Jane Ellie's 1st Birthday Party!!!

We threw Jane Ellis' first birthday party the saturday after thanksgiving. That was a hectic week! But oh so much fun =) We had it at our house in the dining room and decorated the whole downstairs. We had NO idea sooo many people would come out to celebrate our sweet little girl, but we are so thankful they did. We had a great time, and the owl theme was precious!

Here is Jane Ellis with her MeMe. Notice her owl tights!

Here cake and cookies were a huge hit! Thanks Hannah Murray.

Emma has already had her first birthday in February, so she knew exactly what to do with those presents. She had a great time helping JE.

Here I am 30 weeks pregnant with our sweet girl Aubrey Claire. - But that's a soon to come post :)

Thanks Cousin Kelsey for takin pictures for us!!

Toddlerhood, here we come!

Happy 1st birthday to the most precious thing in my simple little world. I am so thankful that the Lord saw it fit to bless me with such an amazing little girl. And I pray that not only will I see many more of her birthdays, but that she will grow to know how blessed she is to be able to celebrate them. In a world of such tragedy and loss, it's so wonderful to come home/wake up to her smile. May you always know how much your mommy and daddy cherish you. - My FB status.

Jane Ellis is a big girl now! The day started out with me making a quick trip to kroger for a balloon, little birthday cake/cupcake, and a small toy for JE and Daisy. I got home around 830 and she was just waking up. She was very bewildered at why there was a gift and balloon sitting on her highchair. At first she just wanted her mamma, her milk and a banana; but she soon warmed up to the balloon. Her gift would have to wait til after her breakfast. After she ate her banana and scrambled eggs and toast, we went into the den to open her present. It took her a minute to figure it out, but she soon got the hang of it. Kroger didn't have much, so she got a little shape sorter that came with shapes and a lid that comes on and off. She likes taking the lid off and putting the shapes in and out of the bucket and then crawling around with it. I had worked the night before, and I had to go back tonght, so I left JE with her daddy and took a quick nap. After we both napped it was time to play again. That evening, my brother stephen and his GF Jennifer, my mom and Robert's parents all came over to wish JE a HB. We ended the night with supper and a bath and then it was time for me to head to work.




Some of Jane Ellie's Stats:
* She is a tall, solid 23 lbs
* She's wearing 12-18 and 18-24 month clothes
* She weaned from BFing at 11 months
* She's now on Whole milk and does great
* She's not uptodate on her 12 month shots, and honestly, probably won't be for a
few more months still.
* She just got her big girl carseat - a Diono RXT. It's beautiful, and it's still
rear-facing :)
* She really likes to watch baby Einstein in the car, but still doesn't watch any TV
in the house.
* She's not walking, and won't stand unless she's holding on to or leaning against
something. But she can crawl faster than any kid I know lol
* She signs "all done", and sometimes "more".
* She has six teeth now, 4 top and 2 bottom.
* She says "dada", "where's Daisy?', "there's Daisy!", "what's that?" and points,
and has dabbled in saying momma, but only when she wants something.
* She can pick out a cow and a pig when asked, and she can say what sound a cow
makes - mmmmmmoooo.
* She is starting to want bows in her hair and will wear them with pride for a few
minutes.
* She loves jewelry - especially necklaces.
* She loves bath time, and really loves bubble baths. I bought her some bath crayons
and she is learning how to play with them and not eat them.
* It's been really rainy, nasty here, so we haven't been able to play outside, but
when it's nice she loves to swing in her little pink swing.

Cutest swarm of bees ever!

Our little honey bees!

Emma and Jane Ellis play pretty well together for the most part.

My how our emotions change! I'm sure Riley got too close, or Emma yelled too loudly. Jane Ellis is very sensitive at night when she's tired.

Mommy and her little bee. I'm 26 wks here with miss Aubrey Claire

Sweet bees

Jane Ellis doing her famous face, and Emma can hardly sit still she's so excited!

Halloween night brought out the cutest swarm of bees I've ever seen... no stingers here :)

Beach Time!!

