Birth Story

Finally getting around to documenting Sophia's birth story. Not that dramatic or exciting, as it was a scheduled C-section, due to complications I had after Jack's birth (which you can read about here, should you so desire!). And this time around, the whole experience was WONDERFUL!!

I had switched doctors at 36 weeks (crazy, I know), to a friend from church, and I am so happy I did. It was great to have someone familiar doing my surgery and she did a fantastic job. This had also meant switching hospitals and again, I'm so pleased I did. We had a great experience there and were so comfortable and well cared for.

Last family photo before leaving for the hospital

Anyway, we were scheduled for 1 pm and went in at 11 am to get prepped. Honestly the worst part of the whole experience was getting the epidural put in...the rest of the time I didn't feel a thing! So great and so quick. One minute I'm lying on the operating table, delighting in feeling numb all over, after 9 months of being uncomfortable, and the next thing I know, there's a gorgeous, screaming baby girl!!

Daddy prepped and ready

Mummy prepped and VERY ready!

Stacy doing the surgery (on the right)

And in no time at all, there she was!

First photo with Sophia

A little bitty thing at 6 lbs 9 oz

Hello world!

The surgery took about 45 minutes start to finish. Sophia and Andre were taken into the recovery room before me, for her bath and then I joined them a bit later. Although I got the shakes pretty badly from the epidural, I didn't feel anything else...totally the way to do things :) Ha!

And our hospital stay was really good, so comfortable and relaxing and all the staff were incredibly helpful and friendly. I almost didn't want to go home. Almost :). Thanks to all of our sweet friends and family who visited us in the hospital and at home, since. We've loved celebrating Sophia with all of you!

Special Visitors

I know I haven't posted Sophia's birth story and first photos yet, but I'll get to that when I have more brain cells functioning :) Here are some of the special visitors we've had come by the hospital this weekend to see our little lady. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of several friends who've stopped by but here's what we did take (sorry Hannah, Katie and Debs!).

Aunty Nessa

Uncle Steve and Aunty Rachel

And of course, Nana!

Some Russians friends, Vera and Vladimir

Big brother Jack holding his sister for the first time

One of my Mum's best friends, Aunty Liz

With Sharon

With Robin

As you can see, Jack liked being in on the action as much as possible and thoroughly enjoyed all the visitors just as much as we did, when he was here! Thank you so much, sweet friends for helping us welcome Sophia!

Two days old

Our little Sophia Joy is a joy indeed! At 48 hours old she is sleeping beautifully, trying to eat, and has good alert/awake times. She loves to look at us when she hears us talking to her and being held immediately calms her down. She has lost 7% of her body weight and so is on formula supplements until my milk comes in and she can get more. And she will be checked for jaundice tomorrow, so please pray that doesn't develop.

Otherwise she is healthy and seems a happy, content baby. We are loving all the cuddles and soaking up every minute with our sweet girlie!

Welcome Little Girl!

Sophia Joy Yakovlev

9 December 2011
1:25 pm.
6 lbs 9 oz
19 inches long

Sophie and I are both doing well today and plan to stay in the hospital until Tuesday, to get some rest and alone time together. Big brother Jack has visited twice already with Nana and is very interested in his little sister and keeps offering her his snacks! He seems to be doing just fine without his Mummy and Daddy at home and is having a great time with Nana. Thank you Mum for staying with him!

We are filled with thankfulness for this new little life and what a precious addition she is to our family. Thank you Lord!

D-Day

Well, it's here. Finally. I thought delivery day would never come! And I am so ready. Ready to meet our little girl and hold her and kiss her and enjoy every sweet newborn moment. Since Jack's newborn stage was lost in a fog of surgery, pain, and long recovery, I am so ready to enjoy it this time around! I do have some anxiety about recovery, worrying that something will go wrong; although knowing I'm having the c-section has made me feel 1000 times better about things.

21 weeks along

I am so thankful to the Lord for getting me and baby girl safely this far. How blessed I feel to know that tomorrow is her birth day and that I will be able to hold her finally, Lord willing. I have so many mixed emotions when it comes to Jack though...thrilled that he'll have a sister and be a brother. Sad to put this stage of "just my boy" behind us. Going through today, this day of "lasts" and putting him to bed tonight was bittersweet. Tears were shed :)

24 weeks along

I am thankful too, for all our friends and family who have prayed so faithfully for us throughout this pregnancy. Thankful for those who have supported us with love, phone calls, baby showers, messages, hugs and encouragement in so many different ways. You have all kept me going!

34 weeks along

My heart is full as I wait for tomorrow to arrive and we welcome this new little life into ours. Praise Him from whom all blessings flow!

Christmas Prep with a 21 Month Old...

...takes a lot more time but is a lot more fun! Jack turned 21 months on Friday and we've had such a fun week prepping for the Christmas season together. He can enjoy and participate in tasks with us now and loves to "help", whether it's decorating, baking cookies or wrapping presents.

Last Sunday we went out as a family and picked out the garland for our mantel (which we decorate each year instead of a tree, due to limited space in our condo). The evening was spent decorating and resulted in several smashed ornaments, much fascination with the nativity pieces and a squeals of delight when the Christmas lights were finally turned on. As soon as we pulled out the stockings, Jack tried to put them on his feet!

Playing hide and seek with Daddy

Such a good helper!

The finished Christmas mantle (Baby Sophie has her own stocking too!)

