Christmas 2014

When you are pregnant and can't sleep one of the things the baby books suggest is to think about your baby and what it will be like when she is born.  I always pictured Christmas...Alexis in a cute Christmas outfit, the tree, family around.  This Christmas was very close to how I pictured it...well except for the several hour break we had to take on Christmas day to feed and take care of Alexis:)  Here are some of the highlights....

Our Christmas card only took three hours to take the picture of the three of us...feeding, taking a bath, getting Alexis to calm down....wonder how long it will take us next year when she is one. 

She does look cute in the white hair bow

 

 

My mom (Nana) and Alexis

 

I love decorating for Christmas.  In the past we always decorated Lake Arrowhead and usually decorated our other home.  After consolidating to one home we have a lot of decorations...including two trees. 

 

Christmas tree in our living room

 Christmas tree in the family room with our new stockings

 

Christmas Eve

 

 Danielle and Alexis.  Alexis is in her Christmas Eve outfit

 

My family has a budget and like to get as many gifts as we can for each other within the budget.  After two hours of opening gifts...we take turns opening them one at a time....we took a three hour "Alexis"  break.  We resumed our gift opening later in the day.  Here are some pictures from the day...

 

Christmas Day

Jessica & Allen enjoying our gifts on Christmas

 



Allen & Alexis

 



Danielle & Alexis

 

Alexis sleeping while we opened our Christmas gifts

 

Monkey enjoying the fire

 Mom and Trevor on Christmas...with all the gifts around them

 

 Our gifts...such a great day

 

 

Alexis in her Christmas outfit and super cute hat from the Murphy's

 

Alexis taking a quick nap during the day.  Opening gifts can be so much work:)

Allen & Trevor enjoying a cigar and pipe on our back balcony

 

Allen & Trevor playing video games

 

 

My First Glass of Wine

Today I had my first drink since I found out I was pregnant.  Allen, my Mom and I sat in the backyard and enjoyed a glass of wine.  It was so beautiful and relaxing to sit in the backyard. 

 

My first taste of the wine Allen and I made earlier this year

 

I am a lightweight...I only drank about half of the glass.  But it was so nice to have something other than water to drink.  Allen was nice enough to finish my wine for me:)



My Pregnancy in 30 Seconds

I used an app called CineMama to document my pregnancy and make this video.  I am so glad I took the time to take the pictures.  It is fun to see how much I changed over during my pregnancy. 

Alexis Addison Eames

Alexis Addison Eames was born on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at 5:34pm at Memorial Hermann Hospital. She weighed 7.9 lbs and measured 21 1/4 inches. 

My due date was 11/25 (on a side note only 5% of people give birth on their due date.  5% is a number I should bet on...when Allen and I were getting married we calculated our chances of staying married (takes into account living together before marriage, if our parents are married...) and it was 5%. I did look up the chances of getting pregnant on an IUD...it was 1.5% so there is a 5 in the number:))

I was supposed to be induced at 9pm on 11/25/14.  I woke up at 5am on Tuesday to use the restroom.  I know for sure there is a God because he knows I am a very private person and overly clean/neat person.  My water broke while using the restroom...seriously.  I was not really sure at first this is what was happening because I was not in any pain.  I assumed it would be like the movies...a big gush and then I would cry out in pain.  So of course I woke up Allen and he googled it to make sure it was my water breaking.  He went and woke up my Mom...she was in my room in under a minute:)  Good thing it was later in NY so she could text and call her family. 

 

Last picture before we left for the hospital

 

We arrived at 7am and I was brought into Triage at 7:25am.  Where was stayed for four hours.  Yes FOUR hours.  They confirmed my water broke, asked me a ton of medical questions (which made me question why they don't have my records online when my doctor is located at the hospital).  My  doctor planned to induce me but they were waiting for a room.  A room finally opened up and they started the medicine to induce labor.  Up to this point she had not dropped and I had not had any contractions. 

 

Starting to get excited:)

 

After two hours my doctor came into check on our progress.  My contractions definitely started so I thought for sure we are progressing.  However when she checked...I was in pain but nothing was happening. Alexis still had not dropped and I was only dilated to a 1 (out of 10). She said we should start considering a c-section. She was going to check back in about 2 hours.  The last hour was hard.  The contractions were coming fast and were strong..yet I knew nothing was progressing so it was pain for nothing.  She came back at 4:30pm and checked on my progress.  No change. So we decided on a c-section. 

