I lub my sister.

Every morning, the first thing out of Carter's mouth is "where is Ellie?" It's really sweet how much he loves her and wants her near him constantly. I've even been able to use it to my advantage by bargaining with him (haha) to do things I need (like pick up toys, etc) and in exchange I'll let him hold her.

So this morning he wanted to hold her and it was so incredibly sweet watching him hug and kiss her. He's such a good big brother.

Welcome to the world!

Meet Miss Eliza Anne Duhon - the most perfect pink bundle of joy I've ever seen. 



Monday, October 26, 2009
7lb 7oz
20 inches

Eliza was born after a very quick and relatively painless labor and delivery (I think she felt like she owed it to come on out quickly after all those months of nausea early in my pregnancy ;)  She has been the sweetest, most gentle baby I've ever seen.  Unlike her big brother who came out screaming and kept on loudly for quite some time, Eliza's been really quiet and calm.  She cried for just a minute after she was born, and then she's been mellow and snuggly ever since.  She even graced us with a glorious 3.5+hr stretch of sleep last night!  I think she's an angel.

Carter came by the hospital last night, and his reaction to his baby sister was truly priceless. He just stared at her in awe, saying "Ellie! Ellie! Look, that's Ellie! I lub Ellie." I thought my heart would just burst into a million pieces. He's been incredibly protective of her already, telling everyone they couldn't hold her, or following them closely to make sure she was ok. I know he's going to be a great big brother and I'm so glad they will always have each other.

We are still in the hospital, but hoping to go home today and finally get our family back together. I miss my baby boy like crazy, and I know he wants his mom and dad and baby sister home too.

All in all, we've had the most wonderful two days and we look forward to a lifetime of watching Carter and Eliza grow up together.

Here are a few pictures from her first couple of days. Enjoy!

Pre-delivery


Here she is!


With daddy


Hi Mama!


Being born is tough




Curious and thrilled big brother


I wanna hold her!


Happy family of four


No more pictures!




The one awake minute she had this morning




Sweet baby girl (and thanks to Amie for her lovely dress)

From Eliza's Birthday

What a cutie!

Carter turned to a lady behind us in line at Starbucks today and said, "We're having a baby!" LOL

The lady was so nice. She looked at me, and said, "Oh really? I see that! That's really exciting." Then she asked me when the baby was due and I said Halloween, and Carter said, "I'm going to be a FIREMAN when I grow up." Hahaha!

I squeezed him and told him he was the cutest thing ever. I love that kid.

Pumpkin Patch Visit

It was a GORGEOUS (!!!) day today, so we went out to the Pumpkin Patch this morning. THANK GOODNESS for some cool weather, because this pregnant chick couldn't take the heat any more! The pumpkin patch is put together by a local church, and it's all free, including a fun jump and petting zoo for the kids. It's really sweet and fun. The only bad thing is that today it was pretty muddy because of all the rain we had this week, and Carter is not a fan of getting dirty! So it made for some interesting walking, but we managed.

We were even lucky enough to be joined by Joseph and his mom and dad for a little pumpkin fun!





Thanks to Amie for his shirt - it says "Surrender yer Candy!"






Joseph was not interested in taking his picture...










Ellie Belly is shaped like a pumpkin...


And it was time to go home...

From Pumpkin Patch

38 weeks!

Just waiting now...but preferably until after Ryan takes his test on Friday!! :)



Carter always wants to be in the picture...but he was tired this morning :(

Happy Birthday! (again)

How could I forget?! My little blog is 1 year old! It's been fun keeping track of Carter's crazy antics, and I look forward to adding more stories this year of him torturing his baby sister :)

To see things from the beginning, go HERE

Happy Birthday Julia!

We had the pleasure of attending Miss Julia's tutu party this afternoon! Carter was pretty shy for most of the party, probably because I had to wake him from him nap to attend...but also because of the tons of lovely ladies there in their pink tutus ;) He was clearly overwhelmed! I think Julia had a great party though, and we had lots of fun too!



Notice Carter playing off to the side...




Plenty of sugar to go around :)

Full term! 37 weeks pregnant

which means Baby Girl is welcome to join us anytime :) Preferably after her dad takes his professional engineering exam on October 23, but anytime after that works for me! haha

36.5 week appointment

I had a great doctor's appointment today with Dr. Schorr. Ryan came with me and I got an ultrasound to check on her size and position. Good news all around - she's head down like she should be, and measured on average in the 56% percentile...except for her large noggin, which is in the 75% percentile! Of course!! She weighs about 7lbs right now, so she's on target to weigh about 8.5lbs just like her big brother did.

We got some really sweet shots of her, much clearer than Carter's ultrasound at this stage in pregnancy. It looks like she's going to have lots of hair and chubby cheeks! We can't wait to meet her.

Anatomy of a Good Day

1. Carter woke up cheerful as can be.
2. Carter reached over for my belly when he came to meet me and said in his most excited voice, "Look!! Ellie's in dere!!" and then proceeded to hug and kiss my belly.
3. Hot chocolate and no spilling on my shirt.
4. Chocolate chip and pecan muffins for breakfast
5. No broken necklaces either.
6. Being on time to work.
7. A doctor's appointment this afternoon with even an ultrasound to look forward to!

Let's hope the happy streak continues :)

Anatomy of a bad day.

All before 7 am.

1. The high is 90 degrees today. In OCTOBER. And I'm 9 months pregnant.
2. The weatherman described the day as 'hot and humid.'
3. I spilled hot chocolate on my shirt before I even left the house.
4. I broke one of my favorite necklaces putting Carter in the car.
5. Carter was literally kicking and screaming when Ryan took him out of bed.
6. Carter refused to take off his dinosaur pajamas.
7. Carter went to Meme's in feetie pjs, which meant he couldn't walk outside so I had to carry all 30 lbs of him.
8. A mosquito freaking bit my leg outside Meme's door.
9. There is a semi-dead roach behind my desk chair.

Seriously. I've been wondering if I'm excessively irritable because of pregnancy, but at this rate, how could I possibly stay perky with all these glorious things going on? Let's hope that this only means the day HAS to go up!

German Fest!

After having such a great time at German Fest last year, we were really looking forward to going back this year. Chris and Jill joined us again, and we headed out there first thing this morning to partake in some German food and beer (well, I didn't have any beer :). They also have some great games for the kids to play, and Carter had fun. There was even a nice cool breeze for a little while, so we had a nice time hanging out outside!



Carter LOVED this house...mostly because he loved closing all the windows (?!)


Mama wasn't such a fan of the mud play areas, but Carter liked them!


This is how the bubble wand works, right?


Fun with sidewalk chalk!




On second thought, maybe Carter wasn't a fan of the mud table...




Mmm, Popsicles!


They had a cute train for the kids to ride on