2 weeks with our little sweetie...

It's so hard to believe that little Ellie turned 2 weeks old yesterday! Our world has definitely been turned upside down over the last 15 days, but it's been nothing short of amazing! We went from footloose and fancy free...coming and going as we pleased to all of a sudden, everything revolves around feeding Ellie (didn't I JUST feed her???), changing Ellie, burping Ellie, getting Ellie to sleep, getting her to wake up (now this is a tough one!), and the cycle repeats itself. Daddy LOVES his little girl... It's so fun to watch him with her... He's always snuggling with her and just staring at her. I love it. Hope you enjoy these pictures from this week in her life! There is definitely no shortage of pictures of our princess!

time with Daddy is some of my favorite time!

worn out after meeting lots of new friends at church!

I was definitely worth the wait...

More Daddy time!!!

all dressed up with Mommy after my first day at church...

chillin' with Mom and Dad watching some American Gladiators!

I love hanging out in my Boppy...

My Daddy loves me!

Grandparents are such a GIFT!

As you can see, we've been taking LOTS of pictures of our little princess over the last 12 days. :) I guess that comes with the territory of this being our first and Ellie being the first girl grandchild on my side and the first grandchild altogether on Joel's. She is going to be one photographed little girl. Joel's Dad is a professional photographer, so we got some great shots over the last week while they were here.

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Today was our first day of parenting without the help of our families. Wow, did it make us appreciate all they have done! Not only while they were here, but for all the years they have invested into our lives... It's a tough job, but the most rewarding one I can think of...

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We had the privilege of having my parents here for a week and then Joel's family here for a week. They got to overlap for a couple of days and so that was a lot of fun as well. I can't tell you how much they blessed us while they were here! My Dad replaced our sink faucet, mowed our lawn TWICE, cut down a tree...the list is too long to write it all! Mom planted flowers and cleaned my oven...just to name a couple of things! Joel's parents stained our deck and helped finish hanging all of the stuff in the baby's room. And both sets of parents just served our socks off during the days they were here... not only doing things around the house, but loving us and our little girl in such amazing ways... We can't begin to express just how grateful and thankful we are for our wonderful families and there is nothing I want more than for Ellie and any other children God may bless us with to have strong relationships with their Grandparents... They really do play such a vital role in our kids' lives...

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I'm realizing more and more what a big job parenting is! I feel like I need a few more sets of hands... :) It's been such a wonderful experience so far. Stretching in many ways, but I can't imagine anything else I would rather do than to have the privilege of being called a wife to Joel and a Mom to my little girl... It's so fun the way that God created it. I love it when I walk into a room and Ellie cranks her head around because she hears my voice... It's such a reminder of how I want to be with God. To know Him so well that He's the one who turns my head when I hear His voice... That His voice would be the one the I know and that comforts me.

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Anyway, it's late and I need to sleep cause soon it will be time to get up and feed Ellie! My new 8+ hour a day job. :) But I had a free minute, so wanted to post...

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Thanks for checking in and thank you to everyone who has called, made a meal, stopped by or sent a gift for our precious new little one. We are incredibly grateful!

love, jen

One Week old today!

Our little girl was ONE WEEK old today! I can't believe how quickly the last 7 days have gone... And though it's only been a week, I can't imagine what life was like before our little Ellie Hope... She has brought nothing but joy to our lives! She's definitely turned our lives upside down, but in a good way. :) I'm learning to adjust to little sleep at night...feeling like I'm constantly feeding and then trying hard to get a couple of things done in between! I thought I struggled to get things done before, but now I get excited to get just one or two things marked off of my list in a day!

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Ellie has been a champ at feeding and she really has such a sweet little disposition... Right now she is just laying bright eyed in her pack and play. She smiles all the time and is just the most content little baby. We are absolutely smitten with her. Her Daddy just loves her and it's so fun for me to watch him talk to her and hold her... One of his new favorites (and hers too!) is to let her lay on his chest. I think she likes to hear his heart beat...

