Typo Queen

Just wanted to say that I realize I'm a typo queen. Simply should be simplify and I think I used the wrong version of "to" a few times. Nice.

Randomness

I had a hair appointment today (one of my favorite things in the world) and got quite a bit of my hair cut off. As you can see by the lovely picture taken by my husband, there is still some length in the front but the back is pretty non-existent :) And, I love it. This isn't anything new for me; I've actually had my hair this short and shorter before. I had decided a few years back that I liked having a little more hair to work with but it just takes to long to get ready! Especially now that I have two runts to chase after I want to simply some areas of my life. *I'm trying to convince Kevin that we could really simply other areas by hiring a maid but he's not on board with that one yet*

I also realized that I hadn't really mentioned in any prior posts (sorry!) the family we've had come stay with us and help us welcome Hannah into the family. Kevin's sister, Mae and baby Izzy were the first to meet Hannah. They actually came into town a couple hours before the birth and stayed for a week. It was so awesome having someone at the hospital to greet Hannah, especially since it was so late at night and unexpected. Then, they came back this past weekend with Ian and visited. We had a lot of fun just hanging out and seeing the 3 girl cousins together. Mae and I are hoping to get the girls' picture taken in a few months, when Hannah is a little older; won't that be precious?!

Also, my step-mom was in town right after the birth to meet Hannah and take care of Emma while we were at the hospital and recovering at home. It was so awesome to have her around doing laundry, cooking, and really keeping Emma entertained.

The weekend of Valentine's Day, Kevin's brother Joe and his wife Jill came to visit from Ft. Campbell. Again, we had a wonderful time and it was so nice to see them.

We are so truly thankful for our family and how much they love us and our girls. It places a true peace and happiness in my heart knowing that we have so many people to love our girls, to play with them, to guide them, to lift them in prayer, and be a positive presence in their lives. I admit, it's not something I thought about much before becoming a mom; I didn't realize the value of family in this way. It's true, though, that it is on my mind daily and I am so thankful.

I love ya'll

1 Month Old

Hannah Sue is 1 month old today!!!

We love you baby girl!!!! Love, Mommy, Daddy and Big Sissy Emma

Happy Valentine's Day!

~ Here are some photos of my littlest Valentines ~

Emma getting ready to give Hannah a V-Day kiss (By the way, check out Emma's eye lashes!)

Hannah Sue's 1st Valentines

Emma, sporting her new shirt from Uncle Joe and Aunt Jill, who came to visit us this weekend

Emma in her Cupcake shirt, on her way to the Valentine party at daycare

Emma's goodie bag and Valentine's from friends at daycare

These are the Valentine's Emma took to give her classmates

An Interview with Mandy

I'm getting addicted to surveys/games, etc. So, this one is where you are given 5 interview-type questions from another blogger to answer and post. If you play along, I get to pick 5 questions for you! Here we go...

1. If you had to pick one personality trait to pass on to your children from both you and your husband, what would it be? Are there any personality traits that you would most definitely not want to pass on?
This is tough. A trait from Kevin is pretty easy- he is a peace-keeper and I hope that trait passes on to our girls. He is so gifted at seeing the Greater Need of a situation. He encourages others to let things go, to reconcile and is able to swallow his own frustrations for the sake of relationships. I'm amazed at his even temperment and ability to forgive. I pray this is something he continues to demonstrate and teach our girls. If I had to pick something I hope he doesn't pass on to our girls, I would have to say driving agression/frustration. Not quite to the level I would say Road Rage but it's close. (Love you, honey :)
From myself, I hope that our girls gain my sense of compassion. From a young age I have always been able to feel great empathy and compassion for those around me. One those I know are hurting, I hurt with them. When there is a joy, I rejoice with them. In our current culture, I think it's often too easy to become very egocentric and have little regard for our fellow man and I hope I'm able to show my girls it's important to share in life's trials and blessings with each other. I hope I do NOT pass on my procrasination to the girls. Dude, it's bad. Example, my c-section was scheduled for Jan 26th; I only delivered 4 days early and my hospital bag was not packed. Sad, I know.

2. Out of all the books you have read, which book has had the strongest impact on you and why?
Other than the Bible for its obvious reasons I would have to say Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I think he makes a very raw, very honest look at the struggles Christians face such as losing enthusiasm, "betrayal" by other Christians, the mundane doldrums, etc and how we can address and deal with it. As he explored all of his short-comings and frustrations and times of discouragement on his walk with Christ, I felt like it was a manuscript for my own faith journey. In the end, he realizes, as does the reader, that while we may not always "feel" consistent and faithful, God is.

