Great Friends, Great Visits

P and Jeff visit from NJ!

The Clarkes visit from just down the street and bring an awesome meal!

We had two great friend couples visit yesterday. P and Jeff came down from NJ and visited with us for the first part of the day. Then, the Clarkes came over in the evening and brought a fabulous dinner and great company. We are so thankful to have such good friends - those who are local enough to visit and also those who are too far away to visit.

Easter Eggstravaganza

Yesterday, our community had an Easter Eggstravaganza which my mom and I took Nina and Lyla to. Getting out of the house with both girls is somewhat of a production at this point, but we bundled up Lyla and let Nina have fun with some other kids. She got to meet the Easter Bunny...She cleaned house on eggs during the egg hunt for ages 0-3 (as you can see, they weren't that hard to find)...
Even still, she prefered looking in the bushes for the harder to find eggs...
Our little egg hunter
Back at the house, she is wearing one of the prizes from an egg she found (it's a pirate eye patch)

6 Days Old

Lyla is six days old today, but this isonly the third day that Nina has had to be around her sister. So far, she's done great. She is gentle and loving, and while it's hard for her to understand the changes going on, she's done a great job thanks to the help of my mom and dad who have taken turns being here each day while Mark has been gone. Spending the day playing with Mousey and Poppy has been a real treat for her.

Arriving Home

Thankfully, the hospital agreed to release me a day early so Mark could take us home before he had to leave for Jamaica early Tuesday morning. So, on Monday afternoon, we arrived home and were so happy to be out of the hospital. It will definitely be a period adjustment for all of us, so please forgive us for not returning emails and phone calls as quickly as we may like. Nina already seems to be very interested in her new little sister.

Lyla Simpson

As many of you know, my due date was 3/3, however during the week following 3/3, I had been having contractions, but nothing that caused us to rush off to the hospital, but we were starting to get a little impatient. On Friday morning, 3/7, my water broke just after we woke up, so the doctor told us to head over to the hospital. I wasn't having contractions right away, but soon after arriving at the hospital, the contractions started (not bad at this point). We watched the hours tick by - passing the time by playing cards, watching TV, and I walked and walked trying to get things moving faster. As the contractions got worse and closer together, our doctor was pleased at how the labor patters had developed, however I still was not dialating as expected. To make a long story short, 19 hours after my water broke, I was still not progressing at all in dialation, and my doctor told us what we already knew - there was no way I was going to progress enough in the little bit of time we had left (to avoid harm to the baby or myself since my water had broken so long ago), and we had to have another C-section. On the bright side, Lyla did great (except for one rather dramatic scare during labor), and she and I came out of the experience healthy. While we were disappointed that things didn't work out as we hoped, we were so happy to finally meet this little girl!

Here is Mark snipping the cord after delivery.

Lyla Rose Simpson - 6 lbs. 5 oz. and 19 3/4 "
Big sister meets little sister. Nina was so excited to hold Lyla.
First kisses...

Big Sister Nina

Uncle Bo with Lyla. Lyla was actually born on Bo's birthday, so in this picture we have birthday girl meets birthday boy.

Mike came by with a bag full of goodies for Mark and I to feast on that was SO much better than hospital food!!!!Proud Grandparents of grandaughter #4 in under 4 years! My sister was also there visiting, but as she was our fist visitor, we didn't have our camera out yet to get her photo with Lyla. Proud and tired daddy...

Counting

Spring Fever

In order to make the most out of a gorgeous spring-like day (and keep our minds off the fact that today is the baby's due date, yet no baby so far), we spent most of the day outside enjoying the sun and warm weather.

We went to the playground, the swings, ate lunch on the deck, and Nina and Mark worked on their golf short game in the back yard. I think we all have spring fever now!

