Allison Dawn Merrell

Surprise!!! I am finally doing something on my blog. I know, I know... it's about time right?!



I decided to start with the biggest news since my last post, which is, of course, our wonderful BABY GIRL!!!



Allison Dawn Merrell was born December 16th, 2010 at 7:26 am. She was 7 pounds 11 ounces and 21 inches long. I will have to do another post to tell her birth story, but for now I'll just post some pictures. Because of her unexpectedly fast arrival, the camera wasnt' ready and I was in a bit of a whirlwind, so I don't have as many pictures as I'd like. I'm not sure why the sizing is weird on some of them, but I'm posting what we have. Despite it all, we ended up with some pretty cute pictures.



Bundled up in her little hospital bed.

Beautiful little girl.

Opening her eyes for a picture.

Proud mama and sweet baby.

Happy mom- glad to have her on the outside! (And glad to be done with my DRUG FREE labor!)

Proud papa holding Allison for the first time.

Dani is soooo happy to have a SISTER!!! My two beautiful girls!

Zack thinks she is a keeper! I love the smile on his face!

Another great picture...

At first, Russell wasn't quite sure what to think, but he LOVES being a BIG brother!

Grandpa (A.K.A. "The Grumpa") Merrell holding his 10th grand-baby!

Being admired by Grandma Merrell.

I guess Grandma Nancy was the one taking the pictures, so there isn't one of her with Allison. But Grandma Nancy was also there to help us welcome Alli into our family!

Content little princess sleeping on daddy's lap. (I love the adorable Christmas blanket made by Grandma Merrell!)

Uncle Chris is so excited to meet his new neice!

Meeting Uncle Corey!

Great-Grandma Pearson loves you too, Allison!

Our precious baby even brought a tear to Great-Grandpa Pearson's eyes!

Great-Grandma Kiesling is pretty proud, too!

Notice the white blob on Brian's shirt? That's documentation of Alli's first spit up.

From the delivery room window, we could see our visitors coming and going!

(Russell is pointing to our window and it looks like Dani is thinking about how early it is!)

Hi everybody!

We are so glad to have our precious Allison in our family! We love you so much!

We're Having a Baby.........Just Not Today

Yup- you read it right. Today is the official due date and baby (as expected) is much too comfy to be trying to go anywhere. Our last two doctor's visits have confirmed that nothing, and I do mean nothing, is happening to indicate our little girl is getting ready to come out. I had the stomach flu (again - icky!) and that didn't even start anything. But, more importantly, everything appears to still be going very well. A healthy baby is MUCH more important than an "on time" baby! So, I'm still waddling along.

Everybody asks how I am feeling and if I'm ready to have baby here. I answer honestly- I feel pregnant, but good. As far as being ready..... Well, short answer- YES! and NO! Long answer, NO! How could I ever feel "ready" when there is always more to do, more preparing that I think needs done, worrying about labor and delivery, washing clothes and blankets, cleaning and nesting, and praying our wonderful baby is perfectly healthy. I will truly miss being pregnant, feeling my baby stretch and roll and wiggle in my belly, knowing a precious little one is growing and developing inside me according to God's plan. This overwhelming blessing to be a mom to another one of God's children is something I don't think I could ever really feel "ready" for. And then of course, there's YES! I'm ready to be done waddling, to sleep on my tummy again, to regain some control of my own body, to take a HOT bath, to tie my shoes and not feel out of breath, to be a bit more comfortable. And mostly, yes- I am ready to hold my precious baby girl in my arms. To meet her, see her, hold her hand, touch her face, rock her and sing to her, talk to her, and smell that amazing baby smell she will have. I am so ready- it makes it very hard to be patient for her arrival.

I am scheduled to be induced Wednesday, December 16th. I'm assuming nothing will happen between now and then to change this plan. I will post pictures as soon as I can. And thank you to everyone who has sent their concern and excitement and well wishes our way- you are wonderful!!!

Symptoms

Comments that have been heard more and more frequently at our house lately:



I'm so tired- I couldn't sleep last night because I just couldn't get comfortable.



Could somebody please help me get my socks and shoes on?



My back is really hurting today.



I feel exhausted and I haven't even done that much today.



Don't forget, I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow.



My feet are bothering me again today.



This is pretty heavy, could you please help me pick it up?





And the number one comment commonly heard lately from Brian is...



Hey, would you like to see the scar from my butt crack extension surgery?

Who did you think would be making these comments? ha ha ha

(Okay, he really doesn't offer to show everybody his scar or tell everybody his wonderful cover-up story for his back surgery scar, but the story is a little bit funnier that way. Yes, I keep teasing him that HE is the pregnant one. And yes, he knows about this blog entry. I told him I wouldn't post it if he didn't want me to, but he told me to and even said he thought it was funny. Brian and I have laughed at ourselves and each other since we started dating, and I'm so glad we can still make each other smile. I feel so lucky to have a guy who can make me laugh.)

On a different note, we are 9 weeks away from meeting our wonderful baby girl. We are officially 32 weeks today. I've been feeling quite overwhelmed just thinking about all that still needs to be done for me to feel ready to bring a new baby into our home. But my nesting instincts are kicking in (you should see our recently organized game closet!) and I know things will all work out just fine. Our family is getting very excited to meet our little baby Allison Dawn!

A Growing Vocabulary

Russell is at such a fun stage right now. I love being able to see my kids going through the whole thought process of things and being able to figure stuff out on their own. Recently, Russell has been using some big words. He uses them correctly and each time a new "big" word comes out of his mouth, I just think- wow- where did that come from? Here are a few examples:



Hilarious- as in, "Oh yeah, I saw that show and it was hilarious!"



Irritating- as in, "Can somebody turn of this music- it's really irritating!"

also as in, "Mom, can you cut this tag out- it's irritating me!"

Incredible- as in, "Zack and Dani- did you know horses can sleep STANDING UP??? That's incredible!!"

also as in, "Mom, I just sent a message on your phone. I went to 'tools' and then started typing, and then it sent it TWO times! Isn't that incredible?"

I know there are more, but my overloaded mind can only remember those for now. I'm so glad Russell is part of our family. He just makes me smile!

We Are A Boring Family

Yes, BORING. Apparently all three of my children are somehow in agreement on this one. And yes, I have proof.

Case #1:

Mom: "Russell, you've been talking ever since we got in the car. It's time to be quiet for a while."

Russell: "BBOORRRRRRIINNGG!!"

Case #2:

Dani: "That road is Satterfield, right?"

Mom: "Yeah. Why?"

Dani: "The other day when I was reading the phone book, I saw an ad for a hair salon on Satterfield."

Case #3: We are shopping when Zack gets home from a friend's house. He calls to tell us he is home and ask when we will be home. A short time later he calls again to find out how much longer we will be. Then... we receive these two pictures through the miracle of cell phones.

And if it was not bad enough that my poor children are bored out of their gourds, it seems Brian is on "board" with them. Right after his surgery, the doctor came to talk to me and told me everything went exactly as planned and it was a "boring" surgery.

Well, there you have it. At least we're bored together, right?