6 Months Already

Even with the sleepless nights, little to no daily breaks, and constantly working, I can't believe my baby has already reached her half-birthday! She is such a happy baby most of the time and such a joy to watch and teach and learn from every day. Right now she can roll front to back, smile on cue (if she desires), loves (LOVES) her big brother, hates having poopy pants, despises her car seat unless we are moving and all her needs are met, makes noise almost every waking second, squeaks at an unbelievable decibel, and is very aware and curious about everything around her. She also loves licking anything she can put her hands on so she keeps me on my toes making sure nothing is in her reach and she loves grabbing her toes while I am changing her diaper and then kicking me and laughing while I am trying to put the new diaper on her naked booty. She likes being in whatever room I am in and is, therefore, observing all that I am doing. She doesn't have a need to be constantly held but I get the impression that she would not object either. She has her big brother's heart and love like I have never witnessed before. Of course she has mine and her daddy's as well but I wondered how big brother would do with a new baby in the house. I am constantly reminded that my worries are misplaced. He is usually very patient and understanding if her needs interfere with his wants even though I try not to put one ahead of the other. Unfortunately sometimes baby screams trump everything else. All in all both my kiddos are great fun and I am enjoying every moment as much as I can :).

Sweet baby girl

Grabbing her toes

Sticking out her little tongue

I DID IT!!

Round 1 of making baby food is complete. Baby girl has carrots and bananas ready when she is. I have also done some zucchini, sweet potatoes, avocados, squash, and cantaloupe. I always said I would've made baby boy's food if I had known how easy it was. So now I am proving it :-). I finally got to use my Ninja to puree and it is AWESOME! I found these cute little containers at the Dollar Store that fit two ice cubes perfectly. So after I pureed the foods and froze them in ice cube trays (except for the avocados) I had a neat little storage system in place. When I ran out of containers, I used Ziploc bags for the rest. I felt very accomplished.

2 Months

Even though I am 22 days late in posting this, the pictures were actually taken on her 2nd month birthday :). 

One Month

On 1 October, my baby turned 1...well, 1 month old. I bought some stickers for just this occasion and was so glad I did. There is one for every month up to a year. Now, if I can just keep up with them every month...

This month she has learned to eat, sleep, pee, and poop. At her two week appointment, she weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz and was 19 inches. The doctor and nurse both asked me what formula she has been eating and were both equally shocked when I told them she wasn't eating formula and it was only breastmilk. This mama was doing something right :). She is a healthy, happy baby. She reminds me of her big brother at this age in that she only cries if something is wrong or she is needing something from us. And there are several warning squeaks prior to full blown crying most of the time. She is also learning to smile. It is so great to be experiencing this again and to be able to enjoy all these "firsts" for the second time.

"Mama, Can I...

...change Kira's diaper?" "Absolutely, son." So I took pictures. He was doing a wonderful job carefully wiping her area to make sure it was clean and getting the diaper ready, so I turned my back for less than a minute...and then..."MAMA - SHE PEED ON ME!!" You can imagine the laughter that came from this mama :D. He didn't think it was funny but he still took it in stride. I had to finish changing her because he wouldn't go near her after that but he still gave it a good try.

Wiping her down

Stretches while she waits for the diaper

My Babies

Bucky wanted me to take some pictures of him and Kira...so I did :) These were taken on 16 Sept. in our front yard

Kira's First Visitors

My mom and dad, or Gamma and Grandaddy, were here for the birth and a couple of days after Kira was born. They were only able to stay for a couple of days. This was not long enough for me, but let's face it, I don't know what would have satisfied me at that time. I was just glad they were able to come at all. At this point, hubby had gone back to finish training so I had some much appreciated help for the first couple days of her life.

Grandaddy, Kira, Bucky, and Gamma

Three female generations (and Bucky :) )

Love like no other...

Her 2nd Day

Kira had a pretty busy second day here in the outside world. She had her first "photo shoot", her newborn hearing screening, and her first car ride to go home. She did great through all of it! As long as she was kept as warm as possible and wasn't too disturbed for anything she was quite content. I had them turn the air off for the pictures so she wouldn't freeze. I was thrilled they didn't still do the "put the newborn on the flat surface with a pink or blue paper background" pictures. They definitely turned out much better with her being comfortable. As for her hearing, they had to do it twice. The lady told me that she was apparently too comfortable and fell asleep. Therefore her brain did not respond so the test was repeated. She passed that one with flying colors :). And then came the long anticipated and awaited discharge and ride home. While it looks like she was not wanting to go home, she was only upset because I unswaddled her to change her clothes. She calmed down the minute we reswaddled her. What can I say? Baby likes blankets. And to make things perfect - we saw a rainbow on the way home.

Collage of her hospital pictures

Hearing Test

So Snuggly

Sleeping so soundly

"Wrap me up!"

Heading Out - the MAKE you ride

First time in the car seat

The Rainbow

The Big Event

On the morning of August 31st, I started having some weird pains in my back. After taking Bucky to school, I walked to my neighbor-friend's house to ask her about it. She has had 4 kids so I knew she could advise me about whether or not I should be concerned. She told me it sounded like back labor and that I needed to get checked at the hospital. After thinking about it, I decided to go after I picked up the kiddo from school that afternoon unless things progressed and got much worse. We devised a plan to pick up the kids and leave them with her hubby after he got home so we could go to the hospital for me to get checked just to be on the safe side. So that's what we did. I called my hubby to put him on alert to jump on a plane in case this was the real deal and I also called my mom to alert her. I was supposed to be induced the following Friday but baby girl apparently had other plans. When we got there they hooked me up to monitors and we waited...and waited. Eventually the nurse told me to walk around for 2 hours and then return to get checked. I was given strict orders to stay away from stairs, stay on the 3rd floor, and don't eat or drink anything. So PJ (neighbor-friend) and I headed for the elevator and went to the McDonald's on the first floor for some food. Then we walked...for an hour...because at that point she had clearly dropped more and I really didn't want to have a dramatic birth in the hallway when I was so close to a nice, comfy, relaxing room. After just an hour I had dilated another cm so they admitted me. It took a little bit for it to sink in that this was really happening, but ready or not, here she comes... PJ's hubby brought Bucky up to the hospital to spend the night with me and PJ stayed with us as well. My parents began the drive and hubby booked the first flight out of Tucson. Unfortunately that wasn't until early the next morning which meant he wouldn't arrive until midday at the Atlanta airport. So as I slowly progressed, had a few rounds of Demerol, thoroughly enjoyed my cup after cup of ice chips, took cat naps, stood up and stretched, and endured pain beyond anything I every want to experience again, hubby was on a plane. Although hubs missed out on the "joys" of labor, PJ, my mom, my dad, and Bucky were able to witness it. The ups (feeling ok), the downs (crying because of the intense pain all around), and the crazy (one word - Demerol). At one point, Bucky and my mom walked in during a contraction and I was unable to do anything but sob. Bucky and my mom had a quiet conversation about why mama was crying and what was happening. During that convo, the kiddo grabbed my hand and gave me a sweet kiss. Then I was crying for a whole other reason. We have the sweetest little boy ever and I am proud to call him mine. But anyway, long story short (yes, this is the short version), after a snafu at the airport that delayed my hubby even more, he arrived one hour prior to our baby girl's arrival. Did you catch that? ONE HOUR! So one hour and 3 pushes later our bundle of joy arrived. We were so excited and elated that she was finally here! 

Sleeping at the hospital

Waiting patiently

The next morning

Getting ready

Here she is!

"Where is my nice, warm home?!?"

Sweet baby girl

Family pic :)

With grandaddy

With gamma

First look at Big Brother

Watching over her already

Maternity Pics

We were finally able to arrange some maternity pictures before hubby left for a couple of months for training.  Though some people, ahem *Buck*, didn't want to do it, we had a good time and got some really great pictures out of it. Thanks to Shauna at Two Chics Photography for the wonderful session and pictures! Here are just a few:

Baby Girl's Room

Her Furniture and Decor

Sign on her Door

Almost time...

Painting a Picture for Kira's Room

38 Weeks Pregnant

Baby Girl's Shower

28 July ... Even though the FRG here is nothing compared to the wonderful FRG I left behind at Ft. Carson, I have still met some wonderful ladies totally unrelated to hubby's unit. They are our neighbors :). Our neighbor across the street wanted to throw me a baby shower and it was wonderful! I wasn't originally planning on having one but as so grateful to have been talked into it :). My mom, grandma, and aunt even drove up from Panama City to join the festivities. 

Bucky opening gifts from my mom

A hug before he left

Opening my gifts

Decorations and diaper cake

All the ladies (Kim, Patricia, Jill, Mom, Grandma, Bonnie, PJ, & me)