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!!

I know it has been a long time since I have updated out blog. I apologize. It's been a busy month.
As you probably all know....no baby yet. But hopefully soon. Today is my official due date. I have an appointment tomorrow with the nurse, so I'm guessing we will schedule a date to be induced if I don't have the baby this week.

I started my maternity leave yesterday. Hence the reason I have the time, and the energy to update the blog! It's weird to not be working. Especially since I am feeling so good. I feel like I need to be at work, or at least being productive. I have slept in a little bit these last two days. Then I eat breakfast and watch American Justice, then I get the day started. I have been doing laundry for the past two days and am still not done. I...and the baby...have a lot of clothes!

I try to do some chores and then rest in between. The rest is nice. Koa has been quite the sport and has let me sneak in a few cat naps. But I have made a point to spend some extra time with her and show her lots of love before the baby gets here. She seems to appreciate it. I bought her a new toy today (the PetSmart weiner dog toy) and within ten minutes they became best friends.

On the family front, Peter is doing well. His ankle is still not 100%, but it is getting there. And I can just sense how anxious he is to get back to his tennis routine. It's almost bad timing that he will be getting well right at the time the baby comes. I will want him home all the time with me and he will want to be hitting the courts!
Blake is also doing well. I think he is a bit apprehensive about the arrival of his little sister, but once she is here, I think he will be fine. He just ended his baseball season, where, in a couple of games, he earned offensive and defensive player of the game!! He made some really good plays as third baseman, and as an outfielder he knows to get rid of the ball as fast as he can! He also got recognized for "most dirt on his pants". He really likes to slide into home!

I'll get Peter to take a picture of me later and I'll add it to the post. That way everyone can see what I look like on my due date.....still pregnant.

Hope all is well. We will be in touch!

A Few Updates

Peter's ankle is slowly healing. He is starting to realize that it is going to be quite a while before he is 100%. We are still icing it and keeping it wrapped so hopefully he can get back to his normal routines in about three weeks. We'll see.

It seems as though our entire household is under the weather lately. Earlier this week Koa and I developed a cold...on the same day! I took off from work early on Wednesday since I wasn't feeling well and by the evening Koa was coughing up a lung. I never knew dog coughs sounded so horrible! I feel so bad for her. Anyway-Koa and I stayed in bed all day Thursday. The rest was definitely nice.
Yesterday I felt good. Blake was over so we dyed some eggs. The Easter Bunny also made a visit which Blake decided to tell us about at about 6:30 this morning! He said, "I just knew he would come!" How cute.
I guess maybe I should have rested yesterday too, because today I am not feeling too swell. My plan was to do some cleaning but I could barely even walk from the kitchen to the living room without needing to sit, so that plan got shelved. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better.
Koa on the other hand, wants to try to still play with us, but it doesn't take her long to start hacking. So we are trying to keep her calm (HA!).

And now that Peter is incapacitated...to a point, we have had to put our plans to get rid of some furniture and move some stuff around on hold. We are still trying to get out and buy a glider or recliner to put in our room, but this will have to wait since he can't really be moving anything like that.

My doctors appointment earlier in the week went well. Everything looks good he says. Apparently I have been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions and didn't even know it. I told him I hadn't had any, but when he was checking her heartbeat he could feel on my tummy that I was having one right then! He told me that that feeling was a contraction! Oops. hehe. I thought it was just the baby sticking out her butt or her head or something. How funny. This makes me feel a lot better though because I was starting to feel like I was going to be pregnant forever. At least now I know that my body is "practicing" for the real thing.

Next Sunday is my baby shower and I can't wait! Whitney will be in town and I can't wait to see the new addition to their family!! It will be so nice to see everyone all at once.
I'll post pics as soon as I can.

Love to All

Swollen Ankles and Rising Nerves-Let's All Just Drink

Earlier this week, Peter was at the park with Blake and he took a spill and sprained his ankle.

Looks nice, eh? Of course, this is the worst type of injury for Peter who has to be "doing" something all the time. He will have to abstain from tennis, softball, and ping pong for the next few weeks and I just know he is going to be going stir crazy by the time this is all said and done. The bright side of this story is that his ankle is not broken and he will not be on crutches when the baby is born....unless she pulls a suprise appearance, which I highly doubt.

Speaking of ankles, mine have started to swell as well. But it's just at the end of the day when I'm home from work and it's not too bad. For the most part I'm hanging in there. I'm tired of not being able to bend over and it's frustrating that I get winded so easily. I also am hot all the time! Mostly though, I just feel like there is no way there is any more room for her to grow! But she has been good to me. No painful kicks and she's pretty mellow at night so I am sleeping pretty well.

