Because She Is a Mother

Here is a rundown of the day so far
woke up at 2 am feeding,
in bed with me and more feeding
at 4:40 checked my phone
not sure if I was hoping the night was almost over or not, so I could hopefully get more sleep
got a bottle.
5 am bottle not enough
He comes in to see whats going on and if she needs a bottle
next hour is a blur tossing and turning, crying baby
2 more ounces
not sure what time it is but the dawn is breaking, at least I don't need my cell phone as a light now.
He goes back to bed.
The other she comes downstairs asking for cereal, I tell her to go find daddy
He comes downstairs and showers
I get up take her to the bathroom
She doesn't want to sit on the toilet
Left a mark on her hinny put pants on her
got her some cereal and a cup of milk
felt bad about her hinny said I was sorry kissed her
He asks if I'm ok, replied with no and told him what I had already regretted doing for the day
He leaves for work
Cuddle her and put on a show
Lay on the couch stare at the clock 7:30
Baby seems to like to sleep in on mornings, great (sarcasm)
Try to catch up on some Zzz's for an hour on the couch
baby wakes up
change baby
check on the other one
tells me in the kitchen looking down at her now drenched pants 'look mom, wet'
change her
asks for a waffle, notice her cereal is soggy and not really touched
put her in the sink to rinse her hands after her waffle, don't stop there I hose of her legs too
she is now clean changed and pony tailed,
time for another show
baby seems to only wake up to eat and go back to sleep ( What the...) would have been nice 6 hours earlier
Take a shower, it might have been more than 5 minutes
go through the house and do laundry
She wants milk, pour her some
find the cup later, it's half full
Ask if she wants to color on the couch with me
5 minutes she's done, now she has found places only God would know of to put them
she goes up stairs, fast, I know what that means. Run up after her and she has already done it.
She says go this way poops mommy.
Clean it out of her underwear
go get clean ones
notice now that we didn't really have a formal lunch
popcorn as a snack was it
nap time (Hallelujah)
put her in her bed, cover her up give her a kiss close the door
come downstairs, look up
See her standing at the top, tell her to go to bed
go back up the stairs
she has stripped her bed and the book shelf
now the little one is up again
Tuck her in close the door (2nd time)
I change the little one and the other one is now in the room telling me about her blanket and 'come this way mom" as I'm 'trying' to breast feed.
Follow her and she points to the laundry shoot, stuffed with everything that was on her bed.
Go back up the stairs for the 3rd nap time tuck in (baby is screaming, she didn't get anything to eat)
tell her to stay in her bed
feeling lost I think of what I should do, remember listening to this

http://www.mormonchannel.org/gospel-solutions-for-families/keeping-your-sanity-in-a-home-of-little-ones-part-1

sit in the chair and listen to it as the baby downs the 4 oz.
Now I'm feeling better about the day and looked up this mans referenced quote.

"if you will show others, including your children,(HUSBAND) the same caring, compassionate, forgiving heart you want heaven to show you; if you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do."

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1997/05/because-she-is-a-mother

If I start the day off (whatever time of the morning that may be) with a prayer in my heart and hope that the spirit will guide me that day to what is important (not the laundry) and what I should be doing (cuddling my babies and cherishing them) thats all I might be able to do and that is enough!

PS: To those who say to mothers of young ones, its goes by too fast, we are feeling deep in the trenches of bottles, diapers, what's going to be for dinner. The days go too slow and the years too fast. So take it as a call for help and acknowledgment that some days it's hard to see the rhyme and reason of it all.

Here is a second in heaven:

Madilyn's Birth Story

So I knew I was B.I.G, I mean every pregnant person feels big but I KNEW I was going to have a football baby. I was induced with Lily at 40 and 2 and she was 8lbs. This time my Dr said he would induce if everything was fine no earlier than 39. So at 39 and 1. I strutted into that office with my bags packed and house clean...ready to GO!
He walked in and I send "send me", his unwelcome response- Not today! Really, I thought his eyes needed to be checked. He obviously did not see the whale of a woman in front of him. He said that the 4 slots for optional induction were already full. So I begged and pleaded and he said he would be able to send me on Monday the 19th. My due date was the 22. And I had no intention of waiting until then, especially with his guess weight estimate was 8 ISH...

So Monday morning came, I was really anxious, not about the events at the hospital but about lily. I have not really left her long, especially if it needed to be over night. So my goals for the day were to have a beautiful bouncing baby around dinner so that Luke could go home with Lily and sleep in their own beds.

