Ok so I figured I should blog about Lilly's first Christmas. We weren't planning on "doing Christmas" this year with the move and everything coming up. Mike and I bought each other gifts previously this month and Miss Lillian certainly does NOT need anything else. Well then we decided to have my MIL come up from AZ because my FIL was flying Christmas day and we needed our trailer for the move. So then Mike's brother decided to come too. So if they were coming then we should have a tree and if a tree then we need to have presents under it...you see where this is going??? and if presents and a tree than I had to make tea logs and well we "had Christmas" Lilly got a new outfit and and a couple toys and a stuffed owl from her Uncle David that she really loves. I got a set of pearls (necklace, earrings and bracelet) at the beginning of December from Mike. He originally gave the box to Lilly and said it was from her, later he told me it was really for me. Well I have lots of bracelets so I decided that Lilly needed a pearl necklace. I extended the bracelet a few inches in the back and voila Lilly got her very first pearl necklace.

After a breakfast of zucchini quiche and tea logs we took Lilly to the park. Last time Lilly and I went she had a great time on the swings. Not so this time, she was a little tired and was not usually her smiley self. We did manage to get a couple decent photos and a good family shot.

We had a good time and then last minute decided to drive down to the Ranch to surprise Alan. Weather had re routed his trip so he had a 20 hour overnight in Phoenix so he was going to be home. We had a good time the 2 days we were there and now we are back home and oh so ready for our move!

The Adventure Begins...

Yesterday was day one of my first military move. We were up and on the road by 4am. We had to drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to drop off my Subaru to be shipped to Alaska. I was really nervous about driving to LA. I hate traffic and I usually get very sleepy while driving. But all went well. God certainly answered my prayers and allowed us to not have ANY traffic and I had a book to listen to on my iPod. I wasn't worried at all about getting lost, Mike is incredibly easy to follow. So all went well. We got the Subi dropped off, and she is now beginning her journey on a boat up to Alaska.

Since we were so close to the ocean and since it was only 10am we decided to go on a short detour to the ocean. Lilly was not impressed with the ocean as sheslept the entire time. We did manage to find a small board walk and then a beach and also found our favorite restaurant Rock Bottom. So we stopped for lunch and then went on to the beach to take a few pictures to help document the beginning of our adventure. We also got to see the ship yard where my dear car will be take to begin her journey.

We made it home by 6pm. It was a long day but fun! Glad we made the extra stop.

Lilly does a trick

Yes, my daughter has finally learned to roll over. This new thing was discovered by us yesterday. She has been rolling to her side for several days now but gets stuck on her arm. Well yesterday she finally got that arm out of the way. I guess there won't be any more leaving her alone on the changing table. Oh and the joys of trying to change a diaper while she's rolling away from me. :-) I think the best part is the end of the video...she's quite proud of herself and it's quite obvious.

Enjoying the Weather

It was about 55 degrees out today so Lilly and I went for a walk. I decided to drive the 10 minutes to a local park. They have a walking/jogging track that is about 3 miles. So I walked and Lilly slept. She woke up about the time I was done and we just happened to be passing the swings... Lilly likes to sit up so I thought I'd try her in the swings. She was a little groggy at first but in the end she really like it. As a side note, my little girl has learned to roll over. :-)

Moving

This is such a busy time of year for everyone and especially this year for Mike and I. We have lots to do before we move. 26 days left to be exact before we begin the journey to Alaska, and so much to do before then. We have rooms to paint, family to visit, Christmas to be had, a car to drive to LA to be dropped off to be shipped to Alaska. Oh and doctors visits and paperwork to be signed. A trailer to be picked up and a vet visit for Hamilton. Oh the list goes on. We are very fortunate to have movers coming (AF provided) that will pack up all of our stuff, yes ALL of it, load it and ship it. They will also unpack at our home in Alaska and take away all of the boxes. What a blessing.

I am ready to go but a little nervous at the same time. Just that typical feel when a life changing even is impending. We have known about his move since June and I knew once I visited my family in October I would be ready to go, and I am. It will be a long drive, Mike has it mapped for 9 days, 5-7 hours a day. We are hoping to go faster but it will depend totally on the weather.

