The reason I am here

Isabelle is the reason I am here...I was brought into this world to give birth to a beautiful little girl who has changed my life for the better and is the reason I wake up every day. She truly is the joy and love of my life and I can't image my life without her.

Her smile and laugher gets me through my day and helps me remember that I am blessed.

If she wasn't in my life, I am not sure where I would be right now.

Making an effort...

The last time I posted was in September when Isabelle was only 4 months old...well, she is now 8 1/2 months old and things are very different now.

She is getting so big! She is "talking" now, rolling over, sitting up, standing (with support), and truly growing into her own personality. She is also sleeping through the night...wait, scratch that. She WAS sleeping through the night from 6 months old to about 2 weeks ago. For some reason she is now waking up a lot during the night and sometimes I even have to get up and give her a bottle. I am not 100% positive, but I think it's from teething and a growing spurt. Hopefully, she starts sleeping through the night again soon because Nathan and I are very tired these days.

Also, she is finally not afraid of her crib or her playpen. She actually takes naps in her crib now and loves playing in her playpen. She still sleeps with us as night, but hopefully she will be in her crib all the time...we are making progress with little baby steps.

Well, I am going to make an effort to keep this blog up-to-date and post more pictures...I don't have many followers, but at least this gives me another hobby to try and stay on top of.

Mmmm...bananas!

Isabelle tried a little banana baby food with rice cereal last week for the first time. She seemed to like it.

I know that she is only 4 1/2 months old, but formula didn't seem like it was doing much for her hunger anymore, so Nathan and I decided to start her on some rice cereal and she loved it. We could not seem to keep up with her when it came to feeding her.

She is a great eater and she prefers cereal now. She still takes a bottle, but we have decided to just do a 6-8oz bottle in the morning, cereal for lunch and dinner with about 2-3oz formula in a bottle, then another 5-6oz bottle at night before bed. She does seem to like the cereal with baby food much better and we want her hunger cravings to be satisfied.

We look forward to the future weeks and all the new things she will start to try, but we will stick to one fruit mixed in with her cereal for now.

She's here!

Okay, I know that I haven't written in a looooong time, but I have been busy...Well, life has been interesting with the little one since she has arrived.

Isabelle Rhiannon arrived on Monday, May 10th.

My tiny little girl was 6lbs 130z and 19.25 inches long

The labor went by extremely fast! Well, kind of...

About two weeks before she was born, I started have very small contractions that were hours apart. They were so mild that most of the time I didn't even realize I was contracting. Well, I went to the doctor and I was 2cm dilated and 25% effaced, which the doctor said is pretty normal for some women around 36 weeks. So, I went home and continued with my everyday business.

The following week, I went to the doctor again and it turns out I was 4cm and 75% effaced and she was at -1 station...so, she was starting her way down into the birth canal. The doctor wasn't too concerned, she just told me to keep a close watch on my body and if anything happens call her ASAP. I went home and nothing happened....

So, finally on May 10th, I went into the doctor again for my 38 week appointment and when she checked me, I was 6cm dilated, 100% effaced, the baby was at zero station, and my sack was engorged. The doctor was SHOCKED!! Apparently, I had been in labor for those couple of weeks and I didn't even know it. It was a so gradual that I didn't feel the contrations. She said that I need to take it easy and if my water breaks to get to the hospital right away. I was sent home to wait out the rest of this slow process.

I decided not to go into work that day because I wasn't feeling that great because of the exam and I was extremely exhausted for some reason. So, when Nathan and I got home, we decided to take a nap. Well, while taking a nap my WATER BROKE at 4:34pm! That was the weirdest sensation. During my pregnancy, I always asked people, "when will I know if my water breaks?"....or "when will I know if my contractions have started?" And everyone always told me, "Trust me, you will know."

That was definitely the case once my water broke...I knew that my water had broken because of the amount of clear fluid that gushed from me. At first, I honestly thought I had peed my pants, but once I figured it out that my water had broken I firmly woke up Nathan by saying, "Nathan, my water just broke!" He replied, "are you serious?" Once we both realized that this was really happening, we both jumped up out of bed and got ready to head to the hospital. I, of course, took a shower first. I thought since the "real" contractions still hadn't started that it was okay to take a quick shower to refreshen up.

Once in the car, the contractions started...I was trying to time them, but the pain was lasting too long and happen to fast to keep track. We got to the hospital a little after 5:15pm and that's when the contractions got bad...they were about 45 seconds apart and lasting around 30 seconds to a minute depending on the contraction. Well, it was about 6pm after getting into a room, registering, and the doctor finally showing up...she checked me and I was 8cm already.

She asked if I wanted an epidural and I said yes...I was in so much pain and it happened so fast that my body, and me personally, didn't have time to adjust to the pain that was taking over. Well, no meds for me! By the time the doctor showed up to give me the epidural I was screaming to the doctor that I needed to push, so she said "it's too late, the baby is coming now." She then told me that if I needed to push, then push....so, I did.

I started pushing about 6:15pm...and 3 pushes later, Isabelle was born at 6:23pm. The doctor said that I pushed like a professional. Whatever that means...LOL. She said that she has never seen a first time mom push that great. Well, I wanted her OUT OF ME!! LOL.

Once she was out, I was so shocked at how tiny she was...but, I was instantly in love with her. I can't explain the love you feel as a mom when that little being that you created finally arrives. I was so happy to finally have her there and to have a wonderful and loving husband stand there next to me as we watch her cry and look around.

Once she stopped crying, about 10 minutes later, she was just staring at me. This was a painful and overwhelming experience, but it was also the most joyous and wonderful experience. I would not change anything about it and I would totally do it again because of the great gift you get out of it. Childbirth is definitely the greatest, most miraculous thing!

Isabelle is truly a miracle!! :-)

Well, now it's 3 months later and she has grown so much....

I will have to keep this blog up-to-date and post more pictures....stay tuned!

Guess what?

It's a GIRL!!

Yep, Nathan and I will welcome a little girl in May. We have already started buying clothes and diapers for her.

Isabelle Rhiannon will join her cousins: Alexandria, Alandra, Mikey, Daisy, Lily, Rosy, Daniel, Poppy, Justin, Jamie, Megan, Amelia, D.J., and Unicus. She will be the 3rd girl on my side of the family and the 9th for Nathan's side.

As a tradition in my family, we collect a Disney character for each child. Alexandria has Princess Aurora, Alandra has Jasmine, and Mikey has Buzz Lightyear; Isabelle will have Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Growing tummy

I am now 19 weeks and 5 days today. For Christmas, I got some maternity clothes from my mother-in-law. Below is a picture of one of the outfits and me at 18 weeks.

I'm going to be a mommy

I know that I am late with posting this blog, but it's true, I am going to be a mommy.

I found out the morning of October 6th; which also happened to be my niece's 8th birthday. I had to work that day, but I was so excited. I wanted to tell Nathan as soon as I could, but he was sleeping when I found out and I did not just want to "tell" him. I wanted to surprise him in an awesome and memorable way.

So, when I went to work that morning at the mall, I stopped by Build-A-Bear and built this teddy bear to give to Nathan once I got home.

I figured that this was a cute way of telling him, plus we have the babies first teddy bear.

I am now 12 weeks (3 months) and I am already starting to show. I feel fat because most women don't start showing right away. But, I haven't gained any weight, so it must be the baby wanting to show him/herself already.

Well, I will keep you all up-to-date on everything!