Sweet Miss Raya

Raya is such a sweet sweet little girl.  She still LOVES to eat and will eat on the hour, every hour if she can.  Can't believe she's already almost 3 weeks old.   I have to remember to soak up every second because I have learned how truly fast they grow up.  She's been sleeping ok.  She sleeps about 1/2 the night in her bassinet and about 1/2 the night co-sleeps with us.  I never in a million years thought I would do co-sleeping but we are extremely careful and it is a must with this little one.  She has some breathing issues going on and about when she wakes up about 2-3 am for some reason she can't catch her breath when we put her back in the bassinet.  The only way she's calm enough for 'steady' breathing is to be by us.  She has been having more choking episodes where she can't catch her breath - I think it may partially be due to being a bit congested.  I feel much more comfortable having her close by at night because almost nightly we have to scoop her up quickly when she can't catch her breath.  We have a doctor apt. tomorrow so I'm anxious to hear what the Doctor has to say about it now.  She wasn't concerned 2 weeks ago - but I feel as though it's getting worse.  I really hope this is something that will resolve quickly and on it's own.

She's been staying awake more often during the day but it's still a daily goal of mine to try and keep her awake before bed and periodically throughout the day in hopes for better night sleeps :)  I'm thinking ill start working in a routine for her in about a week.  You know me and my love for routines and organization!  (but hey, it's good for the little ones too) :)

I inquired about daycare for her yesterday and am just so frustrated with how much it will cost to have both kids in daycare:  a whopping $23,000/year!  Is that not ridiculous?  I also looked into how much it would cost for them to go 2 days a week so I could work part-time... are you ready for this?  2 days a week would cost $315/week...for 2 days...what the heck is that?  So, we're not sure what will happen when it's time for me to return to work.  I really wish I was good at a hobby that I could stay home and make some money doing something on the side.

She is growing like a weed and most of her newborn clothes are getting pretty tight on her!  I also think I got my first "real" smile yesterday (one that wasn't from gas or dreams or whatever else it might be).  It sure did melt my heart - can't wait for more :)

We've been very lucky to have Auntie Mandy take lots and lots of newborn pictures of Raya.  So, in the words of Easton, "A big, huge, super, duper thanks to Mandy!"  Can't wait to share them with you all - Raya has one talented Auntie that's for sure!  Plus, Raya's cheeks are to die for so that helps too :)

lifting her head and moving from side to side

Jake's work sent us flowers

playtime AKA: release of gas time :) 

Sleepless nights and baby cuddles

Today is Raya's actual due date!  I can't imagine still having her in my belly today... I think it may have exploded! So happy she decided to come early - for my belly's sake and because I couldn't imagine having to wait this long to meet her.

A big shout-out to Auntie Mandy for taking amazing newborn photos for us.  The one at the top of this blog is one of them.  I've only seen a couple but the ones I've seen are amazing and she works wonders so I'm sure she's captured some amazing moments.  The one that's posted on here just melts my heart.  Daddy and his little girl :)

Another shout-out to Mary and Eddie for bringing us food this week and the gifts for the kids!  Yes, the food you brought us is already gone (hint - hint!  Just kidding!)  And thanks to everyone else for all of the clothes you've bought for Raya.  She is one spoiled little girl who has a closet and dresser full of the cutest clothes ever!  Can't wait to play dress up :)

Raya is still eating like a champ.  Nursing is going much better this time around.... probably because I'm not exclusively pumping like I did with Easton (why did I do that?  worst decision ever).  She still has her cute chubby chubby cheeks!  At her newborn check last week she had already gained back the weight she lost in the hospital and was back up to birth weight.  The doctor was very surprised as it usually takes 2 weeks - not 3 days! :)  She's in the 60% for weight and head and 30% for height.

She loves to sleep all day long and loves loves loves to be held and cuddled.  The nights have been going ok.  She sleeps in the bassinet part of the pack-n-play.  We bought a little cradle thing before she was born that we planned on using but it has a slant in it and since she loves to be swaddled we need to lay her flat so we haven't been able to use that at all.  But the bassinet is better preparing her for the crib anyways.

