the past two weeks

We've made it two weeks having two kids! woohoo! I guess it helps that we had my sister here, then Andrew's mom for a couple of days, then my brother for about a week. It was so nice to have some help and just fun to have company. Here are some snapshots of what we've been up to.

Here's Penelope at two days old...



With her eyes closed we think she looks almost identical to Eleanor. They have about the same amount of hair, although Penelope's seems to have more texture to it. Also, her cheeks aren't as chubby as Eleanor's were and she seems a little bit longer. She is much fussier than Eleanor and likes to be held A LOT! It's funny how different babies can be.

Andrew and I celebrated our three year anniversary on the 17th. Andrew's mom was here and stayed at home with the kids so we could go out to dinner. It's crazy to think that three years later and we've lived in three different states and have two kids!

Here we are on our wedding day....

One year later, moving across the country to come to Ohio for law school and about 7 months pregnant...

Two years later...

And now three years later...


Eleanor loved having company and lots of different people to play with. Here she is with Andrew's mom.


Penelope at five days old and finally opening her eyes a little bit...

Six days old. Nice and cozy with her back arched and her butt sticking out, which is exactly how she liked to be inside of me, too...

Seven days old, and you guessed it, sleeping...


Ten days old and having her first bath. She wasn't a big fan...

11 days old and already looking so different...

And like I said, she's pretty fussy...

Eleanor is adjusting pretty well. She really doesn't like it when Penelope cries and tries to help get her quiet, which is really sweet to see. She also like to share whatever she is doing, whether it's coloring, or eating a snack, or playing with toys, she always tries to get the baby to participate. She's been saying a lot more words and lately has been obsessed with cupcakes. Whenever she sees her 1 year birthday picture with her eating a big cupcake she gets really excited and says cupcake over and over again. So I decided to make some with her. She had a blast and it was so fun to have a little buddy in the kitchen.

Time to decorate


And time to eat. Yumm!


Andrew is working full-time now and going to school part-time which has also made things pretty tough. He has night classes Monday through Thursday, so it's just me and the girls from about 8 in the morning until about 8 at night. It was kind of a last minute decision, but Andrew's work will pay for his tuition if he works full-time, so we thought it would be a good idea to go that route. I know it will be tough, but I'm excited that we won't have to take out any more student loans.

Overall I think things have gone pretty well. I'm just anxious to get on a schedule (especially a sleeping schedule). That is the hardest part about newborns for me, you just have to be at their beck and call. But lucky for Penelope, I do love holding newborns.

She's Here!

My water broke on Thursday so Andrew and I headed in to the hospital after we put Eleanor down to bed. We got there around 7:30 but we had to wait forever to be put in a triage room because it was so busy and since I wasn't in "labor" I wasn't really a priority. We finally got into a room around 8:30 and they checked to make sure it was really amniotic fluid that was leaking and sure enough it was! I was worried they would just send me home because it wasn't the real thing. They admitted us and we were finally put in a labor and delivery room around 9:30. I was still only 4 cm dilated so they had us walk around a little while to see if that would get my contractions going.

That didn't really work so they started some pitocin around 11, and then I got my epidural around midnight. The epidural seemed a lot more painful and uncomfortable this time around than with Eleanor, but I'm sure it was better than having contractions. After they were done putting in the epidural I was able to take a little cat nap. But then I woke up having a lot of pressure which I thought was just more contractions so I kept pushing the button to get more epidural juice. A nurse came in a little after that and asked how I was doing and I told her about the pain I was having that wouldn't go away so she checked me and said I was complete and ready to push. They had me do a couple of practice pushes and said, oh there's her head. I couldn't believe it! I pushed for almost two hours with Eleanor, so I thought I'd at least be in for an hour or so this time around. Not so much - after only about 8 minutes of pushing she was here!

Penelope Kate

August 13th @ 2:30 am

9 lb 4 0z and 21 3/4 inches

She weighed the same amount as Eleanor but was about an inch longer. I think they look a lot alike. Penelope's cheeks aren't as chubby but they have the same lips and chin. She is so sweet and has just done a lot of sleeping. I feel really great and can't believe it happened so quickly. I didn't tear at all and I don't even feel like I had a baby. I feel so blessed to have had such a smooth delivery and to have our healthy little baby here. I'm too lazy to post pictures to blogger and comment on each one, so here's a link to some pictures I uploaded yesterday, and I'm sure you can figure out a caption for each one :)

Penelope Kate is here!

Here are some pictures we took today on our first day home as a family of 4 :)

Eleanor was really excited about the baby at first, but this just about sums up how she feels about her now...

Aren't newborns just so precious?! We love our little Penelope!

Little Sister

I would love to say that Eleanor has a new little sister, but that's not the case yet. It's actually about my little sister :) She got here on Sunday night to help out when the baby gets here. She leaves on Sunday though so we're hoping the little one gets here before then! It's so fun to have my sister here-- I love having lots of sisters and I hope Eleanor will be best friends with her little sister because I know my sisters are my best friends!

