Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Our best family photo attempt....ahhh the love of a taking pictures with a three year old!

Pre Christmas Festivities

I can't believe it's the day before Christmas Eve!! We've had a fun month getting in the Christmas spirit and getting ready for Santa to visit. 

Gingerbread House decorating

My Little Santa Babies!

Those eyes! That sweet face!

Visiting Santa down at Christmas in the Village of East Davenport

Santa butt cuddles

 

Salted dough ornament decorating for his daycare friends and family gifts.

 Sugar cookie decorating thanks to Jessie the Elf

Sitting around the Christmas tree watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and waiting for Adele LIVE to come in!

Big BRO

Madden has officially been a BIG brother for 6 weeks now and he has adjusted to his new role better than I could have ever dreamed possible! 

I want to remember these first moments of them together forever! He was so excited to be dropped off at grandma and papa's for a sleepover so mom and dad could have his baby sister.

He was more than thrilled to finally meet her at the hospital. He climbed up in the bed to look at her in the bassinet.  He tried sharing his sucker and laid her blankie on her. He LOVED her hair and wanted to touch it. 

He was all about picking out a gift for her all by himself for when he came to visit her at the hospital....and he even picked out a couple other presents for her after she arrived, like the little lion above from the hospital gift shop. When he came back the next day to visit he brought books with him specifically to read to his baby sister and showed her all the pictures. 

I think it helped that we talked to him about the baby from the very beginning, literally he was with me when I checked the pregnancy test and he was the first to know, even before daddy! He was even excited when I asked him if he wanted a baby brother or sister, so I guess it shouldn't be that big of surprise. 

We tried to have other big adjustments well out of the way so he wasn't overwhelmed with so much change at once, like giving up the pacifier, potty training, graduating from a toddler bed to a full size bed, and moving to a big boy room.

And since we've been home, Madden is literally OBSESSED with his sister! 

He is always looking for her or asking where she is. 

We're still learning gentle touch and to not poke her in the eyes or try to open sister's eyes. He gets very excited when she does have her eyes open. 

He adorns her with kisses daily!

Hugs and tickles are very abundant.

If anyone tries giving her attention he is right there too doing the same.

He likes waking her up from sleeping to see her.

He is more than helpful throwing away dirty diapers, getting blankets, showing her toys, telling mommy when she has boogies and will get a kleenex for me, finding her pacifiers, zipping up her carseat cover, watching over and trying to entertain her during diaper changes, and helping give her baths.

He really loves giving her raspberries on her belly.

He's got lots of nicknames for her already. He calls her "my baby", Harpie, cootie (for cutie), cootie girl, pumpkin, baby sister, that girl, and sweetie. 

Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been all rainbows and unicorns over here. 

He has had a few meltdowns. He had a major meltdown the week after when we all went to Toys R Us. With no nap and wanting to go home with every single toy in the store, it was a recipe for disaster and something we had coming. There have been two or three times when dropping him off at daycare he didn't want to go because either his sister wasn't coming in with or he wanted to stay home with us. And he definitely shows off more so when visitors come over to get their attention on him rather than the new bundle of attention stealing joy. 

Overall we have been very lucky and he has been one awesome big brother. I am so incredibly proud of him and absolutely love watching him interact with Harper.  

Harper's Newborn Pictures

It's hard to pick favorite but here are some of my many faves of Harper's Newborn Session

Harper - One Month

Our little lady is one month old already!

It's been both one long and super fast month. Having a newborn and a toddler is definitely challenging but really fun at the same time. I love watching MJ with his baby sister even if she currently isn't quite aware of him just yet.  

Age: One Month

Weight: 8lbs 2 ounces as of 2 week doctor’s appointment on 11/20

Length: 20 ½ inches as of 2 week doctor’s appointment on 11/20

Size: Newborn and 3 months clothes. Using up the last of the newborn diapers and just starting to break into a few of the 3 month clothes and pjs.

Hair: Dark brown, although I think it’s already lightened up a little bit from birth

Eyes: Dark blue gray, I’m guessing she’s going to have blue eyes like her brother.

Health: Thankfully so far she has been a perfectly healthy baby! Hoping we can do as best as possible to avoid colds and germs from being brought home from daycare by big brother for as long as possible. She has a sensitive bum, as she has already gotten one diaper rash. 

