Mr. Potato Head by Isla

She put this one together all by herself:

Happy 2nd Birthday Isla!

I felt a little guilty for not planning a big birthday party for Isla’s second birthday, but I think I knew I would either have a brand new baby or be really really pregnant and not be in the mood or capable of hosting a party. Thank goodness we have the best family in the world that came together and was able to throw an amazing birthday party for Isla the day after we brought Drew home from the hospital. Isla had an absolute blast and really enjoyed being the center of attention. And the presents (oh the presents!) were an absolute hit – she loved each and every one of them!

Isla enjoying her birthday morning doughnut from Papa:

Seeing her present (table and chairs) from Grandma and Papa Randy:

Going for a ride in her car from Mom & Dad:

Playing with her new kitchen from Aunt Anna:

Her kitchen accessories from GiGi and Papa:

Playing with her puzzles from Uncle Johnny and Aunt Brandy:

Blowing out her candles with Dad: She really enjoyed her cupcake:

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby Isla!

Drew Thomas Skene

I think deep down I knew this baby was going to come early like his sister. So I wasn’t surprised when I woke up on Friday morning, September 17th, at exactly 12:00 am to discover that my water had broke. My water broke with Isla, but I was already in labor when it did and really didn’t notice it at all. In fact, I was sort of concerned that I might not notice it again if it were to happen with baby #2. Yeah, no worries there – I definitely noticed it this time. So I woke up Ryan and told him to call his Mom so she could get over to our house asap.

As a side story – Ryan and I were somewhat concerned about not having anyone to watch Isla on Thursday night/Friday morning if I were to go into labor since our roomie, Krista, was driving back to U of O that night. Lucky for us, Connie had a high school reunion in town this weekend and decided to come down a day early to help us out if we needed. We are so glad and blessed that Connie decided to do this! She saved us.

After a quick shower and making sure that everything was in order for Isla, I gave my sweet sleeping baby girl a kiss goodbye (I got all teary-eyed and everything as she had no clue as to how her life was about to change), and we got to the hospital at about a quarter to one and checked into labor and delivery. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I wasn’t having any contractions at this point so we had to have a doctor do an examination in order to make sure that my water did in fact break. Luckily the doctor took one look “down there” and declared “oh yeah her water broke”. At this point they let me walk around the hospital for an hour (in a hot hospital gown) to try and get labor started. I knew it was a lost cause, but Ryan and I walked around anyways and sent text messages to family, friends and co-workers to let them know we were going to have a baby.

At about 3:00 am they started me on pitocin and Ryan and I tried to get some rest. Not sure how I could get rest with contractions starting, but I tried anyway. At about 6:00 am I was ready for my epidural, but the nurse explained that the anesthesiologists work 24 hour shifts and there was a shift change at 7:00 am. So I could get my epidural with the doc at the end of the shift or wait an hour and get a doc with “fresh eyes”. I sucked it up and chose the latter. This last hour made me decide that an epidural is the best thing in the entire world – I love them!

After the epidural took effect (around 8:00 am) it was determined that I was at 6 cm and 80% effaced. Again Ryan and I tried to rest, but it didn’t really work as I was too anxious. At about 9:45 I paged the nurse because I had a big urge to push (something I never experienced with Isla) and we found that I was at 10 cm and ready to go. We waited about 20 minutes for the doctor and I pushed for 15 very short minutes and our baby boy was born! He came out just perfect and weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 19.5 inches long (the weight was the exact same as Isla – apparently I like to have babies on the third Friday in September and they have to weigh 6lbs 11 oz).

Here are pictures from Drew’s Birthday:

Little did I know that the birth was going to be the easy part of our stay at the hospital. After Drew was born we found that he had a low blood sugar level (he had a level of 34 and it needed to be above a 50). We decided to let him breast feed for a little and see if we could get it back up, but it didn’t work. So for the next 24 hours they had to prick my baby’s tiny feet with needles to test his blood sugar every 2 hours and they also shoved formula down him (so much that he was spitting up everywhere) in order to get his blood sugar back up. The whole experience was awful and I lost it a couple of times. Thank goodness his blood sugar started to go up early Saturday morning and we were discharged on Saturday evening. I was worried about giving him formula and that it might interfere with breast feeding, but so far I have not had to supplement his feedings with formula since we got home from the hospital. So far Drew has been a great baby and we feel so blessed to have our sweet healthy baby boy in our lives.

On our way home:

My new reality . . . and I love it!

ABC's

Isla loves to sing her ABC's in funny voices and I finally was able to capture it on video. I was only able to get the camera on and ready when she was already half way through, but I think you get the picture (please excuse the messy house!):

Virgo or a Libra?

When I was pregnant with Isla my Mom purchased this cute little onesie from Baby Gap that had the Libra sign on it along with a list of Libra traits. Little did we know that Miss Isla decided that she wanted to be born a Virgo (like her Daddy) and show up two and a half weeks early. I forgot all about this onesie until I found it when I was going through all of Isla’s old baby clothes last weekend. After a bit of hesitation I decided to hold on to it to see if this baby decides he wants to be a Libra - I’m secretly hoping so as I already live with two Virgos and a bit of variety would be nice. This would also mean that I’m hoping he decides to stay put until at least September 24th, which would also help out with my work schedule and make my co-workers very happy. Just some wishful thinking on my part as I know I have no control over when he decides to come. Just putting it out there though :-).

36 weeks - #2

This whole pregnancy I have been meaning to compare photos of myself when I was pregnant with Isla. Good thing I finally got around to it as I only have four weeks (or less!) left of this pregnancy. Here I am pregnant with Isla at 36 weeks: Pregnant with #2 at 36 weeks:

As you can see I am definitely carrying this baby different. I don’t think I’m bigger than I was with Isla (my stomach is measuring exactly the same size as it was with Isla at 36 weeks), I’m just carrying this baby more out in front. Some other notable differences with this pregnancy:

• I didn’t have to wear my ugly support band when I worked out during this pregnancy. I think it’s because I’m carrying him higher than I carried Isla.
• I haven’t had any swelling with this pregnancy (knock on wood!). With Isla I didn’t have normal size ankles until two weeks after she was born.
• I don’t know if this guy is bigger or not, but I definitely hit my “uncomfortable” stage with him sooner than I did with Isla. I now have to eat smaller meals as there is no room in my belly and it is starting to hurt when he moves and stretches out.
• I have definitely had more practice contractions with this pregnancy. Not sure if this is a sign of a second pregnancy, but it has freaked me out (and Ryan) and I have started to take things a bit easier as I would like him to stay put for a couple more weeks (pretty please!).

Week in Review

This past week we celebrated Ryan's 34th birthday (Happy Birthday to the greatest Dad and Husband ever!):Aunt Anna came for a visit and helped us clean out all of Isla's old baby girl clothes (sniff sniff), get ready for Baby Boy Skene and cuddle with Isla:

Isla tried to dress herself (note how she puts both her shorts and shirt on legs first):

And Isla also got a pair of sassy boots (with an attitude to match):