Evelyn Grace is here!

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Evelyn Grace was born September 14th at 4:43pm. She weighed in at 6lbs 0.4ozs. and 18.5 in. long and her head was 33cm. She was 6 days early and weighed almost a half pound less than Lilly, but was the same length and had the same size head. She is absolutely beautiful and looks a lot like her sister as a baby, but still has her own look. Labor was pretty uneventful, but here is the story: I had my 39 week appointment Wednesday morning (Sept. 12th) and I was almost 3 cm dilated and the Dr. did a membrane sweep to try and get things started. I had been having contractions on and off for a while, but nothing consistent. That night The started more regular, but not painful or really consistant yet. Lilly stayed with my parents that night just in case we had to head to the hospital in the middle of the night. By the next morning I was having contractions 8-10 min. apart all day, but they were not causing any pain so I knew all I could do was wait. I walked and walked and walked..., but no change. by that night they were 5 minutes apart, but still not anything I would consider painful so I was hesitant to even call the Dr. My Mom was about to drive me crazy because she thought I should call the Doctor ASAP and Brendan wanted to know so he could plan if he was going to work or not the next day... So I finally called and the Doctor on call told me to go ahead and come in to get checked. So we got everything together and dropped Lilly off at my parents house. By the time we got to the hospital it was around 11:30pm. With Lilly my water broke so contractions were immediately painful and it there was no doubt I was in labor, so this time I just wasn't convinced. I was checked and was at a full 3cm and they put me on the monitor. Contractions were still about 5 mins apart and stayed that way all night. I was able to sleep through them fine. The plan was to break my water when the Doctor came in because that should cause the contractions to pick up. At 8am I was checked and was between 3 and 4 cm so progress was very slow... She went ahead a broke my water and contractions were much stronger then. About 2.5 hours later I gave the go ahead for the epidural and finally about 2:30 or 3pm they started a little pitocin to get the contractions to pick up more. The monitors weren't picking them up very well because I could tell it was about time to push and the nurse just told me the Doctor would be in soon to check and she guessed I would be at 7-8cm then. A little after 4pm I told Brendan he needed to peek in the hall and see if he saw the Doctor because I could feel fluid gushing out and I guess that meant she was moving down because the Doctor came in to check again about 4:30 and sure enough it was time to push! After only about 10 minutes of pushing our second little Princess was born. She cried right away and was put on my chest immediately. She was covered with the white coating, but not very bloody. We immediately fell in love with here. Brendan cut the cord and she was doing very well. She had done very well nursing and so far seems to be a really good baby. (I know that can change!) She sleeps better than Lilly did at night so most nights I only have to get up with her 2-3 times. She has been a little congested (a cold?) so I have to suction her nose sometimes at night. This has been much easier than a baby that couldn't be put down for more that 5 minutes at night. Lilly was very excited to meet her sister and loves her to death. She does have her jealous moments where she acts out more, but it's only towards me and never Evelyn so I guess that is a plus. It seems to be worse if someone comes over without a child for her to play with. She does fall out crying if she doesn't get her way immediately because she knows I don't have time to deal with it, but I try not to give in to her. I think she will get better over time.

Recent Projects...

With Brendan in Seattle for the week I have finished 2 dresses. One for Lilly and one for myself. This is the first time I have ever put in a zipper and both dresses required one. By the second one I had the hang of it and it turned out pretty good. Here are the 2 dresses: This is Lilly's dress:

Here is my dress:

I can actually still fit into it now, so I may need to take it in this fall (hopefully!). I thought it would be the perfect dress right after Evelyn is born. I also finished Lilly's waldorf style doll and made her a night gown and dress. I just need to make her a diaper or 2 and crochet her some shoes.

And last, but not least... I made Lilly a backpack that will hopefully last her until preschool this fall. She may wear it out before then because she wants to wear it everywhere. She wanted a mermaid bookbag. So I thought, perfect I can use the same applique design I used in her bathroom. Then she said she wanted one like Ariel... At the fabric store she saw some fleece material with Ariel on it and insisted she wanted Ariel fabric. So here was my compromise... I used a cotton Ariel fabric on the inside and did the outside with cute colors and the mermaid applique and of course her name. She is so excited about it and shows everyone that "Ariel is inside!". I don't have a picture of the inside, but here is the bookbag:

BUGS!

