One Week

Miss Lexi is one week old today! 

She is such a good baby. She only fusses while getting her diaper changed or when she's having trouble latching to eat (which happens a lot, unfortunately). She sleeps 11-6 at night, waking up just once to eat. She likes to be on her side. We thought she was going to roll herself over a few days ago. It didn't happen, but she was close! She is quite the squirmer/mover. I have a feeling she's going to hit her developmental milestones early. Unlike her brother!

Speaking of him, he sure loves his baby sister! He's so sweet with her. He sings to her or shakes a toy for her if she's fussing. He always asks to give her kisses and hold her. He told me the other day that he wants her to stay forever :)

Today is a big day because my mom is heading back home. It's been so great having her here to help and I'm SO sad she's leaving. I'm praying for a smooth transition over the next few days as I adjust to life as a mommy of two!

Her Birth Story

I am so excited to share Lexi's birth story with ya'll. I know so many of you have been praying for a successful VBAC for me and I am happy to say that it happened!

I had been having contractions on Monday and Tuesday that were slowly becoming stronger and stronger. I wasn't able to sleep through them and on Tuesday night around 2am I headed downstairs to watch TV and see if they started coming closer together. By 430am I knew it was the real thing and I called our moms to get in the car and drive the 2.5 hours up here. I figured they had plenty of time to get here, but I was WRONG. By 530am I realized that we needed to get to the hospital. We called a friend to come stay with Jax, I woke him up to say good bye and we hurried to the hospital. 

When we got there, they checked me and I was already at 9cm! I knew I had to be pretty far along because the contractions were BRUTAL. We had to stop in the middle of the parking lot twice as we were walking in just so I could get through them. After they checked me, I was rushed to a delivery room and they got everything set up for Lexi's arrival. When they checked me again, I was at 9.5cm... and that's when things stalled. I'm not sure what happened but my contractions just felt out of control and I couldn't control myself through them. At that point I decided I needed and epidural and the midwife agreed that would be the best option for me. My mom and Ryan fought me over it (which I'm thankful for), but I knew it was the right thing. 

The epidural took 2 tries to work but once it did, we all got to relax. They broke my water, checked me again and I was ready to push. Lexi was still sitting pretty high so we waited about 1.5 hours to help her move down on her own. Around 150pm she was ready, I pushed for 30 minutes... then reached down and pulled her out myself! It was AMAZING!!!

I am SO proud of myself for having a successful VBAC and not at all bummed that it didn't end up being completely natural. The nurses kept telling me that they were amazed I made it to 9cm before I got to the hospital. I'm pretty proud of myself for that! 

 I am so happy with how everything turned out and I couldn't have asked for a more fantastic birth story.

Introducing...

LEXI NICOLE!!!
Born July 4th, 2012 at 2:21pm
7lbs 7oz, 21 inches

Randoms

We headed down to Fresno this weekend for a quick visit and to attend two different parties that we had been invited to. The first was a wedding reception for Ryan's uncle who got married back in May. The second was for Jax's best friend Ben who turned 3 on Saturday. I ended up not taking any pictures the entire weekend. Whoops. So instead, here are some recent iPhone photos!

This is what Jax does most mornings while I get ready. I just love him so much!

He helped Daddy mow the ENTIRE lawn last week!

For Ben's birthday we got him this soccer ball and net. Jax had a complete meltdown that he couldn't keep it for himself. Lucky for him, his Auntie Val sent him some Target money for his birthday. So he was able to get one for himself. He was SO happy about it!

I sit on my birth ball a lot these days. Jax wanted in on the action. Ha! 

(Ignore how large I look!)

He shaves with Daddy every morning. He has his own Toy Story shaving kit. I love sitting in bed and watching my boys. It makes my heart so happy!

We're slowly making progress on our letters. I've been a slacker recently.

Wearing Daddy's glasses. How could you not just eat this little face up?!

This week is full of waiting around for labor to start. I'm really hoping we won't be waiting too much longer. If I haven't had her by Friday, I go to see my doctor again and hopefully I'll have made more progress. 

Happy Monday!

38 & 39 Weeks!

I missed my 38 week post last week. Mostly because I didn't have Ryan around to take my picture until Saturday morning (and I always forget to just pull out the tripod). As of last week, not much was happening. I saw the doctor last Tuesday and had absolutely no progress. WHAT?! At 35 weeks I was dilated to 1cm and was starting to efface. Then last week, nothing. I'm not sure if there was just a discrepancy between my doctor and the NP I saw last week (because my doctor was sick), or if I actually back tracked.

I went back to the doctor (I actually saw the midwife) this afternoon and I've made lots of progress! I'm 3cm dilated and 70% effaced! I knew all those painful Braxton Hicks had to be doing something! The midwife was really happy with how I'm progressing and doesn't think I'll go too far past my due date, if at all. I'm SO glad that things are actually progressing... I was pretty depressed after last week. Plus, 3 friends have all had their babies in the last 3 days, so that wasn't making me feel to happy either. I'm much more hopeful now that I know my body is doing what it's supposed to do!
Especially since it didn't with Jax.

Here is my picture from last week. I don't feel like I'm getting much bigger at this point. I've stayed the same for the past few weeks. I'm just getting more uncomfortable!

Ryan and I also did this maternity picture last week. I saw the idea on Pinterest and copied it. I LOVE how it turned out. Pregnancy is such a miracle from God!!

