ava eating a donut! Those are momma shmidt's favorites too.

The shmidt boys holding little miss.

Aunt christina, sophia and ava getting ready for bed.

It's bedtime for sophia! but then again, she is always sleeping.

Christmas at the Shmidt house

The Napa Auto twins. Can you tell they are brothers? Uncle Troy is holding Sophia.

Momma and Poppa Shmidt holding Sophia and Ava in her leopard outfit. RRRR

The Shmidt fam is now a family of four. Just brandon and the girls!

Who knew a two-year old liked to ice cookies? Ava went to town icing the cutouts. We couldn't keep up with her sprinkling action. She was cooking on them!

Sophia looks strangely calm as Ava holds her little sister.

Brandon's family came down for the holidays last weekend.

Here are some photos! Thanks for coming guys. It was great to see everyone including Momma, Poppa Shmidt and Christina and Troy.

more photos

Baby Sophia in all pink!

This was right after Sophia's pictures. You can access her pictures on the Riverside Hospital web site. Her name will appear as Sophia J.

Momma Kuhns stopped by the hospital to give lots of hugs to Sophia.

Sunday night before Ava was born. Mom had made spaghetti for us. Yum!

Aunt Kelly and Charlotte stopped by to say hi!

more pics from sophia's birth

Ann came to the hospital to meet Sophia.

I can't believe Sophia is here and the belly is gone (somewhat). This was after we checked in to the hospital for our induction on Monday, Dec. 8 in RM 08!

Sophia is here! Minutes after sophia was born proud daddy Brandon gets a first hug.

Poppa Shmidt and Ava. Poppa and Momma Shmidt came to see Sophia and Ava from Michigan.

Momma Shmidt loves babies. Momma Shmidt, Ava and Brandon enjoying the view from our hospital window.

Home on the Range

Ava and I on day 2 in the hospital.

Dad, Ava and Brandon saying hi one hour before Sophia was born.

Brandon and I before baby. Can you tell my epidural was good? he. he.

Week 1

Our first couple of days home have been nice and relaxing. Brandon is really helping out with Ava and the house stuff, and I am trying to get some rest and take care of Sophia and Ava.

Sophia is doing really well feeding and taking lots of beauty sleep. Her schedule is eat, sleep, poop/pee. She has been awake a couple of times and loves to stare at Ava. Her eyes are so blue and wide. She also has the longest eyelashes!

Here are some pictures!

Good morning baby sophia!

Good evening world! Sophia was born on dec. 8 and weighed 6.5 lbs.

Mommy and Sophia the next day in matching pink! Such a girly girl. Mommy just had her starbucks, and Sophia had her breakfast.

Baby Sophia with her big blue eyes.

Welcome Sophia Jane!

Brandon and I are sitting here in bed beside little Sophia Jane, who weighed in at a healthy 6.5 lbs last night. After 20 minutes of pushing, Sophia entered the world crying, alert and full of life! Her eyes were wide open.

Sophia had blond hair, blue eyes and beautiful lips!

She was born on 12/8/08 in room 8 at 6:58!

We got to the room yesterday at 9 a.m. for a scheduled induction. I was 39 weeks and 3 cm dialated. The nurse, Dori, started my pitocin around 10:30 a.m. Brandon went down for lunch around 11:30 a.m., and I was still dialated around 4 cm.

While Brandon was at lunch my contractions started to get a lot stronger. It was amazing how strong my contractions were -- I was sitting there trying to breath through them on the birthing ball thinking, "Lord, how do these women do it au naturel?" It really took a lot of concentration at 3 cm or 4 cm.

Around 4 p.m. the nurse came in and broke my water. At this point, I was still 4 cm. After they broke my water, the whole thing went so quickly! I went from 4 cm to 9 cm in an hour and a half! Brandon had gone down to get some dinner.

Brandon got a call that said, "Hurry up! I am 9 cm!" We waited for an hour for my doctor to come and then we got ready to push.

I was seriously terrified at the idea of pushing because last time I had to push for two hours. I remember telling Brandon, "don't make me push!" Brandon was a great coach though and took my yelling at him pretty well. I told him, "You keep pushing!" after he was encouraging me to push. The pushing only lasted 20 minutes, but it really wore me out.

I kept on imagining an end zone and thinking that every push brought me closer to the end zone. I also kept doing yoga breathing, which was really helpful.

Sophia was born at 6:58 p.m. and last night went really well. I am staying on gtop of my pain meds, which I didn't do last time. Sophia also is doing a great job breastfeeding. She has had two poops and is wearing a pink outfit with a styling green hat.

We feel so blessed to be a family of four now. God is so good!

Brandon, Erin, Ava and Sophia

Sophia makes her grand debut this monday

Sophia Jane will be here Monday!
It's Saturday night and Brandon and I are going to have Sophia this Monday, Dec. 8 at Riverside. We are having an induction since I am already 3 cm and 39 weeks on monday. I can't wait.

We have had such a long road with trying to have Sophia for seven months and nine-plus months of pregnancy.

Ava keeps saying, "baby" and pointing with her little index finger at the baby. She loves to say, "Mommy" "Daddy" while pointing to us. She really is so sweet! I hope that we can make this transition smooth and easy.

That's my prayer for next week!

Do You Want Some Fries With that Shake?

Brandon and I lovvvveee Sonic commercials. Becca says that we are like the couple on the Sonic commercial. Here are some of my favorite ones!

1. Minty Breath
2. Do you want fries with that shake?
3. Is your shake hot?
4. You are driving me...

See. Aren't you a fan now?

Undisputed bejeweled champion

Bejeweled champion
Okay. I actually beat brandon last week at backgammon (and he took it pretty hard). Currently, I am the champion bejeweled player (found on msn.com) in our house. With 12,165 (as of 1/3/08) points in a single game, I have the title and Brandon can't beat me. he. he.

Which is something because usually he beats me at most games. It was pretty funny how much he wanted to beat me! Ha.

Well, with lots of time at home waiting for baby, we are just trying to find new games to play. If you can beat me, comment on the post! You have to play the timed version.

thankful

Now, I know why i ranted in my last post. I was coming down with that nasty stomach virus and didn't know it. I went to bed on saturday at 9 and just felt crappy and restless all night. Around 2 a.m. I started getting acid reflux and then I thought it's just prego symptoms.

Nope.

I was sick all night and couldn't keep down anything. I couldn't even sip a glass of water without getting sick. I don't think I have ever had the stomach flu that bad. It started to worry me though because I wanted to make sure baby Sophia was getting enough fluid.

Anyways, Brandon took me to L&D to get some fluids per recommendation of my doctor. Before we went, mom prayed that we would get a really good nurse and we did -- we even got our own triage room (with a bathroom in case I needed it).

After getting fluids and anti-naseau medicine, I felt so much better. Before, my mouth was so dry I couldn't even talk to brandon that long. I never realized how thankful I am for health, food and water. All day, I was dreaming about different kinds of ice cold beverages that I could drink when I felt better.

Anyways, yesterday I went home and slept from 1 a.m. until 9 p.m. and then went to bed at 11 p.m. I am feeling a little bit better and just want to sleep.

Thanks for your prayers. It always complicates things when you are sick and prego. I told my sister thank god I didn't go into labor or anything. I couldn't imagine that!

We are 38 weeks today. I plan on getting a lot of sleep today and drinking my gatoraide.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and my lovely husband for taking care of me. Also, thanks to mom for picking up Ava. She had so much fun over there!