Doctor Visit

I almost forgot to write about our first joint doctor visit. It was great fun.
Last Thursday, I took both girls to the doctor. Ryann had her 2 year well visit and Avery had a 2 week weight check. It was quite an adventure juggling both girls.

Ryann is officially a big girl now. She had to stand on a scale to get her weight and stand against the wall for her height measurement. This was the first time that they didn't lay her down on the baby scale. She didn't really like the whole process. She cried a bit. She weighed 27.8 pounds and was 33.5 inches tall. That puts her at the 50th percentile for both. I guess you could say that our child is definitely average. :0) The doctor checked her out and talked to her. She said she looks very healthy and is talking well for her age. Then, Ryann got a shot. She looked at us like, "how could you do that?" I always feel guilty when that happens but I know it's for her own good.

Avery had gone to the doctor a few days after we brought her home. She weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces that day. The doctor said we should give her formula & not stress over breastfeeding. We have been doing both. This time, she weighed in at 8 pounds 12.5 ounces. She finally got back to her birthweight. The doctor said they look for kids to be back at birthweight by 2 weeks. Avery took closer to 3 weeks but she's there. She's a great little eater. She's averaging an ounce per hour all day long. I'm sure she'll be chubby in no time.

Overall, it wasn't as bad as I feared. We got through it then took lunch over to Scott to fill him in. It was quite an outing. Avery has to go back at 2 months. Ryann doesn't have to go until she's 3. I guess I won't have to take them together again for quite a while. Sounds good to me. :0)

It's Madness!

Life in our household right now can sometimes be described as pure madness. There are times when both girls are upset and in need of something and other times when Ryann is wreaking havoc all by herself. Scott and I spend a great deal of time protecting No. 2 from No.1. Ryann loves her sissy but she's a bit rough at times. She likes to kiss her, hug her, hold her on her lap, and occasionally throw in a head butt just to keep us all on our toes. What fun we have!

There are those rare occasions when Ryann and Avery nap at the same time. Those are the times that I decide between a nap of my own and a shower. Fortunately for Scott, I usually opt for the shower. When he's home, I can occasionally rest during the day. I'm still catching up from the last couple of weeks without much sleep. Avery is starting to get into a good sleeping pattern. She usually goes to sleep for the night around 11pm and we can usually sleep until 4:30 or so. Sometimes she can't make it that long but that's ok. Ryann is still a great sleeper. She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm. We don't hear from her until 7am most mornings. It's nice to have some quiet time with Avery between 8 and 11pm. We try really hard not to make Ryann jealous of her sister. That makes it hard to spoil Avery too much while Ryann's awake, even though we want to.

Overall, life with two kids is more hectic but we adore our little girls. They are tons of fun.

Our Baby Is Growing Up

Today was Ryann's 2nd birthday. We had a few friends over and had cake. She got a couple of gifts, more than she needed. She enjoyed having other kids around but she gets quiet when we have company. She didn't eat her cake or ice cream while people were here. She waited until everyone left and had a piece of cake and juice. Her cake and plates had Bolt on them. She loves that movie lately. Her 1 gift from us was a stuffed Bolt doll. She seemed to really enjoy playing with the cake toppers afterward.

I can't believe she's two already. It makes me want to freeze time and keep her and Avery little forever. They grow so fast. I try to keep that in mind and enjoy every minute but it still goes too fast. It seems like yesterday when I rocked Ryann to sleep as a tiny baby. Before we know it, our girls will be graduating high school and be adults. Ugh! It brings tears to my eyes. I'll blame it on the post partum hormones. :0)

Four Years!

Yesterday, Scott and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. My father-in-law was kind and brave enough to babysit the girls so Scott and I could go out to dinner. We went to the Verrado Grille at Verrado's golf club. It was a nice place and our meals were good. More than anything, though, it was nice to have some alone time. We adore our girls but a little grown-up time once in a while is a very good thing.