Here I am this week

And my sweet boy loving on his sister

No more comparisons with Jax because I stopped taking pictures with him at 38 weeks. I was so huge and miserable and I didn't want to remember any of it! I know I keep saying this, but I'm so thankful that I feel (and look) so much better this time.

I'm so anxious to have this girl. It's all I think about. I keep hoping that these Braxton Hicks will turn into the real thing, or that I will get up in the night to go potty and my water will break. I know it's just a matter of days, but I just can't wait to hold my sweet girl in my arms!!

Commenting Challenge- Social Media

Today's topic for Jenna's Journey Commenting Challenge is social media. At this point, I don't use any social media for blogging purposes. My blog is mostly to just document my life so that I can look back and remember how things were at each stage. 

I do, however, have a personal Facebook that I usually check multiple times each day.

I also use Pinterest, and you can follow me HERE if you would like! One of my favorite boards is my "Newborn Photos" board, and I just CANNOT WAIT to be able to put all that inspiration to good use!

(I mean, HELLO SWEETNESS!!!)

I have a Twitter account but hardly ever use it. Sometimes I read what other people are posting, but I never post anything myself. I guess I just never really got into it. 

Other websites I check daily (or almost daily) are Pioneer Woman, Brown Eyed Baker, Beth Moore's blog, People, Southern Savers, and My Frugal Adventures.

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On a completely different note, I have my 39 week appointment tomorrow afternoon. I've got my post all ready to go (which includes 38 weeks since I skipped it last week). I'll just add any updates/progress from my appointment and get it posted later in the day. 

Check back then!

Gymnastics Play Date

Last week we met some friends at The Little Gym for a play date. If you remember, Jax had a membership back in NC and we absolutely loved it! There is a Little Gym just down the street from our current house, but everything in CA is so much more expensive and it just isn't in our budget right now. But we jumped at the chance to go for a play date, and Jax had a blast... as always!

Climbing

Dancing

Sitting on the (inflating) air mat

Balancing

Spider walking

Shooting hoops

Swinging with Luciano

I love days when we can get out of the house and do something fun with friends!

Commenting Challenge

I'm once again participating in Jenna's Journey Commenting Challenge. I did it last summer and made a few new blog friends that I've really enjoyed connecting with over the last year.  I love "meeting" new people from all over the country and getting to peek into their lives. I find it fascinating to see how other people live. Plus, connecting with other moms and exchanging thoughts and ideas is always good. For this challenge, the goal is to link up your blog, then find 10 other blogs to comment on per day. 

Today's topic is introductions.

 For those of you who are stopping by for the first time... WELCOME!

My name is Jenna. 

I've been married to my husband Ryan for almost 5 years. He was in the Army for the past 8 years and just got out in April. During our Army time, we lived in North Carolina. We are both originally from central California, so we recently moved back to our home state and are now living in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

We have a hilarious and adorable son named Jax who turned 3 on June 3rd.

 We are expecting our daughter, Lexi, any day now! I'm due in 10 days, so we are anxiously awaiting her arrival. I had a horrible delivery with Jax, so most of my time over the past few months has been focused on educating myself in order to have a natural VBAC with my Little Miss. 

That's me in a nutshell!

To those of you who are here for the first time- thanks for stopping by! Please leave me a comment so that I can come check out your blog too!

And for those of you who visit my blog regularly- I know a lot of you are sneaky followers, so please leave me a comment and say hello!

Randoms

Sometimes I go for days without taking any phone pictures. Other times, I have lots of pictures from just a few days. This is one of those times. 

Ryan was showing Jax how to mix drinks. Ha! He was making a mojito and let Jax help him, then of course Jax wanted one. So after they finished making Ryan's "daddy drink", they made virgin ones for both Jax and I. It is now my new favorite. It was so yummy and refreshing. Fresh mint, lime juice, simple syrup, club soda. Yum and yum. I may have wiped out our whole mint plant over the last few days :)

This is why I love summer. There's also peaches, nectarines and corn in the fridge. 

I successfully taught Jax how to write his name last week! He has been able to spell it for a few months, but now he can write it. However, before you think my kid is a genius (wink), let me tell you that he still doesn't recognize a lot of the alphabet if you just randomly ask him what a certain letter is. We're working on it though.

I've been in such a baking mood recently. The other day I realized that I had some Heath bars that were about to expire, so I made some chocolate chip cookies (from the recipe on the chocolate chips... because it's my favorite), and substituted half of the chocolate chips for chopped Heath bar. They turned out SO yummy! We gave some to my dad and grandpa for Father's Day.

Ryan and Jax waiting for Grampy and Grammy to get here last week. 

This boy has been really into "reading" magazines recently. He will sit with a magazine and flip through all the pictures for probably 10-15 minutes. It's pretty cute... and maybe a little odd ;)

The rest of the family relaxing/napping while I made dinner a few night ago. I love it when my boys are all snuggly!

We met our park friends at a local splash pad last week. Jax always attaches to the "older" girls. He was cracking me up following them around and being their little shadow. He's such a ladies man. 

I made this onesie dress for the Little Miss and I'm so happy with how it turned out! I have a ton of plain white onesies from Jax, I got the skirt fabric from remnants at JoAnn's, and I had the ribbon from other crafts in Lexi's room. I had seen something similar on Pinterest, so I just came up with my own pattern and went from there. I can't wait to put her in it!

My kid is cool. Yup.

My in-laws bought us a double stroller! Jax was pretty excited about it and insisted on sitting in it while he watched TV. I can't believe there will be a little girl on the other side very soon!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!