Our long weekend

We had a long, busy, but fun weekend!! We started the weekend off with another trip to the park. We are having to start doing all our outside trips in the mornings because it's starting to get very warm and humid here...ugh! While at the park, Cole spent some time pushing Finley around in the stroller.

Later on in the day Cole got out his Big Wheels and pushed himself around on that. He still hasn't quite figured out the pedaling part so for now he just pushes himself. :)

Just a goofy picture of Mr. Cole, enjoying his drink

Friday night we went into Nick's parents house because he had a lot of family in town for Emily's wedding shower. It was great to get out of the house a bit and seeing all the family. Finley did great being out and about and all the aunts loved passing her around :)

Saturday mid-morning was Emily's shower. It was at a lovely winery and it was a blast seeing everybody. It was a great shower and Finley slept the entire time! She is still pretty inconsistent with her feedings, sometimes going 2 hours, sometimes 3 and sometimes only 1...so I knew it would be best for her to come along with me. I totally lucked out that she slept the whole time because it was pretty noisy and towards the end of the shower she got passed around quite a bit between Gigi's friends. They were so funny, they would literally time each other before the next person got to hold her, ha!
The rest of the day we just hung out with the girls and then enjoyed a nice dinner at Fireside Pies. I was gone pretty much all day, and when we got home, I was EXHAUSTED!!! Luckily everyone slept great that night!
Sunday, we got up and went to church for the first time since Finley was born. I didn't want to put her in the nursery yet so we just sat in the back with all the other infants. She did great and Cole was so excited to be back at church. Every time we pull into the parking lot, Cole yells "Play!!!" We are so lucky that he loves being at church!

Sunday afternoon we had to go back to Nick's parents house to get our car and while we were there, Cole decided that he was going to pack up all our stuff and head home. He grabbed his backpack, Finley's diaper bag, my phone and he headed right out the door. What's funny is that he didn't tell any of us that he was leaving, he just walked right out the door and luckily we saw him. I guess we are gonna have to make sure our front door is always locked so he doesn't make a habit out of this :)

Monday, we mostly hung around the house and relaxed. That evening we went to a BBQ that one of the couples from our Life Group was putting on. They have an awesome house with a pool and every toy for the kids that you can imagine. We all had a great time and it was so fun spending time with our friends. However, Cole had a TOTAL meltdown when we had to leave and literally screamed the whole 5 minute drive home. I know, 5 minutes is nothing, but when it's screaming like that, it feels like forever! We have never seen him get so upset so I'm guessing he was just having way too much fun.

Here are just a few random pictures from the last few days.
Cole being sweet to his baby sister :)

Finley sporting one of the new bows she got from our friend Debby :)

What a sweet princess....sleeping babies are the best!!

I've been noticing lately how much Cole and Finley's baby pictures are so similar. Except for the hair.....
This is Cole when he was about 2 weeks.

This is Finley at 2-ish weeks

I always joked that if I ever had a daughter, she'll probably be bald. With girls you want them to have lots of hair....but nope, my son got all the hair. I just think it's so funny that Cole had mountains of hair from day one and still does...yet Finley is a little baldy. She does have some dark hair in the back, but in the front, it's pretty bald. :) Oh well, she's still cute as can be!!!

Starting to get adjusted

Finishing week 1 with both kids by myself under my belt, I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my duties. Wednesday morning I even got both kids to the park and it was a very successful trip! There were a ton of kids there so Cole had a blast! Luckily Finley slept in the stroller the whole time so Cole and I could play.
After we were at the park, we went to Sonic and got lunch and drinks....that is my kind of day! :)
Here is a picture of Cole and Finley playing in her playmat.....Cole loves laying and playing with all the baby stuff lately!!

Yesterday Cole was at Ms. Jen's so Finley and I just hung out at home most of the day. We did take a trip to the grocery store but that was the fastest grocery shopping trip I have ever been on because she started to get a bit fussy.
Nick's sister is having here wedding shower this weekend so we have quite a bit of family coming into town so last night Nick's mom, Aunt Mary and cousin Stephanie came up for a bit. My friend Wendi from school came up for a visit and it was great seeing her! It's nice to have visitors come up, especially when you are stuck at home most of the day. :) We also had some friends from church bring us food and Nick was in LOVE with the meal!! I'm guessing it's better than anything I've been preparing lately...ha!
I love this picture of our sweet Roxy...she loves to lay by the baby!!!

Here is a current picture of Finley...she's wearing a cute skirt for the first time. Although, I realize with our crazy comforter it's kinda hard to see her skirt pattern.

 

Here are a couple more pictures of Cole and Finley from this morning. Just hanging out in bed and yes, Cole is on the ipad. It's ridiculous how that kid knows how to work that thing!

