Happy Halloween

Due to our Hawaii trip, last year we never made it over to our local pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. This year, although we just had a little one, we decided to make a trip over to pick out our pumpkins. Logan loved walking around the pumpkin patch and decided that he wanted a little pumpkin. He also enjoyed running through a maze that they had. Once we had our pumpkins we got together with some neighbors to take on pumpkin carving. I always somewhat dread this task but am always glad that we do it. We kept it pretty simple this year and only carved two pumpkins. I carved the happy traditional pumpkin and Ben carved the other one. Logan was very interested to see what was inside the pumpkins but when he saw it was slimy seeds he bailed and went and played with his friend and let his daddy finish the yucky job. Taylor spent the whole night in the swing. Even though we put forth the effort to carve our pumpkins this year we still forgot on Halloween night to put a candel in them. Oops.
On Halloween night, we invited my parents and sister and her husband over for some dinner, cookie making and trick or treating. Logan told us this year that he wanted to be an elephant because he loved the baby Zuri at the Hogle Zoo. Thankfully Ben's sister had a wonderful elephant costume that she let us borrow. At first, I thought it looked huge but really it fit him perfectly. I love these pictures of him and just smile every time I look at them. Taylor was a black cat. We dressed her up in this cute little outfit that I found. I loved the hat and the kitty on her bum.
The weather was a little wet this year so we waited until the rain stopped before we headed out that night to trick-or-treat. It was cold but it wasn't raining on us. For some reason, Logan didn't want to wear his elephant hat that night but regardless he still looked cute and the costume kept him super warm.


Due to the weather, we opted to leave Taylor at home with my family while we went out with Logan. When we were done trick-or-treating we came home and made some of these yummy sugar cookies.

Then on Sunday night we headed over to the Ellis home and had our traditional Ellis Family Halloween party. This year I made some mummy hot dogs that the kids really seemed to like. Ben was Al from Home Improvement (last minute idea) and I was a witch. The party was fun but the kids seemed to be a little more energized since we did it after Halloween instead of before. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time playing games and eating yummy food.

Two Weeks Old

Taylor got a little bit of an eye infection her first week home from the hospital. We took her in to the doctor and they gave her some Gentax to try to clear it up. They said it wasn't uncommon for babies to have clogged tear ducts which could lead to infection. It took it awhile to clear up but after about 10 days it looks a lot better and she no longer needs the medication.


At her 2 week appointment, Taylor weighed 8 lbs 13 oz and was 21.5 inches long. So she gained a pound and grew an inch and half in just two weeks. It is seriously amazing how fast they grow up.

Taylor's first few days

Our first night home Logan insisted that sister sleep next to him in his bed. I think he is slightly excited to be a big brother. Taylor weighed 7 lbs 4 oz when discharged from the hospital. We took her to the doctor on the Friday after she was born and she was back up to 7 lbs 11 oz already (so practically her birth weight). Needless to say she is doing very well. She seemed to catch on to the breastfeeding very easily and we have had no issues (hooray). She wakes up about every 3 hours to eat which makes for a tired mom but luckily we have had lots of help around the house and for dinners.
The next few days we had several visitors come to see her that weren't able to in the hospital. Here is Taylor with her Grandma Great, her Uncle Marv,

her Uncle Ernie,
and her Aunt Kathy and cousins Hollie and Matt.

And here she is with her adoring big brother again. I don't think we could have too many pictures of him holding her though.
Lastly, these are just a few more cute pictures!

Taylor Jayne Ellis

When Ben and I found out that we were expecting back in January we were told that our due date would be October 7th. From the start, I was expecting that I would have this little girl early and that she would be born in September. This made me happy from the standpoint that no one on my mom's side of the family or in Ben's family has a birthday in September. I knew from the start that I shouldn't expect this pregnancy to be like Logan's (I was induced at 37 weeks because of toxemia) but I didn't know what else to expect. So time moved on and so did September and no baby. I was a little disappointed but mostly just scared to be honest. I was very worried now about actually going into labor on my own. On top of being scared my doctor was also going out of town the very first part of October and I was not looking forward to going into labor while she was gone.

September came and went though and no baby. At my 37 and 38 week appointments I wasn't dilating at all so we just kept waiting. One Saturday I did have some contractions but they gradually went away. So we went to our 39 week appointment hoping to have made some progress. I was dilated to a 1 or 2 then and 50% effaced which was encouraging. Our doctor then also talked to us about being induced the next week because she didn't want us to go past our due date. Ben's parents were heading out of town on Wednesday the 6th so we decided to go with Monday the 4th. I guess a lot of other people chose this day as well because we were just put on the waiting list. They told us they would call us on Sunday with a better idea of what time to come in. So we tried to keep ourselves busy that weekend (helped my sister buy a crib and went to Silver Lake).

On Sunday night the 3rd at about 6:30 pm the hospital called us and told us to come in at 7:00 am tomorrow. I was definitely surprised they wanted us to come so early but also excited that we would get to meet our sweet little girl soon. So we tried to get some sleep and woke up the next morning and had Logan's favorite Uncle Jeff come and get him for the day. We then headed to the hospital and began to get checked in. By 8:30 am I was hooked up to the Pitocin and my doctor came in to check me. She said I was dilated to a 2.5 and the baby was at a +2 still. She made a comment about how we could be here awhile so we made ourselves comfortable. Ben and I passed the time by learning how to send pictures from our cell phones to facebook so we could keep people updated (silly I know). At about 10:30 I was starting to feel my contractions but was doing ok breathing through them. At 11:30 though I decided it was time to get an epidural. I am glad I did because the nurse said the anesthesiologist had to go do a C section at noon and wouldn't be done till 1 so I got him just in time. They checked me after my epidural and I was at a 4.
I then decided that it was time to take a nap so I dozed off. While I slept, Ben went to meet my parents who were coming up to the hospital for lunch down in the cafeteria. They left for lunch at 12:45. Meanwhile, I woke up in my room at about 1 because I was in a lot of pain. I was the only one in the room now. I breathed through a couple of the contractions and tried pushing my epidural button to see if that would give me any relief. I was doing ok but I could feel every contraction and the pain wasn't easing up. I was also feeling a ton of pressure. After 20 minutes or so I began to panic and paged the nurse and asked her to come check me cause I was feeling a lot of pressure and was in a lot of pain. She was tied up in another room and just sent the anesthesiologist over to give me a booster which they said would help.

My parents and Ben then returned from lunch finding me in lots of pain. I was also assigned a new nurse at this time who came in to check on me and asked how long it had been since I had been checked. I told her it was when they gave me my epidural. She said my contractions were right on top of each other so she turned my pitocin down and wanted to check me again since it had been awhile. It was now 1:50 and when she checked me she discovered that I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to push! No wonder I was in so much pain. We then waited for my doctor to come. However, she was caught up in another room delivering another baby that was having complications. She came over at 2:30 and broke my water which I couldn't even tell she did because Taylor's head was so low I think it acted like a cork. I then pushed through 4 contractions (those boosters had finally kicked in and I couldn't feel anything so it took me awhile to get the hang of it) and Taylor Jayne Ellis arrived at 2:53 pm. After Ben cut the cord they put Taylor right on to my chest while they checked some of her vitals.

After a view minutes they took her to be weighed and diapered. She weighed at 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches long. They returned her to me and let me hold her on my chest while they finished cleaning me up. It was so nice to be able to have her so close so quickly. My parents and Ben's parents were waiting in the hall and were able to come in and meet her. I think the look on my mom's face in this picture is so cute and sums up how excited they all were.
At about 4 pm they moved me over to my recovery room. My parents and Ben's parents were able to walk over to my room with me and Ben pushed Taylor over. Once in our recovery room they gave Taylor a bath right next to my bed and did her footprints as well. She also received a cute yellow bow.
Later that night, Logan made it up to the hospital to see his baby sister for the first time. He kept trying to show her his Buzz Lightyear shoes. He would lift his leg up in the air and try to put it in her face. He also tried to share his chicken nuggets with her. Such a cute big brother.

The next day in the hospital was pretty quite which was nice as we got to just enjoy our new little addition to our family. I enjoyed trying to put some hats on her (but unfortunately they were all too big). I did get one picture of her with one of the cute bows and blanket I made her but then the headband kept falling off so we decided to stick with the cute hospital bows. Speaking of bows, I loved the bow they gave Taylor the day we went home.

We were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and came home to the real world. Here are a few pictures of us before we were sent home.