Cousins

Here are some attempts at trying to get a picture of all four cousins.
Favorite things captured: Jackson said he was entirely too far away from the baby and wanted to get closer to the action. Finley spit up nicely in one of these shots. Catching both daughters with their mouths open in cries. Justin says Finley looks like a Dr. Seuss Who from Whoville. Amazed at how TINY she looks next to the big kids.

Two "Feet" Girls

Grayson has done well so far with baby sister's arrival. If we have a third child I'll try to remember though to not check out from the hospital in 24 hours at 6pm, right at dinner time then bedtime, or what we sometimes call "the crazy hour". That night was rough but after that, she's been adjusting really well. She has also decided that now is the perfect time to potty train herself. Girlfriend has been asking to go the potty all throughout the day and making great progress for the last week. Although I'd love to get us down to only one child in diapers, the timing is quite comical. She really wants to be able to wear cousin Avery's elmo underwear apparently. Avery also visited last week and peer pressure is apparently the best medicine for potty training motivation. Grayson cracks us up throughout the day in things she says. It's amazing to me that in just two short years, these little people can speak in full sentences and completely communicate. Most of her speech is clear, but for some words that start with "sw" or "sm" she replaces those sounds with "f". So here are some current favorites:
-daddy's sweater vest is his "fetter best" (when he wears it for work, she'll exclaim "cute fetter best daddy!")
-sweet pea is "feet pea" or sweet girl is "feet girl"
-grayson wynn smith is "grayson wynn fiff" (might have already blogged that one before) and finley is now "finley fiff"
-scarf is "farf"

Sweet Girl

Well, after 2+ weeks of craziness, things seem to be settling in a bit more. In the haze I don't think we mentioned it here, but Finley was born with a tight frenulum, which is that piece of skin under your tongue that holds it in place. Basically hers prevented her from being able to stick her tongue out over her gum, which means trouble for nursing. So at 4 days old, we went to an ENT and had it clipped, well, burned actually, hoping to give her tongue a little more freedom. And no, I did not watch the procedure. Justin did and thought it was pretty interesting. I sat in the hallway and tried to keep it together. Side note that I don't want to forget...Justin, Mr. I-Don't-Do-Blood-Or-Anything-Like-It not only watched the frenulum being burned but also cut Finley's cord. I couldn't believe it. So, anyways, because she couldn't nurse well those early days, she lost too much weight, got a mild case of jaundice, and we began our lactation consultant sessions. Linda Donovan at Peaceful Beginnings rocks. We owe her big time. We tried a ton of different things and it has been a crazy two weeks in it all. She has slowly gained weight back and it finally basically back to birth weight, which is a huge praise. So now I pump and we mostly bottle feed, still trying to nurse a few times througout the day hoping that she'll figure it all out eventually. Here she is, her first bath and then hanging out in the bouncy. More updates and pictures soon!

How The Time Flies

It's been a whirlwind these last 10 days. Our little yellow-ish baby is turning more normal colored. After much fighting and negations, Finley and Millie have come to an agreement on breastfeeding (thanks to much help from lactation consultant Linda Donovan.) She's got this robo-boob thing (also called the 'camelboob' also called the 'third boob') that is helping out since Finley is so impatient/sleepy/lazy.

Grayson is being a model citizen. She still calls her baby sister instead of Finley, but she'll get used to it soon enough. She's had a lot of help from her grandparents near and far, so she's not lacking any love. What a sweetheart.

Millie is doing better. She really needs about 8 hours or sleep per night to function and so when the doctors asked her to nurse every two hours, I think she literally growled at them. She's doing better though. And she is, by far, the most beautiful woman with a one week old that anyone has ever seen.

Oh, The Doctor's Visits

Home again, home again

We're crazy. We decided to check out a day early and came home around six.

Feedings have been rough all day (as in ten minutes total the last couple feeds). Until praise the lord she just feed for 25 on one side. We could use aka we need your prayers.

Will post more pictures tomorrow.

"Hey Baby Sister!!!!"

She's Here!!!

Little Finley Cate Smith is here and she came the old fashioned way (no c-section)!!!

8lb 9oz and 23 in @2:29

9cm, got epidural, getting dr.

For a while pain was just on one side. FYI: pain on half your body doesn't mean it is half as painful.

I think "we're" about to push.

Contractions closer together, nothing good on TV,

. . . trying to remember breathing techniques.

4cm, water broken, watching Regis and Kelly

Fun times. I've officially moved "north" for the remainder of the day (I can't watch - I'll faint).

At the hospital . . .

About to hook her up to a drip to start the induction. I hope they let her keep this gown.