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!