Winter lights!

We went to see the 2nd annual Winterlights display at the IMA last weekend.  Our darling Ashleigh came to stay with Josephine and we bundled up to brave the cold and see the prettiness.

G had some s'mores.

My mother treated us to some beverages.  T had bourbon cider and the ladies enjoyed hot chocolate.  Mother and I had peppermint vodka in ours!

Alcohol really does warm you up.

The lights were even more magical than last year's.

Santa stopped to say hello to our girl.

The Lilly house was looking bright and merry for the season.  I like to pretend I live there.

There was lots of kissing in the Kissing Arbor.

G posed for this one on her own.

G and J are the best of friends.

I took this picture of Josephine while I was taking a bath last week. I was having a bit of relaxation time in the tub and I must say I was a bit unnerved by her intense stare-

Look away! Don't look at me!

Fall Festivities

So, the second child totally gets the shaft.   I blogged every last minute of G's little life and now I'm just lucky to do this once a month.  Our girl is about the easiest baby there ever was.  She sleeps constantly and is on the go with us!

Maternity leave is amazing.  I had lunch with Genevieve at school a few weeks ago.

Abby and Papi came when we baptized Josephine.  The pictures of her actual baptism will not load to my computer.  

We met mother over G's fall break to retrieve her after a visit in TH.  I wore my baby and it was a beautiful day at the pumpkin farm.

Mother and Genevieve selected an obscene gourd for their photo op.  No one saw it until later.  See it?  Of course you do!

Aunt Meg took Robby and G by herself to see Disney Junior Live on stage.  Katie had bought them tickets for their birthdays and it was "sublime" according to G.  Her vocabulary is extensive due to her Fancy Nancy viewing.

We participated in our first Trunk or Treat at church for Halloween.

G and Elena had a ball.

G's school had their first skating night of the year.  She was dying to go, and I couldn't say no.  Skating parties caused me a lot of anxiety back in the day because I NEVER LEARNED TO SKATE. That's hard to pull off when one was in elementary school in the 80s.  My kid is fearless though, and with the assistance of some newfangled PVC pipe device, she was off!

She told me to go away after I hovered over her for a lap.  I obeyed and sat with the other moms.  I think they should serve booze at Wheels of Wonder.  Just a suggestion to calm my nerves.  Next time I may bring a flask.

We participated in early voting.

Josephine now attends violin with us regularly.

We made duck faces for a selfie.

Actually, that's just the way my daughter's face looks most of the time.

Miss Rachel likes a baby!

Josephine will be 8 weeks on Wednesday and time has just flown by.  I love maternity leave this time around.  I'm so much calmer than I was with G.  I worried about everything with her.  Now I know that you can't screw them up too badly!

She sleeps a lot and her awake time is mostly happy.

We watch a lot of NCIS, CSI, SVU, and other abbreviations designed one paranoid that everyone is secretly a killer.

I'm trying to relish every moment at home with her.

It goes by so quickly.

A Star is Born

Josephine Claire is here!

My goodness, did she surprise us!

I was scheduled for a repeat c-section on Friday, October 5th, which was a week ahead of her actual due date of October 12th.  G was breech, so she was scheduled and I am a planner, so I decided to just go with that the second time around.  

Lady J had other plans.

On Tuesday, September 25th I had the worst day at school!  I was so uncomfortable and my ankles and legs were terribly swollen.  I waddled around all day on the verge of tears.  After school I told Trinity he would have to get G and I drove straight home.  I took a bath with epsom salts and got in bed with my feet propped up.  I spent the rest of the evening in that position.

When it was time to go to sleep that night I had some very odd pains in my stomach (hello, contractions!) and it took me a long while to sleep.

Alas, at 2 a.m. I had a dream where I just heard a woman's voice say, "your water broke!"  Then I woke up and feel a little gush.  I immediately flashed back to my 5 year old bedwetting days.  

I rolled out of bed and whoosh!  It was like a faucet.  

I was stunned.  Was this what real labor/natural timing felt like?  

Holy hell!

No!

So the water didn't stop so I wrapped myself in a beach towel and waddled in to get T.  

I also considered going back to sleep and pretending nothing was happening.

I called the doctor on call.

"Go ahead and come on in.  You're going to have this baby tonight."

What???????

We got G out of bed, called brother Robby to plan for a kindergartner drop off and then basically turned around in circles for 15 minutes.

I had nothing packed.

What do I need?

Pajamas?

A fancy robe?

This was not good.

At approximately 2:30 we headed to the hospital.

G sang the whole way.

I was strangely calm.

We dropped off Big Sister and checked into the hospital around 3:15.

I asked the nurses if I could still have my c-section.  The water breaking experience was enough for me.  I couldn't imagine pushing this baby out like a normal woman in labor.

Ha!

Yes, yes, you can, Mrs. Lopez!

Ye shall have ye c-section.

Hallelujah!

The doctor arrived and Josephine Claire was born at 4:50 a.m.

She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz.

We enjoyed our time with just the 3 of us and then the crew started arriving around noon or so.

G was apprehensive, I think more because of how wretched I looked and the iv coming out of my arm.

Abby and Papi hightailed it from KY.

YaYa and Bob arrived to cuddle!

I stayed alone all 3 nights at the hospital.  My snoring can be a challenge and I sent her to the nursery each night.  I didn't see her until the morning since I was bottle feeding her.

Score!

Jamie came on day two.

Mother joined forces with the hospital photographer for a quick newborn session.

Look at the white hairs, Josephine!

Her first official portrait!

T brought G up each evening to visit.

Aunt Katie and Caroline arrived on Friday.

We are now almost to 2 weeks with Josephine and everyone is doing well.