Auntie M & Uncle N

This past week we had some special visitors.  Aunt Marianne and Uncle Nate were in town for some family time and for some sight-seeing around Europe.

They got to spend some sweet time with Elise (translation: she was asleep nearly all day every day while they were here), but it made for some priceless pictures...

Look at that little smile :)

(Random photo tip:  In the photo above Marianne's hand is cut off...the photo would have been a lot better as far as composition goes with the hand included!  Yes, it's the small things :)

See, told ya...no blue eyes to be seen (until night time!).  Still working on the whole newborn-switching-over-to-big-people-schedule thing.

Miss you already, Aunt M and Uncle N...

Elise's Birth Story

So, I've been debating whether or not to post Elise's birth story, but I decided that since this is our little online journal of sorts, and we'd like to look back on it in the future, it's a great place to document it!  So here goes.  (If this isn't your type of post, feel free to tune out, but if you're up for it, grab a pumpkin spice latte in my honor and get comfy ;)

It all started Friday morning when we went into the hospital for a heart rate test.  Elise's heart rate was down and they were concerned, so they asked us to come back Friday night.

We went in Friday night hopeful that her heart rate would be fine.  Well, it was for a while.  Then it decided to go high.  And stay high for some time.  This concerned the doctors that night, so an ultrasound followed.  Everything was fine with the cord blood and placenta, but they weren't super comfortable with the results in finding the main artery that flows to the brain.  This meant they asked us to stay the night and monitor everything (aka multiple heart rate tests and another ultrasound).  We were a little nervous (ok, maybe more than a little) at this point because we were communicating in English and actually some broken Slovak, as well as German and a clear picture of what was going on wasn't coming together for us...

We stayed the night.  Elise's heart rate evened out for the most part, but in the morning the doctor told us that since she was six days late we may want to go ahead and induce (so as to avoid any type of risk further).  It was a go! We were told that induction could take anywhere from a few hours to a couple days and that we might just want to get comfortable.  WELL, needless to say, thirty minutes later I was having full fledged contractions.  We're talking very little break and intense!

Jas walked with me through them as best he could (though there really is not much you can do but just endure those stinkin' birth pains :) and things progressed quickly.  At five centimeters I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it...but thirty minutes passed and I was then at nine centimeters.  Just like that! Sooo fast.

Then it was time for her to make her grand entrance (eight hours from start to finish).  I'll spare all the nitty gritty details, but thankfully God has orchestrated the human body to be able to make it through the pain and the unpleasant-ness and it is SO worth it when that little one comes out crying into the world.

Elise Noelle was born at 4:39 pm on Saturday, September 24th.  She weighed a hefty 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 52 centimeters long.  They placed her in my arms and I'm fairly certain it's a moment I'll never forget.  Completely testifies to the greatness of our Creator.

I did end up with an episiotomy due to the cord being wrapped around her neck, but we are thankful she came and was/is a healthy baby.  She's a blessing.  A true blessing.

And, well, her daddy and I are just a little bit smitten with these tiny details...

Kaiser Krainer Goodness

I'd been wanting to indulge in a sausage for sometime now since having refrained from them throughout pregnancy.  So the other day we had to head to Vienna for another afternoon of paperwork for Elise...and it was high time for a Kaiser Krainer (also known as a cheese stuffed sausage).

Jas thought it was appropriate to document this momentous occasion...

And another angle.  No Kaiser Krainer for Elise.

Ah the joy of fatty foods :)  I was one happy girl!

Nursery Tour, Anyone?

Well, this is long overdue, but finally here is a peak into Elise's nursery.

Since we couldn't paint the walls, I wanted it to be bright, cheerful, and of course that means colorful.

So here it is...the big reveal:

Shot to the left from the door.

Ikea frames, paper bag background, hand drawn hearts, and pinterest roses.

Free printoff colored in (and yes I know the letters are cut off...)

I'll always love a good map.

My crafty friend Steph made this for Elise...love it.

And there you have it, our quite Ikea-fied nursery for Elise :) Lots of crafts, lots of color, and lots of time spent there now.  Welcome home, E.

Some Great Friends

This morning I was feeding Elise and doing some reading and then thought, "I'll check my email."  When I did, I found a surprise waiting...

You see, you may remember this photo shoot that my college roommates/best friends and I did back in January before we all headed different directions.  It looked a little something like this:

Good, good times.
Soooo...when they were all going to be together this weekend, they decided to have another photo shoot seeing as how it's only appropriate and should be made a tradition anytime any of us are together.

Well, I didn't know about it (we did get to all skype and I was thankful for that), but they decided to include me in the photo shoot...

This is a sampling of what I found when I checked my email.

And they even recreated the jumping photo from above!

Love, love, LOVE it. Brought a huge smile to my face in the early morning hours.

And there's nothing like a paper head cut-out of yourself to make you feel like you're there ;)

Friends, THANK you so much for including me.  You guys are great.  Simply great.