Leah smiles!

Leah has officially shown me her smile!!! No pics of it yet. It was 3 days ago when I was talking on the phone that I looked down at her and she looked up at me and gave me a great big, gummy smile. I thought it may have just been a fluke but I kept looking at her and talking, and sure enough I got another smile! Now all day I'm on the mission to get more smiles. It seems like she should still just be a few days old and a blob...but the blob is almost a month old and smiling. This all goes way too fast!

First Black Eye

Well over the weekend my big girl got her first black eye. She was playing when she fell and hit her eye/face on the desk. Thank goodness my dad and Maureen were there! My dad took Leah, Maureen got ice and I tried to comfort my big girl. I fought back my tears and stayed strong for Brynnie as I watched her eye swell up. The ice finally got the swelling down some and Brynn finally stopped crying. We both survived the first black eye. Now it looks a lot worse than it is. She hasn't been bothered by it but it breaks my heart everytime I see her colorful eye. It is currently a pretty purple color and a hint of yellow around the edges! A good way for Brynn to learn her colors!

Don't I wish I could protect my girls from ever getting hurt!!! I was so sad for Brynn and then I started to think about all the "boo boos" she'll get in life and of all the "boo boos" she'll get that ice can't fix. Isn't it soooo sad to think of our children getting their feelings hurt by other kids and having kids pick on them...we've all been there but I so want to protect my babies......It breaks my heart to think of the many times I'll see both of our girls crying over big and small things in life. I can't imagine the first time one comes home upset over something another kid said or did to them. I'm sure we'll get through it, but I bet I'll shed many tears.

Brynn's summer fun

Here are some pictures I had to add of Brynn BEFORE Leah arrived. These are from a trip we took to Bar Harbor this summer. We stayed the night for a last "outing" before we were a family of 4!

Leah's arrival!

Leah was born 8/24/08. She was 7 lbs 10 oz and 21 1/4" long. she has blue eyes and lots of dark brown hair. She was about 3 weeks early, my due date was 9/13/08. I had gone to the doctors on Friday 8/22 and I was 3 cm dialated and thinned out so the doc stripped my membranes. I really didn't think I would go into labor so soon. Saturday during the day I started to get a lot of contractions but nothing too consistant. By that night they were getting stronger and closer together but I still didn't think it meant anything. Sean went to bed and I stayed up trying to figure out if I was really in labor or not. I tried to go to bed at 11:00pm but was back up around 12:30am in a lot more pain. By 1:00am I decided to time the contractions. Then I realized this might really be it. They were about 5 min apart and lasting a min or so. By 2:00am I was in a lot of pain and at 2:30am I called the hospital and they told me to come in since I had a quick delivery with Brynn. So I got Sean up around 3:00am and called our wonderful neighbor Andrea to come stay with Brynn. By the time I finished getting my things together, and stopping to breathe through the contractions, we got out the door around 3:30am. When we got to the hospital I was having to stop in the halls to breathe through each contraction...I felt like I was in a movie! I got checked in around 4:00am or so and the intern doctor told me I needed to wait and hour to make sure I was progressing on my own before she would order me an epidural. Around 5:00am she checked me again and I was 4-5cm...so she ordered my epidural and we were official checked in the hospital. I knew we wouldn't be leaving without our baby!!!! It still seemed so surreal to me and I couldn't believe I was going to be having Leah Jane so early! I thought for sure they would send me home and tell me it was false labor! Around 6:30am or so I FINALLY got my epidural...I was in a lot of pain at that point and contracting very close together. The nurse said they were very strong contractions too! My doctor (Dr. George) came in at that point and broke my water. They epi worked good for a half an hour or so then I started to feel the contractions on just my left side. With Brynn I didn't feel anything once I got the epi so I was very disapointed! I didn't want to feel these contractions anymore. The nurse came and checked me and said I was progressing pretty fast so that is probably why I was feeling things again. After that, time kind of blurs for me...I was feeling contractions and not able to rest...I was anxious...I just wanted to see our baby! Around 9:00am I told the nurse I could feel a lot of pressure and she checked me. She said Leah's head was right there and I was 10cm!! She found Dr. George and around 9:45am I started to push. At this point I wasn't feeling much of anything again and was able to push just a few times before Leah Jane made her arrival at 9:57AM!!! She was perfect and I felt great!!! She nursed immediately and it was love at first site. I'm a mom of TWO beautiful girls!!!

Brynnie Dancing!

Brynn LOVES music and she can dance it up! This is her watching a favorite video and dancing to a song in it.

The Girls...

Well I'm finally getting around to setting up a site that will work for both of the girls. I may still set up a Totsite to keep for Leah for a year or so too. Life has been hectic, but in a very good way!!! I love having two girls and can't believe how it is possibly to love two little girls so much!

Brynn has adjusted pretty well to having a baby sister. She certainly has her moments of "I'm almost 2 and the world should revolve around EXACTLY what I want, when I want it!" but I guess that is to be expected. She has learned what a "time out" is and some days has quite a few. Although at this point she slmost enjoys them...what fun I'm going to have with her! She is learning her colors and loves to try to count things. Her favorite number is "gwee" or three as we all know and just says "gwee,gwee, gwee" over and over when she "counts. It is so cute! She loves to jump and is actually getting her feet off the ground now. She is still loving the outside and wants to spend all day outside. Her vocabulary is growing and growing. She doesn't say things real clear yet but sure is trying hard. She really is so much fun and I love not having a big belly in the way so that I can run and jump with her again!

Leah is pure joy!!! She was born on 8/24/08 and was 7lbs 10 oz. She is so pretty and looks a lot like Brynn as a baby! She is such an easy baby as well. She eats like it's her job and sleeps for about 3-4 hours at a time at night. She seems very laid back so far. She's already been on lots of walks and out shopping. I even ventured to Walmart last week with both girls by myself! Leah is also very tolerant of her big siste who kisses and hugs her all day!

So that is where our life is at! We are a family of 4 now and loving it!