Harper is 3 weeks old!!

I can't believe my little girl has been with us for 3 weeks! It's gone by so fast which makes me sad because it means I have to go back to work soon. I do miss having adult conversation during the day though, but that doesn't mean I am ready to leave my baby. Well there is not much that Harper is doing at 3 weeks, pretty much she eat, sleeps and poops. She cries when she is getting dressed, is hungry and SOMETIMES she will cry when she is sick of being in her boppy or bouncer and wants to be held a little bit, and of COURSE I oblige, she is my baby girl after all. Nursing is still going really well which I am ecstatic about, by this time with Pax I was already using formula 80% of the time and had pretty much given up even attempting to nurse. Not only does it benefit her in so many ways, it saves so much money!!! I won't say that it's easy, she still eats often so it feels like some days that's all I do, but I know that in time we WILL get on a schedule and I just have to keep being patient. Ok, sorry to go on and on about that subject, I am sure some of you are thinking TMI, TMI!!!! So last night I am pretty sure she smiled for the first time, and I am not talking passing gas smiled, I mean for real entertained/happy smiled. She was laying on Josh's lap and he started playing patty cake with her and she was smiling. I am still sick and going back to the doctor tomorrow. I am pretty sure I have either bruised/fractured my rib from coughing so hard. I woke up last week with shooting pain in my right rib and it has progressively gotten worse and is now at the point that I can't even TALK without shooting pain from my front all the way to my back. I have been sick since before I had Harper and I am pretty sick of it, no pun intended. Pax is doing better, but all of a sudden this week out of nowhere he is crying every night and asking for Daddy. It breaks my heart because I know that Josh can't just leave work and come home and a 2 year old doesn't understand this. Hopefully it's a phase and will end soon, I hate not being able to comfort him, ok and I admit I hate not being the one he is crying for :) Here are some pics of Harper at 3 weeks. s

Does she look like she is smiling in some of these pictures? I love the pic of Josh's hands by her, you can really tell how small she is compared to his hands.

hangin with the kiddos

Our first week home with Harper was pretty uneventful. Mainly we just hung out at home since it was so cold out and I have been sick. We did take Pax to the Y on Monday night so he could play basketball and burn off some energy. Tuesday night we built a gingerbread house with him, I saw it on my friends blog (thanks Katie) and thought it was such a neat idea. Of course Pax had more fun EATING the candy instead of decorating, but I am pretty sure Daddy had fun doin most of the work anyway. Today was my first day at home without Josh and it went pretty well. I have it easy though since Pax still goes to daycare during the day. We really didn't want to take him out while I was on maternity leave because he is so used to it and didn't want to disrupt his routine. Plus it gives him a chance to go play with other kids. I would love to have him home with me too, but I think that putting him back in after he has been gone for 6-8 weeks would be like starting him in daycare all over again, and that was NOT fun! I sure do miss him during the day though. Harper's one week checkup was today! My pediatricians office is on the 2nd floor, and on the way up I had 3 people try to touch her!!!! Are you kidding me people? I am a huge germ phobe anyway so I was mad, and when they went in to touch her, I swung the carseat away from them and just glared. One was a snotty nosed little girl and her Mom didn't say anything! I just can't believe people have the nerve to do this, especially during a flu season like the one we are having. ANYWAY....her appt went well and she weighs 6lbs 4oz so she has surpassed her birthweight and gained 8 oz since we were discharged from hospital. The doctor was VERY happy about that, as was I. I have been so stressed about nursing and wondering if I was doing it right, if she was getting enough, and if I even was producing enough, but apparently all is well and I must be doing a good job. So I am just going to relax and keep at it. There were a few rough days, but I think we are getting into the swing of things. I am so happy because I really wanted nursing to work with her since I had such a hard time with Pax and ended up only pumping then finally quitting all together at 6 weeks. Hopefully things just continue to get easier and we can keep doing it!



HEAVEN!!!



GREAT GRANDMA EKART CAME TO VISIT!!



SLEEPY GIRL.



HOLDIN SISSY WHILE HE WATCHES CARTOONS.





EATIN ALL THE CANDY WHILE DADDY DOES ALL THE WORK.



HE HELPED A LITTLE BIT.




THE FINISHED PRODUCT...AND PAX'S SMILE THAT HE DOES ALL THE TIME NOW!

Harper's first days home.

Well we are slowly settling into life at home with a toddler and a newborn. As of now there is not really a routine established, but it's only day 3 of being home and we are just going with the flow for now. Pax LOVES his sissy, however, he is having a hard time ajusting to not having the attention solely on him. Saturday was a rough day with him, he refused to take a nap, pick up toys, eat his food, and just wouldn't listen to us in general. What happened to my easy-going, well mannered, loveable son?!? I know it's going to take a while for him to get used to all of this, and in the meantime, I am learning the true meaning of patience. It helps that Josh is still off, on Saturday I had him take Pax to get a "big brother haircut" and run some errands so that I could have some time to myself and that helped a lot!Harper is a great baby for the most part and only cries if she is hungry or getting a diaper change. She eats OFTEN which is hard for me because I feel like I am nursing all the time, but I really want it to work with her (it didn't with Pax) so I am accepting that at the moment I am just one big milk machine and will have no life for a while (I am not a breastfeeding in public kinda gal). If anyone has any advice/words of encouragement on this topic feel free to share :) On top of the pain from the surgery I also have a cold and cough and feel pretty miserable. So even when both the kids are sleeping at night, I am up coughing! I have not taken any medicine yet since I am nursing, but going to call doctor tomorrow to see if there is something I can take, cause hot tea and honey is just not cuttin it!! Harper has a weight check tomorrow at the doctor as well so I am anxious to see if she has put on some weight, I sure hope so. I will try to update often, but this post alone took all day to do :)

