Just for Fun

I have been wanting to do a post about Everly's first bath that happened this past weekend - It was a whole family affair! But I still haven't taken the pictures off my camera yet - sheesh!! Last night I was looking through some of Aliyah's infant pictures and thought this was fun:

 ALIYAH

EVERLY

In 12 Days...

I’m fairly certain I’ve gone mad with love.

Not surprisingly, Everly likes to sleep. Which gives us plenty of opportunity to stare at her in wonder and say out loud about a thousand times a day “Isn’t she perfect?” and “I love her so much!”

Oh those lips - those sweet baby lips!!

The sisterly love in this house is just too sweet for words. The beginning of a beautiful forever friendship.

And our Aliyah. I can’t even believe how grown up she suddenly feels. She is becoming a little girl at a faster rate than ever before - and in twelve days she went from our only one to our “big” one. Our oldest. I am so grateful for every lesson she’s taught me so far about motherhood.

And that my friends, is what we’ve been up to for the past 12 days.

A Special Gift

Tyler and I were talking the other night and realized that our girls will have something we never had... a sister. and that is a pretty special gift - all siblings are.

One Week with the New Babe

I come to you feeling rested and insanely, over the top in love. I’ve spent the last week staring at my new little girl for hours, marveling at how suddenly grown-up my oldest daughter seems next to her, and using the phrase “our children” gratuitously.

I have so much I want to write about - our incredible birth experience, Aliyah's interactions with Everly, the way it has felt for my heart to quadruple in size and scope in the past six and half days - but I am feeling a bit tongue tied by the greatness of it all.

Physically and mentally, I’m feeling really good. My recovery has been drastically easier than it was with Aliyah and I have so much more confidence in my abilities to care for this tiny little being this go round. I feel like the first month of Aliyah's life was a blurry haze as I cautiously navigated my first lessons in mothering. But with Everly, everything has come more naturally and I am enjoying experiencing all of the tiny little newborn things that I had somehow forgotten (despite my efforts to soak up every moment).

I love the puppy noises Everly makes when she wakes up and stretches her tiny arms over her head. I love the little wrinkles she gets in the corners of her eyes when they blink and try to adjust to the daylight pouring in through the windows. I love the frantic, open mouth, back and forth motion Everly does when she’s hungry and knows she’s close to my breast. I love how impressively strong the grip of those tiny little fingers can be.

I know just how quickly this stage will pass us by and I am promising myself that I won’t forget these little newborn gestures again.

I’ll be posting sporatically over the next few weeks as I want to squeeze every last ounce out of this uninterrupted, completely devoted time I have with my family to do whatever my heart desires with my husband and children. Responsibilities and the real world will come calling again soon and I don’t want to miss the opportunity to make the most of the time we have.

And with that, I’m off to nurse my golden haired girl - I can hear puppy noises coming from my lap as I type this!

Aliyah Says...

We watch Aliyah pretend to pick up something and sprinkle it over Everly multiple times.

Me: What are you putting on your sister, Aliyah? Is it pixie dust? (She loves Peter Pan)
Aliyah: No. It's cookies and sprinkles

Hello Baby

Everly Jean Inzer
9lbs 15oz and 20.5in long
born at 11:30pm on Monday, August 13, 2012

Our divine little lady decided to join us late on Monday night. She came fast (I was only in labor for 2 hours) and on a beautiful cool night.

We’re so in love with her we hardly know what to do with ourselves. Sorry the blog has been so quiet - we have really been soaking up our time as a family of four before daddy goes back to work. More details and photos to come but I just wanted to share our beautiful girl with you!

Entertaining Ourselves

Silly Girls...

Another Beautiful Day

I gave birth to Aliyah 1 day shy of 42 weeks. I am exactly 1 day away from that today. Well, today actually would be the day that I started labor with Aliyah at 5am and then just under 24 hours later, she arrived! While I continue to make every effort not to compare my pregnancies (how could I anyway - they've been so different!) the time that I carry babies seem to be similar with these two.

