Sibling Love

Aiden (and everyone else in our house) has had to do a little adjusting these last 3 1/2 weeks, but every week gets better - and sweeter - with him and Sophia. He knew to be gentle with her from the beginning, but he just gets more and more lovey toward her....and I love it. Every morning he asks, "where's my sister at?" and oftentimes when he's looking for her he will say, "where's my Sophia?" Melts my heart. When you ask him his sister's name he tells you her entire name - "Sophia Raye Schweizer." And just tonight I was listening to him name his family and he was sure to include Sophia ("Mommy, Daddy, Sophia, Aiden").

I love him more (how is that even possible?!?) watching him grow into this big brother role. It's still hard to believe that my baby is now my big boy. Not gonna lie...I've cried over this a few times. From snuggling with him and thinking about how he hardly fits in my arms anymore (much less snuggled against my chest like his little sister) to working through dividing my time between two little ones instead of being able to focus all my attention on one....it makes me a little emotional but it's so worth all of it as we grow into this family of four.

Meeting Sophia for the first time

 

Welcoming Sophia home!

Sharing his toys with Sophia (we actually had
to create an overflow chair because he shared so well...)

 

Holding "my Sophia," like he does every evening

 

Rockin' Mickey and Minnie...perhaps the beginning of
matching outfits....

Morning snuggles with sis

 

Helping Daddy carry Sophia to the car

Meet Miss Sophia Raye!

Remember how in my last update I was going to start doing daily updates? And then, two days later Sophia Raye decided to hastily enter the world. So no daily updates needed. :) Baby is here and we are enamored with our one week old little girl.

When I say hastily, I mean it. Her birth story can be written out in few paragraphs because she came that fast! (Warning, if you don't want to read birth story details, scroll on the down for the cute part of the post - pics.) :)

I went to work Wednesday morning, setting my sights on a Oct. 13th arrival. That would put baby 8 days past due, like her brother, and it would be after all the grandparents' visits were over. So I had 13 days to go. At 10:07 I sent Ryan this email: I am definitely having contractions but I am pretty sure they are Braxton Hicks, which means nothing. Also, they are slightly painful….and I forgot how much of a bummer contractions are. So I kept on working with my "Braxton Hicks" contractions. I was heading to the chiropractor over lunch, and my mom was picking me up for the appointment because we'd dropped my car at the dealership for some work. The "Braxton Hicks" got a little stronger so I decided to organize my desk a bit, just in case I didn't come back that afternoon. My mom showed up at noon, and I swung by my manger's office to let her know I was heading to my appointment and also that I felt like I was having some minor contractions but didn't think they were anything major so I planned on being back. Oh, funny, funny.

When I got to my mom's car a few minutes later the contractions were stronger and a bit more painful so I had her drive us because it hurt to sit up straight. I timed them on the way down....4-5 minutes apart. We got to the chiropractor and I let them know that I thought I was in early labor and asked if I could still get adjusted. They told me I could and said on rare occasions, they'd actually had people's water break because of the adjustments during labor and also that babies often showed up 2-3 hours after their adjustments. I just thought to myself, riiiight......do you know how long my first labor was (21ish hours, if you are wondering)? So I got adjusted and we left. The contractions were getting stronger, though, so I called Ryan right after the chiro to let him know I thought we might have a baby on the way so he was headed down. My mom wanted to go ahead and take my to the hospital, and my compliant self said I did not want to go and sit in that bed for unending hours. So instead we went to a park and walked around, where my contractions went to 1-2 minutes apart.  Oh - did I mention that I contemplated having my mom take me back home after the chiro so I could get my last minute items packed up? Yeah, I debated that. We ended up at the park instead.

Once we realized the contractions were so close, I think I made Mom a little frantic. It was 1:21pm. She called my doc who told me to come in so he could check me. (Everything - chiro, doc, hospital - are within about 2 minutes of each other.) So to the doc we went. I could hardly sit on the ride over or to get checked, I was just super uncomfortable (I mean, besides the obvious pains of contractions) if I wasn't standing. My check revealed I was 8cm and in transition.

