Ella Mia (Finally) : )

Angel

Born - 12/27/08 12:26 AM

19 3/4 inches

7 lbs 1.5 oz

I'll write more later, but I needed to post these... We are back at the hotel...

Today!!

Oh man we are excited today! Gord is running around like a goof! We are so excited to see her and hold her. We packed our own hospital bag, as we don't know what will happen today. I'll check in when I can. We both actually got sleep last night, so we are ready.

Nothing yet : )

Sorry, I believe some were thinking no news was good news but it was actually NO NEWS : ) We spent Christmas night with Marla and a friend of hers. She made us a home cooked meal consisting of cheese and mac (appropriately named), turkey, green beans and sweet potato casserole. Very good! We just got home and are getting to bed, hopefully, our last night childless. We have to be at the hospital at noon (they changed the time) for the induction. She was induced with Ma'kai and said that from start to finish was 8 hrs. We'll see!! We may be staying the night there, so I won't be able to blog tomorrow (just preparing you), so we will be making phone calls when we have news.

Nighty Night!! We have a long day ahead of us.

We hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Very uneventful here... I slept in til 10AM this morning... NICE. It is these dang hotel curtains, they keep the room sooo dark. I did wake Gord up at 9 so he could go get us some of the free breakfast downstairs! So, there was an english muffin for me when I woke up : ) He also did our laundry today. Is he awesome or what?? I guess I will keep sleeping until I have a human alarm clock.

We are heading over to Marla's to hang out for a bit. She said she feels like tomorrow is the day. hmmm We will see. If not, We know some action will happen on Friday at 6AM. Just think that is 4AM Phoenix time. So when you wake up, I may have some news!!!

Have a great eve!

Gained a niece!

At the party tonight, I often found Marla's niece (JaKaia) by my side. Finally, she says to me "I love you". I said "you love me?" and she said "yes". Mia was standing there and started laughing. She said, "you just met her" and JaKaia said "I know, but she is so nice". She then looked at me with her big brown eyes and said "I wish you were my auntie". I said "you can call me auntie if you want" so she did the rest of the night. AAWWW

Lounging around!

We are just taking it easy today until the party tonight. We are a little bored. I think it will be better when she is here, so we will have some entertainment. I'm sure every burp, coo and pooh will add excitement. It is just not as cute to see Gord do all that... : )

Funny, the little counter says that she is born........ NOT! Stubborn : )

Gord negotiated a new price on our hotel room, so that should help for a longer stay.

I thought I would post some pictures that Gord and I took the other night at the outdoor mall.

PS... I see it is 22 degrees out today! Never thought I would be excited about that, but after the last 2 days in single digit... sounds good to me.

Exhausted

Why does a woman that is 9 months pregnant have more energy than me... That will have to change!

We picked Marla up for the dr appt at 8AM. The dr said she hasn't dilated anymore. I think it is too cold for Ella, actually. Today it was 8 degrees, yesterday it was 1!! We decided, if Ella doesn't start things herself, we would induce on Friday, the 26th. This will allow Marla have Christmas with her kids. Made sense.

After the appt, we went to lunch, went to the volunteer center and help prepare for the Christmas party tomorrow. Gord was done at that point, so he took us to the grocery store. We bought ingredients for cookies. Gord dropped us off at her house and he went to the hotel to nap : ) He picked me up about 7 PM and I'm TIRED. I almost wanted to type this up in the morning, but I did get a frantic call for an update, so I thought I should do a quick one!

We spoke with the OH attorney today. She advised that we may be here weeks longer than expected. BUMMER. Their instate office that needs to approve the adoption has been impacted by the cutbacks. So, we are trying to prepare ourselves for a longer stay.

We will attend the Christmas party at the center tomorrow. Most of the people there will be from women's shelters.

First off... I want to send my love and prayers out to the Adams family. Ronnie lost his mother today to a sudden heart attack... We love you and am sooo sorry we are so far away at a time like this. Stay strong and know she is in a good place.

Mass was awesome today... This is how I think church should be. Singing, dancing, audience participation what else can one ask for. The voices were amazing. Not sure where to find one of these in Phoenix, but know I will be looking : ) Gord seemed to get into it. He got his groove on. He did not burst into flames.

Marla could not get comfortable today. I think we are getting close. We will pick her up for the dr appt at 8 AM. She gave us a present for the baby today. She said she still hasn't picked us up anything yet. We assured her that she is giving us EVERYTHING, already. We took their gifts over today, just in case things go down!! I wanted to make sure they were there for Christmas morning. After mass, we went to lunch and back to her house to watch a movie and play some games. I was the one who got my booty whooped today : (

Movement?

This may be too much information for some, so sorry! I just talked to Marla and she thinks she is losing her mucus plug. I looked it up and it isn't a sure sign of going into labor, but it means things are changing : ) Maybe today is the day. She still wants to go to church so we will pick her up at 10:30AM.

just chillin'

The silver car is ours... : )

Today has been a lazy day : )

ate breakfast
worked out

bought some last minute Christmas presents

stocked our hotel fridge

having some tea &

wrapping presents

This is all stuff I would be doing if I was at home!!

We just talked to Marla. I don't think we will see her today. She is just watching some movies she rented and relaxing. She did ask us to go to church with her tomorrow. 1/2 of us is really excited about that. Gord just hopes he doesn't burst into flames when walking in. I, of course, am hoping for a full choir. We'll see. Mass is at 11 and then we will probably go back to her house and kick Gord's butt during that dice game, again. She ripped a game right out from under him yesterday and won. He didn't handle that well, but she hung the score sheet on her fridge. See, she is a lot like me : ) Ella will need to have some competitive genes to survive with us!!

