<font color=#F6358A>Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and most importantly... Welcome to the world, Alice Jane!</font>

Alice Jane is here! Well, that's probably very obvious since a) there hasn't been much posting recently what with the business of everything and b) news via texts and phone calls spread faster than wildfire, much faster than my fingers can type up a post!

So, yay! She is here! Born at the EXACT SAME TIME as Camilla. 1:34 A.M. Isn't that insane?! One of my recovery nurses was like, wow you couldn't even plan that if you tried! Haha, it was funny, and so true. December 15th, 1:34 a.m., weighing 7 lbs 2 oz. I actually guessed right! Josh guessed an even 7 lbs and I think I may be slightly psychic since the first number that popped into my head was 702. You know what I think? When we play the lottery we should use the numbers 1 and 34 since there seems to be a recurring theme... hahaha!

ANYWAY!

Here's the beautiful baby girl!


Alice Jane B. :)

SOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE! Think she'll have my eyes?!

Awwwww.

Isn't she gorgeous?! Oh she was definitely worth all those awful awful contractions... which by the way, labor started the day Josh's parents were making the drive up. PERFECT TIMING! They started at about 8 am, I woke up to a couple cramps. I got up, started walking around, felt some more mild cramps and I said to Josh, "Hmm, I think this is labor." Lol. He was like "Really??? You think?!?!" And I was like "Well, I THINK so. I keep getting crampy things!" Lo and behold, like 17ish hours later... boom! Alice was here! P.s. Epidural guy this time around, you totally suck at your job!! Thanks for stabbing me with the pain of a thousand sweltering suns! I felt like a torture victim lol. It's not fun getting needled in your back, with your legs involuntarily kicking forward because the guy is poking in the wrong spots. That did NOT happen last time...

Oh and our main delivery nurse totally sucked, too! When Josh went to go get her (since she told me to call them when I felt more "pressure") she didn't even remember who he was, or which room we were in! She tried taking him to a different lady's room. What a nutcase... lol after that my confidence in her was pretty much shattered and I didn't want to have to deal with her anymore. Geeze, what a dumb nurse. So... experience overall this time? Labor and delivery was pretty suck-ish, but the recovery room (despite having a roomie for the first night and half the next day) was actually pretty good. Much better than the first time. They didn't barge in on me every hour, pestering me about feeding the baby, etc. Probably because this was my second time around and there was less "new mom" crap to go over. At least that's what I'm assuming anyway haha. And I really enjoyed the nurses that were there this time around! So I suppose like with anything, there were the pros and cons. I'm kinda surprised at how different the experiences were despite it being the same hospital but, I guess that's a military hospital for you! The turnover rate is pretty high...

BUT that wasn't the scariest thing. Labor and delivery and recovery was small potatoes compared to what Josh and I had to go through with Alice and her small bout of jaundice! GEEZE! When they explained it, it didn't seem as scary, but when you experience it... that's another story. Gosh. They said all infants have slight jaundice when they're born and it just goes away typically on it's own, but Alice was having trouble getting it all out on her own and her red blood cell count was really high. So to err on the side of caution, they had us come in a couple days after we were released from the hospital to do light therapy and holy shit, that really really really was hard to go through. It was like daggers to my heart and soul having to sit idly by watching as she was (only in a diaper and goggles that she kept trying to fight off) sit in a light therapy incubator crying her head off. She did eventually get used to it... kind of... but it took a long time, and when you have to sit and watch your baby suffer and cry for you, it just makes time drag on by even slower. Thus far, it probably was the worst thing I've ever endured in life so far. It just SUCKED knowing your baby needed you and wanted you but you could do nothing. Oh and those goggles... she fought them. We couldn't sleep for the longest time because we had to make sure she kept them on. It really was torture. I would take a thousand epidural stabs over having to sit through that again.

But the light therapy worked and we were released by evening of the next day. And now she's healthy! She's getting bigger too, geeze! They don't stay super tiny for long do they? :(

Here is what light therapy looked like..

Scary huh? It was brutal.

