The Arrival of Amelia Grace

You will have to forgive me, Elaine usually does the blogging for the family, but I wanted to get some pictures out to all of you family and friends following along from every corner of the country. Amelia Grace Capps was born December 29, 2010 at 10:25 PM. She weighed in at 5lbs 5 onces and stands every bit of 18 inches tall.

Tuesday morning Elaine and I went to a routine ultrasound and doctors visit, but the ultrasound was showing that she had not put on the amount of weight that the doctors would like to see. After four hours of waiting in the office and a few double checks the decision was made to induce at 7:00 am, Wednesday. Once Elaine and I had the news we began the plan to get the Grand Parents here as soon as we could. We love having family in town for any big event, but in this case we also needed a babysitter for Caleb. True to form, my Mom and Dad and Elaine's Mom were able to drop everything and get into the car and drive the 13 hours to make it to our house in time for a quick nap and we were off to the hospital by 6:30 am. Elaine's Dad could not get away from work and will be here soon.

By the time we got to the hospital we were officially number 9 for delivery with every pregnant lady within 500 miles seamingly between us and meeting Amelia. After 14 or so hours of induction medicine, holding our breath, and focusing on God's grace' Elaine's contractions began to get on a normal schedule and the mid-wife broke her water. Amelia Grace was in the world less than 1 hour later. She joined us with both hands up guarding her chin, eyes open, and screaming like she had something to say.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We both look forward to showing off our little Princess as soon as we are all able to get together.

Happy New Year!!

Love,

Shawn, Elaine, Brady, Caleb, and Amelia

Arriving Early.....

My countdown ticker should be changed from 18 days left to 1 day left. Yes, you read that correctly, we will be welcoming Amelia Grace to the world tomorrow! We went to our ultrasound and doctor's appointment today and Amelia was measuring small. They told us she would be smaller than Caleb at our last ultrasound on November 29th, but today they determined she just isn't gaining weight like she should be at this point. She is also transverse, or laying sideways. So, since I am at 37 weeks and considered full term, they want to go ahead and get her delivered. Shawn and I will be heading to the hospital tomorrow morning, bright and early at 7am and they will get things underway. The doctor would like to try and get her turned so her head is down, but if they are unable to do that, then I will have to have a c-section.

Of course, I kinda went into panic-mode, thinking of all the things I haven't done around the house (I know, I might be a little bit of a clean freak or something) and I wasn't sure what we were going to do with Caleb. My mom wasn't supposed to fly in until Saturday and all of our friends are still out of town from Christmas. But, our parents are on the road right now and will be here to watch Caleb in the morning.

Although this is much earlier than I expected....I thought we'd at least have another good week or two....we are so very excited to meet our daughter tomorrow! Please keep our family in your prayers. We are praying for the safe delivery of a healthy baby girl!

Snow!

There's nothing better, in my eyes, than a little snow at Christmastime! We were waiting all morning for it and it finally showed up. It was a perfect day for staying in our pajamas, snacking on leftovers and playing with new toys. And although we didn't get the snowfall amounts some of the surrounding areas received, it is white outside our windows (and still snowing) and that makes us happy!

Merry Christmas!

Before bed last night, we sat out our milk and cookies for Santa and took one last peek under the tree at the gifts that were already there. This morning we woke, at 6:00 mind you:o(, to a tree full of presents waiting to be opened. But first we had to sort them all out.

And even though we couldn't be at home with family, we are thankful Skype worked so we could all see each other open presents. (This picture is just to prove I was here this morning:o)

Here's Caleb going down the slide and crashing into his presents.SLAM DUNK!Using his tools to work on the school bus. Look at my really cool (we're not allowed to say "cute") monkey backpack. And to top of our great day, we had a small feast for just us three....and a half:o)

Santa Arrives Early

We were a little surprised to see Santa early this morning as he drove up in his.......no, not his sleigh.....but by firetruck! Caleb didn't go out to meet him, so mom took Santa's candy gift and passed it along to him. I wonder if this is how he'll be passing out gifts tonight too?!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Building Presents

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas......

