Are you ready for more pictures???

Well, we're back from the hospital ( i stayed the full 48 hours + 4 extra hours--and LOVED every minute of it!!) and now we're just getting settled into "real" life. It doesn't feel "real" yet, but it is already pretty crazy around here. Grace and Abby are pretty good at keeping each other entertained, and Reid, as always, is SuperDad--dunno how i'd do this without him!!!!

I really had a hard time choosing which pictures to post...as you're about to find out :) This is, by far, the best way for my parents to see pics of their granddaughter(s), so just bear with me...

Grace absolutely loves Eliza. Abby doesn't care so much, but Grace loves to hold her, wants to know where she is, if she's eaten--it's pretty sweet

I loved nothing more than the visits I got from my girls at the hospital. The nurses always got a kick out of it, too. And, although my room was at the end of a long hallway, i really could hear them the moment they got off the elevator. Reid made that trip from our house to the
hospital and back 10 times (5 round trips) so that the girls could see me and Eliza. With all the DNC road blocks, it tooks him almost 90 minutes once!! Thanks, hon--it was worth it every time...at least for me :)!!!

Our not-so-little family of FIVE!!!!!
Here the girls are watching their movie while Reid and I catch up and ogle over our little Eliza.
Grace and Abby getting a better look at their sister

I just love this picture--anyone who uses this kind of binki can appreciate how MASSIVE it looks when it's in a newborn's mouth
Abby was refusing to do anything but pout for this picture (she normally says "cheese"
with a HUGE grin) and you can see that Reid's really trying to convince her to smile--i LOVE it!

We had little gifts for Grace and Abby from Eliza (I got that idea from my friend, Lindsay, and LOVED it!) Grace got some snow white shoes and the movie Enchanted, and Abby got a baby doll. They were both pretty excited.
Here they are dancing around to "How Does She Know" from Enchanted. This picture does not even begin to capture how sweet this moment was for me. It was this moment when i kinda realized that we were gonna be okay, and that these two girls have each other, and how much that's gonna save me in those moments when I just can't get to them right away.
Reid and Abby watching the Olympics with Eliza
Me saying goodbye to my girls so i could get ONE more good night's rest before Eliza was all mine!!!!
I can't get over how little Eliza looks in this carseat! And of course, it's blue. I never bought things like this in pink cause i was sure we'd have a boy someday and i didn't want to be stuck with pink everything....
oh, the irony...
Here I am in my wheelchair, getting kicked out of the hospital. I locked the door and turned of all the lights, but they still found me and made me leave!! Okay, i really was a little anxious to get back home, but at the same time, i knew there was no going back!!!
My sweet neighbor and another friend, both on their own, decorated our house the morning we got back. It was so fun to come home to all these balloons and signs!!
Abby and Eliza
Grace and Eliza
Reid and Eliza
Emily and Eliza

And now for today's photo shoot. A good friend of mine let me borrow her camera, and some of these turned out pretty cute, if i do say so myself...which i just did...

Introducing.....

Eliza Mae Allred

She's here and she's perfect!!!!! I can't even type right now without getting insanely teary thinking about how in love with her i already am!!!


She arrived at 8:36 this morning, weighing 7lbs 1 oz, and she's 19 inches long. She's got some hair, a big Allred head, and we feel so incredibly lucky to have her in our family!!she's named after 3 great grandmas. Both my mom and my dad have a grandma Eliza, and Reid's Dad's mom is Alta Mae--so she's got a bit of history to her name, PLUS she's our first child to have a name on the day she was born!!


We got to the hospital around 5:30, by 5:45 in Triage i was dilated to a 5, half an hour later, up in Labor and Delivery i was at a 9!!! i mean, i knew that it was starting to hurt more than ever, but when i heard 9 cenitmeters, i started freaking out!! i wasn't ready to do this without an epidural--which is what i kept screaming with every contraction. And by some small miracle, i WAS able to get my epidural in, my contractions slowed down enough to let it take it's full effect (LOVE IT!!!) and by the time she came, i felt that awesome pressure, but with so little pain....oh, it was perfect! There is nothing in the world that is as amazing as those last pushes that bring that little babe into the world. that is the part i could do over, and over, and over again :)

I really was screaming at the top of my lungs--the type of screaming that i'm pretty sure no movie has ever shown. I kept yelling "i wanna die" and "i can't do another one" or " i'm jumping out the window if the anesthesiologist doesn't get here now!!!" We all laughed about it after the epidural started working. The whole floor was talking about it, and when the shift changed, all the new nurses knew that i was the "vocal" one...how embarassing!!!

