One Month Already?

Not sure how, but it's been a month since little miss Blair arrived. She has been the perfect addition to our family and before we could blink life was just happening and she's along for the ride.

Other than not quite figuring out the whole day time/ night time gig yet she has been a pretty wonderful little lady. I'm now starting to ween off of pumping as I can't produce enough milk to keep up with her growing needs.

Blair is just starting to smile or try to smile and her big sister is loving every bit of it. Sloane will copy things we say and do to get Blair to smile as well as make up her own funny faces and dances. Everywhere we move Blair around the house Sloane is close by with two baby rattles to shake "so Bwwwair won't cry". It's adorable and I love seeing the two of them interact with each other already.

We just got home today from Blair's one month doctors appointment and she is doing great. She grew 2 1/2 inches since birth and has almost put on a full two pounds at 7lbs 10oz. Such a little nugget still.

Happy 3rd Sloane: Pancakes and Pajama's!

One week after moving into our new home we had all the family over to celebrate Sloane's 3rd birthday! Pancake and Pajama style! Okay, okay... so maybe the pajama idea was more for me and my post Blair's birth body but Sloane loved it and talked about it for days and still does every time we put on her "party pajamas".

Sloane and her cousins, Ella, Keegan & Kellan

House a Home: Third Times a Charm

I remember looking for our first home like it was yesterday... well... it practically was yesterday!! We are finally settled into our third home in just over 5 years. When we look past the headaches and stress of moving we remember the joy, the nerves and overall wonderful feeling of owning OUR home. It's the biggest purchase you're ever going to make... right?! I promise by the third one you won't sweat it anymore! Maybe it had something to do with the closing being over shadowed by the arrival of our daughter the very next day, but I honestly can't remember if we even celebrated this time around. Chris went back to work, I headed back to duplex and I think we shared a glass of wine in bed that night... yeah... a glass. Live it up!!

If we had one thing to say about looking for your first home is don't sweat the small stuff. Don't look for perfection because you are going to learn so much about what you think you want and what you actually want in a home. I personally can speak to that. After looking at numerous homes Chris had to talk me into purchasing our home in Appleton, to this day I still miss certain aspects of that house, THAT. LAUNDRY. ROOM. The counter space in that laundry room is what dreams were made of! And the storage in the kitchen....

Appleton WI - 2009

By the time we moved to Illinois we were sure we knew what we wanted. The problem was finding it. After 3 weekends, 20+ homes a weekend, we were not finding anything that was in our price range or in good condition. There were many homes we saw that were in foreclosure or short sale. Many homes we walked in and walked right back out with mold issues (mind you I was pregnant with Sloane) and some homes I couldn't even fathom someone was living in them... let along children were living there!! So when we found our gem in Plainfield it was nothing like what we thought we wanted, we defiantly didn't want a two story home and the style was super traditional.

When we left Illinois, I bawled my eyes out.

Plainfield, IL - 2012

Would you cry too if you knew what lie ahead was a 2 bedroom duplex that you would have to squeeze into only to move again in 6 months!?!

Wisconsin Rapids, WI

That brings us to today! Third times a charm! We are so in love with this home. There is so much we learned about what we really wanted in a house and our new home has the majority of it all. We can't wait to get completely settled in and finally start making a HOUSE a HOME.... again! 

Plover, WI - 2015

Blair's Homecoming + Newborn Pictures

Never mind it's been over a month now...

Before I forget what it was like bringing Blair home, I've got to get this written! We came home Sunday from the hospital to our two bedroom duplex. Everything just fell into place and before we knew it (like the minute we got home) we were acting and functioning as a family of four. Grandma and Grandpa Casey brought Sloane and Lola home and I was feeding the dog, pumping, cleaning the house, playing with Sloane and thinking about the laundry to be done in no time. Oh yeah, and thinking about packing the house up to move while unpacking everything still for Blair to use! It was a maddening time for sure. 

A little girly snuggle time. I want Blair to know that she was the only thing would get Sloane to put her iPhone down for. AND Sloane asked to hold and snuggle her. Please remember that later in life when you two are going at each others throats!

This picture pretty much sums up what the duplex began looking like daily after bringing Blair home. Welcome to my new reality.

For lack of space Blair slept in the bassinet portion of our pack-n-play that could be removed and set on the floor next to our bed. It was very different for us having her there as Sloane was in her nursery within three days of coming home. Overall Blair was a very good newborn, there were a couple long nights trying to get her to bed, bouncing around in the bedroom closet because it was the only place where the noise wouldn't wake up Sloane, Chris or the grumpy neighbor next door. Brutal. 