We are ready... let the adventure begin.

Lilly sleeps

I was cleaning up the house this morning and Lilly was with Mike. I knew she was getting hungry and sleepy and I was almost done when I realized that I hadn't heard her make noise. I walk into the living room and this is what I found...

Why is it that I have to work to get Lilly to sleep and for Mike she just kind of crashes????

An update on Lillian

Little Miss Lillian has developed quite the personality over the past several weeks. She seems to be happy most of the time, though you never know when the "unhappiness" will hit. One minute she's fine the next she's screaming due to hunger or tiredness. She loves to smile and will smile at anyone, yes anyone if they only make eye contact and a smile at her they will receive a smile from Lilly. Not just a little one either, a very wide toothless grin that seems to take over her entire face, and makes anyone who sees her smile. It has gotten chilly here in Vegas so she dons a hat 95% of the time. I have made her two, her purple daisy hat (that people seem to think is a grape or an eggplant, come on people there are white petals on top and a green stem) and her hat that I fondly refer to as the "stripey one" she looks precious in them. Cuter with them than without considering she's lost almost all of her hair. She giggles and coos almost not stop now. Developed a new sound today. (a genius child I know) She holds herself up very well and I bought her a used walker the other day, she LOVES it. If she sits crooked in it she can touch the floor with one foot and manages to push herself across the floor. She's getting stronger every day and I am ready for her to sit up on her own. She rolled over three consecutive times the other day but has yet to do it again. I think maybe it was a fluke.

I really do like being a mother. My days are filled with dirty diapers and more housework than I can usually keep up with but I love it. The smiles and grins from my little girl make every minute worth it.

Sleeping

While we were in Indiana, Lilly started sleeping through the night. I didn't do anything different, no sleep training nothing... just put her to bed one night and she woke up 10 hours later. I felt amazing and she was a very happy little girl. So at a little over 2 months she was sleeping through the night. This amazing routine continued until about 4 days ago when she relapsed to waking at least once during the night. I have yet to figure out how we are going to remedy this situation. I am hoping that her waking up lately has been due to being cold. She likes to kick off her blankets and we are trying to to turn the heat on yet. So tonight I put a long sleep onesie on under her fleece jammies, wrapped her tight in a flannel blanket and then covered her with her flannel quilt and put a hat on her. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she doesn't wake up until 5 am. I mean come on she can sleep through a F-18 demo at the air show why can't she sleep all night :-)

Indiana trip pt. 1

Wow what an adventure with so so so much to say:

Our one week vacation included a 50 mile bike ride, buying and fixing a truck, a 1st birthday party, knitting, lots of family and friends, Lilly sleeping through the night, and an extra week of Winona for Lilly and me.

Part 1

We left on the 22 of October. I was a little nervous for Miss Lilly, I wasn't sure how she would do on the plane, she did fine. We ended up flying from Vegas to Denver an Denver to Chicago. We stayed over night at the "Nelson Inn" and then off to O'Hare. Brian had to fly into O'Hare early early Friday morning so Lydia and the kids tagged along and we all flew in Biomets Jet back to Indiana. Titus was precious as he explained to us, hand motions included, that we had to wear our seat belts so that when we did a loop we didn't fall out. Lots of travel and jet lag made for a very mellow Friday.

Saturday- Hilly Hundred

Riders: Micah, Mom, Juan, Brian, and Michael.

We, the riders and Lydia and I and the kids, were all up at 3 am to head to Elletsville IN to ride in the Hilly Hundred bike tour. Part of the group stopped in Kokomo to pick up bikes from Uncle Matt and Uncle Mike. It was cold and rainy and I was certainly glad that I was not riding a bike 50 miles wearing spandex! The riders all started their adventure, Lydia and I started ours. The kids were loaded up and we were ready to head to the farmers market. Thanks to parking in the grass on a downhill slope and the past days worth of rain and having a rear wheel drive truck we were stuck. The tires were spinning and mud was spitting everywhere. Lydia and I were not thrilled with the increasing possibility that we were going to be stuck at the school with 3 babies and fruit loops and bananas to get us through the day. Fortunately, we were in Indiana where people are nice and eventually we were pushed and pulled out by a Toyota Rav 4 and a slew of guys. We were off to explore Bloomington. We had fun and managed to avoid any further disasters.

