Reese Annabelle Dougherty

Born 10-18-2009 @ 8:48 pm
Stats: 8lbs 2oz
20 3/4 inches long

Contractions started at 2am on Sunday morning by 4:30 they were 5 min apart and what I thought at the time were relatively intense (I had no idea what was ahead). Christopher and I left for the hospital around then and stayed for about 2 hours watching the progress. I was only dilated to 1cm. They gave me a choice to either break my water and see where things went or go home take some Ambien and try to sleep because I hadn't slept at all yet. I chose to go home and wait. They told me at the hospital to take Ambien not just one but two if I needed it. So I took one when I got home but Christopher was so worried about me and he wanted me to sleep and kept insisting that I take two like they said. So I took two and never having taken this stuff before I had no idea how strong it was. I went to sleep around 6:30 am and woke up at noon when my mom arrived. Looking back now I don't really remember much between the time when I woke up and when we left for the hospital its all a little blurry. Next time if there is one I think I will just take 1 Ambien. At this time my contractions were much stronger and and kept building until around 4:00 pm when we went back to the hospital. I was dilated to 3 cm and they decided my contractions were close enough and strong enough that she would be coming soon. I went from a 3 to a 7 in about 2 hours and got an epidural! Around 8 pm she was ready to come. I pushed for about 30 min and she was here. Everything went so smooth and she is healthy and so perfect.
It has been a week and I think we fall in love with her all over again every time we see her!

You can see more pictures HERE and Here

It's a . . . . Girl!!!

So we found out we are having a baby girl today. What an amazing feeling! I have always been excited about having a baby but now that we know that it's a girl I just can't stop thinking about her. I love knowing. I feel like we can bond with her now and really prepare for her. Christopher is excited, he was right all along and I was wrong. It really didn't matter to either of us what we were having as long the babe was healthy! Which from todays check up she is doing great and measuring exactly 20 weeks. She was moving the entire time in the ultra sound so we didn't get a great shot of her face but we saw all of her parts(brain, spine,heart,stomach, bladder, hands, feet)they seemed to be working! Can't wait for you to get here baby!

2 years

May 12, 2009 marks our 2nd year together as Mr. and Mrs. What a crazy 2 years it has been. We have moved 5 times and lived in 3 different states. Needless to say it has been quite the adventure. Couldn't be happier! Love you babe!

Christopher + Eliza = ?

Come October we will have an addition! Hopefully it will be a very small addition (no 11 1/2 lbs please) but as long as it has cheeks like that we really don't care! We couldn't be happier and can't wait to find out what we will get! I am 16 weeks along right now and I am feeling good. I think the sickness is behind me now so I'm very happy about that. So far it has been smooth sailing no complications and everything looks good. We find out on June 1st the sex and we can't wait. I think it's a boy and Christopher kind of thinks it's a girl but we will be happy either way!! We are really happy and I promise to keep you posted on here. I know after looking at my past blogging record that it might be hard to believe, but I will prove it!

My Lovely Weekend

Of Course this is a week or so over due but I had lovely weekend with my family and I want to show you and of course it's always better through pictures right!?!

Abby picked me up late late Thursday night and I got to squeeze him!! This was our first meeting. (I died a little he is SOOO cute!!). After the initial meeting we drove home to Saginaw. It was a long night. . .

But Isaac and I got some good sleep and we woke up at the same time this is us stretching of course. Well I guess this is just me stretching That is actually how he prefers to sleep. Arms out and up right buddy?

JacksonThen I spent the day splitting my time with these two adorable little children because I love them so. How lucky am I?
CharlotteSee that is his favorite position! It's really funny he is only a month old and he does not like to be swaddled he will fight to get out of it until he can be in this position right here and then he will sleep.

Then these two came to see us and I was so happy to see them!!! Jake is so big and crawling. He is adorable, he NEVER stops smiling. And my sweet sister Angela I loved seeing you!!

Saturday was the early Halloween/late birthday celebration!!

First we wished birthday balloons off for Jackson and Isaac.

Then we dressed the kiddies up in their costumes . . .

Jackson and Charlotte

Can you say adorable?






Don't worry I didn't forget about little Dino (my dad's nick name for Isaac) you are going to say awwww . . . . ready.

Then we went here and everyone picked a pumpkin!

It was such a cute pumpkin patch!

after the pumpkin picking there were games played and food was eaten and then it was time to prepare for the whole reason we all got together. The Big B day.

It was a perfect day and a great end to a lovely weekend. Only one missing in the fam picture is Christopher but he had a pretty good weekend himself. His interview at Iowa went well and he feels really good about it. So now it's back to the waiting game! Abby you look amazing and so happy. What a great weekend. I'm going to leave you with this cute picture, it will make you smile and say "oh he is so cute".

He looks just like Abby it's really sweet!

Love you

Looking Forward

This weekend could not come at a better time. I am going home to Michigan and I can't wait. I am having serious withdrawals from my seesters (in-laws included of course) and Pheeelip. I am going to meet my sweet new nephew and squeeze his cheeks. I am going to soak up the fall weather. I am going to go for a run with my dad. I'm going to love on my marmie and just soak her in, I really miss her a lot, I only call her that when I miss her a lot a lot. I'm going to see my other sweet nephew that is crawling now!!! Charlotte and Jackson will also be loved on quite frequently by me! I am going to eat really good food and I am going to laugh a lot . . . .That one is just a given. I am going to walk around our back yard and soak up the fall goodness. Maybe a game of whoofle ball or two will be played. I believe a bonfire in the back with s'mores is brewing as well as a newly adopted balloon launching tradition. Only one thing will put a damper on this weekend. My sweet Chreasy will not be coming with me, I only call him that when I know I am going to miss him a lot. He is going to Iowa for an interview at University of Iowa. I know I will wish he was there, I always do when I travel alone. But he has our future to prepare for, Good luck babe, we will all miss you in MI. Anyways I need to wrap this up and look for a new camera charger so I can take pictures of my lovely weekend and come back and share them here!

love you

So I owe it to all those who read our blog to give you the details on our life. We are in Texas in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area. We moved here at the end of June from Mississippi. I got a job right away working at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I worked there for a month when I was offered another job that is relevant to my degree, well it is more then relevant I got the job because of my degree so that is pretty cool. It turns out a BSW is useful after all!! So that is going well. I have also started my own little business selling a product I am really falling in love with! Arbonne is the product name and it is some good stuff! Anyways Christopher was studying for the DAT very diligently and has taken the test again and improved his score, so now we wait and hope for the best!! We just moved out of Elizabeth and Jason's house and into our own apartment which is coming together nicely. We like having a our own place but we miss being so close to our family here. Even though we are only 25 min away that seems like a lot after living with them for 3 1/2 months.

While living with them we just fell in love with our nieces. They are both so sweet Little Olivia melted Christopher's heart, she really did a number on him. They are adorable and we are getting another one here in about a month. We are excited for that. Hopefully we get to do a lot of babysitting and give Elizabeth a break from the craziness she is about to have in her home. She will be great though!!

We have been adjusting to the weather it has been a scorcher this summer and it is finally cooling off a little bit. I am going to really miss the Michigan Fall but I guess I'll deal with it. I'm trying to think what else I need to update you on but nothing comes to mind . . . but it's late so I will save more for another time. Love you.