Transfer Day!

Here we go again!  Nora wants a brother or sister, so we are doing our best!  Today is the day for our transfer.  Check out our other blog for details! 

Thanksgiving

Well, another Thanksgiving came and went.  There is so much to be thankful for this year.  We really enjoyed the time spent with our family.  It's always a whirlwind when we go visit, but always worth it.

Nora's first Thanksgiving!  Hangin' at Grandpa's.

We spent time with Doug's side of the family in the morning.  His dad makes the best Turkey!  We got to see his tree all decorated.  I always love his Christmas tree.  He has the big, colorful lights that just glow.  We tried to do the same, but could only find LEDs, which don't have that glow.  Ah, well.  He also always strings popcorn and puts it on the tree, but not until December 11, so we didn't get to see that.

In front of Grandpa's tree.  With only one sparkly shoe on.

His brother, Ronnie, and sisters DeDe, Emily, and Virginia were there.  Beth still lives in PA, and Melissa was out of town, so we missed them.  We should get to see them at Christmas though!

Nora fell asleep on her Aunt DeDe.  She rarely does that.  Must love her Auntie a lot!

It was also Virginia and Beth's birthdays on Thanksgiving.  We improvised with a candle on a sweet potato. Yum?

Nora hanging out with her Aunt Virginia and her cousin Mikey. 

In the afternoon/evening, we hung out with my side of the family at my Aunt Vonda's house.  It was a big shindig, and there was way more food than anyone could even eat!  Granny Bernice had her famous peanut butter balls.  They were delish, as always!  We got all of the little girls together and got a picture.  It's wild how quickly they are growing!  Time flies...

Nora got to spend some time with her great-grandmother, Marj.

This picture cracks me up.  Nora is blowing raspberries because she is teething. 

My sister and I decided to be dorks and do weird poses. 

Had to get one of all of us girls!  Nora and Edie are unimpressed.

A silly picture with the little ones.  Marquel's Abigail, Michele's Edie and Judy, Jimmy's Rachel, and Marquel's Aubrey. 

We have a tradition in my family.  When my grandmother passed away 20 years ago, we planted a tree in her honor near City Hall.  Every year since, we have decorated it for Christmas.  At one point, they took out the tree we had planted.  So now we decorate some random tree in the park.  But it still holds the same sentimental value to us.  And it's a good time for us all to get together and do something as a family.  Nora was asleep in the car the whole time, so we didn't get any pictures of her.  It was cold though, so I'm glad she stayed in the car!

Jason and Judy helping.  Judy is actually named after my grandmother for whom we planted the tree.

It's hard to get the whole tree in the picture.

Aztec put up a new nerdy sign, and we like it!  Our grandpa is probably one of the soreheads they are talking about.  He tried to have a cat leash law passed.  People were not happy about that!

Brandon, Ed, Abby, Aubrey, Gabe, Marquel, Judy, Greg, Edie, Jimmy, Rachel, Michele, Jason, Melody, Amanda, Doug.  The group changes each year, but we all try to make it when we can! 

 After decorating the tree, we went to A&W to warm up and have some lunch.  It is a must to eat there when we visit Aztec.  I've never seen an A&W anywhere else, except for in gas stations.  And those are way different and don't count!

Uncle Jim ordering hot chocolate.  I love how you use phones to order.

Yup.

Dad getting serious about ordering the food.  Rolled tacos for me.  Steak finger dinner for him. Root beers all around.

And hot chocolate.

  We went home after this, but had to drive back and stay for a couple of hours because there was an accident involving two semis that closed the road for 6 hours.  1 person lost their life in that wreck.  Sometimes it's hard to stay thankful, with all of the stresses of every day life.  But we can always be thankful for life, and for the lives of our loved ones.  We are thankful that God had His hand of protection on us.  We could have been involved in the accident had we left earlier.  Let's stay thankful this year.

