Christmas 2010

We started our trip in Washington with a visit to Moses Lake to see Vance, Michele and family. They have a great sledding hill in their backyard and the snow was great! Lane has such a great time with Merit and Willem! Despite the stomach bug that made it's way to almost everyone, we had a great time.

Estelle and Hazel in their matching outfits, these girls are just about a year apart.
Estelle even made it out in the snow in her little fleece suit.

After Moses Lake we headed over to Leavenworth. We have had some great family trips there and it is SO beautiful at Christmas. We stayed two nights in a great little hotel called the Bavarian Ritz. There is a sledding hill in town that Lane and Reese spent a lot of time at.

The first morning we took a walk in a little park along the river. It was covered in snow and gorgeous!

Catching some air!

He said "uhhhh, my butt" many times as he landed at the bottom.

I have so many pictures from our trip. More later....

One Month Old

Little Miss Estelle is already one month old. These are some pictures I took yesterday. Her looks are changing a little already. She is getting quite chubby and filling out her little 0-3 month clothes. Last night she kept me up alot, I am in a fog today.

In the last week or two we've put some Christmas lights up outside and saw Santa come in on a helicopter. No Santa pictures this year, Lane informed us that he did NOT want to get his picture taken. We said okay, the line is out of control anyway!

Wish I had more time to write more, but like I said I am in a fog and getting ready to see family soon. Lots to do!

Getting Ready For Christmas

Lane is just loving his little sister. Estelle is awake more often now, although she slept most the day yesterday. I am hoping that she is sleeping a little better at night before we go up to WA! Last night she woke up every 3 hours, which was good, but I really don't know what to expect each night.
She took her first bath on Tuesday. She did good, and only fussed a little bit. She had her 2 week appointment on Monday. She weighs 9 lbs 10 oz. I can tell she is getting longer and chubbier. She is pretty much out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 months and is wearing size 1 diapers. She is such a sweetie.

The day after Thanksgiving we got most of our Christmas stuff out. Now all we need to do is put some lights up outside. Lane was all about decorating the house and the tree. We had clusters of ornaments on the tree and random decorations placed through out the house. I love how excited he got. We have had a busy week and I am hoping next week will be calmer. It's a little chilly in our house today. We can't use the heater. Yesterday I had maintenance and an exterminator at the house, today I am waiting for someone to fix the heater, and clean out our heating ducts. Yesterday morning we woke up to a pile of insulation/duct tape, etc on the kitchen floor that had flown out of the heating vent. My first thought was mice or rats, the exterminator came and confirmed that that probably wasn't the problem but that a hose was detached from the heating unit in the attic and was just sucking stuff from the attic and blowing it throughout the ducts. Nice.

I wanted to hang up Case's stocking with Lane and Estelle's. Lane likes it and told us that he will have to open Case and Estelle's stocking presents. I am trying to think of something I could put in Case's stocking each year to give to the other kids, to make it special and remember Case by. I framed the picture of Case with his stocking last year, I am so thankful I got that picture. I don't have Lane by his when he was a baby or at any age for that matter. Throughout the past year I have seen so many things that God had just orchestrated so that we would have wonderful memories of Case. I never even gave a second thought about the picture of Case with his stocking until after he died, God had me take that picture because he knew what I didn't know.

I am battling a little with the "baby blues" the last couple days. I think some of it has to do with the annoying little problems like the heater and no childcare provided for Reese's work Christmas party tonight (they usually have childcare) that has set me off a little. Having our first Christmas without Case is emotional for me obviously. Last year we decorated the house with him. I remember Reese and Lane decorating the tree while I was giving Case rice cereal for the first time. Another thing that I am facing is going up to WA for Christmas and coming back at the same time we did last year, then less than 2 weeks later Case died. This time will be bringing back a lot of memories and that is looming over me a bit right now.

Our sweet Estelle Hope loves laying under the tree and looking at the lights.

10 Days Old

Estelle is 10 days old as of last night! She is doing really well. Most nights she sleeps really well and goes about 4 hours in between feedings during the night. There have been a couple hard nights, but for the most part, it's been good. We've had Mop (Grandma Laura) here since Saturday, she was able to get into Seattle from Hawaii and get straight onto a flight to San Diego.

Reese and Estelle taking a little nap. Reese loves this little girl!
This is a typical awake face. Her pursed lips crack me up every time.
Lane kisses and snuggles her every chance he gets. This morning I came downstairs with her and he said, "Let me see that cute baby."

