Big Changes!!!

It is true that it has been some time since I've updated my blog. This isn't because I haven't wanted to, but rather that my computer hard drive has been so full that I haven't been able to download any of my pictures, so I couldn't blog about all the great things that have happened in our family over the last 4 months. Normally, I would go in chronological order to update, but there is one event that is just way to important to put at the end.

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our sweet new baby H. She will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and has completely changed all our lives for the better this last month. It truly is amazing how quickly something so small can make you forget everything you knew about how you lived your life before they arrived. I always wonder how I didn't miss the baby before. I just can't imagine not having her around now, and I'm so glad I don't have to.

H. Lew was born on January 30, 2012 at 7:44 am. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 21" long. She was due 2 days earlier, but for the first time ever, I was totally fine with her being late. I was actually hoping that she would be a little later because we were still trying to get moved before she came. That didn't quite happen, but that will all come in a subsequent post.

I had gone to bed on Sunday night, after D's Court of Honor, where he received his 1st Class Rank, with some pretty strong contractions, but I mostly thought they were Braxton Hicks. Though I do remember having one that was strong enough that Dave was trying to ask me a question and I didn't want to answer him until it was done. I woke up at about 2:30 that morning because my stomach was hurting. It took me just a second to realize what that meant. Just a few days before, Dave had asked me if I was having contractions. I told him I had them all the time, but I wouldn't worried about it until they were waking me up at night. Sure enough, this was the real thing. I got up and timed them for about 2 hours (while watching the newest BBC production of Emma) and the woke up Dave. All the while I had been timing the contractions up to this point, they had been about 6-10 minutes apart and not too terribly painful. When I woke him up, I was in the process of telling him that we didn't need to plan to leave to the hospital right away, but it was as if the baby knew her dad had been woken up, because just as I was telling him we had time, the contractions immediately jumped up to 2-5 minutes and the intensity increased dramatically. So off we went. It was once again a natural birth, but I think I was a little bit more "animated" than I had been in the past. My mom was there with the video camera again and as soon as the baby was born, she was so distraught because she had forgot to video it. I quickly commented that it was ok. There were many things we didn't need to record for posterity that time!

I have several pictures from the hospital, but they are on a different camera, so I will post those later, but here are pictures from her first few weeks home.

6 days old

12 Days Old: first non- sponge bath

Feb 12: 13 Days Old:

Daddy with 2 of his Sleeping Beauties

Feb 14: 15 Days Old: First Valentine's Day

Feb 18: 19 Days Old:

We just thought it was cute how she feel asleep folding her arms.