3. If you had to change careers, what would you do instead and why?
This is going to sound so boring but I would love to do a job where all I did was data-entry or crunch numbers. No phones ringing, no customers/patients to deal with, no interaction with the public. Give me a task to do with instructions and then leave me alone to do it. My job requires me to spend alot of time dealing with patients and talking on the phone. I hate the phone so much that I sometimes take it as a personal attack when it rings. Hmph, I love my job but sometimes I think it would be so nice to not have to see or talk to anyone. :)

4. If you had to choose the best meal ever, from appetizer down to dessert, what would it consist of?
Alright, this is going to be so non-sophisticated or fancy. First, a blooming onion from Outback. Then, a house salad from Pasta House. This would be followed by the jambalaya from Brew Co and ended with creme brulee from Nonna's. Mmmm. Oh, and I would have ice water with no lemon and sweet tea. :)

5. As a parent, and considering the world we live in, which things make you excited for their future? Apprehensive?
It is easier for me to start with things that make me apprehensive. It makes me so sad when I see how sexualized and image-driven our current culture is, especially for girls. It seems to get worse with each decade and doesn't show any sign of slowing down. I fear the day when one of my children come home wondering if she's pretty enough, skinny enough, fancy enough. Or if she feels that she must give of herself to a boy to gain his love and affections. I'd like to naively think we don't have to worry about this until the teen years but I know that's not true.

That being said, I'm excited that Emma and Hannah can potentially have every opportunity afforded to them. They can participate in athletics, academics and the arts. They can pursue any collegiate field they want or they can choose to be a homemaker. Mostly, I'm just excited to see God's plan for their lives and how He uses them.

If you would like to play along here are the directions:1. Leave me a comment & your e-mail address saying, "Interview me." If you dare.2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (You get to choose the questions.)
The first five 'askers' get the interview!

Hannah vs Emma

It's interesting for us to see the differences that are emerging already between Hannah and Emma when she was first born. Appearance wise, they look so similar. Hannah has a little more hair and it's darker but their facial features are spot on.

Emma, 1 week old vs. Hannah, 1 week old

Their tempermants and preferences are turning out to be complete opposites, though.

Size:

Emma was a petite baby and is still low on the growth curve for size. She was 5lb 14 oz when born and was slow to put on weight, although she was very healthy and "normal." At her 2 month well baby check, she was a little over 8 pounds.

Hannah was born about a pound heavier at 6 lb 9 oz. She went for her 2 week check today. The goal for 2 weeks is to be back at birth weight; she's that plus a pound! 7lb 9 oz! She's already about to pass where Emma was at 2 months!

Sleep:

Emma could only sleep when she was tightly swaddled with a cap on her head until she was about 2 months old. My parents used to laugh and say she was going to go to Kindergarten swaddled and nicknamed her Swaddle-Butt.

Hannah has hated being swaddled from the day she was born. She doesn't like being wrapped in a blanket and would rather stretch her limbs out when sleeping. She doesn't like caps either.

Emma sleeping vs. Hannah sleeping

Eating:

Emma was a grazer. She would casually nurse or bottle feed for 20-30 minutes and never eat enough to be full. This led to her wanting to eat every 1-2 hours for the first two months. Finally, around 2 months, she would start taking about 3 oz at a time and would go 3-4 hours between feedings.

Hannah eats quickly, in about 5-10 minutes and is already eating 3 oz per feeding and going 3-4 hours in between. Perhaps this is why she's about to pass her big sister up on stats...

Diaper Diaries:

Poor Emma could never, um, go "potty" as often as she should. It wasn't that she was constipated, she just never felt the stimulus that she had to go and so we had to help stimulate her to make her. Gosh, I think this went on from birth until she was about 6 months old.

Hannah fills her diaper about every hour. Enough said.

But, both girls are precious and sweet. I keep realizing that I've been assuming they would be the same but they're not. I think that's awesome, though. We'll see if the trend continues as they grow older.

Today's letter is "B"

My SIL Mae is playing a fun game on her blog. She was "assigned" a letter from another blogger and had to come up with a list of 10 things she loves that begins with that letter. She has assigned me the letter B. If you want to play, comment me and I'll pass on another letter to you!

(I'm feeling kinda lazy so forgive me for not uploading pics with mine. Also, this is in no particular order)

1) Burgers. My palatte is very un-sophisticated. I would take a yummy burger and fries over steak any day. And, I'm sad to admit, I love fast-food burgers. I know they are so bad for me but they're so tasty. My fav is probably the Big Mac. Ahh, I should probably try to steer clear of them for a while though since I'm not really digging the whole "post-second-baby-body."