I'm pretty sleep deprived and can fall asleep at the drop of a hat - literally.  I blink and fall asleep.  I actually fell asleep one night going pee.  hahaha.  True story - I woke up falling off of the toilet face first.  When I go to bed at night I am already looking forward to my coffee in the morning.  :)  But  of course it's all worth it.

Raya loves tummy time (if we do it at the right time of day) and will move her head from side to side already!  She did this at 1 week old.  She's one strong little girl.

Introducing Raya Catherine Hemmah

Our little Princess arrived last Friday night on 5/9/2014.  She is perfect and we are so in love.  She was born with the chubbieset cutest baby cheeks I have ever seen.  They're still pretty chubby but they've gone down as she has lost some weight since being born.

The name:
Everyone asks us how we decided on her name.  It was just one of the names we saw when we were searching and we both liked it.  We only found about 5 girl names we liked (that other friends/family hadn't already named their kids).  Out of the final 3 we narrowed it down to Ivy and Raya because Avery is starting to be pretty popular and we didn't want a "fad" name.  We both loved Raya so that's how we chose. Pretty simple.  Her middle name is Catherine - named after her Grandma Cathy.  Both of the kiddo's have my parents name as their middle name.  It was the way Jake and I chose to incorporate my family into their names.  The kids have Jake's family last name and my parents middle name.  So, it all works out perfectly.  :)

How it all went down:
I was tucking Easton into bed on Friday night and just didn't feel right.  Then Easton said he needed to get up and go potty so we got up and walked in the hall - then I felt something - called for Jake to take Easton potty and just then my water broke!  It was 8:00pm and we were shocked!  I ran to the bathroom shouting that my water just broke and of course Easton came running after me saying, "I want to see your broken water bottle!!"  Then he looked at me and said, "Why did you pee your pants, Mom?"  I then called the clinic and the on-call nurse was crazy!  She was talking a million miles an hour, "oh my gosh, this is so exciting, how do you know your water broke, how far apart are your contractions, oh my gosh, oh my gosh this is exciting... etc... etc..."  Then I finally got her to calm down so she could call the doctor. We packed our bags and called Mary and Eddie and they drove down quick to watch Easton while we went to the hospital.  We were at the hospital by 8:45.  It was all such a whirl-wind!  Once I got to the hospital they put us in a room to get ready for the c-section.  Of course the doctor was busy delivering another baby so I had to wait until he was done.  In the meantime - Jake was able to watch the entire hockey game while we waiting (it worked out perfectly because we don't have cable at home)!  We were wheeled off to the OR at 11:30pm and Miss Raya was born 11:57pm.  She weighed in at 8lbs 2oz and 19.5 inches long.  The nurses couldn't believe I had that big of a baby in me!

Our experience at Fairview Ridges was much better this time around.  All of the nurses were great and we were able to get more sleep this time so I'm sure that helped a lot too! :)

A fun little tid-bit of information about birth-dates:

Easton's due date was March 14th and was born on March 9th
Raya's (scheduled) due date was May 14th and was born on May 9th

Easton absolutely loves being a big brother and is obsessed with his baby sister.  He will still call her "baby sister" 99% of the time.  If you ask him what his sister's name is he will tell you, "Avery." haha He has always wanted us to name her Avery and when we told him a few weeks ago that we were going to name the baby, Raya he told us he didn't like that name and wanted to call her Avery.  So, here he is... still calling her Avery! haha  He's coming around though.  He loves to hold her and touch her.  He is struggling a little bit with me not being able to hold him though and I can hold her.  We've had some rough moments, which I expected, but overall he's adjusting  very well!

We're not sure who she looks like quite yet.  Looking back at the pictures of when I was born there's a pretty strong resemblance.  But we'll have to wait and see.
Below are a couple of pictures - I will post more later:

Daddy with his little girl

Raya's newest Uncle and Eddie's newest Niece 

Baby picture of me -- or is that Raya?  There's def. a strong resemblence

Auntie Mary

Mother's Day flowers

One of them is not enjoying playtime together

My little dolly

precious 

Welcome home sign from Easton