Abby's Birth Announcement Photo Shoot

Getting a good picture of a 10 day old baby is not the easiest of tasks since they don't really smile yet.  However, since Abby is so darn cute, it wasn't too hard with her.  Here are some of the highlights of her first photo shoot.  Most of you will be getting the announcement via snail mail.  You'll recognize the last picture when you do!

Grandma Candi

My Grandma Candi was here for 2 weeks.  We did a lot of good playing ("big" trucks, the zoo, Chickfila) and Mommy said she did so much for her too (cleaning, cooking, organizing, loving).  I really enjoyed having her around to teach her new things.

But first, here she is holding my baby sister.   Grandma Candi thinks Abby looks just like my mommy did when she was a baby.

One day I taught Grandma Candi how to work the iPad.  She still needs some lessons, but I think I showed her a few tricks.

Then I had to teach her how to rock out with Elmo's guitar.

I had to show her how I can gently touch Abby's head.  Right now I reserve my aggression for my Mommy and Daddy. 

 And I wanted to include this cute picture of Abby.

Abby's First Doctor's Appointment

Last Wednesday, we had Abby's first doctor's appointment.  As we suspected, Dr. Arquisola concluded that Abby is perfect.  She was already weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz, so pretty close to her birth weight.  We're sure she's there again by now. 

Here she is ready to go.  She looks soooo small in that seat, huh?

 And it was an exhausing outing.  She slept in her car seat for an hour after we got home.

Evan's Sweet Prayers

We've started to say prayers with Evan every night before bed.  Basically, it is a very simple prayer that usually goes something like this:

Thank you Jesus.
Thank you for Mommy.
Thank you for Daddy.
Thank you for Abby.
Thank you for Evan.
Thank you for my grandparents.
Thank you for my cousins.
Thank you for my aunts.
Thank you for my uncle.

Amen.

Evan basically just says the last word after Brian says the sentence.  When he says thank you for his uncle, it actually comes out "Wiggles".  So sorry Uncle Chris, but for now, Evan is thankful for the Wiggles!

Abby's First Week

Abby has been a great baby so far.  Very content and accommodating.  She sleeps a lot, but has had a couple hours of awake time the past couple of mornings.  What a sweet baby!

All cozy after her first bath at home.

Evan gets a bit more daring and goes up to Baby Abby and touches her...!  :)

Sunbathing time.  She was looking a bit yellow.

Ahhh...what a sweet baby.

Daddy gets some quality time with both kiddos.

Abigail and Mom's welcome home wreath from the Schroeders!  It is soooo pretty!  Thanks Kristi.

First time on the playmat.

She's a little Houdini like Evan was.  Look at that sweet little hand that escaped!

The secretary at the Women's Pavilion at the hospital made this special Valentine's diaper cake for Abby.  She was the only little girl born at Citizen's on Valentine's Day.

More sun time...just going for a base tan for now!  In sad news, were afraid that she has her momma's skin.  She turns red within seconds of getting mad.  Poor baby!  We'll have to teach her about SPF sooner than we had hoped.

Abigail Laura Hrach

ITS A GIRL! 

Who would have ever thought? As I was pushing on Valentine's Day, the nurses, doctors and students in the room were taking bets on boy or girl since we are in the 5% of people (not sure of the real stat here) who didn't find out during an ultrasound.  Everyone guessed girl except for Brian and me.  We were both convinced it was a boy.  Well, its a girl and we are so in love!

Abigail Laura Hrach was born at 5:18 pm on Valentine's Day!  What an incredible Valentine.  She weighed 8 lbs and was 19.75 inches long (very similar to Evan's birth stats - he was 8 lbs, 1 oz and 19.5 inches long). 

I'd like to point out is that the Hrachs specialize in holiday deliveries.  Evan was a Thanksgiving Turkey and now Abby is our Sweet Valentine.  We are so blessed.

