Just Us Lately :)

Ahhh, maternity leave, how I love thee... ;o) Although exhausting, these last couple weeks have been wonderful. Our little Stella is blossoming... as much as a 7 week old can really blossom. ;) She's happier, a fantastic eater, cuter by the second, sleeping like a rock star, and just so sweet. She gets more used to her sister's less-than-gentle hand shakes, head pats, and hugs everyday. Ava's not totally used to the fact that she's not the star of attention anymore, but she's handling it like a big girl. As big girl as I can expect from an almost 3 year old, at least. :) Right now, Stella-bell loves her nightly baths, loves her legs massaged, loves her swaddler blanket, and loves to nurse. Pretty sure her favorite time of the day is bedtime because she gets all these things! :) We start her bedtime routine around 7:15pm and she's in her crib and out cold by 7:48pm every night. Not kidding... it's so weird, I'm literally walking down the stairs at 7:48 almost every evening, lol! Back in the early days, it would take sometimes hours (!) of rocking and ssh'ing to get her to fall asleep before bed. Who am I kidding... I don't think she had a bedtime! More like nights full of scattered naps. Glad that's over! Anyway, I knew I couldn't keep up with the lengthy bedtime routine now with 2 little ones to get ready for bed. So, every few nights I would lay her down after less and less rocking each time. So by now, after her bath, massage, and swaddling, I nurse her and she dozes off. After a burp, I put her in her crib and she falls asleep... sometimes with a couple minutes of fussing, but usually she's just out. Of course, I spend the entire 20 minutes of nursing just staring at her cute little self... her cheeks are getting a little chub to them, and her fluffy hair sways in the air while we rock. I try to burn these moments into my memory... never ever forget this moment right here, Liz!!! How I love motherhood... :)

That's all for now... onto some pics!

Dad and his girls...

She means business ;o)

She's starting to enjoy her jungle gym. I remember Ava loved this thing... actually she still tries to enjoy it... silly girl.

Checkin' out her daddy.

^ Stella at 6 weeks in the tub ^

^Ava at 6 weeks in the tub^

I just thought it was interesting to see them compared at the same age... naked! :o)

Riding a pony at the zoo. This pony's name is "Awesome". When we asked Ava later what the pony's name was that she rode at the zoo she said, "my pony's name was "Cool"!" HA!

Helping mama make bread. Glad to be back in the kitchen! Not having to soothe a wailing baby all evening makes this a little easier. ;) Now she likes to sit in her bouncer and watch the dinner-making! :)

Because Stella does not sleep well on the go (which means lots of crying on the go!), we end up staying home all day most of the time. So, to entertain miss Ava, we spend our time painting (lots of painting! :), coloring, playing with My Little Ponies, reading, playing Memory and other little learning games, decorating the driveway with sidewalk chalk, watching movies, and building skyscrapers and bird houses with blocks. Why birdhouses? I have no idea... it was Ava's idea. :)

And here's the girl who shares my heart with the other lil peanut in this house. :)

One Month Big!

It's Stella's one month milestone! She made it... we made it... and we're all happy! Well, mostly... I'll cover that later. :) As of today, she's actually 6 weeks old (what? I've kinda had my hands full! :) and so much has happened over the last short (well... long) 6 weeks. One thing I've learned about myself this time around is that I really don't do the newborn stage very well. The first time around, I had no idea what was to come, like after the newborn stage, so I just went with it and was so excited to learn at each stage that it all does get easier and more fullfilling. This time, already knowing these things, I find myself thinking, "Oh I can't wait til she's giggling and rolling over and blowing us razzberries!" Newborns, while snuggly and sweet-smelling, are basically just that... and while I love this baby girl more everyday and try to just soak up these early months, I'm looking forward to the coming stages of her baby life. But for now, we've got SMILES! She shoots us a few every now and then and they help affirm that she really does love us despite the hefty amount of crying that she does! Ha! They really are heart-melting. I think babies learn to smile at just about the time you think you're going to lose it... 5 ish weeks for miss Stella bell.