October 1-8, Shannon, Chris, and I loaded up my car with three girls and left for Orange Beach, Al. The girls had an awesome time, we did have some issues with not nap/sleeping. But other than that everyone was happy and in good moodsEmma and Jane Ellis enjoyed balcony time every morning and every evening. they loved talking about how they would spend the day; then how they spent the day. Best friends already!

I love my sweet beach-bum baby

Emma showing JE how to fill the bucket with sand
Shannon and Elsie were quite a pair, they loved to keep each other company when the rest of the girls were playing in the water.

20 weeks with Baby #2

September 22, I had a doctor's appt with a scheduled ultrasound to have a full anatomy scan of Baby Hill. Since Robert is working, I never expected him to go to any appts with me but two- the first dr's appt and the full 20 wk anatomy scan one. This happened to be the latter - and Robert was able to go.... and of course Jane Ellis! The scan went really well. Baby Hill was 13 ozs, and breech. They had a four chambered heart, intact diaphragm, and was moving all the extremeties. Oh and it's a SHE!! Aubrey Claire Hill - I'm not going to lie, Robert was a little sad about it not being a boy. But after a few minutes with JE he was ready to have another girl to love :) She weighs approx 13 ozs and is right on target with her due date. She's breech right now, but I'm hoping she'll flip soon like jane ellis did. She is very active, although most of the time I'm so busy chasing JE around that I don't feel her until I sit down to rest lol But when she's active, she's REALLY active. I can already see her moving around - I don't remember when I started seeing JE move, but I'm thinking I was further along than this - but maybe not.

Jane Ellis is still doing great. The light of my life and can make anyone smile. I'm so NOT ready to have two babies, I love her being the only one. And yet I'm so, so excited about meeting this little girl and them growing up together. It's definately a bittersweet time for our family. And I hope the transition will be smooth. But for now, we are just enjoying the pregnancy and our single child :) Oh, and Daisy is doing pretty good too, she loves when je eats breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks... anything that involves food, Daisy is JE's best friend hehehe

10 months and finding out secrets

OMGoodness, we've hit the 10 month mark- I only have 2 months untill her birthday!!!! I've been doing plenty of planning, with even more to come, but I must say, it's been enjoyable so far :) Jane Ellis still isn't walking, but she can climb the stairs faster than Daisy lol And she's learned to raise her hands to sign that she's "all done" - it's very cute cause she actually flaps her hands like a bird hehehe

Oh and another new development, we found out we're having another precious girl! Lord willing, we'll be welcoming Aubrey Claire into the world sometime around Feb 7th!!! And we couldn't be more excited. Jane Ellis isn't going to know what's up, but I pray in time she'll realize we've given her her best friend!

I'm 21 weeks and AC is approx 13 ozs, and so far this pregnancy has been exactly like JE's - perfect :)

Forrest Spence 5K

Saturday, August 22, Shannon and I participated in our first ever 5K. The Forrest Spence 5K. Forrest was an infant who was brought to us just hours after he was born - his mom was GBS positive (after testing negative) and he had contracted this as well. He spent just a few short weeks in our unit before going home to be with the Lord. But the impact that little boy had on out heart and on other patient's and their families lives will forever be felt. Here's a link to the reason we did it:
http://www.forrestspencefund.com/
It was so much fun to get the girls out of the house on such a nice cool morning. Shannon was able to borrow a double jogging stroller and I brought mine. My time was 50.12 and Shan's was 50.14. Afterwards, they had donuts, fresh fruit, and rolls. Along with water. I also brought the kids some snacks, so we were able to have a little picnic afterwards.

9 months

Oh how bittersweet this time is. My little helpless baby is starting to become more dependent every day. Here are some milestones we are hitting:





* She's mastered pulling up and walking around the table. And she has learned how to walk behind a push car. She crawls after me alllll over the place and still prefers to be held when I'm doing anything, but she likes to stand at her exersaucer and activity table.