This birth was nothing like Evan's.  It was way easier and the labor process was much shorter.  Looking back, contractions started around 3:30 am on Valentine's Day.  I actually got up and drove out to work, sat in two meetings and at 10:30 am thought...wow, I should probably start timing these.  Just the fact that I said that to myself, I decided it was time to go home.  Brian met me at home.  At that point the contractions were already 5 minutes apart.  We headed to the hospital at 12:30 pm.  When we arrived, I was already 7 cms!  So the race was on to get fluids in me and get the epidural before I had to start pushing. I'm glad to say that I did and it was well worth it.  Abigail arrived very quickly (let's just say I only spent about 10% of the time pushing with her as I did with Evan). 

As I woke up on Valentine's Day morning, I knew that my mom was coming that afternoon.  Well, when we checked in the hospital and called my mom, we realized that I had the date wrong and she wasn't coming until the following day.  A big shout out to her for changing her plans and getting on a plane to Texas ASAP that afternoon.  And a huge thanks to Ms. Irene for keeping Evan late that evening and feeding him dinner.  And a big thanks to Ruth Ann, our sweet friend from church, for coming over to spend the night with Evan so Daddy could be with Mommy and Abby.  We are lucky to have such wonderful parents.  We are also very thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives who love Evan so much. 

We were able to leave the hospital just about 24 hours after her arrival.  Here are some pictures from the hospital.

Evan's first glimpse.   He was quite scared of Abby at first.  He's still pretty hesitant around her, but getting better everyday.  We think he'll be a great big brother.

Auntie Jo thinks these pictures are classic...so I had to include them.  Bolting away from the baby...

Grandma Candi's first hold.

My Last Days as an Only Child

I am really too young to understand, but there is all of this talk about me being a big brother.  Here are some pictures from my last days as an only child. 

I had the very special treat of having my Grandma and Grandpap Hrach here for two weeks.  They came out of necessity...and since Mommy is always honest with the blog (since is is essentially our baby book/scrapbook), she'll explain why.  CPS shutdown my daycare due to some false accusations.  Luckily for all of us, they figured out that it was a bunch of BS after only a week of investigating.  But while Ms. Irene was closed, I got to spend some quality time with my grandparents.  And Mommy was extremely thankful for the extra help with laundry, cleaning and cooking during her last weeks of pregnancy.  Many times thank you just isn't enough and this is one of those times...but THANK YOU Grandma and Grandpap!

Here is my Valentine's present from cousins Cole and Jayden...a new airplane!  Thanks guys!  I LOVE IT!

And Mommy had to include this to brag a bit.  A lady at Mommy's work is expecting a little girl, Riley, to arrive in just a few weeks.  So Mommy made Riley's mommy Emma this diaper cake.  It was loaded with goodies!  Nesting at its finest!!!

First Nap in My Big Boy Bed

Here are some pictures of me reading before my first nap in my big boy bed.  It went really well!  I love sleeping in there!

 

And here I am waking up!

I always hand my blanket to whomever comes to get me up.  It is a daycare routine...and it has carried over to home!

My Big Boy Room!

Mom and Dad keep telling me that I'm going to be a big brother.  Part of that meant that I had to move to a big boy room.  Grandma Candi and Grandpa Max came down a few weekends ago to help get it all together and help my parents feel more organized for this baby.  I'm super glad they came and I love my new room.  Mommy and Daddy are very thnakful for their visit too!

The theme is sports - can't get much more "boy" than that!  I love pointing to the balls and showing everyone that I understand that there is a soccer ball in between the A and N and there is also one on the picture by my door.  There are still some finishing touches to make, but I'm doing great sleeping in my new big boy bed (what a relief to my mom and dad!).

The baby car seat is in my new closet temporarily until he/she arrives. 

Sir Charles Telling Us Like it is!

Do you like my sticker?  I call them preppys (pretties).

I am usually such a happy kid.  Except for the 5 minutes a day I decide to act two years old!  :)

Goofing Around with Daddy