3 Months.

She's 3 months old today....

This morning she weighed 6lbs 5oz. About the size her sister weighed when she was born. And though she's small for 3 months old, she has come a long way from her tiny 2lbs 7oz. We're still working on her weight, but we know she'll catch up... :)

Happy 3 months Lilly-bean! We love you!

Chocolate, please.

I must confess, this dieting thing--it's not so easy. I'm pretty sure I'm wanting to eat more just because I'm watching what I'm eating..Like, I seriosuly wanted to give up on day 2 because the thought actually crossed my mind that I may never have another Arby's roast beef again. Or a McDonalds hamburger..or a Reese's peanut butter cup...or...or..or... I called Brian all day at work talking about what I was eating and what I wanted to eat, praying he would give me some confirmation.....just some kind of approval to go eat some chocolate! Ohh boy, am I lame! Lame and tired....and ok, maybe a little grouchy, too. But, I've been sticking to it..and I can do it. And I'm really only sharing this with you so if you happen to see me out and I'm holding a piece of chocolate or a hamburger in my hand you can smack it out....Just in case, ya know.

But other than that, the start of our week has been going pretty well. And my sweet girls are keeping me busy.....

  



This is pretty much what our dog does all day....

 

He'll target anyone with food. She's usually a pretty good sharer..

But there's always a price to be paid...

Happy Wednesday!!

Randoms.

Toddler Tantrums- There doesn't have to be anything in particular to set these off. For instance, the other day Adelynn and I had the rare opportunity to go out to lunch together, just the two of us. Lunch went perfectly fine and she did wonderful. But as we were walking out to the car afterward, out of nowhere, her legs suddenly gave in from underneath her. She fell into a heap in the middle of the McDonald's parking lot and refused to move. I thought in my mind I should have known it was coming. After all, it was getting about nap time. I scooped her up and told her to stop, probably mumbling something about how she was embarrassing herself but really thinking in my head she was embarrassing me more. She then started shouting "no, no, no! I don't want too!" Whatever she was talking about I had no clue. Don't want to what!? walk?? As I put her in the car she then proceeded to take her shoes off and throw them forcefully onto the floor, while simultaneously demanding a drink of water. But when I gave her a drink, she threw that too!! I managed to get a picture, which ultimately made her more mad...

She fell asleep with in 2 minutes of this photo being taken, and just 10 minutes from home. I didn't even know what had just happened. She woke up with a smile on her face when we pulled in our driveway. She seemed perfectly happy, as though she didn't even remember the whole McDonald's scene. And she didn't even want to nap again the rest of the afternoon. Whew!


Closet horrors: I've come to the realization, almost 3 months since Lillian's been born, I have absolutely nothing in my closet that fits anymore. The predicament: My jeans are too tight and my shirts too short. The solution: We're (as in my husband too) going to start ridding our diet of junk food this week and we're going to start eating healthier. Which means, no more chocolate and pop for me--this could get ugly. The mere fact that I absolutely hate clothes shopping for myself should be a good motivation to start losing some weight. The last thing I want to do is have to find all new clothes to wear. Don't get me wrong, I like getting new clothes, I just don't like the time it takes to find them. Like, it would be a dream come true to have a personal shopper. What Not To Wear, anyone?! I could shop all day long for my girls, but when it comes to me, it usually ends in exhaustion and tears.

Sisterly love: 

I never get tired of seeing her love on her sister.

Getting out of the house: Our usual outings have become quite an adventure for us lately. They normally begin about an hour to an hour and a half as normally scheduled and end about 3 hours later than planned. And they have to be timed just right in between feedings, making it slightly difficult since Lillian has been wanting to nurse every 2 hours. Which also requires squeezing into fitting rooms, bathroom stalls, and nursing rooms (Thank you Babies R' Us). What was supposed to be a morning trip to Toledo yesterday turned into quite the excursion. Three feedings, 2 car stops to calm a crying baby, and 7 hours later, we finally made it back home. And we didn't even have Adelynn with us! But, regardless of the hassle,  it's nice to get out now and then.

New Favorite: Adelynn's new thing is our wedding album. She loves pulling it out and picking out all the people she knows. I keep putting it away only to find she has it out once again. When I found her with it again for the 5th time the other day, she asked me to "sit down" and look at it with her.

When my mom came over later in the day, she asked her to sit down and look at it with her, too. She quickly pointed to Brian's mom and said "Grandma's hair is a train wreck". Uhhh...ok. We later found out Brian's mom had told her once her hair was a train wreck. Ohh, the things she remembers.... :)

Healthy Baby: She's doing so well....

She's up to 6lbs 1oz now. Out of her preemie clothes and into her newborns clothes...what a big girl! I'm continuely amazed by her. She's been through so much in her 3 short months here. I thank God daily for our little miracle; for His faithfulness through it all. She's hit so many milestones already, and I'm looking forward to watching her grow in the coming months and years to come...

And so I'll end with this..

On April 30th, we're walking in March for Babies. Because the issue of prematurity has become so dear to my heart and because I know not everyone has the same outcome we had. The money we raise will help support programs that help moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies. And it will also fund research to find answers to the problems that threaten babies. So I'm asking you to please help us out. You can do that here: http://www.marchforbabies.org/Lillian2010. Thank you for supporting us and giving all babies hope. 

So with that, Have a good week all...and enjoy the sunshine!

One of 'those' days

I'm, at the least, sleep deprived...

Today was one of  'those' days in our house. Ya know, A day when babies cry, toddlers throw tantrums, and nothing gets accomplished? It was not a bad day by any means, it was just a day where the expections I had set in my mind for how the day would go just simply weren't met. A day which has left this mama exhausted! And as anyone who has kids knows...you're just gonna have days like that! As I admired my babies tonight, though, all the stresses of the day seemed to melt away..

