Sweetness

My new favorite photo: 

These two have special love for each other. Belle loves to watch Jackson doing whatever crazy, silly thing he may be up to at the moment and she gives him such big smiles! Jackson loves to join in when we are trying to get Belle to give us smiles or giggles and he likes to lay close to her while she flailing her arms around because when she happens to hit him, he laughs and says, "she got me!!" And it's not unusual for Jackson to take a break from his playing to go over and say things like, "Hey Baby girl" and "it's a-ight Belle, don't cry." So precious.

Big and little (Danish Version)

We have a new Big and Little in the house tonight--of the Danish variety! Julie's older brother, Christian, has flown in from Denmark to spend his Easter break here in the states.

Maybe Tall and Not-Quite-as-Tall would be a more accurate description!! This picture looks as if Julie is short, but she is actually quite tall. Christian is just *that* tall. And they totally look so much alike. I was looking through the crowd of people trying to see which one was Christian when I saw a face I recognized even though I'd never seen him before (besides a few pictures and a birthday video for Julie)!! Wow, do they look alike!!

It was so cute watching Julie anticipate her brother's arrival. His plane was late coming in and she was going nuts just waiting! (I can relate.) She really needed to go to the bathroom, but she didn't want to miss when he actually came in. I finally convinced her to just go and then in a matter of minutes, people start walking off the plane. CRAP! I was so worried she was going to miss it!! I'm frantically walked down to the bathroom in the opposite direction of his arrival gate trying to get her to hurry. As soon as I saw her walk out, I am started yelling her name down the terminal. She ran over just as he is walking out of the tunnel thing. Whew. Too close! She met him as close to the doorway as she could and hugged him so tight. And then hugged him again for a solid three minutes. It was so, so sweet. I may have teared up a little... but Julie cried more!

I can only hope that one day, Belle looks up to Jackson with as much admiration as Julie does Christian. Though, I can guarantee that Belle won't have to look quite as far up!

Big and little

Look at these two!! How can you not just fall in love?!

Jackson is sporting his "Greatest Big Brother" shirt that aided in our telling Derek's parents about being pregnant with Belle. And Belle's "Little Sister" (written in glitter!) was our first pink purchase- thanks Grandpa! I've been waiting for months to get this picture!

Jackson is a great big brother. He generally doesn't pay all that much attention to her, he is simply much to busy to be still for any length of time. But when someone else starts to give special attention to her, he has to join in and proudly boast "my little sister!" He all join us in our ridiculous attempts in trying to get Belle to smile and will get excited like we do when she does and at bedtime when he's handing out kisses to everyone in the house, Belle gets a sweet little kiss on the forehead. It is so sweet!

Introducing Isabelle Marie

On Friday, February 18th our beautiful daughter Isabelle ("Belle") Marie was born. She arrived at 11:56 am at a healthy 6 pounds-11 ounces, 18 inches long, and a head full of hair! 

The Birth Story:
It was no secret that we had a pretty specific plan for how she was suppose to arrive in this world. She clearly has a mind of her own and decided to arrive ahead of schedule, but only by a few hours. I wasn't even induced, she came on her own! Everything worked out just fine and it was still a very joyful weekend!

Thursday night: 

6:00pm- Dinner at Texas Roadhouse with parents

8:00pm- Check into hospital 

9:00pm- Only dilated to 2cm, so they began the Cervidil, which isn't necessarily an induction medicine, but more so a medicine that allows your body to better absorb the induction drugs that will start the next morning.

Friday Morning

6:00am- get up and take a shower. Ate contraband banana (and everything turned out just fine!)

7:30am- dilated only 2cm, doctor breaks water, contractions start right away, holding off on induction medicine for time being. Text to Derek: It's just so weird with you not here. Like it's just not supposed to be this way. He replies: I'm on my way, baby. Just hang in there!

8:30am- Derek boards first plane. Epidural arrives not much later. 

9:00am- Already to dilated 5cm... Woah, slow down!! I haven't even started my induction meds! I decided to do my hair, mom painted my nails... total denial people. I was still hoping she'd make it to 3:30pm.

10:00am- Derek arrives in Atlanta and texts: You are making fast progress. Hope I make it. I reply: You'll make it.