We got back to the school around 3:30 (the riders had to be done by 4) We found Micah (he finished easily as he rides 50-70 miles a day delivering sandwiches) at Mom's car and he told us that Mom and Juan had a broken bike and stopped at mile 25, and that Michael had quit and Brian was still out there somewhere. No one took their phone with them so calling to see where everyone was at was not on option. So we waited, and we waited and we waited and then comes Brian. We still can't find Mom or Juan or Michael we were assuming that all should have been back by then. Eventually Mom and Juan show up, they had waited for the SAG vehicle after Juan's pedal kept falling off. Still no sign or word of Mike, Brian said he quit so we wait some more. It had been about 1.5 hours since we got back and I'm really worried so I take Lilly and head towards the finish line. I waive down a SAG truck and they tell me that anyone who wanted a ride should have been back. Now I'm really worried. My husband is stuck out in the middle of nowhere on a bike. I'm tempted to walk back to the group but decide to give him the benefit of the doubt and I wait a little longer. Ten minutes later he comes riding across the finish line! He finished!!!!! I was so proud of him. He says there were several times that he almost quit but it was always just a little further.

We headed to a pizza place that Micah new about had dinner and headed back. All in all in was a good day, a few minor set backs but that's what makes an adventure right?

Sunday's craziness

Sunday posed another busy day for us. My father in law was flying in in the evening for dinner, and Mike's brother and his wife and friend were all coming for dinner. Nothing worked out as I had planned. It all started with me forgetting to take the meat out of the freezer first thing. Then I took a 30 minute nap in the afternoon and that put me totally behind schedule. Plus in the middle of trying to cook dinner my daughter decided to be difficult... she's never difficult. Anyways, everything turned out ok, Lauri did most of the cooking as I consoled Lilly, Mike picked up Alan, and we made a trip to the grocery store. (no ground beef but Mike and Alan picked that up on the way back) Garrett, Selene, and Kierstan made it as wall. So all in all a good evening, no one starved and I think Kierstan even made her flight on time.

Lauri, Mike, Lilly and I did go up to Mt Charleston first thing Sunday morning for about a two hour hike. It was Lilly's first time in Mike's carrier, she holds her head up well enough to be carried facing out and on Mike's back. She spent most of the time sleeping. She really does love movement and lets you know if you stop walking and she's not cool with it.

Date Night!

Mike and I had our first date since Lillian was born on Saturday. My mother in law flew in on Friday and stayed for the weekend. We had planned to go see the Broadway production of the Lion King, but Michael added to the occasion with dinner and hotel reservations. We left at about 3 pm and headed to the show. I was only a little nervous, yes just a little, about leaving Lilly. I made it through the first half of the show only thinking about Lilly every 10 minutes. I checked on them during intermission and everything was fine! I relaxed much better during the second half. It was amazing, the music, the acting, the costumes, everything. I would not however recommend the show to children under 10. It is very intense and loud at times and the hyenas were a bit creepy even to me! We were planning on going back to the house at some point in time to check on Lillian and Nana and so I could drop off more milk. We ended up having dinner earlier than planned and since everything was going ok at home we stayed down on the strip until 11pm just enjoying being adults and being alone. We decided not to stay the night as I was a bit concerned that Lauri would run out of milk for Lil, so we called it a night.

It was great to get out, I am glad that I know I can leave Lilly with a sitter and she will take a bottle and sleep without problems. It is both freeing and sad for me to realize that my little girl doesn't need me nearly as much as I think she does. :-)

Lilly

Since I'm making this blog to help remember things about my daughter I thought I'd add this. She is really starting to smile a lot. Not just in the morning. I can get her to smile almost any time now. She has also started making lots of noises, "talking" as we call it. She's also given me a couple good laughs. She continues to be a really good baby. She's not sleeping at night but is usually only up once or twice, and takes a really long nap during the day. We are going to leave her for the first time this weekend. Mike's mom is coming to watch her so we can go see the Lion King. I am both excited and nervous about leaving her. Next weekend we are headed to Indiana so my family can meet Miss Lilly!

