So Funny & So Cute

We thought this photo was hilarious!! Chloe wanted to hold Eliot...so we let her & she was making so many funny faces that I had to take a photo (Eliot was completely safe during this photo shoot even though he looks a little precarious).

Eliot is doing so well. He sleeps 5 1/2 hours at nite now...and can eat 5-7oz at a time. We are having fun and learning a lot about parenting 2 kids.

Father's Day

Nate had a fun Father's Day...first we got to go to church as a family (he was still on parental leave). Nate was the father of the youngest baby at church (again...he was the father of the youngest baby the year Chloe was born, too!) Then we stayed after the 2nd service to enjoy some yummy tri tip bbq. They had the climbing wall up as well as some bounce houses running for us all to enjoy (left over from VBS week). Later that afternoon Nate took a ride on his new toy and he sure is enjoying it (see photo above). He looks good on that bike...I look forward to riding along with him (promise to go slow, right hun? I am such a wimp).

Our Kids In the Gym

Chloe loves to be with her brother and here they are in his gym.

We have such cute kids and we love them so much!

Chloe & Daddy

Father's Day may not be until this Sunday, but Nate is having a Father's Week with Chloe at kids camp. More cute photos of them below (Chloe got a t-shirt, too...so cute!)


A very proud papa...:)

VBS

Nate and Chloe are involved with VBS at church this week. Nate is a crew co-leader of a group of 7 5th & 6th grade boys. He is having a lot of fun with them...but boy is he tired. They jump all over Nate and think he is the coolest leader!! The theme this year is Avalanche Ranch...A wild ride through God's Word. Nate says that Chloe is having a blast with the other toddlers in the program...singing and dancing and playing. In the meantime, I am home with Eliot bonding with him. We are having fun doing chores around the house and getting out to do errands around town (he is very easy to take places!!) Below is a cute photo of Nate and Chloe ready to start their first day of VBS (it is all week long this week).

Here is our precious boy so alert while having tummy time. He is showing off his gorgeous hazel blue eyes and his beautiful full head of hair (turning from brunette to auburn as Chloe did).

LG

Life's good & we are so blessed. Eliot had his two week check up & he is now 8lbs 9oz, 21 1/2" long (50% for weight, 84% for height). We only get up to feed him once at night (he sleeps 4-5 hours already...very nice). He is more & more alert & constantly moves & babbles at us. This morning he rolled onto his side from his back in his gym (we think this was a fluke but surprising nontheless). Nate & I are shocked to see how strong he is. He lifts his head pretty well & can push up on us with his legs. I guess this is what you get when you have a boy...:)
I am feeling very good. I stopped having to use pain meds about 3 days ago & so far I have lost 25 lbs in the last two weeks & boy does that feel great!! I still have a little bit of the pregnant pooch belly, but it is still contracting down and I seem to lose more weight every day.
We took Chloe & Eliot to the movies on wednesday and that was a blast! This was Chloe's first time going to the Theater to watch a movie. We saw Shrek the 3rd. When we first walked in, Nate was holding Chloe and when she saw the big screen she started yelling "oh wow" and "oh my"...it was hilarious! She sat and ate her popcorn and drank her little diet coke through most of the movie. Eliot ate right at the beginning of the movie and then slept in the bjorn on me for the rest of it. It was a great success!! Below is a cute photo of our son asleep in his bouncy seat.

First Week

Our first week at home has gone pretty good. We did have a few bumps in the road...both Chloe & I had a touch of the flu (not fun when recovering from surgery and taking care of a newborn all at the same time) but we had great help from Nate's folks (they were life savers...thanks guys!!) Nate's parents were here with us for our first week at home to help get us settled and boy was that fantastic! They left yesterday morning and last nite was our first nite on our own and all went really well. Enjoy some more cute photos below.

Grandpa Dan & Eliot

Our little pea in his pod...too cute!

A first bath for Eliot at home.

Chloe holding her baby brother. She is really enjoying her new role as a big sis.

Eliot getting in some good tummy time with daddy. I love the Fu Man Chu stash that Nate is growing on his face (you can see it better if you click on the photo to enlarge it).

More cute photos

Eliot is doing really well & we are all settling into a nice routine already. We had his first well baby check on wednesday and he is great! He has gained back his birth weight, all his vitals are good and normal and he eats, sleeps and fills that diaper like a champ!! I am doing good, too. I feel better with each passing day & I am able to sleep & enjoy these first moments with our newborn. Chloe had Nate & I so scared for the first month (new parent jitters plus some concerns with her not gaining any weight because I was trying to breast feed her & had no milk production no matter what I did & she being jaundice and all didn't help) that we had a harder time enjoying her first moments at home. What a difference the second baby has been for us & we are loving it!! I have some more cute photos below...enjoy.

Gma Kris with Eliot

Gma Julie with Eliot

Mommy holding Eliot just before we were released to go home.

Eliot in his bucket ready to come home.

And we are home. Chloe & Daddy getting in some good lovin' with Eliot. Adorable. Isn't my family sooooo cute? We are truly blessed. I love that full head of hair that he has. Chloe came out with a full head of hair, too.

And then there were four...

Eliot Nathan Traxler was born on 5/26/07 at 9:43am. 7lbs 12.5oz, 20 1/2 inches long. He is beautiful and we are so in love with our little guy!! Thank you so much for your prayers. The surgery went really well and I am healing nicely. So nicely that 52 hours and 10 min later we were all on our way home from the hospital. Our first nite at home was last nite and it went really well. Chloe slept all nite (as always), Eliot slept really well and ate every 3 hours. We all got some good sleep and are doing really well. I am still pretty sore but at least I am 13 lbs lighter. We have tons of photos but I am just starting to put a few up and more to come so enjoy!!

Nate preped and ready to enter the O.R.

I am getting preped to walk down to the O.R.

Here he is...so beautiful. Looks like his daddy, chin cleft and all!!

I look pretty worn out but am very happy to finally met our little man.

Daddy and Eliot...so sweet.

Just About Time

This photo was taken last nite at a local resturant called The Twisted Fork...final meal before little mister is born. After 2 different dry runs to the hospital I actually made it to my scheduled date. It is 5:21am and we are up and getting last minute stuff together and heading off to the hospital to have a baby. We will keep you posted with photos of our new little guy as soon as we can. Please pray for us around 9am...that is my c-section time. Thank you so much for your prayers.


I just thought I would add a cute photo of our girl helping to bathe her baby cousin Aidan last nite...what a good big sis she is going to be!!:)

Almost...

So, we almost had the baby yesterday. I had a doc app in the am and my bp was a little high. Everything else was just fine, but since I had hypertension with Chloe my doc did not want to take any chances. First, he sent me down the hall to the NST (non-stress test) room where they had me & the baby on monitors checking my bp & the baby's heart rate and any contractions I was having. My bp came down, just not enough to satisfy my doc and I was showing that I was having consistant contractions. He sent me directly to the hospital labor & delivery. I called Nate at work & he immediately left to meet me at the hospital. I was so thankful that my Mom was with me (she had been watching Chloe while I was supposed to just have a quick doc app...ha!) Anyways, we drove to the hospital where my mom took care of the Chlo-meister & I was admitted (Nate by my side) to have a 4 hour testing process (glorified NST). While I was there they monitored many different bp's of mine (which started out just barely high & then became completely normal & stayed that way, thankgoodness), they took 2 vials of my blood & tested my platelet count (to see how well I clot) as well as my kidney functions (they were worried about pre-eclampsia with high bp so they test for kidney function to make sure all is in proper working order). They also gave me a physical to see if I was dilating or effacing any, checked my heart & lungs, did an ultrasound to check on my amniotic fluid level & also had me & the baby on the monitors to test for his heart rate & any contractions I was having. All the testing turned out to be normal & fine. I was relieved to hear that, of course. My doc even told me before he sent me to labor & delivery that he thought that they would do all this testing & find out all is fine & send me home, but he wanted me to go regardless. I was still showing consistant contractions 2-3min apart, but they are not strong (I can not even feel them) so they told me if they get stronger or last a longer time to come back. I am dilated to 1 and 50% effaced which is completely normal at this stage in the pregnancy. Nate & I just consider this to be a dry run. Actually, this happened to us with Chloe, a little sooner in that pregnancy though, so we just felt like this was par for the course...10 days to go if I make it to my c-section date.

