One Week Old

Like Riding a Bike

When I had lunch a couple weeks ago with my friend Lindsey she told me not to worry about forgetting how to take care of a baby, you don't. She was right and things have been going really well. We went to the pediatrician yesterday and Tinsley looks great. When we left the hospital on Saturday she weighed 7lbs., 15oz. and yesterday she weighed 8lbs., 1.5oz., so she is gaining her weight back. Things are even starting to go better with her nursing habits.

Meredith is doing well. We don't have any issues with her that we haven't had already. She loves looking at Tinsley and giving her kisses every now and then, but otherwise she isn't really interested. She also hasn't freaked out that I can't hold her, she almost seems to understand (could be imagining this).

Here are some new pictures...

Meredith meets baby sister

Not so sure about this baby thing, will she always cry?

Give baby sister a kiss.

Introducing Tinsley Morgan Rowley

Well what a more fitting way to write my 100th blog posting, to announce the birth of our second daughter, Tinsley Morgan Rowley. I am terrible at taking pictures of myself while pregnant, so here is what I looked like bright and early this morning.

We had the first c-section this morning at 7:30am and had to be at the hospital at 5:30am (what fun). Northeast Georgia Medical Center has opened a new wing for Women and Children since we had Meredith and the changes are wonderful. I cannot complain one bit about all the services and new things they do here now.

Tinsley arrived into the world at 7:53am weighing a whopping 8lbs, 5oz. and 20.5" long. I never thought she would be this big, I was thinking maybe 7lbs. It is a huge difference considering Meredith only weighed 5lbs., 6oz. (keeping in mind she was 4 weeks early). She started screaming immediately and "passed" her first test in life (APGAR). Here is when I first got to meet her. One thing I love about the new set-up is that the nursery comes to you so she and Bill were always within sight, including while I was in recovery.

Tinsley has a full head of thick dark hair, we could easily put a bow in it. The funny thing is, yesterday when they did my final ultrasound you could see she had a lot of hair, the doctor joked she had an afro. Meredith had a lot of hair when she was born so I was not expecting a bald baby, but I would not have guessed she would have this much hair!

She has taken to nursing really well and is a very healthy baby. It is nice having her here with us and not in the nursery or NICU. My blood pressure went up once I got into my room, but it is fine now and we are both well.

My mom got here with Meredith about 5pm and while she wasn't really sure what was up with this baby, she said she loved her and gave her a kiss. We have pictures but haven't gotten those loaded on the computer yet. I have been dying to write this post all day but the wireless here at the hospital is really slow so it is taking forever to do anything.

I was able to get up and get moving right around 8pm tonight and I feel great. It wasn't as hard to get out of bed this time and now that I have moved I feel a lot better (sorry to my friend Chris who hasn't had it as easy as me, but I have done this before and this is her first time). While up I was eager to change Tinsley (even though I knew she had a blowout) because I hadn't really seen her unswaddled. I love her chubbiness!

Now we are going to get some rest and enjoy our new baby girl. I think she will be a Daddy's girl just like her sister.

Thank you to everyone for all your well wishes, thoughts, and prayers! We have the greatest friends and family in world!

Fat and Happy

So I am fat and Tinsley is happy and that about sums up where we are in this pregnancy.

So, ok I am not fat, just very pregnant and really beginning to feel it with work and the heat. Although I feel pretty lucky in the weather department, it could be worse. Tinsley is very happy inside me and is constantly moving. I had my check-up today and she is not ready to come out, which suits me just fine. I had a non-stress test and the Doctor said she is happy as she can be. She had flipped, yet again and had her head back up and really leaning more to being transverse, which is how Meredith was. Again, we expected this, so it is no big deal. I can't believe she will be here in 14 days or less!

In other Rowley news, Meredith is still interested in potty training, but the only time she really uses it is in the morning. We haven't been pushing but I think we will start progressing more now that we have gone through all the diapers and now have only pull ups and training pants.

Our biggest issue is that Meredith will NOT stay in her bed. She did great for two weeks and now she gets up almost immediately and opens the door to look down the hall. We have her gate up so she can't get out, but she either plays or cries herself to sleep on the floor. Every night! So we would love any advice anyone has to give on how to keep her in bed. She also wakes up during the night at least 3 or 4 nights a week and comes to our room. When she does this one of us, usually Bill, takes her back to bed and stays until she falls back asleep, which can take awhile. We joke that she is trying to get us ready for the baby, but it really isn't funny as all of us need our sleep.

So, any advice would be great because we are getting desperate!

She did it!

Meredith went pee pee in the potty tonight! We asked her if she needed to go potty and she said yes (which she always says), and low and behold when she got up she had peed. I could not believe it.

We spent the weekend trying to find training pants to fit her skinny butt, but to no avail. They make them in her size, you just can't find them. I did get some pull-ups yesterday and she wore them at school today and did good. I did order some training pants online so we should have them next week.

I am just in shock that she went in the potty!

Wordless Wednesday

What's Up

When my mom was here she taught Meredith to say "what's up." It all started with her saying what's up Mimi, then to Mommy and Daddy, and then on to what's up dude. Well we always say blessing before dinner and ask Meredith to say Amen, which she does, so I then asked her to say "what's up Jesus" and she did. It was the funniest thing and I finally got it on video. Hope you enjoy.

In other news, Meredith is doing well in her new classroom at school. They moved her up a couple weeks before her birthday and the transition went ok, she didn't like when I dropped her off, but settled in fine. In this room they help with potty training which of course we love but haven't been pushing because I have heard so many moms say that their kids reverted when siblings arrived. Plus we knew that we were moving her into her new room and didn't want too much going on at once. Too bad Meredith thinks differently and she is very interested in the potty. So it looks like we will start the process a little sooner than anticipated, but as long as it is on her terms then we are okay with that.