Lazy Sunday

Every day is lazy for this little girl! Don't you love the bow. Baby girl has an assortment of hair accessories and I even ordered more last week before we went to the hospital. Jackson is fascinated by them so we let him pick out her hair accessory today. Good job! Too bad, after he picked it out he wanted to put it on and take it off of her over and over again. He just wanted to make sure it was perfect for his baby sister!

Our babies!

We are doing great! Annabelle sleeps far more than Jackson ever did (and Mommy and Daddy are SO grateful for that). So far, she is such an easy baby. It also helps to have great grandparents. Cee stayed with us for the last 9 days. She helped so much. She took care of Jackson and helped with cooking and cleaning. Unfortunately, she flew back to Mississippi today. Good thing, Mimi and Poppy will be flying in tomorrow morning. I have taken lots of pics lately and will post more soon.

One week old

More pics to come soon . . .

Annabelle's debut

The hospital were Annabelle was born was filming a commercial. They asked us if Annabelle could be in it. The commercial is supposed to tell the story of another baby that was delivered there a few months ago. Of course, we were super flattered that they wanted Annabelle to be in the commercial. Apparently, some of the nurses told the administrator about her - how beautiful she was, of course! So, Friday night, Russell, Annabelle and I headed back to the hospital for her debut. It was super easy. Everyone was very accomodating to us. They shot Annabelle's scenes as soon as we got there so we didn't have to stay on set for long. Annabelle didn't say a peep the entire time. She pretty much slept through the whole thing. We didn't mind all the cooing over her while we were there. When her scenes were over, the photographer and the videographer asked me to sit on the bed with her so they could get extra footage for us to have. They are going to send us a video and e-mail us all the pictures that were taken. At first, Russell was a little hesitant but I wanted to do it. When filming got started, he was making sure to get lots of videos and pictures with our camera and he was grinning from ear to ear the whole time. Needless to say, we are very proud parents!

Bringing Annabelle home

Hanging out at the hospital

Here are a few pics from our time at the hospital. We got the approval to leave on Thursday but we decided to stay an extra day. So glad we did. The extra day gave us time to really unwind from the delivery and to take advantage of the nurses and lactation consultants. The extra time provided us with lots of extra tips and advice. We also managed to have a little fun when Jackson came to visit!

Annabelle's Birthday

Baby girl arrived today at 11:53 am. She weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces. She is just as amazing and beautiful as we thought she would be. Believe it or not, we did not take nearly as many pictures as we normally would. We really just spent time with our family and two babies and soaked it all in.

Jackson was a little unsure at first. He didn't want her to cry, luckily she doesn't much. He really perked up when he got a big gift from the "baby." It really helps to have Mimi and Poppy here. There is enough attention to go around! As for the pics, tomorrow, I'll be sure to get many more.

Only 3 more days!

The doctor moved up our induce date. Unless Annabelle comes sooner, we will induce on Wednesday. We are so excited!!!

My boys and an exciting day of doctor appointments

I took these pics yesterday while my boys were watching the football games. Hopefully, they got some rest because today was a little crazy for us. At our weekly doctor appointment this morning, my doctor thought my amniotic fluid was too high so she scheduled me for a sonogram this afternoon. If it was too high she would induce next Monday, January 31st (at 38 weeks) unless the baby was under any stress at which case we would have the baby NOW!

Luckily, the sonogram showed my fluid in the normal range, albeit a little toward the high side. Nevertheless, it looks normal and I scheduled a few more work things. So, little Annabelle please stay put until at least this Friday (next Friday would be even better but I am not going to ask for too much)! She is measuring at 7 pounds 7 ounces according to the sonogram.

It was nice to get to see her little face again. We got more pictures of her. In one pic she is covering her face with her arm like she is playing peek-a-boo, Jackson's favorite game. Very cute. She is already like her big brother. I'll get Russell to try to download some of her recent sonogram pics but at this point, we should have real pics very soon. We are set to be induced on Monday February 7th. One way or another, we get to meet our Baby Girl in less than 14 days! Yeah!

3 more weeks until d-day but she will be here before then!

We have three more weeks until Annabelle's official due date. However, we are set to be induced on February 7th if Annabelle hasn't arrived by then. So, technically, we only have 2 weeks and 2 days! To be honest, I don't know if she can wait much longer. I have been having some strong Braxton Hicks contractions and nesting instincts.

I know nesting may be a strange symptom for some people but the morning before my water broke with Jackson, I woke up with such an urge to conquer the world - buying groceries, cleaning the house from top to bottom. Needless to say, I am a believer in the nesting sign of prelabor. As for now, I am trying to rest as much as possible.

I have some court appearances and hearings that are set up until February 4th that I would really like to get taken care of before Annabelle's arrival. Unlike most 9 month pregnant women, I am not trying to hurry her along. Forget the exercise and spicy food! Either way, when she is ready, she'll be here and we are soooo excited about it!

Even Jackson is enjoying this time with us. He loves checking out all the baby gadgets like the playmat, swing, and bouncy chair. He loves going in Annabelle's room and getting out all of her stuff. He talks about the baby, too. He knows those things are for "baby" and he likes to point to my stomach and say "baby." He is so sweet. I know he will be the best big brother.

What we've been up to

In case you haven't noticed the pregnancy ticker on the right of the blog, we are 9 months pregnant! Annabelle could safely be born at any time now. With those thoughts, comes a little stress so we have packed our bags, I prepared some post delivery meals, and we have tried to really enjoy our time together as a family of three.

On Friday, we went to have our last sonogram. I love to see pics of Annabelle. We found out she is in the 60th percentile for weight so the nurse predicted an 8 pound baby girl. I can't help but think she will be bigger than that since my pregnancy symptoms have been worse than they were with Jackson. We'll see! After the sonogram, Jackson and I went to a playdate at Cy's house. As usual, we had a good time.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to the Lady Red Raider game with the Leach's. The game was awesome since they won in double overtime. Jackson and Cy really enjoyed it, too. This was Jackson's first basketball game. He loved it.

Saturday night, we went to a cookout at the Leach's house. One of the other couples at the cookout are due in two weeks and another couple brought their 4 month old baby boy. Needless to say, there was lots of baby talk! Jackson and Cy had fun playing and they got their routine bath. They played and played in the bath. It was their longest bath, yet.

Tomorrow, we start our weekly doctor visit so we are looking forward to seeing if we have made any progress. Say some prayers for us as we enter this stressful but very joyful time in our lives!

Annabelle's nursery

Mimi and Poppy headed back to Austin Friday afternoon after a week of helping out around the house and fixing up Baby Girl's nursery. It is finished for the most part and we love it. I picked out all the big things and Mimi pulled it all together with accessories and a precious chandelier. It has pink crystals on it - so cute! I might change the color of the baskets and we need a picture in the frame but all these things will come together soon enough. Of course, I have to give lots of credit to Poppy and Russell for painting, putting furniture together, hanging letters, ect. Even Jackson tried to help out with the room as best as he could. Now, all we need is Annabelle!

Walking the pups with Poppy

Happy Birthday Russell!

New Year's Day or Christmas morning?

Mimi and Poppy flew to Lubbock on New Year's Eve to celebrate the holidays with us. By the time Santa got all the gifts unpacked and wrapped we were all exhausted so we waited until New Year's morning to have Christmas. Jackson racked up from the gramps and got a few more things from mom and dad. Even the pups got some surprises from Santa.