Quick update on the kiddos (mostly for my record): Cole has been super great with Finley, although he has been a bit clingy lately. Usually when we take him to Ms. Jen's he runs to the door and doesn't look back but lately he's been clinging to us not wanting us to leave him. Totally understandable!! We've had a few more tantrums and meltdowns but for the most part he's doing a great job in his new role.
Finley has continued to be a great baby! She takes great naps during the day and is sleeping really good at night. Our pediatrician says we still need to feed her every 3-4 hours at night and that we can start letting her go 5 hours once she is 1 month old. She is pretty consistent with waking up every 3 hours though. Once I feed her she goes right back down though so I'm only awake about 20-30 minutes each feeding. Totally different than when Cole was a baby...it took that kid almost an hour to eat each feeding so I was MUCH more tired with him than with Finley. Finley does have a bit of a harder time in the evenings, that is kinda her fussier time. Nothing we can't handle though, and usually at that point Nick is getting home from work and he takes her...hehe! :)
We are looking forward to spending time with family this 3 day weekend!!

Finley's Room

Over the past week, Nick and I have been busy putting Finley's room together. While I was pregnant, we went ahead and picked out girl bedding but obviously didn't order it till she came out a girl. We got the bedding in late last week and set it up right away.
Here are some pictures of her room so far.

This is what it looks like when you walk in

I made these letters last week and we hung them above her crib. I did the same thing in Cole's room with his letters. I just got cute scrap book paper, cut out the letters and glued them onto the wood letters.

The lighting isn't very good, but here is a picture of the bedding. The bedding turned out MUCH brighter in person. It didn't look this crazy bright online, but oh well, we still like it. Hopefully it won't be too much stimulation for Finley when she actually starts sleeping in the crib, ha!

Another view of the crib and letters

 

Closer look at the bedding

Of course, what kind of Texas mother would I be without making her a bow holder!?! Yes, can you believe that I actually made this? Maybe having a girl will bring out the creativity in me. :)

I've had these little shelves for as long as I can remember. All the way back to when I was a little girl. They were painted a dark green to match my old furniture. They weren't being used because the green didn't go with anything, so I decided to paint them pink and hang them up. I think they turned out pretty cute, I just don't have anything to put on the shelves yet.

Here is the other side of the room. I still want to put a little something on either side of the mirror, so we'll see what I find for that.

Again, we still have a few things to do, but I just can't believe we got all that put together so quickly! We didn't even have Cole's room all finished when he was born...and we knew he was a boy! ha!

So an update....today was my first day alone with both kids. Nick can tell you that I was absolutely terrified of it all weekend. I'm totally fine with Finley, but I was just afraid that Cole would get bored. I had every intention of taking them to the park but the weather has not been cooperating. It's supposed to rain the next couple days, so hopefully that doesn't last long. Cole will be going to Ms. Jen's Tuesday and Thursday this week so at least he'll get to see his friends and get some play time in.
It definitely has been a little crazy having Cole and Finley all to myself today, I was just so proud of myself when I got Cole down for his nap and we hadn't had any melt-downs all day. Yeah, I haven't showered or hardly gotten dressed today but hey, it's my first day. But seriously, how do mothers of 2 or 3 find time to get ready!?! I guess for awhile I'll just have to shower at night once Nick is home. It sure is crazy weird going from 1 to 2 kids...makes you realize how just having 1 kid is a piece of cake! But, I love every minute of it and they are such a blessing!

Our first week home with the girl :)

Finley has been with us for one week now and it sure has brought about some changes! She has been such a great baby and it's so crazy the similarities between her and Cole when he was a newborn. To start, they look so much alike as newborns, and their personalities are so similar as well. However, one major difference between the two is that Finley is the greatest nurser ever!! I had SO many challenges with Cole, trying to get him to latch on and it would take us almost an hour every time I had to feed him. Miss Finley latched on from day one and we have had no problems since! I'm so grateful for that!
She is sleeping like a typical newborn still, having to eat every 3 hours. The past few nights have been quite a bit better, her getting longer stretches of sleep in and mom and dad getting more than a few hours each night.

Originally when we brought Finley home, Cole was far from interested in this new person. He was sweet to her, but not at all interested. This is what he would rather be doing than playing with his baby sister....

 

My dad got Cole a Big Wheel while he was here and Cole had a blast helping my dad put it together.
The other day, Nick and I were laughing so hard because Cole was wanting me to hold him but I was feeding Finley, so Nick grabbed him and was acting like he was the baby. This is how Nick used to put Cole to sleep a lot of the time, bouncing him on the exercise ball....however, Cole is a bit larger these days, haha!!

