Emmalyn - 3 Months

aware.

Happy.

Alert. 

You like to interact with people; smiling and kicking. 

You coo and goo and squeal! 
You love it when your big sissy talks to you, and she can even calm you down when you're crying. If she's in the room, you're watching her. 

 You have discovered your hands, and like to suck on them. 

You are following really well, and if you hear a sound from across the room, you look towards it. 

You do not like to be startled or to play "boo!" - you cry. 

You loooove bath time. 

You sleep in mommy and daddy's room in your crib - you like to sleep on your side or tummy. You most like sleeping in bed with us. 

You have started kicking your legs quickly when you're lying on your back. 

You can hold your head up for a bit while on your tummy!

You sleep so well, and have had frequently "slept through the night" (YAY!)

You nurse every 2-3 hours, and you also take a bottle well. 

You  have been to the beach (Florida Gulf) twice already ;)  

You like to be worn if we're moving.

In size 2 diapers, 3 & 3-6 month clothes.

The Story of Emmalyn's Birth

Here is the story of Emmalyn's birth (and the week leading up to it)...

So, baby number 2 was due on December 8th. My mom was scheduled to come in on the 5th (we were just so sure baby would be early/on time). Sean was scheduled to be done with class on the 19th. I was soooooo hoping she would come on the 6th. haha! Silly right? Well, that was a Friday, which would mean 2 things, 1) Sean wouldn't miss any flying time, and would be able to stay the whole weekend with me at the hospital, and 2) my mom would be there for several day after she was born to be able to help out. 
Weeeeeell, baby had other plans. 
I had a bout of contractions on December 1st, and got really excited! But that wasn't it...
I kept having braxton hicks off and on for daaaays. My mom arrived, she immediately took over Annabelle duty (thank GOD! I was so fat and tired! haha!). She made cookies for the neighborhood, which we all delivered. She brought Annabelle lots of fun goodies: stickers, paper, dress up clothes, matching cards.... Annabelle totally loved having Grammy here with her. They went on walks around the neighborhood, found lots of parks, and had a great time. I joined them on some walks.
The 8th came and went and I was sure I'd be pregnant forever. Like, FOREVER! She was never going to come, she just loved be warm and toasty. My mom assured me that wasn't possible. haha I went to the doctor on the 9th, and he checked to see if i was dilated (for the first time...I didn't care to know before because really....what's the difference of knowing or not knowing?). I was; 1-2 cm. He didn't promise me the baby would come soon or anything, just that she would come (why did I need everyone continually telling me that?). We scheduled an appointment for the next week. woh woh 





At one point, I thought it would be a great idea to have an idea of how to get ahold of Sean if I needed to go to the hospital while he was flying. He was on nights, so that meant he left ar around 4 pm and came home around 10-11. I was sure I'd go into labor during those few hours where I couldn't call him haha. Funny that we hadn't talked about it before then. I asked him to give me a number....someone I could call to get him out of the air quickly and HOME. This is the note he left me.  No number... hahaha Good thing I didn't go into labor that night!





 The next day I started having contractions. Like....every 20-30 minutes.That continued for an entire day and a half. Yes, you heard me. Contractions every 20-30, 15-20, 30-40 minutes for over 24 hours. Talk about exhausting. They must have died down that night because I think I remember sleeping. We walked around the neighborhood, went to the park, kicked a soccer ball around. The contractions weren't intense, or getting stronger, they were just coming -OFTEN. So it was kind of annoying. 