10:30am- dilated 8cm. Noooo!! Nurse tells me to tell her if I start feeling pressure. Mom calls Dad to tell him to get to hospital NOW. Start giving last minute tutorials to Mom and Linda on how to use the cameras.

11:00am-dilated 9 cm, no that's definitely a 9.5cm. And that is definitely pressure I feel. Quick call to Dad: "WHERE ARE YOU!?...You're still 25 minutes away!?...Nurse, do I have 25 minutes?!" She replies that if I can hold it in, I can make it. I literally had to cross my legs and attempt to hold her back for just a little bit longer. If I wasn't going to have my husband, my dad just had to be there!

11:15am- call Derek. She's coming... NOW. Shed a few tears because I was so disappointed. Even though he wasn't there in person, I was talking to him on speaker phone for as long as possible. He was soooo encouraging. 

11:45am- Dad arrives as my hand holder. Nurse attempts a last dilation check, but can't because the baby's head is so low. Derek had to get off the phone so he could board the plane.

11:56am- Baby Isabelle arrives! Dad cuts the cord. Seriously, less than 10 minutes from the picture above and the picture below. Amazing.

12:00pm- Call Derek, goes straight to voicemail. Dang it. He's already on the plane. Leave a quick voicemail. Oh wait-- he's calling me back! I get to deliver the news of our baby girl to him while he is sitting on the tarmac. 

2:40pm- get text from Derek that he's landed in KC.

3:15pm- Derek arrives and gets to meet his baby girl. He just gazed at her for several minutes, just soaking in all the beauty.

It was so good to finally get to experience our baby girl together!

We had chosen a name several months ago, but we decided to keep it to ourselves until after she was born. As soon as it was announced that she was born, the requests for her name reveal was immediate and plentiful. I don't regret keeping that quiet until Derek arrived. It just wasn't right for me to introduce her to the world via facebook pictures and text messages before Daddy even got a chance to meet her himself.

And just an observation: when you keep the name to yourself, more people respond to the news of baby with, "what's her name?!" than, "How's the baby, how's mommy?" and in this case, people didn't even acknowledge the disappointment that it was to have her come before Derek even came home- instead, just texts, phone calls, and facebook messages to me, Derek, and other family regarding her name.

Jackson is adjusting well to his role as big brother. He loves to look at her, give her kisses, and the occasional high five.

Derek stayed until Monday morning. It was pure devastation to tell him bye and watch him walk out the front door. I literally emptied an entire Kleenex box of tissues that day. I'm doing better, but I really miss him so much. I've been so strong the entire separation, but I don't have much strength to hold myself together when I think or talk about him anymore. I gathered some laundry today and broke down into tears as I was putting his t-shirts and jeans into wash. Thank goodness he is coming home next month.

Belle is struggling with her bilirubin levels, but is otherwise perfectly healthy. She's struggling with nursing, but improving a little bit each day. In the mean time, I'm pumping and supplementing with bottles to keep her eating and gaining weight. I really did forget how much newborns really sleep. I feel like she's hardly any work right now!

Big Brother Practice

A couple weeks ago, I asked a friend if we could borrow a doll. I didn't know how it would go over with Jackson, but he loves it! My initial plan had been just to have it for Jackson to play with after the baby arrived because he really does like to do the things I am doing. It turns out, that it's also good for Big Brother
practice.

This morning, Jackson insisted that baby lay with him while he watched the Backyardigans. He sat like this through the entire show (which is a lot considering that sitting still in general is a rarity, but to cuddle and keep his attention on the baby too... amazing!)

The crazy thing is, is that I never had to tell him how to "take care" of his baby. He wants to wrap it up, lay down with it, put it in the swing, change the diaper... and these are all he's ideas. (The doll is truly just an "it" because it is technically a boy doll, however, we talk sometimes refer to it as baby sister, as to try to help him understand how to treat her when she comes.) I chime in every once in awhile with certain key words, such as "soft, gentle, nice, love," just to set the tone. I don't let him play with the doll without supervision, just to monitor that it doesn't become a punching bag or whatever sort of thing he could come up with.

I caught a great video of him taking care of the baby this afternoon. It is an 8 minute video, but it is just so sweet. You have to watch at least part of it!

He's going to be a GREAT big brother!!