Zoo Day

Today for Addie and Mommy time, we decided to head to the zoo since the weather will soon be too cold to go. Addie and I had a terrific time together walking around seeing all the animals and basically having the whole zoo to ourselves. It was a little overcast outside, but the temperature was comfortable. Afterwards, we met Chris at McDonald's for lunch and Addie almost finished a whole cheeseburger. I think her appetite is slowly coming back because she actually ate breakfast this morning also :) Here are some pictures from our outing:

"CHEESE!!!"

Turtle trying to escape!

"My swan," as Addie says

Might as well go ahead and mention Miss Lydia while I'm posting...she continues to be a wonderful little baby and her favorite thing to do is sleep. I wish I had all the little groaning noises she makes while she's sleeping on video...it's too cute and makes me smile :)

As many of you may know, we began using cloth diapers with Addie when she was about 7 months old and are still going strong with our Fuzzi Bunz (although potty training is in the near future). We decided to start right away with Lydia, but the tar-like poopy that new babies have their first few days of life scared us from using them right when we got home from the hospital. I started putting her in cloth a few days ago and just during the day...nighttime changes are too complicated and she would probably soak through since she's a good sleeper and doesn't get changed as often. I had to get her picture in this adorable, fuzzy little diaper and she even has a matching yellow bow!

Modeling her cloth diaper

Ready for church last Sunday (and this was her "pose" through the whole service!)

2 Weeks!

I must say that the last 2 weeks have flown by without me realizing it...each day just drags along from feeding to feeding and everything in between is kind of a blur.

Lydia doesn't have another doctor's appointment until next week, but I took her yesterday to check her weight and to my surprise, she has passed her birth weight! She weighed 8 lbs. 7.5 ounces...so she must be getting enough to eat! We have been blessed with a wonderful baby who sleeps a lot (even at night!) and doesn't have many fussy periods. I'm not sure how we got so lucky once again (especially me since I was a horrible baby and probably deserve the worst!).

We're still struggling with the same behavior issues with Addie and I'm hoping that one of these days, she will just get over it and we'll have our sweet little girl back. I'm not saying she's not sweet anymore...she is probably the most polite almost 2 year old I know, saying please and thank you for everything. Sometimes the "NO WAY" responses and kicking and screaming fits cause me to forget about that sweetness though. Who knew that our brand new baby was going to require less than our toddler at this point!

*My camera battery is almost dead, but I promise to add some more pictures soon!

A "Date" with Mommy

Since yesterday was kind of depressing because of the way Addie was acting towards us, I decided to start today with a fresh outlook. I asked my mom if she would stay with Lydia while I took Addie out of the house on a little adventure. We headed for the library (which she loves) and played with puzzles, pulled lots of books off the shelf, and picked out some movies to keep us busy for the next week or so. She was extremely well behaved, holding my hand when I asked her to and following my directions.

McDonalds was our next stop and we had a nice lunch together...and I even received about 20 hugs from her (probably because she was happy that I let her stand in the booth and eat, rather than sit down--she couldn't reach the table anyway and I couldn't locate a high chair!). And to my surprise, she actually ate a good amount of food. I don't know if I mentioned in another blog, but she seems to be on a hunger strike lately too, so it was a very good thing to see her eat a "decent" meal (if McDonalds counts as decent).

We still had some time left before we had to be home so I could feed Lydia so we made our way over to Kohl's to do some "girl shopping." We found a few puzzles and fun activities to keep her busy during Lydia's feeding times and she was really excited about those. Then we headed over to look at clothes and we found some "loveys" very similar to the lovey she has...her reaction was priceless! "Oh Mommy, SO CUTE!" over and over....so we had to get one, no not one, she insisted that Lydia needed her own also so we got 2 *matching* new loveys. She even told the cashier that "this one my lovey and this one Lydia's lovey." And on the way home I was talking to Chris on the phone telling him about it and she was in the back seat saying, "I love you, new lovey!" We'll see if "old lovey" sticks around or gets tossed to the side :)

We had such a terrific time together and I am so happy to have gotten to spend some quality, fun time with my little girl. And if you must know, I did get a little emotional during our time together, probably because I've missed times like these since I really didn't get to do much with her alone towards the end of my pregnancy due to my back issues. What a positive start to our day! Let's just hope it continues after she gets up from her nap :)

~The girls napping with their new loveys~

A Day Without Daddy

Snoozing away--1 week old!