Poor Ryan was driving around between the hospital and doctor's office, getting a little lost since we don't spend much (read: any) time in that neck of the woods. Based on the call log in my phone, I think he made it to the doctor's office at 1:59pm. Off to the hospital we went...again, Ryan was a little lost and confused on how to get there. As calmly as a laboring lady in transition can, I told him I needed him to figure it out. I'd guess we were at the hospital by 2:10. Doc Gunby had called ahead to let them know I was on my way so they were ready and waiting. We hooked up to various monitors and they begin admitting procedures. I still could not sit down...it was just entirely too much pressure. At 2:51 my water broke and they told me I had to get in bed so they could check me. I went to get in bed and realized baby was not staying in much longer. (Maybe TMI....but Ryan said he could see baby's head as I was getting in bed.) I told the nurses I HAD to push...seriously, it was not an option. Ryan said the place was like a movie - everyone yelling for a doctor or a resident or someone to get in there. The nurse with one glove on, getting ready to do her check. And then I pushed 2 more times (first push was when I was getting into the bed) and nurse Reyna caught the baby. Things were still a bit frantic with a resident scurrying in and the nurses calling for time of birth, but no one had a clock. Ryan said it was 2:55 so we took off a minute and made delivery time be 2:54. Somewhere in there, Ryan asked if it was a boy or girl....and nurse Reyna told us we had a little girl. I'm smiling just writing this....such a sweet moment in my life.

It took us a few hours to decide on her name. We had this name board at home but nothing we'd put up there seemed right. And then, what I swore wouldn't happen happened - I just looked at her and knew. I'd stressed over this naming thing for months and was certain there was no way I'd be able to just know when she was born - it was totally not me and my personality. But I did just know. So Ryan and I chatted about it and he was on board so we had ourselves a little Sophia Raye - born 10/01/14, 2:54pm, 6lbs 11oz, 19 1/4 inches - completely loved and adored. 

 

 

 

 

39 Weeks

At this point with Aiden, I think I'd gone to daily updates....which I am considering doing again....if I can get myself on here every day.

Went to the doc today....found out baby is holding steady at pretty much the exact same place as last week (2cm, 50% effaced). Sooo, yeah. I think I am just too good of a landlord and make my belly a good place for those babies to stay. Not sure how it's really comfortable anymore - movements are definitely slowing down, which must mean it's getting tight in there. But, movements are still happening, which I guess means it can't be too miserable yet.

We have a definite autumn baby, which I like. My babes have been born in my favorite seasons (spring and fall!) so that's kinda fun. I like that they've both bordered  months too. With Aiden, I didn't even consider that I would have an April baby....with this one I had some wishful thinking that I might have a September baby. But, unless little one wants to show up tomorrow, we will have an October kiddo.

One thing I realized just yesterday - this kid has never had hiccups! It took Aiden a long while to have them, but he most definitely did. This kid doesn't move as much in general (I choose more movement if I get to pick...but I don't). It's crazy how different I already feel like these kids will be (and yes I am making a huge generalization partly off a lack of hiccups.....). :) Can't wait to really find out!

Great Wolf Lodge!

We took a little family "staycation" last weekend and went to Great Wolf Lodge for a night. Ryan and I both took a day/half day off work, and we picked up Aiden right after nap time and headed over to Grapevine. The place was already hopping when we got there to check in! A few minutes in line, off to our room to change and then some time at the water park. Aiden was good to spend about an hour there and then he was done. But he was happy to run around the arcade for probably just as long, just pushing buttons and climbing in and out of the little cars his size. We also went to the evening story time, but found it much more interesting to climb multiple flights of stairs than listen to a story.

He crashed quickly and Ryan and I spent some time sitting on our little patio just chatting about life. Poor Aiden woke up in a state of confusion in the middle of the night so we threw him in bed with us and soaked up all the Aiden cuddles we could get.

The next morning we took in the Wolf Walk around the hotel (which I thought was a pretty big bummer) and ended up at the staircase again. Some more time in the water park and of course the arcade (such good free entertainment for a 2.5 year old....I had no idea!). We took some pics with the characters there....which Aiden wasn't too sure able (take a look below....). We were home shortly after nap time and little man crashed again.

It was a perfect little family weekend....I really couldn't have pictured it going much better. (Ryan and I did have the start of bummer colds but nothing too miserable that it ruined our fun.) I am so grateful to have this memory and time to look back on as we grow from a family of 3 to a family of 4!