Lilly has now reached the point where bugs are fun and interesting. She loves to go outside and look for bugs. She carries a little bucket and collects them. Her favorites are the roly pollies. I think all kids love them at one point. She has also become good at catching the spiddle bugs (sp) that are everywhere right now in the yard. She started wanting to catch ants wondering in the driveway, but we have finally gotten her to avoid all ants because you never know when she will pick up a fire ant. She likes to "feed" them dirt, because apparently that's what she thinks they eat. We also go walking to look for worms in the mornings. She knows we use them to fish on the lake so she is not scared of them at all. On another note... I have been trying to come up with the perfect gift to give Lilly when baby Evelyn is born. While reading one of the many craft blogs I like to browse for ideas, the girl mentioned a doll she made for her daughter when her baby sister was born. I thought that sounded like a great idea. So I did a little research and I love the waldorf dolls. They are handmade dolls stuffed with 100% wool for warmth. It is believed that these particular style dolls were first made in Germany around the 1920's and it is still practiced today. You can see many different variations of the dolls on Etsy. When I read they can be expensive to buy I had NO idea HOW expensive. You can expect to pay $100 to even $300! Since I don't like to buy something I can make for less I of course want to take on the challenge! Of course it would be more special to Lilly if I made it as well. They do not seem particularly difficult to make with all the great online tutorials, but very time consuming. Many of the supplies can only be found online and they are a little pricey, but I hope it will be worth it in the end. Here is a really cute one for sale on etsy: TheLittleJBird shop on Etsy has this doll listed and it is one of the lower priced ones. If you browse them you can see that every doll is unique and comes with a unique outfit. Has anyone else ever heard of these dolls? What do you think?

Mermaids and more

Lilly loves mermaids so when I was trying to think of how to decorate her (and Evelyn's) bathroom I thought it would be the perfect addition. I have held off doing much with her bathroom other than using things I already had because I knew if we had a boy it would need to be a neutral bathroom, but since we will have 2 girls it can be girly! I just need to add some pictures to the walls now. Here is some of the bathroom. . Mermaid applique towels I did for each of them. The coordinating hand towel. I recovered Lilly's old infant carseat for Evelyn. I figured since we are using most of the same stuff for her I should at least change it up some. I also made her a carseat cover/stroller blanket to match.

Lilly's Big Girl Room

I finally have a new computer so I can post more with pictures. A couple of weeks ago Lilly's "big girl" furniture was delivered so she finally has a room put together just for her since we will be using the nursery furniture again for her baby sister. Here are some pictures: I made the bed crown from an upside down planter and some tulle like glitter fabric that I just had to sew a seam in and gather. She has so many bows that I had to find a better way to store them so I can actually find which one I am looking foor. These were over her crib. She "helped" me paint the brighter colors on them so they didn't look so babyish. I have also redone her bathroom decor since we now know we can have a girly bathroom! Lilly is into mermaids so I did some cute mermaid appliques on the bath towels. Everything else is just pink and white girly stuff so I can change it later if I want. The only thing left is pictures for the wall, but I am not sure what I want to do yet. I love making things. Especially when it involves sewing! I have made several things for the baby lately, but I didn't want to leave Lilly out! I have made her a couple of apron knot dresses. She loves them and thinks they are like princess dresses. One reason I love making clothes for her is that she is so excited to try on what I've made and proudly tells people that "Mommy made it!" Here is one of them: Some updates about Lilly... She is still very active and bursting with personality. She doesn't meet a stranger. She talks to EVERYONE! She is very interested in shadows lately and sometimes worries when she cannot find hers inside. She is mostly potty trained, but occassionally still has a accident if she is really tired. Lilly is really excited to be a big sister and she talks to my belly all the time. She has also decided that she has a "big brother" in her tummy. Her baby sister moves around all the time now. We have finally decided on a name, too! She will be Evelyn Grace. Now I just have to get her nursery in order...

Hello again!

I know I have not posted in forever! My laptop is about to die so I dread getting on it to do everything because I have to restart it several times just to do little tasks... Just a quick summary of everything from the past couple of months. We will welcome another BABY GIRL in September (around September 20th to be exact...)! Lilly is really looking forward to being a big sister and predicted (actually insisted) it was a baby sister before we even found out. The ultrasound tech actually told us that children 3 and under almost always predict correctly. We went to Disney World at the end of April/beginning of May. We visited Downtown Disney, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. To say it was an action packed vacation is an understatement. We had a deluxe meal plan so we tried to take advantage of all the character breakfasts. Lilly enjoyed them all, but of course her favorite was lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table in Cinderella's castle. Cinderella is her favorite princess, followed by Belle, then Sleeping Beauty, then Ariel. If you have a little princess this is a must do for at least one meal. The princess breakfast at Epcot was great, too. Since Lilly's favorite is Cinderella we also did a dinner at one of the Disney resorts where Cinderella, "Prince" -as Lilly calls him, the stepmother, and stepsisters walk around. She would not get to close to the stepmother because "she is mean". She also enjoyed seeing Mickey Mouse and the rest of his gang. At Hollywood studios we did a Disney Jr. character breakfast where she got to meet, Oso, Handy Manny, June (from Little Einsteins), and her favorite of all.... JAKE! She was so amazed to see all of them because she loves watching Disney Jr. and of course to here they were all real. I will eventually upload pictures to Facebook. I hope we are able to go again soon! I have been sewing more and I got a serger machine for Mother's Day! It saves a lot of time on some projects. I even made myself a maxi style maternity dress from a free online tutorial yesterday morning. It did take me about 3 hours, but without my new serger it could have easily taken 4! I think I could cut the time down to an hour and a half if I make another one since I am familiar with the pattern now. I found the knit like fabric on sale a few months ago for only $2.95 a yard and bought 3 yards. I made the dress with 2 yards so it only cost about $6 in materials and I made a yoga style skirt for Lilly and myself with 1 yard. So about $3 for both skirts! You cannot beat that! I will definitely be checking the sale racks again at the fabric store so I can try another one. Only one picture for today, I will try to do better next time! This is us at Magic Kingdom (me 20 weeks pregnant)

Disney and Princesses!

