4 Months Already!

Little Miss Stella Rae turned 4 Months old last Wednesday. I cannot believe how much she has grown the past few months. Her 4 month stats were :
weight - 11lbs 12oz
length - 24 1/2" long
head - 16 1/2" long

She is a petite little thing, but she is growing like a weed!

So much has happened since the last report. Grams Waite came out the end of February to spend a little time with Stella before her blessing. We spent the week shopping and hanging out. We went and picked out her blessing dress. My mom did a little modification on it to make it what I was wanting for her dress. It had a white satin sash with a white rose fabric flower on the sash and I wanted a pink sash. I wanted her to have a white dress, pink sash, pink tights and a cute pink flower for her hair. She was adorable! My dad flew out just in time to spend a little time with his first granddaughter. He just loved her up all weekend long. It was so cute to see him with her and she just giggled and talked every time he played with her. The blessing was beautiful and it was so great to have all our family and friends there for such a special occasion.

After the blessing Stella hit so many milestones with in the past month. She finally started to laugh and giggle at you. She smiles all of the time. She absolutely loves to have her diaper changed. She will go from screaming her heart out and then I lay her down on the changing table and she puts on a huge smile on and laughs at me. She loves to stare at her feet. She is enthralled by the TV and hates to take her eyes off of it. I dont know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but it is nice to be able to put baby Einstein on and get some cleaning done while she is entertained. She is very easily entertained and is such a happy baby. Stella also had her first haircut. She was rocking a mini mullet, but since I was getting my hair did, I decided to get her hair evened out so that it grows out even and not all different lengths. With in the past 2 weeks her attitude has completely changed. I think that she is teething. She has this new thing where she rubs her toung on her gums a lot. She holds her head up and stands for about 10 seconds at a time. She still sleeps through the night. She goes to bed about 9:30pm and wakes up around 8am. I am starting to put her to sleep earlier to hopefully get her to sleep longer. She usually only takes 2 naps every day. They usually are 3+ hours each though. She is such a great sleeper. We are so spoiled to have such an amazing well mannered baby. She is growing up so fast. I have just loved watching her grow and we love having her in our family.
So without further adieu, here are a few pictures of our adorable baby girl!


I love this picture. Sitting up like a big girl and smiling!


First time I actually did something with her hair.


The first day with good weather and we got outside. This was the first time we actually used the stroller.


This is what I wake up to every morning. It just makes my day to see that adorable little girl!


The mini mullet


Stella getting her hair cut for the first time


Hangin out with Grandpa Dan


Stella in her blessing dress


Grams lovin on Stella after her blessing. She just loves her grandma!


And the two loves of my life...

I love my life!

2 months

Well our baby girl turned 2 months on Sunday. Time flies when your having fun! Little Stella had her check up yesterday. Poor thing got 5 shots in her legs. I am such a coward, I had to leave the room while Drew held her for the shots. For those who dont know I HATE shots and had a traumatic experience every time my pediatrician, Dr Sonia Ruiz, tried to give me a shot! So thus my reasons for not being able to hold my baby while screaming bloody murder and getting pricked 5 times. I had to walk out of the room and hum to myself so I didn't start crying from hearing Stella scream. Her stats from her check up...
Weight - 9lbs 4 oz
Length 22 1/2" long
I am so glad that she is growing! I was nervous that I was starving her and she was not getting enough to eat.

She has a trend of sleeping 6+ hours straight every night. I say trend because I dont want to jinks it and have her wake up more. Last night was her longest stretch, 7 1/2 hours. I love that she is only 2 months old and she already puts herself to sleep every time she naps and goes down to sleep at night and she sleeps pretty much through the night! We are so glad she is here and is such a joy to have around. We love the fact that she has started smiling more and is more interactive with us. She is so easily entertained with her play mat, baby Einstein, her bouncer, and she finally likes her swing! I love that she likes all these fun things we got for her finally!

We just love our little Stella Rae to death!

Adjusting to Parenthood

Well the first 7 weeks have just flown by. Our little Estella Rae is now 7 weeks old. She is such a blessing in our lives. We are so thrilled she is finally here and healthy. So much has happened in the past 7 weeks. Just 10 days after she was born we were able to attend Drew's graduation. We are so proud of him. He graduated with his bachelors degree in Business and Administration. Through all of the screaming, clapping, and even fog horns Stella slept through the entire ceremony. Our Christmas was wonderful and Stella got so spoiled! We got to spend the holidays with Drew's family this year. It was fun. Stella did what she does best and slept through most of the day. New years was fun and we spent it partying it up and our friends house. Again, Stella slept through the party's screaming and all.
She is such a good baby. At 5 weeks old Stella slept 7 hours straight that night. She has finally figured out her days and nights and sleeps most nights 5+ hours straight. It is so nice to get good sleep at night, well most nights.

