The Birth of Angelina...

Angelina is now a little over

1 week old...

It seems so strange to think that a week ago

I was rubbing my giant belly and

 wondering when she would be born...

now I sit here typing this with a

perfect little babe laying on my lap.

And it feels like this one week old babe has

always been here...

~

My other 2 labors have been very long.

With both kids I labored at home all day long before

going to the hospital.

So I expected the same thing this time around,

but I was caught off guard for sure!

We spent all day Sunday at my parents house

visiting with my sister from out of town.

I had contractions, but nothing more than normal.

That night I woke up around 2am

with strong, painful contractions at just 5 min apart.

I timed then for awhile.

Then text my mom and sisters and told them

I thought I was in labor.

Jon was supposed to be getting up at 3:15 to leave for work,

so I woke him and told him he better stay home.

After I took a bath the contractions were

3-4 min apart...and becoming more painful.

So I put some make up on

and mentally prepared for giving birth!

 By the time my sister came to watch the kids,

I knew I was fully dilated and kinda fighting the urge to push.

Jon walked into the room as I was having a very strong

contraction and breathing through it while

having my sister press pressure points on my back...

I guess his eyes got big and he went outside

and pulled the car up as close as possible to the door!

We just live about 2 minutes from the hospital...

but Jon made it there in record time...

I think I may have scared him when I

told him I felt like pushing

when we were half ways there.

Baby didn't want to wait to make her appearance!

 My mom and sisters met us at the hospital...

they knew something was up when they

saw our van pulled way up to the ER doors,

still running with no one inside!

Once we were in the O.B. room the nurse checked me,

confirmed I was completely dilated and the baby was

ready to be born.

They quickly called my Dr, then called the

ER doctor in case my Dr didn't make it in time!

The worst part of all was being told I had to

breath through the contractions until my Dr got there! 

My body didn't like that!

Naturally my body starting pushing anyhow.

The bag of waters came out...

It didn't break, but some of the bag 

slipped out.

It was the craziest thing...even the Dr said she had 

never seen that before. 

 Every time I would have a contraction

the room got silent,

and everyone stood around my watching.

It was the weirdest feeling!

Everyone gave a huge sigh of relief when the Dr finally came in!

After the Dr. got there,

I was able to push through the next 2 or 3 contractions

and she was

Born!

We had made it to the hospital with about 20 min to spare!

 The nurse later told me I freaked her out,

walking in fully dilated and ready to give birth!

I guess she was a new nurse and though she was going to

wind up delivering the baby!

 A perfect little girl...

and my biggest baby at 7lbs 4oz.

by the time we left the hospital her weight was 6lbs 13oz...

same as James' birth weight.

And at her 72 hour weight check she was back at 7lbs 3oz!

 The birthing crew...

My mom was in charge of the camera...

{She got some great shots!}

and my sisters Lisa and Laura.

Laura was also in the room when James was born.

And Jon...

He is always calm in the birthing room,

and comes home just as tired out as me!

We text Jon's mom and invited her to come too...

but she arrived just seconds after Angelina was born!

 Our prefect baby girl...

She was crying moments after being born!

I started nursing her within the first 20minutes...

and she latched right on and

has been a champion nurser ever since!

 It was a crazy night...

waking up at 2am,

giving birth at 4:33am...

As soon as the Dr left, it was

calm and peaceful.

Jon and I were able to admire our

new daughter.

Jon cuddled her while I bathed.

Then, Jon was back home with the kids

by 7:30am

Talk about a wild and crazy night!

 It was a perfect night for her to be born.

Thank goodness Jon was already home,

or he would have missed her birth!

And we now have an October birthday...

out of everyone in my family

there was not a single October birthday!

She was born just 13 days early...

so it is strange to think her due date

hasn't even passed yet!

 Daddy and daughter...

cuddling...what can be better!?

I think it's safe to say that we are

all in love with little 

Angelina Viviana.

The kids fight over who is going to hold

her first or

who is going to pick out her clothes.

Sometimes I find myself staring at her,

thinking, "wow, she is just so perfect!"

She is the perfect addition to our family...

We couldn't be happier...