Teeth: N/A

Sleeping: Just a few days prior to 4 weeks we started transitioning Harper to her crib at night. She is one noisy kid that I’ve barely been getting more than an hour sleep at one time. It’s definitely been an adjustment but it’s going well so far. Naps are hit or miss right now. She cat naps a lot and prefers to be held for ALL sleeping which is a bit frustrating as no matter how long she has been asleep she will typically wake up within 5-15 minutes of being put down. I’m trying all morning/afternoon long to get her to take a nap without being held for longer than 20 minutes. She is starting to take one good afternoon nap so hopefully it continues.  At night Harper has started sleeping for about 3 hour increments. She usually eats and goes right back to sleep. She seems to have a witching hour from around 7pm- 11:30pm where she is pretty fussy and just can’t seem to figure out how to sleep during this time. I usually can’t get her to fall asleep for the night until after 11:30pm no matter what I do or try to cluster feed her, or swaddle, or rock/bounce, ect. But once 11:30pm hits then she is out for the night aside from waking to eat and even that I can't get her to usually finish feeding from both breasts. 

Eating: Breastfeeding only! She has been doing very well with it. She actually doesn't nurse for nearly as long as Madden did, she usually only east 5-7 minutes from each side and Madden use to nurse 10+ minutes each side. I kept thinking she wasn't eating enough but have learned she just doesn't need as much as she is growing and gaining weight just fine. She currently is eating about every 2-3 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night. She has been given a bottle once and took it just fine, drinking about 2 ounces.   

Movement: Lifting her head up

Milestones: Umbilical cord fell off, took her first bottle, starting to make more noises, and started smiling!

Favorite Toys/Activities: Eating, sleeping, pooping, being held, and definitely prefers to be bounces over being rocked to get her settled down.  

Little Turkey's First Thanksgiving

Dislikes: Being awake or set down, clothes going over her head while getting changed. 

Words: N/A

Sounds: Squawks, cries and just started cooing 

Santa Babe - look at those eyes!

Funny/Favorite Moments

• During a feeding she pulled away to catch a breath due to a heavy milk flow and it continued to spray her in the face! 
• Madden found some loose change around the house so I told him to go put it in his piggy bank. He has a large and small baseball piggy bank then a while back found a little plastic one we were given from a bank that he wanted also. He was talking to me about how many banks he and Harper have. I told him he has 3 but she doesn't have one just yet and we need to go get her one. Later that night when I took Harper to her room to change her, I found on her dresser his small baseball piggy bank. He had given it to her so she now has her own bank. My heart melted and I turned to a puddle of mush! How cute is that!!

Brother begged to be apart of her One Month pictures.

Monthly Highlights

•  Lost umbilical cord at 1 week 2 days
• First outing at 4 days old to Von Maur
• Took newborn pictures at 5 days new
• Took first bottle at 3 weeks old, drank 2 ounces
• Grandma and Papa Dexter watched you for the first time at 3 weeks old so mommy and daddy could go to a wedding reception
• You love being held!
• You’re most fussy between 7:00- 11:30pm
• Transitioned from sleeping in mom and dad’s room in the pack-n-play to your crib in your own room
• Although you act like you don’t like being swaddled, you seem to sleep best swaddled at night and afternoon naps
• You sleep A LOT
• First real smiles started at 3 weeks
• You’re brother really LOVES you!

Harper's Birth Story

Typically you expect your first pregnancy will be over due and hope your second will come early.  Madden decided to squash that theory when he arrived 3 weeks early (Madden's Birth Story can be found here) and ruined the hope that babe #2 would be early also. Since I was completely caught off guard by his early arrival this time around we made sure that everything was ready by 37 weeks just in case we had another early bird.

I got everything completed and and updated at work, bags packed, room complete, baby checklist completed, last minute errands ran, pedicure and hair freshened up, and Madden's bag packed. Then we waited.

At my 36 week doctors appointment for the Group B Strep test I asked to have my cervix checked as I wanted to compare where we were at this go around compared to with MJ at this same time. With MJ I was 3cm dilated and then my water ended up leaking only a few days later. This pregnancy the midwife said my cervix was soft, I was dilated 2 cm, and 70% effaced.

I've had contractions very sporadically over the past few weeks that I've mentioned in my previous Bumpdates.

