Molly 1 month

So today was my first day back to work since having Molly. It was hard to leave the girls. I was really getting used to staying home with them. I had a sweet little surprise when I got to work from Ellie. I took the last two english muffins to work so I could eat a mid morning snack. I pulled one out to eat it and first thought part of it broke off. I looked a little closer and noticed there were three little bite marks in the muffin. I busted out laughing, they were from Ellie. The little stinker has grown up so fast that now she is able to reach the next shelf in the pantry. I'm assuming she was in there and got a hold of the bag, took a muffin out, had a little snack and so kindly put the muffin back in the bag and placed it back on the shelf. I felt like a little kid whose mom put a sweet little note in her lunch. It was exactly what I needed to help me get through my first day back to work.

Ellie has been amazing with Molly. She loves to give kisses and tries to give Molly her pacifier whether she wants it or not. This weekend I was even able to prop Molly up so Ellie could hold her. It's still kinda surreal that we have these two sweet girls when not that long ago we were questioning whether or not we were ever going to be able to have kids. Tonight Ellie was such a good little girl. Jason gave her a bath and she played for a bit. About 8pm I told Ellie to give me a kiss and she needed to go night night. She did just that. She came over, gave me a smooch and headed to her bedroom. Jason put her in her crib and she went to sleep. She normally goes to sleep very easily in the recliner with one of us but never has she headed to her room like such a big girl to go to bed. Moments like this make me so proud.

Two Weeks Old

Molly's Birth Story

I woke up around 1:30am on April 3, 2012 with what I thought was a stomach ache. Before I went to bed I had a pickle and lemonade and thought maybe the combination didn’t agree with me. I had 1 “cramp” around 1:30am and laid there until the next one around 2:20am. I felt my stomach and realized it was not a stomach ache and they were contractions. I headed down stairs to finish up Ellie’s “Big Sister” t-shirt that I had started the night before. Jason came down stairs to check on me and I told him they were for sure contractions. By the time I finished the t-shirt the contractions were about 30 min apart. It was now about 4am and I decided I better get in the shower and start getting ready. Jason sat out in the living room on the computer doing a bit of work. I finished getting ready and came out to tell him he better get ready because contractions were now about 5min apart. He showered, called his mom and we were headed out the door around 5:30am. Contractions stayed about 3 min apart all the way to the hospital. They checked me in and around 6am I was measuring 5cm and 90%. By 8:45am I was at 7cm and 100% and my nurse told me if I wanted an epidural now would be a good time. I got the epidural but it wasn’t a good block so I was still feeling everything, which wasn’t too bad. I was still breathing through them but I was so worried about tearing that I really wanted the drugs to work. Around 9:30am the anesthesiologist came in with something a bit stronger and that seemed to do the trick. It was 10am and it was time to call Dr. L. She was in the hospital doing a hysterectomy on a woman so she had to leave that lady and come up quick to deliver Molly. I pushed during 1 contraction 3 times and the next contraction I pushed once and they told me to stop that her head was out. Molly was born at 10:15am. She came out and I looked at her and knew she was quite a bit smaller than Ellie. She weighed 6lbs 12oz and measured 19 inches long. She was perfect.

My parents missed her birth by a hour. They missed Ellie’s by about the same time. The weeks prior my mom kept telling me to give her more notice this time. Well I called her cell phone at 3:54am and she didn’t answer so I called the house and dad answered. He gave the phone to mom and I told her my contractions were about 45min apart. She said to call her around 6am because it’s possible that I could be like that for several hours. I called her again at 5 and told her we were thinking about heading to the hospital soon, she said she would get dad up and get on the road. There is something to be said about a mother’s intuition. With Ellie she said, “We’ll see you tomorrow” and with Molly my mom said Monday night before I went to bed, “now you are ready. I got the flowers done so let me know when contractions are regular." Guess next time both of us should pay attention to what she is saying.

It's been a busy week and I'm still working on Molly's birth story. She arrived last Tuesday morning and couldn't be more perfect. Just a quick pic and then I will hopefully get her story done this week.

Her Nursery

We thought a couple weeks ago baby might arrive a bit early but I've been at 2cm for a couple weeks and on Thursday I was 2.5cm. Only a few contractions here and there but nothing to get excited about. By my calculations I'm due the 4th but according to my first ultrasound my Dr. gave me a due date of the 10th. I'm hoping more around the 4th because of Easter, but she'll come when she's ready to come.

