Sweet Miracles

We give thanks to God for our newest miracle and for all the joy that she has already brought us. How thankful we were to be able to spend that first hour of her life with her, holding her. And how lucky we felt to be taking her home with us. I think my first impressions of her were right - she seems to be fairly docile and easy going. Although, the last few days have been a bit challenging as Rebecca began to get fussier and fussier. But being the old pro's that we are, we were able to figure out the problem rather quickly. It seems she probably has a milk issue as well, but rather than wait for her 2 week appointment, Todd and I made the executive decision to switch her over to soy right away. And today, she seemed much more at ease.

Bella & Becca

I am sure this is the first of many postings of Bella and Becca. Bella likes to give the baby hugs and kisses and seems to be interested in her when she is awake. She hasn't seemed too upset that the baby is here, although the baby is not really awake that much. But today while Todd was holding her, Bella began to fake falling down, and we have seem more "acting out" from Bella. Of course the "acting out" is typical toddler behavior so it might be a little unfair to blame this behavior on the new baby. Becca is still turned around on her days and nights, but she isn't even a week old, so we won't hold this against her.

Rebecca Nicole Dyer is here!

Becca was born today at 12:27PM. She weighed in at 7lb 9oz. She was 20.25in long. And if they took a decible measurement of her screams, it would have been off the chart. This girl can scream. It was a refreshing sound actually. With Bella, all we heard was gasping, grunting, and wimpering when she was born. Becca came out fighting. The nurses gave her the loudest baby of the day award and one even came into our temp room and told us the staff was glad she is going home with us :) We are too! No NICU for this one.

After she calmed down from the trauma of being extracted from her comfortable home, she spent some time snuggling with us and getting to know us. It was a precious 90min before they took her to the receiving nursery.

We are sitting here now in the comfort of our hospital room. Becca is sleeping softly in her little rollaway basket. We will get to feed her shortly when she wakes up.

At this point, it's tough to say who she looks more like. I would guess Cat, but you all can decide for yourselves :)

Sunny Day

Yesterday Bella and I spent the day together since I will be in the hospital for the next few days, and when I come home I'll be bringing a baby with me that Bella won't be able to throw in the toy box when it starts to cry. So, Bella and I went to the park, to storytime at the bookstore, to Build a Bear to buy "Bear" some clothes, and to Chick-Fil-A (one of her favorites). We had fun, although by the time we got to Build A Bear, Bella was already tired and hungry, so poor Bear just got sunglasses, which I'm sure he'll need now that it's summer. Since the time that we've announced that we are expecting another child, everyone has been commenting about what an adjustment for Bella, and poor Bella she won't be the center of attention anymore, and I have been apprehensive about how young she is. So last night when I was telling my brother that I was beginning to get nostalgic for the times when it was just Bella and me and Todd, he said - "But it will be better." And I know this is true because how much fun was it growing up with a big brother! And he should know - after all he has 3 boys. And of course it will be better. Isn't that why we said we wanted another one. We know that the next few months are, well, not the highlight of the child rearing years, but it lasts such a short time. And this time, we will have Bella to keep our spirits bright. In the future Bella may be sharing center stage with her sister, but she will always be in the lime light. That's just who she is. And in no time at all Bella will be glad for the playmate. So here's to sunnier days at the Dyer household.

The Little Gym

Earlier this month, Bella graduated from the little "birdies" class to the "beast" class at The Little Gym. It was a fun day in which, as Todd put it, the teacher pulled out all the stops. There was the parachute, the air track, bubbles and balls. And at the end of class, there was a medal ceremony. Bella was so proud of her metal. She still enjoys putting it on. The following Saturday Todd and I debated on whether to move her up to the beast class for the summer since technically she wouldn't be old enough for it until after the summer secession. So Todd went to the birdies class, and all the mommas made fun of him and said they expected to see him and Bella at the beast class next week. Todd and Bella are very popular. Apparently there is one little girl that asks about Bella all the time, and she gets excited when her mother tells her that they are coming to see Bella. That's our Bella. She makes friends wherever she goes.

Tee Time

I snapped this one of Todd and Bella before they took off to "hit golf balls". Todd actually had a putter cut down to Bella's size, and he practices with her. He says she gets excited when she hits the ball, but she hasn't figured out how to do it on her own. So, she gets bored and begins to pick up the golf balls and behead flowers (a favorite past time at Popo and Grammy's). She also likes to take the tops off of things and put them back, like my contact lens case, or take everything out of something and put it back, like her board books that come in their own carrying case. So she enjoyed taking Todd's golf balls out of their sleeve and putting them back. We've thought about buying her some new toys that work on fine motor skills, but then we figured why should we when she'd rather play with the lotion flip top.

Oh, and she is a real ham now. If you say "Say Cheese" or even point the camera in her direction she will turn on the smile, even if she isn't feeling well.

Don't they look smug!