halloween 2013..

this year for halloween, robert decided to be jake (from the neverland pirates).. naturally, lauren had to be tinkerbell :-) they were the cutest!  

robert did so great trick or treating this year. he loved going door to door to get his candy (not that he eats it!). he also got to celebrate at school- he had a blast wearing his costume, dancing to monster mash and eating a ghost quesadilla.

here are some pictures from the day:

love my little pirate and tinkerbell!

two months..

lauren renee, you are two months old! time is flying by these days!

sweet girl, this has been a rough month for you. your reflux is really giving you are hard time and you have colic. the evening time (from about 10pm-2am) is your worst time. you just can't seem to get comfortable. we have tried everything, and are getting better at making you happy. your favorite thing is to be bounced and walked.. constantly. you have definitely found your voice and have an opinion about things! one funny thing i just have to note is that you haaaaaate the car... hate it. cry from the time you snap in to the time we get you out. it's just so sad.

but it's not all tears over here! you started to smile at 7 weeks. your smile just changes your whole face and lights up a room. your dimples are absolutely the sweetest thing in the world. you are tracking mom and dad and turning to our voices. we love it!

you are 23 inches long (90%) and 10 pounds, 5.8oz (23%). you looked perfect at your 2 month check and handled your shots like a champ! 

here are some pictures from your second month.. 

one month..

sweet lauren, you are already one month old!

you are such a sweet baby. your first two weeks were full of sleeping, eating, and cuddles. you literally only cried when you were hungry. such a content little sweetie.

then, reflux hit. we are well versed in this from your big brother, so we were right on top of it. in just two weeks, we tried two different medications and had some blood work done on you to test for allergies. i also cut dairy out from my diet. just like your brother, zantac did nothing, but prilosec seemed to help. we are so grateful!

here are some pictures from your first month!











love you baby girl.

newborn pictures..

here are some pictures from lauren's newborn photo session! we are so happy with how they turned out.. enjoy!

happy birthday to rob..

rob's birthday was the 15th of september.. it was so great to take the day to celebrate him!

he is not big on his birthday.. doesn't like all the attention on him.. but i insisted on cupcakes, a special dinner, and presents :-)

i am so grateful for rob. God knew what he was doing when He brought us together. rob is the most kind, humble, generous, loving man i have even known. i am so lucky he is my husband and the father of our babies.

here are some pictures from our celebration at home.. it was so nice because rob's parents were here to celebrate with us as well!

love you forever and always, rob.

brother and sister..

when robert met lauren for the first time, it was the most precious moment of my life. i will never forget it. it could not have gone better or been any sweeter. 

robert came to the hospital to meet lauren the morning after i delivered. right when i saw his sweet  face, i cried. i missed him so much. it had only been a day away, but i just was counting down the seconds until i could see him. he looked so big and grown up. my sweet guy.

robert walked in, all smiles, and said "hi baaaaabyyyy" in his little voice. he, without hesitation, climbed into my bed and touched lauren's head. i pulled him to me, gave him a huge hug and kiss, and showed him his sister. he immediately gave her a kiss and a car he brought her to play with (ha!). any time she moved, he giggled. he loved every sound she made. he wanted to hold her forever and cried when he had to leave her.

right from the start, these two were bonded. i have a feeling they will be very close :-)

since coming home, robert has been amazing. he has had a few moments here and there where he acted out to get our attention.. but never towards lauren. he was having a really hard time before she came, but since she is here, he is adjusting very well. we could not be more proud of him. he is the best big brother.

here are some pictures from the best day ever.













oh these two.. they stole our hearts. it is safe to say that every.single.day i lie in bed and thank God for them. we know just how lucky and blessed we are all too well.. these kids are miracles. every single part of their being. there is no greater gift.

lauren's birth story..

On August 16th, I woke up having a lot of contractions. I had been on a long, fast walk the night before after receiving the news that I was barely progressing, so I was excited to be having more frequent contractions. I didn’t believe they were doing anything though. They were coming about every 2-4 minutes and I had lost more of my mucous plug. This had all been going on for weeks, so again, I wasn’t very excited. I got ready to go to my scheduled NST and kissed Rob and Robert bye. I told them I would meet them for lunch after my appointment!

When I got to the office, the contractions were about every 4-5 minutes. They got me hooked up to the monitor and measured my fluid levels. The fluid looked good, so now we just had to make sure Lauren’s heart rate did too. This is when everything changed. Within about 10 minutes of monitoring, the sweet nurse told me that Lauren wasn’t having very much variability in her heart rate. What they like to see is a baby kicking and moving with a resulting increase in heart rate. Lauren wasn’t doing that. They changed my position and watched me for about 10 more minutes. At that point, my doctor came in to talk to me. Never a great sign. Lauren was not liking my contractions. She was having “late decelerations”, meaning that after the contraction, her heart rate would dip. This is the worst kind of deceleration and could mean that the umbilical cord is kinked or my placenta was simply failing. She sent me over to L&D to be monitored some more. 

I called Rob as I walked over to the L&D unit and told him that I may need him to come. He was headed to lunch with Robert and his mom and was going to try and wrap it up quickly to come be with me. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, so I told him not to rush..

I checked into L&D and they got me hooked up to the monitor again. Within 3 minutes, a doctor and 2 nurses rushed in my room. Lauren’s heart rate had dipped quite low after a contraction- I could hear it on the monitor and I was really scared. The doctor who came to take care of me was sent from heaven. He could not have been more calm, confident or reassuring. He introduced himself and told me I was going to meet my daughter today. He checked me- I was 4 cm, 50% effaced (that walk really worked!). The plan was to admit me and start pitocin. If Lauren tolerated the Pitocin, then I could labor on my own, but with any decels, I would go under general anesthesia and get a c-section. He told me Rob needed to come right away because we had no idea if Lauren would tolerate labor and I could need a c-section any minute. 

I called Rob and told him the news. He was frantically trying to settle Robert into a nap.. who was throwing a huge tantrum because he did not want his daddy to leave. I was being admitted and settled into my room. In the end, Rob got there right before the pitocin was started. It was about 2pm at that point. 

After this, it just became the waiting game. Lauren tolerated the pitocin and labor better than anyone had anticipated. I labored for the next 8 hours and she was born at 10:38pm after just 5 minutes of pushing. She came out screaming and pink. It was the best moment of our life.. only equaled by the arrival of her brother 3 years prior. There just can’t be any more of a magical moment on this earth than when you see your babies for the first time. God is good. We are so blessed.

Lauren weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces. She was 19.25 inches long. Her APGARS were 8 and 9. She nursed within 20 minutes of being born (and has not stopped since!) and loves to be skin to skin. 

A quick side note.. the doctor who came to see me when I was first admitted stayed 3 hours late to deliver Lauren. We were SO thankful :-) It meant so much to us and we just loved him! He was funny, upbeat and very good at his job. 

Here are some pictures from our magical day..


(sent this pic to robert to let him see mommy was ok!)

(last pregnant pic!)










we love you, little princess. you completed our family. you fill our hearts in a way we could never describe. we are so blessed by you.

LOTS more pics to come..