"How to Train your Dragon"

I think I have the best family! Today Seth and I took the girls to see " How to Train your Dragon" in the 3D IMAX. I forgot how loud IMAX is. I was a little worried about the girls hearing afterwards but all is fine. We all loved the movie. Super cute! Hannah thought it was fun to wear the 3D glasses for about half of the movie then decided to take them off. Little Gabbie slept through the entire movie. We had a great time:)

Too Cute!

Too Cute!

Really, could they be any cuter? I think my girls are the cutest little ones in the whole world! I may be a little partial because they are mine, but look at those little sweet faces! I love my Girls!

Billy Blanket

So our little Gabbie has Jaundice super bad so she has had to have her feet lanced about 8 times now. It is so sad. She doesn't even cry any more she just screams and is angry. poor little baby. When we went to the pediatrician Doctor Nelson, we were told that Gabbie would have to be on the billy blanket. I was happy to hear that we would not have to do treatments at the hospital but that we could do them from home and that unlike the billy bed the billy blanket allowed us to hold our sweet baby while on the machine. Thank goodness for modern medicine and technology.

The machine to help with the jaundice.

At least she looks comfortable.

Sleepy Head

I am convinced that Seth can sleep through almost anything after a long sleepless night at the hospital. We had determined that we had learned our lesson after the first sleepless night with Hannah that when we had another we would end them to the nursery for the night so we could be alert and rested the next day. Well it didn't quite work out that way because I just wanted to keep Gabbie by my side the entire time. She already has my heart. So we were all pretty exhausted by 3:00 am so Seth finally said, "Lexy, we are so tires and all the nurses in the nursery are fresh and rested. Don't you think that they can take care of her better than we could seeing how tired we are." It was also a relief that Seth business partner Eric's momma Ginger was our nurse so she kept a special look out for our new little one. I am so grateful for her! So I was able to get a few hours of sleep. Seth on the other had got a lot more! He slept from around 3:30am to 10:30am. When he woke up i asked him if he heard what Doc Z had said when he came in and if he woke up when the nurses took out my catheter and his mom came and two more doctors checking in. Um yeah he slept through it all! :) Sweet boy!

Sleeping babies are so sweet!

Gabbie and Daddy sleeping away!

Really? Look how comfie cozy he looks :)

Pea

Our little Gabbie is so much fun! We have a bunch of little nick names for her, but one she has received lately is "the princess and the pea" She is such a picky little sleeper. She tosses and turns and grunts and groans the minute we lay her in her bed. Then immediately quiets down the moment she is in our arms or taking a nap on our bed. Silly little girl. Also at first she love to be swaddled. That lasted all of about 1 week. So I caught this great picture of her looking like a little pea pod! So sweet.

Dr. Z

We went to have my staples removed today! Yippy!! I always feel so much better once they are out. We love our OB/GYN, Doctor Zarlengo. We just call him "Z" he is amazing. I have a picture of Hannah with Z so I thought it only fitting to get one with baby Gabbie.

I should mention that Z is pee your pants funny. He makes pregnancy and the c-section really easy and enjoyable. He is really calm and always has something witty to say! Some friends recommended him to us and now we are hooked. if we feel that we are going to have another baby he will be or Doctor we just love him! Thanks Z!

Danger or Fun

I bought Hannah some roller blades for her birthday. Mostly because she begged and begged for them. Seth said it was a terrible idea. I kept telling him that it would be alright. Well it turns out he was right. Hannah is not quite ready for the skating. She wiped out as soon as she stood up. Needless to say the rollerblades went back in the box and are now waiting in the top of a closet. Seth 1 Lexy 0

Gabbie's Newborn pics

When Gabbie was 4 days old, some friends Jace and Jody Martin (jacemartinphotography.com) came over to take some newborn pictures. I think they did such a wonderful job. Thanks so much to them. They are very talented and it was nice to not have to take Gabbie out to have the pictures done.

we have a litte feet picture for Hannah at this age too:)

Tired

After we got home from the hospital Hannah zonked out on the couch at about 5:00pm, from a busy day and could not be woken up even for dinner. Although she did wake up at about 2:30am and asked for some buttered bread and some princess fruit snacks. Gotta love that girl!