 

I was brought into a surgery room. Allen was kept outside putting on scrubs.  They had to put a spinal tap into my back to numb me and prep for the surgery.  Then I had to lay down on the table...with nothing on (at this point I didn't care and just want to get the surgery started) . There are at least 15 people in the room.  I am cold and starting to get really nervous.  They pull up the divider sheet and then got Allen.  He can tell I am scared so I tell him to talk to me about anything...so we chatted about our backyard:)  It took less than 10 minutes and the doctor told Allen to stand up. 

 

Here is our baby girl

 

 

The first time I got to see Alexis.  What an amazing feeling...she is finally here.

 

I only had a few minutes with her and they had to take her away to get cleaned, weighed etc. Allen got to go with her and take pictures.

She is thinking....why is it so bright in here.

 

 

The happy family.  How cute is Alexis with the bow on her hat.

 

It took 30-40 minutes to finish the surgery before they could move me to recovery.  Where we spent over four hours waiting for a room.  Yes..another FOUR hours.  When we got into the recovery room I was able to start breastfeeding Alexis. She was so small laying on my chest.  Allen, Alexis and I were alone for about an hour bonding.  It was so perfect.  My Mom and sister arrived and spent the rest of the time with us.  We were finally moved to our room which I am glad we spent the extra money to upgrade to the Signature Suites.  It had a pull out couch for Allen to sleep on and they had room service for all our meals. 

 

 

Aunt Danielle holding Alexis in the recovery room

 

The next two days are a blur. We slept and nursed and just spent time together.  Allen got up every time Alexis was up to change her diaper and give her to me to nurse.  For never holding a baby before Allen is a natural. 

 

 

Taking a brief nap during feeding.  So cute

 

We were able to go home on Thanksgiving. 

 Leaving the hospital

 

Our first car ride

 

It is an amazing feeling to have a daughter.  I love everything about her. 

 

 

 

 



Alexis Month by Month

My goal is to update once a month with a new picture....

 

Newborn Month 0

1 Month

 

2 Month

3 Month

4 Month

5 Month 

6 Month 

7 Month

8 Month

Nursery

This week we worked on the nursery for Alexis.  We had the room painted a lavender color called Iced Purple.  I purchased furniture from JCP online....it only took three times to order it before it arrived.  The order was cancelled twice for no reason...it was beyond frustrating but we really loved the furniture and in the end I am so glad I gave them a third chance. (Of course this was after searching every online website for a day:))

Allen woke up at 4am on Saturday morning (his usual time to get up during the week) and started on the furniture.  The directions had many errors and the furniture is not dummy proof.  We discussed the many process improvements needed for the furniture:)  It was pretty labor intensive...almost six hours to put together the three pieces.  The nice thing about this baby furniture is it can be used for many years. The bed converts from a crib to a toddler bed to a twin bed.  So she can use if for a long time.

Allen working on the crib

 

The crib is complete.  Now onto one of the two dressers

We found a wall décor online to make a tree with butterflies as leaves.  It was a bit more complicated than we anticipated. Thankfully we have YouTube.  Above is what was in the box.

 



Here is the tree on the wall before we removed the backing

 



The tree...it looks great

Then Allen had to individually put on each butterfly.

Thankfully he has an eye for this sort of thing.  I sat on a chair and watched

The finished product.  Allen did an amazing job. 

 



Hope she loves it as much as we do

 

 

38 1/2 Weeks

 

38 1/2 Weeks,

(Funny side note...I have had this fleece since college..when wearing big clothes was in style, glad I kept it)

 

There really is not a fall season in Houston.  It went from 80's and sunny to 40 and overcast in less than two weeks.  Thankfully I have one pair of maternity jeans that has continued to fit throughout my pregnancy.  I am down to two short sleeve tops...so I am wearing a long sleeve shirt of Allen's.  I don't want to buy any additional clothes because I only have a short time left.  Plus from everything I read I understand I will be leaving the hospital in my pre-maternity clothes:) 

 

I went to the doctor today and she said if I don't deliver by 11/24 they will need to induce.  Due to my age they don't want to go past my due date.  So Alexis should be here by Thanksgiving!!  I am excited. My sister and brother will be here with us for the holiday so they will get to meet her. 

 

My mom moved in with us two weeks ago. We are so lucky and thankful.  I have no idea how we would survive without her.  My back is feeling so much better because I am able to sit and do nothing.  She has been shopping, cooking, helping with laundry, learning to change Monkey's diaper and keeping me from going stir-crazy.  It was been nice to get things done then be able to sit around and chat with her during the day. 

 

The countdown has begun...11 days or less.