Time Flys When You're Having Fun!!!

I can't believe that Lily is 3 months old today! I feel like I just brought her home from the hospital yesterday. She has changed so much over the past 3 months. She has finally gotten on a good schedule and just started sleeping through the night this week. I love that! She loves to play on her blanket with her dolly or her play gym. She has gotten so alert and expressive. She is such a happy baby that just smiles at everything. She rarely cries unless she is hungry or her reflux is bothering her. She has started teething which means lots of drool! She also chews on everything so Mommy and Daddy usually have wet spots on their clothes all the time. But we wouldn't trade if for the world. She loves to snuggle to fall asleep. Those are the times I could just sit and hold her for hours. When it is snuggle time we sing praise songs to her and pray for her while taking in the wonderful baby smell. Its amazing how something so little can just make your heart melt.

Finally an update!!!

I am so sorry it has been so long. I will do my best to keep this thing up to date. Life around here has been a little crazy lately. When Lily was 5 weeks old I went back to work to work my two week notice while simultaneously starting classes on my Masters program. And then factor in horomones and trying to figure out a new baby, and its been chaos around here. We are finally getting comfortable with everything and developing our own little routine. Lily had her 2 month check up yesterday and weighs 8 pounds 12 ounces and is 21 3/4 inches long!!! To us that is huge, and she looks so big, but the crazy thing is that most babies are born about that size. I can't imagine what that is like. She also got her shots and has been sleeping and just plain mopey since then. I know the vaccines are good but I hate the way the make her feel. Luckily Grams went with us because Mommy doesn't handle needles so well, especially not when they make my baby girl cry. But pray for me that I can work on my fear because I do not want to pass this trait along to Lily. Lily has learned how to smile and loves smiling when you talk to her. She has also started to coo. I just love her baby noises! She is very strong and lifts her head, especially when she is fighting her sleep. The reflux had gotten worse but we are on two medicines now and she seems to be doing much better. We are still working on the sleeping through the night thing. She has moved to her crib but her reflux keeps her from sleeping well. We have bought a wedge and are hoping by being somewhat elevated it will keep the acid down and she will be able to sleep longer. Josh and I sing Lily to sleep at night so we bought her a journal to write down the songs we sing to her. We try to sing hymns and praise songs, but we sing just about anything. So if you have any suggestions please let me know. The journal has lots of empty pages!

Life at Home

Well we have been home for almost 3 weeks now. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. We are starting to get into a routine. Lily still has her days and nights mixed up so she sleeps for 3 to 4 hours at a time during the day, usually in someone's arms, and only about 2 hours at a time at night. But she is still such a blessing. We had a doctor visit yesterday and she is finally starting to gain weight!! She weighed 5 pounds 9.5 ounces. Only 5.5 ounces to go to be back at birth weight. She is starting to have awake periods. She just looks around. She is such a good baby, and doesn't fuss unless she is getting a diaper change or clothes change. She is always starting to make little grunting noises. Its adorable! Our favorite thing is to watch her smile in her sleep. We can't wait till she smiles because she knows us! We are loving having her home and holding and loving on her all the time. And Daddy is the best Daddy in the world. He actually changes diapers and has gotten up a few times in the night to give Mommy a break. Lily has just made our love stronger. We often look at her and talk about what an AMAZING God we serve! He cared enough to give her fingernails and toe nails and make all her little muscles work. We are just so amazed daily! We have had a lot of firsts the past few weeks. The first time in her crib, first visit to church, first time in the swing, and her first time at Bele Chere. She loves it all!

SHE'S HERE!!!!

