Sophie's Second Month

   Sophie had a very busy second month with Christmas, New Years, and meeting lots of new friends.  We celebrated Christmas with Paul's family on December 23rd.  It was the first time all 5 of the Muchnick cousins got together.  I pray that Sophie has close relationships with all of her cousins.  It was so sweet to see them all interact with each other.  After the Muchnick dinner, Paul and I drove to Knoxville.  We spent the next few days with my family.  I had several friends and extended family come over to meet sweet Sophie.  Christmas took on a deeper meaning for me this year as I celebrated it with my new baby girl.  I just kept thinking over and over about the birth of Christ and how truly incredible that must have been for Mary and Joseph, and then for the wisemen to travel all that way to see the our Savior!! Paul and I are so thankful for our daughter and the blessing she has been in our lives already!

Muchnick Family Christmas.  We added 3 new members to the family this year! Daniel was born in April and Abigail was born in July! I love that Sophie has cousins so close in age!

Sophie did have on a really cute red velvet Christmas dress until she soiled it, and being the first time mom that I am, I did not pack any other cute outfits....I learned my lesson.  Here are Sophie's sweet cousins. 

L-R: Abigail, Matthew, Sophie, Grace, and Daniel (who is clearly loving this photo shoot!)

In Knoxville, my longtime friends, Emily and Amy, came to meet Sophie.  I miss these dear friends so much! I hate I only get to see them 1-2x a year!

 I can't get enough kisses from this sweet angel!

Christmas morning with my parents and brother. We had a wonderful Christmas with them and can't wait for Tim's bride-to-be, Teckla, to join us next year for Christmas!

Our family......love my husband and girls so much!!

4 Generations: Sophie meeting her great grandmother.

Worn out after a long day of opening gifts and meeting extended family.

When we got back from Knoxville, our friends, Andrew and Ruth McElroy, came to visit and meet Miss Sophie.  The McElroy's live in Boston and we miss them so much!!

A few days later, my friends from OT school came to visit.  Lindsey (below middle) had baby Mallory 8 days after Sophie was born.  So glad we got to get our babies together. Sophie is 6 weeks here and Mallory is 1 day shy of 5 weeks. 

Here is "old" Mallory, Laurie, and Celia spending some sweet time with my angel.

I love this picture of Sophie napping in Laurie's arms.....so precious!!

 So thankful to be experiencing all these new mom/baby things together and have someone to talk to who is going through the exact same things. 

New friends: Mallory and Sophie

 For New Years, Abby, Chris, and Avery Ireland came to stay with us.  We have missed them so much and it was so nice to get to spend time with them again.  Sadly, I don't have a picture of all of us so here is a picture of Paul and Chris and their mini-me's.  Both of our daughters look so much like their daddies. 

Sophie enjoying some playtime with Tate and John Michael.  Watch out boys.....Sophie is not allowed to date.....ever! ;)

Paul spending some quality snuggle time with his "girls"......I am so thankful to have a husband who loves his girls so much and enjoys spending time with them. 

Sophie at 2 Months on January 17th, 2012

Here are Sophie's stats and fun facts at 2 Months:

-10 lb 4 oz. (28%), 22.5 in (58%)

-wearing size one diapers

-able to wear newborn gowns and some newborn clothes but length is getting too short; wearing size 0-3 month clothes; 3 months clothes are still too big

-much more social these days

-she loves looking towards bright lights, especially TV (but Paul and I try not to let her look at the TV)

-turning head more to sounds

-more social with nursing and getting faster with nursing

-nursing 7x a day

-has gone 6.5-7 hrs between feedings on her own at night a few times, but typically sleeps 5-5.5 hrs

-good temperament, rarely fussy

-takes wonderful naps (4 naps/day: 3, 2 hr naps, and 1, 1 hr nap), cries for less than 1 minute and sometimes not at all

-knows her mommy and daddy

Honey came to visit for Sophie's 2 Month birthday!

Sophie's First Month

Sophie's first month of life flew by way too fast!! We are so in love with our sweet baby girl and love watching her grow and change every day! She is such a joy!  We celebrated Thanksgiving with Paul's family one week after Sophie was born.  Paul and I were extra thankful this year for the sweet blessing that the Lord gave us and for the privilege and honor of being her parents.  Sophie also had her first sickness at 2.5-3 weeks old.  Sophie and I both got a cold with nasal congestion and a bad cough.  It absolutely broke my heart to see Sophie sick, especially at such a young age!! So thankful she is a fighter and handled the sickness better than I did. 