Eliza came just at the right time, too. We finished painting at 11pm last night. It's tricky painting and having contractions, and with some of them i just couldn't do it, but i knew it was a "now or never" situation, so we just kept working at it, and now the first of many projects in our kitchen is done!!!! (i'll post some better before and after pictures of the kitchen later)

Here i am with Eliza just a few moments after she was born

This girl loves her fingers....















--but she takes a binki, too--thank heavens :) Here she is about an hour old, just after her first bath. I made this cute little blanket for her so that she'd have something that isn't a hand-me-down :)

No Broncos baby

For those who were hoping that the baby would come in the middle of the Broncos game Saturday night, she didn't.

Us with the Eaquinto's. The other couple, Jennifer and Chris took the picture. She
had one too many drinks to post any of the pictures of her...or maybe i should...

And she didn't come yesterday. And she didn't come today. And someone pointed out the other day that if she comes as late as her sisters, it's gonna be in the middle of the Democratic Convention!!! That wouldn't be a problem if i weren't forced by my HMO to deliver at a most inconveniently located hospital, right downtown! And i can't call 911 this time, cause they're all covering security at the convention :)

I guess my 20+ hour labor record should have me at peace. And it does. I'm not afraid that i'm gonna have my baby in the car--i know better now. But i do want my epidural ASAP, and the online anesthesiology course that Reid took doesn't send their epidural kit for 2 more weeks!!!

oh, if only there really were such a course....

9 Months and a full moon...

I took these pictures today for emily r. (you're welcome) and soon after started having contractions. i went to my already scheduled dr.'s appt and, although i'm only dilated to 1cm, the Non-stress test results, plus the fairly consistent contractions, plus the full moon tomorrow, plus the pending storm all had the dr.'s and nurses telling me that this baby was coming very soon.

well, after calling everyone i know and freaking them all out, i came back home, relaxed, drank some water, visited with some friends and now it's 11pm and the contractions have all but stopped now.

But i'm glad i got these pictures, cause it's been a while since i've stood in front of a camera, and i need this for posterity's sake :) And now i've caught up a bit on my journal/blog. I've finished 85% of the projects i wanted to. I'm a bit concerned by the fact that I currently have no ceiling in my kitchen, but that's my own fault for putting off this home-improvement project for so long!!!

I'm relieved the contractions have stopped. I would like to make it through Saturday without this baby coming. Reid has about a billion things at work he'd like to finish up, too. So, hopefully we can hold off just 72 more hours. I must be the only 9 month person in the world who's hoping not to come early!!!

VBS

A couple weeks ago Grace went to Vacation Bible School at a church just across the street from us. It was every morning from 9:30-Noon--and it was awesome! Although she screamed bloody murder every morning when i dropped her off (except for the last day) she really did have a great experience. I thought that with her best friend, Brae, there she'd be fine, but she still flipped out big-time--we're talking they had to call in "back-up" every time i left... But, she (of course) had tons of fun, and I got a MUCH needed break from my sweet 3 year old, and she got a break from her ornery mom! It was also so fun to have some Abby time. We even had a little play date with some kids Abby's age at a House of Bounce place. I can't say enough how good it was for all 3 of us to have this little break.

The whole week was focused on Jesus' miracles. She learned about Peter walking on the water, the blind man being healed and other Bible stories. Although we read from the scriptures here at home almost daily, I think it was really good for her to learn about those stories from other grown-ups, too. We're excited to do it again next summer!!

Grace's class, the "Microchips"

This photo was in the parents' slide show the last day.
A friend of mine was the photographer, so she sent me
this cute pic of my studious Grace.

Happy 6th Anniversary

Could it get any better than going to a place like this...

On a night like this...
Listening to a performer like this...


Sing songs like this....

Carolina in My Mind-
Everyday-
Fire and Rain-
Mexico-
Shower the People you Love-
You've got a Friend-
Sweet Baby James-
Your Smiling Face-

With a guy like this....

Simply put, the answer is no.

