And then there were four

Piper Rylee is here! She was born at 3:57 pm on Thursday, August 27th, the day before her due date. She weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz and is 19 1/2 inches long.

After one night in the hospital we arrived home this afternoon around 4 pm. I will post some pictures as soon as I can do some downloading. I will also be putting together a more detailed "birth story" in the next few days. Everything went so well, I still can't believe it. There is only so much you can do to "plan" a birth and we were so fortunate to have most everything go very smoothly this time around.

Big Sister Morgan is curious about the new "visitor" in her home. I think she doesn't yet realize that she is staying...in fact I've had my moments that I've felt the same way. So, we embark on the quest to be a family of four now. Thanks for joining us on the journey!

Kisses

Morgan has been giving "kisses" for a while. They started with a slobbery open-mouthed kiss on the cheek accompanied by the sound "awah!" I'm glad to say that the kisses are no longer so wet. This has been a gradual process. Then, a few days ago she started a new version with me. When I pick her up for kisses before her nap or nighttime she'll grab my face and squeeze my cheeks. She wants me to pucker my lips. As soon as I've done this to her satisfaction, she'll pucker her own lips and give me a kiss. After she's done this she usually gives out a little squeal and hugs me. So cute!

A Week in Pictures

It's been a busy week since Grandma and Grandpa B arrived!! It's been great having them here helping us out before (and after) the Biscuit arrives. Morgan's had lots of loving attention from everyone...though I think she's pretty suspicious about what's going on around here. Here's a few pics from the last week.

Grandpa found this cute little tricycle at a garage sale for $2! What a deal!!

Not quite big enough to really ride it, but Daddy helps her out

Pretty Grandma on her birthday. We went to a great Chinese restaurant that we'd been hearing about.

Grandpa filling up Morgan's new sandbox. She likes to "hug" the turtle (put her cheek on it's face).

Jumping in for the first time with Grandma

39 Week Dr. Appointment

I feel like I just posted about my last appointment. Last week went fast!

All is still looking good. Possibly a bit more "progress," 1-2 cm dilated, 60% effaced. I met with the other OB in the practice today. He's a good guy, I wouldn't mind if he is on-call when I go into labor. He also said my uterus was somewhat "irritable." I've heard of this before, but more in the context of earlier in a pregnancy when there's some concern that there might be preterm labor. In my case it is good because it means that the uterus is getting ready to do it's job. Cool. I'm definitely having more "tightening" going on all over, nothing painful though. That must be what he's talking about.

Countdown about 5 more days until my doula is back from vacation. Then I'm good to go. I have two more Dr. appointments set up in advance, my 40 week appointment next Thursday and (ack!) a 41 week appointment for the following Thursday. I don't even want to hear the word "induction," so please say prayers that we don't make it that far. Work with me body, work with me! :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Yum...Krispy Kreme with Grandma and Grandpa B

38 Week Dr. Appointment

Fairly uneventful. All looks good. "Progress" is about the same as last week, maybe slightly more dilated than 1 cm, but definitely not 2 cm yet. Effacement is the same about 50-60%. I was actually relieved when I heard this. My doula is going on vacation as of today and there are still some other small projects that need to be done. I don't think it's going to happen for a bit. Good thing I'm not miserable or overly uncomfortable. I was at this point with Morgan, so I think somehow I "willed" my body to let her be born early. This time I can wait until I'm due.

Grandma and Grandpa B are arriving this afternoon! They will be here as help and reinforcements with Morgan when we need to go have this baby. In the meantime I get a nice break from cooking, chores, etc. What a luxury! I'm sure going to enjoy it while I can.

Snuggle Bunny

I had a really rough recovery after Morgan was born. When we were still at the hospital at one point I had the nurses take Morgan to the nursery so I could try to sleep. A few hours later a nurse returned with Morgan and said she might be hungry or just want to snuggle..."she's such a little Snuggle Bunny," the nurse said. From then on from time to time I will call her my Snuggle Bunny. The funny thing is, as she's gotten older, she's not really a "snuggle" girl at all. Up until she was about 6 months old I could sometimes get her to take a nap with me, but mostly she just wants to play or jump around on the bed.

Then as my belly grew bigger, Morgan would put her head on it in the same way she does her teddy bears and doll. Not really a snuggle, but kind of a sweet hug. She does this to other kids and babies too. When she was about 15 months old, occasionally she would wake up in the night and have a meltdown. Either David and I would go in her room and give her a "cuddle." We'll sit down in her glider and sit her on our laps facing us. She'll lay her head on our chests as we sign her a song. That's all she needs, just a song or two and she'll fall back asleep in her bed. That was the extent of the snuggling.

Here's the thing, the last week or so she's suddenly become much more of that Snuggle Bunny again. Sometimes when I give her kisses and hugs before bed she'll cling to me. Also, when I take her upstairs from lunch to her nap she'll often lay her head on my shoulder. Awwww. Now I've taken to snuggling with her a little more when she wakes up from her nap to let her wake up before I change her diaper and let her play.

I think she knows changes are coming and she's getting as much snuggle time in now before her sister arrives. Smart girl. It reminds me though of how I'm going to need to be very aware of her needs when this baby comes home and that we maximize our one on one time together so she knows she's just as loved and cherished.