* She's eating everything she can get her hands on. She loves potatoes anyway you can cook them- mashed, fried, baked. Steamed veggies and fruits. Our typical breakfast is a fruit - banana, grapes, or kiwi- cherrios, and either oatmeal, a blueberry waffle with cream cheese or a piece of wheat toast with cream cheese. The cherrios are to buy me some time while I fix the rest of her breakfast! For lunch she likes some veggies and either a ham and cheese sandwich, cheese and crackers, something leftover from the night before - like pasta, or a sprouts dinner. And for Dinner she pretty much eats whatever we eat, especially the veggies. She always has a huge dinner. In between her meals she still nurses - first thing in the morning, before her nap, then after her nap which is when she eats lunch. Then another time during the afternoon. And then either before dinner and/or before bed. She gets sleepy around 630-700 so that's when she starts to eat supper, then a bath in the sink. She's normally in bed by 8-830 and doesn't wake back up till 8-830. Sometimes after 9!





* Now the fun stuff... She is talking. She says mama, and dada. She only says mama if she's hurt - like when she falls, or when her little finger got pinched in the door. Or when she wakes up from her nap. But she says dada all the time - especially when she sees Robert :) And she says Daydee for Daisy! Cutest. Thing. Ever!! Whenever she wakes up, we always go back to my bed and cuddle while she nurses; and when she's done she rolls over and says "Daydee!!!" I call Daisy up on the bed and they play:) It's so sweet lol Emma taught her to say uh-oh, and she's learned to say it after she throws something on the floor. And she loves to wave bye-bye - ofcourse she turns her hand like she's waving bye-bye to herself, but she knows she's cute and knows when someone says hi or bye she's supposed to wave.





*Mimicking: She shakes her head no when you do it... very cute! Ask her a question - she'll shake her head. "Do you love Daisy more than mommy?" she shakes her head. "Do you think daddy's funnier than mommy?" she shakes her head. It's pretty awesome lol



We switched doctors and practices all together. I really liked Dr. Scott at peds consultants. And the location was def convenient, but I feel like All Better is more suited for us. So, we had been battling her first diaper rash (ever) and I felt like I was losing, so I called the dr and made an appt - that was on monday. Wouldn't you know by tuesday her diaper rash was SOOOOO much better, and by wed pretty much gone. But she hadn't been to the Dr since she was six months, so I decided to keep the appt. We met Dr Folz, and she did a little exam on her. Which came back perfect :) She's 20 lbs and 27.5 inches of alll sweetness. And we don't have to go back till 12 months! And no vaccines this visit!

The big latch on!

On August 6th, at 1030, Shannon and I nursed Elsie and Jane Ellis into the Guiness Book of World Records. There were 25-30 nursing moms, dads and babies. As well as a silent auction and cupcakes! It was so nice to see other nursing mammas. Here's a link to the newspaper article from the Commercial Appeal:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/aug/01/moms-hope-to-set-breast-feeding-record/


Today Big Latch On announced the final count of actual nursing mothers was 4,123. The Big Latch On took place in 294 locations across the globe! Unfortunately we did not break the current world record which is 15,128 women in 295 sites across the Philippines on May 2, 2007. Even though we did not break the record, we did make people aware (with the help of the media) of how very natural and important breastfeeding is and that it should be appreciated (which I think was the whole point, right?).

4th of July weekend

We spent 4th of July weekend in Mt Home at Norfork Lake. We met some awesome friends up there - Patrick and Kristen Murphy. And then my cousins - Richard and Kristy Wright and their two boys Richard Wayne and Brody, Bart and Sarah Wright, Kelsey Wright and their parent's Butch and GiGi Wright. There was plenty of fun in the sun and swimming in the lake. Jane Ellis was awesome! Bless her, she was exhausted by the end of the weekend but sweetgirl loved the water. And as long as she had some snacks and her water she was set.

And we're off!

