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| Our last picture as a family of three (plus Leo) taken a couple days before she arrived. |
She’s here! Our beautiful baby girl arrived on September 27, 2017 at 6:56 am weighing 8 lb. 9 oz. and measuring 20 in. long. Named after Chris’s maternal grandmother and sharing my middle name, we call our sweet girl “Ellie”.
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| The plastic window in the curtain allowed us to see her the moment she emerged. Amazing! |
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| Getting some snuggles and skin-to-skin bonding time with my girl. So excited to finally meet her! |
Having had an unplanned c-section with James due to his size, and the fact that second babies are often bigger, my doctor thought it best to schedule a c-section for this baby. Ellie actually stayed put until her arrival date (sorry to those of you who lost the arrival date betting pool) which was only four days before her due date. We love that she and James share “27” birthdays since he was born on February 27.
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| Ellie, meet your dad. You already have him wrapped around your finger. |
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| Big blue eyes (for now) checking out the world. |
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| This tired momma getting some time with Ellie while in recovery– mostly waiting for the feeling in my legs to return. |
Once I was out of recovery, it was time to introduce James to his new little sister. He has been super excited to meet her and his sole goal in life is to make sure that she likes playing Legos with him eventually. We already know he’s going to be a great big brother and a huge help in taking care of her.
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| Wearing his official “Big Brother” shirt, James gets his first look at Ellie. |
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| This picture turns me into a big pile of mushy goo. Look at those faces! We are so lucky! |
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| Such a sweetie. He adores her already. |
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| Our first photo as a family of four! Welcome, Ellie! |
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| I can’t believe she’s finally here! |
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| We just can’t stop staring at her. |
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| Love those sweet cheeks! |
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| I hope he always looks at her like that. Love! |
Ellie and I did great in the hospital and were allowed to head home after only two days. It is always preferable to sleep in one’s own bed– although I don’t do much sleeping there any more. We were super excited to bring her home and start our new life all together, and we missed our James. I had saved the outfit we brought James home from the hospital in and we brought Ellie home in the same one. We think they definitely look related…
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| This is James. |
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| This is Ellie. |
There are also suspicions that she looks like me.
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| This is me at three days old. |
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| This is Ellie at three days old. |
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| Our family at our home. |
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| Showing Ellie her new room. She’s clearly excited ready to eat. |
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| Ready to watch her first Gator game. Go Gators! |
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| Love her sweet little hands in this one. |
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| We get such a kick out of her super expressive face and the wrinkles on her forehead. |
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| Sleeping. Again. If only it was night. |
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| Can’t get enough of her smooshy little face! |
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Awake and happy! She’s a pretty mellow baby, unless she’s hungry.
Then she screams nonstop until you are feeding her. |
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| Funny little smile while hanging out with Dad. |
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| Just a big brother and his little sister hanging out. 💖 |
