Back to work

I haven't blogged in a while. I am learning to juggle work and motherhood! Working 2 days/week is definitely better than 3 days at work, but it is still an adjustment to get used to. I was with Ella for 3 months straight and to have to go 13 hours without seeing her was hard. I just finished my 3rd week of work and I am getting the hang of it. It really hasn't been too bad leaving her since I am blessed to have 2 great babysitters (mom and Chris). I have only had one melt down at work so far! Here are some updated pictures of Ella. I still manage to take a million pictures. I think she probably has a picture of every day of her life! 

She loves the lights on her Christmas tree

I am very proud of the $1 tights I found in the Target dollar section

All smiles as usual!

"It's a major award!"

For years, I have loved the leg lamp on "A Christmas Story" and wanted to sport it in my living room window. Well, this is the year! We won the major award! "FRAGILE" it must be Italian!

For years

The Hunnibees Knees

Most of you know that I have always loved being crafty. Mom and I have been making home decor and kid's stuff for a while now and recently opened an etsy store for kids stuff, called 

The Hunnibees Knees at www.thehunnibeesknees.etsy.com

Eventually, we hope to have a home decor store as well. Everything in the store now are things I made a while ago. We will be adding more things as I get adjusted to the mommy thing! I hope you like what you see! 

My heart is melted!

I know all my blogs are about Ella, but she is my life right now. She melts my heart! There is no love greater (except for God's love for us)!  She is becoming so fun and I love to hear her coos and see her smile. My inner child is definitely coming out. I will make any face imaginable to make her smile! I will even sing to her (Kim)! 

Grandma, she's wearing the hat that you knitted and looks adorable in it!

Having some, not so fun, tummy time to strengthen those neck muscles
Those big eyes melt my heart!
Sweet smile!
I love watching her sleep. She is so beautiful to me! 

Our little Ladybug

Our little Ladybug didn't like her Halloween costume too much. You can see that in the pic of her and daddy. We went to visit daddy at the fire station on Halloween. Then we decided to make her a pumpkin and she didn't like that too much either. I think our neighbors thought we were torturing our baby! When I look at these pictures, I realize how big she is getting. She now smiles, focuses on faces, and follows objects with her eyes. Before we know it, she'll be crawling =(

Newborn Pictures

We just received Ella Cate's newborn photos and I am so proud of them! It was an adventure (to say the least) to get them made! The photographer told us the session would probably take 2 hours and the longest it had ever taken was 4 hours. We broke the record for 4 hrs and 15 min! Go Ella! Ella peed and pooped on us several times and did not want to go to sleep. I know we were pushing our luck by asking our 1 week old baby to fall asleep after we stripped her naked and twisted her in all sorts of positions! I am so happy they turned out so well. You can view the rest of the pics through the link on the side. Ella is getting so big now and she looks so tiny in these pics. She now weighs 10# 14 oz. and is 7 weeks old. She's a good eater! 

5th Annual Family Girls Retreat

Ella Cate had her 1st weekend getaway in Gatlinburg with the girls. 22 of us girls, on mom's side of the family, gathered together all weekend in a cabin in the Smokey Mountains and had the time of our life. My family is sooo wild and crazy! Every year, it gets more fun! We pick a different location each year and hang out and catch up. We were in our PJ's almost all weekend. We danced, hot tubbed, sat in massage chairs, ate, and laughed until we couldn't laugh anymore. I have to say we broke Ella in b/c if she could sleep through that loudness, then she can sleep through anything! My great grandma (Ella's great-great grandma) came too, so we had 5 generations there. That was priceless! The ages ranged from 4 weeks old to 87 years! I wouldn't trade those memories for anything. 

  Ella Cate at 1 month old
2nd cousins Bobbi & Tion dancing
Aunt Kim & mom cheering!
Me with 2nd cousin Bobbi and 1st cousin Katherine
5 generations! What a view from our balcony!

