Preston...

Preston has done so well with Chloe!  It is very easy to forget how young he actually is b/c he seems so advanced to us.  Below are several pictures from the past 2 months:

Washing daddy's truck:

I asked Preston if I could take his picture.  The next 5 pictures are the result.  After I took the picture he would run around the island in the kitchen yelling "yay" and clapping his hands.  Then he would come back and ask to have his picture taken again!

Yummy tomatoes from the garden!!

Daddy made a fort

Running out in the rain

Catching lightning bugs!  So fun!

Week 2

I can't believe my little girl is already 2 weeks old!  Time is flying by - and that just means I have to go back to work...I am hoping to convince AJ, my boss and myself that going part time is an option!  Who knows if it will happen, but I would really like it to.  The second week wasn't much different from the first.  Chloe is still doing great and being an easy baby.  (It is obviously way past the 2 week mark, so as I write this we did have a tough evening with Chloe - she started screaming for no apparent reason and could not be consoled very easily.  Once she calmed down and went slept for about 3 hours, I fed her and then she proceeded to spit up what seemed like everything she ate.  She's been good since then though and has eaten and is sleeping again - hopefully that little trouble is over and she is feeling ok.)  

We went to Chloe's 2 week check on Monday and she had already gained almost a full pound from her birth weight!  Dr. Griesmer gave me the good to go on letting her sleep "through the night" as she will.  YES!!!  And she actually does sleep anywhere from 6-8 hours at night - that is great!  I do recall Preston sleeping well at first too and then he regressed later - hopefully Chloe doesn't do any regressing.

Chloe has had some tummy time already and does really well.  She tries to hold up her head and doesn't seem to mind being on her tummy.  She has enjoyed laying on the floor with Preston a couple of times; although, she is turning out to be a baby that wants to be held - not sure how that happened!

We had some visitors over the past week.  AJ's Aunt Toots and Uncle Wayne were on vacation with their son Blake and stopped in on their way home.  They didn't stay too long, but it was good to see them.  They brought some gifts for the kids - cute clothes for Chloe and a big brother shirt for Preston - it is a little big!

We also got a surprise visit from my grandparents who live in Texas.  They had been out driving around on a little trip to visit friends and family and decided to stop in and see us as well.  They stayed through the weekend and we just hung out.  It was good to see them.  They hadn't been up here since before Preston was born.

Lots of pictures this time around!  Enjoy and have a fantastic Independence weekend!

This is what Preston had on when I took his 2 week pic.  They look so much alike it is kind of scary!

He is getting so tall!

Something was funny!

Just a little big!

Toots and Chloe

Uncle Wayne and AJ

So cute!!

Great-grandpa Jerry and Chloe

Great-grandma and grandpa with Preston and Chloe

It's so bright

Such a sweet boy!

I know its blurry but it is just too cute!

Week 1

Finally home!  It seemed like we had to stay at the hospital forever this time around.  I think we were just ready to go and get on with everyday life at home.  Chloe has been fairly easy so far along.  She sleeps really well - I usually had to wake her to feed her like I was supposed to - which is actually hard to do most of the time!  As you can see from most of the pictures, when she is sleeping, her arms are generally up "over" her head, which is how Preston sleeps as well!  It amazes me how similar they are already.  Looking back at Preston's pictures, you can't tell them apart!  

She is eating really well, but we had a little set back with actual nursing.  She wasn't latching on correctly which caused some problems, so for about a 24 hour period I pumped and she was given a bottle.  She took the bottle really well without any trouble and when I went back to nursing that went well too!!

At her weight check on the first Friday, she was already almost back to her birth weight!  (all babies lose weight at first)  However, her bilirubin level was up quite a bit I thought - from 8.6 to 11.1 - still in the normal range and they didn't seem that concerned.  The only reason they checked her level was b/c we told them the whites of her eyes seemed to be more yellow.  She is doing well now though!

Olivia had a great time playing with Preston for the next couple of days she was here.  They played in the sprinkler, washed AJ's truck (which of course it rained that day!), read books and just played in the backyard.  She had to leave on Saturday and Preston asked for her when he got up on Sunday - he already missed his play buddy!

We went to church on Sunday and Chloe got to wear a new dress from Grandma Jackie and Olivia.  We had to go buy some more newborn clothes since she was so tiny!  She slept right through church!  Preston of course did not want to go to nursery when Chloe was going to stay with us, but he eventually was coaxed into playing with some cars.

