August: church, first day of school

Getting back to church...you can't really tell in this pic, but a sweet family friend made all three kids matching outfits. Baby Girl has on a dress almost just like the Bean's.
Bubs shorts match the girl's dresses. He didn't want his picture taken...

Sweet baby girl is/has been a great sleeper from the get-go!

She's about 3-4 weeks old here...

Our first Sunday back at church...note the Bean's necklace. Her friend Lynley made it for her and she wanted to wear it everywhere for a while. The Bean loves her accessories. :)

Bean on the first day of school

Bubs, as usual, wanted to make friends immediately even though this was the Bean's class. :)

More church pics...

Baby Girl was very mobile in her first few weeks! She rolled over at 8 weeks several times (then didn't do it again for a few months), and would "crawl" over her boppy. I found her like this one day. I know she looks uncomfortable, but this sweet content little girl didn't fuss one bit. :)

Baby Girl made transitioning to three kids very easy for us. She is/was a great sleeper, and got up every 4 hours in the middle of the night from the day we came home. There literally was never a night that she fussed and wouldn't go back to sleep. Not one. She would just drift right back off into dreamland. :) And during the day she was content to be in her swing most of the time. During the day she ate every 2 1/2 hours or so, and would sleep most of the other time. She is definitely the "laid-back" third child. So precious and happy!

The Bean started K5 in August as well! This was probably a bigger transition than having another baby. :) We all had to get used to the Bean having to be at school by 8 am EVERY morning. Her school gets out at 11:45 am each day, so I am thankful that I still have my afternoons with the Bean. Next year she'll go until 2:20 pm, so I am trying to soak in every minute till then! She didn't know any of the girls in her class initially, but she has made some good friends. She loves her teacher and continues to do well in school. Kindergarten has been more "academic" than I thought it would be...the Bean has already had two "reports" that she had to research (with help from Mom and the internet, of course), write out (even though it was only two sentences), and present to the class. She is reading all the books they send home, which is amazing to me, since she wasn't reading at all at the beginning of the year. We are so thankful that she enjoys school!

July part 2: Coming Home and Firsts

Leaving the hospital! No "coming home" pics, since my parents still had the kids when we got home, and we didn't try to conjure a coming home family pic later that night or next day. :)

Baby Girl was/is the center of attention around our house!

The kids wanted to make sure Baby Girl knew she had her very own toys. :)

My first outing with all three kids by myself: we went to Costco, ate lunch, got diapers and a few other items, and went back home. Baby Girl slept through the entire trip.

First bath: Baby Girl was not a fan!

I had good helpers!

Whew - it's all over!

Mainly just wanted a pic of Baby Girl's "lil sis" daygown...apparently she didn't want her picture taken!

At the Baron's game...always a fun event. Ray's office has it catered on one of the balcony area thingies, and they have bounce houses and face painting for the kids. It was hot, and the kids were having a ball running around...hence the sweat. :)

The three Skinner kids. Not sure what Bubs was doing here. :)

The rest of July was a blur. Having a newborn is crazy enough, but long story short, I ran a fever off and on for 2 1/2 weeks and had a few doctor's appointments after Baby Girl's birth before they figured out I had a retained placenta. That is what it sounds like, and I had to have a procedure to get it all taken out, and after that had no problems. Other than that we were just settling in to life with three kids under age 5! These pics of random little things we had going on, and a few from a Baron's game...a client event that Ray's office had.

July: the big debut

My primary OB was able to deliver me. I am so thankful to have wonderful Christian doctors!

Bubs wasn't sure what to think of everything at first. He didn't like the tubes in Mommy's arm and was generally a little wigged out. :)

Mimi and Grandpaw were there...thanks for helping with the Bean and Bubs!

Grant would not sit on the bed with me since that was a little scary, so this is the closest thing we got to a family picture in the hospital.

The Bean loved her baby sister from the get-go. Here she is holding her for the first time.

Baby Girl was not as scary looking as Mommy. Here Bubs is starting to warm up to her.

Aunt Marianna and cousins Evan and Sarah Grace came to visit...

"Aunt" Jess...

*There were other visitors, but I was not as on top of taking pictures this third time around. :)

So it's been a while!! We've been busy. :) I'm going to try to catch up this blog in the coming weeks, so stick with me. The last time I posted was 18 days from my due date...and was thinking that Baby Girl (what I shall call her from here on out...Sissy didn't stick) would be early. I was wrong! She was 4 days late, born on July 16, which happened to be RR's sister's 40th birthday! What a birthday gift. And little Baby Girl is such a gift! But more on that later. Gotta stay in chronological order here. :)

Long story short, I started having contractions about two days before Baby Girl was born, off and on. I went to the doctor's office once when the contractions had been 5-10 minutes apart for a few hours, but of course they slowed down once I got there and they sent me home. I was admitted later that night, about 8 pm on July 15. I was 3 cm when we got to the hospital and it took me forever to get to 4! About 2 am on July 16, I was at about 4 1/2 or so when they gave me an epidural. That sped things up, and Baby Girl arrived around 9 am on July 16. She was 7 lbs, 13 oz and 21" long. (Side note: if any of you received our birth announcement and actually still have it or remember the date on it, ummm, that date was wrong. :) I was in a baby fog and listed her due date on the birth announcement, not her birth date. Oh well.) Baby Girl was perfectly healthy and adorable, and we were all so thankful for a healthy baby and delivery!