One month with Penny!

I can't begin to describe how wonderful this month has been... What an adventure!

Penelope is such a good baby, she's been getting into more of a routine this past week which is nice for mama, I've realized to get her to fall asleep BEFORE she is so tired she protests! She is a noisy sleeper and it is so funny, she grunts and coos and it just cracks us up!

I love getting to know her more and more, it is just the coolest thing to see her get to know me and Lucas more and more. When she recognizes my face or my voice it just takes my breath away! There's nothing like having your precious baby acknowledged you!!

I recently have been trying to "wear" her and became so frustrated with the wraps I have... Thanks to a wonderful friend I got what I'm calling my new best friend, a Sakura Bloom ring sling! Oh I'm in love, I've gotten brace and ventured out with Penelope a few times for errands and walking around with her car seat is a nightmare and kills my back! This sling is amazing, I could cry talking about it and my wish would be for every mom to own one!!

(Sorry for the silly pic)

We've had a great month, from bringing her home to somewhat experiencing the whole delivering a baby process all over again when my precious brother-in-law and sister-in-law had their adorable baby Boy Cody! Exactly 4 weeks from the day we had Penny! I'm so excited they will be so close in age!

Penelope has been eating like a champ since day one and she's kept it up! She sleeps amazingly well about 90% of the time and is holding her little head up so well! Somedays she likes tummy time and somedays she hates it, but it's been a blast getting to just hold her every single minute and I tell you I don't think she would have it any other way, she just constantly wants to be held, even though it's tough to shower, eat or get anything done I wouldn't have it any other way!

We love our little girl so much, I think Lucas has just fallen completely in love with her since the moment she was born. She loves it when he gets home and gets to hold her and Kiss on her, she starts smiling so big when Luke talks to her... It melts my heart!

It breaks my heart to think she's getting older and is going to get any bigger... But then I think of all the new things we will get to experince watching her grow and learn! We love our little baby girl so much!

We now have a baby!! Labor Story

Gosh so much has happened these past nine... ten months! Well I became pregnant, annnnd then we had a sweet baby girl! Miss Penelope Lane Smith joined us on December 30th at 10:47am. She was 7lbs 12oz of pure love and 19 3/4 inches long. Little P has light colored hair, it's shines like gold in the sun light and her eyes at the moment are deep blue! Oh we love our little angel so much!

There's nothing like holding your baby for the first time. It was the craziest and most amazing experience of our lives! Let me just say Lucas was the most incredible coach and helper, gosh I owe him so much credit for all his support and love! I love him and my little Penny girl so much!

Our labor story: 

We had been in the hospital the evening of Monday December 29th to get things moving. By 2:45 am on Dec 30th I started having extremely painful contractions and woke Lucas up about 3:00 for some coaching. It was difficult but I knew God would get me through it. Somewhere between an hour to hour and a half later I got an epidural and that really helped with the pain. That epidural was amazing, it took a good 30 minutes to kick in, but it did not hurt one tiny bit when they did it. Not long after that at about 7:30/8:00am my doctor came in and broke my water, by that time I was dilated to a 4. In an hour I had progressed to a 5 and they came in to help me move around and upped my dose of the epidural since I had made some progress. (I couldn't switch sides on my own, weirdest feeling ever not being able to feel my own toes). About 10:00 it was time to be moved again and I started hurting really bad. My grandma mentioned "maybe she'll be here at 10:45 that's what time your mom was born at on her birthday" and we all thought she was crazy... But we were wrong!

Well that pain in my left side started hurting worse and worse and they still hadn't come to help me change sides which I thought would help. The nurse came in and by our surprise I had dilated to a 9!!! They called the doctor to get her ready to come down, before we knew it the doctor was in the room and 15 minutes later and only 3 pushes Penelope Lane was born at 10:47! 

It happened so fast no body could believe it!!! 

I'll never forget that feeling of them lifting her onto my belly. It was incredible, almost as if I had no idea there was really a baby growing in my womb until that moment she was physically there! Gosh she was beautiful, Lucas and I were just in Awe! Those first moments of snuggles were incredible and I was so happy, and so proud to be a mommy and so in love with my Husband!!

God is so good!!!