Lola has had a slight problem adjusting to having another kiddo around.  She was so good with Sloane we never thought anything of it, but she was having some major gross digestive issues all over our carpet. So that was a fun trip to the vet and a fun bill to pay. She was doing a lot better.... until we moved... it all came back and worse. Lola is doing much better now and getting weened back onto her regular food. 

Blair first bed... we were going for Newborn Simple Chic. A simple espresso industrial headboard and complimenting yellow warning label. Keeping it classy.

 Blair also got her first bath at home.... keeping with the classy theme, we bathed her in the sink... threw a towel down and called it good. Our infant tub was still packed away in a  box and I hadn't thought about the fact that we would have to bathe this child! Mother of the Year. Sloane was there to "help" and supervise, but there wasn't much that was going to calm Blair down short of getting her wrapped up in a towel. I love these pictures though, Sloane's smile and the tiny peanut in our tiny sink still looking all tiny. 

Wednesday of that week we welcomed Northern Photography Co... aka Auntie J... to the house for newborn pictures. Little miss did great, she was a bit fussy and uncooperative at times but what do you expect for a 6 day old! Here are some of our favorites!

Blair Ellison Casey

Never mind our littlest lady love is three weeks already! To say things have been a little, lot of crazy is an understatement! I digress...

Thursday, April 16th Miss Blair Ellison made her entrance in to the world. A week before her arrival we were given the final decision that she would have to be delivered via cesarean. My body had made no progress showing signs that I would deliver any time soon and due to my emergency c-section with Sloane my risk of uterine rupture was much greater after 40 weeks. So 39 weeks and 6 days we welcomed Blair.

Our last picture as a family of three

Having a planned c-section was very different, for the better and for the worse. The 'worse' part of that was the lack of the unknown. When will our baby arrive? Will I be in labor for hours or will she fall out shortly after we arrive at the hospital?! The 'better' was knowing Blair and I were safe, medications could be better controlled so I didn't feel as if I were drowning through the whole thing, I would actually be awake and able to respond to her delivery. Something I greatly missed having with Sloane. 

Upon arriving we were shown to our room and I was hooked up so Blair and I could be monitored prior to surgery. A slew of doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists came through to introduce themselves and away we went. I walked down to the OR which was a very weird feeling, almost like I was walking the green mile of death row (morbid I know, but my nerves were really kicking in). Chris had to wait outside the OR while I was prepped which seemed like it took awhile, but then again I only had my emergency c-section to compare it to and they were really moving back then.  Chris was then allowed to come in and the doc gave us a one, two, three and away he went. At 12:24pm Miss Blair Ellison arrived weighing in at a whopping 6lb 0oz and 19" long. Never in a million years had I thought a babe that tiny was growing in there. She had a very large presence in my womb... like kicking and rolling and moving all day and night like she was out of room!

Daddy got inked!

Unlike Sloane we were able to bring Blair right back to our room for recovery once she was cleaned up and I was stitched up. It was really nice to have her right there and to begin trying to nurse, she latched like a champ until we got home, more on that later. We only had one minor scare and it was that night the nurse in the nursery heard an irregular heartbeat, only when she was very still and sleeping, but an irregularity none the less. The next day Blair was given an EKG and the scans were sent to Madison for review. Thankfully the results came in quickly and everything read as normal. It's apparently more common than not for newborns to have this and we were told it was nothing to be concerned with. They never heard the irregular heartbeat the rest of our stay. Despite losing 11% (10% is typically the most) of her body weight the doctors let us bring Blair home on Sunday at 5lbs 5oz. By the next day she was 5lbs 3oz as my milk was obviously not coming in yet and we needed to start supplementing. Blair stopped latching as she was frustrated for not getting enough.

I am currently still pumping and supplementing with formula, similar to what we had to do with Sloane but with much better results on the milk production side of things. I attribute that to encapsulating my placenta. Although I'm producing ten times the milk I did with Sloane it still won't be enough to keep up with a growing newborn. It won't be long before it's better mentally for me to stop pumping. 

So anywho! We are beyond thrilled with our content and chill little babe. Her sister is absolutely in love with her and loves helping out, giving her kisses and shaking a rattle for her. It's the sweetest thing. I'll have to remember to remind them of this love when they are teenagers!

Lots of love and visitors in the hospital. It really made the time fly by!

Blair was not so much a fan of going home, but once she was tight and snug in her carseat she was out like a light and slept the whole way home.