Waterslide
Last month I wasn’t quite ready to venture out to our pool but Izzy needed some time cooling off in the water so I fashioned a water slide for her using the slide on the swing set and an inflatable pool. The slide was really fast but looked like so much fun that I almost climbed up there and went for a ride.
Family Photos
A couple weekends ago we got together with a friend of ours who’s a Fort Collins photographer and took some new family photos. We love how they turned out and must admit that our kids the ones who really make the photos beautiful. Here are our favorites:
All photos courtesy of Knecht Images
Wait…Stop!
Is it already the middle of July? Where is this summer going and why is it going by so quickly?! Oh right, I guess it’s because we’ve been busy with a newborn, house guests, business guests and well, life in general. We’d like to squeeze in a family vacation into this summer though. Perhaps between all of our guests we can take a week and head out of town before the end of September. We’ll see how that pans out.
Izzy’s summer session of school ends next week. I think after that we’re going to start substituting pool time for school time. Jo-Jo is quickly becoming a champion sleeper like Izzy was at her age. The past few nights I’ve gotten at least 6 hours of sleep. (Granted this awesome sleep is in a moving swing, but oh well) I hope this continues and her sleeping time gets longer.
This past month I’ve learned that I can get both kids in and out of the car and into the stroller in under 5 minutes, but it takes me an hour and 45 minutes to get everyone up, dressed, fed and out the door in the morning. We’ll have to work on getting that time down I think. It’s a little ridiculous!
One Month: Jo-Jo
Baby Jo-Jo is now one month old and we just moved her out of our room to sleep in her own room. I gave in and put her into a swing to sleep and have gotten at the most 6 hours of sleep. I didn’t want to have to use the swing, but I think a well rested momma and baby is worth it.
Jo-Jo now weighs in at around 8 pounds. I haven’t measured her yet but she’ll get measured and weighed by the doctor at her two month checkup. We’re teaching Jo-Jo early to “cry it out” because we definitely can’t carry her around all day with Izzy running around. I’d say Jo-Jo is learning and her cry time is getting shorter and shorter.
I’m learning how to handle two kiddos on my own and am managing fairly well, that is as long as we’re not running errands and both kids are happy and not crying. Izzy is back at her weekly music class and is attending “summer school” this month on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
I started up a fitness routine again, although sometimes I find it hard to fit in a workout during the day or even sit down to have a healthy meal. However I am determined to drop the baby weight sooner rather than later!
Here are some pictures of the kiddos:
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- Sleeping Baby
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- Momma and Baby
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- Sisterly Love
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- Tiny Smile
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- Playdough Bracelets
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- Um…Smile??
10 Years
My graduating high school class of 2000 are getting together this weekend for our 10 year reunion. When I first got notification of this reunion I was shocked to hear that high school graduation was really 10 years ago. Am I really getting that old?!
I went to a private Christian school in Colorado Springs. My graduation class was around 100 people (maybe a little more). I was a cheerleader for three of those years, but wasn’t “popular” by any means. I was an honor roll student. I worked part time at a pretzel shop and retail store at the mall then at Compassion International while I was in high school. I made some good friends during high school, but really only keep in touch with a handful of those people. I have some good memories from high school, but also some that I’d rather not relive.
No, I’m not going to the reunion. There’s been a lot going on for the past month, so a reunion with classmates isn’t my thing right now.
In three years, it will my 10 year anniversary of graduating from college. There won’t be a reunion for that since I went to a commuter college. I don’t know anyone in my college graduating class. In fact, I didn’t even go to graduation! I elected to get my diploma in the mail and get on with life.
Tonight I pulled out some old pictures from high school graduation and an old cheerleading picture. Wow, I look young and super skinny. Oh, what time, life and children will do to your body, but it’s worth it for the life I have now.
What I Want…
is SLEEP! Last night was a rough night. I think I got maybe 3 hours of sleep total. On top of that Jojo decided to stay up through naptime crying and nursing. Currently I have her in the infant swing Grandma and Grandpa Knowles bought for baby Izzy and I’ve gotten a good chunk of quite time from Jojo. However I don’t want to get in the habit of using the swing for Jojo to sleep in. That makes it hard to travel!
I’m praying that Jojo has a good night tonight sleeping in the co-sleeper and really hoping that the swing does not become a regular need.
In other news, Izzy is a great sleeper, however this week we found her twice sleeping on the floor with the lights on after we put her down for the night in her bed. I don’t know why she feels the floor is a comfortable place to sleep…
Summer!
Summer is officially here. That means, lots of hot weather, fun times at the pool and LOTS of visitors. Currently my sister Michelle is here visiting. A few days after she leaves Luke’s brother Jesse will be visiting and working with us.
