the day

I know it is easy to say this now, but I just knew I would deliver by my due date. In my readings of God's word, what He was teaching me, and what my heart felt I just believed it would be around the due date and not a day later. It was so incredibly fitting that Kid 2 come right on the due date. June 21st is my favorite day of the year. Summer solstice. Longest day of the year. I personally consider it a holiday and now it will forever be in my family! 

These first 2 pictures were taken right before we left to go to the hospital. My mother in law had stayed the night as we weren't sure if labor would begin in the middle of the night or hold off until morning. We knew it was coming though. I even talked to my parents the day before and encouraged them to leave the next morning which was June 21st. 

This was the last picture of us as a family of 3. Cap left the house first with Grammi before we took off and I cried watching him leave. I was so protective of him during this transition time. I also knew our family would never be the same. We were growing. Our time would be divided differently. I was very sensitive to this change and towards my little guy. 

the clock said 8:05am, off we went to the hospital 

We both went into this labor and delivery with a very different mindset than with Cap. With Cap we expected misery, pain, long labor, etc and that is exactly what we got. We took the appropriate steps to deal with the misery of birthing a child thinking that was our only option.

The second time around we equipped ourselves differently. Praying is a great thing. But I do think there  can be a better way to pray. We spent the winter and spring learning more about God's promises to us, His children, and mediating on specific scriptures. This really is a whole post in itself so I won't go into great detail. But we believed, spoke, and declared many specific things over this labor and baby.

Very briefly, the main difference I think was what came out of us, and what came into us. The things we spoke and believed and the things we let feed into our lives. okay, again...a whole post in itself!!!

So after spending a GREAT day at the hospital with just Bryce we had our baby girl Tuolumne Song at 8:43 pm. I will talk more about that and her name later on too! I know...all this waiting!!! It was such a different experience than with Cap. Everything about it. We were tired, but not exhausted. We were thrilled to have her with us.

first time nursing, quickly after delivery

they washed her in a different room, bryce went with her

cap never left either one of us at the hospital so i didn't care for this:(

my kiddos come out with a little meat on their sides!

this little guy stayed happy with his papa and grammi all day long!

what a blessing it was to have them close. it made me feel so much better

all day long knowing he was with family!

My parents arrived at the hospital within the hour of Tuolumne being born! It was awesome timing. Bryce's parents met her the next day since it was late and Cap was already in bed. We had to stay 2 nights in the hospital since she was born so late. That was a bummer, but nothing could be done about it. Cap had a blast with both sets of grandparents being here!

Then we began a different kind of journey! We were stoked to be a family of 4!

5 Months

- can sleep 12 hours at night
- on a way better sleep schedule most days!
- can be a little less serious
- sometimes you just talk and talk, especially to me, but you are quiet like your dad if enough is already being said
- somehow we haven't had any cereal bowls and plates in our laps from you yet, though you love to reach out and grab things
- you try really hard to get your bullet in by yourself, sometimes it works
- graduated to footed pj's
- had a bad cold type thing going on the second half of the month along with the rest of us
- you want our food SO SO bad!
- dark beautiful eyes
- you are never dry in the morning but are dry after most naps
- you are not as scheduled as Cap was at this age except for sleep, we learned a lot after him!
- you had an EKG and an ultrasound of your heart, it was great to see your healthy heart on the screen
- you are not in a rush to do things
- you seem to take life all in without getting completely into it
- when i put you in your bed, you always turn your head to the side and bend your head back to your toes...sometimes you even like your hands over your face while asleep
- you have the cutest pouty lip lately
- you take baths with Cap sometimes
- you like to be upside down
- we call you "little miss", sister, Tuolumne, and Tuoly

You are a sweet girl! Oh the adventures you will have as you get older and older. As time continues to move right along, we will enjoy watching you grow and explore the world around you. Thank for what you bring to our family. I love you Tuolumne.

Enjoy!

Post Script: At lunch I was saying how I thought Tuolumne was looking thinner, like may be she grew long or something....then I took her clothes off and realized I might have been wrong!  :) She is beauty.

I think this one below is my favorite

He insisted on a picture of both of them together!!!

This guy!

the day before

I am missing fun and big events from this summer on here, because of the Great Nap. Oh Great Nap, darn you... I decided it doesn't matter how many months have gone by I am going to do some catch up with pics. This will be round 1!!! 

These were taken the day before Tuolumne joined us on the outside. We enjoyed making our own popsicles while it was hot and eating them after rest time on the back porch. Cap would probably do it year around despite the cold:) His popsicle was dripping all over my ginormous belly!

This was the awesome Y pool we went to as often as we could! What a beautiful setting for this place to be. It was such a great pool with fun things for even the littlest swimmers to do. It was 2 miles from the house which was a HUGE added bonus! You definitely have to be a little picky about your days around here. This isn't Texas where you can swim for months without looking at the weather. I always looked at the weather and planned around it that way. What fun!

Enjoy!

Movie Night

I just LOVE this picture. May be all siblings are this awesome, may be I am partial to this sweet boy and girl, but Tuolumne hands down has the best big brother ever and Cap will forever have a friend and admirer.

We have all been a little under the weather with stuffy noses and lack of sleep, and we decided it was time for some Red Box! We rented Monster University. I think it is only right for the parents to enjoy the movie as much as the kids (though T didn't actually watch the movie....), but MU was the perfect solution to our need of rest. We ate popcorn, drank OJ and water, and stayed up a tad past bedtime. 

Last week the girl started to sleep 12 hours at night!!!! We started to feel a little human before the 3-4 night of sick nights began. My sweet husband did most of the night work. He seems to feel the best out of us all and does 10 times better at night than I do! What a man I have! But we are back on to better sleep despite our stuffy noses and congestion.

But now that the girl is sleeping through the night more consistently it was time to graduate to footy pj's. Now, some might say this is no big deal, but it is a right of passage at our house. She had way out grown her gowns but we kept using them because they are so easy to do night diaper changes. But here she is in her brother's old pj's as cute as can be. My heart is full.

Fall in CO

Fall has been very impressive around here this year. Though the colors and magnitude can't even compare to where we were out east, this has its own beauty and wonder! The new neighborhood we live in is an old more established spot. Big huge trees and nice old men who have lived in the same houses for generations. We just LOVE it. We have an awesome GIANT maple tree in our backyard which is just a treat! Trees and green are two words I would NOT use to describe the springs, but our neighborhood is changing my mind. 

We felt very much like a traditional American family the other day. We bought a rake and cleaned up the yard. We even bagged up leaves which I have done in over 13 years when I lived with my parents! Thankfully, a nice lady wants to use our leaves as compost at her house so they don't just get sent to the dump to fill up a landfill. Sounds silly to most, but I was very bothered by not having a better place to use them as compost. 

Cap had a blast and sister just took everything in with her own serious manner. We had leaves everywhere in the house after this night. It was great! Now that the sun is getting down so early we are looking forward to our family dark walks again after dinner. Enjoy the weather!!!