But... we are home and happy now. THANK GOODNESS. I am just so glad it was quickly dealt with and that she responded well to the lights. I had done some reading on Google that some babies cases were pretty serious and had to do the therapy for up to or over 3 weeks and etc and it was scary to read about. I don't believe EVERYTHING I read on the internet, I think a lot of people are out there to scare you honestly and are quick to jump to worst case scenarios and all, but at the time it was still really scary to ponder. And I'm the kinda person where my imagination will run away with me if I let it, haha. Just thankful to be home and getting into a routine again.

Pretty happy that Josh's parents were here when the baby came! It really lessened the blow of suddenly having two small babies! Lol. I'm feeling more confident now and having Sue and Dennis here I think really eased me into our new routine, and Cam LOVES them both, it's obvious to see. She was just so happy and smiley, going on tons of walks, or even just having fun in their room with them. It was just so wonderful having them around. Sue went above and beyond with her delicious cooking and BAKING!! Lol. And cleaning, I felt so bad after awhile and was like Josh make sure she knows she doesn't hafta do all this! And he was like, oh she knows! I hope she did... THANK YOU SUE. You were so wonderful with Cam and you really helped us out. I don't think there's anything I could do to repay either of their kindness... but I'll try!

OH and Sue got me this amazing vintage Bernina sewing machine that I am soooooooo excited about! I was floored when she showed me how to do the free motion quilting part. She makes it look sooo easy! But it's so not. Lol. Anyway, I'm really excited to tackle some projects... it will take awhile though, a new baby is time consuming especially with an 18 month old running around chasing ME with a pair of shoes because she demands to go for a walk or to be pushed in her car! Thanks a lot Grandpa! Lol just kidding. :) Josh went for a walk with her this morning while he let me snooze for a few extra hours with Alice. Cam actually woke up at 7:41 this morning which isn't *too* bad. Alice needed a change and I was actually more wide awake at that time then when I woke up at 10, looks like I will just have to concede to a new early schedule. Lol.

And Christmas!!!!!!!!!!! Christmas was amazing!!!!!! Santa sure left lotsa goodies for the girls and me and Josh and also Dennis and Sue. He even had stockings out for them! Gotta love Santa. :) And Sue made up this awesome table runner with Santa on him.. oh it's just too cute, especially with that twinkle in his eye. ;) and the cute ornaments, the fun learning stuff for Cam, and etc. It was such a good day! The present opening took foooooooorever because Cam was so so soo crabby (and we had gotten up later than I would have liked), and between the girls nap times that were at different times, sheesh it was hard to coordinate lol. Ah well, still lots of fun. It was amazing to spend it with family and just being around each other and having fun! And delicious HAM. YUM. Lol. Speaking of ham... I want more! Haha. Yummy!

I'm probably forgetting a LOT of stuff but it was an amazing last two weeks. Josh's parents were fantastic and super generous and they were amazing with Cam and she adored them! I'm glad they were able to spend time with their newest granddaughter Alice, too! Desoto was even well behaved for much of the time. :) It was a Christmas miracle! Haha! Suffice it to say, I think we all had a great time! I wish I could go into greater detail but this post is super long as it is! Plus I really have to get going! Bring on 2014!!!! Sue and Dennis, I hope you are having a safe trip back to Arizona... THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING. I could say it a hundred million times and it still wouldn't be enough!!! You both are wonderful grandparents and you really went above and beyond! Don't forget it works both ways though, if there's anything you need, you need only ask! :)

So, we welcome 2014 with a beautiful new baby, a beautiful Cammy girl, a doofy doggy Desoto, a tired mommy (lol), and a silly daddy. I wonder what else the new year will bring? :) Hopefully my shop will get a bit busier (though not too busy since I'll be busy enough! HA!) but I definitely need to set aside some more time for the blog. I apologize in advance if I don't update as much as I have been but I will REALLY try! Just know that I am taking lots of pictures and will have updates. More posts will probably be on the short and sweet side, but I will try extra hard! I think that will be my new years resolution haha. Oh, and to use my new camera so I can get some better quality photos!

Anyway, photo time! Hopefully everyone else's Christmas was Merry and Bright, and snow filled! Have a safe and happy New Years! Celebrate the good times and focus on the positive for the New Year!!!!! I am quite happy with how 2013 went. It had some huge surprises, haha! 2014, will you be as eventful, I wonder?

Love you family! Happy New Years! And let me say one last MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!