Sisters by blood, friends by choice...

My parents gave me the greatest gift ever ... siblings. I LOVED growing up in a big family and look back fondly on all the memories created with four sisters and a brother. Of course, there was the inevitable bickering and clothes stealing, but those memories are crowded out by all the fun times. Like staying up late laughing on school nights, helping each other get ready for formal dances, talking about boys, and having someone to talk to when mom and dad just didn't understand. I love each of my sisters and my brother and feel so grateful to have built-in eternal friends.

That's why I was so excited to give Maddie a sister.

Maddie was very thoughtful and quiet the day Macey was born. She was very sweet and gentle with her from the beginning. Here she is with her "Big Sister" shirt on! Macey was about 5 hours old in this picture. I love to think that the day Macey was born, a sister was also born in Maddie.

One of Maddie's favorite things to do is have Macey lie in her bed with her. She giggles and balls up her fists, shrieking with delight. I foresee lots of sister slumber parties!

Maddie spends a lot of time inspecting Macey. And Macey inspects Maddie right back.

Matching pajamas!

I love that look in Maddie's eyes - she ADORES her sister.

More sister slumber party time!

When I initially recorded this video, I thought it was ruined because Maddie decided it would be funny to startle Macey by hitting her. After watching it back, I think its a funny sibling video that should be shared. 

Here are my favorite highlights:

:04 The Mischievious Sideways Glance

:08 The Attack

:14 Loving A Little Too Rough

 Maddie sings and sings and sings all day long. I love it. Her latest favorite tunes are "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Popcorn Popping". She comes up with her own original songs as well. Here she is singing a song to her sister Macey. As you can see, she is very animated when she sings.

 Maddie & Macey at 7th Street Park.

Matching dresses!

I can hardly wait to watch my two girls grow up with a built-in best friend. They will bicker, steal each other's clothing, and not always like each other, but I know they'll always be there for each other just like my siblings are always there for me!

First few weeks at home!

Macey came home from the hospital and fit right in with our family. She LOVES to sleep on your chest. She snuggles in as close as she can to your neck and will sleep that way for hours. She also LOVES to eat! She eats every two hours and never spits up - she's like a bottomless pit. She won't stop eating until milk is spilling out of the sides of her mouth and even then, she gets mad when you take her food away. She loves to hold your fingers while she's eating. She flails her hands around until she finds a finger or a hand to hold. She is a super sweet girl and we are loving watching her grow and change every day.

Maddie is enthralled with her little sister. I thought for sure she would be jealous of Macey, but she has never expressed anything but love and concern for her sister. In fact, I'm not sure she trusts us with Macey. She is constantly worried about where Macey is. I feel like she thinks we lose her all the time. I always ressure her that Macey is in her swing or sleeping in her bed, but I love how Maddie is a little mommy to Macey. If she's crying, Maddie brings over her binky. If that doesn't work, then she opens the refrigerator and gets her a bottle and shoves it in her mouth. If that doesn't work, she starts shushing her. I have a post planned for thir sisterly love for each other, so I'll stop there, but they are so sweet together.

Here is a short video of the girls when Macey was less than a week old...

Macey visiting with Great Grandma Pope. My girls are so lucky to have both sets of great grandparents (on Brandon's side) so close and so involved in their lives. We love our huge family!

First Check-Up at the Pediatrician at one week old.

This picture is deceiving ... Macey loathes her car seat and riding in the car. She screams whether it's a 20 second car ride or a 20 minute car ride.

She has been trying to hold her own bottle since the week she came home. This girl loves her milk!

Macey's first bath was on the dining room table! It's been a pretty chilly California winter, so we set her bathtub on the dining room table with a space heater next to her to keep her warm and cozy. She loved being in the water.

Big sister Maddie supervising the bath. She was so excited, she wanted Macey to have four baths that day.

Macey loves natural light - she always cranes her head around to find a window or door.

Macey at one month

She has changed so much. She looks so different than she did when we first brought her home. The first few weeks, Macey was a bit of a fuss bucket. She had a hard time with gas and tummy troubles. We tried Mylicon gas drops, Dr. Brown's anti-colic bottles, I'm not eating or drinking any dairy, Colic Calm, etc. She'll be three months old next week and she has really settled down. I think she just needed to grow out of some of her gas issues. She's still a little bit of a diva, but she'll entertain herself in her jungle play mat or activity chair for a long time now. We love our little Macey Bug.

