Maureen told me that Howard Stern said that if you squat, it makes the baby come out faster

We have ourselves a baby!  We are beyond thrilled that Ellie decided to show up, and I was completely ecstatic that she came a couple days early. She's adorable and oh so sweet. We love her to pieces.  Here's the story of how our lovey came into our lives:

Ellie was due on October 19th.  On October 16th I had a doctor's appointment to check to see how things were going.  When I got there the doctor told me I was showing some signs of Preeclampsia. He also told me that if I were a little further along he would take me straight to the hospital and deliver my baby right then and there, but since I was only dilated to a one I would most likely be in labor for 30 hours and end up having a c-section anyway. He wanted me to go to the hospital the following day so they could monitor me for stress and give me blood pressure tests.

The next day, I headed to the hospital to be monitored.  After my first blood pressure test the nurse told me that I would be having my baby that night. She asked me if I wanted to try to deliver Ellie, or if I wanted to have a c-section.  I opted for the c-section since I figured I would end up having one anyway.  The nurse then asked me how soon my husband could be there (it was around 5:30 at the time).   I called Jeremy to see where he was, and told him to grab our bags and to meet me at the hospital.

Jeremy made it to the hospital by 6:00, they handed him his operation room garb, and rushed me to get my epidural.  My first epidural didn't take, and the anesthesiologist didn't want to believe me when I told him that I could still feel everything.  The doctor kept pinching my stomach with tweezers, which felt delightful.  I pleaded with them to understand that my stomach wasn't numb, and to please, please not cut into it.  Finally, they decided to give me another epidural.   This time it took, and I was numb within minutes.  The anesthesiologist was worried that the numbness would go up too far.  He told me to make sure to let him know if my fingers went numb (too bad they were already numb since I had carpal tunnel from being pregnant).

The curtain went up and the next thing I knew I heard Ellie crying.  The nurses swept Jeremy away.  He came running back exclaiming, "She has so much hair!"  Ellie had a pretty wet cry when she came out.  I later found out it was because she had 8 tablespoons of fluid in her lungs that they had to pump out, and they had to pump out an additional 3 tablespoons in the nursery.  On their way to the nursery, Jeremy brought Ellie over to me so I could see her.  She was so beautiful.  The moment didn't last nearly long enough.  She was whisked away to the nursery to be weighed and such.  The doctor sewed me up quite quickly, took the curtain down, and congratulated me while still wearing my blood on his gloves.

They moved me over to a bed and wheeled me to the room where they monitored my blood pressure. Within about ten minutes Jeremy showed up, and Ellie came not far after.  We didn't have a name for Ellie at the time.  We had a list of names, but we had a hard time deciding on the right one.  Together we decided on Ellie Anne before they even had a chance to bring her in.  As soon as they brought her in the nurse wanted me to feed her.  I was so nervous.  I had heard that nursing is hard, and I didn't know what I was doing.  Luckily, Ellie ate like a champ.  While I was feeding her they wheeled me to my room that I would stay in for the next 2.5 days.  Ellie was born at 6:59 p.m.  She weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 inches long.

I’m gonna get a pen and put it on top of your head and see if it rolls off.

All summer I have been driving Jeremy crazy about getting the nursery set up.  He keeps reminding me that our baby girl isn't showing up until October. He is right, but he let me win anyway.  Here are some pictures of the nursery.  It is pretty much done. All I want now is to get the curtains hung, but I figure I'll give Jeremy a break for a bit.

The changing table and baskets are from IKEA. I made the artwork on the walls. We got the mirror from Tai-Pan awhile ago, but I thought it would look great in the nursery

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Jeremy owned that giant chair before we got married.  Words cannot describe how comfortable that chair is.  I'll tell you right now though, it is really hard to get out of when you have a giant stomach that likes to get in the way. I was beyond excited when Jeremy set up the crib.  I LOVE white cribs.  I think they are adorable.

I bought the mobile on Amazon.  It was my big splurge.  I couldn't help it though; it is simply adorable.  I made the pennant banner out of left over fabric from the crib quilt.

I put my sewing skills to the test with this room.  I made the crib quilt and the elephant pillow.

This cute rocking chair was given to us by Jeremy's mom.  It was her's when she was a little girl.  I absolutely love it, and I know that baby girl will too!

The rocking chair was a garage sale find for only $8.  I spray painted it because it had definitely seen better days. The hamper I got from TJ Maxx, and the elephant mask I made in high school.

I love how the nursery turned out!  Now I just need my little girl to show up and we will be good to go.  Only 2 months left!

To see how I painted the walls, check out this post.

Maybe if we concentrate really hard our combined psychic powers will move it closer.

The summer months always call for the reunions of families. This year we had an extended family reunion on my mom's side of the family, and one with our immediate family a few weeks later. For the extended family reunion we watched the 4th of July parade and attended the rodeo.  It was a blast!

This was Jeremy's first rodeo.  I secretly got a kick out of his reactions to the different events.  He loved the bull riding (of course) and the mini show with BMX bikers going off jumps.  All in all, I don't think it'll be that hard to talk him into going to another rodeo.

For our immediate family reunion we went down to my parents' cabin and partied.  We rode 4-wheelers, went on hikes, ate good food, and played fun games.  We also got to celebrate this cutie's 1st birthday.

We’re going to stage an intervention with the neon post-its and make them give up their wacky crazy ways.

I lack in having patriotic decorations.  I found this idea on Pinterest, and decided to give it a go. All it took was canvas, red and white paint, painter's tape, and a paper to make a stencil of the US of A on.  Here's what I did:

 First, I traced around the map of the US on a piece of paper.  Yes, I could have printed it out, but I was too lazy.

 Second, I put stripes on the canvas using painter's tape, and painted red in between the tape stripes.

 Third, I cut out the map of the US and taped it onto the canvas once the paint dried.

 Fourth, painted to map white.  This took a few coats so the red stripes wouldn't show through.

Finally, I took off the stencil and let the paint dry.  I then took a little bit of blue nail polish and painted a blue heart over Utah (the land that I love).  It was a really easy project, and a great way to show off some patriotism.

I would like a cheeseburger, with a side of cheeseburger, and see if they can make me a cheeseburger smoothie.

So... we're pregnant.  We are extremely excited about it, by the way.  Go us!

October 19th is the due date.  It's going to be a long, hot summer, but boy will he/she be worth it!  I'm also so blessed to have a hard working husband with a great job, so I will be retiring.  Four years of teaching, and just like that I'm a stay-at-home mom.  It'll be really weird, but I'm super excited about it!

I can be flexible. As long as everything is exactly the way I want it, I'm totally flexible.

This cute guy turned 3!  I can't even describe how much I love that this cutie pie is in my life. Boy oh boy does he love superheroes, swimming, and sweets.

Happy birthday B! I sure do love ya!

You do know, honey, that garbage doesn’t actually talk at all unless it’s on Sesame Street.

Jeremy and I went to a yard sale and scored this beauty:

I was so excited to find such a cute chair.  The seat of the chair was not is great shape though, so I decided to cover it. Here's how I did it.  It was crazy simple!

At Walmart they sell a pack of foam that works perfect for chair cushions.  I put the seat of the chair on the foam and cut the foam to size.

After, I draped the adorable fabric on top of the foam and the seat of the chair.

I turned it all upside down and stapled away, making sure that I pulled the fabric tight as I went.

Here's the finished project.  It took me about a total of 15 minutes.  Talk about a great/easy project!