Welcome Home, Erin!

Erin was welcomed home to an awesome nursery!

I absolutely love Erin's room. It turned out so beautifully. In this pic, you can see the gorgeous initials that Jessie made for Erin, the shelf that Sean painted, and the quilt that I helped piece together on my grandma's rocking chair. The dresser was Elise's.

In this pic, you can see that Erin also got Elise's old crib and changing table. Mom and Rhonda got Erin her bedding, and I think it is perfect. I loved the red and white with accents of pink, blue and orange.

Lastly, Sean also painted this quilt rack for Erin's room. It holds some special homemade blankets that friends/family made for her. I would like to find a mirror or something to hang above it, but I will have to say that it is beautiful enough to stand alone. Sean did such a great job and I was so proud of him!

Erin Adele Jackson

Erin Adele Jackson was born on July 12, 2012 at 12:26pm. She weighed 8lbs, 6oz, and was 20 in long. Erin's birth story is so much more pleasant than Elise's, I am pleased to report.

We arrived at the hospital at 10:30am and they began prepping me for surgery. My nursing staff was really great and the whole process was really relaxing and pleasant (aside from one minor issue with my IV--I am a rough patient to stick because of my small veins). At exactly noon, they wheeled me back for surgery. Sean was in there with me as soon as they finished administering my block, and held my hand the whole time this time. I was so excited to see Erin the minute after she was born (my first words were "She's got such chubby cheeks!"), and I think Sean was glad to be able to be a part of it all this time, too.

My hospital stay was exhausting, but way better than my stay with Elise. My nurses were good, the food was good, and I didn't feel overwhelmed with everything, nor did I feel drugged up the whole time. A planned C-section was WAY easier for me. But, as you can see from the pic, I was still a new mom and with that comes that look of bone-tiredness. I was super-excited on Saturday to discover that one of the nurses taking care of Elise in the nursery was none other than my old friend Shelly! That was a fun surprise!

Sean's time while I was in the hospital was no doubt a little less exhausting--we decided to have him stay with Elise on Thursday so as not to disrupt her schedule too much, so he went home that night. Friday night she stayed with MawMaw because Sean actually worked on Saturday. We decided that since I'd still be in the hospital and have all that help, that would be one more day he could take off when I got home and really needed him. I was a little nervous about that, but it turned out great (he even got to come visit me with the crew on Sat) and he was still there first thing Sunday morning to bring us home.

I was thrilled that we had Elise come to the hospital with Sean on Sunday to help bring Erin and me home. She felt like such a good big sister and was a great help. She adores Erin and so far there has been very little jealousy. She mostly just gets mad when she wants to hold Erin and we're busy doing something else with her. Hopefully this adoration continues for the years to come!

To prove that Elise really does adore Erin, here is photographic evidence: Elise rarely shared her blanket with anyone under any circumstances. But while she was holding Erin one morning, she grabbed her blanket and wrapped Erin up with it! I was in such shock I almost didn't think to take a pic! (Glad I did, though!)

Erin was 2 weeks old yesterday, and while she is still figuring out how to sleep at night, and is a ravenous little thing at times (the pediatrician assures us this is normal and we should feed her when she acts hungry even if it has only been 30 mins), she is overall a pretty good baby. We are so blessed to have our two beautiful daughters, and are so thankful to all our friends and family who have sent their well wishes, brought food, or just stopped by to hold the baby or entertain Elise!

Elise's Flower Girl Debut

On June 9, 2012 Micah Stevens and Denim Lee were married. They asked Miss Elise to be her flower girl. I was so excited to find Elise a dress, as Micah pretty well gave me free-reign, telling me to send her ideas I had based on her colors (champagne, chocolate, and peach). I found a picture of a dress similar to the one that she actually wore and Micah approved it. However, I found the dress on pinterest, and it did NOT come with a pattern or purchase info. Luckily, my awesomely crafty sister-in-law and her equally crafty friend came to the rescue. I think the finished product turned out well, and Elise got compliments on it non-stop.

