Ahhh the brotherly love for their baby sister :0)

Baby Abbey is very much loved by her brothers :0). They have been so good with her and just love to talk to her and touch her. Now in the last picture it gives me an idea how things will go when we have Christmas pictures done, lol.

Our princess has arrived......

Introducing our precious little girl Abigail Rose, born 12/02/09 at 1:30pm, 7lbs14oz's and 20 1/4 inches long.

So here is the quick version of how labor and birth went :0).

We are thrilled and finally home as of today around lunchtime. She is such a sweetie and the boys love her very much. Owen keeps coming over and tickles her little feet and says "tickle, tickle, tickle" and wants to kiss her on her head :0). Jonathan is holding her right now as I was taking a shower, of course with daddy's supervision ;0). The birth was fast, just like Owen's. I was induced on Wednesday as my cervix was dialating but I didn't have pain with the contractions at home. So we arrived at the hospital at 6:30am and they started the pitocin at 8am, I was already at 4cm's when I went to my appointment monday. The contractions came fairly soon after the meds were started but they didn't hurt just like the ones I had at home. They checked me after a while and I was at 5cm's, they then went ahead and broke my water. That is when the contractions started to get more uncomfortable but still bareable. After a while they really came on strong though and Abbey's heartrate started dipping sometimes as low as into the 80's, ack. I was very uncomfortable but didn't really want an epidural, so they gave me something in my IV to take the edge off. They checked me a again and I was 7cm's. The midwive left the room and in came the nurse to let us know that they'll be in again to check on my progress in a little while. She also said if I had the urge to push to let them know right away. Well the nurse left the room and all of a sudden I felt a lot of pressure and knew that baby girl was ready to come out, so I had dh call them back in and sure enough I was fully dilated. They got everything ready which felt like forever, lol. And within 10 minutes of starting to push little Abbey was born . The hospital staff was wonderful and it was a great expierence at the hospital there. The midwive assisted that birth and the guy who delivered Abbey really reminded me of Gaylord Focker from the movie "Meet the Parents/Fockers", lol.


The whole staff was just amazed at how well I did and kept saying that I must have a high pain tolerance as I was talking through the contractions and all, lol. Well at least until it was almost time to push, then I had to concentrate on them and got some IV meds, rofl.

Yet a little step closer ;0)

I had my 38wk check-up yesterday and all is well, baby girls heartbeat was at 150. They checked me to see if I was making any progress and I'm almost 4cm's dilated and 50% effaced. I know it can still take a while but at least it's nice that the contractions I've been having are doing something. It's less work later when labor really kicks in ;0). So far she has stuck it out the longest in my belly, her brother were both out by this time, so this is way different. I know she has dropped and you can tell by the pics that I had posted earlier. It feels like I have a block of cement between my legs when trying to walk, lol.
The suspense of her arrival is really killing us, even my dh is getting so anxious to hold his little girl. And Owen boy he is constantly attached to my belly talking to his sister and kissing her, he keeps telling her she needs to come out so he can hold her. It's just the sweetest thing to see, especially since he wanted a brother at first ;0).
So we shall see what happens in the next 2wks and hopefully baby girl will be nice and not too huge. He brothers were rather big for being so early weighing in at 8lbs5oz and 7lbs13oz, so hopefully she'll at least decide to be on the petite side ;0).

Great craft, especially when you have children with food allergies ;0)

The other day I went to Michael's and noticed that their Christmas foam kits were on sale. So instead of paying 7.99 they were 4.99. I bought the Christmas tree and Gingerbread house. Owen and me made the Gingerbread house and Jonathan was excited about the Christmas tree. I love the fact that you really don't have to use a lot of glue, since most foam pieces have a sticky side :0). Less mess to clean up later for mommy.
I'll be going back soon and pick up the nativity set and a few other ones and we'll just build our own little Christmas village. Best thing about this craft is that you don't have to worry about any reactions as you would with a real Gingerbread house. Unless you want to stand in the kitchen and whip up your own recipe that is safe for your kids, but with swollen feet/legs right now I'm not in the mood to do so, lol. Another bonus is you can use these decorations year after year :0).

So here are some pictures of our crafts and also some pics of the cookies after the boys had decorated them, before putting them in the oven. Enjoy!!!!!

I can breath again......

The first picture was taken on the 11th of this month, the second just earlier today. Baby girl decided to move further down within the last 11 days :0). Now of course my walk is a little off as I waddle like a duck, lol. But it's nice to be able to breath better again. We shall see what she decides to do as to when she makes her grand debute into this world. She has stayed put longer than her brothers so far. We have about 2 1/2 weeks to go until her due date but I still hold on to the hope that she might come a little earlier than that.
Of course I can just see her deciding to come on Thanksgiving while we sit down to eat with friends :0). I can tell you one thing, I will enjoy a nice piece of turkey before leaving for the hospital though. Even if it means squeezing my legs together, rofl.

GF sugar cookies :0)

I was searching online and came across a recipe for sugar cookies, those sounded pretty easy to make. So we went ahead and baked a batch on Tuesday night and the rest of them today. Boy am I glad that I found that one, you wouldn't even think they are gluten free :0). Now I had to use a bit more rice flour then the recipe asked for as they were a little too sticky but they turned out great.
As for decorating, I usually do an egg wash before we bake them and let the boys just go to town with sprinkles :0). Then you pop them in the oven and in about 10-12 minutes they are done, yum. So here is the recipe, hope everybody likes them as much as we do. I'm sure I will bake a couple more batches of those as Christmas is getting closer.

Sugar Cookies

1 cup shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups rice flour blend (I simply use 2 cups of rice flour and one cup of potato starch, you could also use tapioca starch)
1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream shortening and sugar, add eggs and vanilla. When combined, add dry ingredients. Wrap dough and chill for about an hour. Roll out and cut as desired.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Cool, frost and decorate.