Our Little Princess

Ellyse had her first photo shoot on Feb12 when she was 1 week old. Her Aunt Katie took some great pictures. Little Ellyse is such a cutie - yes, I am a proud Mama!!!

I love her cute little tongue sticking out.
What a cutie!?!


Katie made her birth announcement - good job, Katie!

Baby Ellyse

Announcing the arrival of our sweet baby girl!!!

Ellyse Lynlee Hall

born Feb 5, 2010

7 lbs. 4 oz.

20 1/2 " long

12:20 pm

We are so glad that our little angel has finally arrived. I went in for a c-section at noon on Feb. 5 and she was born at 12:20. She had a little bit of fluid in her lungs so they took her to the newborn intensive care unit to give her some oxygen and make sure she was okay. I didn't get to see her right away which was a bummer, but she needed to be taken care of. While in the NICU they tested her blood sugar levels and found they were a little low. They gave her an IV in her foot to feed her fluids. Her levels were normal after the first day and she has been healthy ever since. We stayed at the hospital until Tuesday Feb 9 and are now home trying to get into a routine. Ellyse's big brothers just love her to pieces. It is fun to watch them be so sweet and gentle with her.

One last pregnant picture before the c-section

Tim and my mom were both able to be in the operating room and witness the miracle of Ellyse being born.


I am all prepped for the operation

The first picture of Ellyse. That is all I saw before they took her to the NICU.

She is lookin' good and has a little better color!

Ellyse in the NICU

Sweet kisses from her daddy!

They brought her out of the NICU for a minute so I could hold her for the first time.

What a little cutie 2 days old!

Sleeping soundly - 3 days old

Getting ready to go home in her new outfit (Grandma Newman gave it to her)

All set to go home and meet her big brothers - the hospital didn't allow visitors under the age of 12 (due to the swine flu risks) so she didn't meet her brothers until we left the hosptial.

Pregnancy Update!!!

SO.... I am excited to announce that I will no longer be pregnant at the end of tomorrow. I am scheduled to have a c-section tomorrow, Feb. 5th at noon. I will be so excited to out of the pain I am in now and to hold my sweet little girl in my arms. I have been having LOTS of PAINFUL contractions that are very frequent and consistent, but they are not changing my cervix at all. I am only 37 weeks and my c-section wasn't scheduled until Feb. 15th, but with contractions 2-4 minutes apart for several hours, I thought for sure I was in active labor. My doctor decided to put me out of my misery and pain, but wanted to make sure the baby's lungs were developed. He did an amniocentesis to check the amniotic fluid and see if the lungs were mature enough. The results came back mature and now I get to have a c-section earlier than planned - YEAH!!! So, I am sure I will update further tomorrow with pictures of our new little baby girl!!!!

Walmart Scavenger Hunt

On Feb 1 we decided to go on a picture scavenger hunt at Walmart for family night. I can only get around using one of the electric wheelchairs at Walmart, so Tim rode in one too and we each took a boy with us between our legs. This is probably not okay with Walmarts wheelchair policy, but nobody stopped us :). Then we each had a scavenger hunt list and a camera. We had to find each item and take a picture of it and then race to see which team could finish first.

Here was our list:

S sweatshirt

I ice cream

S sippy cup

T television

E envelopes

R race car

(We spelled out the name SISTER, if you couldn't tell)

Eli posing with the first item, sweatshirt!

We found the sippy cups!!!

We got to the envelopes - we are almost done - who is gonna win?!
Tim and Ethan got to the race cars just as Eli and I got there too. So we declared it a tie! Then, we let both boys pick out their own baby sister dolls. When we told Ethan to pick out a doll, he said "Isn't that girly?" We told him it was okay because he could take care of his doll just like Mommy would soon be taking care of their new baby sister. Both boys got very excited and began talking to their dolls and talking about giving her naps and feeding her. It was so sweet to see. Eli even said, "Hi baby Ellyse. My name is Eli. How are you today?"

Right when we got home from Walmart, Ethan put his baby (Baby Butterfly) down for a nap!


Ethan and Eli are so excited to have their new babies to take care of!!!