Lilla Baptism

I am going to be playing catch up with these next few post so bear with me!

We had Lilla baptized on October 31, 2010. It was a special day for obvious reasons, but it was really sweet that she got to wear the same gown Beckett wore and we "girlied" it up with a bonnet:) She did really great during the ceremony.

Halloween 2010

I didn't take too many pictures this year, and i am still mad at myself for not getting a pic of Beckett and Lilla together! He was a farmer and she was a pig! We went on a hayride through the neighborhood with some of our friends. I think the kids had a blast and we are looking forward to doing it again next year!

Kids on the hayride

Trick or Treat!

Farmer Beckett in action!

Lilla the pouty pig:)

It's New to Me....

I have had a few people ask me recently what products i have been using with Lilla that i didn't use or didn't know about with Beckett. For the most part i use all the same things i did with Beckett this go round, but i added a few new things. The only major thing i know we didn't bother with this time was the Diaper Genie. I just use a little wicker trash bag lined with Walmart bags in it works just fine. Here are a few of the things i consider must haves for

baby #2.....

The Moby Wrap. We tried a sling with Beckett and I hated it. I felt like he was at my knees all the time. We are doing some traveling in the next few months and i really think being able to "wear" lilla will be to my advantage, especially in airports. So after some research i decide to pick up one of these at BabiesRUs. It is pretty intimidating when you first look at it, but i was able to get in on correctly on my first try with help from the book and now i am hooked! It only cost $40 and so for the money i think it is a great purchase. I think the secret to "baby wearing" is practice makes perfect. And yes i do feel more in touch with my inner hippie:)

My Breast Friend. All i can say about this little miracle is, I breastfeed. Alot. It is the best nursing pillow hands down. Don't waste your time with the other kind. This one rocks bc you can walk around with it as long as you keep one hand on the baby:)

Luna Lullaby Swaddle Blankets. I am sure most of you know i work at a childrens boutique. We sell these there and I always thought they looked like a great product. I never swaddled Beckett bc he seemed to hate it so much and he slept in his swing so much in the beginning. I decided with Lilla I was going to do my best to swaddle her at night to help with her sleep routine. And now i am hooked! I think it really helps her get good, uninterupted sleep. These blankets are great for summer bc they are "muslin" type material so they are not too hot and very easy to wrap them securely.

Baby Bathtub: So i know this sounds like something pretty basic, but with Beckett i just used one of the $10 bath "hammack" looking things. It worked well in the sink at our old house and I really have no complaints about it. However, Beckett really likes to help with Lilla's bathtime and I feel much more secure having him around her when she is in the tub. The hammack was more of a balancing act and since i am also trying to keep an eye on him when he is "helping" it was kinda hard to do, so in came a baby tub. And yes it takes up tons of space and it is cumbersome, but until i can just put them in the tub together i see no other way to do it.

2 months of Fun!

Like brother, Like sister:)

Lilla had her 2 month appointment this past week. Technically she was 9 weeks, but whose counting:) Dr. R said she looked great and was obviously doing well breastfeeding. She got her shots and only cried for a couple of seconds afterwards.

What Lilla Loves:

Eating

Swinging

Being swaddled (we are using Luna Lullaby blankets and LOVE them)

Chilling in the new Moby Wrap

watching the fan

the mobile on the crib

the Owl painting in her room-she could stare at it all day:)

being held

bathtime

What Lilla doesn't Love:

Being hungry

Being ignored when awake

getting in her carseat (once we are in the car she is usually fine though)

So far that is about it....she has been pretty easy so far!

Stats from the 8/9 week checkup:

Weight: 12 lbs 2 oz, 75th percentile

Height: 22 1/2 in., 50th percentile

Head: 38.75cm, 50th percentile

Happy Birthday Beckett!!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Beckett!! We had his party at the JumpZone in Madison. He wanted a "handy manny" party so that is what we did:) The cake was ADORABLE!! He is spending his actual birthday today on his first dove hunt with Daddy. I am sure he is having a blast! His favorite presents were his 'real' guitar from his Big E (my dad) and his new fish "Diego" from PopPop (my stepdad). We will see how long diego makes it;) I will post some stats from his doctors appointment after we go in a few weeks. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Singing Happy Birthday!

