As of Lately...

Ok, so maybe I'm not doing too good at the whole keeping up on the blog with 2 kids thing but honestly when Ethan goes down for a nap and I have to choose between posting on here or sleep, sleep always wins....

Here are a few things that we have been up to as of lately..

A few days after Ellie was born, my parents made the LONG drive all the way across Texas, New Mexico, and through AZ to come meet their new granddaughter. It was so fun having them here and it was so nice that I didn't have to touch a dirty dish (thanks Mom!) We got together with the Smith's a few times and one of those times we drove up to a pretty lookout point in Tempe ( I forget the name of it). There was a really pretty view of the whole valley and the weather was perfect to take a little hike!

Everyone...



My dad is quite the handyman and so I always give my "honeydo" list to him when he comes out to visit :) Justin and him decided to take on the task of knocking out the wall in our hallway closet to open up TONS of storage area underneath the stairs. This is very much needed out here in AZ considering the garage is not the best place to store stuff when it is like 120 degrees outside...

Of course Ethan was a big er... helper? as well....

Dad taught Justin how to change oil in the car and they also put in a new AC system in my little Saturn... Turns out the compressor was out- no wonder why I just about DIED this last summer driving it :) Did i mention that I have leather seats in it as well which make it like 50 times hotter in there? Thank you Dad for fixing up our house/car! you are awesome!

Miss Ellie just keeps getting cuter and cuter everyday and is more alert and awake during the days. She only wakes up once to eat at night and sleeps from 9:30pm and wakes up at 3:30am to eat, then goes right back to sleep until around 7am... I can definitely function with that much sleep!

At her 2 week apt last week, she was
21.5 inches long
8lbs 1 oz
and I dont remember her head circumference, but it has grown too

I was surprised that she had grown 1.5 inches in only a week and a half! Way to go Ellie!

Although her jaundice is almost all gone, she still has to bask in the sunlight every once in awhile..

The other day in the car I saw this...

Doesn't that just melt your heart? He loves to hold her hand and give her kisses. Such a sweet brother...

Speaking of her big brother, check out how huge this kids mouth is!


Yes, he is wearing his cool swimming life vest. You'd be surprised what this kid finds to wear around the house!

That is one BIG mouth!

And here is a family picture from this last Sunday at the Smith home.. I just love these people... and I'm still trying to learn to love that dog of theirs :)


I know it's a random post but at least it is something, right?! We are happy, healthy, and are loving being a little family of 4- we are so blessed!

Ellie's Birth Story

For those of you who love reading birth stories, like I do, here is how our little Ellie made her debut into this world....

Tuesday 3/9/10

I had a Dr's appointment where I was still dilated to a 3 and 80% or so effaced. I decided to let the Dr. strip my membranes. I was a little nervous about him doing this since I had heard that it was super painful but for me it wasn't at all.. I was pleasantly surprised! Dr. Huish said that if anything was to happen it would happen in the next 24 to 48 hours. I went home and power walked on the treadmill and applied some peppermint oil on my ankles. I really didn't feel any different though and didn't expect anything to come out of it.

