Elise's birth

A bit of a lengthy post but I wanted it all recorded and typing was more feesible than my journal with a baby constantly in my arms. Don't worry, I'm not complaining :) 

Just two days ago at 10:34 am, a sweet little girl named Elise came into our lives. She weighed 9 lbs. even, well technically 8 lbs. 15.9oz :) She was 21 in. long. She came on the day I was due because we had an induction scheduled for that morning. She hadn't dropped on her own and since Bailee had a similar situation and was induced, we went ahead and scheduled it to avoid playing the waiting game again that would result in an induction anyway. When I got to the hospital, I was having decent contractions on my own so the induction ended up just speeding up the process. The doctor said I would have been in that day whether it was from the induction or on my own. My water was broken just before 8am and I was started on Pitocin around the same time. By 9 am I had progressed enough to be in serious pain and received my epidural. It ended up only working on one of my legs so even with moving to get the medicine to go to the other leg, I ended up progressing to 8-9 cm and felt every bit of it on one side of my body. It was such an odd sensation to feel such pain only in my right hip. The anesthetist came back and after a couple of adjustments, I was relieved of pain just in time to deliver. I was instructed to start pushing and after one push, the nurse quickly had me stop because the doctor was not there yet and she didn't want to catch the baby. My doctor ran over and came in out of breath because she wasn't expecting me to go so fast. Just 2 more pushes and Elise was out! She didn't have a single mark on her head and her little head was a perfect little ball because there was no time for it to shape to a cone :) She was quiet right away and took a minute before crying so she came very peacefully. With Bailee it was more surreal because I was becoming a mom for the first time. With Elise, it was more emotional and a stronger spiritual experience thinking of being blessed once again with a healthy child of God. Her weight surprised us, but by late evening she had dropped 7 oz putting her at Bailee's birth weight of 8lb 9 oz so I assumed she must have had a lot more fluid in her that came out later in the day.
 Dave and I make it where we are the only ones to be in the delivery room, besides the medical team of course, and we love that first little bit of just being together with our new little baby. After a little while, we had my mom bring Bailee but still just had our, now, family of 4 together. Bailee was excited to see Elise at first and held her for about a minute until Elise began to cry. After that, she was more interested in all of the things in the hospital room and was apprehensive toward Dave or I depending on who was holding Elise. After mom and Jennah visited and it was time for them to go, Bailee came and held me not wanting to let go, and letting out a few whimpers and cries to have to leave. It broke my heart to hear her sad and still unsure about all that was happening. 

The next day in the hospital Bailee was much more in love with Elise and happy to be around her :) It was so sweet to see her love on her so much. 

We went home after one day which we were so grateful for. We personally are not big fans of being in the hospital for very long so luckily I have been blessed with healthy births and babies so we don't have to stay long. 

Bailee is a bit of a smothering lover as a big sister but Elise handles it pretty well :) 

A glimpse of our new normal :)

Just playing around and my phone didn't do too bad :)

It kills Bailee that Elise can't play with her yet or share her snacks so I have to keep a close eye on Elise for fear of Bailee trying to involve her in activities she is not quite ready for :) I finally took a picture after the 2nd round of toys went in just to have the memory but then reminded Bailee again of the danger of putting toys on the baby. 

Cuddling with my girls :)

So  I am never really sure who reads this or if anybody else does but I have made it a goal this year to keep this more updated for family and friends who live far away and want to get an update on our little family. I will be making it a private blog again soon so please let me know your email so I can include you to have access to it :)

Christmas time

Well 2 weeks from today I am due with Elise so we took the time to get out as a family before she comes :) we took Bailee for the first time to see Santa then went to the opryland hotel to see the lights and nativity. 

Bass pro shop Santa :)

She said she wanted a Mickey star and a mermaid. 

A little train in the opryland hotel. 

It was wonderful to end our night at the nativity and listen to the story of Christ over a loudspeaker. It was so peaceful and a beautiful display of the most important reason we celebrate this season. I am so grateful for my Savior and all that he gave for me. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving!

So  I guess I only think to update our blog on holidays since the last post was halloween :) I guess I better do a thanksgiving post before I just jump to Christmas! 

We had a wonderful thanksgiving break! Dave had a week off and Blake, Michelle, and baby Spencer came to visit! It was our first time meeting Spencer and we loved holding him and getting to see his sweet little personality :) his laugh and smile are infectious! 

He was pretty big on Bailee's lap but she was so excited to hold him :) after they left she continued to ask about him often. 

I had so much fun planning and making thanksgiving dinner! It was my first and I look forward to doing it again :) this picture is pumpkin cheesecake that will definitely be a staple tradition each year!

No baby yet.. Let's make cookies!

We heard that Santa likes sugar cookies and I somehow have energy so we went ahead and made some! For some reason I am always intimidated by making sugar cookies.. Not sure why... Finally doing it I have decided they are my favorite cookies to make with a toddler! It was actually a lot of fun! Bailee had a blast as well :) 

Trunk or treat!

Tonight was our ward trunk or treat and it was great! We really liked that it was not a dinner as well so less work all around but still lots of fun to dress up and pass out candy :)

We made a joint effort with our friends the Vests and we were pretty happy with how our trunk turned out :)

I was a magic 8 ball with an answer on my back that you can't see, Dave wore uncle nate's Air Force attire, and obviously Bailee was Minnie Mouse :) we were surprised she was the only minnie there and once again she loved going around and actually saying "trick or treat" this year :) it is so fun to be on the parent side of holidays and my enjoyment is just seeing how excited she is. 

