Monday, February 28, 2011

More Estella Pictures

My camera is still not working so I am borrowing a friends old one so I haven't been as picture happy as I would normally be. I'm so bummed as I know I'm missing Estella's newborn moments that I'll never get again. So sad. Here are a few pictures we have taken though.


Mama and daughter



My midwife and me with little Estella
I am so thankful to have had the same midwife for all three of my children. Even when I am screaming at her, "NO, I don't want to push!", she stays calm, takes it all in stride and encourages me anyway.

Uncle Bill with his first niece



Grandpa Graham with his oldest grandchild and his youngest grandchild.
Made even more special that they are both girls and both born on the exact same day!
Yep, Estie decided she wanted to share Alex's birthday, so they are exactly 19 years apart.
Stay tuned; there will be more of our little Estie coming soon!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Eleven Days New


Our Beautiful Baby Girl



Our whole household is simply smitten by our sweet little Estie. Lukas loves to kiss "his baby" and talk in a little baby voice to her, (not that that is too much different than his real life voice). Nikolas, surprisingly, has also been caught stroking her head and talking sweet to her. He even held her today!



I find it hard to believe that I am actually dressing my baby in pinks and putting bows in her hair, but I am! She looks so incredibly cute, how could I not?


She's awake, don't blink or you'll miss her eyes!

She is definitely fitting the old saying, "sleep like a baby" as she is awake for about 3 hours a day. Now the nights are a little different. Actually, she does pretty well for a newborn, but waking every 2 hours to nurse seems to come so much quicker at night than during the day.



And lest you all think we are ignoring our boys during this time, here is a picture of Nikolas with his dinosaur egg carton craft we did today. They both were pretty happy with their creations and spent at least 20 minutes roaring and swinging their tails at each other.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Estella Erlene Has Arrived!

Our baby girl decided to come 2 weeks early!
She was born on February 3rd at 4:49pm. She was not due until February 16th, but my babies seem to like arriving unexpectedly for some reason.
If you have seen my facebook page then you have seen these pictures, and unfortunately, they are the only pictures, with the exception of the last two, that we have of our hospital stay:( My fancy camera, with my new flash from Christmas, went bonkers and wouldn't take any flash pictures at all, so they are all blurry. Thankfully, my friend Melinda brought her new camera and she captured these pictures which turned out perfect. Thanks so much Melinda!!!!!

I can't believe she was inside me just hours earlier, how did she fit?! Now I know why I was feeling her foot in my rib cage at the same time as I felt her head....elsewhere.

"What do I do with a girl?!"



Nice and plump and fresh from the womb. And still gooey.
She weighed 7lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 inches long. She was bigger than both her brothers, taller than Lukas and the same height as Nikolas when they were born. Thankfully, her head was small like Nikolas, and unlike Lukas, so she just popped right out! I have come to realize that it doesn't matter in childbirth how much they weigh so much, it matters how big there noggin is.


My dad and Sue had the boys for the past 4 days while we were going in and out of the hospital and then while we had little Estie. The boys loved being with their Grandma and Grandpa and Tone' and I are so thankful we have them close by to help us in such a big way.
When Dad and Sue brought the boys to meet their new little sister their reaction surprised me. They were both so interested in her and for quite a while as well:) They sat up next to me and proceeded to point out all of her little body parts and ask me all sorts of personal questions like, "Mommy, can I see where she came out of?" "Um, no Nik, you can't."


Some other funny comments were:

Nik: "Can I see her girl parts?"

Lukas: "Why do you still have a baby in your tummy?" (Thanks kid)

Lukas: "Did the baby come out of your bellybutton? " (I wish)


It has been so sweet to watch my boys being gentle with her and interested in her and quite proud to be her big brothers. Today at church we walked into their Sunday School room and Lukey immediately ran up to a little buddy and pulled his arm toward Estella saying, "Come see my new baby!!!" They both love to point out her arrival to everyone and have been wearing their new Big Brother shirts proudly, which, of course, I have no pictures of yet.

Baby Estie is now 3 days old and is doing wonderfully. I am recovering quite quickly as this labor went so much smoother than the last two. I could have a few more at this rate:)

Hopefully I'll get my camera figured out soon so I can get some close up shots of our little girl. She looked especially sweet today dressed up for church. I can't believe I have a girl!