2 months old!

Wren will be 2 months old in a few days!  I can't believe how quickly she is growing!  She is getting more personality with each day; trying to act like a 6 month old, already!  Her neck is strong, and her lungs are too... ;)

Already sitting in the Bumbo, like a big girl! ;)

She sleeps very well at night, wakes up for one feeding, but last night she went to bed at 9 and woke at 3:30, so she slept 6.5 hours straight through!!  That is the longest yet (sleeping alone), so I am going to try to feed her a little later than that tonight and see if she can sleep past the 3 o'clock hour, because it seems like 3 is her favorite number, like Mommy!! :)

Jude and Wren are waking up at the same time, which makes mornings REALLY HECTIC!  I wish they would wake up at least 20 minutes apart, so I could feed one... then the other, instead of bouncing around the kitchen with Wren on my chest trying to pour Jude his milk and get him some breakfast.  ..... The life of a Mommy of two, I guess!

As I mentioned, Wren sleeps great at night, but during the day... that is another story!  She is becoming more and more addicted to breastfeeding... which makes my life a bit more stressful! I may need to try bottle feeding a little more.  I will see what the doctor thinks at her 2 month check up on the 17th.

She had her first big blow out this afternoon.  We were driving home, and I heard her making her normal explosive noises, so I was prepared to change her diaper when we got home... I just wasn't expecting to put my hand in it, as it was all over her left side and some made it's way out into the carseat! :/  Yuck!  But... I'm glad she got it all out, because she is in a much better mood compared to this morning! :D

Now, feast your eyes on this beauty!! ;)

One of my favorite faces of hers! :)  It's her gitty face!

Big blue eyes!! :)

7 weeks!

Wren is 7 weeks!

* Wren is visibly getting bigger every day!  Daddy came home yesterday and was amazed at how much she's grown! :)

* Now that she is bigger, Wren is able to eat more at each feeding, giving me more of a break between nursing! :)  I'm enjoying feeling more like a human.. and less like a nursing machine!

* She is smiling more throughout the day!  I absolutely LOVE THIS SMILE!! :D

* Big brother is warming up to Wren with each passing day!  Bryan and I got a kick out of Jude offering her his PACIFIER when he was laying down for bed!  We couldn't believe that he would give up his ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING, especially in bed! :D  Jude is such a sweetheart!!!

* Wren is still a pooping machine!  I will change 1495734 diapers a day for her, if it means she will not be lactose intolerant, and have trouble pooping like her brother did!

* Wren is the life of a party!  We discovered that on Sunday, when we went to Grandpa and Grandma Moser's birthday party!  We were greeted at the door by at least 5 adoring women!  She was never put down! :D

We are in love with this little girl more and more every day!  Wren truly brightens my day! :D

6 weeks!

Wren is 6 weeks old today!  She is one active little peanut!  I call her my little firecracker!!  She may be a little spoiled already... as she loves to be held! ;)  On Friday, I noticed she had a red bumpy rash across her chin and neck.  It lasted a couple of days, so yesterday I took her to see Dr. Emm.  He said it was just baby acne and that it happens often to summer babies, due to the heat.  It was a relief to know it didn't involve an allergy of some sort (I am still on pins and needles hoping a lactose intolerance doesn't pop up).  Wren was weighed by the nurse when we got there... she is now 8lbs 1oz!!  I am excited to watch her grow and to know I'm doing it all on my own!! (Jude was breastfed for 3 months until he had to go to soy formula, but I was always supplementing with him, since I wasn't producing enough breast-milk for his big appetite.)  I pride myself on being able to fed our daughter, plus pump extra each morning and night!! :D

Each week I would like to at least post some Wren characteristics as I come across them!

* Wren wakes up every morning and gives both Bryan and I big smiles!!  I remember Jude doing that now... and it makes me sad how quickly I've forgotten Jude at infancy! :/

*Wren is a great eater and a pooping MACHINE!!

* She would love it if she could be glued to my chest!

* Wren is incredibly strong!!  She is always lifting her head, and trying to roll over!

* Wren keeps eye contact so well for a 6 week old!  She will smile at me and she even tries grabbing at my face!! :)

* She loves to be swaddled when she is tired.