Baby Talk

I haven't posted much about this at all, but I'm not sure why. At Morgan's 18 Month appointment the pediatrician was concerned about her lack of words. In fact, she said that she was "borderline" needing to see a speech therapist. Yes, at that point Morgan only used about 5-6 words, but I know that kids develop at different rates, some are late talkers others earlier. As Morgan doesn't have another official Dr. Appointment until she turns two, we left the office saying that we would follow up on Morgan's speech when we made appointments for the new baby. The Dr. gave us some tips on how to work with her in the meantime.

Since that appointment I took more notice of other kids Morgan's age. I did have to admit that most of them used more words and communicated a little better. Now, the Dr. did acknowledge that Morgan seemed to understand what was being said to her, but she just didn't yet use words to communicate with us.

So, fast-forward to now. I'd say that Morgan has about 25 words now. An improvement, but I think still a little behind in the professionals' opinions. Some words she uses regularly and others she will say to us if we ask her to (such as "what does a cow say?"....Moo). We got some books with big pictures and words and continually encourage her to "say" certain words. Not much happened for a while, but in the last few weeks she's even busted out some words that we were not actually "working on." I'm not sure if it's because we've been making a big effort at this or she's just reaching a developmental point where she's really ready to start talking. In any case we are very proud she is making some good progress here.

She is also using a lot more signs, which helps, but they only do so much. For example, if she uses the "more" sign sometimes we know exactly what she wants more of...but sometimes we don't. Then she gets frustrated if we can't figure it out. At mealtimes we'll say "more what?" and she'll slap her hands on the tray of her high chair in frustration. I do think these times of frustration are good for her though. They seem to happen right before she takes another leap in her skills. Considering the amount of slapping of trays and sometimes hitting of Mama that's going on right now...I hope there's another burst forthcoming.

It will be interesting to see what happens with her communication once the new baby arrives. Some say she'll regress, others say she'll take the "big girl" role and improve her skills. We'll see!

Go Shock!!

The Shock won another one on Saturday night! This was the second playoff game. One more to go that will decide the conference champions and who will go to the Arena Cup on the 22nd in Vegas. Next week's game will not be easy, but luckily it will be at home again. Here are some pics from the evening.

Morgan really likes her friend Ella

An example of the kid craziness that goes on in the suite. Morgan is climbing on the couch among the chaos.

Watching the game with Daddy

Mesmerized

The "aftermath"

It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but Morgan took a tumble down the two small steps in the suite that night. She had been navigating the steps well until she got gutsy and tried to take a "real" step down (instead of crawling backwards like usual). We're lucky she only ended up with a bruise under her eye. Expect for a few skinned knees, this is one of the first visible injuries she's had. We figure there will be more where this came from the bigger she gets.

37 Week Dr. Appointment

On Thursday morning I had my 37 week appointment. Even with Morgan in tow it went well. I was wondering if my blood pressure would be up since I was concerned she would have a meltdown while I was being examined, but she was a trooper. I think it helped that the Dr. was super sweet to her when he came in, so she thought he must be an OK guy. Last time she got a little upset when he was checking the baby's position by palpitating my belly. I think she thought he was hurting me. I also came armed with snacks this time, so she might have been a little distracted too.

We have some "progress!" I am 60% effaced (shortening of cervix) and 1 cm dilated. Now those additional aches and a little more "waddling" make sense. This really means nothing on timing though. I can stay at the same place for weeks and not progress, or things could happen quickly. I'm torn on this though. I've basically told my body that it needs to wait until I'm at least 39 weeks 4 days. That's when my doula is back from vacation. We'll have a backup plan for when she's gone, but of course I'd rather it be her that someone I don't know. We'll see if my body obliges. The Dr. said he expected to see me at my appt. next week, but after that...who knows?! Morgan was born at 38 weeks 3 days and I was "ready." Since I'm feeling physically better this time around I think I will be fine if I make it to my due date or later.

Family in Town

We had a great visit with David's brother Mark and his family. Ruth, Jamie and Regan filled our home with lots of fun and laughter and we had a great time showing them our town and the surrounding area. Here's a few pictures from the weekend. Since I take most of the pics unfortunately there are lots of activities that did not get photographed, but here's what I got...

Uncle Mark reading "The Three Bears" for the millionth time

Morgan and Daddy in Lake Coeur d'Alene

Also swimming, Mark, Jamie and Regan. It was HOT!

Daddy tosses Morgan high!

We were at the City beach right next to the Resort

Morgan in her new swimsuit...Paul Frank monkeys! Thanks Aunt Ruth!

In the papasan chair with cousin Regan. She climbed in all by herself!

There was lots of playing ball ("ba") with the cousins

Brothers

Mark and Ruth

The aftermath...she has so much fun she was exhausted!

Besides Lake Coeur d'Alene our four-five days of fun included waterslides, downtown Spokane and a Shock Game, boating/innertubing/wakeboarding on the Spokane River and visits with Great Aunt and Uncle Dan and Trudy. We were so sad to see everyone go on Tuesday. Come back and visit any time!!!