Grace's 1-month check-up

She weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. (32nd percentile), 20.87 inches long (23rd percentile) and her head is in the 81st percentile. She received one shot, which she screamed like a baby then was fine after 20 seconds. Everything was perfect and we'll go back next month!

Before the shot...

After the shot...

Grace 1-month

We've had a great first month -that went entirely too fast! Grace really is a great baby, I'm not sure a newborn can get much better than her. She only really cries if she's hungry, needs a burp or needs to use the restroom ;) Once all of those needs are met she sleeps ;). It has helped that we've had guests that have been extremely helpful for the past few weeks. My aunt Sue was here last week. The first few days her and Caiden became buds and she would play with him for hours while I got some alone time with Grace. Then the last few days of her trip we swapped and she pretty much managed Grace and I was able to take Caiden to the park, run errands with him, Marc and I took him to the beach and even had a date night on my birthday, it was amazing! My aunt was such a good help while she was here I even offered to pay her to stay one more week until Marc's parents get here...but I guess some people have to go back to work and get on with their lives ;)  But seriously...thank you so much Aunt Sue, we really miss you right now ;)

Yep, that's the ocean behind us!

Grace is pretty much eating every three hours and taking naps in between. At night she eats between 9-10pm and gives us until around 2am before she wakes up again. She is sleeping in our room and we don't mind it at all. She is actually really quiet when she sleeps -unlike Caiden (he would make so much noise that we moved him to his crib in his room at 3 weeks). After the 2 am feed she's usually up again around 5am and 8am. After the 8am feed she usually likes to stay awake -and be held the entire time- which can make it difficult for me to try and eat something and feed Caiden breakfast. She eats again around 11, then I feed Caiden around 12 then put him down for his nap. The next few hours I eat lunch, clean up a bit (the house and myself), check up on emails and write this blog ;). It can all start falling apart when they both wake up at the same time around 3 and I've got to feed Grace and have Caiden who wants to eat a snack and go outside to play.

Again (as with Caiden) we weren't on the ball with organizing newborn photos so we did an 'amateur hour' photo shoot in our bedroom. We made the room hot as hell (we were both sweating profusely) and tried to get her propped up the best we could. This is the outcome of the photo for the announcements we mailed out...

Here are some random photos I've taken the past few weeks. I really can't believe we have a full month under our belts already, it's just going way too fast.

She has much lighter hair color than Caiden did and she still has blue eyes! I really can't believe it! After Caiden having such dark brown eyes (and turning brown within hours of being born) I thought for sure all of our kids would have the dominate brown color right away...maybe they'll turn green like mine!

Caiden wanted in on the action, too! Every time I break out the big camera to take pictures of Grace he starts smiling and saying "cheese!"

Caiden lined up his Elmo's next to Grace and I feel like they are all making the same face.

She has some long and skinny fingers and toes, just like Mama! Caiden's hands and feet look exactly like Marc's (the complete opposite of us ;)

The first few weeks

It's been a good few weeks at home so far. Marc took two weeks off and my parents flew out the week after she was born and stayed for a week. I've only been by myself with the two of them three days so far. We haven't done much and I can tell Caiden gets really bored...frankly I'm bored too. I'll get the hang of it soon though and take them out.

This was our second or third day home from the hospital...we were right back into the thick of things. Caiden crawling up the banister while Grace sleeps on the landing in the background. 

Caiden has been a real trooper since we brought Grace home. All he ever wants to do is rub her head or give her a kiss. He's being really sweet with her and there doesn't seem to be many signs of jealousy!

I couldn't resist posting this one. They both look miserable...but Caiden was actually trying to smile, he really loves her so much. She on the other hand may not have been happy.

Aunt Sara brought Caiden a drum set...sweet, huh?!?!  NOT

My Dad built us a planter box for some herbs while he was here. 

It's amazing that this little human was inside my belly curled up almost exactly like this.

I have to admit I'm bummed I don't get more moments like this with her. I feel like with Caiden I was always letting him fall asleep on me but now that Caiden needs attention too she spends a lot of time in the swing. 

