Pigtails

have you heard the saying "the Cobblers children have no shoes?" well, i fit that stereotype perfectly. my family's hair -including my own- takes very last priority. i can happily work on my clients hair till my fingers fall off, but for some reason when the time comes to cut my husbands hair, it goes down below scrubbing the toilet on my to-do list. (but, crazily enough, i'd hate it even more if he went to someone else.) and the same is true for my daughters, i honestly only style Bayli's hair twice a week. and most of the time it happens in the car, or on the church pew. Everli is no different, she has never been one to keep a bow, or a headband in her hair. we stopped even trying at around 5 months. so the other day when i decided to try putting her hair in pigtails, it was a big deal. a very big deal.

she is truly the cutest little stinker, and these pigtails make her even cuter if that's possible! of course these tails of hers only stayed in for about 10 minutes. so... maybe we're just destined to be as homely looking as the Cobblers after all. why fight it? :)

Everli's First Birthday

This little cutie's birthday also happened to fall on mothers day this year. So, as a big combined celebration we hosted a family dinner at our house in lieu of a traditional party. When garrison and i were talking after bayli's first birthday we realized all you need to make a great first birthday party is: loving guests, a cake to smash, and good food. no presents, no decorations (although, bayli and i picked some flowers from our bush in the backyard after church anyway) and no fuss. it really was so simple fun and easy, and Everli had such a great time, which was all that mattered. plus, we got to celebrate all the mothers in our lives at the same time, so you know, it really was such a wonderful day.

Everli's beautiful face hasn't appeared on this blog as much as i would like, she's been here a year now and she only has 3 posts so far on the blog, that is truly pathetic. I really am going to work harder to post about her, i need to make documenting and journaling more of a priority during this busy time.

From the very beginning of this girls life she found her little niche in our family and fits in so perfectly, almost like she's always been here. Transitioning into a mother of 2 has been surprisingly easy and smooth for me. Bayli never smothered her too closely with love, or was rebellious and jealous of her. Everli was always a good sleeper, and the two girls have shared a room this entire time with no problems! I'm telling you, if i could guarantee that the next kid would be as easy as Everli, i'd get pregnant tomorrow!

Everli is such a happy baby. She smiles at anyone who looks at her, even if she's tired or sad. She's adventurous and loves getting into things. She's walking now and trying her hardest to keep up with her sister with everything she does. She's done this inhale scream thing ever since she was a baby whenever she's excited and it's so adorable, I hope she never grows out of it. In the very beginning of her life we thought she was choking when she made that noise because the inhale part sounds like she can't get enough air, but we have now gotten used to it as just an Everli-ism and find it adorable.

She loves to cuddle, and find a cozy spot to sit, preferably in grandpas lap, or by mom's feet, or in a tight space between two pieces of furniture. She isn't talking much, which we are told is very typical for 2nd kids, because Bayli does all the talking for her. She currently only knows "momma", and "dadda", and every once in a while will repeat words like "ball", 'more", "up", or "out". The same is true with sign language, we're teaching her, but she doesn't feel the need to use it because she get's waited on hand and foot by the people in her life that love her, especially her big sister.

I wish every family has the opportunity to experience a baby and now, toddler (aaahhh) like Everli. she is seriously a dream, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what this next year has in store for her! That mothers day weekend a year ago brought me so much happiness, the delivery was quick, and recovery was even quicker. I truly couldn't have received a better present, and this year, watching her timidly eat her cake, and smile as everyone sang to her, and letting her dad teach her the oh-so important skill of blowing out a candle is all this momma could have asked for. Here's wishing a Happy Mothers day to you all!

 

At Almost Two Weeks Old

When Ev was just a few days old I did a little mini photo shoot with her, trying to capture some of the perfect little newborn-isms. I am just a little obsessed with her blonde feathery hair if you can't tell. If you try hard enough you can almost smell that sweet newborn scent up against her velvety soft skin.

Sisters

Everli is already 6 weeks old! i haven't been writing much on the blog because i have been a bit busy. we've been getting used to life with two kids as best as we can. Everli is the best baby ever and has been sleeping through the night basically since her 2nd week of life. she is so great and hardly ever cries. she is so well tempered and cuddles like you wouldn't believe. Bayli has also been amazing. she is so in love with her baby sister, and yet at the same time knows how to give her space, and help me out by giving Ev her binki back, and throwing away stinky diapers, and more. Garrison and I have genuinely been blessed with two GREAT kids. i don't know what bargain in heaven we had to make in order to get them but it's totally worth it.

Watching the two of them interact during this month has been a dream. I can tell as they get older things will get more complicated between the two of them, they'll start fighting over toys, and who gets to be held by mom, and pushing each others buttons, but for right now they are perfectly content with one another and i am cherishing it while it lasts.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the two of them from these beautiful past 6 weeks.

Everli Mae: A Labor Story

Everli Mae Jones was born Friday May 8th at 6:30 in the evening. She weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces, and was 18.5 inches long.

