7 Months

Happy 7 months to our sweet little Emma Kate!  We've had a busy past few weeks and some of it was spent being sick but overall, another great month :)

We finished up UK football season - EK made it to every home game like a champ! We also got to celebrate her first Thanksgiving.  We hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the Reynolds' family and then went down to Etown for the Kings side.  EK and Harper both had a blast playing with so many little cousins :)  Harper also got to take a ride with Granddad King to visit the cows which she looooved.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we went to pick out a Christmas tree - EK was bundled in Harper's old snow suit.  The poor girl doesn't move when she gets into that thing and becomes the most expressionless kid ever!  After we got home she slept for the longest time and then woke up sick :(  She threw up a couple times that day and then a few days later got a horrible little cold.  To top it off, I stayed home with her from church the following day while Andy took Harper and Olivia.... and returned early after Harper vomited all over him at church too.  Bless her little heart! and bless poor Olivia who helped clean up the mess for us.

After a week of being sick and so pitiful, EK started to feel better and became so talkative.  She mimics things and becomes quite chatty in the evening.  She loves to blow raspberries and click her tongue.  Anytime I sing she will start yapping right along with us.  She loves to sit at the fridge and play with some magnets on the door while Harper and I cook and also loves being in the bouncer.

We started some more solids this past month and so far she has had oatmeal, bananas, avocados, zucchini, pears, prunes and carrots.  She figured it out pretty quickly and loooooves to eat. She dives after the food whenever I'm getting it ready for her.

No signs of crawling yet.. as soon as she is laid on her belly she immediately flops over to her back as quick as she can.  I'm fine with her waiting until after Christmas to learn that next little trick!

Her hair has really started to grow in but it's so blond that it's hard to tell she has much of it.  She has pretty little blue eyes and rosy red cheeks :)  She is a little doll baby!  She's pretty shy around strangers and is usually hard to get smiles out of but loooves mama, dada, hoppy and whitney!  We're definitely getting to stranger danger - as soon as I hand her away she gets the most anxious look on her face but is content to play with strangers as long as mom is holding her.

The other day before bed we were talking about how she literally did not cry at all during the day - she is so content!  But the night time is another story..... haha.  Still not consistently sleeping through the night :(  We get a few full nights of sleep here and there but other times we will be up 3-4 times giving her a paci.  Phew.  Sleep training is going to be happening soon around my house!

At her 6 month WCC I think she was 16 lbs 14 oz.  She gave a pitiful little cry with the shots but quickly pulled it together.  Big sis was there to pet her and make sure she felt better!  Harper loves trying to take care of EK.  In the car anytime Emma Kate is crying, Harper has started sweetly shh shh'ing her and it really does seem to help calm her down.

Harper continues to be the funniest little person.  She is a little extrovert and has never met a stranger in her life.  She has a toy that is a castle with little princesses that ride on horses.... so Harper's favorite thing to do currently is play on her horse and yell 'Princess Harper Leigh Reynolds'!!!!!!  When Harper has an audience, she becomes wild.  She moves more, talks more, talks louder and just generally 'turns up' :)  The phrases she comes up with crack me up... favorites include 'i'll be right back', 'in two more minutes (her response to basically any question)'.  She is obsessed with her 'cowboy boots' and literally wears them nonstop no matter the outfit.  She loves Clairebear and loves introducing her, 'dis is my cousin, Claire'.  Our nanny has a cat and it has gotten Harper hooked on a cat... plus her bath towel is a kitty.  In the morning she will ask for her 'kitty milk' as soon as she gets out of bed and then gets on all 4s and crawls towards our room saying 'come on mama, follow me'.  Anytime we want her to eat something and she refuses, we then ask her to eat the kitty cat food (or ask in an elmo voice) and it's a guaranteed slam dunk.  She's heeeelarious ;)

6 Months

Happy half birthday to our sweet Emma Kate!!

Can't believe you've been here so long yet it's almost hard to remember what life was like without you.
As EK is getting a little older we're starting to get a glimpse of how fun it will be for her to interact with Harper and vice versa.  Harper is always able to make emma kate smile and EK is naturally attracted to Harper's hair, cup, bunny... etc. :)

EK has gotten to be great at sitting alone which is one of my favorite milestones as it makes them seem more eager to interact for whatever reason.  She is easily entertained if you sit her up and give her some little toys to hold onto.  She used to love laying on the play mat but seems pretty bored with that nowadays.  She loves chewing on things, especially sophie and will drool so much her shirt is soaked.  I don't see any teeth yet but figure that can't be too far away.

We tried some baby oatmeal the other day for fun... it was quite the mess.  We had to get the spoon in pretty far or else she just pushed it out with her tongue but she didn't seem to mind the taste.  She would open wide and grab for the spoon but I think it was more the spoon she wanted and not actually the cereal.  We plan to try some more solids soon for sure!

Sleep has been about as unpredictable as possible.  She sleeps through the night when she wants and other times can be crying ever hour during the night until that darn paci gets popped back into her mouth. Ha.  Hoping she gets that figured out sooner than later!!!

We've had a fun month full of lots of UK games and of course, her first Halloween!!! The girls have been relatively great at the UK games though we typically only make it through the first half.  The last game EK was a little bit fussy and I think maybe it was a combination of the cold and getting to that age where sometimes they want to just be on the ground to play.  Halloween was the worst weather ever but we braved it for some quick trick or treating with our 3 blind mice!! Emma Kate got to ride in the coolest mouse trap ever and was quite popular in the neighborhood :)

Stranger danger may be starting a bit.  She's typically content to look and interact with others as long as I'm holding her but when others take her she kind of just looks at mama longingly like plllease come help me. haha :)

We go to the doctor on Monday so we'll see how big she is!

