Oliver Madden Ellis

Oliver Madden Ellis was born Thursday, March 24 at 7:20pm. He weighed 8lb 14oz and is 21 inches long. We had another healthy homebirth and we are both just fine. Birth still hurts and is still a lot of hard work. Surprise! And of course you need pictures. 😍

We had quite a stressful time of it this time. I was due March 16th. I'd had contractions on and off, every day, for about the last two months. I thought for sure he'd be early. However, my due date came and went without any baby. I woke up to different contractions Wednesday, the 23rd and had other signs of impending labor so I let my midwife know to be ready. Wednesday came and went. Thursday morning my contractions kept coming and were fairly close together. My midwife came and checked and went home again. My labors have been so long and slow typically, and she lives pretty close, so we told her I'd let her know when things felt more serious. I think I was around 7cm dilated when she left. I laid down to try to get some rest, had a strong contraction, and felt my water break...that was around 2pm I think. (Times gets hazy) She came back then and that's when things started hurting worse. (I'm a birthing anomaly...I dilate most of the way without labor hurting too badly) I kept on like that for a couple hours...really strong contractions that hurt pretty good. 

Jacob's family was keeping Aaron and Chloe this whole time. Sometime (4 or 5pm-ish) Jacob's dad came over and said that Chloe had fallen and cut her tongue. He said it was pretty bad so Jacob and his mom left to go look at it. (Two houses away) They came back and said it was bad and she would have to go to the ER. A parent has to be present. Jacob would have to take her. They told me they could try to write a paper and have Jacob sign it saying that his parents could take her but there were no guarantees that would be sufficient. I told them he'd have to go. I was a horrible mess emotionally (i.e. I was crying a lot) this whole time. On top of this labor that was getting pretty doggone serious, my baby was hurt (I was already worried about her being away from me so long, without accidents) and my husband was going to have to leave. My midwife checked again and I was 8cm. She told them he should try to go somewhere close by so he wouldn't be gone long. They called the closest ER and explained the situation and I guess there was a long wait there, because they couldn't go to that one. They had to drive 45 min away to another ER. When they got there, they told them they couldn't do anything about it and they would have to go to Lexington. Two hours away. I didn't know all of this throughout labor as my information was being filtered, to try to make things as easy as possible. Emotionally, this was horrible for me. Jacob is always there for me and has delivered our babies. He gets me through this. And he wasn't here. His "I'm so proud of you" when it's all over makes it better. 

Oliver was born at 7:20. I didn't know until after I delivered that they sent Chloe to Lexington. At that time, they thought they'd be putting her to sleep and stitching her tongue. Turns out, after 3 hours waiting in the hallway with her crying, they sent her home and said she'd heal just fine. She has a numbing medicine and she's on Tylenol and Motrin for pain. I think the worst thing is she can't suck her thumb. She had just pulled up on a table, and I think she clipped a bench with her chin when she sat down, biting down on her tongue. It's all the way across her tongue, about halfway back. A freak accident. 

Jacob didn't get back home to me until around 2am. I'm glad he was with her, but I needed him so bad too. It was a horrible situation with the worst timing possible. I did have my mom and my mother in law, and everyone did a great job helping me get this little guy here. But sometimes you just really need your husband. It really wasn't easy. But Oliver's here now, we're slowly adjusting (with a lot of help!) everyone is healthy(ish!) and it'll be ok. 

Just Me

I'm making bread. I've gotten out of the habit and I'm not sure why. Guess it's easier to buy a loaf at the store but the cheap ones don't taste good and the expensive ones are just that. And none of them are as healthy as homemade. It's a gorgeous day today...my door is open because our house is hot. It got pretty cool in here last night so Jacob built a fire in our stove before he went to work this morning. It warmed it up a little more than necessary so I've had the door open. Our dog (a miniature dachshund, Lizzie) took that as an invitation to watch me work in the kitchen. The kids are asleep and we're almost of bread so I decided to make some. I'd forgotten how much I liked kneading it...only I have to chuckle now as the bread bowl bumps repeatedly into my once again growing belly. Yep...there's another little Ellis on the way. This one's a boy...we didn't announce it (although I'm sure people thought I was sure getting fat) until a couple weeks ago. We went and got an ultrasound just because we thought it would be neat...and it was. Having homebirths with a midwife, I usually don't have ultrasounds, but we wanted to take a peek and see what this one would be. I'm 18 weeks now...nearly halfway there. Baby boy should make his arrival sometime around the middle of March. 

Life is pretty much normal these days. Busy with a husband and two little kids and housework and all the things that that entails. In my spare time I do a little custom sewing...anything from baby gifts to curtains to skirts. I would trade it all for anything. This is the life. 😊

Me & My Kiddos

Life These Days!

My life is pretty well documented by my iPhone's photo stream, so I figured I'd post some random pics and elaborate on them. Once again, forgive typos as I'm typing with thumbs on a phone. :) 

This was a long time ago now. Aaron was a big help carrying wood in for the stove all winter. 

This girlie is just cute. Also a long time ago. 

This desk was given to me. So I turned it into this: 

I decided I really like to paint. I made my own chalk paint for this. 

I also painted my door. 

We're close to done with my pretty laundry room! I made these curtains to cover up cluttered shelves where I keep laundry soap and all that stuff. 

Jacob bought this beauty a few months ago. I LOVE it and it's the highlight if my red kitchen. If you can't tell, I'm really into the red and turquoise right now. I'll probably hate it eventually. Lol! 

These two are something else. Totally adorable together! 

We played scrabble on cold snowy days. 

It snowed. A LOT. We got like a lot of inches...18 total maybe? 12 one day and a few days later bunches more. I'm good at precise measurements like that. 

This is what happens when I take hubby in Joann's...

Love this wall words thingy in my kitchen. :) 

He likes Chloe's headbands. 

Chloe occasionally leaks. 

We drank yummy coffee. 

Aaron's a dirty little boy. What else would I expect? He loves mud. 

Darn if she isn't still cute! 

We're in the process of building railing around the whole porch. This was taken a few weeks ago and we have a couple more sections done now. 

He squeezes mommy tight. :)

Jacob bought me new running shoes for my birthday. Haha...my birthday is a whole 'nother story. We went to Louisville and got lost all day. Fun time and funny memories. We did eat Olive Garden, which pretty much made up for everything else. 

Found Aaron a hat at a thrift store so he can stop stealing daddy's. 

And this. This is my life. I love this. 

This is what happens when Uncle E comes over. 

Aaron really likes taking pictures with me. 

So that's about it. Jacob's still working in ft. Knox so he's gone a LOT...a regular week is about 60 hrs. My days are full of house stuff, babies, meal planning and cooking, and I've recently taken up running with a couple of my sisters in law. I started a couple months ago and hurt my knee a couple weeks in. I got the new shoes and now I'm on week 2 again. This morning we ran 30 seconds and walked 30 seconds...for 30 min. It sounds easier than it is, at least when you're as out of shape as I am. Lol We should be able to run a 5k in a couple months. Mmhhmm. 

Guess that's all folks. See ya later! :) 

Before the Kids Wake Up...

I think I already mentioned that I have a good block of time to myself in the mornings, after Jacob leaves at 5:30. The kids don't usually get up til at least 9. I like to if my hair and put on a dab of makeup and do my nails sometimes...it makes me feel a little more put together and presentable. As a mom I think we could all use a little time to ourselves to feel like we still matter, outside of being mom...if that makes any sense. 

So this is what I did this morning...it makes me smile. :) 

Btw, I don't totally blow *all* my time on vanity, either. ;) In my opinion, spending a little time on me helps me feel nice the rest of the day. 

Thankful!

For the first couple of months after Chloe was born, we had a pretty rough time of it. Starting at a few week old, Chloe would stay up at night and cry. Most of the time I didn't go to sleep until 2 am. I would just stay up and rock her. There was one time she and I didn't go to sleep until 5 am. Couple that with the fact that Aaron just doesn't like to take naps and I was completely exhausted. The sleep deprivation, along with adjusting to two kids under two (actually under 14 months!) made for a very tired mama....not to mention the emotional draw of not being able to soothe your crying baby! At the time, Aaron was still nursing to go to sleep, so more than once (ok, nearly every night...) Chloe would be crying on one side of me in the bed and Aaron would be fussing on the other side and I'd just lay in the middle and cry. This is NOT how I pictured tandem nursing! I always liked the idea of cuddling up with the kids in bed...but that's just different when you're a few weeks postpartum and you've got a toddler in between you and hubby and you can't get the baby to sleep so you have to get up and rock her but you have to nurse the older one to sleep first...and hubby feels frustrated and helpless because he wants to help but he can't. Life just isn't always how we picture it! Don't get me wrong...I love my life and I finally worked the kinks out (well, some of them...) but it's doggone hard sometimes! 

I really said all that to say...it passes. Chloe now sleeps very well. Last night she slept from about 10 to 7:30 without waking up once. It probably helps that she REALLY likes her thumb now. Every night I'd be rocking her and I'd be crying half the time because I couldn't figure out how to make her happy (sleep deprivation makes you crazy) and I just wanted to be curled up next to my husband sleeping...but even if I was in bed with him I wouldn't be next to him because I couldn't figure out how to get Aaron to sleep alone (still working on that one)...but then I'd try to think about it in the grand scheme of things. I have two healthy babies. I know people who would give ANYTHING to be up at 2am rocking a crying baby. And then I felt horrible for even being frustrated at all. 

We got throught that, but every season of life has struggles, I'm coming to find. Right now, Jacob is gone about 60 hours a week working. That's a lot of time apart. Like I said earlier, I still have trouble getting Aaron to sleep on his own and there are many times I get so frustrated. But then, he's not going to be this little forever and one day he'd rather die than curl up next to me and scoot even closer in his sleep. Every morning I wake up at 5am with Chloe right up next to me on one side, and Aaron right up next to my other side. I ease out of bed so I don't wake anybody up and Jacob and I cuddle on the couch with a cup of coffee before he leaves. Jacob leaves at 5:30 and most of the time the kids don't get up until at least 9, so I have a large block of time to myself in the mornings. 

My dad asked me a couple weeks ago how hard it was, having two this close together. Actually, I've got this. It's not really that hard for me at all. I think it will be harder once Chloe gets a little bigger. She's really a great baby, very happy most of the time.  She sure loves Aaron...she just watches him and laughs. Aaron kisses her all the time and tries to share his toys with her. He doesn't really understand why she doesn't want them! I can shop with both of them easily...thanks to the Ergo carrier. That's a real life saver! So I don't have any trouble having two so little. My biggest stuggle right now is wanting more time with Jacob! But this is only temporary... 

Btw, any tips for getting a 17 month old to sleep alone? I cut out the nursing completely now but the kid just will not sleep! We rock him and lay him down in his crib and he pops right back up. I can stand there until he goes to sleep and when I tiptoe out, he can hear the tiniest creak in the floor. I played music for him to cover the creaks and that helped for about a week. I guess creaks sound different than Mozart! The only way we can ever get him to sleep in his crib for even a little while is to get him to sleep in our bed and then wait until he's REALLY good and asleep and then try to move him carefully to his crib. Even then he only sleeps til 1 or 2 and the we have to put him in our bed to get him back to sleep. These days he's been staying in our bed because we all fall asleep soon after he does and Jacob doesn't want to have to wake up to get him in the middle of the night. We tried letting him cry and he will cry for as long as we leave him in there. It's horrible! 

So, this was all totally random wasn't it? My thumbs are worn out now...lol! Finish up with a picture...  We really need a family picture taken! 

A Few of my Favorite Pics

Here are few of my favoritest pictures of my favoritest people...

Aaron's 15 months now and Chloe's 6 weeks old today. Aaron really likes her a lot and tries to help if she cries...he'll kiss her or try to pick her up (yikes...good thing she's too heavy for him!) or give her toys (we're working on being gentle!) or standing over her imitating her hollering, or, if all else fails, just looking very confused! He's figuring out new stuff all the time and it's a lot of fun watching him learn new things. 

I'm finding my own groove and the past week has been great...I guess I'm getting the hang of this now. I've been getting up  two or three hours earlier than Aaron (he just sleeps really late most of the time now) and Chloe goes back to sleep soon after I get up, so I have some time alone. I've been able to keep my house really clean, laundry all caught up, supper always made, and I've still had time to do "fun" stuff that I like to do...read or knit or sew, mainly. So, I've never (ever, ever, EVER) been a fan of getting up early but it's growing on me. I feel better if I get more done too, so it makes me happy, which seems to make everyone else happy. You know, if mama ain't happy...lol!! 

My garden is mostly done now, but I have a ton of peppers to pick, hopefully today. Our four okra plants went crazy and when we got sick of eating fried okra, I started battering and freezing it. I've never done that before so I hope it turns out ok. I have over three gallon size bags of it in the freezer now...and I'll have more soon! I'm wanting to plant some fall stuff soon...maybe next week sometime. 

Gotta wrap this up and get busy...hope y'all enjoyed the pictures! 

P.S. Yes, I know "favoritest" isn't a word. :)