Happy Mother's Day

Chloe loves to sit at the kitchen table with her play kitchen stuff and pretend she is on the phone, cooking, eating, feeding her babies or me...it is pretty cute (see above photo). She doesn't need a highchair or bib anymore so we have stored that stuff away and will not use the highchair again until the baby starts on solid foods...it is a nice milestone to have hit. I still bring her booster chair to family and friends houses when we go out but it hasn't been necessary there either. During the day she eats at her little table and chairs and for dinner she can sit in a regular chair with us at the kitchen table (we started her out with her sitting on a phone book but that is not necessary anymore either). She can even wash her hands almost all by herself at the kitchen sink. She brings her chair over and stands on it and asks me "wash hands". Her arms are still just a little too short to reach to turn the sink on, but once I turn it on for her & give her a little soap she can wash her hands and dry her hands all by herself. She is very good with a fork and spoon when the meal isn't too messy. I still help her a little with certain stuff, but for the most part she feeds herself & has been doing this for quite some time now.

Chloe with cousin Hope & Hailey on Mother's Day...they were water paint brushing & having so much fun!! I had a wonderful Mother's Day & hope all you mom's out there did, too! 12 days to go until kiddo #2...

Baby Shower

My mom & sister gave me a great baby shower yesterday. We really made out like bandits!! Below are 2 photos of some of the baby shower crew (the party was at my mom's).

Bottom row from left is Beth, me, & my sis, Dianne Top row from left is my Grandma Marge, Karen & Kathy

My mom replaced Beth in this photo

This is just a cute photo of our girl with her side walk chalk drawing on our driveway (daddy helped, too!)

Kids Rooms

The kids rooms are now painted & they turned out great!! We have been meaning to paint Chloe's room since we moved in a year ago but the time got away from us. Now her room is complete and is soooo cute!! The color is called Heavenly Song (a light peachy pink color). This matches her decor now as well as the quilt she will have on her big girl bed (as soon as we transition her over to that which should be happening this summer). Little mister's room has been painted a light beige called Arabian Sands. It also turned out so nice & these wonderful paint jobs are all thanks to my hard worker hero husband!! Unfortunately the photos do not do the paint jobs justice but I posted them just the same.

Chloe's room painted

Chloe's room all decorated

Nate hard at work painting the baby's room

The baby's room is now completely painted

I put some stuff in the baby's room...I will be washing all his clothes and slowly decorating his room as well as getting all the furniture in it in the next week or so. We are on the 3 week count down now...

Happy Birthday, Chloe!

Chloe turned 2 on Saturday & we had a great time at her birthday party. Auntie Amy & cousin Aidan, along with Gma & Gpa Traxler came to stay with us for a few days for her birthday. Unfortunately Uncle Trevor could not come because he had to work. We had so much fun visiting with them. It was great practice for Chloe with Aidan since he is 3.5 months old & soon we will be having a newborn boy in the house. We knew that she was good around babies, but she hasnt had a lot of practice with them living in our home yet & she was so great around him!! She just wanted to hug him, climb into the gym with him, share her toys with him, kiss him. We were so happy & proud to see how well she did. She slept great for the entire time Aidan was here (I just wasnt sure how she would react & thought she might get so overstimulated that she wouldnt sleep, but she never skipped a beat!!) I posted a lot of photos so please continue to scroll down to see them all.

Mommy & Chloe at Chloe's lady bug birthday party!! There was 27 folks here at our home to celebrate Chloe's birthday. 10 were kids. We had water play, sandbox fun, fishing, throwing around footballs & beach balls, we had a big bubble machine going that the kids really enjoyed, we had coloring activities & just sitting in the shade & visiting while eating lots of good food!! The day was warm but it went smooth & we all had lots of fun!!

Birthday Photos

Mommy, Chloe & Daddy stopping for a birthday photo. We can hardly believe that Chloe is 2.

Auntie Amy with her son, Aidan, me, Chloe & Nate enjoying the birthday festivities.

Sandbox & Water Play

Here are the kids playing in the sandbox & the adults are sunblocking up the kids. Too cute!

Chloe has discovered the wild sprinkling hose & is having so much fun!!

More Water Play

I just love this photo...Chloe is playing so much that she needed to take a little break to drink some water, even while playing in it!!

Chloe is off to play once again in the sprinklers with her cousins & friends!!

Fun Visiting

Auntie Kristi with Aidan...he sure is cute!!

Our little princess trying out her princess crown before her birthday party. Adorable!

Cousins

Gma Julie, Cousin Aidan & Chloe

Gma Julie, Gpa Dan, Aidan & Chloe playing on the floor.

Under the Bed

Jack loves to run under Chloe's bed in the morning. Chloe thinks it is so funny. She loves to go in after him and I thought this was too cute to pass up so I took a few photos to share.