* Wren will take a pacifier, but does not like to fall asleep with it in her mouth.  She spits it out just before closing her eyes.  Sometimes the swaddler, or blanket, is in the way, but she is never too tired to fight to get it out by turning her head back and fourth!  Sometimes Mommy is there to help! :D

* She has days where she is up for 6 hours straight in the afternoon and evening!  It's so bizarre when that happens... I've never known an infant to stay awake for that long... especially my first born!!!  Jude wanted to sleep every 3 or 4 hours up until he was ONE... maybe even later!!

* Wren is a great sleeper through the night!!............... As long as she is next to Mommy.....

Funny side note:

When laying on her back, Wren is always flailing her arms and legs, (hence the need for the swaddler, and why I felt like a constant punching bag the last half of my pregnancy!) so THREE times now, when I come over to her fussing, she has her head turned to the side, her arm up behind her head, and has a death grip on a chunk of her hair!!!  I feel so bad for her because she doesn't have the sense that SHE is pulling her hair, which causes her pain!  All she knows is.... "I'm holding something!," "There's no way I'm letting go!," and "My head hurts!"  "MOMMY HELP!!"  Haha it's funny, sad, and cute, all in one!!!

Mommy and Daddy adore you, Wren!  We can't wait to see more of your personality come through as you grow bigger, stronger, and smarter!! XOXO

Gramps was here to visit last week!

Concerned?

Auntie Erica will be having a little girl like Wren at the beginning of next year!  Kinley and Wren are sure to be really close friends! :)

Nana's birthday was yesterday!  Happy 50th, Nana!!!

Daddy and Wren

She sleeps really well on Daddy's chest!

4 weeks old already!

Wren will be 4 weeks old tomorrow!  Even though I feel like we have had her awhile.... a month seems too long.  So far, she is an excellent baby!  She is a good eater... even though I'm still forced to pump occasionally.  I make around 4 or 5 extra ounces a day, which is nice to have for a sitter. Wren has to be the most alert newborn I've ever seen (and I've seen A LOT of newborns)!  She will stay awake for 3 or 4 hours at a time.  When she is awake, she enjoys being held so that she can look at your face... she is very interested in what we are doing.  We are prepared for her to be the opposite of her brother, who is a bit reserved and quiet.  She is already trying really hard to roll over!!  As if that wasn't impressive enough, she is also sleeping through the night!!!  Last night she fussed just slightly, which woke me up.  I then realized I needed her to nurse.  I got her to latch, but not sure how much she really ate, if anything.  Jude wakes me up in the morning... not our newborn daughter, how crazy is that!?!  Jude woke up at 7:30 this morning.  Wren was still asleep, so I was able to get Jude up and changed, before returning to get Wren!

What a joy you have been, my sweet baby Wren!  I love you so much, and look forward to watching you grow every day!  You are perfect so far, let's keep it that way, okay?! ;)


Side note:  With all the excitement of Wren, I totally forgot to congratulate my hubby on surprising me with a very special gift!  While in the hospital, Bryan would take Jude home at night, then return in the morning.  So, while the nurse was checking Wren's vitals in the morning... in walks my boys!  I may have been a little distracted by my baby boy, but I still have no idea how he did it!  As the nurse was finishing up with Wren, she swaddled her back up and handed her to Bryan.  He then laid her down in front of me.  It took me only about a minute before I unswaddled Wren to make sure her diaper was on her comfortably (I'm kind of anal about securing diapers just so!)  As I unswaddled her I saw this little cardboard box.  I took it out in disgust, at first thinking the nurse left it in there, but then I saw "Pandora" across the box!  I was in shock because it's not often that Bryan is able to get things by me like that... and he isn't the most creative, so I was thoroughly impressed!!! :)  He got me Wren's birthstone charm for my Pandora bracelet that he bought me for mother's day!!  I now have a "mom" bead, Jude's birthstone, and Wren's birthstone!  I can't wait for more holidays, because I will be so happy with more beads for my bracelet!!!

I love you, Bryan!!!

Photo dump of our beautiful baby girl!

Our first family picture!

Wren's going home outfit!

Picture taken after her first sponge bath at home!

Our super alert little girl! 

Hospital pics!  Only a little over a day old!

Lovin' this family we've created!!

The two most important people in the world!! :)

Wren got a free photo shoot with Jessica Rivera!  I was so excited because her work with newborns is amazing!

Sleeping beauty!

Check out our little MODEL!!

<3

And she really is a model!  Jessica's vendors use the pictures she takes with their items to try to sell their products on their websites!  It's so neat to see my baby in these online ads!  Too too cool!!!! :D

Happy BIRTHday, Wren!

