Daddy time, bath, church

I love watching Matt with the girls. He has been so helpful and willing to do anything for us. Megan is quite the eater and thus requires her to be with me for feedings. So Kelsey and Daddy stay busy with hide and seek, barbies, dance parties and whatever else Kelsey can come up with. This week Matt taught her the right way to play memory and princess yahtzee. (Until this point, we played memory with cards facing up and yahtzee consisted of shaking the dice over and over.)They are best buddies. However, Matt does cuddle with Megan when he can as well. Here they are before baseball practice and also snoozing on the couch.


Megan got her first tub bath this week. Prior to this we were giving her sponge baths. She seemed to like the tub bath much better than the other way. I am guessing she stayed warmer in the tub. She does not like to be cold at all and lets us know it ;) Kelsey was very intrigued with watching the bath and tried to help as much as she could.


We finally made it to church for the first time as a family of four. Megan was really good and fell asleep for most of mass. Kelsey was good, too and very proud to show off Megan.



Megan is up to 6lbs. 15oz. She weighs as much as Kelsey did when she was born now. Even though she is almost 4 weeks, she is still quite the little peanut.

Time At Home

I think we are finally getting into a groove with me being on maternity leave, Mattey back at school and starting baseball, and having the girls both home with me. Kelsey does go to daycare a few days a week to socialize with her friends and keep in a routine, but most days is home with me. I am attempting to make a routine for the days Kelsey is home. Morning time is sort of our "school time." Mary does preschool with the kids at daycare and Kelsey really likes it, so we have been working on letters and numbers at home. She is getting really good at identifying letters. (Which one is K?) She can verbally spell her name, but is not able to write it yet. For numbers, she can count to 20 and also 1-5 in Spanish. I love seeing her develop and be so excited to try it all. We have also been doing art in the morning. She likes to color and paint. After lunch is nap time and then when she wakes up, she gets to choose what we do. Usually she chooses to watch a movie or show, play the piano, play hide and seek, or read books. Those seem to be her favorites right now. Of course I cuddle Megan while we do most of these things so she is right in there with us ;) Megan continues to be such a good baby. She has been sleeping for 4 hour stretches at night, and only wakes once which allows me some pretty decent sleep. She has a ton of really expressive looks already which I am trying to catch on camera. I did manage to get her mid-yawn which I thought was priceless. On the days it is just Megan and I, I tend to just sit and look at her and cuddle her. We are just so fortunate to have her in our family.
It is Spring now, but you can't tell from the snow still on the ground. I can't wait until it is warm enough that we can be outside going for walks, going to the park, and playing in the yard. Life is good!

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Smith

My Dad and Chris came to meet Megan this past weekend. We were lucky enough to have Dave and Vickie join us for the day as well. Everyone spoiled us by bringing lots of good food over so I didn't have to cook. We spent the day just sitting around and catching up. Megan was passed around from grandparent to grandparent. It was very relaxing and exactly the kind of weekend we needed.

Growing Girl

Megan went to the doctor yesterday and she is a growing girl. She has passed her birth weight and now weighs 6lbs even. She is eating really well and the dr. was happy with her growth.

Thus far, Megan has been a really easy baby. She hardly cries, eats and sleeps well, and brings our family so much joy.

Kelsey is still being such a good big sister. She likes to hold Megan and give her kisses. We have to remind her to be gentle, and she always listens. Megan is one loved little girl!

As for mommy and daddy, Mommy is loving her time at home with her girls. I feel so lucky to be able to have this time with my children. I get to be a stay at home for awhile and that makes me smile :) Daddy is back to work and very busy. He starts baseball next week which will add to the craziness. We are thankful that Daddy works so hard to provide for our family.

Maternity Pictures

Three weeks before Megan was born, I had a maternity photo session done. I did one with Kelsey as well. There is just something so incredibly beautiful about a pregnant woman. I loved every second of being pregnant. Even the times when I had heartburn so bad I could hardly stand it, I did my best to grin and bear it because I knew I would miss the beauty of my growing belly when it was over. Don't get my wrong, that darn heartburn was a pain, but I tried to keep things in perspective. I had it because I was pregnant and that was all that mattered. Anyway, our photographer did another amazing job! We have been using her since Kelsey's 1st birthday for yearly pictures. She is so easy to work with and the pictures come out amazing! Here are some of my favorites. If you really want to get the full effect, click on the song Capri by Colbie Callait which is number 84 on the playlist. This song brought me to tears the first time I heard it. If you live in our area and are looking for a good photographer, please let me know and I will get you the info because she is great!

