Union Picnic in October

We had a great time at Warren's Union picnic. They did it at a park in the Northwest and the weather was perfect. It was the best picnic they have done so far.
We got Eleanor to wear the shades for a little while but she was much happier when we took them off.

The many faces of Eleanor 10/14

Eleanor 17 weeks

13 weeks!

Wow,
Time has really flown by. Eleanor is at a healthy 13 weeks! I have been mostly posting on Facebook but now I will get back into my blog because I really like being able to write more on here. Facebook feels kind of annoying sometimes. It is amazing how much Ella has grown and changed. Last week was a bunch of firsts for her. She is becoming more vocal which is alot of fun because I feel like I can carry on a conversation with her with all the fun noises she is making. She is getting much stronger, I put her on her stomache on Wednesday and she pushed herself up with her arms which she hasn't done before!

Ella has a mobile over her bassinet that she loves to watch and now she is strong enough and more coordinated in that she likes to kick the little animals as they go around.

Something I can't figure out is that her sleep patterns keep changing. She'll have a great night where she goes to bed at 9:00 and wakes up to feed between 3-4 Am then she'll sleep till 7. Then the next night she'll wake up at 1:30 AM and then every two hours after that. And she'll still feed the same amount but she will wake up and I have to go in a give her a pacifier so I really don't know what to do about that. She did this for Friday and Saturday night so Sunday night I was hoping she would sleep better but then she woke up at 1:30. I was pretty worn out so I gave her the binkie and then just left her. Warren had suggested that I let her cry one of these nights(we were a little snappy Sunday morning, really just a communication issue that we got figured out) so I let her cry. But I couldn't sleep, listening to her crying. She cried for an hour and then I got up and fed her and she passed out until 7:30 this morning. Then she woke up, ate, played a little and is asleep again. I guess all the crying really wore her out. So we will see how tonight goes.

I met an awesome new girl in our ward on Sunday. It was fun because we have a ton of stuff in common. She, her husband, and their new baby just moved into the subdivision near us. She and I have a bunch of the same things in common, we both grew up in Vegas, we attended the community college HS in henderson, she graduated a year before me, her baby girl charlie is just one month older than Eleanor, we are both stay at home moms. Yep so it was fun talking to her. Hopefully we can start a walking routine once the weather cools down.

Eleanor at one week.

This first week was very trying. There's the physical pain of recovering from the labor and then there is the emotional pain of what am I doing? Warren stayed home from work monday and tuesday and my mom came over on wednesday. Eleanor is doing excellent. She only lost an ounce when we went to our pediatrician. Even though I'm not getting enough sleep it doesn't seem to matter because all I care about it having her healthy and strong :) must be the hormones talking. I feel pretty good too, the pain isn't that much. On her one week anniversary I took these photos of her to use in her baby announcement/thank you card.

Eleanor Desirae Stender is two weeks old

Alright, it has been a while since I updated this so here we go.

on June 26 at 12:00 Am I went into labor. Not too bad, I couldn't sleep so I cleaned my house. Warren got up at 3:30 for work and I told him I was in labor. At 5:30 AM we went to St. Rose De lima hospital. They hooked me up to the monitors for 2 hours but I was at 3 cms and they didn't see me progressing so they told me to go home, drink lots of water, and put my feet up. So we went home I drank 2 of those big gatorades, sat in the hot tub, and watched The Shadow. Around 1:00 pm I was getting in a lot of pain, and my contractions were about 3 mins apart, called the hospital and they said to come in. So at about 2:00 we get over there, I am at 5 cms so they say they'll keep me:)thank goodness. I has planned on doing it natural but at that point I said "No Way Jose!" So they gave me an IV of water, took my blood work and got an epidural. That was awesome! I could talk and rest after that. They gave me some pitocin because my contractions slowed down. About an hour and a half later I was at 8 cms, then I moved on pretty fast to 10 cms. My nurse was awesome, she checked on me alot and helped me with everything. They got me pushing and we could see the top of her head, :) and then they called the doctor. We had to wait for the doctor. My doctor was out of town but they had another doctor from the same practice that I've seen before so that was fine with me. So we got pushing and at 6:59 pm my Eleanor was born.

