First Baby Smiles

This is what I GET to see every day. I'm the luckiest mommy in the world!

More Christmas Pics

Ella Justine with her Grandma Justine

Ella with Grandma Ruby

Awww....she loves Grandma and Papa

Finally!!! Briley gets to meet and hold her new baby cousin..her "girl cousin."

The Gang..watch out! Ella with all of her cousins: Tyler, Hunter, Colten, Briley and Cody.

Little Miss Ella with her cousin Michael. Poor Michael got quite the spit up on his brand new shirt too. He was such a good sport about it!

I still need to get a picture of Ella with cousin Nathyn...hopefully soon!

Ella-isms

I will start a new list on the side of the blog of Ella-isms (little fun facts about her) but here are some to start!

• Ella of course is an angel....had to start with that one!
• She loves to sleep with her hands on her face or over her head and her mouth wide open!
• She is a VERY lazy eater. She likes to take her time, take breaks and altogether make it a very long experience at the "buffet."
• She started smiling on purpose at her mommy and daddy right around 6 weeks. Her smiles just make my heart melt and I can't imagine anything better.
• She loves the pacifier some days and not so much other days. I like the other days when it isn't her best friend. :0) Luckily, she has not "needed" it at night or fussed about it too much.
• Her second dr.'s appointment she weighed 8 lbs 1 oz so I can't wait to see what she will weigh at the next appt. on Jan. 14th!
• She likes music. She loves any of her toys that play music and she is digging James Taylor "Carolina In My Mind" right now when we sing it and listen to it on my phone. I have not yet introduced her to Justin Timberlake or Michael Jackson yet. I am sure we will be dancing around the house together to both of those gentleman soon! I also need to get her well versed in show tunes like anything from Wicked. We'll see.
• She loves books too! Hooray! That makes the mommy AND teacher in me happy. She particularly likes the book "Who Do You See" because it has a mirror on it and she can look at herself. Uh oh..does that mean she will be really into herself? HA HA just kidding.
• Bath time is one of her favorite times of the day. Her dad got her a space heater so she likes to lay there naked and bask in the warmth. Uh oh...does that mean she will be a nudist on some warm tropical island? HA HA just kidding again.
• Ella loves playing in her room. We go in there a lot throughout the day and play with toys or have tummy time, etc. Usually we have to fight with Riley to get out of there...her room is just so cozy!
• She also, thankfully, is not phased by much noise. If she is in a deep sleep, the dogs barking or me vacuuming do not wake her up. Thank you Ella!

First Family Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year as we had our angel with us! We had so much fun and Jimmy was insistent on getting a real tree for Ella this year and I am glad we did. Here are some pictures of Ella in her Christmas outfit and our little family. More pics will be uploaded soon of our families and cousins with Ella.

Ella also had some friends come over for Christmas. I have three other friends who all became mommies with me in the year 2009 so we thought it would be fun to get the kiddos pictures every year together...this one was all of their first Christmases! It goes in age order with the picture on the couch. We have Sarah and Carson, Christine and Charlianna, Erika and Noah and myself with little Ella. It was sooo much fun getting these pictures....lots of hilarious moments!

Ella : Weeks 1-4

Ella on the way home from the hospital!

Her first dr.'s visit and first time out of the house. She wasn't too sure what to think about actually having pants on!

She is a very sweet sleeper!

I always know if she is in a deep sleep if her hands are up over her head or are touching her face and usually her mouth is wide open!

My favorite stretch is her first stretch from waking up....the best!

She loves sleeping with her daddy.

Ella also loves bath time. One of her favorite times of the day!

This is Ella at her second dr.'s visit where they of course just kept saying "perfect" again! I already knew she was perfect! :0)

She has her dad's giant feet and "finger toes."

Ella at 4 weeks old in her chair that Grandma Della got her. She loves the chair. We are going to take a picture of her in it every month to watch her grow! I'll post those of course.