Sorry it has taken so long to update, but a lot has happened in the last few weeks. Lily decided to make her appearance 5 weeks early!! Needless to say we were quite unprepared. We had had a few episodes of false labor in the preceding week so when I began to feel contractions on Tuesday evening around 5 pm I didn't think much of it at first. Then I realized they were in a pretty consistent pattern, coming every 5 minutes. Then my water broke and I knew we were going to have a baby. When Josh got home from work around 7 we unloaded gifts from the back seat, as I had just had a baby shower at work that day, gathered our hospital bags, and grabbed the carseat still in the plastic wrap and tags attached. Neither of us had had dinner but I just knew that since my contractions were now 3 minutes apart and my water had broken that we were going to have a baby VERY soon so I opted not to get dinner on the way to the hospital. Once we arrived we discovered we were in for a very long journey. Although my water had broken I was not dilated and only about 10% effaced, out of a 100%. So we started Pitocin and took som extra measures to help my body get into labor. 36 hours later at 8am Thursday morning I opted to get the epidural. At this point I had had no sleep and been relegated to sugar free Jell-O, due to my diabetes. Combine that with intense pain, my finger being pricked every 2 hours, and knowing that I was only 4 cm dilated I knew I wanted some help. Once I got the epidural I was able to go to sleep and finally my body began to get into a good labor pattern. However we still had a long way to go. At 3:30 that afternoon I began pushing and pushed for about 45 minutes. Completely exhausted I took a nap for an hour and when I woke up I pushed for another 3 hours!!! Finally at 8:12pm on Thursday July 10 Lily Ruth Allen made her grand entrance into this world. She was 18 3/4 inches long, weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces, and had a head circumfrence of 13 inches. She is built just like her father being very long and thin, and many say she looks just like him too. What a surreal experience. She has brought nothing but an abundance of love into mine and Josh's world. The first week has been such a blur. Miracously Lily did not have to go to NICU and came home with us on Saturday. We then had to go 3 times that week to get her blood drawn and lay her in a Billirubin bed for her Jaundice. And we had to make sure she was eating as she had dropped down to 5 Pounds 6 ounces. However today we got a clean bill of health and she is doing wonderfully. Josh and I love her so much and could not ask for a better baby!

32 1/2 Weeks!! It is getting so close!

The past few weeks have been quite intersting with lots of trips to the doctor. We had a blood pressure scare but after some blood and lab work everything is normal. We did get to have anothter ultrasound and see baby Lily. Although in her stubborn fashion she was curled up in ball and wouldn't show her face. She literally had her hands over the face the entire time. Haha...I guess she is taking after her parents a little. She already weighed 4 pounds and 3 ounces, so with the additional weight she will gain they are guessing she will weigh between 7 and 8 pounds at birth. She has already started dropping and getting into postion. I guess she is as ready to greet the world as we are to meet her. Hopefully we don't have to much longer to wait because the anticipation is killing me, along with the discomforts of the last few weeks of pregnancy. So we have about 7 weeks (maybe less) till we meet our precious bundle of joy! Keep us in your prayers as we prepare our home, hearts, and minds for this adventure into parenthood. We have a shower this weekend and will be able to share picutres of her new goodies and her bedroom.

29 weeks...only 11 to go!

We had a very good doctor appointment yesterday. Lily is measuring right on target! It is a praise because I did not take a diabetes test so if she starts measuring big then I will have to go through the diabetes test and have an ultrasound. So pray that she continues to stay on track. Her heatbeat was in the 150's. It is so precious to hear her little heart, it sounds like horses gallopping. Everything looked great, so we will begin our bi-monthly visits and go back in two weeks. She is getting more and more active by the day and loving putting her feet in Mommy's ribs. Oh the joys of pregnancy. But only 11 more weeks and then we can hold her and cuddle her and tell her how much we love her! I can't wait. This weekend should be exciting as our first piece of baby furniture is arriving. Josh will have a blast putting it together. I can't wait to be able to put her little clothes in the drawers. I also splurged a little, with Josh's support, and bougth some personalized pacifiers. They should arrive this weekend as well! It's so exciting now that the baby stuff is starting to come in. It makes it feel real, as if the belly didn't...haha.

28 Weeks and Counting.....

WE OFFICIALLY STARTED THE 3RD TRIMESTER TODAY!! Only 12 weeks left until we get to meet our little girl. There is still so much to do before we can greet our little one, but I am so ready to meet her. I have been so excited through out the whole pregnancy but my emotions are beginning to overtake me. I can't believe that in no time Josh and I will be bringing home a baby. Pray for us as we prepare for this enormous task. Also pray that we can wait patiently for Lily's arrival.