Birthdays- Lila Photos

My sweet baby girl was the best birthday gift. If she had waited a few more hours then we would have shared our birthdays too. Our family is notorious for sharing birthdays/anniversaries etc. So I'm glad she came the day before so she gets her OWN day.
Also, Tim bought me three bags of dark chocolate covered cranberries for my birthday. They are my guilty pleasure. Although the dark chocolate and dried cranberries are good for you... when you eat them in abundance, I'm sure they're not so healthy. I try to eat them in moderation.

Lila is doing great, she sleeps a lot but has her awake periods too. Nights aren't too bad, she goes about 3 hours between feedings. Breastfeeding is also going so smoothly (so different than Levi) She had the hang of it with a good latch within hours of her being born. All soreness on my end has subsided (THANK GOODNESS)
On a more comical note, Tim is also glad the soreness has gone away and loves my more curvy and "full" upper body. Ha ha.

Levi is taking to Lila very well. He was afraid of her at first and didn't want much to do with her. I think it was all too new. By the time we brought her home from the hospital he was touching her gently and kissing her on the head. He hasn't shown any interest in holding her so I won't push it.

As far as the "terrible twos" stage goes? It's still awful. The communication barrier is what makes it hard because he can't tell us what's wrong or why he's feeling the way he feels.

Oh, and have some pictures of our sweet Lila Brooke

Lila Brooke

Here are a few pictures, more to come!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151156284704926.442244.727339925&type=1&l=0dd73cd902

The full details:
I was scheduled for a c-section on Monday October 22nd because we found out that the baby was breech. Tim got home from work on Friday October 19th, at 4pm and cooked some steaks for dinner that he had picked up earlier that day. Fifteen minutes after we ate, Tim's brother Tom called him to just to chat and all of the sudden i felt a strange pop in my belly and realized that my pants were starting to get wet. "TIM MY WATER JUST BROKE" I yelled. Tim yelled over the phone to Tom, "Sarah's water just broke I gotta go!" and hung up the phone. Tim started freaking out and getting all the bags and Levi ready to go as I called the hospital to make sure the I need to go in. The operator said yes and we rushed to the hospital. Tim took advantage of the flasher situation driving 70 mph down a 45 mph limit road. We pulled up to hospital and the complimentary valet parking attendant gave a ticket and we ran inside. Once in the birthing center i was checked into triage and the nurse wanted to get another ultrasound to make sure that the baby had not flipped, but when she physically checked me and felt a foot instead a head she said they did not need an ultrasound. They rushed me into the O.R. and Tim had to wait outside with they gave me my spinal. After that moment I lost all feeling from my lower chest down. The nurses began to panic when the umbilical chord unexpectedly came out. If the chord comes out and gets pinched it causes the baby a lot of stress. So the nurse had to push it back in and the doctor who was not in the room at that time had to rush in to cut me open. A few minutes later they brought Tim in and he sat and watched as they started cutting to get to the baby, and at 6:33 Lila was finally pulled out and taken to the warmer. I couldn't see her right away but Tim told me that she did have hair like I had hoped. A few moments later I heard her first cry. Before I knew it Tim brought Lila over for me to see and I started to cry because of how beautiful I thought she was. Thirty minutes later I was all stitched up and holding my new best girlfrend. Recovering is a little harder than I thought, but it is moving along. Pictures should be posted within the next hour.

Here we go

My life is going to change forever in 3 days. That's right.... only 3 more days of just a family of 3.

We recently discovered that our little girl is already a handful and darn right stubborn. She's in a BREECH position and doctor has said that the shape of my uterus just won't allow her to turn this late. After the confirming ultrasound 2 weeks ago, I did everything in the book to try and get her to turn. All the safe ones of course, all those "myths" about getting babies to turn. It was worth a shot I say.

BUT, needless to say, we've scheduled the c-section.

Yea... C-section. Can you say "freaked out"?

Our little girl will arrive in this world via C-section on October 22, 2012.
I'll admit it. I'm excited, but I'm still scared to undergo a major abdominal surgery with its extended recovery time. All worth it in the end, regardless of the marks left on my body.

Be sure to check back next week when we update with our birth story

Terrible Twos

I always think Levi is going through that "terrible two" stage.... but then it always seems to get worse a few weeks down the road.

He's just SO emotional.... but he sure knows how to push buttons. We'll see how these next few weeks go once his little sister makes her arrival.

Ugh, this weather!

For the last 3 weeks, Indiana weather has been just as crazy as Ohio's has ever been. Some days it's the AC, some days its just the windows, and some days the heat is on. Make up your mind mother nature!

Luckily the area of the house we spend the most time actually face south which keeps the house very warm yet still keeps the upstairs cooler for ideal sleeping. Today's temp is 52 degrees. I don't have the heat or anything else on but its over 74 degrees in the house because of the direct sunlight. I'm almost sweating.

More positive note: I'm officially FULL TERM, which means 37 weeks and baby would be able to function properly if born now (without any other medical conditions). We're not counting down the weeks anymore, we're counting the days. Only 19 to go til due date.

Why we love it here.

*Note* I published 2 posts today, make sure you see them both!

When people ask us what we think about Indiana, here is our response.

WE LOVE IT!

First and foremost, our ward is awesome. Growing up in our home ward in Springfield was hard for Tim and I since there were few younger families. Plus, I worked and didn't get to do playdates or spend time with Levi anyway.
Here in Fort Wayne, the ward has SO many young families. There's a playgroup every week for mother's with younger children. I call it my sanity saver group. Levi has already found himself a good friend who is only 3 months younger than him. We're thrilled he gets along so well with his friends.

Growing up in Springfield Ohio was so boring because you HAD to travel to Columbus, Beavercreek, or Dayton to do anything fun with your family. 

Fort Wayne is about the size of Dayton but has SO much more to offer. Lots of family activities including a butt load of parks, science central (think COSI), fort wayne children's zoo, etc.
Our mall here is nice (Comparable to Fairfield Commons in Ohio) and has a special "We Play Wednesday" activity for children ages 2-5. A merchant of the mall hosts the activity and usually the kids have a craft, make a treat, or watch a puppet show. Did I mention its FREE? (best part!)
This week was hosted by Sbarro Pizza. The kids got to make their own pizzas and eat lunch for free. There's also a carousel in the mall and the price of the usual $2.00 was cut to $0.50. I can spare 50 cents for my son to ride the carousel. In fact, since parents don't have to pay, we went twice and paid a dollar. Here are some pictures of Levi's FIRST carousel ride. HE LOVED IT.

Levi riding the buck, Daddy would be so proud. 

(FYI: all pictures were taken while we were standing still. I wouldn't have left him unattended that far if we were moving. Oh and the camera isn't the best either, its my grab-go-point-shoot camera that is terrible)

 Throwing a small fit while waiting in line.

Here's the video, and we ARE moving.

Helping Daddy

Usually, when it starts raining- I don't catch it in time to get the dogs through the house into their kennels in the garage and they're usually filthy. So I either let them in while they're soaked (which they usually shake as soon as they're inside and get mud all over the floors) or I leave them outside in the rain.

I usually leave them outside in the rain. Especially with my "nesting" stage still in strong force.

 Until we have the funds to expand the fence around the house and put in a doggie door to the garage, we needed a short term solution. Tim decided to take down some shelving and storage pieces the last homeowners left and used it to make the dogs a dog house.
Levi always wants to help. So I found his plush toolbelt from grandma and grandpa Ruchty with all the tools and he came outside to help daddy.

 I seriously love this kid. Look at those baby blues. Growing up so FAST

 I feel like the receipt in hand is a work order and he's gone to pick up the lumber for his project. Luckily we had no smashed fingers or toes, and no splinters from the night.

He's going to LOVE doing stuff with Tim when he's older and more capable.