 Wednesday, December 8th, after a play sesh at the park, I went to lay down. The contractions did NOT stop, and did not get lighter. So, I couldn't sleep. I closed my eyes, and all of the sudden I felt this *POP* and I felt my water start to leak. It was 3:30pm. I went and sat on the toilet ("maybe I was just peeing my pants" I thouhgt... a totally normal thought for an overdue pregnant lady). The water kept coming, and I was pretty positive that's what it was. I grabbed my phone and googled, "what does it feel like when your water breaks?" hahahaha True story. Then, I text Sean who was on the other side of the house (Annabelle was napping, otherwise I would have yelled and scared the bajesus out of him). My text read, "I think my water just broke"

The contractions started coming quick. Like, every 5 minutes, then every 4 minutes, then every 3 minutes....I planned to "labor at home as long as possible", and that thought lasted about 15 minutes before I said, "put the friggin bags in the car". I knew it was happening quick. We got in the car maybe 40 minutes after my water broke, and before we left, Sean grabbed my hand and asked if I wanted to pray. He said a sweet prayer for me, the baby, himself and all of the hospital staff. Is he the best, or what?!

It was a sunny afternoon as we drove out to the hospital in Dothan, it was really nice! No traffic. I started looking up "labor affirmations" to read to myself, and then some different labor positions to get him prepped for what was about to happen. See, with my first pregnancy, I ran to the hospital as quick as I could and labored ON MY BACK for 7 hours. That was not going to happen again, I was determined. We talked and joked between contractions, and I think he even made a phone call or two on the way.

actual screenshot, note time: 4:46pm

Once at the hospital, I knew I wasn't going to be sent home. But they calmly admitted me to triage, where I stayed for the next hour and a half or two hours. When the nurse finally checked me (It was probably like 30 minutes after we arrived, but seemed like eternity). I was 5 1/2 cm. So she gave me a gown to put on and did some more monitoring. Dr. Philips came in. She's the female doctor and the office, and I had actually never met her before! She seemed cool and hippie and nice. She read my birth plan, and said she was down for whatever I wanted (or something like that). 

So, 3 hours after my water broke my time in triage was up, and they said a room was ready for me. I was already laboring standing up, swaying, bending and whatever felt comfortable, so I asked to walk to my room instead of be wheeled. It was a long walk. I mean... a sloooow walk. My contractions were picking up intensity the whole way there, and I had to stop probably 5 times to breath through one. Sean was holding me and the nurse was behind me with a wheel chair the whole time. Sean was amazing, again. He talked me through each contraction, told me how great I was doing, and was just...amazing. If I had to nominate someone as a doula, it would be him (haha).

When we got to the room, all I remember is racing to the bed (I'm sure it was more like a crawl), and kneeling down next to it. The nurse got me some blankets to kneel on, and Sean hurried to get a cool rag for my head. He said he remembered I liked that last time. After maybe 10 minutes and 5 contractions, I nicely and calmly (hah!) told him I was ready to have this baby! "Forget the cool rag! I want to push!". He said I probably wasn't actually ready, and the doctor wasn't in there yet. Whatever face and comment I made next to him and the nurse caused a commotion and Dr. P was there within minutes. She said she needed to check me, but at that point the contractions were so close together, I could hardly see her face.... She changed her mind and said, "I can tell by your face you're definitely 10cm" and sort of half checked me as I climed sideways on to the bed. At that point, I was ready to throw up, and think I may have. I don't even know....It got so intense. I don't know if I was screaming or not (I feel like I was), but  I was definitely yelling, "oh my God! Jesus help me" hahaha I remember thinking, "they probably think I'm taking the Lords name in vain, but I seriously need His help right now!". Somehow I ended up on my back pushing, and within minutes baby Emmalyn was born!!!

I'm telling you, that was SO fast and SO intense, I hardly had time to sweat! Dr. P, put her on my stomach, and since I requested a delay in chord clamping that's as far as she could go... I guess the chord was pretty short! There my precious baby lay on my stomach for 5 minutes while the Ped nurse checked her out. She was very pink and moving all over and crying; a perfect, healthy baby. 

~~Emmalyn Joy was born December 11th, at 8:10pm, just 4 1/2 hours after labor "began". She had light hair, bright eyes, weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 21inches long. I fell in love immediately. There was no foreign feeling; she was mine. I felt so connected to her right away. ~~

After 20-30 minutes of trying to deliver the rest, I let Sean and the nurse take her for a minute while I tried to push. After an hour, Dr. P suggested pitocin to get the placenta out (sorry if that's tmi, but it was definitely memorable laying there for so long). I had already caught my breath by the time the pit kicked in and after it was delivered, I needed a few stitches. 