Even though there was no baby today, Tyler and Aliyah made it a special one! We went to a world breastfeeding celebration at Loose Park in the morning. We really had a blast watching Aliyah play with bubbles, color with friends and run through the park. The swings and slides are always her favorite. The weather was gorgeous and it was great to run into a few familiar faces.

One of our favorite restaurants is Europa Cafe but we just don't get to eat there very often as it is a little ways away from our house. Since we were in the area, we decided to grab lunch there (they have the BEST pastries!) as a special treat. Tyler stopped in the flower shop next door and surprised me with a beautiful rose. Aliyah and I shared a spinach & garlic pizza while Tyler enjoyed a spinach & feta quiche and a cup of tomato, basil soup... yummm!!

We headed home with Aliyah singing in the back seat until she fell asleep. We all took a nap and then woke up to eat our pastries that we saved from Europa Cafe - the best afternoon snack ever! We then decided to drive by the Midwest Balloon Fest and watch the hot air balloons take off before dinner. The excitement that poured out of Aliyah as we watched and counted the balloons was priceless.

Dinner was pretty low key, then a walk around Target finished our day. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my Saturday!

What NOT to Wear When You're Pregnant

A Little Weekend Fun... and to let you all know that I am still here!! (from Adored Austin)

Rompers -- don't tell me to move up a size... this IS a large!

Beer t-Shirts -- classy - real classy... makes people wonder, "Is that how she got pregnant?!?"

Suspenders -- I know those pregnancy pants are hard to keep up around that belly bump, but nothing looks like an old man's beer gut like suspenders do!

Non-Maternity Button Up Shirts -- They may seem harmless at first, until a family member looses an eye due to a projectile button off your shirt!

Body Suits -- Just because you can squeeze into it, doesn't mean you should wear it!

A Little Nesting

I already posted pictures of the girls' shared bedroom - that was one of my first projects and I should really take pictures of the playroom we have been working on, but there are a few more things I want to do first. So for now I will share some of the projects I have done (with Tyler's help) the past few weeks to transform our living room and add a little more color.

A serving tray that I made from an old cabinet door. A little crackle paint and two teal door knobs I found on sale at Hobby Lobby on each end. I really loved how this turned out!

I found the teal and black box from Target to hold Aliyah's Disney DVDs. I found these old fashion swing doors from ReStore that I painted teal for a little extra color in that corner of the living room. Large shutters would probably look very similar to this.

For the mantel I put up some of our music records and found a few unique vases from Good Will. We bought two different colors of teal paint and painted the inside of the bottles by spooning the paint inside and swirling it around until the walls were fully covered. We poured the extra back in the paint can and let them dry - easy! I found the birdcage at Home Depot on sale in their summer section... I made the "i love us" sign and found the wooden figures for cheep on etsy.

We also added a beautiful throw to the couches and painted some candle sticks that I didn't get a picture of. I made this ruler using a 2x4, stain and a paint pen. Some of the lines are a little crooked but I think it turned out great! We are going to use it as a growth chart to track our kids heights! The teal banner under the old window that we turned into a picture frame is from Aliyah's 2nd birthday - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Baby Prepping 101

Aliyah practiced diapering her bunny...

Isn't this one of the cutest cloth diapers you've ever seen?!?

The REAL edition

I’ve been reminiscing on the preparation we did before Aliyah arrived and trying to remember everything before our new baby girl arrives. But thinking back on the things a new baby course teaches you - how to change a diaper, how to swaddle, how to give baby their first bath - I realized that all of that stuff is fairly easy and intuitive.

What we really need is a how-to class on all of the things that you have to learn the hard way. A class on the stuff no one ever prepares you for until you’re in the thick of it

Here’s what my dream “Baby Prep 101” class syllabus would look like:

Course 1: How to get baby poop off the walls

Course 2: How to breastfeed while simultaneously making a pot of soup

Pro tip: Moby Wrap!