Tuesday marked Stella's 6 weeks. Since then, she has totally mellowed out (knocking really hard on wood over here ;). Up until then, she spent a good share of her days pretty irritable and fussy. And evenings were much worse. I originally thought we were dealing with a colicky baby, but I have since concluded that her immature belly and the reflux is probably the culprit. She is just a firecracker (remember me saying that she came out screaming and crying and crying and crying at delivery? yep, still a firecracker :) and gets fussy easy... I mean I guess? Who really knows. I took her to the pediatrician earlier this week because I've heard this reflux can be some nasty stuff for babies and I just needed a little guidance on how I can make her less miserable-acting. I'm still nursing, and being that I've already been nursing longer this time than I did with Ava, i'm pretty much a rookie at this so I thought maybe it's something I'm eating that's bothering her tummy. Thankfully, Dr. Brown said, "Eat whatever you want." He doesn't advise changing my diet because only a very small amount of what I'm eating crosses over through my breastmilk, and basically this is just something she will grow out of around 3-4 months. I did cut back on dairy... sadly... so we'll see how she does. I'd rather not have my baby take medications if I can help it... but I also don't want her to be miserable. So, there's our last 6 weeks in a nutshell. OH, and sleep. It's getting better. :) She now sleeps anywhere from 9p-3a and sometimes 9p-5a. I cannot be anymore thankful for that!! She gets up around 6:30-7:30a for the day.

Stella weighed 9 lbs 5 oz at her one month well visit! That's up 3 lbs since her 3 day old visit! She's 21 & 1/4 inches long, which is one and a quarter inches longer than last month. Amazing how fast these babies grow... no wonder she's fussy! Really, I think we're coming off a week long growth spurt and that's why she has been more mellow the past few days. She went from 9# 5 at her one month appt to 9# 15 oz at her appt this week!! Another reason I"m not worrying about this "reflux"... its not stopping her, she's growing like crazy!

Another daddy's girl...

Lil papoose :)

One Month Big!!

Calming the fussies in the Moby wrap. It really does help :)

Taken today... 6 weeks old. She loooves her swing...and so do we. :) Check out that hair... I love it!

Life Lately...

Let's start with cute pictures first, for a change! :-)

All snuggled up.

3rd... I mean... 1st bath!! We'll call it that anyway. Poor 2nd child... her parents already forgetting to take pictures on 'special' occasions. ;-) She's not a big fan of bathtime yet anyway.

Love her cute little snuggle buns.

Weekend outing... Cosi! FYI, if you're interested in checking out the Dinosaur exhibit... not really worth it. I wouldn't have spent $75 for our family to see it again, that's for sure! Unless you have a Cosi pass, which we ended up buying, and then it's worth the $4/ person.

A picnic! Ava loooved it. She came home and played 'picnic' with her dolls all afternoon. Complete with a baby carrier carseat sitting in the 'grass' on our living room floor. :-)

Now, for the question everyone's been asking... how are we?! This family of four is awesome! And by awesome, I mean I've been living on wee hours of sleep a night, nursing around the clock every 2-3 hours (except last night! Stella slept in 4 & 1/2 hr intervals! YES!!), my personal hygiene has admittedly fallen by the wayside, my house is a disaster zone (except the dishes... thanks to Daddy), and my laundry is out-of-freakin'-control!!

Eric has been on a wacky work schedule for the last week or so, going in at 11am and not getting home until 9:30pm some nights. Umm... that... is... a... painful... day!! He's running a job where they work on a roof all day long in the heat. So, we're talking temperatures of 140-160 degrees up there. Poor guy sweats buckets all day. Then he gets home and I just want to dump the children on him and run! Ha!! On those late nights when he gets home the kids are in bed, or getting there, and I'm deciding whether to shower or collapse in my bed. So, he's physically exhausted and I'm emotionally exhausted by the end of the day. When he's home, he tends to take care of Ava while I take care of Stella. What's that called? Man to man defense? Yea, that's how it works!

Ava started out throwing larger than life 2 year old tantrums (which fade a little more everyday), she asks to be 'the baby' and have her diaper changed, sit in the bouncy seat, and sleep in mommy & daddy's room... and occasionally picks up a binky and puts it in her mouth, however, not sucking on it because she never liked binky's, but just to have it there... in her mouth... like a baby. She also started busting out heartbreaking statements like, "mommy, why you always with baby Stella? Can't she drink juice from da frigerator?" and "can you put her down so I can hug you?" which have also faded over the last week. Don't know how many more of those statements I could take! Bless her heart... her life as she knew it is over! :) She loves on her baby sister in the sweetest ways possible, though. She greets her in the morning with a, "good mooorning sweetheart! she's so cute mom... can I see her face closer?!" and she climbs up on the side of her crib while I change her diaper and get her dressed. She always calls her 'sweetheart'... or 'lil fella'...haha. If Stella is crying and I'm not right there I'll hear Ava say, "it's okay sweetheart, mommy's comin', mommy's comin." She gets a serious confidence boost when Stella's crying and she gives her a binky and it soothes her. She'll say, "Mom! Look! She's happy now! I did dat! I gave her her binky!" Witnessing all of these things makes the craziness of mothering a newborn and 2 & 1/2 year old well worth every minute!

So, we're all adjusting... slowly, but surely. I remind myself everyday that she is only a few weeks old (3 to be exact) and expecting a predictable routine to fall into place with her so quickly is unrealistic. That's always the hardest thing for me... I like predictability and schedules. Newborns don't do schedules. As I tell my 2 year old everyday... we have to have patience. :) Actually, she is starting to fall into a little more of a routine... which might be why she slept so well last night. Let's hope it keeps up!

Stay tuned for another day when I've had a good night's rest for another update!

P.S. I need to take more pictures of my baby! I had taken 120 or so pics of Ava by this point!

More hospital pics

Yea! Lets do this! (post epidural ;)

My sister was working and got to come down to labor and delivery to witness the main event!

Sweet Daddy ;) Always such a good labor supporter.

The A-team! Dr. Turner and my nurse Katie.

See, the pink gown makes for some cute postpartum pics ;) Distracts you from my puffy eyes and face! lol.

She was soooo proud to hold her baby sister!

precious!

Lit'l peanut...

Another sweet baby girl... so blessed ...

Hospital Pics

These pictures were taken by a photographer at the hospital as our official newborn pics. She did great. So much better than the typical mugshot looking pics we're all used to!

Presenting... Stella Jolie Williams

Our Sweet Baby Girl is Here!!

Stella Jolie

July 5, 2011

11:20 am

6 lbs 15 oz

20 inches

The "story" : (the short version )

It was about 8:45pm, on July 4th, at the Worthington fireworks festival when it all began. :) Isn't that a nice start :) Eric, Ava, & I were out and about with our friends, the Seeds, walking around downtown Worthington with our children, enjoying some Independence day festivities. I had been contracting on and off all day (like usual) when, after a visit at Graeter's and a very large turtle sundae, we started walking back down the hill to our cars, when I felt a large GUSH of fluid fill my britches. I squealed, "Oooh crap, guys! I think my water just broke! Oh man, or maybe I peed myself?!? But it won't stop! And it's very warm!! Ahh!" I froze in the middle of the sidewalk, one hand holding myself and the other grabbing Jess' arm while also crossing my legs, (water still flowing!) and trying desperately to cover what felt like an ocean of wetness down my legs. I must've had THE MOST terrified look on my face, because my sweet friend Jess assured me that it does indeed feel like you've peed yourself! Ok, then! Well, now what!? (The labor & delivery nurse in me left the building at. that. moment! I felt clueless despite seeing this stuff almost everyday:) We continued walking to our cars, but only after the lady in front of us, who happened to hear the excitement behind her, yelled "Well, Congratulations!!" Ha! We hurriedly made our way to our vans... drip, drip, drip... and I pretty much shuffled the entire way there! I was convinced I peed myself. I thought, "ok, if my water did break, these contractions will pick up and then I'll know for sure!" Our friends offered to keep Ava for the night and watch the fireworks while Eric and I went home for our bags... or to at least figure out what in the world was going on here! More leaking on the way home... "this has to be my water, right?!" I'm telling you, labor is not a straight forward science. Especially when you're the one going through it! Like textbook though, my contractions got considerably more intense and closer together within the hour. By the time we got to the hospital, they were baaaddd. I was 2-3 cm when I got to the hospital, they tested to see if my water broke, and the tests came back negative! What the!? Now, listen... I am self-admittedly a rockstar pants-pee-er. Especially during pregnancy, I have the weakest bladder. I know when it's happening, obviously, and how to make it stop... know what I'm sayin'? You can stop the flow of urine! Not amniotic fluid! Right? Confusing. Regardless of the skeptical tests, my contractions were coming much more frequently and stronger! So something was brewing! :) So, I was admitted to the same room we had Ava in... Eric's request. Thankfully, there were rooms available! Labor & Delivery had been so busy lately I was afraid I'd come in in labor and have to deliver on a cart. Ha! So, after a few hours and only very little cervical change, I got pitocin and promptly an epidural. I wanted to have more cervical change before getting the epidural, but when the word pitocin is mentioned, I know better, hook me up with the epidural! Forget waiting for more change! This is exhausting! The rest is history :) Labor went well, except for a one sided epidural that left me high & dry. My cervix changed from 5.5cm to 10cm in an hour, so I can't blame the epidural... but ouch! After waiting painfully for 35-40 minutes for my doctor to get there I had miss Stella out in ONE contraction! 4 pushes and she was here! Unbelievable! I couldn't have asked for a better delivery. She came right up on my belly, crying & pink, my beautiful sweet baby girl. And my care team was amazing... absolutely the best experience ever. Unlike my ornery Ava, who needed a vacuum to pull her chubby butt out, which brought 8 million people into the room at the time of delivery, Stella came into this world peacefully. Although she screamed & screamed & screamed foreeevvver after she was born. My little firecracker. Stella was exactly one pound smaller and one inch shorter than Ava. Ava was born at 41 weeks, and Stella at 39 weeks + 4 days, so I'd say they are pretty comparable. Eric chose Stella's middle name. Jolie is the french word for 'pretty'. I had given him the duty of picking a middle name and it came down to the day before she was born before he decided on one, but he did it and it's beautiful... just like our new baby girl! And that's a wrap... ;)

