The day before...

About 24 hours before our lives were forever changed and Camryn decided she was ready to join our family, we were walking around downtown looking at tulips!

With our warm spring weather, the tulips bloomed early, and we wanted to take a walk downtown to see them (and we were also trying to get a lot of walks in to try to help labor get started :)). I never got around to posting our pictures from that evening!

Taylor loved walking along the street and stopping at all the different flower beds.

Silly girl :o)

Our little runner

We stopped in a store, and Taylor loved looking at herself in the shoe mirror :)

We love her so!!

Two weeks old

Two weeks normally seems like a significant amount of time, but when you are on maternity leave, time seems to move MUCH faster! I am so thankful that Camryn will be older when I have to leave her to go back to work, but even with the extended leave with summer break, it still feels like September will be here before we know it!

Today is actually the first day that I have both girls home with me on my own for the whole day. I am feeling grateful for sunshine in the forecast so we can get outside together! I am also happy that tomorrow is Saturday so we can have Ry home with us for two days - it's always more fun when we are all together. :)

Yesterday we had Camryn's two week appointment, and everything looks great!
Stats...

Weight when she was born - 7lbs 6oz
Weight when we had her appointment last Monday - 7lbs 1oz
Weight yesterday - 8lbs 10 oz!!!!!! (Just above the 50th percentile)
She is a good eater! :)

Height - 20.5 inches (50th-75th percentile)

2 weeks old

Fun we've had this past week...

We've taken Taylor to preschool swim time at the splash zone a couple of times

Blocks

Mowing the lawn for dad :)

Camryn hanging out in the Moby (big fan of "baby wearing" this time around - helps me chase around Taylor AND hold Camryn at the same time :))

So big! 

Reading

Popcorn for snack

Both girls being entertained by the Baby Einstein music toy

Taylor likes to get really close to Camryn. She will also tell us when Camryn is crying, "Listen mama, Camryn crying!" When Camryn is napping in the pack 'n' play, she will say "Where Camryn??" She still likes to "pet" her little sister, and give her a "pound" or fist bump. :) It was also fun to see her reaction yesterday when Camryn and I picked up Taylor at daycare, and Taylor was so excited to see her little sister and show her teacher who Camryn was. :) Only a few moments of jealousy - where she will want me to give Camryn to daddy to hold, or she wants us to put Camryn down in her bouncy seat. For the most part things are going really well still!

Here's to making it through another week!!

6 days as a family of four

This morning I found myself looking back and reading Taylor's five-day-old blog post. I talked about how it seemed like Taylor had been a part of our lives much longer than 5 days...and I feel the same way again about Camryn! She isn't even a week old, and yet it is hard to remember what life was like before she joined our family.

One thing I can say for sure about these past six days - going from 1 to 2 kids is a WHOLE different experience than just having one! It is busy. It is a balancing act. It is tiring. But there are so many wonderful things about having little Camryn, and we love her so much, that it completely trumps everything else.

Ryan has been home all this week. It is going to be strange, and a little sad, to have him go back to work next week! Extra walks with Taylor, running errands, snuggling Camryn while I put Taylor to bed - such a big help. Luckily my mom ("Mem") will be here next week which will be wonderful as well! Each day we get into a little bit more of a routine and things seem a little easier. Now we just gotta get baby girl to sleep better during the night. :o)

6-day-old Camryn update - she's eating great, gained weight at her appointment on Monday (7lbs 1 oz - up from 6lbs 15oz when we left the hospital), her little tongue is taken care of so we don't have to worry about problems down the road, and is such a great little snuggle-bum right now. Nights are a little rough - I am averaging about 3-4 hours of sleep right now total, and usually we end up crashing on the couch together with her fast asleep on my chest, until Taylor wakes up between 6:30/7:00 and comes to say hello. :o)

Taylor update after being a big sister for 6 days - she is adjusting well! She likes to "pet" Camryn, saying how nice and soft she is. :) When I got up this morning, Camryn was still sleeping, snuggled in the middle of our bed, and Taylor made her way into our room, onto our bed, and was sitting right up next to her saying, "awww, baby sleeping"... There have been a few times where she wants to sit on my lap when Camryn is eating, or wants to go do something while Camryn's diaper is being changed or something, and she will get frustrated having to wait, but for the most part, it has not been too much of a transition. I pray for her each day in her role as a big sister, and hope it continues to go well!

Some random pictures from our first week together!

Last few moments at the hospital

Taylor was being entertained by Dora while we were packing up :o)

Going home!

First bath at home

First walk together (LOVING the Ergo!)

All snuggled in the carrier

Stopped by the Aquatic Center to drop off some pictures for my gym buddies to see, and Taylor was captivated by the splash area

Sisterly love - Taylor was having fun covering Camryn with stickers

Waking up from afternoon naps - snuggling with both girls!

Dada with his ladies

Big sister out for a walk with dada - the tulips are up!!

Visiting a future buddy, Addi, at the hospital - born only five days apart!

Sleep!

Camryn at five days old

With big sister (one is happy, one is not :o))

(And here is Taylor's 9 day old picture on the same blanket!)

It's only the beginning!! :o)

Welcome to the world, Camryn Ann!

We are still amazed.

Our family of three has officially grown to a family of four!

Camryn Ann
Born at 8:44pm on 4/13
7 lbs, 6oz
20 1/2 inches long
Full head of dark hair and a healthy little girl!

After Taylor's 23 hour labor to enter the world, we are still a bit in shock that it was less than four hours, from start to finish, for Camryn to be here!

Friday was like any other day. I walked in the morning before going to the gym for a bit, then did the normal routine - dropped Taylor off at daycare, taught all morning, and took a great nap in the afternoon. I gave Taylor a long bath when she woke up, and then when Ryan got home we went on our usual 2 mile walk to Walgreens to take advantage of the nice weather and buy Taylor some diapers.

Then 2 blocks from home on our way back, my water broke (we weren't sure at first, but quickly realized that this was the real deal :)).  It was 5:30pm.

From 5:30-6:45, appropriate calls were made, bag packing was finished, iphone contraction calculator app was running, bathroom was cleaned, and Taylor was fed.

And contractions were getting 2-3 minutes apart and REALLY strong.

7:10ish, things are quickly changing, decide I cannot wait any longer, parents haven't arrived quite yet, so we make the 30-second drive to the hospital, and Ryan drops me off, then joins me 20 minutes later once Taylor is taken care of. 


Checked in, (not only was my doctor the one on call for the weekend, but my nurse was someone I already knew, too - and by the way, she was fantastic :o)), evaluated, things are moving fast... ready to go just after 8:30, and three contractions later Camryn was born!

It. was. SO. fast!! 

She has long, dark, soft hair, dark blue eyes, long fingers and toes, and seems SO tiny compared to Taylor!

The name Camryn was a name we both really liked (I did have a student once with the name, and she was such a sweet girl!), and it went well with each of our names - we all have a "y", and it is two-syllables. :) Ann is the middle name my mom was given.

She is doing so well with eating and sleeping right now. She may have to have a little procedure done on her tongue next week, and we are spending a little extra time at the hospital to make sure she didn't contract group B strep from me, but other than that, she is perfect!

We are blessed beyond measure! Taylor did so well meeting her little sister for the first time. She wanted to touch her hair and fingers, and kept saying how "soft" she was. She wanted to help me hold Camryn, and kept readjusting her little blanket to cover her up. Too cute.

A few pictures from yesterday and today!