Friday, July 1st - Jane Ellis is officially a crawler! Now, she's been mobile for some time, scooting around on her little belly... and her favorite thing to do is get on her hands and knees and push her butt up in the air so that she's on her toes. It's very cute, and she always smiles and seems very proud of herself. But back to her crawling- we were actually packing to go to Mt Home for 4th of July weekend, she was in our bedroom floor playing and I was in the bathroom, she kept whining for me and I just got down in the floor and said "no, maam, you come to me!" So she did! lol Cutest thing I've ever seen! She hasn't stopped since!

Happy Father's Day.... to a daddy of 2!!

Soooo, here's the story:




Friday night I went out with some friends from work to say a final farewell to a great friend and co-working, Jessica Schmitt. I had had a few drinks and we were all talking about babies, and being pregnant- and not being pregnant. On the way home, I started to think about how I'm still nursing JE, how she's almost 7 months and how I still haven't gotten a period (sry boys!) Anyway, I couldn't get the thought of making sure I wasn't preggers out of my head - so on the way home I decided to stop off at walgreens and get a test. I didn't say anything to Robert because I just KNEW it was going to be negative. We were taking precautions - even though I wasn't on anything- JE was still nursing and I hadn't started. WELLLLL, apparently God had other plans, because it was positive. Now, I'm not going to lie, we were less than thrilled - very upset would be the word. This was not in our plans. But not just that, I really wanted JE to be the only baby for a while. I feel like I work so much already, that I want all my time to be given to her. However, the more we thought about it and talked about it, the more excited we became. Now there would be 4 cousins - all under the age of 2! And I loved being close in age to all my cousins growing up. So we started to make some plans - we're selling the house and moving out to my grandma's house - oma's. This will eliminate our mortgage and allow for me to eventually go part-time! I'm so stinkin excited about this - however, it's going to be a HUGE adjustment. The house is much smaller, the closets are much smaller, the master BR is much smaller. But- it's a sacrifice we're willing to make to save some money! Anyway, we decided to tell our parents that weekend since it's father's day weekend. They were thrilled! So, next step- find out how far along I am. I went to the doctor that next week, we found out I'm 8 weeks and due Feb 7! I just can't get a summer baby! Oh well! Bring on my valentines baby!!

Bowling Green bound!

So I was supposed to work mon, tue and wed nights, then leave for Bowling Green, KY thur at noon. But a wonderful friend - Jessica Schmitt - worked for me wed night. So I had all day wed to wash clothes, clean the house and pack - but not without loving on JE and Emma first! Emma, Elsie, Shannon and my mom stopped by to play in the water for a little while.

Ok, back to Jane Ellis' first road trip. So thursday at noon, I packed my car full of luggage, shoe cakes (more on that in a bit) baby diapers, and the baby- along with my MIL and her mom. And off we started for Bowling Green for Robert's cousin, Sarah Schmitt's (no relation to Jessica) wedding. JE was awesome! She slept most of the way and only required us to stop twice :)

Meeting her cousin Erin for the first time

The high heel shoe cakes by Cakes by Mom and Me were a HUGE hit!

Sarah's wedding shoe; can you say precious!

I absolutely adore this little girl!

The next day, Jane Ellis decided to take a nap right before we had to leave for the rehearsal. So I just said I'd stay with her until she woke up. Then I realized Robert had my car keys, So I decided to take advantage of the lighting and play around with my camera :)

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was sooo much fun! JE was awesome the whole weekend and I think she really loved all the attention :)

A picture of all the cousins

A quick diaper change and a nice stretch before getting back on the road. I guess something was funny :)

Such a good girl!

6 months, really!

June 25 - Is my sweet little wonderful Jane Ellis really 6 months already! You have accomplished so much!




* You are already 18 lbs!



* You have started trying to crawl - you can scoot on you belly great and you love to get up on your tippy toes with you butt up in the air.