Cole has now taken a big interest in Finley and loves to be around her, kiss her, try to give her a paci (even though she doesn't use one yet) and push her in the swing. If he ever hears her crying, he runs into the room wondering what's wrong with "baby sister". He has been such a great big brother.
Cole loves to lay in Finley's Nap Nanny....I would too if I could fit!

I'm absolutely loving it that I can now play more and cuddle more with Cole. The last part of the pregnancy, I felt like I couldn't do anything and I felt like I was missing out on so much with Cole. I'm loving being able to actually crawl into bed with him and read him a book and put him to bed. And, that he can sit in my lap and cuddle with me. I just love that little guy so much!

Here are a couple cute pictures of Cole and Finley, he was being so sweet to her!!

Yesterday Nick and I took Finley to the pediatrician for her first weigh-in, well check appointment. The doctor said they usually give babies 2 weeks to get back to their birth weight but Finley has already passed it! She weighed 7lbs 2 oz at birth and yesterday she weighed 7lbs 6oz. Everything else went great and the doctor was very pleased with her, she pretty much is just perfect! :)
Today is my very first day at home alone with Finley. Cole was SO ready to go see his friends at Ms. Jen's house so he is there today and tomorrow and then he will go 2 days a week till the end of school. It is kinda weird being home alone with Finley now that all the company is gone. My mom left yesterday and of course we were sad to see her leave. What really was a bummer was that she wasn't feeling 100% up to par while she was here so she really tried to stay away from the baby. I felt bad for her because how can you resist holding a sweet newborn!?! But, we so appreciated all the help she was around the house. She stocked our fridge with food and played with Cole and that was a huge help.
Monday will be my first day home alone with BOTH kiddos...I'm pretty much freaking out about it but I've gotta do it at some point right? I'm just afraid Cole will get bored, so hopefully I can come up with fun things for him to do.
It's amazing what a difference it is going from one child to two! Whew!

Miss Finley Marie's Birth Story

Before I get into what we have been up to the last week or so, I wanted to share Finley's birth story.
Last Tuesday, May 10th, I went in for my last OB appointment. At that time we would decide if my doctor wanted me to go into the hospital that night to start the induction or if I could wait till morning. It all depended on how dilated I was. He said I was 1-2 cm dilated but things were definitely not "favorable", meaning I was still pretty "closed for business". I told him I really wanted to stay at home that night and go in the morning, especially since my family was coming into town that evening and I wanted to spend some time with them before having the baby. He agreed and told me to be at the hospital around 7am Wednesday (May 11). I really didn't get any sleep that last night, even after taking a Tylenol PM! The baby was going crazy AND I started having a few contractions during the night making it pretty uncomfortable to sleep. My contractions were mostly in my back and down through my hips...strange I know!
We got to the hospital, got settled in and then there was a bit of a debate on how exactly they were going to induce me. My doctor is much more conservative, wanting to do things the safe, slower way....which I definitely want, but I also didn't want to have to go home to wait it out, which was an option my doctor gave me. I told the nurses I did not want to leave the hospital without the baby so they suggested we do things to speed things along. However, my smart doctor must know how I labor quickly and he strongly recommended I do it his route. I mean, duh, he is the doctor!!!
So we started the process to get things rolling, they said it could be a good 12 hours till things really start to happen and to get comfortable. At this point I was still having some inconsistent contractions, maybe every 10-15 minutes but definitely very tolerable!
Probably around 10:30, the nurse informed me I was about 5 cm dilated and things were definitely happening quicker than we all thought. It's still so weird to me because I'm dilating, but still no real consistent contractions.
It was funny because at that point, a nurse came in and started setting up all the equipment for delivery and all of a sudden, the alarms start going off on my monitor and the nurses are coming in and realize my blood pressure and heart rate sky-rocketed and they laughed at me because I totally freaked out when the nurse was setting up the delivery equipment...it was all happening at this point! My nerves just got the best of me.
My nurse asked if I was ready for an epidural but I felt like I hadn't quite earned it yet because still, my contractions were barely coming and still very tolerable. I waited about 30 more minutes because the nurse checked me again and I was about 7cm. So I got my epidural and at that point our family was starting to arrive. My good friend Stacey was also going to come up after I got my epidural in and take pictures for us, but things happened so fast that she didn't even get to make it up till after the birth, I was kinda bummed about that, but I guess nobody can control the human body :) Stacey was there right after she was born and got some great pictures, we are so grateful she was there because everyone else was busy paying attention to the baby. Thanks Stacey!!!
After having my epidural in for about 30 minutes, the whole family came in for literally 5 minutes and then my doctor got there and informed us it was time to push. I literally could not believe it, this was happening so fast! I pushed for about 15 minutes and next thing we know......
"IT'S A GIRL"!!!!