She's Here...

We are so happy to announce that

Angelina Viviana

was born Monday morning at 4:33am

7 lbs 4oz

19" long

Perfect in every way

We are all in love

We can't seem to stop admiring her tiny fingers and toes

and gazing at her perfect little self...

After we settle into a routine I will

share more pictures and

her birth story...

Dress Up...

My kids both love to play dress up.

One of their favorite things is when I lug the big

wicker hamper upstairs that is full to the brim to dress up clothes!

So, naturally they both love Halloween...

we plan weeks and weeks in advance.

This year since making the costumes was out of the question...

Elsie talked Auntie Ceara into bringing her to town to

search for just the right costume!

She had her mind set on a yellow princess...

and that's just what she found...

at the very first store!

{She has no clue who disney characters are, so we call

this dress a yellow princess!}

She is slightly excited...and also has

her hair, shoes and makeup all planned out already!

 Meanwhile, while Ceara and Elsie were off shopping...

James and his cousins were having a little fun of

their own playing dress up...

 Both boys seemed to love their

dance costumes...

Just for the record though,

James is going to be a Motorcycle Man for Halloween

not a dancer!

 James always wears his hair spiked up,

but Luke and Levi never ever do...

so as a joke Auntie Laura snuck the boys off to the

bathroom and used a little gel to spike their hair!

Spiked hair and girly dance costumes...

makes their fathers very proud, I am sure!

{Please ingore the very pregnant girl on the couch...looks like she was due a month ago at least!}

 And since this post is about dress up,

I had to include these...

I ordered some new makeup for myself...

and I had a coupon for some free merchandise

so I ordered some fun stuff for Halloween.

I planned on wearing the bright Purple myself for Halloween...

but Elsie found it first and claimed it for her own!

 I have been giving her a few tips on

how to apply makeup...

and I am happy to report that she doesn't apply

it quite so heavily now...thank goodness!

The purple is still shocking though,

and people often look at her weird when we go out and about!



My Babies and Me...

I am shocked and slightly embarrassed by the

number of self-portraits of

just myself or the kids and I

found on my phone!

Sometimes James will bring me the phone

and request we take pictures together!

It is pretty cute.

He loves watching himself make silly faces...

then we always have to look through the pictures

and pick out a few to text to Daddy while he is working!

 I always think that someday,

when James is a teenager and wont

even think about being in a picture not to mention hug his mother,

these pictures will all be pretty special!

 And now you know my secret hidden talent...

I can make my tongue touch my nose!

Who would have guessed I possessed such a special talent!?

It is a family thing.

My dad can do it too...

Sadly, both my kids have short fat tongues that don't even come close to their noses!

 All 3 of us!

Wonder how we will manage to fit 4 in the screen before long?

Not sure if Elsie was flashing some kind of gang signals, or what she was doing!

 Surprised faces...

 We are happy...

Love these pictures...

I am linking up with

The Anderson Family today for

Embrace the Camera...



Our Sunday...

A peek into our Sunday Afternoon...

~

Sunday morning started a bit too early.

James woke us all up by 8am happily

announcing the sun was up and we all needed to get up.

He wakes Elsie up every morning with his happiness.

And Elsie is not a morning person!

Since Sunday was Jon's only full day off this week,

we decided to be nice and let him sleep in.

So, we cuddled on the couch before

making pancakes for breakfast.

 Every Sunday Jon and Elsie go to church together.

It is the cutest thing.

It's like their little Father/Daughter outing.

This week, I could have gone...but didn't.

I kinda think Jon doesn't want James and I to go

and "mess up" their little thing!

So, James and I stayed home and read stories.

And I promised James we would all go as a family next week.

 

 After Church,

it was tickle time with Daddy.

Both kids love rough-housing with Daddy.

 Elsie and Jon sometimes have a difficult time "connecting"...

but since I have had to let Jon take the lead so I can rest,

I have watched Jon and Elsie become closer.

I like that.

I love watching them together.

I love that Elsie willingly calls herself a daddy's girl.

 James turn for tickles...

James think his daddy is amazing...

He waits for daddy to get home every weekend...

then follows him around all weekend long!