* You eat twice a day most days. You like oatmeal mixed with things like applesauce, yogurt, sweet potatoes. Anything that gives it flavor. For dinner, I either make you something pureed, or give you something like steamed veggies, avacado, or bananas that you can play with and feed yourself. We've also discovered Sprouts meals - they are organic and healthy and you love them. So when we go out to eat this is your meal of choice :)



* You are still nursing! That was a big goal of mine - to get you to 6 months. You nurse before every meal, before and after naps and really just anytime you start to fuss and seem hungry. Now let's see if we can go a whole year!



* You need some big girl toys. You are quickly becoming bored with your baby toys. I see a trip to target or toys-r-us in your near future!



* You are still an awesome sleeper! You still sleep in your co-sleeper by my bed, you have started to pull up some, but not in your bed yet. I can see you starting that very soon though, so I'm cautiously waiting for it.



* You LOVE your daddy! Everytime you see him you grin and giggle so big! I know it just melts his heart.



* You are really starting to notice Daisy and orange kitty and you LOVE them too! Though they are just starting to pay any attention to you!



* You are saying ba ba and sometimes ma ma. But you love saying ba ba ba ba and just babble and giggle. I have heard you say da da once our twice. We're still working on it ;)



* You are still the light of our lives and we love you more and more each and everyday!

And then there were three...

Cousins! That is :) Today, May 23rd, 2011 at 1140 in the morning, we helped my sister Shannon, her husband Chris and their little girl Emma welcome Elsie Louise Hudson into the world. All 7lbs 7 oz and 20 inches of her! And she couldn't be more beautiful. Shannon did awesome. She was (and had been) 3-4 cms when she got to the hospital. They started her pitocin around 5 that morning. Broke her water around 9am and she had her epidural around 11am. As soon as she got her epidural she went from 7 to complete within minutes and the pushing began. She was awesome and just a few minutes later we met strawberry blonde/red headed Elsie. Did that girl have some lungs! It was wonderful that Emma and Jane Ellis were able to be there to meet their sister and cousin. Emma wasn't too sure about this whole thing, all she knew was she wanted her momma and daddy. Jane Ellis, however, didn't have a clue what was going on so she just went with the flow lol

PawPaw's Peanuts
All that birthing just wore Jane Ellis out!

Easter and Grandparents

Ahhh, Easter! For me this is really the first glimpse of Summer! I love Easter! To this day I still get a new Easter dress :) And now I get to buy new Easter dresses for Jane Ellis every year!! This Easter was great. We went to church with my parents to our little home town church in Shell Lake. Then, the whole family gathered at my PePaw's for burgers, hot dogs and an Easter Egg Hunt. This was Emma's first Easter to really hunt eggs (last year she was just a few months old) and Jane Ellis' first Easter. Both girls wore adorable dresses and had their Easter baskets. Also, all the grandparents could come out and celebrate with us :)

Jane Ellis need a quick nap after church before going to hunt eggs

My parents and my sister's mother and father in law holding Emma

My parents and my mother and father in law

All the grandparents

Chris, Shannon, Emma and soon to be Elsie

Me, Robert and Jane Ellis

My wonderful PopPop - Herb

She's holding her Easter basket

Emma was not too happy about this arrangement

Ah! I just love this face!!!

Aunt Fairy loving on JE

Gotta love Easter pjs!!

5 months

Jane Ellis turned 5 months the day before Easter. I never thought I could love a child more and more everyday. But you can! She just steals your heart with every smile, giggle, cry, and poop! It's true :) She's still sleeping great. 2-3 naps during the day and in bed by 730 every night. Then up at 430 and 8 for bottles or nursing. When she takes a bottle she takes about 5 ozs. We have tried a few purees. She like applesauce, pears, peas, homemade sweet potatos, and LOVES carrots. She's doing really well with them. She only gets 1 to 2 a week but we will slowly be increasing that amount as she progresses. She is 17lbs and 26 inches long. She's starting to get up on her hands and knees a little and still only rolls onto her back. No back to belly yet... She has also started to sit without assistance! Such a big girl. She laughs and smiles at everything! And she's really smiling at Emma now, which ofcourse we just love! But she's still not used to daisy barking lol It frightens her everytime.

Sitting up by herself

Me in my applecheeks