Swimsuit Edition

I feel like I must give attention to just how cute our baby girl looked in her bathing suit.

Ellie's Big Book of Firsts

Monday night we returned home from spending about 5 days visiting family and enjoying the great outdoors in Cataumet, MA on Cape Cod. This was Ellie's first vacation and as such she had many 'firsts'. It was her first time to.....

FLY on an airplane

SEE the ocean

EXPERIENCE Lobster Night

PLAY a round of mini-golf
and

TAKE a dip in the water
just wait until you hear about all the people she met!!

I'll update soon

I promise. But now that I've caught up on laundry and have gone grocery shopping I need to organize photos and decide what to write. Here's an image to tide you over.

8 weeks old!!

and my how she's changed!!

Pete's First Father's Day

Yesterday Ellie and I celebrated Pete as he enjoyed his first Father's Day. He returned home from his morning run just in time to avoid the thunderstorm and we made him pancakes for breakfast!

Here he is with the frame we gave him - it has Ellie's footprints on either side and a picture of Pete holding her when she was less than a day old in it :)

If you'll notice, Ellie was also wearing a special outfit we got just for the day - with her first skirt! We went for a walk with the dogs once the weather cleared and grilled steak for dinner. Nothing too spectacular - but Pete assures me he had a good day with all his girls!

Girls, Girls, Girls!

Yesterday Emily Helton was kind enough to host five of her girl friends for lunch - four of whom have baby girls - three of which were born within 8 weeks of each other!! Rachael has Sylvia - who is a mature 14 months old compared to all of our spring 2011 babes.

From left to right: Megan with Clover (born 5.04.11), Emily M. with Audrey (born 5.10.11), Rachael with Sylvia (born 4.08.10), Emily H. with Scarlett (born 3.27.11), and me with Ellie (born 4.25.11)

It was so great to be with other moms for the afternoon and chat over lunch - we talked about our labor experiences, breastfeeding, pacifier use, you name it! It is so reassuring to know that none of us really know what we are doing, but we are just trying to do what is best for our child and family at this particular moment in time.

Of course, we had to have a little photo session before anyone went home....

The whole afternoon was Rachael's idea (since she was the one in from Louisville, the rest of us live in Lex-Vegas) and she was dying to get a picture holding all 4 babies. Which took a little work.

Thank goodness Emily Lane was also on hand to help!

Then we decided to move into Ben and Emily's room where there was an overhead fan that might put all of our 'subjects' in a better mood.

Clover, Audrey, Scarlett, Ellie

Hard to believe Sylvia is only one year older than the babies - it's SUCH a difference!

Scarlett's such a sweetie - she just wanted to hold hands with every one!!

SO so glad we got together - can't wait to do it again!!

we're stars!

ellie's gorgeous newborn image is on melanie mauer's blog today - check it out!!

www.melaniemauer.com

The tiniest bit sad(ish)

Wednesday morning Ellie went to the doctor for her first set of vaccinations. She's only 6 weeks old, but we'll be traveling during her 8th week of life, and her pediatrician wanted her to have some vaccines before flying on an airplane.

Here are her stats from our appointment:

Weight - 11 lbs, 0.5 oz, 79th percentile
Length - 23.25 inches, 94th percentile
Head circumference - 38cm, 54th percentile

Ellie did very well with her shots - she received one in each leg and I got to hear what her pain cry sounded like, but it was very brief and she recovered as soon as the nurse put her back in my arms. That's my girl!

But here's the sad part - we had to remove the newborn insert from her carseat!! It has to be removed once the baby is 11lbs or more - so I no longer have a newborn, just an infant. (sad face) She's growing so fast!! But she does seem to appreciate the extra legroom she has now that the insert is out.

carseat with the insert


carseat without it

The Jury is Still Out

When Ellie was born pretty much everyone (including myself) said she looked like Pete. Throughout my pregnancy I had hoped she would look like her daddy - I obviously think he's pretty cute :)

Ellie the day after she was born

Ellie at 5 weeks

Then my dad brought my baby book when he came to visit. Now we can't decide!! What do you all think? Does she look like me or Pete? Or does she just look like a baby?

Pete as a newborn and at 6-8 wks

Laura as a newborn and at 6-8 weeks

Can't wait to hear what you think!!

June 4, 2011

Yesterday Pete and I celebrated our 6th anniversary! I can't believe it has been six years already....I also can't believe it has only been six years, ya know?!?!?

