Nora Jayne is Here!!!

        My life was wonderfully changed again on March 15, 2013 at 9:54am! Nora Jayne Hetzler made her appearance at that moment. I was in love at first sight... she is a beautiful, precious baby girl.

6lbs 12 oz

   Although I have been through this before it is still so surreal to be a patient. I am used to being on the other side working as a nurse so it is so difficult to let go of all control (not that I have control as a nurse either... but you know what I mean.) Ben and I arrived at the hospital at 7:30am for my scheduled c-section. I was prepped for surgery and when my doctor arrived we went to the OR to deliver my sweet girl. I was extremely nervous about the delivery and having surgery... but I focused on God and knew I was in good hands... plus I had the best people taking care of me too! Everything went smoothly and I was in and out of the OR in no time. Of course I cried as soon as I heard her cry... it truly is the most amazing sound in the world!

leaving the OR with my precious cargo

   The next day Olivia came to visit us at the hospital to meet her baby sister. The moment she saw her she said, "Hi baby!" She was sitting on my bed while I was helping her hold Nora and she leaned down and gave her a kiss. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen! My heart was and is filled with so much joy. We went home on St. Patty's Day to start our life as a family of four. Olivia has been very interested in "baby" and wants to help with everything. While she seems to love her baby sister, Olivia is still trying to adjust to this big change. She has definitely been testing our patience and Ben and I are trying our best to be understanding. Tomorrow we are going to take her out by herself to do something fun....not sure what that is yet since the weather has been so cold!! I'm sure over the next few weeks she will adjust.

Olivia giving Nora a kiss... melted my heart.. which is why my face is so silly

checking out her baby sister

One week old!!

My Pregancy with Nora

   As usual I have been slacking in keeping up with the blog department. I'm pretty sure I begin every blog with a version of this sentence... but I'm trying. As I looked back at my previous posts I realized I haven't posted a thing since I was around 23 weeks! Well.... today I am 39 weeks and 2 days.... and my c-section is scheduled in 2 days... March 15th!!!!! I absolutely can not wait to meet this baby girl. Nora is so much more active than Olivia, which is scary because I thought she was a big mover.. I may be in trouble with this one:) I love watching my belly move, it is such a joy and a miracle. Although I have been uncomfortable lately and ready to deliver, I will miss being pregnant. It is just amazing to me that a human can grow and move inside of me. I have had a normal pregnancy which I am so thankful for. Olivia is going to be such a good big sister, she loves babies and I'm sure she is going to want to help a lot! In the beginning she always said "yeah" when we asked her if she wanted to be a big sister. Then I think she realized something was going to take some attention away from her because for several months she would yell "noooo" if we said anything about a sister. Well, out of the blue last week she began saying "yes, baby sister." I sure am glad to hear those words! We have everything all ready for Nora at home... at least as ready as we can be. I am nervous about having another c-section but I am praying every day about my anxiety and I know it is all in God's hands. So, hopefully the next blog wont be when she's turning 1.... I will do my best to send out an update soon! Our family of three will soon be four!

Nora's bedding.. it's hard to see but those are her initials on the wall

26 weeks 4 days

30 weeks!

34 weeks 3 days... getting bigger!

38 weeks 2 days... I've been told I'm huge:)

Cant wait to meet Nora Jayne Hetzler!!!!

Olivia's 2nd Birthday!!

    So my baby girl (yes, I still say baby) turned 2 on February 21!! I cant believe how fast time has flown. She has turned into such a beautiful, independent, strong willed, funny, silly little diva. Olivia is in to picking out her own clothes and dressing herself now.... she does a good job getting dressed... matching is another story:) She is definitely a girl who likes to make her own decisions.... hmmm... no clue where that came from.. hehe. For her birthday party we just had family over... being 37 weeks pregnant I just wasn't up for throwing a big shindig. She still got lots of love and presents and had a great time at her party. Aunt Chris bought her a ball pit and she loves it! Mommy just loves picking up all the balls in the playroom all the time... insert sarcasm here.... but since Olivia loves it so much I guess it can stay. Along with the ball pit she got new "hellos" which is her word for phone, clothes, very small drum set, a baby doll, baby doll pack n play and car seat, etc and some oh so cute pink converse! The girl still loves her shoes and has been known to even wear them to bed at night:) Here are just a few pics from the party.



Fall Update

     Fall has flown by and we are quickly approaching Christmas again! We have been doing great, keeping busy with work and chasing Olivia around. She is a very independent little girl... and although I may be biased, she is pretty smart too. She can identify a few letters, jibber jabbers all day long, loves to help with anything we are doing, like cooking, and has started to play in my shoes and wants to dress up. I am so excited for Christmas this year since she will be somewhat into opening her new presents. We are planning on converting our "junk room" into a playroom as a Christmas present and we also need to get the guest bedroom ready for the new little one. Im feeling a little overwhelmed with everything on my to-do list that I keep putting off!

    Speaking of a new little one.... I have held out long enough. We found out on October 16 that we will be having another GIRL!!! Her name will be Nora Jayne and we cant wait to meet her!! At our 18 week ultrasound she was growing perfectly. I am even more excited that she will fit in all of Olivia's clothes since there birth dates will be just a few weeks apart. I feel like I am bigger with this pregnancy but that's normal I suppose. I have been feeling her move for about a month now but just this week I have realized she is a mover just like Olivia was. I can see my belly moving all around, especially at night. With Olivia, I did not see movement like that until about 26 weeks ( I am 23 weeks right now). I have been feeling pretty good, just tired of course and I haven't been able to eat a lot of meat. It seriously makes me gag which is unfortunate because I really do want to eat it usually.

