~*Ellie*~

Ellie is 3 weeks old :) These past 3 weeks have been amazing, exhausting, confusing, hard, and a million other things...ha ha ha She isn't really sleeping well through the night and it is making it very hard to get things done through out the day. Luckily my mom has had the week off work and has spent the night with me a few times to help out so cj and i can get a tiny bit of sleep. Unfortunatly cj, ellie and i have all had the flu these past few days and it has been miserable. Being sick with a baby is so HARD!!

He is going to WASHINGTON!

I am so proud of my brother! He just received his mission call and he is going to Everett, Washington! He is very excited and can now start the count down :) Jordan turned 19 in April but because of an ankle surgery was unable to turn in his papers in until the doctor cleared him. He has been so anxious to fill out his papers and get them sent in so he could get going on this amazing adventure. He will leave October 28 for the MTC and will probably only be there a few weeks! I am so sad to see my brother go, but i know that he will get so may blessings for serving the lord for 2 years!!

2 weeks old!

2 weeks have come and gone already! Life sure has changed so much and sleeping has become something of the past, ha ha but me and cj are loving every minute of it :) Ellie is such a great baby besides that she has her days and nights mixed up so she is sleeping all day and up all night...me and her have had to sleep downstairs so Cj can at least get a few hours of sleep every night before he needs to head off to work. Luckily my sisters are able to come over for a few hours in the day so i can take a nap. Breast feeding is still not going to great, but i am continuing to try. I pump and bottle feed most of the time though..at least she is getting fed :) We just went to her 2 week appointment and she is now 6 pounds 15 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She has put most of the weight on her cute little face..i love her double chin! I am finally starting to feel normal besides those moments where i get depressed and can't stop crying. I have heard that baby blues are normal and i am hoping that is isn't anything more serious! I hate feeling depressed, it ruins your whole day :( I LOVE my baby girl and feel so lucky to be her mommy!!

Ellie is ONE week old!

I can't believe that baby Ellie is already one week old! It goes by so fast. The first week has been a whirl wind of emotions but it has been amazing. Ellie is such a great baby and hardly ever cries. She has struggled with eating and putting on weight so we have had to make sure we feed her every 2 hours, which is exhausting, especially since breast feeding has not been going so great. Bottles are so much easier and she likes them so much better, but i haven't given up yet, so hopefully she will learn to like my boobs but since we have had to make sure she is putting on weight we havent had a choice but to give her a bottle :( Cj and I are running low on sleep but we still manage to find a way to keep going. We love kissing her all over and just laying with her. We are having so much fun so far and i hope it will get even better once i can get feeling better. I have still been sick and in an extreme amount of pain. Thank goodness Cj is still off work. Week one of parenting has been amazing and i am sure it just keeps getting better!

Thank you!

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all my family and friends who sat there all night and waited for baby Ellie to be born! It was so great to see how much support me and cj have! We love you all so so much!

Labor & Delivery

WOW!!! All i can say is that labor was a lot easier than i expected. It is the after pain and healing that hurts the worst!! Our day started on Monday night at 6:00 when we headed up to the hospital to get induced. When i arrived i was all ready dilated to 4 1/2 and my water was about to break. They hooked everything up and started the pitocin so labor would get going. After an hour or so the contractions started, but weren't strong enough for me to get an epidural....( i am terrified of needles) when i finally was dilated to about a 7 i couldn't take it anymore and I wanted the pain to go away!! I was so scared but the anesthesiologist did an amazing job and i actually loved the numb feeling that my legs felt, it was so cool..and with the pain gone i really got the chance to enjoy what was going on! Around 2 o'clock in the morning the nurse came in an said let's get a head start since she is really high still and start pushing . We pushed for about 30 minutes but then had to stop because Ellie's heart rate dropped. They had me tossing and turning trying to get her heart rate back up. They then had to put a breathing mask on me to try and get more oxygen to my little one. The nurse then thought that we should try pushing a little to see if that would help bring up her heart rate. With one push her heart rate jumped right back up and she was crowning... my doctor still hadn't arrived and my baby was about to come out!! The nurses had planned on me pushing for a few hours but Ellie decided to come out in a hurry!! While i laid there in stir ups, with Ellie crowning they told me i had to HOLD it so i could wait for the doctor :O are you crazy, hold it!! I held Ellie in the crowning position for about 20 minutes...it was so painful and hard. Finally my doctor arrived and with one little push Ellie slipped right out! It was the most amazing thing in the entire world to see her and know that me and Cj had made this beautiful little girl! We are so thankful for everyone's prayers and support through out these past 9 months!! We love you!