Meeting Caroline and Playing with Collin

So, we were at lunch today and ran into one of my former students!! I was so excited. I'm so glad that Caroline got to meet Lainey! Here are a couple of pictures of the introduction. Ben and I were even more excited when Caroline and her mom, Denise, held and played with Lainey while we ate our lunch. So nice! Thanks to both of you!

After lunch, Lainey and I went over and played with Cousin Collin while his sister Ella slept and his other sister, Cally, was at a birthday party. We missed playing with the girls but it was fun to have the one-on-one time with Collin. He is so good with Lainey!

A little fussy here...

Rolling onto my back!

This was pretty funny. My voice sounds goofy, so please ignore that portion of the video. :) And I definitely need to improve my video skills! I'm all over the place. Happy weekend to everyone!

Holding up my head... (well, trying to anyway!)

On another note, I think the baby is losing some of her hair! So sad...although I knew it would probably happen.

Ready for a swim!

Lainey has a few swimsuits - this is one of them! A little big on her but you get the idea! Ben's already a bit weary of her wearing a swimsuit that shows so much skin...

Striking a pose...

One Month Old (a day late!)

Lainey is one month old!! Hard to believe. Time has passed quickly. Yesterday was a good day; we hung out here for a while, then went to Chili's for lunch with Yiyia and Bud (Ben's parents), and then went to Denton with my parents to see some family friends. It was a good Saturday. :) Today the baby started her day by completely messing her diaper (the kind that messed her back/outfit/blanket/everything underneath her) and then, while I was changing her, she peed all over me. :) Sorry if this is too much information for some of you! So that's been fun. Thankfully, we're both clean now and her things are in the washer.

One month happenings:
1. Still working on holding up the head! She's pretty good at it most of the time, but sometimes she still face plants when on her stomach.
2. Rolling over from front to back. This has happened about 4 or 5 times...mostly accidental, I'm sure, but it was pretty cute. Can't do it from back to front yet.
3. Lots of new sounds - I'm starting to recognize the happy sound, the frustrated sound, and of course - the mad sound (a hard, from-the-gut cry).
4. Sleeping in 5/6 hour stretches at night. I still like to awaken her for a feeding around 2 or 3 and then she sleeps until about 6:45 or 7.
5. Lainey is a loud sleeper and a loud eater. It's funny but it's been a little hard to adjust to (not knowing if those loud sounds signify something like waking up, discomfort, etc.).
6. She's not smiling yet (well, as a reaction to something happening around her) but hopefully she will soon. I'm really, really looking forward to that.

And that's all! I will post a picture as soon as I take one - right now, she's still just in a diaper from her messiness this morning and she's asleep. No need to wake her to take her picture. We're headed to Ben's brother's house to swim and play today so hopefully I'll get a picture or two at that time! Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

First City Council Meeting

So Miss Lainey attended (and slept through) her first Plano City Council meeting. As some of you know, Ben was the campaign manager for a city council candidate named Mabrie Jackson. The election was May 10th and Mabrie won! Tonight we attended the city council meeting to witness Mabrie being sworn in. Here are a couple of pictures to mark the event...

Playing Dress Up

A couple of these outfits BARELY fit the baby (the turquoise and purple ones!) but they are so darn cute. It's fun having a girl and dressing her up in such cute things. Her normal attire is a onesie of some sort, but she's managed to wear these outfits a couple of times. :) Pardon my lack of original poses. The boppy seems to be my only prop...

Little Longhorn

Thinking hard about something...check out that forehead!

I think she's trying to do the Longhorn sign...

I haven't posted anything this week! Here are some pictures in her little Longhorn onesie (she actually has four of them - all different, all cute!). We have been doing pretty well overall. Lainey's sleeping in her crib during the day (sometimes) and at night, although sometimes she needs a little coaxing to fall asleep. So we oblige and then once she's asleep we quickly put her in the crib! I hope that she becomes okay with just falling alseep in there at some point. We had to go see the pediatrician yesterday because Lainey has baby reflux. We got some Zantac and hopefully that will start working soon. She's up to 9 pounds - she gained an entire pound in a week. Go Lainey! And she's really starting to fill out and look more like a baby to me (instead of a newborn). It's neat, and a little sad, to see her changing so fast. Our other baby, Reagan, is at the surgery center right now getting her x-rays and hopefully the diagnosis that all is well. If that's the case, then she will come home as her old self! I will be happy about that because she won't be as high-maintenance anymore (she will still be a bit high-mainentance...it's Reagan) and we can finally get her groomed. She desperately needs it!