On Sunday Nov. 1st I was woken up just after midnight to more contractions that lasted till a little after 3:00am. Unfortunately they again were very inconsistent with how far apart and how long each one lasted, and they eventually got further and further apart before stopping and letting me fall back to sleep.

On Monday Nov 2nd, at 39w3d I had my weekly chiropractor appointment. My chiro told me that my hips had definitely changed, stuff was happening and getting ready! She adjusted my pelvis to help make sure baby had optimal room through the birth canal if she decided to come that week. Typically after a chiro visit I do feel some increase activity right afterwards for a little while but nothing crazy. After this appointment there was lots of baby movement, girl was moving all evening long! She must have loved the additional room it gave her to wriggle and kick. I eventually started to have some contractions and pelvic pressure/activity downstairs after dinner. So while watching Monday Night Football I hung out on my the exercise ball all night in hopes to keep things going. 

The next morning on Tuesday Nov. 3rd I had my next doctors appointment. The midwife checked my cervix again and was in complete shock that I was at 5cm already!! But with having no contracts at the time informed me to go to the hospital as soon as I start having regular contractions or my water breaks. She still made me make the next weeks appointment but didn't think I would make it that far and baby would come in the next few days. So off to work I went!

Of course I told a few people I was 5 cm everyone started freaking out! Shocked I wasn't sent straight to the hospital or that I came into work. But like my midwife said, it could still be a few days and I wasn't having any contractions. My friend Tera I work with was on high alert, constantly watching me for any signs of contractions to start or my water to break. And I would get asked over and over by everyone how I was doing and feeling. Then of course get that look of pity and disappointment when I can into work Wednesday and Thursday morning. It was super annoying!

So once Thursday rolled around I decided to call my chiropractor for another adjustment before the weekend and to help keep my pelvis open for delivery if baby decided to come over the weekend. Adjustments not only helped me with my horrible low back and sciatica pain but they are suppose to help aid in a quicker and easier labor/delivery. They help keep the pelvic bones open so baby doesn't have trouble going through during labor or getting stuck because they must turn to fit through the birth canal. 

I got into the chiro that afternoon at 3pm and decided to go home afterwards. Since Monday I felt lots of movement and contractions after getting adjusted I was hopeful the same thing would happen and I didn't want to go back to work with any of that going on when everyone was keeping tabs on my every second of the day already. As expected I did start having contractions again shortly after, around 4pm. From then on they were every 8-15 minutes apart and inconsistent with length.  After a couple hours they were anywhere from 3-10 minutes apart but still all over the place. Since they were getting closer together I ended up calling the midwife on call to ask her opinion and she told us since I was already 5 cm to come to the hospital to get checked out as she would rather us err on the safe side. 

So about 8:00pm off we went. We dropped Madden and the dogs off at the grandparent's house since it was getting late and MJ really wanted to have a sleepover at papa's. We checked into triage, they monitored by contractions and baby's heart rate for an hour first. I was still at 5 cm, so no change there. Of course once we got to the hospital things started to fizzle out, contractions weren't that strong and further apart. After an hour of being monitored we walked the halls of L/D for about 45 minutes, during that time contractions did pick up a again but they were anywhere from 2-8 minutes apart and very irregular with length and strength. They gave us the option to stay for a little while longer to be monitored or to go home to hang out at home until they started getting much closer together and more intense. There wasn't enough change to keep us. Both Dave and I were extremely disappointed but decided to just go home. The nurse did mention that baby was very low, at -1 stage, that if my water did end up breaking to come back to the hospital as soon as possible because she would be a fast delivery and probably be born within 2-3 hours of my water breaking. And of course once we got home my contractions faded and eventually stopped. 

With that information Dave told me he did not want me going into work the next day. Thankfully my boss let me work from home just in case. So Friday November 6th I worked from the comfort of my home at the coffee table while on the exercise ball the majority of the time. I took a 20 minute morning walk followed by a nap. Dave had overtime for the week so he ended up coming home early. I took another afternoon walk then did some more work from the exercise ball and continued to get hassled by coworkers checking in all day to see if anything was happening yet.

