Belle turned 1 month on June 25th!  I can't believe it's already been a whole month.  She has been such a joy to us!

Belle's day consists of mostly eating, sleeping and being held.  How has sleep been?  Actually it hasn't been too terrible.  She sleeps about 4 hours a night which is great for us. She doesn't like her swing as much as Luna did, but she loves the vibrating bouncy chair.  She also has her big sister trying to help during the day :) 

Belle also has taken a bottle well at week 3 and her paci! Yay!  Breastfeeding has been going well, just a minor snag as I have an overabundant supply of milk that has caused what they call a hindmilk/foremilk imbalance.  I've had to nurse on one side per feeding now so she gets both. She was getting all foremilk so she was more gassy and fussy but now that I have changed, it's a lot better.  All I have to say that the swaddle is a miracle for us at this stage.  Happiest Baby on the Block says it will be about week 12 before babies aren't as fussy and don't need the swaddle blanket as much. 

With Luna, I read all the baby books and just kind of did my own thing with her, but she only slept well next to me and we moved her into her crib at month 6 and I did demand feeding with her too as it seemed to calm her the most.  But this time, I want to have Belle sleep in her co-sleeper next to me so I can sleep better too.  All the moms I used to nanny for used Baby Wise, so I think I am going to try that route.  It says they sleep better and are overall happier and not as fussy.  So far it seems to be working on its own, so we'll see.

Having 2 girls has been great and more than I could have imagined.  Luna loves helping, giving her sister her paci to calm her down.  Luna has adjusted pretty well so far, just a few moments of wanting her 'mommy hold me!' when she sees me holding Belle.  The only hard part has been going out with the 2 of them at the same time (which has been just twice), but hoping it will get a little better once Belle is closer to 3 months and past the fussy baby stage- having 2 girls crying in the backseat = not so fun.

Belle is such a sweetie and I can't wait to watch my two girls grow up together!!

This past Monday was the last hip hop dance class my teacher and good friend Ronit was teaching :( We are so sad she is moving away!  I have LOVED my hip hop class and can't believe she won't be teaching anymore. Unfortunately she is moving to Tampa because of her husband's job but hope she comes back to visit!  I started taking her class back in 2002 at 24 Hour Fitness off Mockingbird Lane. She then moved on and contracted her classes at other gyms and for the past 6 years has been teaching at Landmark Fitness.  Over the years of taking her class, we became good friends, and met other girls in the class, going on Vegas girl trips, each other's weddings, bachelorette parties, girls nights outs, births of our kids, etc so needless to say, we are going to really miss her!

Since I haven't been cleared to workout yet, I still wanted to go to her last class and since my mom was watching Luna that day, she met me there and Luna loved watching everyone dance in class.  I stood in the back and as we were only going to stay for a short while and Luna was being a little shy about dancing.  So before we left, I took a video of one since I won't be going to the gym for awhile with a newborn and 2 year old and figured the next few months I will be working out at home and can do the dances as a workout.  But as I was filming it, I turn around and caught Luna dancing behind me!  Excuse the long intro of the video, just scroll through to the end, she is adorable!  It's the only footage I was able to get.  Oh and if you look carefully you can see her in the back dancing before I pan over to her.  On the way home all she wanted to listen to on the radio was, 'hip hop!, more hip hop!' :)

Here are a few shots of us girls over the years...

We took Belle to her 10 day appointment at the Birth Center last week and everything looked good!  She is almost at 8 pounds, yay!  It was also her special day to make her feet permanent on the Birth Center wall right next to her sister Luna's.  For those that don't know, the birth center has put the footprints of all the babies ever born there (since 1995) on the walls.  Luna loved seeing her baby feet up there each time we made a visit.  It makes it so special.

Baby Belle was born on May 23rd at 1:14pm, weighing 7.4 ounces (exactly what Luna weighed) and 20.25 inches long.  We are so, so happy she is here, healthy and a good birth weight too!! Our little miracle girl :)

Her arrival was a little more involved this time too, since I had to get induced, which I was NOT looking forward to. The specialists all wanted me to have the baby between week 38 and 39 (full term can be at 37 weeks), because if not, I ran the risk of a still born.  I was really hoping it was more like Luna's birth that came on its own in the middle of the night, complete with the whole driving fast to the birth center and running red lights like they do in the movies!