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Well, there is much more to write...but little girl is now up. I'll post again as soon as I can!

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loving being a mommy! jen

Ellie Hope has arrived!!!

Monday morning as we headed to the hospital to have Ellie!

I am so sorry that it's taken so long to get this post up! We have officially been parents for over three days and we are LOVING every minute of it! Yes, even the minutes of no sleep during the night. It's all so wonderful and we couldn't be more in awe of our beautiful baby girl. She truly is a miracle. We just keep looking at her and pinching ourselves. It's so hard to believe the gift that she is... God has been so good to us.

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Here are the stats: Ellie Hope Johnson was born at 4:12pm on Monday, July 14th. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long! She has a head full of DARK hair! And she is perfect in every way...

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There were a few bumps in the road on her birthday, but God was so gracious to bring her to us safe and sound. We are very thankful to have had such a wonderful Doctor who was quick to act when needed. Here is a little of her birth story.

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We headed to the hospital at 7am on Monday morning to be induced (though I had started to go into labor on my own during the night on Sunday! yay!)... We got admitted and started on pitocin at 7:30am to get the contractions coming stronger... Not long after, the doctor broke my water to help speed things up. Throughout the day, Ellie's heartrate kept dropping and so I was taken off of the pitocin to allow the contractions to progress more naturally. I labored "naturally" until 3pm and then the pain got pretty intense, so I went with the epidural! (I would highly recommend this!)... I was like a new person and was actually able to converse with people again... But then 30 minutes later, Ellie's heartrate dropped from 140 down to the 80's and after that, everything happened really fast! My doctor came quickly into our room and said that something was definitely causing Ellie to be in distress and we needed to do an emergency C-section to get her out. So, at 4:12pm, Ellie Hope Johnson made her entrance into the world. She had her cord wrapped around her neck and she was also having trouble fitting through my pelvis...so the doctor said I could have labored for another 6-7 hours and would have ended up with same C-section result. Ellie had also had her first bowel movement in-utero since she was 6 days overdue, so this caused concern...but thankfully her lungs were fine!

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God answered so many prayers!!! We are so thankful that our little girl is here safe and sound and we have been enjoying adjusting to life as a family of three. Thank you for all your prayers and love throughout our pregnancy and now as Ellie has entered the world!!!

still waiting on our little miracle...

Well, we are now officially 3 days past "Lucy's" due date... but I'm surprisingly alright with it! After a small period of thinking that "maybe" she was coming Tuesday night into Wednesday morning (I had recognizable contractions for the first time!), I was a little bummed to have a Dr. appt. and find out that I really hadn't progressed as I had thought and that it would probably still be a little while. So, I've reset my expectations and am settling in knowing that it might be a few more days! My Dr. still doesn't want us to go over 41 weeks and there was an opening at the hospital on Monday, so if she doesn't make her appearance on her own before then, we'll be induced Monday morning! So three more days really isn't all that long at all!

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I think I've decided on her coming home outfit! I laugh because coming home from the hospital for us is like 8 blocks! Ha! But it's still going to be a momentous occasion. So, I've wanted to select her little outfit carefully! I think I wrote this in a previous entry, but I had 4 outfits all packed for her so I could decide once I saw her... But then my good friend Jana came to have lunch with me last week and brought her this ADORABLE little shirt and hat above and from the moment I saw it, I knew that this was the outfit! That is, if it fits her. It might be a little big...but even so, I'm putting it on her for a little while at least! She truly is our little miracle and I continue to thank God for her everyday...

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Stay tuned. It shouldn't be long now! Please keep praying for a smooth and healthy delivery of our sweet girl...

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Continuing to wait in HOPE... jen

Lucy didn't get the memo...