Update

Sorry for the lack of pictures lately, but we really haven't had that much exciting to take pictures for unless you would like to see pictures of us selling a car, doing taxes, putting together baby gear, and doing laundry! Mark is home with us now, so we're ready for the baby to arrive at any time. Still no word on when that will be yet. The due date is Monday, but who knows if it will be sometime around then, earlier, later, or what. For those of you who voted on the poll of the baby's sex, the boy votes won out - we'll see if you're right. Most people who see me comment that I look like I'm having a boy, but most people said that the last time too, and we know how that ended up. We'll keep the blog updated with any baby developments, and maybe we'll actually do something fun with our weekend and take some pictures of it!!

Before Too Long

Before too long, Nina will be able to proudly wear this shirt. This was a gift from her buddies, Lauren and Katelyn Campbell, and we hope that she'll be wearing it one of these days in the next week. Since Mark got home yesterday, we are starting to get things around the house ready for the new baby to come (better late than never), so we'll keep you posted with any news!

20 Months

Nina is 20 months old right now, but will turn 21 months at the end of this week. She and her new brother or sister will be almost exactly the same age difference as Shenley and I, so we think that is going to be a lot of fun for them as they get older. In the video, she's dancing around to her new favorite song. She runs in circles in front of the fireplace because she likes seeing her reflection in the glass.

Hanging Out

Yesterday evening, my mom, dad, and Bo stopped over to have dinner and hang out with Nina and I. Nina spent most of the evening pretty wound up and wanting to run and get chased, but she did get pretty tired out after her bath and relaxed for a few minutes with "Apple Bo" (what she calls him instead of Uncle Bo) on the couch before bed time.

Daddy's Home and Bad Hair Day

Mark had two days home in between trips, and Nina and I were very happy to have him home. It will be sad for us all that he has to leave again tomorrow morning, but Nina has been making the most of his time home and getting in lots of "daddy style" playing (which include all the things her 9 months pregnant mother can't do).

We let her to go bed last night after her bath with wet hair. This lovely style is what resulted.
Believe it or not, this actually is the back of her head. Thankfully, it wasn't as hard to get a brush through as it looks.

Valentine's Day Party

Nina and Emme were treated to quite the party today. The girls were invited to my parents' house where they had a great time at a Valentine's Day party. They made some crafts...

They got flowers, balloons, treat bags, and pink feathered boas...
They got to ice, decorate, and eat their own cupcakes...
Then they changed into "beautiful dresses"...

They put on some finishing touches of high heels and glittery antenna...

Then it was time to say goodbye to the hostess and head home! It was a great party!!!

You've Got to Love an Artist in the Family

My mom spent a lot of time with Nina and I this week, and one of the things she did while she was here was to do some painting in the nursery and in Nina's room. Since Nina is 100% in her new room now for almost a week, we wanted to put some cute touches in there to make it more special. The butterflies and flowers were a perfect combination. As some of you remember, the monkey painting was originally done in our townhouse when Nina was a newborn, but I asked my mom to do it again for the new baby because the nursery just wasn't as cute without our monkey. The video and pictures hardly do justice to how cute the paintings are in person, but I took them to give a general idea of what the rooms are like.

Princess

When Nina and I were over at Shenley and Garland's house for the Super Bowl yesterday, Nina became infatuated with Emme's princess shoes. Shenley was kind enough to send us home with a pair, and Nina doesn't want to take them off. In addition to the shoes, I picked up a princess doll from Target's $1 bin, thinking it would be a cute toy if she liked it and not a waste of money if she didn't. Nina did like the princess doll, however, I know now why it was in the $1 section. The doll becomes dismembered very easily. Nina is constantly saying, "oh no!" and I look and the doll is missing a leg, an arm, or both. Lesson learned: Don't buy dolls from the $1 bin!

Big Girl

Well, she's done it. She's officially in her big girl room now, and we've had two straight days of successful night and nap sleeps. The nap was a big more challenging than night time (which was actually very easy), but I've been proud of her for adapting so easily. She loves her new room, and I'll take some more pictures when I finish getting things decorated.