Thank You Camille

Dear Camille,


Thank you for sleeping in your pack n play all night last night. Mommy needed the sleep laying down and not worrying about you. I hope that this trend continues as I am sure we both sleep better.

I love you and can't wait for Christmas morning with you.



Love,

Mommy

Gearing up for Christmas!

Christmas is only a few days away and we are ready ( I think). We have everything bought and wrapped so it is just a matter or passing them out and celebrating. My family is coming up Thursday or Friday and will be here for the weekend. I can't wait.

Christmas morning we are spending alone as a family. I want this to be a tradition in the years to come. We can get up, open presents and have breakfast all in our pajamas. I am looking forward to Christmas this year with our two girls. Evelyn will lots of fun opening gifts and Camille will probably sleep but look like an angel while doing so.

There is not much left to do other than clean house. That should go fairly quickly, nice thing about a small house. I will try to do a little each day while the girls let me and by Thursday hopefully there will be nothing left to do.

I wish everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays! Please be safe!

Dear Camille,

Mommy would like to start sleeping lying down. If you could please go and stay asleep on your back I would really appreciate it. I love you and I love holding you but sleeping while holding you is hard on mommy. Is there any way I can help you sleep on your back, if so I will try anything. I love you.



Love,
Mommy

1st Day ALONE!

Well, I survived the first day alone with the girls. Richard went back to work so I had them both all day. I did great if I do say so myself. I didn't even cry or get frustrated at either of them. It is still a transition but we are doing great, if only I could get Camille to sleep on her back in the pack n play.

I am also proud to say that I ventured out into the world with two kids on my own. We went to the grocery store and Costco. I did ok but still have to figure out the best way to get both girls in and out of the car. In time I will master that as well.

Hope everyone is doing well. I will try to take and post more pictures soon.

Evelyn's New Favorite Toy!

Last night Richard was making dinner and I was doing laundry (I know let the house work go, but I can't), Evelyn was eating a few Cheerios before dinner and the next thing I hear is "noooooooo" and the sound of the Cheerios being poured out of the box onto the floor. Evelyn loved it and thought it was hilarious. Here are a couple of pictures.

Otherwise, things are going good. We are trying to get Camille to sleep in the pack n play instead of on me, so hopefully that will be easy. She is doing good and eating well. We have to get some followup blood work done this week but otherwise she is doing great. We are enjoying our TWO girls.

Camille Karen

Camille Karen was born December 3rd, 2008. She weighed 9lbs 3 oz (big girl) and was 20 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful.

My labor was great and I was in the zone (according to Richard and Cheryl). I was able to go without meds again and had another great birth experience. Sometimes I think the birthing is easier than the parenting.

We are doing ok. Tired but okay. We are happy to have her home with us. She had to stay in the Special Care Nursery while we were at the hospital because of some complications but she is well now and doing great.

Evelyn is adjusting well, but doesn't like it when Camille cries and if she is sleeping wakes up because of it. This makes for short naps. We will get there. Next year at this time we will have a one year old and wonder where the time went.

We are in love. Here is the link to some pictures we have uploaded. More to come soon. Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/burstiner_family/sets/

No baby yet...

but there is an end in sight. I had a dr. appointment today and although there is a little (very little) progress and the babies head is low not much else is happening. My dr. is not comfortable with me going more than a week past my due date so we are scheduled for an induction Wednesday, December 10th at 7:30 in the morning. I am praying that it will happen before than as I do not want to be induced. So please wish, hope, think, or pray that this baby comes on its own before next Wed. Everything else is going great.

We had a great Thanksgiving and Evelyn is wonderful as always. We are spending as much time with her as we can before the baby comes. She is an amazing little girl and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

We will keep everyone informed and hopefully we will have a baby soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving and enjoys spending time with family and friends. I will post pics later of Evelyn and us at Thanksgiving.

Mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and Tyler it was nice talking to you this morning. Evelyn enjoyed seeing you guys as well.

Love you all.

39 Weeks

We are at T-minus 7 days until I am due with baby #2. I had an appointment today and nothing is happening still, which is fine by me. I am doing pretty well, although getting comfortable at night is getting harder. Richard laughs at all my grunts and deep breaths as I try to roll over in bed. If you can't laugh, what fun is life?

I am hoping this baby doesn't come until at least December 2nd becuase my doctor is out on vacation and I really want him to be the one to deliver. So please say a little prayer that this baby with not come until at least next Tuesday. Another reason I want to wait is tomorrow night is a dessert party and Thursday is Thanksgiving, neither of which I want to miss.

Good Night.

Busy Weekend!

This was a busy and accomplished weekend. Friday, Evelyn and I went with Grandma Lavon to the Harvest Festival and did some shopping. Evelyn enjoyed all the pretty things and the man on stilts who made her a balloon bear. I bought my toffee for Richard and I that I do every year, man is that stuff good! I didn't get much else as we are not needing and nothing really caught me eye.

Saturday was busy cleaning the house. We got soooo much accomplished. The house looks and feels GREAT! I am definetly nesting as I can't clean enough. Saturday night we went and got our double stroller and mattress for the new baby. I LOVE the new stroller. It is the Chicco Trevi double stroller. Evelyn loves it and plays in it for a while with her dolly. It is really cute. Then we went to dinner with Lavon and then headed over to Mark and Cheryl's for some dessert. Poor Evelyn did not get a second nap and was up from 11am until 8:30pm. She was a trooper and did great.