I've worried a lot about her lack of laughing and though she has shown us she can laugh, she still is so hard to make laugh.  I work hard for all the giggles I get!! :)
Here's a sweet video of some laughs we got the other day and you'll have to excuse the annoying mom voice:

And a mousetrap pic of course:

5 Months

I'm a few days late with Emma Kate's update - we've been busy busy!  She is growing and changing so much but is still the sweetest little thing!

She started rolling over this past month, luckily just in time for her 4 month doctor's appt ;)  There was really no exciting build up or cheering... we were just sitting at my parent's house playing on the floor and I flipped her to her belly and then she rolled right on over.  I was of course excited to witness it :)  I also coaxed one single belly laugh out of her all month and it took some work!  I have definitely worried about her lack of laughing and I'm not really sure what to attribute it to.  She is a smiley little girl and seems interactive but she is holding out on the giggles.  Maybe she just doesn't find us funny ;)

She is reaching and grabbing for everything and would love to share some of our food!  At the table she's always trying to grab off my plate or intercept my drink going to my mouth.  She will be so excited to start some solids next month.  She recently found her feet and they are her favorite form of entertainment.  It's great for me since her toes are always available no matter where we are :)

One of her favorite things to grab is Harper's hair... which in turn causes Harper to yell 'no no emma kate, we don't pull hair!'  Harper is sweet mooost of the time though... anytime EK is crying Harper will go share her beloved bunny (momentarily).  She'll also say, 'uh oh, emma kate hungry, want mo' mama milk'.  EK's carseat faces backwards and Harper faces forward and they are buckled right next to each other so they can interact.  Harper is getting just tall enough though that she can reach over to Emma Kate's eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, etc.  EK spit her paci out and I couldn't reach it so Harper informed me that 'it's ok mama, emma kate eating hoppy's thumb'.  Such a big helper ;)

At her 4 month WCC EK was 15 lbs 14 oz and 25.5 inches.  I can't remember the length percentile but she dropped down to 70th on weight... getting skinny ;)  She's mostly in 6-9 and 6-12 month clothes and still size 3 diapers.

She is definite my little cuddle bug right now... she is so content just to sit and hang out.  She also loves trying to watch Harper's cartoons in the morning and will sit just snug as a bug mesmerized by daniel tiger.

She's been to a few more UK games and has been great - the weather has fluctuated from seriously hot to freezing with little in between.  She normally just takes a little nap during part of the game and then will sit and hang out for the remainder.

Harper, Emma Kate and Claire will be the 3 blind mice for Halloween... we had a trial run at Boo at the Zoo yesterday and they looked awfully sweet.  I will say though, keeping up with all of them and trying to move them down the trick or treat path is similar to herding cats.  Quite the work out! :)  Claire loves Emma Kate and will always say 'hi bebe' and run over for a 'kissy kissy.'

Here's a pic of the youngest little mouse and her big blue eyes :)

Harper has come up with a few new sayings that crack me up. One of which is 'maybe wadder' (later).... as in, 'Harper are you ready to get dressed for school? - No shank you mama, maybe wadder.' We've been working to have her say no thank you rather than screaming NOOOO.  Sometimes it works, other times she screams NOOO  NOOOO NOOOO, no shank you (of course in the sweetest voice).  HA.  She also loves to ask for 2 more minutes before doing annnnything.  We usually give her a 2 min warning before bath, dinner, walks, etc. just because it seems to make transitioning activities easier so now she will always request two minutes before doing just about anything we ask her to do... rotten ;)

Four Months

Sweet Emma Kate has turned 4 months old!  When does life slow down? When kids grow up and leave the house? Or then does it still feel like it's flying by?! It is amazing to think of all my worries about adding a fourth to our little family and now after only four months it seems that she has been with us forever.

She still has the sweetest little disposition... she's so relaxed and content and just hangs out watching what big sis is getting into.  She may fuss a bit when she gets tired but as soon as we wrap her in the swaddle blanket and pop in the paci it's lights out for her.  Current favorite activities are playing on her mat and sitting in the bumbo.  She loves being outside and is content to be there pretty much the entire evening while Harper is playing after work.  She enjoys holding rattles, paci or whatever else Harper will share with her... including Harper's giant baby doll.  She's found her toes and loves to play with them and blows raspberries nonstop.  Her nighttime bath in the big tub with Harper is definitely on her list of favorite activities.  She is happy as a clam to float around in the tub no matter how tired or hungry she may be.  H loves to help wash her hair, belly and toes... and occasionally squirt water in her face ;)

She's yet to roll over but is pretty close, rolling from side to side on her mat to get to everything.  I'm always so amazing how much they move around their cribs before they're actually rolling but it's not usual to find her flipped 180 degrees from where she started.  Speaking of sleep..... it's not horrible but could be better.  I felt like her waking up and kind of regressed and that she was developing a habit of just waking up and eating.  For a couple nights I would go pat her and give her a paci when she cried but not feed her until 4-5 AM.  She calms down very quickly with that and is quickly back to sleep.... but now we get woken up probably 2-3 times each night with her screaming bloody murder for sometime to pop that paci back into her mouth! ha.... They know who's boss don't they?! As of now she is still in her swaddle blanket and I expect a very difficult transition as we will be moving out of that in the next couple weeks... so I decided that I will wait on whatever sleep training we decide to do until we're at least out of the blanket so all transitioning is completed at once.  I'm not looking forward to that!

