Memorial Day

Robby's aunt took these and sent them to us. My sister-in-law had taken pictures and sent them to my phone, but I don't know how to get them off. We're so glad that we chose Quincy to bury Emily-Robby's family takes such great care of her spot and always puts flowers there for us and from them. Robby's grandmas are both near her, and several uncles. This month is kind of a tough one for me-the month before her birthday. She would have been six this year!

Lance 2 months/ Emily 1 year

Here's Emily at almost 1. This was June 2005 right after we moved to Texas. She turned one is July. I don't have a picture of her on her birthday on my computer. When she turned one she was between 23-24 inches long and around 12-13 lbs. Today Lance had his two month check up, and he's 24 1/4 inches (88%) and 12 lbs (50%). Emily came home from the NICU right before her 2 month birthday, at 7 1/2 weeks. She weighed 7 lb 8oz and was 19 inches long. Just kind of crazy. It's so different going to a well baby check up with Lance or Lily then Emily. I DREADED going with Em, because they always seemed to find something new that I needed to do, a new doctor she needed to see, a new test she needed to have, etc. Poor little girl. I try not to think about it too much. I'm amazed that I can go to the doctor and they can say-looks great! And that's it!
On a side note, can I tell you how proud I was of Em's rolls in this picture? It's the only time in her life she ever had any meat on her legs! She had just came off of being on steriods, which is probably why, but still. She had cute rolls!

Blessing baby; Emily reminder

Today we blessed our 3rd baby, Lance. The outfit was Robby's. Lance has just started to smile a little bit; he especially seems to smile for Grammy. I missed this one, but was glad they caught it on camera! Robby's parents were able to come for it. Lance is named after Robby's dad, so we were very glad that he was able to be here!

So our Emily reminder came this week when Lance had a fever-he was up most of the night, and so Thursday morning I called the doctor and they had me bring me in. Even though I had given him tylonol and his fever was down to 100 with it, the doctor sent me to the ER because he'd had a fever of 101.8 at home, and he's only one month old. He was eating and doing all that other stuff. The ER was where we took Emily when she got sick before she passed away, so it was pretty awful going back, even though we were pretty sure Lance just had whatever Lily had had 2 days before. Luckily Robby came and met me there. They eventually drew blood and got a urine sample, and basically everything had to come back perfect for them to not make him stay over night. They had to poke him twice to get the blood, and wanted to come back and try again to get in an IV, but I asked if we could wait until we had the lab results back before we did, and luckily the doctor agreed. They also let me feed him while we were there-it would have been AWFUL if they hadn't. I was a wreck after they got the blood, and when the doctor told me we had to go to the ER, just because it brought back so many not fun memories of Emily. The whole medical part of Emily we just try to forget-we know she didn't like it! Luckily the lab results did come back perfect, so after being there for 5 hours they let us go home. I guess if your baby is under 29 days old and has a fever it's an automatic 48 hour stay, labs, xrays, urine sample, and spinal tap! So thank goodness he was 33 days! And Robby's mom had come on Wedensday night, so she was able to stay all day with Lily and take care of her, so at least we didn't have to worry about Lily!

Other then that things are going well ehre. Lily is getting used to Lance-I think her adjustment has been pretty typical for a 20 month old. She's usually pretty nice, though she will hit him occasionaly or throw something at him. She also is now doing this super high pitched scream to get attention. I mean SUPER high pitched. We try to just ingnore it, but it can be tough! Lance is sleeping okay-he's up now every 2 1/2-3 hours, but he'll usually go back to sleep pretty quickly. He HATES being on his back, and sleeps in either his swing or his bouncer. Is this bad? Next week for naps I'm going to try to get him to go on his back I think. He also hates getting his diaper changed and having baths and screams bloody murder. Our girls were much easier going, but that's okay!

I'm running again and trying to get back into shape. I'm amazed at how hard I work for how slow I go when I'm running! We'll get there eventually, I hope. One year ago today I was running a marathon, so hopefully a year from now I'll be training for or have ran another one. We'll see!

Twins

My friend came over and took newborn pictures of Lance last week when he was one week old. I'm going to put the rest on Facebook. It was so much fun!

Here Lance is 5 days old and Lily is 3 weeks old. But we were surprised at how much they looked alike in these pictures! Robby is happy because Lily looks like him, so that means that Lance will probably look like him. Though we agree that Lily has my legs and Lance has Robby's. And Lily has my big mouth and Lance has Robby's.

My mom left today. She was such a HUGE help and we're all sad to see her go. I was very spoiled having her here for 2 full weeks. Lily keeps asking for her. Robby's parents are coming in a few weeks, which will be fun. Lance is sleeping okay. I usually can get around 2 hours of sleep by the time I'm done feeding him! He usually will go back to sleep after he eats, so that's good. And compared to being home with a baby on oxygen and a feeding tube, this is nothing! Though still tiring :-).

We've missed having Emily around-the last time I had a newborn she was here to keep me company, so it makes me sad sometimes. I'm sure she and Lance had fun together before he came here. And I think that Emily's personality will be a lot like Lily's when she can tell us everything that she wants to. She was certainly happy like Lily is!

Lance has changed a lot the past 2 weeks. As of Friday, at his 2 week check up, he was 8 lbs 9 ounces and 22 inches long! He's in the 95% for height and 75% for weight. I figure he can only go down from here, but it's a good start, right?

My Babies Sleeping

Robby sleeps with his hands behind his head. I wake up with his elbow inches from my head every night. Lance has liked having his hands near his face, and tonight got them completely behind his head for the first time. Guess who else sleeps like this? His sister, Lily. This is her at 5 months.

