Just Want to Snuggle

Can you spoil a baby this little by holding and snuggling them all the time?  Because when she is sleeping so good and has her blanket… I want to pick her up and snuggle!  It makes it really hard when her little feet are sticking out too!!

I think my baby is growing already!!  The last couple of days I just look at her and think… you grew!  You look longer!  You feel heavier!  You need to stay little a while longer!!

I ran out of newborn diapers this morning (and my grocery store doesn’t carry the newborn ones!!) so I had some #1 sizes that I must of got as a gift.  I put it on her and it fit!!!  Sniff-sniff-pouty-lip!!  She really must be growing!!

I was asked who she looks like… and I hear a lot of mixed reactions.  Some say she looks like me and other say she looks like Jesse.  Some say she has my mouth and nose and from the eyes up she is Jesse.  Which she so has Jesse’s eyes and eyelashes.  (I wish I could get a picture of her eyelashes for you because they are like giraffe lashes!!  Super long!!)  She is starting to get my hairline (widows peak).  Oh and her hair is getting lighter and is starting to have a tint of red in it!!  We think she might be a little strawberry blonde!!!  She most definitely has Jesse’s ears including his one pointy ear.  And I’m afraid the poor girl got her daddy’s toes!! 

Jesse goes back to work on Monday.  Which means I only have 3 more weeks before I have to go back to work!!  I’m starting to think that this work stuff is overrated and I should just be able to snuggle all day long!  ; )

1st Father’s Day

We took these pictures for Jesse… his baby girl will grow up to be a tough dirt bike girl!! 

Jesse went riding last night and it was raining and very muddy… but we thought it added character to the pictures.

For Father’s Day… Mallory gave her Daddy two HUGE icky diapers!  They both were very funny!!  The first one he went to change her and she wasn’t quite done… and not to gross you out but it went every where!!  Down the wall.  Down the changing table.  On the carpet!  Every where!!  We had a huge mess on our hands!  The second one he was holding her and her diaper leaked and it went all over him!!  Happy Father’s Day!!!  : )

Check out that hair!!  If you look real close you can see her little blonde highlights!  She has this streak of blonde hair that is too cute!!

One Week Down

I always heard that the first week will be our toughest.  Learning the ins and outs of a new little baby.  I think our first week went very well – better then I had expected. 

There was only one night where she woke up every 2 hours and by 4am I rolled over to Jesse and said, I can’t even open my eyes!!  I fed her and passed her off to Jesse to burp and get back to sleep.  The rest of the nights she wakes up about 2am and then again at 5am.

Mallory had her Well Baby Check Up yesterday.  She is back up to her birth weight of 8 pounds and is in the 50th percentile.

While we were at Mallory’s appointment they sent me to Urgent Care because I have this rash that appeared on my belly and right side.  It itches like crazy and looks horrible.  So I asked Mally’s Dr. about it and she said… you have shingles!  She sent me to Urgent Care to have another Dr. confirm it and then I could get medicine for it.  The Urgent Care Dr. said, yes you have shingles!  And it is contagious!  I could give it to Mally… but she would get it in the form of chicken pox!  And anyone else who hasn’t had the chicken pox… could get them from me!!

After the appointment I had to call my sister and tell her… if the kids wake up with polka-dots it is from me and they have the chicken pox!  And she had to tell her daycare!  What a mess!!

Nothing Like Sisters!

My sister and her family came over last night.  She brought us all supper and homemade chocolate chip cookies!! 

My sister loves babies!  She just can’t enough of them.  She even changed Mally’s dirty diaper!!  She checked on her little belly button to make sure it was looking good!  Then I made her show me how to give Mally a bath!!  After all that little Mally was completely exhausted so Shannon just got to snuggle with her while she slept! 

Don’t you just want to snuggle into that little face and smell her!!?  Don’t worry – she smells good!  Shannon and I smell tested her!!

We all like little feet here in my family.  Shannon had my camera last night and I have all kinds of little feet pictures on it!  They are just so cute and little and soft!!  I think she has her Daddy’s toes… those are some long toes.  She can almost hold on to your finger with them!!

Before Mally arrived I always thought my little nephew Garrett was a baby!  Not any more!  He has hit toddle stage!  When I see him now the only thing I can say is… Garrett you are big boy!!  And then I pick him up and snuggle him and he wiggles away from me and wants to get down! 

Garrett would be fussy and crying – then Mally would start wiggling and get a little fussy and Garrett would stop everything he was doing and just stare at her with huge eyes!  He wouldn’t even move!  Just stared at her trying to figure her out!

Little Elly was all about being with the guys.  So she sat outside on Jesse’s lap most of the night.  Every once in a while she would come in and say “Hey Cuz” and then she was off again. 

Everything has been going really well for Jesse and I.  She has been sleeping really well.  We have to dress her in warmer clothes and wrap her tight in a blanket and then she’ll sleep 4 hour stretches!  I had to get up at 1am last night and then not again until 5!  Except if you ask Jesse how long she slept… he says to me this morning, she slept 7 hours!  I started laughing and said, um no!  Apparently Jesse slept for 7 hours!  : )

One of the nights at the hospital Mally started fussing in the middle of the night.  Jesse sits up and sticks his pointer finger inside her little bassinet/crib thing and says:

J:  Its working.  Its working.

