I'd like you to meet my daughter, Leila Kate Ellis

WE'RE A FAMILY OF THREE!
After 20 hours of labor, followed by 2 hours of pushing, Scott and I finally welcomed our first baby into the world on Thursday November 13 at 4:58 PM. Leila Kate Ellis weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long! (She was due until December 1st according to the ultrasound, but if you remember my post announcing our pregnancy, the original due date was November 17, just four days after her actual birthday.)

I've posted a bunch of photos on flickr, so click on over there and check out our little girl!

So far, we're loving being parents and are adjusting pretty well! Thanks for all the love and prayers! We really appreciate it!

(Complete birth story to come soon...)

Baby Kyler

I forgot to mention that my cousin Marissa gave birth (via c-section) to a baby boy this morning! His name is Kyler, he's 6 lbs, 14 oz and 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great! She'll be recovering in the hospital for a few days before she can go home. I'll have pictures later this week after I go visit them.

Daddy's Girl

I think we already have a daddy's girl on our hands...not that that's a bad thing, it's just funny. You see, during the week Scott wakes up somewhere between 4:30 - 6:00 AM for work. Little Leila also wakes up whenever Daddy does, and she starts fiddling around and kicking. I know because her kicks have gotten a lot stronger the past week or two, so they wake me up. Today, Scott was off, so he slept in until about 9. I woke up around 8 to go to the bathroom, laid back down and she was still sleeping. But when Scott got up to go to the bathroom and he came back, she woke up too! She's already so in tune with him, it's funny! Scott got to feel her kicking this morning, just a little bit, but she's definitely there.

I had an ultrasound on Tuesday, my mom went with me since Scott had to work. It's neat because my mom never had an ultrasound when she was pregnant, so she was really excited! (Not like she hasn't seen one, she's a nurse, but it's neat when it's your grandbaby.) My mom said that Leila has Scott's nose. In profile her nose is a lot pointier (pointy-er, more pointy?) than mine ever was/will be. She'll be so cute!

The other morning, I laid in bed feeling her little kicks and I'd push back a little bit with my hand. She'd kick another spot, so I'd push there, then she'd go back to the first spot. It's a fun little game! She's so neat!

A little over months to go...WOW!

BIRTHDAY!!

How do you like to spend your birthday? Day at Disneyland? Dinner out with friends? A fun party at home? Not me.

I like to be woken up by a big kick from inside my belly, a minute after my actualy birth time (2:42 AM,) then stay up emailing people and writing myself reminders of things I need to take care of at work that day. Then maybe I'll fall asleep for a two hours around 6 AM, then get up, get ready and go to work at 9 AM. Then once I get to work on my birthday, I like to spend the entire day walking back and forth from our office, to the tech booth in the worship center, to the green room, back to the tech booth, out to the lobby, over to the classrooms, back to the office, the worship center again, and keep repeating that for about 15 hours. And add a baby kicking all day to that. Sounds like fun, right?

Oh wait, I forgot to mention, it was all for a great cause! I helped put on an awesome concert featuring Riverside's own, The Trade and grammy nominated band, Leeland! Ok, so even though I had to work my butt off all day, it was totally worth it because it made it one of the best birthdays I've ever had! The Trade got the crowd pumped and excited and just totally rocked! Then Leeland came on... They were awesome! Although I was a little sad when the singer, Lee, said, "We've got two songs left..." because according to my set list there were three, and I knew the one they were cutting out was my favorite song, "Sound of Melodies." It was a great night of worship, even if they didn't do my favorite song. They took a bow and headed off the stage. A few minutes later, Lee returns to the stage alone, sits behind the keyboard and sings "Brighter Days," it was absolutely beautiful! When he finished, the rest of the band came out and finished the night with a nice little present, my favorite song! Seriously, could it have gotten any better?! I didn't really think so, but it did. I went to the green room to ask Scott's mom something and I had my camera with me because I was going to go wait in line in the lobby to get a picture with the band. As I was about to walk out to get in line, the bass player, Jake says to the band "Hey guys, let's take a picture with her before we go out there." I did kind of ask them before the show if we could take a picture after, but I figured I'd just get in line like everyone else. That totally made my day that he remembered, plus I didn't have to stand in line! They are some of the nicest, friendliest, laid back guys I've ever met! I wish they were here all the time!

Seriously, two days later, my feet and calves are still killing me. Leila's finally settled down after dancing to the music all day in my belly. And it was one of the best birthdays I've ever had! I love my job!

Birthday!!!

Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday dear Christina!
Happy birthday to me!
Yay! I'm 23 today! And Leila kicked me at 2:43 this morning to say happy birthday. How'd she know I was born at 2:42!?

Oh, we've decided her name's going to be Leila, no matter what. I just feels right. :}

We made a what?

