Saturday, March 31, 2012

Wonderful Saturday at home!

How I love Saturdays where Beach is home and we have the whole family together. We, of course, start off with a yummy breakfast. My hubby is such an amazing servant to make omelets and lattes for me each morning. Zoe got to have her own "coffee" this morning.

Hummmmm.....no she really did LOVE it! And was very excited to have her own!

Between all the cleaning that has to get caught up on and the many feedings...we managed to take a nice walk in the neighborhood. Gotta love spring and the beautiful weather. Shiloh enjoyed the closeness of her daddy and didn't make a peep the whole hour.

We enjoyed reminiscing how two years ago we had just moved in to our new home and walked and walked our neighborhood hills to encourage our overdue daughter to come see our beautiful world.

Zoe enjoys such now too!
Bath day...Shiloh is now enjoying such in her ducky bathtub. Love that cute face. Realizing that after dad shaved all his facial hair off this week that this little one looks a lot like him!
Nothing like snuggling with a clean newborn. A great way to end a fabulous day!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Body Image


"My body is amazing!" I announced to Beach after my shower last night. "Are you being sarcastic?" (He knows me quite well and how I have always struggled with body imagine...and how this could come out of my mouth when I was still wearing all my "big clothes" was a mystery to him, as I have never said such when I've been a lot smaller size!)

But, yes....I have an amazing body! Not because it can run miles on in, or work out hard core for quite some time. Not because it can teach workout classes at the gym and be pretty competitive with such....not because it looks cute in my clothes...no in fact I'm not doing any of those things right now...and not sure I even could.

My body is amazing for such a different reason. It produces life, grows and creates another human being inside of me and then sustains it with nothing but milk I produce for months. How amazing is that and our Creator for designing such a thing and knitting my amazing Shiloh together! May I focus on that instead of the scale and how I look in my clothes!
My grandmother happened to see me an email tonight after I wrote this post with a video clip on just this subject. It is pretty awesome....you should check it out!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Instant Photo Recap

So, yes, I maybe a little far behind with many things but I just discovered the Instagram app with my phone and have been having some fun with it! Basically just a different filter on my camera phone, but it makes the pictures look a lot more fun! Here are some glances I captured from the past couple of weeks:
How Zoe wants to be now that Shiloh is here....doesn't want to be left out at all....love that we can enjoy a nice spring day!
I know of a little girl who loves her new daddy!
Ok...didn't really get a chance to play with the filters on theses pics...but cute non the less.
Cousin time! Shiloh still likes to impersonate a burrito...or glow worm.
2 week check up...everything was great (besides them having to draw a ton of blood, as the hospital messed up her test)....She even gained a pound....my little eater (the goal is that they get back to their birth weight by this check up, but since she only lost an oz at the hospital...that was not to hard!).
I think I will have fun with this new camera feature!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Zoo Day

I was thinking that with all the other St. Patty's day activities that the zoo would not be to crazy this Sat. Well....I was way wrong but it was at least nice to be able to go as a whole family.

Don't get me wrong....it took the whole morning and a few break downs before we got out of the house but it was nice once we actually got into the zoo. Beach had Shiloh all Mobyed out, so she was good.

It was close to nap time for Zoe so she was content to be in the stroller. Fun times. Except when she got out to wrestle the "tiger"...

and to ride the tram (which we told her was a train and she seemed to enjoy).
Beach and I did too!

Plus I was able to actually feed Shiloh when she needed it. While in the garden I found a nice hide out spot. Something I really would not have felt comfortable with during Zoe's infancy but thankful that I can let it go more now!
A great trip with our new growing family!


Thursday, March 15, 2012

Small Victories

I'm so goal driven and it's hard for me when I feel that I have just spun my wheels all day and have not gotten anything "done". I realized rather quickly with the last baby that I could get nothing "done" with Zoe screaming in pain all day. It was hard for me in that I felt that I could do nothing but try to comfort my child, which I felt I was not doing well as nothing seemed to work with her.

So this time around with a new little one...I feel it is more about survival. However, I did have a small goal today...to go on a walk. A few months ago, that would have been silly to me (instead a workout would consist of going hard core for a couple of hours/working/taking care of Zoe/and getting ready to do it again the next day). However, with a two week old an a busy 23 month old things have changed!

I knew we all needed to get out for awhile. The fast approaching pollen makes me less likely to want to actually "play" outside, but a walk, with the high 70s/low 80s...that we could try. So I strapped Shiloh on with the Moby wrap and put Zoe in the jogging stroller we were blessed with and prayed that the kids would not freak out when we were to far away from home.
And they didn't! They actually did really well, and Zoe even wanted more (she often wants to escape out of the stroller). Didn't think about how caring a little one and pushing a stroller with a not so little one up hills would effect my back, but non the less we made. Shiloh slept the whole time, perfectly content...poor thing I was covered in sweat by the time we got back...but proud of myself....goal for the day, complete!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Our first outing

I made it through our first outing today (besides the Dr.) with my two little girls (thanks to help from my mom!).
This was a huge difference for me than last time around. Zoe was so miserable as an infant, and me as well, that to take her anywhere for weeks seemed out of the question, much less at one week old.

The warm beautiful weather made for an awesome time. Poor Zoe was ready for a nap when we pulled out of the driveway. This made her want to stay in her stroller the whole time (which has NEVER happened before) but also more scared of the animals. She often shakes her head and says, "Unn like it," meaning she doesn't like something. This was her response in seeing all of the animals today, sigh. (She also did not want her picture taken...can you tell?)
Shiloh stayed snuggled up in the moby wrap. Perfectly content almost the whole time, very familiar to her as that was close to the position she had always been in (except upside down). I think I like caring her better this way!
The ride home...not so great...Shiloh screamed the whole time as I think she was a bit warm and ready to eat. Zoe, not to be outdone, continued to insist on seeing the Tiger. We had seen one earlier but I later realized that the tiger she was referring to was the one we hurried past in our crying exit. The statue animal that she could get on...she just didn't understand why she did not get to see her favorite one...oh well...maybe next time!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Little blessing surprises

It can be very overwhelming having two little ones that desperately want your attention, very overwhelming.

However, I have been blessed this week to have Beach or my mom able to stay with me to help us all with this transition. As well as food from our amazing church body...truly displaying His hands and feet.
Also, there are often fun surprise that pop up in the mail. Today I got some nice treats that really brought hope into my day.

A beautiful, encouraging card/letter from the nurse that ended up delivering Shiloh (the Dr. didn't make it in time...which was actually a good thing). She was so supportive of everything we wanted and a true blessing from the Lord. How beautiful is this! Also the note she wrote was even more beautiful to my soul!
I, also, received within an hour a couple of beautiful bouquets of flowers. I will ignore the fact that they were delivered during my short nap time by ringing the bell several times. Luckily it only woke me up and not the little ones.
I will try to stay present, not thinking ahead and getting panicky with anxiety, and remember the little things and how much God takes care of us!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Hospital Retreat


After we finally made it to the hospital, I felt that my time there was a sweet one, time to bond with my precious newborn. It was as if I got an extra night, too, as Shiloh was born at 1am.  It was wonderful (if you don't count all the times the staff wakes you up for fun things like drawing your blood at 3:30 in the morning) to just hold and get to know this new little life outside of the womb.  No worrying about cleaning, what was for dinner, my to do list or care taking Zo.  All I had to do was rest and snuggle!    

Zoe liked my "bracelet"




Here's to hoping we won't have too many of these faces.
I was so excited to have Zoe come visit (she loudly come down the hall with her new big sister shirt that my mom had gotten her - she was so cute) and introducing her to her new sister.  How I pray that they will be good friends for years to come!

Zoe LOVES to kiss Shiloh! (Shiloh likes it sometimes)

The cousins finally all together!  Hello world!
I love how Beach adores his girls, and Shiloh is no different.  He is an amazing man and now an amazing father.  How blessed am I to have such a partner for this journey.  I'm so glad I got to capture a few of theses pictures of some of their first days together!




I wonder if she will be a "daddy's girl"....looks like she is off to a good start on that one!
Had to have a pink bow shot!



And away we go....look out world another Loveland is headed your way!