Newborn Pictures

My talented friend Vaune offered to take Connor's newborn pictures for us when he was just 5 days old and they couldn't be more beautiful in my opinion! She has some serious talent and I feel so privileged to let her practice her picture taking skills on our family. This was her first time doing newborn pictures, well besides those of her kids, and she did a phenomenal job! They look just as good, if not better, than most professional photographer's pictures. Thank you again sweet friend for capturing these precious moments! I now have newborn pictures framed all over my house and it makes me so happy. :)

Here are the pictures, with the exception of the one we are using for Connor's birth announcement. There has to be some surprise! Which one is your favorite?? Bet it will be hard to choose just one!

(and grandparents, I'll email you when I put the pictures on the Shutterfly site so that you can order some for yourself)

Connor's 1st week

Although taking these pregnancy pictures always seemed like a pain, I am so glad that I did! I love how Ava is only wearing normal clothes in the first two pictures. That just shows you when her love of dressing up took off and I couldn't get her to wear anything else when we were home. Notice too the huge growth spurt between weeks 36 and 39! I knew Connor had grown a ton in that last month and now I have the pictures and lovely stretch marks (ugh!!) to prove it! I still never would have guessed that he would have been over 9 lbs. (and a week early at that!).



A little update on Connor since we have been home...

He is such a sweet and cuddly baby. He seems to be doing well and cries very little unless we are changing his diaper. He caught on to nursing very quickly and wants to eat all the time! Most of the time during the day he can make it every 3 hours but at night he wants to nurse every 2 to 2 1/2 hours. It makes for a long and exhausting night but I know it is temporary. He also seems more restless at night which makes me think he still hasn't gotten his days and nights straight yet. There are several times throughout the day where he will be awake most of the time between feedings. He just looks around and stares at things. I love to hold him and talk to him during these times. It melts my heart how he just gazes into my eyes when I am talking to him and anytime he is being held by someone else or laying by himself and he hears my voice he turns his head to look at me. He already has me wrapped around his little finger! He pretty much skipped newborn size diapers and newborn clothes and is wearing a size 0-3 months. He lost some of his birth weight, along with those chubby cheeks and thighs, so I am hoping that at his 2 week check up on Monday that he has regained most if not all of it back. He is eating so much and having lots of wet and poopie diapers so I know he is getting fed. By the way, no one told me how difficult it would be to change a boy's diaper!! He poops all the time and I feel like it takes me forever to get him all cleaned up. I am always frantic trying to go as fast as I can to make sure he doesn't pee on me or himself. Having him cry the whole time doesn't help the process either!

Ava is a sweet big sister and is learning how to adjust having someone else in the house that mommy and daddy have to take care of. It hasn't been an easy week and a half for her (or us!!) since he has been home with us but I am hoping with time that she will learn to adjust. We spend as much time with her as we can and I have already taken her on a special Mommy and Ava trip to Tappy's! Daddy has something fun planned for her this weekend too which I know she will enjoy.

Although I don't have a ton of free time, it was important to me that I make a slideshow of Connor's 1st week, like I did with Ava (http://mikeyandkristen.blogspot.com/2009/04/photo-montage.html). These slideshows are something that I will always treasure so it was worth the time and effort. I get teary eyed everytime I watch them!!!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Happy 3rd Birthday Ava!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my big girl!!!

Ava has had so much fun celebrating her birthday all month long. Ever since her little birthday party at the beginning of the month she has been getting packages in the mail or in person from her grandparents and friends. I think she was a little confused when I woke her up this morning and told her that today was her real birthday. We didn't do anything special since today was a school day but we did make some cupcakes to share with her friends and Mikey, Connor, and I brought up a giant Minnie Mouse balloon when we picked her up from school. Afterwards we went to the park and played for a little while. Today I couldn't help but remember what it was like to hold her for the first time. The memories that we have made with her over the past 3 years came flooding back. I can't believe my little baby is so big!!!

Some things I want to remember about my Ava at 3 years old...