Utah, old friends and new friends

So Mike and I decided to make a last minute trip to Utah this weekend. Mike had a three day weekend and we have lots of people to see before we move. His high school buddy (Jon) and his family live in Provo and one of the guys (Chris) Mike served with in Kuwait and his wife live in Ogden.

We didn't have plans to for anything else this weekend and were both itching to go somewhere and Utah sounded like a good idea. We left Saturday morning at 5 and were there by lunch time. We stopped and Jon and Amy's first and had lunch with them, then headed to Ogden. We didn't plan very well and thought that the two families lived a lot closer to each other, in actuality the live about 1.5 hrs apart. We ended up staying both Saturday and Sunday nights with Chris. We were planning on staying at the base hotel but Chris insisted.

Saturday night we went to work with Chris and I got to go into the Armory and see lots of guns. I was amazed at the weight of them! The M4, M16, M249 (standard machine gun) and the M240 bravo. The M240 is the gun that replaced the gun (the M60) in the Rambo movies. This gun weighs 27 lbs! I couldn't hold it up to shoot it. Yes I could pick it up but to actually hold it in proper position to shoot... No Way! I can't imagine trying to run around with this thing! Just holding it shows you that the movies are a little unrealistic. Even the M249 was heavy and I wouldn't want to run around with it either but not quite as bad as the M240. Not many civilians get to check out the armory, I felt pretty special. (Lilly slept through the entire thing :-) )

Sunday we went to Cabela's with Chris and Treasa and then to Ikea and had a great steak dinner that night.

Monday, we headed back south, to Jon and Amy's. We had a great breakfast with them and Mike helped Jon with the car. Then back home it was.

Lilly was great the entire weekend, sleeping 7 hours straight both nights! I wish she did that here but no such luck. We forgot to take pictures unfortunately, but we are going to try and make it back up there before we move.

We had a really good time and are thankful for friends that live close enough to get us out of Vegas for the weekend, this is something we will miss when in Alaska.

Lilly smiles

Ok so not much to write here, Lilly coo's and smiles a lot now. She is especially happy when she wakes up to nurse in the middle of the night. Makes me laugh in my sleepy stupor. She really gets going anytime you put her on the changing table and take off her diaper. (not so sure I like that she gets so happy when she gets naked :-)) She continues to be a very good baby. She slept 8 hours straight for the first time this week. I should have gone to bed when she did but I enjoyed being alone for a bit. Here's a little bit of her being "cute" Sorry it's kind of hard to see I'll get better.

little girl hair clips

I saw some similar hair clips in a "baby boutique." There are lots of these "boutiques" here in Vegas and everything is way over priced. They wanted between 6-10$ for a set of two. I looked at them and was tempted but figured I could make them on my own. I bought little silver clips at the store and then went to Joanns and bought ribbon, buttons and tacky glue. I set up my little project on the coffee table and here's the result.

Now I was making these for Lilly but alas she doesn't have enough hair yet so I think they will sit in a drawer for a while, or I'll use them. They are quick and easy and would be a great craft project for a 5-6 year old. I'm not sure how much they cost a piece but WAY less than 6$

Hushamok

THE HUSHAMOK

Well after an entire day of Lilly not sleeping more than 20 minutes at a time, I think maybe she is finally asleep and I can sit and write about our cool new find...

That was last night, obviously I got interrupted by my favorite little girl and by the time she finally went to sleep I did the same. So we are trying again...

There is this really cool baby boutique here in Vegas called Olive and Bean (you can find them online at oliveandbean.com) Mike and I went to shortly after Lilly was born. Prices are a little high but they have really cute stuff. The coolest thing they had was a baby hammock, for the stand and the hammock it was about 600$. (www.hushamok.com) We put that on the permanent waiting list.