To Hannah, Love Gabbie

We wanted to make sure that Hannah felt special when Gabbie was born. I had heard how the older sibling usually brings a gift for the new baby and how sometimes it is hard to give the gift up and it makes the older child feel like the baby is more important or special so Baby Gabbie gave Hannah a new special baby. Can you just feel the excitement:) Hannah was so happy! What a special day!

PRICELESS!

Hannah meets Baby Gabbie

Hannah has been waiting a long time for baby Gabbie to get here. She has been so excited to be a big sister and help me take care of Gabbie. Nanna came out to stay with Hannah during the birth. We called right after delivery and were so excited for the girls to meet and to see what Hannah thought. It was so precious! Hannah was really gentle with baby Gabbie. When Hannah saw Gabbie she said, " aw, she is so beautiful and precious:)"

D-Day

Yesterday we had our appointment for the amnio to see if the babies lungs were developed enough to have the c-section the next day. I was a little nervous for the amnio because I have a friend that said it was the the worst pain and that I needed to ask for a local to numb the area. She made it sound so terrible. We went for the amnio and I asked the ultra sound tech if she thought that I would need to be numbed. She said that she wouldn't because then you have to get poked twice. And that the local only numbs the outside area and that I wouldn't really feel that at all. So I opted to not have the local. Doctor Z is amazing. I didn't feel any pain at all! It was neat to see the whole process.

All of the tests came back positive and we are a go for the 16th :)

We arrived at St Joseph's Hospital at 6:30am. A little early, but I was so ready to get things going. The nurses prepared us for surgery. The next few hours passed so quickly and before I knew it we were walking into the operating room. Everyone in masks and all blue and sterile. They let Seth come in for the spinal which was different than when we had Hannah. I was grateful to have him there because that is the most painful part of the process. Doctor Z kept things lively by cracking us up. He is really the best doctor. We were told that usually the surgery takes 10-30 min to get the baby then at least 1 hour to put the momma back together. The nurses however told us that we have the best Doctor (we already knew that!) So Doc Z began the surgery at 9:19 am, he had to fix my previous c-section scar so he said it took him a little longer than expected. We welcomed Gabriella Bramalea Ludwig into our family at 9:32am, and he had me put back together and headed to recovery by 9:52am. He is the #1 Doctor in Colorado for a reason:) Gabbie weighed 7lbs 8oz, and was 19 1/2 in. long. She came out with a really strong set of lungs:) She let out a huge scream. Such a perfect little girl! She has similarities to Hannah, but has her own look.

Baby Gabbie is so beautiful! When they held her over the divider I fell in love with her immediately. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father sent us such a perfect little angel! It was hard to hold back the tears. I always love those first moments. It is so special to see Seth hold the new baby. He is a really wonderful daddy!

Pregnancy and a two year old.

Since we have been pregnant we have had some really enlightening and funny conversations with Hannah.

We talked to Hannah about when baby Gabbie gets here that sometimes the baby is going to get fussy and cry and not be too much fun, but that she is part of our family and we get to keep her. So when she is not fun we don't get to send her back.

I almost cried from laughing so hard when we explained breast feeding. The conversation went something along these lines.
Seth: "Hannah how is baby Gabbie going to eat when she gets here?"
Hannah: "out of a bottle, I fink (think)"
Seth: "Well that is good, but right at first she is going to eat out of moms boobs."
Hannah: "No (giggle, giggle) that's sugesting (disgusting)!"
Seth: "really, she is! (laughing hysterically)
Hannah is now used to the idea and thinks it is ok. Although yesterday Hannah said, "Mom when baby Gabby gets here can you take the milk out of your boobs and put it in a bottle so I can feed her?"
I love the way her mind works.

We have also talked to Hannah about how baby Gabbie is going to get here. A c-section is way easier to explain than a vaginal birth! Lucky me:) I showed Hannah my c-section scar from when she was born and told her that Doctor Z has to cut my tummy to get baby Gabbie out. Hannah's question was, "with scissors?" I explained it would be a little knife. She seemed comfie with the idea. Now if you ask her how Gabbie is getting here. She will say, "Doctor Z will get a little ife (knife) and cut your tummy and pull her out, then he will put a big band aid on your tummy and give baby Gabbie a big bubble bath."
Sounds good to me.

