Savannah and Josh's Wedding

Ellie did great travelling to Atlanta for my sister Savannah's wedding. She looked like a little baby doll and everyone ooh'ed and ahh'ed over her. She was up for almost 13 hours and didn't get too fussy at all - we couldn't believe it. I think she was absolutely exhausted.

Ellie also had another first. She spent the night away from Mommy and Daddy - sort of. Patrick and I got a connecting room with my Mom in the hotel. Mom took care of Ellie both nights we were in Atlanta. It was so nice because we were able to sleep the entire night without any interruptions. We both felt like new people with a solid night of sleep.

Ellie and Logan

Allison and I grew up together, went to college together and had babies exactly two weeks apart. Below are Ellie and Logan's first get together....they were not happy babies.

Ellie's a big one month old!

Dear Ellie,

Today is your one month birthday and your Daddy and I can’t even begin to tell you how much our life has changed since you were born. When you arrived you were so tiny, but had quite a set of lungs on you and it was the best sound we could have ever heard. You have been putting those lungs to good use these past four weeks. You tend to cry the most at night when we put you to bed…I guess you don’t want to be away from your Mommy and Daddy for too long. You also get pretty fussy when you are hungry, but Mommy has almost figured out your feeding pattern so hopefully that will get better in the next couple of weeks. You are eating like a champ and have gained one pound and ten ounces since you left the hospital. You have also grown ¼ of an inch since you were born. We took you for your 1 month doctors checkup yesterday and Dr. Davis said you are doing great. Mommy and Daddy were sad when you had to get your heel pricked and your Hepatitis B shot, but you surprised us and barely even cried. The look of shock on your face was pretty intense though.

You made your first road trip to Atlanta when you were only 2 weeks old. Mommy had to go get her dress altered for your Aunt Savannah’s wedding and Grandma came along for the ride. You did wonderful and we only had to stop twice to feed and change you. You made your second road trip to Atlanta when you were three weeks old for the wedding. We were only there for two days and I never knew someone so small required so much stuff for such a short period of time. The Jeep was piled all the way to the top with your baby needs. You were such a doll throughout the entire weekend and everyone who met you said what a beautiful baby you are (and Mommy and Daddy agree 100%).

The love that your Daddy and I have for you is so hard to describe. You are the most beautiful little girl and we are so thankful that God blessed us with you. Mommy loves to hold you in her arms and watch you drift off to sleep. Right before you are completely asleep you start grinning and it is the cutest thing ever. Daddy sings songs to you every night and makes up the words to the songs as he goes. You just stare at him and follow his voice wherever he goes around the house. I can tell you are already a Daddy’s girl and it is the sweetest thing to see you and Daddy interact. We love you more than words can describe and are going to do everything in our power to give you a life fulfilled with love and happiness. We love you sweet girl!!!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Mom's 50th Surprise Party

In order to surprise my mom for her 50th birthday, we had to do it about a month early since we didn't know when Miss Ellie would make her appearance. Also, my sister is getting married in Atlanta on September 18th (which is Mom's actual birthday) and I knew we wouldn't be at home to celebrate. So Patrick and I sent out invitations to Mom's friends and had the party at our house. She was definitely surprised! We had a great turn out and a great time. The gag gifts were absolutely hysterical! Mom puts mustard on EVERYTHING, so my aunt bought her the 5 gallon jug of French's mustard - too funny. Thanks to everyone for coming to celebrate with us! Below are a few pictures...

The Countdown

Well, as many of you know I have not been keeping up with the blog like I should be. So let me see what I can do to catch you all up...

We started going to the doctor weekly at 36 weeks. At my first checkup I was 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated. I was so excited to hear this news hoping that little Ellie would come early. I was scared to pack my bags or start washing Ellie's clothes because I thought it might jinx how I was progressing. I even refused to put the carseat in the car.

Well, at my 37 week appointment I got a little disappointed because I hadn't made very much progress. I was between 1 1/2 and 2 cm and 75% effaced. Keep in mind that this appointment was on Thursday, August 19th. Patrick finally talked me into putting the carseat into the car and I caved. I still had not washed many clothes or packed a bag. In addition I was working around the house to make sure everything was picked up and clean for my mom's surprise 50th birthday party. I took the 20th off of work to make sure all of the final details for Mom's party were finished. We got through the party (which will be another post) and everything went great. On Sunday Patrick and I just chilled on the couch and were the biggest bums. I finally decided I wanted to get out of the house, so we went and grabbed a bite at Cracker Barrel (don't ask...I was craving pancakes). We got home about 7 and I started feeling sick to my stomach. We ended up going to bed around 10 only after I made a call list for the hospital and a "what to pack" list. I still had not actually packed my bag.