Here's how the day went:
at 9:30 that morning i went to my dr's appointment, he wanted me to come in to check and see if i was still having issues with high blood pressure because the last time i went to the hospital my readings were too high... and because of another consecutive reading of high blood pressure in his office, he decided to induce me. after dropping Bayli off with family, we headed to the hospital.

at 10:30 i got admitted to the hospital, walking past the triage rooms we had visited way too many times and straight to our delivery room was such an amazing feeling.

at 11:30 we started pitosin to get my contractions going stronger. i was only at 1.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced when we started. (the same dilation and effacement i've been for the past three weeks)

at 12:45 the dr came in and broke my water. when he did this, i was 2 cm dilated. as i laid in bed I could for sure feel the contractions, but i had been experiencing the same kind of pains for the past few weeks, so i was doubtful they would be doing anything with helping me dilate. My family came to visit and distract me, bayli was there for a bit before she went to my parents house to nap, once my family left, I went for a walk around the hospital to try and get things moving along. i did this for about an hour or more and then went back to bed to try and breathe through the contractions as they continued to get more intense. i distracted myself by watching videos on youtube of men trying to endure through simulated labor pains.

by now it was 4:00 and i was only at 3cm dilated. figuring i was in for the loooong haul since my labor was progressing slower than id hoped after having my water broken, and enduring the pain for as long as i could, and even trying to help them along by walking, i asked to get the epidural.

after getting everything with that taken care of it was about 4:45 and my nurse wanted me to lay on my right side to help the baby's head get into the correct position, she said the plan was to have me switch sides each hour to kind of "corkscrew" her head into the right place. i laid on my side for an hour while i almost dozed off to sleep because the relief from the epidural was so wonderful.

at 5:45 we switched sides. she checked me and i was dilated to a 4, we both were thinking it would be hours until i delivered. she went to go get the new nurse that would be replacing her since it was almost 6:00 (shift change happens between 6-7.) so that she could start explaining what was happening with me and my labor's progression to the new nurse before she left.

around 6:15 as my first nurse was in the room explaining things to the new nurse i started feeling some changes occur in my cervix. i wasn't feeling the same kind of pressure as i felt with bayli, but i knew that something was different. she hadn't even finished explaining the stuff to my new nurse but i interrupted her anyway and asked her to check me, she checked me and said i was dilated to a 7. surprised, she told me that things would be happening fast now, and that in an hour or less i'd have my baby! so we texted my parents and told them to hurry and bring Bayli to the hospital. the nurse quickly finished explaining things as they got the room ready.

at 6:25 i started feeling much more pressure, i doubted that i could have dilated even more in such little time, i had literally been checked only 10 minutes before, but i said i was feeling ready to push anyway, and she checked me and i was at a 9, we did one practice push to get me to a 10. it worked, and with perfect timing, our dr came in. we did two pushes through the next contraction. i used a mirror so i knew that she was crowning. then he explained that i would need an episiotomy again, which didn't surprise me, as i felt the next contraction coming on, i pushed, he cut, we did another push which got her head out, then the last final push and...

at 6:30 pm out came the rest of her.

in summary:
it took 3 weeks of prodromal labor,
6 hours of early labor after being induced (the last 2 hours of which i had an epidural)
15 minutes of transitional labor
6 total pushes through 3 contractions.
and we had ourselves a baby.

they laid her on my chest and started to clean her off. she was tiny, and covered in vernix, just like bayli was. but she was also different. lots of blonde hair, not a big crier, she nursed almost immediately and this entire time while i delivered my placenta and got stitched up, she and i just laid there together, i cried happy tears, she whimpered infrequently. turns out i needed 16 freaking stitches to repair my two tears, but i didn't feel or even think about any of it. we said goodbye to our first nurse. as she left she said "thanks for hurrying so that i could see that beautiful babe."

the doctor finally finished my stitches, and we could hear my parents talking outside our room with Bayli, i couldn't wait for her to meet her sister. as soon as the dr left and i was covered again we let my daughter and my family in the hallway come in. i had had tons of time holding Everli, but i hadn't even realized that Garrison hadn't held her yet. so after he helped bayli up onto my hospital bed to take a look at her new sister, garrison finally took his turn at holding his new daughter.

for about an hour or so we had so much fun in our delivery room letting everyone take turns holding her. more friends and family came over, i ate dinner, and Everli this whole time just hung out kinda still covered in vernix, but beautiful as ever, and totally pleasant. she seriously never cried.

the time came for us to go to the mom and baby floor, and for Everli to go get her bath and get checked in the nursery. i was feeling wonderful, and i wanted so much to be able to watch her first bath, so my nurse pulled some strings and i got permission to go down with my husband and both of us could be there watching the happenings in the nursery. i was told that i had to stay seated in the wheelchair, which i felt was unnecessary, but still if that was the requirement, i was willing.

the nursery was amazing. once she was all clean, and deemed healthy, we went back to our room, said goodnight to Bayli (who had been watching from the hallway) and all 3 of us fell asleep. seriously my recovery has been awesome, i really love this whole second child thing. it's like my body knows what its doing and how to fix itself this time around. I really have been so lucky to be blessed with a smooth easy recovery, and to have been given such an amazing, beautiful, healthy, well tempered new daughter. (she loves her sleep and we love her for it.)

parenting a newborn has been like riding a bike, everything came flooding back, how to nurse, how to change a diaper, how to avoid being peed on, how to burp, what the different cries mean, and even the schedule. it all came flooding back and it was as if she'd always been a part of our lives.

i love her so much, and Bayli has transitioned into being a big sister beautifully. when i watch the two of them interact i feel like my heart is going to explode. Nothing with this pregnancy or delivery went the way i thought it would. but it turns out i got everything i didn't know i wanted.

Everli is such a joy in our family. it's safe to say we are all obsessed with her.