She had a little diaper rash that wouldn't quite go away so Andy took her by the peds office this month. She weighed in at 15.82 lbs and was the happiest camper there of course.  We go for her 4 month checkup in a couple weeks complete with lots of shots :( She's wearing a lot of 3-6 and 6 months clothes and in size 3 diapers.

For a little Harper update... the girl cracks us up.  Some current favorites of hers are 'chipmunkies' (we watched alvin and the chipmunks so she's very into finding acorns to feed the chipmunkies), interpretive dance to Let it go, going to 'claire's house', going for walks, watching Daniel Tiger and going to school.  She also enjoys 'going to work'.  Every morning when we leave she'll say, 'mama go to work, dada go to work, whit-wee come play'.  And in the evenings she'll say 'hoppy go work' and head off to the garage door... and after a few seconds comes back yelling 'hoppy come back'!  Never gets old... :)

Three Months

Happy 3 months to our sweet girl! Of course I'm a few days late as I started back to work last Monday.. woh wohhh :(  Everyone is adjusting well at home though I sure do miss spending my days with the girls!

Emma Kate continues to be the sweetest, easiest baby... content to hang out and watch whatever big sis has going on.  I was telling Andy that I almost feel guilty for not entertaining her more but she just doesn't demand it the way Harper did.  She is awake for much longer stretches now, often 1.5-2 hours then will nap for an hour or so.  We occupy our awake hours playing on the the playmat, reading books, sitting in the swing or the bumbo or doing some tummy time.  She loves to be held facing out on my hip and that's how we explore the world daily.  When I was home we would take a long walk every morning in the stroller and another in the afternoon while I held her and Harper ran around.  Now we just get to spend some time outside in the evening and I love carrying her around.  We love to go see the chickens, geese, horses and our favorite cousin... it's almost like we don't live in the middle of a neighborhood in Lexington! ha

She is still a little chunk and I'm wondering how long it will be until she catches up with Harper.  On July 22nd at her 2 month WCC she was 13 lbs 13 oz. I weighed her last night on our bathroom scale and it said 15 lbs! haha  She is my big girl!!  She's wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes now and size 2 diapers though I think we're going to bump that up to 3's with our next trip to Sam's Club.

She is the smiliest little thing - people love to entertain her from behind at church and she will just grin away.  I've been working so, so hard to get a real laugh but she's holding out on me.  She's rolling to her side from time to time but doesn't seem too motivated to roll all the way over.  We're still not quite sleeping through the night unfortunately.  She still wants to eat somewhere between 3-5 and then was going back down until 7... until the past few days when she decided her wakeup call was 6.  No big deal though, she is content to lay on a rug in the bathroom with me while I get ready for work :)

Harper loves, loves Emma Kate but she sure doesn't appreciate me holding her when I get home from work.  I always try to spend a couple minutes hugging on Harper before I go get little sis... and it never fails that Harper asks for Whitney (our sitter) to hold Emma Kate instead ;)  They take a bath together every night and EK still looooooves the bath.  It's been such an unusually cool summer and our pool just has never gotten super warm so I've yet to take her swimming.  I think we're going to try to do the mom/baby swim lessons at the Y again this winter though like we did with Harper.

Speaking of Harper,  I think I'm done with the official monthly updates.  Though I may regret that in the future it's just one more thing on my to do list that can get overwhelming.  So, I figured I'd just throw in little things here and there about Miss Harper so I can look back and remember funny things.  We're officially potty trained and she does a pretty good job for the most part - still some accidents here and there but not too bad.  She is still in a pull up for naps and nighttime though.  Her ability to speak in sentences has exploded and it just cracks us up.  She'll say, "I'm going to work, be right back (run to the garage door then run back), I'm comin home.'  She has started saying I love you and an unsolicited I love you from her is about the sweetest thing I've ever seen :)  Her and Claire have the best time playing together but Harper has this habit of ever so gently (or not) pushing Claire so that she falls down.  Sometimes it appears unintentional but we all know what's up.  We remind her all the time that Claire is still a baby so we have to be gentle but Harper loves tattling on her.  Claire kind of smacks when she gets excited and Harper interprets that as hitting so she will always say Claire, hitting, no no Claire.  One of her most favorite activities this summer has been working in the garden with her Dad.  Every night after work they go check on the garden and Harper carries in the veggies in her gardening bag.  Well... what's left of the veggies.  She will eat every cherry tomato she can get her hands on and if you're not careful she will take bites out of the big tomatoes as well.  She is also a corn eating machine and shucked three ears for me the other night... while taking a few sample bites in the process :)  She had her first experience with bacon recently... after a couple bites she says ' I love bacon... yummmy'! ha..

Finally got some pictures uploaded so here's a little update of the girls :)

Harper loves climbing into Emma Kate's bed... and usually squealing.. EK says get outta here!

Sisterly love

Trip to the Lville Zoo

Chunky monkey hanging out at the zoo

Happy little girl on her 3 month bday! ;)

Two Years!!

Happy second birthday to our big girl, Harper!!  How is it possible that we have two kids and a two year old?!!

Harper took another trip to the beach this past month and looooved it.  She still yells 'big wave' 'its coming' when we ask about the ocean.  She had a big time playing with so many cousins and I apologize profusely to all who were subjected to her scaring tactics for the week! ;)  We've had a fun time hanging out as I'm still home with EK and each week we try to do the pool, park and library to get her out of the house.  She continues to adjust well to her sister and always asks about her when she's not around.  She loves giving her kisses and hugs and is pretty gentle with her for the most part ;)

We celebrated her birthday basically for a whole week and she was pumped when it rolled around! She knew her birthday was coming and that there would be cake involved so of course she was thrilled.  The night before her birthday after she went to sleep we filled her bedroom with balloons so she woke up to a big surprise!  She seriously played in her room all day long as the balloons were the best entertainment ever.  We went out for donuts that morning per the bday girl's request ;)  We had her ladybug themed birthday party the following weekend and she had a big time playing with her new friend, Emerson.  Whenever we talk about someone else's birthday she is most interested in whether there is a cake involved.

She had a great July 4th - Andy had coached her on fireworks and showed her videos so hopefully she wouldn't be scared.  We picnicked with the sibs on top of Cam's parking garage downtown and somehow were able to keep 3 babies happy until 10:30 at night!  She loooved the fireworks and says 'boom booom' to describe them.

One thing she is loving this summer is helping Andy in the garden. He gave her a little spot of the garden which she can dig in.  She also has a little bag that she carries out there and puts the veggies in to carry back to the house.  The girl LOVES tomatoes fresh out of the garden.  We have a tomato plant that produces yellow cherry tomatoes... literally not one of those have made it into the house because she eats them while picking them.

Harper has brought us so much joy and happiness and we love her so much.  She is hilarious and keeps us laughing all the time and we could not imagine life without our wild little girl!! :)

Two Months

Our sweet Emma Kate is two months old!  We've had a busy month with trips to the pool, park, library and most importantly, her first trip to the ocean!

We went to the Outer Banks with a lot of extended family and had a great trip.  We woke up early and headed down there and EK did relatively great in the car.  Obviously we still stopped 3 times to feed her but basically she was content when fed and just went on back to sleep.  The week itself at the beach probably wasn't much of a change for her... eating, napping, looking at fans ;)  She seemed to like being outside and feeling that ocean breeze!  The trip back was a bit of a different story... we left on a Friday evening and for whatever reason both girls decided to keep each other up for the first 4-5 hours of our trip.  We don't love driving through the night but when babies are sleeping through the night it sure is so much easier.

She was baptized this month at St. James on Father's Day and slept like a champ through the entire thing!  She got to meet a lot of extended family that day as well as celebrate her awesome dad!!

She has gotten so much bigger and and interactive this month which has been fun to watch.  She is very smiley... most often in the morning soon after waking up.  She loves watching big sis and gives her plenty of smiles!  Of course she still loves fans and sometimes when I'm getting ready or need to get a few things done I will plop her down under to fan and use that as my babysitter.  She has the sweetest little voice and will often talk and coo to us, especially in the car.  I think it's her telling Harper to quit holding her hand so tightly ;)  Harper loooves to hold her hand and is always on the lookout to let me know if EK is crying or if she has woken up from a nap.  Just within the past few days Harper has started telling Emma Kate that she loves her... unsolicited from me.  It is the sweetest thing.

She's a relatively good sleeper most nights.  Usually she goes to bed about 9 or 930 and then wakes up about 4:20 to eat.  Then back to sleep until about 7.  It's funny how her little clock works... she wakes up for that feed at almost the exact same time everyday... 4:18, 4:20, 4:23.  Randomly we will have a bad night that involves a couple wake ups but for the most part she's doing well.  She sleeps swaddled and loves it.  I don't know what I'm going to do when she gets too big to be swaddled!!

I think one of her most favorite things is her nighttime bath with Harper.  Harper loves taking bubble baths in our big tub and she loves having EK join her.  No matter how hungry or tired Emma Kate is she becomes as chill as a cucumber the second we put her in the tub.  I weighed her yesterday before the tub and I think she's about 13.2 lbs now!! Big girl!  We met one of her second cousins, Charlie, a couple days ago and while he's a month younger he seemed sooo much smaller.  EK is about to be upgraded to her 3-6 month clothes very soon!! She's still got blue eyes so maybe that is there to stay?  Also has light brownish, blondish hair that is slowly starting to grow a bit more on top.  She had a pitiful looking rash on her head for a couple weeks that is pretty much resolved.  It never seemed to bother her fortunately!

Well I lost my camera cord which is why pictures have been scarce but another one is on its way from amazon sooo hopefully pictures to come soon!!

Happy 2 months!

One Month

Happy one month to our sweet Emma Kate!  Hard to believe she's been here a month yet it also seems like she's been with us forever!  I didn't realize how much I missed having a newborn around but she is the sweetest baby and I am loving our time together.

She is a pretty chill little girl, content to hang out and go with the flow of whatever big sis has on schedule.  She seems like a pretty easy baby to me and she has settled into her own little routine that is fairly predictable for me.  She eats around every 2.5 hrs during the day, will stay awake to play for another 30 min or so after eating and then naps for usually around 1.5 hrs.  She is great about napping in the car, her rock n play and her crib though I think her favorite place to nap is in someones arm :)  She can sleep through a tornado... tornado Harper that is.  We were so crazy about keeping everything so quiet when Harper was a baby and napping but there is no chance this little one is getting a quiet spot to nap.  Fortunately she's learned to sleep right through her wild big sis!