Preston loves doing the same things as his sister.  Anything you say that you are going to do with her, he wants to do it too!  He enjoys laying on the floor with her, holding and kissing her.  And actually as I write this on July 1st he wanted to "eat" like Chloe was - he climbed in my lap and leaned down to the other side from Chloe!  I just laughed!!

Uncle Terry came to visit on his way down to Branson area for work for the week.  He stopped to see us and to drop off a new picture frame that Grandpa Gegg made for us.  It looks great hanging above our television!  Preston was able to play with Terry for a little bit, as I was feeding Chloe when he arrived.  Once Terry was interested in Chloe though, things changed a little.  Preston got a little jealous for attention.  He still did good though!

We attempted potty training for a couple of days.  We did ok, but it was a lot of us running to the bathroom with Preston and him not doing anything until a couple minutes after we were done sitting on the potty.  Oh well, he is still young and we have several more weeks to keep trying. 

Enjoy the pictures from our first week:

Preston and Olivia in the sprinkler!

First bottle!

Brother and sister "playing" on the floor

Watching Elmo with Grandma Jackie

First church outfit

Uncle Terry

What a goober!

Helping in the garden during potty training!

Baseball!

Sibling love!

Work all day, no problem!

So Monday morning, I got up and went to work.  Just an ordinary day - except I did not want to be going to work.  Partly because I was ready to have this baby, partly b/c I wanted to be spending time with my family in town, and mostly b/c I had 4 new patients and that was all!  Anyway, off to work I went feeling normal.  Sometime in the morning I began having increased amounts of pressure really low in my abdominal region.  It just felt like she was pushing down really hard, like I thought she had been for a couple of days(maybe that pressure was contractions the whole time!).  If these were contractions, they were way different from when I had Preston - so I just ignored them basically.  I began to feel like if I made it through work, I wasn't sure how many more days I would be able to work so I emailed my boss and let him know.  About 30 minutes later I got a call from him!!  I informed him I had a doctor's appointment at 4 and would let him know if anything had changed. 

After lunch I was pretty sure I was having contractions and they were becoming increasingly closer together.  I did good though and none of my patients could tell.  I think I was making my co-workers very nervous though - I was told to leave several times!!   So, I finished my day - saw all 4 of my new patients and did all the paperwork on them.  I had been trying to make sure everything was wrapped up daily before I left work just incase I didn't come back!  On the way to my doctor's appointment, I called AJ and my mom to let them know what was going on.  Yes, my mother yelled at me for driving since I was having contractions.  Oh well, it wasn't that far of a drive.  

When I got to the doctor, the contractions were quite a bit stronger.  He came in and checked my progress - 3cm.  Told me he thought I was in active labor and would call over to labor and delivery and let them know I was coming.  Luckily my doctor's office is located on the hospital campus, so we just moved the truck closer to the hospital and went on up to the 5th floor.  Once in the delivery room, about 25 minutes later the nurse checked my progress and said I was almost 6cm dilated - holy cow that is an increase by 3cm in 25 minutes.  At that point we knew this little girl was coming on June 14th!!  

All in all, everything went very smooth.  I was able to get an epidural and b/c of the time of day my doctor was able to deliver.  So, here is the run down - doctor's appointment at 4, get to L&D at 4:30ish, have baby at 6:46!!  Didn't take long once she decided she wanted to come into the world.

Here are some more pictures from the couple of days in the hospital:

Epidural -check!

First look at my baby girl!

She looks a lot like Preston 

Especially in this picture

Preston's first look at his sister

Papa and Chloe

First kiss!

Dave, Greta and Joshua with Chloe

Meagan and Mike with Chloe

Days at the hospital were long for Preston.  Tried to find some Elmo on the computer

Ready to go home!

Playing inside

My mom and Olivia got in town on Saturday (June 12) so they could try to be here when Chloe arrived.  Olivia was only staying for a week so we were really hoping she showed up before she had to leave the following Saturday.  We didn't really do too much the first couple of days.  Just hung out, went to church and played some games.  Sunday afternoon we went to our church's "block party" where they had some outdoor games, bbq, ice cream sodas and indoor movies.  Preston got to do some fun stuff and AJ and Olivia played volleyball for a little bit - but it was really hot outside so we left about 30 minutes before it was over.  Sunday evening we started a Monopoly game and had to put it on pause as I had to go to work on Monday morning and we weren't finished with it at 11:00 (unfortunately we did not get to finish it as they ended up putting it away on Tuesday).

Here are just a couple of pictures of inside play from Sunday:

Olivia!