Here are a few stats and things Sophie was doing at One Month:

-8 lbs. 9 oz.(26%) 21 inches (49%)

-wearing newborn diapers and clothes

-trying to hold head up and doing well at it

-tracking rattles

-loves looking at lights

-makes the funniest noises (grunts mostly)

-smiles in her sleep (so sweet….she is probably dreaming about her mommy)

-feeding every 3 hrs during the day and can go about 4-4.5 hrs at night between feedings

-very happy, content baby

-only cries when hungry or getting diaper changed

Sophie's First Thanksgiving...getting a kiss from cousin, Grace

Getting in the Christmas spirit

So sweet!!

                          Sophie definitely has her daddy wrapped around her little finger already!

                                               Sophie at One Month on December 17, 2011

Introducing....

Sophie Anne Muchnick

I know this post is incredibly late, but better late than never! I will try to recap most of the details of her birth.   Sophie arrived fashionably late on November 17, 2011 at 5:44pm and weighed 7 lb 4.4 oz and 20 in. long.  My due date was November 14th and that day came and went without my baby girl in my arms.  I was orignially told by my OB that he would let me go until the 21st before inducing me.  On the 15th, I had an appointment to check on Sophie and the OB gave Paul and I the option of discussing an earlier date for the induction. I had dilated 2cm and was 90% effaced on this day. After much thought and prayer prior to this appointment, we had decided on the 17th, a Thursday, which was a week before Thanksgiving.  I was still a little apprehensive of scheduling an induction, but I was extremely uncomfortable by this point and was so ready to meet my daughter.  When we left the OB on the 15th, we were told that the hospital would call us on the morning of the 17th and tell us when to come check in based on bed availability.  So we were not given a specific time to be at the hospital, which makes the planner in me go crazy.  I did not sleep at all the night before anticipating the most exciting moment of my life.  Around 3am, I started having contractions (I had not had any contractions at all up to this point).  They started coming every 5-8 mins apart and lasting about 30 secs.  I walked around our bathroom for a while contemplating whether to wake Paul up or not.  I waited until they got closer together and woke Paul up about an hour later.  I then called the OB when my contractions were about 3-5 mins apart and lasting 30 secs to 1 min each.  The OB told me to go ahead and head to the hospital since I was already planning on being induced that day. Paul and I got to the hospital around 6:30am and got checked into a room around 7:15am.  Apparently Nov. 17th was a popular day to have a baby.  All the delivery beds were continuously full that day and more nurses had to be called in! We are so thankful that I ended up going into labor on my own because we might not have even been induced that day because of all of the deliveries.  We are so thankful that the Lord had already picked the 17th to be Sophie's birthday!!  By the time the nurses checked me, I was 3-4cm dilated.  I held off on getting any medicine or an epidural for a while and just tried to walk through my contractions somewhat. Around 10:30ish I was given pain medicine through an IV.  The OB then broke my water around 11:30am and I was 5cm dilated.  I was started on a small pitocin drip at some point during the morning.....that's a blur.  I got an epidural about an hour after my water broke.  The epidural made me very shaky...it was such a strange feeling, but better than the pain I had been experiencing.  It was the weirdest feeling for Paul and the nurses to have to turn my body every so often.  The epidural also made my blood pressure drop extremely low (around 70/20) and made me nausous and I had a period of dry-heaving....no fun.  My stomach was completely empty.  All I had eaten were a few saltine crackers on the way to the hospital at 6am.  We were just playing the waiting game by this point.  Both of our parents and my brother kept us company.  The was finally fully dilated by 5pm and began pushing then.  I was actively pushing for about 45 mins.  The pushing was not too bad, it was the vomiting in the middle of pushing that was the rough part.  At 5:44pm, our sweet Sophie entered the world.  A huge rush of emotions ensued and sobbing began as soon as I saw her....she was (and still is) the most beautiful person I have ever seen!  Our world was forever changed at that moment!  I was able to hold my sweet baby girl, and Paul cut the umbilical cord.  The NICU team took Sophie, cleaned her up, and assessed her (all while in the L&D room) because they noticed a meconium stain as she entered the world. She turned out to be fine! I think her Apgar scores were 8 and 9.  After delivery, I spiked a fever and was an emotional mess so needless to say, I had a rough day that day.  I was finally able to eat around 10pm that night, which really helped me to start feeling better.  We ended up putting Sophie in the nursery that night so I could try to rest because I had not slept in 48 hours by this point. The nurses brought her to me every 2-2.5 hours to nurse.  Between nursing Sophie and the nurses coming in every so often, I was still unable to sleep. We visited with family and friends the next day and left the hospital on Saturday.  We were so ready to be at home with our baby girl! Several friends with young children wanted to see Sophie, but were unable to come to the hospital so Paul invited everyone over Saturday night to meet our bundle of joy.  

So here is what everyone has been wanting to see...pictures of our sweet Sophie Anne!

