The Mautz's

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Slip n' Slide

While my sister, mom, and the girls were here we had the little girls outside as much as possible. Since it was so HOT, my mom bought a slip n' slide for the backyard. This was definitely the best purchase, the girls absolutely LOVED it!!!

PRICELESS!!! Hailey had so much fun

surfing down the slip n' slide

washing off before going back down the slip n' slide to get dirty all over again :)

Hailey really wanted to climb into the water table ... caught her in the act

taking a break to enjoy some freezer pops

Aly also enjoyed the warm weather... soaking in some Vitamin D (she was very jaundice so we had her outside a little each day)

Aly's 1st Bath

(I am so behind on posts and going to try and catch up this week...so look for a lot of new posts! )

The day after we got home from the hospital we decided it was time to give Aly her first bath, well her first sponge bath. Her umbilical cord still hasn't fallen off so we can't give her her first official bath until that is long gone. As for how Aly did, well, she did pretty good considering (definitely better then Ansley did with her first bath). It was so nice to have her spelling clean and not like milk! Plus, her hair was beginning to look a little greasy.

Here are some pics Kelly took while Rob and I were bathing Aly... (Please excuse the dead tulips on our countertop)

not really loving the cold air

can you believe all that hair?

all cozy & warm

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Happy Easter

After we got settled in at home, the Easter bunny made a visit to our house. Ansley, Maddie, and Hailey loved all the goodies the Easter bunny left for them (thankfully I had already put Ansley's basket together before having Aly... I just had a feeling I was going to be in the hospital that weekend). We gave the girls time to check it all out, eat some candy, look at books and play with their new things... but then it was time to go up for naps so we could get all dressed up afterwards and have our Easter Egg hunt in the backyard :)

Kelly and I filled all the eggs up while the girls were napping, we had a ridiculous amount of eggs which = A LOT OF CANDY!!! But we did put some coins in a good amount of eggs. We knew the girls really didn't need the candy, plus it would mean I would eat a lot of it! ... Kelly and Pop Pop put the eggs in the backyard, I think Pop Pop really got into putting them in good hiding places.

Once we got the girls out of their rooms, we got them dress in their pretty Easter dresses and let them hunt for all the eggs. They had an absolute BLAST! Maddie would shake every egg to see if there was anything good in it, and then she wanted to open them one at a time. Ansley was all about filling up her Easter bags (notice, I said bags...Yes, she filled up two bags of eggs). And Hailey, well she just had fun running around the backyard and falling down.

Getting to come home from the hospital with Aly was great; but, not missing out on Ansley's Easter was even better! We truly had a wonderful Easter, one we will never forget.

Ansley checking out her goodies

Ansley's new favorite...mini cadberry eggs, YUM!

Hailey was the only one who would wear her bunny mask... and ofcourse Rob joined in on the fun!

The only pic I could get of all three of the girls (hopefully Aunt Kelly got a good one)

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture of Ansley

What's in the egg Pop Pop?

on a mission ...

this shot of Hailey cracks me up...

Saturday, April 10, 2010

What a "Good Friday" ... Aly's arrival!

(NOTE: this is a long one)

I woke up on Good Friday at 5:45am, but I thought my water broke. Not sure exactly, I went down stairs and got on the computer to google info. Around 6:25a.m. my contractions started. I started writing them down to see how far apart they were, well by 6:45a.m. they were a little over 10 minutes apart. I woke Rob up to let him know that I thought I was in labor and that my water broke. I called the dr., and he said I was in labor and to make my way to the hospital (while I was waiting to hear back from the dr. I took a quick shower). The shower was probably not the best thing I did since it took me longer to get ready and get out of the house. Thank God, my sister got into town the day before, and was staying at my house with Maddie & Hailey. We woke Ansley up before we left and told her we were going to have baby Aly. She didn't mind too much, she was excited to just play with her cousins. By the time we left for the hospital my contractions were close to 5 minutes apart.

We were very fortunate it was Good Friday and the beginning of spring break so the traffic was light. I hate to think what would have happened if it was a normal day (we live about 25 minutes away from the hospital with no traffic). When we got to the hospital (around 8am) I was in so much pain and my contractions were 4 minutes apart. They got me to a room really quick, and checked me right away (I was 7 cm dilated). Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist was in a c-section and couldn't leave til the baby was born and the on-call anesthesiologist was busy. I was so SCARED that I was not going to be able to get the epidural. I kept telling Rob and the nurses that I couldn't do this natural, I was in so much pain! Once, the anesthesiologist finally came in, and got the epidural administered (which took him two times since he missed and hit my vein the first time)... my water fully broke! And then I literally started pushing. Everything happened so fast!!!! Needless to say the epidural did not have time to fully kick in before I started pushing. But 30 minutes later, Alyson "Aly" Lynn Mautz was born at 10:09a.m., weighing 7lbs. 10.5 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. She had a head full of dark hair :) She was perfect!!!

I can't thank Rob enough, he was such a good coach and so supportive. I really couldn't have gotten through the labor without him (it was much harder then when I had Ansley). I had awesome nurses as well. And I don't know what I would have done if my sister wasn't in town. I really don't think we would have had enough time to have gotten Ansley to a friend's house. Plus, it really all worked out like it was suppose to. Aly wanted to make sure her Aunt Kelly and cousins were in town for her arrival :)

My family came down later in the day after the girls took naps. Ansley was unsure of what to think, but she just watched her baby sister from afar which was fine. We were not going to push her into holding her sister or do anything she didn't want to do... However, her cousin Madison, was very interested in Aly and wanted to hold her, it was really sweet! It was a great visit and Kelly and my parents brought the kids back down the following day as well. We were released from the hospital on Easter Sunday. When we arrived home, there was a "Welcome Home Baby Aly" sign on the front door (Ansley & Pops made it) and we were welcomed by my sister, Maddie, Hailey, Nana & Pop Pop, and Mimi & Pops. Plus, they had prepared an Easter lunch, Rob and I were so happy to not be eating hospital food anymore.

This Easter was so special for all of us, we finally were able to be a family of 4! We have waited such a long time for this and feel extremely blessed.

I have taken a ton of pics but wanted to post some of my favorites. Kelly, the girls, and my parents stayed for the week. I have some great pictures from Aly's 1st week, our Easter egg hunt, and pics of all the big girls playing (I will try and post these in the next couple of days so I don't get behind). Hope you enjoy!