Dropped Lily of, of course the time when she sleeps in is the day when I was expecting her to get up at the crack of dawn. Luke and I went to the hospital, got there at 8, were supposed to be there at 7, but hey it was going to be a long day anyways. Hooked me up at 9 to the pit and I told Luke to go into work which was a mile away since it wasn't going to be very fast. He went to his meetings and I enjoyed having cable tv all to myself and got my unhealthy doses of 'vintage' Grey's Anatomy and old Kardashians. Luke came back in time to see me in the lovely throws of contractions. Here's a visual, Alyssa on the ball trying to move as much as you can hooked up to machines and then it starts...keeps escalating and she starts to breathe and Luke puts his loving comforting hand on her shoulder to be answered with a "DON'T touch ME!"

Enter in epidural time...Love that man! Ironically in my last ward with lily our bishopric nurse anesthetist was at the hospital at the same time. This time it was Clint who was recently in the bishopric at the hospital. Always nice to see people who only see you in your Sunday best looking ravaged in the beautiful experience of labor. I think I had chap stick on?!

So I was at a 2 for the last few weeks and I was certain there must have been progress since the dr had broke my water at 10 and it had been two hours of pitocin. Nope, told my nurse I didn't want to wait anymore and give it to me now instead of another hour. So then at 1pm I got it. Luke and I exchanged pleasantries I turned my head to close my eyes for an hour nap, yes, NAP it can happen. Woke up at 3pm to a nurse setting up things and I asked to be checked. 8!

An 8 at 3pm, a 10 a little after 4. Nurse told me not to push and just relax. Think she left to make sure the Dr was available. There were a few other women there too. She said "I have delivered babies, but that's not my job."

So I sat there for 15 minutes feeling the pressure and tried to remember which muscles I was going to be using. Dr came in and asked me to push and said "ok stop", I asked Luke to put the camera up on the shelf behind me and before he was done she said "you'd better get over here dad" then within the first two minutes she was out. Nice short and sweet video. Two pushes. She had the waxy stuff all over her, Lily had none and they were taking bets at what she was going to weigh. All of them were in the eights and then the 9 popped up and the ounces were going up until they stopped at 9 lbs 6.6 ounces.

Perfect timing 5:04 pm. Luke brought lily by and she looked at the baby in the basinet and said "whats that?"
She is warming up to her almost two weeks later, she calls her baby sister and is starting to touch her hands or head really quick. still doesn't want to hold her but helps me pick out her cloths and diapers.

PS Luke went home with lily and spent most of the night cleaning up all of Lily's puke. It must have been a 24 hr thing. Luke wasn't feeling good either. He went to bed at 6 pm the Wed we got home. So glad that was the day my mom came into town.

The "baby sister" didn't officially have a name until the final minutes of the hospital stay. Luke had filled out all of the information except her first and middle name. So I filled it out while he was on his way to pick me up and didn't take a picture of it so I made the joke that maybe that wasn't really her name. IT was Roxanne or something hot like that!
So Madilyn it is, I wanted her to be able to shorten her name to mad-E but if she did it would read Made Galloway. So I wanted it short and phonetic. Madeline or Madeleine was too long and too many e's.
Madi Galloway works a little better.
Ella was my paternal great grandmothers name.and my maternal grandfathers grandmothers names (luella and ella) it was between ella and emma. So we went with a family name.
Picture time

 Hate that IV but I found out the banana flavor was the best

 Luke checking out the room

 I only went up to 16 on the pit, was told it went above 30...EEK

 

Proof if she complains of her name that we took forever picking one!

 A few hours old and Lily is content with cell phones.

 Two girls, perfect!

 Going home outfit, that fit long enough to get home and change into 0-3 month clothes

Everything went great, I'm glad that I did not have to wait for my 'body' to have her. I'm sure I would have been one of those women who died because they just didn't go into labor or had too big of a baby. Thank heavens for modern medicine that gets me pregnant and puts me into labor!

Seeing Double?

So I think I have decided that one of the fun things about having these two girls is going to be seeing how similar (or not) they are. So Lily is on the left and Madi on the right. Lily is a week older but I think almost perfect!
And because I can't get enough of those cheeks, here is one more. Seriously, though look at them, they are almost to her neck. Oh so much for me to kiss!!!