Ella is 5 Months Old

Weight: We don't have an appointment this month but I bet she is around 14 pounds.

Height: Not sure but she is growing!

Nicknames: Ells Bells, Ella Fitzjella,

Sleep: Still a great sleeper. She loves to snuggle and nurse in mama's bed

Eating: Still nursing like a champ and is slowly gaining interest in what we are eating. I think solid food is in our near future.

Diapers: Size 2

Clothing: 6 month clothes

Loves: Ella loves rolling around. She is also working very hard on sitting up. I also see her eyeing things up to crawl. Ella still loves watching her brothers and laughing! She also loves listening to stories.

Doesn’t love: Being laid down on her back. She wants to sit up and see everyone. When I lay her on her back she does a little sit up action.

What I want to Remember: Her giggles with her brothers.

Big Changes!

Tonight is a big night for our (big) little family. Tonight we sign the closing documents on the cutest little house, a house we have been dreaming about and praying about for a very long time.This house is an answered prayer in so many ways.
We egan the homebuying process over a year ago. We found out we were pregnant, so we looked into the financial side of buying a house. We learned we needed 5% down payment and a reserve amount of money to cover the house payments for our current house and our new house. It seemed like a ridiculous amount of money to save for, especially since I was resigning from my job, but God always has a plan.
Here we are a year later, getting ready to sign for the perfect house for our little family of 5.
You won't even believe the story of our home buying journey. The market is super crazy right now, like there are bidding wars over every house. Our realtor prepared us, and we were prepared to search for a long time. We were prepared to be outbid on a few houses before we found the right one. Well, that's not what happened.
We met with our realtor on a Wednesday to go over our list of must haves, and preferences for a new house. One week later, I got a listing for the cutest craftsman in North Tacoma. I was walking out of preschool, and knew I needed to see this house. I drove by, called Matt and arranged a showing. We went there in the evening and fell in love! I remember standing in that living room, looking out the big, window seated window, thinking that we would be crazy to not make an offer on this house. It was the best offer we could make. The worst thing they could say was no. We wrote our offer, wrote a letter to the sellers, said some prayers and waited.  I was shocked to hear that we got it!
I cannot wait for the next chapter to begin in our new house. As I pack up our tiny little two bedroom house, I am reminded how many memories we have made here. This was the house we came home to from our wedding, where we brought our babies home to, where we shared dinners with friends, and played games at the kitchen table. Its where I learned to be a wife and to be a mommy. This house has been good to us. Our next one holds so many adventures for us. I can't wait to show you pictures.
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Happy Four Months, Ella!

 Ella is four months old now!

Weight: We kept right up with the normal weight gain! 12 pounds 12 ounces. Ella is in the 31% precentile.

Height: 23.5 inches

Head: 40.6 cm
Nicknames: Ella Bo Bella, Ells Bells, Ella Fitzjella

Sleep: Still a great sleeper

Eating: Spitting up is getting better. Yay! She loves to nurse!

Diapers: Size 2 and more yeast infections boo!

Clothing: 6 month clothes

Loves: Her new love is rolling over! Ella loves to talk to us or to her ducky! She loves watching her brothers play. Loves her mommy

Doesn’t love: Being on her tummy which is hard when she keeps rolling over!

What I want to Remember: Her sweet smile! Her coos and giggles

Recovering from shots...poor baby!

First baseball game! She slept through most of it

Ella is 3 Months Old!

Weight: Our pediatrician called her a robot! She is steadily growing in all areas on the chart. This month she is 11 pounds 12 ounces.

Height: 23.3 inches

Head: 39.4 cm
Nicknames: Ella Bo Bella, Ells Bells

Sleep: Ella is a great sleeper! She is now sleeping 5-7 hour stretches and then waking to nurse and going back to sleep. Her morning nap is usually long, and unfortunately in her car seat from getting her brothers!

Eating: Still a great eater, but has been spitting up more.

Diapers: We had more diaper rashes, poor baby! We think we finally have it under control!

Clothing: 3 month clothes, jammies are getting a little tight but Ella is still too little for 6 month.

Loves: Her toys, being naked, watching her brothers, smiling, and has started laughing!

Doesn’t love: Having a dirty diaper, not being able to see anyone

What I want to Remember: Her silly little laugh, her little body cuddled up to mine while we nurse

Ella is 2 Months Old!

Well she has been 2 months for a couple weeks now! Oh My! How has it already been two months?! I tell you what this little lady is such a blessing!

Weight: 10 Pound 3.5 Ounces. She went from the 25th percentile to the 38th!

Nicknames: These are silly but here they are! Princess Girl, Pretty Girl
The joke between me and Matt is that she is a pretty, smart girl who can be good at math and science!

Sleep: Ella is a great sleeper. She gave us one full night, which was heaven. Other than that night we are every four hours.

Eating: This girl loves to eat! She nurses every 3 hours.

Diapers: We battled yeast the last few weeks so she is in size one Honest Company Diapers. I really like them and they are super cute!

Clothing: 3 month clothes

Loves: Sucking on her hands, talking, the bath

Doesn’t love: Being away from Mommy. I ventured out for a haircut and foil and she did not make it easy for Daddy!

What I want to Remember: Her sweet smile, her tiny coos.

We love you, Ella!

Ella's One month update!

 

Miss Ella Rose is one month! Its hard to believe this little lady has already been here for a month. On the other hand, it feels like she has been here forever. What I love about her is her easy going nature. She has just slipped into the fold of our lives. She is such a sweet, happy baby! Here is the update on my sweet little lady.

Weight: Today at her one month appointment she weighed 8 pound 8.5 ounces! She was 6 pounds 15 ounces at birth. I am so proud of her growth. She is also 21 inches.

Nicknames: I thought this would be fun to track. I call her Ella Boo Bear, and My pretty girl. Matt calls her Elle.

Sleep: Ella is by far the best sleeper of all three of my kiddos. She sleeps three to four hour stretches at night. She wakes up nurses for 20 minutes and then is back to sleep which I am thankful for.

Eating: Ella nurses about every 2.5 to 3 hours. She is very efficient.

Diapers: We are still in newborn diapers and will be moving into our cloth soon!

Clothing: Little nugget is still in newborn clothes, but I think its almost time for 3 month.

Loves: Ella loves her mommy. She loves cooing and started smiling. She loves being able to see her world. She also loves her family. She loves the bears on her mobile on her swing.

Doesn’t love: Ella does not love being in the Ergo! I am hoping she outgrows this because I really need to be comfy being worn! It will make my life so much easier! She also has not liked her carseat, but is liking it better now.

What I want to Remember: I want to remember the tininess of her. Her tiny little feet, her tiny ears, her tiny cry. I am reminded when we are in the store and she is crying and someone comments on how little her cry sounds. I forget sometimes that this period passes so quickly. 

As crazy as it sounds, I want to remember the late night feedings where its just us, just the stillness of night, and me and Ella.

I am so thankful for this sweet girl!

Where does time go?

Poor neglected blog. I started a post about our first week home, and now Ella is four weeks! I will post some pictures and an update on my sweet little baby. I have not forgotten you, dear blog!

She's Here: Ella's Birth Story

Our sweet baby girl is here! She was fashionably late, by three days but so worth the wait! Here she is, Miss Ella Rose. She is such a love bug!

 I love hearing birth stories, as each is so unique to each baby and mom. I also want to record Ella's birth story while its fresh in my mind.
With Jack, my labor started with my water breaking at 38 weeks 1 day. My contractions never started so I did the whole thing on Pitocin which was very difficult, leading to an epidural, a long time pushing with an eventual assisted delivery, and a long recovery. With Henry, I wanted an all natural birth. Well, he was too cozy, so we induced 12 days past our due date. I did go natural, but had to have Pitocin again. With Ella, my goal was to go into labor naturally, labor without drugs and deliver her naturally. I am so excited that I had the experience I was hoping for!
The whole week leading up to Ella, I was having a lot of Braxton Hicks. On Thursday, they went on for a couple of hours and on a regular pattern. I told Matt to not get excited, and not to time them, but he secretly did. I went to bed, and they stopped. When I woke up Friday, I felt crampy. I told Matt, I think today is the day. I had this sense of calm about me all day. My body seemed to be preparing because I was spotting a little and my body was clearing itself out.
Luckily, I had a midwife appointment. I went in and the midwife decided to check me. The previous week I was not dilated and was 50% effaced. This appointment I was 1cm and 50% effaced, but Ella's head was super low. I measured 36 weeks, where the previous week I was 38 weeks. She was getting ready!
I got home and we went for a walk. Matt was super antsy for things to get going. I felt so calm and relaxed about it. We had lunch, relaxed and enjoyed a quiet day.
Around 4, I decided to run some errands. I had bought a couple of Christmas outfits just in case, so I needed to return those. I went to Carters and shopped around. I started getting more cramps. I bought my stuff. The ladies who worked there were surprised I was 3 days overdue. They joked they needed to get me out before I went into labor! Little did I know, I was in labor!
I walked over to Target, grabbed some random things I had needed. I remember feeling more cramps and thinking, "this is it!"
I texted my sister and said I think Ella is on her way, called my mom to make sure they were close by in case it was time. I got home and told Matt I thought I was in labor, which was around 5:15. The contractions were building and coming pretty fast! We made a pasta dinner while I had contractions. They started to get more serious so we got our final things for our hospital bag. I started to really need to focus during the contractions. I knew I was only a 1 in the morning, so I was nervous to go to the hospital too soon. Matt was insisting it was time. My mom heard it in my voice, so they started to make their way to our house. Jack was asking, "Why is momma breathing like that?"
We left around 7. Contractions were every 3-4 minutes. They were super uncomfortable, especially in the car. We got to the hospital and checked into the ER. It felt like an eternity, and felt like every person there was staring at the lady in labor. Finally we made it up into labor and delivery. I had tons of contractions on our way up, so we skipped triage and went straight to a room. They checked me at 8:30 and I was a 4 and 50% effaced. They hooked me up to the monitors which was not fun, because I was experiencing a lot of back pain and it hurt to sit.
I continued to labor, and had a lot of back labor. I worked on swaying, standing, and working through each contraction. Matt was awesome throughout. The midwife came in and we chatted. Contractions seemed shorter but were still coming quick. They checked me again at 11ish and I was a 5-6 with 80% effacement.
The midwife filled up the bath tub for me to relax in. I got into the tub and the contractions became very difficult. At that point I could feel a lot of pressure. The midwife could sense that I was moving through transition. She insisted I get out. I felt like I couldn't move. She said that she had birthed a baby in a tub that small, but it is hard. Finally, I got out of the tub, onto the table. She examined me and I was complete!
The urge to push was crazy! I pushed and my water broke around 11:35. It was crazy!
I pushed a few times and Ella came into this world at 11:46 p.m. on January 2, 2015. She was so tiny and perfect! She came out pink and healthy, an answer to so many prayers.

Ella was 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 inches long

Our hospital stay was short. Ella took to nursing quickly, and my recovery has been great. I was so excited for the boys to meet their sister! They were too. I thought Jack would be the first to want to hold her, but Henry surprised me. He was so excited and in awe of his little sister. He was reaching for her. It was so cute. He was trying to tickle her.

Checking out their new baby sister. She was smiling

I can't believe we are now a family of 5! I knew my heart was full of love, but it just exploded with love again for my sweet Ella Rose.

First Picture as a Family of 5!

First Bath! Look at all that hair!

We love you Ella Rose, and we can't wait to watch you grow! Thank you Lord, for a healthy baby!

2014 in Review

It's New Year's Eve! Wow! I can't believe the year 2014 is over tonight. It has been an incredible year with blessings we were not expecting! I decided to make a countdown of some of our top five events from the year!
5. We got a new car (finally!)
After talking about it forever, and then finding out #3 was on the way, we went for it and bought our Honda Pilot. I am so glad we did! I love my car!

4. We had a great summer full of adventure, including our first camping trip. We took the boys on their first camping trip to Ohanapecosh in Mt. Rainier park. They loved it, especially hiking! One day we took two large hikes.

We also did our annual trip to Leavenworth! We had a blast the whole week. We did some hiking, floated the river, swam at the pool, and relaxed as a family! It was a great trip!

Jack floated the river this year in his own tube!

3.Matt got promoted!
This was probably one of the biggest things that happened for our family this year! Matt went through the long and arduous process of interviewing to be the high school Principal of the school he was at. We weren't expecting his principal to resign, but Matt had talked about wanting the job. It opened up, he interviewed, and he got it! I am so proud of him! This led into the next biggest event!

2. I quit my job!
I had a great year working in fourth grade. In fact, my career was flourishing. I was put in leadership positions in my building, and in the district. I even led professional development twice over the summer. Yet, when Matt got the job, it opened the possibility for me to stay home, something I had wanted since before we had kids. I put my career on hold for a bit and resigned from my position. It was scary at first, but it is the best decision I made for our family. 

1. We found out we were pregnant, and that baby was a girl!
This was the BIGGEST event of the year for us. When I look back, I see how God worked through everything to bring us to this point. I was so surprised when we found out we were pregnant, and even more surprised that we were going to have a little girl. What an amazing blessing! 

The picture we used to announce our pregnancy!

2014 was a great year. As I sit and reflect, I am so grateful for all that has happened. I am so thankful. Now we wait for this baby girl to make her way into the world. What a great way to begin our 2015! Cheers, friends!