Isabella Elise Townsend

Isabella Elise Townsend 8/06/08

Yeah, she's finally here! We are so excited to have her and to find out that we had a baby girl! The boys are very excited. I kept telling Nico we might just have a boy because he was convinced we were having a girl. So he says "that's okay mom, we'll just put the boy back in your belly until it comes out a girl." I don't think that is an acceptable return policy with babies. Anyway. She was born on Aug. 6th around 6 pm. Weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 1/4 inches. But I think the funnest news is that it was a girl. The surprise of not knowing what we were having was so exciting! I recommend it to anyone. So, here are pics of Isabella and that amazing day!

This is where it all begins. It's hard to imagine that a 7 lb baby is swimming around in there.

Jamie and I hanging out before the contractions got too bad. It took about 3 hours for the oxytocin to kick in and start making me feel the pain.

Isabella Elise Townsend 7 lbs 2 oz and a full head of hair!

I finally got to hold Isabella for the first time 45 minutes after she was born. I don't like that about hospitals these days. Must they wrap them up so tight and make me wait so long to hold my baby?

The proud boys!

I swore I wouldn't breastfeed, but in this picture I actually look like I'm enjoying myself. I think I don't mind it so much this time.

She looks so peaceful!

She has lazy eye and you can almost tell in this pic. I think all babies have it this early in life, or we may have another Christian-how cute!

They were so excited to hold her. They did and still do point out her ambilical cord and ask me about it everyday. It was the first thing they noticed about her when they saw her for the first time. They can't wait for it to fall off-what a funny thing.

She looks so serious!

Tired baby! I know I was.

Also, this was the first time we brought a baby home from the hospital without a name. She was Gabriella Elise for the first day and somehow it didn't fit. So, we went home and had to think about it. Jamie really liked Isabella, so I had to do it. I think it fits her now. My dad kept calling her "it's-a-bella", so now Nico thinks her name is Abella. Her middle name Elise is after my sister Elisa. We just had to change it a bit because two a's at the end of each name was too much. So, it's pronounced like Elisa without saying the "a". I also think its a perfect middle name because it reminds me of my sister Elli as well. Good thing my sisters have such similar names-it worked out so nicely!

The Countdown Begins!

So I'm down to less than two weeks and I'm getting nervous about all the stuff I need to do before I have this baby. My mom and sister left today after a nice week of playing and shopping. I'm exhausted, but loved every minute of it. It really was nice to have my mind on something else. The only thing was that as soon as they left, my mind went to all of the stuff I procrastinated with Jamie's Law Firm and now I'm feeling OVERWHELMED! I think I need a good month to catch up and get things moving, but I doubt my baby will be two weeks late. Not to mention I would never let that happen! I would have giant baby for sure and not to mention the recovery. I do secretly keep hoping that I will go into labor and I can procrastinate some more. This pregnancy thing is getting very tiring and I'm ready to have my body back. I've had contractions at night and at one point I thought I was in labor, but then they stopped. I'm beginning to think I should just pretend that my water broke, head to the hospital and see if they catch on to my tricks! Anyway, I'm still here, large as ever and counting the days I still have and the days I don't. Isn't life great!

We are Open for Business!!

So we moved to Castle Rock only to find that we were ready to hang our shingle! Jamie opened his law practice last tuesday and so far has had two clients! We are so excited and so scared to go out on our own. But, it was the perfect time to do it since I'm 8+ months pregnant, we just bought 3 homes and we just moved to a new town, so why not? I'm still in shock. It's been such a fast paced month. We went from a steady paycheck, to maybe we'll get money and maybe we wont. The funny thing is that I'm not as paranoid as I thought I would be. So, if anybody needs an attorney I know a good reasonably priced one!

Great Holiday Week!

We went to Utah for the 4th of July. Jamie and I haven't had such a fun vacation in a long time. It was one of those vacations were you get home and you wish you were still there. We stayed with my way fun sister and went to the pool, saw WALLe, went boating, had a reunion with friends from high school and a barbeque with my family on our last night. It was packed with things to do, but we had lots of fun. Here are some pics. Enjoy.

Elisa made me take this photo, but I got it. Here is the belly. 8 months and counting. Can I just say, I want to be done yesterday?

