Christmas 2012

I tried to plan fun things for Christmas this year, but having a newborn we just went with the flow and did what we could. 

The girls made Christmas crafts. I love having handmade decorations around the house!

We got the girls matching pjs again. Look how much they've changed since last year!!

I've been searching for stockings for-ev-er! I even ordered 5 pretty white stockings from Pottery Barn and returned them. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I wanted something personal. So, I finally got some inspiration and decided to make them. I used fabric from some of my husband & grandpa's old shirts, Brynlee's baby blanket, and my MeeMee's vintage lace. They might not be from PB, but no one else will have the same ones and they will be something we can cherish for years to come! 

My dad was able to come visit for Christmas this year and meet Ellie!

We made ice cream cone Christmas trees. Much easier & cheaper than a gingerbread house! 

Scarlett looked like the grinch by the time we were done. Ha

Do you have an elf on the shelf? I think this thing will become my enemy as the years go on. Such a cute idea, but more work for the parents hah! Our elf "Gingerbread" was very lazy this year!! I see everyone posting creative ideas of things their elf did each night, but ours was lucky if she even moved to a new place! Finally on Christmas Eve she got off her lazy butt and made reindeer food for the girls. 

Making cookies for Santa... 

(And a little piece of home)

We were lucky to have Stuart home for half the day on Christmas Eve & Christmas. 

My dad's birthday happens to be on Christmas Eve and he turned 60 this year!

No better way to celebrate than have 60 candles! Our poor brownies were covered in wax hah!

Ellie's 1st Christmas 

Bryn was the first one up of course. "Santa came! Santa came! He brought me a bicycle!!!"

So cute. She's growing up so fast. And asking lots of questions this year. Christmas is going to start getting tricky from now on! 

Didn't get many pictures this year. 

It was pretty much a blur of chaos...

This girl is 4 going on 14. Sigh...

Attempted a picture with all 3 in their Santa jammies. This is the best we got. 

Impossible! Ha 

And.....that's a wrap! 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! 

Daddy Hospital Bag

I posted before that I made hospital bags for the girls, but I also made one for my husband. Just a gift bag filled with some fun goodies :)

This is what I put inside: 

Pop Tart - "I wouldn't want to pop out a baby with anyone but you!"

Beef Jerky - "I know I've been kind of jerky, but thanks for putting up with me."

5 Hour Energy - "You're going to need some extra energy with 3 little girls."

Goldfish - "You're o-fish-ally the daddy of 3! Better sign up for therapy now."

Reeses Pieces - "I love you to pieces."

Hot Tamales - "You're one HOT Daddy!"

He liked it ;)

I'm working on some new posts to catch up since Ellie has arrived, but obviously we've been a little busy around here. It'll happen eventually... hope you all had a Merry Christmas! :)

Ellie's Newborn Photos

I just got Ellie's newborn photos today! 

So excited, I love them all :) These were taken when she was 6 days old. 

I wanted to use some props that had meaning to our family.

This is the little baby doll crib my sister and I played with when we were kids.

And this suitcase was my grandparents.

I'm surprised we even got a family picture. Scarlett was awful that day and didn't want to have anything to do with cooperating for a picture, but I'm so glad we got 1 that turned out good!  

Photos taken by Kristi James Photography. She did a great job!

http://www.kristijamesphotography.com/

Ellie's Birth Story

She's here!!! 

Ellie Austin was born on November 23rd.

She weighed in at 8lbs 1oz and was 19 inches long. 

I had been having contractions for a few days, but kept putting it off because I didn't want to make my husband come home from work or call the babysitter if it was just a false alarm, especially since it was the week of thanksgiving! Well, my husband surprisingly got Thanksgiving day off so we decided to get down all the Christmas decorations from the attic and put up the Christmas tree since we probably wouldn't have another chance. I jokingly told him that putting up the tree was going to put me into labor. We went to Cracker Barrel for thanksgiving dinner (fancy, I know) and I was having contractions through the night but didn't really think much of it. We enjoyed our night together and Stuart went back to work the next morning. I woke up still having contractions and they seemed to be more consistent and sometimes painful, so after hesitating to go to the hospital I finally decided maybe I should go get checked to make sure. We got to the hospital around 9:30 and sure enough I was already 6cm! We were shocked! I guess laboring at home for a few days was worth it ;) I debated if I should get an epidural or not. I wasn't in much pain and I really wanted to do it without one since I knew I could (if anyone remembers my crazy birth story with Scarlett) but I decided for my husband's sake I would get one this time to make the experience more enjoyable for all of us :) I got the epidural at 12:10 and at 1:00 I was 8cm. They hadn't given me anything to speed up my labor since I tested positive for gbs and needed 2 doses of antibiotics before she was born. The IV of penicillin was awful!!!! It felt like my hand was burning! Definitely the worst part of the whole labor! After I received all the meds, they started my pitocin and broke my water at 3:00. Not long after that I started feeling some pressure and after only about 5 pushes little miss Ellie Austin was born at 4:02 pm! No matter how many babies you have, it's always such a surreal experience! And for those of you curious, Austin is my husband's middle name. Since we never had a boy, we decided it was the perfect middle name for her :)

We're so happy she's finally here and in our arms now!
In love with our little family of 5!