Chris went back to work today and to my surprise, everything went pretty smoothly (although I must admit I'm already looking forward to the weekend). The morning was the best part because Addie was entertained by PBS while I took care of Lydia and did a few loads of laundry. Addie is still testing us big time and we struggled at lunch time and after her nap...and some more this evening, but we know (or hope) this is just a phase that will be over soon. At this point, some of the battles are not worth fighting and if the only way to get her to eat is by letting her stand on a stool at the table, then so be it!

Yesterday was Lydia's first doctor's appointment and we learned that she gained 8 ounces in just 2 short days! I think our doctor was impressed :) She continues to eat and "eliminate" just as she should and even sleeps pretty well for us at night. She loves her snooze time and sometimes it takes at least a half hour to get her to wake up to eat! We are enjoying every minute of her. Happy 1 week birthday Lydia!

Daddy and Lydia sleeping

Big Sis giving Lydia a kiss

*Addie got a hold of the camera and took several pictures of herself...I thought this one was quite "artistic"

Today's Update

Just thought I'd post a little update on how things are going.....
Much, much better since the last post--Lydia is having more wet and poopy diapers because she's getting more milk (thank goodness it's finally "here"). We are feeding more often and she is doing such a good job! I am so proud of her :) As of yesterday, she had not lost any more weight so now we're just going to work on gaining some. She sleeps between each of the night feedings, which is absolutely wonderful for Chris and I to be able to get in little naps that almost equal 6 hours total of sleep.

Addie is still adjusting and has started to test us to see what she can get away with. Please pray for her and for us to know the right way to handle these little episodes. Overall, we feel she is doing quite a great job of being a big sister. She still LOVES Lydia Mae and comments on how cute she is at least 3 times daily. When Lydia cries, Addie says, "Lydia, what's the matter?" I just can't wait for the day they can actually play together.

I had my first little "test" of life at home without Chris today when he went to vote. Thankfully, he wasn't gone long, but I must say things went very smoothly while he was gone. He left at a time when Lydia was sleeping (not a feeding time) and Sesame Street was on so the only responsibility I had was letting Joe (our furry son) out to potty. I survived!

We're Home

Our Sweet Girl

We made our way home from the hospital yesterday morning around 11:00. After a stop at my parents house to meet Uncle Jake and see Papaw Jerry for the first time, we headed back to our house, hoping for a relaxing afternoon. Our first night home was a hard one, especially after a wonderful, restful last night at the hospital (thanks to nurse Melissa for making sure we slept while she loved on our Lydia). Addie actually slept through the night and thankfully, Lydia's high pitch shrills did not wake her up.

So far things are going alright...but I will say it is an adventure dealing with a toddler and a brand new baby who requires lots of attention. We took Lydia to be weighed today because she has not had any poopy diapers since we got home and only 2 pees (which this is a bad thing). She's also sleeping a LOT (except when we want her to in the middle of the night) so I figured we better take her in and check things out. My milk has not come in yet so we are supplementing a few feedings until it does. This is really hard on me and my emotions are kind of out of whack right now because of this, but I know that I will get through it and things will be wonderful in a few weeks :)

Here are a few pictures from our trip home and today.

A kiss from Uncle Jake

Meeting Uncle Mikey

Addie with her new baby

Trick or Treat!

Since we were still in the hospital on Halloween, Addie's first official "Trick or Treating" was spent walking around the hospital collecting treats from the different nurses stations. We wanted to be part of her first time, so my mom stayed with Lydia in the room while Chris and I walked around with her. She even said "trick or treat" and made sure to say please and thank you. Her favorite candy is a sucker so when we were trick or treating at the front desk, she said "sucker please" to the lady working. She got lots of goodies (and plenty of chocolate to satisfy mommy's craving!) and had a pretty good time dressed as The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

With Daddy in our room

Posing with Melissa

Having fun with Mommy