My Wish List for Santa

I have gotten the privilege to write for a local parenting magazine in town on behalf of my mom's club. The articles for the December issue were due today. The theme is holiday. I can't believe it's that close!! Anyway, I was hoping that I could write something that would be insightful and would enrich everyone's life that read it. Well, I guess I just didn't have it in me right now to come up with something serious so this is what they got.



Dear Santa,

I’m writing to let you know that I have been a very good mom this year. I have survived a pregnancy with no morning sickness (it was all day long sickness). I navigated two stomach viruses, many colds, and some kind of rash. I have become very skillful at detecting cups of milk left under my daughter’s bed, fishing keys out of the toilet, getting bubble gum out of hair, and hiding happy meal toys under the trash in the garbage can. I have learned how to put a band-aid on the boo-boo of my preschooler while I change my newborn’s diaper and how to make boats out of apples so that I can get my child to eat a nutritious snack. All of that...and today, I’ve even showered.

In return for my good mom behavior, I would like to order a self-cleaning bathroom. I could send you the design if it would help the elves. This bathroom would be completely covered in tile and would have a drain right in the middle. Instead of only the toilet flushing (which never happens at my house) the whole room would flush. It is imperative that the drain be made at very specific measurements of 4x6 inches. This would ensure easy disposal of the hundreds of tiny toys that have invaded my bathroom and the globs of toilet paper that has resulted from the developmental milestone I celebrated when my toddler learned how to unroll a brand new roll in one fluid motion. Also, these dimensions would guarantee that I won’t accidentally “throw the baby out with the bath water.”

I realize that even Santa has a budget and will have an even tighter one once you receive my kids’ Christmas wish list but...hey, a mom can dream right? If this is too large of an order, I would settle for good health and blessings for me and my fellow hardworking moms who have also merited a self-cleaning bathroom.

Dana Ellis
Parkersburg Mom’s Club

Little Bo Peep has found her sheep

Happy Halloween!!!

Chloe's Debut Tour

We toured the country in a week and a half. Chloe met Nana and Papa and all of her great grandparents. We went to the zoo, visited lots of people, had lots of visitors, and much much more. Make sure you scroll down to the previous post to see the picture of Chloe smiling.

Smiley

I still have tons of pictures of our trip but a caught Chloe smiling today and I just couldn't wait to post it. She will be seven weeks tomorrow. She's been smiling for a few weeks but she seems to get more and more expressive every day. She fits just perfectly in the corner of our sectional. When I sit her up there she grins as if to say, "look at me".

Finally!

Ok, so here is the deal. My computer took it's last breath... for real this time. So I was going to break down and buy one even though I so don't have the money right now. But, Adam's dad came to the rescue and gave me his old one. It had been dropped and one of the hinges that holds the screen to the computer is broken but other than that, it's in great shape. So, I have to be careful when opening and closing it but other than that, we're in good. And, several hundred bucks is saved!! woo hoo! I don't know if it's because he loves me or because he wants to see pictures of his grandkids.. hopefully both but anyway, many thanks to Papa.

So right now, we are in the middle of our trip across the nation. Much of our family hadn't seen Chloe yet and since Adam was going to a conference in Nashville anyway, we loaded up and headed to the south. This afternoon, we will visit the last of the great-grandparents (granny) and then head back to Birmingham to spend a few days with my family and then some friends and then we will begin the LONG journey back to WV. on Monday. The trip down went well. It was slow moving but pretty smooth. I will post pictures from this trip when I get back to WV. But for now, I've created another slideshow to kind of get us up to the beginning of the trip. Hopefully now, that I have a computer, I can get back to more regular updates. So for now, enjoy the slideshow.

Love from Above,
Dana

Completing Our Little Family

Ok, so many of you have been asking for the birth story... If you're prone to getting queasy at such things, simply scroll down to my next post and read about Emma's first day of preschool. It's guaranteed to be G rated. For those of you that are wanting the details, this is the only way I know how to put it..

