Sorry It's Been So Long

Oh my how time flies. I didn't realize it's been over 2 weeks since my last blog. Okay maybe I did realize, but I kept telling myself I'd do it later and hence later has turned into 2 weeks later. So much has happened since my last blog but I will try and keep this one as short as possible.

Let's start with an Ava update. She had her 2 week checkup last week and has gained almost a pound and a half since she her 4 day checkup. The doctor wanted to see her back up to her birth weight of 6lbs 9oz but she surprised us all by weighing in at 7lbs 8oz and growing 3/4 of an inch in height also. My little peanut has turned into a little butter ball. She has become quite the efficient eater. We have also gotten her on a pretty good schedule and she even manages some good awake time everyday. She is pretty strong w/ her neck and loves to look at lights and has become an even better stander. She loves to bounce off of her legs and stand up, with a little help of course. She is managing to only wake me up 1 time a night now, for the most part with the exception of a bad night here and there. Right now she seems to be struggling w/ a little congestion which makes her need to be held all day, but she's not very fussy and has no fever, so hopefully this will pass in a day or so. Last night proved to be a very difficult one since she couldn't breathe really well so I'm feeling a bit sleep deprived right now. I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for another rough one tonite too. Overall she still manages to be a pretty easy baby, sleeping almost anywhere, eating every 3 hours or so, and doesn't cry unless she wants food. We almost forget she's there sometimes.

As for our little man, he celebrated his 2nd birthday on the 19th. Its amazing how time flies when you're having fun. He has grown into such a smart, charming, beautiful little boy and we couldn't be more proud. He really is our favorite little boy. We were really lazy parents and failed to plan anything big for him since we didn't know when his sister would make her arrival. Even after she came, we just kept putting it off. We eventually came up with a small get together w/ family and some of his close friends on super short notice. Thanks to all of you who could make it. We got to utilize our great backyard and even did an easter egg hunt for the kids. These next photos were ones we took of him and his (girl)friend Emily at his party. They happen to be the only ones saved on my laptop so for more pics you'll have to wait a little while.

If you've noticed, our pictures are a little nicer. Mike and I finally decided to buy a nice camera and boy does it make a difference. I always thought I was a horrible picture taker, and don't get me wrong, I'm still not great, but with good equipment my pictures are actually pretty nice. We've both taken to photography a bit and Mike even has some superfluous dreams of becoming professional at it now. I'm very excited to edit my pics now and get some good ones up for you to look at. Hopefully I will do this in the next couple of days.

As for Mike and I, we are adjusting as well. Keeping our kids on schedules helps make our life a little more manageable. Our kids are doing great and we are feeling very blessed. Sorry its taken so long for an update, I hope to be a little more regular from now on.

PS I should be starting my new job here pretty soon so I'll definitely let you know how that's going.

Got to close now, feeling very tired, hungry, and my arm is falling asleep from typing w/ a nursing baby on it.

Love to all,

Becky

Just Pictures!!

Okay so I've finally sat down and uploaded a few pics for everyone to enjoy. Please keep in mind, our little girl just sleeps and sleeps but we're trying our best to capture some shots with her eyes open. Enjoy!!

"daddy's little princess", Mike even bought her this outfit, Awww!!

Van just watching his sister.

One of the few so far with her eyes open...

She was entranced with her brother's face.

Oh how he loves her!!

I hope you enjoy these ones. I will keep more coming as she changes and we capture the moments between our little ones. Love to all.

Becky

One Week In As A Family Of Four

So we are 1 week in as a family of 4 and doing great. Little Ava is coming along like a champ. We thought we had it easy with Van, but God has seemed to bless us with an even easier baby in Ava. She literally just sleeps and eats. She will sleep anywhere and we can even just lay her on a pillow on the couch and she'll crash for a few hours. I have to say she isn't as good a nurser as Van was though, which makes it a little difficult when the eating comes around. Its not that she can't nurse, but she only does it for around 10-15 minutes and maybe every 3 hours. This has made the situation with my milk very difficult this time around. I think as far as healing from childbirth goes, I do pretty well, but I'm having to pump my milk every day because my body hasn't quite slowed down to Ava's schedule yet and I get in a lot of pain waiting for her to wake up and eat. The doctor did say that since she was so early, her eating may be a little slow so I'm trying to make sure I don't lose too much of my milk supply before her appetite really kicks in. Other than that, she is doing great. Mike and I are working hard on getting the kids on a schedule, or I guess I should say on Van's schedule. We've pretty much got our nights down now and Ava is only waking up 2 times a night to eat and then sleeping the rest of the time, which is wonderful.

As far as Van and Ava go, they get along really well. He is just enamored with her and she seems to love him. I know she can't see yet, but everytime Van comes over and talks to her, she either opens her eyes or makes little faces to acknowledge him being there. He is so sweet to her and is such a great little helper when it comes to taking care of her. She is very lucky to have him as her brother.

I'm sorry I haven't posted more pics or even more blogs since our big arrival, but time is just flying by as we're trying to heal, adjust, and enjoy our new life. I will try my hardest to post some good pics in the next couple of days for all of you to enjoy.