2 Months!

Little Miss Eleanor turned 2 months old on June 5!  You wouldn't know it by looking at her.  The week of the 5th, someone asked me if she was 6 months old!  I'm not sure if she looks THAT old, but she definitely looks older than she is (to me, anyways!)  Here are the stats:

Weight: 12 lb. 4 oz (90th %)Height: 22.75 in. (70th %)
Head: 15 in. (50th)

Her development is right on track.  She smiles, coos, and wiggles.  She likes tummy time, and LOVES bath time!  She takes a binky, and loves to be swaddled for bedtime.  Nora loves to be held.  She would let us hold her 24/7 if we could! We use our Ergo carrier when she's fussing to be held and there are things to do, and also for family walks.  Speaking of family walks, she loves them!  Whether in her stroller or carrier, she loves the feel of the air and the sights and sounds of the outdoors.  When she is fussy in the evenings, this calms her down!

Some of her favorites:
Mornings.  She is so smiley in the morning.  It makes it a lot easier to get up with such a sunny face!

Milk.  You can see that she is a good eater.  Love chunky babies!

Daddy.  She loves her Daddy and is so excited when he comes home each day!

Fans.  She flirts with ceiling fans.

This is her impression of her looking at a ceiling fan.

Goodnight Moon.  Her favorite book.

Music.  

She is starting to be so much fun.  She smiles, and has started squealing.  I think she'll be laughing soon! 

Smiley!

Squirrel!

"Why do you guys keeping taking pictures of me next to this giant bug?"

1 Month!

Yesterday, Nora turned one month old!  We seriously can't believe how fast it's gone.  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.  It's been a lot of work, but overall an amazing experience!

"First month of life: Nailed it!"

Eleanor is such a happy baby.  She mostly only cries if she is hungry, has a dirty diaper, or is tired.  Otherwise, she is very alert and strong.  She has been lifting her head for a couple of weeks now.  She loves tummy time and plays with the toys in her activity gym (mostly by just randomly hitting them and looking at them).  She can also follow objects and voices.  She has also been smiling, but we're still not sure if it's on purpose or not.  It is darling, either way! 

Crossing my eyes! 

Nora is a good little eater, and has grown out of most of her newborn clothes.  She is also a good sleeper (as far as newborns go).  She usually sleeps 3-4 hours at a time at night, but she has slept as much as 6 hours in a row!  It's so funny that that is a lot of sleep.  Before having a child, I would consider that a bad night of sleep, lol!

Charlie has done well with her.  He likes to lick her head, hands, and feet, but usually stays away from the face, and only licks her once or twice.  We had her on the ground for her one month pics, and he was quite concerned.  He kept barking at us to pick her up!  Too funny.

Charlie loves Nora.  Nora's not so sure.

Those toes!

You should see this guy with his little girl.  Doug gets the "Daddy of the Year" award. 

Diva is over this photoshoot.

I can lift my head up!

Beautiful girl.

She's Here!

April 5.  A date that never meant much to me before.  But now, it is my daughter's birthday!  My DAUGHTER!  Yes, Eleanor Fern made her debut a little over a week ago.  We have prayed for her for so long.  And now she is finally here!  Here is her story (if you aren't into birth stories, scroll to the bottom for pictures of her first couple of days, or skip this post altogether):

Thursday, April 4 I took off of work early because my mom was flying in from Alaska.  My sister and I picked her up from the airport and went to lunch together.  Then they both headed to Farmington so she could spend time with my sister and her girls before I had the baby.

That night, Doug and I went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant near our house.  I didn't eat much, because I wasn't that hungry, and the green chile in my enchiladas was a little spicy.  We did a couple of errands like buying popsicles for my students and thank you cards for parent volunteers, as Friday was set to be my last day at work.  We turned in fairly early.  I was exhausted.

At 1:30, I got up to go the restroom.  When I stood up I felt as though my water broke.  I also felt a cramp.  However, I had thought my water broke a couple of weeks before (it hadn't).  So I didn't want to wake Doug up for nothing.  I was surprised though when I returned to bed and felt a gush of fluid.  I was sure at this point.

