Meet Lyla June Spitzer!

Lyla was born September 26th 2009 at 5:35 pm. She was 5 lbs 10 oz and 18 inches long. Her middle name June is named after my Grandma Seever who is very special to me. She was not due till October 31st but decided she wanted to come 5 weeks early. I had my baby shower at 12:30pm on September 26th and 5 hours later she was here. I left the baby shower and began having severe abdominal pain. Due to the high risk of uterine rupture they decided to do the C-section immediately. She spent 17 days in the NICU for breathing and eating problems but she is home and doing well. Below is Lyla hooked up to all the breathing machines. Even though I knew she would be fine, it is still not easy seeing your baby this way.

Here she is after she had been in the NICU for a few days. Her breathing had improved so they took away all the machines. All she has left is a feeding tube and IV.

Below is the first bath Derrick gave her. You can see how tiny she is.

It was very difficult traveling 30 miles back and forth to the hospital to see her everyday, especially since I was still recovering from the C-section. However, on October 8th I was readmitted to the hospital for a severe case of mastitis which was unfortunate except for the fact that now I was much closer to her. Finally on October 12th both Lyla and I were discharged. We were very excited to finally have our entire family home.


Here are some pictures Jessica Richards took for me. Lyla is 4 weeks old in these pictures and probably about 7 lbs by now.

Thanks Jessica, you did a great job!

Go Crocodiles!

Today was Talens first soccer game. We were all so excited for this day to come. I can't tell you how cute it is to see a bunch of 3 year olds out playing soccer. Fortunately, the coach can remain on the field with the players to remind them to chase the ball rather than look at the sky and which goal they should be kicking the ball toward. We tried to get Talen to put one foot on the ball and pose for a picture before the game but he couldn't quite balance long enough.

As soon as the game started Talen took off after the ball and kicked it down the field to score the first goal of the game.

If you want to see a large pregnant woman go crazy you should see me when he does something like that. I was so proud, I thought I was going to start crying. The video clip below shows him scoring his first goal.

Below is another action shot of Talen with the ball. These kids look so little out there.

Below is a shot of him about to score his second goal.

Talen is playing on the same team as his cousin Flash. They were both so cute out there. I think they're going to have a lot of fun playing soccer together over the years.

Flash broke away in the last play of the game to score the final goal.

And of coarse there is Ava. I think the pink ball with butterflies gives it away that she had to have her own soccer ball to take with her to all of Talens practices and games. She loves to kick the ball around and pretend like she is part of the team. During half time she insisted on kicking it into the goal. She will start soccer next fall. I can't wait!

Talen did so great and smiled the entire time. He was so happy to be out on the field like a big boy. Occasionally, he had to be reminded that he was in the middle of a soccer game and he should chase the ball, but he's 3 so we will give him some slack (at least till next season). I am officially a PROUD soccer mom!

Lyla June Spitzer 28 weeks

I had an ultrasound 4 weeks ago and Lyla was so stubburn. She constantly kicked, punched and moved around throughout the entire time and would not allow us to get a good profile picture. I had yet another ultrasound today and I was really hoping she would cooperate with the photo shoot. Instead of fighting back this time, she just slept through the whole thing. They even shook my belly and made me rotate from side to side but she just remained snuggled up and fast asleep. We got one decent picture of her profile so here she is. I think she is beautiful.

As soon as they transferred me to a different room to meet with the Doctor she woke up and started to move around. This little girl does everything on her own time.

Summer Fun!

Oh, how my kids love swimming. We take them at least once a day but usually twice, and even then we have to drag them out of the pool. They both are turning into little fish. I'm just waiting for Talen to grow gills so he can remain under water all the time since that is where he prefers to be. We are so proud of both of them. Talen has learned to do flips, dives and back dives off the diving board and without our permission did a flip off the waterfall once (I'm not ready for that). He loves to dive down to the bottom of the deep end (9ft deep) and collect all the rings. Ava still uses floaties but loves to kick her little legs, put her head face down into the water and swim around. She also loves to be thrown across the pool by her daddy!

Below is a sequence of pictures of Talen doing his back dive. I think we may have to save these so when he wins his Olympic gold for diving we can show pictures of him starting at age 3

Here is another picture of one of his dives that I love. He is positioned in a perfect little arch with his toes pointed while leaving the diving board.

I love this little girl and I am so excited to have another one!

Talens favorite thing to do is jump off of the diving board while Derrick holds the 2 boards in front of him. He loves to pretend like he is surfing on them.

For those of you that haven't seen Ava recently, if you look closely you can see her front tooth that was shoved up into her gums when she fell on our tile. When it first happened (end of May) you could only see a tiny bit of the tooth remaining, in fact we thought she broke it off. It is beginning to drop down back into place and will hopefully continue to do so until it is even with her other tooth.

Ava loves to jump off the diving board like her big brother but will only do it with the comfort of her daddy's hand in front of her.

We swim so much that most of Talens shorts are stretched out. I think its time to buy some more. Whenever he dives in, his shorts come down and show his cute little (white) bum.

Happy Birthday Derrick!

This may be a few days late but I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Derrick. Derrick turned 29 on May 29th but with all the chaos going on I'm a little late posting again. He is an amazing father and husband and we love him so much. I hope you had a happy birthday!

Ava's 2nd Birthday!

Okay, so I promised to put some of Ava's birthday pictures up about a month or so ago and I know that was a while ago, but the way I see it, is that it is never to late to celabrate Princess Ava! Here is the cake I made for her. I don't think she really cares about the fact that it is a butterfly but as long as it has pink on it she is happy.

She was surrounded by lots of her cousins and brother while opening her presents and they were all so helpful with her.

We got her a wooden kitchen for her birthday and she loves it.

Happy Birthday Ava! We love you and you will always be our little princess.

I'm Pregnant!

Yes, you read it right, I'M PREGNANT! Exciting and scary at the same time. Most of you already know but I thought since it got out earlier than I had intended (my sister Angela caught me taking a nap in the middle of the day, which I never do, and she guessed it), I thought I should let everyone know. My due date is Halloween, at least thats what the computer says, but I will have my first ultrasound in a week or so and they will verify it. Either way they will probably take the baby 2-4 weeks early to help avoid some complications. We are very excited but I am VERY TIRED and nausea is kicking in! We are living in Charlotte, NC for the next 4 weeks and believe me it has been an adjustment for the kids. They hate being stuck in a tiny apartment but it's better than missing their daddy for a month. Derrick is doing well so far, he was very nervous with the changes in the housing developement and the economy but he got 11 is first day and 5 his second day. Hopefully the numbers continue to flow. Well, we miss you all and will be home in 4 weeks. I will post pictures of Ava's 2nd birthday soon.