Course 3: How to drive a car with one arm, while reaching into the backseat to hold a pacifier in your child’s mouth with the other.

Course 4: How to walk ninja-style silent out of your child’s room at nap time

Pro tip: Wear socks

Course 5: How to successfully buckle a wild, protesting child into a carseat during a rainstorm.

Pro tip: distract them with goldfish or car keys. Block the rain with an umbrella strategically held between your ribs and elbow

Course 6: How to cut tiny finger/toe nails without taking off an appendage

Pro tip: Fingernails are easiest cut on sleepy babies.

Course 7: How to get crud out of the corners of baby eyes without having your child react as if you are trying to stab them with a hot poker.

Course 8: How to change a baby’s diaper in a public restroom without catching the plague, the funk, or swine flu.

Got any pro tips you’d add to the list above? Maybe a completely different course you’d add to my syllabus? I want to hear them! And who do we need to talk to to make this class a reality?!?!

Weekend Recap

I know that it is already Wednesday, but I wanted to share some of our great adventures from this past weekend. We have been keeping busy and it has been so much fun!!

FRIDAY:

After I did a quick sign language storytime in the morning, Grammy and I decided to take Aliyah to the movies to see Ice Age 4. Aliyah did great - probably because Grammy is a pro when it comes to packing lots of healthy snacks to keep her happy!

In the afternoon, Tyler and I decided to indulge in some retail therapy and make a trip out to Nebraska Furniture Mart. We stopped in at Famous Dave's for dinner and Aliyah really enjoyed the pork ribs! She keeps it classy with the raised pinky finger!

SATURDAY:
We didn't get any pictures on Saturday, but we had a great day hanging out with YaYa and BopBop all afternoon. We went to our neighborhood luau at the pool, Chipotle for dinner, and had an ice cream treat for dessert. Aliyah even talked everyone into watching a Dumbo (one of her favorite Disney movies) with her when we got home. Aliyah got in lots of good snuggles and kisses!

SUNDAY:

Grandpapa wanted to take Aliyah fishing! We headed to Antioch Park to let the little one have a go at it. She didn't catch anything, but I think she had a great time!

Trying out her own fishing pole, but the fish still weren't biting.

So... she decided a net would be best.

When we walked to the park to play, Aliyah found a bench and scooted all the way to one side. She patted the place next to her and said it was for Evie. She is always thinking of her sister - such a sweet girl!

 We walked around the lake.

 And then headed back home.

Another GREAT day!

MONDAY:

I know Monday is not technically the weekend, but since the weather had cooled down the past few days, Grammy, Aliyah and I decided to take advantage of the last nice morning of the week and go to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. Aliyah got to ride the tractors, pet the goats, and feed the fish. She also loved the big slide and looking at all the other farm animals.

It has been nice to have so much time with our families! Another bonus to waiting past 40 weeks, is that my calendar is completely clear to fill our days of waiting with fun activities together!

41 Weeks: Bathroom Interrogations

Because my family thinks they are funny...

Although, I guess this picture is pretty appropriate considering how often I frequent the loo these days! I have threatened to find a tree if I have to if a bathroom isn't spotted soon (don't worry - it hasn't gotten that serious... yet).

On a similar note, every time I go to the bathroom, Tyler waits 30 seconds and then yells, “Honey, is everything ok?” and I yell back “Yes! If it wasn’t I would tell you!” For some reason, I think Tyler has convinced himself that I will go into the bathroom and give birth to our daughter in a matter of minutes without making a noise or notifying him. lol!

I am feeling pretty good - Just ready for this sweet baby. I have an appointment with my OB (yeah! she is back in town) tomorrow and also a sonogram to make sure my fluid levels are still okay. Everly moves around a bunch and gets hiccups often, so I feel those are good signs she is doing ok in there!