What We've Been Up to Lately

Sydney LOVES her baby sister. (Sometimes a little too much...we are still working on being gentle when giving the baby some love). She calls her "Ina" or "Nina." She always asks for her baby sister first thing in the morning, and after nap time. She gets upset if it looks like Ina is not going in the car with us. Sydney is also super helpful with grabbing me a burp cloth or throwing away things when I am sitting nursing and don't want to get up.  

Trying on Mommy's sunglasses. You can see Kirk in the very back by the car that is stuck in the sand. He tried to help them get their car unstuck (so sweet of him!). Fortunately, some people in a jeep ended up pulling up and helped drag the car out. It was pretty jammed in there.

Playing with her best friend, Addie. The took turns riding in the stroller and running said stroller into the wall. Haha. Gotta love toddlers. 

Our fam riding the train at Hermann Park. Sydney loved this train ride SO much, that she refused to get off when the ride ended. Kirk had to literally drag her off. He was wearing scrubs because it was his lunch break. We met him at the park (with Subway sandwiches) and had a picnic lunch. Super fun!

Love this little baby. I have been feeling guilty about not taking a lot of pictures. Honestly newborn pics look all the same to me. . . But now that this cute Sabrina is starting to smile more, we will be taking lots of pics! 

Wide-eyed and beautiful!

Surfside Fun

Capturing the Joy at Surfside Beach

Just wanna eat those cheeks. 

Check out http://kristendukephotography.com/

Pictures from the Delivery Room

holding daddy's finger :)

proud Grandad

proud mama

kirk and dr. Hulme

Sabrina's Birth Story

i was waiting to get some more pictures before i posted the birth story, but i figured that i can always post those later. i need to write this down before i forget the details!

i had been dilating about .5 cm per week in the month of April, and i was very effaced during that month too (about 80%). so my doctor kept saying that it looked like the baby could come at any day. my cervix was super favorable and sydney had come at 37 weeks...basically we were all holding our breaths, just so darn sure that this baby was going to come early.

i had my last doctor's check (i was 39 weeks) on april 30th, and i was 4.5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. these were all good stats because my induction date had been set for that coming wednesday, may 2nd. it looked like i was good to go...the baby just wasn't quite yet!

so i got the call the night before i was set to be induced: be at the hospital at 5 am (gross) and don't eat anything after midnight.  kirk and i worried we wouldn't get any sleep the night before, but we did. thank goodness. a friend had told me to wake up right before midnight to get some food in my stomach, because you never knew when you could eat again! i had some pizza and a pb&j.

we had had our hospital bags packed for a month (like i said, we were expecting this baby to come so much earlier), and sydney was already at grandma hill's house, so all i had to do that morning was take a shower with the hospital's fancy sponge that possessed magical cleaning powers. i personally thought this was silly...i was going to get dirty pretty quick. but i was obedient to the doctor's orders. :)

Birthing Machine!

Pumped and ready to go and get induced!

we were told that we were numero dos on the list, so i was thinking, "great! we'll be in super fast." not so. apparently may 2nd was a great day for women to spontaneously go into labor. when we got to the hospital, the nurse told us that all the rooms were full, but a few women had delivered their babies so hopefully we would get a room soon. we waited in the waiting room until about eleven am. thank goodness the couches were comfy! kirk and i napped a bit, and i watched a few episodes of my Korean drama, Secret Garden, on my mom's ipad. kirk encouraged me to watch shows instead of reading my book club book, Cutting for Stone, because apparently i got a little whiny about being hungry when i was not completely occupied. i mean we were forced to wait in a room with vending machines. how cruel is that for someone who isn't supposed to eat or drink??

well we finally got into our room about 11ish. we were assigned a super nice nurse, Sue, who had been at the hospital since 1980 (i found this out after the birthing). i gave her my birth plan, detailing that i wanted as much of an unmedicated delivery as possible, and stating what i wanted done if i had a c-section. she was super sympathetic about my first birthing experience and said she was determined to help me have a vbac if possible. yay!

they got me hooked up on the pitocin pretty fast (after doing the enema of course...that is always fun). i only had one good contraction on the pitocin though. what really got  me going was when Dr. Hulme came in and broke my water at around 12:30 pm. at that point i was at 5, and my contractions started coming hard and fast. 

holy cow. so. much. pain. the best way that i could cope with it was by bending over the hospital bed, face smooshed into the birthing ball set on top of the bed, and swaying back and forth...my booty sticking out of the hospital gown for the world to see. at some point i did use kirk as a prop, holding onto his shoulders and swaying. but i think his body heat made me too hot or something. it didn't help as much as the birthing ball. plus the bending over seemed to help with the back labor that was definitely happening.

i had taken some hypnobirthing classes with a friend in the ward, so kirk offered a few times to give me my ipod that had my hypnobirthing relaxation exercises on it. but the thought of doing anything but swaying and moaning and breathing through each contraction was just too much. in hindsight it probably would have helped, but the contractions were just coming way too close together for me to really act on anything but getting through that next contraction.

