Alex's newborn pictures

Well our dear friend Jenny came over as soon as we were home from the hospital and took Alex's newborn shots. We have so much fun with Jenny and were so glad she did this for us. Thanks Jenny!!! And we absolutely love all the shots she got we had a hard time picking one for our announcements so we ended up using 2 different ones..Here are those two plus a few more..

Alexandra Brynn was born!!

Alexandra Brynn was born September 23, 2010... This was a planned c-section. It went pretty smoothly since we knew what to expect. We arrived at the hospital at 10Am for a 12 o'clock planned procedure. My doctor did not even show up until 12:45 ish.. Oh well she is usually late anyway. It was a much calmer approach this time with them spending 2 hours getting me ready for surgery. Me going to the operating room and walking myself over to the table. All very surreal. Man that operating room was so bright. The epidural was fine except they hit a nerve that I felt shot electric shocks down my leg to my knee. Then Dan came in and held my hand. Dan was a little more brave this time or maybe it was that I wasn't holding his hands with a death grip this time, hmmm probably the second of those. So he got to stand up and check it all out more than last time which he thought was super cool. We had an amazing anesthesiologist who took LOTS of pictures. She got several of her first coming out which I will spare you those as a tad gory for this website..heheehhe Here she is right after delivery and getting weighed in. Hasn't even been cleaned up yet.

I liked everything being done in the OR now. They never take your baby away which I loved as I got to see them clean her up, weigh her in and Dan was able to stay by my side the whole time I was being sewn up. Last time they knocked me out once Dan left. Here she is about 2-3 minutes after birth and I get to see her up close and personal. They are just starting to put me back together so it was a nice distraction during the sewing me up process getting to stare into my babys sweet little eyes and feel her breath on my face.. I love this picture as both Dan and I both have a hand on our little Alex.

Then once we were ready we went back to recovery and they immediately put her on me chest to chest I think they call it kangaroo time or something like that and it was wonderful. The three of us snuggled in for that time and made a few phone calls. We did not tell the name to our parents and family until they got to the hospital so it was all a surprise. Then once moved to our real room the family came up and brought Sam for her first chance to meet her little sister Alex.

It was love at first sight for Sam too. She really took right to her..It of course didn't hurt that she got lots of presents as a new big sister and was able to "help" Alex open all her presents...

Here is Alex on her first day home in her pappasan chair.. She looks so cozy...

Now for her statistics...

She was born 18.5 inches and 8 pounds and 2 ounces.

Last belly picture

Okay I must admit I am a little embarrased to post this but I know everyone wants to see it..

So here it goes. Dan took this picture the day before we had Alex. I gained a total of 38 pounds. I gained a total of 45 with Sam so I did much better this time around.

More posts to come as I have time so please be patient..Being a mother of 2 is way more hectic then I could every have imagined.

Sam's photo shoot

So back in July we finally did a make up photo session with a photographer that had been highly recommended to us for a fun theme mini session. We had originally booked her for a session around Easter with live bunnies but that happened to be the freak weekend that we got snowed on and it was canceled and none of the alternative dates worked for us. So we were able to transfer it to another fun mini session. We wanted to do it for Samantha's 2nd birthday and the theme was painting. So after the long drive to Ft Worth and the meltdown to not want to be photographed we finally got a few good ones..Check out our 2nd birthday photo session:

Baby's room is just about ready...

So this weekend on Sunday afternoon/evening Dan had a fantasy football draft and Sam went to spend the night at her Grandma and Grandpas and I had the whole house to myself. Yes I will admit it was so darn quiet that I had to turn the tv on for some noise....heheheh I won't complain though as that is probably the last time I will have a quiet house for many years to come... So I worked very hard to get all the bins of clothes and baby items organized and put away and get all the clothes washed and put away according to size. It was a massive effort as I kept everything I had for Sam. I also was able to borrow some more seasonality appropriate from friends as this baby will be born in September and Sam was born in May. So we will see how that goes...

So in the mist of all this cleaning and pulling things out over the weekend Sam found something she really liked. But is clearly way to big for.

It is a bath chair that my dear friend and sorority sister Leslie gave us. Didn't have one of these with Sam so thought it would be awesome to have for the baby. Sam understands it is the baby's chair but she still likes to lay on it...So we let her..... Look how funny she looks on it thought...

Getting closer....

Well we are officially 4 weeks away from Baby C's arrival. The time has been flying by and we are slowly and surely getting ready.



We even broke down and bought a double stroller (a sit and stand version). It is currently sitting in the box in the baby's room. But this is what it would look like once we put it together...

Sam is still not sure about it. We took her with us to the store when looking and she was a little leary of sitting on the back but I think once she gets it she will love it.

Also I had Dan install the baby car seat base in my car last weekend. It is very weird to see that in the back seat but better to have it ready to go just in case. Also it has been good for Sam to get used to it. She keeps telling me the baby needs more toys etc so low and behold all her toys are now currently riding in the baby's car seat. Heck not going to complain too much at least she is starting the whole sharing process.

Sam is a girl after my own heart (she already has it but you know what I mean)

Sam LOVES shoes..She always has. She loves putting on her own shoes, daddy's shoes and Mommy's shoes. Her favorite activity is to go in the closet and pull out all of her Mommy's shoes and try them all on and I must give her credit she walks really well in most of my heals....

So this past weekend was tax free weekend and I had a coupon for 20% off at my favorite place to get Sam new shoes. She needed her new Fall/Going back to school shoes. So Friday she had the day off from school and spent the day with her Daddy and I worked then went to her schools meet the teacher event. Love her new classroom and she gets to stay with her 3 best friends and keep the same teacher..YEAH I was so relieved I even cried. We love her two teachers. Yes I know I am a hormonal mess so crying was just par for the course... So anyway I digress I met Dan and Sam after that at the mall around 5pm.

Sam was such a trooper and had her feet measured (she had grown almost a whole shoe size over the summer) and eagerly tried on at least 10 pairs of shoes. She finally settled on a brown leather pair for every day wear and a pair of sneakers. She was very opinionated on which ones she liked and which ones she didn't. She loved this one black leather pair but they were just real dressy so we settled on the brown ones...

She wanted to put on and take off all the shoes and then we showed her how to go look in the mirror and she would run over with every pair and do a little dance in front of the mirror..too bad I wasn't quick enough to get that on tape....Next time....

New Dining Room Table

When we moved into our new house (3 1/2 years ago) we really just tried to use the furniture we had and thought we will slowly but surely get new stuff or stuff period to fill up the house. So one of those rooms was our formal dining room. We had used Dans super old table in there that really wasn't all that big so not great when the whole family comes over. In the kitchen we had my old teeny tiny apartment table. Which is not very well equipped for a family of 3 (almost 4) eating on it on a daily basis. So one our way home from dropping off Sam at her grandparents for the night about 2 weeks ago we stopped into a consignment store to see if they had an nice patio furniture..No dice there...However we fell in love with this beautiful travertine (I think that is what it is called) table..It was huge and gorgeous and would look perfect in our dining room. Again this is not what we had been envisioning for that room we had already picked out a dark wood table about a year ago but had been gun shy about purchasing it. The stone table also had 8 gorgeous parsons chairs...We fell in love with it and it was a steal of a price so we rushed home and measured our space to see if it would fit as clearly we can't bring it back if it doesn't. So we purchased the table and they finally delivered it last week...LOVE IT....Now all we need to do it get some art work and put a runner down the center and a center piece (aka add some color) and we are all set....

And Sam seems to love it too. WE also think this table will hold up much better with having all the kids in the family now and really not being able to destroy it is a huge plus. Also it is gorgeous... As you can tell Sam was very fascinated with it and wouldn't let me take a picture of it without her in it...

The Grocery Store is her new playground...

Well Sam and I got the grocery store every weekend together. Well this week one night I needed to pick up 4 things one night after work so Sam and I stopped in the grocery store on our way home from school. Sam loves to sit in the cart and help me with the list and sometimes if we go early on a Saturday she likes to run around (which I don't' mind as there is no one else really there that early)...But this trip was a little different..First I am about 8 months pregnant and not as willing to walk all over the place. Second she found the smaller carts that they have for kids. They have always been there she just never noticed them. Well she finally did and insisted she push one..Which I was fine with we only needed 4 things like I said. But of course they were all on opposite corners of the store..Sam kept up pretty well and enjoyed pushing the cart and seeing things at her own level..She didn't even seem to want to try and sneak anything extra in the cart. I just have visions of our fun/easy trips on Saturday's turning into much longer now that she needs her own cart...Should be interesting...Also I managed to take a picture of her pushing the cart as I am running ahead and she is running trying to keep up with me so sorry about it not being the best....

Samantha's BIG girl room

Well Samantha's BIG girl room upstairs has been a work in progress for several months but I think we are almost done. We have one thing for the wall still on back order until the end of August but everything else is pretty much done so thought I would share a few pictures...

First and foremost almost all of the heavy lifting (painting the walls, moving furniture around, hanging pictures and moving her stuff upstairs) has all been done by my amazing husband..So thanks babe for creating Sam's big girl room with me and then basically executing all the big stuff...hehehe

Here is her bed right when you walk in with her name above it...That is also a trundle that can be pulled out in order for her cousin Alyson to come over and spend the night. Currently we leave the trundle pulled out in case she falls out of her bed but she has been really good about that for a few weeks...

Here is the view from her bed of her gorgeous dresser. I have ordered a really pretty butterfly mirror to go above that so that is really the only thing we have left...

We saw this sign at a store while up in Michigan this summer with Dans family and just had to have it for Sam's room so we were lucky enough that Dan's parents could put it in their car and drive it back for us..We love it and think it looks just perfect...

And finally I was up in Sam's room last night taking these pictures right before bath time and Sam came running in and wanted to show off her room (she has been in here since July 4th weekend) as we still make a big deal about it being her big girl room... So she hammed it up for me on her bed so I had to include one of her in her room. She is so beautiful and special!!!

Trip to Michigan post 2 of 2

Okay so to finally finish up this post we have two more parts of our trip. After we left Dans Grandmothers town we went to Lake Michigan to spend a few days at his sister Amy's lake house. We absolutely love it there as it is so peaceful and a great way to spend some family time together and swim and enjoy the beach. Sam had never seen a lake or a beach so it was a lot of fun showing those to her. Of course the sand freaked her out at first but after she got over it and we got her a few sand toys she was good to go.

Sam and Mommy on the beach the first morning we were there. It was still chilly from a storm the night before but still so pretty.

We spent the whole afternoon down at the beach and once Sam got over the feeling of sand on her feet and we gave her some new toys (buckets and shovels and plastic boats we found at the dollar store) and she thoroughly enjoyed her time that afternoon on the beach.

The last morning at the lake I had remembered how pretty the beach was and wanted to get a few family pics so I packed some hopefully photogenic clothes for us to wear and we went down to the beach to take some pics. Sam was not super cooperative so here is the best family pic we got that morning.

Here is another attempt of getting a picture on the beach of us walking away. Again not super cooperative but turned out to be a pretty cute picture.

This also has become one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip as it is just so perfect. It is Sam and Uncle Doug sitting at the top of the steep stairs leading down to the beach on our last morning there. I think Uncle Doug was relaxing outside enjoying his cup of coffee and Sam wanted to join him. So I had to run inside and grab a camera and get a quick pic of it as Sam does not tend to sit still for very long.

So we left the lake and headed back into Chicago to spend the last few days with my BFF Seetal and her beautiful family. We had so much fun but definitely not enough time. We went to the Taste of Chicago on Saturday which was so hot but the food was super yummy... The only pictures I took were of Sam's first train ride as we took the train in..

We also had our traditional dinner at our favorite pizza place Lou Malnatis yummy and a fun brunch with another family we know through Seetal. It was a wonderful trip overall and so glad we did it this summer.

On the way home we got delayed out of Chicago about 2 hours and Sam was ready to go home too after being gone so long that she completely melted down right before we finally got on the airplane I think because she didn't want us to put her stroller away. Needless to say 5 minutes into take off this is what we saw...

I think everyone around us was so surprised but she passed out on me for the whole flight about 5 minutes into take off..She slept until it was time to get off the plane and we then had to wake her up. It was not my most comfortable flight as she was laying on my bladder (which 6 1/2 months prego is not ideal) so I went with the flow and fell asleep for the flight as well.

Sam the Ballerina

So Sam started ballet classes through her school 2-3 weeks ago... She was all excited the weekend before we tried all her clothes on. And even took a little video with her in her dance clothes for the first time twirling around...

In the classes the first week it appeared she sat on the floor playing with her shoes and watching everyone else. She has ballet shoes and tap shoes and seems fascinated with both...

Last week she did better and this week a little bit better..She likes to observe and then participate so hopefully she is getting comfortable and will start participating more...She was moving and hoping around some last week..yeah!!!

Belly pic at 27 weeks.

Here we are with Baby C at 27 weeks. I have been pretty bad about taking belly pictures this time around. I didn't feel all that big until this past weekend..Sleeping has become harder (needing lots of pillows) and being hot all the time. I have gained a total of 20 pounds so far so pretty excited about that. I gained 45 pounds with Samantha so trying to keep it right around 30 this time.

Trip to Michigan/Chicago 1 of 2 posts

So mid June we went on an adventure of 9 days as a family. Dan, Sam and I flew into Chicago and then drove to various locations in Michigan to spend time with Dan's family. We then headed back to Chicago to spend a few days with BFF Seetal and her family. It was a lot of fun but totally exhausting for a few reasons 1) I am just starting my 3rd trimester of this pregnancy and 2) traveling with a 2 year old (enough said).

