One Month Already!

Today Emily is one month old!  I truly cannot believe how quickly this time with her has gone, but we are enjoying every single minute of it!  This time around it seems much less stressful (caring for a newborn that is... not balancing two kiddos) and therefore easier to enjoy.

Emily doesn't go back to the pediatrician until she is two months old, but I would estimate she weighs a little over 9 lbs now.  She has already outgrown much of her "newborn" wardrobe and we are moving into the 0-3 month clothes even though most of them are still too big.  She is a good eater and she has slept as long as 6 consecutive hours at night, although most nights it is closer to 5.  I'm sure no one will believe this but she has rolled over twice already!  Often times at night or early in the morning we will change her diaper on a towel on the floor in our room.  We are still using gauze pads instead of baby wipes because her skin is sensitive, and on two separate occasions I have left her on her back on the floor to step into the bathroom and wet the gauze pads only to come back a minute later and find her laying on her tummy.  She is crazy strong!  So far she doesn't care much for the swing or bouncy seat, but she loves to be carried in the Maya sling.  She pretty much falls asleep instantly when I put her in it!  Ethan's calls it my "pouch" like a kangaroo.  He loves his baby sister so much, as you will be able to tell from the pictures below.  He sometimes overdoes it a little with his affection, but she is a good sport about it!  He also likes it when she wears headbands, and if she doesn't have one he asks me if she needs a hat or a flower on a ring for her head.  Also, in the last week or so we have started hearing her "voice."  She will coo or squeak both while awake and asleep, and it is just the sweetest sound. She doesn't really like baths yet, but she tolerates them better now than she did at first!

Here are more than a few pictures of our sweet girl's first month!

Sleeping beauty <3

Tummy time!  Such a strong girl!

Sleepy smiles :)

Hugs from bubba

 Being a good sport, despite Ethan and Molly infringing on her personal space :)

 Emily's first bath at home...

It was not relaxing!

 Emily with Gabby & Peepaw

 Emily & Ethan with Grandma & Grandpa

Emily & Ethan with Pop

Emily & Ethan with Aunt Darlene, Uncle Ben and cousins Dominik & Anthony

All of my favorites from Emily's first month can be viewed here-->

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Easter Fun!

We had lots of Easter fun this year despite the dreary wet weather on Easter Sunday!

Ethan enjoyed 4 egg hunts and lots of little trinkets, stickers and candy (and Emily enjoyed lots of naps and cuddles!)  The first egg hunt was the neighborhood one which lasted all of 5 minutes.  He only got 3 eggs and a sugar cookie, but he was happy as a clam nonetheless.  Then he had one at school that Troy took him to, while I was at take #2 of Emily's newborn pics, and finally on Easter Sunday we had one at home and one at Peepaw and Gabby's house.  That Easter bunny left lots of goodies for both Ethan and Emily!  His favorite thing from the Easter bunny has to be the owl umbrella... he is absolutely fascinated with this thing!

Hunting Easter eggs

Easter bunny goodies

Ethan checking out his goods

His beloved umbrella!!!

 We are blessed <3

Daddy and his baby girl

We also had fun dying/decorating hard boiled eggs with Gabby & Peepaw.  Ethan was a big fan of the monster decorating kit and loved giving all of his creations crazy hair!  Surprisingly he even ate the hard boiled eggs at Easter dinner on Sunday.  Although, he is like his Momma and he didn't like the yolk... just the whites! :)

Our sweet boy!

Decorating eggs

 It was a family affair :)

All of his creations... plus his 2 favorites!

 Monster Masterpieces!

 A pink egg for Emily

{Ethan 3.5 years; Emily 3 weeks}

Welcome Emily!

After much anticipation, we are thrilled to announce the birth of our precious baby girl, Emily Ann Matus.  She made her speedy debut into the world on Sunday, March 22, 2015 weighing 8 lbs, 3 oz and measuring 20.25 inches long.  

Despite an extended stay in the womb, once she decided she was ready to join us boy was she ready!  I woke up at about 2:30a on Sunday with back pain (not an uncommon occurrence during these last weeks) and moved to the recliner. Around 3:30a I felt what I was pretty sure was a contraction and after timing them for 30 minutes, I woke Troy up at 4:00a.  At that point my contractions were lasting about a minute and a half and coming every three and a half to four minutes.  We notified Gabby & Peepaw at 4:20 and they came over immediately to stay with Ethan.  Around 4:45a we left our house for the hospital and on the way there at 4:59a my water broke.  We got to the hospital and into a room at 5:15a and our sweet girl was born at 5:31.  She came so quickly that the on-call doctor for our OB practice could not get there so Dr. Parekh (the St. David's Women's Center physician) delivered her.  Our doula did not even make it in time.

While this delivery was super fast, it was such a beautiful experience!  We are so thankful that we were able to have a safe and natural labor and delivery.  Unfortunately, because she was born so quickly our baby girl was in a bit of shock immediately after being born and needed oxygen and a little extra stimulation.  It was only a matter of minutes (although it felt like an eternity to me) before our sweet girl was in our arms.

Ethan was not sure what to think about his baby sister when he first met her on Sunday morning.  He had lots of questions about her appearance, like why she has white bumps on her nose (milia) and didn't want to get too close.  When he came back in the afternoon after his nap, we had a BIRTHday party for Emily and he warmed up to her then.  We had a birthday cake and a 0 candle that Ethan "helped" his baby sister blow out.  Then he gave her the little presents he had picked out for her before she was born.  Mommy and Daddy also had gotten a little present for Ethan since we knew he was going to be such a good big brother!

On Tuesday afternoon we were discharged and excited to get settled in at home!  Emily weighed 7 lbs 13 oz when we left the hospital, which was only down about 4% from her birth weight.  Ethan lost 11% so her minimal weight loss was fantastic news.  Our first night at home as a family of 4 went better than expected, although at one point in the evening while trying to get Ethan in bed, he was having a tantrum and Emily was screaming, and Troy and I looked at each other like "what have we gotten ourselves into?" :)