Little things about Stella
- She loves to stare
- She loves her bouncer and play mat
- She loves to look at lights
- She is just now starting to smile at you, not just from gas
- We will be retiring her newborn clothes pretty soon
- She is starting to like baths, if she is not hungry
- Most of the time she hates having her diaper changed
- She has only spit up a handful of times
- She loves Grandpa Dan to bounce her and sing songs to her
- She loves Drew to hold her while playing Call of Duty so mom can get some decent sleep (ok maybe that is one of my favorite things)
- She loves her binkie and loves to play the spit it out game with mom
- She always gives cute smiles and the one eyed look when she is drifting off to sleep, just to make sure you are still holding her
- She LOVES car rides
- She still loves to be swaddled while she sleeps
- Last but not least, a tax deduction for 2010

Here are a few updated pictures

This was awhile ago, but I love the outfit




All ready for her 1st time to church for Aunt Maria's mission farewell


Last week's church dress


one of my favorites All Smiles!!

We absolutely love our little bundle of joy!

Waite is my name!

Ok 38 weeks has passed, and I am dying here! For all the scares and dr visits and everyone predicting that she was going to be early and have to stay in the NICU for awhile, all I have to say is BOOYAH!!! My goal was Thanksgiving, and I have made it! As of last Thursday she was a little chunk (7+lbs) with a big head and big abdomen. I am so glad that she has made it this far and is still growing and getting fatter by the day, but I dont want to give birth to a 10lb kid (no offense Brooke). So I have cleaned my house from top to bottom, I have put up all of my Christmas decorations, (so I didn't have to try to do it with a new baby), I have a chest freezer stocked full of frozen dinners I have been making, and all of our hospital stuff is in the car and ready to go. I know Waite is my maiden name and all, but I am so sick of waiting! I am so ready to meet this little girl and welcome her into our family! I have tried the cleaning and walking to try to get her to come, didn't work, I have been rocking on a birthing ball, hasn't worked so far, I dont know what to do next. I know everyone says just let her come on her own, but I have to get her out by next Tuesday! My midwife has scheduled an induction for me on the 30th at 6am and that is the last thing I want to happen! I am just hoping and praying she comes on her own this week. If all of the food on Thursday does not help push her out, I am going to have to do a little Black Friday shopping to see if the walking can help work her little body out.
Well I sure hope that my next post will be pictures and an update of our little baby girl! Till then, Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!

Yup its pretty much impossible to look decent this late in the pregnancy, so I gave up.


Man I'm huge!

Just a little EXCITED!!!

I have been on a little online shopping spree, since I cannot go to any stores to find good deals, and I have found some adorable outfits for our little Estella and I cannot wait to start playing dress up! At our last appointment last Monday, I have gained only 15lbs since getting pregnant, and Stella weighed in at 5lbs 1oz and still growing!! She is doing great and labor has not progressed in 2 weeks!! So I am still hoping to get another 2+ weeks out of her before she can come. I am hoping for a 8lb little girl, so she needs to stay cookin for a little bit longer. But with all of my packages that are showing up at my door step every day or so is getting me so excited for her to come. I know I will regret saying that once she gets here and I wont be getting much sleep, but bed rest is getting old. Dont get me wrong, I dont mind laying around all day and being lazy, but I only get to be outside when I walk to my car to go to my appointments (because I am not suppose to be going down or up any stairs). It is the perfect time of year to be outside enjoying the fall weather and seeing all of the amazing colors, but I just get to watch my one tree in my back yard change from green, to brown. How unexciting!
I have all our bags packed and have got all of the hospital paper work filled out and turned in, so we are on the home stretch!! I am surprised that I have made it this far, but am determined to make it another 2 or more weeks!! My midwife said after 36 weeks I do not have to be on bed rest any more, so that means 8 days and counting!!! I dont want to have her that early, but it will be nice to be able to run to the grocery store if needed or make dinner or even just park my chair outside and watch my rabbit and dog play while I enjoy the weather, or maybe prep my garden for the winter, or clean my house, vacuum my nasty carpets, finish cleaning out my basement, or ... man there is so much to do and not enough time!
Just one last thing before I show you my huge belly, after Stella gets here I would like to make my blog private, so if you would like to view it, send me your email addresses and I will put you on the list.
So here it is (dont mind the ugliness!) .... 35 weeks ...