I got a post from my "mom's website" about needing some extra help at the kids expo (another post for another day) this would include some heavy lifting and packing etc...20$ an hour. I signed Mike up. I went to pick up his pass and it happened to be at this store, with the really cool hammock. So I was looking around at all the really cute stuff and was talking to the owner and mentioned that my husband really really wanted a hammock. She then proceeded to tell me that she had one in the back that was "damaged" that we could have. I was shocked. I tried to offer her money but she said she wouldn't take it, that she couldn't sell it anyways, so I took it. There was a slight problem with the base, which Mike fixed in about 30 seconds with a screwdriver and a small tear in the fabric that I am not worried about.

I had to buy something after Alina gave me the hammock so I bought an outfit for Lilly and called Mike and told him that I had an impulse buy at the store. He asked if it was the hammock, I told him no, just an outfit. Needles to say he was pretty shocked when he got home and the hammock was sitting in it's box and was even more shocked when he found out I got it for FREE!

I love how she looks to be holding her blanket

Up to date :-)

Ok so I am really bad at this posting thing but maybe as I start to have some sort of schedule I will get better. Lots of things have been going on around here lately.

The weekend before last, Labor Day weekend, Mike had Monday and Tuesday off so we went to Colorado. The trip started off a little rough, Mike only got one hour of sleep before we started the 14 hour drive Saturday morning at 5. We made it in one piece though, with us trading driving a few times. Lillian was good in the car, I sat in the back with her most of the time and nursed her when necessary. We hung around Colorado Springs on Sunday, Mike's old stomping ground and had dinner at my once favorite restaurant, Rock Bottom, with Mike's parents. We had a really good time with Lilly just being a "family." Monday was our anniversary. We went out to breakfast, then headed to Denver to Ft Logan where Mike's Grandparents are buried. (Mike was deployed when both of them passed and so he wanted to say goodbye.) Once finished there, we went to my favorite store ever, Sundance. I have several things from this store but have only purchased online as there are only two stores in the country. I was not expecting to get anything but Mike surprised me and bought me a ring and a bracelet, as well as a sweater and a new skirt. The skirt wasn't really part of my gift but something Mike deemed necessary as I have another white skirt that is almost threadbare and Mike realized that the only way I was going to stop wearing it was to get a new one. Lucky me. We got back without a hitch, though Mike and I have both gotten sick since then.

I think that brings us up to now. I have been busy getting the house organized after being sick for a few days. Lillian is now a month old and I can hardly believe it. Some days it feels like it's flown by but at the same time, like she's always been around. She continues to be a great baby and is starting to get a routine. Sleeping for about 4 hours at a time during the day, allowing me to accomplish lots!

Lillian's Carrier

My mom was here last week for a few days and made Lilly a carrier. It is called a Mei Tai. I had seen them online and really wanted one but everywhere I looked they cost between $80-$120 and I wasn't going to pay that much, so I found directions. Fortunately I have a mother that can make ANYTHING, so I kept her busy for the 2 1/2 days she was here. Lilly loves being in this most of the time she falls asleep within 5 minutes. I have also discovered that if I turn her sideways I can nurse her and no one knows the difference. Thanks so much Bia Lisa!

Lillian is two weeks old now! Mike went back to work yesterday so Lil and I had our first day alone. All went well. She is such an easy baby. Though I guess at this age there isn't much that can go wrong so fixing her problems is pretty easy. She is starting to smile a lot, usually in her sleep. I know that it's not intentional, it has to be the most precious thing I've seen. She is finally starting to tolerate having her diaper changed. For the first two weeks she screamed like it was torture. She likes being tied to me in her carrier, spent about two hours like that yesterday as I made bread, cleaned the kitchen, and did laundry. I don't know what I would do without her carrier, it allows me to get so much done, maybe too much. :-) I think a shopping trip may be in order today as I have no pants that fit and Old Navy is having a sale. We'll see how it goes. :-)

fever

24 hours ago, Mike was grilling steaks, I had the rest of dinner going. It was surprisingly cool (79) so we had the doors and windows open. We had gone to Garrett and Selene's and stopped for frozen yogurt. Lillian was sleeping in her swing, no blanket I picked her up and she was burning up! She had been pretty sleepy all day but I didn't think much about it, she had been nursing just fine. Well needless to say, she had a decently high fever, Mike remembers the numbers but I don't. He went and got Tylenol but we didn't give her any until this morning. Her temp is now normal with the Tylenol in her system. She has been more alert this evening. I think she's going to be fine.