Totally how I feel about being pregnant sometimes... The baby isn't even here yet, and won't be for almost 6 months, but it's still a little strange to think that God thinks we're ready for a kid. Well, I guess God knows we're ready...maybe ready isn't the right word...

Baby Update...

I'm 16 weeks along, had a check up on Monday. I turned down the AFP testing. I've lost 3 pounds since my appointment 4 weeks ago, 5 pounds since I found out I was pregnant. But the doctor's not worried about it since he thinks the baby's growing just fine (he can tell just by pushing on my tummy I guess.) I have to go to the lab in 2 weeks and have a sugar test and something else...normal prenatal stuff. When I go back for my next check up he'll review those test results and order an ultrasound and hopefully we'll get to see if we're having a boy or girl! Any predictions?

12 weeks

I'm at the last week of my first trimester! We're one-third of the way to D-Day! I had my first ultrasound on Monday. I'd post the photos but they're kind of hard to make out since the baby's still so small. It has two arms, two legs, a large head (according to the technician,) and most importantly a heartbeat! IT'S AMAZING! The head is about the same size as ther est of the baby's body, but it will balance out later on. The baby was also moving around a lot, so much that the technician had a little trouble getting the measurements she needed, but she got them. It was so neat to actually see that there's someone in there! We still have about two month before we can find out if it's a boy or a girl, but I wanted to get everyone's guess on what we're having. I'll give you a few bits of info and you can leave a comment with your guess.
-Scott, my husband, is one of four boys in his family. His dad's family had two boys and one girl. (I'll only mention his side since the XY/XX chromosome is carried by the father.)
-According to the "Ancient Chinese Birth Chart" we're having a boy.
-Old wives tale #1: The way you carry your baby: If you carry low, you are having a boy. If you carry high, you are having a girl. I guess I'm carrying low, but that's becaause it's still really small and hasn't moved farther up yet.
-Old wives tale #2: If you're craving salt, you're having a boy. If you're craving sweets, it's a girl. I've been craving Ruffles potato chips, those are pretty salty.
-Old wives tale #3: If you're suffering from acne breakouts, that girl in your belly is stealing your beauty. I've had a few more pimples to deal with than normal.
-Old wives tale #4: If your baby is particularly energetic, it's most likely to be a boy whereas a more chilled fetus indicates a girl. According to the sonographer the baby was moving a lot during the ultrasound.

So what do you think?? Is baby Ellis a boy or a girl?

7 Weeks Baby!

Yesterday our baby reached seven weeks gestation. That's cool! I've become a less scared of the fact that I'm going to be a mother and more excited that our family's growing. I think I'll always be a little nervous, but that's normal, right? It's a really strange to think that there's a baby growing in my belly and it's already depending on me. It's neat, but strange at the same time. We've narrowed down the names we like, but I'll wait a while to share those. Now I'm trying to figure out my birth plan...there's too many options! Any suggestions from mom's that have been there are more than welcome! I haven't been feeling really sick at all. Sometimes my back aches a little, sometimes my stomach's a little queasy (I just have to eat something and I'm ok) and I've been a little more tired during the day. I'd be nice if it stayed this way, but I'm sure it won't. :]
Last week was really nice! We felt so much love from all our friends and family! I had friends take me to lunch or dinner, bring me flowers and send us encouraging words! Last Friday my mother-in-law spent a day making strawberry jam with me! (If anyone wants to learn how to make jam, we'll probably do it again in a few weeks when strawberries go on sale again.) Thanks for all the love and support guys! It's really greatly appreciated!

BIG NEWS!!!

Yesterday I passed two tests with flying colors! Scott and I are going to have a baby! Yes, I know we were saying that we wanted to wait a few years, but God has a differnt plan for us and we're happy to follow His desires for us.

I was so nervous to tell Scott (he was already at work when I took the test.) When he got home from work yesterday I surprised him with a little gift. It was a burp cloth with yellow submarines on it that said "I LOVE DADDY." He unfolded it with the embroidered side facing down, I had to tell him to flip it over, he looked at me and said "Face, are you pregant?" (Yes, we call each other Face...I don't remember how it started.) I just said, "Open your card!" The card said "Let the cravings begin..." and had pictures of ice cream and pickles on the front, the inside then said "We're Expecting!" He said, "Really? Are you kidding?" I started to cry a little and said, "Nope. We're pregnant!" We hugged and got excited.

I'm actually really surprised at his reaction, I thought he would have been a little more scared/nervous than he was. He's so awesome, he's going to be such a great dad! We went to Carter's and bought bibs for the grandmas and brought them over to them. Needless to say, both sides of our family are very excited for us! It's the first grandbaby for both of our parents! (Scott's brother Riley even put "Riley's gonna uncle it up!" as his status on myspace.)
From what I've read and figured out, I'm six weeks pregnant and the baby should be due around mid-November! Crazy, huh?