Harper Ellison Hall

We went to the hospital bright and early Wednesday morning. I couldn't sleep so I was up at 4 a.m. Once there they hooked me up to machines, drew blood, started fluids and then we sat around and waited. The more time that went on the more nervous I was getting about the surgery. With Pax I was put completely out cause it was an emergency c-section, so I had no idea what to expect. They came to get me to take me to OR a little after 8:30. I kissed my Mom and sister Sarah goodbye and started the long walk down the hall :) The first thing I saw when I walked into the OR was the table of instruments they would be using on me and my knees almost gave out. They got me all prepped and blissfully numb and let Josh in the room. It was surreal to be awake the entire time KNOWING exactly what was going on behind that curtain. Thankfully everything went smoothly and being awake to hear her first cry was an unbelieveable experience, nobody can ever prepare you for the emotions you feel when you hear it!! I was shocked when they told me her weight, 6lbs 2oz, I thought she was at least 7-7 1/2!!! So she is quite the little gal, but healthy as can be! I was so excited for Pax to meet her but first they took her and I both back to my room so they could monitor me for about 20 min and I could have some alone time with her. FINALLY they gave all my visitors the go-ahead to come in and of course I started crying as soon as Pax came in. It took a minute for him to get over the shock of seeing me in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of my arms and a baby on my chest. However, once he did, he was all about that baby!! Whenever he couldn't see who was holding her he would say "where's my sissy!" I felt very exhausted, sick and sore after this c-section so everyone went to lunch so I could rest. All in all it was a good day and we are so thankful that the surgery went well, and that we have a healthy little girl added to our family. We are truly blessed and thank God daily for all that He does for us!! Here are some pics from the exciting day!

Last day as a Mom of 1!!

Tomorrow is the big day!! Yesterday was my last day of work, but Josh still had to work today so I decided to go ahead and let Pax go to daycare so I could have one last day to myself before chaos begins :) The house has been clean and organized from top to bottom for a while now so I didn't have anything to do...it was great! However, once the afternoon wore on I started hating how quiet the house was and went and got Paxton at daycare. We ended up eating at Willies for dinner (shocker) with Josh's parents then came back to the house to get all of Pax's stuff for him to stay with them for the next few days. We have to be at hospital at 5:30 am tomorrow so he is staying there tonight and I won't see him till after my surgery. It was very hard to say bye to him, and of course I cried and cried. He kept hugging me and giving me kisses and asking why I was sad. He is so sweet (well sometimes). I am sure everything will go well tomorrow, but of course you think of all that COULD go wrong, especially when you already have a child. I just can't wait for it be over with and to have both my babies with me. We are very excited and ready to be a family of 4, and can't believe the time has come already. I sure hope my family makes it here ok, the weather is not the best for traveling, but that sure won't stop them from trying!! My sisters are so excited to have a little girl finally! We will put pics up as soon as we can, I plan on taking my laptop with me and will blog and facebook like crazy...what else is there to do in the hospital, right?

Here are some pics that show the progress of my pregnancy. I was never good at taking monthly belly shots, but I managed to scrounge these up. Time sure has flown with this one, it seems like only yesterday I was staring at the positive pregnancy test (all 6 of them) in total shock :)

4 months

4 months

5 months

6 months


7 months

8 months

8 months

9 months

9 months

false labor and a Christmas parade.

I was convinced this week would be the week that Harper would come! Even though I have a c-section scheduled for this Wednesday, my doctor would let me attempt a VBAC if I went into labor before that. So last Monday I went to my weekly visit and was told I was dilated to 1 and half, 80% effaced and she was VERY low. My doctor did a procedure in his office that usually will help get labor started especially if you are already showing signs of progress (which I was). It was not a pleasant procedure and quite painful, but well worth it if it would kick start labor! I went home and on Wednesday morning woke up with contractions every 10 min.."this is it" I thought!! NOPE!! This went on all day and just stopped sometime that night. Nothing happened Thursday or Friday and then again early Saturday morning (3 am) I woke up with STRONG contractions that were 5-7 min apart for 2 hours. I was getting ready to call hospital when they too just stopped! I have now given up that she will come on her own and am finally accepting that a c-section is inevitable again. I really wanted to avoid this as I am scared to death of trying to recover from surgery with a 2 year old and newborn. The surgery itself does not scare me, just the long recovery. So it looks like Wednesday will be her birthday after all. I am just going to try to relax and enjoy my last weekend with just one child. Pax and I are going to make cookies today and watch some Christmas movies and I am just going to give him as much attention as I can because I know that everything will change in just a few days. I think he can sense it because he keeps coming up to me and hugging me and giving me kisses and sayin "love you Mommy" it just melts my heart!! I think he is excited for sissy to come though because that means he gets to go stay at Nana & Papa's house and he is SO excited about that. His bag is packed and waiting by door too, and everyday he asks if he can go stay with them. Pretty sure he is over his separation anxiety now :)

Here are some pictures from a Christmas parade we went to here in El Dorado on Thursday. It was 20 degrees out but I really wanted Pax to see Santa because we have been learning all about him and read Christmas books at night. He is STILL talking about it!!!



This was Santa's "Reindeer" it was a bunch of jeeps with antlers on them and lights. They were all blaring Manheim Steamroller (sp?) from them, it was so cool!!!











SANTA!!