  He is a fan of movement and when you're holding him he wants you up and walking.  The minute we sit down with him, he starts crying.  High maintenance!  This does mean that he is starting to like the swing more and more.

As far as sleeping goes, we can't complain.  I put him to sleep after Mady goes to bed, so he is asleep by 8:30.  He usually wakes up between 2-3, eats, and then goes back to sleep until around 6.  We are still working on naps and getting a regular routine set up there, but he does get a good nap in the afternoon for about 2-3 hours.  It's nice because Mady is napping too, which gives me some time to get things done.

Mady is the best big sister.  She is still super sweet with him and loves him so much.  She loves talking to him when he is awake and "playing" with him on his playmat.  It's so cute listening to her talk to him when they are on the playmat.  A few of the things she will say to him:

"I love you Owen"

"I always be here for you Owen"

"It's ok, Mommy will pick you up" followed by "Mommy, come get Owen"

"You hungry Owen?"

One day she told me "Mommy, you are the best toy ever!".  I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult because she thinks of me as her toy, haha.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, we have been spending a lot of time outside.  She has finally mastered her tricycle (now that her feet can finally reach the pedals) and loves it!  

This is the sad lip I get when he is about to start crying :(

She loves playing in these trees in our neighborhood

I can't get over how much they look alike

Spring Break and First Haircut

Both kids are sleeping, and because that is a very rare event, I am taking the time to write a blog  We had a great Spring Break.  The grandparents came in town to see us, which meant the kiddos got lots of attention and grandparent spoiling :)

Owen was having a rough time with his reflux while my parents were here.  My dad had the magic touch though, and could calm him down almost every time.  Thankfully, we are now on Prevacid and it has made quite a difference.  You can see the change in his mood and we get a lot more smiles now :)

Lita and Mady doing one of their favorite things...baking cookies

While Mimi was here, she and Aunt Ellyn took Mady to the zoo and the Botanical Gardens.  She loves the zoo and, as always, had a blast.  She came back with this cute little penguin, who we now call Bubby.

                          

Mady's hair was getting pretty long and the ends were getting a bit frayed, so I decided it was time for her first haircut.  We went to a kids place and she did great!  She got to sit in a firetruck, and they had her favorite movie on, Frozen, so she didn't move one bit.  Everything is now evened out and her hair looks thicker and healthier.  It makes her look older too, which I'm not quite sure I like ;)

Before

After

 Now that the weather is getting warmer, we are starting to take walks again.  Mady insists that I take a picture of her every time we go, so here are a couple of the latest, and one cute one of Owen.  Well, I hear crying, so gotta go!

Made it through one month!

We have survived one month of being a brand new family of four!  Our little O is now one month old already, and while I'm still far from figuring this whole thing out, I would say it is getting a little easier, haha.  Starting at around 2 weeks, Owen started getting really fussy, mainly after eating, and spitting up a lot.  It seemed like he was either eating, sleeping, or crying.  There were rarely moments he was awake and not crying. We thought it was gas at first, and then maybe colic, and then possibly reflux.  I called his doctor who suggested I first try eliminating dairy from my diet completely, and giving him Mylanta when his symptoms get really bad.  If they continued then we would go to the next step.  While I wouldn't say we have really figured out what's bothering him, I think eliminating dairy has helped because he is more content during the day than he was.  This has been really hard for me, considering I love all things dairy, but is certainly worth it if it makes him feel better.  We'll see how these next few days go.  Here are his stats from his two week appointment:

Weight: 8lbs 3 oz

Height: 20.5 inches

At his two week appointment, the pediatrician referred us to a urologist because one of his kidneys was still enlarged.  We went on Wednesday and after talking to her, we will have another sonogram done in two months to check its status, and go from there.  She believes its a mild case and that it will resolve on its own.  Prayers that this is the case.  At that appointment we found that our little chunk has gained two more pounds, and is now 10lbs 5oz!  He has been gaining pretty good control of his head and can move it side to side when doing his tummy time.  Yesterday while I was holding him and talking to him, I got a little smile which was so sweet!  I haven't gotten another one since but hopefully there will be more to come soon.  

Those little toes!!

