Gracie at 2 months - smiling and cooing

Gracie's coos are just the best. And she's smiling all the time now. At her 2 month well visit, she was 23 inches tall, 11 pounds 10 ounces with a head circumference of 38.7 cm. She's in the 75th percentile for height and weight and the 60th percentile for head circumference. I can't believe how much she's grown. We used to tuck the pant legs of the outfit she wore when she first came home into her socks. Now they are like shorts on her. She's sleeping as much as 7 hours at night which makes things easier on the adults in this house.

Sadie's crazy hair

BEFORE: Just woke up after going to sleep with wet hair.

AFTER: A little water, a comb and some hair ties.

1 month well visit

Gracie at 1 month.

Gracie is already a month old and growing like a weed. There's a noticeable difference in size. She weighs 9 pounds 1 ounce, is 21.5 inches tall and has a head circumference of 36.8 cm. The doctor says she is "perfect." She's already taking more milk per feeding than Sadie did at 3 months old which means she stays full longer and lets her mom and dad sleep more at night!

My two girls

Sadie, top, and her sister Gracie, below.
Photos by Wendy Yang Brunk.

Hilarious!

Stomach bug

I'm better now!
Check out my cool sunglasses people!

Sadie caught something at daycare. She's thrown up four times now. Last night was not fun with a sick toddler to console and a hungry newborn to feed. Oh, how I long for the days when I only had to get up every three hours to feed said newborn!

Baby!

These photos were taken on a beautiful October
day in Charlotte. She was really proud of the fact
that she was wearing pink head to toe. What a girl!

Sadie seems to be adjusting well to the baby being home. She ran to grab Gracie's pacifier the other day when she started to cry. It was really cute. She gets a little jealous sometimes, but then gets distracted by her new crayons or her new tennis ball. She's talking up a storm! It's amazing how much kids can soak in on a daily basis.

Jaundice. Ick!

Gracie at the doctor's office.

Hello, world! I've finally opened my eyes!

With her dad at the doctor's office just before a heel prick.

We've been in and out of the doctor's office because Gracie had jaundice. No fun! They had to prick her little heels four days in a row to test her blood and measure her bilirubin levels. The levels are finally down to a normal number so she didn't have to undergo any treatment for it. I always thought jaundice was a minor problem that some babies deal with, but it can lead to brain damage if the numbers get high enough. It was a stressful few days.

Gracie Olivia Long

Sweet baby.

Wendy took this amazing shot....
smiling AND with her eyes open!

Sadie gets a look at her baby sister.

Only a few minutes old here.

Me with my two girls.

Chilling with dad.

Asleep in my arms.

Bonding with dad on day 2.

Gracie Olivia Long was born on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009 at 7:31 p.m. at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte. Her stats: 7 pounds, 6 ounces and 20 inches tall. She is just perfect, very healthy and loud! We were finally able to bring Gracie home on Thursday afternoon. She's so sweet and precious.

We arrived at the hospital at 2:15 p.m. on Sept. 22 for a scheduled induction. My doctor broke my water at 2:54 and the fun began! I got an epidural at around 5 p.m., but I was still feeling the contractions. So weird! I felt NOTHING with Sadie. And then I REALLY started feeling them. I didn't understand what was going on. Epidural!!!! Does that mean nothing? The anesthesiologist came back around and tried to figure out what was going on. He turned up the volume, but it didn't really matter. I was fully dilated and ready to have this baby! I started pushing and my doctor told me to stop. They needed time to get the room ready. Four pushes and she was born. It lasted mere minutes. And there she was, so beautiful.

Our hospital stay seemed long. I felt great after about 24 hours, but I'm glad we stayed the full two nights. It's amazing how much I have forgotten about newborns since Sadie was one. Gracie also had to have a bit of surgery before we left. She had an extremely short frenulum, the membrane that attaches the tongue to the floor of the mouth. Since this could interfere with breastfeeding and cause speech problems later, we decided to go ahead with the procedure. It was really simple and she seems to be healing and feeling just fine.

We're glad to be home with our two beautiful girls.

Grandma's here

Grandma arrived on Monday and has been with Sadie while we go to work. Sadie is now officially spoiled! She loves Grandma! They go for walks twice a day and Grandma brought all sorts of treats with her. Sadie got a hand-made pillow and a new blanket for her new room ... and, of course, new clothes. Sadie got a big kick out of the mermaids on her new jeans.

Sadie gets a new room

I wanted to make Sadie's new room special for her so
I got her two wall decals. She just loves the birds.

Close-up of the bird and flowers.

Bird cage with a bird and flowers
on the opposite wall.

Birds on a branch in our dining room.