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are a few snapshots from our day. We had a wonderful lunch with my parents, Ben's parents, and Greg, Tisha, Brooke, and Kate. It was a lot of fun and so nice to be out of the house! Lainey did a very nice job of sleeping through the whole lunch. I was okay with that, though. :) Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Kate and Brooke with their cousin

My mom and Dad

First Real Bath

Um, how are we supposed to do this? Ben and I have no idea. Her umbilical cord fell off today (gross, but so glad it's off) so we thought we would try a real bath! Thankfully, she was pretty happy through the whole thing...so far the only things she really dislikes are: 1. being without a diaper 2. getting her clothes changed and 3. being really, really tired and unable to fall asleep.

All done!

An innocent bystander - Reagan. Her scaffolding and screws come out (hopefully) May 16th. YAY! I can't wait. I'm sure she's pretty eager for that day, too.

Trying on the towel for size...

Some Pictures

Here are some cute pictures... :) I find that it's much more fun posting about a baby than posting about my pregnancy!

This is Lainey's friend, Nora, who was born 6 days earlier than Lainey. Kate, Nora's mom, and I were due a day apart. Nora came a day early! Thank you, Kate, for coming over today with precious baby!! I loved seeing y'all.

Big Yiyia (Ben's grandmother), Yiyia (Ben's mom), Lainey, and me

Yiyia is "grandmother" in Greek. :)

For Lainey's Uncle Matt

This one is for you, Matt! :) In other news, I've recently learned that I can do many things quickly (5 minutes can feel like a lifetime!), one-handed, and using my foot instead of my hand. :)

First playdate

So, Lainey had her first playdate. As you can tell from the picture, Keegan was a bit more into it than she was. :) Thanks to Maddie, Gray, and Keegan for coming over and spoiling us with a fabulous dinner!

On another, less-pleasing note, I need to state for the record that I have now been projectile-peed on 5 times. Gross! You would think I would learn my lesson after the first time. One of those wasn't just pee, either. I guess I thought only boys really had that problem...but nooooo... and it happens so fast!!

Update on our new life!

Wow! What a new experience. We're having fun, though, and I think that things are getting better. Our first night was very rough, but the next night was better and then last night was good. I woke her up only to feed her. She's been awake now since about 8:30, but she's falling alseep now so hopefully she'll stay that way for a little bit! She's pretty cute (so we think!) and I love being her mom. She's getting a visitor today - Reagan - so we'll see how that goes. I hope she's okay with small, barky, slightly-disabled dogs. :) Here are a few pictures! Thanks to Rheannon and James for the cute tye-dyed onesie!!

Sweet swaddled baby

I am awake! Eyes are open!

Our Baby

Our little baby, Lainey Cathryn Harris, arrived on Thursday, April 24th, at 12:35 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20 inches long. She is completely precious and we are loving her to pieces.

I went into labor on the 23rd between 2-3:00 p.m. Not knowing what contractions "felt like", I wasn't sure what exactly was going on. I just knew that I was feeling differently...and in some pain. So finally, at 10:30 p.m., we headed to the hospital in the midst of a giant rainstorm. I was having contractions about 7-8 minutes apart, so I wasn't sure if they were going to let me stay at the hospital or not. Thankfully, at about 2:o0 a.m., they decided it was okay to let me stay. At that point I was in some serious pain but had barely (and I mean barely!) dilated. They started Pitosin and everything started rolling. I guess I had the epidural around 6 something? I have no idea...it's amazing how my sense of time completely flew out the window. It's still out there, I think... ;) Anyway, family started arriving around 9:30 or so and then at 12:35, little Lainey was born! We enjoyed many visitors at the hospital and the little girl was a very happy and cooperative hostess. Thank you to everyone who came by for a visit!

We got home yesterday, Saturday, and are trying to settle in here. It's been a long night but I am sure I'm not the first first-time mom who's said that. I'm posting a few pictures for now but I'm sure I'll post more when I have time. :) She's adorable - I think she looks like Ben!

