She's Here! ...and already one week old!

Introducing Miss Lila Mae...

Lila was born Monday, November 21st at 12.56pm. She entered the world weighing 9 pounds, 10.7 ounces and measuring 21.5 inches.  She is healthy and perfect and we have been enjoying the time with her very much! 

Our first week with Lila has been super busy. We were in the hospital from Sunday, the 20th at 4pm until Wednesday, the 23rd around 1pm. All of the nurses and doctors were fantastic and we enjoyed spending time with many visitors once Lila made her appearance. She was able to meet all of her grandmas and grandpas as well as her Aunt Megan and some of her friends from Saint Paul.

We came home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, and Lila was able to meet her Great Grandpa and Grandma Welsh. Thursday she celebrated her first Thanksgiving with her Grandma and Grandpa Welsh and Uncle Eric. Grandma Welsh spoiled everyone but Lila with delicious food. She'll have to wait until next year to taste all the goodies.

On Thursday night/Friday morning, Tony, Eric, and my dad went out to some Black Friday sales. They got some really good deals and I think had a good time (or at least a good time laughing about the craziness of the crowds when they got home). Later, on Friday, Miss Lila took her first shopping trip. She had a doctor's appointment right over by our mall, so we left the house a little early and stopped by a few stores. Lila loves rolling along in her stroller and riding in the car. At her doctor's appointment, everything checked out just fine. Her jaundice seemed a little worse, but we were told to keep an eye on it and since then she's been getting better each day. She weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces, which was already 2 ounces more than one of her check-ups at the hospital, so she's gaining back weight like she should be. At her appointment, she was in the 98th percentile for her height and the 90th percentile for her weight. She goes back for her next appointment on December 23rd...just in time for Christmas!

On Saturday, Tony, Lila, and I traveled out to Yorkville for the Dixon family Thanksgiving. Lila was able to meet her Uncle Dennis, Aunt Dawn, Uncle Jason, Great-Uncle Keith, and cousins George, Sharayah, Sam, Seth, and Simon. We had a good time celebrating with the family.

Then, on Sunday, Miss Lila Mae was baptized. After the baptism, we had a little gathering back at our house where she was able to capture everyone's hearts with her crazy cuteness. She did a great job during the baptism of staying happy and then stayed awake for quite some time back at the house so that people could get to know her a little bit.

That bring us to today, which is Lila's one-week birthday. We spent the day snuggling and relaxing...no appointments, no reason to leave the house, nothing on the calendar. It was fantastic! :) Here are some pictures from today of some of her favorite activities.

T minus 3 days...

Well, I have three more days of work until I'm officially on maternity leave. Baby Dixon hasn't decided to make her appearance yet, so I just keep going to work, coming home, resting up, and then heading back the next day. I do have to say that I'm getting more and more tired by the end of the day, but so far, so good. The suspense is killing me, though. I'm such a planner that I really want to know when to expect her arrival. That's just not how it goes, though. I have another appointment on Wednesday, so hopefully that will go well and I won't have to wait in a tiny little room for an hour like last time! I should really be writing thank you cards right now. I feel bad I haven't done them yet for most of the showers that people had for us. It's not that we aren't thankful because we most definitely are. The task just seems overwhelming to start. I guess there's no better time than the present. :)

Closer and closer...

Tony and I are both feeling time speed up on us these past few weeks. They have been filled with visits from friends and family, baby showers galore, unpacking and putting away things for baby, trying to wrap up loose ends of projects around the house, etc. It seems like the list of things to do is never-ending, and I'm almost positive it won't all get done. The good news is that we both know that and are ok with it...and take opportunities to just slow down and spend some quality time together. That's what we did today. We came home from church after taking time to get lunch together and just relaxed with some football. At times I feel guilty for not crossing things off our list, but at other times, I know that just being together sometimes is what's best for me, Tony, and baby Dixon. Here's to the next 4 weeks until her due date. :)

Yay Surprises!