...that today was supposed to be her big debut into the outside world! :) I can't say that I'm too surprised. I've been feeling too good and haven't even had the slightest inkling of the onset of labor. I've heard that you can go from feeling great to having contractions very quickly, but for some reason I have this feeling that it will be a few more days. Our doctor doesn't really want us to go over 41 weeks, so if we haven't had her by next Wednesday, July 16th, we will be induced. My prayer is that she'll come on her own before that! I really do want to go into labor naturally. But we will see. I was a "fashionably late" baby myself, arriving 10 whole days after my due date! According to Joel, he thinks I've run late ever since! Though I'm really trying to get better about that!

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Anyway, thanks for everyone who has been checking in on us... We're all ready! The hospital bag is packed, the house is cleaned (i said if she waits too much longer, I'll have to clean again!), the carseat is in the car and her first little diapers and outfits are all laid out! We're just waiting for our little sweetie to decide it's time... We are excited to meet her, but don't want to be too impatient...

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I took what I hope will be my last pregnancy picture today at 40 weeks... I thought I'd share it along with my first pic taken at 15 weeks... It's kind of fun to look back!

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Enjoy... Hoping one of our next few posts will have a way cuter picture!!! One of our little girl! Stay tuned...

No 4th of July baby...

I just received this picture of my adorable nephew, Wyatt, so thought I would share it with you! Isn't he growing up SO fast? I can't wait to see this little guy again soon...

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We were wondering if our Lucy would decide to be our little firework baby, but it wasn't meant to be! :) She was pretty quiet the whole day, just hanging out. We had a great day...got to go to Topeka for most of it to shop for some last minute baby items and also got to hang out with my good friend Macie... Then last night had a great time watching fireworks with a couple of other friends, Bob and Alissa. We finally got Lucy's pack and play and got it all set up in our room. Joel was teasing me that I already have it stacked with diapers and wipes, etc. It's got everything it needs! Just waiting for a baby!!! :)

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Hoping to have a really productive day today and finish knocking things off of our "to-do" list. The doctor has said that she doesn't want us to go over 41 weeks, so we're pretty sure that little Miss Johnson will be arriving within the next week... Please pray that I will go into labor on my own and not need to be induced. But if we do, that it will be a smooth labor and delivery.

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Excited to introduce you to our new little girl very soon!!! jen

Can the belly get any BIGGER??? 39 weeks...

We've almost made it! Just one week from our due date...though once again, I'm not holding my breath that she will come on time. I'm not the most patient person in the world, so the Lord has a way of teaching me through my circumstances... I love that our little girl is doing so well and is so content inside! It will be a surprise to all of us as to the day she decides to arrive!!! It's to that point where you wonder every day, "could this be THE day?" But I feel so "normal" each day with no impending signs of labor... But I know the time will be here soon...

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Joel and I really are making the most of our last few days of "just the two of us"... I am so thankful that the Lord saw it was GOOD to give us over 6 1/2 years of married life to just grow in our friendship. We LOVE being together. There is no one I would rather do anything with than Joel... We have such a good time together, no matter what we're doing. So the last couple of weeks since we've been home, we've tried hard to make our time special by taking extra dates out as a couple. Sometimes that has meant going out to dinner or on a long walk. We've had lots of nights where we've just gone to a coffee shop and talked until they closed (this is a tradition for us, starting with our very first coffee date in 2001! We got asked to leave because the place had closed 45 minutes earlier and we hadn't even realized it!). We're having a lot of fun...

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But we're ready for this next season and all it has in store... I can't wait for us to take on our new roles as Daddy and Mommy! We've been reading up, though I've been told that no amount of reading can prepare you for what's about to take place! There is nothing cuter, though, that looking over and seeing Joel reading his "What a Difference a Daddy Makes" book and then filling me in on all he is learning. He's going to be one amazing Daddy, that's for sure and I can't wait to see him hold our little girl for the first time. She definitely already has him wrapped around her little finger. It's the cutest thing in the world...

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Enjoying these last few days... jen