Harper still loves her and will always ask about her when she's not around.  H loves to find paci's and bring them to me if EK is fussing and is also pretty helpful about throwing diapers away for me.  Unfortunately big sis does always want whatever blanket EK is using to wrap up her own baby/bunny with.  EK always sleeps swaddled and loves it.  We had a little trouble moving her into her crib for whatever reason she did not want to sleep there at night.  She would nap during the day no problem but at night she just wanted to play in the crib ;)  Fortunately we've moved past that.  She will usually sleep for 4-5 hours, eat, then for another 3 or so.  She might get to come sleep in the big bed about half the time if I have trouble getting her back to sleep after eating but she is getting better about that.

Her eyes are still pretty blue and her hair very light.  She has a bit of a mullet going on with the back being pretty long but the front has mostly fallen out... poor girl!  Sometimes we think she looks like Harper and sometimes not at all... we will see if those eyes darken up!  We moved her up to size 1 diapers the first week but I'm glad to report I didn't shed any tears this time around ;)  I also cleaned out her dresser of all her newborn clothes today so she is officially only wearing 0-3 and 3 month clothes.  Such a difference from big sis.  I bought her a few newborn outfits bc I felt like evvverything she owned shouldn't be a hand-me-down.  Unfortunately she didnt even get to wear all of those before growing out.  Oh well!

She's been all over in her first month- to Etown, Indiana, the zoo, the pool, golfing, library.  She is content as can be when being carried in the K'tan baby wrap and it is great to leave my hands free to help wrangle big sis as well.   Having a newborn this time has not been difficult... the difficult part is just adjusting to having two kids.  It's hard to not be able to attend to both of their needs immediately but I'm sure it's good for them to learn a little patience.  I also feel like while Andy and I are together with both of them we're each kind of doing our own thing... attending to one child at a time. haha.  When it was just Harper we were at least hanging out with each other or focusing on the same little person.  I have loosened up a little bit this time around and we have left the kiddos with our fabulous sitter twice already.  I miss them a lot but it is nice to just hang out with him for a bit :)

We went to the doctor at 2 weeks and her weight was up to 9lbs 11oz.  I'd guess she's at least 11 lbs now but we don't go back to the doctor until 2 months.  I believe she was 95% in head and weight and 80% in length at the 2W wcc :)  We joke that God made her solid to withstand the tough love she's getting from Harper and Claire :)

I'm writing this with her snuggled on my chest while Harper is napping and I know all the moms out there remember that there is almost nothing better than a sweet newborn sleeping on you.  I feel so much less anxious this time around and am doing my best to cherish all these quiet moments with just the two of us :)  Naps are hard to come by for mom these days because it seems like there are sooo many things to accomplish while Harper naps but we do our best to snuggle for a least a bit everyday while big sis is napping and again when she goes to bed :)

I haven't saved her one month pics yet to the computer but I will add one as soon as I do.  We also had newborn pictures done... that was challenging.  All I wanted was a cute picture of the sisters together.  Unfortunately we had been taking pics for 2.5 hours before we started putting Harper in them... and by that time Harper was doooone with it.  Our sweet photographer offered to come back by the house and she definitely was able to get some keepers though so I'm so excited to share those!

the facial expressions here are just too much

Happy 1 month EK!! :)

23 Months

Just one month short of having a two year old!! So hard to believe! Of course this has been a very eventful month with Harper finally becoming a big sister.  Everyone has asked how she is adjusting and honestly she has been great.  From the get go she has been sweet and gentle with EK, always asking to hold her.  The holding only lasts about 10 seconds or until EK starts to cry and then Harper says 'all done' and practically pushes her off her lap ;)  She will ask to pet, hug and kiss her.  She loves to find her paci's and will do her best to shove them back into her mouth whenever they pop out ;)

The downside to the adjustment was her behavior in general for the first week or two.  woh wohhh... Andy was off the first week and we had a ton of fun but Harper was definitely more ornery than normal.  Even though we made it a priority to give her plenty of attention she still found extra weeks to seek out some more attention ;)  But, we've moved past that phase and she is doing great.  Fortunately my first week alone with both girls it's like Harper just knew it was time to be a helper and she was so well behaved for me.

She continues to crack us up constantly.  She has all these funny sayings that are always amusing us.  She will ask to hold, pet, hug and kiss things - including rocks, animals on TV, babies, food, etc.  Oftentimes she will hug and kiss her food before eating it.  She loves saying coooome here to things that clearly are not coming, such as birds and toys lol.  We found out she has a little boyfriend at school so if you ask her about Thomas, don't be surprised to see her make a little hugging motion.

She has the funniest fish face which is brand new.. maybe inspired from her first fishing expedition.  In years if she reads this she will say, ohmygosh mom, I cannot believe you let me kiss a fish.  And I will say giiiirl, believe me, I did not want your lips anywhere near that thing! haha.  g-ross!  Another cool thing she has started to do is pretend play.  She will feed us pretend food or play with her animals in some little story she has made up.

She is a bit bossy and I am looking forward to the day Claire can talk and put her in her place ;)  She loves to say 'get up' and pull us up... or attempt to move baby sis ;)  She is not the best at sharing and for whatever reason I feel like this is particularly bad with Claire.  If Claire attempts to hold any toy that Harper has marked as her own she will say 'no no no, hoppy'. Hoping this gets better with time!

We took our first trip to the ER this month.  After tripping in a hole, Harper had a pretty bad limp.  Uncle Dave happened to be working that evening so we went in for an xray.  Fortunately all was well and nothing was broken :)  Harper also had her first episode of vomiting... so pitiful.  Of course we were out at a restaurant with Andy's friends when it happened.  The poor thing was so scared... she was crying and just kept saying 'scary scary' over and over again.