I'm not really much of a surprise person. I usually find out what surprises are before they happen because I'm too curious to just let them happen to me or because I'm suspicious of people when they act differently around me. However, I have to say that I'm looking forward to two big "surprises" this weekend. :)

My wonderful sister-in-law has been lovingly planning a baby shower for me since almost the moment she found out that Tony and I were expecting, but she has kept the details other than the location and the guest list a secret from me. I haven't seen an invitation, I don't know the theme, I haven't heard about the games or food...and I'm excited to see what she's put together since I know she's been working hard and is pretty excited to get to use pink! :)

The second surprise I actually got last night. One of my friends from college currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and another lives in Madison, Wisconsin. I figured the friend from Madison would try to make it to the shower, but I didn't think the one from Baltimore would be able to make it (and I certainly didn't expect her to fly back for the occasion). However, Baltimore friend decided to use the weekend as a chance to come visit for a bit and Madison friend is coming to...and they are both staying overnight! :) It's going to be like a good old fashioned college slumber party since the sister-in-law, her husband, and my nephew are also staying overnight. I'm so excited to see them all and celebrate and spend some quality time in the same place, since none of us are very good about keeping in touch.

So, I'm trying to get through this week as quickly as possible so I can get to the weekend and enjoy all the surprises! :) Now if only I could stop checking on our baby registries to see what awesome things people are purchasing for baby Dixon! What can I say...I can't totally change my approach to surprises! ;)

It's Been Confirmed...

After our doctor's appointment yesterday and ultrasound, I'm happy to say that we are going to be welcoming a little girl in November...for sure. I have been suspicious since the first ultrasound as the tech seemed less than sure of herself back at 20 weeks. Yesterday, she had no doubt. Thank goodness because we have so many cute pink and little girl things! :) She somewhere between 4 pounds 12 ounces and 5 pounds 4 ounces right now which is between the 50th and 72nd percentile. Everything is growing exactly as it should be, so we are very thankful. I'm sure the next 7 weeks are going to fly by!

Weekend Fun!

Well, I spent two weekends in a row in Morton - the first for a baby shower with many Central Illinois family and friends and the second attending some Pumpkin Festival festivities and my nephew's 1st birthday party. Both were wonderful weekends, but I think I'll try to stay home for awhile to rest up after all the traveling. :)

I felt really blessed at my 1st baby shower (and really hot and sweaty while trying to open presents...this whole pregnancy thing surprises me sometimes as I used to always be cold). Tony and I received so many wonderful gifts from family and friends as we prepare to welcome our little baby to the world. I've been too overwhelmed by the generosity to even put any of it away yet. It's all just sitting in the nursery waiting for organization.

This past weekend's highlights were definitely pumpkin ice cream (thanks mom!) and celebrating George's birthday. It's hard to believe that he's already a year old. I still remember when he was born, so small and fragile looking. He's definitely grown and changed a lot. He's such an amazing little guy (probably because he has such great parents). Hopefully he and our little one will enjoy being cousins as they grow up! :) I'll leave you with a picture of George and the awesome tractor that Uncle Tony built for him.

Running Ragged...

It seems like the past couple of weeks have just been non-stop action, and I get tired just thinking about what the next couple of weeks hold for Tony and me. We are traveling all over the place, and the stresses of balancing work and home and other obligations are taking their toll on our tired bodies (due to my restless sleeping and incessant leg cramps these days).

On the plus side, we will have the chance to visit with our families this weekend for our nephew/godson's first birthday party, and I will get to eat some pumpkin ice cream! I know that we will survive; it's just that sometimes I wish I could stop time to just cross some things off of my list. :)

Unexpected Conversations...

Today was our church's outdoor worship service and servant event. Uncle Keith surprised us by coming out for the church service and then going with Tony to his assigned worksite for the day. They spent about 4 hours cutting back overgrown trees and bushes and then came back to our house for a little bit before Tony had to head off to youth group for the night.

The best part of my day, however, was getting to talk with my sister-in-law on Facebook for quite awhile. We haven't seen each other since the 4th of July and since we both admittedly have issues with using phones to keep in touch, sometimes the time gets away from us. However, this afternoon was fabulous as we just got a catch up a little bit. I'm excited to see her in two weeks for my nephew's (and godson's) first birthday. It's crazy how fast he's growing up! :)

In other news, the second load of dishes for the day is in the dishwasher. When Jack had that whole flea episode the house kind of fell apart. We're slowly digging out. :)

Tonight is....

JUNK FOOD NIGHT!!! This is what Tony and I do when we have zero inspiration to cook and just want to be lazy. He's having buffalo wings (they smell super spicy), and I will be having a corn dog. I also ate some more of my homemade salsa and got very sad when I had to stop due to running out of tortilla chips!

