Family time! And Isla is 3 weeks old!!

So sorry for not blogging lately, but it's with good reason, I promise!! My lovely aunts on my mom's side came over/down to Kansas City, along with my mom, my cousin, Renee and my Grandma Pat. It was such a great time, just visiting, shopping, sharing meals together, kick starting the fire-pit...and spider hunting!! I don't have many pics at the moment, but I'm trusting the photography crew of my mom and Renee to get me some of the great photos they've been taking soon.

Isla's three weeks old today, we can't believe it! She nearly slept an entire night last night, probably because she gulped down a whole mess of breast milk and formula before she went to bed - I thought she'd never get full - but then I woke up at 6am after putting her down at midnight and nearly freaked out!

We think she's learning now, too, that if she cries we will come and mess around with her (feed, change, talk to her...) which is getting a little naughty of her! But she sure loves her daddy, I guess that's why she wants to be held so much...they are just too cute and identical for words, aren't they??!

More Isla and Rooney

I think they're friends now! But that wet nose and tongue, I think, is still a strange sensation. Aren't they cute??

More fun!

Ten days old and we're still havin' a good time, as you can see from these photos, haha. Eat, sleep, pee, eat, sleep, poo...go to Target, the doctor, Home Depot, Hy-Vee...all so much fun! Isla just loves her car seat - she falls asleep as soon as she's in it and stays that way until we get home. And we are so glad for that because my aunts, cousin, grandma and mom are coming into town on Monday afternoon and we have so much stuff planned!!

That and Ross and Isla have some great soccer games planned to watch together - here's a photo of little Isla while watching England play the Czech Republic. They lost but at least they had a ton of fun...then she fell asleep and was "flat out like a lizard drinkin'" as Ross would say :)

Where's her hair?

Haha, we know how much hair Isla has, but let's think for a sec on what the dogs think of her..."Where's the rest of her hair??" is what they're probably thinking. And "Why does she get so much of mom and dad's attention?!"

It's got to be a little rough being a dog in a house when a new baby has just arrived, makes me think of Lady and the Tramp. I even sing the little lullaby song the mom in that movie sings!

These pics are of Rooney getting a good sniff of little Isla - I think he's gotten the job of Dirty Diaper Patrol because whenever she's wet or dirty, he just sniffs and sniffs at her so we know pretty quickly that she's got some work for us, haha!

And right now we have literally 3 of our family in diapers...We make the dogs wear little pee bands, which are kind of like wrapable diapers around their bellies and privates to keep them from wetting during the day. Jaeger is bad at marking things and Rooney just can't hold his bladder.

It's a great feeling watching your family grow and to see your life fill so full of love. From our family over the ocean and across the country, though, it gives us a chance to stop and realize how much we miss all of them. There's always something great to look forward to, though! My wonderful aunts - Lindy, Barbie, Diane and my cousin Renee, along with my Grandma and mom will be in Kansas City all next week to hang out and then go up to Iowa. I couldn't be more excited to see them!

One week later...

Little Isla will be one week old tomorrow morning at 5:25...whatta whirlwind week! We just sent out the invite for folks to see/read the blog and just to help keep crazy people at bay, we chose to only let those we want see it...sorry for the bother! We'd hate for Isla to go get her first credit card and have her credit destroyed by some wacko or something, you never know right :)

It's so funny that you lose track of the people you hung out with so much, so I wanted to give a shout out to Matt and Tara for their little one on the way - 7 weeks to go!! Congrats to you both!!

No crazy news to report - Isla had a bit of jaundice when she left the hospital and was a glow-worm for a night because she had to sleep on a UV pad, but thankfully that's the only real hurdle health-wise so far, thank goodness.

We're breastfeeding too, so that has been a bit of a challenge in and of itself. Man, it feels so strange and hurts at first! I had no idea how much I would get a kick out of having a good "latch", haha!

Onto other news, maternity leave has been a great time to bond and get to know this little person. I'm really surprised that sleep hasn't been so bad...yet. And Ross will be taking two weeks vacation to bond with her too. It's not fair for some fathers to not get the special time with their babies, especially when the momma is breastfeeding. My favorite of Isla and my time is in the early morning hours, right when the sun comes up and I can see her little doe eyes in the sunshine again... I wouldn't trade those moments for the world, or all of the sleep in the world.

Hope you all enjoy more pictures - I just don't know what we'll do with all of that hair and hopefully we'll know what color her eyes will be soon - there's just soo much to look forward to! Some of you have seen some of these photos before, but there's a new one with Isla so mad, she loves clothes and doesn't mind at all when we change them. Diapers are different, she hates them, haha. Go figure!

Isla Caroline is HEEEERE!

She's here, and we can't be more blessed or in awe of such an incredible gift! Born on Tuesday, Aug. 12th at 5:25am was an 8lb (or about half a stone for you Guerns!) beautiful baby girl. We named her Isla (pronounced EYE-LA) for where Ross came from and Caroline as a mix of my mom and Ross' mom's full names (Carol and Ann) with a twist.

I'm a bit sore, but it's mostly in my heart because we had no idea we could love anything in this world more than Ross or my family, but now there's a blood mix of all of the above and we're in awe of the whole thing.

On a superficial level, we have to say that we're in awe of the MODERN birthing process in general. Epidurals are an essential part of child birth, so sorry if some of you all don't agree. God invented it to be so it has to be great, right? Heck yeah! Oh, and with that, Liberty Hospital in Liberty, Missouri deserves a shout out for their amazing and attentive staff... check this out:

On Monday night at 10:30pm, we went to the hospital and I was at 3cm. I got the epidural within the half-hour, then I went to sleep for the next six hours. Yes, I slept through the entire remaining 7 cms to go! They woke me up at 5am and after waiting for the doc to show, I pushed for 19 minutes to bring little Isla into the world! Didn't feel a thing!! We had a wonderful nurse, Stephanie, who just went above and beyond for us even though she was six months pregnant herself, crazy lady!

Here are a few pics to whet your appetite for the barrage of photos to come - they're all on three or four different cameras. She has a ton of hair! Just minutes old, we had a moment of wide mouthed acclaim...then Daddy turned into a ball of mush. His attention to this little girl will be unprecedented, I have no doubt.

Thanks to you all for all of your flowers, gifts, cards, letters, phone calls...this little girl is definitely being born into this world with many, many blessings and we can't thank each of you enough...

Five things your partner should never say!

There are a lot of things you just don't want to hear when you're in pain - my contractions are coming closer together now but we've been able to get a few movies in and a few laughs in here and there! I found these on my weekly email from babycenter.com and thought I'd share 'em:

• "Mooooo!"
• "Ouch — a paper cut. I wonder if this is what labor feels like."
• "Is that a watermelon under your shirt or are you just glad to see me?"
• "My father called again to ask about your cervix."
• "Is that your underwear or did a parachute land on your butt?"

Please keep wishing me luck that this little girl will show up soon - I am so uncomfortable at the moment and I'm sure I have no idea what sort of pain I'm in for, but I can't wait to swaddle and cuddle with little Miss!!

The Treat-a-Pult

Ross loves this one computer game, Rome Total War. In it, you get to fight with catapults, "trebuchets" and use fun ancient war tactics. So for Christmas, my parents got him some building models - this one is the smaller of the two, a catapult (there's one that looks like a jumbo catapult that I've quickly learned is a trebuchet).

Well, needless to say, this contraption didn't stay a simple catapult for long. We bought some little doggie treats and now it's the "Treat-a-pult", haha. They love it! For those who haven't seen our new doggie, Rooney, yet, he's the skinny lanky one! Jaeger just loves him, the little old man. Keeps him young, I say! They love it - the treat flies and they go scurrying down the hall to the kitchen!!

Little Miss Wallis...

Will soon have a name! We have just 11 days left before her scheduled debut appearance (August 15th) and we can't wait! I had a breakdown on Thursday which we then "had" to go out and spend $430 bucks on a bookshelf and just a ton of stuff. We're doin' it up right from the start, hopefully, and it might break the bank but kids'll do that anyway we suppose. Here are some pics of what we have so far...here you can see all the pics, not just snippets we've added here.

But back to baby-buying! Sheesh, the most expensive thing so far, not including the darn furniture, are baby bottles! Thank goodness we have a ton from the Kentucky shower, but we're trying our best to use glass or at least the BPA-free bottles. You can't be too safe, but you can be too paranoid so that's our biggest challenge. We aren't going crazy organic or anything yet, so far so good!

So we think we have Little Miss Wallis' room pretty much done. We need to get some wall art or something but I want to make sure that we get something she'll want to hang in her little girl's room someday too, like my Guardian Angel and a flower framed print I have up in hers right now. I've put together some legacy photos, too, like of my Grandma Margaret, me and Grandma Patricia in a shabby chic frame and then some photos of my mom when she was little - she was absolutely adorable, wasn't she!?

A Newborn's Conversation with God

A few weeks ago, my momma sent an email to me, called a Newborn's conversation with God. She always told me that before we come down here, we choose our parents, families, the situations we'll be born into and then go from there. With Little Miss Wallis coming anyday now, I'm sure there's no less uncertainty to her coming down to earth and bringing so many questions. There's so much beauty in blind faith... I love her sense of courage already! Here's what the email said:

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?' God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.'

The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.' God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?' God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'

'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?' God said, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.' 'Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'

'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.' God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.' God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.'

This post is dedicated to my mom, who I love so much.

Congrats Sheridyn and Jeremy!

Sheridyn just came back from her dream wedding in Jamaica, so I wanted to post a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the Greenwalts and wish them all the happiness to come in the world!!