January 16 = Birthday Present Day

Look at these babiesssss:

Also, my birthday present came early!  Zachary got me handwritten lyrics from my favorite singer of all time, Joshua Radin- new prized possession.

Bath time!

Sweet snuggles after bath- clean smelling babies are the best babies!

August 25 = Kayleigh Photo Shoot Day

Kayleigh got some new clothes today from her great aunt, Debby.  I wanted to get some pictures of her in her new outfit to send to Debby and it turned into a mini photo shoot!

Also, Zachary got a picture of me loving on my baby!

And then I got a picture of him loving on his baby...

And when we headed to bed I saw this precious little thing and I had to get a picture- I will never be accused of not taking enough pictures of my kids.

December 4 = Plum Day

Baby's the size of a plum!  And that's all I have to share with you because I've been really bad about taking pictures!

November 2 = Appointment Day

First I saw this and related very well to it so:

Also, I know many people are torn on who to vote for but this is the best reason to vote for either candidate that I've seen... "A mother just does it."

Also, while I was upstairs for less than three minutes, Liam started cooking.  This is pepper in a pot on the (off) stove:

I love Malia's wardrobe choice here:

 Also, here's sideways baby!

March 29 = Sweet Daddy Day

Zachary got Malia dressed this morning- look how cute she is!  So sweet... so happy.

And then there's Liam.  Liam has been in a mood this whole week- his only form of communication has been a high pitched whine since Tuesday.  Well that's not entirely true.  He has formed some new words this week: baby and bowl.  But other than saying baby and bowl, it's been a constant whine.  You can probably get an idea of his attitude from his expression in this picture:

But the reason today is sweet daddy day is I caught Zachary being sweet and I just have to document it.  Malia's been going to bed at the same time Liam does- which is only adding fuel to the fire that is Zachary's and my addiction to Scandal.  So since she's going to sleep at 8:30, we like to feed her before we go to sleep and that usually makes it to where she wakes up for good around 8 which is perfect for this not-a-morning-person mommy.  Well, Zachary's been giving her a bottle while I pump for the last time of the night and I just assumed he stood beside her crib holding the bottle but on this night, I just had a longing to see Malia before I went to pump and he was rocking her and talking to her as she was drinking.  It melted my heart and just made me so grateful that my baby girl has a man who loves her who will set the bar high for another man one day in the future. 

December 23 = Reflection Day

I was listening to "Mary, Did You Know" today by Pentatonix- it's beautiful.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you've kissed the face of God.

So Malia is not Jesus but when I was listening to this song, I looked over at her and she was laying on her blanket, staring at her hands.  I started thinking about what those hands would do one day.  Would they do what my hands do every day, prepare food for her babies, change their diapers, encouragingly pat them, pick up the same toys a million times a day?  Or maybe she'll be a nurse one day, and they'll give medications, change IVs and hold the hands of scared patients.  Maybe she'll be an accountant or a CEO or an architect or an engineer.  Whatever she is, I know she'll be great at it and she'll have all my support.

I pictured her giving a speech in front of her classmates at graduation- she may have been the valedictorian or maybe the class president- but in my daydream, I thought to myself, I'll be so honored to be the one that kissed those cheeks and fed her and patted her to sleep. 

And that helps me understand the true meaning of Christmas- to think that Jesus came into the world the same way Malia did- well without the c-section.  But He was an innocent, sweet baby who stared at his hands, I'm sure. 

July 16 = Malia's Birthday!

The day finally arrived!  I had trouble falling asleep and then woke up at 4am and couldn't go back to sleep- I was so excited to meet our little girl!  I wasn't allowed to eat or drink after midnight and with my pregnancy craving of ice, this was quite a disappointment.  But I made it through and we- Zachary, my mom and I- headed to the hospital around 10:30.  We checked in, I got changed into my glamorous robe and got hooked up to the monitor, got the IV, and took a anti-nausea medicine that is the worst tasting thing I've ever experienced.  At one point I remember being so hungry, thirsty and tired of being in that stupid bed that I got really frustrated and was just itching to get the show on the road.  Finally, they came and gave Zachary his OR gear and my mom went to the waiting room and we headed to the OR.  There we did the spinal tap- a tad bit more painful than I remember with Liam- of course with Liam the c-section was an emergency and I had already had two epidurals that were not effective and was fully dilated so the spinal tap was nothing.  I got in position on the operating table- Zachary made a comment that it didn't look like I was about to have a baby- it looked like I was being crucified.  Pretty soon afterwards the surgeon and his whole team came in and we got going!  I can't describe what it felt like- I was much more aware of what was going on this time around and Zachary was so very supportive- he kept rubbing my hair and telling me how great I was doing.  My blood pressure was perfect the whole time and I was able to stay pretty calm just meditating on the fact that I'd be hearing a beautiful baby's cry in a few minutes.  And boy did we hear her cry.  When Liam was born, he didn't make a sound- I didn't know he had even been born until they told me they were almost done sewing me back up.  Malia let everyone know she had arrived.  I heard the doctor comment that she had the cord wrapped around her neck once- I'm not sure how scary that is supposed to be but I was just glad to hear her cry.  Zachary snapped a picture so I got to see a glimpse of her.  Zachary went with her and the nurses to do her APGAR scores and whatever they do to newborns which took about 10 minutes and then they came back in and I got to actually see and touch her!

Zachary and Malia then headed to the recovery room- they have you stay in there for an hour just to make sure mom and baby are doing fine before moving to the third floor where you stay until you go home.  It took another 45 minutes to sew me up- come to find out my scar from Liam's c-section was pretty messed up so the doctor fixed it and now I have one, very flat, discreet scar instead of my pink, raised, painful scar.  So eventually I got to make my way into the recovery room.  Everything went really well and we were able to move to our more permanent room where my mom, dad and brother brought Liam to meet his little sister!

Liam wasn't quite sure what to think- He poked her nose and then wanted to get down so he could walk around.  For the next few days, my dad and brother stayed home with Liam and my mom came to visit us for a few hours each day.  The pastor of the church we started going to came by and one of the guys in Zachary's LEAD Program came by with gifts from his cohort- beautiful flowers, clothes and shoes and other goodies for Malia and lots of cool stuff for Liam too- bubbles, a container of snakes and one of bugs- it was so thoughtful of them!  Malia stayed glued to my chest or arms for the majority of our hospital stay and that was just how I liked it.  The first time I nursed shortly after Malia was born, it went really well- she was a pro.  However- the second time it was super, super painful like it was with Liam.  And the pain never let up.  I saw three different lactation consultants and one finally came up with the theory that I had a yeast infection in my breasts and that's why it was so very painful.  I nursed for the first two days but by Friday I couldn't take it anymore so I became reacquainted with my friend, the pump.  It was painful to pump as well but not quite as bad.  The good thing about pumping is that other people can help feed Malia so I can get in a nap here or there and not have to wake up every time she wants to eat.  Also, I'm hoping that I can repeat my success I had with pumping for Liam and have such a large supply of milk that I am able to donate to babies who are in the NICU- obviously a cause dear to my heart.