So our boy is getting bigger and milestones and special occasions are passing...we are so blessed to share these moments of his little life. He has had a growth spurt the past few weeks and is growing out of his trousers again. His speaking has really taken off and he copies everything we say and talks a lot on his own now. It's so great to have him able to communicate! He often says words we had no idea he knew. So cute.

Please pray for him as he transitions to being a big brother next week. We are praying for acceptance of and a special love for his little sister and for not too many behavioral regressions! Hopefully the excitement of Christmas will help!

Grilling and Chilling

Due to the lovely weather we had this past weekend, we spent quite a bit of time outdoors. Good thing too, as this week we're finally getting our cold, rainy weather moving in (hooray, says I!). Andre and Jack took quite a few long walks, kicking the soccer ball, riding Jack's motor-bike and feeding the ducks in our condo complex.

Then on Saturday afternoon we hung out with our Russian friends again, Vera and Vladimir, this time at their home and a gorgeous park nearby. While the guys grilled us lamb, salmon and veggies, we took Jack and their adorable West Highland Terrier, Prosha, (who speaks Russian!), to the playground which was amazing! It was huge with something for all ages and Jack had a blast. Many tears were shed when dinner time signaled the end of playground time!

Lots of grilling going on

Jack ate a whole piece of salmon by himself!

Jack and Prosha cuddling in the doggy bed while we had tea and dessert.
He kept saying, "Sleep, sleep"!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

I've so been looking forward to the holidays this year. Maybe it has something to do with being really pregnant and knowing that December means an end to all that! So I've been anticipating Thanksgiving as the start to the holiday season and countdown to meeting Baby Girl, and really enjoyed preparing for this special holiday. We invited our Russian friends, Vera and Vladimir, over as they have just immigrated to the States and have never experienced Thanksgiving before.

Never having cooked the traditional feast, I was slightly ambitious and Andre feared I'd send myself into labor with all the prep! He saved the day for me by buying already prepared portions of ham and turkey, so all I had to do was sides and pumpkin pie for dessert. Easy!

I think everything worked out pretty well, apart from the sweet potato casserole...I made it early this morning, complete with perfectly browned marshmallows on top, popped it back into the oven to warm up a little and took it out right before we served lunch. Lo and behold, upon removing the tin foil, there wasn't a marshmallow to be seen! Completely gone. Melted away. How could I not have realized they would dissolve in the oven?!! Oh well, it still tasted yummy, just wasn't the work of art it had been! And on a side note, adding orange zest and juice makes a nice difference to the traditional flavor. Emeril's recipe. Yes, the Food Network was my friend this week :)

Enjoying our Thanksgiving lunch

We totally pumped Jack up about Thanksgiving this year and
he was so excited to talk about "gifts" from God and to eat "tur-keeeee" today!

Family photo, with Mummy looking decidedly
plump at almost 37 weeks!

Vladimir and Vera getting cuddled and smeared
with candy cane drool

Somebody was WORN OUT with all the thanksgiving
going on around here!

We are so thankful for the many blessings in our lives and praise the Lord for what he has given us and what he has taught us this year. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

More Love for Baby Girl

A couple of weeks ago, I had a baby shower given by my sister and some sweet friends. We had a really special morning together enjoying a delicious brunch, lots of gorgeous presents and flowers, and tons of chatter and laughter. Thank you Ladies for such a wonderful shower!

A shower of special things for Baby Girl

Beautiful table of treats

Some of the sweet ladies who came to celebrate with me

I was AMAZED when I opened this beautiful heirloom dress
and bonnet made by my friend Grace...what a labor of love!


LOVE the dress Jenna gave me (its says, "My Mommy rocks"!!)

Sisters with our belly bumps:
Nessa at 19 weeks, Rachel at 21 weeks, and me at 34 weeks

The lovely hostesses: Megan, Vanessa and Ruth

Me and my sweet friend Deborah

Playgroup

Our playgroup at church, Moms and Tots, meets every Thursday and is a fun time for the kiddos to play together but enjoyable for the moms too, as we get to chat! Two weeks ago, we had a Fall Party during playgroup complete with costumes, cupcakes and marshmallow lollipops. Such fun!

Sweet treats

Lots of crawlers at playgroup at the moment :)

Some of our older Tots

Moms with the babies

Happy Birthday...

To our wonderful Husbie and Daddy! We celebrated Andre's special day on Tuesday with coffee and panettone (that was his birthday cake!) in the morning and then took him out for an early dinner that evening to Scalinis. Delicious Italian food...our favorite! I even let him eat a bowl of fresh garlic (which he adores and I abhor) as it was his birthday and all. Only once a year he's allowed to do that!! Being so early, the restaurant was empty, the service quick, and Jack was able to run around without disturbing anyone. A win-win for all!

Family dinner at Scalinis

My boys about to dig in

We got tiramisu to go and ate it on the couch together once Jack was in bed, while we watched our new fav TV show, Ringer. Happy birthday, darling!

Halloween 2011

Finally getting around to posting Halloween pics! We lost the cable to our camera and so weren't able to get any photos off there for the past few weeks until today. So here, for your viewing enjoyment, is Jack dressed up as "Charlie the Biker" for Halloween:


Background story: Dad has a good friend called Charlie, who owns a motor-bike and whom Jack ADORES! Here he is with the real Charlie:


So seeing as we have a leather jacket and black motor-bike at home, I let him be Charlie for Halloween!


He was thrilled and still talks about it. We've decided not to celebrate this holiday by trick or treating (why are parenting decisions already getting difficult?!!) but he loves dressing up and hanging out with his cousins in their costumes :)