Family Photos 2014

I remember being a kid and going to the family photo shoots. My brother and sister were always terribly unexcited about it, whereas I always thought it was a fun reason to get all dressed up. Now that we’ve got two little peanuts to dress up, my excitement has more than doubled! We decided to do our family photo shoot this year with Sasha Reiko. Sasha was great to shoot with. She wasn’t a weirdo (we’ve all had those weirdo photographers, right?), she was good with the kids, she was efficient and I think the pics turned out great. I’m so excited to print a couple off to hang in the house. Sharing for your viewing pleasure:

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

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All images © 2000-2013 by Sasha Reiko Photography

Piper’s Photoshoot

 

We did a photoshoot when Piper was 8 days old. Below are the results.

Piper’s Firsts

The first two and a half weeks with Piper have just flown by. It’s a-whole-nother ball game when you have an infant with a toddler in the house; we’re keeping very busy with the two of them.  It’s definitely comforting to have done this newborn phase before. We’re not nervous about every single little thing. At the same time, we’re focused on giving as much of a comparable newborn experience to Piper as we did to Ellie. We want to make sure and hold her the same amount of time, talk to her just as much, etc. However, there are some less crucial things we haven’t been as concerned about. For instance, yesterday I gave Piper her first bath – she was two weeks and a half weeks old! I think we gave Ellie her first bath within the first week. Both of them hated every minute of it, so I’m not really too concerned that we waited with Piper…babies smell so yummy anyway!

We also had Piper’s first doctors visit last week. I can tell she’s been growing really well and I know she’s been eating great, but Brian and I were a little concerned about her apparent tummy discomfort. I liked that our doc asked a lot of questions and explained the possible issues: colic, milk protein allergy, or acid reflux. He said based on what we told him he wasn’t concerned about the last two and that she was probably just having some mild colic because her tummy is still developing. He suggested continuing to emulate the womb experience via the 5 S’s. He said at six weeks we’ll start to see improvement with her discomfort. We also saw our midwife the day after and she recommended a probiotic, which will help her stomach bacteria process food better.

Piper’s weight was 7 lbs., 11 ounces and she had grown a whole inch! Her head circumference was in the tenth percentile. Other than that everything looks great and she is a healthy strong babe. In fact, she’s been holding her head up so well I thought it might be interesting for her to try some tummy time yesterday. I was amazed she didn’t flip out right away like most babies during their first few months. She seemed to really enjoy looking around. Here is a quick clip of it:

We also did a newborn photo shoot last week, which I am so excited about. We didn’t do newborn photos with Ellie and I really regret it. I’m glad we were able to find a quality photographer for a reasonable price and she provides us with all the digital files by next Monday. It was hotter than a mo-fo in the studio room, but it was totally worth it. You can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be sharing soon.  Here is her website in case you’re interested or just want to peruse some adorable little baby pics.

Announcing Piper Geraldine

I ended work on Thursday feeling good and ready to take our next adventure of having a second child…at the same time, I was looking forward to a little bit of rest and relaxation before her arrival. I got my hair cut on Friday, where one of the hair dressers told me that everyone who comes in close to their due dates has their baby right after getting their hair cut. Then my mom and I went to lunch, where I received a fortune cookie that literally said “a pleasant surprise is in store for you this weekend.” I knew what that meant – too many omens.

Friday night I went to bed around 11:30 feeling a little weird in my stomach. I wasn’t sure if it was early labor or just an upset stomach false alarm. I thought it would be better to get some sleep either way. I woke up at 1:30 and my stomach hurt so bad I couldn’t go back to sleep. It went away. Then it came back. Then it went away. I watched the clock until I felt certain they were contractions and at 2:00 I woke Brian up and told him I thought I was having contractions.

Brian went into Go Mode. We had a list of everything to do and he went to it. My surges were very intense right from the get-go. My mom arrived at 3:00 am to assist with Ellie and Max as needed. Our midwives arrived at 4:00 am and Piper Geraldine Thompson was born at 5:05 am. She looked smaller than Ellie, so I asked Jenn (our midwife) how much she thought she would weigh. She guessed 6.5 lbs, but this little gymnast weighed in at 7 lbs., 6 oz. and was 19.75 inches long.

The feeling of having a child is incredible. The love that overtakes our bodies is amazing and I wish everyone in the world could feel that way at least once a year forever. It makes you feel so big and so small at the same time.

Here are a few pics of Piper and Ellie. Ellie by the way is doing great. She was a little jealous for the first day or so, but quickly is becoming a big fan of her baby sister!

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