A Big Step in a Little Girl's Life

We took Rocky to the discount theater to see her first big screen movie. The Princess and the Frog turned out to have a few pretty scary parts, but she loved the animals. Since we got back she hasn't stopped saying frog which unfortunately in her toddler tongue sounds suspiciously like a certain four-letter word that definitely wouldn't have been found in a Disney movie. It is giving us more motivation to push the Spanish form, rana. Daisy came too but since she didn't open her eyes once she doesn't get credit.
As for me, I loved the movie and it made me feel like a little girl. I was almost as excited as when my cousin Nikki got Jill and me out of school early to see Beauty and the Beast.

Thank Goodness for Grandmas

Brandon's mom Kathy's visit helped us out so much. She took care of the girls and did all the cooking and cleaning while I was spoiled. She made a cookie sheet of peanut butter fingers that I swore I was going to take and share with my neighbors, but ended up eating them all myself.

There was an immediate bond between these three.


It was fun to have the company as well as all the help and we all felt sad when we dropped Abia off at the airport. We will miss the treats, but we'll miss her more.

Now we are just enjoying having Brandon home for spring break. It is fun to have him here but it is a big job for him because we are in constant competition for his attention. It isn't easy trying to beat out a newborn and a blonde, big-eyed toddler. It's a good thing for me that they take naps.


Rocky makes sure that her dolls take naps too.


People keep asking me if I think that Daisy will keep her dark features and olive skin. I can't be positive, but in consulting with this picture of me when I was two weeks old, I kind of doubt it. My dark hair fell out and I was bald until the blonde came in later. The Rigbys have some dark hair in their family so the only way to really know is to wait and find out.

Daisy at 3 weeks

Everything else around here is just business as usual.

Photo Time

We have been having so much fun the last week. My mom and I took about a million pictures of my beautiful girls. Even when I only picked my very favorites there were still quite a few so if you were planning on reading this post and getting something done today you should probably skip this blog.

People keep asking how Rocky is doing with the baby and this is my answer.

She absolutely LOVES her. She can't seem to keep her hands off of her and about a third of my day just goes to making sure that Daisy makes it to three weeks with both of her eyes in tact.
Rocky doesn't seem to be jealous but she does use the time when I am distracted by Daisy to get into trouble. I'm not sure if it because she knows it will bring her attention or if she just sees it as an opening to get away with mischief. She has won the battle though because a lot of the things that used to be off limits are now fair game because I don't have the time or energy to stop her from getting into them. For example, she now is allowed to get the spices out of the drawer and play with them (which will last until she figures out how to open the bottles), and she can hide behind the curtains and reorganize the pantry to her heart's content. I don't care if I have to search for the peanut butter anymore if it keeps her quiet for 15 minutes.

I need to put a picture of a couple of Rocky's buddies, Tejana and Veda. They live right by us in our complex and whenever the weather is nice these three amigos are found together.


It was pretty fun to have three of my favorite people all sitting together on such a comfy couch.

Daisy is already following the example of her sister and has completely fallen in love with her daddy. I can't blame them. I did too.

It is pretty cool that Rocky is trying to look innocent and not succeeding at all.

Daisy's first bath seemed okay for her but it was stressful for me. These newborns are just a little to fragile for me to feel comfortable, even when it is my own baby. She is a little shrimp with the longest body, hands and feet and the skinniest legs I've ever seen.




One of the girls in Brandon's program, Kaitlyn, had this idea to have a mustache party. Everyone was required to have a mustache which really made for some great conversations. It is a little tricky to take someone seriously when they are sporting a huge black piece of fuzz on their lip. Because of Brandon's skills in the facial hair department, he didn't have to wear one of the fake ones that were shipped in from Hong Kong. The rest of us had our first experience trying to eat without getting stray pieces of cheese stuck to our bristles.




Rocky once again practicing her pouty face for the day when she can try out for America's Next Top Model. I keep trying to gently push her in the direction of world peace instead of shallow glamor but she insists that she can use her beauty to accomplish both, like Angelina Jolie.

We had the local newspaper print Daisy's name in their birth announcements so that when she becomes the president of the United States there will be proof that she is a U.S. citizen. She is giving her big sister a run for her money in the cuteness scale.


