Slideshow of Hospital Pictures

Available only until June 5, you can see the pictures that were taken at the hospital.

Click here to see the slideshow at chicago.bellababyphotography.com

Click on "View Photos"

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Meet Lylah Grace

Lylah Grace

10:14 AM

7 lbs 13 oz

18 inches long

As beautiful as ever.

Prepare to fall in love, just as we all have.

Parents

We can't help but feeling like 2 boys and 2 girls is perfect for us.

We stayed in the hospital for 5 days (including birth day), and it was such a sweet bonding time for the three of us.  I LOVE this newborn baby and how much she knows her Mommy.

Right after birth, she was crying and crying as newborns do.

But as soon as she was brought over to me and I started whispering to her, she was absolutely quiet, and still, and calm.  And not by coincidence.  It was very obvious that she knew my voice.  And she was comforted by it.  And she knew me.  She stayed quiet for the remainder of the time right there by me.  It was very tender.

Carter

 Carter is THRILLED! Holding his brand new baby sister!

He seems to glow when he is around Lylah.

His class took a pole what the gender would be:

4 voted for a boy.  16 voted for a girl.

When he held Lylah for the first time, he became trapped in their own little world, started rocking her back and forth singing Rock-a-Bye Baby, but with these new words:

Rock-a-bye baby In Daddy's arms,

Daddy will hold you Safe from all harm.

Daddy will love you and sing you to sleep,

Love you forever -- a promise he'll keep.

These come from a book called Daddy's Lullaby by Tony Bradman (LOVE!), a book that he and his 1st grade teacher gave us as a baby gift.

Carter had a very tender heart all during pregnancy, too.  He was the luckiest kid who felt the baby move the most.  And he thrilled at every kick, roll, elbow, and "high five" he got from the belly.

He came home from school one day with a book he wrote:  "BABY NAMES" by Carter.

And on Wednesday, the day before the baby was born, Carter brought me breakfast in bed (since I couldn't eat day of surgery).  

And after school, I found 16 presents wrapped for me and the baby.  He helped his siblings go around the house to find toys, books, and blankets that they thought the baby would like and they would like to share with the baby.

SO SWEET! 

Since we've been home, he has been so sensitive to her.

One of my favorite moments was when he was holding her and started reading her a chapter book.

Addison

Wow.  I can not believe this little boy!  He is so sensitive and sweet to his baby Lylah!

My favorite thing I heard him say was "*Gasp* You have the cutest little ears!"

He can't get over her little-ness.

He just keeps looking at her, and stroking her, and whispering to her.

There was a very magical moment when Lylah held Addison's hand shortly after they met.

 He rocked her as he held her for the first time and started singing, I am a Child of God.  Alana soon jumped in to join him, and the three of them melted our hearts all together.

Addison also helped Grandma H make brownies to bring to the hospital as a Birthday Cake for Lylah!

What a SWEET IDEA!

Alana

Alana is beyond tickled pink about this baby girl.

She is so sweet about sharing anything with her, and she often comes to Lylah with blankets, stuffed animals, and drawings that "she will just love". She has loved going through our baby clothes and knowing that she had worn this when she was a baby, too.

When Lylah came home from the hospital, Alana was the first to hold her.  I heard her whispering,

"This is your house!  This is where we all live together, and you will love it."

Then she told me she wanted to put the baby in her doll crib!

Alana was so excited to hear the baby's name was Lylah GRACE...and is insisting on calling her Gracie (Angelina Ballerina's Best Friend's name!)

My Dad stopped by for a surprise visit the day Lylah was born!  Of course, he was immediately smitten!

 My Mom came the next day, and had the same reaction, of course.

Steve's Mom spent a few hours with me that afternoon and loved cuddling this little one!

And YEA for Cambrea, our awesome friend and babysitter, who snuck in a visit during her busy life!  She started babysitting for us when Carter was just a few months old!  

Michaela, Steve's Sister, is VERY happy to see all this pink again!

And of course, we had to send the announcement to my nephews servings missions right now in California and Peru!  We thought this was appropriate for them:

SO cute and cuddly from all her bending in the belly!

Coming Home! 

 Look at this little girl! How could you resist her!

3..2..1...It's a Baby...?

Today's the day.  

The day that we find out if we are having a baby brother or baby sister.  

The day we get to hold our newborn baby in our arms.  

The day we start choosing that baby name.

The day that changes the rest of our lives.

Votes, guesses, and bets have all been cast.  The only thing left to do is have the baby.

At 9:45 am.  Scheduled C-Section.

6:45 AM.  3 Hours before Baby:

Showered.  Makeup-ed.  And yes, I'm doing my hair.

Because with a scheduled C-Section, you come out looking almost as good as you go in...a plus side from the normal deliveries.

7:45 AM.  2 Hours before Baby:

Parking Garage Elevator.  Yes, I realize we're on Level 1 --elevatoring it to the Ground Floor.  Yes, I was feeling wimpy.  But not as wimpy as when Steve asked for a wheelchair for me...which I politely declined.  I wasn't in labor or anything...he just likes the drama :)

8:45.  1 Hour before Baby:

Check out all those bands and cords!!!  

And there were 2 more bands still to be put on my wrist.

And you can't see the 3 EKG monitors under the gown to monitor heart and breathing rates.

And Now....drum role please....at 10:14 and 52 seconds, to be exact:

Boy?

Girl?

What do you think?

From all that pink on the body, I guess I'll just announce:

It's a GIRL!!

We are SO excited!!!

Waiting for 9 months to find out the gender of our baby was a Looooong wait, and I didn't want it to be spoiled by one of the doctors announcing the gender from the other side of the surgical curtain...so Steve made sure that when the baby came out, no one said a WORD until I could see the baby for myself.