Presents are being assembled, cookies will be made today, new recipes tried on Christmas Eve along with the Christmas Eve service at church, and a big breakfast and dinner planned for Christmas. Although this Christmas will be very different for us with no family to celebrate with, we are so thankful for each other and for the blessings God has given us this year. For me, this Christmas is special, because it's the first Christmas that we will be sharing in our own house!

Stressing' A Little

Sing this little tune in your head as I begin to tell you a story about a sick little boy and his mom.......Justin Timberlake's Cry Me A River:o)

So, I told you Caleb's had a runny nose for the last week. But, I know it's just a cold, so I'm not bothering to go to the dr. and have them tell me they can't do anything for it. Dad let me rest on Sunday (thank you!!), but Caleb wouldn't take a nap. Then Sunday night, we fought him for 45 minutes to stay in bed and go to sleep. Pretty much the same thing happened for a nap yesterday, but at least this time he stayed in his room and cried and then figured out he could just play for an hour and a half. Needless to say, I didn't get to take a nap with a kid coming in and out of his room to show me he knew how to scream and cry when I told him to get back into bed. Last night he went right to bed and I though we were home free...only to have him get up 4 times between 11:30 and 3:00 - which made me sleep on the couch so that I wasn't getting in and out of our bed 15 times. And to add to this no sleep thing, the temper tantrums have ramped up 10x! He's even throwing them with dad now too, so at least I know it's not just me. It's been even worse (it seems) the last couple of days and didn't stop this morning when he came to wake me up at 7:30. He came in and told me he was getting a drink. Perfect! Then he comes back with a Lunchable and tells me he wants lunch. I tell him I'll make him breakfast and to go put it back in the refrigerator. Which makes him mad, so he lauches the Lunchable across the room. I tell him to go pick it up and he screams NO at me as loud as he can. After a stern voice tells him to do it again, followed by another loud NO, he gets a spanking. What a way to start the morning. As I force him to pick it up and put it back in the frig, he screams as me again while standing inside the refrigerator (literally stepped up in it), so I smacked his mouth....which sends him into a fury on the floor, followed by alot of Hold You's.

To make a long story, longer.....I told Shawn, what in the heck am I going to do with 2 kids???!! Now that we're only a few weeks away from having a newborn and a two year old, I'm starting to stress a bit. Is it wrong to hire a nanny when you're a stay at home mom? I'm praying for Caleb to feel better soon and for a lot of patience for me (and dad:o).

36 Week Update

Today I went to see the doctor again and I will be seeing him once a week here on out. Her heartbeat was 148 and I have not dilated any yet (darn!). I'll have an ultrasound next Tuesday to make sure her head is still down and that there is plenty of fluid around her. He will also check to me again to see if I've started dilating. So, we'll wait another week to see if she's getting any closer to her arrival.

Lazy Weekend

This weekend was a lazy, sickly weekend to say the least. Friday night we ordered a pizza and tried to watch Miracle on 34th St. (which is one of my favorite Christmas movies), but we both managed to fall asleep on the couch before 9:00. Saturday we did make a run to Lowe's, but once we got home I was not feeling well. Caleb's had a snotty nose for a week now, so I gues I was bound to catch it. I went to bed at 9:00 with the typical sore throat, stuffy head and chills only have Shawn tell me he was going to sleep in the other room because I was snoring:o) Although we all showered today, we barely made it out of one pair of pj's to the next. I think we all needed a good lazy weekend. Hopefully we'll all be 100% this week and we're looking forward to another good report from the doctor tomorrow morning.

Shawn unpackaged one of Caleb's Christmas presents then turned the cardboard into a door for him to play in. And once he was done with that, he turned it into a boat and oar. It was fun for him for about 10 minutes:o)

New Furniture

A few weeks ago, we set out to find Caleb new furniture so that Amelia could have the "too girly" crib Caleb's been sleeping in. We were told it would take 4-6 weeks, but to our surprise earlier this week, it came in early. I didn't think I was in a hurry to get this new furniture until I started washing baby clothes and found that I had nowhere to put them all. So thankfully, Caleb has his new furniture (after buying new furniture at Christmas time, all before having a baby...I think we'll wait to buy him new bedding:o) and I can now properly get ready for Amelia's arrival earlier than expected.

