My Sweetie Girl

These are Kenya's 3 year old pictures that Jayme took for me mixed in with a few shots of my big belly with little Leila in it.

Kenya's got so much personality inside that little body. She was the sweetest angel baby and as she got older she got to be more of a spit fire. We still see that little sweetie in her and I love how Jayme captured that in some of these pictures mixed in with the spunk. One day she put her hands on Mark's face and said "you're my sweetie girl." That's what Mark says to her sometimes so she was just saying it back. :) She loves her little Pooh Bear and has to sleep with him every night. She's a great "mom" to all her guys and babies and loves to have tea parties. She's been such a joy to have in our family. We love you sweetie girl!

I love how she's having pooh bear hug himself.

Like how she fits perfectly right on that belly? I think I was 34 weeks in these pictures, I didn't grow too much after this thank goodness since I'm huge!

First Week

First week at home, went pretty well. Leila has been a really good baby. I haven't had to get up more than once a night with her. I feed her around 10ish and she wakes up once usually around 4:00. I've read the book The Baby Whisperer with Kenya and Leila and put them on her E.A.S.Y. schedule (eat, awake, sleep, your time) and it's worked great with both of them. She has been so sweet and Charlie and Kenya still are all over her. I was making breakfast the other morning when Kenya walked out of our room carrying Leila! I ran over and explained (again) that she can't pick up the baby. We have since moved the bassinet up off the floor.

I love how her legs are tucked up under her, still use to being scrunched up inside me.

Every morning they come into our room wanting to hold Leila. Kenya use to tell me "I like you belly mom." Now it's "I like your baby mom." or "I love my sista." So sweet.

First bath at home.

Charlie FINALLY earned a kite that I bought months ago for him to earn with good behavior. Yes, we forgot about it a few times but he finally got it and was determined to go fly it, we told him there wasn't any wind but that didn't stop him. Mark took the kids out back and a few minutes later this is what I saw...
They were running with the kite to make it fly. Leave it to Charlie to figure out a way. I think I like this way better, it gets some energy out!

The Lane's came to visit the day after we got home. Sailor and Kaia are getting some good practice for their little sister coming soon!

Leila just snuggled right up on Cami's belly, it was cute.

Jayme and her kids came the next day. Kenya got her face painted like a clown at kids camp. I got a kick out of her.

Prince and Princess day at kids camp. Some girls in our ward put on a kids camp this last week, 2 hours every morning that my kids were gone, it saved me this last week.

Mark turned 31!

Charlie is so sweet with Leila, he loves snuggling with her.

My mom came into town last night and will be here for the week, yay!

This is what I'll be doing while she's here. :)

Love the little arms that barely stretch over her head.

Still getting adjusted, I think I just want everything to feel "normal" again. We're getting there. I think the hard thing for me has been that I'm feeling a little guilty for not giving Charlie and Kenya a lot of attention but at the same time I need them to have something to do to not drive me crazy.
Thank you to all our friends and family who have stopped by, brought dinners and treats, taken our kids, and checked in on us. It means the world! I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to start making dinner again it's been so great.

She's Here!

Leila Nicole Holbrook
July 8, 2010
12:49 pm
7 lbs 6 oz
20 inches

little bit of BROWN hair. :)

Can't get enough of her chubby cheeks!

We went into the hospital Thursday morning, started out at a 4 and 90% effaced. Was hooked up to pitocin around 9:30, broke my water at about 10:00, was dilated to a 5 around 11:00, and an hour later I was at a 10, doctor came in around 12:30, pushed through 2 contractions and she was here! How's that to sum it up? :) My fastest labor yet.

The whole delivery experience felt a lot more laid back this time, my old doctor retired and my new doctor Dr. Laine was great. I didn't feel like she was rushed, she addressed all my needs and was great. I delivered at LDS again and loved it. It use to be crazy busy but it's not anymore and I like the changes they've made. The nurses were also big on skin to skin after the babies are born, something they didn't really do before. It seems like they whisked my other kids away before, measured, cleaned, and handed them to Mark. This time she hung out on me for a while, skin to skin, it was a while before they even weighed her. Then I fed her and after about an hour I think Mark was wondering when he was going to be able to hold her. :) He finally got his chance. :)

Lot's of visitors

Grandpa Poulson

Kelle and Cole

Grandma Selena

Uncle Colby

Aunt Maurena

Dr. Laine

Uncle Jared and Aunt Amy

Great grandma Hunt

Aunt Kristen

I feel bad because somehow I missed Cami and the baby! She was there for the delivery too.

