Happy Mother's Day

I'm very grateful today for my two wonderful children! It feels so amazing to say our "kids". Cora slept wonderfully last night going to bed at 9 and getting up every three hours to eat and poop a million times. I'm considering that my Mother's Day present. I'm recovering well and the only pain I complain about is my back from nursing and carrying her around. Cousin Sam came over for pizza and a visit last night. Eli enjoyed having him here. We went for our first family walk, yesterday. Eli was so excited to use the double stroller. I only made it to the end of the block and back, but it did feel wonderful to be out as a family. Cora is my little "butter ball". I'm still just amazed at how big she is. Newborn onesies are just barely fitting her already. I can't help it but I just laugh with joy at this big bundle. She looks so much like Brandon!

Cora Eleanor Judson

Just wanted to take a moment and introduce the beautiful Cora Eleanor Judson! She was born on Tuesday, May 4th around 11:42 a.m. weighing a whopping 7 lbs 11 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. We are all adjusting nicely to being a family of four. Eli LOVES his sister. He hugs, kisses, and snuggles her constantly. He never passes by without tenderly rubbing her hair/head. We are blessed beyond belief!

Adventure

Wednesday afternoon I was still feeling dizzy, so I left a message for my doctor's nurse (he's out of town). She called me back and advised I should go check in at Labor and Delivery and have them check my blood pressure and make sure everything was alright. I packed snacks and toys into the diaper bag and we headed to the hospital. They hooked me up to the baby monitors and contraction monitor and the blood pressure machine which took my blood pressure four times. My blood pressure was fine and everything was looking good when all of a sudden Cora's heart rate dropped for a minute then came back up. Because of that they ordered a Biophysical profile (which is a sonogram for 1/2 an hour that checks different movements, breathing, etc. of the baby). We'd already been there two hours at this point, so we decided it would be best for Brandon to take Eli out to eat and to the park and wait and see what was going to happen. Eli was a trooper in the hospital. He played with his toys, flipped through the TV stations, and loved playing up on the bed with me. He kept asking for Nana and Bum because we'd been telling him that when I was in the hospital he was going to stay with them. So cute! They pumped me full of IV fluids in case that's what was causing my dizziness and did the BPP. Cora passed the test and her heart rate was great the rest of the time. By the time they finally released me I'd been there five hours. My friend Courtney came and sat with me because Brandon had taken Eli home to bed. I was practically begging them to let me have my c-section then (but legally they couldn't because I wasn't 39 weeks yet and there was nothing wrong with me or the baby). It was frustrating, but I'm glad that everything is fine with both me and the baby. They did lab work which showed that I'm no longer anemic, so I'm thrilled my supplement is finally working.

This is Brandon's last day of work for two weeks. I'm looking forward to our last weekend as a family of three. I'm feeling a lot better today than the past couple of days. I guess I can wait three more days to meet this little girl!

Waiting game

Well, we're just waiting around. Eli's keeping us as busy as ever wanting to play outside nonstop and do art projects. He loves coloring with markers and painting. I even broke out some glitter glue yesterday for some projects. He's so proud of himself because he figured out how to make circles and swirls when coloring now. We had our first strawberry ready in the garden (we just have 4 little plants for Eli). Eli was thrilled...he's been trying to pick it for days. They are huge strawberries, the same size as store bought, which is different than I've ever had before. He scarfed it down and was ready for more! Eli wants to work on his alphabet a million times a day. I never thought I'd be SO sick of the ABC's :-) He loves this certain set of flash cards and always brings them to us to look at. He likes to say words that he knows go with the letters such as: M-Mama, Moo; N-Nana; etc. He points out letters like crazy when we're out and about and even on signs as we're driving. I'm glad he loves them!

I had my last doctor's appointment on Monday. Nothing new to report. Everything was still good. Now we wait! I've been feeling really good and still able to be just as active as usual in the garden, outside, etc. until today. I'm not feeling good so Brandon came home from work to take care of Eli so I could rest and take a break. It's been really nice having his help. He took Eli out all morning to the mall, church to play drums, and picked up some food. At the mall, he let Eli play at the play area and then let him run around and choose what stores he wanted to go in. He chose Victoria's Secret and Spencers. I should be worried right?