I am skipping my nap time to post some new pics on the blog. They say to sleep when the baby sleeps, but what do you do when your baby rarely sleeps? I have found that if I get one thing done a day, then I feel accomplished! Ella is a busy body already and likes to be awake during the day and can't stand to not see what's going on around her. I swear she is already trying to smile and she lifts her head up like it's nothing! She is growing like a weed; she weighed 8#2 oz. last week. Chris goes back to work tomorrow after being off for 3 weeks and I am not looking forward to that. It has been so nice having him here to help me and to make meals. He feeds me while I feed Ella! Here are a few pictures I took this week. 

Ella Cate is here!!

We are proud to announce our new baby girl, Ella Cate! She was born Sunday, August 30th at 7:38 pm and weighed 7# 10 oz. and is 20 1/2 in. long. She is absolutely perfect! Even more perfect than I could ever imagine! I can't take my eyes off of her! The labor story... we went in Saturday night at about 2:30 am after I had been having contractions q 4-5 min for about 4 1/2 hours. I was planning an epidural for pain relief and ended up getting one at about 6:30 am. They started pitocin at about 5:30 am and my water broke around 9 am. I was 10 cm at about 6:45 pm and pushed for about 45 min. The whole experience was so surreal and I still can't believe that I just delivered a baby and she's now mine! Chris was so supportive through the whole labor and delivery (and even more supportive since we've been home).  I couldn't have asked for a better husband. Ella is sooo wonderful and beautiful. I never knew I could love someone so much so quickly! 

Coming home!

1st bath!

Our little procrastinator!!

Well, we are 2 days past due and still no baby yet! I was 1 cm and 80% effaced this past Tuesday. I'm having some irregular contractions, but nothing too intense =( If we don't have a baby by tomorrow night, then we go in for an induction. I'll get a cervidil (cervical "ripener") Sunday night and then pitocin Monday morning. Until then, we are just passing the time. It is odd just waiting around for something to happen. The house is thoroughly cleaned! Chris and I went yesterday and got foot massages and they massaged the pressure points that are supposed to stir up labor. I'm trying anything at this point. I'm officially miserable! We will keep you all posted in the next few days! Will it be a boy or girl? My vote is a little boy that weighs 7#3 oz and Chris votes a girl that weighs 7#9 oz...we'll see...

Belly Shots

I wanted to share some of our belly shots with you all. We had so much fun at the photo shoot and we're happy with how they turned out. There pics were when I was about 33 weeks pregnant. The quality of the pictures aren't that great b/c I had to scan them into my computer. 

 

Patiently awaiting Baby H...

We are now counting down the days! August 27th is just around the corner and we're patiently waiting on Baby H. The room is complete and our bags are packed! So far, I haven't had one real contraction. I'm still hanging in there and not too terribly uncomfortable yet. I've been blessed to have such a great pregnancy so far! I do admit that I'm a little nervous about the whole labor/delivery. I'm ready for that part to be behind me! I think that a little ignorance is bliss with your 1st baby can be a good thing and I don't get that luxury since I work in L&D. Keep me and the baby in your prayers over the next couple of weeks and pray that the delivery goes well and we have a healthy baby!  I posted some pics of the baby's room. I worked hard at sewing the crib bedding and curtains. I thing it turned out pretty gender neutral. Lots of green! 

Baby Shower Time!

It's already baby shower time! I am so blessed to have such good family and friends that have offered to throw baby showers for me. So far, we have had 2 showers. Chris's mom, Brenda, gave us a shower 2 weeks ago for his family. She got out Chris's old stroller and we had a good laugh at the difference in the 1980 stroller vs. the 2009 version! 

A few friends (Kim, Amie, and Jessica) threw me a shower this past weekend at my house. We had a really good time, especially with the toilet paper/plunger game! Below is my mom and Stella, Chris' stepmom, trying to put the plunger in the toilet paper hole! It might be a little inappropriate for a baby shower, but it sure was funny!