Wednesday 3/10/10

I woke up that morning feeling little contractions here and there but they weren't anything consistent or painful so Justin left for work and I had one of my friends over to help me make some curtains for our family room. At about 11:00am the contractions started to become a lot more painful and so I started timing them which they were 5-7 min apart. About 30 min later they were consistently 3-5 min apart and so I decided to leave with Ethan and drive to my in-laws house about 20 min away from us but only like 2 min away from the hospital. I called Justin and let him know what was going on and he decided to leave work and meet me at his parents house. By the time I got there the contractions were 1-2 min apart and I was in a lot of pain. We quickly left for the hospital and they were super busy and didn't have a bed for me in triage. I'm sure I was quite the sight pacing up and down the hallway in the packed waiting room trying to breath through the contractions. Luckily they let me skip in front of all the induction people and got me into triage. They checked me and I was 100% effaced and dilated to a 5-6 with the baby sitting really low, so they admitted me. I really think I would have cried if they would have sent me back home... I was in a lot of pain! So they got me into the room at about 2pm and shortly thereafter my favorite person in the hospital paid me a visit- the epidural man :) My epidural at first only worked on one side of my body but they fixed it and it worked perfectly after that. I loved it because I wasn't completely numb- I could still move my legs around and feel them but it just took away the sharp pain in that area and all I could feel was the pressure- pure bliss!
My water broke at around 5pm while the nurse was checking me and then it was go time. The doctor came in at around 5:30 (the nurses said I was making it too easy on him having the baby right after office hours and before dinner time)and after a few minutes of pushing our little Ellie Marie made her grand entrance into the world at 5:59pm. I decided to use the mirror and I couldn't believe that something so big could come through something so small! It was really cool to see. Her head was a bit bigger than Ethan's so it took a few pushes more to get her out but luckily I had very minimal tearing. She was 7lbs 11oz and 20 in long. They put her right up on my chest and it was a tender moment to finally meet our little girl who we have waited so long to meet.
We were allowed to go home the next day since both baby and I were doing great. Ellie had a Dr's appt the next day and had lost 9oz from her birth weight and had med-high levels of jaundice but not bad enough for the bili-blanket. The doctor wanted to see us in 2 days to check on her levels and to our surprise Ellie had gained back 6oz in only 2 days! That's what mother's milk will do for ya I suppose :) She still had higher levels of bilirubin so she gets to bask in the sunlight a little bit each day to try to help get rid of it. We will go back this week and have her levels checked out again.
She is such a sweet little baby and she eats like a champ! She came out rooting and had no problem latching on- whew! She sleeps good and will occasionally give me a 5 hour stretch of sleep at night. We just love this little girl so much and feel so blessed to have her as part of our little family.

Ethan is adjusting as well as any 2 year old can I suppose. He is sweet with her and wants to "pet" her head and give her lots of kisses. He had regressed a little bit with the whole potty issue but I think he is back on track as of now. I try to spend quality time with him to let him know that he is still my little boy and always will be. That has been the hardest part for me- realizing that it's not just us two anymore and I cant devote 100% of my time to just him. There is just something special about that first child. We spent a lot of time together of just the two of us but I think this is harder for me to adjust than for him. If I talk about it too much, I cry so Im going to stop there. Maybe its just those post pregnancy hormones :) I sure love our children though and am so grateful to have them.

Here are some more recent pictures of our little lady and the whole process....

Getting ready to push her out...

A few minutes old. Just meeting our little miracle

First bath- she was not a fan of it!

Not long after she was born.. don't worry Justin wasn't really squishing me

I forgot how much newborns sleep! She loves just hanging out in our arms..


2 days old... She is an exact replica of Ethan at this age...we still can't believe how much they look alike!

Love that double chin :)


Brother and sister! Ethan is so cute with her...

He loves to give her lots of kisses

Hopefully I'll be good at keeping this blog updated with 2 kids now!

We love being a family of four!

Introducing....

Ellie Marie Smith
Born: 3/10/10 at 6pm
7lbs 11oz
and practically perfect in every way!

We are so in love with this little girl...


Welcome to the world sweet girl!

Mommy and baby are doing great. Labor and delivery story soon to come!

39 Week Check Up

I went to the doctor yesterday for my 39 week appointment and I am dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. The baby's head has dropped lower and is stationed at a 0, which he said is about halfway there. I think it's crazy that even with all that we women can still walk around, exercise, etc and really not feel any different. A woman's body is amazing! He asked me if I wanted him to go ahead and strip my membranes and I said no.. call me crazy, I know! But I'm really not dying to get this baby out of me just yet :) I did schedule an appt for next Tuesday where I'll let him strip the membranes and see if we can't get something going. I know its not very comfortable to do and it's not even a guarantee that it will work, but I figure we can give it a go and see if my body is ready for labor. If it does work, it would be nice to not go over my due date this time around. Anyways, I just thought I would give a little update on how our little girl/her mommy is doing. I just think it's crazy/surreal that we are going to be bringing home a girl version of this so soon!
Was Ethan really this tiny??? I don't believe that this is my energetic, full of personality 2.5 year old....

and I absolutely adore this one:


We are so excited :)