They got me all cleaned up, complimented me on an amazing delivery (it's so nice to hear, "you made my job easy" from a doctor :)), and left us to nurse, and admire our BEAUTIFUL baby. 

Did I mention Emmalyn came out with her eyes open? I mean... I don't know if that is a literal fact, but the first time I looked at her, she was looking at me! lol She was seriously SUCH a perfect little newborn. Oh my word. 

Sean left to get us some food; we were both hungry! And I called my mom to tell her, and check on Annabelle. I don't remember much of that night except that I was hungry and thirsty ALL night, and just couldn't wait for them to bring me that breakfast tray! hah! 

12 hours old, seriously a gorgeous baby - no one could believe she was a BRAND NEW baby when I posted this pic :)

Grammy and Annabelle came in the morning to meet the new little sister. Annabelle was awesome. I let Sean hold the baby so I could love on her when she got in, so she still felt special and not like she was replaced (that was a big concern of mine). We gave her a little present right away: new crayons, a book, and a stuffed cat. She loved it. She spent most of the morning crawling in my bed, and saying it was hers - her throne, is what it looked like. She wasn't too interested in the baby, but had a fun time in the room. That whole first day there went great. 
We had to stay for most of Friday too, and a few incidents happened that made me want to run out of there as fast as I could.... the night staff was so much better than the day staff, and the Pediatrician there was not the most friendly....I was so ready to go home when we did leave, and so was the rest of the family. We had everything packed up and the room clean by like 4 pm on Friday, even though they said we "may be able to leave friday evening". We just wanted to be ready when they brought the paperwork in, and we were.

look at Annabelle's excitement!? *heartmelted*

obviously high on adrenaline still since I wasn't sleeping! haha

Grammy and Emmalyn meet :)

SUCH a big girl holding her sissy

SOOO ready to go home! Note: clock says 20 minutes after 7,  we were suppose to be out of there by 6!

First time in carseat, ready to leave the hospital!

My mom was there for the next couple days, and I honestly don't remember much about them. Except that I felt SO much better than last time. My hormones weren't going as crazy, I felt like i was an actual human, and waking up to nurse Emmalyn every hour and a half-2 hours all night didn't feel all weird and crazy. The role of "mommy of two" seemed to come naturally. 

Emmalyn was a champ, she nursed great, peed, pooped and slept like a little babies are suppose to. I have never felt more blessed than when we brought our  second beautiful daughter home. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us these girls, and for a quick and easy labor and delivery. I seriously couldn't have done it without you. 

3 days old

My mom left on Monday December 16th, and that same day Sean went back to work. That was a challenging week, but I got through it and then he was home for the next month, basically. Everything worked out so well, and I feel SO blessed and so thankful.


 More pics of Annabelle and Emmalyn in the hospital:

Meeting Emmalyn for the first time :)

I'm ba-aaaack!

Surpriiiiiiiise! I'm back! Hopefully for a while.... (I always say that)

I actually did expect to have a little more time to write some blog posts over the last 3 months. But, instead, during my “free time” (aka when I’m not tending to a toddler, or holding/nursing a baby) the only things I’ve managed to do so far is clean, do dishes, fold laundry and recently I’ve started working out (which means even less time for cleaning...I’m okay with that!). The piles of laundry tend to be bigger and more frequently laying around in various places these days, and since we’re trying to eat super healthy, the dishes are definitely more plentiful as well. Like I said, I’m okay with it for a while....it just builds up pretty quickly, and then my mind starts racing to the next 3 weeks of packing for a move, oh...and MOVING! Theeeeen I start to get overwhelmed. Thankfully, Sean has been home quite a bit, and his class isn’t requiring tons of outside work (and practically 0 stress compared to the last 13 months), so he’s been very helpful. In fact, I don’t know what I would do if he was working more...or in Flight School still!? Oh my. Bless everyone who has had a baby during the busy time of Flight School. Seriously... bless you. And may God be with you. And may everyone on earth realize that you are seriously a superhero...or at least have super powers.