The anesthesiologist said, "I see the head!  The head is out!"

Then, 20 seconds later, the whole body was out and I heard everyone gasp (in a good excited way!)

10 seconds later, the doctor rushed the baby over to my side and showed me my Baby Girl!!

Being drugged up, of course, I had to ask:

"Is it a girl?"

"Yes, it's a Girl!" said Steve.

And he kissed me on the forehead.

9:45 1 Hour After our Baby Girl was born!

Me: Drugged up, numb from here down, calm, and happy!

...I won't sum up hours 2-7 after the baby was born because they were NOT so good.
Discovering allergies to pain meds that weren't working was NOT my idea of a good recovery, but now that all seems like it's so far away.

Farewell to our Family of Five

This is it...the final countdown to the very end of our family of five and greetings to our soiree for six.

Happy Birthday  (in 8-10 hours) to our new little baby, boy or girl :)

It was a BIG Sunday!

This Sunday was a big day for us!

1)  I got released:  It was my first time in a year and half of NOT being the Primary Chorister, and another year and a half on top of that of NOT being a Primary teacher ... which meant NO prep before church, NO heavy bags of props and visual aids, and going to the adult Sunday School class -- with Steve!  I have really enjoyed my job as teaching the 3-12 year olds the really sweet church songs for their age group, but it sure is a lot of work, creative ideas, and ENERGY without a lot of praise :)  A new chorister was put in for this week so that I could, you know, have my baby on Thursday and then, you know, move....not like we're busy or anything.

2)  Steve also was released from his calling as Ward Mission Leader...so he didn't have meetings before church and he didn't have to teach his class...which again meant, we got to sit together in the adult Sunday School class.  We may have been falling asleep, which might have been because it was so hot and I am so pregnant, or it could be that we really do need such active callings than just sit down and listen :)

3)  Both Addison and Carter had speaking assignments in primary.  Addison was asked to recite the scripture of the month (Amos 3:7, or as Addison has cutely stated, Amos dot dot 3 7!!)  and Carter gave a talk.  He was so cute as he wrote it almost all by himself.  Together we found the scripture reference and the story, which comes from the LDS Friend August 2011.  They did such a great job, and really had the kids quiet and listening by the end.  Trust me, that is amazing!

So turn up your speakers, and enjoy!

Addison:  Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Carter: you can read his talk here

4) The Kids' Adventure:  Steve gave me a nice long 2 hour nap while he took the kids out for a walk.  NICE.

 And good thing I didn't go, because I would NOT have approved of this:

That is the grossest lake that I could think of.  But it sure was nice to have showered and bathed clean kids when I woke up (and not knowing beforehand why!)

Agreed that some things are just left better to Dad:

5)  Freezer Meals.  Freezer Meals.  and Freezer Meals.  I recognize that I feel like my life is falling apart.  I wonder how we will survive healing with a C-section, adjusting to a newborn, and moving 4 weeks later.  So, Steve and I tackled 5 different meals and stashed them in our freezer.  Phew!  *wipe brow*

Our Preschooler's Funnies!

Our Preschool Graduate!

I can't believe preschool is over!  And with us moving out of the school district, this was our last year with Mrs. Beghtol and Ms. Maravilla.  They are such wonderfully warm teachers that it is hard to say goodbye.  Addison was a rock-star preschooler!  He is now such a super-duper reader.  He can read picture books to himself, to me, to his friends at school, and to Alana when it's bedtime.  And we discovered he has a real knack for math!  In fact, this conversation happened with my Aunt Linda:

"What do you like to do for fun, Addison?"

and with an assurred, matter-of-fact nod of his head, Addison replied:

"Math!"

Impressive :)

Oh, and speaking of "impressive":

While we were in the car the other day, we were having a conversation about something awesome, I'm sure, but what I DO remember was Addison's smart reply,

 "Mom, I'm really impressive about that!" 

(the word he was looking for was impressed, but it was soo cute the other way!)

Another amazing word escaped him the other day.  We were in the kitchen getting drinks of water when we said the EXACT same thing at the EXACT same time.  Now, ususally Addison jumps right in and gives me the "jinx for life!",  which, as you know, delivers the ultimate curse of not being able to speak until someone says your name 3 times...

But this time, Addison looked at me with such amazement and said,

"Whoa!  Synchronized!"

Synchronized??  Where has he EVER heard that word, and with the correct context!  The only time I think of "synchronized" involves swimcaps in the high school pool!  Synchronized?  Seriously?  From a 5 year old?

Yes.  And that's MY 5-year-old you're talkin' about.

In Addison's preschool review, the teacher did comment that he's more on track to go into 1st grade with the skills he's developed...no thanks...I'll keep my kid a kid as long as I can!

Carter's Piano Recital!

Bravo!  BRAVO!

Here is footage from Carter's 2nd Piano Recital :)  oops...forgot to turn off the video camera when he was done :)

He played "Little Playmates" and then "Music Box Dancer"....which is the song that our neighborhood ice cream truck plays...yes, the same truck that since Carter was a baby we termed the Music Truck that brought music around the neighborhood (to our success, we didn't discover there was ice cream inside until Much MUCH later).


When he found the music in the book, he immediately knew this was the song he wanted to play.  And now we are just WAITING for the Music Truck, ahem, Ice Cream Truck to come around our neighborhood so we can reward him with a song well learned!!

Angelina Alana Ballerina Update

Alana's last ballet class was this week.  It was SO fun to see this little girl's talent and joy in dancing.  

Most of the girls were at least 6 mos to a year older than her, which is quite a lot to a 3 1/2 yr old, but Alana still charmed everyone and was a very good friend :)

just to show you how much smaller she is than the other girls:  

Isn't she cute there on the end!

Some of the greatest poses during the dance:

And for your viewing pleasure: