Cousins

This is Ella with her cousin Max in a picture I stole from The Freeds' blog. In this picture, he is 5 weeks, and she is 3 days. It is somewhat deceiving since she's all curled up. But his 10 1/2 lbs compared to her 5 1/2 is pretty impressive.

Bringing Home Baby

In the hospital just before we came home.

The 10 minute trip home from the hospital will really take it out of a girl.

And out of a daddy.

Can you tell that Nathan is completely enamored?

This is pretty much what she does. Her wakeful times consist of about 5 minutes after she eats if she makes it that long. Most of the time, she falls asleep while eating.

Ella Grace Hesemann

Our little angel made her debut on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 9:40 pm. 5 lbs 1 oz, 18 inches.

She was wide awake and very calm as soon as she was born.

This is what happens in the nursery when your daddy is a doctor.

This is what happens in the nursery when your daddy is an eye doctor.

My mom was video taping all of this from behind the glass. When the nurse brought out the tape measure, the grandpas were joking about how it looks like the conservation tapes for measuring fish. She measured in right at 18 inches, to which they both said, "She's a keeper." It's pretty funny on the video.

Overall, we're doing well. We're all adjusting to each other and trying to get into a routine. I've been a pretty nervous mommy so far and really thankful to have my mom here to help me. I don't know how people bring babies home without having help.

We really feel blessed that Ella is doing so well. We didn't mention it to a lot of people before, but we knew for a while that she would be very small and at risk for complications. We and lots of people around us have been praying very hard, and our prayers have definitely been answered. So far, she's acting very much like a normal baby, just small. She is very strong and has great head control as if she's telling us all that we worried for nothing. Somehow, I don't think the worrying will stop anytime soon, though.

A Bit of Advice

Having a baby just before your birthday is fun. What a great birthday present. However, this particular birthday just happens to be the one when my drivers license needs to be renewed. I completely forgot about this until about 2 days ago. So, knowing that when my license expires 3 days from now, I'll be a bit too busy to go to the DMV, off I went today. Now, my last license picture was taken the day after we got back from our honeymoon. That was the thinnest and tannest I've been in the last 10 years, not to mention 5 years younger. Fastforward to today's picture. Approximately 40 lbs heavier, a little swollen, and haven't seen the sun in, oh, about 9 months. To compound the problem, I decided to get my hair chopped last week. I got about 5 inches off the bottom layer and a lot of shorter layers. It will be fine, but it always takes me a while to get used to a new haircut and to figure out exactly how to style it. Now, you're getting the idea of what my new picture looks like. It ain't pretty, folks. My advice is to get out your drivers license right this second and see when it expires. Plan ahead for your new picture. Months ahead if need be. I'm now stuck with choppy hair and 39 weeks pregnant until I turn 35.

The Newest Portrait

Another cute profile. She was doing a lot of puckering and sucking so her little lips are all pooched out.

That's her foot right in front of her face. And, yes, she did eventually get it up to her mouth and suck on her toes. It was funny to watch, but I think I'll have to try to break her of that habit fast. Those of you who know how I feel about feet can only imagine how I feel watching my daughter with her own foot in her mouth.

Now for the awesomeness. Unfortunately, she was hiding behind the placenta so we couldn't get a great picture of her face, but this is pretty cool. Look at that sweet little mouth.

I think she looks like her daddy.

Dualing Bellies

My mom, sister, and niece came to Columbia this morning to visit. As you might imagine, we weren't exactly wild - 2 preggers, a grandma, and a 2 year old. It was fun, though. As you can see, Katie is 38 weeks pregnant. We're looking forward to meeting Max any day now.

Up until today, we actually didn't have any pictures of the two of us together. Unfortunately, today was not a great day for pictures. My regular camera has a dead battery, so we had to use my phone. And, the lovely Missouri spring is catching up with me - allergy time, so I didn't even bother putting on any makeup today. My watery eyes would wash it away in about 5 minutes. But, you get the idea. Of course, my mom is so excited, she can hardly stand it. Ellie told me several times about how she is going to hold her baby brother and snuggle him and says she will play a lot with Laura's Baby Girl. We're still working on who is a cousin and who is a sister. That one's a little hard for a 2 1/2 year old to figure out.