Peter is getting really excited for her arrival and we both are noticing that our nerves are on the rise. I am constantly asking questions that can't be answered yet. Like, "well what if I can't get her to stop crying and you're sleeping, are you going to help me??!" and "Do you think that she'll be calm since she seems to be pretty calm now??" and "What if I go into labor when I'm at work, and the dog is at home by herself, and we don't have time to go home first....." yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm probably driving Peter insane. But so far he has kept his patience.

As we enter the final home stretch of the pregnancy I can't help but think that the time has just flown by. I can't believe I'm actually going to have a baby in this house in two months!

Heather's sister Maria is getting married on Saturday and we had the bachelorette party for her a few weeks ago. Jennifer and Francis happened to be in town that weekend so it worked out that Jenn could spend the eveing with us. Here are few photos from our evening.

Popping the champagne in the limo:

A little too rough with the glassware:

Two beautiful ladies:

More beautiful ladies--Elizabeth, Shannon, and Jennifer:

Laser-Tag Assault Unit--one of these girls scored 4000 pts, and one scored 0 points!

We finally got our bathroom tub and shower relined! We had been talking about it for a while and had decided that it was something we had to do before the baby was here. It's not like she's gonna be able to take a shower. So, the estimator came in January and gave us the bad news. Of course, this was not going to be a simple placement of the acrylic lining over our old bath. There was so much mold and damage that they were going to have to rip out some of the old tile and wall board and replace it with new drywall. Also, he suggested we re-do the plumbing while they were at it since it was the orignal plumbing from 1974.

So over President's Day weekend, the installer came in and gave us our new bath! It's fabulous! Here are some before and after pics.

I am so glad to finally have it done. Now though, we need to paint the walls, because they look old and dingy! I am going to wait until after the baby is born to do that.

The next projects for the house will be to declutter a little bit and move the fish tank from Blake's room to our room so we can make room for a glider and the changing table. Hopefully that will happen in the next few weeks.

Peter and I spent most of last Saturday registering at Babies R Us. Boy was that an adventure! It took us forever to agree on things and of course, Peter felt there needed to be a strategy to how we picked stuff. I, on the other hand, just wanted to scan everything! In the end though we are both happy with what we got done.

I took Heather and Elizabeth with me to Target though so that we could also register there. Peter couldn't handle another round! Heather and Elizabeth were the complete opposite of Peter and wanted me to register for just about everything!

We had fun though and I feel relieved that it's all done.

I don't have a recent belly shot, so I'll have Peter take one later and I'll update the blog this weekend. I feel like there have been a couple times where I have just grown overnight. And I can tell that she is getting so much bigger. Her kicks are more forceful and sometimes she gets wedged under my ribs and that really hurts!

Besides the wedging, I'm doing really good. My ankles have started to swell by the time I get home from work so I try to stay off my feet when I can, and sleeping is a whole ordeal in itself, but other than that, there are no complaints!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Can you believe it's almost March!!

Cha..cha..cha...Changin...

Okay, okay....I finally got around to updating this thing! Peter and I have had a lot going on the last few weeks and I wanted to keep everybody up to date, but I never seemed to have the time to get these pictures posted.

A few weeks ago Peter. my mom, and I went to my sister's storage unit and got their crib and their bassinet! We brought it all home and my mom helped us put the crib together. I should also acknowledge Francis' assistance as well. I had to call him to figure out how to raise and lower the mattress. So after a few tense moments, some arguing, and a smashed knee (mine), we finally got it together. Of course once it was done I was dying to go buy the crib bedding set for it, but it was too late at night. So a few days later Heather and I made a trip to Babies R Us and spent about an hour deciding between all the choices.

Look, look, ain't it cute!!!

I just love it. Every time I walk into the room I just get so excited!!!! Our little baby is gonna be in there!

We are still working on the rest of the room. She will be sharing space with Blake so it's hard to try to keep from intruding on his space, while also trying to make sure we have room for a changing table and a rocker so we have some place to sit with her when we need to.

Blake has been very helpful though. He is concerned that we don't have all of her stuff yet. When he saw the crib he thought it might be a tad too big for such a small human, and he was wondering if we had bought her any blankets yet, and a stroller. Always the little planner!

Here I am at 26 weeks. I'm not sure how much you can tell, but a few weeks ago I decided to dye my hair two shades lighter and add blonde highlights! I totally freaked after it was done and thought it looked horrible. But I'm used to it now, and have had a lot of compliments, so I feel better.

As far as the pregnancy I am definitely starting to feel pregnant. I think overall I have gained about 21 lbs. Right now it has been very difficult for me to get comfortable at night so I have not been sleeping well at all. I have tried more pillows, less pillows, legs bent, not bent, lying on my back, lying on my right side, lying on my left side. It's so annoying!