L:  What’s working.

J:  She’s eating.

L:  No she’s not.  She’s crying.

J:  No, its working.  What you did is working.

L:  What did I do?

J:  You put that cardboard over it.

L:  (I started laughing) Jesse your sleeping.  Lay down!

Can you see what my nights look like?  I have Jesse waking me up with all his talking.  And lately he has been doing this choking thing.  He sits up in bed and acts like he is choking – its real lovely!  Then I just fall back asleep and we have a hungry baby!  Too fun!!  No worries, I am totally doing the nap thing during the day!!

Mallory Rae

She’s Here!!!  She’s really here!!!

Our little Mallory Rae decided to finally come meet us Sunday morning, June 7th @ 8:52 am.

I’ll give you a quick labor story…

A proud Daddy and his baby just minutes after she is born. 

Saturday night about 6:30 I started noticing some contractions that I could actually time.

 Family of two became family of three!!

We got to the hospital about 9:30.  I asked (and received) my epidural about 1am.  This is the best thing in the entire world!! 

Before the epidural I was tired and just not myself.  The epidural  kicked in and I was wide awake and chatty!  But they told me to sleep because the hard part was coming up.  I slept maybe 20 minutes!  My blood pressure thing kept going off and it was kind of broken so an alarm would go off.  The nurse kept coming in and checking on all my machines and she would tell me… you just had a very strong 2 minute contraction!  Your contractions are just like they say they are in the text books!  And I don’t feel a thing!!!  Heaven!!

Mallory got her middle name from her Auntie Shannon Rae.

About 6:30am they come in and tell me that I am ready to go.  My midwife leaves the room to go find her nurse and I look at Jesse and I start crying!  This is the part I am afraid of!!  I told him we needed to pray.  So we prayed and I put myself back together.

The midwife comes back and she sits on a little stool next to me and we start chatting.  She tells me what I am going to do.  The nurse comes in and is super energetic and starts saying “we’re going to have a baby!!” 

All four of us start chatting and giggling.  We talked about everything under the sun in between pushing.  It was so helpful for me!  I loved every minute of it!  The 3 of them are drinking coffee and just relaxed and being so positive and encouraging to me!

Jesse totally surprised me.  He was way into this delivery then I had expected!  It was so fun to hear him get all excited during his counting and it just made me work all the harder!  2 hours later she is here!!

Born @ 8:52 am on Sunday, June 7th.  She weighed in at a shocking 8 pounds!!  She is 21 inches long.  (I totally called a long baby before she was born.  I kept telling Jesse they tell me her head is down so low but I am still getting kicked in the ribs!)

I’ll update later with more pictures… right now I think I have a hungry baby!! 

40 Weeks and Counting

We are still pregnant over here!!  This little girl is already teaching us that we are not in control!  We don’t get to pick the day she arrives.  She gets to pick!  It is kind of hard for us control-freak-people!

For the most part I am feeling good.  Just the usual aches and pains that comes with carrying around 25 extra pounds for 9 months.  Jesse is doing good too.  I think he is getting really excited to meet his baby girl! 

I have another Dr. appointment this afternoon.  My sister is coming with me and I have a feeling she may not let us leave the hospital until there is a baby in her arms!  She is running out of patience and is ready to snuggle Blueberry all day long!

I better go get ready for work.  I’m secretly hoping that this might be my last day of work… for 6 weeks!  Little Blueberry I think this weekend would be a great time for you to come meet everyone!!  We are all ready!!  We have lots of love and snuggles to give you!!!

Magic 8 Ball & Snowmobiles

I have been driving myself crazy – every night when I go to bed I think to myself… will it happen tonight?  Then when I wake up in the morning and think… will it happen today?  What is this labor all about?  What will it feel like?  Will I know?  Maybe we should put the car seat in the truck? 

So last night we used my belly as a magic 8 ball.  I rubbed my belly and asked her to give me one kick if she was coming on Monday?  I seriously got a kick!  But then I tried - give me one kick it if will be in the morning?  Nothing.  Give me one kick if it will be in the afternoon?  Nothing.  Give me one kick if it will be at night?  Nothing.  I’m guessing she is not coming on Monday.  ; )

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Every Sunday after church we go out for breakfast with Jesse’s family.  This Sunday as we are eating breakfast with Jesse’s parents we got on the subject of Father’s Day.  Jesse’s ears perk up and he wants to know when Father’s Day is.  Jesse gets this huge smile on his face and just sits across from me smiling at me!  It doesn’t take me long to catch on!!!  I waved my hands in the air and said “Oh!!!  You think since you’ll be a dad that you are going to get some big present?!!”  He starts laughing and says, yup… I was thinking like maybe a snowmobile!!!  Oh my goodness!  This guy cracks me up!!  Just for that, I think he needs to get a #1 Dad tie and he has to wear it to work!!  Won’t the prisoners get a kick out of that one!?!

Since we are down to the wire and Blueberry could make her appearance at any moment.  I wanted to let you know you can stay tuned to my Mom’s blog… she’ll be the first with pictures and will let y’all know when little baby girl is here!  Lets pray that it is sooner then later… and that I will be a super-woman during labor and delivery!