Girl Time

Last weekend, I went to Kansas City for a big combined shower. My friend Carie and her husband, Jonathon, are expecting a baby girl (Riley Marie) any day now, and my friend Monique is marrying her sweetheart of a fiance, Adam, in May. My college girlfriends are the best. We still have about 15 or so of us who were all sorority sisters (Emily is an honorary ADPi) who still get together a couple of times a year. Every time we're together, it's like we just saw each other yesterday. We just pick up right where we left off. It was so much fun. We spent the weekend doing what we usually do - eating and laughing. I love these girls, and I am so blessed to have them in my life.

I'll try to get a new belly picture up soon. I just keep forgetting to actually take one. Just picture me the same as last time with a bigger belly. I've actually started to outgrow some of my maternity shirts. Scary. I have 8 1/2 weeks to go!

The Belly

I almost forgot how big my belly is until I saw this picture. It was funny taking it because I couldn't figure out how to stand. It's hard to relax when you're trying. I kept either sucking in or pushing it out.

I will officially be 24 weeks tomorrow. The last few months have really gone by fast. This little girl is really growing, and she is definitely getting strong. She's not quite hurting me yet, but she does love to kick and wiggle. I'm surprised that I can already see her movements on the outside. Nathan finally got to start feeling her recently, which he thinks is pretty cool. We've narrowed the choices some on the name, but still nothing official.

Marler Family Christmas

Cinderella's Castle all lit up for Christmas

Instead of buying each other more stuff, we all decided to take a trip together for Christmas this year. We went to Orlando for 4 days and took full advantage of the Park Hopper tickets. We made it to all four Disney parks in 3 days.

Here's the whole crew. I'm not kidding when I say that this is the best picture we got in a 10 minute span. I think the babies all know when we really want them to cooperate.

Until I saw these pictures, I had convinced myself that I haven't gained weight anywhere but my belly, but I'm seeing now that that's not true.

Hannah, Ellie, and Ian

After a busy day, the grandkids all hung out with Granny and Papi while the mommys and daddys took naps. As you can see, a Dora movie, some milk, and cereal make for 3 happy kids. Hannah actually is happy here. It's just hard to get a good picture of all three posing.

Papi and his girls

Uncle Jason and Hannah. These two absolutely love each other. Every time we're all together, they end up together. They crack each other up.

Papi and Hannah getting Uncle Nate. This is at the Rainforest Cafe. Except for the occassional "thunderstorm" complete with thunder and lightning, the kids had a great time.

This is Ellie showing why we call her Ellie Belly. One of her new tricks is to show you big belly, little belly. She's so funny when she sticks her belly out because she's actually so petite and thin. I think this has all been helped along by her Mommy's growing belly.

Daddy (Andrew) and Hannah riding the train. I can't count the number of times we rode the train on this trip. It's funny how we spend so much money on these trips, and the kids have the most fun the in hotel and on the trains and shuttles. Ian's favorite activity was riding the Monorail.

Here She Comes!

Sorry for the censorship, but I couldn't put my daughter up like that on the internet for all to see. I just thought this was really cute how the ultrasonographer put the arrow and the text on the picture.

I'm happy to say that I was right. I, with the help of my friends Emily and Brooke, have ultrasounded myself twice at work. Each time, we decided I was having a girl. Nathan refused to believe me. Hm.

Sweet profile.

How cool is this picture? I love the 3D ones. We tried for seriously 15 minutes to get a good shot of the face, but she keeps her arms up with her hands over her eyes. I think she's very shy.

One picture of her face. Looks like she already has the pouty face down.

Now that we know it's a girl, let the great name debate begin!

World's Greatest Mom

I know that many of you think that you have great moms, and many of you probably do. However, I have the greatest. First, let me say that I am blessed more than most people to have two great moms. My own mom and my mother-in-law are two wonderful women, both of whom would do whatever they could, at all costs, to help their children. My mother-in-law has been known to drop in to our house while we are at work (with our permission first) and stock the freezer with home cooked meals. We really are blessed more than we deserve.

Now, let me tell you about why I think my mom is the greatest. For the past 2 weeks, I was working my tail off in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. As you might imagine, a pregnant girl working 90 hours a week doesn't have a whole lot of time for housekeeping. Now throw that on top of 2 months worth of morning (actually all day) sickness, and you can imagine what my house looked like. My mother, being the perceptive woman she is (and knowing that her youngest child, though talented in many areas, is not much of a housekeeper) volunteered to drive to Columbia just to clean my house. Of course, I did my duty and insisted that she didn't need to do this. Of course, she came anyway. She spent 3 days here cleaning and cooking. Here's what I got out of the deal: 2 immaculate bathrooms, a spotless kitchen and dining room with squeaky clean tile, a house full of clean carpets (shampoo and all), every article of laundry done (washed, dried, folded, ironed, sorted, put away, hung up), a lunch date and shopping partner for my afternoon off, and 3 nights of hot dinners. And just think, Folks, I haven't even produced a grandkid for her yet. I challenge anyone to top that.

