On our trip to Arlington, McKlayne met a bunch of Charlie's family for the first time. We stayed with Grandma Apel and went to Aunt Jan's for the afternoon to visit with Charlie's Mom's side of the family.
She loved her (Great) Grandma Apel, who had a way of putting her to sleep within about 3 minutes. I wanted to bring Grandma back to College Station with us.
Asher had a first, too...he got his haircut! (Don't worry...just a trim...most of you have seen him since and haven't even noticed.)
Charlie's Aunt Sharon is a hairdresser; we wanted her to cut his hair since we trusted her not to cut off all his beautiful curls.
She trimmed it up nicely, so it wasn't so scraggly anymore. (I didn't realize just how long it had gotten until I looked at these pics!)
Asher didn't even realize he was getting his haircut. He sat very still on my lap and enjoyed his Popsicle the whole time.
Thanks, Aunt Sharon! We'll be coming back to you for the big cut!
Here are some other pictures from our trip:
Sweet (Great) Grandpa Overman...he couldn't wait to hold her!
And Great Grandma Jo...the baby-machine!
Grammy with her two grandchildren!
Asher wouldn't let Aunt Kathy put him down! He loved her!
About a month ago, I was packing up a suitcase for a quick trip to Arlington. I noticed that one by one, McKlayne's bows (since I, of course, had to pack one to go with every outfit, she'd be wearing on the trip) were slowly disappearing from the mesh netting that I had clipped them to.
I followed the culprit as he made his way over to the swing she was sleeping in. And this is what I found:
And, of course, he wanted a picture with a bow in his hair, too. This kid loves headbands and bows! It must be all that pretty hair!
My good friend, Lynsey, took these almost 6 weeks ago (when McKlayne was 2 weeks old) but I didn't want to post these until I has sent out her birth announcements! Well, I designed them about a month ago and didn't like them once they were printed...then life got crazy busy again and I still haven't re-designed them!
So, here are just some of my favs...I just couldn't contain them any longer...maybe I'll get to them sometime this week and you'll have one to hang on your fridge soon! You can look at them all here. (I just want to add that the pink "M" in some of these pics is only 6 inches tall...just to give you an idea of how tiny she was!)
Isn't Lynsey amazing? She's so precious to our family.
Sorry it's been so long since an update...and I'm sorry that I still haven't returned some of your phonecalls or emails. Chances are, I've started to and somehow been interrupted by one of my two darling children.
Life with two kids has been hectic, but wonderful! These last four crazy weeks have been filled with family, visitors, and less sleep then I've been used to for a little while! My mom was here the first few days we were home from the hospital, and Charlie was off the rest of the week. Then my sisters and their kids came the next week...overlapping one night...6 kids in our house was a little chaotic, but I'm so glad they were all here. It was really fun. Thanks, Mom, Kyle and Ave, for cooking, cleaning and serving us...we love you and don't know how we would have made it (or at least eaten) these first couple weeks without you.
A week ago was my first day alone with just the two of them...two on one. It's been difficult...nobody told me just how hard the transition from one to two would be! Two kiddos under two are definitely different than one energetic 18 month old! There have been times when I've been a bit overwhelmed...and there have been many tears, but we're adjusting.
This week I'm trying to get McKlayne on a consistent schedule. Poor baby...I haven't paid as much attention to her eat, wake, sleep cycle like I did for Asher and we're both starting to feel the effects! I had a stopwatch and timed Asher's every feeding, wake, and sleep period for the first six weeks of his life...with McKlayne sometimes she'll sleep for 4 1/2 hours during the day before I realize it's been that long...then I pay for it at night. So, this week we're concentrating on setting her little internal clock. I'm not super rigid with the whole schedule thing, but can definitely attest to the benefit of it! By this time when Asher was a baby, he was predictable...and I could schedule my day around his feedings...with her, sometimes she goes over four hours without eating and sometimes it's barely been two!
Here are some of my favorite pics over the last four weeks:
How pretty is she?
Our little Eskimo baby.
I love that spikey hair.
McKlayne & Mimi.
Asher with his Mimi.
My boys.
Pop came to visit, too.
Her crooked little nose did straighten out!
Uncle Jo with the nephews & nieces minus the newborns.
Psalm 13:5&6: I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.
Thanksgiving...that's what we're overwhelmed with right now.
Thankful hearts to the Lord for He has been so good to us...in so many ways...our beautiful, healthy baby girl was born at 6:02 this evening...McKlayne's labor and delivery was oh, so different compared to Asher's...the Lord protected and healed me of any complications I had been having again since Asher's birth...we know so many of you have been praying and He's been faithful to answer those precious prayers...thank you. We love you all.
My 4 hour labor compared to my 20 hours with Asher was AMAZING! I could have 8 babies if all my labor & deliveries went like this one! And she is TINY compared to our big ol' boy. She weighs 6 lbs 14oz. and is 20 inches long. As difficult as it was to wait these past several days, it was worth it for such a short labor! Our little girl is eating like a champ and we haven't heard but about one peep from her since she's been born
She looks so much like Asher did when he was born...just with more (and darker) hair! Here's are a few pics of her right after delivery.
Here's Asher, just a few minutes old:
Other things I am grateful for:
My sonic water with lime and extra ice...they changed the policy and now allow mothers to drink while laboring! How amazing is that? It made all the difference for me.
Epidurals, my anesthesiologist, my lovely nurse, Tawnya, and amazing doctor. They ordered me an epidural even before my contractions were super intense...I definitely experienced some, but nothing to complain about! Dr. Davis was performing a c-section and was going to come break my water afterwards andwanted me to get my epidural before he broke my water. Here I am shortly after my epidural talking on the phone and attempting to watch 24.
We didn't end up watching any 24 episodes, because I opted to take a nap instead...did you just read that? There was no napping involved in my labor with Asher...but I napped for an hour! This is when I transitioned from a 4 to a 7 and then from a 7 to a 9, twenty minutes later.
My sweet new family of four...we don't have a pic of the four of us yet, but we'll get one today! She's a Daddy's Girl already!
Here's the video of Asher meeting his new baby sister. He loves her so much! Check out how he honks her nose (his initiation into the family...either that or he's trying to straighten out her crooked little nose.)
We're posting updates of Kirby and McKlayne's progress via Twitter. Look on the right side over there labelled "Twitter Updates" and know what's going when right when it happens.
I'm often tempted to fall snare to the thief, Discontentment, (at least in my heart) about the complications of raising these precious little people...or that same thief with a different name, Comparison, as I'm sometimes overly concerned about dressing as stylish or keeping my house as neat as I once did before having them. So, this blog is simply a form of celebration-as I document, remember, and process--the gloriously messy, often chaotic, exceptionally silly and undeniably full household that God has given us. Though it may not always accurately represent all of our "real" life...these are the moments I want to store away, along with the details of the redemptive work of Jesus in our family that I want recorded for my children one day.
Thanks, Aunt Sharon! We'll be coming back to you for the big cut!
