Sisters

This whole little sister thing has pretty much rocked Isabella's world. She is having a hard time adjusting, which was to be expected. Don't get me wrong, she loves her sister and loves to hold her and love on her. She is just use to our undivided attention, and she isn't getting as much of it so she is acting out. This is hard on us because she has always been so good and compliant. We rarely saw defiance in her but to say that now would not be the case. We know that she will calm down but turning 3 and getting a baby sister with in 2 months of each other is hard on a little girl. I know this to shall pass!

I was lucky enough to get some pictures of her being so sweet to Brynlee. These are the moments I'm so glad I have on camera.

There are some things that have blown Bella's mind, mostly breastfeeding and everything that goes with eat. The first time she saw me feed Brynlee, she watched for a minute, then said, "Mommy........ Is she eating your boob?". I died laughing, while I probably should have been explaining. She was quite concerned about what was going on.

The first time she saw me pumping, her poor little mind was blown. She had no idea what in the world was going on. She said, "Mommy....... Are you doing your boobs?". Yep, that's exactly what I'm doing. Everytime she would leave the room or the house and come back in, the first thing she would ask me was, "Mommy, are you going to do your boobs?". She has gotten more use to me feeding and pumping so it's not that crazy to her anymore but she still talks to me about it.

One time when I was feeding Brynlee, Bella brought her doll over to the couch and sat down beside me and announced she was going to feed her doll. She proceeded to lift up her shirt and "feed" her baby. I couldn't help but think it was cute!



This child is a beautiful, fun, hilarious, mess and I couldn't love her more!

2 week photo shoot

I couldn't let to much time pass before I did a full on photo shoot of this little beauty. I have pictures of Bella on the front porch in a tutu so I decided I need the same for Brynlee.

Things are going very well. She is waking up once in the middle of the night to eat. I don't mind. I enjoy this special time with her. It's amazing what an easy transition this 1 to 2 children has been. I was quite afraid of it before it happened. I think we have done a good job if I do say so myself. It does take us a little longer to get out of the house but all in all I would say so far, so good! Plus I think Brynlee has made it really easy on us! Things could change, check back with me on that in a couple of months. HA!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We celebrated Dad's birthday with a dinner. Yes, I took my 10 day old out to a restaurant. I gotta get out of the house! We went down to Clear Lake Shores to a place that serves some great hamburgers. Hurricane Ike blew down our favorite hamburger stand but a few weeks ago we discovered that they were serving the burgers at a restaurant just down the street from the old place. YIPPEE! We ate there three times in a matter of a couple of weeks. It had been so long we had to make up for lost time. HA! We had a great time. Tim, Alyssa, and Ryan met us for dinner as well.

I can tell you exactly what Dad is thinking here. "I can't believe you were frozen for 3 years!" He is completely amazed by that fact! HA!

I really love this little guy. He gives the best hugs of any kiddo I have ever known and I'm lucky enough to get an unsolicited one everytime I'm in his presence. The best part is every single one of them starts with his precious grin!

Tim and Alyssa

Yes Bella is blurry in this picture. She doesn't love to have her picture taken. It has to be her idea, which rarely happens!

My new normal! Love.

Happy Birthday Dad! We are so grateful for you! We love you!

1 week

We are so in love with this precious baby girl. She is so sweet! We went to the doctor on Monday and she still only weighs 6lbs 5 ozs. She is just a tiny little thing. I just want to squeeze her and kiss her and stare at her all the time.

She is such a good baby. She is a completely different newborn than Bella was. She eats like a champ. This is such a different experience for me because Bella and I had such a hard time with breastfeeding. I now completely understand why breastfeeding moms are so gung ho about it. Brynlee has done such a good job and I absolutely love being able to provide her with her complete nutrition. I'm pretty sure it's going to break my heart when I have to go back to work and eventually have to stop. I'm going to at least try to keep going in the mornings and evenings. We will see how long my milk lasts. BUT for now I will continue to love feeding her.