Lilly is obsessed with Princesses! Especially the Disney Princesses. Cinderella being her favorite with Belle as a close second! Brendan got so tired of watching Cinderella that he bought her Beauty and the Beast. We took her to see it in 3D, but she fell asleep JUST before the actual movie started! Brendan and I watched it anyways. One the DVD case there was an offer for a free movie ticket on the front, so I used that to take her back to see the movie last Friday because she is free to get it. I was so proud of my free movie trip, until... the Mom's in front of me brought in some fruit snacks... at first sight of those Lilly was about to have a meltdown in the theather with the movie about to start. I ususally don't do things like this, but I really wanted her to be able to enjoy the movie, so I went to concessions and bought her a bag of fruit snacks for over $3! Really! I can buy almost 2 boxes for that! It was a big bag though... She ate 2 then decided she didn't want them... oh well.

We have just planned our first real family vacation. We have of course been the the beach numerous times, but that is about it. WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! Lilly is already excited about eating with Cinderella at her castle. Sometimes when we ask her what she wants for lunch she tells us that she wants to eat with Cinderella at her castle. Hopefully her excitement will still be there at the end of April. We are staying for 5 nights and hope to be able to squeeze all the Disney parks in.

Happy New Year!

Okay... so we are well into the new year now, but at least it is still January! I have been trying to get reorganized from the holidays. Lilly had a wonderful Christmas and Birthday. I still can't believe she is already 2! She continues to grow smarted and cuter every day.

I'll start with Christmas Eve. We went to my in-laws house that morning for brunch and to open presents with Brendan's family. Lilly had a good time playing with Cason. She still asks about him all the time. She got a big "box" house to decorate from her Grandma and Grandpa. It isn't made out of cardboard so it can be used indoors or out. She also really like the cash register set from her cousin. That night we went to Riverland Hills Childeren's service. Lilly sat through the whole thing and really liked seeing the live animals outside afterwards. Then, we went home to make some cookies from Santa. I guess I did not make enough the first time around because they were all gone! At bedtime, we went to bed with her and actually fell asleep ourselves and at 10pm I woke Brendan up. He was tired and cranky, but Santa still had to visit! Santa was very good to Lilly this year!

Christmas morning Lilly woke up about 6:30am. So we all came downstairs to see what Santa brought. She was still half asleep, but when she caught a glimpse of her new kitchen she kept raising her hands up in the air and putting them back down. I got a few pictures of this, but I wish I had videoed it! She first washed her hands and it was a while before we could get her to open anything else. She did her stocking next and was excited most about her new headbands and bubble bath. It took her forever to open the rest of her presents because she wanted to stop and play with every toy. Her favorites were: kitchen, kitchen accessories, Baby Cinderella doll and accessories, baby alive, Candy Land, and Disney Princess dress up trunk. She really liked everything. I got an expresso machine, and a nice pair of cowboy boots! Brendan's big gift from Lilly was a Coach wallet.

Next we went to my parent's house for Christmas with my family. Lilly was spoiled again there... She got playdough, puzzles, Wii games (from my sister), and lots of other stuff. Afterwards we went home for Lilly to take a nap, then visited my Granny for a little while and went back to Brendan's parent's house. It was a long, but fun day. I will try to post some pics in the next couple of days.

Lilly turned 2 December 28th! When she woke up I brought some presents up to our room for her to unwrap. She got the "break the ice" game (which is absolutely loves!), a puzzle, and a Disney Princess fleece blanket I make her (All I really had to do was sew the binding on and embroider her name on it). She really liked the blanket. When she opened it she held it really close and said, "OH! I just LOVE it!" It just melted my heart and the blanket was totally worth it! Then we took her outside to see the big gift A NEW CAR! It is a power wheel type car that looks like a BMW Z4 convertible. She can barely reach the pedal, but she hops in it every chance she gets! Then we took her to the zoo. The highlight of the zoo was riding the ponies. Sometimes she gets to and sometimes they say she is too little. It just depends on who is working. We were going to take her out to lunch next, but she fell asleep! When she woke up from her nap we had a little Cinderella cake. She also got the Cinderella movie from my parents for her Birthday. Can you tell that is her favorite princess? Her party was New Years Eve at my Gym. She had a blast with her friends and was again spoiled with lots of nice gifts! I will post pics from her birthday and party later as well.