*You LOVE to dress up, as is evident by almost every single picture on the blog lately! If we are home you are almost always wearing some sort of dress up outfit or your beloved Tinkerbell pjs.

*With that said you are very into the Disney princesses and Tinkerbell. You want anything that has them on it. We never encouraged you to like the princesses. It just is so innate in you and I actually love that.

*You love to dance or do ballet as you call it. Your favorite thing to dance to are songs from the Wiggles. The Wiggles drive your daddy and I insane but we tolerate it because it makes you so happy.

*You insist on picking out your own clothes and dressing yourself. I guess the days of mommy dressing you in perfectly matching clothes with a cute bow are over but I have come to accept the fact that it is important for you to express yourself in your own unique way and feel proud of how you look. The truth of the matter is that you are beautiful no matter what you are wearing. Seeing you wear one blue sock, a skirt underneath your dress, and a dozen clips in your hair actually makes me smile.

*You are very stubborn and strong willed. You have challenged your Mommy and Daddy the most in the last 6 months. You want to do the opposite of what we ask or want you to do and everything must be your own idea or you put up a fight. Your sweet moments balance out your not so sweet ones so thankfully you don't act this way all the time. You are most stubborn during naptime and bedtime because you never want to go to sleep!

*You do however take a good 2-3 hour nap on days that you are not in school.

*School has become one of your favorite places to go and you have made so many new friends. The ones you talk about most often are Lyla, Naomi, Mason, and Benjamin. I can tell you are learning so much at school and I am so glad that we made the decision to put you in preschool this year.

*You are about 3/4 of the way potty trained. I hesitate to say you are fully potty trained because you still wear pull ups at school and if we go out of the house. You are so good at going potty all by yourself when we are home. Often times I don't even know you have gone till I hear the toilet flush. You are getting better at going poo poo on the potty but you still try and take advantage of the opportunity to go in your pull up when it is on.

*You love to help mommy and daddy in the kitchen.

*You like to sleep backwards (face by the foot board) in your bed and you have to have all your stuffed animals in bed with you.

*You are slightly OCD and like to have things lined up such as your shoes, jewelry, and any other nick nacks you bring in your room during naptime.

*You love to snuggle on the couch with mommy or daddy after dinner time. It's one of my favorite times of the day too.

*You have only been a big sister for about a week and a half but you are already so helpful with Connor. You like to assist me while I am changing his diaper and you always make sure he is covered up whenever he is sleeping. I think you give him about 20 kisses a day.

Ava, you are and will always be my "sweetest girl". We love you so much. Everything we do for you is because we love you (even the not so fun disciplining part). You are a beautiful little girl, inside and out, and have brightened our lives more than you will ever know. Happy Birthday Munchie Munch!!!!!

xoxo,

mommy

Here are some pictures of Ava opening up presents from her grandparents...

Meeting our precious Connor

A day I will never forget for as long as I live. March 10th...the day we got to meet our precious son! Connor James Seamans arrived in this world on Saturday, March 10th at 2:41 pm weighing a surprising 9 lbs. 4 oz. and 2o inches long.

