Juliet, Awake

Juliet, Sleeping

Sisters

Things have been going pretty well with Juliet at home and Michael back to work. Lily is adjusting to life with a baby, although it's hard for her to not be the center of attention all the time anymore. She loves to hold her sister, check on her when she's crying, and hold her hands when she's being changed or bathed. Lily also copies mom by taking care of doll babies - singing to them, changing them, and putting them to bed. It's very cute. The hardest part is making sure she's gentle enough with Juliet.

With this big change, Lily is also at the age where she wants to be independent and at the same time wants to be babied. One minute she'll close the door to her room because she wants to play alone and the next she'll cry for you to hold her. She knows her daddy's name and will sometimes insist on calling him Michael but she still climbs onto mama's lap and sings "rockabye baby," wanting to be rocked. We're really trying to make Lily feel included in caring for Juliet and we hope our girls will grow up to have a strong bond as sisters.

Spring Days

Lily has discovered bubbles and can't get enough of them

We've started painting toenails and the favorite color is "rock star pink"

Lily got her own car to drive around the neighborhood

Easter

This Easter, Lily dyed eggs for the first time and went on an Easter egg hunt at Grammy and Grandpa Voorhees' house. Ryan and Michelle came to visit with their kids and got to meet the week-old Juliet. It was a beautiful day and the cousins had fun playing outside together.

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Juliet's Birth

Juliet arrived right on time, on her due date! I was up all night with labor pains and went to the hospital at 5 am on Saturday expecting a quick and easy delivery like Lily was. However, this baby was in the posterior position, face up instead of down, and this makes labor longer and more painful. When I was fully dilated the baby still hadn't turned and it took almost an hour and a half of pushing to get her out. I delivered her face up and the umbilical cord was wrapped around her, but the midwife quickly got it off and Juliet was fine.

I found out later that posterior babies often end up being born by c-section, so I feel really fortunate to have avoided that. We couldn't believe how big this baby was, considering that I measured small throughout the pregnancy and had a tiny first baby. Juliet nursed right away after she was born and was incredibly alert during the first hours of her life. She is a great eater and, of course, sleeps a lot. She had her first doctor's appointment yesterday and is back up to her birth weight and doing well.

We are so happy to be home with our new baby girl! Here are some pictures from our time at the hospital with newborn Juliet.