Comfortable Baby

So...I'm 50% effaced, but not dilated! So Lainey's very happy and content where she is!! Tomorrow is my last day of work. I have mixed emotions. I am sad, sad about leaving my team. And it doesn't help that I'm emotional anyway right now. We were interviewing a person who could possibly take my place next year and I started crying! In the interview! Oh well. Emotional pregnant lady. :)

My good friend Kate, who is due April 19th (our pregnancy experiences have been so similar - very crazy!), actually went to the hospital today to have her baby! I'm so very excited for her and her husband and I am eagerly awaiting for news...!

We will keep you updated. Right now, I am scheduled for an induction on April 28th. If she holds out until then, I might be okay with that. It means a whole week of no work and relaxation before she comes!

Update

Well, baby Lainey is happily hanging out! There has been very little progress from my last appointment. But, everything looks great and her heartrate sounds good. My doctor said we can go a week late...so after the next appointment we should have some idea about what we're going to do. I think my doctor is going to put us "on the schedule" for an induction on April 28th. That is so close to my birthday!! That would be neat, I think. :) Unfortunately, Lainey has settled a foot or something underneath my right rib...no big breaths for me. Ow. I thought she was supposed to be dropping, not moving higher. Haha. :) Anyway, this just happened today so maybe she'll scoot out of the way by tomorrow.

Sleeping has become interesting...I don't wake up because I'm uncomfortable or anything, but I am waking up a lot and having trouble falling back asleep. I think it's just the anxiety of it all. :) A lot on my mind!! And last night was interesting due to the CRAZY storm that blew through here and a dog who vomited all over the bed at 2 something. Not kidding. So hopefully tonight will be calmer. :)

Belly Pics - 38 1/2 weeks

Here we are! :) Just waiting...I officially decided that my last day at work will be the 18th. It's hard for me to say that because I feel like I'm leaving at a really bad time. But thankfully, my team is amazing. I will miss them a lot!! I go to the doctor on Thursday to see if we have made any progress (cross your fingers!). We'll let you know if there's anything to report.

37 1/2 weeks

So, my appointment today was uneventful. I haven't progressed from last week; Lainey is a comfortable baby!! But, most importantly, she's doing fine and I'm doing fine. :) Last night we had a fun time putting together baby things...I think someone could go into buisness doing that for people. Truly! You could be "that person" who is hired to go to homes and assemble baby toys and play things and strollers and all of that. I am glad that everything is put together now, but sadly, our battery supply is wiped out. :)

Shower picture and baby update!

Thank you to Linda, Patsy, Ally, Tisha, Judy, Sue, and Joan for a fabulous shower today! It was beautiful and I was so happy to see so many friends. I feel very, very blessed! Thank you for a fabulous day, ladies. :) And thank you to everyone else for coming and sharing in this experience with me!

Doctor update: I went on Thursday and found that I was 25% effaced. I just have a feeling that this baby will be with me until her due date! We shall see...everything else went well, though. I go again on Thursday to see how we're doing then. On another note, I'm definitely feeling 8 months pregnant. I have decided that all goes downhill at about 7:00 p.m. My feet and hands swell (very hard to get the wedding ring off!!) and suddenly small tasks become hard. Like getting up from the couch, getting in and out of a car, finding a comfortable position in which to lie down...all of those things. :) I feel lucky that these things are just now difficult; I don't have too many weeks left! :)

Happy Easter!

Nieces: Brooke and Cally

Niece: Kate

Niece: Cally

Nephew: Collin (the lone boy!)

Niece: Ella

Nursery pictures

It's almost complete! Just a few finishing touches needed... :)

Update on Baby Lainey

We went to the doctor today for a checkup and sonogram and we found out that Lainey has officially flipped! So her head is down and she's in the right position! That's a relief. She measures well - all around the 34/35 week mark and she's about 5.6 lbs. and 17.4 inches. Of course, those are just estimates but I was happy to have that information! The only thing that measures large is her head. She has Ben's head! Her head measures at 36 1/2 weeks. And, on the flipside, her little legs (obviously my short legs) measure at 33 weeks. She hasn't officially "dropped" yet. I am posting a picture, and it's one where she is facing us! Her bow is in the middle of her forehead, and you can see one eye clearly underneath it to the left. Then there's her nose and her mouth is open! She has hair! And chubby cheeks! :) It was fun to see her in this position - she would NOT pose for a profile shot but we were happy with this one.