Happy Birthday Princess Elizabeth

I can't believe how fast this first year flew by. It seems like yesterday we were bringing a tiny helpless sleeping baby into the world and now 1 year later she is talking, walking, and full of energy. I woke this morning at 6:30 to the sound of Elizabeth talking to herself in her crib...she never gets up that early anymore , so I guess she knew it was her special day and she was excited!!

Anyway I got up to use the restroom and got to thinking...at the exact time that I am peeing this year...my water was breaking 1 year ago, I thought that was very funny :) That one thought brought back so many wonderful memories from that day, I still remember it like it was yesterday and I am sure I always will.

The real labor started at 10 pm on Monday the 24th...I thought to myself here we go again...more false labor. The contractions were coming every 5 minutes and I was trying to get some sleep because I was to be induced in the morning, but I could not get comfy...no matter what I tired they were still coming on strong so I got up and sat on my stability ball and watched t.v. My sister was on her way to my house so she could help me through the induction because she was induced just 4 months before and knew the pain I would be in, so I decided to try and wait up for her. At midnight she called to say she was an hour away...I was still having contractions but they were every 4 minutes in stead of every 5 now so I woke John up and started to cry to him...I was so upset I told him I was still having contractions one after another and that some of them felt like they were 2 minutes long. I wanted to go to the hospital and get DRUGS!! I wanted them to give me sleeping pills so that I could get some rest before the induction, because this fake labor was tough I needed my rest for the real thing. I begged him and begged him and he finally agreed to let me call the hospital to see what they wanted me to do.

They of course said to come in right away after I told them that I have been having contractions for hours. My sister arrived at my house at 1 am and we loaded up the car and took off for the hospital that was 45 minutes away. I thought the ride there was going to be horrible because right before we left the contractions started coming every 3 minutes (why I still thought it was false labor...is beyond me, who knows what I was thinking) anyway we got in the car and started driving and my contractions slowed to every 6 minutes and I was pissed...I thought I was still in false labor. We arrive at the hospital and get weighted in a all that good stuff. they come and check me and the nurse ask:

Nurse:" have you bee checked before?"
Me: "Yes"
Nurse: "what were you then?"
Me: "ONLY 1 CM"
Nurse: "when were you last checked"
Me: "YESTERDAY"
Nurse: "Oh well congrats honey your in labor...you are now 4cm"
Me: "whoo, whoo"

I was so loud when I screamed that my sister heard me from in the hallway :)

The nurses then asked me if I wanted any drugs and I turned them down...my sister and husband laughed at me because that was the reason I wanted to come...to get drugs. We decided to walk the hallways and a few hours later I decided to let them check me again...I was now 7.5 cm dilated and my water bag was budging...they told me it was about to break any minute and said now would be the perfect time to get my epi. I declined at first but went ahead and got it, because I wanted to enjoy the rest of my labor and the actual birthing part. It was HEAVEN

once I got it but it slowed down my labor because when my doctor came back at 6:30am to check me I was still 7.5cm and my water broke when she tried to check me, so she said to speed it up I will be given some pitocin...which was fine, I didn't feel a thing because my epi was so great!! At 9 am I was dilated 9 cm so they said they would call my doctor back in we got everything set up and at 9:40 I started to push...at 10:08 my little princess was born 7 lbs 3.2 oz and 19 3/4 inches. She was perfect!!
And here we are 1 year later...she is still perfect. She is also so smart!! I will tell her "do you want to take a bath" and she starts heading for the bath tub saying "bah, bah" or I will say "go get mommy a book" and she will head off to find her favorite book saying "bou, bou". She also knows now when I ask "do you want to go outside" that she needs to find her shoes and head for the door...it is way to cute :)

Happy Birthday Miss Elizabeth Ashley...my precious princess!!

Our Trip To St. Louis

This past weekend we had a short trip to St. Louis. We arrived Friday morning and had a really hard time with the car rental company but eventually got everything straightened out. Then we went to Tami's house where we meet up with her and Aubrey and my mom who also flew into town for Elizabeth's b-day party. We spent the day with them playing and decorating Elizabeth's cake. Then we went to a Balloon glow and saw fireworks :)

The next day was my birthday and we had a small party for Elizabeth, she had so much fun playing with cousin Aubrey. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy:

Her party was a princess party:

Here she is eating:
Elizabeth with cousin Aubrey:
Cake time: she never really dug into the cake...but she enjoyed the icing
Opening gifts...she was not very interested in them...she would rather play with the ribbon:
Her favorite new toy:
cousin Aubrey running away with Elizabeth's new toys :)

The next day we took Elizabeth to the butterfly house to see the butterfly's and she loved it...and we also went to see her Aunts Natalie and Nicole play soccer. Then we flew back Monday morning so as you can see it was a busy busy weekend. Now it's time to get ready for her other party set for this weekend :)

Elizabeth's 1st Year Video

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

1 Year Photo's

We took Elizabeth today to get her 1 year pictures and she did great (and so did the people taking the pictures). It was wonderful...we took her in to get pictures, they were so good with her and we got to leave the store with all of the pictures!! We did not have to wait weeks for our photos we only had to wait an extra 20 minutes for them to print...I was completely amazed!! Here are a few of my favorites...if you would like to see more please visit her web site at: http://standerferbaby.aboutmybaby.com/

Video of Elizabeth Walking

Elizabeth took her first steps almost 2 months ago...then did not take another step until a few days ago and now she is walking everywhere!! I hope you enjoy the video!! :)

And There She Goes...

Elizabeth is walking everywhere now...she still crawls here and there but she always starts out walking, after she falls she will crawl for a little while and then stand back up and try again. This all started last night! She took her first steps weeks ago and then didn't take another step until last night. I was seriously starting to think that she would not walk til about 13 months because she seemed to be no where close...she took those first few steps and then gave up...then last night out of no where she was trying to walk everywhere!!

Today she did not try to walk again until about 4pm and then from then on that is all she did tonight....just walked everywhere she would take about 10 steps in a row before she would fall then she would just get back up and try again. But of course I did not get a good video of it because she would not do it for me if I got the camera out....hopefully I will get that shot soon.

I can't believe my baby is walking!!! :)

Elizabeth Update

I thought that tonight I would update everyone on Elizabeth since I have been a slacker!! She is still crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything but she will not walk yet on her own. She cruses around and holds on to our fingers or just holds one hand and walks with us but she is to scared to venture on her own.

She is sleeping beautifully and I can not believe it...she has been going to bed at 8pm and sleeping til 9-9:30, but I think I need to start waking her up earlier because soon she will be going to work with me and the days she sleeps till 9-9:30 she only takes 1 naps and I need her to take 2!! LOL

She is in the process of getting two more teeth both on the bottom, so that has been a little hard, but not too bad.

Other than those things I can't think of anything else that is new, but I will say that she is a very active baby that loves to be outside!

So I have been bad...

Sorry I have not been keeping up to date with this little blogg....I was doing so well and then I got very busy with work and stuff that I never found time to get online and post. I have been working alot lately and when I am not at work I am spending time with Elizabeth, who by the way is growing up way to fast. Anyway, there is not really to much to report but I promise that I will try to update more often than I have been. :)