Introducing....

Miss Lucia Louise! We call her Lucy.

Born January 20th, 2011 at 3:03 pm.

She was 7 lbs. 13 oz. of absolute perfection.

She has a head full of white blonde hair and adorable dimples.

Birth story and details to follow, for now snuggles are demanded 24/7 :)

We are so in love with this little peanut.

Maternity leave.

This mama has been busy!! Let me start by saying maternity leave is pretty much the best thing ever invented. I am so enjoying my free time while I wait for this little girl to arrive. You would think that all I've been doing is laying around right? HA. I've learned this nesting stuff is serious business. I have the concentration and motivation to get things done I would have never given a second glance before pregnancy. Basically I've been working through a room each day/every few days and totally re-organizing and cleaning it. I get such a huge sense of accomplishment when I finish one! This house is starting to shine and we have had a LOT of garbage the past few weeks. It feels awesome.

I'm still having contractions, and lately I've had periods of more intense spurts...but they never muster up to anything or start real labor, so it really is a tease. Trying to be patient waiting for the one little being that will completely change your life is difficult! But we've got our hospital bags packed and last minute items done so now we just wait. Here are a few pictures, they are random because we've been bad at taking them. Here I am at 35 weeks.And here I am at 37.5 weeks...full term! I am HUGE! I've been able to meet Jay for lunches on his break here and there and that totally makes my day...it's so fun to have a mid-afternoon date, and we look forward to doing that once bean makes her arrival too so she can see daddy! Alright, back to work...so much to do!

Christmas.

Things have been so crazy around here that I haven't even had time to blog about Christmas! We had a wonderful and full few days spent with our loved ones and we were able to see all of our families and share the special time with them. We kept dreaming about how fun next Christmas will be with a little one in the house. At Bunny + Papa's we celebrated Jesus' birth with birthday cake and our tradition of reading "One Solitary Life." If you've never read it, I've posted the content below.

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn't go to college.
He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born.
He did none of these things one usually associates with greatness.
He had no credentials but Himself.

He was only 33 when public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. When he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that One Solitary Life.

I love that reading. Aren't family traditions the best? We are looking forward to starting even more next year. We were ridiculously spoiled with gifts this year, and are so thankful for so many useful items we need for baby, etc. One of my favorite gifts was a new Canon powershot camera. I'm not going to always want to lug my big fancy camera around to the zoo or other baby outings, and we hadn't upgraded our "smaller" camera since college. My Grandpa picked this beauty out for us!

My favorite gift was a necklace Jay got me-a silver necklace from etsy with bean's name hanging from a delicate chain. It's perfect and I love it. I wish I could show a picture of it, hopefully soon! ;) We also got a couple sets of our china and we are on our way to hosting some fabulous, fancy dinner parties. Bean got a pint sized rocking chair just for her and our handmade book holder from Papa. We are so lucky!

We also had time to plan our first family trip for this summer. We're heading to Key West for about 2 weeks in June. We rented a house right on the beach on one of the Florida Keys islands. It will be bean's first vacation and we can't wait to have her here to share it with her, she'll be such a fun age!

As it always does, Christmas break flew by and we had to say goodbye to my sister :( But for her birthday she gets to fly home when the baby is born!! So we will get to see her again very soon and for a very special occasion. I can't wait to see her again. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season filled with nothing but joy and happiness! Here's to a new year!

Labor.

On Wednesday of last week I started having consistent, time-able contractions around 9 am. I've never been in labor before so I thought they were braxton hicks and really didn't think twice about it. Around lunchtime I told my mom I was having contractions and when I told her how long I'd been having them and how long they were lasting, she told me to call my doctor right away. I still thought it was no big deal. After a call into my doctor, I was sent immediately to the hospital around 2:30 pm. Upon admittance they hooked me up to the fetal monitors and told me I was in labor.

What?? Labor? I was embarrassed to even go to the hospital because I was sure I would be sent home with false labor pains! Meanwhile my husband was on his way to Denver for a ski trip with a friend. Perfect timing. Since I was only 35 weeks my doctor would not let me have her {and I didn't want to with Jay out of town!} so I was given 3 shots of medication to stop the contractions and to ease me out of labor. They eventually found out I had an infection which was causing me to go into labor to protect the baby and get her out. The nurse told me had I not come in when I did, we'd have a little baby girl in the world. Crazy. I was monitored for 5 hours until the contractions lessened and then given antibiotics and sent home. I tried to relax and rest for the evening but the contractions kept coming and never went away, so at 11:30 pm my mom made me go back to the hospital.

This time I was given another dose of shots and hooked up to an IV with more medication. We stayed until 3 am and I was so exhausted....I just couldn't get rid of the contractions! We got home by 3:30 and I slept for most of the next day. I ended up going back to the hospital on New Years Eve because they were growing in intensity and I was very sick. They switched my antibiotics thinking that the first medication was not working to fight the infection. This time my Mom was prepared and brought us a bag full of goodies and we had a feast in the hospital while I was monitored :) Now I've been home and out of the hospital for a few days but I continue to have contractions, and I am so exhausted. After 36 weeks they most likely will let me continue into active labor, so as early as next week we could be meeting our little girl! They sent me home with the medication they were giving me through shots in pill form so that I can take it at home and not have to go back in. So who knows, we may be welcoming her into our world sooner than we thought!

I would not have been scared had Jay been there, but I was so afraid something would happen while he was out of town! I felt terrible because I know he was very worried while on vacation and he wanted to come home right away. I tried to reassure him that I was fine and that our doctor had everything under control and wouldn't let me go into active labor, so it was only a matter of getting medication to stop the contractions. Anyways, I was never happier to see him when he got home on Sunday and I have no fear he won't be leaving my side until she arrives now :)

Thanks for all your prayers and concern for our family. I'm very tired from lack of sleep and continuous contractions, but it's all worth it for the end result when we can finally meet bean-whenever she decide it's time!