Ellie's Growing Up!

Swimming this summer at grandma's house.

Beaver Dick Park with cousins. Adam took this awesome picture!

The "Dangleroo"

Halloween with cousins. Ellie's a ninja, Joe's a soldier, and Isaac's a dog. So cute!

These pictures aren't in order, but they just show big our Ellie is getting! She's 6 1/2 months old now!

She's such a happy little girl! We're so grateful to have her in our life!

Ellie Rose Brubaker

Our hospital adventure began at 7:30 am on Tuesday, May 3. Here I am all hooked up to monitors and such... Labor looks fun, no? It was actually a great last day as just Sam and I. Sam ate some yummy food from the hospital cafeteria (it really is good food) and I drooled over it while I ate jello and munched on ice chips. :) We watched Little Rascals and Up, listened to the BYU-Idaho devotional, and just talked and enjoyed being together before our little girl was born. I can't remember how many times I made Sam show me the little hat and diaper she would wear as soon as she came!

After almost 18 hours of labor, she was born on May 4, 2011 at 1:43 am weighing 6lbs 8oz and measuring 19 inches long.

Mom and baby in the recovery room - Looking good, of course.

Sweet little girl! This is a few hours after she was born.

Sam went to class this day, so Ellie and I just hung out!

Daddy loves his little girl!

These pictures are out of order, but this is our cute (cone-headed!) little Ellie Rose right after she was born! :)

We call this the "princess hand."

Bad parenting? Probably. I forgot to buy candles for Sam's birthday cake, so he suggested we use matches...

Celebrating Sam's birthday!

I love this little girl!

Tiny little thing!

Ellie has been such a blessing in our lives so far! She makes us smile every day - even when she cries all night long (I'm not exaggerating).

A few of Ellie's favorite things:

- bath time
- being swaddled
- her pacifier
- getting her hair brushed
- her swing
- bright lights
- a full tummy
- attention!

If you haven't seen the video Sam made when Ellie was born, you can watch it here. Unfortunately I don't know how to make it into a link, so you have to copy and paste it. But that's not too hard. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3WobM3byoo

Enjoy!

Finally! A New Post!

What have we been up to since I posted forever ago? Well, let me tell you! Sam and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary by going to Idaho Falls. We took pictures in some of the places we went for our first date, and we forgot to take pictures at even more places! This picture is at the Green Belt (even though it's not green yet...) where we watched a band play on our first date. This is also my pregnant belly shot for 36 weeks because I haven't been good about taking them lately!

And here we are at the Visitor's Center. I don't think we went there on our first date, but it was soon after we started dating... Ok, so these were the only two pictures we took on our anniversary so I had to post them! I wish we would have taken more that were a little less boring. Oh well - too late now!

I washed and folded baby clothes and blankets from generous family members. Thank you! :) Too bad I can't make a normal face for a picture, though...

The baby tried on some clothes... Do you think this shirt will fit? :)

We finished setting up everything in the baby's room. This rocking chair was a birthday present from Sam to me. I can't wait to rock our little baby in it! :) And see the cute, brown, flowery nursing cover? My sister-in-law, Marci, made that for me! How adorable is that?! Thanks, Marci! :)

We set up the play pen with all its snazzy attachments.

Wipes and newborn size diapers all ready to be used up!

Burp cloths and blankets folded and put away.

Hand-me-downs from 0-2T. Thank you again!

Sam's brother, Joe, got home from his mission to Mexico a few weeks ago and came up to Rexburg to start school. We had Sunday dinner with the family: (clockwise from the left) the top of Isaac's head, Marci, Megan, the top of Gabe's head, Jon, Adam, Little Joseph, Big Joseph (not sure how else to differentiate - sorry Joe!), and me.

Sam and I are super excited for the baby to come! Today we had a doctor's appointment - the baby's head down, heart beat's great, and I'm dilated 2cm and 50% effaced at 37 weeks 4 days. The hospital bag's packed and I'm planning some vigorous walking for tonight... hint, hint... We're ready for you anytime, baby!

Coming Soon

Ok, ok.... So I know I've been a slacker on posting. I've been told by a few people that I need to put up a new post, and I will. But first, I need to focus on finals! Today, tomorrow and Wednesday will be crazy study days, then the semester will be over!!!! Then I can post. And it will be a good one. Deal? Deal.

Another Appointment

Wow, it's been a really long time....

We had another doctor's appointment today:

I took my glucose test (it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.... everyone always says it's horrible) and the results came back normal. My iron levels and hemoglobin are good too. My blood pressure was 117/81, I measured 26-27 cm, and I've gained 16 pounds so far. It's really weird when the doctor tells me, "eat hearty meals, I want you gaining a pound a week from now on."

And now the exciting part!!! Little baby girl is healthy. She was head down. The doctor says she is about 1 3/4 pounds, which is a little smaller than average, and how much I weighed when I was born! (But please don't come yet, baby!) Her heart beat was 145 bpm - looking good! :)

I can tell she's gotten lots bigger and stronger over the past few weeks because her kicks are harder (I can see my belly move almost every time she moves) and sometimes I can feel her kicking/punching on both sides of my belly at the same time! It's getting a little harder to get comfortable at night because my belly's growing and it feels like it just flops down on the bed.... I'm sure there will be lots more where that came from as she gets bigger. :) It's also been much harder to breathe lately, (I get winded by doing the most ridiculous things) and tons harder to bend over - I have a hard time putting my shoes on sometimes! :) Sam also likes to tease me because I can't see the underside of my belly when I'm standing up. He'll point and say, "you've got something on your shirt." I'll ask where, and he'll just keep pointing. I've learned that it's much easier to just pull my shirt out to look rather than try to bend over and see. I'm sure that's another thing that will only be harder as the baby gets bigger! :)

Over all, I love being pregnant. I love feeling our little baby move and knowing she's doing well!!! I'm really excited to meet her, but I hope she takes her time coming!