Julia at 6 weeks

Wow! Where has the time gone? It is hard to believe that only 6 weeks ago we were celebrating the birth of our precious Julia Rose!! She has changed so much in 6 short weeks and I can't believe how easy she has been so far. Griffin is such a loving and protective big brother and helps me attend to all of her baby needs. He is curious about all things baby and loves to entertain her!

At 6 weeks she is reaching some cute milestones: smiling in response to us, cooing when we talk to her, following us with her eyes as we move around the house, grabbing for things with her long little fingers and growing like a weed!

"Six" Milestones

Yesterday Julia turned 6 weeks old so we wanted to document the day because both children are "6". Griffin thought that was really neat that they had a "6" connection! Here is a photo of him holding Julia...something he is very excited to do a lot these days unless she starts to cry (See photo #2!)

Look alikes???

Here is a photo of Griffin after his first bath (top) and Julia after her first bath (bottom)

Griffin's Celebration of Life!!

Today, Kenny and I attended Griffin's Celebration of Life ceremony in his classroom at school. This is such a neat practice that the Montessori school does for each child's birthday. He was so proud to listen as we read about his accomplishments and show his classmates the photos from each year of his life. Where has the time gone? 6 years have passed in the blink of an eye!!

Happy Birthday Griffin!!

Being a Mom of two...

I knew that having another child would dramatically change my life but I had no idea just how much until Julia arrived. During my pregnancy, I was so worried about the guilt I might feel from dividing my time between 2...time that had never been divided. I have been pleasantly surprised at how smooth the transition has been for all of us, especially Griffin. He is making my job as a mother of two so much easier than I thought it would be. I am so filled with love for both of my children...it's like my heart has opened up an entirely new space to provide room to love both of them. I am sure the guilt will creep in and out of my life but I feel certain that the love will overpower it and there will be plenty of me to go around. I am so blessed!!

Julia's 1st bottle

Without the pressures of having to pump this go-round, we didn't give Julia a bottle until she was almost 3 weeks old. She is such a good eater that she took right to it...thankfully!

Griffin's Thanksgiving feast

Griffin's class had their annual Thanksgiving feast in the classroom last Tuesday. The video is too cute...Enjoy!

Sweet photos of Julia's first days!

My friend and photography expert, Andrea Berry, took the most wonderful photos of Julia in her first days home from the hospital. Here is the link to her website and Julia's photos!

http://andreaberryphotography.zenfolio.com/p795454395

Password: Julia

Enjoy!!

PS... Grandparents, you can order directly from her website!!

Funny faces!!

Here are some of Julia's funny faces!! I guess she takes after her mommy as a facemaker! The jury is still out on who she looks like...She has some "Griffin features" and looks like him when she is asleep but not so much when she is awake?

Julia's 1st bath

It took 2 weeks for Julia's umbilical cord stump to finally fall off so we could give her a bath. She didn't mind it too much, especiall when she saw herself in the mirror!!

The Big Brother

Griffin was soooooo excited to finally meet Baby Julia. When he arrived at the hospital, she was getting some TLC in the nursery so that gave us a chance to spend some time with Griffin and tell him all about his baby sister. He got a special sticker and signed himself in at the front desk. He also had a Big Brother t-shirt and got some ice cream and cake to celebrate Julia's real "birth" day...it was a fun time even before the guest of honor arrived in the room.






Kenny and I were both anxious to see Griffin's reaction to his new sister and could not have been more pleased to see the delight in his face when he actually saw her and got to hold her.















He has been so great with her..talks to her all the time, holds her, gets diapers, burp cloths and all the baby necessities as long at he doesn't have to change a diaper!! He even prays for her to have a good night's sleep each night and we all hope that prayer is answered around here!!

Julia's finally here!!

After much anticipation and waiting, Julia Rose Koellner made her grand entrance into the world on Monday, November 10th at 1:29 pm!!

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Monday was my 2nd scheduled induction date so I called the hospital at 5am that morning to make sure they had a room for us. Thankfully they did (if not, I would have probably lost it!) so we arrived around 7am and they started the induction process.


