Baby Shower Blessings

I've told you all this before but I have to tell you again how completely blessed we are to have the church we have here. Last night they threw a baby shower for Elizabeth and I. All the men and boys got put into another room to play pool and cards and all us girls stayed in the main room to play babyshower games.


Of course, the little boys that were the "middle" children (seen right) - to young to play with the big boys at pool and cards, and too old to play with the babies - couldnt help but keep poking their heads in on the baby shower and wonder what was going on. LOL (they are so cute together)

We had a wonderful time! And oh my! The gifts that were given to Ella are just overwhelming! I just wanted to cry! She received a TON of BEAUTIFUL dresses. I just hope she will be able to wear them all before she grows out of them (I'm sure she will be able to). She also got a few handmade crocheted outfits and an adorable little apron, also handmade by a lady who makes aprons for all the little girls at the church. I cant wait to see her toddling around in that! The pastor's wife decorated everything and kept the theme in roses for our sweet little Rose. I was just blown away! They also made us a little booklet (themed in roses) with Ella's birth information, a list of the gifts and from whom they were given, and the pastor is going to add the pictures from the night inside.

Do you see why I say we are so blessed by this church?! I mean, from the beginning, I knew this church was a good fit for us. It's small and intimate, we are able to make friends with pretty much everyone there and not feel lost in the crowd. It's just amazing how everyone bends over backwards for everyone else, in particular the Pastor and his wife. They are such a blessing and I hope we can be a blessing to them - and everyone at the church - too.

(ps I'll post pictures as soon as I can)

One Month already!

Can you believe it?! Elizabeth is already one month old, well, yesterday she was. I would have written this yesterday but the little princess wanted to be held and eat all day long hehe.

We're hoping to take her to the clinic to get her weighed again tomorrow. According to Wii Fit though she weighs 9lbs 6oz LOL. It seems whenever I try and get a workout in that's when she magically wakes up and wants to be held. There are a few workouts I can still do while holding her though. Ella likes it when I do the hula hoop workout. Sometimes she even falls back to sleep so I can do a few more things before she wants to eat again.

Milestones, hmm, let's see where she's at about now. Well, you saw the pictures, she's smiling now. It takes a little coaxing to get her to do it, lots of high pitched baby talk, with a final reward of a giant toothless grin. She also likes to lay under her baby gym, particularly under the mirror, and make funny faces and smiles at herself, arms and legs flailing wildly.

Ella's fitting in her baby clothes much better now and she even has a roll or two starting to come into her chubby little legs.

Sleeping through the night? She really only wakes up once or sometimes twice in the night but then again she sleeps right next to me in bed. Last night, when we went up to bed, she stayed asleep in my arms so I put her in the bassinet. Shockingly, she stayed asleep when I layed her down. She only lasted maybe 15-20 mins but it's a step! :) Of course, I was having issues enjoying the "freedom" and missed her laying by my side. LOL

We have SMILES!

"Hi, Mama, whatcha doin?"












"What that 'trange black thing 'taring back at me? Why you making dose funny faces and sounds?"












"You're funny, Mama!!"











"Ok, ok, that's 'nough"














"I's tired now"

TONS of pictures!

I have lots of pictures!!! I'm going to try and put only the best ones up... that narrowed them down to a mere 20 LOL. Elizabeth was being pretty cooperative this afternoon so I did a quick photoshoot with her so there's are lots and lots to share. I am going to post them on here but they will have to be very small to fit everything on one page. Click on the pictures to view them full size so you can enjoy them.

OK these first ones, I took a few days ago. The boys, finally over their colds, and get to hold their baby sister for the first time.







Here are some from today's photoshoot:

Quick update...

I dont know how much time I have but I wanted to type up a quick update on us so you know I havent forgotten about the blog and keeping you all in the "loop". hehe Elizabeth is over there grunting and groaning in her sleep so I know my time is limited.

We just got back from her 2 week doctor's appointment. She has almost gained all the weight she lost back. She's up to 8lbs 8oz now. But doc wants us to come back next week for a quick weight check to make sure she's still gaining. That's fine by me, it makes me feel better to see that scale number keep going up.

(oh no! her eyes just opened up, quick, type FASTER!!)

Breastfeeding is still a challenge. There are some days I'm just on the verge of giving up but I keep telling myself that if I can just make it to the 6week mark it'll all be better. She is doing better than when we first got home. But in the evening when she refuses to be put down and just wants to suck forever, I just get so frustrated. And yesterday was out right awful, she wanted to eat non-stop all day long. Maybe it was a growth spurt or something, who knows, but formula was looking pretty good at that point. I didnt give in. We stuck it out. Today is better, she has at least let me put her down in her chair to sleep for a few mins.

But it looks like my few mins have come to an end. I have pictures that I have taken, and I hope to take some more but finding the time to post them is another story. I will get them up here eventually, hopefully before she turns 18 LOL.

Videos!!!!

