Random

So here are some pics from my phone...I am the junior paparazzi next to my Father in Law :)
Oh how we miss you Wisconsin!

One month young

This should have been done last week Thursday, but here it is none the less.

My sweet Lydia Mae...let's go through the check list.
You are a content little girl who loves to be cuddled and held.
You hate diaper changes and your clothes changed. If we want to ever hear you cry just do either of those 2 things. You love baths. Both my girls love their baths, thank you Jesus. Lydia, following her big sister just contently sits bright eyed in the bathroom sink (cushioned by a towel) as the warm water runs over her little body. Isabelle helps with washing your hands and toes; that's her official job and she's so proud of it. You eat like a little monster and still have such a strong latch. Thank goodness I can catch a break with the use of a breast pump. I don't know how much you are eating since it's been only breast milk, but when you do get a bottle you can eat 2-3 ounces.
You love to be held and I give into it so much more than I did with Isabelle. You perk up whenever you hear daddy's voice. I think it's cause it's a low sound and your so used to your mommy and sister constantly blabbing in your ear. :) (Sister and you asleep while I get ready.)
You weigh in at 8 lb 13 oz and 21 in long, (although I think that is off.)
You sleep like an angel; you will eat between 9 and 10 pm which means you only get up for one feeding maybe 2. The second feeding is normally after 5 am and typically I stay up since your big sister likes to be up by 6 herself. The key to you sleeping is the tight burrito wraps we put you in after a feeding. You love it and will dose off in seconds.

We just love the crazy mix that you bring to our family and we melt at your little smiles and sighs. Your daddy is in awe of you; since he missed all this with Isabelle. Mainly I think he's in awe of how much you little newbies sleep. And I think he likes the fact that he doesn't have to wake up to feed you at night; lucky man.

(And everyone loves your pretty purple room.)

we're still here!

Well tomorrow marks one week we have been back in Texas. It feels so good to be home; but I have cried my eyes out 3 times out since being back. Oh do I miss my mommy and the help from everyone. I miss that there is always someone to talk to and always someone playing with Isabelle. None the less, I am slipping into the mommy of 2 role pretty well. But I couldn't do it with out Jake. He is so good to us girls and if my arms are full of Isabelle then he has Lydia, and vice versa. Jake was so happy to have his girl's home. He even bought a card for us, gasp!
Isabelle has been such an amazing help. She is still a crazy 2 year old, but we have yet to scold her for hurting or being mean to her little sister. She helps with diaper changing, dressing, and bath time. Every day last week us girls managed a little outing, Friday was my first appointment at 9:15 am. I will proudly say I was only 5 min late; hope I can keep it up.
Yesterday we had a fun day of assisting Jake with putting shelving up in the garage; let me just say I am one happy wife. I have been practically begging Jake to do this...and the time finally came. I will show completed pics this weekend when we put the finishing touch on it.
I also did a little trading with a girlfriend of ours-we finally got rid of our couch and coffee table and I got a double jogger just 6 months old! Now that is a sweet deal. I have tried to sell that couch for a while now and no hits; us ladies are oh so happy with our trade. (Now this means I can replace some empty space with a reading chair and big book shelf.

Oh and of course leave it to me to not KNOW WHERE MY CAMERA IS!!!!!! Seriously I should have pagers on all my electronics...so for now you can enjoy pics from my oh so crappy BB cam...
Oh I finally got some cute curtains up,thank you mom for letting me have them!

The time has come...

...to say 'Good bye.' And we are with tear filled eyes. Jacob and I can not thank our family enough and are so overwhelmed with all of the help and support that we have gotten from our family and friends. Our parents have been such a strong life line for us; and we want you to know how much we love and miss you all ready.
From the church families, friends of friends, co workers, etc...who have had Lydia in thier prayers from the begining just amazes us and we thank you.
This summer has flown by in a blur and I can not beleive that miss Lydia is almost one month old!
Isabelle has had such a fun summer and my heart breaks that she will be missing the family. Every morning for the past week has been cries for daddy and 'tex-a-kiss.' Well, little girl, we are going home to Tex-a-kiss and then you'll be crying for grandma. :) Her mind, her imagination, vocabulary, all of that has jumped leaps and bounds from being around all her cousins and friends. Yep, she has neighborhood friends at both grandparent's house, look out! It's fun to hear her ask to go to thier house to play...The kids will stand on the front lawn longingly wait for us mom's to say 'go play!' She is a wonderful helper with Lydia, and so gentle with her. I couldn't ask for a better big sister for Lydia; Isabelle has really amazed us.
Lydia seems to be healing well from her shunt surgery. She was in the hospital for just one night. And we fly home too early tomorrow morning.