At about 3:40pm my water full-fledged broke. Looking back I believe it actually broke about 5 minutes prior to that when I went to the bathroom to pee, I felt a small 'pop' but actually though it was just pressure from my bladder and the baby. I went back to work from the couch with a few minutes later I left the need to possibly pee again but as soon as I went to go to stand up I felt my water actually start coming and immediately sat back down. Dave was actually watching me and in the middle of offering me some candy he picked up when I gave him this look of disbelief and shock. He thought it was about the candy which made me laugh and then I told him "No, I think my water just broke!" I went to go stand up again slightly to see and felt another big gush starting and said "Yes, yes that is 100% my water breaking!" Dave ran off to get towels and I ran to get changed. We quickly rounded up the few things we had unpacked from our bags, I immediately made a call into my doctors office to let them know my water broke and we were on our way and we jumped in the car!

Thankfully Madden had stayed the night before already at Dave's parents along with the dogs so we didn't have to worry about what to do with either of them just to have his parents pick MJ up from daycare. I still wasn't having any contractions but started to get some cramping in the car on the way to the hospital and then mild contractions once we got to the parking ramp. I started texting my mom on our way to let her know my water broke and we would update her later but got distracted that I didn't get it sent, thinking we had lots of time. Thankfully the hospital is only about 10 minutes from our house, we got there about 4:00pm and checked in through the ER. A nurse escorted us up to L/D where my midwife Pam was waiting for us at the door. She hurried us into a room and we started talking about the events of the last day and a half and my first delivery while I went to change clothes. While changing I though I might need to pee again to relieve some pressure but when I sat down realized I did not need to pee, I was feeling a different kind of pressure. So I hurried to finish changing and to lay down in the bed to get checked and told Dave to finish sending my text to my mom.  

When I laid down to get checked I then had my first very majorly painful and extremely long contraction. Thinking that if contractions were going to feel like this and there was no progress still and it was going to be 2-3 hours before she was here I was definitely getting that epidural. As soon as my contraction was over Pam checked me and announced "Hold on one second, don't push just yet because baby's head is right here and she is going to be out in about one push! Dad, get ready to help delivery your baby" Yikes! Of course since we had literally just got to L/D, not everything was in the room yet. Pam excused herself for maybe less than a minute and came back with about 6 nurses with multiple trays and all the equipment. 

And then Little Miss Harper Rae was born at 4:25pm!!

Less than 1 hour from my water breaking, an extremely quick L/D that none of us were expecting! They laid her on my chest, cleaned her up from there and we then we given the "Golden Hour" which is an hour of skin to skin contact and left alone to bond. Because we literally hadn't been there for very long and L/D was a little busy, they actually left us for much longer which was nice. Just coming in to check on us for vitals.

I told Dave, even through we were both disappointment the night before being sent home it was actually a good thing we had gone to the hospital. If we had not known how low she was already and warned to get to the hospital ASAP if my water broke, I probably would have taken my time since I hadn't had any contractions yet and thinking we had a few hours. And thankfully Madden and the dogs were already at his parents house because we wouldn't have had time to drop them off anywhere. We would have been having a baby in the car!

I am still in shock just how crazy and fast it all went!

Madden and both grandparents were able to come up to the hospital later that evening to visit and meet Harper. Madden was very excited and so good with the entire ordeal. Now we are in the processes of learning to be a family of FOUR!

Harper's Nursery

When decorating Madden's nursery I had previous mentioned how I didn't want his nursery to be too baby-ish, that wasn't a throw up of baby blue everywhere and something he could grow with him. Once we found out baby #2 was a girl and ended up deciding to move Madden out of his room into a big boy room, I wanted the same thing for baby girls nursery.  I figured she would be getting enough pink clothing that she didn't the baby pink room but still wanted something girly but didn't scream "baby" everywhere. So we went with a coral, teal and navy blue color scheme! 

We kept the stripes from MJ's nursery but just repainted all but the navy stripe a different color. 

We kept the majority of all the furniture and shelves in the room. All we needed was some new decor in the color scheme, bedding, curtains and a couple DIY projects. 

The 'Be Unique' sign - Hobby Lobby

Coral pendant banner - Oriental Trading Company

Lamp - repainted from MJ's nursery 

Frames - already had, just repainted with wall color paint

Arrows - Hobby Lobby painted with left over wall color paint

1. 

Hair bow holder - DIY Pinterest project

Poms - Oriental Trading Company

Curtains - Bed Bath and Beyond

Teal Throw - TX Maxx

Teal Lamp - Already owned, recovered with fabric

Crib Bedding - Pottery Barn

Rug - 2 small rugs from Bed Bath and Beyond I sewed together

'Dream' pillow - TX Max

Madden has been a great little helper getting his baby sisters room together and he loves to take his toys into her room to play on the floor. 

I was actually a bit nervous on the how the color combo would turn out but I am very pleased on the outcome!

Princess Beyoncé Is HERE!

Arriving promptly on her due date, I would like to introduce you to Miss Harper Rae!!

 

Born on Friday November 6th at 4:25pm, weighing in at 7 pound 10 ounces and 19 inches long of absolute perfection. Dave apparently gave her the perfect nickname while in utero because she sure knows how to make quite the entrance. She don't mess around! It was an extremely quick labor and delivery in which we barely got checked in to our L/D room.  I'm hoping to write her birth story up sometime this week between nursing, napping and giving MJ attention. 

So far everyone is doing well! Harper loves to be held and snuggles up, she nurses every 2 hours and like most newborns has her days and nights currently mixed up.  Mom is recovering awesomely but extremely sleep deprived. Daddy has stepped up his fatherhood game with a lot of extra one-on-one time with Madden. And big brother Madden has been adjusting phenomenally and is so excited about his baby sister, he calls her 'my baby'.

Halloween Wrap-Up

I always love taking a look back at past events or holidays to compare pictures and see all the changes. Here are MJ's previous years Halloween costumes. 

2012 - Caption America, 2013 - Puppy, 2014 - Golfer

Clearly Princess Beyonce has not yet arrived which in retrospect is a good thing because we've had so many Fall related and Halloween events on the calendar and were able to accomplish almost all of them. I love nothing more than being able to spread out holidays into multiple days so they aren't just a one and done kinda thing. I've never been big on Halloween before but having a little one definitely has changed that! And three years old has turned out to be the perfect age to really start getting into all these awesome holidays and events.  

Boo At the Zoo

We continued our family tradition of going to Boo at the Zoo to trick-or-treat and see the animals. It was a bit windy and cold but we still had fun! 

Trunk-or-Treat

We continued our tradition of attending Trunk-or-Treat at Dave's parents church and invited MJ's best friend Violet again. Since Tera and I work together and the church is literally two blocks away from our work we just have the kids get dressed there and go over, it works out well. Violet borrowed MJ's puppy costume and played the character very well, the bottom right picture is both kids pretending to be puppies. The bottom left picture is them showing off their tails.   

Trunk-or-Treat starts with dinner in the gym then they have all sorts of fun games for the kids. This year MJ loved the donut eating contest, the pumpkin toss and pumpkin bowling. Thankfully the rain stopped earlier in the day and held off so we could enjoy trick or treating outside in the parking lot. It was cold but the kids had so much fun. After every single trunk MJ went up to he would show off what candy or treat he got by yelling at me, "Hey mom, look what i got!" It was so cute how excited he was every time.  

Pumpkin Carving & Halloween Parade

So pumpkin carving was kind of a bust. Madden was much more interested in watching Charlie Browns The Great Pumpkin. He thought it was cool to open the pumpkin up but didn't want to touch the insides, don't blame him there though. He helped scrap it out for about a minute and that was about it but wanted to see it all lit up after it was done. There's always next year... 

We almost didn't make it to the Halloween Parade, it was cold and rained all morning long. Luckily it started to clear up right beforehand and was just sprinkling when I decided about 15 minutes before it started to just take MJ on my own. So we hurried downtown, parked toward the end of the route and got there just it time for the start of the parade to go by where we were. Bonus being within a few blocks to the end of the route and a wet day was that there wasn't a ton of people where we sat so MJ made out like a bandit with candy. Everyone loved his costume and just threw handfuls of candy right in front of him. Thankfully someone at the beginning handed out extra treat bags because MJ filled up his pumpkin and half the extra bag! Obviously he had a blast and we had fun.    

Trick-or-Treat

On Halloween we went over to Jordan and Steph's so the cousins could trick or treat together and they have a really great family friendly neighborhood. MJ absolutely loves hanging out with his cousins and could play all day everyday with them. He did not last long walking around the neighborhood though, he was really excited at the beginning but got too tired and was just as slow as an actual prehistoric dinosaur. He played his part well. His energy was restored once we got back to there house and he found out he could help hand out candy to kids.    

Hope everyone else had an awesome and Happy Halloween!