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

Easter Pictures

April 2nd, we met Cassie Bousson at the Arlington Square for our first official family pictures. We love Cassie, she's awesome AND she's affordable! We got these awesome pictures during one of her "mini sessions" for only $60 and it came with the edited CD :) Love love LOVE her! She also did JE's newborn pictures and will be doing Elsie's newborn shoot as well as some great cousins pictures! The day was beautiful, though a little chilly since it had been raining the day before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Warning: Lots of Beautiful Jane Ellis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My two favorite people in the whole world... how is it they look so much alike!