So big!!

So Cute! Cake by "Whatever It Cakes"

Life Lately in Pics.....

Smiling....

Bless her, she spends a lot of time in the swing:)

Beckett thought he was getting in the sink too!

First Bath

Lately.....

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. I have lots of catch up on and i am not sure how to go about it so please forgive me if i am a little all over the place....

Lilla had her 2 week appt and all is well. She was back up to her birthweight of 8lbs. 2oz. I was shocked to hear this bc it took beckett a whole month to do that!

Let's see, what else......

She has been sleeping pretty good. She goes for about 5 hours at night sometimes more. She is still sleeping in our room, but i am hoping to move her soon. I would like to wait until she is only waking up once consistently before i move her bc i am scared she will wake up her brother!

She is eating good as well. I did get mastitis last week and that was not fun at all! Of course my mom was out of town so I made derek come home from work to take care of Beckett and Lilla and i stayed in bed all day. I have decided that i don't know which is worse though, the mastitis or the meds they give for it-they kicked my butt!

Derek and i are going to try to go on an overnight trip next weekend for our anniversary, so we will see how that goes. I can't wait for a full night sleep and then I remember the Medela has to come along:)

I guess that is about all for now. She is going to her 6 week appt a little later than most, so i will update again after that. Enjoy the pics!

Lilla is here!

Lilla Henson Strong

6-30-10, 5:52am

8lbs. 2oz. 19 5/8"

The Story:

I think the last post I made was around 38 weeks and we were waiting to see if she would make her apperance on her own or if I would have to wait until my doctor got back in town for my section. Well, Lilla decided she wanted to hold out until 39 weeks and 2 days. We went on Tuesday June 29 to our 39 week appt. and i was still not dialated, so we scheduled the section for 9am the next day. We went home from that appointment and got a few last minute things together and packed Beckett a bag for my mom's since we had to be at the hospital at 7am we decided to go ahead and let him spend the night. Before we left to drop him off we all went on one last 4-wheeler ride through the neighborhood! We ate a big meal at my mom's and then headed home to get the last few things loaded up.

Around 3am i woke up to go to the bathroom and felt like something was not "right." I decided to lay down since i was planning to wake up in a couple of hours anyways. While laying there i started to have a few cramps so i decided to get up, and once i stood up well, there was no doubt what was happening!! My water broke!! Go figure:) I had been waiting on this for 2 weeks and it happens the night before i am scheduled to go in. We call the hospital and they said to come on in, but that we would probably keep the 9am section time since i wasn't contracting regularly. I took my time getting ready-took a shower, ect....and then we left to go to the hospital around 4am.

On the way there i starting having some contractions but nothing too bad. We went to check-in and they continued. Once they got us in a little holding room we just figured we would hang out there until my section at 9am. The nurse did all the usual stuff-IV, a million questions, monitors, etc. As i was laying there i started to get a bit more uncomfortable so i asked for some meds to help with the pain. She left to get some tributilene (sp?) to stop contractions, and in the meantime another nurse walks in and sees that i am having contractions and suggest my nurse check me just in case, so she did. And, it is a good thing bc i was 6cm!! She said my cervix was quickly disappearing! Nice! She told us she was going to call the doctor on call and for me to tell any family we wanted there to start making there way up there that i probably wouldn't make to 9am, but that i would probably get bumped up to 7am when my doc showed up. Ok, so after about 10 minutes she comes back and says we were doing the section now! Huh? So, we had to call all the family and tell them to get there ASAP. I was taken to the OR about 15min later. Lilla was born at 5:52am and after all that waiting for her to get back in town my doctor didn't even get to deliver her!!