     So here are a few pictures from the last few months

23 weeks pregnant

Nora Jayne at 18 weeks

Olivia and me at Halloween!

22 weeks

Olivia's first pumpkin carving! She just wanted to eat the seeds:)



Almost 19 months!

    Well obviously I have been a slacker since I have not posted anything since June!! Olivia is a busy girl and into everything. She is so smart, of course, I am completely amazed everyday when I watch her do things. She climbs on everything... is beginning to jump off things and will begin to count (OK she says "1") right before she jumps... and oh yeah... she expects you to catch her. She babbles constantly but does say a lot of words very clearly. Over the last month or so she has become enthralled with Sesame Street and Elmo or "melmo" is her favorite. When the theme song for Elmo's World comes on she says "la la la" and dances. Ben and I took her to see Veggie Tales Live at church the other night and she LOVED it!!

    I was looking at my previous post and it is crazy how much she has grown in three months. She did not have an 18 month check up... the pediatrician said she could skip it and come back for her 2 year check up.... crazy to think that's not far off. So, since she hasn't been to the doctor in a few months I have no clue how much she weighs... I'm thinking around 24-25lbs?? I think the biggest change is her hair....she's finally growing some:) Still not enough for a bow, not that she would tolerate that, but definitely more than she had at the beginning of the summer. Next up on the agenda is finding a Halloween costume and start Christmas shopping!!

      In other news, we are very excited to announce that Olivia is going to be a big sister in March!!!! While there have been a few scares with this pregnancy we pray that God will protect this baby and we will welcome a new little one in the spring. We ask Olivia if she wants a baby brother or sister and she says "yeah." It's pretty funny... but she pretty much says "yeah" to everything we ask her. I bought her a big sister t-shirt but she really wont stay still long enough to get a picture of it on her... imagine that. However, that is how we announced the pregnancy to my family over my birthday last month.

                                                                 #2 Baby Hetzler 13 weeks

                                                              Livvi sporting her new ride

Swinging on the big swing with daddy   

15 (and a 1/2) Months

    Olivia turned 15 months on our first family vacation at the beach. Such a big girl... growing... growing and she is so smart! I can sit and watch her all day, but wait, I wouldn't be sitting because she rarely stops moving. She stays busy. We took her to the pediatrician yesterday and she weighs 21 lbs 7 oz and is 30 inches tall... 50%. She pointed at me the other day and clearly said Mommy!!!!!!!!!! It just melted my heart, I love hearing it:) Some of her other words... bye bye, hi, I, dada, and baby. She has her own version of Jax and Lilly, and sings "I, ee, I, ee, I ee" all day. Grandma Nancy built a swing set for Olivia in our backyard and she loves the swing.... I need to get pics on my camera instead of my phone though. Our backyard has become a pretty fun place with the swing set, a kiddie pool and a sandbox... which she still isn't sure about. She is starting to try to climb up on things and gets mad when she cant do it right away.  I also taught her to wink! Of course she does it with both eyes but it's the cutest thing. The other day she finally grasped where her nose is and now we are working on the mouth and ears. I love watching her learn!  

Happy 15 months Livvi!!

She found the books in her room.... and apparently books do not go on shelves according to her

Sitting in Liam's old chair at Aunt Chris's house

Playing in the pool



First Beach Trip!!

    A few weeks ago we went on our first family vacation!!! Ben and I took Olivia to Perdido Key, Florida which is right on the Florida/Alabama line, it was beautiful! This trip was the longest car ride she has had and she did awesome. I still can not believe that we only stopped once each way during an eight hour trip.... thank God for diapers:) Of course as soon as we got there Olivia tripped and fell in the parking lot which explains the big boo boo on her forehead in the pics... poor baby... goose egg and bloody nose in the first five minutes out of the car. After we unpacked and got groceries we stepped out onto the sand.... aaahhhhhh.. I absolutely love the beach. However, a certain little one year old did not feel the same way. As soon as we got near the sand she would hike those little legs farther up on my body and hold on for dear life. I will have to say I enjoyed the cuddling from her though, she usually doesn't stop long enough for that. Now, the ocean and the water was a different story..... she is a little fish!! Olivia did not want anything to do with the float and she kept trying to push us away, she wanted to do it herself. The first day we took our chairs, umbrella, a baby pool, sand toys, cooler, and snacks down to the beach and  laid out a big sheet so she could play on that. Well, that kept her entertained about five minutes. Mostly we stayed in the water and played and if we were out, it was snack time. The next few days we stuck to bringing the umbrella, drinks and snacks down.... everything else was useless for our little fish. During nap time Ben was sweet and would stay in the condo with her so I could get some quiet beach time to myself....which I loved. I could sit out on the beach all day and read and be perfectly happy. Midweek we went to The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo which was adorable and very small. We got to feed a lot of the animals and I even got to hold a baby kangaroo!!! The weather was perfect and we had the best time!!!! Here are a few snapshots.

Olivia's first seashell.... of course it must go in the mouth

first dip in the ocean.... i guess Ben thought it was cold:)

ummm.... mom... i really don't  like all this sand stuff

Happy Girl

Hi Mommy.... I'm swimming in the ocean!!

Dinner at LuLu's.... Olivia brought a friend that night

weeeeeeeee