I cannot say enough how proud I have been of Mady.  She continues to be completely in love with her little brother.  I kept waiting for that to pass when he was crying so much, but it hasn't yet.  She is always giving him hugs and kisses, and wanting to hold him.  She has never had a moment of jealousy and anytime he starts crying and I'm not holding him she will say "Mommy, Owen is crying, go get him!"  When he is crying it's like she doesn't even hear it, and will continue with whatever she is doing.  Her favorites lately are puzzles, the matching game, the movie Frozen, and the Pinkalicious books.  She can entertain herself for quite a while working on puzzles, and she loves playing the matching game.  She is getting quite good at both, and has outright beat me several times at the matching game.  She loved the movie Frozen, so we bought her the soundtrack to the movie and she now knows the words to almost every song (and so do Nick and I) and wants to listen to it all the time.  I can't imagine what will happen when we buy the movie!  As for Pinkalicious, my mom got her a collection of these books for Christmas and she loves to read them so much that she's memorized some of the stories.  Casa Mañana had a Pinkalicious play so of course, she had to go.  Nick took her to see it with her friend Zoey and her daddy.  It was a daddy-daughter date, and they had a blast.  I think even the dads enjoyed it!

Mady is already sharing her toys with Owen

She likes swinging on the big kid swing now.  She's growing up too fast!

With Owen here now, life has certainly become more busy.  There is always something to be doing but I am slowly learning to let things go.   When I do have a moment to do something, all I want to do is nap!  I'm fighting that urge now because I really wanted to blog, haha.  The house may not be as clean as I would like, but that's ok, or at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.  I have been so fortunate because Nick got a month off from work, but the real world is right around the corner because he goes back to work Monday.  Thankfully, my parents will be coming next week, and his mom the week after, so we will still have some help here for a bit.  

He's here!!

We had my 40 week appointment scheduled for tomorrow, where we were going to have another sonogram and set an induction date for the next week.  Owen had different plans and now instead of seeing him on a sonogram, we've had five days of being able to hold him in our arms!

Last Thursday I was feeling great.  No contractions or pain, I had a lot of energy, so I was convinced that he was staying put for a while.  That night after dinner we were getting ready to bring Mady up for bedtime and I was picking up toys in the playroom, when I suddenly felt my water break.  Having a baby pushing on your bladder does have you make more trips than usual to the bathroom, but I always could make it to the bathroom.  This was certainly different, and I knew exactly what it was.  I told Nick and we immediately started moving.  It was almost like that scene in Home Alone when the family realizes they overslept.  I was rushing Mady upstairs, brushing her teeth, and reading her bedtime stories and trying not to scare her (while my water is breaking by the way), and Nick is calling to have someone over to watch Mady, packing our bags, and getting things in the car.  We put Mady in bed, which was bittersweet, because we knew this was the last time we would put her to bed as an only child, and headed out.

Contractions started soon after we got to the hospital, but things were much better after I got my epidural.  My body progressed just as it should, and I didn't need any pitocin to help things along.  By 2:00 in the morning I was dilated to 10cm, and at 2:30 I was ready to start pushing.  They called the on-call doctor and she was there within 15 minutes, very impressive!  The second baby is definitely much easier because after 2 pushes Owen Gabriel was here!  He was born on January 31st at 2:45 in the morning, weighing in at 7lbs 7oz, 20 inches long, and absolutely perfect.

He looks just like his sister!

Having a baby in the middle of the night is tough because we didn't get any sleep that night, or much the next day.  We were exhausted by Friday night.    Our parents headed out Thursday night after we told them my water broke and they made it around 3:30 in the morning.  They were exhausted too!  The proud grandparents:

As for Mady, she met her baby brother on Friday morning and she is in love with him.  I could not have asked for anything more, and she has been the best big sister.  She is constantly giving him hugs and kisses, and making sure he has his blanket and paci.  She is so sweet with him, and so far has shown no hints of jealousy.  I know it hasn't even been a week, but I am so proud of my big girl. She amazes me everyday.

Love at first sight

We are now a family of four!  Nick has the next few weeks off, which I am so thankful for, and we will be trying to adjust and just enjoy this time together.  So far Owen has been such a great baby.  He gets fussy here and there but overall he has been pretty laid back.  We are back to waking up several times in the middle of the night which has taken some getting use to, but he is good at going back to sleep quickly after he eats.  We have been fortunate so far, so we'll see how long it lasts!

Our first picture as a family of four

We're going home!