Some cards and an update...

Everyone in my house is napping at the moment (even my DH!) so I thought I'd take a moment to check in and say hello! I'm doing as well as a sleep deprived new mama can be doing, really - no major complaints at all! And Courtney is a complete sweetie - she's making it so much easier on her old mommy than her big brother did a couple years back...! But more about all that later - first I want to show you a couple cards I've received from my IRL friends! I'll show you some cards from my imaginary friends in a future post...! (LOL - I heard someone else refer to blogging friends as imaginary friends and I think that is just too funny!) This first card was made by my friend Diane. Isn't it adorable? The little cupcake is popped up on dimensionals and has crystal effects on it - yummy! And I love the polka dots and stripes! The second card is from my friend Theresa, the same one who made my beautiful family tree. The little mesh bag attached to the card is filled with buttons, rhinestones & sequins. So cute!! I've managed to do a little stamping this week (not a lot, but a little!) - but nothing I can show you just yet! I designed Courtney's announcement & thank you cards - none of which have been mailed yet - so I can't show you until after they are actually in mailboxes! Maybe I will take you on a jog down memory lane next time I post and show you what I did a couple years back for Carter!

Now for those of you who are curious about what's been going on with me over the past couple weeks... (maybe boring for some, so feel free to surf to the next blog now...) :-) Let's see, I think the last time I complained to you all about still being pregnant was Superbowl Sunday! I was doing some cleaning in an attempt to make labor progress. Well, turns out it was a good thing nothing happened that Sunday - Joel, Carter and I rather enjoyed watching the Superbowl this year!! (Even if it wasn't the Lions...) No, Carter didn't really watch the entire Superbowl, but we all sat in the livingroom to eat dinner, him in his regular booster chair, which he had never done before so it was quite an exciting treat. :-) (Joel is determined to raise a little sports fanatic I think...) So Monday morning I got into the shower and started feeling something - I wasn't quite sure if it was a contraction or just some gas due to the Superbowl junk food we had the night before...! I emailed some friends saying as much, I sent out an email to my Stampin' Up customers about our SAB order (when baby was born a few hours later some really thought I was crazy for sending out stamp emails while in labor... what can I say, I'm a dedicated stamper!!). Anyway around 9am I timed the contractions & they were 6 minutes apart, and 15 minutes later they were only 3 minutes apart, so by then I was willing to rule out gas. :-) My sister came over to stay with Carter and we headed to the doctor. Labor came fast & furious by the time we got to the hospital, and Courtney was born at 1:54pm. I managed to do it again without medication. Oh did I mention she was 9lbs 5oz? Ouch!! But I'm glad - I think my recovery has gone really smooth with both births, and I think a lot of that is due to not having the IV or epidural. Thankfully my body likes to get the babies out QUICK - don't think I could do it without medication if I had a long, drawn-out labor!!!! Too wimpy for that!!! But I do think it was more painful this time than with Carter (or maybe it's just fresher in my memory, who knows). The doctor did comment after that "those were some big shoulders you pushed out!". Yes they were! Courtney has been such a great baby so far. Yes, she is keeping me up a lot at night, but that is to be expected. But she is a great nurser - she knew how to latch on right off the bat (plus I knew what *I* was doing which I'm sure helped). She already sleeps better than her big brother did - yes, I'm up at night a lot, but that's because she's a big girl with an equally big appetite - she likes to nurse A LOT. But when I put her down to sleep, she will eventually. The most challenging thing has been helping Carter to adjust to having this new little person in the house. The first few days were really rough - but he's already gotten much better!! Some of my wise friends with multiple kids said a key thing is to get him involved, to let him help with the baby. So he helps by getting a diaper when it's time to change her, and he gets to pick out her outfit every morning. Lately he just wants to hug her all the time, which is so sweet (but we're still working on being really gentle...!). I'm so proud of him, he's doing so well with her now!! I think I'll share a photo of Big Brother Carter holding his baby sister - and end with the best Carter quote so far... the first time I nursed Courtney in front of Carter, he said "baby sister eating mommy!!". :-)

Take care, I hope to get back in the stamping swing soon & also get caught up on my blog reading - sorry for the lack of comments, I am waaayyyy behind!! xoxoxo