welcome baby Izzie!

Well it's official - we have a new member of our family! :)

Introducing Isabella (Izzie) Ann Stanton

We are so excited to have a little girl as a blessing to our family.

She was born on April 14, 2010 at 8:01am via c-section and weighed 9lbs. 2oz. and was 21 1/2" long.

Johnners wasn't so sure what to think of his new baby sister when he met her. She got quite a few strange looks from him before he warmed up to her. It made us all laugh. Now he is a great big brother and even willing to share 'ki-ki' with her. If you know my son's special relationship with his favorite blankie then you would understand how big of a deal this really is!

He is always holding her, snuggling her and giving her kisses. He is in fact, a very proud BIG brother!

I now realize why I was sooo huge :) I looked like someone literally shoved a beach ball up my shirt - and I actually had a few folks ask if I was really pregnant or I had shoved a beach ball up my shirt. LOL! Sorry, I didn't add any pre-Izzie birth photos of my looking like a beach ball. No one needs to have a Kodak memory of that! :) But this is our first official picture together - she's 11 days old in this photo. First time mommy actually got dressed since she was born!

Izzie is SUCH a delight and what a sweet sweet baby! She is wonderful and I feel totally blessed to have a baby who isn't in pain from the MSPI - milk soy protein intolerance - like Johnners was. I think it really helps that I started the MSPI diet in Feb so my body was free from all milk and soy products when she arrived. She sleeps well and is barely ever fussy. In other words, she is night and day from her brother! I had such a rough time with Johnners until we figured out his MSPI intolerance (at 6 weeks) so I didn't get a chance to enjoy baby time the way some mom's do. Izzie is a total cuddle bug, smiles a lot, and is such a doll! Again, I feel so blessed that she is who she is already :) She is a good eater and already weighs 9lbs. 14oz. at two weeks old. She's my little chunk!

Fortunately I had help when I got home from the hospital - the second c-section was a bit more difficult to recover from then the first. I had a lot of pain, and still do. (Izzie will be 3 weeks tomorrow). My mom came and stayed with us for a few days and was a HUGE help! Then my sister in law came up for a few days as well and was also a wonderful help to have around! I am so blessed to be surrounded by such loving and caring, wonderful people :)

This is our precious Auntie M who came to stay with us and meet our baby Izzie!

The kids are adapting well and are so excited to have a little sister as well. Makenna is thrilled to have another female in the family and Maguire is absolutely precious with her. They both constantly want to hold, hug, and kiss her. She is one very loved little lady!

I'm on leave for 12 weeks and am learning what it's like to be a stay-at-home-mommy. I'm only two weeks in by myself and so far so good. All of the anxiety I had about the balance of activities, schedules, naps, and other 'fun' things has seemed to work out so far. Our little family is complete and we are thrilled!

I'll be posting more pics soon - and updating the blog while I have so much 'free' time on my hands :) LOL

to you Izzie - we love you and are SOOO happy you're part of our lives!