8 weeks later

There is a blog I love. I've mentioned her before at dooce.com. She is hilarious and poignant and all over sassy. I dig her.

ANYWAYS...the reason that I bring her up (again), is because she has 2 daughters too, and had her second daughter was born about 4 weeks before Lillian. In one of her earlier blogs, she described having two kids as
"...to imagine having a jazz band blasting an improvisational set in your left ear while listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Christmas carols in your right ear, and there you are, a drummer in a rock band, and you're on stage in front of 30,000 people trying to keep the beat to an acoustic version of "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols." (Could you find a quote MORE perfect for our family?)

Now, I wouldn't be that dramatic about it, because in all honesty, Lil is easy. She's a laid back baby with lots of patience and a sweet sweet smile that even makes her crying cute. Being a mom of two seems pretty natural. We've found the rhythm and are just praying that one of the girls doesn't all of a sudden go off the charts.

Our schedule is getting there. We're attempting to keep the beat. It's Marching Band season, which means that Chris is busier than normal, so I get to do more things on my own. Here's our normal week:
Monday- Wake up at 7:30-ish...shower and pump before kids wake up...Cal comes for the day....hang out all day with Avery, Cal and Lillian...stay sane. Have dinner ready by 5:15 so that Chris can be out the door by 5:30.
Tuesday--Wake up at 7:15-ish...shower and pump before the girls wake up...get Avery up and ready for school. Drop Avery off at school...work out...come home or hang out for 20 minutes, pick up Avery. Have dinner ready by 5:15 so the girls can make it back to campus for class.
Wednesday-Same as Monday
Thursday-Wake up at 7:15-ish...shower and pump before the girls wake up...get Avery up and ready for school. Wait for Cal to be dropped off. Drop Avery off at school...work out...come home or hang out for 20 minutes, pick up Avery. Have dinner ready by 5:15 so the girls can make it back to campus for class.
Friday-Same as Monday and Wednesday (without the rush on dinner)-BREATHE!

The nice thing in all of this is that the girls are making it pretty easy on me.
Like I said, Lillian is a pretty easy baby. She is happy to sit in her swing and just chill. She will lay on the floor and watch the kids run circles around her. She is on a pretty regular schedule of eating about every three hours. She starts stocking up at about 7pm, goes to bed at 9:30-ish and will sleep for about 6 hours before waking for her next feeding. We are lucky.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't challenges. Avery's bedtime has been a little difficult when Lily is wide awake. I've started giving them a bath together (Lil in her baby bath, while Avery is in the big bath with her). I'll read books to Avery with both girls on my lap, then attempt to lay Lillian down while I tuck Avery in (and lay down with her for a few minutes). It's tough to try to keep both girls happy enough to fall asleep at the same time. By the time I come downstairs to clean up, I'm exhausted. BUT, I don't dare go to bed because only God knows when I'll have a little time to myself again.

Tough time #2 is dealing with not having my body to myself. I feel like if I'm not hooked up to a pump, then I'm holding a baby, or having Avery climb all over me...it's tough. I love loving the kids, but sometimes, I need a little space.

I was so worried about having the love and time to spend with both of my girls. I've been proven wrong once again. There is no way that I could love either of my girls any more than I already do, which means that I make the time to give them that love. I can't believe that I am the mother of 2 beautiful little girls, and amidst all of the craziness, I know that I am blessed beyond belief.

Pumping....

nope...not iron. I wish. I should totally be working out more. Instead, this post is about pumping milk. I know..gross right? Well, suck it up, because being hooked up to a pump takes up such a large chunk of my life right now that I can't think of anything else to blog about.
Well, of course, there are my adorable and sweet little girls, and I should blog about them because I know that you would prefer to hear about them instead of my boobs. But...my boobs are the topic today...so deal.

I spend 20 minutes every three hours of every day pumping. That means that I spend about 200 minutes a day pumping hooked up to a machine that extracts milk from my body. Because of this, I have set up a pretty comfy little station upstairs in our bedroom. As I pump, I usually turn on a show from DVR or see what's on TV. The worst times are the times either in the middle of the night or when the DVR remote isn't working, and I can't watch TV. Do you know how long 20 minutes are when you're just sitting there? Well...it's long!
When the TV is working, I've watched hours upon hours of CSI (I LOVE THIS SHOW, and luckily it's on Spike almost all of the time), I've also watched lots of reruns of America's Next Top Model, even though I know how they end. It really sucks when the DVR remote won't work, and I'm stuck watching Wow Wow Wubbzy or some other Noggin show....arghh...and I can't change the channel...double ARGHH!

Other things I do to keep myself busy when the TV doesn't work are:
-Attempt to recall of the winners of ANTM (and runner's up)
Adrienne (Shannon)
Naima (Kaitlyn)
Eva (YaYa)
Nicole (Nik)
Danielle (Joni)
Caridee (Melrose)
Jaslene (Natasha)
Saleisha (Chantal)
Whitney (Anya)
McKey (Samantha)
and...I stopped getting CW, so no more ANTM :(

-Make up recipes in my head (only to fall asleep and forget them)

-Pretend I'm exercising and in turn getting skinny.