"Babe, I think my water broke!" I said.  He jolted up out of bed.  He asked me some questions to be sure.  Then he called the midwife, who said to go back to sleep if we could.  (We really lucked out because our midwife ended up being on call that night, and she wasn't on call at that hospital again until the 25th.)  We were to go in when contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and 1 minute long, or by 6:30 if nothing else happened.    I made some calls to my sister and my dad, but I told them not to rush down here, as I know how first-time labors often go. We also texted our doula to let her know things were starting.

We went back to bed, but it was like the worst Christmas Eve insomnia ever.  And within about 30 minutes, my contractions began, and I could no longer rest or even lay in bed.  Doug started timing them and within an hour they were 3 minutes apart lasting 1 minute.  We rushed around to gather our things and headed to the hospital.  I had 3 contractions on the way to the hospital, which was only 7 minutes away, and 3 contractions from the parking lot up to the room.

When we got to triage, the nurse wanted to check me because I was having a lot of pressure.  She wanted to make sure it wasn't the baby.  She checked, and I was 6-7cm dilated and fully effaced.  Wha?  So they admitted me right away and wheeled me to the room.  We got to choose which room, because we were the only ones in the maternity ward!

They asked me if I wanted an epidural, and I said no, but I wasn't sure.  They told me I'd have to have a full bag of IV fluids first, and that the anesthesiologist was not at the hospital.  I knew that even if I did want an epidural, that it might be too late the way things were progressing.

My midwife got there and checked me again.  I was at 7 cm.  She gave me the ok to get into the tub.  That felt AMAZING.  The pain was at least cut in half.  I was in there for an hour, and Doug prayed with me and helped me with my breathing.  Then I started to get lightheaded, so they made me get out.

She checked me again, and I was 9 cm.  Well, really I was pretty much 10cm, but a little bit of cervix was still hanging on.  The midwife tried to move it manually, but couldn't.  Soon after, I started feeling the need to push.  She gave me the ok.  The doula had arrived at this point, and was helping Doug massage my back and she was taking pictures for us.  I was using the oxygen since I was lightheaded.

I pushed for a while, and the midwife checked me AGAIN and I was 10cm.  Time to get serious.  At this point, I was really freaked out about having no option of medication if I wanted it.  I also didn't feel like the pushing was doing anything.  I kept saying, "I don't LIKE pushing!"  I just wanted to stop or pause, but my body wouldn't let me have a break.  I started freaking out, and my midwife told me that my fear was stopping my labor.  She gave me some sort of pep talk that I don't remember, and I told her I just wanted a break.  She said ok (like I could really take a break) and I breathed through a couple of contractions.

After my "break", I got serious about pushing.  But everything was bothering me; the light outside, the cars, the clock.  I told Doug no more people were allowed in.  Including my mom and my sister, whom I had originally wanted to be in the room with me.  I pushed for a little while, and then the midwife called Doug over, because he wanted to catch the baby.  He did everything, with her guidance.  Having him do this gave me more confidence, as I knew I must be close.  Then finally he told me her head was out.  A couple more pushes and some manuevering, and she was out!  It was so surreal!

Doug placed her on my chest, and we got to spend the next 2 hours getting to know each other.  They didn't bother me or take her away until then.  Even when they cleaned her up and weighed her and everything, she was in the room with us.  It was all like a dream. 

So all in all, labor was about 6 1/2 hours from start to finish.  Nora was 7 lb. 10 oz. and 20 in. long.  I still can't believe she is actually here!

We got it done!

Eleanor Fern

Maybe she's a little confused about where her meals come from?

Love her already.

Momma and baby.

Sweetheart.

First family photo!

Getting her ready to go home!

Daddy is so proud!

We're home!

Big brother Charlie checking her out.

Nora got him a present.

Charlie is so happy we're home.

Charlie approves of the gift.

These ladies cooked, cleaned, walked my dog, and decorated our house while we were gone!  I love my family.  They are always helpful!  My cousin Marquel, my sister Michele, My aunt Vonda, My mom Vikki, and my aunt Kathy.  Oh, and that's Eleanor in front!

3 generations--My mom, me, and Eleanor!