autumn is here

Time sure does fly with a little one around! October is always a fun month for Brian and I, we both love the season change. I wonder what's in store for us this year? September '06-we fell in love, October '07-We got married, November '08-We found out we were pregnant....That means December of this year should hold something good!

Here are some pictures of our Autumn adventures with Julia. Having fun at the pumpkin patch.

Brian and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary at The White House Inn. We had fun reminiscing about our wedding day. We even got to spy on a wedding taking place while we ate our dinner. It was so nice to have an evening with my handsome hubby.

Julia celebrated her 4 month birthday-she is 12 pounds 12 ounces and 24 1/4 inches long!

3 Months!

Julia Claire is 3 months old! Time is flying by with our little girl, she is getting so big. According to our bathroom scale she weighs 12 pounds.

Over the holiday weekend we went out to Cox Arboreteum to get some pictures of Julia to celebrate her 3 month birthday. Brian did an awesome job!

Nature Baby

Julia's favorites/new things:

-Loves listening to Daddy play guitar

-Loves looking at herself in the mirror

-Laughs at Mommy dancing around the kitchen

-She is eating 5 ounces every 3-4 hours and sleeping 12 hours each night.

Playing catch up!

Ok, it is been way too long since I've written. I guess I've been sort of busy...

Julia is now 2.5 months old! We cannot believe how fast she is growing. Fun new things include: big smiles in the morning, laughing at Daddy when he does goofy things, sleeping longer periods of time at night (yay!) recognizing the faces on her animals and smiling at them, grabbing and reaching for her binky, toys, or animals and lots of awake time during the daytime. We are having so much fun playing with Julia and watching her develop new skills everyday.

Here she is at 2 months, weighing 10 pounds 2 ounces.

Brian started taking some classes at Miami. We realized that he was able to take some classes for free since having Julia. He is now a "non-traditional" student due to his age and having a child. Unfortunatley, the government will only give him money for school for one semester, so he is just taking a few classes for fun. Then he will graduate with his history degree and be done with college. He is taking digital photography, an appalachian music course, a course about national parks and a history course. I think that he will have a lot of fun in his classes. I'll admit that I'm kind of jealous of him. (not the studying and homework part though!)

I'm starting to work more in the next few weeks. I've only worked two days since Julia was born. In September I think I am working about 6 days. I have 3 days lined up for October so far. I'm so glad that I don't have to leave Julia every day! I missed her terribly the last time that I worked. While it is fun to be around adults and do something that I love, it is still so hard to be away from Julia. I don't know how full time working moms do it-I guess they do it because they have to. I'm so very thankful for my wonderfully flexible job!

Well, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with my blog a little bit better in the next few weeks.

One Month

Dear Julia,

Mommy and Daddy cannot believe that you have been on the outside for one month already! We are so thankful for you and want you to know that we love you everyday. Watching you grow and change has been so amazing. You are getting so strong and developing such a sweet personality. You love to cuddle with Mommy and sleep on Daddy's chest. We often find you sleeping on your left side-just like Mommy sleeps! You like to hear Daddy sing and play guitar and you love the music from your mobile.

You are sleeping 3 hours at a time during the night. You eat 3 ounces of formula every two to three hours. You are sure to let us know when you are hungry by forcefully ejecting your binky from your mouth and letting out a wail! Thankfully Mommy is always ready with a bottle close by. We wouldn't want you to cry more than necessary. We are looking forward to watching you grow and know that you have a lot in store for us.

We are so glad that God gave us you. We love you everyday Little Panda Bear.

-Mommy and Daddy

You weigh 7 pounds today

Tried It!

Brian and I have been using these reusable produce bags for about a year now, they are great! I saw these bags in Yellow Springs during their semi-annual street fair last June and I had to have some. I was able to bargain with the seller and score two big bags for 5 bucks, go me!

The large net bags hold all of our fruits and veggies during a grocery trip, making it unnecessary to use several of those obnoxious plastic baggies available at the store. (Seriously what can you reuse these for, they are pretty useless!) Of course the check out people always look at me like a crazy lady when I pile my mixed bag of fruit on the conveyor belt, but I don't mind. I actually kind of like being different, maybe the baggers and clerks talk about me when I leave, "Crazy, organic-buying, bag lady freak!" ha!

