Birth Announcement photos and out-takes

I had several images from pinterest I was sure we could recreate at home for our birth announcement pictures.  I think we kept one of the pinterest ideas, and the rest of the sibling shots made great out-takes.  Maya was not in the mood to pose and even bribing Collin with jelly beans, we ended up with images like this:

Or we'd get shots where both kids would cooperate, but the photographer (in this case, Cas, because he was taller, which means my photo would have been worse) would cut out a chunk of the heart shape train track -

The pinterest-inspired picture -

And Collin letting us know he was done with this train track that didn't connect at the point and where we kept insisting he look at the camera and smile -

These pictures didn't turn out like the professional shots online either, but they do show how into being a big brother Collin is -

Collin did not understand that he was fake reading

So he'd turn the page or squirm as any three-year-old would do, and we got another "parents of the year" shot, with our 10-day-old rolling off his back (onto the bed, she was fine) -

We had much better success during Collin's nap and after Maya nursed with Maya-only pictures where I played dress up with my daughter.  I love that this tutu has been worn by my best friends' daughters when they were newborns and was passed down to Maya -

Our little princess -

Big bows -

On Sunday, we tried some family shots after dragging a sweaty Collin away from lizard hunting in the front yard with Brownie.  When we told him we were taking photos he exclaimed, "one photo!"

Even Cas couldn't wait to get out of his long sleeve shirt, giving us 2 minutes to get the best photo we could capture -

Mother & daughter -

In his comfy clothes - father & daughter -

My uncle snapped a photo of her closet full of clothes.  I have bought 1 dress and two other outfits - the rest were gifts or hand-me-downs . . . and often the hand-me-downs still had their tags!  She is one spoiled girl!

Pretty in pink at the park

When Maya was one week old, Cas took a short business trip and the grandmas came to the rescue, making sure I had a few extra days of two-on-two coverage.  On Thursday, Grammy and Collin attended story hour, and then Maya and I met them at a park for a picnic lunch.

For the first 30 minutes at the park, they apparently built sandcastles, using sticks as steam-rollers and bulldozers. 

 Kisses and hugs were immediately given to Maya once I set her down - he LOVES his little sister!

Of course we needed the headbow for our first trip to the park!

The next day we snapped a few more in the backyard.   I know she'll change so quickly, I want to remember what she looked like her first few days.

She's a tummy time champ!

 

Big Brother Collin

We've had a fun first few days with Maya, and probably one of the biggest sources of delight has been Collin's reaction to her.

He is CRAZY about his little sister.  I'm pretty sure he wins in the kisses for Maya category.  He wants to help with everything - which is mostly good, but challenging when he's trying to help me undress her for a bath and our definitions of gentle are not aligned.

Monday morning she was awake and we were going to read a book together on the couch.  So Collin offered to carry her from her little bassinet to the couch - yikes - a little overconfident in his big brother abilities.  As we read the book, he made sure I showed her every picture.  So unfortunately her first book in life, chosen by Collin, was Spider-man versus the Lizard!

He loves holding her and playing with her to the very limited degree she can even keep her eyes open around him.  He'll say in his version of a girl voice, putting words of praise in her mouth, "I love my big brother Collin.  I'm so happy to meet him."

As I had been warned, he went from being my toddler or my little boy to a humongous kid!  Though I know he didn't change much in the three days he was at my parents', he seems to weigh so much more and be so much bigger in general now that I have a newborn to compare him to in size.

He told me as I burped her, "No Mommy, don't hit baby Maya."  Already looking out for his little sister.  He's been serenading her with "You are my Sunshine" and "Mockingbird (Hush Little Baby)," and so far she's only been hit by a soft foam block that was intended for someone else -

We are so, so thankful to God that Collin gets to have a sibling, and we think Collin will be a tremendous big brother, loving, caring for and teaching his little sister all sorts of things!