Here is a front shot of her gorgeous dress as we were getting ready to go to the wedding.

Here is a back shot, as well as a good shot of her lovely hair, which was courtesy of Aunt Lacy's friend Kasey and her boyfriend's sister, Hannah. The hair held up pretty well considering the heat of the day and the fact that the 'do was on a 3 1/2 year old!

Elise was so excited to be a part of the big day. She did an awesome job walking down the aisle. Her and the ring bearer both said "Hi Micah!" when she got down to the altar! They got along really well and had fun together. Elise thought she was the princess of the day until she saw Micah. She asked me: "Mommy, am I going to have a married someday?" And I, of course, told her she would. She just beamed.

Perhaps you noticed that I mentioned it was a hot day? Well, I was out in it most of the day--trooping along at 35 weeks pregnant! I went home twice and put my feet up during the day (thank goodness the venue, Aunt Lori's place "Rustic Celebrations", is less than 5 minutes from my house! I even felt good enough to pose in a pic with my handsome husband after the wedding!

Congratulations to Micah and Denim and blessings on your marriage!

Cousins and 8 months

I don't like for the pregnancy posts to be all about me, because let's face it--these pics aren't pretty anymore :) So I am going to start this post with two of my favorite kiddos! Link stayed the night with us last night while his Mommy and Daddy were at their annual horse ride/camp out in Chadwick. This is the first time in ages that I've kept Link and he and Elise GOT ALONG! They played together really well, and had a ton of fun! It was likely the last time I will keep Link overnight for a while since I've got another one coming soon, so it was fun for me, too! I love that little guy! And he even had fun with Uncle Sean (who he usually watches with a cautious eye for some reason).

Now...on to the pregnancy details.Ahhhh, pregnancy. Each phase in the pregnancy is to be treasured and adored by the mother-to-be, right? Look, I want to make very clear that I feel tremendously blessed to be able to have one health daughter that I carried myself, and to be carrying another healthy one now. But pregnancy is not a "magical time" for me. I am not one of those "glowing mothers" who loves pregnancy. In fact, I really don't like it. I took my obligatory "month milestone" picture (3 days late, because it took me that long to build up the tolerance for it), but that is another fake smile because at this point, I've had it. I want to be able to hug my husband straight-on. I want to be able to hold my daughter on my lap while tying her shoes. I want to be able to eat sushi and have a drink! Just a matter of weeks, though.

8 month stats:

• I have 6 weeks and 4 days until delivery. Yes, the countdown is on!
• Swelling has stayed about the same this month--bad enough that I can't wear my rings, but not so bad that it sticks around even after I prop my feet up for a while. With the heat of late, this is a tremendous blessing.
• Blood pressure remains steady, which is a GREAT thing because at this point in my pregnancy with Elise, it was starting to creep up.
• I am having trouble sleeping. Rolling this beast of a belly from one side to another is a struggle, and really the only way I feel comfortable is propped up with a million pillows...which make me hot. I know, waahhh.
• The baby is still measuring big--at the last appointment, though, her growth had slowed a bit, mercifully. She's only measuring a week "bigger" than she should be (at last two appts, she was measuring two weeks bigger, and the OB told me I should be prepared to "hurt" until delivery due to her size.
  
• Elise has been talking to the baby and about the baby a LOT since the showers. She hadn't mentioned the name Mella in months, but we had this conversation a few days ago:
  

Elise: "Mommy, my baby sister is name Erin."
Me: "Yeah, I know. Are you excited for her to get here?"
Elise (ignoring my question in true 3yo fashion): "Her name is not Mella."
Me: "No, that isn't her name. But it can be her nickname. If you want to call her that sometimes, that is fine."
Elise: "NO, Mommy. Her name is Erin. Not Mella."

I have no idea why this popped into her head, but my guess is someone asked her if she was still naming her baby sister Mella and it ticked her off!

I am absolutely thrilled to report that the next "month milestone" pic will be the last because I will be about to deliver! Can't wait to meet my girl (and to NOT be pregnant again!)