Our first family photo of 3

Papa T and Uncle Tim meeting their granddaughter and niece

Sweet Baby Girl just a few hours old....trying to decide if she wants to open her eyes

Meeting big sister, Jazmine, when Sophie arrived home.  Jazmine was trying to jump in the carseat with her!

2 days old

Some of Sophie's sweet visitors on her first day at home.  The mommas and our babies....

We are so in love with our precious angel!

Her "milk coma" face....so sweet!!

Modeling her cute diaper cover Honey (my mom) made her!

Getting Ready.....

We are so close to meeting our Baby Girl!!! We absolutely cannot wait to meet and hold her!! We have been super busy over the past few months and have been trying to prepare for our daughter's arrival. Here is a quick recap of the past few months.......

In August, my dear friend, Abby Ireland, and her mother-in-law threw me a shower in Douglasville. Here I am with my mom and mother-in-law at the Ireland's home. I am 25 wks and 5 days in this picture.

Abby, her precious daughter, Avery, me, my sister-in-law Hannah, and my cute nephew, Daniel.

Also in August, we celebrated our sweet niece, Grace's 2nd Birthday. Here is our attempt at getting all of the nieces and nephews together.

In early September, six of my dear friends from OT school had our annual Friendaversary girls weekend at Lake Lanier Islands. We had a blast catching up on each other's lives. I miss these girls so much! One of my friends, Lindsey, is due just 3 weeks after me with a little girl, too! It has been so fun to get to share our experiences with one another!! I am 30 wks 5 days here.

For September 11th, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield, next to our neighborhood, had a display of 3,000 American flags representing the people who lost their lives in 9/11/01. It was absolutely breathtaking to see all of the flags blowing in the wind and gave us chills. It was a scene I will never forget!

Here I am at 36 weeks.

My mom had her wedding dress turned into a BEAUTIFUL bassinet for Baby Girl! I absolutely love this bassinet and can't wait for Baby Girl to sleep in it!!!

My sweet hubby has been busy putting together baby gear. Here he just finished putting together the crib.

We painted the walls light blue and had sweet Jazzy try out the crib for her baby sister. She approved.


We are almost finished with the nursery. I just have a few more pictures to hang on the walls. We also need to install the car seat (minor detail, right? Paul and I are quite the procrastinators.). We have 2 days until our due date and I am sooo ready to meet our daughter! I'm hoping she takes after her daddy and is punctual, not late like her mommy ;) I will try and post more pictures and updates soon.

Nursery Pics

Here are a few pictures of the nursery. It is not quite complete. I still have a few pictures and her name to hang on the walls. My sweet friend, Laurie, made this beautiful pink wreath for baby girl! I absolutely love it!!

We will put a wall decal with her name on it over the crib.

I have a few pictures I want to hang in the corner, including the 'Peek a Boo, I love you' sign. I also need to find a lamp for the table.

Getting Bigger

Baby Girl and I are getting bigger and warmer by the day! I usually cannot wait for the hot summer sun, but this year, I have been staying out of it as much as possible. We are all doing well and enjoying spending time with friends and family. We had an ultrasound at 19 wks to look at all baby's anatomy and to confirm that she is a girl. We are so thankful to the Lord that she looked healthy and is growing. We are so in love with her and can't wait to meet her in November! I am amazed everyday that the Lord has given us and entrusted us with this precious gift. I have been feeling her move for the past few weeks and it is the most wonderful feeling in the world!!

Here is Sweet Baby Girl at 19 wks 1 day.

Paul and I went to the beach for vacation. Here is the bump at 20 wks 2 days.

We went to Knoxville for Paul and my dad to play in a golf tournament. Bump at 22 wks 5 days.

We have loved spending time with our cute nieces and nephews. Here is our nephew Daniel.

Grace getting ready to swim! Love this sweet girl and her curls!!

We just welcomed our new precious niece into the world on July 24th.....Abigail LeeAnn Muchnick!! She is absolutely beautiful and we love her so much already! Matthew is excited about his new role as a Big Brother!

Sweet Abigail

We reached a big milestone today....I am 24 weeks today. I have been looking forward to this day since we found out we were pregnant. 24 weeks marks the "age of viability". I feel like I can breathe a little easier now, but we are still praying that baby girl continues to stay comfy in the womb and grow daily. Paul and I have a lot to do to prepare for her arrival....like working on the nursery, which we have not done yet! Paul also started his "new" job today with the same company after his promotion to Clinical Director of a different clinic. He will continue to see patients but also be in charge of growing the clinic through marketing and planning. With the help of an athletic trainer, they will also be the sports medicine provider for 3 local high schools and a gymnastics organization. Therefore, with the start of football season and the preperation of our little girl, things could get interesting around here. We are so blessed and thankful to the Lord for providing for us and blessing us more than we could ever hope or imagine.