So excited!

They came with Mark to pick me up and take me home, like Charlie's hairdo? He insists on giving himself a mohawk these days.

Going home from the hospital, right in the middle of a squeel.

Home now, the kids are loving her, they just wish she was awake more! She's been great today so we'll see how tonight goes, excited and nervous for our new lives.

All My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready To Go...

I had my doctors appointment today, she stripped my membranes and I asked her if she would induce me on Friday if I hadn't gone into labor, she called the hospital and said they could do Thursday (tomorrow) or Friday so we chose tomorrow! I really was hoping to go into labor on my own this time BUT when being able to plan something like this is available it's so hard to pass up! Plus Mark's birthday is the 13th and I've been hoping to have a few days in between the two birthdays so tomorrow it is, as long as there's still room at the inn. :) It's crazy to think that tomorrow we'll be holding our baby and life as we know it will be turned upside down. I'm having a bit of anxiety over it, I haven't thought too much about it because I feel like you never know how it's really going to be until it happens. At the same time I'm so excited to have this new little addition to our family.

Mark came with me to the doctor and took the rest of the afternoon off so we could have one last hurrah as our family of four at Lagoon. We started off at Lagoona Beach, you gotta love all the looks I get when I go out these days, especially in a swim top but I gotta live my life, big belly or not! We had time for a few rides too and topped it off with some shaved ice on our way home. I love being a mom to my two kids. They've brought me so much joy. Kenya came up to Mark and I today and whispered first to Mark "You're the best dad in the whole wide world." It was so stinkin cute. She did it a couple times through out the day. She just has such a tender little heart but also has a good fight in her. With a brother like Charlie she's had to learn! She loves being a mom to her babies, or stuffed animals and playing house, especially with her cousin Greta. She is my good little eater, tonight she had thirds on her spaghetti and she always eats 2 breakfasts in the morning, cereal when she wakes up without fail she'll come in our room and say I want chocolate milk and cheewios! She'll eat her cheerios and then a bowl of oatmeal too, sometimes a second helping of cheerios! She just burns through it all day, always on the go, running everywhere she goes. She's very independent but is also a pretty good listener. We love having her cute little face as part of our family.

Charlie just wants to grow up so fast, it makes me a little sad! He's such a social little boy and always includes everyone I've noticed. He wants everyone to like him and also wants everyone's attention on him! He's a natural at almost everything he does and absolutely loves spending time with his family, especially his dad. He's very sweet to his sister and I know he'll be a protective brother to both of them and look after them.
One of my favorite things Charlie does is the way he'll rub anything soft up against his nose, if he's sitting close to me or Kenya he'll kind of rub his nose up against our hair, he started doing this with his stuffed dogs tail when he was a toddler at bed time he'd rub it right under his nose, now I notice him doing it with anything soft, like hair or a blanket. The same way Kenya will grab her hair and wrap it around her finger when she's going to sleep or she's tired. I love going into their rooms at night after they've fallen asleep to check on them. Their little sleeping faces always takes me back to when they were babies. Tonight I took some pictures of them when I went in to check on them. I love how Kenya tucked in her stuffed animals in her bed and she has her finger wrapped in her hair.






My favorite song to sing to them at night is "You Are My Sunshine" I remember as a little girl one of my friends moms singing it to me when I was sleeping over at her house and I always wanted to be able to sing it to my kids. Charlie asks for it every night I put him to bed, it's a given now and Kenya has jammies that she's wearing in this picture that say "You are my sunshine" The words of the song is exactly how I feel about these two, sometimes I can get a little choked up when I sing it to them. "You make me happy when skies are gray, you'll never know dear how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away." I am so grateful for these two sunshines in my life and grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has sent them to me.