She rarely fusses. And she sleeps very well too! When she is awake she is very alert to her surroundings and seems to be watching us. She is pretty noisy, but I love her sweet sounds. They are comforting at night. She sleeps in her cradle next to me. Most nights she is awake when I put her down and she coos until she falls asleep.

I'm completely amazed that I have yet another baby girl. I am doing everything I can to savor every moment of her infancy. I know it doesn't last long. So when she needs to be held, I sit and hold her, maybe even longer than she needs. I seriously can't get enough of her. My life is pretty much perfect.

Visitors

We have had lots of visitors come see our new baby girl. We had several in the hospital and more when we got home. My grandparents made it into Houston in time for Brynlee to be born. They were finally able to get their hands on her on Thursday. Of course my parents were there as well but somehow I didn't get any pictures of that. I have no idea how that happened. Our friends Laura and Scott also stopped by on their way back to Austin. I didn't get pictures with them either. Niki also came up and so did Tim and Alyssa. I have got to get better at getting my camera out. I have gotten so bad about that. Of course I did have a little bit of an excuse. Just a little.

Mema and Papa with their newsest great grandgirl.


On Saturday Terry's sister, mom, grandmother, and niece came for a visit.

Aunt Angie getting some love.

Granny Gail getting her love.

Granny getting her love. Granny is where Brynlee gets her middle name. Annie Mae and Brynlee Mae.

And again there is no picture of Terry's niece Taylor holding Brynlee. And I confess these last three pictures Angie sent to me. Thank goodness she was taking pictures!

On Sunday, Mom, Dad, Tim, Alyssa, Courtney and Ryan came over for a visit. I DID get a picture of the grandparents with their 4 grandchildren.

Courtney is in LOVE with her baby cousin. She is so sweet and gentle with her. She says she wishes she would stay this small forever. I must admit, there is part of me that feels the same way. Just sayin'.

Going Home

Friday morning Dr. Phillips came to see me and told me we were going home. YEA!! Pretty soon after that we got word that Brynlee was being released as well. YEA again!! I got up and started getting around. Terry and Bella came up to help me get ready. I showered and dressed. Obviously I chose to forgo make-up this whole summer so why start now. Plus I was just ready to go and didn't want to take the time.

Bella was extremely excited about us all going home together. So much so that she nearly gave me a nervous breakdown with all the squeals and running around she was doing. Silly doesn't even begin to describe how she was acting. I was slightly stressed.

She really loves her baby sister. I hope and pray that I do a good job of fostering their relationship into something that makes them best friends.

My beautiful first born that was slightly out of control. Understandably so!

Brynlee all dressed up with a very important place to go, HOME!

Baby girl was discharged weighing a whopping 6lbs 5ozs. She sure is a little thing! Apparently that's how I grow them!

We headed downstairs and to the car. We stopped off at the front desk for a pink cross. The same stop we had made just 3 years earlier with Bella. I must admit I got a little teary thinking back to that and thinking this will be the last time we make this trip. Hormones obviously played a part in that.

We got home and unloaded and our life as a family of 4 officially got under way! It's hard to believe this 2 perfect and beautiful girls are all ours and we get to keep them! My heart is so full.

Big Sister, Little Sister

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty

I had my perfect plan for how these two sisters were going to meet. Unfortunately it didn't quite happen the way I wanted it to happen. The first time Bella saw Brynlee was through the nursery window under an oxygen hood. Not in Mommy's arms like I had planned. Bella had already gone home by the time we got Brynlee in the room with us. So we had to modify my plans. Mom brought Bella up at around 10 am on Thursday. Bella was excited and a little apprehensive about meeting her baby sister.

But it was great and the important thing is that Bella did finally get to meet her! There were a lot of "AWWWWW's" from Bella.

There were a lot of "She's so cute!" from Bella.

Oh how sweet it is to be a mama of two precious, beautiful girls.

Bella loves to touch Brynlee's head. We have tried to make her be gentle. We'll let you know how that works out.

Bella got to hold her sister. She holds her often and loves it!

And then we were a family of 4!