Good bye Wisconsin; you will be missed...until next time!

Papparazzi

Not much to say, just that we are soo soo happy to be home as a family. It has been an emotional roller coaster with all the Doctor visits, home nurse visits, and more. To have our girls and to enjoy showing off our new addition and Isabelle being the big 'si-sa.) She has really taken on that roll. Helping with diaper changes and holding her. All though her holding her is a whole 30 seconds. :)

We also were able to ask my aunt Martha, a.k.a 'M-Lo' to be Lydia's Godmother...we couldn't be more honored that she accepted. Thank you tia!

And lil' miss Lydia next to my baby pics...Izzy looked like her daddy and Lydia, me!

Just an inch

It has been a fun and busy week with Lydia now being home.
We managed to sneak in Isabelle's first hair cut! She still looks like our Isabelle.
She did so good, surprisingly. Being a mom of two sure keeps me busy, but I am getting my sleep thanks to Jake and our parents. Today Jake leaves with his dad to go back home to El Paso...they are driving our Flex back and us girls will go back home on a one-way. Thank you Jim for helping us out!!! (He also drove Isabelle and I home to Wisconsin when Jake was first deployed.)
We will know tomorrow when we will be cleared to go home. The Neurology team is still monitoring Lydia's head and the swelling she has. She still seems to be doing well and we are praying a shunt will not be needed. Regardless it will be in the next 2 weeks. I can't believe this summer is almost over and how fast the 3 months have flown by.
Jake and I even got to sneak in a little date time yesterday.

p.s.-Lydia is such a good baby...yep I have been blessed 2X's now with content girls. All though this one does let me know how she hates her diaper/cloth changes...she likes to be swaddled n held...can you blame her? :)

Our family of four!

We are home, let me say it again, HOME! Not Texas home, but our temp home here in WI.
Lydia came home yesterday. The biggest concern at this point for sweet Lydia is if she would need a shunt placed in her head; due to swelling on the back of the head from the closure/repair on her back....
Let me start from the beginning.
Sunday the 25th at 39 weeks we were admitted to the hospital. After 2 rounds of cytetil(sp?) I was contracting on my own (w/o patocin) and at 7:30 was 4cm! This labor was definitely different; let alone the hospital but the fact that I was getting 2-3 contractions at a time. I was not getting a break. By 10:30 I had my epidural and was at 6cm. At this point the nurses and my Dr were a little concerned that every time I was having a contraction or should I say my 2-3 contractions, Lydia's heart rate was dropping and taking a while to come back.
That's when Jake took my hands and we prayed...we prayed that I would start dilating fast, that a c-section was not an option, that my contractions would ease up and not come multiple times.
I only got patocin from 1030 till 12:30, the idea was that it would smooth out my contractions to one at a time and give Lydia a chance to get her heart rate up, wrong! Another drip of my epidural helped the pain a bit...and by 1 I was feeling some intense pressure. Sure enough I was at a 9. It took almost 20 minutes of pushing and out she came at 157 pm.
Her cord had been in a knot and that was the reason her heart rate was dropping; Lydia got oxygen right away. Unfortunately because of this and the swift team at Children's I was not able to hold her till she was a few hours old. Oh how my heart ached...I could see her a little bit through the blur of nurses, dr's, and pediatrician's...but Daddy was there by her side the hole time.
By the time I could hold my sweet angel I found out that I could breast feed her since her surgery was set for Wednesday morning. I don't like to think too much about last week. It was an emotional whirl wind. My heart has never ached and hurt so much. It was worse than Jake's deployment's put together times 10. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to just grab my sweet little girl and run home.
The closure on her back told us that she has Myelomeningocil, that its at the L4 (lumbar), and she will walk! She does not need a catheter, she doesn't appear to need a shunt at this ppoint (PRAISE GOD!), her right leg appears to be perfectly fine but her left foot appears to have some issues...only time will tell.
The issues should only be with her ankle and toes; maybe an orthopedic shoe will be needed.
We feel blessed to have our sweet little girl home. In our arms, and near to us with out any monitors or nurses to bother us. God has given us a strong and healthy girl and things could be so much worse, but aren't.
Jake is leaving Thursday next week and until then we are just enjoying this family time together. We just love our girls so much and are so thankful for all the prayers and thoughts you have all put our way.