First Videos of Macey

Here are some videos of the first few minutes of Macey's life...

Macey needed some oxygen before she could really start crying. You can hear the nurses commenting on her size before the official weigh-in. I couldn't believe it when they said she was 9 pounds 2 ounces! The last part of the video is of Brandon putting her diaper on. One of my favorite parts of seeing my newborn babies is hearing their sweet little voices for the first time. Maddie had a quiet little cry. Macey squeaks. After nine months, it's so fun to finally get to hear their voices.

Macey Kate Milloy

A late blog update is better than no update at all, right? I am slowly working on uploading all the pictures and videos from the past 2 months, so blog updates will be coming! Here is the first of several posts...

Our newest baby girl....

Macey Kate Milloy

February 2, 2011 - 10:51 am

9 lbs. 2 oz. - 20 inches long

Based on my labor and delivery experience with Maddie, I expected to be a week late and have to be induced. On February 1st, I was five days overdue and at work when I realized my water was starting to break. I wasn't sure if that's what was going on, because I had no early labor symptoms with Maddie to reference. After work, I called labor & delivery and they said to come in right away. So, Brandon & I drove down to the hospital, the nurses checked me, & decided my water had broken! No one was more shocked than I was that my body had gone into labor on its own. Maddie had to practically be forced out!

We spent the night at the hospital and I had manageable contractions all night. At 6am, the nurses decided to put me on the dreaded Pitocin to speed up labor since my water had been broken for so long. Within 15 minutes, I was in unbearable pain. The contractions were one on top of the other and I could not breathe through them anymore. The nurses were doing a shift change and said they would bring me pain medication as soon as they were done. I was in agony and the nurses were not in any hurry. So, my super hero husband stormed out to the nurse's station and raised hell. I love him. :) He was successful and brought a nurse back with him who gave me something for the pain. Whatever they gave me took the edge off, but also made me instantly dizzy to the point I could not lift my head off the pillow. I was vomiting when the nurses came in to ask me if I wanted an epidural. YES PLEASE! I don't remember much between the time that happened and after I woke up with an epidural. I do remember life being much more pleasant when I woke up with no pain or nausea. Shortly after that, the doctor came in and three pushes later, we had a new baby girl!

This birth experience was so much easier than Maddie's was. What a difference it makes when your body puts itself into labor, rather than being forced into it!

Brandon seeing his new daughter for the first time 

Brandon putting her hospital bracelet on her ankle

No one could believe it when Macey weighed in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces! Maddie was only 7 pounds, 13 ounces, so this was a total shocker. Even the doctor who delivered Macey guessed she would weigh 8 pounds. I don't know where this giant baby came from!

She looks so little next to his hand. 

Love those baby feet and tiny toes. 

Such a sweet moment. 

My baby girl looking at her mommy for the first time. 

I am still a little drugged in this picture and we're both exhausted, but I was so happy to see that she was healthy and even more excited not to be pregnant anymore!

Derrick & Jessica brought Maddie to the hospital right before I was getting ready to push, so she got to see her new sister when she was less than an hour old. The only way to describe the way Maddie looked at Macey is reverence or awe. She was quiet and thoughtful, but her face says it all.

She got a little nervous when Macey started to cry, but was okay after we told her that's how babies talk. She patted her back and gave her kisses and was super sweet with her. I was sad to leave Maddie for our hospital stay - we've never left her overnight. But, she got a new baby sister out of the deal, plus with all the fun she had with Grandma, Jessica, & Derrick, I'm not sure she even noticed we were gone!

Later that evening, we started getting serious about naming our new baby. I really really really wanted her to be Kate, but I just didn't feel like she looked like a Kate at all. One of the other names on our list was Macey. We asked Maddie which name we should give her sister and she said "Macey Kate". It sounded so sweet in her little Maddie voice & my heart just melted! That was it - she was Macey Kate Milloy.

We are so blessed to have two beautiful healthy baby girls. I am so excited that my girls have a sister. Brandon and I absolutely loved growing up in big families with lots of siblings. More to come on the first few weeks at home, lots of family, and our new house!