His original due date was March 17th but for several reasons we decided to induce this time around and I am so glad we did! Not only was the experience very pleasant, unlike Ava's birth, but he was so big already. I wonder how big he would have been had I not induced! No wonder I was so extremely uncomfortable in the last month of his pregnancy. We arrived at the hospital at 8am and met our sweet labor and delivery nurse Nancy. I was already about 5 cm dialated when I arrived at the hospital. I told Nancy that I didn't want to experience much pain this time around so she started the lowest dose of petocin to get my contractions started and then soon after the anesthesiologist was in my room ready to give me an epidural. Amazing! My right leg quickly went numb and I wasn't feeling any contractions which at that point were every 2 minutes. I wasn't feeling any numbness in my left leg but since I wasnt feeling any contractions we weren't concerned. For the next couple of hours Mikey and I watched movies on the tv and I read magazines. It was so awesome to be able to relax and wrap my mind around what was about to happen. My nerves from earlier that morning were quickly gone and I felt so at peace, largely thanks to my epidural! My Dr. came in around 12 or a little after and broke my water. Soon after I started feeling a little more contractions on my left side so I got another small dose of the epidural and layed on my left side to get it working. It wasn't long before I could feel intense pressure, no pain though, and when my nurse said it was time to push. When I was pregnant with Ava I felt absoultely nothing from the waist down because I had been given so much of the epidural. It was nice to be able to feel when I needed to push but not experience any pain. It was exactly what I was wanting and expecting. After maybe 30-40 minutes of pushing our sweet boy was here! Tears immediately filled my eyes as I heard his first cry and laid eyes on him for the first time. This pregnancy was not an easy one and we had many scares. For so long I worried if I would ever be able to meet him and have him here in our lives. We are so blessed that he is here with us and that he is a healthy baby boy. Thank you God for our amazing gift and for reminding us how much you love us. I know the love that I have for Connor and Ava is only a fraction of the love that you feel for us.

Here are a few pictures from our time at the hospital with our little boy. I am working on a slideshow of his first week so these are just a little sneak peak.

Last pregnancy picture

First picture of our Connor James

Snuggles with Momma
Immediately we thought he looked so much like me. He looks so different than Ava did as a newborn. It will be crazy if he does end up looking like the spitting image of me because we all know Ava looks 95% like her daddy.

Father and son

First picture with Mommy and Daddy

Ava meeting her little brother for the first time.

We are a family of 4!

Hugs from my sweetest girl

Ava's gift from her little brother

My children :)

Chunky monkey!

I wish I could do this forever

A visit from some special friends- Rebekah, Amy, and Meagan

Day 2- Big sister insisted on wearing her "big sis" shirt again to come visit (day 3 as well) and she is already playing dress up with her brother

Time to go home and start our new adventure!!


Thank you to all our wonderful friends and family for all your thoughts and prayers. It warmed my heart to get all your sweet text messages, emails, and messages on facebook! I can't wait for all you to meet Connor!

Stay tuned for more pictures and videos!!

Minnie Mouse 3rd Birthday

Ava's birthday isn't until March 20th, but since we will have our hands full with a 10 day old baby, I wanted to have a little early birthday celebration to make her feel special. She wanted her party to be a Minnie Mouse themed party this year. We invited just a few of her closest friends that we see all the time and I kept things really simple.

Here is the birthday girl all dressed and ready for her party! (Thanks again to Gigi and B-pop for the Minnie Mouse dress and ears from Disneyworld!)

It's hard to believe that my little munchkin is going to be 3!

She couldn't wait till Daddy got home so she could open her present from us before her friends arrived.

Birthday banner (gotta love the cricut!!)

Minnie Mouse wreath

Minnie Mouse cupcakes that Amy helped me make

Since the party was at 4 on a Friday I just served fruit and cupcakes. Easy!

We got her some new princess accessories since she is obsessed with all things princess and I knew her friends would want to play dress up when they came over. (Believe it or not these are actually the first dress-up/princess items we have bought her. All the rest has come from family)

Daddy came home with some daffodils for his princess

Margaret, Ava, and Brinley sporting thier polka dots

Even Aunt Alli came dressed in red and black

Singing Happy Birthday

Opening presents

Love this one of Brinley all decked out!

Ava got a pink leotard/tutu and some ballet slippers from Alli and it is now her new favorite dress up item. She even sleeps in it! The bday girl requested that I put on the Wiggles so that they could dance. Friends, dressing up, cupcakes, dancing to the Wiggles......I hadn't seen her that happy in a long time! She was on cloud 9!

The party favors were some Mickey and Minnie Mouse coloring pages with markers so they all took a break from dancing to color.

Probably our last family of 3 picture


The party was so much fun and very little stress for me. Thanks to our besties for helping us celebrate Ava's birthday!