Who Needs Sleep?

Apparently not me. It seems that Kimberly has joined the ranks of family members who think I need little or no sleep at night.

When she came home from the hospital we had 1 or 2 rough nights. And by "rough" I mean she woke up 3 times. For the past week or so, I've been so happy about her only waking up once during the night. Okay, sometimes twice.

Now her days and nights are switched, and I'm not too pleased about it. I'm sure Makayla and Ellie aren't too thrilled to have a crabby mother, either. What can I say--lack of sleep makes me very, very cranky. (That whole stay-up-until-midnight-to-ring-in-the-new-year thing is definitely not for me.)

I'm so glad that tomorrow is the beginning of Kasey's week off. Now at least if I don't get any sleep at night I'll be able to take a nap during the day without waking up to the remains of Hurricanes Makayla and Ellie. Which is exactly what happened when I attempted to take a nap this morning.

*sigh* I hope that it doesn't take too long for Kimberly to figure out that light equals awake and dark equals asleep.

Because I'm Weird. And I Remember Stuff Like That.

This is the first baby outfit I ever bought. It was on the clearance rack, and I thought it was so cute.

I bought it before I got married. The day before I got my wedding dress, in fact.

No, I was not pregnant at the time.

Yes, it completely freaked out my husband-to-be.

I have my hands so full right now that I keep forgetting to take pictures. My mom came and stayed with us for a little while, and she recently posted some super cute pictures of my girls on her blog. Click here to see them, and hopefully I'll get my own pictures taken and uploaded soon.

One Week Down, Many More to Go

Well, we successfully made it through Kimberly's first week of life. I think last Friday she may have been having an off day, because she has turned into a little angel. She wakes up once, maybe twice, a night to eat and is happy and smiley during the day when she is awake. We are so happy to have her in our family!
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As much as Makayla and Ellie love having a new baby sister, it has been a little bit of a difficult transition at times. Ellie definitely knows that she no longer fills the "baby" slot in the family. She's been acting out and having quite a few meltdowns. And Makayla is dead set on testing the boundaries every. single. day. It's a little exhausting, but I'm sure we'll get through it.
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An example of an Ellie meltdown that actually made me laugh:

A few nights ago I was trying to get her to go to bed. She wouldn't stay in bed. About the 4th time going in her room to put her back in bed, I told her that if she didn't lay down and go to sleep, she would have to sit in a time-out. I closed the door and a few seconds later heard her screaming, "This is not my idea of fun!" As angry as I was about her not staying in bed, I couldn't help but laugh. Pretty soon I heard her shouting, "You are making me so frustrated! I will not stay on mine bed!"

I'm hoping that we quickly settle into a routine, and we all get used to this new family dynamic.

More Kimberly

I know this picture is a little blurry, but I love that it shows Kimberly's skinny little legs. Makayla and Ellie were both chubby with chunky thighs. Also, the snowman onesie is even cuter than I imagined it would be.
Kimberly takes after Makayla in more ways than just her looks. For those of you who knew Makayla as a baby, you know that does not bode well for me. She has a temper. And honestly, I'm a little scared.

But sometimes she does flash me a little half smile, which completely melts my heart.

And then there are moments like these that make all the hard moments completely worth it.

Labor & Delivery

Okay so here's how it happened.

5:30am
Drove to the hospital for my scheduled induction.

6:45am
Checked in, got settled in my labor room, was hooked up to all sorts of machinery, nurse started the Pitocin drip.

8:30am
Doctor broke my water

The nurse came in every 20 minutes after that to turn up the Pitocin. Each time, she asked if I wanted my epidural. Of course I did. However, considering that my epidural wore off right as I was ready to deliver Ellie, I put it off as long as I could this time. I figured it would be better to be numb during the delivery than during the early stages of labor.

10:30am
Wimped out and asked for the drugs after hearing the screaming woman delivering her baby in the next room.

11:15am
Anesthesiologist finished doing his thing, and I was a very happy patient.

11:35am
Nurse checked me and asked if I was ready to have a baby. What!? I definitely was not expecting it to happen so soon, even though I was hoping to have her by 1pm. She left to get the delivery room set up and call the doctor.

We hung out in the labor room while the baby "labored down a little." The nurse said there was no need to waste energy pushing if the baby would come down on her own. And I wasn't feeling any pain, so what the heck, right? (I really loved my nurse, by the way. She was amazing! Coincidentally, she was the same nurse that I had when I had Ellie.)

12:15pm (or so)
Wheeled into the delivery room. Pushed through first contraction. The doctor walked in. Nurse said the baby was crowning. What!? Second contraction her head was out. Third contraction baby was born! I was only in the delivery room for 9 minutes before she was born.

It was so fast! But most importantly my epidural worked fabulously. I couldn't feel anything, which is pretty much the point. It was kind of crazy to be laughing and joking with the doctor and nurses during the delivery and shortly afterwards.

All around, a very good experience with minimal damage.

Feeling Like a Movie Star

Why is that you ask? Because my baby is less than 2 days old and I slipped comfortably into my pre-pregnancy jeans this morning. Wahoo!!! They don't look good, but they are on and buttoned up.

*Labor story coming soon for those who asked.