So, these are the posts I hope to write before we move:

-Last pregnancy updates

-Birth Story (woo!) 

-Newborn pics

-Christmas

-Emmalyn 1 month update

-Annabelle 2^nd birthday

-Buying a house (woo woo!!)
-Flight School ball and Graduation (woo woo woo!!)

-Emmalyn 2 month update

-Family visits

-Pre moving

That list is in chronological order, and that may not be how I write them, but *fingers crossed* I can get them all written in 25 days (well, 15 until moving week starts)! :)

Oh...and in case you were wondering, I have completely put a halt on Tot School :/ It was fun while it lasted, but re-read what I use my free time for, and you’ll realize why Tot School lost priority pretty quickly. I do plan to get back to it after we move, and after I get Annabelle potty trained (one of my spring/summer projects). Hopefully she’s ready, because I’m already over having two kids in diapers. Oh! Have you been wondering about our cloth diapers (I’m sure you haven’t)? Well, Annabelle was in them up to the day Emmalyn was born. Lol Cloth diapers add 3+ loads of laundry a week, and I just DON’T HAVE TIME. For all the moms who do....woo! Good for you. :)

Emmalyn - 2 Months old

Happy!
Discovering your hands
Starting to Coo
You like the pacifier
You enjoy being worn, and do not like to be left alone.
If the car is moving, you sleep in your carseat.
Follow peoples faces, and when they move
SMILES!
You sleep on your side or back mostly, and you're sleeping for 4 hours at a time during the night! 
Blue eyes, red/brown/blond hair
 Size 1 diapers, and 0-3 month & 3 month clothes

House Hunt

With the news that we'd be going to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky (Tennessee) we decided that we would look into buying a house. This was both nerve racking and exciting! 

In the early stages of our house hunting, I also looked into rentals, and on post options. On post would be fine, but we have never preferred it to living off post (except at Fort Rucker for flight school), and it was quickly obvious that rentals would basically be out of our price range; it made the most sense to buy. 

Another factor - for any military family - is the length of time we'll be spending at this duty station. Typically, you stay 2-4 years in one place before being reassigned. However, it's a little different in Aviation. Also, for us, it's even more different because the Army is cutting Kiowa's due to budget issues and trying to replace them with Apache's. Sooooooo, we will be at Ft. Campbell until Sean is sent back to Fort Rucker to retrain on Apaches, and then back to Campbell after that (his time at Fort Rucker retraining will be a TDY, and we won't move with him) when he will likely deploy. So, we'll be there a minimum of 5 years (we're guessing). 

Among other things, Fort Campbell is home of the 101st CAB (Combat Aviation Brigade), the 159th CAB, and 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment). So, the likelihood of ending up back at Campbell with any aviation career (down the road) is high. Also easy, we've heard, to get stationed back there if desired. 

All of that said, we're hoping to be able to purchase a home, live in it for a decent amount of time, and then rent it or sell when we move on (to where you ask? that will be TBD for quite a few years, so you'll have to wait and see ;) Wouldn't mind getting back to the PNW for a bit :)). 

So..... the house hunt....


This was tricky because of Sean's schedule. He had about a month between his last day of class and graduation that would have been okay to make the quick 6 hour drive up to Tennessee, BUT those 4 weeks consisted of Christmas, birthdays, family visiting, and then the week prior to graduation (which entails a surprising amount of obligations and "to-do's"). Then, after graduation, he had less than 2 weeks before his next class started, and we had more family coming into town. We found one weekend where we were able to sneak up there, kids in tow, and look at as many houses as we could in one day. GAH! Thankfully, we have family living in Nashville, which is only 45 minutes from where we were hunting, and they let us stay in their (gorgeous downtown) condo with them!

