fathers day weekend

Fathers Day weekend 2015 was spent trying to beat this crazy heat wave at the pool, and hanging with family, and snuggling with our very favorite man in the house. 

See our Fathers Day 2014 here. 

Nora 2 months

This sweet girl is 2 months old! 

I was much more timely with Lucy's monthly posts, and I attribute that

to staying home on maternity leave longer with Lucy and only having one baby to raise... give me grace y'all. #secondchildproblems. 

Nora loves going for walks, being cuddled, and staring/talking whale to her baby sister. 

Doesn't like: laying on her tummy (she for real just lays there and then cries), being in a room by herself (must have an audience present), or being awake/fed/put to sleep during the hours of 7-8pm. 

She is so easy going and happy most days and we just adore her! 

People say often how much her and Lucy look alike. (Their personalities are already so different!) 

Here is a side by side pic of her and Lucy both at 2 months old:

We are getting closer to sleeping through the night, which makes for a happy baby and momma...we can't wait to see what the next month brings! 

"Lucy, open your eyes so I can get a picture..." Nope. 

 

 

 

 

sweet summertime

While I know it's not officially summer yet, the temps are in the 80s and 90s so it counts for me. 

I've been wanting to make a "summer bucket list" but let's be honest my littlest is still not sleeping through the night (and neither am I) so we are practically living at the pool. 

Nora does a lot of snoozing while Lucy does a lot of fearless pool-jumping. 

We've also gotten spoiled enough to spend a lot of time with Lucy's Goldsboro cousins. 

#wherestony

Lucy is so in love with swimming at the pool that she wakes up every morning or every nap saying "I had a good nap, let's go to the POOL". 

We've had to improvise with a back deck pool (thanks Glamma) until the pool opens full time next week!

Happy almost summer to you! Do you have a summer bucket list? 

 

Welcome Nora and a Birth Story

Well this post is over a month late but life with 2 is crazy y'all! March 26th Nora Josephine joined our family and we couldn't be happier. Here is her birth story...

On March 26, 2015 at around midnight, I woke up 3 days before my due date, having to pee just like any 9 month pregnant lady.

I heard Lucy cry from her bedroom that she needed to "go potty" so I walked her to the bathroom to potty. After she went, she insisted she "needed to give daddy one more kiss" so I obliged, carrying her in our bedroom on my very pregnant belly, leaning down over him so she could give him a kiss. At that moment, I felt a small gush and told Jack "I think my water just broke!" He jumped out of bed, ran Lucy to her bedroom to put her back to sleep and ran back in our room. He asked me if I was sure, and to be honest, when your water breaks, you really aren't sure, and I was trying to decide if I had peed myself (pregnant lady problems) and then it happened again, another gush. I insisted this was for sure my water, and I called the doctor while he rounded up our stuff.

I started to have contractions while on the phone with my doctor, as my water kept gushing every 3-5 minutes, so he told me to go ahead and come to the hospital. We waited on my in-laws to come stay with Lucy and off we went. My contractions were much more manageable than they were with Lucy's back labor, and I had a few hours where I thought "I could do this without drugs."  I was 2 cm when they triaged me and by about 5 am I was 4-5 cm. I changed my mind with each contraction about "doing this without drugs" and decided it was epidural time.

My epidural didn't take quite as well as it did with Lucy but it definitely took the top of the pain off! At 11:30 it was time to push, and with just a contraction or 2 and about 4 pushes later she was out! She came into the world screaming; (very different than her sister who came into the world quietly) our hearts were instantly full of love for our newest family member, sweet Nora Josephine.

Lucy loves her little baby doll sister. She loves to help put her diaper on, bring me my nursing pillow, and to help pick out her clothes. She is very good at shhhhing, pushing strollers and showing her baby sister to the world.

I can't wait to see their relationship grow as Nora becomes more interactive! Welcome to our family sweet girl, we are so happy to have you complete our little family of 4.

2nd pregnancy

Everyone ask if this pregnancy has been like my first. And since we are having another baby girl, I would think it would be similar.

If pregnancy is any indication, I can already tell these girls are going to be different because my pregnancies have been very different!

I thought it would be fun to compare my 1st and 2nd pregnancies...Lord, I had no idea how good I had it with Lucy!

First trimester
First pregnancy: morning sickness. Feel bad, lay on the couch, take a break. Eat lots and lots of carby foods to feel better.

Second pregnancy: morning sickness. Feel really bad, put on cartoons to try and entertain toddler. Try to eat foods high in protein as toddler steals all of the food, thereby making my nausea worse. Chase toddler around the neighborhood, even though mommy just wants to lay down.

                

Second Trimester
First pregnancy: morning sickness subsides around 13 weeks, got a big surge of 2nd trimester energy, rested when I needed to and ate all of the food. Felt first baby kicks around 21 weeks (anterior placenta).

Second pregnancy: morning sickness subsides around 18 weeks, waited and waited for "big surge of energy", never came. Napping at Lucy's nap time essential to surviving the afternoon with toddler. Felt first baby kicks around 17 weeks (posterior placenta).

Third Trimester
First pregnancy: Swelling, swelling and more swelling. (It was one of the hottest summer's we've had in NC!) Counting down the days until baby's arrival. Putting the nursery together in a leisurely fashion. Nesting aka sewing all of the baby bibs, burp cloths and other random things for baby.

Second pregnancy: No swelling yet-hallelujia! Still wearing wedding rings at 36 weeks. Counting down the days until sweet baby girl's arrival, but also counting down the days of one-on-one time with our first born and trying to soak all of those moments in. (While navigating tantrums and the "I do-it's.") Nesting aka putting together Lucy's big girl room and the nursery in a non-leisurely fashion during Lucy's nap time and bed time.

Our second pregnancy has flown by! With just a few short weeks until baby girl #2 arrives, we are washing clothes, stocking diapers, and getting the carseat ready all while loving on Lucy in her last few weeks as a one and only. We can't wait to meet you baby girl, but if you take your time we don't mind a bit!

snow day!

We got a whole 2" or so of snow/ice in North Carolina which is always a huge deal and calls for a snow day. Schools were out, offices were clothes, and fun was had!

I also learned how fun it is to try to get dressed for the snow (in NC) when you are 34 weeks pregnant. Leggings and your husbands coat? That'll do. 

And of course no snow day is complete without hot cocoa (luke-warm for toddler lips)! 

Happy Valentines weekend!

We started our weekend off Friday night with a homemade heart-shaped Pizza with pepperoni hearts. 

And some goodies Saturday morning from the Dollar store. 

Fun Valentine's Suprises: stickers and a lollipop in her mailbox (from the Target dollar spot).

 

Whipped cream (and a cup of sprinkles ) for our pink heart pancakes. 

"Lucy look at me. Lucy smile at me like this..." Ok this will do. 

And we finished Love Day off with our annual fancy-dinner date at home, this year with steak (or "snake" if you ask Lucy) and potato skins from The Butchers Shop, followed by Finding Nemo, lollipops, sugar and more sugar.

 

Not pictured: 2 hours worth of crying and screaming about her socks, her shirt, her pants "not feeling good". (Maybe, just mayyyyybe it was from all of the sugar?)

We hope you had a fabulous Love Day!