Lilla had a little bit of a respiratory problem following delivery so she had to go straight to the NICU to get her lungs going good. She was only there about 1 hour though-thankfully. The doctor said it is not uncommon for babies to have "wet" lungs following a section bc they don't come through the birth canal. Her apgar was a 8,9 just like Beckett

She looks so much like Beckett did as a baby. Things have been a little crazy around here but not too bad. My mom has been with us all week. She comes in the mornings and leaves when derek get home. That has been a lifesaver bc it is so hard to keep beckett entertained while caring for a newborn. Sometimes, it is hard to believe she is here, but then again she is already such a huge part of our little life that i can't imagine not having her around:) I will update more soon....enjoy the pics!

The Big Brother!!

38 weeks and counting.....

Not much to report these days.....I am still not dialated and the doctor is still going to be out of town until next Tuesday, so instead of having Lilla tomorrow like I was hoping for we are scheduled for June 30th unless of course my water breaks or I start having regular contractions. I guess it is possible bc I have been having them, but i am not counting on it-i think she is just content to stay put! I am ready though...i never thought they would let me go to 39+ weeks with a repeat section, but I was wrong i guess. Of course I want her to stay in as long as she needs too, but by this weekend if i am still pregnant I will be convinced Lilla is just already trying to test my patience:) In the meantime, I am going to enjoy my last week with only one child and really attempt to take him to do something fun-maybe to swim if i can find an abandoned pool to go too:)

I will post some nursery pics this week too....one positive to all this is now i will have PLENTY of time to get the nursery 100% ready, right now it is at about 90%.....

Oh, and her carseat cover came in today...it's pretty cute huh?!?

36 week update and drumroll please.......

We went on Monday to my 36 week appointment and by we I mean myself, derek, and Beckett. The ultrasound showed that she was measuring 6lb. 10oz. and in the 70th percentile. So i guess that means she will be 8 or more pounds when she gets here! I was not dialated so Dr. T said we would just continue to see what happens on a week to week basis. I am hoping to have her the week of June 21-i will be 38 weeks then and that is when Beckett came. She did tell me that if i am not dialated she will make be wait until June 30!! I have NO intentions of carrying her that long bc I can hardly walk as it is, but we will just have to see I guess. Surely i will make some progress before then:) Beckett got to she her on the screen for the first time and he was a little shocked. He actually said "she looks strange" Nice! But after a bit he warmed up and just smiled the whole time, he was a bit concerned bc we weren't taking her home that day! I go back on Monday so we will see how that appt goes i guess, hopefully nothing major though bc my doctor is out of town!!

Now, on to what has been my most asked question of the past 4 months....What are we going to name her????? Well, after MUCH deliberation and stress we have decided she will be named....

Lilla Henson Strong

Lilla is from all the versions of Lillian that scatter our family trees-Lily, Lila, Lillis, and Lillian. Henson was my great grandmothers maiden name. So everyone is happy!! Oh, and it is pronounced Lil-la and we will not be using a double name...just sweet little Lilla!! Naming this little girl was much harder than I thought it would be but we are happy with our decision and I am getting used to calling her by name:)

And one more thing......

To Derek: happy 11 years of togetherness! 11 years ago today we became a couple! crazy how much has changed, and i love you more now than i ever thought i would:) I can't wait to see you raise a little girl....5th-10th grade will be the best days of your life:) LOVE YOU

All about Beckett

With baby sister coming soon i wanted to make sure i took about minute to do a little update about Beckett! He is 2 years and almost 9 months old.

