Need a photographer? I have a suggestion.

 

 

Emma May Photography is amazing. She is sooooo easy to work with and shes great with kids. Not to mention super patient and reasonable pricing!!!!
Shes based out of Detroit area, but shes around the Chicago area frequently!
Here's her FB page

http://www.facebook.com/EmmaMayPhotography?ref=ts&fref=ts

The Best way to spread holiday cheer, is singing loud for all to hear :)

Oh Christmas. The anticipation seems to build up over the entire month and then it seems so fleeting!!!

It was wonderful none-the less and so great to see Ellee bug enjoying ripping paper to shreds for good reason. And not just because she feels like ripping my bills and receipts to shreds :)

We arrived in Canada on Friday night after driving through some ridiculous drifts on the last stretch to my small town hometown. Matt found great pleasure in plowing through the drifts. We passed several cars in ditches and of course stopped to check on a couple. Matt's next exclamation "You people are Canadian! Can't you drive in the snow!?!" Apparently not. haha.

We arrived safe of course and tired. But we had been without Ellee for 2 days and it was so great to give her sweet hugs and kisses. The break was really nice. Shes so active and go-go-going all the time! It was non stop eating and thank goodness I am not counting my calories. Hopefully once we get home I can reboot and get on a better healthy eating track. Christmas is terrible for the post pregnant woman hoping to slim down to pre-prego shape.

Christmas of course is not without a little excitement. After showering on Christmas Eve, the hot water lasted all of 3 minutes. Its not like were at my in laws though and there are 7 siblings and spouses plus kids all using hot water. So I talk to my mom, we investigate and the hot water heater is leaking water allllllll over the floor. Its cracked or broken and there is zero hot water. The water supply ends up getting turned off to the house and we have to wait for a repairman. Ends up we need a brand new heater, on Christmas Eve. All turned out well however and he was able to replace the water heater and get the water back on. In the meantime a couple stinky people had to take themselves to the local gym to take a shower. spoiled.

Christmas was a blast though and my girls were thoroughly spoiled, and so was Matt and I :)

 And of course we always squeeze in a little cuddle time with Papa infront of the tree <3

The plea.

In the days after Peyton's birth Ellee has gone from toddler baby to logical thinking and reasoning toddler.Impossible you say. Really though, in no uncertain terms she has been "reasoning" with both Matt and I about things. Whether it be why she got a spanking or for more juice. As was the scene tonight at dinner. She has had some issues finishing any meal and eating in genreal. Nothing these days is good enough for her belly. So we do not offer her any sort of milk or liquids with her meal until she has eaten a couple bites of food.  Just think about a 17 month old reasoning though. Yupp, hilarious! :)


(Trying to get video to upload but getting some problems)

On top of her plea for juice with dinner, we had our little "christmas" on Tuesday. I love presents! But since having children I love even more giving them presents and watching them open their gifts. It was soo much fun!!!!!!!! She loved her little ponies and dolly and off course got her something that can "go go". This little parking garage with cars and an elevator, and the cars spiral down and come flying out. Really cute, and she loves it.

We've had so much activity happening after Peyton has been born. Mostly because we have so much awesome family that has come to visit us and help us out!!

 We took my sister and brother in law up the sears tower. It will forever be the sears tower even though its changed to the willis tower.

 This was out on the glass floor ledge. Ellee was actually scared!!!

 Yes shes bawling, while we sit on the glass floor...mean mommy.

 We tried to see if she'd walk, nope. terrified. I was surprised at how aware she was that we were high up!

 Delicious lunch at buona beef!

 And of course made it to the mall for some play time :)

First Lord's Day

 

It wasn't our first Lord's day as a family of four. But it was our first one at meeting. The thing is, Peyton is easy. She sleeps well and rarely makes a fuss unless over tired or hungry. Simple easy fixes, feed or cuddle. She always passes out with a little cuddling.