I asked Hannah the other day if baby Gabbie is going to have teeth when she comes out. Hannah said, "yup". I told her that babies are not born with teeth, that they grow in later. She thought that this was crazy of course. I guess I had never given it much thought. But Hannah has had her teeth as far back as she can remember. So the idea of no teeth seemed pretty crazy. Needless to say this has been a hard concept for a 2 year old to understand. Luckily a friend (Jody Martin) came over the other day and brought her two girls for Hannah to play with. She also has a little boy who is only a few months old. So we were able to show Hannah that baby Kampbell doesn't have teeth yet, only gums. It was fun to see it click in Hannah's mind. Now if you ask Hannah if baby Gabbie is going to have teeth she says, "no, but she will have little gums!"

I have just really wanted Hannah to be prepared and not worry about things that are to come. She is a smart girl and I think it is good to explain.

My Tater

My super cute Tater this week. I sure do love her guts!

She was pretending to be a ghost

Lankie

When Hannah was born Melanie Olsen (Seth's really good friend) gave Hannah a really nice blanket from the Pottery Barn for Kids. It was a soft baby pink with a pink silk binding. And my was it so so soft. Hannah took to it immediately. Since she could talk it took on the name "Lankie." Hannah has not slept one night without it and drags it with us everywhere we go. It has been to Nevada, Washington, Utah, and Mexico. After all this travel I'm sure you can imagine that it has lost all of its beauty. Hannah has rubbed all of the silk off, the super plush soft side is now matted and almost a gray tint of pink, and one corner is stained gray for all the love Hannah gives it. At night she actually asks for her special corner and turns the blanket around until she finds it and rubs it until she falls asleep. So for Tater it is her most treasured possession. It has been tricky to get the time needed to wash the smelly thing. When she was a little younger she would stand by the washer for the entire cycle and cry. We would even have to only dry it halfway because of the meltdown she would have. Now it has gotten easier. We are able to wash it because she loves the way it smells and feels right after washing and drying. I took some pictures of the Lankie all fresh and clean. Tater just loves to cuddle and smell it. What a silly kid. I just thought that I needed to document the Lankie for later years :)

Sorry

Being almost three years old must be pretty tough. Hannah has such a mind of her own. We are always trying to give her choices so she doesn't feel forced and feels like she has a say in what is happening. However the choices are a lot easier to give when you are not in a hurry and running late already. So yesterday we had to get to the store and home quickly. Hannah had other plans. She was busy doing this and that and taking her sweet time getting her shoes on. So I was getting very impatient and I rose my voice when telling her to get ready now or else! So she of course sassed back and we had a little battle, and by the time we got in the car we were both grouchy. We rode to the store in silence. Just as we were about to pull into the parking lot Hannah says, "Mom I'm really sorry for being grouchy at you." I smiled and told her "Thank You for saying sorry." She said, "I welcome" (you're welcome) Then about a minute later she says, "mom are you sorry for yelling to me?" Of course I was, but it was so cute to see how her mind was processing then entire confrontation and figuring out how to resolve it and get me to say sorry! She then said, "Thank you mom, I love you really much!" Little ones are so much brighter than we often give them credit for. I love this little girl so much and am so grateful that she is in my life to love and keep me in check :)

Funny!

So I love this stage Hannah is going through right now! I love all the super funny things she says and does. The way they put things together in their minds is amazing to say the least. In an earlier post I talked about how Hannah has to pick out her toe lint every night. So yesterday she came to me and said something was in her ear. I automatically asked her what she put in her ear typical mom. She said, "Nuffing!" So I got a Q-Tip and cleaned her ear. She said, "sumfing is in there I maybe need a baff (bath) it will help. So she had a bath and it seemed all better. Later that night we were at Grammie and Pappy's having dinner and Hannah comes up to me with an outstretched finger and says, "Mom, I got the ear toe lint out!" We all laughed so so hard! The things she thinks of are so cool :)