...and this is how she got here.All about Vivienne Kate

Note: There might be some spelling and grammar errors. I'm a little sleep deprived. Just let me know if you see them and I'll be happy to correct.

The day before I gave birth.

Everything about this pregnancy was a lesson in similar, yet different. It was déjà vu at times, yet a study in contrasts.

Pregnancy was a familiar face this time around. It was something my body had known just 10 months earlier. The anxiety that rightfully comes along with that first-ever positive pregnancy test evaded me throughout the entire 39 weeks and 2 days of gestation and a sense of "this-ain't-my-first-rodeo" took over.

Throughout my pregnancy with "Baby 2011" I felt amazingly similar to how I felt when I was pregnant with Lila Ross... yet I felt so differently.

I had traveled this road before, but it was different.
I found out I was having a girl, as I had once before, but it was different.
I had a second c-section, but it was different.

I held my daughter for the first time, but it was different.

And in my world?

Different is good.

--

Fast forward to how our baby got here.

Baby 2011 was due on Monday, January 30th, 2011. My "programmed c-section" was scheduled for January 27th so that our baby would have her own birthday -- January is a heavily-laden family birthday month and I wanted Baby Girl to be born on her own day. After our appointment on Tuesday, January 18th - we quietly made the decision to move the c-section up to January 24th for a variety of reasons.

I'm so glad we did.

This gave me Wednesday through Sunday to prepare for the birth of our baby. I wrapped up loose-ends at work. I bonded with Baby Girl's sister. I attempted to sleep. I organized, cleaned and nested.

Then, came January 23rd.

It felt like Christmas Eve.

And I can never sleep on Christmas Eve.

I LOVE this face

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

My dark-haired girl

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Look who opened her laptop.

It's me!

:)

Friends - I cannot thank you enough for all of the sweet, kind and lovely comments, messages, the  email and all of the sentiments you've passed my way since the birth of our very sweet baby, Vivienne Kate. I'm so sorry I haven't had a chance to write you all back individually. (In due time...)

Truth?

I'm in love.

She's precious.

And I adore using her name... finally.

I'm feeling pretty great; mildly sore of course since you know, the c-section is a major surgery and all -- but all the way around I'm much better than I was the first time around.

I'll write more tomorrow; I'm hoping to have Vivienne's birth story written or at the very minimum, a bunch of great photos.

Until then, know that my heart is full. Complete.

And we're all very, very, very happy.

kb



--

Nearly 72 hrs old

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

An outtake. Sisters.

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

...And we're home.

Came home late last night (felt like a celebrity leaving the hospital at 10:30 pm) and loved sleeping in my own bed. Vivienne had a great night, now will be the introductions to the sisters.

(Hope these posts are ok, haven't had a minute to sit down and blog.)
Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

She's a little doll!

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

The earrings are in.

Not a peep from the sweet baby...

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Night # 1 over!

Good morning, everyone!

Last night went well. Vivienne is rooming in with us (no other choice here, which we are so ok with) and gave us the gift of nearly sleeping 3 hrs. IN A ROW.

I'll write more later.

I'm in LOVE.


Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Vivi Kate

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Our daughter

Introducing our Vivienne Kate.
She arrived at 12:46 p.m. and weighs 7.7 lbs and is 20.9 inches long.

She has a head full of dark hair and we're both doing well...
Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

It's true.

Today's the day we've chosen.

We're heading to the hospital in about a half an hour to start the process.

We'll keep you posted.

(Thanks for all the lovin' and support.)

Love,
Kylee
Currently-mom-to-one-daughter-soon-to-be-mommy-to-two-daughters


--

Lila Lunes: Ah, transitions...

Dear Lila Ross,

Yesterday was pretty fantastic.
In fact, this past weekend was great.

Here's why:

We played.

We hugged.

We sang.
We made faces.
You wore accessories.

We cried. (Ok, I cried.)
Then we smiled again.

Then we played some more.
And giggled.

Then we hugged some more.
And played some more.