In other news, I feel like baby Dixon has doubled in size this week and therefore my middle has followed suit. Week 30 here we come! We have nothing planned for this long weekend except for the outdoor church service on Sunday followed by the "Church Has Left the Building." I think I'll find a job that doesn't require much manual labor. :)

What a week!

I haven't posted in almost a week, but I have a good reason... We've been having a cat crisis, and it has totally wiped me out. On Thursday, I was petting Jack and noticed something black and moving in his fur -- fleas!

I, of course, panicked as I didn't want my house to be infested with fleas, so Tony and I went to the pet store immediately after researching the best way to rid a cat of fleas. We gave him some medicine and then a bath in shampoo that was supposed to kill fleas. He hated the bath, but it had to be done. We figured he would be better in the morning.

Turns out that he hated the bath so much that he just hid all day on Friday while I was at school. So, when I got home, we were able to coax him out from under the bed only to realize that he was acting super weird...twitching and running around like something was chasing him. So, back to the internet we went for information only to find out that some cats can be poisoned by certain flea shampoos. The one we used had the specific ingredients, so I started freaking out. People on the internet suggested going to emergency vet care immediately to help your pet and other suggested giving a second type of bath with different soap. We opted for the second bath, which Jack was not happy with.

So, afterwards, he hid out again for all of Saturday and wouldn't eat. I had to take his food to him underneath the bed, but he didn't really eat too much at all. We left him until Sunday just to see what would happen. He stayed hidden. Finally Sunday night we were able to coax him out after Tony got back from youth group. We sat with him for awhile and got him to eat a little, but then he lost interest. As it was very late, I decided I needed to go to bed.

This morning, he was still out in the living room, staring out the window with an empty food bowl. That means that he ate it all over night. Today he seems better, although he is still cleaning himself like crazy. I can't figure out if he thinks he still has fleas or if his skin is still irritated by the first shampoo. Regardless, I'm hoping that my life can be consumed by something other than worrying about fleas and then worrying about whether I hurt my cat trying to get rid of the fleas!

Tomorrow's the Big Day

So, tomorrow I meet 2 of my three classes of students for this school year. I think I am finally ready for them: copies done, paperwork ready, SmartBoard files created and saved... I'm going to try to head to bed early since I need to get up incredibly early tomorrow morning.

One questions remains...do I tell my students I'm expecting a baby or leave them in suspense for awhile? ;)

Day 1 of School...and a Doctor's Appointment

I have successfully completed the first day back to school! It was absolutely crazy with what seemed like less than 5 minutes of down time outside of meetings. I ended up spending the evening tonight working on problems that are used in the Advanced Algebra class that I'm going to start teaching this year for the first time. I was super nervous about that class going into this morning just because it's pretty non-traditional in nature, especially during the first week. After meeting with one of the current teachers today, though, I have a better idea of what to expect and the work I did tonight actually working through the problems I'm going to expect my students to do was very helpful. Tomorrow is another day of meetings and freshman orientation, and then Wednesday is the first real day of school for all students. Ready or not...here they come! :)

In other news today, I also had a doctor's appointment. It looks like everything with me and the baby is looking great. My doctor said I'm on track to gain about 25 pounds total, which is at the lower end of where they wanted me to be, so that's good news. (This is good news to me since I got in trouble for gaining too much weight from weeks 20-25 last time I had an appointment.) Also, my blood pressure is staying low and baby's heartbeat is right where it should be. We got a little tap dance from her today as she decided to kick the monitor while the doctor was listening to her heartbeat. It's still amazing to me that there's a little person growing and getting ready for the world in there. Tony and I are super excited to meet her in a few more months. I start going for appointments every 2 weeks now, so with those happening more frequently and with me being back at school, I have a feeling that baby Dixon will be here before we know it!

New Adventures!

Today marked the last day of summer vacation for me as I head back to work tomorrow morning bright and early. It also marked the first day of my third trimester. It seems like this pregnancy has flown by, and now that I'm heading back to work, I'm sure the time before baby Dixon makes her big debut will fly by as well.

Given that I foresee our lives changing pretty substantially over the next few months/years, I thought it might be fun to jump on the bandwagon and start up a blog to keep a record of the million little moments that I know I will want to treasure (but will forget unless documented thanks to my less than stellar memory!). Hopefully I'll be able to consistently update as I really have enjoyed reading the blogs of others as a way to stay connected.

I'm going to keep this short as I should be sleeping already given that I have to get up so much earlier than I'm used to tomorrow morning. Check back for more later. :)