Funny

Here are two pictures of Chelsea about a year ago. She's changed a lot, and not much at the same time.

And here she is a couple nights ago.

I can't get enough of the bath photos. She's grown SO much! Not long ago Chelsea's bath photos looked very much like Brienna's current ones. I can't wait till I can put them in the tub together.
It must be nice to be as bendy as this too. It's hard to tell, but she's really bending backward quite far, the goofy girl.

Bathtime isn't so traumatic anymore. Brienna seems to almost enjoy it. That is, until the water gets too cool and her chin starts to quiver and shiver. Then the screaming begins. Lotion is still no fun, and neither is getting dressed. But it's getting better! Seven weeks old today! Time. It's a crazy thing.

Look at those cheeks! I wish I could read her mind to hear what she is thinking. I bet it would be really funny.

'Sup.

Hi Mom!

My Baby Beaver.

She smiled right after I snapped this. So of course I didn't get a picture of it. :S Oh well. At least she stopped crying for this shot. Short sleeves and November in North Dakota don't mix. The shirt didn't stay on long. :)

Blessing Day/One Month Old

The lovely baby in her beautiful blessing dress. This is the same dress that Chelsea wore for her blessing. Chelsea was also swimming in it, though she was bigger to start with and was about twice Brie's age when she wore it. So Brie is really swimming it in, but oh well. It made it really easy to get her in and out of it. :) Grandma Heit made the dress. Thanks Grandma!

I don't put too many pictures of myself up here, so here I am. You can also see the blanket Grandma Kelly made for Baby. Thanks Grandma!

A kiss for Baby Sister. Chelsea loves to give her hugs and kisses. You have to really watch her to make sure she doesn't love the baby TOO much, or too hard. Babies don't like to be squished and I don't think Chelsea realizes her strength.

Which camera are we looking at? Chelsea was very uncooperative while we tried to get a decent family photo. This is as close as we could get.

Random photo of Baby Brie asleep on my overnight changing station. I hate to risk waking Chelsea up during the nighttime changes just to use the changing table, so here's where we get cleaned up. Right in front of the entertainment center. Perfect spot. Meh. It works.

One month milestone! This is actually one month and one day old, but oh well. Close enough.

How cute is my baby? She's starting now to have pleasant expressions more often, and she even gave a little coo to me the other night. She's officially an infant now, no longer a newborn. Ah they grow up!

Halloween!

Halloween celebrations round one. Here we are all decked out for the ward Halloween party. I was a jailbird. Not too creative, I know, but oh well. Chelsea is Minnie Mouse (with Pluto) and Rick is Mickey Mouse and Brienna is a pink leopard! Aren't we just cute!?

She got the hang of these picture taking things at the zoo, but this one she just didn't understand that we wanted her to stick her face into the hole. Meh. Still cute!

What's with closing your eyes in all the pictures, Chels? If we had thought ahead, we could have put together a Disney costume for me too. Maybe I could have been Pluto or something. Or Brie and I could have had coordinating costumes. Oh well. Maybe we'll coordinate costumes ahead of time next year.

Trick or treating to some of the rooms at church. Good thing we had a pretty small basket. They had tons of candy to give away and told us to grab handfuls at each door. We don't want to have that much candy onhand. That just means it will get eaten by us who don't need it, or we will be pestered by Chelsea who would eat it all at once if allowed.

This is a funny picture to me. It looks like she's sticking her face way out like, look at me here I am! So cute! Brie didn't get to go the the party. She stayed home with Grandma Kelly while the rest of us went. She was just a little too young to take out yet. But we still dressed her up anyway. So worth it!

Full body shot. Good thing she can't really move yet. I didn't even notice that she's laying by the edge of the couch until after I took the picture! (We were in a hurry to get going. I had to feed this little one before we went to the party and we were running late because of it.)

Halloween celebrations round two. This is trick or treating at the mall. Chelsea loved it. Brie got to come along this time but she slept the whole time and didn't get any candy at all. She didn't seem to mind though. :)

My Minnie! Adorable, as always.

We stopped by a few select houses to trick or treat. Here we are with Great Grandma Heit. Chelsea got candy and Brie got a special gift too. (Blanket and some bibs, very nice) Mickey and the jailbird stayed home, but a pair of cloaked wizards came along.

Here at Grandma Heit's house the girls sat on the couch together. I love how their arms are positioned in the same way. Can't tell they are related, can you?

It was very cute of Chelsea to try to comfort her baby sister by holding her hand when she cried. It didn't do anything to calm Brienna down, but it was a nice gesture anyway.

Last stop of the evening was Grandma Kelly's. I took this picture mostly to show the cute little tail on her costume. Love it!

About caught up again

Big eyes! They do come out during the day sometimes.

She was so proud of herself for making cookies! She likes to pretend bake cookies all day. We would all be fat with cookies if Chelsea had her way.

It takes HOW long to bake? Happy anticipation.

Ches was sharing her duck friends with Baby Brie, who was hanging out half dressed (in an effort to keep her awake) in her swing during this activity.

The treat takes care of itself with this kind of Family Home Evening (or Family Meeting as Chelsea calls it) activity! Silly face, Daddy.

A nice profile.

It's so hard to get a smile on camera. This is as close as I've gotten so far.

Sisters

This is how Brienna sleeps most of the time: bundled up in her carseat. The crib is in Chelsea's room and they don't have coordinating sleep schedules. Brie's room is the living room at the moment.

I got this cute burp cloth from my visiting teacher. Chels however, has claimed it as her own. It's a blanket or wrapping paper (she's really into giving presents right now) or whatever else she makes it into.

Chelsea loves to take care of her sister. She thought she needed to be covered. If baby cries, I can count on Chelsea to trot over and stuff a pacifier in her mouth. That is actually quite convenient. I've yet to worry about Brienna while I'm showering, as long as Chelsea is up.

Who's having a harder time sitting upright? It's difficult to tell.

My cute girls!

This just makes me giggle. I love what cameras catch with their stupid delays...sometimes anyway.

Chelsea looks like a little elf to me in this one. She's laughing hysterically at her sister, who is starting to fuss. She still laughs when Brie cries. Weirdo.

I still can't get over how much Chelsea grew the night Brienna was born. Look at the difference!

Chelsea has discovered bubble baths. Every night she wants one. We've had to limit it to Saturdays only. Of course that doesn't apply to Grandma's house!

Pumpkin Time

Picking out a pumpkin or two with Daddy.

Daddy carved, but just marker for this girl.

The finished products! The marker was rubbing off already, hence the little black mustache on Chelsea.

The seeds are always my favorite part of pumpkin carving. Brienna was happy swinging while I took the seeds out. Then we watched Daddy and Chelsea carve/color the pumpkins. It was more fun than the little one makes it look.

My Labor Day

So this is going to be a post telling about my day of going into labor and giving birth. I warn you, it will probably not be that interesting to you. I'm doing it for those that ARE interested, and also for my own remembrance's sake. I'll spoil the ending here: It's a GIRL! That is the most exciting part. :)

It all started the night before. I was having a horrible time sleeping because I had a lot of pressure on my pelvis. Returning to bed after my third potty trip I felt a contraction. The time: 5:30. I didn't think too much of it. Laying in bed, not yet sleeping, I felt another contraction. The time: 5:38. I decided to keep track, just in case. So of course I'm not sleeping. I'm just laying there waiting for another contraction so I can see if there is a pattern or if they get closer together. Keep in mind that I was induced with Chelsea on her due date. I didn't know what it felt like to go into labor naturally. Well, the contractions kept coming every 8-11 minutes for an hour.

At that point, 6:30, I decided to prepare in case I needed to go to the hospital. My hair was frizzy from being tied back the day before and I had makeup all over my face. This is not how I wanted to start my hospital stay, especially knowing that people would want pictures if in fact I was really in labor. (I still wasn't sure I was actually IN labor. I had contractions all the time, just not this regularly) So I took a nice long shower, peeking out the door at the clock when contractions came. I took my time preening and doing my hair and makeup. For the hour between 6:30 and 7:30 the contractions were about five minutes apart. I was beginning to think I might actually be in labor. They didn't really hurt, so I wasn't concerned about birthing in my living room. (With Chelsea from the moment they dropped the pitocin I was having contractions just a couple minutes apart-they didn't really hurt until hours later, and they weren't intense until just before she was born.) Rick got up for the day and was surprised to see me awake. I like my sleep. :) Well, after consulting the expert, my mom, we decided to call the doctor. He said to come on in to the hospital. Rick called work, changed out of work clothes and into comfies, and we headed over to check in.

Once checked in, my contractions spread out. They only came every 15 minutes or so. I was thinking, AM I in labor or what? I thought I might be, but maybe not. What an embarrassing waste of time. Sigh. But then the nurse checked me and told me I was 4 cm and 100% effaced. Oh. Maybe I am closer than I thought. (With Chelsea I was 3 cm going in, it took 4 hours to get to 4 cm, and about an hour to go the rest of the way.) The nurse said that they would keep me. :)

After hearing about my previous labor, my hilarious nurse said she didn't trust me. She thought I would be quick at delivering. And promptly set up the room for delivery. I surely hoped I was in real labor at this point, even though it was my day off and I had hoped to get in for a much needed haircut that day. (Yeah I was worried about my hair. I have YET to cut it. It's pretty bad.)

I'll get to more interesting parts of the story eventually. So as time goes by, Grandmas were in and out and so was Rick. (There were a few other families from church giving birth, or who just had given birth, or who were about to give birth.) I was actually in labor! All along I was saying how this labor is SO much easier than my first. And it was. But it didn't stay easy. Eventually the contractions got a LOT stronger and more frequent. I decided that I didn't need to be a superhero and said OK when the nurse offered pain meds. She wanted to check me to see how far along I was to decide which meds to administer. Well I was about an 8 she said. Dr. Billings was right outside the door (I don't know if he was just checking in as he passed by, or what. But he was there.) Nurse told him 8cm and he decided to come in and check for himself.

Here is where it gets more interesting. Between the time the nurse checked and the time the doctor checked, I became ready to deliver. Apparently. After checking, Dr. said, why don't you give me a little push and we'll see what happens.

Huh? Push? Already? I didn't have the urge to bear down or anything. But he's the doctor, so ok. Whatever. I pushed. Baby started to descend! Um. Ow! I pant pant pant as Dr. pulls back and says, ok let's have a baby! and puts on his gown. In the meantime, I'm not sure what to do, so I just lay there in pain until he's ready to catch a baby. Hopefully this is quick like everyone seems to think.

Ten minutes later we have confirmation. It is a GIRL!!!

And I am relieved. The time: 1:03 pm. Total labor: 7 1/2 hours. Baby girl, Brienna Nicole Heit, 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long. Perfect! Our Bishop's wife is the one that gets to clean her off and measure her. She is also part of the Primary Presidency (of which I am the secretary) and so I didn't worry about letting them know why I wasn't in church.

Brienna was the third of five babies born within a few days of each other. I actually took over the recovery bed of one of the mothers. The night I left, my visiting teacher came in to have her twins. Mine was the only one NOT a C-section. (Poor Cindy had 10 hours of labor before having to do an emergency C-section. She doesn't recommend doing it that way. I would tend to agree.)

I was only in the hospital that one night. This business of delivering two weeks early gave me a smaller baby, which was IMMENSELY helpful in giving birth and also the recovery process. I've been told that being induced makes delivery/recovery harder, though I don't understand why that would be. At any rate, going into labor naturally WAS easier and less painful. I don't know if it made delivery/recovery better or not. I really had no idea what I was doing when having Chelsea. This time around I knew what to expect and had better pushing techniques. And it took less time to get her out. Again, smaller baby=easier baby to birth. Simple fact. Anyway. I felt fine and didn't want to waste another day laying around in the hospital. So we went home the next evening. I'm not sure if I would recommend it, or do that again. It wasn't bad. But it would have been nice to have one more night of being able to send crying baby to nursery. At the same time, why put it off one more day? I don't sleep well in hospitals anyway. What's one night of sleep at the beginning of a new baby experience?

Well it's been almost two weeks. I feel almost normal. Almost. I weighed myself today and found that I'm only 3-5 pounds heavier than my starting weight. How cool is that? My tummy is wrinkled and stretch marked, but not bad. Not as bad as it would have been had I been pregnant all the way through today! I have a wonderful baby. She sleeps a LOT, and is pretty good about sleeping all night except for twice to eat and get changed. (We pester her for 2-3 hours before her bedtime bath/feeding to keep her awake in hopes of her sleeping better at night. Hopefully it is working and we aren't just making her miserable for no reason, hehe.) Chelsea adores her little sister. There is no sibling rivalry as of yet. Chelsea loves to help get diapers and wipes and powder during changing time. And she loves to hold her and give her a pacifier (which she will sometimes accept).

Life is good. I do feel kind of lonely during the day still. I do feel kind of cooped up. I don't feel like I get as much done as I should be getting done. I'm emotional and cry at strange times, especially if I do leave the house for any reason. I sometimes watch the clock waiting for Daddy to get home so that I can have a break. A break from what? I don't know. Just a break. I feel like a slacker mom, but I'm worn out at the same time. But really, life is good. I have to remind myself that this is what life is with a newborn and a toddler. They are going to grow up someday very soon and I will wonder what happened. It's already that way with Chelsea. She's SO BIG and she can do SO MUCH. I remember when she was born. I felt the same way I do now. Emotional and loopy and lonely during that first month, but happy still. I don't know how single parents do it. I am so happy to have the support of my husband and both our families. I need them. *sniffle sniffle* Thank you to my family. I would be an even bigger wreck without you! You help me to get through all my tough times and support me and tell me I'm doing fine when I feel like I'm not. You take care of my kids when I need a break. And so much more. I'm blubbering right now and I think I've babbled long enough. Thanks for reading this! If you've gotten this far, I know you are one of the ones that are there for me and care for me! Thank you!