Then YOU sang even more.
And read me books.

 I think we both needed to get lost in the comfort of that repetition. 

It was a weekend filled with laughing, constant chatting and an ample amount of reflection.

I needed this, because you see, sweet girl, today is the day that your sister will come into our lives.

We talked about it all weekend... and I think you're ready.

I'm so excited for you, Lila Ross.
I'm so excited that you will never remember a time without your sweet sister.
I'm so excited that you're gaining a best friend; a partner in life.
...someone to disagree with, to potentially share [and fight about] clothes with, to commiserate with when you're older...
...someone who will understand you and where you come from.
...someone who will nod in agreement when you say, "Mom is crazy."
...someone who will will always want the best for you.
...someone who will will hold your hand throughout life.

Sweet Lila, you were our gift... now it's time for your gift.

 
I love you sweet baby. And I always, always will.

Let's do this thing.

Love,
Your Mommy


--

Yep. That's Ferg. On my pillows.

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Things I want.

I want this. In Folkloric. Since I will soon have two baby girls I feel I need a cross-over-my-body bag so that my purse is no longer falling off my shoulder.
Craig, please buy this for me.

Thanks.

You can buy it here.

--

My sweet Ferg.

Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Why wouldn't you take lunesta?

So the other day I was listening to a commercial for lunesta, the sleep aid.

The list of potential side effects cracked me up and of course, led me to the website.

I downloaded the, "Patient Medication Guide" here and enjoyed reading it.

Immensely.

Specifically these points highlighted below.

(Make sure you go on to read the bullets...)

And this is great, too.

 

Duh.

Really? Love it. This is technical writing at.its.finest.

 

Oh, how I wish I was making this up.

Happy Friday!

--

In case you were wondering.

Lila is 19 months old today.

Only 5 more months until she's 2-years-old... at which point I look forward to just saying she's 2. Not 24 months and 37 minutes old.

--

(That's Lila wearing her new bicycle/tricycle toddler helmet. She LOVES it. Of course she does...)

--

And, I'm pleased that this weekend it will be all Lila/all Mommy/all weekend long. (Craig has to work this weekend.) This, dear friends, will be our final "Just us" weekend before Lila's sister arrives.

This is craziness!



--

January is a busy month!

Happy 1st birthday to my sweet nephew, Brody.

(Brody is Bella's little brother.)

Brody is so ridiculously cute. So cuddly and sweet and is just precious. He's the kind of baby that you wish you have, it's true. We love you Brody, and we're so, so pleased you were born.

--

Proper sibling introductions?"My name is Lila... and I will be your big sister."

 (Lila's new moby wrap. Um, how cute? See here.)

Around these parts we've been talking to Lila about her new baby sister quite often.

We tell her that pretty soon she'll be here to live with us. For good.
We've shown her the baby's bedroom and let her play in there. The door is always open.
We've repeatedly pointed out Baby Girl's crib... let her touch the sheets, play with her blankets...

Lila seems pretty interested.

In fact, she's been swaddling ALL of her babies/stuffed animals, rocks them and "shushhhes" them. (It's ridiculously precious. I must get it on tape.)

That said... here's my question:

What more can we do to prepare her?

And, I have another question:

Lila is going to be 19 months old. For all intents and purposes, she and her baby sister will be a year and a half apart in age, mas or menos (more or less). The doctor has said that he'll be happy to sneak Lila in to the hospital after I give birth to her sister so that Lila can meet her, see me, etc. (Children under 11 aren't allowed.)

His stance is that it'll be a good thing for her to see me, see the baby, etc.

I thought this was a fantastic idea.  At first.

Then I thought about it more...

I'm not sure if it's right for us.

Lila's a year and a half old. She's not 2. She's not 3. She's not 5. My fear is that she will come to the hospital and be amazing and great and cute and fun... but then when it's time to leave me... I imagine (and I don't think I'm too far off here...) she will LOSE HER MIND.

I feel that leaving me... with the new baby... and having to go home without us isn't the smartest option. It's kind of like we're setting her up for a meltdown.