We took Rocky to play at a local gym and she jumped for an hour straight.


She finally ran out of energy which was lucky for me because I was exhausted about 15 minutes in.

What did I tell you? Cute.
I mean, I know I'm the mom, and am more than just a little bit biased, but I've got two adorable girls.

The inaugural walk in our new double jogger went well. The girls were happy as could be and Rocky only poked Daisy about 27 times instead of the 6000 that I was expecting. We walked over to the Masonic Cemetary that is close to out house and looked at the grave of Eugene Skinner who settled this great city of ours.




I had so much fun with my mom and when we dropped her off at the airport Rocky and I cried the whole way home. Daisy probably would have joined us but she was asleep. Now we are going to start planning Oma's next trip out here.

Hanging Out

Things are going pretty well around here. We don't get that much sleep because despite being small Daisy has quite the set of lungs. Luckily at 3 AM our neighbors were up partying so I didn't feel too bad. She makes up for it by sleeping all day and we take advantage of the quiet time.

Rocky still adores her little sister and spends about half of the day trying to poke her in the eyes. She thinks it is really funny to have her dad wrap her up like she is the baby to pose for pictures.

Nothing really happens in this video but it gives an idea of how she looks for those of you who don't get the honor of seeing her in person. I am the mom, but I have to say that I think she is pretty cute with her big-eyed stare.


Also, a big congratulations to Laurie on the arrival of her little Johnathon. He came on Friday and is beautiful. The race is over, but it looks like all of us won.

The Details

Brandon did such a good job getting those pictures up so quickly. I'm not positive that the labor was any kind of record but I am sure that it was intense. I've had a few requests for details so if this kind of thing makes you squeamish feel free to skip this post.
On Tuesday morning I went in for my appointment and after an ultrasound it was clear that my placenta was getting prematurely old and my body was ready to go. I hustled home to pick up Brandon and we headed toward labor and delivery. I was feeling good and pretty excited to get started. I got into the room and they broke my water and started the pitocin. I wondered if I would still qualify for the bronze medal or if this would be considered doping. We watched a cooking show about making Spanish foods, and I said, "I hope that this goes fast."
There was a little incident where my blood pressure went down and all the nurses came running in. It was really just because I had been lying too low on my back and the blood flow was stopped. They had me on oxygen and everything and I felt a little silly once it was over. That killed about 20 minutes. At this time I still hadn't felt any pain.
Then all of a sudden I started getting strong contractions. I told the nurse I was ready for some meds and she checked to see if I had progressed enough. I was at a five so she sent someone to get the doctor. Then I had a couple of quick contractions that were super strong and I heard the nurse say that there wasn't time for any medicine. I told Brandon that I didn't want to go on without pain killer but at that point there wasn't any other choice. In about 6 minutes I went from a 5 to fully dilated. By the time Dr. Cooper arrived I pushed twice and she was born. He figured that I was in full labor for about 30 minutes. Let me tell you though, 30 minutes was enough of an experience for me.
It reminded me of a movie where everything just goes so fast. I had always thought that it would be neat to deliver naturally but I never would have had the guts. Brandon said that it would have been exactly like a movie if I would have given the cliche line "You did this to me." I probably would have said it if I could have talked. Now I'm going to get to the business of enjoying the baby and forgetting the birth so that I will hopefully one day think about having another one.
All the doctors and nurses at the hospital were awesome and we are in love with our little Daisy.

Now we are home enjoying some time together.

Thanks for all the love and support.

Good luck to Laurie if she hasn't already gone. She might be the last to deliver but I am sure she'll be the first one back into shape.

Daisy is here!!!!!

Normally we're opposed to posts that include way too many pictures and videos with gratuitous nothingness in them, but we promised the grandmas some pictures of Daisy and who are we to disappoint.























Here's the facts for all the statisticians out there: she was born at 1:52 p.m.; she weighed 7lbs., 4 oz.; and she is 20 and a half inches long. Marci was a champ through out it all, and I'm pretty sure she set a Peace Health Hospital speed record for the shortest yet most intense labor.