I had no idea how scared I would be when my baby got sick. I never even thought about it. I didn't think that MY baby would get sick when she was so tiny. I am glad that Mike can stay calm, he very often looks at problems not from the problem perspective but from the "how to fix it" side. I don't do that, I get stuck on the problem. I have never worried about anyone the way I worried about Lilly. She's so tiny and helpless with no way to tell me what's wrong. I certainly hope for my sake and hers that this doesn't happen often. She's too little to be sick and my emotions can't handle it.

Lucky for me I have lots of people with experience to help me out.

Well we have made it thus far without any problems. Lilly is such and easy baby! Mike and I could use a little more sleep but all in all it's not too bad. Nursing has come quite easily to me, no problems at all. We are cloth diapering now too, I figured I'd wait until I got breast feeding down but since that didn't take much we switched.

We are keeping busy, though trying not to do too much at the request of my midwife. I'm not very good at following orders, I think I get that from my mother. It is hard for me to take it easy, especially when I feel so good. I had an appointment yesterday and was told that I am healing well!

We had photos taken yesterday by my doula. She did a few with my camera but we are waiting for the rest. We did pregnancy photos with her as well and haven't seen those either. Will have lots to look through soon. A friend of Mike's parents is also going to do some photos for us. He has some new equipment he wants to try out and it will all be free so we'll see what happens with that. We will have a birth announcement soon I hope.

The sporting goods store and Joann Fabric...

Mike had to go into work for a few hours today. He has been wanting bullets for his gun but everywhere we look they have been out. So this morning before he leaves he tells me that if I want someplace to go I could check Big 5 for bullets. So because I'm going crazy and looking for any excuse to get out of the house we go. Miss Lilly, slept the entire time. I have to admit that I did feel a bit strange carrying my 5 day old baby into the store and asking for 9mm bullets but oh well. I decided that we needed to balance out the bullet trip by heading to Joann's. I was looking for some ideas for birth announcements but didn't find any. I did find some flannel for a very girly blanket, will have to take my coupon back to get a binding and then get the machine down.

Mike's younger brother is coming up tonight so Garrett and Selene are coming over for dinner. Thank goodness my mother in law is here, I am not up to cooking for that many. Will be nice to have everyone here, but I am tired just thinking about it. I think the rumor is that they are all leaving tomorrow. Mike doesn't have to go back to work until the end of next week so we'll have some time just the two of us before we have to start normal life.

We'll see how dinner goes...

Lilly's first outing

We had our first outing today and Lilly was great! She slept...the entire two hours we were gone. I think it has something to do with the fact that my milk came in. We went to the grocery for a few things and then to Old Navy for a few things for Lilly and Daddy. We had a couple coupons and we don't have nearly enough cute little girl things. So we bought a few things. It's all in the wash now so maybe we'll get a couple cute pictures later. Right now, Lilly is sleeping so I should be too. Mike's dad is coming in to town in a few hours plus an appointment with my midwife. Need to rest :-)

Day 3

So we have made it to day three! All three of us are doing well. Lilly is asleep in her crib right now, so I manage a 45 minute nap all to myself! She slept from about 2 am to 7am last night. I don't expect that to continue but I was grateful for the hours. Still waiting on my milk to come in. Lilly sure knows what she's doing so I think it will be soon. Finally was allowed to take a real shower and wash my hair today. After the sutures, my midwife wanted me to wait 24 hours before I showered. I actually have on semi real clothes and it feels great. Hoping to maybe go for a short walk or something tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm starting to go stir crazy!

Day 2

So we are on day 2 things are going well. Lillian is quite the nurser and is a very mellow baby. She likes her daddy and does a good job spitting up on him. Mike has been wonderful to me. He is willing to do anything I need as I am "supposed" to stay in bed. I'm not very good at it but am trying very very hard to do as I'm told. Mike's mom has been here for a couple days and has been a great help. I can hardly wait for my family to meet my precious little girl!