Eight Days a Week

Sometimes I'm so glad that there aren't 8 days a week because that would only mean that I would work more. I just counted up my hours so far. Between 6am Monday and 9pm Wednesday, I have worked 40 hours. Ughhh! This girl needs some sleep. The good news is that I haven't been sick so far this week. Knock on wood.

Re-Mark Your Calendars

I saw my OB today, and my due date is now officially May 2. While it is a little fun thinking that I could share my birthday, or that Rebecca could, it's mostly upsetting. Two reasons: #1. For reasons that I won't discuss for the sake of all the pregnant girls reading this, I will only say that medically speaking, I would rather the baby be a week or two early than a week late. #2 My maternity leave starts April 22. So, if the baby takes his/her time coming, I'll be sitting at home twiddling my thumbs wasting vacation time. I was hoping for an early due date so that if he/she hadn't come by then, I could be induced and have lots of time at home with him/her. So, your jobs as people who love the Hesemann family is to start praying now that he/she comes in mid April.

Also, we'll find out on Dec. 15 whether to buy pink or blue. Congrats, Jason, on finally getting some more testosterone into that household. Good luck.

Holy Halloween Costumes, Batman!

Nathan and I pride ourselves on our creative costumes, but we've got nothing on the Felkers. My cousin Stephanie has four adorable kids and manages to come up with great constumes every year. You have to check out her blog for the pictures.

http://www.felkerfamily.blogspot.com/

New Pictures!

This is the baby looking at us. This view kind of freaks me out.



This is his little hand waving at us. He was really active during the ultrasound doing lots of jumps and turns and waving at us.

This is a nice long profile view of the head and body and one little leg. Don't worry, he's got two, though. We saw them both.

This one is my favorite. What a sweet little face!

The ultrasonographer said everything looks normal, which was a huge relief. For both of my ultrasounds, I look forward to it so much, but then right before it, I get really nervous and afraid that there will be something wrong. So far, so good, though. The only problem is that the ultrasounds have me about 2 weeks behind what my due date originally was. Both times, the measurements put my due date at May 2. I'll see my doctor on Thursday. Hopefully we won't be moving the date.

Two random thoughts for the day:

1. Cravings. So far, not pickles and ice cream. It's been raw potatoes. Now, I've always been a potato lover. Any way you slice them, any way you cook them (except au gratin - I hate that), I'll eat them. But lately, I've been eating a lot of raw potatoes. Wonder if that has an old wive's tale attached...

2. Music. Nathan and I have very diverse musical taste. In my iPod (maybe everyone's does this), there is a playlist of the 25 most played songs. Here's mine:

25. Hey Ya! - Outkast
24. Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
23. Ain't Nothin Wrong With That - Robert Randolph and the Family Band
22. If I Had a Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies
21. When Will I Be Loved - Linda Ronstadt
20. Sunday Morning - Maroon 5
19. Tight Fittin' Jeans - Conway Twitty
18. All Night Long - Lionel Richie
17. Carried Away - George Strait
16. How Many Words - Blake Lewis
15. Arms of A Woman - Amos Lee
14. American Girl - Tom Petty
13. Jump - The Pointer Sisters
12. The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
11. Golddigger - Kanye West
10. Gots to Get Her - Blake Lewis
9. Sugar - Tonic
8. Complicated - Robin Thicke
7. Carolina on My Mind - James Taylor
6. Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
5. The One I Love - David Gray
4. Sun Comes Up - John Legend
3. Love Song - Sara Bareilles
2. The Story - Brandi Carlile
1. No One - Alicia Keys

Should I Have a Belly Already?

The books and my friends and family say no, but my body begs to differ. Depending on dates vs ultrasound, I'm somewhere between 12 and 14 weeks. My pants are definitely tighter, and I'm noticing more in the midsection than before. All of a sudden, I can't suck it in anymore. I'm actually looking forward to looking pregnant instead of just thick.

It Just Got Real

Our excitement on Friday, October 3.

New Family

We've decided to joint the world of bloggers so that our friends and family can keep up with our family. That's right, folks, we're going to be a family on or around April 19, 2009. Check back for updates. Here's the picture of the belly on Day 1.