My Two Little Misses

My friend came today and took these precious photos of my two girls. They are such a joy! I absolutely love being a mother of two special and beautiful baby girls.

It's the little things

Amelia is ten days old today and things are starting to look up. Today it's all about the little things that are making the difference. Here's just a few in no particular order:

* I can see my ankle bones. This is the most thrilling thing that's happened over the last ten days (other than the whole baby business of course). It's taken this long but slowly and surely my legs are starting to literally deflate from all that water retention (hopefully my face too because it sure has looked puffy). This could also account for a five pound weight loss overnight last night! Shwooh! I've only lost 20 and I gained 45 so I better get to draining a little more. I look forward to exercising in just a few weeks because I'm positive not all of that is water weight but hopefully a little more of it is.

* I got to take a hot shower today after a few days of having a broken water heater.

* Because we rent I didn't have to pay for the repair to fix the water heater:)

* My parents have been amazing and helpful and have taken time every day to take Ella out and make her feel special so I can rest at home with the baby. They are wonderful.

* Shaun let me sleep in this morning and took little A from 6:30am on. He didn't go into work this morning and I've never been more grateful for him NOT to work a day in my life. I truly needed the rest.

* Ella is beautiful, smart, and only slightly regressing with the new sister around. She's so funny and creative. The other day she got out all of the old videos and made one her "purse" after taking all the film out of it and wrapping around her arm like a purse. It's a good thing VHS tapes aren't worth much these days since I think she made three different purses. I found her at the bottom of our stairs wearing her dad's shoes, her new "purse" and sunglasses, ready to go out for the day. What a nut!

* Little A is precious. She is so mellow and sweet and cuddly. I can't get over how different her little temperament is from Ella's. Though I wouldn't change Ella for the world, I'm grateful to have one a little more on the laid back side. I've felt from the beginning she was going to be more mellow in nature but I knew that it was more of just a hope than a gut instinct. So far though so good. Our pediatrician reminded me that at three to four weeks they can start to get fussy so I wont expect too much, but for now I'm grateful she's so good. She sleeps so well that it's hard to keep her awake even when feeding her. She's already let me have some four hour stints of sleep in the middle of the night and I'm very appreciative. Thanks little A.

Welcoming Amelia Ruth Calderwood!

Little Amelia

Here she is for her first blogging debut... Miss Amelia Ruth Calderwood!

She is beautiful, mellow, and super soft and cuddly. I'm enjoying every moment with her here at the hospital where attentive nurses and staff have made my stay very restful and comfortable. When I leave to go home tomorrow I only wish I could bring the nurses, techs, and cafeteria staff home with me (and that magic button that I press that makes people appear to help). But Amelia has been very easy so far. I may regret saying that later, but she appears to have a very sweet disposition. She looks an awful lot like her big sister (we're still keeping our fingers crossed for green eyes though:), but I'm guessing they will have very different personalities. I'm so grateful for a healthy family. Ella is doing very well and seeming to enjoy her role as big sister. I have to extend a huge thank you to my parents for watching her so Shaun and I can have some time here with little A. I also want to extend my gratitude towards friends and co-workers who have come to visit. One friend rubbed my feet, another brought a card from my office, another took these photos posted today. I'm so fortunate to be blessed with these people in my life and hope to one day return the kindness or at the very least pay it forward.

I could go on but I'll allow these photos to speak for themselves. Carol, you did a great job friend! We are looking forward to getting to know little "A "better and learning more about her little spirit. Thank you most of all to a loving Father in Heaven who has entrusted her to our care!

Reminiscing

In my last minute nesting attempts, I've been re-organizing what limited space we have to try to make room for baby girl. This has led me to making my way through boxes and old albums, inevitably delaying my nesting for some time to reminisce. I stumbled across these old photos from high school the other day. My what memories! I'm so fortunate to have always had wonderful friends. High school was no exception, and the funny thing is that I have kept in touch with I think everyone in these photos, some more than others but still.

Maybe having a baby this Wednesday has my hormones going like crazy and for this reason I can burst into tears over the slightest little thing, but these photos almost brought a tear to my eye. I'm such a nerd.







As an aside, these are also really good motivation to get back to my pre-preggo weight (plus another 15 pounds or so to get back to high school weight). I'm very excited about getting my body back and being able to exercise. I'm hoping to get right on that as soon as the doctor gives me the go ahead. We'll take it one step at a time I suppose. I remember with Ella it was nine months up, nine months down. I'm so impatient. We'll see...

Regardless I'm very excited to meet our newest addition. Tomorrow is my last day of work and then Wednesday we check in to the hospital at 9 and the C-Section is scheduled for noon. She'll be here before we know it. We'll definitely be keeping everyone posted so stay tuned...

Sneak Peak

Today I took photos for my friends, Kim and Percy. Since they haven't been able to look at these yet I really need to wait to post more but I'll go ahead and just give a sneak peak. They made such a beautiful couple and the day and setting were perfect. I have to say, I think they turned out lovely despite the fact that I'm nine months pregnant (maybe because I'm not in them:). Congrats to a beautiful couple on their beautiful day:)

To see other photo shoots I've done please visit my photo blog designed just for that (albeit other than this wedding it's been a while since I've posted on it but still) http://beccas-photography.blogspot.com/

Cousins

I'm experimenting with my rather rudimentary Picasa photo skills and trying to update the blog with some fun family photos from this summer. Needless to say, Ella has had a wonderful time with all of her cousins this summer, starting with our visit out west to see Shaun's family, then time with my oldest sister Janet, and lastly Michelle's visit. We've only missed seeing Sarah and my brother's boys who are absolutely adorable but live in Missouri. Michelle leaves today and so it's a sad day with all of our visits over. Now we're in final count down for baby girl to come join us. Thirteen days from today she'll be here. Then Ella wont need cousins to keep her entertained. She'll have her own baby sister.

Falling for you: Taking Pride in my Ride it's our Swagger Wagon

Well it appears I have seriously neglected my blogging over the summer. So much has happened with more visits from family and prep for the baby. But one thing I have failed to mention is the other new addition to our family this summer, our little Odyssey. That's right, this summer we officially became minivan owners. I've never been more proud. It was love at first test drive. I think the words "mommy heaven" might have slipped out of my lips... with so many compartments to put things in and cup holders, leather seats, and a dvd for the kids, my heart was all a flutter. I seriously don't think I've been this in love since my heart did flip flops for Shaun. I've found myself coming up with errands to run just so we can get in the van. Ella calls it her "new van car" and always looks forward to hopping in (and then trying to get in the back and swing from the handles but that's besides the point). Anyway, here's a photo of our newest addition. Obviously not a photo of our actual van nor the city in which we live, but it's the same color (sliverish with a hint of blue), year (2007), and model so you get a visual at least. We love you little Odyssey, and with a five year payment plan we hope you stay in the family a good ten years so we can make you worth your while.

For those of you who want a really good laugh, check out the link on you tube to Toyota's Swagger Wagon promo. I can't say it's what inspired us to go the minivan route but it certainly made us laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4