Our first family outing to the Surprise Festival to see Stephanie's picture booth. It was freezing that day!

Ella loves her grandma's! Here she is cuddling with Grandma Mary, Grandma Rebecca and Grandma Della. Grandma's are the BEST!

Delivery and Hospital

Hooray! Baby Ella Justine Messner is finally here! It was a fun and exciting nine months and it has been an even more fun and exciting last 6 weeks. Sorry for the delay in posting pictures and stories, etc. but my oh my...it has been busy! Since this post is titled "Delivery and Hospital" I will fill everybody in and start from the beginning....an abbreviated version of course!

Okay..so it was November 13th...Friday the 13th, and I had off of work. I was lucky enough to be able to take the week before my due date off to get ready and relax (ha ha). So I went to breakfast with Jimmy and his dad (who was in town awaiting Ella's arrival). I went to Walgreens to get a few last minute things for our hospital bag and then home. I had spoken to my mom on the phone and had given her an update that nothing was happening and I didn't feel any different. The last I had known from my doctor's appointment the day before (Nov. 12th) was that I was still dialated to 3 and really no change. About 30 minutes after getting off the phone with my mom...my water broke!

It was the wierdest thing in the world. I felt a pop (which really creeped me out) and then it happened...the nasty gush of yuckiness that the books tell you about. So...I called Jimmy who then proceeded to freak out (even after months of telling him not to). He was about 30 minutes away so I told him to just make his way home to pick me up. On the way to the hospital my contractions started getting pretty intense and were about 1.5 mins to 2 mins apart. We got to Good Sam's OB Triage and they checked me and I was dialated to 6 so they sent me right up to labor and delivery. I probably wasn't there for any more than 20 mins before they gave me an epidural and then about an hour or so later I was pushing!

Now...here is where it started going NOT as planned! :0) We all thought I was going to have a Friday the 13th baby as none of us believed I would be pushing any longer than until 9:00 or 10:00. My water broke at 2:00, I was pushing by 7:00 or so and everything was going smooth. Well, Miss Ella Justine was born at 1:11AM on November 14th, my due date. She was having a hard time fitting out apparently. We had to use the vacuum (twice..ouch). She wasn't crying when she came out but she seemed very alert. They took her to the transition nursery to do whatever they do but she was fine.

Not very long after the delivery and while Ella was away, I started feeling crummy. My blood pressure was dropping and they realized I was hemorraghing. That was quite the ordeal and long story that I still don't like to re-live! Anyway, after something that felt worse than the delivery times ten...everything worked out and at about 8:00AM I was holding my beautiful angel baby, Ella.

Jimmy was amazing during the delivery and after procedures with the complications. I was so grateful to have my mom there. Mommies make everything better and you feel much safer with them around. She is my guardian angel!

I did get an infection we are thinking from the multiple catheters I had during the labor and hemorraghing but it really knocked me down for a few weeks. I was back in the hospital two days after delivery and then at the doctor again with it a few weeks later. So, that is my big excuse for not being better at posting or calling people! I don't know what I would have done or how I would have gotten through it all without Jimmy, my mom and both of his parents. My mom was with me pretty much everyday cleaning, cooking and taking care of the baby. Jimmy's dad and Della were here helping with me and the baby and they shopped for us, cooked for us, etc. and Jimmy's mom was over helping with everything..the house and the baby and helped Jimmy get through some work things for us. Family is amazing and I am so grateful for everybody!

We still can't believe this was six weeks ago. It seems like it all just happened but both Jimmy and I can't remember our life without our perfect baby. It is wierd but it seems like she has always been here! We are blessed to have her in our lives!

Oh yeah...I always forget to mention but everybody asks. She was 7 lbs 6.2 ozs and 19 inches long. She was born at 1:11AM on November 14th. Lots of triple numbers in her "stats" too such as Good Sam being at 1111 E. McDowell, born at 1:11 in room 333 on 11/14. I think eleven or one hundred eleven should be hers or my favorite number! :0)