On a totally unrelated note, I have found another job. Yep, that's me, as Mike teases that I have 5 part time jobs. This one looks really promising and I should even be able to stop doing all of my other jobs if all works out well. I will be working as the Marketing Coordinator for a law firm in Irvine. I actually sent this company my resume about 6 months ago for another position but I couldn't commit to the office time they were looking for. Apparently they held on to my resume because they contacted me for this new position a couple of weeks ago and wanted to interview me even though I was 9 months pregnant, expecting my 2nd child, and want to work from home. The interview went really well and they called me a couple of days ago to let me know that the position is mine to take when I'm ready to start working. They know our daughter has just made her arrival, and they are more than willing for us to make it through our transition period before I start working, its crazy how understanding they've been without any pressure. The job will require about 10-15 hours a week, completely from home, with the exception of 1 hour every other week that I will need to go into the office to update the owner of progress, deadlines, etc. I know this will be really hectic with 2 kids at home, but I feel like with the flexibility of Mike's job, God keeps putting these little opportunities in my path to take that will allow me to stay at home with my children. We could really use the money and I'm hoping this works out well. This company seems totally acceptable about my lifestyle, my want/need to make my family my 1st priority, and yet my need for some intellectual challenge. Please keep us in your prayers that if this job is God's will for our family, that we can make the necessary adjustments to make it work for all of us without too many complications.

Well I think that's all I can say for now. I promise to get some more pics up soon for everyone. As always, keep us in your prayers as we move forward as a family of 4!!

Love,
becky

She's Here!!

So my last post was just hours before little Ava decided to join our family. Saturday night I was having some back pain but figured it was nothing new since I had back pain a lot during my pregnancies. Of course I was having my normal contractions too, 7-10 minutes apart, and I started to think in the back of my mind maybe this was the night. But I didn't want to get my hopes up so off to bed I went. Around 1230 I woke up thinking I needed to use the bathroom, which was every time I turned over by this point but I was too lazy to get up and go the bathroom and decided to go back to sleep. About 10 minutes later, I felt a small rush of fluid and thought, why was I so lazy to get out of bed, I should've just gone to the bathroom. So I got up, relieved myself, and headed back to bed. Another 10 minutes later, I hadn't even fallen back to sleep yet, another rush of fluid came out and I really thought, it must be my water breaking because I know I just went to the bathroom. So I came out, told Mike, and we got ready to head to the hospital after calling to see if they thought it was my water too. Mike's folks came over since Van was sound asleep and by this point it was about 100 in the morning and I didn't want to move him just in case it was a false alarm. So off to the hospital we went.

When we got there, they did a swab test to see if I was indeed leaking my amniotic fluid, and within minutes it was confirmed and I was admitted to delivery our baby. By the time we got moved into our room and settled in it was about 230am. They checked me to see if I was dilating and of course I wasn't so they called the doctor and busted out the pitosin. By 400 they came back to check me and I was 4cm dilated. I was having pretty strong contractions by then, all back labor by the way, which sucks, and asked for the epidural. My experience with Van was 3 epidurals, all failures so I was a little nervous. But this one was wonderful, within minutes my toes were numb and everything was great. They came back to check me an hour or so later and I was 5-6cm dilated. It was going much faster than it all did with Van and we were very excited. At 630ish, they came to check me again and I was now 9cm dilated. They turned off the pitosin and the contractions just kept coming. Within minutes, I was ready to push, Ava had already worked her was down and was ready to come out. The nurses were still waiting for the doctor to arrive (not my doctor because he was still on vacation) so I was told to just hang in there and don't push even though I wanted to, needed to. So at about 715 I was finally given the go ahead and push, and just a few pushes later, Ava arrived. 739am, 6lbs 9oz, 18 in long, our beautiful little girl was here.

It went so much faster this time around. But all in all, it wasn't too

bad. We were able to leave the hospital after just staying one night and have come home to recover. Van is just obsessed with his little sister. He thinks she is wonderful and almost anything she does makes him laugh or smile. If she sneezes, he says "bless you Ava", if she's crying, he looks at us and says "Ava crying". He wants to hold her all the time and when we ask if he's done he says no. He likes to show her his toys and likes to just sit by her. He kisses her whenever he feels like it too. He is doing really well considering he's not the only little person around anymore and we couldn't be more proud.

In order to keep this blog sort of short, I will cut out now and be back in a few. Enjoy the pics and keep us all in your prayers.

One More Thing...

Forgot to mention, we are only 20 days away and counting....

me

Another Day, Another Contraction

I realize I haven't posted in over a week so it's time for another one.

We're still waiting on little Ava to make her debut. I had a doctor's appt this last week and it was very uneventful. Other than telling me that I'm okay time wise to go whenever, there was nothing new to report. My doctor was still on vacation so I saw the PA and didn't learn anything new. I'm still having contractions everyday. Last night I had them going for about 1 1/2 hours, between 7 and 10 minutes apart, but of course, then I slept like a baby and didn't have any timeable ones again till later today. I'm not sure how this contraction thing works because I didn't have any timeable ones like this with Van until the day I went into labor. I'm know this is my body getting ready and I'm hoping my doctor checks me for any dilating or effacing this week at my appointment. Although, even that could be deceiving as to when labor will actually begin because you could be dilated for weeks too with no arrival. So here we sit, still waiting. I stopped working this last week, so now I need to find something to do to keep myself and Van occupied everyday so we don't get too bored waiting for his sister to come. My doctor's appt is on Wednesday so I'll post again then or before if anything interesting happens.

xoxo,
Becky

PS Congrats to our good friends Jason and Krisha, who are expecting their first child in October. We will keep you in our prayers and hope for a very easy pregnancy. Welcome to the parenting world!!