 

Miss Finley Marie Seeman arrived at 12:33 pm and weighed 7lbs 2oz.

Obviously a lot smaller than we were all expecting, but she is perfect.

While all our excitement was going on, all our family and friends were out in the waiting room and luckily they had a fun play area for the kiddos.
Cole and Cameron having fun together :)

Mimi and Papa hanging out with Cameron while waiting....

Nick finally went out to tell everyone and to say everyone was shocked is an understatement. I think most everyone was convinced we were having a boy. Yes, I think all 3 of them were crying in this picture. :)

 

Cole, you have a new baby sister

Showing off the first few pictures

We wanted Cole to be the first one to meet Finley so he was pretty excited to come see her.
Cole....slow down!!!

 

On their way into the room

 

Our first family of four picture

Cole being sweet to his new baby sister

 

Mimi and Papa's first picture with Finley

 

Granddad and Gigi with Finley

 

After getting into my postpartum room, I couldn't get food fast enough. I was so worried that I would starve during the day because I thought I'd be in labor all day, and not able to eat but luckily it happened sooner than expected and I could eat.

Later in the day, Finley got her first bath. It's so nice because at our hospital, the baby never leaves mom and dad, they do everything in the room. Obviously if we want her to go to the nursery they will take her but otherwise the baby stays in the room with mom and dad. It was fun to see the first bath because I didn't get to see that with Cole.

Momma and daughter snuggling

 

After spending 2 nights in the hospital, it was time to go home. We really enjoyed our time in the hospital but of course it's always nice to go home.

Here is Finley in her going away outfit. I would have to say I'm glad that I made all these cute bows and I can use them instead of giving them away to someone else. Having a girl is going to be so fun!!!

 

Finally leaving the hospital

 

We are finally home and Cole actually let us take a picture of him. The first couple days, he was not all that interested in the new baby, but now he's starting to talk to her more and be very sweet to her. He always calls her his "baby sister". :)

 

Our first few days at home have been great, Finley is a great baby, sleeping.....well, like a newborn, sleeping all day and not so much at night. Oh well, we'll get there. I will post more pictures of our last few days soon but I just wanted to get her birth story written before it got too late.

Welcome to the world our sweet baby Finley!!!!

Mother's Day Weekend

This weekend, celebrating Mother's Day and also knowing this will be our last weekend as a family of 3 was kind of bittersweet. Don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic, productive and fun weekend but I am getting a little sad that Cole will no longer be the only child. His world is about to be rocked! :)
Friday afternoon I was greeted with this silly picture of Cole while at Ms. Jen's. I love that she sends me pictures during the day, especially when they are goofy ones!

 

Later in the day on Friday, Cole helped me make some Cake Pops to take over to Beau and Stacey's house. It was our first time making them and they actually turned out pretty good. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the final product, but they were super cute!

Cole enjoyed helping me make the pops....his mouth was stained red from the red velvet cake batter :)

We enjoyed a night at Beau and Stacey's but didn't get home till about 10:00pm and at that point Cole was pretty wound up. One thing about our child is that when he gets tired, he does not get grumpy or crabby, he's gets CRAZY! So getting him to bed when we got home was an adventure. He then woke up at his normal time, ugh...why can't they sleep in when they go to bed late?

Saturday consisted of us doing things around the house, running errands, taking long naps and we actually went out to dinner, just the 3 of us. It was kinda nice going out with just our little family because we never do that.
And again, Cole is still loving all the baby gear around the house. I think he sat in this baby seat most of yesterday.

 

He also is loving the bumbo chair. It's funny because when he was 6 months old, his legs didn't fit in the bumbo seat, but over 1.5 years later, his legs still fit in it. He sure was one chunky monkey! Here is a picture of him when he was around 6 months, it's not the best picture, but you can see how fat his thighs were. Love it!

 

Sunday, we woke up, Nick and Cole gave me their presents which were some really cute James Avery necklace pendants and then we headed to church. The rest of the day, Nick completed a lot of projects around the house. I tried to help as much as I could but had to take quite a few sitting breaks. :) He washed both cars, mowed the lawn, painted a shelf and helped me pick up the house because we are getting the house cleaned today. I really appreciated Nick helping me with all these chores, it truly was a great Mother's Day!

Sunday evening we met up with Nick's family for a lovely dinner at The Keg. The food was amazing and we even got a picture of the three of us. This may be one of our last pictures of just the 3 of us...and no, Nick and I did not plan our purple outfits, I think Nick copied me :)

I am truly blessed with such an amazing family and couldn't ask for more. Thanks Nick and Cole for making my weekend so special!