Haley didn’t scream at all for her first bath… she must be remembering what it was like to feel cozy warm in the water. JT helped me with the water hose, and she smelled so good after she was done!

I’m pretty much in love with my two kids. (That’s good!) I am soooo very happy to have my family feel complete. I will just do some random updates here, as I brag about two of my favorite people on the planet.

Pretty girl!

Haley has started sucking on anything she can get ahold of: great, another binky kid. She’s had one the last few evenings after her night feeding and she goes crazy sucking until she drifts off to sleep.

Haley’s head is so tiny that most hats are way too big. My mom whipped out three more baby hats to order… here is one in chocolate and pink.

JT could be an ad for Melissa & Doug’s kitchen sets with this one… he loves to make sandwiches and cut up fruit with his new kitchen supplies.

After Jen’s wedding, we got to spend a little more time with Jim’s family from Alabama before they headed home. We spent a beautiful afternoon on Long Lake in the boat. Haley got her first boat ride too!

Getting ready to go… RTR!

Cousin Taylor, looking pretty!

JT and his new “big brother” life jacket

Grandpa Keene holds precious cargo 🙂

Bevin and JT

Jim skiing – taken from the dock – thanks Josh!

Unfortunately, Jim wrecked skiing and not only did he break his binding, he also ruptured his ear drum. He spent Monday night in the emergency room in a lot of pain and is still in a lot of pain five days later. He is banned from the water for six weeks while it heals. Yuck!

Well, it’s finally finished… the great room switch. Let me explain: JT moved to his new room, and we moved the guest bed to his old room (aka Haley’s new room). But I didn’t want to get rid of our nice guest bed or lose having a guest room, so… it took me a few months to convince Jim to sell our downstairs front room couches, move the library to the front room, move the office downstairs to the library, and move the guest room to the old office upstairs. That would mean we would lose a set of great couches (that we never sit on), keep a guest room, and add another room for a child. Did you follow that?

The night before my water broke, we sold the couches, coffee table, and end table in the front room. I moved the library out to the front room (which Jim says is what caused my early labor…) that night and then Jim was going to move the office downstairs the next week, but Haley came early. So we’ve been playing catch up ever since, and finally it’s done!

I love the way the front room looks when you walk in the front door now – so spacious compared to the giant couches. And it is really nice having the office downstairs with the family areas instead of tucked away in a corner upstairs.

New front room
(Oh so pretty when you walk in the door!)

Old library downstairs…

is now the office!

The big weekend finally arrived: Jennifer’s wedding! Jim’s sister has been planning her wedding to Matt since February. She was nervous I’d go into labor on the altar… we solved that problem, didn’t we? 🙂

Our first family of four picture is outside Pasta Bella in Seattle on Friday night, for rehearsal dinner. We were honored to be very involved in the wedding: JT as ringbearer, Jim as groomsman, me as matron of honor, and Haley as honorary flower girl.

Grandma Keene went emergency shopping and found the perfect dress for Haley. Grandma Cole got out her knitting needles and whipped up a premie-sized white hat and booties to match. Here Haley and I are waiting for pictures outside the church.

We got the birth pictures last night from our photographer and they are amazing. We are so thankful that Sarah was there to record every moment. She was there for over seven hours and sent us 155 pictures – one set in B&W and one in color. I narrowed it down to 33 to post online and make a video. I get a little teary when I watch it… is it hormones or is it pretty beautiful? 🙂

So far, JT has been a wonderful big brother. He was so interested in Haley when he visited us in the hospital. He pointed to all of her parts and named them: “Eyes… nose… mouth… ears…” and then he noticed something suspicious: “Hands go?” They were all wrapped up in her swaddle. 🙂 We were pleased that he made the connection: “Baby, mom’s tummy, out!”

When we got home, he asked to hold Haley. Either he has watched other people hold babies or someone gave him instructions at some point, because he holds his arms out like a pro. He is still working on being gentle, which is so hard for a toddler. He’s working on being gentle when he climbs on up my lap, too!

JT has all sorts of new responsibilities now that he’s a big brother. His favorite is checking on Haley to see if she’s sleeping or awake. Usually she is asleep.