I had a doctors appointment on Monday the 27th. When I went in, my blood pressure was pretty high. According to my doctors calculations, I was at 40 weeks so with taking those two facts into consideration, we decided to schedule an induction for Thursday. My mom flew in on Wed. the 29th. Adam went to Columbus (2 and a half hours away) to pick her up. My big fear was that I would go into labor while they were gone but, my mother kept telling me that she was going to get here, we were going to get my hair highlighted (she's a beautician) and then I was going to go into labor Wed. night so they didn't have to induce me. Well, mom got here, we got Emma into bed, did my hair and before my hair was even dry, I realized that I had started bleeding (sorry about the gory details). So, I called the labor and delivery at the hospital and they told me to come on in. We got Emma out of bed and we all headed to the hospital. Once we got there, we realized that not much was probably going to happen that night. They just wanted to monitor me to make sure everything was ok. So, Adam took Emma back home and my mom stayed with me. They hooked me up to the monitors and I was in fact having contractions. Obviously since I didn't know, they weren't really strong ones. They went ahead and started the potosin at 6 a.m. I had about two hours of some pretty intense pain and then at 8:30 a.m. I got the epidural and everything was swell. I had told Adam to let Emma sleep as late as he could because I knew she would be exhausted. At 9:30 they came in to check me and I was 3 1/2 cm. She told me she'd be back to check me at 11:30. I called Adam and told him that he could take his time because it was probably going to take a while. Well, in his infinite wisdom, he told me that he was coming on anyway. At about 11:15 a.m. I started feeling some pretty intense contractions (only on one side) and I looked up to see that the bag for the epidural medicine was empty. I knew that the nurse was coming back at 11:30 so I decided to wait. When she hadn't come by 11:35 a.m. I paged her. Mom took Emma for a walk because she was getting restless and I didn't want her in there for that part. My friend Sandi was scheduled to come get Emma at 12:30p.m. and then bring her back after the baby was born. So anyway, I told the nurse that I thought I was feeling stuff that I wasn't supposed to be feeling. She told me that she was going to check me and then get another bag of medicine. So she checks me and says, "Um, your cervix is gone". At this point I'm thinking, "um, is that supposed to happen". So I say, "uh, what does that mean". She says, "At this next contraction, I'm going to get you to push and see what happens". And I said, "no, I can't, my mom just left and I don't have anyone here to watch my daughter" to which she said, "you better get your mom back up here and we'll get someone to watch your daughter". So, somehow in that short period of time, Adam got my mom on her cell phone, she got back up there, and they got the doctor there and at 11:56 a.m. Chloe was born. A nice nurse named Rachel took Emma to tour the nursery and Emma got to meet her baby sister even before she got bathed.

It all worked out just great. Chloe was a little bruised from coming down so fast but her apgar score was a 9.9. And I was thrilled to have such a quick labor. So that's pretty much it. I know it's not my best piece of literature but there you have all the details. Now our family is complete. Sorry Keith, maybe one of those cousins will carry on the family name.

Now back to my little family...

Love from above,
Dana

Emma's First Day of Preschool

Well, in the middle of everything else that was going on, Emma had her first day of preschool. We attended her class picnic the day before Chloe was born and then Adam broke away Thursday night (the night she was born) to go to her class meeting. Chloe was born on Thursday, Emma started school on Tuesday. This year wasn't quite the adjustment for me that last year was. She will be going every day but from only 9 until 11:30 and she just loves it. So far it's worked out really well. It's just enough time for her to be out of the house so that she doesn't get bored but, not so long that she feels like she's missing out on anything. I'm thinking that that will end up being Chloe's nap time so it should give me some time to get some things done around the house.

Back to the first day of preschool... At the parent meeting, they were given a kit to make a rocket. On the first day of school, they launched their rockets (I don't know how, something to do with alkaseltzer). You can see Emma's rocket in the picture. Adam helped her make it. Her teacher said that hers was definitely the best one and that she was so proud of it.

I was talking to her teacher yesterday and she told me of a little interaction that happened at preschool that I thought I would share with you. There is a little girl that is in Emma's class that has never been away from her mother so she's been having a hard time with it and crying everyday. Well, Mrs. Maidens was talking to the little girl and trying to comfort her (she's such a good teacher). And the little girl said, "I just want my mommy". So, Mrs. Maidens said to her, "Your mommy is coming back to get you. Sometimes we just have to be patient when we don't get things right when we want them" Emma comes up and says, "Yeah, like I want it to be Christmas tomorrow but it's not". LOL.

Then today, we were going to Toys R' Us so I could get this little swaddler thing. Chloe sleeps much better when she's swaddled but I'm paranoid that it will get up around her face. Well, this thing is supposed to prevent that. I'll let you know if it works. Anyway, I told Emma we were going to Toys R' Us and she says, "Can we go to Borders". Yep, she's a nerd, just like her daddy.

And a very sweet moment... We were riding in the car and she said, "Do you remember when daddy got the flavoring to put in my medicine because I didn't like the taste of it?" I said, "Yes I do". She said, "That daddy is always doing sweet things like that for me". :).

Anyway, Emma seems to be doing good. There have been a couple of signs of adjustment. She's been very emotional. I think that probably has more to do with my parents leaving than Chloe coming. But, all and all, we're working out the kinks and trying to develop a routine. The church brought us two meals and my mom's club has brought us several meals. I'm getting spoiled. It has been so nice. I love those girls.

Emma and daddy play their guitars

Haven't I done this before?

Emma Newborn


Chloe Newborn



Sometimes I think I'm four years back in time.

Scroll down to the next post to see a slideshow of the first week of pictures.

Love from Above

Chloe's First Week

Technical Difficulties

Just to let you all know, my computer is broken along with everything else in my house (oh yes, there is more). I know some of you are waiting on more pictures and I've been taking them but Adam has been working on stuff when he's had his computer at home and I've been just a little busy. But, just as soon as possible, I'll update you on our first week as parents of two and get you some more pictures. For now, lets just say that we're all totally in love with our Chloe especially big sister Emma.