I have been getting some emails asking how to make comments on this blog. If you sign up for a google/gmail logon, you will be able to leave comments. When you are reading others comments, on the right side it says something like "no google account? sign up here". Click on it and it should walk you through!

I posted some pics of our hotel view, then you will see why we are inside today!!

Thank you!!

Snow day??

Well, I learned today that if it snows, Doctors and Lawyers don't work : (
We made it there and office people made it there, but they had to reschedule our appt for Monday 8:30. If we make it through the weekend : ) Schools were out today too. Gord didn't think it was that bad out. I guess it had to get a lot worse in Canada for the kids to get a day off.

Since we were already out and about, we went and picked up some cookies and fudge and went back to her house and played games. She taught us a new dice game called 10,000 (I think it is also called Farfunkle). I have this game but couldn't understand the rules, now I do, so watch out!

None of us slept very good last night, so we headed home for a nap about 5. No plans set for the weekend yet. Gord and I need to finish some shopping. We may do that tomorrow.

Volunteering

Marla and I

Me

Ma'kai

Gord and Ma'kai

Marla and Ma'kai




We're home for the evening. We picked up Marla and Ma'kai for lunch at noon. We went to Chili's (same one we met at in August). Marla showed us some pics of family. After lunch we went to the volunteer center and wrapped a lot of presents for their Christmas party on Tuesday. It was a nice relaxing day. I haven't taken any pics of the snow, but I don't think my chances are over. Word on the street is we will get about 6-10 inches tonight.


Tomorrow morning we are picking her up for her O/B appt at 8:30.

Smooth Sailing

We have arrived. Things went extra smooth. We arrived at the airport in time to sit down and have lunch (Thanks Mary!). The flight was uneventful. Unless you count me spilling water on the guy next to me while he was sleeping. I did fess up when he woke up, just in case he was wondering why his pants were wet : )

We LOVE LOVE LOVE the new hotel we switched to. We had planned to stay at the same hotel we stayed in, in August, but caught wind of this new place. New it is! It smells like new carpet and paint. It is in walking distance to a mall with several restaurants and shops. We just checked out the mini gym and the laundry facilities, and it will definitely suit us for a couple weeks!!

We talked to Marla when we landed and we are going to do lunch tomorrow and help decorate the center where she volunteers. Since I did not decorate my house, this sounds fun.

My plan is to check in once a day...

BYE...

Dilated to 1!

We spoke with Marla this morning! The doctor said that she was dilated to 1 yesterday. The Doctor mentioned that at her next appt, we can start talking about inducing. Marla told her that we would be in town next week and would attend the appt with her. We are so excited about that. She didn't sound too happy about inducing, she wants to just let it happen naturally. So, we will see what the recommendation is next week!! The appt is Friday at 9:30 AM. I am still praying that baby stays put until Wed!! Thursday would be better, as we don't get into town until 7 PM Wed. So, God if you are reading my blog, "Thursday is good"!! Gord and I both feel it will be next weekend sometime. WOW...

Gord and I were out until 3 AM last night at friends' house! We are trying to get used to being up all night : ) We had a good time with good food and lots of games!! My kind of night.

Stay tuned...

It is a good moment!

1 week until take off! All arrangements are made...

Depending on what time of you day you talk to me determines if I am feeling optimistic or pessimistic about the events to come. This very second, I feel good!

1. I'm sitting relaxed with a new CD playing (Deborah Cox).
2. I have a nice hot cup of tea beside me. ( I sure hope Ella likes tea)
3. We got a Christmas card from Marla yesterday. It was really nice. She wished us happy holidays and said she will see us soon! And I thought I had too much going on in my life to do cards this year... She found the energy... what is wrong with me : ) I hope to have a birthday party and do Christmas cards next year!!!
4. Work is wrapping up. 4 more days!
5. Found a ride to the airport next Wednesday.
6. We have lots of plans with friends and family this weekend to stay distracted.
7. My hair has fresh cut and color so I look decent when I meet my daughter. As I type, Gord is working out, probably thinking the same thing!
8. Nursery is ready for a little one!

Week review!

Marlys and Ponder brown nosing!!! : )
As if you can't tell : ) Oprah, mailman, Bootylicious Beyonce, The POLISH Pope!!

Me and sisters dressed as we were in high school. Yes, that is my real prom dress! Susie has her real prom dress too, under the poncho! Oh Elaine... "What a feeling!!!"

Beyonce and my Dad???

Gord as a baby, I mean a cone head!!!

Gord Jovi!

What a week... Tuesday was my birthday and work had a baby shower for me. It was so nice. I can't believe how generous everyone was. Gord and I are are so lucky to have so many people in our corner! I would add the short video that was taken at the shower, but it shows me crying like a baby and that isn't a pretty sight. I decided to play it very low key for my birthday this year. My birthday is normally known as "Glitter Day", and I have big parties with themes. This year the theme was "try to get some sleep". I am having a hard time sleeping, as I can't stop thinking about STUFF. Usually, STUFF that I can't control. Oh well!

I just talked to Marla. She had an appt today and isn't dilated at all. So, maybe I will sleep tonight, as one of my items I think about at night is not making it to the birth. Looks like she may be able to wait the week and half until we are there. We bought our airline tkts (they are changeable) and reserved our car!

For fun, I will add some Glitter Day pics from the past... Enjoy