Anyways, I highly recommend the Eco-Bags. They are easy to use, hold a ton of fruits/veggies, easy to carry, and of course they help keep those darn plastic baggies out of the landfills. You can order from the Eco bags website or even try your hand at making your own.

http://www.ecobags.com

Wordless Wednesday

Birth Story

Baby Julia is here! Here are the details on the birth of our precious baby girl:

I went into the hospital on Monday, June 8th to start the induction process. We arrived at 7 and it took about an hour to get fully checked in. We got to our room and got all cozy thinking that we would be there for the night before getting the pitocin drip in the morning. After getting my cervix checked (0 dialation) and getting my IV started I got the cervadil placed inside of me. This was about 9:30 pm.

Brian pulled out his little couch bed and set it all up beside the hospital bed. We turned the tv on and starting watching a home show on PBS. At about midnight I starting having really painful contractions. My entire body was shaking with each one, I thought for sure that I was going to vomit and that all the bones in my pelvis were breaking. We started to get kind of worried since we had 12 hours of this. My nurse came in to give me some medication for the nausea and decided that she should check my cervix. At this point I 5 cm dialated. I had gone from 0-5 in about 2 hours. The nurses started to freak out a little bit and decided to take the cervidil out and let us wait it out.

They went to call my midwife to let her know that it was about time and that I was progressing quickly. By that time I had another horrendous contraction, they checked me again-I was at 7 cm. dialation. Then the next contraction came-9cm dialated!

The room filled with residents, the nurses were all scrambling around. I could hear them on the phone with my midwife-she was on her way, she was rushing. I had to push-I told the nurse I couldn't stop it. The resident scrubbed down and set everything up at the foot of my bed. My body starting to push on it's on. Brian and the nurses started coaching me through the pushes. The nurse from family beginnings came in and she was right up in my face telling me what to do.

After I did one set of pushes my Midwife Margie showed up. I was relieved to see her, but at that point it didn't matter-the room was filled with nurses and residents, the NICU team and students. I didn't care who was in that room by this time, I was going to have my baby!

Brian held my leg and gave me the play by play, he kept telling me that I was doing it and that Julia would be here soon. At 3:05 am the nurse looked at the clock and asked me what time we thought our baby would arrive. She guessed 3:12, I thought she was joking. I said, "You are just saying that to make me feel better!"

Well after another sets of pushes her head was out, one more push and her body was out-She was here! Brian cut the cord and Margie put her up on my chest, she was beautiful. Her eyes were open and she was looking all around at everything. Brian and I were still in shock that we actually had our baby in our arms.

They quickly took her over to the side to do all of her tests. The NICU team wanted to take her away but Brian protested telling them that they could do all of her testing in our room with us. Of course they were able to do that, we had been told that we would never have to be separated from our baby. The tests seemed to take forever, she was screaming the entire time!

During all of this Brian was standing over by Julia while Margie and I were waiting for my placenta. I felt like I was gushing a ton of liquid all over the place. I'm sure that I was. Margie pressed on my abdomen and with a tiny push the placenta came out. It was as big as Julia! She put it in a pan and we looked at it. Pretty gross but still pretty cool.

The nurse got me up and we went to the bathroom. I was surprised that I was able to urinate right away-so happy that I didn't have to get a catheter. I got all cleaned up, we got back into bed and held our little girl. They brought me a boxed lunch and I was able to eat and enjoy Julia. After a few hours they moved us to a much smaller room where we stayed until Thursday.

Julia is just perfect. The nurses were all amazed that I was able to deliver her without any medications, I don't think anybody thought that I had it in me. But we did it, and now we have this precious baby girl.

Brian and I thank the Lord for blessing us with this little miracle. There is nothing like sharing her with the man that I love so much-she is ours and she is perfect.

First family picture, minutes after birth

Julia Claire Eversole June 9th, 2009

3:22 am 4 pounds 14 ounces 18.5 inches long