Here are some pics of her nursery. I'm waiting on a wall decal to arrive that says her name but other than that the room is ready.

I added some frill to an old lamp shade and found these cute little purple flowers to add for a bit of color

I couldn't find any curtains that I liked for a reasonable price so thanks to Pinterest

I decided to sew up some with a little ruffle

Here is her wall decal I ordered. I added some fabric flowers to give it some color. As soon as I get the name decal it will go right above her crib.

So excited I got my belly teaser pic. Can't wait to see the rest!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today started out with green shamrock pancakes for breakfast.

We got all dressed in our green and headed out to the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown.

Ellie lasted until the last 15 min and she was out.

We came home and I painted up my belly.

I did this with Ellie but painted a pumpkin for her.

Now we are off to Target to finish buying baby stuff. I had an appointment on Thursday afternoon and I was at 2cm. I was quite surprised so I feel like I've been in a bit of a panic since then thinking of all the stuff I have to do before she arrives. I thought I would have at least 3-4 more weeks but I think we might be having a March baby.

Happy Valentine's Day

Well Miss Ellie wasn't being such a sweet Valentine today. She didn't want to get up this morning and the last thing I think she wanted was me getting her dressed up and taking a million pics of her but we got a few.

Happy Birthday Ellie

Ellie turned 1 on Saturday. We headed up to my parents on Friday morning to start getting things ready for the party on Saturday. On the way up Friday it was raining but no snow. We grabbed some lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant, Ming's, and over heard a lady say there was supposed to be 2-4" of snow later Friday and Saturday 5-8". Jason made a comment about it and I tried to play it off that she must be talking about a different area...maybe Denver. Nope the snow started late Friday and by Saturday mid morning there was about 8-10".




It made for a bit of a stressful day trying to figure out if we were even going to have her party. The party store called early Saturday morning and said they were going to close early so we needed to come pick up our order. My dad had bladed the driveway around 7am and within just a couple of hours it was drifted shut again. Jason shoveled enough for us to get out but when we returned from the party store there was no way we were getting back up the driveway. We were snowed out!! Oh and we had no power since 5am Saturday morning. I still had tons of things to do to get ready for the party and couldn't get back to the house to do it and even if I could get back in there was no power. My poor dad was out trying to get cattle fed and it wasn't going so well with all the snow so he wasn't able to come back and blade the driveway until he was finished with cattle. With my dad out working we weren't able to get back to the house until about 1pm. The party was scheduled to start at 4pm but I had decorating to do at the restaurant and still hadn't taken a shower. We packed up everything and headed over to my aunt's house to shower and and get ready. Not everyone was able to attend due to the weather. Jason's family was coming from KC and online they were saying the roads were snow packed and we suggested they not attempt it. Also my aunt and uncle who live about an hour west couldn't make it in. It turned out to be a great party and party definitely everyone will remember. I guess I should have went with a theme that a friend of mine did "Winter Onederland"

First Steps!!!

All of the sudden Ellie just decided to walk tonight! Enjoy the video we got below...

11 months

This morning after Ellie got up from her nap I took her into her room to change her diaper. While doing so I noticed some lovely boogers in her nose and decided to suck them out. When she sees the green sucker coming her way she immediately starts crying. When she opened her mouth and let out her first cry I noticed two upper teeth! I looked again to make sure I was really seeing this and yes both top teeth are there. I yelled out to Jason and we both couldn't believe it. Here all this time we have been waiting for the two on the bottom to show and nothing. Well we thought we saw one on the lower a month or so ago but it disappeared. Anyway we felt horrible because she has been whining a lot the last few days and we thought maybe teeth but again we were only checking the lowers. If the little bit of whining was all to her breaking teeth through then she is quite the trooper! :)

We had a wonderful Christmas! We headed up to KC to stay with Jason's sister Thursday night and then off early Friday morning to Omaha. It was really nice to break up the trip and spend a little time with the nephews. Friday we got up to Omaha finished up some shopping then took it easy that night. Ellie opened up a couple of gifts so she could get some more practice in for Christmas morning really I think it was Grandma that couldn't wait to give her some gifts. Saturday night was Christmas Eve at my Dad's side. Santa arrived and Ellie wanted no part of it. She cried so hard she even held her breath for a few seconds. Christmas morning we woke up and opened up tons of gifts. Ellie did so well opening up all her gifts. It didn't take her as long as anticipated but she's into sharing so every piece of paper ripped off she had to give to someone. Christmas afternoon we headed to my mom's side for lunch and more gifts. My sister flew in Christmas day so I only got to see her and her little guy for just a few hours. We exchanged gifts quick because we needed to get back for Christmas in Wichita. This December has been so busy that I really can't believe Christmas is over and we are about to start a new year. Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

My practice gift that I opened from Grandma.

Helping mommy put tags on the gifts

Not a fan of Uncle Gary, I mean Santa

Love my new Cabbage Patch

Crawling on cousin Alex's gift

Ellie with cousin Connor and Owen

First time with Santa

Every year Jason's work puts on a kids Christmas party. We've always heard about how many kids were there and how much fun it was. Many coworkers of his over the years have said to come even with out kids but how could we. The holiday's were hard enough let alone going to a kids party and seeing year after year what we were missing out on. Well this year we were finally able to go and take Ellie. I felt like it was Christmas for me this morning, I was so excited. We were so excited to go that we left a little early and we're the first to arrive and see Santa. Ellie got right up on Santa's lap. Her eyes got a little red like she wanted to cry but she looked right at him and took her toy. How fun it will be to have this part of our holiday tradition.

It's been a busy week. School is coming to an end getting ready for finals and graduation on December 8. I think I'm going to try and fit in boards before Christmas so I can sit back and enjoy the holiday's. I can't wait to put the books away and spend all my time with Miss Ellie........and Jason. It's been a long 3 years of studying and missing out on things.

We found out we are having another GIRL!! We thought for sure it was a boy so we were a little surprised but not dissapointed. It's so exciting that Ellie will have a little playmate and friend. I love that I have a sister and I think many would agree that there is no better friend than a sister.

We noticed on Wednesday that Ellie has a sharp little bitty white spot on her gums. A tooth...Finally! It explains why she's been a bit fussy the last couple weeks. She has started eating more table foods. We tried some pancakes and toast this week and she loved it. She's not a fan of whole peas, she gags a bit but gotta have her veggies. The hardest part about feeding her more things is she still has her cow's milk allergy so she can't have any casseroles with cheese, or cream soups. We've tried to re-introduce milk products to her but she immediately broke out and became congested. The Dr. said to just wait until she is one year old and try again.

Last night we took her to her first indoor soccer game. The Wings haven't had a team since 2001 and recently started back up here in Wichita. There were two little boys sitting behind us that kept her entertained. Ellie sat so good, never fussed and stayed awake until 11 o'clock last night. We all had a great time.

Today we are heading down to Jason's grandparents house for their Thanksgiving. I think there might be about 40-50 people all in their little farm house. You would think we were staying the night with all the stuff we had to pack for Ellie. Toys, food, big blanket for her to play on. I had to bring the bumbo so she had a place to sit and eat.

9 months

Today Ellie turned 9 months old. We had a busy day of pictures and her doctor's appointment. She weighed 18.2lbs (50%) and 28" long (75%). The day started out a little rough with her waking up 3 times last night and crying for several hours. She would only sleep for an hour or so then up crying again. I couldn't figure out if she had a tummy ache or if it was her teeth. She still hasn't broke her first tooth so I know that's coming soon. Well this morning answered my question. The poor girl was a bit constipated. Being up all night made for a cranky girl most of the day. I'm used to having a sweet little angel that rarely cries or gets upset. So far she has been in bed for an hour so fingers crossed tonight goes better than last night.

I also want to share some news. We are expecting #2 in April. I've been waiting to share this because I have a few friends that are still trying and didn't want to upset them. Although I know they are happy for us, I've been in there shoes and it still hurts. After 6 IVF/FET's this time came the all natural way. I was lucky to find out so early so I could get on Lovenox before miscarrying. So far everything is going well and we will find out on Wed what we are having.

Happy Halloween

Ellie's first Halloween is coming to an end. It started out on Saturday night carving pumpkins with Nana and Papa. She wasn't real sure what to think about the big pumpkins but soon realized she was a bit scared of them. We cut the lids off and let her play with those and it seemed to help a bit. Still she didn't want much to do with them but she sat long enough so I could get a couple pictures.

Today she wore a "My first Halloween" bib that grandma got her, to the babysitters. She hasn't been feeling well and she spit up most of her morning bottle all over her first Halloween outfit. She put on a second outfit and this afternoon the same thing, she spit up all over that one. By 3:30 when I picked her up she was in just a diaper. Luckily it was about 75 today so she was happy to go home with no clothes on. I got most of her trick or treating costume on before Jason got home but he helped with the main part of her lady bug. She looked so cute.

We only went to Nana and Papa's house and then headed home to hand out candy. We had plans to hit a couple houses but with her not feeling well I didn't want her out much.

Oh and one thing that she started over the weekend is motioning to come here. I'm guessing that she is trying to say hi or goodbye but has it backwards. Too cute

Sick baby

Poor Miss Ellie has got some yuck that has been going around the community. She started out a couple days ago with a low grade fever and this horrendous cough or should I say bark. She seems fine playing and smiling still but when she gets real active she gets short of breath and kinda wheezy. I took her into the doctor yesterday and he gave me some oral Albuterol to help with these episodes. She seems to be better today. I'm enjoying her taking extra long naps and sleeping thru the night. I hope the night routine stays the same I think both Jason and I could get used to that. Well sounds like she is up from her 3 hr morning nap so better run.

I know... I know it's been forever and I believe I said that on my last post 2 months ago. I have been just so busy with school and now Ellie is crawling and pulling up on everything which is needing a lot of my attention so we don't end up with too many bruises.

I look at her and can hardly believe she is 8 months old already. She is babbling all the time but no actual first word yet. Although Grandma and Grandpa thought she said da da but Jason won't believe it until she says it at him. She's getting faster at crawling but I think she would really like to just forget about that and go right to walking. She's getting brave pulling herself up on things and starting to let go. We've had a couple spills but nothing that a little smooch from mom wont fix.

We headed up to Omaha last weekend for my birthday and to watch some Husker football. To bad they lost but it was still fun hanging out with family. My sister was able to come in town with her little guy Alex. He is 2 months old and such a little cutie. My cousin brought her baby who is only 5 weeks older than Ellie. They played so well together, standing up and banging there hands on chairs to make noise. They were both up until midnight and with little to no napping that evening. Let's just say Ellie was a little cranky on the way home.

Ellie and 2nd cousin Madelyn

Ellie and Alex

Although I went to Aldi's today and bought 3 pumpkins for $2.49 each. This weekend I think we may take Ellie to a pumpkin patch to pick out her first pumpkin. There is a pumpkin patch not far from our house and I think I need some pics of her in a field of pumpkins.

I know it's been awhile and I'm trying to think even where to start. Ellie turned 6 months on Aug 4th. She weighed 17lbs (75%) and was 27" long (90%). She isn't crawling yet but getting very close. She's very good at scooting to where she wants to go. She is starting to get a little more balance. The other day she sat up by herself for about 10 min playing with her hair brush.

We had our first family photos with Ellie taken on Aug 6th. We should be getting those back any day now. I've seen a few teaser photos and they're all really good. The photographer said to meet her downtown. The address sounded familiar but I was unsure exactly where it was at. When I turned onto the street where we were meeting I realized it was where we had our wedding reception 5 years ago.

August 11th we started our trip to Chicago to surprise my sister for her 30th birthday. We left Thursday night and headed up to Omaha, stayed the night at my parents house and then Friday morning. Jason, Ellie, Me, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and Grandpa all piled into Grandpa's Suburban and drove to Chicago. It took about 8.5 hours to get there but with that many people all riding together potty breaks take a little longer than normal. We had a great time. Finally got to meet my nephew Alex. What a little cutie he is. It's crazy how little he is up next to Ellie. We got lots of pictures of the cousins together. It was a fun weekend and Katie was so surprised to see us all.

My mom came down last weekend and scrapbooked from 5-midnight with a friend of mine. We were feeling so creative I think we could have kept cropping for another 4-5 more hours. I'm really trying to get Ellie's book caught up. I'm only up to March at this point. I guess I shouldn't have taken a billion photos the first couple months of her life. Once I get caught up to this summer it shouldn't be as bad. I've already slowed down on the picture taking.

School started back up this last Monday. So ready for this semester to be over with. I'm ready to get back to just going to work and not having to spend my evening studying. Our pinning ceremony will be December 8th so really only months and I will be done. If I ever say I want to go back to school please don't let me.