On Monday night we took her up to see some church history sites in Kirtland. I think I've been 3 times, and every time I go I learn something new. It is really a special place to be. Here are some pics of our visit.

With my little sister Laura...

Probably our last family picture of just the three of us...

Outside the ashery...

Inside the ashery...

Laura took this picture of Eleanor and I just can't resist posting it because I think she looks so cute. Every morning she finds a necklace to put on, I have no idea where she gets it from because I never wear accessories.

Over the weekend we went to a rib cook off and train festival. Eleanor is slightly obsessed with trains.

SHe was loving "riding" this train.

So that's what we've been up to. My due date has come and gone, so we are still just waiting to meet our new baby. Our laptop got a virus over the weekend so hopefully the geek squad at best buy will have it fixed by the time the baby gets here so I'll be able to keep everyone posted :)

waiting

So this is kind of a nothing post. Certain family members want more pictures :) Unfortunately what you see here is all we've taken recently. So here goes....

I'll start with a really cute picture that I found from our trip to North Carolina that I never posted.

Eleanor in the bathtub (she is learning how to smile for the camera-kind of). And don't worry we don't use that spatula in our kitchen anymore, it melted and Eleanor decided it would be a fun bath toy.

Next up, I know you're all dying to see what I looked like at 37 weeks :) Sweat pants are the only thing that fit me right now (name that movie).

I'm now 38 weeks and I've been 3cm dilated since my last appointment at 37 weeks. Exciting to think it could be any day, but I guess I could just stay like that for another 3 weeks. Eleanor was almost a week late and 9 lb and 4 oz, so hopefully this one comes a little sooner and a little smaller! Now we just play the waiting game. The name we've picked out for her means patience, so hopefully I can learn a thing or two about patience as I wait for her arrival! I'm a pretty patient person when it comes to my interactions with other people, but I'm not very patient when it comes to things (like electronics, traffic, waiting for events, not knowing when things will happen, stuff like that). I'm hoping this little one will just be all around patient, I think that's a great trait to have! When do you think our baby girl will get here and will she be as big as Eleanor was??

Back to Eleanor...here she is on her first day of swim lessons. Doesn't she look excited??


To help kill some time while we wait for baby, we decided to put her in some swim lessons at the university rec center. One of us has to be in the water with her, but I don't really mind, it's nice to get a little physical activity and being in the water really makes me feel much lighter. My only other source of exercise comes from going up and down the stairs at our house to use the bathroom about 19 times a day. We don't have a bathroom on our main floor, just upstairs and in the basement, so that's been my justification of a work out for the past 9 months :)

And here's one more shot of Eleanor in the pool at her swim class. She hasn't necessarily learned how to swim, but I guess the goal is to make the kids feel more comfortable in the water. She's gotten pretty good at just floating around on a noodle. She also really likes to pick up rings from under the water.

Here's a video of Eleanor talking on the "phone". These days she turns just about anything into a phone and has a full conversation with whoever is on the other end. I tried to catch her doing it, but once she saw me she stopped. Notice her great fashion sense, too. She chose her bracelet and necklace all by herself for the day. And she even did her own hair.

She cleans up pretty cute, I think! We discovered a little nature center at playgroup this week and she was loving it.

So Emily, there you have it :) There are some pictures of what we've been up to lately.

Let's hope my next post has some pictures of a newborn!

oh what do you do in the summertime

We've been staying pretty busy this summer. Here's a rundown of what we've been up to. On Friday, June 25th Andrew's work had a party at the Akron Aero's baseball game. After the game there were fireworks, so we got our fill before the 4th of July.

Yes, this is my child, sippy cup in one hand, diet pepsi in the other.

Eleanor loved hanging out with her besties Katherine and Jared.

We celebrated Andrew's birthday the next day and went to Benihana's. If you haven't joined their birthday club, you really should. You get $30 off your meal during your birthday month. We went for Lunch. So we were both able to pig out for just the cost of my meal, about 8 bucks.

On Monday, the day after Andrew's bday we got together with some friends at the park for some cake and ice cream. This picture kind of looks like Andrew hijacked some kids birthday party because he's surrounded by all the little kids. :)


Eleanor has discovered trains, and she loves them. Andrew's parents sent us home with a bunch of Andrew's old toys, including some trains and train tracks. This has been Eleanor's go to toy ever since we got back from North Carolina which is fine with me because it has really kept her attention! This is a video of one of the first times we set it up. She's gotten much better at putting it together by herself (kind of) and moving the trains around.

Last weekend for 4th of July we went out to a little man made beach with some friends and then went to a BBQ afterward. Eleanor was too tired so we headed home before the fireworks. My camera died, so these are the only shots I got of the day.


Earlier this week we went up to the Cleveland Science center with some friends. It was a really fun place. They had a whole preschool area, which is where we spent the majority of our time. Eleanor really got a kick out of this contraption and loved putting the balls in and watching them roll all the way down.

She is just growing up so much and learning so much everyday!

I can't wait to see her be a big sister... Just about 4 weeks left (but who's counting??)