It's A .......BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some photos of our new addition Stephen Alexander Howard "Alex" He was born Wednesday 9/24/08 at 11:20 am 7lbs 8oz, 19 1/4" long. He is healthy and just beautiful. I am doing ok. A few health complications..had to have a blood transfusion that Friday because of anemia and then my BP shot up on Saturday. It is still up and down but we are keeping an eye on it. Stephen is great and so proud to have a son. I will post again soon the story of the birth as it was quite eventful. Ella is a great big sister and loves her baby brother! She is having a time of adjustment but is enjoying her brother.

All set for 9/24/08!!!

Well, it's Sunday night and all is set for delivery on Wednesday. I went to the Dr. on Friday and my BP is back down to normal and he said I was doing great. I am doing much much better than I did at this stage with Ella so that is good and I feell good. I get tired and can't do as much as I'd like but I am able to do more and feel better than I thought I would. I still can't believe that it's almost here....after a year of trying, and a miscarriage along the way, our baby will be in our arms soon. I am excited, but when I think about this pregnancy (and it's probably the last one) there are things I will miss as well and some things I will not miss about being pregnant. I will NEVER miss going though the 1st trimester again!!! I will miss the first flutters of movement when you are not even sure if it's the baby or not. Then the kicks that are unmistakeable. In a strange way, I will miss my belly button poking out and being able to enjoy having a belly. I will miss people walking by and looking at my belly, tilting their head and smiling. I will NOT miss complete strangers walking up and feeling my belly or telling me their personal delivery story and all the horrors they went through.....I will miss my friends feeling my belly and me being able to watch their faces when the baby moves and they feel it. I will miss the strange reactions I get when people ask what we are having and I tell them we don't know, it's going to be a suprise. Some think it's great. I get the feeling that others think it's crazy and are frustrated with not knowing, but when it comes down to it, it's about us and no one else. I will miss Ella giving my belly hugs and kisses for the baby. I will not miss fat ankles and getting up 4-5 times a night. I will not miss having to practically get out of bed just to turn on my other side. I will miss my family of three, but at the same time, I am sure I will not miss my family of three because my family of four will be so much more than I can even imagine. Thank you God for this gift.....I look forward to meeting this little life that you have planned for us!

Holly

Ella Open House and saying the pledge...

Here is a link showing a video of Ella saying the pledge. Really cute.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6071597643964450568&hl=en

Last night was Ella's first school Open House. It was really fun for her to show us her room and her projects. We just love her teacher and her teacher assistant. Ella is loving school and has been learning a lot!

Ella and Soccer

So Ella is enjoying playering Upward Soccer, which is a good thing since I work for the Upward organization!!! Well, she loves it for the first 30 minutes and then she is more interested in pouring water into a snowcone cup from the cooler and picking weeds than playing. But all in all she is having a fun time. It's a joy to see her play and not care which direction or even if it goes into the goal. She just loves chasing the ball. What joy there is in childhood! God bless her I just love her so much, I can't imagine that in 2 weeks I will have another child that I will love just as much.....I know I will but I don't know how I will have that kind of capacity. God makes room I guess :)

As Ready As I will Ever Be.....I think

Well, 19 days and we will have a new family member. I went to the Dr. yesterday and she said that all is well and she thinks the baby may have dropped a little. I can't really tell though. My iron is really low but other than that everything else is going well. Ells is doing great and loves her big kids school and teacher Miss Vaughn. She is coming home with books to read for homework and singing songs she learned in class. I am glad she enjoys it and is getting a head start to Kindergarten next year. We had a nice Labor Day holiday although we didn't go anywhere. We did go to the Labor Day festival in Simpsonville. Ella loved it and enjoyed the rides and the pony's. My highlight of the day was a very good corndog....they are just not the same anywhere but at a festival!! Anyway, we had a nice time. Ella continues to enjoy her soccer and does a really good job. She is getting better with kicking it in the right direction now so that is good.