Waiting on baby

I started going to the chiro on Tuesday....who told me my hips were not quite aligned so she proceeded to align them....and as she did, she told me she was pretty sure baby dropped. The doctor confirmed that a little bit later when he said, "this baby is low!" and gave me stats of 2cm, 50% effaced and baby hanging out at -1. That's actually farther along than I was with Aiden at 40 weeks, which makes me think little one is coming in the next week. Some things you probably don't care to hear about started happening today that made me think baby may be coming in the next 48-ish hours...but watch me be sitting here typing out an update next week, baby still curled up in my belly. Any which way is good by me. I am ready to meet little one, but now that baby has dropped and chiro has aligned my hips, I'm a lot more comfortable. I am also getting over a bit of a cold that Aiden had last week and passed along to me so I wouldn't be upset to have the time to get better before baby gets here.

Last week both my work and Ryan's work were very sweet and did showers for us. Mine was completely unexpected - we had a group lunch at Chuy's and there were a few extra people waiting there that I did not expect. I love a good surprise, and I was SO surprised so that was really fun. They are the sweetest co-workers and friends and gave baby plenty of diapers and wipes, along with a changing pad, some books, blankets and other helpful items. One of the gals wrapped her gift in butcher paper and she'd written James 1:17 on it in chalk in beautiful handwriting. It was the perfect wrapping paper for our little one....I should have taken a picture of it all laid out before I trimmed it up to frame a few of the words...and it was very thoughtful of her to put so much time into it. I loved it enough I used some of the paper and one of the bows she made to make pics for baby's side of the room.

Ryan's work shower was supposed to be a surprise for him....but Ryan is a bummer at surprises and investigates until he figures things out so he knew what was up, but it was still very thoughtful of them and it was fun to meet lots of his co-workers. They gave us a very helpful gift card to Target, and also played a fun game of letting everyone guess baby's arrival date, time, length, weight and gender. The scales are tipped slightly toward a little lady. :)  Everyone's guess is good with me...at this point I feel pretty clueless. I was totally team girl in the beginning...but then I had a dream it was a little boy and looked him in the face and called him Jude. But my linea nigra hardly showed up this time and just barely on the bottom half of my belly....nothing like the dark, mismatched line I had for Aiden....which, according to old wives, means it's a gal. So, we will see...one of these days, very soon.

Nine Months!

Last Sunday marked the start of 9 months....and yesterday was 37 weeks so really baby could show up at any point now. Crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone by! The doc did "the check" at my appointment last week and said I was 1cm and 25% effaced....which could really just amount to a whole lot more waiting. With Aiden I started showing some signs by 37 weeks....and he came at 41 weeks.

I've never been a gal that completely loved pregnancy, but there are some definite perks to growing this belly. Like people are extremely nice. And I can eat pretty much whatever and not feel (too) judged. I also think it's fun to have my own personal table in the form of a belly so when I sit down somewhere but don't have a place for my cup, plate, etc., I just use what the baby gave me.

One of my favorite things for both my pregnancies has been pregnancy hair, though. Yup. My hair. Normally if I try to skip a day of hair washing, it is pretty obvious by the end of day two. With pregnancy hair? I can go four days and people still think I washed it that morning. It may be true that fixing my hair is in my top ten of things I like to do least. So, yeah, pregnancy hair is awesome. Probably not tempting enough to have a third pregnancy....but worth considering. :)

If life goes like we've planned (I know, typing those words alone is dangerous...), this will be my last pregnancy. Lots of reasons....maybe for another post. But, the thought that this is it makes me love these last few weeks, even if my back is sore, I have strange pain in my shoulder, I am pretty sure the baby is messing with my sciatic nerve, and I wake up entirely too many times at night for bathroom breaks that I struggle to get out of bed for. This growing a baby business is not comfortable, but it's pretty awesome and I am so grateful for the blessing of my pregnancy experiences.

With Aiden, I was so nervous about delivery, I didn't mind how late he came. With this bebe, I'm ready any time he/she wants to come, but I'm going to love on this belly for as many days as I'm blessed to have it.

Will there by a 40 week picture?  We shall see.....

Shake Your Riding Mower Booty

Aiden decided to create a toddler version of the riding mower (this is the best pic I could get as he was rounding the corner)...

And I decided to teach him a (potentially inappropriate?) song, based on the breakfast we had one morning....