Nursery

My mom flew out here two weeks ago and busted her butt on my house as well as helping my sister with hers for the entire time she was out here. I felt bad that she was so busy running back and forth but I am so greatful that she as able to come spend some time with me and help me get my house all situated before Stella gets here. It turned out amazing and it is so nice to have a functional house now, instead of sheets and blankets thumb tacked in the windows and having to go downstairs to get food just to bring it up and make dinner, and having pictures on the walls instead of plain jane walls. It turned out fantastic, but my favorite is the nursery. I cannot wait till Estella gets here so she can start using it. It was a little masculine at first, but once we added the bedding and other little pink items, it turned out to be so girly and adorable! Here are a few pictures of the nursery...


My mom, the Martha she is, back in May when she was out here, painted and reupholstered my glider rocker that has been in storage the past 2 years. It turned out fantastic and matches the rest of the furniture perfectly! She also used the skirt that came with the bedding and made the valance for the window out of it. It turned out so cute!



Here is the crib and bedding. After dealing with all of the drama of the recalled cribs, we just ended up buying a new one and I think it turned out to match the rest of the furniture perfectly!



Here is the quilt that goes with the bedding. Its so cute and girly!!



Here is the bumper pads and crib close up. You cannot really see the detail, but there are little birds, leaves and flowers all on the outside of the bumper pads that match the quilt. We decided to use this crib skirt instead of the striped ones. I think it turned out so adorable with the little tutu skirt.



We decided to take off the closet doors and open it up to put the dresser. It turned out perfect and is so nice to have the extra storage! My Martha mother also made this valance out of the other half of the crib skirt.



Here is the other side of the room with the armoire and swing. Isn't the valance and curtains so fantastic??

Here is the best part of the room....



The chandelier!!! It turned out so perfect and adds just the perfect touch to the room.



For $35 I think I got a killer deal for such an adorable accent.



Close up of the chandelier.

The room turned out so adorable. Thank you so much mom for all of your help while you were out here!! I cannot wait till she gets here and we can get some use out of this adorable room!! I hope Stella loves it!?

~~~~~

I also wanted to show off more of my mom's amazing talents. While she was here for 2 weeks she made these shades to cover my windows in the kitchen. I had some plantain shudders that covered about 3/4ths of the window, but these look so much better!!



Here are the roman shades. The fabric turned out to match the rest of the kitchen perfectly!! Especially with my cute new table!



Here is a close up of it down.



Here they are both up. They turned out so fantastic!!



Here is a close up of them up.

I just have to say my mom is amazing!! I hate living so far apart, but it is so nice when I get to see her. Next time I see her, she will be flying out to meet baby Estella!!

I hope the next 6+ weeks flies by fast! I cannot wait to meet her!

Baby makin is hard work!

Well it has been awhile since I have posted anything, so I just thought I would post a little update. I am now 31 weeks along and working on my 2nd week of bed rest. I went into my check up (which has been once a week since I was 16 weeks), 2 weeks ago and found out that I was already dilated to a 2+ at only 29 weeks. That terrified me. I am far from being ready for her to be here. Her crib is not even assembled yet! So I was put on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. At my 30 week appointment, my cervix had almost doubled in length from the previous week. So bed rest must be doing some kind of good.
I am not going to lie, I was dreading bed rest. I thought that I would go crazy just laying around all day long. But it has not been too bad so far. I know it has only been 2 weeks, and I have quite a few more to go, but it is nice to lay around and be lazy all day, since I know I wont get much sleep or rest once she is here. So I am soaking it up while I can!
Both my perinatologist and midwife both said that they dont think that I would make it past 35-36 weeks. So I am just hoping that she stays in there as long as possible so that she does not have to be put in NICU. I am trying to prepare myself for that, but I know it is pretty much inevitable with already being dilated. I know it is going to be probably the hardest thing I have ever had to go through to not be able to bring my baby home with me. I am hoping for the best, but want to try to be prepared for what ever is to come. With only a few weeks away from being 35 weeks, I am going to do all that I possibly can to keep her in there for as long as possible. So until then, I am loving every moment of bed rest!