New Life

Well the baby is here and is 4 days old. She is wonderful! It is amazing to see how different Abby and Eva are already. I love it and I treasure how creative God is in creating each of us. How true it is that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Truly knit in our mothers womb with God's hands. Having gone through these two births I respect and value the way God has made me and am in awe of how he breathes life into each of us. I want so much to value other people more for the creation that they are, each of us handcrafted by God!

I think we are going to merge our blogs! Have one that is "Our girls". Not sure yet.

Eva is really trying to cope with the change. She is hyper-active and testing her boundaries, but as sweet as ever and so ready to be happy. She is trying to get attention by intentionally choking on water and I know that she has suddenly created a fake laugh and really honed her fake crying skills - she practices in the mirror... She is so sweet though. Always hoping to cuddle and be outside to distract herself. She is such a good girl and her independence is really paying off because she really is able to do so many things on her own and be a helper. She now has 4 freckles! I found a new one on her calf Friday :).

Justin is hanging in there. He is so happy, but his back has been extremely painful for him the past week or two and has gotten much worse the past few days with me not able to really help him. He is a good sport and always trying to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Abby is an easy baby. Always sleeping. Nurses for five minutes and then goes back to sleep. I am tired but have been getting more sleep than I could have hoped for.

Yesterday Abby started to really straighten out her legs for long periods of time. She is appropriately named! Shy has brought me so much Joy :). Even now she is just sleeping on me. Just hanging out. My milk came in quickly just like with Eva and nursing has been a breeze compared to last time. I even tried tandem nursing very cool but that is not in my future.

Eva wants Abby to be near her. She wanted to cuddle with her on the couch today. Will add pictures soon. I got to hold and cuddle both my girls and sing to them. Abby kept her eyes open the whole time and Eva giggled. I love having my girls!

Abby Joy has Arrived!

Abby Joy arrived Thursday at 12:24 PM. She was 6 lbs 8 oz and is 19 1/2 inches long.

The homebirth experience was euphoric! Everything childbirth should be like. This has been the most amazing experience. Thank you everyone who has been apart of it.

Our friend Maruchy watched Eva for the day.

The midwives -http://wisewomanholistichealthcare.com/default.html
Kickin' it old school. Boiling water to maintain temp of birth pool. You can see my mom in the background on the webcam! Hung out with us the entire time!

Jesika! The best friend a girl could ask for! Worked her tail off selflessly all day. Went home showered after the birth, came back with dinner and took care of Eva for us til bed.

This is me at 6 cm.

Abby's birthday party.

Eva immediately wanted to hold Abby. She held her for 10 minutes by herself and explored her new treasure.
Excited by all Abby's full head of hair.
Putting her hat back on.

Kisses!

Late For a Very Important Date

Well we are 2 days past the due date and waiting in excitement. For whatever reason I feel less anxious now than I did right before the due date. She will eventually arrive...right? Its feeling closer to the fullness of the time and I am looking forward to it.

I feel so proud of my tummy. I felt like showing Abby off today :). Here are some pictures of the three of us girls from today at the park.

Soon to be Sisters

Eva is getting excited about having a sister on the way. Today she came up to my tummy, gave it a kiss and said, "Hi Abby" then happily scurried away. Tonight while getting ready for bed she was sitting next to me drinking her water as we rocked in the glider. She patted my tummy, "Abby, my sister. She's comin'. Sister...Abby".

I love and enjoy Eva so much, I am excited to see what Abby is going to be like. I can't believe it will be any day now. I feel so anxious that I just want the day to be now! But the other half of me is terrified and I know I don't know the best timing and I am comforted by the thought that God will bring her at the proper time and relieved that I don't have to figure all that out.

Eva wanted to color on my tummy. She kept giggling and saying she was tickling Abby. It was so cute. Check out my b-ball.

Getting Closer!

I am savoring these last few memories of being pregnant. Yesterday I decided to poke around to see if I could feel any specific part of Abby like Bella does. It was wonderful. I rubbed her back and patted her little bottom. I found her knee and rubbed it with my index finger. She responded by pushing her thigh against my tummy so that I could touch her. Very cool!

Tonight I started to do it again but closer to the bottom of my belly hoping to feel her head and be sure of what I was feeling. To my wonderful amazement I felt her hand glide across my tummy.

I love having her with me all the time and forever cuddling with her when I sleep. I was getting anxious to have her and getting a little crazed about the delivery and wishing the event would be over... Its hard to anticipate that kind of marathon - never knowing when its going to be sprung on you. But having been sick last week and this week, see my last post, I am reminding myself that God was so good not to answer that prayer for her to come early like I wanted.

Having said all that I am trying to do little things to mentally prepare me for the main event. I am so excited for that moment when I'll hear, "Aimee reach down and grab your baby." Justin said that I could cut the cord this time since he did it last time. I don't know how it is all going to go but I am excited about it!

Sick

Well all last week and still some of this week I had diarrhea. Bella said it is my body preparing itself for birth. Well it wiped me out and kept me close to the house :(. Feeling dehydrated and wiped out at the start of this week I caught Eva's cold Tuesday morning. Wednesday I thought that I had pretty much avoided any hardcore cold, but now that it is Friday it has developed into a chest cold and I have pretty much lost my voice. I'm so glad God came up with whispering!

This morning when I was trying to talk with Eva, she gave me the funniest look when she heard my voice :). Needless to say please pray for all of us here. We are all under the weather. I am hoping that our little one does not come right now, I would like her to remain safe and protected from our nasty cold until we recover! After two weeks of being pretty much stuck in the house I am getting a little stir crazy

The Best Kind of Check ups

The past few Midwife appointments have had an added bonus. Eva has gotten to play with Angelina for the hour that I get all checked out. The girls are sweet together and its good for Eva :).

As a side note, one of the things that annoyed me about my OB visits when I was pregnant with Eva is that they would always rush me through the visit. They were in such a rush they often times would talk through the time that I got to hear the heartbeat. I really resented that at the time. Bella doesn't do that! She listens and seems to enjoy listening too :). Things like that make me really happy :).