Our little lady (bug)

Here we go Steelers, here we go...

We watched the AFC Championship Game at my cousin Michele's house (since we don't have cable).

Dylan calls Michele's place "Murphy's house" since she has a dog named Murphy (see below). My parents were talking to Dylan about Michele and asking him if he remembered going to her house and seeing her dogs, Riley and ....they couldn't remember the name of the other dog but Dylan quickly pipped in...Murphy!

One of the Steeler's youngest fans....

Our princess and her big brother

Since I know you love them, more pictures!

Routing again....

Pictures from Lydia's second week

TUMMY TIME!

Dylan checking his email....

Poll: Okay, you've seen the pictures, now who does she look like?

In a few days, I'll let you know the only answer I've gotten so far.

Our little cookie...

Dylan meeting Lydia at the hospital

Why we chose Lydia Mabel...

Martin and I have liked the name Lydia for a long time now. If memory serves me correctly, we had the name picked out before we were even married and definitely before I got pregnant the first time. So when we found out we were having a girl there was no name deliberations this time. Mabel is Martin's paternal grandmother's name. We had about 3 middle names we were considering but Mabel won out. A lot of people have asked us "is that a family name?" so I guess folks aren't used to hearing that name these days. In fact, the name hasn't been on the top 1000 list since the 1950s. I think that makes it a good middle name.

Our cute little girl...

More pictures from Lydia's first week

Routing as usual...man, this girl can eat!

As requested, some pictures

Hospital Stay

Despite not being able to sleep in the hospital bed and going home a day earlier, I had a much better hospital experience with Lydia's birth than I did with Dylan's. I think it had a lot to do with the time of day she was born, the fact that the hospital wasn't as busy, and much better nurses. First of all we got a room that was 3 times the size of the one we had last time. It was a double that they converted into a single. That was very helpful for when Dylan came to visit and was running around. Secondly, I realized that the fury of activity that I complained about last time happens at the 24 hour mark, not necessarily the afternoon of the day after you give birth when everyone is visiting. So we got all that business taken care of in the morning before our visitors. The staff seemed much more knowledgable and helpful this time and despite the fact that it was only a 5 hour labor, the whole stay seemed much more laid back and relaxed.

Dylan got to meet his baby sista the day she was born. Martin picked him up from Laura's around lunchtime and then they went home and both took a nap. They came back to the hospital around dinnertime. I was surprised - Dylan "got it" right away. We told him once who Lydia was and he never once got confused or pointed to me or my belly when we said baby sister. Dylan has been very good with Lydia. He asks to hold her almost everyday. And there have been times when he has said "Dylan's turn" when I've been holding Lydia but I'm beginning to think that he's more jealous of me getting to hold Lydia than he is of Lydia. Dylan likes to give Lydia kisses on the cheek. There have been a few true moments of jealousy where Dylan has pointed his finger and looked at Lydia and said "get off" very sternly but he's mostly very sweet to her. Here is our first family of four picture:

This is a really bad picture of me and not so great of Lydia but Dylan looks cute.

Shortly after Martin and Dylan arrived back at the hospital, my parents got there. They were so excited to get to see us in the hospital and to meet Lydia the day she was born. With the first round of grandbabies (Steven and Dylan) my parents didn't see the kids in the hospital but this round (Zak and Lydia) they made sure of it.

Here are the going home day pictures. Lydia wore purple for the occasion and so did grandma.

We had some cranky kids (we left the hospital at 7:30pm on January 3rd) so we didn't get many pictures of the actual departure from the hospital except this one of Lydia bundled up in her car seat.

Here we are nice and relaxed at home! My mom swaddled Lydia up good - my mom took a class, Dr. Karp's Happiest Baby on the Block. :)

Swaddling has actually been working very nicely for us with Lydia. It really helps her stay asleep. I think she's still mixing her days and nights up a little but we'll work on that.