35 Week Update

Are you paying attention to my countdown ticker???

If not, then you may be interested to know we only have 32 days (or less!) until Amelia arrives!

I had an appointment with the doctor today and we got another great report. Her heartbeat was 146 and I gained 2 lbs. in the past 2 weeks. (Still less than with Brady and Caleb:o) I will see him again next Monday and that will be the first time he checks to see if I've begun to dilate or not. He will then check me again at 38 weeks. If I've dilated at that point and things seem to be progressing, he may admit me and induce. If nothing has happened, then we'll talk about waiting another week to see if things progress. He said he will definitely not let me go past my due date. So, you do the math.....I am 35 1/2 weeks today and the earliest she could be here (unless my body decides otherwise), will be in 2-3 weeks!!! AAHHHHHHH! Are we ready for another baby? There's no turning back now:o) For now, I'm going to try to focus on relaxing and enjoying a quiet Christmas at home, all while making sure we have everything ready for her arrival.

Visiting Santa

We set out this morning in hopes of the classic photo of Caleb sitting on Santa's lap. We both knew it would be long shot, but I was sure we'd still get the picture of a screaming kid wearing a cute Christmas sweater sitting on Santa's lap. That however is not what happened. We got to the North Pole and found that Santa had stepped out for a minute. We were able to wait in his little house until he returned and kept Caleb entertained by finding all of the trains in the room. Then I see Santa round the corner and walk up to the door. Shawn said that he could feel his heart start beating faster as he entered the room. He was looking pretty sad faced as Santa gave him a candy cane, which he took just fine. Then we said "Do you want to sit on Santa's lap"? And as Shawn tried to sit him down the tortureous scream let out. Followed by no breathing, followed by high pitched shrills, followed by the throwing of the candy cane, followed by "Hold you, mommy!", which means he wants me to hold him now instead of dad. When I took him, he started hitting Shawn, like it was his fault for all of this trauma. Then he wanted dad to "Hold you!" So, I gave him back to Shawn and he reached out to hit me. Needless to say, there is no photo of Caleb sitting on Santa's lap, but Shawn and I have had a few good laughs since then. Maybe I should just video tape next time:o)

This is as close a picture of Caleb next to Santa as we were going to get......see him in the background, inside the house? :o)

Clothing Dilemma

So here's my problem. I have never been pregnant into the "winter" months before, so my closet it a tab bit limited on what I can wear. I have 4 sweaters that fit me right now and all of my tshirts are slowly getting way too tight. I'm in the same boat with the jean situation too. I refuse to buy anymore clothes, because what is the point. I a month or so I won't be wearing maternity clothes (hopefully) and then I can start bringing back out my regular clothes. Shawn's side of the closet isn't helping me much either because all of his clothes are made for a tall man...of which, I am not. So, I guess I will just stick it out and layer and stretch things out to get me by in these last few weeks. Until that day comes, my belly will just have to show a little bit:o)

What Are We Up To?

It may seem that we haven't been that busy around the Capps household, but that's not it at all. We've been keeping plenty busy....it's just not that exciting to blog about. We started out last weekend by shopping ALL DAY long. It was a really long day, but we were able to get all of our Christmas shopping done and Caleb was absolutely perfect! Then on Sunday, some our friends threw us a family style baby shower. It's always nice to get together with all of our friends and we received some nice baby "girl" gifts!

Then it was onto Amelia's room, which has previously been a guest bedroom, library, Christmas wrapping center and baby stuff accumulating room. Right now it's a huge mess, but Shawn is tackling it a little bit a day so that we can get it emptied out, do some touch up painting and then move Caleb's old furniture in there once his new stuff arrives.

Last night I made a list of things that we need to get done before she arrives. Shawn said we should go ahead and pack our hospital bags just in case she comes early. If you think about it, Caleb was born at 38 weeks and on Saturday I'll be 35 weeks. It's getting close!

And finally, I've been wrapping, wrapping, and wrapping...which I love to do!