--insert picture of the girls that I didn't get around to taking. Because, again, just that kind of day--- :)

I'll give ya the one I took last night instead. Because I was digging my girls Valentine's day pajamas with her green St Patrick's day socks...

Rock it girl..way to be festive!

 Tomorrow is a new day...

And speaking of a new day, my dearest friend had her baby this morning, and tomorrow I get to meet her. I am SUPER excited!

And that's all I've got..because the contents of my day has left me tired, and my bed is calling my name...

The smile.

About 4 days ago Brian insisted Lillian smiled at him. I told him he was crazy and called him bluff. Because if she's going to smile for anyone, it's going to be her mom first, of course. ;)  Well tonight, my heart melted. And though I only got about 8 seconds of footage and it was pretty quick, I caught it. It is, indeed, a smile none the less...

And I'm certain this won't be the last of them. More smiles to come.. :)

The due date.

Today is the day we were expecting our sweet Lillian to arrive, but God had other plans for her, and we couldn't be happier to have her here with us already. Just seven short months ago, we saw her tiny heart beating on the screen. Our little bean. And in that moment, she became so real to us. March 14th became etched in our minds..we anticipated the day, marked it on our calendar, and told anyone who cared to know. We were having our second baby, and we were thrilled.

As the months passed, I played her birth day out in my mind. We had found out we were having another girl and I was so excited Adelynn would have a little sister. Sisters. I loved it. I had always wanted a sister, and now my girls were going to have each other. I imagined Adelynn seeing her little sister for the first time after she was born. Coming in to meet her wearing her big sister shirt.

When Christmas came, I remember talking about how in just a few months, we would be meeting our baby girl for the first time. Little did we know, we would be meeting her in just 6 days.

When I was life flighted to St Vincent's that Tuesday, I was completely oblivious to any danger I was in. I pleaded with God. Please, please, please keep my baby safe. I remember feeling, sad, alone, guilty, angry. My body was failing me. I was in a hospital and unable to care for my daughter at home, and I was failing to provide for the baby inside me.

My faith was being tested. I knew in my heart God had a plan, I just needed to put my trust in him. I needed to let go and give it to God. It was out of my control...it was in God's hands. So I prayed. You prayed. We all prayed.

 Prayer is so powerful. And I saw the hand of God work in miraculous ways right before my eyes....

It still breaks my heart to look at these pictures and see her hooked up to everything.

It's hard to believe she's been with us for 10 whole weeks already.

God is so good.

The terrible cake and why I don't bake (or rhyme for that matter...)

Let me start off by saying I'm not a good cook. Don't get me wrong, I can follow a simple recipe. But throw in some fancy terms and ingredients I've never heard of...well, consider me a lost cause. You won't be finding me writing a blog on cooking. Nope. Unless, of course, you find humor in my disasters. Roast, braise, marinate, saute...what does all that mean anyway?! And because I didn't just whip those terms out, see Cooks Recipes Cooking Dictionary.

For the last few weeks since we've been home with Lillian people have been so gracious in bringing us meals, and we are so very grateful for this! It has been nice not having to worry about making dinner while we are adjusting to having a newborn and a 2 year old. Not to mention all the meals have been such a treat for us--a far cry from our usual hamburger helper or chicken nuggets.

Anyhow, cake has been sounding very good lately. Some yellow cake with chocolate frosting to be specific. I've been thinking about this cake for awhile now, and because yesterday I started feeling a little ambitious, I decided to give it a shot. I grabbed a box of yellow cake mix and a can of frosting..nothing too fancy, ya know. But something got a hold of me and I decided I wanted to get a little creative by trying to make it a round double layer cake. Now, the actual cake tasted fine (I mean, it was from a box so it was kinda hard to mess up). But layering the cake...well...it was bad. Disastrous, actually. When I went to take the cakes out of the pans they pretty much fell completely apart. So I did what I could---stacked em' up, 'glued' em' back together with frosting, and threw on some sprinkles for good measure!

And the end result:

A pretty sad lookin' cake if ya ask me....And proof that I'm just not any good at this!

Shoes.

I have to say, I LOVE baby shoes. Despite the fact that 1) Babies really don't need shoes, and 2) They never stay on anyway. When Adelynn was a baby she had tons of shoes, but she never wore any of them. Her feet were so narrow and they always slipped right off.  Anyhow, I've been on a mission to find some tiny, tiny shoes for Lillian's little feet. It's hard enough just to find clothes that fit her, let alone shoes. But just for the fun of it, we whipped these out:

They are, in fact, doll shoes. American Girl doll shoes, actually. And to my surprise...

They fit perfectly! Hmmm..maybe we're on to something here... :)

From this day forward...

I've said it before, but this time I'm serious. I'm going to start updating this blog more often. Truth is, I love blogging. I like reading blogs and I think about what I would blog, or what I'm going to blog, but it just never gets done. And a lot has changed in, umm, lets see...8 months! Including this little sweetie:

She has captured my heart. And seeing her and her big sister together..Well, it leaves me breathless.

She is such a good big sister. I knew she would be. She is always giving kisses, hugging her, talking to her, and telling her it's ok when she cries. She loves her. And we're working on the whole being gentle thing, reminding her she's not one of her baby dolls (Although, she thinks she is. Like sometimes when I pick Lillian up she shouts "mine!". Yeah, we're working on it :) )



Note: This was right before she tripped over her. Note to self: Be careful laying a baby on the floor when you have a 2 year old. Yeah, I'm working on it, too. :)