Welcome to the world, Abby!

Our little princess, Abigail Grace, arrived on Sunday, July 13, 2014, at 10:51 p.m. I went to the hospital a little after 4 a.m. on the 13th with contractions. As soon as they got me into triage and on the machines, it all stopped. They decided to monitor me for a few hours to see if the contractions would pick back up. While being monitored, Abby had some heart decels and this caused concern. At one point five nurses walked into my room at the same time and immediately started watching the monitor and checking the machine's history. Doctors decided to admit me in order to keep an eye on her and possibly induce. After a few more hours of monitoring, doctors gave me the option of going home or induction. Matt and I went ahead with the induction. I don't think I would have felt at ease going home and knowing that Abby might be having decels at home and I would never know it. I was in labor with her for about nine hours or so, but when she decided to come it all went quickly! I pushed for less than ten minutes and she was here! She only weighed 5 lbs 13 oz -- a full two pounds lighter than Nate. She was a tiny tot, but considered full term at 39 weeks. Her body temperature and blood sugar were a little low so we had to immediately feed her and then she was taken to the nursery to rest under the heat lamps. They moved Matt and me to my postpartum room around 1 a.m. where I was finally allowed to eat after 28ish hours or so without food. The hamburger I scarfed down was very delicious!

She's here! 

Our first picture together.

Since I had her so late in the evening, family got to meet her the following day. Nate was super excited to meet his baby sister. He came into the room and immediately started looking for her! 

Nate loves his little sister!

Abby's temperature leveled out and her blood sugar tests started coming back normal on Monday. She was a champion eater at the hospital chugging 1+ ounce every two hours. Since she was so little none of the clothes we had would fit her. Matt's mom ended up buying her a few preemie outfits including a dress for her to wear home. She was originally supposed to wear my old dress home, but it was going to act more like a tent than a dress!

Snuggle time with Daddy 

Hanging out 

She has hair! Hopefully she'll wear all of the headbands and bows she owns.

Thankfully she was not as jaundiced as Nate and passed her test Tuesday afternoon. We were both discharged and the real fun began!

Daddy was in charge of getting her dressed to leave the hospital.

 Abby was not a fan of her new dress.

Abby's first car ride!

Nate was very supportive of Abby on her ride home. He would check in on her and tell us she was sleeping and if she started to fuss he would tell her it was all going to be okay.

Abby had her newborn appointment at four days old and was a little jaundiced. We were told to put her in the sun and we did.....

Ready for her sun time 

She doesn't seem to amused by the walk in the sun! 

Nate was a great helper on our walk!

We are settling in now as a family of four. Things are definitely different and we are all sleep deprived, but we're working on figuring it all out! Abby is a very welcomed addition to our home. Nate loves to give her kisses and helps out when he can. 

Holding baby sister 

Kisses! 

One of our first trips out as a family and she is rocking the headband! 

Our first family photo

Finally, on a lighter note, I want to include a little bit of the hospital ambiance that I was able to experience while in triage and the delivery room. The hospital had lovely cloud covers on the fluorescent lights directly above the beds. After staring at them long enough I was able to make out some cloud animals. These lights made me laugh and I just thought I would share them with you!

Hopefully, as things begin to settle down around here, I will be able to blog more about the craziness of our lives. Until then, I will use my free time to sleep!

Nate turns three!

As I was doing my blog updating several weeks ago, I left out a very important milestone in Nate's life -- his third birthday!! We kept it pretty low key this year and only invited family and a few close friends since we took him on the Disney cruise. We had the party at the same park where we had his second birthday. All of the kids who came seemed to have a fun time and enjoyed themselves. Our theme this year was robots!

The birthday boy! 

Party Time!  

Matt's mom made a robot topper for his cake. 

Gift opening came to a stop when he opened the Peppa Pig book. 

Nate's golf clubs were a hit!

I got crafty and made robot party favors!

Daddy's Little Princess

Unlike my pregnancy with Nate, I have had very little time for blogging. It makes me a little sad that I won't have the same record of this pregnancy as I did with his, but at the same time I have been working full time while trying to corral a very energetic three year old and maintain a house! There is very little time (and energy) at the end of the day for me to do anything other than sleep. 

They say that all pregnancies are different and I wholeheartedly agree. Thankfully I didn't have horrible morning sickness with either pregnancy, but this time it came on sooner and didn't go away with eating a snack. In fact, the snacking made it a little worse! She, like her brother, is very active and often keeps me up at night with her rolling and squirming. However, unlike her brother, I have not had to suffer with a pulled muscle in my back. I carried Nate very high and she has been laying low the entire time. I will say that not having to deal with the muscle aches and back pain that I had with him has been quite nice! My due date is now just 2 short weeks away and I am definitely ready for her to arrive. Nate arrived toward the beginning of March and I wasn't quite as miserable. However, the Florida heat and humidity of this summer are really starting to get to me! I cannot imagine carrying a baby through August down here!

Here are a few pictures of our upcoming arrival! She was not very cooperative during any of my ultrasounds so her pictures aren't quite as great as some we were able to snag of Nate. Either way, here she is!

I think she looks a little like big brother in this picture :-)

Gotta love the footsies! 

This is how she slept for one of my ultrasounds. She wouldn't move and the tech couldn't quite get all of the necessary pictures. There wasn't even a clear profile shot she could get!