Well, about 3:30 Monday morning I shot straight up in bed with the strangest pain in my stomach. I didn't think I was in labor, I just thought I had eaten something bad since I was feeling bad the night before. The pains kept coming and going and I finally started timing them. They were exactly 7-8 minutes apart. This went on for 2 hours and at 5:30 Patrick finally talked me into calling the nurse. They told me to get to the hospital immediately. Apparently if you are having contractions less than 10 minutes apart for over an hour then you should go straight to the hospital - nobody bothered to inform me of this. So I told them I would be there in about 45 minutes. Well instead of freaking out and getting to the hospital I decided to take a shower and FINALLY pack a bag (good thing I made that list the night before). So 2 hours later we show up at the hospital and my contractions are 4-5 minutes apart. I was checked and was told I was 3 cm and was definitely having a baby. WHAT?!?!?! Seriously?!?!? I was in complete shock! So we walked down the hall into a room and about 15 minutes later Dr. Heaton came to check me. I had progressed from 3 cm to 7 cm in 15 minutes. Holy $hit was the only thing I could say! So the doc told me I was a perfect candidate for natural labor, but at the last second I elected to get an epidural. I really wasn't in much pain, but I didn't want to get to that point either. The nurse (Amy) asked my pain level and when I said a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 she about reached over and slapped me. It was hysterical. She said she was not about to write down a 2 and put a 4 in my chart.

So the epidural caused things to slow down a little and by 11:30 I was 10 cm and was told to start pushing. Really? Again, I was still in complete shock that I was actually about to have a baby. After about an hour of pushing Miss Ellie made her grand entrance into this world. She came just in time because Dr. Woods had a scheduled surgery at 12:30 and she was born at 12:30 on the dot. Luckily he was able to deliver her and take care of me afterwards. The first thing I said after they took her to clean her up was "well that wasn't that bad...I would do it again in a heartbeat." She was (and still is) the most beautiful child I have ever seen in my life! Patrick was absolutely amazing as well. He was there for me every step of the way. He got really good at counting to 10 and handing me ice chips. We are so blessed to have this beautiful little girl in our lives! She has changed everything for the better.

Baby Showers!!!!

Patrick and I are so lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family members! We had our first baby shower on July 11th at my friend Lora’s house. She was so generous to open her house up to all of us “crazies”. Patrick and I were so excited about all of the goodies everyone brought for Ellie! Mom has all of the pictures on her camera, so as soon as I get my hands on them I will post for everyone to see.



Our second shower was geared more towards family. We had a great turn out and Ellie got even more goodies. Our hostesses surprised us by asking everyone who came to bring a book so that we could jump start Ellie’s library – what a GREAT idea. Here are a few pictures from our family shower…






All of the grands...

We also had a great shower from my coworkers at Vulcan. Debbie did such a great job on the elephant cake! I sure hope Ellie loves elephants when she grows up! We played a game of who can change a diaper the fastest. I was able to choose two people at a time to compete against each other. They each had a baby doll and raced to change a diaper. Brent inspected to make sure the diaper was properly placed on the doll. After three rounds we had the winners compete against each other and of course Rusty was the winner. It was hysterical. We are so thankful to have so many people who care about us! Thanks to everyone!!!

A 4th of July to Remember

Our 4th of July weekend started off super slow on Saturday. Patrick and I slept in and then did about as much as a sloth all day long. It was so nice to not have any plans and just be able to chill on the couch all day. We finally got out for a few minutes that night once I decided I wanted some Oreo’s and milk. So we all piled in the car for our trip to Publix. Yes…I said we…the dogs had to ride with us.

On Sunday Patrick and I got up and went to church then headed over to my grandmothers house for BBQ and lots of laughter. Apparently we wore ourselves out laughing so much that we had to take an hour and a half nap while everyone else carried on with the festivities. The nap actually paid off given the all nighter we ended up pulling.