Words cannot describe the immense joy I felt as I looked at her, nothing else mattered in the world and she was stunning. Absolutely perfect, not wrinkly, cone shaped or anything, just beautiful. I cried with how much joy I felt at having this little spirit given to me. Warren was able to catch Eleanor and cut the cord then he was right there with her as they weighed her and cleaned her up. I think she knew him already. I cried again when I was able to hold her and she looked at me, it stunned me that this sweet thing was something I carried for 9 months. She weighed 6lbs 1 oz. and was 18 inches long. The hospital staff was so nice. The nurse who checked me in the morning was back and she came in to see our little Ella. Warren called his sister Laurel and my parents. Laurel showed up with roses and a balloon, she was worried to hold her but we finally got her too. My folks showed up and the they were so happy for us.

I got moved to my room in a funny handtruck looking device. Everyone took off while we settled in and I tried feeding Ella. Then we slept, sort of. It's hard to sleep when they have to come in and check on you, do tests, and all that. They took Ella at around 1 am for her "Spa treatment" where they got her all cleaned up. I think she was probably crying quite a bit because she slept for a long time after this. Saturday we just rested, sent Warren out for some errands because he was getting stir crazy in there. My sister Kathy and her husband Karl stopped by in the afternoon to see us. We decided to stay on an extra day rather than checking out Saturday evening. They brought us a special dinner to celebrate, steak, shrimp, baked potato, salad and cheese cake. I have to say that the food at my hospital was awesome.

Sunday we go up, had breakfast, showered and got checked out at around 10:30. It was a little nerve racking putting her in the car seat and traveling home. We had everyone over that evening of my family to celebrate my mom's birthday. It was alright because it was just desert but it did wear me out and give me alot of anxiety so I took Ella to the bedroom to hang out because it felt like a little too much for me. Thats when all the hormones started kicking in and I cried for a while.

4 weeks to go!

Well this was the last week of school, thank goodness. I have been counting down the days, and it hasn't helped being this pregnant. I'm so glad that I still have 4 weeks though becuase if I was due any sooner these past weeks of teaching would be even worse.

So Thursday was the last day for the students, I was amazed at how well behaved my last classes were, I think they were just as tired as I was so they didn't give me any hassle. :) Today was a professional development day and then we have to come back on monday for checkout, they added an extra day becuase of our snow day.

I won't be teaching next year, I will be staying home with our little one so I had to clean all my stuff out of my room. That was a little sad because I really love teaching. But it also felt really good :) I will be substituting in the fall a couple days of the week to make some extra cash. I think that will work out great.

Tomorrow is my baby shower for all my family and friends here in Las Vegas. I am super excited, I hope a bunch of people can come.

Health wise I think I am doing great. I am still swimming 2-3 times a week which really makes me feel better physically. It is really tough gaining this much weight, I have never been this big before and it doesn't make me feel very attractive. It doesn't help that people say the most idiotic things like "Hey Big Momma", "Wow, are you having twins?" "You're gonna pop" "You can barely walk" "should you be eating that?" It's like really, I'm going to smack the next person that comments on my size. I think I look pretty good, I just happen to be short and my baby likes to really stick out so yeah, I am beach ball size now. It's also frustrating in my change of clothes size. I've gained most of my weight in my bum and hips so it makes me much wider so I have to get a big size in maternity, then you see this size 4 8 month pregnant women with their perfect basketball round bellies and their cute butts, and you just want to kick them. :) Can you tell I'm getting tired of the pregnant thing?

But other than the getting huge part, it is fun being pregnant, I can't wait to see what my little girl is going to look like. I haven't had any health problems, no early contractions, or anything else, so I'm just hoping that I don't go over my due date, I want it to be on the date or before.

Oh, the one other problem is that my feet are getting all swollen. It really sucks becuase at the end of the day I feel twice as big as I really am. And if I sit too long in a chair or I walk or stand too much my feet become rolly polly sausages. Which is very disturbing because I've always really liked how my feet look and now they are monster feet :( So that is a problem.

We have kind of picked the name Eleanor Desirae Stender as her name. I think it is very beautiful and Warren likes it as well. But it could always change, we may find something even better tomorrow. :) Well, I hope all our family and friends are doing well and I'll tryy to keep you up to date with what is going on. Love everybody.

6 weeks to go!!

Wow,
it is amazing but we are at 34 weeks. I am feeling great other than the getting huge part. This weekend has been really nice to relax and get stuff done. Warren cleaned out the garage so he could put the dune buggy in there, we want to clean it up and sell it for some extra cash. Today Warren is out riding quads and shooting things with his brother and sister, Stephen and Laurel. Hopefully they come back intact.

We only have 2 weeks left of school. 4 days this week and then next week is finals so we have half days. I am just so extremely excited to be out for the summer. I am reading the twilight series, :) fun books but definitely very teenage drama. I have to request the last book in the series. The nice thing is that all the books are out so it isn't like harry potter where you had to wait another year or two in between books and by then you had to go back and read the previous book again.

We've decided on the name Eleanor. Middle name isn't decided yet, I was thinking Ann but Warren doesn't like that as much.
Warren went to Washington DC for a conference from last saturday night to thursday. He had alot of fun, but he was also very busy so he didn't get to do much sight seeing. I have been busy just getting things finished for school.

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary on Thursday night. It doesn't feel like it has been 4 years. I think it really is half that time, it feels like 2 years. We went to Townsquare annd had dinner at Texas de Brazil. It is a brazilian steakhouse, SO GOOD! Everything was delicious and the service was astonishiing. It is sad that we have such poor service in Las Vegas that we when you get good service you are just stunned. :)Little pricey but definitely a great place for a special occasion.

Other than that everything is about the same. I am doing great, healthy as a horse, no problems with the baby. My feet do get swollen at the end of the day, but it helps if I go swimming. I couldn't go last week but otherwise I have been averaging 2 or 3 trips to the gym a week for swimming. Makes me feel much better and gets some good exercise.

Oh, on June 6th at 3:00 pm we are having my baby shower. I sent out invitations but if there is anyone who didn't get one you are invited to come. I will post a copy of the baby shower inviation on here and I would love for more people to come, it will be alot of fun.

28 weeks!

Wow,
I can't believe we are at 28 weeks. We still haven't picked a name but here is a list of names I like at the moment:
1. Eudora
2. Evianna
3. Lila
4. Liliana
5. Olive :)
6. Eleanor

But don't quote me on any of those because we still have a ways to go and I am not set on anything. I am feeling Great! Our little girl is super active now, I like it in the morning when I roll over and she gets all upset and pushes everywhere, it makes me smile.
The baby room is coming along nicely. We painted it yellow and I am working on a mural, I will post some photos when it is done or atleast closer to being done.

I bought my maternity swimming suit so I have been swimming this week which makes me feel great and doesn't make me sore, so I will keep that up.

We bought the Wii fit and have been having fun with that, Warren has been working on losing some weight. :) He didn't like the sympathy weight he was gaining. I am trying not to gain too much more weight because I think I gained it a little fast in the beginning so I am getting up past what I want to be.

I am ready for school to be out, both I and the students have spring fever so it is getting pretty frustrating. On May 2nd I will be going to CA for my in laws Sewing get together with the ladies, we will also be having my baby shower. Then in June I will have the baby shower with people here in Vegas. My sister Judy has already happily loaded me up with all of her baby stuff so I don't think we will have a shortage of baby stuff.

I think that is pretty much everything going on, I hope everyone else is doing great.