So, my doctor is THE BEST… she helped me get Wren out early!  I was so over being pregnant, and I felt like labor wasn't far away, so Monday morning she stripped my membranes. If you don’t know what that means …  she swept around the amniotic sac to disconnect it from the uterus.  It was pretty painful, but it only took a minute.  She said I could possibly have Wren the next day.  It was hard for me to believe, but I was hopeful!  She did that at 9am and by noon I could feel contractions.  They weren't super painful, but they became more and more intense throughout the day, and by 7pm I knew I would want to head to the hospital that night.  I wanted to get Jude to bed, so that my mom could just come stay at our house while we went in, in case I wasn't really in labor, and would be returning home later.  We got to the hospital by 10pm and I was having painful contractions 4 minutes apart.  They called Dr. Thornton to see if she wanted to keep me there, and of course she said yes.  The nurses didn't know that she had actually started all this early labor for me.  ;)

I was at 3cm then, and by midnight I was at 4cm.  At that point, I was able to get an epidural.  I then tried to sleep to prepare for delivery, but it was a challenge.  My legs were the only things that went COMPLETELY numb! (They were DEAD and it drove me insane that I couldn't lift them off the bed!) At first I didn't feel the contractions anymore, but throughout the night I kept waking up feeling horrible contraction pains .  I finally told the nurse when the sun came up, and she then had the anesthesiologist come back in around 6:00am to give me more.  It worked, but it made me puke during every contraction!  At that point I had reached 7cm!

At around 7:30am Dr. Thornton came in to break my water.  She said she was headed to the office but she was sure she would be back soon for delivery!  I immediately got more intense contractions.  I could again feel them, and was getting SO PISSED OFF!  I was so angry that the epidural was not doing the kind of job it did when I was laboring with Jude, and that my legs felt like a ton of bricks!  I was not only pissed about that, but also because I had the world’s oldest labor nurse EVER!  AHH!  She has been working there for 47 years!  She was like the most annoying grandmother that just WOULDN’T GO AWAY!  She was not the gentle, sweet, kind of nurse that I was used to having with Jude.  If I ever have another baby, (at this point I don’t plan on it) I will be requesting younger nurses!  

At around 8:20am, after bitching about the pain long enough (and about ripping my nurse's head off), she decided to check me.  She said “OH, you are at 10cm!  It’s time to push!”  I couldn’t feel my bottom at all, so I didn’t feel the urge to push, but I did my best, and sure enough, Wren’s head was peeking!  She told me to push again, and Bryan was like “Don’t you need to call the doctor!”  We were both so pissed at this woman by this point that EVERYTHING she did, or said, we couldn’t stand!  After another push she called Dr. Thornton and the team of nurses came in to set up for the delivery.  Dr. Thornton must have run to my room, because she was there within minutes it seemed. 

I was in such pain that the nurse said I should just push through the contractions because it would make me feel better.  I hate to admit she was right, but it did feel better to push.  Dr. Thornton was at my bedside for only 2 contractions worth of pushing…. at 8:58am Wren made her grand escape with zero damage to Mama!!!!!!  :D

Both Bryan and I cried at the sight of our beautiful baby girl.  We were instantly in love!!! <3

STATS
Date: July 17, 2012!  I had been hoping her b-day would be 7-17!  I love when things go my way! :D 
Time: 8:58am
Weight: 6lbs 9oz
Length: 19.5in
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Light Blue (All babies are born with blue eyes... but I think her's may stay blue like mama's eyes!)

I can't wait to hold my baby girl!

Went to the doctor this morning.  I am now 3cms dilated and still at 80% effaced.  She stripped my membranes, which felt HIGHLY uncomfortable (luckily Bryan was able to lend a hand to squeeze)!  Dr. Thornton said that I MAY  have Wren tomorrow, if not tonight!  I am hopeful that Wren will be here tomorrow... I like the birth date 7-17!  :)
She said I will probably bleed, but I haven't.  I am, however, having mild contractions every 5 minutes...!  I have been tracking them for the last hour!  I hope they continue, and become more painful, so that I can be admitted to the hospital!  I can't wait to hold my baby girl!!!
If she isn't here by Friday, I will see Dr. Thornton again.

Current weight: 121.6 lbs. (Lost a pound, which is common before delivery!)