Sunday (today) we cleaned a little more and then I had a mini baby shower with Lavon and Elaine. We went to lunch with no kid or husband, which is a nice treat. After we met Evelyn and Richard at Lavon's for cake and presents. The baby got a couple of warm sleepers so when it comes it won't be cold. It was a very nice and thoughtful thing to do and I appreciated and enjoyed it very much.

It was a busy and great weekend. Now onto Thanksgiving. Will I make it?

If you want to post comments or email me your predicitions about this baby please do so... you can include guesses on gender, date of birth, weight, and height. We can see who is the closest.


My Guesses:

Girl
December 2,2008
8lbs 3 oz
21 inch

Mandy Dr. Appt.

Well I had my weekly dr. appt. yesterday and everything is still going well. My blood pressure is good and the baby sounds great. It is head down and ready to go, but the dr. doesn't think it will happen too soon, which is fine by me. I am feeling pretty good still but still feel like there is a ton of things to do still. I think that the baby will come after Dec.1st but we will see.

15 Month Appointment

Evelyn had her 15 month appointment today. It went great. She is developing right on track and doing very well. She weighs 20.4lbs with clothes and shoes on so we guess about 19lbs 14 oz without. She is also 31 inches tall. She is 10% for weight and 77% for height. Dr. Brandle seems very pleased with the way things are going and told us to "keep up the great work." We are now going to start working on getting rid of the bottle. I just don't want too many changes before the baby comes so I might try after, but we will see.

Hope everyone had a happy Monday!

Surprise...

My parents surprised me this weekend with a quick visit. We went to the bagel shop to get coffee for Richard before going to Apple Hill and as we were walking up I thought I saw my dad which is of course odd, but sure enough it was them. They left at 2 in the morning to come up and see us. It was great. We went to Apple Hill and they had a great time with Evelyn and Evelyn had a wonderful time with them as well. It was a short visit but I am sooooo happy that I was able to see them one more time before the baby comes. Here are some pictures from Apple Hill. Enjoy!

Evelyn in the pumpkin patch!

High Hill watching people fish!

Giggling with Grandpa!

Walking to the car!

Pure love!

Wearing Daddy's Hat

How stinking cute is this?

Finalizing Plans

Well the baby is due in about 4 weeks. I can hardly believe it. We are getting the last few things ready for the baby and setting up stuff for Evelyn. It is a lot harder to plan when you already have one child. I was induced with Evelyn but if I go into labor on my own it changes how things work and who will watch her. I know that it will all work out.

Me being my organized self has typed up a schedule, menu, and routine for Evelyn so that when my parents watch her they have an idea of her schedule. I think it is more for me than them. They know what they are doing. I have also put together a list of contact, maps to the hospital and the vets, just in case. I think I am over thinking things. Me? Never.

I am just worried about being gone from Evelyn for a couple of days. That hasn't happened before and I am sad I won't be here with her. It will be odd not having her around me all the time. I do think that I will be a little busy with the new baby so that will help.

I am going to the dr. once a week now. I went on Tuesday. Everything looks great. Baby is doing well and moving ALL THE TIME! I am feeling pretty good although my hips hurt a lot and by the end of the day I am pretty tired. Richard is great and helps with Evelyn when he gets home.

Soon we will be a family of 4 and a dog and that is overwhelming and exciting all at the same time. Please keep us and our new baby in your thoughts and prayers. We are not yet ready for its arrival but are definetly looking forward to finding out if it is a boy or a girl. My bet is still on girl and Richard's is still on boy. So we shall see.

Hope this post finds everyone in good health.

Thank you Hubby!

Richard suggested trying to get a new layout using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer and it worked instantly. I will now be changing my template from time to time. Yeah for figuring it out.

Evelyn's Big Girl Room.

I did it..

I finished the Harry Potter series tonight. Man, that was a good last book. Now I have to wait for Richard to catch up so we can discuss. I am glad I was able to finish before this baby came along as I didn't get to before Evelyn came along so I had to start all over.

I won't ruin it for those who have not read it yet, but there are some crazy and interesting things that happen and you start to understand things from the past. It was great.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We have been Christmas shopping and tomorrow we are visiting some friends we do not see often enough.

Happy Halloween!

Evelyn wishes everyone a happy and safe Halloween!

Nesting...

I think I am nesting in anticipation of the new babies arrival. Yesterday I cleaned the whole house and did laundry. Usually, I can only do a little bit but yesterday I had a ton of energy. Then when Richard got home he took Evelyn for a bike ride while I made a nice dinner without interuptions. It was great. I turned up the music danced, sang and cooked.

After dinner, I did the dishes and then cleaned out the closets in Evelyn's and the new babies room. By the end of all this I was tired but felt very accomplished. Richard even commented on how nice it was to come home to a clean house and him not have to do much.

On another note: Sandy had to go to the Vet on Monday because she was limping and her front right paw was bleeding. They found a wart like cluster on her paw so she is on antibotics and hopefully that will help. If it doesn't, she may need surgery to remove it. Hopefully that won't be neccessary.


Here are a couple of pictures of Evelyn: