Jude Elias

Jude Elias was born December 7, 2011. I left work at 4:30 that afternoon thinking that I may be experiencing labor pain. When Matthew got home around 6 pm, I told him we needed to call the Bells to pick up Canaan and get to the hospital. We made it to the hospital a little after 7 pm and Jude was born at 9:05 pm. He definitely came faster than I expected, but it was nice to have such short labor. He was 6 pounds 8 ounces, 19.2 inches, and his head was around 13 centimeters. We had not yet picked a name but decided on one right before we left the hospital the following day.

Canaan has adjusted pretty well to being a big sister. She doesn't pay a lot of attention to Jude unless he's getting his diaper changed. She always wants to see his poopy diapers. She definitely notices the change in the attention shes getting so we're working through that.

my 39 week photo

It felt like a rushed Christmas season with a new baby and moving into our new house. But it has been a sweet time for our family. I look forward to a slower paced holiday season next year!

36 weeks family pictures

Melinda was gracious to take some pregnancy pictures of us last weekend. It was cold outside so we made it quick. I love the orange leaves that were still around. Fortunately we were able to get some pictures before any meltdown on Canaan's part. We had spent the morning looking at flooring for the house, had a late lunch, and it was way past nap time. These are some of my favorites. Thank you Melinda!

31 weeks

Last Sunday, I reached 31 weeks in this pregnancy. I cannot believe how quickly it has gone by to this point.

Things have been busy around our house with work and keeping up with Canaan. She is quite the handful these days. When we were expecting her, Matthew was nervous about raising a child. I was only worried about the process of getting that baby out of my body. This time around with a toddler at home, I haven't thought as much about the labor and delivery (although I am not really looking forward to that part) but have been very anxious about actually being responsible for another person. This parenting things is harder than I thought it would be!

I am sure the next 9 weeks are going to fly by. This time of year tends to speed by. We have plans to close on a house a week from Friday. We won't know until Wednesday if that is actually going to happen or not. After we signed a contract on the house, the sellers filed for bankruptcy. So we now have to wait for the bankruptcy court to approve the sale of the house. If everything goes forward, we plan to move by the end of November...just in time for Baby Boy to have his own bedroom.

We still haven't really talked about baby names yet so we need to get to work on that. I haven't purchased a single thing for Baby Boy. I was kind of waiting until we figured out our living situation. Now I am ready to start looking at bedding and how I want to decorate his room. We have a lot of things we'll be able to use that we used with Canaan. Thankfully, we chose neutral colors for almost everything but her bedding and clothing. It will be fun to add some blue to all the pink we already have.

As you can kind of see from the pictures below, I am quite a bit bigger this time around. I feel huge and cannot imagine what I will look like and feel like in 9 weeks. I have been much more uncomfortable in this pregnancy but thankfully have not been sick. It is getting harder to get down in the floor to play with Canaan, give her baths, or even rock her as I don't have much of a lap these days.

Canaan talks about her baby brother, but I don't think she understands what is going on. Some days, she will tell either Matthew or me that she has a baby boy in her tummy. Some days she likes to talk about sisters and brothers. She has also told me how she will help with the baby...by feeding him and changing his diaper. She has been doing a lot more of this type of pretending with her baby doll at home.

31 weeks of pregnancy with Canaan

31 weeks of pregnancy with Baby Boy

We found out today...

We had our 20 week ultrasound and doctor's appointment this morning. We got to see our precious baby and hear that everything looks good and the baby looks healthy. We were able to see the profile, the feet, the heart (all 4 chambers), the bladder, the kidneys, the spine, and the stomach (and maybe some parts that I'm forgetting). It is truly a miracle to see that at less than a pound, this already looks like a baby.

And we found out that Canaan will have a LITTLE BROTHER! We are excited to welcome this boy into our home as well as frogs, snails, and puppy dog tails.

This girl at 2

> loves bubbles of all kinds – wants to blow bubbles, wants to have bubbles in her bath, wants to wash her hands with bubbles

> likes to sing and sometimes surprises me with the words she knows to different songs

> wants to talk on and play with our cell phones (we don’t have a home phone)

> has been doing well on her gluten-free diet – there have been a few instances of her eating something she shouldn’t, but she’s been a trooper and her tummy and bottom are better for it

> wants to play and be outside all the time

> loves to eat fruit

> likes to feed Max, give him treats, and try to throw his ball – and has covered him up with her blanket when she thinks he’s taking a nap

> likes to go (as in leave the house)

> likes to have pigtails in her hair (her daycare teacher puts them in her hair almost daily), Matthew calls them pig knobs because they’re so short

> points out any airplane or helicopter she sees and hears by yelling “airpane!”

> really enjoyed singing “Happy Birthday” the couple of weeks around her birthday and still sings it to herself and us

> likes to give kisses to both people, animals, and inanimate objects alike

> will now say “cheese” for pictures and sometimes smiles at just the right time

> likes animals and always wants to pet them at the zoo, a squirrel, a bird, etc

> has a lot of personality and good facial expressions

> is happy to begin the day – a good sleeper and a good napper

> enjoys about a dozen nursery rhyme readers I bought several months ago – can recite a few of the stores, says “oh no!” when Humpty Dumpty falls or Little Miss Muffet gets frightened, says “ouchie!” when Jack and Jill fall down the hill

> can count to 10 but often leaves out 6 and 7

> knows most of her letter and words that start with some letters – H to O are often left out

> will watch us to see if we notice she’s doing something wrong – if we’re watching, she’ll sweetly say “hi” or give us a big smile

> “no poop” – has started excitedly saying this when she gets her diaper changed, I think it started during a nasty diaper rash

> “my turn now” – we hear this a lot! She doesn’t understand giving other people a turn quite yet.

> is wearing size 6 Huggies Little Movers (I don’t think there are any bigger sizes)

> remembers old "owies" and still talks about how she got them and wants to put ice on them

> she will be a BIG SISTER in December!