Aubrey Nicole

I don't have much time to post many details but I wanted to share some pictures of our new baby girl! Aubrey Nicole arrived on the 22nd at 6:45pm. She weighed 7lb 6oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. She has blond hair and blue eyes and is the cutest little thing!
My labor and delivery went very smoothly. My labor was longer than what we thought it was going to be but it went very smoothly. They started me on pitocin around 7am and about 1pm they did my epidural. I wasn't quite ready for it but my OB thought my water was going to break very soon and when it did he said things would move quickly and I might not have time to get it done before I needed to push. The epidural didn't go as smooth as it should have, the nurse anesthetist hit my bone twice before having to call the actual anesthesiologist to put it in correctly, needless to say my back is still a "bit" sore. My water didn't break on it's own so after my OB was done with his clinic appointments he broke my water, which was around 4:30, and things started to move a bit faster then. My delivery went wonderfully, Aubrey arrived after only four pushes. Which was a huge difference than my delivery with Ashlyn which I pushed for a hour and a half.
We are all doing very well! We came home yesterday and have rested and tried to get on a schedule today. Aubrey is sleeping very good and starting to nurse well.

The waiting game...

We are playing the waiting game at our house. Aubrey is perfectly content with where she is at and doesn't seem to be in any hurry. At my appointment a week and a half ago my OB bet me money that Aubrey would be here before my next appointment so we got in gear and started to finish up all the last minute stuff. I even called my mom who lives 10 hours away and had her pack her bags and fly up here so she could be here for the birth. Needless to say I'll be asking my OB for a $5 credit on my hospital bill! :) At my appointment this week my OB gave me the option of inducing on the 22nd if she has not arrived by then and we decided that would be the best option. Everything is progressing where it needs to be, I am just not having contractions, so there is no risk involved in inducing. So, Tuesday morning Aubrey will be receiving her eviction notice!

Yesterday Phillip gave me a surprise gift, an iPod touch.


I mentioned to him a couple weeks ago that I would enjoy having an iPod to listen to music and podcasts while the girls are napping and I am doing chores. It always makes things like ironing a little less painful when you have something to occupy your mind. I told him a simple iPod such as the nano would be just what I needed. Phillip thought I would really enjoy having something a little more hi-tech that I could organize myself with, he knows how I like to have everything planned out on my calendar (although I have an "old fashioned" paper calendar on my kitchen wall that he thinks is hysterical, I consider it my good friend). I also plan out all our meals for the week along with a shopping list for my weekly grocery trips, so I can now do all of this on my new toy. I'm excited about all the stuff I can store on it and have with me where ever I go.

Today we went to the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. It was beautiful and we had so much fun! Ashlyn loved being able to run around and walk through the trails. They even had a children's area she could explore. I'm upset that I forgot to take my camera, it is packed in our hospital bags. My mom remembered hers and got some really cute pictures but doesn't have her cable with her for me to pull the pictures off her camera, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share.

Aubrey's Room

Aubrey's room is all ready and just waiting for her to arrive. I thought I would share a couple pictures.

My friend Crystal made this little sign with Aubrey's initials on it. It looks so cute hanging on her door.

I was able to use the bedding my mom and I made for Ashlyn, it is still in perfect condition!

Yes, those are little legs you see in the bouncy seat. No, they are not Aubrey's they are Ashlyn's baby doll's legs. Ashlyn would much rather play with her sisters things than her own toys.

Just another week...

The majority of our week did not go as I had planned, but I guess that's what comes with being a stay at home mom.

Ashlyn is working on 4 molars, yes I said 4, so that consumed most of our week. The first part of the week she ran a fever and just wanted to lay around and not do much, so that's what we did. By Wednesday she wasn't running a fever anymore but was still not herself. Her mood gets very unpredictable, almost down right mean, when she is teething so she was a challenge the rest of the week. I guess you can't blame the poor girl, I get rather cranky too when I don't feel good. She seems to be feeling better this weekend, she is starting to be more cheerful and has an appetite again.

Tuesday was a sad day for my family. My parents had to put our family dog to sleep. We got her when I was in the 7th grade and she has been a fun part of our family ever since. She was an extremely good dog, the perfect family pet. Even Phillip, who is not an animal lover by a long shot liked her. She was never around babies until Ashlyn came along but was so sweet to put up with Ashlyn's love "pats" and clumsy attempts to love on her.

Thursday I planned a morning full of fun activities for Ashlyn and I to do together. We went to story time at the Library, which is one of her favorite activities. I am taking her to the older kids story time now. We were going to the toddler story time but she was starting to get bothered by all the younger kids who can't sit and listen and bored with the lame coloring sheets. So this past week we went to the preschool story time which has more advanced crafts and books, she loved it. After story time we went and had pedicures. My sweet friend Carmen gave me a gift certificate as part of my baby gift, which was such a great idea. We had a good time! Ashlyn thought she was such a big girl! The roughest part was choosing the right color for her toes. She was set on blue but then changed her mind right at the last minute to purple. Such a girl!

You can tell she's got her mothers feet!

I had planned on packing us a picnic lunch and then go get ice cream. It had been raining all morning so it wasn't exactly picnic weather and when we got back in the van after getting our toes done my tire sensor went off letting me know my tire was very low, so we had to nix the ice cream trip too. We ended up going through the McDonald's drive through for some nuggets and ate them in the tire shop lobby. I didn't think it was all that grand but Ashlyn had a blast sitting there eating nuggets and drinking straight up apple juice from a juice box.

Last night we were invited over to dinner at the Ames house along with another couple from our new church, the Sears. We knew the Ames years ago when Phillip and I were newly married and Seth and Lauren were engaged. Now they are married, have moved around with the Army, moved back to Bentonville after Seth was injured in war, and have two of the cutest kids. We had such a great time catching up with them and getting to know the Sears. Lauren was a wonderful hostess!

Elmo and all his friends

Last week we took Ashlyn to see Sesame Street Live. It was actually on Phillip's birthday. He is such a good Daddy to give up some of his day to do that for Ashlyn. Believe it or not Phillip and I had a lot of fun. Watching Ashlyn try to sing along and dance to the music was priceless.


Time is starting to fly by so fast, I'm not quite sure how because I feel like all of my actions are at a snails pace. I am nearing the end and ready to have a normal body again. I am ready to be able to paint my own toe nails, hold Ashlyn without hiking her leg up under my boobs, shave my legs without nearly passing out from lack of oxygen, and not take more potty breaks than my toddler. It gets old dragging Ashlyn to public restrooms with her saying "mommy, I don't need to go tee tee again", if she could tell time she would be saying "mommy, we just went 10 minutes ago"! But in all reality I can't complain. My blood pressure is great and I'm not all swollen up like many mommys this far along are. I actually really enjoy being pregnant and all the fun and anticipation it brings. I need to savor the last couple weeks since this will be the last one.