We're truly thinking of introducing Lila to her baby sister at home. (I'll be bringing Lila a baby home for the hospital, too. One for her.)

Thoughts?


--

Lapse of judgement.

While living on the Baja Peninsula is pretty fantastic for a bazillion reasons, the shopping blows.

Home decor options are treacherous. Not only are they sickeningly limited, they're always overpriced.

Sometimes you just throw in the towel and buy whatever you need - no matter what it looks like.

That said, we needed a new rug for by the kitchen sink. The tile is cold this time of year.
I'm guilty.

I bought this rug.

 It absolutely looks like a Bill Cosby sweater, doesn't it?

That's how we refer to it in our house.

"Craig, watch your manners. Don't spill that on the Bill Cosby sweater."

"Lila, get your books and sit on the Bill Cosby sweater."

--

Sad.

I paid the equivalent of $25 for this rug.

We got home and I was like, "Hmmm... that's ugly."

Craig's response: "Yeah... maybe we should have gotten the green one."

I'm willing to say that the green-themed Cosby-sweater rug might not have been any better than what we got.
 

--

Lila

This is a blackberry photo of our video monitor. Lila is sitting in her crib. Singing. Kicking her legs through the crib's spindles.

That is definitely my child.

Without a doubt.


Sent from BlackBerry® Wireless

Produce Report: 38 weeks (Post-doctor's appt.)

I'm almost there! I'm almost there!

For the second week in a row, I was told that my baby is not small. :) (Really?)

Wanna see how big I am? Comical, no?

Yes, I am 41 inches AROUND. (And no, those aren't stretch marks at the bottom of my belly. They're water-retention, pants-marks. You can find the all over my body.)

So I love that Baby Girl 2011 is possibly going to weigh 8.1 lbs. This excites me. Here's why: Lila was teeny tiny to me. (6 lbs, 8 oz.) The idea of having a little whopper, a cherub, pleases me. This means that Baby Girl 2011 and her big sister will be different from the get. Awesome.

Q: What did the doctor say?
A.  He said what I already know: the baby is fully cooked, full-term and can be born any time now. He, like many OB/GYNs in this country, would deliver my baby today if I so desired. However, we're still hanging on. The placenta is healthy yet "aging" (normal). She has plenty of amniotic fluid. She can bake a bit longer.

Random thoughts:

• I AM SO EXCITED to call this baby by her name!
• The baby's room is nearly done. (Waiting on the rug and the bedside table. Complete pictures of the nursery after I receive said items.) I'm at a loss with decorating the shelves. A complete loss.
• I'm pleased about getting my hair done tomorrow. After that, I can have the baby. :) I'd like some bangs first, though. (Side bangs. Nothing too crazay for this hormonal lady.)
• Yesterday, when Craig took me out to lunch, the waiter asked me if I was expecting "one baby or two." (I don't think he should have expected a tip.)
• I've noticed that many people like to say, "Oh my! You look like you're about to pop." Hmm... I suppose.
• I am bracing myself for when we announce the baby's name and then people say, "I knew it!" That prospect annoys me because even WE didn't know it for a while.
• I am no longer sleeping. I just lay there in the bed attempting to force my sweet daughter to remove her butt from my ribs.
• I CANNOT WAIT TO START USING THIS CHILD'S NAME.
• I have gained a substantial amount of what I presume is water weight. (riiiight.) I gained 29 lbs with Lila and [so far] approximately 36 lbs. with this one. Yep. It's a myth lie that you, "gain less" with the second one because, "you're so busy chasing around the first one." LIE. LIE. LIE. (Note: I started out at the exact same weight for both pregnancies.)
• I made the baby a gnome hat. (Oh, how I love gnomes...) Didn't have the good flash on the camera. Sorry.

 So that's about it.

Here's me.

Only a bit longer like this...

...then I'll be lookin' like this.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Anywho.

If you haven't already, guess the specs of the baby here! (Thanks for playing along.)

Later.
kb


--