Looking back on our first four years of marriage, we can say that we are very fortunate people. We've traveled a bit, enjoyed lots of sporting events, celebrated the birth of 2 beautiful girls, made a nice home for ourselves and have good jobs. More than anything, we're fortunate to have lots of love in our house. We are very lucky. Life is good.

Professional Pics

Last Friday, my mom and I took the girls to JC Penney to get their pictures taken. Ryann needed her 2 year old pictures and Avery needed newborn pictures. I thought it would be nice to have some good ones of the 2 of them together. Well, Ryann was not cooperative in the least. The photographer asked her to lean over and hug or kiss her sister. Ryann just kept saying "no," and tried to run away or cry. We only got one that I didn't think was horrible. We also took individuals of both girls. Ryann only smiled when the photographer pretended that Ryann hurt her. Hmmm... nice kid. Avery slept through the whole thing. We couldn't even get a peek at her eyes. Oh well. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We'll try again in a few months. We've decided not to take Avery every month like we took Ryann. It was just too much. We'll be on the 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 month plan. That'll be much more manageable and hopefully keep me sane. :0)

Strange Phenomenon

With Ryann, I gained a total of 22 pounds throughout the pregnancy. When she was born at 8 lbs 8 oz, I thought I'd weigh at least 10 pounds less. Well, not exactly. I lost 6 pounds. Hmmm... I accepted the whole swelling theory and eventually got over it.

This time, I gained a whopping 61 lbs. I was prepared for the swelling but I still thought I'd lose 8lbs or so because she was so big. Well...I didn't. Yesterday, I weighed in and discovered that I had only lost 5 lbs. Yes, that's correct, 5 lbs for an 8 lb 12 oz baby. I am perplexed. This one was a bigger baby and I lost less. I can say that my legs and ankles are harboring a whole lot of water weight right now. My brother lovingly told me that I have kankles. Thanks, Chad.

So, to sum it all up, my belly's still huge and my legs are at their largest ever. As soon as I get things under control around here, I'll be starting Weight Watchers again. :0)

She's Here!

Finally, our second little girl has arrived. We're so excited. We think she's absolutely adorable, but we might be a little biased.

We were scheduled for a c-section at 10:30am on Saturday, May 2. We needed to be there by 8:30. At 7:45am, I was getting Ryann dressed in her room. All of a sudden...woooosh! My water broke. I sent Scott running for a towel. We finished getting Ryann's clothes on, loaded the car and headed to the hospital. By the time we got there & got checked in, I was having pretty good contractions. I was very unprepared for that. I thought I was getting off easy this time! The nurse called my doctor and everyone headed in early. By the time the anesthesiologist got there, I was more than ready. I got myself onto the OR table & they did the spinal block in the midst of my contractions. That's fun....they tell me not to move because they're in my spine while I'm trying to breath through a nasty contraction.
After that, things went smoothly. She was born at 10:20am, weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long. She was slightly larger than Ryann had been. The doctors and nurses all said she was definitely over 9lbs but the scale didn't agree. I guess I lost the over/under on that one.

My recovery went well, much better than with Ryann. They let us keep the baby with us the whole time so that was nice. We decided to name her Avery Edith Dobbins. She's the sweetest little girl! She loves to be cuddled and is very content most of the time. We didn't get much sleep in the hospital due to all the people in and out of the room. We were glad to get home but didn't sleep much the first night either. I've been trying to feed her every 2-3 hours and she's definitely hungry.

Ryann seems to like Avery. She wants to hold her a lot. We're working on the gentleness. She calls her "Baby Sissy" and smiles at her all the time. Ryann likes to point out all of Avery's body parts. She points and says, "eyes," "mouth," "hair," "nose," "tummy," "toes," etc. It's cute. I hope she continues to like her.

Here are a couple of pictures from the hospital. This is my brother, Chad, aka Uncle Chuckie. The other picture is my mom with the girls.