We've spent many afternoons at the pool and know we have many more to come.  It's amazing how worn out she is after a few hours there but she has such a blast.  She loved playing at Papa's pool and will talk about the slide for many days following.

I'm so, so happy to have had EK when we did... the most unexpected benefit is an entire summer off to enjoy with both my girls and that is exactly what we're doing :)

Happy Birthday Emma Kate!!

Our sweet girl is now almost a week old but it's hard to put a snuggly newborn down in exchange for a computer.  I'm sure you all know by now but she was born May 9th at 5:47PM... the most perfect birthday present I'll ever receive!!

I know I joked last week about scheduling an induction but in preparation for our doctors appt on the 9th, we had decided we were going to ask to be induced on Monday the 13th.  I was mentally prepared to enjoy the rest of the weekend as  family of three and start the new week with a new baby!  Well, on exam I was 5-6 cm dilated and 80% effaced so we bounced back and forth between going straight to the hospital to be induced or waiting the following morning.  After a lot of discussion we decided we'd go ahead and head over to the hospital as it would ensure I would also receive a four hour course of antibiotics that I needed prior to delivery.

Well... I had such mixed feelings about that decision.  I was holding back tears until I made it home to get my bags and then had a meltdown as soon as I walked in the door.  Harper had made me the sweetest mother's day/birthday gift with our sitter and I just did not feel ready at all to go have another baby - and not to mention my house was a total mess and I really did not want guests under those circumstances. ha! Andy met me at the house and although he clearly preferred proceeding onto the hospital that afternoon, I just felt that I would be more mentally prepared and excited about everything if we could wait until Saturday morning.  I called the doctor's office and they said that would be fine and just to come into the hospital the next morning at 8AM.  They did ask that I run over to OB triage that afternoon for a non-stress test as I had mentioned that I had noticed the baby moving a bit less over the past couple days.

I felt good about that plan and headed to the hospital for what I thought would be a quick 30 minutes of watching baby's heartbeat and Andy went back to work for an hour or so.  Well, they got me into triage and both the charge nurse and chief resident were like... umm.. are you positive you want to go home given my exam from earlier in the office?  I just told them yes as long as baby looks good on the monitor I'll go home and come back first thing in the morning.  So they got me all hooked up and I started watching the contractions on the monitor.  I had four in the first 8 minutes I was laying there but they were not painful at all and similar to contractions I'd been having for weeks.  Regardless, I had a feeling they were really going to pressure me to stay and by that point I had calmed down and realized that would totally be fine if that was what was best for baby girl.  I had texted Andy a list of everything I needed just in case they made me stay and lucky for me, he had already packed everything into his car.

Around 5PM as I was laying there my water broke on it's own.  I immediately called Andy who was just as shocked as I was but he immediately headed to the hospital during rush hour traffic.  He is very proud of the time he made... 12 minutes... and says he was driving 70 mph down Winchester road.. haha.  I seriously felt like crying for about five minutes because I was laying there, hooked to monitors with no one around for me to call out for help and at the same time the contractions were becoming much more painful.  A little clerk popped her head in randomly and I told her what happened but she just said oh ok, I'll go get someone.... that never came.  Fortunately, a few minutes later the same charge nurse happened to be walking through and I told her the situation of a previous precipitous labor so she got things moving quickly.

They wheeled me back into the L&D room and things began moving very quickly.  I texted David asking him to run out to the car and get my camera since he happened to be in the hospital.  Shortly after, Andy arrived and I've never been happier to see someone in my life.  As they were taking me back they offered an epidural and while I thought I'd tough it out it had already gotten so painful so I said yes please.  And dont ya know, the anesthesiologists were apparently all tied up in a big OR case and there was no one around to do it :(  I was expecting this delivery to be much less painful given that I'd already been through it once but I can't say that was the case.

The attending was on his way over from clinic but didn't make it in time although another maternal fetal medicine attending did come in to oversee everything.  We started pushing a little after 5:30 and she was born just a bit later.  I don't think I could ever describe how amazing it is for them to place your brand new baby on your chest and you get to hold this tiny thing that has been with you for the last 9 months.  It's also amazing how the size of your heart and love can instantaneously double when this new little person arrives.  I felt so, so silly for all my tears earlier because it is clear that God has plans of his own and she came exactly when she was supposed to.  I could not have been more thankful that I  had been at OB triage when my water broke because I would have been an absolute mess driving into the hospital had it happened at home.

When Emma Kate first came out everyone kept commenting on how big she was... they were not kidding!  She was 9lbs 4 oz!  Harper was 7 lbs 6oz! I figured she would be a little bit bigger than Harper but not almost 2 lbs!!  She's a solid baby but not a lot of rolls, just feels sturdier to me than Harper did.  She definitely has a sweet little round face and a double chin to go with it.  Her hair is much lighter, a light brown/blondish color and not as much as Harper.  Initially we felt like she looked like Andy but by the end of our stay in the hospital we felt like she looks a whole lot more like a chunkier version of Harper  :)  We will see!!

She has been a dream baby so far.  Sleeps and eats, fusses only when her diaper is being changed and for about two seconds before she eats.  We really have had the best week at home, feels like a staycation! Andy has been off so we have made the most of our time doing fun things with Harper and spending our down time cuddling our two girls.  I can't tell you how many times I've thought this week just how lucky and blessed we are to have these beautiful babies.

Harper has been great with the change.  She asks to hold Emma Kate multiple times/day and is so gentle.  Although when she's done, she is done and you better grab that baby quickly ;)  She will occasionally try to sit on Emma Kate when she wants in momma's lap but I'm doing my best to ensure she gets plenty of one on one attention as well.