The morning of our wedding in 2005 Pete ran a 5K wearing a pink skirt, tank top, and visor while carrying a pink wand (thanks to his groomsmen and Jen Wheeler).

We've run the same race - Run for the Nun - every year since then! But this year it fell on our actual anniversary day so it was extra special. That, and it was Ellie's first 5k! Ellie and I walked it in the back with the other strollers but daddy ran it and came in 3rd place overall!

We didn't do anything special during the day - other than try to enjoy being lazy. For dinner we went to the Windy Corner Market - a new venture by the folks who own Holly Hill Inn and Wallace Station. The food did not disappoint and it was casual enough that we felt fine having an infant in a car carrier along with us.

You can't see in the picture just how cute Ellie looked for our dinner out so here's a close-up:

That was about it for our weekend festivities. This afternoon we hung out at Joanne and Jerry's for a few hours before going to our neighborhood ice cream social. There are many new infants in Fairway so it was good to meet our neighbors and put names with all the familiar faces!

This Memorial Day Weekend

Ellie became an interstate traveler!! This morning we dropped her dad off at the Cincinnati airport for his flight to Boston. Technically, the airport is in northern Kentucky, but we headed up to IKEA in West Chester, Ohio afterwards - so she left her home state! I didn't take any pictures, we just needed to pick up about a million frames so we will be ready when Ellie's prints from her melanie mauer session arrive.

Pete had to be in Dayton all day Saturday, so we didn't really get a three-day-weekend, but it was still special because the Wheelers came to visit on Sunday!! Last weekend we got the news that Jen's sister Claudia got engaged, which is great news on its own, but even better when it means that Matt and Jen will be driving to Kentucky to celebrate! They were able to spend the whole afternoon with us - I'm so glad they finally got to meet Ellie and we were able to catch up yet again!


Can't wait until our next road trip to see you all!! (and the day drive to Taco Boy that will hopefully accompany it)

Another busy weekend

This weekend Ellie got to meet her Grandpa Carter. My dad flew in from Arkansas to meet the little miss. We had a full weekend - Saturday we we toured the Woodford Reserve Distillery - if you live in the central Kentucky area and haven't gone, it is worth a visit!!

Afterward we had lunch in their cafe. And Ellie woke up after sleeping through the entire 2-hr long tour (thank God!).

On Sunday Dad, Ellie, and Pete sat in the congregation while I sang in the choir for the first time since Ellie was born. We were singing three anthems and I didn't want to miss out on the fun! Apparently Pete spent the entirety of the sermon in the outside parlor with Ellie because she was fussy, but she was there long enough to have everyone in the congregation ooh and ahh over her and her cuteness. :)

After church and brunch at Josie's (yum!) we headed out to Masterson Station to watch the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trials. Pete and I randomly were at the park a few years ago when this was going on and now we try to go annually. It's border collies herding sheep on a timed course. It's more fun than it sounds!!


THEN after dinner we went to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt - pretty sure dad loved his key lime fro yo topped with strawberries and blackberries. And Pete loved that Coach Calipari was there with his family!! (we love a local celebrity sighting) AND Ellie had never been on three trips in one day before!!

So that was our fun-filled weekend. Dad headed home Monday evening and after a harrowing travel adventure (involving him riding a bus for the final leg of his trip because the storms were so bad that planes couldn't land) arrived home early Tuesday morning.

Our big girl

is one month old today!!! Time flies!!


In one month Ellie has gained more control of her hands, learned to grasp things like hair and collars of shirts, started smiling (!), and gained 2lbs, 5oz!! That's right - my big girl weighed 10lbs, 2oz this morning after mama and baby yoga.

Ellie's birth story

I figure I better get this in writing before I forget, so here goes...also, if you're not interested in this sort of thing (if you're my dad or Umpah, for instance) please don't feel obligated to read it. I know there are some gals out there who want the scoop on the whole L&D process, so this is for them:

I woke up around 4am the morning of Monday, April 25th to go to the bathroom. Definitely not something out of the norm, I had been doing that since about month six of pregnancy. I felt slightly odd though and as I stepped out of the bathroom back into our room, I said Pete's name - he woke up and in that instant my water broke all over the floor! Finally!! We were really excited, and glad that it had happened at home and in the middle of the night. We went back to bed and tried to sleep for a few more hours before starting what would be the most exciting day of our lives.

