Introducing Ella Jean!!

So for all those people out there wondering how long it would take me to get my act together and update out blog....it has taken me exactly one month from the day I gave birth! My apologies for taking so long to get pictures on here, but really, I'm fairly proud of myself for keeping it together these last few weeks.

Lots of things to update you on. Of course, the biggest news is the newest addition to our family!!!

Of course she is the most beautiful girl in the world. She took her sweet time getting here, but it was worth the wait. For those of you who have not already heard the story, this is the short version. I checked into the hospital at 1:00am on Saturday May 3rd with regular contractions that were getting stronger. The docs sent me home because I was not dilated enough. They gave me some Ambien and told me to try to sleep through these early contractions and come back later in the day.

For those of you who wonder whether Ambien works well, let me tell you, I think it took five minutes for me to fall asleep and I don't remember a thing until about 10:00am when I was woken up by stronger contractions. I love that stuff! Anyway, took Koa to her favoritie place--day care, and then headed to the hospital again. They still didn't think I was dilated enough so they had me hang out for 2 hours to see if there was any progression. There was...thank god, so they admitted me and I was off to the races! However, Ella must have known that her Auntie Jennifer was due in at 8:30 that night and that her Auntie Venessa was observing Shabbas until sundown, because she decided to hang out a lot longer than we anticipated. She even took her mom and dad for a ride to the OR. Her heartrate had dropped and was not going back up so it was a race to the operating room for an emergency C-Section. Low and behold--she decided she did not like the bright lights of the OR and her heartrate came back up just as the moved me to the other table. So...back to the delivery room for a natural delivery. Phew!

Finally....at 11:20pm, with Aunties a plenty, and uncles and grandpa in the waiting room, Ella Jean was born. What a day!

So today she is 1 month old. It's amazing how much she has changed. Today I got her to smile at me. That was so cool. She is making lots of noises and she responds to our voices. For the most part she is a happy baby. She seems to get fussy at the same time each night and cries, I think, just to stay awake. But once she goes to sleep, she will sleep for a good five hours which is really nice!

I took these today--exactly one month old. She's got squishy cheeks! She is very alert and never sleeps through a feeding. I'm guessing she's over 8lbs. now. At her two week appointment she was 7lbs 10oz.

Peter and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on May 21st. Peter took a half day at work and we all went to the zoo. And while Ella slept for most of it, we still had a really good time.

Here are more pics--

As you can see from the last picture--even Koa has to try to catch a nap when she can!

There is another big change on the horizon for the Hanley's.

We are going to be moving sometime this summer. It just so happens that my parents were interested in moving, and they said they would rent our townhome from us, so there will a few moves going on this summer!

Peter and I have already started looking at homes and will hopefully find something soon. There is one house we might put a bid on but we are taking a look at a few more properties tomorrow night and will make a decision thereafter.

I can not wait to have a backyard! And more space will be good now that baby Ella seems to accumulate something new everyday. It will also be nice to get Blake his own room. I think he will really enjoy it.

Needless to say, we have been a busy, busy family. We are hanging in there though and that's all that we can ask for right now.

I do not have to go back to work until mid-July so we are just trying to enjoy the time I have off and adjust to all of the changes.

Now that Ella is on a bit more of a schedule, I hopefully will get a few minutes here and there to keep up with the blog. I'll be sure to keep taking pictures and will keep everyone updated on the house hunt.

Hope everyone is doing well. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!