One Month

(by Aubree)

Why is it that the first month of these little ones go by so fast? I guess it doesn't go by any faster than any of the others, it just feels like being one month old seem sooo much older than 1 day old and being 2 months doesn't seem that much older than 1 month and so on. If that makes any sense at all.

Ashlyn is so much fun! She loves to study faces and is already entertained by her big sister when she shoves things in her face to look at or does a silly dance. The last couple of days it feels like we've kind of gotten a good routine down. We've gone to bed before midnight, and Ashlyn is a lot more content after she's fed and burped. She'll just sit by herself for longer periods of time, which is very helpful. It feels like we have a bit more of a feeling of normalcy at this point.

Babies are so hard to take pictures of! Out of probably about 30 pictures, here are pretty much the only usable ones!

First smile captured on film.

Stretch! Kinda looks like a smile though right?

2 weeks

(by Aubree)

Okay, so I'm about a week late on this post, but better late than never. I took Ashlyn to her 2 week check-up last Wednesday and here's where she's at:

21.2 inches - 90%
8 lbs 7 oz - about 60% (1 oz more than what Clara weighed at birth)
head 14 inches - 50%

The last 3 weeks have been kind of a whirl wind! It's really great to have Ashlyn here. It really is fun having 2 kids, but at the same time very challenging. When I had Clara it was really hard for me to adjust to being home all day after working full time for so long. Now I'm pretty much in a routine and it didn't seem to really throw off my schedule too much having a second baby. Although Clara's communication skills are very limited, it's nice this time to have someone I can talk to throughout the day as well.

Ever since Ashlyn was only a couple of days old, Jeff's mom mentioned that she was focusing in on faces really good already. I had noticed that also. When Ashlyn was just over a week old she smiled for the first time! It was while she was looking right in my eyes and she did it a couple times in a row. She's done it a few more times since. She will also watch as people approach or walk away. It's really amazing to me that she can see so well already! She's also very wiggly and strong. She has held her head up really well for the last little bit and when you have her laying down on your lap facing you, she will use her abs to try to sit up so she can look more closely at your face.

Ashlyn has slept 6 hours at a time twice. Other than that it's pretty much 3 hours or less at a time. That's okay though because I USUALLY will get a nap in when Clara's sleeping, which is really nice. So I feel like sleep really isn't too much of an issue yet. That's the great thing about Clara being so young when I had my second baby.

Ashlyn has a birth mark in between her eyes, as you can see, and the doctor said that's a pretty common birth mark that will disappear when she turns about 2. After that it will show up for a few more years when she gets mad or her face turns red. My sister, Amber, had the same thing and she said she passed out one time when she was showing her friends by holding her breath.

We're very thankful for our second little miracle! It's going to be so fun to see Clara and Ashlyn grow up together. I think they're going to be great friends.

Silly Girl!

Remember this girl?


I haven't posted anything about Clara for a while and the other day she was wearing these ears and carrying around this cat all day. I had to capture it and share. She's as cute and silly as ever! Clara has adjusted pretty well to our little new-comer. She loves to give Ashlyn snuggles (a little bit too hard) and kisses (right on the lips, can't convince her that her head is a better place to kiss) all the time. She's shown a few signs of jealousy by stealing her blanket and binki, but she has shown a lot of improvement just in the last couple of days. She will play with her toys on her own until I'm done feeding Ashlyn, or I'll let her watch her latest favorite show, Dora. I love this girl!

Ashlyn Elaine Gittins

(by Aubree)

On Sunday morning, August 8th, I was induced. My doctor broke my water at about 8 and shortly after they started me on pitocin. I received my epidural at about 11. This time it went so much better than with Clara. With Clara my epidural wore off, and it was just a really bad experience. I was comfortable this time except I hate not feeling my legs, it made me feel almost clausterphobic. My mom got there about 11:30. My doctor got there a few minutes before 3 and after pushing with 2 contractions Ashlyn was here at 3:04 pm! I couldn't believe how smoothly it went. Ashlyn weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long.

Ashlyn had a little jaundice but is doing really great. She didn't have to do the lights at all. She is nursing so good. It's nice to not have to stress out about that this time. She is sleeping for longer periods during the day and waking up about every 2 hours at night, but she usually will go right back to sleep. So far she takes a binki pretty good which I'm excited about because Clara never really took to one.

Clara is doing so great with Ashlyn. She loves her and wants to help out by putting blankets on her and loves to give Ashlyn kisses. She will maul her a little too much, but for the most part is pretty gentle.

I'm feeling great! It's been a really great recovery this time.

I forgot to upload the pictures backwards, so they're chronologically backwards because I'm too lazy to start over. :) Enjoy.

30

I just want to wish Jeff a happy 30th birthday today! We love you.
I'm being induced at 7 tomorrow morning. Our life will never be the same!

Keeping Busy

Well I have 2 weeks as of tomorrow until my due date. I've had a couple of false alarms including Monday night I was contracting every 2 to 5 minutes and even every minute at one point. This went on for about 6 hours. So I'm hoping that's my body saying, "Get ready, it's coming soon!"

I've been using my nesting energy on knitting projects I've really been wanting to get done before the baby comes. It's kept my mind off of the waiting part, so it's been a nice distraction. I still would like to get more done, but having a baby right now appeals a lot more than getting more knitting projects done.

Of course you have to have baby hats!

This was something I was just trying out. It's a tad big for a hair bow, but maybe I'll make it into a headband for Clara or add it to a hat. We'll see.

This one's kinda fun. It's a baby hammock that you hang up in a crib. Clara's still using the crib but it can still be used for the baby to nap in when Clara's not napping. I wouldn't want to leave a baby in there all night anyway. Looks pretty comfy right?

The rest of these are all baby photography props. Not only do I want them to take pictures of our baby in, but as soon as I have more time, I'd like to start selling similar items on etsy.

Hat and diaper cover.

Another hammock that isn't really as safe and practical as the other one, but it sure makes for a great picture. My flour baby sure seems to be enjoying it. I for sure need to make some adjustments, like making it wider. I didn't have a pattern and this was my first try at it.

Baby cocoons.

This one I made for my friend, Kasey Sanders, who is a photographer. Check out her blog here. In fact if you go to her site and click on babies under view by catergory, then go to the bottom and hit older posts. The first baby on there (Jayda) is using a pink cocoon that I knitted previously for Kasey. Clara's also on the same page a little bit further down.

Pod/Egg.
Of course a real baby is going to be bigger and fill it out more, but you get the idea.

Lookie What I Got!

My super great friend Amelia made this gorgeous diaper "cake" for me and it's just too pretty not to share. The "cake" part is of course made of diapers and it's garnished with flowers, toys, ribbons, binkis, a bottle, slippers, and in the middle there was a pretty little blanket!

Isn't it great? Thanks Millie!

Pluto

Clara has fallen in love with The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Whenever she wants to watch it she says "Pluo" which means Pluto and "Goo" which means Goofy. She seems to love these two characters the most. (It might be because they're the only names she can say?)

The last time we were up to see my parents, my mom asked me to go through some old things of mine to see if there was anything that I wanted to keep. I came upon this little Pluto pillow that my mom and I made when I was probably about 7 or 8. (I probably only cut out the material and helped put in pins, I've never been much of a sewer.)



Clara loves her "Pluo" and loves to cuddle him when she sleeps. Isn't this the sweetest thing you've ever seen? It's really fun to be able to pass something on that was from my childhood.