Ellee on the other hand is a mover shaker. What 17 month old isn't? It took 2 of us before to keep her in line but now one set of hands are usually full. No matter how many books or distractions I bring with somehow she still is garbling away talking to herself or trying to escape from the trap we've set her in between the two of us. But we managed :) As we will.

She is always looking adorable though! 

 

By the time we got to this picture all were uninterested in anymore photographs :) 

Birth day and Recovery - 1 week postpartum

So in the previous post, I enlightened on how I escaped the induction and went into natural labor. It really was awesome. Everytime I think back on it I am so thankful for how things turned out.

 Here are some pictures of Peyton right after she was born. Its crazy how swollen I am. I ended up more swollen after I had her then I was at any point in the pregnancy. Probably because they were dropping bags and bags of iv fluids into me.

 And of course I have to include a picture of sweet little munchkin. She was playing peek a boo with the burp cloth in the hospital.

The recovery this time has been amazing! Amazing in the sense that its gone alot more smoothly, not without its quirks and pain however.

Day 1: I spent most of the day in bed as I had her in the morning. When at about 10 it was time to get up and move a bit. The epidural was still wearing off, it seemed to take a really long time, and my left leg was still out of sorts. It was just tingly, like your cheek after the dentist. The nurses helped me up and instructed me to NOT bend my knees. Eaier said then done. They kept buckle and then I was stumbling. I had a nurse on either side helping me to the bathroom. Once there things did not look good. I could tell I was getting foggy. I told them right away and the nurse said I could lean on her but to not close my eyes, yea, I closed them. And then they started breaking ammonia under my nose. It was soooooooo wretched. I've never been so annoyed by something or wanted to hit someone for doing that, but I still passed out. And boy was it weird. When I woke up they were saying my name incessantly, and I could not figure out where on earth I was and who were these people!! Oh right, I had baby. :)  The fainting was probably caused by the massive blood loss I had. But thankfully didn't happen again!
The first day was also when they took Peyton and found she had amniotic fluid in her lungs, she also had a high white blood cell count along with a low sugar level. She ended up in the level 2 nursery for the first day and night. That was difficult. I just wanted her to be okay, so the monitoring was necessary till she get the all clear from the pediatrician. And she did :)

Day 2-3: We were still in the hospital and got discharged on Saturday morning. It was nice to get home to Ellee bug and get a delicious roast beef dinner from my Mom. Matt was sick of takeout and I was down right sick of weird hospital food. Overall these were definitely the toughest days as far as recovery. Just feeling weak and exhausted as well as the pain involved.

Day 4-6: My parents left on Sunday and Matt had the beginning of the week off. So that was really nice. Specially with Ellee. Shes been enjoying testing our patience and our limits. She knows what she can and cant do, but... Little stinker. By day 5 I was feeling pretty good as far as recovering. Still very easily exhausted and in mild discomfort but much better then I felt after Ellee's birth.

Day 7-8: Yikes. Matt was back at work but of course it went absolutely fine! Fine as in I squeezed in some sleep at some point if only for a cat nap, but accomplished nothing besides fed mouths and changed bums. That is a successful day for me nowadays! Thankfully on the recovery level I feel almost normal! I am still tired though. That seems to linger incessantly on me. But I definitely feel "lighter on my feet" which is good when chasing the stinker!

Today was the craziest of all. Ellee was running on some sort of sugar storage system this morning. She climbed onto the table several times, received a couple spankings, did it again and fell off the table.  How you ask did she do this so many times? Every time I am nursing she climbs up there, she knows when I am tied down, that's for sure! The funny thing is I seemed to be hungry constantly today. Like ridiculously hungry. Its almost 11 and I could totally whip up some spaghetti and meatballs!! Probably because I've shed 24 lbs. 

Finally got Ellee to hold Peyton. Such a little ham. Both in their pink, black and white pjs. Love them to pieces!!!!!!!!!