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We had the most wonderful nurse with us the entire day and the Dr. who delivered was Andrea's neighbor, Ted Garcia. The neatest part of the entire process was that Kenny got to deliver Julia into the world. Dr. Garcia instructed him but he did all the work. It was definitely a life changing experience for us!

Just as we suspected, she was a big baby like her brother...9lbs. 6 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long.. but totally dainty and perfect in every way!!
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Baby update.....still waiting!!

OK.. as of today we are still waiting for Baby Julia's big arrival...I went to the dr. this afternoon because I thought my water might have broken overnight...no such luck! I am 2 cm dialated which is a good sign. Now we just have to wait for labor to kick in full force. SO...if you are reading this.. stay tuned and say a little prayer for Kenny and I that this will be over soon and we can welcome our sweet little baby girl into the world!!!

Baby Julia update

OK.. so tomorrow was supposed to be the big day for our induction but after a visit to the Dr. yesterday..it seems like Baby Julia is quite comfy right where she is. So, we are back in the waiting mode and will hope for the best! Any tips and tricks for putting me into labor would be much appreciated!! We have a last resort induction date of Nov. 10th but that will put me at 5-6 days overdue and I hope it does not come to that!! I did ask the Dr. how big he thought the baby was and he said she is measuring at 40 weeks (one week ahead) and that I was probaby going to have another 9lb. baby!!! aghhhhhhhhhh.....I was not too thrilled at the thought of what labor will be like but at least big babies are pretty healthy!!

Can you find him??

Here is a photo from our annual visit to the pumpkin patch. Griffin was wearing an orange shirt so he thought it would be funny to hide from us amongst the pumpkins...can you find him?

iWait....

After 9 long months of anticipation, I think I am ready.. as ready as I will ever be for bringing a child into the world. All of the superficial things are complete: bag packed, nursery decorated, clothes washed, house clean (if it can ever be clean enough?)...now comes the hard part - the WAITING!!

After a visit to the Dr. on Monday, I was given the good news that I am scheduled for an induction on Wed. Oct. 29th!!! It sounds too good to be true and will be too good to be true if my body is not naturally on the way to delivery... so let's hope for the best over the rest of the week and hope that Julia is ready to make her big entrance! We are so ready to meet her!! My official due date is November 5th so a week early would hopefully ensure that she will not be as big as her brother was (9lbs. 13 at a week overdue!!) Regardless of how or when she arrives, we are so ready to welcome her into our family... The final decision on the induction will be made on Monday Oct. 27th at my next Dr. appt. He will check my cervix to see if things are progressing before he officially puts his stamp of approval on me. so, for the time being...iwait....

Go Panthers!!

While I was at the baby shower on Sunday, Kenny took Griffin to his first Panthers home game! They were both decked out in their Panthers gear and at half time, Kenny took Griffin to have his face painted like a Panther. It was so cool and all he wanted to do was stare at himself in the mirror.



Then we washed the paint off and realized that Griffin had an allergic reaction to the paint... he has had a swollen face and rash for the past 3 days...I guess he won't be getting his face painted again but he sure did look cool!!

Me...at 35 weeks

Here is a profile shot of me at 35 weeks. My friends gave me a "PINK" shower on Sunday to welcome me into the world of all things GIRL..it was a lot of fun and of course everything was pink!! I think I can get used to all of this cute stuff!!

Riding the bike...the video

Here is a video clip I took of him riding for the first time!! It only took him about 10 minutes to get it but we still have a lot of practice to do!!

Dummy me turned the camera vertical, forgetting that the video mode can only go horizontal, so pardon the bad filming skills....and of course, he ends in a crash that busted his lip...but no big deal (Thank goodness for the helmet). He was up on the bike after some ice, a popsicle and a few tears! He's tough!

Griffin's on 2 wheels!

A few weeks ago Kenny took the training wheels off of Griffin's bike and taught him how to ride. I was a nervous wreck but knew he would eventually get the hang of it. He has had a couple of spills and a busted lip but is keeping at it! I think Kenny got just as much exercise as Griffin did...maybe more!!