Disney Princesses On Ice

We bought tickets for Princesses on Ice for one last family thing to do with Kelsey before Megan was born. We were aware that it was getting close to my due date so we did have a backup plan of grandma and grandpa taking Kelsey if we were unable. Well wouldn't you know Megan was born on Friday, March 4th and the same night of the show.
So............ Matt decided to still go even though it had been an eventful day already and grandma went with. They loved it. Matt did not get the memo that the little girls were supposed to wear a dress, tiara, and wave a wand. Kelsey did get a little tired but was mesmorized by the lights, fireworks, fire, characters, and music. It was pretty magical and a day we will never forget. Kelsey convinced daddy into buying a Cinderella globe and grandma bought her a Tinkerbell glass with shaved ice.

Thank You

I am not sure I can ever really thank my amazing husband enough for all he has done for me throughout this journey of pregnancy and the entrance of Megan into the world. I thought I could try though by sharing a glimpse of what this wonderful man has been through with me. From the day we learned we were pregnant, I have pretty much constantly worried. Will the baby be ok, why am I not showing more, why is my heartburn so bad, and on and on....Mattey listened to my worries and always found a way to make me feel better.
Mattey went with me to every single doctor appointment because he knew how much it meant to me to have him there. He never complained and always came with a smile.
He pampered me and helped feed my mexican food and root beer float cravings. He constantly helped with house work so I could rest when I needed to as well. Plus, he continued to be such a good Daddy to Kelsey, as well as taking on school work, intermural basketball, baseball camp, football clinic, and just the everyday things that come and go. Now that Megan is here, he continues to do so much for our family. Thank you just doesn't seem to cut it for everything that he does for me. However, I hope he knows just how much our family loves him and what he means to his girls--all 3 of us :)

First few days at home

Our first few days have gone really well. We are all adjusting to life as a family of four wonderfully. Kelsey has been so good with Megan. She likes to hold her and show her what she is doing. I am extremely thankful that Mattey has been home to help the past few days as I am still recovering. Here are a few pictures from Megan's first days home.

Hospital Stay

We had many visitors come to the hospital to meet Megan.
Kelsey and Grandma were the first two to see her.

Megan bought Kelsey a few big sister gifts.


Grandma and Grandpa with all 6 grandkids

Uncle Nate and Aunt Diane

The Ginskey crew

The Smith girls

The White family did come as well, but I did not have the camera in the room at the time to take pictures.
Here is Megan in her going home outfit.

Ready to leave the hospital and go home.

The Story

There had been some talk at my final appointments about how big Megan would be. For my entire pregnancy, people would always comment about how little I was showing. I gained the exact same amount of weight for both Kelsey and Megan, but with Kelsey it was more belly and this time it was more hips and junk in the trunk. Therefore, at my 37 week appt. I expressed some worry to my doctor about baby's size. He did an ultrasound to check on progress and found out the baby was about 5 lbs. which put the baby in the 13th percentile for weight. I was also 2cm dialated. He advised me to go home and next week we would repeat the ultrasound to track progress again. At my 38 week appt we did a non-stress test and found out that baby was moving fine and not in distress. I was dialated to 3cm. We also did a biophysical profile ultrasound to confirm baby's size, as well as see if the baby had grown throughout the week. It turned out the baby had not gained any weight throughout the week and was maintaining current weight totals. Therefore, our doctor gave us the option of inducing. There was a possibility that the placenta may not be supporting the baby at this point in the pregnancy or that the baby was just genetically smaller. So, we took the option for induction at 39 weeks. It was strange scheduling when the baby would be born, but also allowed us to plan as much as we could up until that point.
Friday morning was the big day. We arrived at the hospital at 6am. They monitored the baby's heartbeat for about 30 minutes and then started me on pitocin. After about 30 minutes on the meds, the doctor broke my water and we were on our way. I labored well for about 2 hours and tolerated the meds well. However, once I reached the highest dosage of pitocin, I asked for an epidural. By the time I got the epidural and it was effective, it was about 10:15am.I felt a lot of relief, but then at about 10:35 I started to feel the need to push. Sure enough, I had gone from 5-6cm dialated to 9cm. My nurse said I was close. I still felt a need to push, so she checked me again and I was ready to deliver. Megan was born at 10:46am. So my whole labor took about 4 hours. It was a quick process and in the end we had our second beautiful daughter.

Introducing Megan Faith

Megan Faith Skala was born on Friday, March 3 at 10:46am. She weighed 5lbs. 11oz. and was 18in. long. She came after about 4 hours of labor. She is absolutely perfect and an incredible addition to our family. Kelsey is great with her and loves her little sister. We are truly blessed. Welcome to life as a family of four:)