Sunday night we had reservations at The Club for dinner and fireworks atop Vulcan. Perfect view, right?!?! Well it would have been had we gotten to see the fireworks. Instead we were eating dessert and guess what…a NUT was in my dessert (even though they said there were no nuts in it). Now for those of you that don’t know, I am extremely allergic to nuts. I mean “Fat Albert” allergic – tongues swells, throat closes, hives, etc. I look a little bit like Kevin James in Hitch if that gives you any idea. So off we go running to the car to try to get to St. Vincent’s. It’s about 8:30 so we thought we could make it. WRONG! We got stuck in all of the spectator traffic on Valley Ave. By this point I am totally freaking out because it’s getting difficult to breathe, so I sucked it up and called 911 to come find us. We ended up pulling over on the road that goes up to Vulcan – right underneath the fireworks. I was so hysterical that I didn’t even get to enjoy them – boo! The paramedics took me to the hospital and Patrick had to follow, but didn’t get there for a good 45 minutes because of all of the traffic. I got lots of good meds and they eventually found Ellie’s heartbeat (scariest moments of my life!). I was even able to experience my first round of contractions. Can I just say that if that wasn’t strong, then I am going to need an epidural at a ½ centimeter. Ouch! We finally got home around 2:00am and went to bed.

Monday morning I woke up pretty early and left Patrick in bed. I started getting a little worried because I hadn’t felt Ellie kick since they gave me some medicine around midnight. So I drank a little caffeine and ate some sugar….still nothing. So off we go to see my OB. Luckily he was able to find her heartbeat and get her to start moving around a little (which put my mind at ease). My blood pressure was back to normal, so hopefully all is well at this point. Say some prayers that this little girl does not get this awful allergy!

Here are a couple of pictures we took before all of the chaos...

Ellie in 4-D

Ellie wouldn't exactly cooperate to let us get a great picture of her, but below are some of the pics that we were able to get. I guess she is making us wait so that there is an element of surprise when she makes her entrance into the world (totally my child!). It was so funny watching her...she LOVES her fingers! I don't think that they came out of her mouth the entire time she was on video. We saw her playing with her toes, yawning, opening and closing her eyes, and she even put both hands on her face at one point and did the "chubby" face by pushing her cheeks together. So cute! Being able to see what she looks like and what all she is doing in there was probably the best anniversary gift Patrick and I could have received. I am so thankful that she is healthy and am so anxious to get to meet her. Only a few more weeks!!!

A Sneak Peek

Here are a couple of pictures that we have of Ellie's bedding...

Crazy Dreams

I thought that I would take a second to document all of the crazy dreams I have been having recently. I would hate to forget these, so this post is more for me...but I hope you all get as good of a laugh out of it as I have.

1. So I am hosting a bridal tea for my sister in Atlanta in late July. My dream was that I was over there for the tea and Ellie decided to come early while we were in Atlanta. So I delivered her at Northside Hospital, but my insurance wouldn't cover any of the charges. But the kicker was that we had not installed the carseat in the car yet and I had to leave her in Atlanta. Note to self...install the carseat as soon as we get it!

2. I haven't watched baseball in YEARS! I mean like 10 years...but apparently I had the Braves on my mind this night. I dreamed that John Smoltz kept coming back from retirement (kind of like good ole Brett Favre). Each time he came back he had to wear "the scarlett letter" around his neck. So for the first time he had an "A", the second time he had a "B" and so on and so forth. What the???? I don't know where these dreams come from.

3. Very early in the pregnancy I had a dream that Ellie decided to make an appearance on August 27th. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me this one will come true!

4. I had two diet drinks one night and dreamed that she came out with only her left arm and leg. Why do I dream these things??? I know everything is ok after seeing the ultrasound. The mind can definitely be an evil thing.

I'll add more as I think of them...

The Ellie Belly

Here are a few recent pictures of what Patrick and I call the Ellie Belly. We are 30 weeks pregnant this week...only 10 more weeks to go!!!! I can't believe how quickly this whole thing has flown by! Actually, Ellie and I have a talk every night that she needs to come about 2 weeks early in order to give her mommy an extra two weeks to get ready for Savannah's wedding on September 18th. We do have a few stipulations though...1) She should be fully developed and healthy 2) She needs to give me plenty of time to get to the hospital in order to get GOOD drugs and 3) She needs to cooperate and come out relatively easy so that I can recover quickly. Now I know the odds of that happening are slim to none, but Patrick and I would appreciate some thoughts and prayers to kind of push her along. haha!

Catching Up

I realize that I haven't posted in quite a while. Patrick and I have been super busy with vacation, work, and lots of things going on around the house. Let me see if I can recap... After we got back from the beach we had scheduled hardwoods to be put down in our master and on the upstairs landing as well as new carpet in the nursery. Patrick's dad was so generous to come over and help us move all of our bedroom furniture...what a freaking disaster. We had furniture in our closet, bathroom, dining room, living room and basement. So for two weeks we slept in the upstairs guest room - WOW, I now realize how comfortable our bed really is. Sorry to all of you in advance who will sleep or have had to sleep in that bed. We finally moved all of the furniture back last Friday night. Ahhhh...peace and normalcy!