Thanks, babe, for an awesome anniversary gift! It was well worth the 1.4 mile hike to get there...but next time, could you just drop your 9-month pregnant wife off a little close to the theater??? Actually, I kinda liked all the looks of amazement I got from people. It made me almost feel like one of those tough pregnant chicks who doesn't play her "princess card" every chance she gets :)

Note: This picture was taken only after the profuse sweating had stopped--about 2/3 of the way into the show :)

Note #2: If any of you ever are interested in seeing any performer at the Red Rocks Theater, it is BY FAR the most beautiful (outdoor) theater I've ever been to and would be well worth your travels to get there. And if we know you, and you're not some weird blog stalker, then you could even stay with us!!!

> two weeks to go...

Where can i get one of these???

Well, i've officially got less than 2 weeks to go, and i'm FREAKING OUT!! Granted, i'm ready not to grunt every time i pick something up, and I'm ready to sleep more than 90 minutes at a time. And I'm excited for these beautiful veins on my right leg to lose their 3rd dimension, and i really do look forward to meeting this little girl inside of me. BUT, i'm still really not ready for her to come!!!

Apart from the 28 projects i've gotta finish first, the baby shower i'm throwing this Tuesday, the activity i'm heading on Saturday for all the kids from my church, the Broncos football game we're going to Saturday night, and the fact that a crew of construction workers is coming Thursday morning to spend 5+ days ripping apart our kitchen (yeah, the timing's impecable!!), I'm just not ready to have 3 kids yet!!!

There are moments (and i LOVE them) when Grace and Abby will just run out to the backyard and play back there, needing zero attention from me, for 20-30 minutes, or they'll each find some books and thumb through them, quietly in the front room while i get things done. In those moments i think "I can do 3 kids, no biggie." And then there are the moments when Abby's screaming one of her many demands at me and Grace is yelling at Abby to be quiet cause she needs to tell mom that today she's Cinderella, and then they both start crying cause mom's ignorning them 'cause she's trying to cook dinner, and the tortillas are burning on the stove and there's someone at the door, and the phone's ringing, and Reid's gonna be late and i have to pee and i just wonder, in those moments, what i would do if there was also a little newborn crying with that "you can't ignore me, mom" cry!!!

Those are the moments i just don't think i'm ready for...and, truthfully, who is!???!?! But I just remind myself that for the first 4 weeks Reid will be here 24/7 (thank you FML Act!!) and that Abby and Grace really are best friends and play REALLY well together lots of the time. And i remind myself that God's on my side, and He doesn't want me to strangle my children, or throw them out the window. And i've got great friends here who have all volunteered to help any way they can. And i know that I'll be praying lots...and lots, and those prayers are heard. And i remind myself that there are millions of women in the world who'd give anything to be having their 3rd child in my circumstances...so, that's why i'm just gonna shut up and be grateful for what i've got! I mean, i have a freaking house and a minivan!!! Do I really still complain?!?!?!?! (the answer, sadly, is "yes")

As far as the pregnancy goes, my Dr.s have been a bit concerned as of 4 weeks ago because i'm not "measuring" quite right. But i'm not worried about it. I feel like i'm growing. i feel it in my clothes, and i can see it in my belly--i just think this little lady hides from them to be funny :) But they hook me up to all the machines every time i go in now. And every time they find that she's fine, and my fluids are fine, and there's nothing to worry about. (which i really do love hearing, even though i'm not super worried)

She's a very active baby. I feel like she's literally about to jump out of my skin!!! The Dr.'s say that because this is my 3rd child in such a short space of time that my uterus never got back to it's original size, so this little girl has all the room to move around, punch, KICK, etc. It's been SOOOOO much more intense this time around, even Reid agrees. He gets the heebie jeebies from just feeling her knee glide across my belly, bless his heart :)

All in all, i really do feel pretty good. i complain lots, and request massages every night, but that's just because i can :) I'm not retaining water this time, i haven't gained much weight (well, i gained 20lbs in the first 5 months--but not much since--my body is weird like that), the weather's been gorgeous (we're talking no A/C today!!), and is supposed to be gorgeous for the next 10 days. Overall, I feel pretty lucky to be having another little girl to kiss, to get kisses from the girls i've got, and that I'm still in love with the man who's kisses got me here in the first place :)