 The day we left started off really rocky, and we ended up not getting out the door until noon. That wouldn't have been a huge problem, except we had planned our stops sort of surrounding meals and naps (as usual), so we were "behind schedule" about 3 hours. haha It was rough. I'm not gonna lie.... the 6 hour drive took closer to 9 hours. But we made it! And Uncle Patrick and Aunt Stacy had dinner waiting for us when we arrived. Bless them!!!

We got up bright and early the next day, and got on the interstate going the wrong direction. HAH! I mean.... of course, right? What kind of story would this be if everything went smoothly? 

We made it to the first house, which was in our ideal area, and met our realtor, Bill. He was super nice, former military, and very helpful throughout the whole process. The first house was nice, but older, and had quite a few "cosmetic issues" that we weren't super excited about. The biggest thing that it had on any other house (without looking at others) was it's area. Unfortunately that area is also much  more expensive than the surrounding areas, so it was the only house we found in our budget (which, by the way, we could have stretched, but really didn't want to). 

So, on we went.... We saw about 3 other houses that were all okay. Pretty much what we thought they would be from the pictures we had seen online. 

We got to one house, in a new neighborhood, that was actually still being built. I stayed in the car to nurse the baby as Sean and Bill went in. As I sat there, I witnessed what would be the deciding "no" factor for this house: 10-20 cars FLYING past the house, on their way out of the neighborhood. See, it actually ended up being one of our favorite layouts, and it had no backdoor or side neighbors, but it was the very FIRST house on the one street into the neighborhood, and next to the busy "main road" in. We found the same layout, in a different side of the neighborhood, which actually backed right up to a big open Kentucky field. But, because of many upgrades, and it's location, it was a little too much of a budget stretch. So, we kept looking....

We saw probably 8 other houses that day, and walked away feeling great about 2-3 of them; each with their own "pros and cons". I had one that I preferred the most, and Sean had his preference.

We drove home the next day in near silence as we were both very tired of talking about houses, and just wanted to get home...

After a short break, we compared the pros and cons to our top two homes, and decided! We called Bill the next day and placed our offer! 

 Within a week, our offer was ACCEPTED!!! We began the massive amounts of paper work online, and through the mail. It was sort of odd "eSigning" my name! Sean did most of the reading and work for these papers, and handled all of the communication with our realtor, mortgage broker, and bank.

We would be homeowners in no time :) 


 

Gramma M Visits!

Gramma M came for a visit, and got to be a part of Annabelle's birthday party and Sean's graduation! We were very glad she came. 

She and Annabelle went on lots of walks, spent hours at the neighborhood parks, and did a lot of playing in her playroom! She and Sean sanded down our dining room table (which was a hand-me-down from them when we got married) and he took her to fly a simulator, she helped me decorate for Annabelle's party and we all went to the beach!

Here are some pics of our time together: 

 

Flight School Graduation

Graduation day!!!

Such a proud day for us! Hubby looked so handsome in his uniform :) 

 

 
Annabelle and Gramma roamed the Museum for most of the ceremony, until it was time to pin on his new rank. A friend was there to see another student graduate, and she held Emmalyn. They swore in as Army Aviators, received their diplomas, and sang the Army Song and the Aviation song. 

 SO proud of Sean in this accomplishment! Congratulations, babe! You're a PILOT! (hey...I'm married to a pilot! sweet, huh!?) ;)

 

But what really happened? What's up with that baby blanket? Why am I sweating?
Graduation day, the day I missed my husband graduate. Siiiigh.  
Right before we went up to pin on his rank, Emmalyn had a blow out diaper! AHHH! Oddly enough, I hadn't thought about that even being a possibility and didn't bring a blanket, so I quickly unzipped her stroller cover and half wrapped her in it. After we pinned his rank on, I ran her to the bathroom to change her. But, the rest of the ceremony went quickly and I missed it :/ 
 Blah. 
I was SO upset at the time, I just couldn't believe it.... after all these months. But, I got to see him swear in, get his diploma and pin on his rank...and I was there so I'm happy now and I have a funny (ish) story. ;)