Love

Today Jeff & I are celebrating our anniversary! That's 5 years together, 3 years of marriage, 2 kids, 1 house, and countless days filled with love, laughter, and happiness! Tomorrow evening my mom is going to baby-sit our kids for an hour or two so Jeff and I can go out to dinner some place local (since a nursing mom always needs to be close by). So for today we will be staying in and making a yummy dinner, doing some yard work, and watching a DVD when the kids go to bed tonight. Happy anniversary, Jeff! I have enjoyed all of the time we have spent together in the past 5 years. You are a wonderful husband and father and I am the luckiest girl in the world to have found you to share my life with.

In other news...
Ella had her 2 week check-up today and she now weighs 8 lbs 2 oz and is still 21 inches long. She didn't have to get any vaccinations, but did have to get her heel poked for her second PKU test. Dr. Thompson said she looks happy and healthy and will see her again when she is two months-old.

Story Time

Tonight Nicholas, Ella, and I enjoyed reading books together before bedtime. When I asked Nicholas if he wanted Ella to join us he shook his head enthusiastically yes. He loved cuddling with her and while we were reading she even cracked a little smile, which let us know she enjoyed story time too!

New Blankets

Today Nicholas and Ella received these beautiful blankets from a parishioner at our church. Ella's has a lovely flower fabric on one side and pink minky fabric on the other. Nicholas's has a cute monkey fabric on one side and blue minky fabric on the other. They are the softest, most adorable blankets I have ever seen and I am so grateful for kind people who sew things for our kiddos as I am completely inept at sewing!

I am sure these blankets will be enjoyed by our children for years to come.

Engagement

Congratulations to my little brother, Eric, and his new fiancee, Tina. They got engaged yesterday shortly after this photo was taken. We all love Tina so much and are so excited for her to be a part of the Hargrave family!

Happy wedding planning you two!

Loving Auntie Lyndsey

My best friend, Lyndsey, was here for 15 days from Sept. 10th until today and we already miss her so much! Nicholas adores his Auntie "Dee Dee" because she is always so sweet and engaging with him. Lyndsey was also able to witness Ella's birth while she was here which has me hoping that she and her hubby, Keith, will decide to have kids of their own very soon!

We loved our time with Lyndsey which seems all too short. She made us some yummy dinners, took Ella's birth and newborn photos & our family photos, helped with the kids (Nicholas especially loved his bath time with her), and kept us laughing the entire visit. I am so lucky to have such an amazingly wonderful friend in my life. I love you so much, L! To share this time with you has been truly memorable. I am so blessed to know you and am a better person because of you.

Ella's First Week

Brand new baby girl in the hospital

Gramme with her first grand-daughter

Ready to go home

Cuddling with brother


First bath at home. She LOVES bath time!

All bundled up after her bath

Nicholas loves to be near his sister. He makes snoring sounds for her because she sleeps so much!
Trying to nurse daddy...sorry sweetie, but you wont find any milk there!

This first week home with Ella has been so wonderful! We have had many visitors stop by, our neighbor made us dinner one evening, and my best friend, Lyndsey, has been here since the 10th to help out. Ella is such a sweet baby and we are so in love with her. When I was pregnant I couldn't imagine loving another child the same way I do Nicholas, but now I realize that my heart is always in two places at once. I love both of our kiddos so very much and am so blessed to be a mommy to two little cherubs. I can't even remember what life was like without her!

Meet Our Newest Addition

Elizabeth Rose Gustafson was born five days early on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 11:58 a.m. She was 7 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long. As you can see, she has a head full of dark hair and and is sweet as can be!

I started having contractions on Tuesday evening but they were far apart and not too intense, but by Wednesday morning around 6:00 a.m. they started getting really close together and I could tell that we needed to head to the hospital. My mom came over to watch Nicholas, and Jeff, my best friend, Lyndsey, and I jumped in the car and headed to the hospital. We arrived around 8:00 a.m. and I went into triage to be accessed. I was 5 cm dilated and was admitted to my room around 9:00 a.m. At this point my contractions were only about a minute or two apart and very intense. I asked for an epidural and while I was waiting got into the jacuzzi tub to ease my contractions. When I got out I was checked again and was dilated to 7 cm, had the epidural and felt so much relief since I was starting to have back labor. The doctor broke my water and I quickly dilated to a 10 within about 20 minutes. I started feeling the urge to push and so the doctor let me start to push and then told me to stop because Ella was going to be born and nothing was ready! I waited patiently while the room was quickly prepped and the doctors got into place. I pushed 3 times in one contraction and out came our lovely little girl! I was kind of in shock about how fast it all went since Nicholas's labor and delivery was so much longer.

We are at home and so happy to be a family of four! Nicholas loves his little sister and keeps wanting us to lay her next to him. He calls her "baby" and is all smiles when she is around. It is so wonderful to now have two children to love!

March of the Penguins

Yesterday afternoon, Nicholas's occupational therapist, Ashlee, brought over a new toy for him to play with. It's called Penguin Race and the little penguins walk up the stairs and then roll down the slide again and again. Nicholas just has to push a touch sensitive button and he can watch the penguins go 'round and 'round all the live long day. The sound it makes is kind of obnoxious, but it's worth it to see our little guy so happy to control a fun new toy!

Nicholas is doing really well after his hospital stay...he has gained 4 lbs. after his g-tube placement and has been talking up a storm saying lots of new words. He's like a Minah bird repeating everything we say. It's so wonderful to have our sweet little boy back to feeling like his normal self!

Any Day Now

I went to my ob-gyn on Tuesday afternoon and I am now 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and our baby girl is still head down at -1. She told me that I should try to get to the hospital as soon as labor starts since I am already dilated to where I will be admitted upon arrival.

Today we had a bit of a scare when I realized that I hadn't felt the baby move all day. She normally moves quite a bit throughout the day-lots of jabs and kicks at this point-so it made me very worried to realize that I hadn't felt her move one time all day long. I phoned my doctor's office and the on-call nurse told me to immediately go to triage in the family birth center to be monitored. Jeff, Nicholas, and I quickly piled into the car and drove to the hospital. During our drive I was praying that everything would be okay with our baby. We were so relieved when the nurse put the fetal heartbeat monitor on my belly and we heard her heartbeat loud and strong. My blood pressure was also good and the baby moved several times while I was there. I was told to drink more water and put my feet up if I don't feel much movement again. Hopefully, I won't have to worry about that too much since our baby girl should be arriving any day now!

It is so difficult to wait for this little baby girl to arrive...I wonder who she will look like, what kind of baby she will be, how labor and delivery will go, and mostly I just cannot wait to hold her and kiss her!

A Surprise Baby Shower

I went into work this evening, like I always do on Thursdays, and was completely surprised that my wonderful co-workers decided to throw me a baby shower! It was such a nice evening with a delicious dinner, a yummy cake, lots of cute gifts for our baby girl (I think she will be the best dressed baby in town), and great conversation. I am pretty sure that I have the best co-workers in the world! Thank you Jamie, Diane, Mary, Lisa, and Laurie for planning such a wonderful surprise for me. I am truly so blessed to have you all in my life!