Happy Halloween! 

Grandma and Papa Wilcox visit!

We have been so lucky to have both of our parents come visit us this summer!

This past week we had Dave's parents here and it was so great having them! We tried out BBKings restaurant and blues club in Nashville for dinner and loved it! We visited Belle Meade Plantation then had a picnic at the Parthenon. We loved having some down time to swim, play games, relax, and chat. Bailee loved playing with them and singing happy birthday to "Grammy" over and over since we celebrated while they were here :) it was only a few days so it flew by but we were so grateful for the time they took to come spend time with us!

Panama City!

Dave has a week and a half off and we decided we needed a little family vacation. Even though it would be a 7 hour drive we wanted to go to the coast. We have heard about the beautiful beaches and white sand and wanted to try out the gulf coast. We drove straight through Alabama and enjoyed the diversity of homes and small towns. 

Bailee stayed busy in the back napping, snacking, and playing with toys or reading books. We are so grateful that she stays entertained without needing a movie or a device to play on the whole time. We saw a lot of cows and horses and loved the greenery the whole way! That may be one of our favorite things about the south.. It stays green all year! 

We set up in our hotel which was a great deal on Priceline! We were a little nervous but it exceeded our expectations and thoughts of how it was going to be. 

Clockwise from left- this is how she eats sandwiches.. We have tried teaching her to keep it closed. Bailee and me at the hotel. A corded phone is a novelty and she kept wanting to talk on them. And of course she was so excited for her big bed to jump in the pillows. 

After settling in we headed out for some food and beach time! 

We ate at pineapple willy's and tried our first alligator! The food was great and Bailee even liked the alligator. Dave and I have made a little tradition of trying new things on trips and now have had shark and alligator. Now I just need to take him back to Australia to try kangaroo! We wouldn't support eating these things all of the time but we enjoy trying new foods. 

Because of eating at the restaurant we were able to stay parked there and have access to the beach. Bailee had been talking about going there for at least a week so she was thrilled to be there! Dave turns back into a kid at the beach which I love because I enjoy sitting back mostly and watching him play with Bailee. 

More pictures of our beach time because that is all we wanted to do for our time there. There are other touristy things to do but we could have spent a week at the beach alone. We debated staying longer but chose to leave when we heard a tropical storm was headed our way! 

We were so grateful to have a little family vacation even with Dave in school. There are still many destinations on our list we would like to go to while living here but we are glad to be slowly checking off that list :)

Another little princess!!

Well I went to the doctor today and found out we are having another little girl! We had to do things a little differently this time because we knew Dave wouldn't e able to be with me. I was able to leave Bailee with a friend and was on my own. I had them put the gender picture in an envelope, picked up Dave and Bailee then headed to the park for lunch to open it together :) I am so excited for Bailee to have a playmate! This little girl is just as active as Bailee was in my tummy too so we anticipate a lot more energy in our home :) Dave jokingly said a few days ago that if we had another girl, then The Lord wants us to keep going because if it was a boy he would have been happy to be done :) now we just have to figure out a name for this little one... She is doing well and is healthy and now it is all starting to feel more real and exciting! I will enjoy a few more months of no diapers. I look forward to the baby smell again and the constant cuddles to be enjoyed :)

Baby coming!!

We are so excited to announce that we will be blessed with another sweet spirit from The Lord at Christmas this year! 

We will find out the gender a week from this coming Monday. Bailee has been so cute and excited about having a sibling and we are doing all that we can to prepare her for the change but only time will really tell :) 

This morning we took a walk with her baby to our apartment playground and are doing things regularly with play babies to teach her the caring for a baby. Knowing Bailee, we anticipate a little bit too helpful of an attitude and wanting to take care of the real baby :)

A few happenings lately:

My parents came for a couple of weeks which was fun to have our first visitors! Bailee continues to talk about them and how they went home on the airplane. She loved having nana and papa here. They helped her start potty training, took her to the pool a lot and started teaching her to swim without floaties, and spoiled her with lots of grandparent love!

Potty training is going very well :)

 One of those " just go get the camera and take a picture" moments :) my mom has told me that whenever your children make a mess (as long as they aren't in danger) go get the camera because you will want to look back on these moments as part of their curious childhood. This is only baby powder so not a big deal at all. We are teaching her that there are good choices and poor choices so when I walked in on her like this, she looked at me and said " poor choice..." We are liking the use of that phrase as opposed to bad, naughty, or trouble. Her carpet and room sure smelled nice and baby fresh afterward! 

Just a young family enjoying this journey The Lord is guiding us through. We love where we are and are taking things one day at a time :)

Good times with Reese and Abby.. a bit delayed

I have been meaning to do this post for a while now, so I am happy to finally take the time for it :) While living in Sacramento, I was blessed with an opportunity to watch a little girl named Reese who is only 1 month older than Bailee and occasionally her older sister Abby. I grew to love these girls and their wonderful parents like family and I loved how great of little friends Bailee and Reese became. Once we moved to Tennessee, we were driving to the store and Bailee was excitedly shouting "Reese house! Reese house!" thinking we were going there. It was so sweet and made me miss the two of them together. We sure miss them but are grateful for the time we were able to be together. We now have friends for a long time and hope that when we go back to visit we will be able to get the girls together again :)

The last day we were together

 

 

It amazes me how much they grew in less than a year