Is this not the cutest face ever? Look at his face. He always has those eyes by the way. The deer in the headlights look never goes away. It's because he's so inquisative! I can't bet enough of this boy. Also, Tyson has the most handsome face. I love his cute face. Look at his hair, he's had that much hair since the day he was born.

My brother-in-law Dewayne and Jamie. We love Dewayne and Elli. They are so much fun to hand out with. Not to mention these two share a passion for video games.

My amazinly cute sister Elli. She's so incredible. She works full time as a nurse and is a great mom to her little boy.

I do have to point out that she's feeding me a ravioli, not Pizza. She's so crazy. I love her!

My super awsome niece Summer trying to help Christian get adjusted on the knee board. She was so brave and was such a big help. Christian was able to get up on his first try-I had to brag!

Jamie and the boys on the tubes. Having a great time-this was a fun day for sure.

Cousins enjoying the boat ride and waiting for their turn. They all had so much fun.

The "HOTS" is what we were called in high school. I think we named ourselves-humble we were. Anyway, we had a great reunion at Gardner Village.

First Day of School

Yes, it is the beginning of the summer and Christian went back to school. Our school district in Castle Rock has a year round school system for elementary kids. I'm a bit sad about it, but I need to try it out before I go looking for something different. Here are pics of Christian's first day. He kept telling me how nervous he was and told his teacher as well. I left him in his classroom for a minute to get his lunches paid for and then went back to find him and asked him how it was going, he said, "not so good". Poor guy, you can see in the picture with him in his classroom that he's having a hard time. I couldn't get him to smile at all!

Most emberrasing moment of the week!

Here it is. My most emberrasing moment, probably in a VERY long time. I would like to say ever, but that would be a different blog story. So, the boys and I are at the pool with a girl from my ward today. It's the first time I've ever hung out with her (her name is Tara). She and I planned a pool day with the boys and headed over to our pool at the club house. Well, two hours into the afternoon I begin to feel a bit hot and dizzy so I tell her I'm going to sit in the shade. She says okay and heads into the pool with her two kids. I'm sitting in the shade and I start to get more and more dizzy. I decide it's time to head home, but by the time I make that decision I realize I'm not going anywhere. Another friend (whom I had met at the pool-she and I go all the time and end up hanging out) comes over and asks me if I'm okay. I think I'm beginning to look a bit pale. I ask her to bring me my water, which she does. By the time she gets there I'm pretty much gone and pass out in her arms. Nothing like passing out in public into the arms of a stranger, let me tell you. I come to and the lifeguards have ice packs on my head and neck and I'm getting water forced into my mouth. The best part is that I'm passed out right in front of the lifeguard station next to the entrance of the pool. So, huge pregnant lady passed out in a green bathing suit at the entrance of the pool. I was so mortified when I came to. All I wanted to do was get up and walk FAR away. The lifeguards weren't having any of that, they called the ambulance. So, five minutes later I'm the big pregnant lady passed out by the endtrance of the pool with 4 paramedics surrounding her and trying to get an IV going (which wasn't working). To make this short, I did get shipped off to the ER while my friend Tara took my boys and called Jamie on my cell phone. I don't know what happend to the friend who caught me on my way down, but I think I should give her a ring and let her know all is good. Which by the way, I'm totally fine. It took the rest of the day resting to get past it, but I think I was just dehydrated. The thing is though, I was totally careful and kept drinking lots of water and eating lots of fruit. It also wasn't that hot-only about 85 degrees. I'm proned to passing out, but this was my first time doing it in public. So there you have it. It may be a whole year before I can go back to that pool again. People will definately remember the prego lady in the large green bathing suit sprawled on the floor by the entrance of the pool. No need to worries though, I'm fine and the baby is good.

Green thumb anyone?

So Jamie and I are tackling the yard this week. We started in the front and ended up digging up the mulch because grass had overgrown and it was thick. We're going to lay down rock. Also, our back yard is covered in weeds in the rock beds and I'm wondering if anyone has a good idea on how to get them out. We're thinking we'll do a week killer this week, wait a couple days, hose it down really nice and then pull them out. Anybody have a good idea on how to get rid of rockbed weeds? Our backyard is so big we're affraid to start! If anyone has good ideas, I'm totally open. Jamie and I are not good in the garden. I've killed every plant I've ever owned-not a good sign.