Oh and while all of the hardwoods were being installed we had to prime and paint the nursery. We got the primer on and the first coat of paint, but waited until the night before the new carpet was installed to finish painting. And did I mention that my sister was graduating that night? So we went to graduation, celebrated at the after party and then got home about 11 to finish painting. It was definitely a late night, but I am so happy we are done now. And to tell you the truth, Patrick did most of the painting and I went to bed. What a good hubby, huh?!?!

So for Memorial Day weekend we spent most of our time getting things done around the house. Patrick took the time to work in the yard while I cleaned the house. Note to everyone - don't ever get three black animals who shed. It is IMPOSSIBLE to clean. I did my best though. Patrick put the crib together and I LOVE it! Now we just have to get the bathroom ready and start figuring out furniture placement. I am sooo excited to finally see the nursery start coming together. Pictures to follow soon...

Babymoon

Patrick and I packed up last week and went to the beach with a big group of our friends. There were 6 couples who shared one enormous house. When I say enormous I mean insanely huge!!! We had 6 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, an elevator, a wine cooler (too bad I couldn't indulge), 2 ice machines, a pool and hot tub, and on and on and on. It was an absolutely gorgeous house about a block from the beach. It was so nice to get away for the week and forget about reality. We spent most of our days just lying around on the beach or at the pool and then our nights were full of fun and laughter. My favorite night by far was the night we had our shrimp boil...yummy!!! I have to say that Patrick and I have some of the most awesome friends ever! Here are a few of the pictures from our so called Babymoon...


Beautiful Sunset


Ellie got a new tutu!


Our Group


24 weeks!


At Bud and Alley's in Seaside

Registering for Baby

Last Friday night I was able to convince Mom and Patrick to come along with me to go register for baby stuff. I was trying so hard to be prepared...I mean to the extent of buying books, researching safety features on Consumer Reports, getting advice and opinions from all of my friends with little ones and so on. Patrick and I even put together a "preliminary" list of what we were going to register for based on our research (yes, I realize I am a tad bit obsessive compulsive). As I walk into BabiesRUs I can already feel myself beginning to become overwhelmed at the volume of baby stuff. The registry lady didn't make it much easier for us either...by that I mean there was very little guidance.

So we start on our merry way and I get stuck on the very first aisle...breast pumps. Are you kidding me??? What the heck is the difference in all of this??? Double pumps verses single pumps, bags verses bottles, glass verses plastic - blah blah blah. How was I supposed to know I would need cream because I could bleed and crack (thank goodness for my mother!).

Then it was on to bottles, baby gates and pacifiers. I did ok through those (I think), but when we got to the carseat and stroller section I was COMPLETELY overwhelmed. We're talking about the safety of my child...I wanted to make sure I was getting the best that I could. If you could have seen Patrick and I trying to figure out how to take a carseat out of a travel system and collapse the travel system you would have died laughing. I bet we spent a good hour trying to "test drive" and figure out all of the gadgets. I'm still not comfortable with what we decided on, so if any of you out there have suggestions...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send them my way.

We managed to get through the rest of the store after a total of three hours. THEN...I changed my mind on the crib the following day and decided I wanted the cherry color instead of oak. If I can suggest anything to anyone - never change your mind once you have made a purchase at BabiesRUs - it's a pain in the butt! So, back we go to the store to change out the colors. Once all of that was settled we decided to take Lap 2 around the store. Ummm...another 2 hours wasted in BabiesRUs. I think it will be a LONG time before I head back over to that side of town (well at least until Elizabeth gets here).

And her name is....

Well, after much debate (and lots of back and forth and digging through family trees), we have decided on a name for our little girl. I have always wanted to use my grandmothers name as my daughters middle name, so Fay was a must. We were going back and forth between having a first name that is a little different or sticking with something a little more classic. After talking it through we decided that we wanted to use Patrick's grandmothers middle name Elizabeth. So the little angels name will be Elizabeth Fay Browne after both grandmothers. It's really special to us to have our little girl named after two people that we love and who have been inspirations to us throughout our lives.

It's A Girl!!!

Ok, I'm new to this blogging thing so bare with me while I figure it out.

Back in December, Patrick and I found out we were pregnant with our first baby. For the first 19 weeks we thought it was a boy and were calling him Parker. Hahaha...jokes on us. IT'S A GIRL!!! We were soooo not prepared for a girl. We were dead set on a name for a boy, but had no clue what we were going to do for a girl name. So for the past couple of weeks we have been struggling trying to find the perfect name for our little girl. The struggle continues...so I guess that might be my next post.

Below is a picture of our second ultrasound we had at 19 weeks. Check out the lips on this little girl...