Sprinkle

Saturday was my "sprinkle". I really hesitated to allow any parties for Baby Erin since she was my second child AND another girl, but I am glad that Larissa talked me into it. As I was looking up "etiquette for showers for a second baby", I discovered a "sprinkle" idea. The idea was that you just invite your close friends and that it is lower key than "first child showers". I sent the idea to her and agreed to go with that.

Elise was a GREAT big sister. She had taken a Big Sister class at St. John's that morning (I didn't even think to take my camera--I am a good mom like that), and I think she was still feeling the good Big Sister vibes because she was a huge help at the shower. She loved opening all of Erin's presents for her! Daddy and I had got her a "big sister present" of Disney Princess dinnerware and new jammies, plus a few friends brought her treats, so she got to feel special, too.

We allowed the guys to come after the shower and had a fun BBQ as a thank you to everyone, but again, forgot to get the camera out for that. (Forgive my brain for being a little slow lately--I think my belly is stealing the blood supply). Big, huge thanks to all of my sweet friends who made it, and of course to Larissa for planning it all out for Erin and me.

Just a really fast cute "Big Sister" story about Elise: this afternoon, when we got home, she asked me to carry her into the house. As I picked her up, she accidentally kicked my belly. She reached down and patted it and said "So sorry, Baby Erin." When I explained that Baby Erin was in my belly and well-protected, she said "I still have to say sorry for kicking her." I hope it's always that easy for them to get along :)

Work Shower

I feel like I've been saying it a lot, but it is true! I am SO BLESSED! My wonderful coworkers threw me a beautiful shower, despite my reservations about it with this being my second child and another girl to boot. I am so glad that they insisted because it was such a great time and Erin got some good stuff that will help temper all the hand-me-downs she will get to have!

As I am sure you can see, the swelling remains. I am pretty sure it is here to stay. But I am still fairly comfortable overall as long as I am in an air conditioned environment!

Here, I am checking out Elise's "Big Sister" gift. One of my coworkers made sure Elise didn't feel left out when I came home carrying all these gifts for the baby. She got Elise a memo pad, stickers, and a cute tote.

Some of those fantastic coworkers I was telling you about!

When asked what kind of cake I wanted, it was no question: Carrot Cake! I don't get it often, so I was excited that they obliged. It was a beautiful cake, and tasty too!

Me with some of my wonderful hostesses. There were actually three other gals who played a big part in planning, too, and they made some yummy food and made me feel very special! So lucky to work with these ladies!

I confess that I am very partial to this quilt. One of the women I work with, Kim, was so incredibly nice to let me HELP make this quilt for Erin. That's right, people, I had a hand in this! Definitely not a crafty hand (she did all the sewing and quilting), but a hand nonetheless. Kim brought me a bazillion scraps and told me to pick 10-15 of my favorite patterns. Then, she took one of her lunch breaks with me to let me lay out this quilt. I was so happy with how it turned out and I am so excited that I will be able to tell Erin that I helped with one of her quilts!

Eight more weeks until Erin gets here and is able to USE all the great stuff we got!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's day was a blessing this year (as always), as we celebrated all the wonderful women in our life. We started out with the Stevens celebration at Mom and Dad's. Someone got the great idea of taking a pic of Nan with the other mothers in the family (Lacy and I are 3rd generation mothers and were all "pictured out", so we declined :))

We took our annual pic of Nan, Mom, us, and our kids. Been doing this since Elise was born. I don't like this pic because as you can see I am really starting to swell, dangit, but it's tradition, so we did it.

Next it was off to Amanda and Rob's to celebrate with that side of the family. We took the annual pic of Rhonda with her kids and grandkids, too. There was a better pic of all of them, but when I uploaded it, it was blurry. This one isn't bad, though!

Just had to throw this one in there. Jack got a new house toy, that Elise is enjoying more at this point than him. At one point in the evening, she had Uncle Dave try to squeeze through the tiny door (Uncle Rob and Aunt Amanda had already done it). He seemed to be having trouble, so Elise grabbed his head to help "pull him through".

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!