Ivy Sue Murray

It seems only fitting that I am up in the middle of the night working on this post! I can't complain though, I have a cute new baby sitting in my lap just looking around at the new world she lives in!

Ivy was born promptly on her due date of August 30th, 2013 at 6:35 am.

She weighed 8lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long. Close to a pound bigger than Isla but same height.

One of my favorite things about her is her dark hair!! I am obsessed with it, I really didn't think genetics would allow us to get a dark haired baby even though I have darker hair now I was super blonde upon birth and so was Steve. She also has a little bit darker skin and I'm hoping she gets both of our blue eyes! I think she is absolutely beautiful and so far she has been the best baby! 

We chose Sue as her middle name after my amazing mother! She has always been such an example to us and is here now helping out so I can keep my sanity while adjusting to two kids. It was the perfect name choice! I am so so grateful for a safe, easy delivery and healthy girl (story to come), and am just enjoying every tired, blissful second of having a new baby to cuddle with while she learns the difference between night and day:)

Isla at 18 months

It is so weird to me that this will be my last post with Isla as an only child! She is such an amazing , energetic little girl that is constantly surprising me. The word that comes to my mind the most is silly when I think about her. She loves to be silly and run around doing silly things. She is always so happy and her smile will melt my heart. She definitely has her "dramatic girl moments", but I can't help sometimes but just laugh when she throws herself down on the floor dramatically and cries her little fake cry over something so mundane.

First day of nursery! She did really well, we just dropped her off and picked her up two hours later. Simple as that!

 One thing that her nursery teacher told me after her first day of nursery was that she was the only kid in the group that could point out Jesus in all the pictures that they were showing during the lesson that day. This surprised me for two reasons, one: She is the youngest obviously because it was her first day and two: I have never really taught her how to do that. I honestly had pointed out the picture of Jesus in the foyer at church one time before and we have a picture of Jesus in our house that I have pointed out a total of twice to her. She just picks up on things so fast I don't even know how to keep up with her.

She loves trying on any shoes left around the house or going into her room and pulling out all of her shoes and trying to get them on.

She loves her "shwimming suite" as she calls it and "sun lasses". Would wear them all day if I let her.

 At her 18 month appointment her doctor said with kids as tall as she is that they may be a lot more comfortable forward facing now rather than waiting until two. This has definitely been the case with Isla. She is so tall her poor little legs looked like frog legs facing back in the car. Also the seat belt would dig into her leg and cause her pain so we took the plunge and she is now happily facing forward in the car. So much more comfortable for her!

We have been doing A LOT of swimming this summer. If you would have asked me a few months ago if having a pool was worth it I would have said no without hesitation. They are ridiculously hard to upkeep and expensive for the amount of time you actually use it! I have changed my mind though... I have never been so grateful to have a pool in my life right now! This has been one of Isla's favorite activities for the last two months. We literally go out swimming every day if not twice a day. It's been great because it's so hot outside there is not much else to do and it sure felt good on my achy pregnant belly and back! It entertains Isla and keeps her occupied and thanks to the miraculous puddle jumpers that have been invented I don't need to hold her and she can do her own thing!

Isla in her puddle jumper.

 She is such a great little swimmer with her puddle jumper on. She knows how to hold her breath under water and kick her legs to get around places. The only thing I worry about is that because she is so comfortable in the water with her puddle jumper on she thinks she can do anything in the water with it off too. She is quit fearless and will jump in without a moments hesitation so I just have to always have her float on her and thank goodness for our fence we have now!

Just being silly

She is getting so big.

Isla at 18 months:

• Starting to put short sentences together. Like " bye bye daddy" or " I got you" or my personal favorite "I love you"!
• Climbs everything she can possibly attempt to climb.
• 100th % for height, 40th % for weight and 10th % head circumference.
• Favorite activity is reading books.
• In the process of learning her colors. She can point out the color yellow, white and purple and also pronounces those three colors very well.
• Loves to play ring around the rosie's and do the actions for "wise man" a song she learned in nursery.
• Loves to dance and give hugs and kisses.
• Still loves to watch videos on youtube like Sesame Street, The Muppet's and Baby Einstein. 
• LOVES shoes, bows and looking at pictures/ video of herself.

It is such a blessing having Isla as our daughter. It it also a great blessing to have Steve as her father, he is an amazing father. He always knows how to make Isla happy and have a good time as evidence from this video.

Baby #2, I'm ready for you!!!

40 weeks!

So I started this post before Ivy was born... Just wanted to get it up here.

I wanted to document this pregnancy before I forget all about it (or at least try to) in the coming months after the baby comes. Not that it has been an incredibly difficult pregnancy by any means, just that I flat out do not enjoy being pregnant in general. I am grateful to be able to get pregnant and have babies, and I am so excited and nervous to meet new little baby Ivy (That is her name btw) very, VERY soon.

First trimester...

One word. Crappy
I do get pretty sick in the first trimester like most women do. I would say that I was able to manage it a little better this time around because I was able to be home and eat a snack anytime I felt ill. I also lost my appetite completely. NO food tasted good. The nausea part lasted a little bit shorter this time while my loss of appetite lasted a little longer. Nothing too crazy though.

Second trimester...

Very bearable.
I have done a few things differently this time around, one of them being work out! (I did not work out at all last pregnancy. oops). I feel like this has been the biggest difference. I have always felt like I have more energy and that I am a lot healthier. I would work out about 4 times a week during the second trimester. This slowed down a little in the third but I never stopped completely until a few weeks ago when I felt I needed to cancel my gym membership because Isla was not getting cared for properly enough in my opinion at their kidscare. I plan on signing up again at another gym once my 6 weeks after birth is up.

Third trimester...

Back to crappy.
In some ways I have felt amazing in my third trimester, because of the gym I'm sure. In other ways out of my control I have been way worse. I just seem to be getting every illness that I can think of. I think I already mentioned this but I got the flu, 2 viruses, food poisoning and currently a really bad cold/sore throat thing. Other than those things I have been verily good and comfortable up until a week ago. I am currently at 39 weeks! I have only gained 32 pounds (I gained about 48-50 last time). I am dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced... The doctor has stripped my membranes twice. Come on baby, I'm ready for you!

That's about it for the pregnancy. One thing that I am going to try and do this time around is have a natural birth (in the hospital). A home birth does sound appealing to me and if I was guaranteed a safe delivery I would do it in a heartbeat! I'm not high risk patient or anything, I just would never forgive myself if something were to happen at home. I understand things can still happen in the hospital but I feel a little safer there.

I have been listening to Hypno birthing CD's for the last few months learning how to relax during contractions. It has been a very pleasant experience and makes me look forward to giving birth. I feel like my last labor/ delivery was incredibly difficult and the thing that I remember most about it was not the pain, but the sheer exhaustion from being in labor so long and pushing for over three hours! I am hoping what they say is true about the second time going faster. I was also induced last time which I feel added to the length of time I was laboring since my body didn't do it naturally. Not that doing it "all natural" will make it any easier, I'm just looking for a different kind of experience this time around. Wish us luck!

(Future note: I totally caved and got the epidural)! Made me a much more pleasant person to be around.