I had maybe two contractions in two hours that lasted about 30 seconds each. I wasn't really sure if they were even contractions, they were just a discomfort that seemed worth noting. We decided to get up around 7:45am. Pete took care of the dogs and I took a shower and finished packing our bag for the hospital. The morning went by pretty fast - we ate breakfast, read the paper, etc. We had learned in our birthing class that early labor can last a long time and it was best to go about your day if you are trying to wait to go to the hospital. Our goal was to stay at home until my contractions were 1 minute long, and 5 minutes apart. I don't remember when the contractions started to get more regular - Pete was in charge of timing them, my only job was to try to stay comfortable. The only one I specifically remember was when I stood up from the dining room table and I told Pete, "I think I'm having a con----" and then I was on the floor. I physically could not stand up and thought, yep, this one is definitely a contraction.

We left for the hospital after lunch, when my contractions were between 45 seconds and 1 minute long, and they were 5 to 6 minutes apart. Luckily we live pretty close to the hospital so I only had to endure two contractions in the car. My labor was 100% in my back, so sitting in a car unable to move was pretty rough. We had preregistered at the hospital so we thought all we had to do was give our name when we got there and they'd be ready for us. What we did not do, however, was CALL MY DOCTOR to tell her I was in labor!!! Whoops! In all the excitement it completely did not occur to us. So it took a few minutes to give all my info at the registration desk before we got admitted to labor and delivery. Luckily, the lady at the desk was very nice and Pete answered most of the questions when I had to whimper into my pillow. That was around 1:15-1:30pm.

Our labor and delivery room seemed pretty typical - right away I was upset to be in a hospital room instead of my own house - I just didn't feel very comfortable (linoleum, bright lights, etc). I kind of lose track of time around here - but suffice to say I was in some serious pain and was questioning my ability to do this whole 'natural birth' thing. They wouldn't let me use the jacuzzi tub because my water had broken so long ago, and they didn't have a stool or chair for me to sit on in the shower (I couldn't really stand up without leaning against something at this point). They did find a labor ball but it was too small for me to use and by the time they found it I couldn't sit on anything without being in excruciating pain. I also couldn't lay down. I was most comfortable standing bent over at at the waist with my arms and torso resting on something - or on Pete, who held my arms as I walked/hobbled around the room.

According to our plan, Pete asked me to wait 15 to 30 minutes every time I inquired about medicine. I never did want an epidural (the being numb from the waist down thing scares me) but thought I might get an i.v. of Stadol just to let me rest for a bit. When we arrived at the hospital I was dilated to 4cm, and by 3:30pm I was only at 5cm. I asked the nurse on average how long it takes to progress to 10cm and she said approx. 1cm per hour. That was when I told Pete that I didn't think I had 4 more hours of natural labor in me. He reminded me that the doctor would be back in 30 minutes to check me and if I was only at a 6, we could discuss medication.

Sometime during this I started to feel as if I might have to 'bear down'. I told Pete that he might want to think about calling the nurse because I felt a little pressure. By the time the next contraction rolled around about a minute later, I yelled at Pete, "Call the nurse! I have to push NOW!!!" So he got my nurse and she came in the room to check me and I had gone from 5cm dilated to 9cm dilated in about 45 minutes!! Whoo-hoo!! I wasn't going to get drugs!! I knew something good was going on because suddenly there were 3 or 4 nurses in my room and they were opening packages and getting things out, moving stuff around, and people were murmuring about the location of my doctor - apparently she was with another woman in labor and they were having to find her, and later they were paging her. Shortly after this my nurses, and a doctor who came in who wasn't my doctor but was going to have to do in a pinch were telling me I had to get on the bed and lie down on my back. I knew I was in the transition phase - the pushing phase- and that it could last up to 2 hours. I started pleading with them, telling them they didn't understand, I couldn't lie down, it hurt my back. I told them I was told I would have other options and that I couldn't be on my back for two hours. That was when my nurse said something like, "Honey, it's not going to be 2 hours, you can see your baby in 2 pushes." Pete and I were like, "WHAT?!?!?" And she said, "I can see her hair, you can reach down and touch her head if you like." So I got on the bed and they started fiddling with stuff getting the bed ready, and then my doctor came in and made the other doctor leave and it was time for me to push. Pete was on my left side holding my hand and my nurse Trish was on my right side holding my hand. Apparently I kept closing my eyes because Trish would say my name really loud so I would open them. And they would tell me to push push push push!! And then I guess I closed my eyes again because Trish said, "Laura! I need you to look at me!" She was right up in my face at this point. And I yelled - really screamed at her - "I can't!!" "why?" "YOU SMELL LIKE SMOKE!!!!" Ha! How funny is that?!?!? Right after I said it I apologized profusely but Pete says everyone in the room kinda laughed and that the lady having the baby gets a pass for whatever she says at that particular moment in her life. So after 2 contractions - felt like 5 pushes to me - 5 super-painful-I-screamed-like-you-wouldn't-believe pushes - Ellie arrived!! It was 5:09pm - we'd only been at the hospital for 3 1/2 hours! I was really glad to be able to feel everything because I knew exactly where to focus my energy and as soon as she was born, all the pain was gone! They put her on my tummy right away and clamped the cord, and Pete cut it. After a few minutes they took her to dry her off and weigh/measure her, then they gave her back to me! We stayed in the L&D room until 8:30pm or so, and then they moved us up to our recovery room. They didn't take her for her bath/tests until 9:30pm and they brought her back at 11:00pm. After that she was with us the rest of our stay. We were discharged Wednesday morning after a day and a half in the hospital. Our transition home was pretty easy thanks to family we had in town, especially Audrey who had prepared food for us, and Aunt Susie who stayed with us Wednesday through Saturday and bought our groceries, did laundry, and made sure we ate.

