Lillian's Arrival - September 2, 2011

Lillian Grace arrived on Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:34am. She is absolutely perfect & beautiful! She weighed in at a petite 5lbs 15oz and was 19" long.



After an uneventful, c-section Lilly, Daddy, and Mommy got to hang out in the recovery room for a few hours until they had a room available for us. We had some nice bonding time together and Lilly got to eat her first meal. She was a champ at eating from the start!

Snuggling with Mommy in the recovery room.

I love this one...she was SO alert the entire time. This sweetie didn't sleep for several hours after she was born & then it was only little cat naps!Lilly also got her 1st bath while we were in the recovery room. She was not a fan!

Big feet & long toes for such a tiny thing...

Lilly found her thumb pretty quickly & continues to suck her thumb/fingers sometimes now when she is hungry.

Once we got to the room, Lilly got to meet the rest of her family: Grammy, Paw, Nana, BB, Aunt Dana & Uncle John.

Big Brother Brayden come a bit later in the afternoon after a MUCH needed nap!! (Thanks again to Uncle Joe & Aunt Amy for keeping Brayden for us!!) It took Brayden a while to warm up to his new sister, and it probably didn't help that Mommy was stuck in a bed, attached to all sorts of things (IV, etc). However, Lilly was smart enough to bring Brayden a few gifts (Buzz Lightyear toy & Toy Story 3 movie), which made Brayden warm up a little bit more. Eventually, Brayden came up on the bed with me & met his new baby sister :)

Sleeping angel at the hospital

Waiting...

Only 48 more hours before we check into the hospital & prepare for the arrival of Lillian Grace! So excited to meet her!!

Today is my last day of work for 2011! I can't believe the time is here already, but I am so thankful that I have a job that "gives" me so much vacation, sick, etc time to use with my babies.

Belly Shots

I have been getting lots of people asking to see my belly at this point so here you go. This was just taken a few minutes ago. I am 37 weeks 4 days (11 days to go!!!) Please excuse the frizzy hair...Brayden & I had been outside playing baseball after dinner & it was HOT & humid!


As a comparison, here I was at 36 weeks 4 days with Brayden.

Lillian's Nursery

Well, with the exception for straightening things up a little more, Lilly's nursery is completed! I had a vision in my head of what I wanted, but had no idea how to make that happen. My mom has worked SO hard the past few months to make the room beautiful & girlie! My AMAZING mom totally transformed the room from a baby boy nursery to a sweet little girl nursery just like I had envisioned!!

I LOVE the way it turned out!
My mom recovered the chair & ottoman (not shown), made the curtains and bed skirt, painted the letters over the crib, painted the light switch cover, made the hair bow holder, trimmed the lamp shade with fabric to match the bed skirt & curtain, and made the pillow in the chair.


The cross-stitch hanging between the doors was made by my nanny, Mary, when I was a baby. It is a picture of my favorite toy "O-Bunny". The colors were almost perfect for Lilly's room so we thought it would be fitting to hang O-Bunny in Lilly's room. Mary passed away last summer at age 101. She was an amazing, sweet woman, so I am very glad that a part of her is in Lilly's room. I think Mary would be pleased too!
The photo frame over the changing table has ultrasound photos in it for now. Of course, as Lilly grows, we will change out the photos of our sweet little girl.Thank you Mom for making Lilly's room perfect! I know that Lilly is going to love her room as much as I do! I love you!! You are amazing!

Brayden's Big Boy Room!!

We started working on Brayden's "Big Boy Room" back in early March, but we just finished putting the final touches on the room this afternoon! Partly because we have been so busy & partly because I have been lazy! We went with a sports/ball theme for now because the boy is CRAZY about sports right now! He loves to play baseball & soccer so it just made sense & it is a theme that will last a few years at least.

My mom made the dust ruffle, curtains, and throw pillows for the bed (which I am currently LOVING at story time)! I picked a comforter that is navy/red so that it will grow with Brayden...I didn't want something that he was going to outgrow in just a few years. Currently, he has "Cars" sheets on the bed but he also has a set of sports/ball sheets that match the lamp and wall clings. Again, something that we could fairly easily (and cheaply) change out as he grows older. The lamp was really the starting spot for the room! I saw it at Target & immediatly knew that was what we needed for Brayden's big boy room!


Aunt Dana painted the letters and did an incredible job! I was blown away by how they turned out!The animals on the shelf (rhino, lion, and elephant) are all hand made of beads. They are incredible pieces of art! One of the Drs that I work with at Duke brought them back for Brayden from South Africa and Brayden really likes them a lot!

A HUGE THANK YOU to my mom & Aunt Dana for helping make Brayden's room so special & awesome! We definitely couldn't have done it with out your help & talent!

Quick update on Mis Lilly

I had another U/S today to check Miss Lilly's growth. She was still right on track, just under the 50% percentile. The estimated weight as of today (31 weeks 6 days) is 4 pounds 1 ounce! What a blessing & relief that she continues to grow big & healthy! I still have only gained ~13 pounds so I was a little worried that Lilly's growth had slowed as well, but so far it hasn't.

Next week I will start going 2x per week for non-stress tests. That just means I get to sit in a comfy chair for about 20-30 minutes each afternoon & relax, read a book, etc while they monitor Lilly's HB, movements, & any contractions that I might be having.

In other news, we had our first baby shower this past weekend & got lots of great things...adorable clothes in all sizes, diapers, and some "girly" baby toys! Both Matt's mom & my mom had crocheted blankets and my mom had also made 3 sweaters. We brought back lots of the "big ticket baby items" that had been in storage at my parents house. Now we can actually start putting everything together & really getting ready for Lilly's arrival in just over 7 weeks!!! I have officially been scheduled for a c-section on Sept 2!!!

July 4th at Sunset Beach

We spent July 4th at Sunset Beach this year. We have been going for the holiday ever since Matt & I have been together. It is so much fun to spend time with his family! They are all just a little crazy! This is the view from Matt's grandparents house...how can you beat this?

Brayden's cousin, Sid, is 1 year older and this is the 1st time that they really spent any time together & interacted. The boys played for hours together with very minimal interference from the adults. It was so nice to see them playing together! I hope it continues for many years!

This year we packed in lots of fun activities including a baseball game, putt putt, fishing, swimming, and time on the beach.

Learning to swim with Aunt Dana. After a few minutes, Brayden really loved the pool! By the 2nd day, he was starting to stick his face in the water & blow bubbles. I think swimming lessons are in store for us this fall :)

Enjoying the baseball game and goofing off with SidCousins

It is not the best picture of either one of them, but Brayden enjoyed spending some quality time at the baseball game with his Papa (Matt's grandfather).Playing on the beach with Sid. They buried ALL of their toys under PILES & PILES of sand...it took us a while to dig eveything out when it was time to go home for the day!
I think this is Sid going for his Hole in One! I just like John's expression in this photo.

Brayden was also really scared of the big volcano at the putt putt that went off every 15 minutes or so. He would totally freeze and then freak out so he didn't play the entire course, but I think he enjoyed the parts that he actually played on. Maybe next year will be a little better.

Getting some help from Aunt Dana
We were "inside" the volcano at the point. He couldn't see it and so he wasn't scared of it!He also got really upset on the last hole when his ball disappeared...Where did it go??
so I let him putt my ball in on the last hole as well. He was amazed that it just "went away".After 4 straight days of playing hard all day and no nap, this is what happens...He was TOTALLY passed out on Aunt Dana at 6pm Monday evening! It didn't last long though! As soon as we started changing him into PJs, he was up and off to the races again!
Learning the delicate process of "preparing to fish" from BBHelping Daddy fish