Month Recap...

Got a couple pictures to post from May...since I didn't make one single post all month!

A quick run down: I've been using my spare time lately to de-clutter my house. Closets, basement, crawl space, garage, dresser drawers--everything's getting cleaned out!! Ava's room recently underwent a minor makeover, as well. Just moved some things over to the nursery and gave her a new *B-I-G* G-I-R-L bed!! She loves her new bed! And the napping hasn't stopped!! It's been a beautiful transition. :) She continues to surprise us at how easy going she is about everything. Sleeping through the night = 3 days old (ok, at least 6 hrs straight)... Potty training = 4 days (I expected months and months of agony)... Sleeping in her big girl bed without a struggle & napping = the first day we tried it out!! Unbelievable! We find that she does spend a lot of time up there talking to her "friends" and reading books before she falls asleep. It's pretty cute to listen to. Thankfully, she hasn't fallen out of her bed yet, either. But rest assured, I lined the perimeter of her bed with several pillows and blankets for weeks when she first moved into the big bed... just in case. : ) We always expect the worst, I think. I had nightmares of how this transition might go... up all night crying, banging on her door for someone to let her out, in our room every 2 hours, or the WORST scenario: no more naps!! My visions were not pretty. My anxiety was way worse than hers! She's such a peach. And now my 2nd will probably live up to my worst nightmares! Haha! See, the anxiety's kicking in already. ; )

Speaking of my 2nd, the big day is rapidly approaching! I'm so excited to meet her. So many emotions surround childbirth. I'm ecstatic to have another baby and constantly have dreams about her little pink cheeks, downy soft hair, and sweet baby scent. Snuggling, nursing, listening to baby squeaks, those little white bumps on baby noses. There is nothing in this world we live in that is more rewarding than nurturing & mothering a newborn baby. And then there are the days when I think, "oooh boy, here we go again!" Diaper changes, fussing & crying, non-stop nursing, wack-a-doo body, spit-up, up-the-back-and-out-the-sides-diaper blow-outs, ridiculous fatigue. For some reason, these things happen to come to mind at times when my toddler is showing her devil horns... conveniently. ;) But like I told my husband the other day, their babyhood is gone in the blink of an eye. It really amazes me...and saddens me...that my daughter is almost 3 years old. Her babyhood is gone. Those chubby thighs (she kinda still has them ;), silly raz-berries, backwards crawling, jumping like crazy in her bouncer are all over for her. Too fast! But in moments of chaos, it seems like they'll be babies forever and we'll never catch a break. Then you blink and 3 years have gone by! I can only imagine how it will feel when I've blinked and 26 years have gone by! It's all just ages and stages. Cherish them!


Some pictures from the past month...

The first really nice day of summer! It was 74 degrees and Ava decided to play in the leftover rain water in her water table. I later decided to fill it with lukewarm tap water... after she decided that she couldn't play in the water with a wet shirt on. :) 

Teeny tiny baby crack : )

Yep, she dunked her head...

My girl on mother's day. Love her to the moon....and back!!