my mom was in the room with me, and i am so so glad. she had me focus on her eyes and kept telling me "it's just a wave. just get to the crest of the wave and it will come back down and be over. you can do this. just focus on my eyes. don't look away." she was such a help! between her coaching me when i got panicky and kirk lightly massaging my neck and pounding on my lower back, i knew i was taken care of. Sue of course was awesome as well.

i got to 10 cm with no epidural. i even pushed for a bit. the pushing was bliss compared to trying to ride the wave by just rocking back and forth. my body really was working with the contractions when i was pushing, and that felt great! but sabrina was definitely going to take a while to come out. i asked for an epidural, and was in heaven when they gave it to me.  my number one priority was to have a vbac, and if having an epidural helped me with that i was just fine. 

there was no clock in the room so i am not 100% sure when i had the epidural, but kirk and i figured out it was probably around 3ish that afternoon. the doctor came in to see how sabrina was doing, and that was when he told me she was turned sideways. so her position + my small pelvic outlet = very slow progress down the birth canal. when he reached in to turn the baby, the epidural had not completely kicked in. i definitely cried out when he did it. once the epidural had completely set in he actually was able to turn her. even with that though, she just wasn't coming out. she wasn't as stuck as sydney had been, but we would need extra help getting sabrina out.

so Dr. Hulme explained to me the potential reprucussions of using forceps to get the baby out. it could possibly damage my pelvic floor, but that often happened in normal birthing anyway. i was exhausted and eager to have my baby girl out. it sounded like a good idea to me, since she wasn't coming out any other way. 

so, after all the preparations were made, he waited until the next contraction and pulled our sabrina marie out at 5:46 pm. the feelings of ecstasy and relief just overcame me. they put her on my chest, all gooified and purple, and i was in love. i'll admit that was something that i wasn't super excited about, because seeing pics of other moms with their freshly-born baby on their chest just looked gross. but when it's your baby, it's so not gross. i was so happy! my baby was here AND i had done a vbac--something i had been eagerly praying for every since i saw that positive  pregnancy test. 


i did tear a little bit, so the doctor did the "repair" while they were cleaning sabrina off. kirk did lots of video taping (of the baby, of course) during this time, and then my mom took over while he held sabrina. i loved seeing kirk's reaction to sabrina's birth. both when they put her on my chest, and when he first held her, he definitely was tearing up. so adorable. i just grinned the whole time, and was reveling in the fact that i was so present and aware at this baby's birth. i remember with sydney's birth i was just so out of it with the morphine. i was happy but my senses and emotions were dulled. it was nice to be so awake this time. 

so that's my story and i'm stickin' to it. good job if you made it to the end! 

Then and Now...She's Gotten So Big!

Easter 2011--10 months old

Easter 2012--22 months old

Sydney looks SO different! I can't believe how fast they grow up. Birth story to come. 

Loved this blog post that I came upon on pinterest.

Rules for Mothers of Daughters.

25 Rules for Mothers of Daughters. 

Source: Pinterest- meggielynne.tumblr.com

1. Paint her nails. Then let her scratch it off and dirty them up. Teach her to care about her appearance, and then quickly remind her that living and having fun is most important.

Source: Pinterest:  art-e-zine.co.uk

2. Let her put on your makeup, even if it means bright-red-smudged lips and streaked-blue eyes. Let her experiment in her attempts to be like you…then let her be herself. 

Source: Pinterest: sp2.fotolog.com

3. Let her be wild. She may want to stay home and read books on the couch, or she may want to hop on the back of a motorcycle-gasp. She may be a homebody or a traveler. She may fall in love with the wrong boy, or meet mr. right at age 5. Try to remember that you were her age once. Everyone makes mistakes, let her make her own. 

4. Be present. Be there for her at her Kindergarten performances, her dance recitals, her soccer games…her everyday-little-moments. When she looks through the crowds of people, she will be looking for your smile and pride. Show it to her as often as possible.

Source: Pinterest: crazycraftycousins.blogspot.com

5. Encourage her to try on your shoes and play dress-up. If she would rather wear her brother’s superman cape with high heals, allow it. If she wants to wear a tutu or dinosaur costume to the grocery store, why stop her? She needs to decide who she is and be confident in her decision.


6. Teach her to be independent. Show her by example that woman can be strong. Find and follow your own passions. Search for outlets of expression and enjoyment for yourself- not just your husband or children.  Define yourself by your own attributes, not by what others expect you to be. Know who you are as a person, and help your daughter find out who she is.

Source: Pinterest: flickr.com

 7. Pick flowers with her. Put them in her hair. There is nothing more beautiful than a girl and a flower. 

Source: Pinterest- 500px.com

8. Let her get messy. Get messy with her, no matter how much it makes you cringe inside. Splash in the puddles, throw snowballs, make mud pies, finger paint the walls: just let it happen. The most wonderful of memories are often the messy ones.