This was our first walk yesterday (by myself) -across the street to get coffee and a few groceries. It was a success for the first 40 minutes, then half way through the grocery store Grace started freaking out...I ended up having to pick her up and carry her half way through the store, then she cried in the stroller for the remainder of the walk home. It was only mildly stressful :/ and I wasn't sweating at all when we got home ;)

We also gave her her first bath yesterday. The stump of her umbilical cord fell off earlier in the week so it was time. She loved the water, it's almost like she had a smile on her face when she was in there.

Caiden's 2-year check-up & Grace's 1-week

We had Caiden's 2 year check-up and Grace's 1-week weight check yesterday. A bit late for Caiden since he turned two a month ago -but they cancelled my original appointment because his Dr. was taking a vaca and this was the soonest they could get us in. Caiden did great as always...he doesn't make a peep when the Dr. checks him and just stares at him like, 'what are you doing?'. He didn't have to get any shots -and won't until he's five or so. 

They weighed him at 27 lbs. 9 oz. (42nd percentile), 34.7 inches long (61st percentile) and his head is in the 70th percentile. We will go back when he is three years old.

Grace was back up to her birth weight of 7 pounds, 8 ounces so that was a relief. We will go back when she is one month old!

Grace's birth story

On Saturday, August 9, we had some friends from LA coming down to visit and stay with us for the night. We planned on a babysitter and a night out. I was four days away from my due date and was convinced throughout this entire pregnancy that I would probably not give birth until my due date or shortly after -since I went eight days late with Caiden.

On Saturday I was getting a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions. I didn't have many during this pregnancy so I was surprised at how many I was getting. Around 8pm when the babysitter arrived I noticed the Braxton Hicks turning into something different...no longer just a hard belly but a little "umph" behind it. The car ride to dinner I had a couple more -they were coming about every 20-25 minutes. About half way through dinner I leaned over to Marc and mentioned that my contractions were starting, I guess everyone at the table heard because they all looked at me with wide eyes and started asking lots of questions. None of them have kids so the conversation got pretty interesting. Mike thought we were going to be rushing to the hospital after dinner, the other couple, who we had just met that night, were very curious and asking lots of questions about pregnancy and child birth. I assured them all that these contractions were nothing major and just the start of what could possibly be a long couple days of early labor (even though I was hoping it would go way faster than it did with Caiden and we really would be at the hospital in a few hours).

Half way through dinner, around 9:30pm, I also texted my sister and gave her the heads up so she could start thinking about coming down from LA to watch Caiden. We decided that she could wait until Sunday morning since Mike and Brita were staying at our house tonight. If I did happen to progress quickly they offered to take care of him until Sara arrived in the morning.

When we got home from dinner I did my last belly photo -possibly forever :/

39 weeks, 3 days

Saturday night wasn't too bad. My contractions were all over the place, sometimes I'd have four in an hour and sometimes I'd have one. I think I was able to get some sleep here and there between them because they weren't too painful at this point -maybe an hour or two total. On Sunday morning we all woke up and went to breakfast. My sister showed up around 6:30am as well. They slowed down quite a bit when I was up walking and doing stuff. I remember at breakfast having a couple and Mike and Brita just looking at me and shaking their heads in disbelief that I was really having contractions and just hanging around going to breakfast. I had to assure them again that my early labor with Caiden lasted a few days and it seems to be heading in that direction this time around as well.

After a late breakfast we did one last group photo and Mike and Brita headed back home to LA.

After Caiden's nap we decided we'd go to Costco. Marc wanted to get his two sense in getting some frozen food and stocking up on other stuff for the next few weeks since it looked like it would be "GO" time at any moment. I remember being at Costco and not having one single contraction. I remember thinking how long it was taking for things to progress and wondering if I'd really be having a baby in the next few days.