-We have been working on the whole potty training thing for quite a while now and we recently made a big leap-i am sure some of the mommas know exactly what i am talking about:) He still however won't use any "public" bathroom in any way (teetee or poopoo), and this includes his school-Any advice on how to fix this will be GREATLY appreciated!!
-He still loves Dora/Diego but he is also really into Thomas, Mickey, Wubzy too.
-He is all boy in the sense that he loves any kind of ball....baseball, football, soccer. Derek has been playing church league sports lately and the other day Beck asked me if there would be fireworks after the game!! I hated to break the news to him that this wasn't quite the same league as the Braves:)
-His diet is still pretty much the same as it was at 18 months, but now he will eat "green french fries" aka. Green Beans. He pretty much lives off of chicken, friut, milk, oj, and nutrigran bars
-Talking up a storm. There is nothing he can't or won't say these days.
-We moved him into a big boy bed when we moved into the new house. He does fine in it but has a big tendancy to sneak into our bed in the middle of the night. I know we need to fix it, but i am so tired these days and derek's gets up so early it is a battle we just aren't ready to fight yet.
-He can name pretty much any and all forms of construction equipment. They are building a house right across from us and the day they used dumptrucks to bring in dirt he thought he had died and gone to heaven. We spent most of the day eating popscicles on the front steps:)
-People comment a lot on how tall he is. I am wondering where he measures up on the charts, but we have a few more months til we are back at the doctor.
I guess i could go on forever, but i will wrap it up and say that we are super excited about seeing him being a big brother to his new sister. He loves to talk about what he will do for her and how he will get to hold her when she comes out. I am hoping he doesn't get too confused when she gets here and the transition goes well:) so we will see in a few weeks i guess!!

A Night in the Hospital

Swimming with daddy!
He seems to prefer that vest to a ring these days...

Causey, Clayton, and Beckett chilling on the beach

So as I am sure many of you know about 2 weeks ago while we were at the beach I got one heck of a stomach bug on our last night there. Without going into details I will just say it was really bad, and as a result it landed me in the hospital overnight for dehydration. This is the 2nd time this pregnancy I have had the stomach bug and it is NOT fun when you are 8 months pregnant! It took about a week, but i finally recovered-yay! The main thing I took away from that whole experience is 1. i will never eat another shrimp poboy and 2. it reminded me just how much that i.v. in your hand hurts and i am not looking forward to that when the time comes in a few weeks!

Speaking of a few weeks, we were also told by Dr. T that she really doesn't see me making it to the end of June. I didn't really know that when you have a repeat section that once you start to dialate you pretty much deliver then. There is no "just go home and we'll schedule you next week" like before. With Beckett I started dialating by 37 weeks and when i went in to be induced at 38 weeks I was 3cm. I am still holding out for sometime the week of June 23, but the doctor told me to be ready to go by 37 weeks. And that means i still have a TON to do:)

The nursery is coming along, and i think my MIL is almost done with the bedding. We are this close to picking a name too, so stay tuned for that:) It has been the hardest thing in the world for me and I am so ready to just settle on something.

So, until then here are some pics from the beach!!!

Baby Girl Update

Ok, so i stole this from a friends blog so that I could do a little update on Baby #2! Sweet little thing needs some attention:)

How Far Along: almost 28 weeks
Total Weight Gained/Loss: +12 pounds, i guess what they say about chasing a toddler all day is true...by this point with beckett I had probably gained about 20 pounds!
Best Moment of the Week: Ugh...this has been a bad week....i had to take a 3 hour glucose test Friday-it was not much fun. Praying for good results!
Food Craving: Strawberries and Fried Rice
Food aversions: it will be awhile before i can eat an orange popscicle or drink Sunkist again...they taste strikingly similar to "orange cola" i had to chug 2 days in a row!
Morning sickness: All that ended around 15 weeks-PTL
Gender: Girl-no name yet....Beckett wants to name her airplane-helicopter and at the rate we are going that might just be it:)
Labor Signs: not so much, just some muscle soreness here and there
Belly Button: in
What I miss: Sleeping through the night
What I'm looking forward to: Deciding on a name & getting her fabric in next week!
Milestones: I am going to the doctor every 2 weeks now! Time is flying by!!!

Now that we are moved in the reality that we don't have much longer until this little girl makes her appearence is starting to sink in. I am trying to get the house decorated and all fixed before she gets here bc i know it won't happen once i am taking care of 2!

Easter 2010

This is the look i got after i told him not to touch the sidewalk chalk.....he is a mess!
Hunting eggs at Causey's egg hunt...i swear we came home with 65

Beckett and Kate at the Tri Delt Egg Hunt

So.....we got moved in and somewhat settled just in time for Easter. Beckett had so much fun this year hunting for eggs. Obviously now that we have internet and our computer up and running at the new house I can do a much better job at keeping the blog updated!

Easter Sunday

The Easter bunny brought Beckett what he had been wanting for months....a helmet!
Family Pic!

Sweet Boy.....

Riding in the golf cart at Annandale with PopPop

Sugar and Spice......

So if you haven't heard yet, we found out this week that Baby Strong #2 is going to be a BABY GIRL!!!!! I was pretty surprised. I just really thought that it would be another boy! During the ultrasound I kept looking for boy parts and after seeing 3 little lines over and over and over again i realized the boy parts just weren't there. It took the tech a little while to know for sure though bc she was sitting on the cord, so one view would be obviously a girl, but then you would see this cord in the middle so it threw her for a loop:)
I think Derek is a little nervous. He thought it was a girl the whole time, but i think the reality of it is starting to sink in and all he sees are dollar signs:) Beckett will tell you it is a baby sista, but i don't think he really understands that she be here to stay. He did pick her out a few outfits at Sweet Dreams the other day, but tonight he told me she wanted to wear Superman pants, hummmm, could get interesting:) We are all very excited though and I can't wait to start buying smocked bubbles and girlie day gowns!
People ask me a lot if this time has been different from the first and i can say without a doubt that it has been......
-With Beckett I was NEVER sick, not nauseous or anything. This time I was nauseous practically 24 hours a day for 14 weeks
-I passed yet another kidney stone early Saturday morning! Not fun, but not as bad as it could be. I didn't deal with these at all when pregnant with beckett.
-I started having indigestion before i found out i was pregnant this time and it has stuck around, with him it wasn't until the very end
-With Beckett i gained weight continuously at every appt, this time at my 16 week appt. i had only gained 1lb. total. Now, i made up for it by gaining 5 between weeks 16-20, but lets just chalk that up to a baby growth spurt. I am really trying to be more aware of it than last time, bc i know i have the potential to have a big baby and being only 5'-1" you feel every added pound at the end!
-Cravings: with Beck-chicken, fish, veggies, double stuff oreos, real fruit popsicles
Baby Girl-Hamburgers, chocolate milk, hibatchi grill, strawberries, sour patch kids, reese's cups
-But the MOST EXCITING DIFFERNCE is that women who are carrying girls are significantly less likely to develop PUPPP's during pregnancy. This readers is music to my ears:)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-oh, and yes i am glad we decided to find out the gender this time. We didn't know with Beckett and while i think everyone should do that at least once I know that we made the right decision for us this go round:)

I will try my best to post a few more updates that are pregnancy related. I feel like with the house and all we have been a little more distracted so far with this one, but obviously she is just as important as her big brother! We just need to get in the house so i can focus on baby stuff!!

House Progress

Things are really moving along out at the new house!! They got the smear up this week and it looks like a totally different house. We have been calling it the brick blob for at least 3 months now. I am sure the neighbors are happy to see that we covered up that cheapo brick we used:) I asked Ryan today and he told me we are looking at about 3-4 weeks before it is done, and i can't wait! Living with the folks has really not been bad (especially during the early weeks of pregnancy-i planned that perfectly:)), but it will be so nice to just have our own space and ALL of our stuff again. I will post some pics of the interior soon as i am sure so many of you are dying to see my BLACK dining room!!!!!!!!! Ok, so it is not really black, but it is VERY dark gray and when the sun goes down it gets even darker, but I love it!! So far it is one of my favorite things about the house. At the rate i am going though my next post might be made from my own computer in my own office:)

Addition to the blog....

Look who finally added a new ticker! Can you find it? More to come later:)