Posing with her baby : )

Here she's saying, "daddy baby got hurt, kiss it" That face says it all actually. : )

The first day in her pool! We will be here a lot this summer! She loves it. It's the perfect size and depth for a 2 year old + mommy's feet. ; )

Thought she was blowing bubbles...then it turned into body painting with bubbles. Gotta mix it up! :)

"Hiiii Mom!!!"

35 weeks, my friends ; ) I've loved every minute!

A Lil Bit of Easter...

I don't have too many pictures to post from Easter...I've been slacking on my picture taking lately. We had a great weekend! Ava and I went with my sister and neice to see the movie Rio in 3D last Friday. Ava amazingly did much better than I thought she would! She liked the 3D glasses and looooved the popcorn. Just towards the end of the movie did she get a little ornery. :) We spent the night at my mom's and got up in the morning for Gribbles' donuts. I crave them like crazy when I'm pregnant, so I caved and had a maple creamstick, apple fritter, AND a glazed donut...in one sitting. With a big glass of whole milk! SO yummy :) We had Easter dinner at my moms on Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny day...summer get here soon!!

We went to the Easter service at Vista Community Church sunday morning. We attended the early service...which was kind of hard to drag ourselves out of bed at 7am on a weekend, but the next service wasn't until 11. We've visited this church here and there over the last year or so, and really, every time we go I love it more. It's such a laid back, come as you are church. The pastor cracks me up. He's young, with a young family and relates his sermons to REAL life. I always leave Vista's services feeling refreshed, with a quality message I can put to use in my life for the week--and beyond. The church is filled with young couples with young children, which is what I'm looking for. Without local family around, its important to me to be part of a church community for support. Whats that saying about "it takes a village to raise a child" ? Yea, I'm looking for a village of young, christian, faith-filled, fun-loving spirits who get a kick out of supporting their community and serving God, who love life and all it has to offer...I need a village like that to surround my family. I might've found just the place at Vista. Of all the churches we've "tried out" over the past year, this place feels the "homiest"...that's not even a word? :) And I'm so excited for Vista to come closer to home for us this fall!

We woke Ava up Easter morning and told her the Easter bunny came to visit us while she was sleeping and he left presents!!!! The girl hears the word "presents" and goes ballistic! She's at a great age...

The sleep still in her eyes <3

Easter books, Tinker Bell movie, easter silly bands, gardening tools, sippy cup, webkinz bunny, chocolate, and her most favorite of all--JELLYBEANS! :)

Showing me her shovel.

These were my Easter sweets!

Hope you had a fantastic Easter!

30 Weeks

I've reached the 30 week point this week. All is going great! We had our 3D/4D ultrasound today...which totally rocked our world. :) I love all the excitement that comes with pregnancy. First its the pregnancy test, then the first ultrasound, and then the gender determination, and next is the 3D/4D, and then labor comes and soon you're home with a new baby!! For me, pregnancy is a time when I get lots accomplished. Closets uncluttered, bedrooms purged, cobwebs removed from corners of the house I forgot existed. We have projects GALORE going on over here. Our list is about 2 pages long. Finish painting exterior of the house, fence in backyard, reseal the deck, replace deck furniture, replace front door, install storm door, paint kitchen, replace countertops, add backsplash, ...heck, decorate the nursery! And that's just the tip of the iceberg ;) I think I'm going nuts trying to get this all accomplished before the baby comes because I know I'll be doing nothing but nursing a newborn and trying to entertain a 2 & 1/2 year old everyday of my life this summer. Bring it on. :)


Picked up Stella's nursery bedding last week. Bedding #1 won our hearts and many of yours it looks like. :) I love, love, love that light blue color and pink together for baby girls. Many of the first clothes I picked out for Ava were that color, and I find myself drawn to the same color for Stella. Probably because blue is my favorite color. And Ava's too. She will pick out anything she sees that's blue and say, "oooh I yike bwue!" Never fails. :) It's a nice break from pinks and purples...although I love girly colors too, don't worry. ;)


Picture time!

This technology is incredible. I love that you can see her knuckles and even the bones in her arm, but it also shows off her chubbiness :)

She's got all my favorite baby parts. Button nose, kissy lips, chubby cheeks!!

This person is in my belly right now! 2nd pregnancy and 30 weeks into it and I still can hardly fathom how incredible it is to grow a baby. God gave women an amazing 'talent'.

I love her little hands up by her mouth. Wonder if she'll be a thumb sucker?

Love me some baby footsies!

...and it's officially undeniably official...baby Stella is a girl. :)

Click here to see Ava's 3D/4D pics!