Sunday night we had dinner at home and all went to bed. Overnight things definitely got "real". The contractions full on started and all night long I was up and down out of bed, bouncing on the yoga ball and breathing very heavy through each one. I was keeping track of them on an iphone app and they were pretty steady for a good three or four hours at 6-7 minutes apart and one minute long. Around 5am I took a bath, it was something I wanted to do with Caiden but never really gave it a good chance. This time I got the tub nice and full and it was amazing the changes it made. They didn't seem to last as long and they weren't as intense. I wasn't sure in the moment if it was the water doing it or if my contractions were starting to slow down again. I got out about 40 minutes later and they were back at it. I was really thinking we should be leaving for the hospital soon but Marc wasn't convinced yet. Around 6:30 Caiden woke up and my sis fed him breakfast. I remember my sister seeing me and saying, "Uh, I think you guys should leave!". --Sorry Marc, no breakfast for you...I was definitely ready. Let's GO!

The 20 minute car ride to the hospital was not fun. I think I had three or four contractions in the car and another two walking from the parking garage to the hospital. The walk was brutal. I remember Marc having to re-park the car between the lines and me leaning against a wall thinking I was going to fall over.

At 7:30am we arrived and they checked me --EIGHT centimeters! I was so proud of myself, I thought I was at a four or five. Marc and I just looked at each other and started crying. Marc said, "We're going to have a baby!"

They wasted no time taking me from Triage to a Labor and Delivery room. They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said yes but a couple of the nurses tried convincing me I could do it and that I was already so far along. I was sure! I wasn't interested in feeling the actual baby come out...if it was anything like Caiden I was already going to feel it even with the epidural and it was painful. I had already been in pain for a couple days and was ready for a break.

Dr. Riley came and checked me at 8:45am and asked if I was ready to break the water and get the pushing started. I thought I'd be pushing for a few hours like with Caiden so I said I wanted to wait an hour or two and rest and get a little strength back while I had the epidural. He said he'd come back around 10am after he went to the office to cancel his next few appointments for the day. Marc and I rested until 10:30am when Dr. Riley came back in and said he could see my bag of water and it was time to get it started.

He broke my bag of water, I pushed six times...AND SHE WAS OUT at 10:57am! Once her head was out Dr. Riley let me pull the rest of her out and lay her on my chest! She was just perfect!

Dr. Riley

I couldn't believe how fast the end happened. The early labor was just like Caiden but the end was so much easier...probably because she was only 7 pounds, 8 ounces. We only stayed in the hospital for one night and left on Tuesday afternoon.

We have been home now for a week and have a pretty good system going. Caiden is being awesome and always asks where Baby Sister is if she's upstairs sleeping. If Marc could just stay home from work for the next few months while she's still eating and getting up every few hours in the middle of the night to feed it would be nice -but he can't. So we'll see how I'm doing next week when reality hits and I've got a newborn and a toddler to care for all by myself ;)

Grace Rylee Mashhoun

Grace Rylee Mashhoun
Born on August 11, 2014 at 10:57am
7 pounds, 8 ounces and 18.5 inches long

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Baby Girl Ultrasound

Since we didn't do any late trimester ultrasounds with Caiden we wanted to do one this time around to see if we could get any good shots of her. Well, we didn't...lol, but it was still fun to go. She was so smooshed in there that the tech wasn't able to see very much. The placenta was right against her face and she was practically eating it so it was hard to get any pics where she wasn't a blob. He could tell her head was really, really low -which I already knew just from the pressure I feel, especially at the end of the day.

The tech weighed her at 7 pounds 9 ounces...but said this could be plus or minus a pound -so I feel like it's not a great indication of what she'll end up at. They measure three things to get this weight -the head, abdomen and one femur bone. Since she is still going to cook for another couple of weeks I'm probably looking at an eight and half pounder?  But who knows. 

He also didn't see much hair, just some little sprouts so it will be interesting to see if that is accurate considering Caiden had a pretty good amount of dark hair.

She has slowed down A LOT in the past three days. I'm pretty sure she's resting up to make sure she can keep us up for days on end here very soon. I haven't had any contractions, and only a couple of Braxton Hicks contractions weeks ago so I'm sure I've still got a few weeks before she makes her debut.