And I love that out of the blue James has

started calling Jon by his name,

not daddy!

Elsie went through that same phase.

 A moment of relaxing after all the tickles.

Daddy brought the kids to the park to play.

Then to Grammies to get Elsie's bike so they could go on a bike ride.

Daddy is good at wearing the kids out with plenty of

fresh air!

 Because I don't think Jon is quite ready to relinquish

all this weekend tasks,

he volunteered to go grocery shopping.

He has been into buying bulk...

like 3 bottles of ketchup when 1 was on the list.

So our pantry is certainly very full right now!

Though, I won't complain, saves me

from lots of trips to the store!

One thing I will complain about though is the squash.

I only buy Buttercup...

because that's all my mom cooks.

Jon bought butternut and spaghetti.

They don't taste as sweet.

and I don't know how to cook the spaghetti kind.

Next time I better go squash shopping myself!

 After dinner the kids kept busy playing.

Now that we are back at home,

all their toys are new again and they keep busy for hours!

And yes, my son loves playing dolls.

He gently puts them to sleep,

feeds them, changes them...

then put them in the stroller for a ride from hell!

He isn't one bit gentle when it comes to pushing strollers.

It's more of "see how fast we can go"

and "oh look 2 wheels"

and "oops, baby fell out and I ran her over"

not to mention that he must make a

super loud reeving up noise while pushing the stroller...

like a giant pick up with no muffler of something.

And he does it all while wearing pink high heel dress up shoes.

He makes us laugh.

 And Elsie is becoming quite the little lady.

She saw a basket of laundry waiting to be folded

and announced that she would fold it all!

She did a pretty good job of folding!

Today she told me she needs some chores to do,

but we need to call her chores

"jurisdictions"

because that's what the Dugger's call their chores!

Her mind is always spinning...

 As I cleaned up the kitchen from dinner

Daddy read the kids plenty of bedtime stories!

Both kids love stories.

James loves boy books, Elsie loves girl books.

Surprisingly enough they do a perfect job

of taking turns reading

one of Elsie's and one James...

back and forth...

until our voices are raw and our eyes are going crossed eyed.

These kids would read books all day!

We had a perfect Sunday afternoon...

the "doing nothing of importance",

yet doing the most important thing of all...

Enjoying being a Family.

Shopping...

I have been on the count down for

weeks to be able to go shopping.

Ceara and I wrote it on our calendars the day I was

free from the couch to go shopping!

We planned on traveling over an hour to

the "big city" with better shopping...

but in the end we just shopped local.

It was probably a good idea.

It felt SO good to get out and shop again.

Jon has done an amazing job with keeping up on household

things like the shopping, he even went

clothing shopping for new pants for James!

~

Jon and James had a

daddy/son day and had fun visiting

Grandma B and going on bike rides and walks...

And Elsie, Ceara and I shopped till we {I} about dropped!

{Well, really we only went to couple stores.}

Target was top of the list...

Elsie was happy because she was in desperate need of

new clothes...

socks, shirts, pants, pj's...this girl needs to stop growing!

So, she picked out her clothes and we headed to the fitting room.

 This was the purchase that made Elsie the happiest...

and makes me laugh the most!

I have never bought my kids fuzzy Pj's.

I think they are silly.

But last Christmas James received a pair...

as a joke I put them on him before returning them.

Joke on me...

He loved them!

Which inspired Elsie to want a pair.

I figured since she begged and begged for them,

we would give in this year.

She was over-the-moon happy!

She now is debating cutting the feet off though...

and she wakes up in the middle of the night to unzip them.

Silly.

But happy!

 By the time we made it to Kohl's

my belly needed rest so I didn't give birth in the

home good isle.

That would have been too embarrassing for me.

So, after picking Elsie out more clothes we headed for the

fitting room again.

I lounged on the floor.

Elsie tried on clothes.

And somehow Ceara slipped her wooden

Turkey under the door with the

statement of, "guard my turkey"

{Because I am sure everyone else in the store was coveting

that one turkey!?}

 I guarded the turkey well.

Elsie got plenty of new clothes.