Tomorrow we will be having a quiet Thanksgiving at our house and then on Friday we will trim the tree (as Reese would say). This is our families favorite time of year. I am so thankful to be able to have Estelle during this time of year. It's is so strange to me that last year at this time we had Case to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with and this year he is celebrating in heaven and we have Estelle. Life can change so quickly. The bible tells us to give thanks in everything even in the hard times. I am learning to do that this Thanksgiving.

Well Worth The Wait

Our little girl, Estelle Hope, was born November 13th at 8:19 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. I was able to be induced on Saturday afternoon. My midwife was reluctant to do it because she didn't think she was real big and wanted me to go into labor naturally because of my previous c-section. Well, it needed to be done, obviously. My labor went fast, about 5 hours from the time they started pitocin to the time she was born. I barely got my epidural in time. She was born less than an 1 1/2 hrs later. Everything went quite well, other than not really getting the full effect of the epidural.

This is the first baby that I was able to just hold on my chest and enjoy. Lane was born by c-section and Case's blood oxygen levels were low so they took him from me pretty quickly. Tears of joy were soon streaming down my face as I got to just enjoy staring at our darling baby girl.
My friend Kristen drove down from LA that night. She got to see Estelle just a couple hours after she was born. Kristen, like so many others, has been such a blessing to our family. She has prayed so diligently for us and often sends me encouraging emails with verses she has found etc. I know she just couldn't help driving down when she knew I was in labor. :) Kristen took this picture of us while Estelle was just hours old..
The next day Aunt Lesha flew in. We introduced Estelle to Lane and Lesha that morning. Lane was very happy to have his baby sister here. He said the he "liked the baby" and proceeded to give her lots of kisses and touch her face as much as possible.
Our sweet little "big" girl Estelle. Check out those rolls on her arms!
Aunt Lesha brought this adorable little outfit that Estelle wore today. She was wide awake alot today.

My emotions/hormones/anxiety levels have been so much better than I expected. It's still early, but I am taking one day at a time and so far, so good. I thank God for the peace that I feel. I am able to sleep, when Estelle lets me, without worrying too much. I know this has to do with a whole lot of prayers being said!

39 + 2

Wow, I am 39 weeks +2 days! I have never been this pregnant before. I prayed that I wouldn't have her before 37 weeks because Case was born right at 37 weeks. But really? I had Reese take this picture of me this morning (actually he took 4 before I liked one enough to post!). My mirror does not make me look this big! This picture makes my stomach look enormous! That must be why people keep staring at me! I have to say I am not that uncomfortable, I am uncomfortable but it could be worse. I still can sleep pretty well at night and that in itself is a blessing. But as time goes by my help is dwindling. Reese's parents leave on vacation soon and Lesha is coming this weekend. I am going to try to be induced before Lesha comes. Pray that they will let me be induced! I don't so much need the physical help, but more the emotional support after I have her. So pray, pray, pray people!

Reese and Lane in Oct. 2007

Today, being Veteran's Day, I am thankful for my man who serves. Not only does he serve, but he is awesome at what he does! It takes a special man to do what he does, one with integrity, patience, and strength of body and mind. He represents all of these things.

Reese and I in May 2009

(and Case is in my belly :)

Halloween

Lane brought a picture home from school the other day. He said his teacher had them draw what they wanted to be for Halloween and he drew Darth Vader. Before he ONLY wanted to be a storm trooper, the costume was $40, yeah right. So we asked him if he wanted to be Indiana Jones again, sure. So when I saw the picture he drew, I thought hey that one was cheaper. The next day I went to the Navy Exchange where all the Halloween stuff was 40% off and got his Darth Vader costume for $5.99, score!

Lane and Reese carved a cool, scary pumpkin. I didn't feel much like doing it this year, but I did roast and eat the pumpkin seeds. We just hung out here and took Lane trick or treating around the neighborhood. We saw a lot of his friends and he got plenty of candy!

I am excited to have a baby in November! We have ALOT of October babies in our family, so this will change it up a bit. This will be my first baby that actually has made it to the month that they were due!

I had to include Lane's school picture. I have cracked up every year when his school pictures come home. First preschool, then last years, and now this year, complete with one missing tooth and one tooth hanging by a thread. He has that same forced smile in all of them. So cute!