Jojo has gained probably a pound since we left the hospital. She’s waking up about every 3 hours to nurse but that’s enough for me to get some good chunks of sleep during the night. Isabelle has enjoyed having “Aunt Mi-Mi” here and having someone to play with.
Michelle has been acting as my personally family photographer while she’s been here so here are a bunch of photos.
Week 1 With JoJo
Well, we’ve survived week 1 as a family of 4! Luke is back to work this week, so now I’m adjusting to being at home with two kids. So far, not so bad. I’m glad that Izzy has learned to do a lot of stuff by herself, like going potty and playing by herself. JoJo has made it easier also by sleeping a lot.
Today was our first checkup for JoJo. She has gained back almost all of her birth weight so today she weighed in at 6lbs. She’s in the 10th percentile for weight. She’s 19.5 inches long and is in the 45th percentile for length.
Whenever I look at JoJo it’s like looking at newborn Izzy…just with more hair. I dug up one picture of Izzy from when she was brand new so that you can see the resemblance I’m talking about. Can you tell which is which is Izzy and which is JoJo?
Prayers for Claire
I found out last night that friends of mine from high school are going through a very difficult situation. This past weekend their 3 year old, Claire, nearly drowned and didn’t have a pulse for 30 minutes. They are currently at a childrens hospital where Claire is being treated. Please pray for the full recovery of Claire and for Tiffany, Tyler and their other two girls Autumn and Heidi.
They have started a blog to post updates on Claires condition: http://ourclaire.wordpress.com
God hear our prayers!
Joelle Grace Knowles
Joelle Grace Knowles is here and is a healthy, happy and CALM bundle of joy!
Birth Date: Saturday, May 29, 2010 at 4:10pm
Weight: 6 pounds, 3 ounces
Length: 19 inches
Like with Izzy, we had a little trouble coming up with a good girl name that was somewhat Biblically based. We finally ran across the name “Joelle” on a website and saw that it was the feminine form of “Joel” and means “Jehovah is God”. “Joelle” also isn’t a very common name which I liked.
For a middle name, we wanted both our girls to have names that were also characteristics we hope that they grow up with or into. Isabelle’s middle name is “Faith” with hope and prayers that she will be a woman with faith. Joelle’s middle name is “Grace”, for it’s the grace of God who saves and we pray that Joelle will also be a woman of grace and with grace for others. For Joelle’s nickname, we’ve been calling her “Jo-Jo” which Izzy can also say.
Now onto the birth story, I’ll try to keep this as G rated as possible.
On Friday, my water broke at home just as I was about to get Izzy up from her nap. Not the most convenient time for it to break since Izzy had gone through her drawers and made quite a mess of her room. Luke was also just on his way back from work so there I was cleaning up after Izzy while still trying to clean up after myself!
When Luke returned he took over cleaning up over Izzy while I made various calls to my health care providers. We decided to have dinner and put Izzy to bed before heading over to the hospital since contractions had not started and we thought they might actually send us home to wait for actual labor to start.
After checking in at the hospital at 8pm, they told me that we were there to stay until Joelle arrived. My mom headed up to Fort Collins to relieve Cousin Steen from Izzy duties. That night I was given a pill to help start the induction process since Joelle needed to be out within 24 hours of my water breaking.
On Saturday morning my mom and Izzy dropped by to see how things were going. Izzy was quite concerned about the IV that was in my arm and almost started to cry because it looked like mommy had an “ow”. At 11am I was put on pitocin to get actual labor started and progressing quickly.
After a few hours of pain I happily took an epidural. At 4pm pushing started and 5 pushes later Joelle arrived with full head of hair and working her lungs with some good crying. My mom and Izzy came by a couple hours later to meet Joelle. Izzy enjoyed meeting her little sister and holding her. It’s been so fun to see Izzy turn into a big sister.
It’s amazing how different this labor and delivery was from when I had Izzy. I’ve also found that my recovery is going much quicker as well which I’m extremely grateful for.
Now I have to give some props to the hospital we’re at. It’s one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States and I’ll agree to that! Our labor and delivery room and staff were great and on top of things. The recovery room that we’re staying at has a bed for daddy which makes it more comfortable for Luke to stay with us.
The food at the hospital is actually good! I get to order off of a room service menu and basically order as much as I want for “free” (I know my insurance is paying the hospital bill). Last night the hospital gave us a “New Baby” dinner which included steak, lobster tail, dessert, salad and sides.
The nurses that have been taking care of us have been helpful and quick to respond to our needs. The midwife who delivered Joelle knew what to do in order to make my labor and delivery somewhat quick and painless. I don’t think I want to leave the hospital and return to real life! Quite the opposite of how I felt the need to bolt out of the hospital in Florida.
Here are some pictures of our new addition and a video of Izzy holding her little sister:
