Big Sister

Introducing...

It's a GIRL!! Elizabeth "Ellie" Marie Giere was born at 6:55 am Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. She weighed a whopping 9 pounds, 12 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Long story short, my water broke at 5:15am, we got to the hospital around 6am, after begging for an epidural and realizing that it was too late to get one, I "decided" to push her out at 6:55! That's 1 hour and 40 minutes from start to finish! Not what I was expecting, but in the end, it was all worth it...

Everything has gone so well that we already came home this afternoon. Hannah LOVES her little sister and is already showering her with kisses.

She's a beauty and we couldn't be happier.

Proud Daddy


Another angel


Keeping warm


Ready for home

1 more week...for sure!

After the initial greetings at my appointment today, my doctor asked if Brian and I (he came along for this one, which was great!) if we'd like to be induced at any time. Apparently (and I'm not sure if all doctors do this), she is more than ok with inducing a patient if they have progressed enough and are only a week or so away from their due date. So, that includes me! Well, of course I got excited because I really would like to have this baby, but on the other hand, since she was putting the ball in our court, it made it harder to decide. She gave us the days in the next week that would work to schedule it and after hearing those and talking it over, we decided to schedule the induction for next Tuesday (Aug. 29th) at 8 am!! I am still about 4cm dilated and am progressing in the other ways that the body needs to prepare. That being said, this baby could very well come before the induction. I'll admit that it's nice to know that we will be him/her in 1 week or less...for sure. It's scary too...but really I'm totally thrilled and excited to deliver this baby. I feel positive about going into it naturally or by being induced. For those of you wondering, the induction would mean that the doctor would break my water and see if things then progressed on their own (which they should). If, after a few hours, there wasn't significant progress, they may start pitocin. Wow is all I can really say! I'm still going to have to be patient and that may be hard, but it's all good.... :o)

On to Hannah...this past weekend, we were joking around putting a ball in her shirt so she could pretend to have a "baby" in her tummy too. She was so cute! She would ask Brian and I if we wanted to "feel the baby move" and then put our hands on the ball. She'd look at us and ask, "Can you feel it?" imitating exactly what I do and say when she feels the baby.

Like Mother, Like Daughter


"Little Mommy"

"I'm a fish!"

While in the bath tub last night, Hannah declared that she was "a fish!" Hmmm...I wonder where she got that from? :o) She has been getting more and more crazy in the tub. Her latest is to lay on her back with her head almost covered in water. (Don't worry...I'm safety girl and am ALWAYS in the room with her.) She thinks it's even more funny to scream while her head is under...I'm sure it sounds funny to her. Here are a few pics from last night's adventure.

"Snake" and "Froggy" sighting

Hannah is doing great with potty training! She's been amazing! She's still working on going #2 on the potty and that's ok. Sunday afternoon I was able to get her on just in time for her to go...it had been a few days (as usual for her), so I know her tummy felt better immediately. After going, she looked down in the toilet and said, "It kind of looks like a snake." Too funny! Needless to say, I was very proud of her and so was she. :O) What a big girl!

Speaking of being a big girl, I asked her the other day as kind of a joke, "What will I do when you grow up?" She replied with all seriousness, "It's ok if I grow up Mom." I had to chuckle and then said, "Just don't do it too fast." I think it's already too late for that.

On Monday, Hannah and I visited with "Froggy" the character from a children's series of books written by Jonathan London. Froggy made a special appearance at the North Aurora Library and Hannah loved it! As you can see, she was not at all shy around him...in fact, she kept going up to him trying to give him "high-fives" and hugs. It was great.



I went to the doctor again yesterday and got pretty much the same report. Although, along with being almost 4cm, I am now 50% effaced. That's good news!!! The baby could still come at any time, but I'm guessing it will still be a couple of weeks. I'm ready, I'm excited, I'm nervous, I have the "going home" outfits picked out (one for a boy, one for a girl)...we're all set! Oh yeah, the heartrate was around 144.

2 Weeks to Go!!

pop art

Another cool "trick" that can be done on the Apple...Brian loves to play with this as much as Hannah does!

coming soon...

I went to the doctor yesterday and to my surprise, I am dialated 3-4 cm already!! Wow! That was certainly not what I expected to hear! Of course, as the dr. said, that doesn't mean I'm going into labor right away, but it still kind of freaked me out! I'm still at -2 station and the baby's head is for sure down, so that's good. :o)

The heartrate was in the 140's again...

All this to say that I decided on the way home that I better get my bag packed! ;o)

Here is a picture of the baby from our 20 week ultrasound. Obviously I'm a little late putting this up, but I'd thought I'd include it now. Better late than never, right? (it's from the 3-D ultrasound they did...can you see his/her little face in there?)

goofy girl

With our Apple computer we can take silly pictures in the "Photo Booth" program. Here are a few of our goofy little girl.





Ok, and one of our goofy family. :o)

still going

Hannah is still doing so well on the potty! She stayed overnight and Grandma and Grandpa Giere's this weekend and had a "minor" accident, but I'd still say she's doing great!

I know moving her into this next phase of life (going diaperless) is supposed to catapult her into "big-girlhood" and it's supposed to be this happy time, but to be honest, although I'm happy, I'm kind of sad too. I'm sad that she's not my little girl anymore. I've been thinking about this a lot w/ the new baby coming too. The time w/ just her and I will be no longer and that makes me a little sad. I know she's going to love having a brother or sister and I can't wait to meet this little one who's been rolling around inside me for the past 9 months, but I can't help but think about how things will never be the way they used to. It's like a lot changes in life...graduating from high school, college, getting a job, getting a new job, and another new job and another new job (oh wait, that's just me). Anyway, I'm sure every family/mom goes through this when adding a new member to the family...and now it's my time. I know that Hannah and I will survive and she'll always be my precious little angel.

big girl now...

So far, so good! Hannah is doing GREAT w/ the potty training! I even dared to venture out to Target w/ her yesterday and put a pull-up on her "just in case." Well, she still told me when she had to go! We were able to run to the front of the store and make it to the potty in time! I am so proud of her!

I'm trying to stay realistic and know that we may have some set backs, but so far, she's really picking up on it. Maybe this potty training thing isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be (thus, procrastinating like crazy). And now I'm thinking that even though it wouldn't have been a huge deal to have 2 in diapers, it will nice not to, too! :o)

UPDATE AT 10:30pm...Hannah made it all day w/out an accident!!! She is amazing! :o)