OK! Finally I got around to uploading the videos we took at the hospital. They're still actually in the process of uploading so if you dont see a total of 6 videos on this post, check back later, I should have them all up by the end of the day. It's just taking Youtube a million years to upload.

Elizabeth is doing great. We're finally coming to the end (I hope) of her first growth spurt where she's feeding NON-STOP! I'm so exhausted! The good thing is that it has REALLY helped her with the breastfeeding. She's doing so much better. She's really only needed to have one bottle between yesterday and today. Mostly that's my fault because I'm too sore to feed her after a marathon feeding last night. But all and all she's doing fantastic. We're going to try and take her into the clinic tomorrow to see if they will let me do a walk-in weighing for her. After her losing all that weight in the hospital and not wanting to wake up it really shook my confidence with being able to feed her. I just want to see some numbers to make sure all is good.

On to the videos!! (I hope this works)

The first one here is me feeding her for the first time. Elizabeth is just minutes old and we are still in the delivery suite.



This next video: the lady standing there is our midwife, she is weighing and measuring Elizabeth



This is the pediatrician giving Elizabeth her first check up (part one)



And this is part two of the same check up (no problem with those lungs that's for sure):



Here she is all dressed up like a boy - haha, I think that's why she's sticking her tongue out so much, doesnt like this boy stuff. The midwife is making her a bracelet with her last name on it... at least the bracelet was pink.



This last video I took the day before we were going to be released from the hospital. Elizabeth Rose at 2 days old.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!!

By now, most of you know I had baby Elizabeth Rose on the 27th. I'm sorry that I havent been able to get online since to tell you myself. After I posted on the 26th about the doctor's appointment and feeling "crampy and contraction-y" sure enough that was Elizabeth giving me fair warning that we'd see her soon. The crampy feeling was intesifying through the night but I didnt want to get my hopes up and eventually went to bed. Around 430 or so I got woken up by massive pain, I walked downstairs but the more I moved the worse it got so I woke up Dennis to have him get the boys ready. There was no reason to time these, this pain made Sunday's contractions seem like a cake walk.

Dennis took the boys over to our friend's house and then came back to get me. The car ride was torture but eventually we got there. I just stared at the GPS begging to finally see that final destination "checkered flag" show up on the screen. I wanted an epidural and I wanted it NOW!!!!

We got to the hospital, got lost trying to find the labor ward - they really should make those places easier to find. Finally we found it and got directed to the monitoring room. They wanted to monitor my contractions and baby's heart in this INCREDIBLY uncomfortable chair. It was taking everything I could to stay seated. Finally, they took me into the next room, now doc wanted to examine the baby with and ultrasound. I ended up cutting that short by nearly leaping out of that chair with the pain of that next contraction. Then the doc takes my blood pressure and asks, "is your bloodpressure always this high?" You know, I kind of thought that your blood pressure rose when you were under the most pain of your entire life, but I'm no doctor. LOL

Anyway, I was finally put into a labor room and they said I could have an epidural as soon as they got the blood results back to make sure I dont have any serious Blood pressure issues (rolls eyes). OH Sweet sweet epidural!!! it made it all better!!! And guess what? miraculously my blood pressure dropped to a more normal rate as soon as the pain went away - imagine that!! LOL

Unfortunately, the epidural caused my contractions to start to die off as well so the midwife decided to give me a small dose of pitocin which definately kicked things up a knotch. My water broke shortly after - on its own. As soon as that happened, not but an instant later I felt like I needed to push. She was here in less than an hour after my water broke - thank God we didnt decide to wait to leave until my water broke. LOL

As soon as she came out, Dennis exclaimed, "It's a GIRL!" I couldnt believe it, I thought I was hearing things. I have to lift myself up and see for myself (I was in a funky position). I just started bawling!! A baby GIRL!!!! It still makes me cry to think about it. God is Good!!

Here is some pictures I stole from the Krankenhaus's (hospital) website of the delivery room. Dennis took some video of it (only camera we managed to bring). I will edit the videos (lol) and post them a later time. There is some good video of Elizabeth just minutes old getting weighed and measured.

This room was huge, both of these picture are of the same room. There was a jacuzzi type tub on one side and the funny looking birthing bed on the other. Both with Laboring "ropes" - which were very helpful. I never went into the tub... not my thing plus I wanted an epidural too bad



A lot of you have probably already seen these pictures already but I'm going to post them anyway in case you havent. Here is sweet little Elizabeth. I will take some more pictures later when I can. We've already had some challenges and for now I have to spend a lot of time with feeding her. She had issues with breastfeeding. Her little mouth just wasnt taking my nipple so I have to pump and feed her. She's getting stronger though and every day is taking the breast more and more. Hopefully we can get rid of these bottles for good eventually - especially since I have barely a clue with this bottle feeding thing. LOL






OH OH OH! I almost forgot the all important info: she was born at 11:28am on Dec 27th, 8lbs 9oz and 20in long.