And this is her tonight. Usually they'll be completly behind her head. I'd try to get a picture of Robby, but I don't think he'd appreciate being woken up by the flash. Tonight I woke up Lily from it. Sorry Lily!

Baby Lance is Here!

Okay, these pictures are in reverse order, sorry. Lance Reid Hammond arrived Friday, April 23rd at 2:45 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 6 ounces and is 21 inches long! He seems tall and skinny to me-Lily seemed a bit thicker, but she was 7 lbs 4 ounces and 20 3/4 inches. Emily was 5'8 and 18 inches. This was yesterday. Proud big sister!

Our first family picture. Lily was sick-I had to take her to the doctor on Thursday, the day before he was born, and she had an infection in her throat and a fever. It wasn't strep, but we still waited until Saturday until she met him. She hasn't figured out that she can hold him yet, so we're keeping it that way for a few more days, because I think she'll want to hold him all the time once she figures out she can!

He has huge feet! The nurse called the Tree Climber feet. We've also called them Hobbit feet. We compared them to a plaster we have of Emily's feet when she was 11 months old, and they're the same size! His might even be a bit bigger.

It took him a few seconds to start crying, because he shot out super fast-they said he was a bit stunned. But then he gave some good wails.

My first time holding him.

Okay, here's the birth story, for those who are curious. We went in at 5:00 AM to be induced. Our neighbor came over and stayed with Lily Friday morning and then took care of her Friday and stayed at our house Friday night so that she could be in her own bed. Thanks Maggie!

They started me on the pittosin at 6:15 and I started having contractions right away. The doctor came in at 8:30 and I was dialated to a 3 but hadn't effaced much more (I was 50% when I came in) so she opted to wait a bit longer to break my water. We decided to get the epidural before they broke my water, because once they break it my contractions get awful, especially in my back. So I got the epidural at 10:15 and the doctor came back at 10:45 to break it. My contractions were coming right on top of each other after that, so I'm really glad I got the epidural first this time! They had to turn off the PITT because he didn't like it that much, and I went to a 4 and 90% effaced in 15 minutes. So that was at 11:00. When they checked again at 12:00 I was about a 6 according to the nurse, and then when the doctor checked at 1:00 she said I was a 5! So the doctor, nurse and I weren't happy about that-the fact I hadn't really progressed. They turned back on the PITT (it had been on, off, on and then off again) And then I started feeling my contractions again. I could always feel them, but just like braxton hicks. These started to hurt! So I called my nurse who called the anestheisiologist, and at about 1:40 he gave me more medicine through the epidural. So by 2:00 life was good again. Then at 2:30 I felt the "pressure" they talk about and called the nurse. The doctor was next door, having just delivered a baby, and so she checked me and I was ready! Lance was very polite, waiting until the epidural was working again before making me work!

The nurses had me push through one contraction while the doctor was getting ready, and then told me to not push anymore. I think Lance's heartrate must have been doing funny things, because they were pretty anxious for the doctor to get in and put me on oxygen. The doctor got there and they told her I was ready, and he came out, or according to the doctor and Robby, shot out, in one push. He wasn't breathing when he came out and gave us a good scare for 10-20 seconds, but once they started rubbing him down he gave out a good cry and then I started crying! Soreness wise he was much kinder then Lily, so things have been pretty good on that front.

Lily has done pretty well adjusting to the baby. She gives him lots of kisses, but hasn't seemed too jelous. It's great having my mom here to help take care and play with her, cook, clean, be our slave! J/K. Kindof. :-) We came home from the hospital on Sunday. Sunday night was rough-Lance didn't sleep AT ALL, but last night was a bit better. Robby took yesterday, today and tomorrow off, which is nice, too. I'm off to bed now!

Wildflowers, Easter, and Baby Update

My mom made this Easter dress. Lily has to take her purse to church with her.

Lily in the field by our house. We've lived in Texas for 5 years, and this is only our 2nd spring of having wildflowers. Every other winter we haven't got enough rain. The flowers are everywhere, and so much fun to see.

This dress was mine. Notice the vintage 80's look! She wore it to church today.

Texas bluebonnets. This got flipped around weird and I don't know how to fix it.

More flowers in our field.

Lily doing the "touchdown" sign.

Robby's work had a shower for us, and one of his friends made this BYU cookie.

Lily's Easter egg hunt.

So, as far as the baby goes, he'll most likely be coming Friday or next Tuesday. We (the doctor and I) don't want him to get too big (for me-I know many of you have had 8, 9, and 10 lb babies and I bow down to you). Lily was 7 lbs 4 ounces, and was fine, but her shoulders were a bit of a struggle. When I mentioned that to the doctor she said, "Oh, I remember that. Maybe we ought to do this on Friday." Friday would be 6 days before my due date, and next Tuesday would be 2 days before. So we'll decide after my appointment on Tuesday. Emily was 1 day before my due date and Lily was 2 days before. My mom will be here Saturday and is staying for 2 weeks. Yeah for moms!

Lily doesn't really have a clue that a baby is coming, though she will point to her tummy or mine if I ask her where the baby is. Her new words include bapa and papa for grandma and grandpa, eyebrow, and bubbles. Lately she loves books and looking at pictures of her grandmas and grandpas. Robby got his BYU room painted-one wall is all navy blue and the other 3 walls are white with a navy blue wide stripe across the middle. -we'll post pictures once everything else is in place. We got a BYU banner to go with it and need to put that up and get a dresser. Hopefully everything the next few weeks goes well-keep your fingers crossed for us!