Lia is 1 month old

It's hard to believe a month has gone by already! It is a fun, cozy little family with 5 of us (yes, Baxter counts, too). Talk about busy and it is a little harder (a lot) to get anything accomplished these days. In the end that doesn't matter. Its the funny little things that happen that we'll laugh about for the next 80 years. Lia laying calmly on her play mat batting at toys... an abrupt cry like she was in pain only to find her pulling on her own hair- and she kept doing it and with a killer grip!

The other night Dan was helping Grace sit on the potty was was singing the Farmer in the Dell with her where she fills in the blank. I was in the other room and I hear Dan sing, 'the farmer takes a...' and Grace said, 'poop'. Hillarious.

HeHeHe...

The aftermath...

Hermine hit us pretty good, we had somewhere between 12-15 inches of rain within 36 hrs. and apparently some strong winds as well! The big storm day was the day my parents left and Dan's parents arrived. Surprisingly they did not have any delays related to the storm.

DQ Dilly Bar??

Awe.....

Pocky!

Pat-Pat!

Mimi and Papa!

Miss Lia

8 years of the self-portrait taken each August 24th

its a rough life

Watch this... big sister is already picking on Liana...

(Sorry this picture wouldn't rotate no matter what I tried!!)

Grace must have taken notes from Dan on how to be a pest... :)

But then she's so sweet you can't resist her, just like her dad...

Hard at work being cute

Liana Rachel

When are they coming home?!
This pregnancy approaching birth was so normal and calm compared to Grace's arrival. For those that don't remember, labor starting the night before we were supposed to be closing on our house in San Antonio... Luckily this time we are in the same house, it is already home to us and Mimi was able to get in to town and have a day to settle. For a slight second I did think we were going to start this one the same way- Mimi's here, its time to come out! The evening she arrived here- 8/18- I was sure labor was starting. I somehow managed to go to sleep, power of mind apparently worked as I was hoping not to do an all night labor again. I was glad I had my OB appt. that day to see what, if anything, was going on. Something told us to pack our bags just in case...

The OB said grab some dinner and then plan to head to the hospital. Once things got going, it all happened really quick! Liana Rachel was born on August 19th @ 11:16 PM. The suspense while we waited for them to say if it was a boy or a girl- 'its a girl' and Dan says, 'Well, tell them her name.' Liana Rachel Carrington. Her version of a little chaos was to have pooped in utero (made her dad proud)- causes respiratory problems immediately after birth- and then to have issues with her heart rate dropping too slow right before she was born. She was fine, the nurses just wanted to take her first just to make sure, then we got to hold her. I was surprised that I felt completely calm while they were working her over and I was stuck in the bed and couldn't go see what was going on. She was in good hands. I nursed her and then they wanted to keep her in the newborn nursery for a little extra monitoring just to make sure her breathing was ok. I was fine with that- I was tired and if she was allowed to be in our room, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have slept b/c of worrying...

Grace made her appearance as 'big sister'. She was very excited to see Dan and I and also 'the baby'.

It is crazy just how much these two girls look the same at least in these early days. I have a picture of Grace that looks almost identical to the one up above. Going to have to start labeling them really well.

Jealousy and regression...
Poor Grace doesn't quite know how to get the attention she thinks she deserves so she is being a bit difficult, you could say. And the girl who never would take a pacifier or sit in the infant bouncy seat, suddenly wants both. She wants up in the crib to watch the mobile, to be swaddled in a blanket. Ah yes...

but then she's incredibly sweet and loving to Liana. Patting or rubbing her gently, giving her smooches. While holding Lia, I leaned over Grace in the booster seat to give her a kiss and she reached out and gave Lia a hug- very sweet

I never processed just how big Grace has become until seeing her by her newborn sister.

We were so sure this baby was a boy and I was worried if Dan might be disappointed at all, but we are both on cloud 9 with this little girl. There is something extra sweet about having two girls.

its about time...

I was beginning to get nervous, feeling that this baby might try to come and I wouldn't have taken a single profile shot of the belly... My good friends Abbey and Dinorah insisted on throwing a baby shower for me, which was very sweet, and I snagged Abbey (while I was actually sort of dressed up nice) to snap a few pictures

>It was a nice and relaxed shower. We played a game that I've never done or had done to me before. Everyone was supposed to roll out the streamer to their best guess of the circumference of my belly, including me. I was impressed with how close everyone's estimates were. And then there was mine... They jokingly said, 'Make it as big as you feel'- so I did. My streamer made two laps around my belly with just an inch to spare. I believe the phrase that comes to mind is... 'large and in charge...'
Earlier in the day, we went to the Rockin' River water park where Little Miss Pish had a blast.

play water... fun water... jump water...

Minor incident... nothing a smooch couldn't cure.

BYE-BYE!!

getting closer...

Oh what fun! I was always the designated one to do French braids before volleyball games and gymnastics meets in high school. Its kind of something special to get to start doing them for my own daughter. The amazing part being that she actually sat still! And then I had to see if I could do pigtail braids... (not could I?- but could I get them done before she couldn't sit still any longer?)

and she let me....

The classic painting with water has become a favorite activity...
Well, I had a slight glimpse at our upcoming reality. There were some fairly regular, frequent and noticeable Braxton Hicks contractions that started on my way home from work and lasted through dinner. I just kept thinking,'There's no way... No... not THIS early...not in July... I don't have anything together to go to the hospital and boy these legs need to be shaved!'
It all passed but it got me thinkin' MAYBE I should finalize those last minute plans...

'Read you?'
Its the first thing Grace asks for in the morning, when she gets home from school, when sitting on the potty, before bed...

'WOW...' was all we heard as Grace was putting on the strobe light show. She knows the good spot, there are 6 switches here for a very exciting light show. Based on this we figured she'd love the fireworks for the 4th or else be scared of the loud booms. Either way, Grace couldn't hang until fireworks time. The rough life of being almost 2!

the secretary

I think Grace is going to make a great big sister (for the most part...) Teaching Emma to count, '4, 9, 10', putting her to bed, reading books, taking her for stroller rides. There would still be the flinging of Emma, hitting her head against the wall, and 'beating' her to sleep. The encounters will have to be supervised... but I assume it is all with good intent.

Grace's FAVORITE book, 'Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots'. It ends up being read 8x/day and it is the only book with more than one word per page that she'll sit still for the entire thing. This reminds me of a card we were given in congrats for my pregnancy with Grace. It asked, 'Ever watch a movie 99 times?' Inside it said, 'Get ready, you will.' So here we go...Somehow she prefers Dan to read it to her and he loves princesses. Grace will come up to him at the couch and hand him the book and say 'read you?' I guess that comes from us asking,' Do you want us to read to you?' Its cute.