.:Remi - One Month:.

Remi is one month old today! I can hardly believe it! On one hand it's gone by so quickly, but on the other, it's like she's always been here! She is such a sweet little baby, and we are loving having her as a part of our family now. Remi is a great eater and a pretty good sleeper as well. It's been a much easier adjustment to having two kids because of how easy she has been. For the most part, Reece is doing well with the change. We have our moments where it's a little tougher to share Mommy, but Reece really does love Remi and is always very concerned about making sure we are quiet when she is sleeping, that Remi has her binky, covering Remi with a blanket, etc. It is really sweet, and I can't wait until they can interact more together!

At one month Remi likes:

- eating

- sleeping

- being held

- being swaddled (most of the time anyway!)

- her binky (sometimes)

- baths

At one month Remi does not like:

- being hungry

- getting in the car seat

She doesn't particularly love getting dressed or having lotion put on, but she's learned to tolerate it a lot better!

Here are some pictures of our sweet girl!

.:Let's Compare:.

Let's compare Reece and Remi's pictures from when they were around the same age.

Reece

Remi

Reece Bulldog

Remi Bulldog

Yeah, I'd say they look alike, wouldn't you?

.:Easter and Family Time:.

Before Remi was born, we were lucky to have my mom come stay with us the week before. It was nice to have some play time with her, and also for she and Reece to get to know each other better. Reece just fell in love with my mom, and I'm excited that she will be able to start remembering my family members that don't live near us better now! We had lots of fun running errands, eating doughnuts, visiting Cal-Ranch to see the chicks and baby ducks, going to the library and the pet store, and just hanging out at home!

After Remi came, we were able to have almost my whole family come into town to meet Remi and Jay and spend Easter with us (we missed you Ben and Sharon and Jefferson!) Reece was in heaven with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I think it was good for her to have some of that attention as she adjusted to having Remi around.

Here are some pictures of the fun times we had!

Aunt Dani holding Remi

Reece and Andi in their matching dresses

We decided to let Carter get in on the picture in his new shirt, although Andi didn't want him in it because he's not a girl!

The kids had fun decorating Easter egg shaped sugar cookies (and eating them, too, of course!)

Reece loved playing with Taytum.

Reece also had a great time running around with this bag on her head (don't call CPS!)

Andi and Remi with Uncle Nic and Aunt Alli

Jay and Remi - 11 days apart!

Dying Easter eggs

The girls' Easter baskets

Enjoying some candy

Remi enjoying some quality time with Grandma Z and Grandpa Paul

We had a great time with everyone, and really appreciate everyone making the effort to come visit us and spend time with us!

.:The Stats:.

Yesterday, we took the girls to the doctor. Reece had her (late) 18 month checkup and Remi had her (early) 2 week checkup. I was SO glad that Josh was able to come with me - I'm not sure I could have done it alone! Both girls did so awesome with getting checked out, and passed with flying colors! Perfect is the word their doctor used! We think so, too....

Reece's stats:

Weight: 21 lbs. 11 oz. - 13th percentile

Length: 33 in. - 84th percentile

Long and lean!

Remi's stats:

Weight: 9 lbs. 6 oz. - 86th percentile

Length: 22 in. - 86th percentile

Long and....not so lean! :)

Remi was 8 lbs. 5 1/2 oz. at her appointment a week ago, so that means she gained a pound in one week. Go girl! And Reece only gained one pound since her last appointment three and a half months ago. If you know Reece, you know how busy she is, so that's not surprising! Her doctor even said that if he ever said he was concerned about her weight, to just remind him of the 30 minute aerobic session she had during her appointment (she was ALL over the place!)

.:A lot of numbers:.

Today was the big 3-0 for me.

My mom was having a conversation with my nephew, who is almost four, and he said something along the lines of, "Aunt Sumo is a lot of numbers."

Well said Carter, well said.

.:Remi's Birth Story:.

It's about time I got around to posting Remi's birth story! We've been so lucky to have lots of family around this past week (that will be another post!) that I just haven't had time to sit down!

We had decided that we would set up an induction date in case Remi didn't come on her own. I had really been hoping to avoid that, but with family coming into town, I wanted to make sure that I was home from the hospital a few days before they came, and a little bit settled in. We got the call to go in and got to the hospital around 9:00ish. It was so weird leaving Reece and knowing that things were going to be so different for her - and us - when we next came home! We checked in at Labor and Delivery, and found out that someone had come in that was in natural labor, so they had to push us back about an hour. They gave us a food voucher, so we went and had breakfast at the cafeteria, and walked around the hospital. Josh showed me around to where he does clinicals, which was really interesting!

We went back around 10:30 and they were ready for us. The nurse got us into a room and I was hooked up to the pitocin by 11:30. It started the contractions right away, and they were coming about every 2-4 minutes. My nurse and doctor were excited about that. They really weren't bad at all at this point. My doctor kept coming in to check on me, and I wasn't dilating all that fast. When she checked me around 2:00, I was at a 3 or so, and she decided to break my water. That brought the contractions on strong and fast! They were coming about every 1-2 minutes and they were really intense. I lasted about an hour before I wanted to get my epidural.

The anesthesiologist came in to do my epidural, which brought some relief. It didn't really take all the way - I could still move my legs and toes - so they had me try pushing my button to up it. It still didn't work, so they had him come back to re-dose me. This happened two more times! After the second time, I was still only about a 6. It numbed me pretty good, although I could still move my toes and one of my legs. About a half hour to 45 minutes later, all of the sudden, it wore off a ton, and I could move both of my legs, wiggle my toes, and I was feeling the urge to push.

So I called my nurse in, and she checked me and said I was complete. She called my doctor, and I called Josh (he was at the cafeteria with his family) and told him that he better get back quick! The anesthesiologist came back in and tried to re-dose me a little bit more, but it never really ended up helping. I didn't mind though - it was nice to have some feeling and feel like I was a little bit in control of what was going on.

Once we had Josh back and my doctor there, I started pushing. It was seriously only about 8-10 minutes of pushing before Remi was out! Once her head was out, they could see that the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around her neck. My doctor had to cut the cord at that point so that she could breathe. Remi's shoulders got stuck, so I had to do a bunch of huge pushes all towards the end because we just needed to get her out. They were concerned about it causing nerve damage and her not being able to use her one arm very well, but luckily that hasn't been a problem!

Remi came out very quiet and still. She was pale and a little bit blue, and they started working on her pretty quickly to get her to breathe. She had to have oxygen for awhile. The NICU nurses came in, and helped. She started to get her color back and do better breathing, but they still took her to the NICU for about a half hour to monitor her and make sure she was really okay. It was a scary half hour, and I was so relieved when they brought her back and I got to hold her.

Remi is such a good baby! She's been nursing like a champ from day one - which is SO different from how Reece was. She sleeps a lot, and while she likes to be held, she is also okay to be set down. She seems to have pretty alert wake time, and we've started working on tummy time as well. Even though it's only been just over a week, I just can't imagine our family without her!

Reece is being so sweet with her. She likes to pat Remi's head, give her kisses, and pat her on the back. She's also concerned with making sure Remi has her binky. :) It is really cute and sweet, and I am just loving having two precious little girls!

Here are some more pictures!