9. Give her good role models- you being one of them. Introduce her to successful woman- friends, co-workers, doctors, astronauts, or authors.  Read to her about influential woman- Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie. Read her the words of inspirational woman- Jane Austen, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson. She should know that anything is possible.

 Source: Pinterest- google.com

10. Show her affection. Daughters will mimic the compassion of their mother. “I love yous” and Eskimo kisses go a long way.

11. Hold her hand. Whether she is 3 years-old in the parking lot or sixteen years old in the mall, hold on to her always- this will teach her to be confident in herself and proud of her family.

Source: Pinterest- weheartit.com

12. Believe in her. It is the moments that she does not believe in herself that she will need you to believe enough for both of you. Whether it is a spelling test in the first grade, a big game or recital, a first date, or the first day of college…remind her of the independent and capable woman you have taught her to be.

Source: Pinterest-  weddings.halbergphotographers.com

13. Tell her how beautiful she is. Whether it is her first day of Kindergarten, immediately after a soccer game where she is grass-stained and sweaty, or her wedding day. She needs your reminders. She needs your pride. She needs your reassurance. She is only human.

14. Love her father. Teach her to love a good man, like him. One who lets her be herself…she is after all wonderful.

Source: Pinterest- blog.hgtv.com

15. Make forts with boxes and blankets. Help her to find magic in the ordinary, to imagine, to create and to believe in fairy tales. Someday she will make her 5 by 5 dorm-room her home with magic touches and inspiration. And she will fall in love with a boy and believe him to be Prince Charming.

16. Read to her. Read her Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle. But also remember the power of Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost. Show her the beauty of words on a page and let her see you enjoy them. Words can be simply written and simply spoken, yet can harvest so much meaning. Help her to find their meaning.

Source: Pinterest-  instagr.am

17. Teach her how to love- with passion and kisses. Love her passionately. Love her father passionately and her siblings passionately. Express your love. Show her how to love with no restraint. Let her get her heart broken and try again. Let her cry, and gush, giggle and scream. She will love like you love or hate like you hate. So, choose love for both you and her.

18. Encourage her to dance and sing. Dance and sing with her- even if it sounds or looks horrible.  Let her wiggle to nursery rhymes. Let her dance on her daddy's feet and spin in your arms. Then later, let her blast noise and headbang in her bedroom with her door shut if she wants. Or karaoke to Tom Petty in the living room if she would rather. Introduce her to the classics- like The Beatles- and listen to her latest favorite- like Taylor Swift. Share the magic of music together, it will bring you closer- or at least create a soundtrack to your life together.

Source: Pinterest- thehollywoodgossip.com

19. Share secrets together. Communicate. Talk. Talk about anything. Let her tell you about boys, friends, school. Listen. Ask questions. Share dreams, hopes, concerns. She is not only your daughter, you are not only her mother. Be her friend too.

20. Teach her manners. Because sometimes you have to be her mother, not just her friend. The world is a happier place when made up of polite words and smiles.

21. Teach her when to stand-up and when to walk away. Whether she has classmates who tease her because of her glasses, or a boyfriend who tells her she is too fat- let her know she does not have to listen. Make sure she knows how to demand respect- she is worthy of it. It does not mean she has to fight back with fists or words, because sometimes you say more with silence. Also make sure she knows which battles are worth fighting. Remind her that some people can be mean and nasty because of jealousy, or other personal reasons. Help her to understand when to shut her mouth and walk-away. Teach her to be the bigger -the better- person.

22. Let her choose who she loves. Even when you see through the charming boy she thinks he is, let her love him without your disapproving words: she will anyway. When he breaks her heart, be there for her with words of support rather than I told-you-so. Let her mess up again and again until she finds the one. And when she finds the one, tell her.

Source: Pinterest- justquotes.org

23. Mother her. Being a mother—to her—is undoubtedly one of your greatest accomplishments. Share with her the joys of motherhood, so one day she will want to be a mother too. Remind her over and over again with words and kisses that no one will ever love her like you love her. No one can replace or replicate a mother’s love for their children. 

Source: Pinterest- marrabelle.deviantart.com

24. Comfort her. Because sometimes you just need your mommy. When she is sick, rub her back, make her soup and cover her in blankets- no matter how old she is. Someday, if she is giving birth to her own child, push her hair out of her face, encourage her, and tell her how beautiful she is. These are the moments she will remember you for. And someday when her husband rubs her back in attempt to comfort her...she may just whisper, "I need my mommy."

25. Be home. When she is sick with a cold or broken heart, she will come to you: welcome her. When she is engaged or pregnant, she will run to you to share her news: embrace her. When she is lost or confused, she will search for you: find her. When she needs advice on boys, schools, friends or an outfit: tell her. She is your daughter and will always need a safe harbor- where she can turn a key to see comforting eyes and a familiar smile: be home. 

Here is the link of the blog: http://diapersdaisies.blogspot.com/2012/01/rules-for-mothers-of-daughters.html