Yesterday Haley was too tired to nurse, so she got breastmilk in a bottle, and JT wanted to take it to her. He also took my empty water glass to the kitchen to Jim, and helped clear his own dishes from the table. JT’s biggest new job is learning letters. Here he and Jim are having a school session at his table. It was pretty cute to watch.

I had been thinking of finding a TV show that JT could watch after Haley was born as a “big brother” treat. We tried out a few shows before we landed on a winner: Bob the Builder. He has two Bob the Builder books that are his current favorite reads, so it worked out perfectly to try out the show. I did a search on DVR and scheduled it to record a month or so ago (what did we do before DVR?) so we’d have a little stock pile.

He LOVES it. He knows some of the lines, like “No prob Bob” and “Yes we can!” He watches for his favorite characters (Scoop and Lofty). Salespitch for the show: I love that it has two fifteen minute segments, that there is always a lesson in character, and that they talk about how to use resources responsibly. Awesome.

While JT watched his show, Haley got to try out her new swing. We didn’t have a swing with JT but I thought I might appreciate having one with two children in the house. She lasted a total of five minutes before she fell asleep. 🙂

Monday morning, we started slowly packing to go home from the hospital. Haley passed her car seat test and her pediatrician checkup with flying colors (praise!). I put her in the only outfit I grabbed when I packed Friday night… since Haley’s room wasn’t ready, we didn’t have any clothes ready either. It was gigantic on her little frame, but looked great (thanks, Aunt Merrie). She also sported her new pink Harley hat from Grandpa Keene.

When we got home, all three of us headed for a nap. Our Moses basket is camped out next to the big squishy chair that is now my daytime home, and Haley thinks it’s pretty great. We love the new swaddle blankets (thanks, Megan) and she stays cozy in her two layers of clothes, hat, and two swaddle blankets that the hospital recommended we use to keep her preterm body warm enough.

Grandpa and Grandma Cole brought JT and Slider home, along with dinner, and then we all said good night. Thanks to my parents, Jim, and my friend Jen, Haley’s crib was ready to go. Then we got ready to get up every three hours all night long. Ah, newborns. 🙂 Fortunately, JT is an excellent sleeper and didn’t wake up once.

Haley Lynn Keene joined our family on Saturday, August 21st at 2:36 AM. Story and pics below.

Much to our surprise, on Friday, August 20th, at 7:22 PM, my water broke. It was a shock because not only is it a little over four weeks early, my water didn’t break with JT and it isn’t likely to happen anyway… but it did.

JT and I took the dog on a walk, had a snack, picked up the toys, and he went to bed. Then I called Jim and told him to come home from work. I called the hospital and let them know we’d be arriving soon, and texted our birth photographer to let her know to meet us there. Jim called a neighor to come wait at our house until my mom could arrive to spend the night with JT.

(Side note on the birth photographer… what a great decision. These are just a few pics that she’s already sent, but she was here for seven hours taking pictures and there are more to come. She even got to come into the delivery room! I would highly recommend her: www.sarah-ellen.com.)

By 10:45 PM, we were checking in at the hospital. The nurses did a test to make sure it was really amniotic fluid, and the test results came back positive just before midnight. We were second in line for a c-section delivery. Here we are getting ready to go…

By 2 AM, we were in the operating room, and at 2:36, our little girl was born. She weighed 5 pounds, 13 ounces and measured 18 inches long. Here she is at the moment of birth… what an amazing picture! She screamed right away… what a welcome sound.

I got to see her and kiss her, and Jim got to hold her. But because she is considered preterm, she was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit for monitoring. She scored nines on both Apgar tests but wasn’t breathing as well as a full term baby might. Jim and our photographer went with her while I was getting cleaned up. By 4 AM, without any extra help, Haley had excellent oxygen saturation, color, and vitals and they were just waiting for her “grunt” noise to go away when she breathed in. Jim stayed with her until 7 AM when we started to move rooms to the mother-baby unit.

On our way to our room, I got to swing in and see Haley. By 10:30 AM, she was in our room with us to stay. Hooray! She is nursing well and getting formula afterward to boost her nutrition until my milk comes in, and she’s actually gained weight in the hospital, which is unheard of.

Here she is 24 hours old.

Look at that dark hair!

Like most white babies, she has blue eyes. 🙂 But since Jim and I both have blue eyes, hers should stay that way.

We have been having a great time getting to know our little girl.

I got a smile and some open eyes on video this afternoon too!