Our second angel is here!!

We have wonderful news to share!  We welcomed our second baby girl, Aila Sophia (pronounced Eye-la), to the family on Friday, 4/4/14.  She was born at 10:12am and was 19.25 in long and 7 lbs, 12 oz.  Mommy and baby spent 48 hours in the hospital and were discharged on Sunday and home by the afternoon, where we were welcomed by a sign that Ashlan colored/decorated, flowers, and balloons.  Ashlan has been a great big sister so far!  She is so loving and gentle with her.  I do worry that she's not getting enough attention from me right now but thankfully Nana and Papa were/are here to make the transition as smooth as possible and have helped tremendously.  As demanding as Ashlan was, Aila is the complete opposite so far!  You can definitely see the resemblance between the two though.  It looks like Aila will get Ashlan's blue eyes, and she has other very similar facial features, but Aila has brown hair, while Ashlan has blonde.  I find myself calling Aila by her sisters name now and again because they look so alike.  Ashlan saw a few baby pictures of herself and even she mentioned that "that's Baby Aila".  So cute that she thinks that's her sister when it's her!

Aila and I have just been lying low since we got home.  We did go to Aila's two-day appt and Ashlan's gymnastics lesson yesterday, but other than that, we have been staying home recovering.  Nana and Papa have taken Ashlan out a bunch of times and they've also gone swimming a few times since the weather has been cooperative.  Today they went to the zoo and out to lunch, and they all had lots of fun.  Ashlan is taking the change very well from my perspective.  She is very loving towards Aila, and always wants to help with her, like burp her or give her a bath.  On the rare times that Aila cries, she will help distract her by shaking a rattle near her face (without us prompting or showing her ) and Aila is completely mesmerized by her.  I love to see them interact.  

Aila has been a very good sleeper so far, which is light years apart from Ashlan, lol.  Ashlan has never seemed to require a lot of sleep and has always been on the low end of required sleep for her age.  This one seems to be the complete opposite. Aila is a back sleeper, and Ashlan had such bad reflux, that sleeping on her back was impossible without loads of crying, so she slept for 3 months or so basically at an angle.  Aila loves to be swaddled, while Ashlan hated to have her arms tied down.  Aila doesn't care if she's rocked, whereas Ashlan had to be rocked/danced around before we gently put her down, and she would often wake up, so Dan and I spent a lot of time doing that (which we don't regret at all, just showing their differences).  There are some similarities though- they're both very strong, at least from what I can tell already from Aila.  And both girls' personalities are very sweet.  We are so blessed!

Onto the pics...since I have a billion so far, I figured I better do a blog sooner rather than later!

First pic!

Ashlan's first time meeting her baby sister!  <3  Of course she had to wear her Belle dress that Aila "got" her.  

Daddy and his princesses.

Ashlan was a little upset that Aila was getting upset when the baby nurse was checking her, so she held her hand.

Snuggle time.

Helping Daddy burp Aila.

And helping Daddy by distracting her when changing Aila's diaper.  :)

Love <3

Comparison shot- Ashlan on left, Aila on right.

And back to the usual grind on Sunday afternoon.  :)

Snow White dress while playing with play dough.  

Papa time.

Sisterly love.

Zoo time with Nana and Papa.

Little peanut.

Ashlan asked to hold "her baby".  :)