Nesting

We have rejoined the world....aka...we got a new computer! Our computer sort of died on Thursday morning. We've been lucky that it's lasted longer than five years. I went insane not having internet for three days. Crisis! We don't have TV, so it's my only connection to the outside world. I was lost :-) It felt great to get everything set up yesterday. Brandon is nesting like crazy. It is cracking me up! Yesterday, he rearranged our entire bedroom (we had just done this a couple months ago). In his credit, I like it a lot better now. I have kind of a nursery for Cora on one side and our stuff on the other. It will be nice to have a little nook for nursing etc. This morning on a whim he took down all the curtains and washed them. I'm crazy for making fun of him, but I can't help it. It's hilarious! My mom stopped by on Friday on her way to meet my sister's new kids. Eli had a blast with his Nana. She kind of explained to him that in a week her and Bum were going to take care of him while I was in the hospital having the baby. He seemed okay with it. Today I mentioned that I was going to have to stay in the hospital soon and he immediately said, "Bum, Nana!" Hopefully he's had a little preparation! I'm excited for Cora's arrival, but kind of preoccupied with the cold that is still plaguing me. I feel fine, but now have almost lost my voice and am coughing a bit. It's frustrating! I have my last doctor's appointment tomorrow. I have to somehow manage without Brandon's help (he has to work a conference all day and evening). Wish me luck!

12 days and counting....

Haven't written in a while because we're just in a holding pattern around here. We've tried to keep busy doing last minute shopping and garden work etc. but I'm running out of things to do! I had my second to last doctor's appt. this afternoon. Nothing new to report. Cora's heartbeat was 132 and I'm measuring exactly 37 weeks and my blood pressure is still low and good. My last appt. is next Monday. Two weeks feels SO far away when just yesterday it felt so close. We're all almost over our colds, which is a great feeling. This morning Eli and I went to an annual flower sale and I let him pick out which flowers we would buy (with a little guidance). He picked out purple and red salvia, some wave petunias that he proudly carried to the check out, and some red zinnias. It feels good to have those all potted and on the front steps.

My sister and her husband are adopting a sibling group of 5 out of foster care. They both have worked with foster children in their jobs and have felt their calling to adopt instead of having their own kids. They never intended to fall in love with a sibling group this large (they were looking for a pair of siblings), but are on the road to having a large family quickly! They have started weekend visitations and by the end of May will have the kids full time. I so desperately wish I could go down to Tulsa and meet the kids, but I'll have to wait until they have full custody of them at the end of May and can bring them up to see us and meet Cora! Their names and ages are: Jacklyn-8, Destin and Destiny (twins) 7, Precious-6, and Corey-3. It is going to be overwhelming dealing with all the additions to our family in such a short time, but it is going to be an exciting adventure! My mom is going down this weekend to meet and play with the kids. Nothing like gaining 6 grandchildren in the same month!

Full TERM!

I am officially considered full term this weekend! That means I'll be having my baby any time between now and May 4th at the latest. At my appointment yesterday, I was dilated a tiny bit and her head is locked down low at a -2 position (0 is birth), so she's getting ready to go. I'm hoping she doesn't drop any more or I'm going to be REALLY uncomfortable. I'm already having quite a bit of pain every evening when she starts moving around. Not enough room, Cora, for aerobics! I usually feel wonderful during the day and in the evening start having pain in my feet/back/stomach. I'm so glad to feel so good when I'm wrangling Eli on my own! When I feel my worst is usually after Eli's asleep, so it's perfect.

We took Eli swimming at Cessna this week and to Oak Park last night to explore. Oak Park is at the end of our block across the river and is a forest with paths throughout it. You can always see tons of birds, Coopers Hawks, owls, and last night we saw a snake (Eli was thrilled). Eli refers to it as Wolf Park. There's an old log that he thinks wolves live in and a hole that he's determined houses an owl. He loves choosing which paths to take and looking for creatures.

I'm super excited today because my cousin Megan (who had brain surgery and still has tumors) had her baby this morning via c-section. They didn't find out the gender, so we were all excited to find out it's a GIRL! They named her Natalie McKay. They now have two little miracle children (Luke is 17 months old). So excited for our little girls to play together at family functions. Everyone is having girls.

Here's a picture of the three out of the six of us from church having girls. Stephanie on the right just had her little girl yesterday and Amy is due a week after me. I'm NEXT in line out of the 6! Yikes!