We went back to the doctor the day after discharge and her weight was down to 8lbs 11oz but as of today she's back up to 9lbs 1 oz.  She is a great eater and I didn't realize how much I missed having a tiny baby around.  I joked with Andy that during the delivery I thought maybe I was finished having kids but immediately after they put her on my chest I knew I wanted about 5 more ;)

Last dinner out as our family of 3

proud Dad

 Happy mama cuddling sweet baby Emma Kate

 All dressed and waiting to meet big Sis!

 Love :)

 I had lots of activities for Harper at the hospital... so she put stickers on everything

 Proud big sis as soon as we got home!!

Reynolds grandparents meeting EK

 First pic w/ parents :)

 Auntie O made a late night stop to meet our girl :)

 Grammy Hammy

 Mama with her two girls for the first time! Harper was into the Peeps in her gift bag ;)

 First pic as a family of four!!

 Little princess took over the hospital bed. haha

 Love my family!

 Relaxing at home finally :(

 First bath for our girl!! 

39 Weeks

I am super surprised to be writing out another post this week! I really thought for sure she'd be here by now but clearly she's keeping us guessing.  I was 38W and 5 days with Harper and they say that subsequent babies often come earlier and quicker.  Combining that with the fact that I am a much busier little lady these days we just knew she would be here at least by then.  But, clearly we were wrong! :)  Maybe she's hoping to share a birthday with her mama?!

I'm feeling great this week, actually much better than last.  For whatever reason the swelling has gotten a lot better in my feet and I'm much less sore.  We had a fun weekend complete with a trip to Keeneland to watch the Derby and 9 holes on the golf course... I figured for sure the combination of all our excessive walking would induce some labor ;)

We're considering being induced and plan to talk to the doctor about it at my appt tomorrow.  I've really gone back and forth on this for a lot of reasons.  I figure in general babies come out when they're good and ready, which likely makes things easier/safer for mom and baby.  But, with as quickly as labor went with Harper and the predicted decrease in time in labor for baby #2, it makes me so extremely anxious.  Not to mention it's not like we can just drop everything and go to the hospital since we have Harper.  Uncle Dave might be getting paged out of the OR to come babysit if we get in a bind! ;)  Anyways, we will see what we end up deciding.  It seems so weird to potentially pick out a birth date for a baby.  Though I would love to share a birthday it seems a bit vain to purposefully choose her to have the same birthday as me ;)

Well, if she holds out until next week and we decide not to induce, we have one more fun weekend planned as a family of 3 :)  We're going down to Thursday night live for some pizza tonight, birthday cake and date night Friday night, get to see Miss Olivia for her soccer game in Lexington Saturday and hopefully a relaxing Mother's day at home Sunday!  I was born the day before Mother's day and always took great pride in being Mom's best ever mother's day gift so maybe that's what she is planning as well ;)

My favorite OB long ago predicted that I would deliver at 39W1D... which is tomorrow!  We will see!! :)

How far along: 39

Total Weight Gain: 33

Stretchmarks:  Nope

Sleep: up a few times at night

Best Moment This Week: enjoying last few days as a family of 3

Movement: feeling pretty cramped in there

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: a lot, lot of contractions

Belly Button: pretty much always out a little bit

What I Miss: cute clothes! and laying comfortably on my back

 What I am Looking Forward to:  so many things! doctors appt, birthday celebrations, mother's day :)

Milestones: officially more pregnant than I have ever been before ;)

22 Months

It's hard to believe that we almost have a two year old!! :)  She is so not a baby anymore and it's kind of a bittersweet feeling.  But, she is hilarious and I think every night after she goes to bed we always find ourselves talking about the funny things she did that day and how much enjoyment she brings to our lives!

It's been great to be outside and enjoy all the fantastic weather that the spring has brought us.  Harper is obsessed with going outside and loves, loves taking walks through the neighborhood.  She has an extreme love for a dandelions and will pick every one in sight.  We do our best to discourage her from picking other types of flowers but she can be quick and sneaky sometimes.  She is so observant on our walks and loves pointing out things she knows... groundhog, truck, tree, airplane, rock, worm, bug... etc.  Our walks are verrrrry slow if she's doing the walking because of course we need to stop and inspect every rock on the sidewalk or ant crawling into the grass.  Harper has never really been the type of kid to ask to be picked up but dont ya know during this last month she will randomly ask to be carried at times during our walks.  It's like she knows this baby is coming and she needs to be carried still while she can ;)

We went out to Keeneland one morning this month to have breakfast and watch the horses.  Harper loved her pancakes and enjoyed seeing the horses but the little girl was tired and was upset that she was not allowed to touch every horse in sight.  She also wanted to run as fast as she could which ended in a lot of falls and boo-boos :(  

We had a fun time celebrating Easter with a bunch of extended family - Harper was seriously the best she has ever been in church which is always a good start to a day. She had a big time hunting eggs which we did for many days in our living room leading up to the big egg hunt on Easter.  Of course when she was actually free to go hunt eggs with all the little cousins, she preferred to run and point at the ones in the trees or hidden deep in bushes rather than picking up the ones just sitting in the grass right in front of her.  She cracked me up though... after the hunt she grabbed two reese's from her basket and ran far away from me, plopped down and proceeded to try to open them up as fast as she could.  She knows what those shiny wrappers are all about!