-Singing all of the words to various songs. Songs that I tend to sing/hum at night are:
Amazing Grace
Oh Canada
Baby Got Back
and others...

-Daydream about upcoming events
Sean's wedding
Avery starting school
Grocery Shopping
My next haircut

...oh yeah, and sometimes I fall asleep..only to wake up 45 minutes later with really sore boobs.

The End.

Birth Story

The day before Lillian was born

Lillian Michael Bookie was born at 8:16am on Monday, July 27th. I, her tired and slacker mother am just getting around to posting about it. I can't blame my lack of posts to the new baby, because I haven't posted since July 7th...I am just a slacker. The end.

Let me start by saying that this birth story is leaps and bounds different from Avery. Here's the brief version of Avery's story: I was 4 days overdue, went into labor at 1am (before I fell asleep), labored for 19 hours at the hospital, then begged for a C-section. Avery was born at 9:36pm at 6lbs 6oz, and was very anemic. All in all, it was an exhausting and emotional event. I was dramatic, tired, and overwhelmed. It was wonderful in it's own right, but it was pretty intense.

Lily on the other hand, was a totally different story. Chris was painting the basement until 10pm on Sunday night, and we left for the hospital at 5am on Monday morning...to say we were busy was a huge understatement. It was so different to KNOW exactly when we were having the baby. We hardly slept at all, and when I woke up at 4:15 to shower and pack, Avery woke up too...she stayed awake until we left then met us as the hospital at 6:45am with my mom. It was so surreal. The house was quiet, and we knew that we were leaving in order to have a baby...so odd.

Not my best look

We got to the hospital at 5:30am, where they were waiting for us. I spent about an hour filling out paperwork, and getting prepared. Brandie and my family started getting there around 6:45am, and we sat around waiting for my turn in the OR.

Everyone waiting (not so patiently), and Avery boinging her curls.

Finally, at about 7:45, I was escorted down to the OR, where I walked in to find 5 people getting everything ready. It was pretty indimidating to see all of the sharp instruments sitting on the table and to know that they were going to be cutting me open shortly. I was so awake and aware of everything, whereas with Avery, I was drugged, tired and blissfully unaware of what was going on. I walked in, sat on the table, and they started the spinal block. I was completely aware of how naked I was, and how many people were in the room with my bare butt exposed. I was laid down on the table, and Chris came into the room. I didn't feel anything. I made Chris talk to me so I wouldn't hear any weird noises, or wouldn't hear what the doctors were saying. The next thing I knew...there was a baby cry! It just happened...they said it was a girl, and I became aware of how sure I was that I was going to have a boy...I mean, I was SHOCKED to have another girl...very happy, but SHOCKED! She looked exactly like Avery, and I swore that I must have given birth to twins, just 3 years apart. She cried immediately, which was a great sound (Avery didn't cry..just sat and stared for a while), and I was able to hold her right away. Simply amazing!

Can you tell who is who?

After everything was said and done, we went to recovery, where we waited for about an hour until I was taken to my room. I got to feed Lillian for the first time (or try), and held her forever. It was such a surreal, and perfect experience.

We were taken up to our room, and everyone was finally able to meet her. We held everone off for a minute, and had Avery come in first. We wanted her to be the first one to hold Lillian. Avery brought in a bunny that she made for Lily at build a bear, and Lillian "gave" Avery her gifts (a baby doll and a book). Avery was as sweet as could be and didn't want to let go of her "new baby". There were lots of kisses shared and Avery thoroughly inspected all of Lily's fingers and toes.

She's the best big sister!

We had 10 more people pile into the room with us, so it was a little "much", and I got sick (for the first time). But, it all passed, and we were able to sit and relax a little with the new baby.
The rest of the hospital time was good. There were some ups and downs (which I'll blog about later), but all in all it was nice to "relax" a little before we came home. I sent Lily to the nursery for a few hours every night, so we got a little sleep. The nurses came in every hour or so, so it wasn't the most restful sleep, but it was sleep. Speaking of the nurses...they were great! I can't say enough about the nurses that helped us out. (Here's the shout out to Jessica, Kim, Sue #1 and #2, Barb, Bridgette...and the others that I am forgetting.) They were all wonderful and so attentive.

So...Lily is here. She is wonderful, and sleeps well, and is now eating well (I am pumping, so she is eating from the bottle...and eating a lot!). She lost 9.6% of her weight while in the hospital, so they almost didn't let us leave. She was also a little jaundiced, so we really needed to pack her full of food. I'm proud to say that she came home at 5lbs 9oz, and was 6lbs 1oz 4 days later. She weighed in at a whopping 6lbs 13oz at her 2 week appointment...so she is packing on the pounds, and growing like a weed!

Here's our Lily-bug.