2) Babies. Granted, I love my own 2 babies best (with friends and family's babies coming in after that) But, I have always loved babies. I can't resist their little gummy grins and soft skin. I've often said that one of my favorite smells in the whole world is a baby's breath. I love how dependent they are on us, how trusting they are and how non-judgemental. I have a horrible singing voice but Emma will still snuggle into me at night when I sing You Are My Sunshine to her. There are days when I think it would be so fun to work in a daycare and hold babies all day. (Then I remember that there is usually lots of pooping and puking and decide I'm doing well enough to take care of my own)

3) Boyfriends. Well, just 1 actually. My wonderful husband Kevin was also my first "real" boyfriend in high school. Now I know that all husbands start out as a boyfriend, but not all of them are 16 and play on the soccer team. Although we had lots of drama in our highschool dating years, I love being able to look back at the early days and have memories of him at that stage in our lives. Working on homework, going to games, and rushing home for curfew and some of my most cherished moments with him. Ugh, I'm so glad we grew up though :)

4) Breakfast. Breakfast food is probably my favorite. We rarely eat anything for breakfast beyond a cereal bar or instant oatmeal, but when we go out for breakfast I'm in heaven. I have this horrible habit of wanting to eat all of my favorites during such fantastic occassions and I over-order and over-eat. This usually leads to me feeling crummy and needing a nap. In case you're wondering, my favorites are biscuits & gravy, sausage, pancakes and hashbrowns.

5) Back rubs. Do I really need to say more?

6) Buying stuff. Ok, so this is a little stretch for starting with B but I can't help it. I love to shop and I'm really starting to love online shopping.

7) Books. I've loved to read for as long as I can remember. The last several years, I go through spurts of reading several books back-to-back and then taking a break for a few months. I've always read fiction until the last two years; I've started really getting into Christian literature. Some of my current fav authors are Rob Bell, Donald Miller, John Ortberg, Max Lucado and Lee Stroble.

8) Brain-teasers. I have several puzzle books full of brain-teasers, logic puzzles, word puzzles, etc. When I feel bored, I'll bust them out and be nerdy for an hour or two. It's not so much about exercising the brain, I just think they're kinda fun. Kevin thinks I'm weird.

9) Baked goods. Mmmmm, I love cake, cupcakes, pie, cookies, candy, etc. I never used to be in to sweets, but since my first pregnancy I've had an insane sweet-tooth. Again, not doing so much good with those burgers for my post-babies-body. My best defense is to not let any of the stuff be in the house. Of course, that requires self-restraint in the grocery store...Oh, well, you can't win them all :)

10) Buddies. I'm blessed with many great friends (including my awesome in-laws). A girl can never have too many shoes or too many best buds.

A trip to the ER...

Yesterday was an eventful day for us; we spent the afternoon in the ER. Ugh. I woke up Sunday morning with a little bit of a headache. It felt like a sinus headache so I took some ibuprofen and a Sudafed. We went to church and spent the rest of the afternoon at home. By evening, my headache was getting worse and worse. Kevin decided to check my blood pressure and it was running around 150/100- not good. Since it was the middle of the night at this point and both girls were sleeping, we decided to try to tough it out and see if things got better by morning. Well, they did but by 11AM it was building back up again. I really didn't feel like I could tolerate the pain anymore and was a bit worried about my blood pressure so we headed in to the ER (where Kevin works). Long story short, they gave me some meds to bring my blood pressure down, ran some tests to make sure I wasn't developing pre-eclampsia post-partum (I'm not, thank goodness), and gave me several different meds to relieve the pain. Finally, around 4 pm, I was completely drugged up and pain free. I'm so thankful that the pain has not returned!!

Kevin was so supportive and really took care of me and the girls for 2 days. I know that he hasn't had much sleep the past week and he's been working. I don't know what we would do without him!

Emma was very proud to wear a Big Sister shirt to church on Sunday. This was the first opportunity for a lot of our friends at church to meet Hannah and congratulate Emma on her new status. Hannah slept the whole time we were there :)

She's still been a pretty easy baby for the most part. She will have at least one 4 hour sleep session at night and sleeps most of the day. She's eating about 3 oz every 2-4 hours.

Thanks, again, to everyone who's been sending prayers and warm wishes our way. We're excited for everyone to get a chance to meet our new little angel and hope all is well with you!