Adventures in Mommyhood

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Friday, March 2, 2012

One week ago On February 24th, Charlotte decided to make her appearance into the world. On Thursday the 23rd, I started out the morning feeling pretty good, commenting to my neighbor that it would still be a few days as I was not feeling like Charlotte was coming any time soon. Around 1 pm that day my back started hurting really badly and I spent the rest of the day laying on the couch or in bed with a hot water bottle. I remember thinking, okay maybe she'll come in a few days I am finally starting to feel uncomfortable. I guess I had this opinion because I was very uncomfortable with Anabelle for a long time, so I thought -well that's just how it goes. Imagine my surprise when at 6 am the next morning I was woken up by a sharp pain and my water breaking. I woke up John and we started getting ready to go to the hospital. We called my Mom, who came right over to watch Anabelle and then we drove the 3 minutes to the hospital. Once there, they checked me out and got me all hooked up to machines to monitor the baby. My contractions were pretty close and strong by then, so around 8 am I got an epidural. Soon after at around 10:30 it was time to push. Everything went pretty quickly and smoothly with the only issue being that Charlotte had a short umbilical cord, so they needed to use the vacuum to help get her out. At 10:44 am Charlotte Catherine Delaney was born, she was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 inches long. She came out kicking and screaming and was very alert. She has a lot of dark brown hair, which surprised me, and it looks like she has blue/grey eyes for now, but I know that they can change. Our time at the hospital was spent with visitors and getting to know our newest addition.

Over the last week, we have been taking it day by day trying to get as much rest as possible while keeping Charlotte and Anabelle happy. Instead of taking off a week straight, John has decided to work from home 1 day each week and then take 1 day off each week, so he is home 2 days a week and then my Mom has been coming over on the days when John is at work. The extra help is so appreciated. I am not looking forward to the day when I am home alone taking care of 2 kids on my own, hopefully it won't be any time soon.

Weighing in at 7lbs 6 oz

Bath time

Getting ready to go home, she was not happy to be put in her car seat

Anabelle loves to hold Charlotte

The 1st and only time she has slept in her bassinet, she prefers to sleep on someone instead

1st doctors appointment on Tuesday, she looked great! Only down to 7lbs. 3 oz, we go back next Friday for another weight check

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Somersaults!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

The waiting game...

Charlotte is due February 24th, so we are just playing the waiting game around here... When I went to the doctor last week they said everything looked great and I am dilated 3 cm already. I feel pretty good, in fact I feel much better than I did when I was pregnant with Anabelle. Maybe my body is just used to being pregnant, I don't know. Because I still feel so good, I keep thinking that Charlotte is going to be late. But, since there is no way to know when she's coming, I am just trying to relax and enjoy the last few days of being pregnant.

I have been trying to spend as much time with Anabelle as possible, since I know that once I go into labor I will be apart from her for a while and then obviously I will also have Charlotte to care for so my attention will be divided. While I think that having a sibling is a wonderful gift and I know that Anabelle will love her sister, there is a part of me that thinks - these are the last days where Anabelle will have our undivided attention and have us all to herself. So I am feeling a little sentimental and sappy and want to cuddle with her all day.

Here's what we have been up to this week:

My Mom fed us lots of yummy food.

Anabelle did some painting at her easel.

Lego building with Daddy. I think Daddy has more fun than Anabelle :)

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Surprise!

This post is way overdue.... I should have posted these pictures last month, but somehow it just didn't get done. So I figured I would share them now. On January 19th, John's oldest brother Mike and family, who live in Houston, flew in to spend the weekend in Chicago. The occasion was their father's 60th birthday. John along with his siblings planned to take their dad to see the Blackhawk's game on Friday and then the following day we hosted a surprise birthday party at our house.

It was fun to have Mike, Mary and their 4 children spend the weekend at our place. Anabelle is always thrilled to spend time with her cousins and this time was no different. She definitely wore them out and wanted to play every minute! Being from Houston, they are used to warmer weather and although our Winter has been VERY mild, of course that weekend we had to dip down to the single digits and get hit with the biggest snow storm of the season. While it was an inconvenience for travel, the kids loved the snow! I was sure to get lots of pictures of them having a ball.

Giana 10, Donte 16, Taylor 12, Dominick 7

Snow fight!

Snow angels

Anabelle loved being pulled around in her sled, and with so many cousins there was always someone willing to do it.

The kids decided to build a small hill.

Here is Giana pushing Anabelle down the little hill on a garbage can lid, with lots of laughing. Finally it was so dark, we had to drag them all inside for dinner. They were a lot of fun to watch!

John has 4 siblings; Mike, Joe, Zac and Abby. The boys planned to take their dad to the game on Friday night, and despite the snowstorm everyone made it down town and they had a great night. Although he knew about the game, John's Dad Mike didn't know that his son Mike was going to be in town, so that was a great surprise for him. The boys all had fun and the Blackhawk's even won-yay!

Joe, John, Zac, Mike, Dad

The next day we had 6 of John's Dad's siblings over, along with all of his children, and grandchildren. He was very surprised and we had a fun night, eating and celebrating. It was nice to have everyone together, it doesn't happen often enough.