But it didn't, so my induction process started on May 22nd at my regular appointment at the birth center at 10am.  My birth center doesn't do Pitocin, the regular induction drug, so the midwife (Cheri) inserted a balloon catheter on my cervix to help me dilate from a 2cm to a 5cm.  As soon as it went it, the cramps started but then stopped by 12pm. I was a little sad, because I was hoping it would jump start labor.  

So the next plan was to go back to the birth center the next day at 9am.  She said I was now at a 5cm which is crazy because when I had Luna I was a 5 when I arrived at the birth center back then, and was about to deliver her!  They told us to go downstairs and get situated in the birth room, and she would break my water soon.  So I unpacked my suitcase, plugged in my iPod music, and put our food in the fridge. 

Cheri then broke my water at 10:45am, contractions started at 11:15am and then she made me walk in the park next door for 20 minutes. Say what?  I wanted to stay inside and deal with them, but she said if I walk through them, it will bring the baby down faster.  So I was having full contractions every 2 minutes and here I was walking in a park with Baylor hospital staff having some party in the pavilion. I'm sure I was a sight, being a pregnant woman walking around and then gripping a tree or pole every time I had a contraction!

By 12:00 we were back inside and I climbed into the big tub.  The hot water really helped me feel better but I'm not gonna lie,  the contractions were still painful.  Even more than with Luna.  And when I was about to vomit, I got scared because when I got sick with Luna, I labored for 1.5 hours after that.  This time, after I got sick, I didn't know if I could continue with the contractions because I thought it meant I had another hour of intense pain. I was practicing my breathing and hypnobirth breathing and it helped but it still hurt. Todd was great and helped massage my back during each contraction. But then my nurse came in and asked if I wanted to push. What?  Already? Wow, I was impressed they sure know when the next phase will come, because sure enough, I all of a sudden felt that urge!

I had no idea it would happen this fast.  I was ready to push. So I got out, got sick AGAIN, and had a contraction as I got out of the tub.  How cruel that us women not only have to have contractions but also get sick during one?  I can't think of 2 worse feelings, but I knew that it was all for the birth of my precious girl!!  So I weathered through it and climbed into the bed.  OH, and no water birth for me. I would have LOVED to have given birth in water, but it takes twice as long and I'm all about making the pain stop as soon as possible :)  I love having a drug free birth, and it does hurt, but glad I did it drug free because it makes the babies come faster.

As soon I got up into bed, I only pushed through 2 contractions and our little Princess arrived!! I was so happy when Todd 'caught' her.  Yep, he pulled our baby girl Belle out and placed her on my chest.  We were so happy to have our little girl laying on me and breathing, healthy and happy!  After everything we had been through with this pregnancy, I was over-joyed at finally having her in my arms!! 

I can not believe that we walked into our appointment, they broke my water and 2 hours later we were holding our miracle baby!  She was delivered almost in half the time as her big sister too.  I labored for 1.5 hours at the birth center for Luna (with 1.5 at home) and then a total of 2 hours for Belle.  If I had gone into labor with Belle at home, I don't even want to think how fast she would have come, we may have had her in the car!

We were able to bond with Belle the first hour and then I took a bath with her.  Then our family came in to meet her! Then Heather brought Luna in and at first she started to cry as she saw me laying in bed all pale and sickly looking. But Todd was holding the baby so she wouldn't get too jealous and she climbed into bed with me and was happy to see 'the baby.'  She gave her lots of hugs.  We then went home 6 hours later.  At first I didn't think I would be able to make it, but after a few hours, I was ready for my own bed.

We are so grateful to our family as well to help with Luna while I recovered at home on bed rest for 3 days!!  And all of the help from my family with food, errands and housework, etc.  Having 2 little ones at home and a mom who just gave birth is hard to manage and so glad we have family and friends to help out!

We are adjusting to life as a family of 4 and are so happy!  Luna loves her little sister and gives her lots of hugs and kisses :)