We had a fun day...

We probably laughed too much,

people watched too much

{and made of fun of people}

Ate too much junk

Spent too much money...

But it was all worth it!

 And my big purchase of the day...

{or rather what I was most excited about}

A bun thing from Clair's!

{I am sure there is better name for it?}

Elsie and I each got one.

We are stylin' now!

I may have been coveting my sister's since the

end of August.

Well worth the wait!

* I discovered my phone has nearly 2,000 pix on it.

And since I hardly get around to doing my

Friday post anymore,

I am dedicating this week to

all phone pix!

Sorry if it gets a little random and boring!*

Soon...

37 weeks...

When will baby make her

grand appearance?

This week, next week...

dare I say it,

3 more weeks or more?

All weekend Jon pestered me with,

"well, when do you think?"

If only I knew...

Soon, soon...

{we hope anyhow!}

Bath Time...

My kids slightly love bath time.

I am also embarrassed to say baths have become a

not so regular thing around here!

It's a little tough to give nightly baths while on bedrest!

Elsie is more of a shower person,

which is nice because then she do her own hair!

~

Last weekend Jon gave the kids not just a regular bath...

but a Bubble Bath!

They had a ton of fun!

And I am happy to say that James climbed out of the tub

and peed in the potty all by himself!

Elsie has never peed in the tub,

and I think just maybe James will follow in her footsteps!

I think that my kids spend just as much time

out of tub as in the tub

during bath time.

The floor is always drenched with water!

James kept getting out of the tub

to give Elsie room to "float"

as soon as she would get relaxed,

James would reach over and tickle her belly and giggle!

Every time it would catch Elsie off guard.

Glad they know how to have a good time and

laugh together!

He was giving me the

Evil Eye look

because I didn't want him to throw

bath scrubbies full of water at me!

Bad mom, I know!

Happy kids in the tub.

It was after getting out of tub that the un-happiness started.

We washed James hair in the kitchen sink.

I am sure the neighbors could hear his cries

and screams of terror!

I know this too is just a phase.

Elsie used to act the same way...

now she calmly has her hair washed

in the shower, the tub or the sink with no tears!

Of course after the hair washing comes the fun part...

the blow drying!

James and Elsie took turns blow drying each others hair...

so cute!

36 Weeks!!

That's right...

You read that correct...

I am now 36 weeks!!

Actually I am 36 and a half weeks!

Which means I am off bedrest...

and the baby is technically full term and

can be born any day she so chooses!

I had a Dr. apt yesterday...

I have dilated a little more...

but she gave me the all clear for our big shopping day this Saturday!

I have a list of several stores I need to go to...

but, in all truth I will probably barely make it through one

before feeling like I may give birth right then and there!

Most days I can barely walk from the living room

to the kitchen without stimulating contractions...

so we'll see how shopping goes!

Now that I am off Bedrest we are back to living at home

while Jon is working out of town all week.

It is so nice to be back at home...

and attempting to get all those little

"nesting" things done.

Yesterday the kids and I washed all the baby clothes,

and laid out the special outfit, hat, blankets and hairbow

Angelina will be coming home in...

We are all just slightly excited!

~

When I was prego with Elsie we had been living down south,

but due to the pre-term labor

I moved up north with my parents so they could

"take care of me".

So, Jon was left working 4 hours away.

Thankfully I went into labor on a weekend when he

was up north with me!

~

With James, Jon was again working out of town...

like 6-8 hours away.

When I thought I was going into labor

I called Jon and he started for home.

When I called him to say we were headed to the Hospital

he was 2 hours away still...

but he made it to the hospital with an hour to spare!

~

This time I am hoping for a weekend again...

but if not, at least he is only working a couple hours away

at most...so hopefully he will make it again!

My mom and sisters Lisa, Laura and possibly Marissa

plan to be in the room also.

We also told Elsie she can come in the room and watch too...

she said so long as it isn't the middle of the night!

I would like to hope this will be my last belly post.

However, I know babies have a mind of their own.

My due date is the 4th of November

So I could still have a whole month left...

though I hope not.

I think we are all ready to meet little

Angelina Viviana!