Here is Dan and Sam on the plan ride to Chicago. It was an early flight (8Am) but Sam did well minus a minor upset moment getting on the plane and thank goodness for them letting us get on the plane with first class so had time to get settled. We brought her car seat with us but she refused to sit in it...oh well we tried... She also plastered her daddy with princess stickers during the flight...Hilarious...

We stopped in to have lunch with Seetal and the kids before driving up to Michigan that day and she thought to plan ahead and bring some bubbles (Sam's favorite thing at the moment) so the kids could run around at the park for a bit before we had to hit the road..

Our first stop was to stay at Dans Aunt Ellen and Uncle Doug's for 3 nights. We had a lot of fun playing cards, letting Sam run free on their gorgeous property and just spending some good quality time with family. WE also had a fabulous dinner over at Aunt Marilyn's and Uncle Jim's and got to meet all of Dans cousins... It was a great way to start the trip. We also had a full day at the zoo which I think Sam really enjoyed...

At Jim and Marilyn's house with their two daughters Vicki and Jodi. It was so fun to finally meet them especially since I had communicated with Vicki via email quite a bit and hear stories from everyone else.

Dan and I before we went into the zoo. Yes me in all my 27 weeks prego glory...I knew where every bathroom was at that zoo by the end of the day..heheh

Here Sam and I are trying to pet the sting rays. I think Sam enjoyed washing her hands before we could even go in and then putting her hands in water as opposed to petting sting rays..

Here Sam is on a "big girl swing" at the park across the street from zoo after we feasted on a fabulous picnic lunch (Thanks Marilyn)....

After all that we moved on and went to stay in Spring Lake Michigan where Dans grandmother June lives and his Aunt Vic and Uncle Randy. We spent some lovely time with Grandma.

Here is a 4 generation picture of Grandma "June", Larry (Dans dad), Dan and Samantha.. Love this picture...

We also had a fabulous dinner at Vic and Randy's (thanks guys for having us) and stayed at a nice hotel right on the water.

The morning we left Spring Lake we had a fabulous breakfast at Grandmas house and then Dan, Sam, Larry, Amy and myself went out to a fun pier in the area and had a lot of fun wearing Sam out..heheheSam riding in Daddys arms when she got tired and playing peekaboo with me.

Sam chasing Grandpa down the pier..So cute...

Better late then never

We went to our dear friends the McBrayer's boys birthday party back in March. They did a cowboy themed party for both boys. Will turned 4 and Adam turned 2. She just sent out all the pictures and I really liked this one of us so much wanted to share it... Clearly we didn't dress up as honestly I didn't have anything that would fit me at that stage of pregnancy...But doesn't Sam look cute in her floral capris....Such a fashionista!!!!

Funny because she is now getting into clothes and loves picking her clothes out for example she had to wear a specific shirt today with polka dots so I got out the shorts to put with it and she didn't like them so took us a few tries to find matching shorts that she would agree too. Oh boy are we in trouble if this is starting this early....

Baseball Game

So our neighborhood puts on an event where we get to go to the Rough Riders baseball game every summer and we had that event on Tuesday night. We usually meet up with our neighbors Laura and Scott and their kids Kate and Will. It is such a nice night we get to eat hamburgers and hot dogs and chips and drinks..Fun night was had by all and the kids all did a good job this year of actually staying in their seats and keeping occupied.

We did not get a great family picture as Sam was scared of the mascot. It was a big furry ground hog or ferret thing. It had just walked by when this picture was taken so she was hanging onto her Daddy for dear life.

Playing with Daddy's glasses. Hey at least it is a step up from last year she entertained herself with the cup holders. This year it was Daddy's glasses.

Happy Baby enjoying a baseball game with her Daddy!!!

Sam's 2nd birthday party

We had Sam's 2nd birthday party this past weekend. We decided to invite friends and family and hold it outdoors at a local park. Luckily we rented out half a pavilion and it was hot but at least we had some shade. The party got off to a little bit of a later start due to the fact that the pavilion was not set up properly for the party. Oh well learning you can't sweat the small stuff in life. So once that got settled all the kids and parents put on their bathing suits and went down to the splash park . Everyone had a blast except Sam and her best friend from school Sophie. Apparently they were a little uneasy with it. hmm weird since they both love water so much. Then everyone came back up after about 45 minutes to the pavilion and we had a pizza lunch. Then ice cream and cupcakes and the kids opened up the take home gifts of bubbles and had a blast. Overall the party was a huge success and Sam had a great time. Here are a few of the pics we got.

Here is Sam at the beginning of the party with Aly and Sophie.

The kids at the water park. Sam proceeded to not want to get in..hmmm weird since she loved it last year...

The cupcake cake from Market Street. It was a big hit!!
Sam enjoying the icing off her cupcake.