First of all, I do not enjoy being pregnant at all (and that is putting it very nicely) I know I don't have the worst pregnancies in the world, but neither of them have been very easy or fun to say the least. And after my first labor, delivery, c-section and recovery with Nicolynn, I didn't ever want to be pregnant again. But we prayed a lot about it, and God gave us Riella. She is a wonderful blessing!!!
I was deathly afraid of another c-section. I had nightly nightmares on how it would happen, and what I was going to go through. But little did I know, this time was going to go AMAZINGLY well.
Nicolynn meets Riella
Being prepped for surgery
We ended up with a scheduled c-section on June 21. We went into the hospital, got prepped, and Riella Paige was born. Josh was able to be with me during delivery (unlike when I had Nicolynn), and I was awake for the whole thing. Around the moment I was able to hold Riella, I got very sick off the Anesthesia, and was puking that entire first day. But after that wore off, I was as good as gold, and so was Riella. I was doing so well that I was hoping to be off of my pain meds by the time I came home, but I was advised strongly not to do that.
By the time I was home, I was feeling so well that I got off my pain meds and was doing hair within a week. I was taking walks with Josh and starting to feel like a human right away.
Nicolynn heard Riella's heart beat!
I had lots of help from my awesome family, THANKYOU everyone!!! And here we are embarking on an amazing journey with 2 beautiful little girls. Nicolynn adores Riella, and Riella now smiles at Nicolynn. And Josh and I dote on them both. We are blessed!
Riella Paige Holtrop was born June 21. She is an amazing miracle (as are all children). But she is our miracle that God gave to us, so that makes her extra special in our eyes :) We enjoy having her so much. She is such a great baby. She loves to be held and smiles a ton now that she is 2 months old.
Riella is named after Josh's Grandma Marie (close friends and family call her Rie), and Josh's Great Grandma Ella. We know first hand that Grandma "Rie" is an amazing women, and we have heard great things about Josh's Great Grandma "Ella". That's how we came up with her name.
It's amazing how quickly we adjusted to this family of 4. We really love having 2 girls. We can't wait to see where we will go from here :)
I almost forgot to add pictures of the Zoo!! We went to the Zoo with Kelly and her son Vance a week or two ago. We had a really good time. Nicolynn touched a snake, and we saw some chimpanzees go crazy :) I also managed to drop my camera on the cement, and then it bounced into a puddle, and miraculously, I still have some pictures from the trip :)
Time goes by so slowly, but also very very fast. I can't believe I'm still pregnant (the slowly part), but I also can't believe everything that happened since the last time I blogged (the fast part). But here are some pictures from our crazy life.
Jesters Court
White Caps Game
I turned 28. (And so did Josh)
Sunday mornings, and Nicolynn now goes to nursery.
Going to Parks
We also did lots of Tulip Time activities. We had so much fun, and stayed very busy.
Tulip Time with Friends
Tulip Time with Mommy
Just having Fun
Eating Elephant Ears
Smelling the Flowers
More Tulip Time
Watching Dutch Dancers
On our way to the Fireworks
At the Fireworks with cousins.
On our way home from fireworks
Nicolynn did not love the fireworks, but she did ok. At first she tried to run away from them. I ended up holding her, rocking her, covering her ears, and singing to her. She did peek at the fireworks out of one eye while she kept the other eye covered with her arm. When they were all done she happily clapped :) And on the walk back to the car, she pretended to sleep in her wagon. She enjoyed that part a lot, and so did everyone we passes.
This was such a nice family vacation. And Nicolynn is such a spoiled little girl. She has the whole family wrapped around her little finger. And I mean that literally when she grabs their finger and says "walk". :)
Nicolynn and Aunt Kelli (who has been living in Costa Rica):
There are lots of these little lizards in Florida. This one Uncle Tony helped Nicolynn hold and play with.
Nicolynn and I even showered with one by the pool this week :) I didn't see it until Nicolynn started saying "Lizard, Lizard, Lizard" and she backed away from the wall. Sure enough, there was a lizard in our shower. And of course the next thing out of her mouth is "Hold it?"
ICE CREAM:
Ok, so we also had LOTS and LOTS of ice cream on vacation. I have been told that ice cream always fits in the cracks (even after a large dinner) and Nicolynn would definitely agree with that. Nicolynn especially loved this day because we bought her her very own ice cream cone to eat by herself.
PAPA CAUGHT A POMPANO FISH:
"Hold it???"
MORE POOL TIME:
BAGEL WORLD AWESOMENESS:
This is the breakfast of champions, or just the breakfast Josh and I have been craving for the last year. (Everything Bagel, egg, cheese and sausage... yum yum!)
MID-MORNING BINGO: I WON!!!!
Almost every other day, the resort has BINGO on the pool deck. And I actually won my very first BINGO game on this trip. I ended up winning a popcorn popper for the grill... not something I will ever use. But it was still lots of fun playing.
COMING HOME:
So we decided to take a different route home, and it felt like we were never going to leave GEORGIA! (I decided "It's the state that never lets you leave...") This is a picture of our dreaded Atlanta part of the trip.
It's not a good picture, but it the best one I have that can give you an idea on how much fun driving was in that city. :)
The rest of our drive home was successful, except for the part where Nicolynn threw up twice...
The first time was not so bad, BUT the second time... well I still have nightmare about having to clean that up again. Thankfully we were 2 hours from home, but that also meant it was pitch black (since we drove straight thru the night) and it was SOOOOO COLD again. We cleaned her and the car up as best as we could at a rest area. And then did more dreaded cleaning at 5:00am when we got home.
She was so good about it all though. We're not sure if it was a bug or if she got car sick or both.
But for the most part, driving went pretty well!!!