So that's it! I managed to deliver a baby!! Pete thinks I'm a rock star, I just think I'm lucky I progressed so quickly - channeling Grandma Prann all day must have done me some good :)

Ellie's First Wedding!

One of my classmates Tara got married last night and Pete and Ellie and I were in attendance! It was our first real trip as a family of 3 and we were really pleased with how well it went. We had our Baby Bjorn with us and it was a lifesaver as it is in most situations - Pete wore Ellie during the ceremony and only had to leave once (to change a fussy girl's diaper) and then we shared holding her during the reception. Ellie even danced the Electric Slide!!

The Trifecta of all Weekends

If you live in Kentucky, this was a pretty big weekend - we had the Derby on Saturday, Mother's Day on Sunday, and the University of Kentucky Commencement services today as well.

Pete told me he wanted to spend Sunday celebrating Mother's Day, and I was unable to attend my graduation ceremony today since Ellie is so young, so we celebrated my graduation on Friday night. Pete got me a cake from Martine's - yum!

As of this afternoon I hold my Master's in Communication Disorders so I can write the following letters after my name: M.S., CF-SLP. Three years of hard work paid off!!

Saturday morning we went to the farmer's market and wore Ellie in her Baby Bjorn for the first time - we loved it!! Saturday evening we headed over to Ben and Emily's for a Derby party. Last year I found the greatest outfits at Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood rummage sale.

Two jockey silks complete with hats!! Ellie came as our little horse. We thought it was hilarious and assured Ellie this would not be the last time we embarrassed her.

Then today was my first Mother's Day. My first treat was Pete taking Ellie downstairs after her 6:00am feeding so I could sleep another 2-2 1/2 hours, how nice! Then around nine Pete brought Ellie back upstairs with his laptop so we could watch UK's commencement ceremony live online. I got to see all my fellow classmates receive their degrees, so that was nice. When we came downstairs Pete had gotten me not one but two hydrangea plants. One indoor potted one that is in full bloom, and another one to plant outside to commemorate our first Mother's Day. We went to Starbucks for breakfast and dropped by church just as it was getting out (Ellie's still too young to attend) so we could introduce her to the choir. After that we visited the peony garden at Ashland to take some pictures.

(thanks for the outfit Uncle Corky!)

Pete had more Mother's Day things after that -

A picture frame with clay on one-side for Ellie's handprints! We'll put a picture from Ashland this afternoon in the frame side.

For dinner Pete grilled chicken shish-ka-bobs and I fixed corn-on-the-cob. Ellie was being fussy so I wore her in her Baby Bjorn while getting dinner ready. She was still upset when the food was ready, so Pete wore her while we ate - and protected her from any corn kernels that might have fallen. :)

So that was our weekend - hope yours was as fun as ours!!

first trip for fro yo!

On Monday we took Ellie to Orange Leaf - the frozen yogurt store we frequented a minimum of twice a week the last few weeks of my pregnancy.

I got my usual - vanilla with strawberries, and Pete got something with crushed butterfinger, chocolate something, and rainbow sprinkles!

Now we're in some freak cold front so the high today was only 50 - definitely not a fro yo day. On fro yo day Ellie was wearing a cute sleeveless romper, today we had her in a play suit with both feet and mitten cuffs!

Look how bright eyed she is! She really enjoyed her first tummy time - our girl has wicked head control and can turn her head and hold it up like a champ!!