Post-partum bump check

Well since I did belly shots throughout my pregnancy I figured it was only fair if I did a postpartum shot thus far!

I am 5 1/2 weeks past delivery and I am feeling *really* good!   The weight is coming off pretty darn easy so far.  I know I am going to hit a plateau pretty soon and then I'll have to start working at the last few pounds I have.   At this point I have 7lbs of the 38lbs left to lose.   Of course before I found out I was pregnant I had a goal of 10lbs that I wanted to lose...... but hey - I'll take what I can get.

So here is what I am currently.

Similar to what I looked like at around 8 weeks........   I just felt a lot bigger then. 

ETA - you can find a comparison shot:    -HERE-    Maybe the weight is all in my boobs (thanks comments!)

I know I still owe a birth story and now it is just getting to be a little fuzzy so I need to do it ASAP - even if it is just for me!!!

Meet the Queen -

Paris Raine was a name that I have liked since high school, unfortunately someone named Paris Hilton kind of ruined the name “Paris” for me.   Bummer, because I thought it would make a great girls name.  Fast forward 15 years and I get matched with a great couple from Paris France – how fun.  Maybe it was a premonition 15 years in the making…. 

Probably not.   

I had forgotten about the name Paris years before.

When I got pregnant with my own child we had to think of names again.  We actually still had names ‘left over’ from our last child – names we were kind of bummed we didn’t get to use before.  However for our girls’ name we had already used the middle name (Marie) we had paired with it.  So the hunt was on to find a new middle name!!   At some point I suggested Raine and was quickly vetoed on it. 

Not sure what was wrong with the name – maybe it wasn’t a ‘normal’ middle name.  Our children might have first names that are a little unique, but the middle names are all good solid BORING names.  Raine, not so much.

So back to the books we went in search of just the right name in case we had a girl.  Of course we tossed names back and forth but none sounded ‘perfect’.   I went back to thinking Raine…. and looked up the meaning.  

**PERFECT**  

Seriously.   Now I am not one that is huge on meanings, but when I told my husband that Raine meant: QUEEN he was sold.  We already had a princess, if we had another girl she was going to be our queen.  That was going to be our girls middle name………. 

The second part of this special name was that all 5 children I had given birth to were all born on beautiful, sunny days.  As it turned out – this baby just *had* to be different.  She was born on a gray, drizzly, rainy day.  

Ainslee Raine - - Welcome to our world.   

I hope you enjoy being the queen of the family!

Princess & the Queen

Knowing that our family was growing we spent a  lot of time talking to each of our kids, making sure that they fully  understood what was happening. We wanted each of them to  be as welcoming and as understanding as possible when the new little Intruder made their way into our lives.

During one of these talks I asked our 3 year  old –  “If we have a baby girl are you still going to be our princess?”   Of course she said yes, she didn’t want to give up being the  princess of the family…. Trying to figure out how to make things ‘fair’ I  asked her if the new baby could be the queen if she was a girl.  Our 3 year old princess jumped all over that! If  she could still hold onto her title and still let the baby have a  special title too then that would be great! Of course at 3  she doesn’t understand the hierarchy that goes with being a princess or  a queen… One of the visitors asked her: “So if you are the princess and your sister is the queen, what does that  make Mommy?” Very sweetly she replied: “Happy!”  *warm fuzzies*