So many changes for a little girl and the biggest change yet to come with the arrival of her baby sister. I thought it would be nice to make her room special with these wall decals. I'm addicted to them. I bought a huge one for our dining room wall.

Still waiting on #2

Hanging out with Mom before heading off to school.

Sadie relaxing with Mom in the office.

Waiting to go to school.

At Firehouse Subs wearing her Fire Chief hat.
She had her first Oreo that day. Big hit.

Well, it could be any day now. My due date isn't until Sept. 29, but the doctor thinks I won't even make it to Sept. 22. So we wait and wait and wait some more. When will it happen? I'm just so curious. Anyway, thought I'd post a few new pics of my big girl Sadie.

18th month well visit

Sadie at Amelie's French Bakery during my baby
"sprinkle." Photo by Wendy Yang Brunk

A little late, I know, but Sadie turned 18 months on August 1. Her next visit will be at 2 years. 2 years! How did this happen? Anyway, her stats: 32.5 inches tall, 25 pounds and a head circumference of 47.8 cm. I can't believe how big my little baby is. She's a bundle of energy and just loves to be outside. Her little cheeks turn bright red just like her mom. And she's just so loud. You don't realize it until you're at the grocery store and she's yelling something or other: "ball!" whenever she's sees round fruit or "bunny" when she sees the helium balloons. It's adorable. And she's developed a bit of an accent. Not sure what kind of accent it is, but she says "cheek-can" for chicken, "peeg" for pig and "feench" for "fence." Her favorite foods are anything you'd consider a cracker and that good-for- you avocado. She loves that stuff. And she's eating sandwiches now. What a big girl! We've been transitioning her to a new bedroom and a new bed. Both were just so easy. I fretted, yet again, over nothing. Crying it out at 6 months... a cinch. Saying bye-bye to the pacifier.. a few nights of ten-minute-long crying and then it was over. Moving her to the toddler bed... one failed nap time and then sleeping all night in the bed without even falling out. What a champ. I'm so proud of her.

A little sleepy

Sadie woke us up at around 4:30 a.m. the day this video was shot. She didn't exactly make it to her naptime before becoming very, very sleepy. Fortunately, it's rare for her to wake up that early and on this day, it was only because she wasn't feeling well.

Sadie and her ever-present pacifier at about age 7 months.

Sadie has been pacifier free for about a week now. I was stressing over nothing. It wasn't that traumatic at all. It took her a long time to fall asleep for a few nights and she cried during naps, but that's all over, I think. She is however, doing two very interesting things. 1. She has been carrying her sippy cup around in her mouth as if it were her pacifier and takes drinks every now and again. I'm sure that's not a coincidence. 2. She is a little bully as daycare. She will take Lily's pacifier out of her mouth and run around with it while Lily chases her. And she laughs the entire time. Apparently, she doesn't try to use the pacifier, but I guess she doesn't want others to have it if she can't. Sometimes, she removes the pacifier and re-inserts it into their mouths over and over. Lily whacked her across the face a few days ago, but she was back to her old bullying ways before the day was over. Anyway, no more pacifier! Yay!

Another new addition

Yep, we're having another baby. I will be 22 weeks along in a few days. We're so thrilled. And it's another girl! Sadie will be a big sister already. I'm so happy for her that she'll have a sister close in age. They'll be only 20 months apart. The pregnancy has been pretty uneventful so far. The first trimester was not very fun. I was much more nauseated with this one than I was with Sadie. We think we have a name picked out. We're letting it sit with us for a bit before we make it official. We're not taking weekly belly shots like we did with Sadie, but I definitely want to get a photo of the family with my big ol' belly... a first family portrait with all four of us!

My darling daughter

Sadie's first gelato experience on
Valentine's Day 2009. She, of course, loved it.

I can't believe how much Sadie's grown. She's just so big, it's crazy. Sometimes I wonder what happened to my little baby. She must be around here somewhere. Sadie is just at that age where she's starting to "talk" a lot and learning new words every day. Her favorite word is "uh-oh," as in "Look Mom! I just dropped three Cheerios on the floor. Uh-oh!" I love her so much and worry about her constantly. It's amazing how one little person can make such a huge difference in one's life. Eric and I get such a kick out of her. She's the spitting image of him... her eyebrow pattern, curly hair, love for sweets. It's amazing. I hope she ends up with his quick wit, athleticism and moral character.

A new addition

Eric, Sadie and I just before leaving the hospital
on Feb. 3, 2008. Sadie was just two days old.

I contemplated starting a blog when my daughter Sadie was born in early 2008, but I didn't think I'd have time to actually write much. I wish I had done it, even if it just turned out to be a few posts here and there. So now, with baby number two on the way, I'm determined to try it. It's really a blog for me because my memory has gotten so bad, but I hope you enjoy reading about the daily happenings in my life too.