Lillian Olivia Hoover

Lillian Olivia Hoover was born August 13 at 7:27 pm. She weighed a whopping 9lbs 60z and was 21 1/4 in long. She is happy and healthy and a true miracle. Following is the story of her arrival.

I woke up around 4 am feeling a little funny. I had been having contractions on and off for a few weeks though they had gotten a little more intense the beginning of this week. I tried not to get too excited as she was 5 days late already. So contractions started at 4, I tried to go back to sleep but didn't have much luck, they were getting more intense but they never got into a steady pattern. I made a chocolate cake and fruit slush and cleaned up the kitchen. It was about 7am by now. I let Mike know what was going on and told him to sleep some more. I think it was around 8 when I called my doula and midwife to let them know what was happening. My midwife came over around 9:30 and checked me, I was 4 cm, this was definitely labor. My in-laws were in town and we had plans to meet them for lunch she told me to go. By 10:30 my contractions were strong enough that I didn't feel like going. Mike went and told them what was going on. I called my doula and had her come over, she stayed with me while Mike was gone. Mike came back and my in-laws stopped by for a few minutes and then they all left again. (last minute errands) Things really picked up while they were gone and I called Mike and told him to come home. We filled up the birth tub and from then on I worked on delivering. Mike was great! I tried lots of positions and he supported me through everything. My doula was so helpful, just being here and updating my midwife. Contractions got closer and harder and my team helped me through them. My midwife showed up, and told me I was 6 or 7 cm. I got in the tub, it was amazingly helpful. I got out once and new that I had to get back in and stayed in. I spent about an hour pushing, was feeling like I couldn't do much more, they had me change positions and that's when I felt its head with my hand. I grabbed Mike's hand and made him feel its head. What an encouragement that was! Baby was almost here, just a little more and that's all it took. I reached down into the water and brought my baby straight to me. No other hands, no one took my baby or even touched it, and after 9 months of waiting and 10-12 hours of labor and an hour of pushing I had a baby GIRL! I did it! I felt every contraction every movement every part of giving birth to my little girl. She was perfect! She was very alert and awake, her eyes opened and she looked around. She cried a little but was mostly calm and relaxed. I called my mom and told her. Mike cut the cord and we both made more calls. So happy! I took a shower and then got in bed and enjoyed some much deserved chocolate cake and a few sips of champagne, nursed my baby and went to sleep. Some where during this, they weighed and measured and did all of that stuff. Lillian never once left my sight.

Baby's room

So I finished Baby Hoover's room about a week ago. Well it's not totally done but I have as much done as I can until we know what baby is. I'm quite happy with the results. It' s the first time I've "done a room." I have only painted one other room in this house. I love color but I normally use it on such a small scale that doing a room intimidates me. My original colors were green, orange and blue. I some how managed to find all the things in the right colors and had lots of it before I put the paint on the wall. Now of course, I have this all done and I love it and we are moving in 6 months but oh well. It was fun and I have a little more confidence in my ability to make a room pretty.

Thanks to IKEA I managed to keep the cost for this relatively low. I picked out the fabric for the curtains when I was in Indiana and my mom made them. The chair we bought back in June and then saw the mini one when we went a few weeks ago and couldn't help buying it. The crib was another IKEA purchase and actually one side comes off and the mattress lowers making it great for a couple years worth of use. The closet idea came from my mom. It had sliding glass doors that I wasn't fond of so we took them off, then bought a hollow door, Mike cut it to fit and I painted it, now I have a great changing table plus lots of storage space. The plan is to make a curtain to cover up underneath but I'm still waiting on buying that fabric. The white blanket in the crib as well as the white rug on the floor were made for me when I was a baby by friends of my mothers... pretty cool that I still have them.

In a nut shell...

So my sister told me the other day that I should start a blog so I don't forget the little things years from now. So here goes. Mike and I are currently living in Las Vegas, he has just started work with a new squadron working on the F-22 and seems to like it. I am am at home patiently, and not so patiently some days, waiting the arrival of Baby Hoover. We recently received notice that as of Jan 2010 we will be living in Anchorage Alaska and are very excited about the move. We have lots of things going on in the next few months so I will do my best to keep you all updated.