Bath Time

After having C-section, running on little sleep and taking care of 3 kids (even with lots of help from Grandmas) I just don't have the energy to take lots of pictures yet. I did however document Daphne's first "bath." Since her umbilical cord has not fallen off yet, we just had to do a wash rag bath. This was last week, I had the intentions of taking her newborn pictures the following day, but that didn't happen. I am proud to say that I finally did take them this morning and I am SO excited! They are adorable! She is so cute I could just eat her up! I have to say, that she did the best out of all our babies. Sadie and Lucy were both so difficult. Well, actually, come to think of it, Sadie did pretty good, but Lucy...not so much! Anyway, Daphne cuddled down a few different times and even soothed herself to sleep in one of the shots. She had been awake and looking around so I thought I would try getting some with her eyes open but she fussed a little and then closed her eyes and slept! What a sweetheart!

Anyway, enough about those (sorry I can't share because I don't want to ruin the excitement of the birth announcement!). So Chris took some pictures while I gave Daphne her bath. Of course she didn't like the wash rag part because she was so cold! I love the "I'm falling" hand! That reflex is so cute and so sad to me! Just tonight I was holding her towards my chest and was turning her around to face front so she could look around and she just started screaming! She was so upset and I was so gentle about it! It was so sad! She has really got a good pathetic cry down! I love it. She knows how to work her Mommy!Washing her hair and loving it! She is so sweet! I love how they love to have their hair under the warm water! So cute!!

All cuddled and asleep! Thank you Aunt Tricia for these swaddling blankies! They are the best! Daphne and Mommy LOVE them!

No more hospital!

That is how we feel about being at the hospital! Yeah, we are home!!! It is great to be together as a family of five! Although Sadie is already planning out our 6th member of the family! She said she LOVES having a baby sister and that now we just need one more and then we will have 6 people in our family. :) She is so funny!

It has been great to be home and develop our own routine and schedule. I do love having a nurse come help me at the push of a button, and the bed that sits me up so I don't have to hurt my tummy, but I don't miss all the "attention" from all the Doctors and nurses; and this time, student nurses!! Both girls absolutely adore Daphne! They love to come in first thing to just "look at her, because they miss seeing her!" But of course they end up waking her and Mommy up! :) Here are some pictures of Daphne while we were at the hospital.

Kisses!

She is such a good snuggler! I have a hard time putting her down! I have been waiting so long to see her, hold her, steal kisses and hold her sweet little hand! Now I get to and I am LOVING it! She loves to make cute little noises when she cuddles! It is so sweet! Look at those cute little fuzzy shoulders. I love that about newborns! Boy do I just want to squeeze her!

Ready to go!!

What is that furry thing sniffing my toes!?!

Lucy loves to help take care of her! She is great at throwing her diapers away! She is very quick to tell me when Daphne is fussing to "put her 'dinky' on!" I love it! She is so cute! She loves "her" baby and is very sweet to her! She will tell everyone to be quiet when Daphne is sleeping. So sweet and thoughtful!

The best big sisters ever! Grandma got balloons on the way home from the hospital. We all loved them! We feel so blessed to have such a sweet little girl join our family! We are excited for all the fun times we will share! We love you sweet Daphne and can't get enough of you!! You are such a blessing to all of us!

She is HERE!!!

Daphne Lanae Monson

April 13, 2009
7:22 am
9 lbs. 12 ounces
20 inches

Her first bath!The girls absolutely adore her! Lucy was so excited to see my baby. I told her she was HER baby too and she couldn't believe it! She was so excited. She keeps referring to her as "my baby." Except for when she fussed a little she said, "Mom, your baby is whining!"
So sweet!
Look at those cheeks and lips!!Mom and Daphne are doing great! She is such a sweet "little" girl! We were shocked with how big she is! But boy do we love her already!!! She has been amazing so far!
The proud Daddy!
Grandma is excited to be here and has been a wonderful help!!
Sadie is absolutely in love! She helped give Daphne her binki and she stopped crying. She was SO proud of herself and we were encouraging her about how great a big sister she is. She almost started crying while beaming from ear to ear. Than today she was just looking at her and said, "I just love her! I love her eyes, her nose, her little hands. I just want to cry when I look at her!" And then she totally snuggled her head into me and was crying! It was SO cute! She was giving her kisses after kisses, and said, "I just want to kiss her all day!" :) I told her that was how I felt with all my girls! She is so sweet and so sensitive to emotions! She has been a great help!
First time cuddling! :)
What a beautiful girl!!! We just love you Daphne!
Here she is in all her glory! So big!
We are so excited to finally have her here with us! We love that she is part of our family! We love you so much sweet Daphne!

Happy Easter!

We are so thankful as we ponder the amazing sacrifice that Christ made for each and every one of us, as we get to anticipate a new life that is possible because of him. We all feel extremely blessed on this beautiful holiday. It brings us comfort and peace knowing this new life will join our family and will be with us forever because of the Savior and all he has done for us. We hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter!

We miss our little ducks that we had for a couple days for the photo shoot. Well, I should say the GIRLS miss the ducks. Chris and I were SO ready to get them back to the store. They sure are messy and stinky! But I will admit they are SO cute!
It was difficult to get Lucy to even look at me! She was so focused on the ducks!

Happy Easter!!