This is after the big spill and busted lip.. he didn't want me to take his picture but I snuck one while he wasn't looking!

May the force be with you!!

Griffin decided several weeks ago that he wanted to be Darth Vader for Halloween this year. I am not sure just how or when the Star Wars obsession came about but he has been seeing the Clone Wars commercials on TV and LEGO's has a Star Wars line of toys so those may have sparked his interest.



When Target put out their Halloween stuff, I picked up a Darth Vader costume complete with the gloves, mask, red light saber and a voice changer that he can activate behind his mask by pushing a button! You have never seen a happier kid! He has practically worn the costume out in the two weeks that we have had it.. I just hope it holds up for Halloween!



Griffin has always loved dressing up in costumes so I figured that I might as well get my money's worth this year and let him have it early enough to enjoy it! Here are some photos of him in Vader mode!!

My studio

Mom,


Thank you so much for all of your hard work over the last few weeks sewing these valances to complete my studio and the nursery. They look wonderful and I love them! My studio looks so complete now.. When I clean up, I will post some better room photos of this space and the nursery.

The Nursery....pretty in pink!

I have been working diligently to get the finishing touches on the nursery so I am not scrambling around at the last minute to do things like I did in Griffin's room. Everything has been made, recovered, borrowed, bought and washed...now all I need to do is decide exactly where I want the furniture to go and hang the stuff on the walls. I am in love with the drapes and the monogrammed valance (which mom made for me)...a sweet room for a sweet baby girl!

Baby Julia at 30 weeks!!

I had a 2nd ultrasound today to check for some placenta issues (which are cleared up! yeah!) and was pleasantly surprised to get some 3D pictures of the baby! It was so amazing to see her face in such photorealistic quality. I did not get that with Griffin so I am glad to have had this chance today. The first photo is a close up of her face (which I think looks a lot like Griffin's, especially the nose!).












The second photo is her foot in her face..she is very flexible it seems or else there is not much room for her in my stomach!












She is very healthy and is right on track for my due date of November 5th. Her current weight is 3.8 lbs. and her legs are measuring a few weeks ahead so she may be on the tall side? I guess we will see when she arrives!

A total blur...

Today was a pretty important day at school for Griffin. Last year, during his 4K year, I walked him in to his classroom EVERY day. Many of the other children got dropped off at the door but he had no interest in that at all (which was fine with me). However, we decided that once he was in Kindergarten he would be big enough to make the walk down the LONG, LONG hallway by himself. (Not to mention the time and effort it will save me in the last weeks of my pregnancy and once the baby arrives..) So, we agreed that I would walk him in the first day of school then he would start the drop off on the 2nd day. He was too embarrassed for me to take a picture of him getting out of the car so here are the two that I managed to take before he realized what I was doing. The photo quality really stinks but I think they both sum up how the whole ordeal went.. It was a total blur and he was gone in an instant!








Of course, being the overprotective mother that I am, I parked the car and walked in behind him just to make sure he arrived safely at his destination...homemade blueberry muffins in hand for his teacher so I wouldn't look like a total idiot. He was very proud of himself and I think it will get a little easier for me each morning!

1st day of Kindergarten stats:

Wake time: 6:40am

Special breakfast: Biscuits with grape jelly and scrambled eggs










Outfit: Gymboree shirt and shorts, crocs (of course)

Lunch: Lunchable with grapes, Aquapod and monkey munch for dessert

School Arrival time: 7:45

Teachers: Jen Kosa and Pamela Greene










School Pick up time: 2:40

Afterschool snack: Orange Julius, a special treat!!

Bedtime: 8:00pm.. and not a minute too soon!!!


Starting school this year was relatively easy because Griffin attended full day 4K last year. He is returning to the same teacher in the same classroom with some of the same students. I am very thankful for such an easy start to this important school year. The baby transition may be hard enough without a new school transition on top of that. Griffin's only wish was that he was going to 1st grade instead of Kindergarten. Many of his friends moved up this year so he missed them today. I am sure he will have no problem making new friends!!