Harper is getting all ready for baby Emma Kate to arrive - she loves giving the baby hugs and kisses.  At school, her teacher told me that some of the older girls were talking about babies so Harper pulled her dress up to show them her baby as well ;)  We of course had to get that on our camera to show her many years down the road :)  We saw a tiny 5 day old baby in the store yesterday.. Harper's reaction was 'wooooooow.... WAKE UP'.  HA! we're going to have to break the habit of her fun little game of waking everyone up ;)

Harper's sweet babysitter has been working on learning letters with her and they always have the cutest crafts each week for the new letter she learns.  We have been so lucky with sitters for her and it makes it so, so much easier to go to work when you know your child is in good hands!

We are super excited for the pool to open - harper has  mini-inflatable pool that we've played in a few times but I know she will be so excited for the real deal this summer.  Hope baby Emma Kate is ready for some adventures because I know big sis is going to keep us busy!!

38 Weeks

Well as of today we know for sure we will have a May baby!! :)  Bring on the emeralds ;)  We celebrated Andy's birthday April 29th and I really thought I may be going into labor that afternoon.  I started to have some really weird pains in my belly and as best I can remember, it was weird unusual pains that started off Harper's labor as well.  I texted him that afternoon at work and just told him to go ahead and make sure he had thrown whatever he needs for the hospital into our bag and that I would talk later.  I was rushing through an admission and trying to get all my work done so I could head home.  Needless to say, I made it home, plopped down on the couch to watch Frozen with Harper and sip some water and after a couple hours it all went away.  All that excitement for nothing! Andy was so excited as he thought it would be very cool to share his birthday with his little girl :)

Later that night, my hormones took over... we had the busiest weekend ever and I felt that I did not have time to adequately prepare for Andy's birthday.  Not to mention on the actual day of I spent the first couple hours at home sitting still so he made us all dinner on his own birthday :(  So after Harper went to bed I had the silliest meltdown ever... my poor little cankles were so swollen which got me all worked up at first... and then I was crying because I felt his birthday wasn't special enough... and then I was crying because I was crying on his birthday.... lol.  And then of course we just both start cracking up.  It was seriously ridiculous but we are just going to chalk that one up to pregnancy hormones ;)

We did a lot of work in the nursery this past Sunday as far as getting things hung and making it look a little more put together :)  I've got a couple bare spots that I'm planning to fill with newborn pictures and the room needs to be tidied up still but I will try to post some pics in the next few days.

I've got two more long days this week at work but after that I have no more calls/nights/weekends! yay!   Andy thinks today is the day she's coming (I don't) but we're hoping she holds out until next week now so we can have one more fun, relaxing weekend as a family of 3 :)

How far along: 38

Total Weight Gain: 32

Stretchmarks:  Nope

Sleep: pretty solid... I think I fell asleep last night during a conversation with Andy

Best Moment This Week: celebrating my sweet husband's birthday!

Movement: feeling pretty cramped in there

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: a lot, lot of contractions

Belly Button: depends how much I've had to eat or drink ;)

What I Miss: skinny feet, my wardrobe 

 What I am Looking Forward to:  a massage this weekend if baby holds out! (thanks to the Miller's/Weronski's :))

Milestones: made it to May 

37 Weeks

Today we are officially full term :) so bebe can come whenever she'd like though I'm still holding out for at least May 3rd ;)

I'm currently working my last night for many months and I am so, so happy about that.  I know I am definitely more tired this time around but the combination of being so pregnant and working nights is a double whammy for sure.  I am counting down the hours until I get to curl up into my own bed and get a little shut eye :)

We were able to go to Etown for Easter so Harper could play with a bunch of little cousins - Andy was nervous about this trip primarily because we were away from our hospital but I figured it would be fine.  Easter mass was super crowded so only Harper and I were able to sit which meant I got to baby wrangle for 1.5 hours before driving to Etown.  I dont know if it was the wrangling or what but I probably had 10 contractions in an hour on the way... I figured they were all Braxton Hicks as they weren't real painful but they are definitely uncomfortable at times.  I didn't tell Andy at the time though cause I knew he'd make us turn that car right around ;)  Fortunately for all, her Easter basket of paci's and socks went to waste but we were prepared in case she decided to come early.

Everything has looked good at doctor's appts - she's measuring appropriately and my blood pressure has been good.  I was dilated to 4cm already when they checked me at 36 weeks but that's the same way I was with Harper and she still held out for a few more weeks.  I'm feeling pretty good for the most part.  My legs are definitely more swollen this time around which is no fun but it'll pass.

I'm starting to get those sad little feelings that I know I'll have once she's here.  Being pregnant really is one of the coolest things and I am so grateful to have experienced this twice now with minimal trouble. While there are definitely discomforts and not so glamorous parts of it, there is nothing that can describe how neat it is to feel a little person tossing around inside your belly.  When I'm lonely late at night at the hospital it's nice to know I've got someone hanging out with me :)  But next year it'll be nice for Andy to be hanging out with both his girls and for them to have each other! :)

How far along: 37

Total Weight Gain: 30

Stretchmarks:  Nope

Sleep:better but I do normally wake up every 3-4 hours... think it's gods way of preparing you for newborn sleep :) 

Best Moment This Week: finishing up my last night away from home for a long time!

Movement: feeling pretty cramped in there

Gender: Baby girl!!

Labor Signs: soo many braxton hicks...

Belly Button: depends how full my belly is ;) the top half likes to pop out when I'm full

What I Miss: skinny feet

 What I am Looking Forward to:  a fun weekend with my family!

Milestones: full term!