Ready

We have some exciting days ahead of us and boy are we ready! Tonight, Grandma "Stewie" comes, tomorrow is Easter, and the next day the baby comes!!!! It has been a fun chain of events to look forward to!
Yesterday I had my LAST Doctor appointment! I totally forgot I had to do my lab work and pre-register down stairs at the ER - with a C-section you have to do all the pre-operation stuff. It made me start to get emotional a little. It was just all sinking in that she is coming in just a few short days!!! Yeah! So after getting multiple tubes of my blood filled, I got a pretty new bracelet to wear all weekend! What a nice accessory for Easter! :)
As I was registering down stairs, a little girl came in to the ER totally crying! It broke my heart and took everything I had to not cry myself! Especially after I was already feeling emotional. I couldn't even turn around to look at her! The lady checking me in must have noticed my watering eyes and said, "This isn't your first is it?" To which I laughed and said, "No." :) So many emotions!
The girls are getting so giddy about the baby coming. I re-situated all the car seats yesterday in preparation for the baby and Grandmas coming. I had already put the baby's seat base in earlier but not very well and it was loose and slanted. But then I realized I wanted her to be on the other side and Lucy to be in the back with Sadie, at least temporarily so we have a seat for Grandma. So I got those in there and I must say super snug! I am a pro! While I was getting everything adjusted, Lucy kept asking if we were going to get her! Then she scrunched her nose and nodded her head and said, "Next time." She is so cute!
So here are some pictures of her nursery. "She" has no name yet, so sorry I can't refer to her by it! :) I have not hung anything on the walls yet because we need to get a dresser and I don't know if it will change the layout of things. So I don't want to commit yet. My parents bought her a new crib which I love! (It is a dark brown)And her bedding I found at Target a few months back on clearance for $17.50! I HAD to get it! It didn't come with the bed skirt which I was nervous about, but I found it online! Woo Hoo! I guess you can't totally tell by the picture, but it is stripes and circles. And the only thing I hung up is the butterfly mobile from Pottery Barn Kids that I had in Sadie's baby room and I LOVE!!! Lucy has a flower one in her room too!We had white furniture for Sadie and Lucy, so I took the white changing table and took the green from the bedding and painted it that green. It turned out pretty cute. Then the baskets were white so I spray painted them the dark brown and just put the same pink gingham covers back in them. I have never really liked my glider. :( I know! Chris gives me a hard time because we bought a really nice one with nice features, but we went for the one with features and not the one that was cuter. So it is an ugly denim fabric (which has NEVER matched any of the nurseries) and a light oak wood, which hasn't ever matched either. :( You see, Sadie was 6 weeks early and we had JUST moved from CA to TX, so we had nothing! So after I was released from the hospital and she was still in the NICU, we made many trips to Babies R Us. So it was hectic, I was healing from a c-section, and I just felt the need to get the stuff and quickly! Anyway, I have ordered cute fabric to cover the cushions to the chair. I was going to try and re-stain it, but there are too many moving parts and little spindles and stuff. The fabric is a canvas fabric that is the chocolate brown with off-white swirly vine things, you can see it sitting on the ottoman. It's really cute, and I will get to that later! :)For the past 2 weeks I have been painting her room! I have never done a pink room, so I figured no is the time. We chose a really soft pink and I am really happy with it. It took 3 coats and 5 gallons of paint! I am so done with painting! I did really subtle vertical stripes which I love. They are 12 inches wide. So I did the base color with an eggshell finish, and the the stripes are in the same color but a Satin finish (the next step up). It is very subtle and not something you notice until you have been in the room for a little bit. I have never been this prepared for a baby to come. I have everything cleaned, laid out, etc. I have the bassinet down in the guest bedroom, because I can't go upstairs for a week after my c-section, with diapers, wipes, jammies, alcohol swabs...everything! We are set! My bags are packed and we are ready and excited! Besides being ready with everything set up for the baby, my body is ready! Of course I have the aches and pains, but unlike my other pregnancies, my feet are totally swelling! It is disgusting and hilarious! Sorry for my gross feet!A friend and I got together and made some CUTE pacifier clips. She has all the stuff and skills to do it and makes bracelets and stuff, so that was nice! She would start them and I would string them and then she would finish it! It was fun and I enjoyed the challenge of it. It is hard with some to figure out a pattern and to make it the right length. It was fun! My puzzle mind and creative mind enjoyed it! Plus it was fun doing it with a friend. These are the ones we made and I LOVE them all!!!So, sweet little girl...we are so READY for you! All except for a name! :) But soon enough!

A new skill learned

So, I was talking to Chris about a week ago about how he should start working with Sadie on riding her bike without training wheels - she keeps asking and talking about it. So this last weekend he and Sadie went outside to ride. Lucy and I were inside for a little bit. When we came out to join them, they were working on pumping up her tires. The wheels are so small Chris had to use both hands to hold the pump to the valve and Sadie was struggling/using all her strength to slowly pump the tire. It was cute. I jumped in to help and get the job done. Once her tires were more pumped up, Chris told Sadie to hop on. She did. He took the handle bars and basically flung her forward. To my surprise, she took off! Seriously, she just started riding around like a pro! I was in shock. I asked Chris if they had already been practicing while I was inside and he, just as shocked as I was, said no! Crazy girl!! Look at her go!

I love how she is so proud of herself in these pictures!

Even confident enough to look at Mom and smile! Watch where you're going! :)She is so big for this bike! It looks like she belongs in the circus or something on a tiny bike! But we hear it is better for them to learn on. I guess so!Once she stopped, she had a hard time realizing that she can't just start pedaling and not tip over. But once she understood how to push herself a little with her feet and then hurry and start to pedal, she totally got it! Seriously, I can't believe how easily she caught on. She of course wanted to keep riding her bike all day long and all day today! She is a pro now! Yeah Sadie! Thumbs up!Lucy is SO proud of her big sister!