After we found out we were adding a girl to our mix, Nate, Matt, and I went to Babies R Us to look at girlie bedding. Apparently everything I picked out was not quite pink enough. Matt even made the comment that everything I liked was "not princessy enough" for our little girl. I think she already has him wrapped around her little finger! 

My due date is in a few short weeks and there is a chance she may decide to make an early debut.  I did have to have a growth ultrasound a few weeks ago to check her size. I was measuring small and the doctor was curious as to how large she actually was. At the time of the ultrasound she weighed in at 5 lbs. 10 oz. The tech said she was petite, but not too petite. She predicted a 7.5 lb arrival weight -- I guess we'll just have to wait and see! However, Itty Bitty does still need a name. Matt and I were slow at determining Nate's name, but we have been even slower with hers! We might just have to take a look at her once she arrives to see what might be fitting. She will, however, have a name before leaving the hospital -- I promise!

Finally, here are a few belly shots depicting my growth over the past nine months. 

 20 Weeks -- 1/2 there!

34 Weeks with Nate

34 Weeks with Baby Girl

I think by this point in the game I was a lot larger with Nate. I certainly felt a lot bigger with him! Hopefully she'll make her debut sooner rather than later, and hopefully Matt and I will decide on a name in the near future!

Spring Break Fun

I am definitely late on posting about our spring break adventure for this year. We decided that since my spring break aligned with Matt's week of vacation we should take advantage of the time together and book a family escape. We decided Nate was probably old enough to enjoy a cruise. Matt and I typically cruise Royal Caribbean, but since Nate was going we decided to branch out and do a Disney cruise. It was a really nice time despite the fact that Nate was going through a horrible 3's spell! My parents went with us. They had never cruised before so this was a nice time to break them in!

We started off the trip with a visit to Orlando and Magic Kingdom. My parents had never been there either so we decided it was time. It was hot, but overall I think everyone had a fun time. Nate got to meet Woody and Jessie, but as all times before he refused to stand next to them and smile when picture time arrived.

Hanging out with Baddaddy at Magic Kingdom

Bashful Nate with Woody and Jessie

We cannot go to Orlando without a trip to the Lego Store!

We drove over to Port Canaveral on Monday after visiting the Lego Store at Downtown Disney. When we finally arrived at the cruise terminal we were all tired, but ready to board the boat.

Matt and I both had a firm hold on Nate because he was having a fantastic time running around the terminal!

Our first stop on the "Mickey Boat" (as Nate called it) was Nassau, Bahamas. We didn't do too much on the island. Nate was not exactly in a touristy mood so we strolled around for a bit and then went back to the boat to hang out by the pool. 

At the pier in Nassau

The next day was much more kid friendly for Nate. We arrived at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, and had a nice, relaxing time. The water was a little chilly, but once you got used to it everything was great. We rented some floats and tubes and made sand castles on the beach. Everyone agreed that this was the way to spend a vacation!

Building sandcastles with Daddy!

Hanging with NiNi and Baddaddy before boarding the boat 

 Our little family :-)

Nate needed his picture with Olaf

We had a day at sea where we lounged around the boat and enjoyed our day at sea. While on the cruise Nate spent some time in the kids club playing with other people his age. He had a blast. We did manage to get him to cooperate for a formal night picture.

Hopefully we'll get to do this again once little sister arrives and is old enough to enjoy it!

On our way home from the cruise we made a pit stop at Cape Canaveral. Nate really wanted to see some astronauts and rocket ships. 

Nate had a fun time checking out all of the displays. 

He especially liked the displays he could explore. 

Nate did not want to be a part of the space shuttle picture.  

There were plenty of buttons and knobs to play with on the mock space shuttle! 

Us in front of Atlantis

We had a really awesome time on this trip! It was tiring, but worth it. It hard to believe it was our last family vacation before the little princess arrives!

When you live in Florida.....

and you are only two hours away from Orlando heading to Disney is just something you do. We decided that when Matt was off for a week in February we would make a quick weekend trip to visit Animal Kingdom and have a character lunch. 

On our way into town we stopped and played mini-golf. Nate had a lot of fun hitting everyone's balls into the holes. While playing golf, Matt decided it might be fun to take Nate to Medieval Times. We got tickets and headed that way. Nate was very fascinated with the horses and knights for the first 45 minutes and then he was ready to go. Even though our knight didn't win, I think it was a successful trip!

Go blue knight! 

Nate loved the crown he got to wear!

This was Nate's second trip to Animal Kingdom and he had a blast. He loved looking at the animals and although he was intimidated at first he enjoyed seeing the characters while eating lunch. We had nice weather and it was a really nice trip for the three of us. 

Nate was a little shy around Daisy. 

Donald was his favorite! 

Cheese!! 

Nate was bashful with Mickey the first time he came around, but was happy to see him the second!

On our way out of town we stopped by Downtown Disney. Both of my boys thoroughly enjoy the Lego store and we spend quite a bit of time there.....

After visiting the Lego store we grabbed a quick lunch at the T-Rex experience. It was okay, but I'm not sure that I would visit there again.

Finally, after arriving home, Nate and Matt decided it was time for some soccer. Nate is finally coming around to the idea that he should kick the ball and not just grab it and run all the time!

We had a really fun trip and enjoyed our family time together. Hopefully we'll get Disney all out of our system before we leave Florida!