Mother's Day with Maya

We left the hospital Saturday afternoon and though part of us was eager to see Collin, the rational side accepted my parents' offer to keep Collin one more night.  So my first Mother's Day gift was a relatively easy night with a newborn (as in she woke up like clockwork every 3 hours and went back down after nursing), and we slept in until 10am!

We had the moms come to us, along with grandmothers and some aunts and uncles.  Collin recited his poem that he and Brownie crafted, "Roses are red, violets are blue, on this Mother's Day, I love you!"

Brownie meeting Maya (and calling her Mayra, his secretary's name.  I'm sure their names will be often switched) -

Great Grandma Betty (aka "B") holding Maya for the first time -

Four generations of mothers and daughters - indescribable joy!!

Grandma Libia with her first granddaughter (with two boys, two grandsons, and another grandson on the way, she has not bought us a single thing that isn't incredibly pink, frilly and adorable!) and Lita - 

Cas, our kids, his mom and grandma

Cousin love - Nico and Collin

Mother's Day with my kids (typing "kids" is still so surreal.  I texted my brother that both my kids were napping and told Cas how thrilled I am to get to say "kids.")   It was the end of the night, so this was the best we got, Maya was fussy and Collin was goofy -

Maya in her party dress.  Since we plan on being pretty home-bound the first two months, I'm going to have to put her in her outfits just for photo opps - this girl has a ridiculous amount of clothes thanks to incredibly generous friends and family!

Happy belated Mother's Day - and a special thanks to my mom, who on her Mother's Day, woke up to take care of her grandson, bought food for brunch, made a salad and cookie cake, emptied my dishwasher and cleaned up my house after everyone left!

Maya's arrival

Collin was two days late, so when Maya hung tight past her due date, I wasn't too shocked.  But when we hit three days beyond my due date, I was starting to get antsy.  Luckily I went to the doctor that afternoon and she said she'd be shocked if I didn't go into labor in the next day or two.  In fact, in just doing the exam, she was worried that my labor would start on the ride home.  I didn't think to bring Cas with me to the doctor, but if I had, I bet she would have told me to just walk around the medical center and not even go home.

Sure enough, around 5pm my labor had started, and Aunt Debbie came over to watch Collin.  But unlike my labor with Collin, which was in full force 30 minutes after it started, Maya started slow, I think in large part to the amount of sitting I did on the car ride to the hospital and in sitting to be monitored once in our room.

We may have over-packed for two days at the hospital!

At 8pm, almost done with the monitoring, I texted my mom that I expected it to be a LONG night, that this labor was happening much slower than Collin's, and so far wasn't painful.  And then Maya was born at 9:23pm!

So the next 80 minutes were intense.  As soon as I got out of bed, the contractions picked up.  My midwife checked me, said I needed to get out of the jacuzzi tub, where I hung out when they started getting painful, and as soon as I climbed up on the bed, my water broke and I was pushing the next contraction!  Poor Cas was supposed to get to help deliver the baby, but I was a mess.  I used the Lamaze breathing for labor, but in pushing I had no distraction for the pain.  So the midwife delivered Maya, but they let me pull her onto my chest.  Cas said I went from vocalizing my pain to "this is awesome" when I grabbed her!

Maya Alexandra, born on May 9th, 8lbs, 4oz, 20.5 inches.  Welcome to the world our sweet daughter!

 
Proud papa -

The kisses started right away -

Libia visited Thursday night, and then we settled into our room at 1am, exhausted, dozing to a huge thunderstorm.

Friday morning, after a visit from Uncle Bobby, my mom and Collin arrived.  He immediately ran up to give his baby sister some kisses.  And then he went exploring in Texas Children's hospital with Cas and later visited Uncle Bobby's toy-filled office.

 Of course they'd arrive just when she woke up to eat -

Grammy with her grandkids -

Blocking Maya from an action hero attack - 

Super hero posing with all of the action figures at Uncle Bobby's office - 

Family of four celebrating all the pink -  

Sweet Maya, we are so excited you are here.  We are thankful to God for a healthy delivery and beautiful, healthy baby girl!