I am feeling the baby move everyday now. She seems to be most active in the morning when I wake up and pretty much all through the morning until about noon. Her kicks are getting stronger, which tells me she is getting bigger, but they still don't hurt yet which is good. Next week I have my 28 week appointment and will have the glucose test and a RhoGamm (sp?) shot.

My sister brought to my attention that she never got to see my kitchen now that we are pretty much done making some changes. We started early last year by re-facing the cabinets. We painted all of them and added all new hardware. Later in the year we painted the walls. All that is left to do is add a wallpaper border over by the window and kitchen table and get rid of the clunky old buffet and replace it with a less bulky piece that will still give us some storage space. So anyway, here are some before and after pics.

Happy New Year!!

Well, we have survived the holidays. December turned out to be a very busy month for us with the holidays, our Disney Cruise, and a few days in DisneyWorld. It feels like it has been non-stop since I returned from Hawaii. I am looking forward to taking it easy for the next few weeks.

Hawaii was wonderful. I really enjoyed spending time with my family. Maddie and Taylor are so wonderful. They are just non-stop! There was no resting! But that was okay. We had a fabulous time together. And it was great to see Jenn and Francis and spend some quality time with them.

Blake celebrated his 8th birthday on the 2nd of December. They had a magician and Blake got to wave the wand and make a rabbit appear! They also got their faces painted and ate lots of pizza.

On December 12th we flew to Orlando and boarded the Disney cruiseship for a 3 day cruise. We were with Peter's mom, dad, and grandma. And of course, Blake. We also met up with Peter's aunt and uncle on the cruise. We visited the island of Nassau and the Disney owned island, Castaway Cay. The weather was gorgeous while we were at the ports of call and while Peter and Blake snorkeled I laid in the sun and got a tan. Peter and Blake and I also did the Stingray Adventure where we were able to feed the stingrays and snorkel with them.

We returned from the cruise on Sunday morning and headed for Orlando. We spent time with more family there and then headed to our hotel on Disney property. We visited Animal Kingdom on Monday, where we all ended up buying gloves and sweatshirts because it was about 50 degrees outside...and shaded! We were sooooo cold! The next day Peter and I took Blake to Magic Kingdom. It was much warmer and so much fun! I actually got to ride everything except Splash Mountain (which Peter and Blake rode twice). We all had a really great time.

We returned to Denver just in time for last minute holiday shopping. We spent Christmas morning with Blake and the afternoon with my parents. It was very nice.






As most of you know, we had our ultrasound on December 10th and found out we are having a girl!! I must say, I was one of those women who just "had a feeling" that it was girl, so I was elated!

Peter and I are looking forward to the new year and all of the changes it will bring for us. Although Peter says that I'm "taking too long" to have this baby, I can hardly believe that I am about to start my third trimester.

We hope every one is doing well and wish the best to everyone in the coming year.

With love,

Brittany and Peter

Happy Holidays!

Here it is two days after Thanksgiving and we already have our tree up! I'm excited though. Last year we didn't put the tree up at all because we thought it would be too much of a headache trying to keep Koa from chewing the whole thing up. So far she has hardly paid any attention to it. It goes to show how much she has changed in the last year. Slowly but surely she is maturing.

After I put up the tree, Peter and I put the lights on. Peter is just like my dad--he likes to turn out all the lights and just sit and look at the tree with the lights on for awhile. After that, Blake and I decorated the tree with ornaments and Peter topped it off with our pine cone star.

We spent Thanksgiving at my Grandma's house. It was a small gathering, but it was nice. Always a lot of laughs and good food. I believe this was the first time I have ever had seconds....and thirds! I have been so hungry lately, Thanksgiving came at the perfect time for me...and the baby!

Peter made a short trip to Vegas last weekend with one of his friends. They bet on some football and played lots of blackjack. I'm sure they did other things that I would really rather not hear about, but hey...what happens in Vegas. For the most part.

I will be heading to Hawaii to visit the Gomes Ohana on Tuesday and will be there until Saturday night. I am so excited I have already pulled out my luggage and am trying to figure out what all I need to bring. I am really looking forward to spending time with my sister and seeing my favorite nieces! I will be sure to get lots of pictures and update everyone on the trip as soon as I get back.

Peter and I are also looking forward to our cruise which is coming up in December. It will be nice to get away with his family and Blake and relax in the sun.

Other than the hectic feeling of the holidays approaching, I am feeling good. I have realized that I need to rest more than I usually do, so I have been trying to do that. Naps are good! Peter has been wonderful with help around the house and making sure I am eating enough. We are both feeling the excitement build as we talk about the changes we will need to be making soon!

Hope everyone is doing well and is enjoying their start to the holiday season!